by Orren Merton
I heard Rachel screaming behind me.
The monster I’d slashed slowly ambled up to me. It climbed on top of my trembling body, making even more blood spurt out of the hole in my middle. It opened its jaws, revealing its two rows of razor-sharp teeth. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t breathe. My vision blurred.
My mind raced with a million thoughts. Oh God please no! I’m not ready to die! Rachel isn’t ready to die! Please don’t let this be happening!
The monster’s jaw lunged toward my head…but before it bit into me, a huge muscular being skewered the beast with the horns on its head and heaved the dog-bear thing into the air. The being then lifted the creature off its horns and with its muscular, human-shaped arms tore the monster in half effortlessly, like it was ripping a piece of paper.
The second monster had skittered to the side but another being, a shorter one without horns, sprang out of the rip in the air and landed on top of it. The being began pounding the monster into the asphalt with its fists like an ape pounding a rock.
I heard screeching tires. I assumed that meant the man who had cornered us raced away in his truck, but I couldn’t see. The huge horned being standing over me bellowed at the truck with an earth-shaking, angry roar.
“Alex! Alex please no!” Rachel was crying on top of me. I tried to turn to her, but I hurt too much to move. I was shaking and twitching and sweating and bleeding, and all I could feel was the burning sensation from my middle. I tried to say something, but I couldn’t. My vision kept fading, like I was looking into a black tunnel that was getting narrower and narrower with every moment. I tried to fight it. I knew that if my vision went totally black, I’d never see anything again.
I tried to hold my hand out to Rachel, but I only succeeded in dropping the dagger from my hand. I franticly tried to catch my breath, but I could barely inhale even a tiny gulp of air before it hurt too much and I had to stop.
My vision faded completely. I could only feel the searing pain of the blood gushing out of my stomach. I couldn’t breathe.
Goodbye Rachel, I tried to say. I only knew you a short while, but I loved you like a sister. I want you to have a great life. I wish I could share it with you. But whatever happens, don’t give up.
Tell Jake I’m sorry I never texted him back. I wish we had more time.
But no words came out.
The pain was starting to fade away.
Would I see my mom again?
Suddenly, I felt something; the large being picked me up and put his hand over the huge slash in my belly. Instantly I started getting feeling back in my stomach—that feeling was extreme agony, but I could suddenly breathe again. Even though I was in agony I gasped and sucked in all the air I could, like it was my first breath in a year.
I felt both hurt and exhausted, like I’d been up for two days straight and I needed sleep. But I couldn’t rest yet.
I was able to force my eyes open a sliver. I pointed to where I thought Rachel was. “Needs…home…” I barely croaked out.
The being holding me turned to the other being. I think I saw the smaller being nod.
“She will be delivered to her home,” the being carrying me said.
I nodded. I tried to turn to Rachel, but moving my head hurt too much. With every ounce of strength left I opened my eyes fully and looked up at the huge, red-skinned horned creature holding me.
“Dad?”
“I’ve got you now, little firebird,” he said as he carried me through the tear.
15
I suddenly became aware—that I was aware! I wasn’t dead! I lay still with my eyes closed as I collected my thoughts, thinking over what had just happened—the truck, the alley, the monsters, being saved by…by what? As I became more and more awake, I felt my stomach throb with a strong but dull pain, partly from my wound, partly because I was hungry. My head was pounding too. I tried to breathe steadily, but it felt weird…unsatisfying, like even when I inhaled I didn’t feel any air rushing into my lungs. It was kinda scary, but I didn’t feel like I was suffocating so I didn’t freak out about it. My eyelids felt super heavy, like they were being held closed by bricks, but I slowly opened them.
The first thing I saw was the plush brown blanket and soft red sheets of the huge bed I was laying in. My head rested on two really comfy pillows in red pillowcases. Two other pillows lay next to me. I raised my head and saw that my feet weren’t anywhere near the bottom of the bed; there were probably another two feet or so to go.
I was carefully tucked in, with the sheets up to my neck. I lifted up the covers to look at my wound. As I raised my chest and head off the bed, I realized that I was wearing nothing but my bra and panties and felt self-conscious. How did I get this way? I looked at my stomach; across my entire gut was an inch-thick bright red scar, but there were no stitches and no dried blood or anything. I figured I must be healing, because I didn’t feel like I was going to die anymore, although my headache really sucked.
I held the sheets against my chest as I propped myself up on my elbows to look at my surroundings.
I found myself in a very large room made of gray stones that seemed to be flickering. I quickly realized that the flickering was caused by flaming torches every few feet hanging on the wall. The middle of the room looked lit from above so I looked up and saw a huge chandelier of giant candles. There were red tapestries on the wall and red carpets. The whole room had this sort of medieval vibe to it, but not like it was old ruins. This place looked lived in, more homey, like it must have been when it was new back then.
The doorway was directly across the large room from the bed, and the huge brown wooden door was wide open. The hallway outside appeared to be made of the same gray stones as the walls of my room, also lit by torches. I wanted to close the door but I was sort of nervous about getting up when I was still in pain—and nearly naked.
I turned my head left toward my feet and saw two really ornate red chairs and a really plush red couch. Behind them was a large brown dresser. My dagger was on top of the dresser and my suitcases from Rabbi Norm’s house were placed right next to it. Oh Rabbi Norm…
A loud, low gong rang loudly above my head. It startled the hell out of me! I shook and scanned the room in alarm.
“Ahh!” I screamed, drawing the covers tightly around my chest as I struggled to sit upright. My hair and eyes ignited.
A small, hairless creature, maybe three feet tall, had its hand on a large rope hanging from the ceiling to my right. The creature had a small, dull-green rough-skinned turtle-like head and beak, and the body of a turtle with no shell. It wore a short-sleeved red tunic with the same face emblazoned on it that was on my dagger. The tunic went down to its knees. Its short, stubby arms ended in three-fingered claws. The creature wasn’t wearing any shoes, so I could see that it had three-toed bird-like feet.
“Ahhhh!” It shrieked in return, drawing its arms close around its chest. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Lord Keroz asked me to alert him as soon as you were awake! I didn’t mean to scare you! Please don’t kill me!”
“You speak?” Okay, not the most brilliant observation, but all I could come up with.
“I do,” it nodded. “Only when spoken to, of course. I was assigned here in case you needed anything.” It flinched, looking at me with terror in its tiny, turtle-like eyes. “Do you…need anything?”
“No,” I shook my head. “I mean, how can you be speaking English?”
“English?” it said, its little turtle head tilting left. “What’s English? Is that your language? No, we’re speaking Seduin. The House must be translating your language to Seduin for you.”
Seduin? What the hell language is that? Where do they speak it? How can a house be translating inside my head? Who stripped me? And why am I talking to a three-foot-tall turtle?
“Who are you?” I demanded.
“I’m Zogo,” it answered.
“Where am I?” I demanded again.
“In your room, in your bed, in
the House of Keroz,” Zogo said. “I know you must—”
“What happened to what I was wearing?” I interrupted.
“I…I had to tear you out of your clothes. There was too much blood, they were stuck to you and were ruined anyway. I hope they weren’t your favorites! Please don’t kill me!”
“Why do you keep saying that?” I shot back, testily. “Why would I kill you?”
Zogo gazed back at me in confusion. “Why wouldn’t you?”
“That’s how we do things here in Sediin,” a deep, powerful voice spoke from the doorway.
I turned to the door. The two beings that had fought off those nasty monsters in the alley stood in the doorway, facing me. The larger, horned one kept talking: “When Sedim are dissatisfied with the service of one of their Ruhin, they’ll often rip it limb from limb to express their displeasure.”
I’m not sure what freaked me out more, the being’s care-free description of murdering its servants or the warm smile on its face as it told me about it.
“That’s a little extreme, don’t you think?” I swallowed nervously.
“Ah, but physical death isn’t the same here as where you’re from. This is a realm of spirit, not matter. When you destroy its body, after a short delay the Ruhin will simply reform and return to you, usually a little chastened and contrite.”
“I should inform you,” the smaller being added, “that Zogo, unlike most of the Ruhin in our House, wasn’t formed here. Where he was formed has been long since destroyed, and he might not make it back here. So please think carefully before you decide to kill him.”
I turned back to Zogo. He was cowering, shivering, and hunched over, looking at me with pleading eyes.
“I’m not going to hurt you Zogo. You just startled me,” I said.
Zogo looked so grateful he might have burst into tears. “Thank you, my lady,” he bowed his head low.
I turned back to the two beings in my doorway. The larger one was nearly as tall as the doorway—maybe eight feet tall. His horns weren’t actually that long, not like antlers or anything, certainly not bigger than his head. He had glowing red eyes and a surprisingly warm smile. He was wearing a similar tunic to Zogo and brown leggings. I could now tell clearly that the face in the center of everyone’s tunic was supposed to resemble his. He was really muscular, with hands and feet that looked human (no cloven hooves, thank God!) but with bodybuilder proportions on a much bigger body. I couldn’t see behind him clearly but it didn’t look like he had a tail.
I exhaled and stared, almost trembling. So this was it—the moment I’d both wished for and dreaded.
“You’re…my father,” I said. I held my breath.
“Yes,” he nodded.
Even though my eyes were flaming, I could feel tears forming. I mean, I knew I was the daughter of a demon. But until right now I’d always hoped there was a chance, a tiny chance, that maybe it wasn’t true. But being here—seeing him—now I really knew it.
And what did he want with me?
“My name is Keroz. I am a being called a Sedu. And this—” he held out his open hand to the being next to him, “is Garz, your brother. He is also Sedu.”
I had a brother? I looked at Garz. He definitely had his—our—father’s smile. And we all seemed to have the same eye shape as well. Garz had a round head like Dad’s too. He didn’t have horns, though, and his skin was a much paler red, although it looked just as thick and tough. He wasn’t short—he was taller than Jake—but nowhere near as tall as Dad. His chest under his tunic and legs under his leggings looked like he was probably just as muscular though. But a brother?
“Half-brother,” I corrected.
Garz tipped his head at me.
“As you no doubt realized years ago, you are not solely human,” my dad continued. “You are a Seduman—half human, half Sedu.”
“So…Sedu is like a type of demon?” I asked.
Garz shook his head.
“We are beings known as Sedu,” Dad repeated. “Demons are fairy tales that humans created to scare each other into submission.”
“So it’s a total coincidence that you both look a whole lot like what human beings call demons?” I shot back, probably more snarky than I needed to be.
“No,” Dad said. “But if you’re worried that you’re half-demon, you’re not. You’re half-Sedu. You’re a Seduman.”
“Okay…” I said, shifting uncomfortably. “But you look like a demon.”
“We discussed how we should present ourselves to you when you first regained consciousness,” my dad explained. “We chose to introduce ourselves as Sedu, so you would not worry that we were trying to deceive you. There are no lies in the House of Keroz.”
“But you lied to my mom,” I said, my chin beginning to quiver under my burning eyes.
My father’s smile vanished. Garz also looked more serious, turning to Dad and raising his eyebrow ridges. My father sighed, nodding slowly. “I promise you, little firebird, when I crossed into your world I meant only to spend some time away from Sediin, to clear my mind. I had no intention of becoming close to any human beings.”
“But you did!” I practically shouted, wrapping the sheets tightly around my nearly naked body. “Why? Why seduce my mom? What did she—”
“She was…kind to me,” my dad said. “At a moment that I had need for kindness. I didn’t intend to deceive her, and indeed, when she became pregnant, I revealed myself completely.”
“You killed her…” I sobbed. It was mean, I knew. But I couldn’t help myself. It was childish, but after feeling so guilty for so long for my mom’s health, I wanted him to feel as bad as I did.
“Yes,” he said solemnly. He lowered his head. “I know. I had no intention of getting her pregnant.”
“Well you had sex with her,” I retorted. “Didn’t it occur to you that could happen?”
He raised his head. His expression became very serious. His two blazing red eyes focused on me like lasers. “Do you wish you had never been born?” he asked.
I immediately got very scared. I wrapped the sheets even tighter around my body. “Are…are you…”
He started laughing, a booming, hearty laugh. “I didn’t mean that to sound like a threat. Here is what I meant to say: while I deeply regret that carrying and giving birth to a Seduman is too much for a human woman, even if you and I had never met, I would never have regretted creating you. When you wish that I had never met your mother, you are also wishing away your own existence. Do you truly wish it away?”
I relaxed, but also lowered my head. “Sometimes…”
“Alex, your mother chose to give you life, knowing it would mean her own. Not because she didn’t want to live, but because of the promise of your life. When you wish your life away, you render her sacrifice in vain. For her sake, and for your own sake, you need to understand and take pride in your Sedu self, and not hate yourself for it.”
“My Sedu self?”
“Correct,” my father said. “As I explained, we are spirits. And this place, this House, is the source of our being. It is where we are most powerful, most complete.”
“Did this place…save my life?” I asked.
“To a large extent, yes,” my dad said. “Sedu and Seduman can learn to instantly know each other when they meet. And if they are of the same House they can transfer their own spirit to each other, so when I touched you, your healing began. But in our House, your body draws from its spirit as well, healing you more quickly and completely than anywhere else. The deeper the wounds, the longer it takes to heal.”
“How long have I been here?”
“Three days,” dad replied.
“Three days?” I shouted, practically jumping off the bed until I remembered that I was nearly naked. “I was out for three days? What happened to Rachel? I never even got up to eat or pee or something?”
“We should explain,” Garz chuckled, “time is much different in Sediin than in your world. Here, a rotation of light through dark
and back again takes only one hour on Earth.”
“Okay,” I said, calming myself down. “So it’s been three days here, but I’ve only really been out for three hours?”
“Correct,” Garz said.
“And thank you for reminding me, I’d completely forgotten about a bathroom,” my father said. He turned his head toward the left wall where Zogo was standing, and behind Zogo the bricks began to move around. I felt the wall rumble. The bricks reshaped themselves into a door, and after a moment the rumbling stopped.
“What did you do?” I asked.
“I created a bathroom. I’m afraid Sedu can’t create machines more complex than a door hinge so the toilet just drains—”
“You changed the room with your thoughts!” I marveled. “Can you do that anywhere? Can Garz? Can I?”
“Yes, I did,” Dad said. “I cannot do that anywhere, however. This House is part of my spirit. I can rearrange the shape of its physical manifestations at will. Garz can also to a lesser extent. I’m afraid you cannot. But you have other gifts you have yet to explore.”
“And about Rachel,” Garz began.
I turned to him.
“In my human form, I escorted her to the home of her friend, Emma Kelley. I spoke to Linda, her mother, and told her of the rabbi’s fate, of the attack against you, and that Rachel needed a place to say. Linda and her husband agreed to take her in, and to communicate with the authorities. Rachel asked me to make them promise not to turn her over to Social Services, and I did.”
I exhaled with relief. That all sounded good so far. “What did you tell them about me?”
“I told them that after the attack you were recovering at your father’s house, and you would be coming by in a few days. Then I handed them a few bills for expenses and went to the house of the deceased rabbi to collect your suitcases and buy you some food and water for when you were hungry.”
“Thank you, Garz. I appreciate it. All of it, for both me and Rachel,” I said. I tried to smile, but I only succeeded in looking less freaked out, I think.
