Demon Hero: Dark Fae Hollow 1 (The Dark Fae Hollows), page 9
Power lines, parked cars, and periodic walls were obstacles I had to navigate throughout my journey to catch up with Sol. I flew hard. The scenery became nothing more than a blur around my face. I was losing the awareness necessary to boost my invisibility spell, deciding to devote that energy into speed instead. In a few more blocks, I had caught up with Sol.
The glimpse of verification I received was a car swerving out of control and ramming into the side of a building while a monstrous furry form sailed over the wreckage.
“Sol!”
The experience was a rush, as I had never seen a shifter before, but there was a part of me that was no longer afraid. I clung to that emotional truth as a means of hope. The car also gave me a source of inspiration.
The next opportunity I had to cut left, I took. I nearly ran into the grey face of a building on the far side of the street. Inches passed between my body and the large glass windows of the building. Seconds seemed to stretch into infinity as the moment expanded in my awareness.
This is going to hurt…
I folded up my wings, lowered my shoulder, and prepared for impact.
Chapter 14
My body connected just below Sol’s front legs. He was an unruly mass of hair and sweat. The muscles bulged so pronounced beneath his fur that I could scarcely fit my arms around his form. I didn’t have to succeed. All I had to do was hold on tight.
As soon as I made contact, I cast a concealment spell on us. We tumbled onto the asphalt. I screamed in shock, but held onto him for dear life as we fell into the street.
All I remember about that time was the drastic and powerful way in which his chest heaved. The pain from the road rash would come later. In the moment, nothing more than the friction burns from the street registered.
Sol was not one to give up so easily, especially not in this unhinged form of his. He growled in frustration, but he did not attack or shake me off. Instead, he recovered from his fall and shook his body so I ended up on his back. He immediately bounded down another street, one that ran perpendicular and then crooked compared to the path he had just been on.
Maintaining my grip on his body was as hard as maintaining the mantra for the spell. My energy went into the concealment charm. We only had a few crucial moments to put some distance between ourselves and our pursuers. I was afraid my magic would be dispelled by the police force on a moment’s notice.
The incantation of the spell became a prayer as I clung to Sol’s body. Both arms and legs were wrapped around his frame. My prayer continued until the sound of the sirens had long disappeared from our perception.
I woke up in an abandoned building in some part of town I didn’t recognize.
The stone floor was cold beneath my body. All around me, there was nothing but shadows and debris. I felt alone and vulnerable. I was grateful we had made it out of danger, but so disoriented I wasn’t exactly sure how I would be able to find my bearings again. Then I saw eyes; eerie and golden, staring at me from within the darkest recesses of the room.
“Sol?”
I was put off, that much was easy to understand. I was looking into the eyes of a creature who, if he chose, could maul me on the spot. Fear was not a creeping sensation, but a real visceral phenomenon that throbbed in my chest.
“Sol, it’s me. Vee.”
A deep and resonant growl came from the darkness. The sound reverberated within my rib cage and made my hair stand on end.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
The eyes narrowed. Below them, a set of teeth shone like little slivers of moonlight.
I tried to be brave. It was easier now that there was not much preventing me from death. With a single decision on Sol’s part, he could have snuffed the life out of me hours ago. He could have killed me in my sleep. He could have done a lot of things, but he hadn’t. Instead, I woke up here—wherever here actually was.
Stumbling forward, I stretched to regain control of my body, experimentally moving each of my limbs.
“No broken bones,” I said with a smile. “At least that’s something.”
With slow hands, I touched my side. All the way up the side of my thigh and onto my lower back was scratched. The whole area was sensitive, and it seemed to restrict my range of motion quite a bit. I gasped while I moved, knowing I would need to push past the pain to regain my health.
My wings were still intact—that much was a relief.
I cleared my head, allowing myself to soak in the gratitude that I was still alive. Fear was present in my body, but I refused to let the tension dominate my perception. There could be no more room for that level of fear in my life. Today, I had made a distinct change in the way I wanted to move forward. I had acted, and I needed to stand by that action, even if the path in front of me contained a creature like Sol.
“I’m going to walk over to you, Sol…”
I gave him fair warning. There was no reason for me to be afraid, and I wanted to push the boundaries of my own fear. That place of comfort within courage was within my reach. To be at ease in any situation regardless of what might come, that was my plan from this point forward.
He let out another growl as I walked closer. I held my own, not showing any fear.
“I care about you, Sol, and I’m coming over to make sure you’re all right.”
Each step brought me closer to the hulking form in the shadows. The closer I got, the more details I could see. He was a magnificent beast.
There was something inside me that took pleasure in the terror. He was more kin to myself than so many of the humans I had been living among for the past decade. On some level, they all thought I was a monster. The fact I had touched something as fierce as what stood before me, and still lived to tell the tale, seemed a credit to me somehow. Of course, the credit had to go to Sol for whatever amount of compassionate control was necessary to be in his form.
I walked forward, surrendering, and trusting that he would act in my welfare. I had given my security to a monster, and had become confident in that decision. Those moments were a testament to my personal strength, as well as my trust in Sol.
As I approached, he cowered down. He didn’t seem to be as much afraid of me as fighting some internal battle within his mind. I couldn’t be sure what his instincts were telling him, but I knew not to waver in my dedication to the task. My job was far from complete. In fact, I had barely started.
When I reached my hand out to touch his coarse fur, a sense of relief swept over me. The sense memory of grabbing him and falling on the street flooded my mind. I took a deep breath and allowed myself to relax. My hand sank into the fur, past the sweat, dirt, and dried blood. I pressed forward until I could feel the muscles beneath his skin once more. Once the palm of my hands made contact, I smoothed my fingers out along his body and allowed myself to rest there.
I could feel him shudder and swell beneath my touch. He was undergoing an emotional change. The knowledge that my touch was providing him with a sense of relief gave me comfort.
Suddenly, he tore away from me, pushing his body down. He convulsed. The growl turned into a roar of pain, and finally into a whimper. Below me, locked in a fetal position, lay Sol in human form.
I knelt over his naked body and held him once more. My body pressed against his, and I shared the vitality of my heart with him. I wanted him to feel that he was not alone.
Eventually, we came into a synchronous pulse. The tension in the room decreased to a lull. We sat there for what could have been a half an hour or more.
Sol’s cracked voice was the first sound to break the dust that had settled in the room.
“I’m sorry.”
I shook my head. “There’s nothing for you to be sorry for. You did great.”
“If I did so great, then why am I so afraid?”
“Maybe fear is a healthy thing.”
“Innocent people could have died.”
His voice was adamant. For a moment, I thought he was going to push me away, but he simply lowered his head.
“You didn’t tell me you could change at will….”
He shook his head.
“I can’t control it. Frankly, I think we’re both lucky that I didn’t kill you back there on the street. When I’m with him, I don’t even recognize my own mind at times. All of my training comes back to me, and I become something that operates according to my baser instincts.”
“Training?”
“They got in deep, but they didn’t finish their work. I’m basically a weapon. They treated my mind and body like something they could form to their own will.”
He shook his head, sneering bitterly into the darkness. His laugh was dismal before he took a deep breath and composed himself once more.
“I did my best to be a good man. The feeling of threat is something that clouds my mind like a storm. When the killing impulse is there, it is so much easier just to indulge. The problem is that it never satisfies… he always wants more.”
“You’re not alone, you know.”
“Talon…” He spat on the floor and grinned like a madman.
“Of course he would know other members of the company,” he said. “They would be attracted to a man like that. To have the thrill of the hunt fulfilled by some righteous mission is the wet dream of a corrupted conscience.”
“You’d be one to know about that?” I watched him react to my question, and then struggle to find peace within himself.
“I can’t always control myself. I didn’t want to hurt you, or anyone else. That’s why I didn’t shift.”
“I get it. What I meant to say was that you aren’t alone in being afraid of yourself. I think to some extent, we are all afraid of what we could be. Seems to me that is more like the human condition than anything else you might suggest.”
“Ironic then, that neither of us are human.”
I grinned, knowing authentic laughter was something that should be appreciated and owned whenever the opportunity arrived.
“I’m a bit insulted, to be honest. You think I couldn’t put your mangy ass down if I had to?”
He laughed. A real laugh this time, and not some stifled gasp of bitter pain.
“You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself. The fear you have of your own nature might be more loathsome than the condition itself.”
“Not sure I follow…”
“Let’s be honest. You’re a monster. But you’re also a great human. Now, if you want to slice hairs about it, you’re not exactly human, but to me, you’ve always showed compassion. As a result, I’m going to treat you like a creature that deserves respect, regardless if your DNA has been tampered with.”
He leaned into me then, letting himself fully relax in my arms. His strength overtook me as he pushed us onto the floor. At first, I was shocked, but when I saw the smile in his eyes, I understood.
“Mangy ass, huh?”
“Oh yeah, I took it easy on you. Two words: Fae magic.”
“Aha! Your friend already tried… turns out I might be a little resistant to those tricks.”
His hands held my wrists on the concrete, and his body pressed against mine. The heat and the physical contact felt good. We had overcome something together, and had grown because of it.
“What are we going to do?”
As soon as I spoke, my heart fell a little bit. We might have made love. There was a brief flash of playful fire in his eyes. The attraction was there, no doubt about it, but my mind was not in a place where I could indulge in it, no matter how nice it might be.
“I’m not sure what we should do, but I can tell you I’m still willing to help get you out of the city.”
“Do you even know where we are?”
“You remember that warehouse I mentioned?”
“Ha! This place is a dump.”
“Serves its function. Something inside me trusted this would be a good place.”
“You know they’ll track us here.”
“They might, but we’ll be gone by then. Besides, you don’t think I bothered to list this property under any standard filing procedure, did you?”
“Intrigue!”
I was having way too much fun. The situation was dire, but if we kept up the humor, we might maintain enough energy to make it out— to find whatever solutions might still wait for us outside the city.
“I’m done with this place, Sol. Believe me, I am, but there’s something about leaving that doesn’t seem like it serves the greatest good.”
“Well, let me at least show you to the edge, that way you can make an informed decision. I’d rather you knew what safety looked like before diving back into the hell that the Hollow is becoming.”
I thought about the increased militarization of the police and the impending conflict, and something inside of me spoke up. “Let’s go find a place to rest for a while.”
Sol smiled and nodded.
“It’s not far from here. Let’s go.”
Chapter 15
Renewed hope filled me as we left the disreputable hovel of a warehouse that was Sol’s safe haven.
He had enough clothes for us to remain in a bit of disguise. Something more than our shifted forms was necessary, and he couldn’t very well go about naked. I had some scrappy clothing that was torn from the experience, but I didn’t want to take any chances either. With a pair of trench coats and some pieced together travel gear, I wasn’t sure we looked any better than the alternative, but it was better than nothing.
As Sol had mentioned, an abandoned bike path put into the area by some progressives of an era now gone past was the way into the forest. The trail was sequestered from the nearby buildings by a ravine and a thick cover of trees and shrubs. Vegetation had overgrown it, it was fitting that the two of us were headed out into the wild, while the wild itself seemed to be approaching our position.
“Relentless,” I muttered.
Sol nodded.
At certain points, we had to physically move the branches and vines from our way. Sol had a natural way of weaving through the landscape, as though he had done it many times before. He walked with an air of confidence that I found inspiring. In my mind, I saw him as a type of ranger, or woodland stalker from the stories of my youth. Obviously, there was more than a bit of idolization and romanticism going on, but one couldn’t fault the imagination for speaking the language of symbolism.
I began to internalize those projections into my own movements, finding I could bring my attention into each step. Soon, I began noticing the difference between walking on the balls of my feet versus the heels. A distinct edge came over my awareness that was new and refreshing in my worldview.
We were on our way out. Had liberated ourselves from an oppressive system. Escaped prejudice and were moving toward some glorious future where we could live as we liked.
Doubt crept into my mind as I considered whether we would stay together throughout this whole experience, or if I was romanticizing our future in the woods as I had the beauty of Sol’s movements. An extraordinary sense of depth and confusion was in my mind as I reflected on these inter-related elements. The states of conflict in my mind now, and the experiences that engendered those conflicts, were a totally unfamiliar territory for me.
“Before this started,” I said. “I don’t think I was really living.”
He responded with his voice low, but sincere.
“Of course you were.”
“I’m not sure you could actually call it that. Sure, I showed up to work and made pleasant conversation with the people around me. I gave you and other people kindness. I tried not to be bitter, and I stayed out of trouble. But I don’t remember feeling the level of life and involvement that I have felt ever since the fight at the bar.”
“Talon helped you out then… that relationship changed something inside of you.”
I thought about it for a moment.
“Of course, but I feel like spending time with you has also changed me. It’s not a personal or relational aspect necessarily. It has to do with the timing. The whole environment of the city has changed, and we are just variables that are caught up within the maelstrom. Makes me wonder if others are experiencing something similar.”
“Probably, I don’t think we are special. Even if we are the canaries in the coal mine, so to speak, Talon’s going to be drawing in people as soon as he initiates whatever counter attack he’s planning. People are going to be confronted with this chaos whether they like it or not.”
“Well, I guess that’s comforting.”
“Why?”
“Because it means we aren’t alone in this whole thing. As selfish as it is, I’m glad to know we aren’t going to be the only people who are forced into action.”
“Interesting how selfishness relates to the need for empathy.”
We walked in silence then, and I grew to appreciate the sounds of the world around me. I became aware of the sounds of the night. Instead of traffic and drunken people, there were crickets and owls. Instead of sirens, we were treated to the sounds of our own bodies passing through branches and leaves. Even though we weren’t yet in the wilderness to come, a part of me looked forward to whatever experience might wait for us on the other side.
My mind began to drift toward Sol.
Before these last couple of days, I had never cared enough to analyze him. He was a kind man, and he deserved my respect, but we had always retained a certain distance of intimacy due to our work relationship. I wasn’t the type of woman who would sleep with my boss, so I never pursued anything beyond amiable social interaction. Now that I was outside of those social constraints, however self-imposed they may have been, I had to reconsider my position.
The way he walked ahead into the darkness seemed admirable. He led with his shoulders held straight, and his head tucked downward into the future. The graceful way he managed to move his formidable frame was also bewildering. Someone with so many muscles didn’t usually move with such innate natural grace. Now that I thought about it, I had never really seen Sol express himself with any kind of gross inability.
