Immortal Becoming

by Wendy S. Hales

  She never heard any of Fualth’s questions, never felt the electric currents that were sent through her body, never screamed when her underdeveloped wings were torn from the anchors against her spine, never responded to the drowning or smelling salts. The only thing that would release her mind now was the right phrase issued from the voice of either Napoleon or Jorie. If this was bad, she felt confident neither would whisper that phrase until her body had healed enough for her to never know the true pain Fualth intended for her. That was, if she survived.

  ****

  Sofia strode briskly across the courtyard. For all appearances, she was on another dire directive from the self-proclaimed master of the fucking universe. Oh, how she hated him. Fualth was in rare form. He usually tried to justify and excuse his sick, sadistic behaviors. With Moira’s persuasion, he’d given up the pretense of just doing what was necessary hours ago. It was obvious to all who witnessed just how much he was enjoying the challenge of trying to break the tiny female.

  Sofia didn’t know whether to applaud Moira or beg her to talk and save herself, anything to make the interrogation stop. She wondered if Fualth was starting to realize that his questioning of Moira was becoming harder on his witnesses than it appeared to be on Moira. Fualth had even hooked up a heart monitor to her to see if her heart rate changed, because no matter what he did, he failed to gain any response from Moira whatsoever. Her heart rate never changed from the steady beat. Ironically, Sofia wasn’t the only one forced to watch who was beginning to root for Moira.

  It was both fortunate and unfortunate that Fualth had finally reached his end. He had determined that whatever information Moira had could go to the grave with her. He proclaimed satisfaction in taking her out of her network, and hoped it would collapse or reveal itself further without her diligence. If he were less of a monster, he would have just killed the female, but that would be too kind. He decided to have her dissected while still alive. He’d sent Sofia over to the infirmary to have a room prepared for a living autopsy. Heaven forbid they might lose any of her blood, and of course he wanted to harvest her reproductive organs. Animal.

  While she had waited for the orderlies to prepare the room, she’d slunk off. This location only housed the few females who had either just given birth or were within a few days of delivery. This was the first time she had actually been to the Kenya Africa nest. She knew of this place only because its primary purpose was advanced militia training. The birthing infirmary was a secondary function. Sam was sent here to complete his training for the elite guard, and he had been stationed here when Sarafina had been rescued a few weeks before giving birth to Nathan. He had been planning on trying to rescue Sara himself, though the chances of either of them surviving would have been nearly zero, especially since they would have been trying to escape either with Sara in labor or with a newborn. Post-birth bleeding from an anemic was one of the reasons female birthing mortality rates sucked. Many females still died from childbirth blood loss. Luckily Sara had been rescued before being transferred to Africa.

  Tonight there were only three females on the premises, two Heredity females, due any second, and a Hulven female who had given birth a few hours earlier. While Fualth was performing big, fucked-up fun on poor Moira, Sofia had gotten all three females and the newborn out of the building and into a waiting tunnel generated by the Tellus outside the truck delivery doors. The Tellus had burrowed underneath the electrified fence while the Volaticus had infiltrated the electronic continuity, never setting off the breached alarms.

  The two Heredity were being protected somewhere in the surrounding area, awaiting the arrival of someone who could evidently port non-psychics. The Hulven and her infant had already ported to a safe location, hopefully far far far away from this hellhole. The missing females thus far had not been noticed. The skeleton crew of the farce healing staff raced around to do the bidding of Fualth and anything else Sofia could think of to keep them busy.

  Thank the Fates, the building where Moira was being tortured did not have an underground passage between it and the infirmary. All that was left was for Sofia to go in and announce that the autopsy room was ready per specification. Fates willing, Moira would still be alive. She would telepathically let Sam know the second they left the building and were in the courtyard with Moira. The SOSC would engage, then finally she would be able to join Sam and Sarafina; get to meet her nephew, Nathan; and get power over her blood. Never again would she have to fake enjoying sex with that monster. With her freedom within her grasp, she prayed that the missing females would go undiscovered. She had to hurry, aware that the alarm could sound at any moment. Increasing to a borderline unprofessional jog, she nodded to the armed patrol she passed.

  ****

  Jess had felt the first moment of discomfort while Shane was tying the lacing of her pants at her waist. When he’d turned her away from him to tie the halter, she’d touched her tongue to the two aching spots at the roof of her mouth. Her shoulders felt like someone was trying to cut into them with a scalpel. Her ears felt like they were being ripped from her head, and to top it off, she felt the worst female cramps coming on. Okay, this was going to really suck. Be strong for Shane and Moira was to be her new mantra.

  She wasn’t sure what Shane saw on her back, but she wasn’t surprised when he swore. She felt a sudden flash of horror from him through the new bond, followed by a powerful determination. Her mate was freaked by whatever he saw. It motivated him to get this party started so that it could be over. That was her thought too.

  She’d felt her heartache and Shane’s when he had ported away, leaving her with Enlil. A cry caught in her throat, and she reached into the space he’d just vacated, touching only air.

  “Try to focus on when you will again be able to be with him. It helps.” Enlil offered. Jess nodded, letting Enlil pull her into a consoling hug. Jess stiffened as his arm brushed her painful back and wondered how Enlil had lived without Etana all these years. Did he look forward to his death so he could be with her again?

  “What if he gets hurt or killed?” She wouldn’t even be able to take care of him if he did, until those moments at the springs she hadn’t considered that when she’d agreed to everything.

  Enlil hugged her tighter. “Shane is a superb warrior, Jess. Gil swears he’s the best trainee he ever had. The male leads a black-ops Ranger unit. I am sure he is having the same fears you are. Remember, you feel each other now. If you’re strong, it will be easier for him.”

  Taking a deep, bracing breath, Jess stepped away. It was time to put on her big-girl panties. “So what am I supposed to do?”

  En smiled at her. “Drop your shield to me and follow my lead. I will guide you. Your quick mind will do what needs done. If everything goes according to plan, the Heredity females who need our aid will be waiting for us. We port in, link hand to shoulder with them, and draw the energies from whatever source we can, the enemies, preferably. Then we port them to the nearest chortal. From there they can be taken to the hospes for medical eval. We will move on to the next place.” He must have seen the pained look come over Jess, because he paused, his expression sympathetic “I will do my best to hold as much of the psychic burden of retaining the energy for as long as possible. I fear there is not much I will be able to do to ease the physical pain of Becoming for you.”

  “I know. Innanna explained everything. I won’t be able to use painkillers because it may allow the psychic energy I … siphon … to be released prematurely. I won’t be able to be near Shane for the same reason. It is the pain of the change in combination with the estrus hormones. That is going to make my ability powerful enough to accomplish this. Any alleviation of it will strip it of its strength.” Jess felt a burning, tearing sensation in her back, followed by a warm trickle of what she could only assume was blood. “I am going to ruin these leathers.” She gritted her aching jaws against the wave of pain, standing strong.

  “They will be replaced.”

  “Enlil, this may be bad
timing, but what exactly is estrus?” Glancing over her shoulder she could see his crimson face. Enlil was blushing?

  “It’s like an animal in heat. The scent of a female in estrus will call to any male to, er, alleviate her. Females protect females during these times, from us and from themselves,” Enlil explained. “Before Volaticus enlightened, the pheromones of a female in estrus would send males into a rutting. We call it ‘rapture.’ We would fight to the death for the chance to mate with a female during their breeding times. Before we tapped into our psychic energies, we were a brutal, violent species; in some ways we still are. Estrus causes a male’s body to react on a primal level. Most of us are mentally strong enough to fight the compulsions of that side of our natures, but young males have a much harder time.”

  He paused a moment before continuing. “The call of bloodmates is also a form of rapture. It is one of the ways to tell if a mating is just a mating or a true bloodmating. Yet not even bloodmated males are immune to the pheromones of a female in estrus. Of course, his mate will be the only one he will take his rapture to. I am sure there is much more information that a female needs to be aware of, but I am afraid I don’t know it.”

  During Enlil’s explanation, Jess began to realize that this was probably not a conversation usually shared between males and females. It was more like a mother-daughter type of talk. She appreciated Enlil all the more for giving her what information he had.

  “Do you see energy?” Enlil asked, quickly changing the subject. Jess nodded. She had always thought it was auras she saw around people and objects. Now she knew it was energy. “When we get to these females, let me focus on drawing the energy to us. You visualize creating a circle with the energy around the females that will be connecting to us for porting.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Jess said through gritted teeth as a wave of pain washed over her.

  Suddenly she felt a tug in her mind and glanced sharply at Enlil. “That would be your patient Aunt Nin, yanking us around.” Enlil took position directly behind Jess, placing his hands on her shoulders, careful to avoid the angry red welts across her shoulders. Even the slight pressure of his hands was agony. “Ready, my girl?”

  Reaching up, Jess covered her great-grandfather’s hands with her own and nodded. “Ready.” She felt the spinning tunnel, and then she heard the sounds of battle.

  The sun had just set in Italy, but Africa was an hour ahead, making it full dark. It took Jess’s eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness before she could make out what was happening around her. She and Enlil were standing on a grassy hill overlooking a small compound. They were encircled by Tellus and Aquaties, all faced away from them. Outside that grouping were their family members. Elven warriors were fighting rouge soldiers below the hill. The warriors would engage the soldiers, disarm them and disable them. Then the Tellus would hold a hand up, and the enemy would grasp their heads and fall twitching to the ground. The Aquaties would touch them, and they would breathe out a breath of cold air. The Elven would carry the fallen enemy soldiers to the hill where Jess and Enlil awaited, handing them to Shane and the rest of her family to contain.

  Jess felt guilty as she looked at the group of now-defenseless solders shivering with hypothermia. They had no idea Jess was about to take their psychic energy from them. They seemed so helpless, though the hatred and anger pouring out of them toward her and her family negated that feeling of pity somewhat.

  Then she looked over to the two Heredity women. One of them was obviously going into labor, and the other was just as pregnant. Even with Teya, Irsu, and Ninlil protecting them and Ninlil using her soothing voice to console them, the women stared at the group of soldiers with terror in their eyes. Jess could feel the fear roll off these women, smell the stink of it. That alone killed whatever sympathy she had felt for the group of glaring soldiers. These women deserved to have a chance. A few weeks without these animals hunting them would be more than they had ever known.

  “Where’s Moira?” Jess asked Gil, who had landed within the circle of Tellus and Aquaties to stand in front of her. She was quickly growing accustomed to seeing flying people.

  Gil pointed to a corner of the compound where the fighting was particularly thick. Behind the line of enemy soldiers, a male was barking out orders. Obviously the Elven was in charge and insane. At his feet Jess could just make out what looked like a figure lying on the ground. She saw the male glance up, meeting her gaze and narrowing his eyes. “Well, well, well, what have we here?” she heard from him telepathically

  Her shields down per Enlil’s instructions, she was vulnerable, slamming them up against the oily sludge feel of the male’s mental touch. She saw his lips rise in a smirk. Lifting her palm, Jess visualized taking the son of a bitch’s energy. Grasping the energy aura surrounding him, she began to pull it toward her, stripping it from him layer by layer. Her grin increased while his fell as he realized what she was doing.

  The male focused on Jess, as a tiny female resembling Sam and Sara began dragging the unconscious form of Moira back away from the line of soldiers. When the man realized what Jess was doing, he reached behind him to grab her by her hair, pulling her to stand in front of him. Jess was forced to stop the siphon or risk the female. Jess was sure she was looking at Sofia, the informant, the one who’d been instrumental in helping to get them this far. The male sneered at her, giving her a look of disgust. Then to Jess’s horror, the man sunk his fangs into the throat of the struggling female.

  “NO!” Jess screamed.

  First to react, Shane and Napoleon took to the air and landed directly behind the male and his line of soldiers. Sargon, Gilgamesh, Gregor, Conlon, and Ediku launched in support a moment later and were immediately swamped by Fualth’s soldiers. They fought desperately against the greater number of soldiers, their warrior training the only thing that kept them from being overwhelmed. Napoleon used the distraction to lift the limp figure of Moira from the ground and fly off, while Shane grabbed the madman from behind. Two of Fualth’s soldiers raced to the defense of their leader, raising their swords at Shane’s unprotected back. A shout from Gregor made Shane turn, throwing his scythe up just in time to lock with one soldier’s sword. Fualth clutched the female struggling in his arms and backed away shoving a hood of what looked like chain mail into his back pocket and A dagger dropped into Shane’s other hand from a stack of blades he had anchored to the inside of his forearm, and he threw it at the other soldier almost without looking. End over end it flew, sinking into the center of the soldier’s chest.

  Moving quicker than Jess could track, Shane pulled the other scythe out of the holsters crossed over his chest. He smiled coldly, a deadly curved blade in each hand as he faced off against the second soldier. Jess heard the strike of metal on metal as Shane blocked the soldier’s sword with one blade and parried toward his belly with the other, forcing the soldier to step back, giving Shane a chance to get a better stance.

  The sound of the two combatants gave the soldiers still standing a renewed revelry, and additional soldiers broke from the line and raced toward the fight between Shane and the enemy.

  “Why don’t they shoot? Every one of them has a gun,” Jess asked Enlil terrified by the threat the guns posed to Shane.

  “When they were in a line, they could simultaneously fire their weapons and create a deterrent to us rushing against them. But unless a bullet fully destroys our heart, it will not kill us. There are only a few ways to kill us: take our hearts, or destroy an artery to the point were we bleed out fully. Only if we are already weakened does it become easier to bleed us out, since our natural healing ability slows down. Our usual way is to fight hand to hand, overpower, disarm, disable, and in this case capture. In a normal battle we would decapitate. There are also certain chemicals that can kill us, though usually a transfusion can counter those. The only guaranteed way to destroy us is beheading or draining, though we can choose to release our life force at any time.” Enlil answered. As usual, every answer she got creat
ed more questions.

  “So just decide to die?” she asked. “I wish that bastard would decide to die.” She indicated the leader still feeding on Sofia.

  “Chances are good he will die at the hands of your mate.”

  Jess chest swelled with awe, pride, and fear as she watched Shane, some of her worry draining away. He was graceful and ferocious, like a predator. Shane blocked, parried, and struck. His deadly dance steadily pushed the enemy soldier back, beating him down. The soldier Shane faced was experienced, lethal, and cunning. Definitely more than a victim of circumstance, he had a malicious glint in his eyes. This was someone who enjoyed killing and raping.

  Jess raised her hand. Focusing on Shane’s opponent, she reached into her inner power and pulled the soldier’s energy to her. His eyes widened as he turned his deadly gaze on her. Shane took advantage of the distraction, crossing his blades in front of him and scissoring them at his opponents neck. The soldier’s head rolled away while his body crumbled to the ground. His expression fierce Shane gave her a nod and joined in the fight with the other members of their families.

  Jess had to ask, “Is Ediku a warrior?” Though a competent fighter, Ediku was not nearly as proficient.

  Enlil squeezed her shoulder. “My son is a good fighter. I insisted on that. He does lean more to his mother’s love of farming. That is part of why you are seeing such an easy camaraderie between him and young Jorie.”

  A break in the battle opened up a clear path to Fualth. Shane sheathed his scythes and surged to where the male still held the female’s throat in his mouth. The female, nearly drained, had ceased her struggles several minutes earlier. Pulling a chain mail hood from his back pocket, Shane stepped in behind the madman and slung the hood over the male’s head. He pulled the hood tight against the upper half of the leader’s face, crushing the male’s nose and cheekbones with the pressure of the hood.