The Day Death Almost Found Me

25th Day of Ojo Didi in the Fourth Month of Snow’s Fall

4380 A.G.G. (253 Years Ago)

The Township of Euuil Village, North of the Great Desert

The Continent of Alphava

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Samahdemn

It didn’t take long after leaving the Rassani Blue for J and I to catch up with Nanci.

The snow had started falling again since we’d left the underground, obscuring our vision slightly. A small annoyance for us, but also an advantage. If we had any trouble seeing her, then she’d have the same trouble seeing us.

We followed our quarry at a comfortable distance for only a few blocks before turning the chase over to Waimund, who’d observed us leaving the eatery as was expected and nonchalantly intercepted our trail; continuing to follow her as we split off into wildly different directions. Working our way back around to intercept him and take over again at different intervals. At which point, he’d do the same.

Rinse, lather, repeat.

We were well into our third go-around and J and I had come back together, walking in tandem, by the time I’d started my sad diatribe.

“You were right, you know.”

“About what?” J asked in confusion.

“I should’ve just left it alone. I shouldn’t have gone up to Ñä’.”

“Ah. Don’t worry about that. Some mistakes we just have to make. Besides, I was going to spare you the ‘I told you so’.”

Silence…

“She’s engaged, J.”

“What?! Ñä’? Engaged? Really?”

I nodded; my head becoming so heavy with the slow onset of depression that followed that I struggled not to simply let it hang. But I could still do little to lift my eyes from the ground.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“I didn’t know when I said that-”

“J, I said don’t worry about it.”

“Sure. Consider it dropped then.”

A few steps later he spoke up again. “I just can’t imagine it. Her getting married. I thought she didn’t care for any of the sunset nobles under the mountain.”

“She doesn’t. He’s not eluvian.”

I could practically feel J squinting at me. “Then who is he?”

It’s not me, so why should I care? I thought jealously. “No idea. Damn! What else should I have expected? A more beautiful woman I’ve never known.”

“Not to mention smart. Sophisticated. And regal.” Jeruian added.

“How long did I really expect her to be single?” I mused.

“She’s a woman who can get a man’s blood pumping, no doubt.”

I looked up from the muddy snow at Nanci. She appeared to have been distracted while maneuvering slowly through the light crowd on the sidewalks; concentrating on only Goddess-knows-what. I could only assume that whatever happened in that cubby, it was weighing on her. But regardless of what may or may not have been on her mind, she most assuredly wasn’t in a hurry over it.

Just as in her photos, she wasn’t looking down as much as she should have been. She was avoiding eye contact with the dark faces that passed her by; but not out of anxiety as far as I could tell. My Amalgamate was running full environmental scans as we moved, as was my practice when I could get away with it. I was taking everything in. And it was telling me that there was nothing about her body language or outward chemistry that read as fear.

If anything, it was more caution. But caution of what I couldn’t figure.

She didn’t go out of her way to give the dark-skinned people about her a wide birth or keep herself wrapped up tightly with her arms for fear of bumping into someone accidently. All of which should have been subconsciously par the course for someone of her birth.

What is it about this woman?

But distractions are distractions. And irrespective of what had her mind tied up, it was good news for us as trackers. As long as she stayed preoccupied, she wouldn’t focus on us. And her whiteness made it easier for us to pick her out of the people on the sidewalk from a distance.

I found myself feeling grateful that we weren’t in a larger city; the crowds were always horrendous and all of the escaping steam and exhaust everywhere make it a nightmare for work like this. However, on the flip side of that coin, it does make blending easier. In this case, we were stuck doing the best possible job we could to meld with the sparse crowd as we worked our way towards Nanci. Hoping to be able to scoop her up and spirit her off someplace private.

We were starting to approach the outer limits of the town and the already sparce crowd was growing positively thin. As we crossed paths with Ray again for another handoff, we decided that we needed to corner Further before she got to a point where we could no longer follow her without getting spotted.

Another few blocks, and we’d take our chances.

Ray stayed on Further’s tail as J and I split off up an ascending alleyway that ran perpendicular to a higher elevation where it would intersect some parallel pathways we could use to follow Ray’s progress from above.

“You should give that a rest. Someone is bound to look in your face and actually pay attention.”

I gave J a sideways glance. I knew what he was talking about. “I’ll lose our active read of the environment if I kill the feed to my Amalgamate. Someone could blindside us.”

“And if you scare the hell out of everyone around us and draw attention, it won’t matter. We’re good. Loose it.”

All of the information I was being fed quieted down a bit at a time until my vision became emblematic of any other human. “Better?”

“Much. It’s always a bit strange to see your eyes glossed over in green info.”

“…Jeruian?” I asked after a few moments.

“Yes?”

“Speaking of strange eyes, that reminds me. I need to run something by you. It’s about that vampiri I saw. And you know more about the adzæ than me.”

One of Jeruian’s eyes perked up in interest. “A little maybe. You’ve always been a quick study after all.” He paused, possibly wondering where the statement was going. “What’s on your mind?”

“The one in the lounge was…different from the one’s we’ve encountered before.”

“Different how?”

“The whites of her eyes weren’t blood darkened.”

“That’s easy then. Whatever you saw, it wasn’t an adzæ.”

“Please J. This isn’t amateur hour. I know what I saw.”

Jeruian seemed to ponder what I was telling him for a moment. “The other identifiers?”

“All there.”

“Okay. Fine. Let’s assume for a moment that you did in fact see some new variant of the vampiri disease. Was it male or female?”

“A woman. Dark skin, short hair.”

“Swalii?”

“Maybe. She more likely could have been Dwalli.”

“You sure? I don’t remember seeing anyone fitting that description in the lounge. Or in the pub above.”

So I’m not the only one who missed her at first. A thought that lent to me a modicum of comfort in my abilities. “I’m certain. For a minute I thought I was loosing my mind. But if you didn’t catch her either, then there must have been something more to it.”

“Or she was just sitting in a particularly dark corner.”

“Perhaps.”

“Well, I know you felt pretty solid about this mystery woman being a possible issue. But apparently, she wasn’t a problem since we didn’t find ourselves in a scrap with her. Before that machine in you stopped telling you what’s going on, did you see any tells of her following us?

“No.”

“Still think she could become problematic?”

I felt my eyes involuntarily look up and to the left briefly before I shook my head. “I don’t think so.”

“Good. I’m not looking for that kind of trouble today.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

“Hmm. Well, if this new adzæ of yours does end up being problematic at some point, we’ll no doubt be seeing a contract float around. But right now, that sounds like a problem for tomorrow. I’ll probably look into doing a bit of research on that one when this is all over.”

“Good idea.” I concurred. “Those cold-skins always end up being the worst kind of trouble.”

An audible exasperated sigh escaped his lips; almost as if ages of pent-up frustration was rising up from his very core. “I just don’t understand you.”

I cut my eyes sideways questionably at him. “Excuse?”

“How can you be so callus towards other races all of the time and still try to be so close with them?”

“What in the name of Brǔmal are you on about?”

“You call Balani pale skins, yet you’re sharing your bed with one. You say dog ear and mutt without thought, yet you’ve befriended more than one Ma’Jong. And now the adzæ are cold-skins? On and on. You’re definitely not as bad about it as you used to be. I’ll give you that. But damn if the bigot in you doesn’t always finds a way to show its head. If not in your words, then in your actions. And if I’m being honest with you, I’m kind of sick of it.”

I started to defend myself, but there was really no point to it. He was right. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that I was…being that way; that I was getting under your skin so much. I don’t mean to. I’m trying to be better. The Goddess isn’t done working on me yet.”

“I’m sure that’s a great comfort to Jannett when you call her a gump while you’re between her legs.”

His words couldn’t have hit me any harder had he made them a physical object and struck me with them.

“Where in Åmbrosįå’s name is all of this coming from?! Why care about how I refer to the lesser races? Why do you care about how I talk about vampiri? When did you start defending them? Half of our job has been dedicated to killing the worst of them. Why. Do. You. Care?”

“Not every vampiri is…” He shook his head and waved his hand dismissively. “Forget it. I’m sorry. Just…forget it. For better or worse, you are what you are and you can’t help it. That was-”

“-No.” I said as I tried to backtrack my ferociousness. I shouldn’t have snapped at my friend. “You’re right. It’s true. You’re not being unfair. I only know how to be the worst version of myself, not the best. But I am trying. I didn’t mean to offend you. I wasn’t aware that you were so sensitive to…all of that. You’ve never said anything before. Had I known-”

“-Like I said, forget it.”

And I tried to do just that. But after just a few short moments of silence between us, Jeruian, apparently deciding that enough hadn’t actually been said on the subject after all, confided a part of his past in me before the subject faded away into obscurity.

“I used to be bonded to one, you know. An adzæ.”

The confession was so sudden that I nearly stumbled over a snow-covered fire hydrant in surprise. We’d been working together for years and I thought I knew this man. How was this just now surfacing?

“When was this?”

“Years ago. Long before I knew you. You can ask Waimund. He knew her.”

“What?!”

Exciting and strange was this news from the dark corners of my friend’s life. A thousand and one questions floated through my head. The only thing I could bring myself to clearly think was:

How can you sleep with something that you hunt for a living?

“Were you a part of one of those communes?” I asked.

He laughed at the suggestion. “Have you ever met me? No. I was never a familiar or a donor. Never had the desire. We met aside from all of that. Aside from my job as a munificence. We were just, people.”

“What uh…what race was she, if you don’t mind my asking?”

His reluctance to answer my question was so strong that it seemed to almost become a tangible force. I could nearly feel the weight of it. No doubt he was worried how I’d react. But he fought the urge to keep silent; to trust me with it.

“She was human. Malani. The Ŝpranzas were her adzæ family.”

It was little wonder why he didn’t care for the way I talked about the adzæ.

“Really? A vagabond?”

He rolled his eyes with exhaustion.

“I’m…I’m sorry. That didn’t come out the way I meant it. What I meant-”

“Don’t bother Sam. You’re not alone in that frame of thought. Regardless of the fact that a nomadic life shouldn’t be synonymous with dirty, useless or thievery.

“But yeah. She was one of the wandering clans; the peripatetic people. Her name was Anjali. She was raven haired. Brown skinned. Her eyes were…amazing; black as pitch, highlighted by a sea green that would shine through when she was excited due to her…condition. She was the sweetest woman I’ve ever known. Sweet in a way that you’d only read about.” He looked at me mischievously. “Until she bore her fangs.”

“Well damn.” I exclaimed. “Just…damn. I had no idea. What was…what was that even like?”

“You should throw out the bias you’ve acquired from your years of hunting my misguided friend.” J stated in a non-chastising way. “They aren’t nearly as bad as you’d think, nor are they as evil as some more heavily religious people would have you believe. And being with one willingly isn’t always a sign of bewitchment or dæmönic influence.

“But more to your point, it’s very…different. Maybe even a bit abnormal as far as most would be concerned. And frightening to all Brŭmal; to look upon one of them when they’re in the height of their hunger with their glowing eyes, sharpened teeth and elongated claws, knowing that you’re the one they want.

“But it was also pleasurable. Even addicting once I got used to it. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to fully explain what it was like to be…” He seemed to be searching very carefully for his words. “…taken by one of them. What it’s like to feel them pulling the blood from you. I don’t even think it’s possible. To describe what it’s like to crave for someone to bleed you; to take all that you are. There were days that I almost begged for it.”

He put his hand on my shoulder in a brotherly way before continuing on.

“You’re not the only one of us who wishes that they could change the past; have another chance to salvage something long gone. I don’t always say so, but I understand the love you have for Ñä’. I truly do. But you have to learn to move on. You can’t stay tied to the past like you are. We aren’t meant to go back, only forwards. We’re meant to learn, not to wallow.”

My thoughts were drawn instantly to a group of scars that covered an area about his right shoulder. Scars that I’d seen numerous times but never had I ever thought to ask him about them. Just as he’d never probed me about my numerous physical imperfections.

A man’s past is his own, after all.

However, I’d just assumed that they were to be attributed to a beast hunt gone horribly wrong. Maybe some creature who’d sunk their teeth into him in an attempt to escape or the like. But now I realized they were something else entirely.

“Is that how you got those shoulder scars?”

My mouth spoke before my brain had the chance to warn it to shut up. I shouldn’t have asked it. But it was out in the open now. And thankfully, Jeruian had fallen full on into a sharing mood. He continued to bear this part of his soul as he nodded somberly after a moment of contemplation. Though he didn’t nod shyly out of embarrassment, I think. Every part of him read that he loved this Anjali…this adzæ. I think he pined for her in that moment; wanted to have her back…wherever she was.

“Yes.” He answered. “It was her favorite spot to…latch onto.” He gestured with his hand; a multi-fingered claw shape to represent her multiple sharp teeth.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked that. I was just curious.”

He waved his mocha coloured hand at me. “No need.” He sighed deeply. “It’s long since been over. I’m sharing this with you because I need you to understand something. That it’s time for you to start thinking higher. The folks that you constantly shit on are people who mean something to others. They’re someone’s mother, father, sister, brother…someone’s lover…”

He paused.

“It’s time that you started looking at people as people. Because if you can’t, then I’m not sure how much longer this working relationship between us is going to last. Let alone the friendship we’ve developed. The man that you are is not the type of man I want to continue to be around. I don’t have the energy for it.”

I nodded in silence.

“I promise to you that I’ll try.”

“I hope you do.”

“One last thing, if it’s ok?”

“Yes?”

“I’m a bit surprised you weren’t turned.”

“Well, as you can see, I wasn’t. You know better than most that you don’t become one simply by being fed on. No matter how long it goes on. Being turned is a…deliberate process. They must offer and you have to want it.”

“I know that. I mean, you were never tempted to ask? Tempted to be turned?”

Jeruian was an abbey man through and through as I’ve said before. At least, he was from what I had known of him. But this left questions. This wasn’t the type of tryst that such a man would normally find himself in the middle of. But, then again, Jeruian hadn’t always been abbey-going. Maybe this was the moment all of that changed for him.

“Every time her teeth touched my skin. Sometimes, I still am.”

It was the sincerest, and the saddest thing I’d ever heard him say. I never did pursue the matter any further. It was too personal. And it obviously still pained him. It was another piece of the puzzle that was my friend.

“I do not court death. But gladly welcome it, if it shadows your company.”

Faintly hearing Jeruian recite those words under his breath was a shock. Never in my life would I have thought to hear such a mantra escape the lips of a religious man who hunted adzæ progeny for a living. But I pretended not to have heard it.

“I think,” I stated in a moment of shared understanding, “that maybe I will tell you the story of what happened between Ñä’ and I under the mountain one day.” My eyes fell to the snow-covered path. “I’ve a feeling that you’d understand, and that she no longer minds.”

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He nodded. “I look forward to that conversation.

“Anyway, enough about us, back to the now.” he said as he cleared his throat and shook off his old memories. “Any other questions? About this ‘new’ adzæ you saw, I mean?”

The mystery adzæ’s eyes flashed in my mind again; their haunting white glow.

“Her eyes could help us to at least pinpoint an origin for her strain of the virus. Are you familiar with the familial colours? I never bothered to look deeply into them. Don’t really need to know who’s house a feral adzæ is tied to in order to put a silver slug through it’s skull after all.”

He seemed to be surprised by the question, as his neck jerked in response. But he thought about it and answered anyway. “No. Not really. I know that House RæƔŭir’s familial colour is green, hence Anjali’s eyes. And everybody knows that red is the colour of House Xinana.”

“As to be expected of the largest and most wide spread House in the vampiri nation.”

“But that’s about it.

“Really?”

“Yep. No more. We’ve run across a few with orange eyes in the days before you joined us, but I’ll be darned if I know what House they were tied to. The night children aren’t very forthcoming at the best of times. Good luck getting the kings and queens of the Houses to openly claim the shame and embarrassment of a tie to a feral. And few are the hopeful mortal that’s willing to share almost anything about them that’s not already common knowledge. They fear sinking their chances of acceptance by whichever family they’re courting too much.”

“White? Maybe?”

“White? No. Never heard of such a thing. But it’s not like I’ve ever had a working familiarity with every adzæ family. Even when I was with Anjali, I only knew a few of the adzæ in hers. And none save for one or two outside of that. She didn’t show me about much. In truth, relationships between vampiri and non-turned is a bit of a taboo amongst them.

He thought hard for a moment. “I feel like I heard somewhere that the families under House Bæ-Aŭtk once had white eyes. Maybe before the Adzæian War? But that’s all conjecture for the most part. The adzæ themselves aren’t even all that knowledgeable about the more archaic aspects of their history. Not many records. I’d have to see if I can dig into-”

“-Don’t trouble yourself.” I interjected. “Never mind. We’ll put a pin in that.” My thoughts shifted to her hair; the way it appeared to start going white. “Have you ever known their hair to shift in colour? With their mood maybe?”

“What?” He scoffed. “No. That’s a new one on me. Not on a whim anyway.” He seemed to contemplate the question for a moment further. “It grays slightly if they’re blood-starved. You know, kind of like a sign of extreme stress or bodily fatigue. They also tend to loose some of the colour in their complexion. But they’d never allow themselves to go without feeding that long of their own volition. It’s why the ferals mostly look the way they do. But if one were blood starved, once they fed, their colour would even back out. And I don’t think I ever remember seeing Anjali in such a state. I provided for her needs, after all.”

“Hmm.” Maybe it had just been a trick of the light.

“This mystery adzæ-like of yours really has you wound up.”

“Well, it’s just that I thought I saw-”

I noticed Nanci suddenly stop below us. We’d gotten lost in our conversation and very nearly passed her by. She looked up to get her bearings and seemed to spy Ray following from behind. Whether she recognized what was going on or not, I didn’t immediately know. But almost instantly, she turned about, feinting as if she had forgotten something or missed a corner somewhere, and she started to come at Ray head on. I worried that she may have been of a mind to try and attack him right there on the street given the increased pace and aggression in her step, but she instead passed him by smoothly without a second look.

It was admittedly a wild guess at the time, but we both swore that we thought we could see a hint of surprise in her body language when she first looked up; something about the way she moved.

After waiting a handful of seconds, Ray turned about to follow her. J and I followed suit shortly thereafter. Like him, we kept a good distance between us and her; never breaking our stride as we three worked our way back towards each other.

“You saw that too, right? I think Ray’s just been made.” Jeruian stated. “We might need to make the jump right now.”

“I think you might be right. But it’s hard to tell. She’s not really making a run for it.”

“How’d she recognize him?”

“I warned you that we may have worn out our welcome J. We’ve been here too long. Pressed too many people. Word might’ve started to spread.”

“This feels foul. You know what I mean?”

“Trap?” I asked.

“Maybe. I mean, if she did recognize him, then she’s way too calm about it. And if that’s the case, she likely knows about us too. Where’s she leading us?”

“If it is a trap, there’s nothing to be done for it. We can’t afford to let her go. Right?”

“Your job, your call Samahdemn.”

It was, as the easterners like to say, a no-brainer. “Turn back and lose our only lead on Claire? When we’re so close? Not to mention the coin and time we’ve already invested. Nah. Trap or no trap, we go.”

“I just wanted to see where your head was at Sam.”

“You know where my head is at Jeruian…getting paid.”

“Good.” Jeruian replied.

We picked up our pace a bit in order to run into Waimund at our previous hand-off location and not miss him in passing. And our timing couldn’t have been better as we nearly tripped over him as we emerged from the inclined alleyway.

“Ray,” Jeruian greeted mockingly, “it would seem as though you spooked her a bit.”

“No shit smart ass. This isn’t my first fucking rodeo. You guys thinking of falling back?”

Silence.

I could see him glancing at us out of his peripheral as he made the obvious statement- “I just want to clarify…you two know this smells like a fucking trap, right? And we’re still a go?”

“That’s why we’re going to do the snatch-and-grab right now.” I informed Ray. “I don’t see any other option.”

“Risky. I like it. I damn sure didn’t feel like losing out on our bounty.”

As much as the guys were on board for a bit of a scrap, there was little question that this was bad business. Chasing human quarry may not have been my forte, but it didn’t take a genius to figure that you never, never, wanted to confront a mark in the midst of the public. It was nearly impossible to predict what someone would do out of fear, or how the people around you would react.

“Be careful.” Jeruian replied to Waimund’s comment. “Sam was right earlier. This girl feels wrong.”

“Don’t go getting sand in your fucking pussy. I think we can handle one little girl.”

“Yeah.” Jeruian replied, unamused. “A word Ray; unnecessary.”

I laughed. “Easy gentlemen. Eyes on the prize.”

“And gun at the ready.” Jeruian said cautiously. “Sam’s pretty sure he saw an adzæ in the lounge.”

“Fuck me! A problem?”

J shrugged. Ray looked at me, and I mirrored the sentiment.

“You have work ammo, right?” I asked.

“Not on me! In the bitch, sure. But that’s in the bike. Just basic hurt bringers in my pistol. I don’t make a habit of bringing silver on a fucking bounty.” Waimund stated.

“I figured. But it didn’t hurt to ask.”

“Fuck it then. We’ll deal with it if something comes of it.” Waimund concluded.

“Agreed.” I responded.

“Ok. Here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to move ahead of her. Ray, after I make the pass, you move in and grab hold of her from behind. Then I’ll grab her from the front and we’ll pull her aside. Sam, you’re on crowd control.”

Before we could agree to the plan and act, Nanci paused again, looked about, stared directly at us, and quickly cut down between buildings.

“Well, that’s that.” J commented cynically.

“We’re definitely up the proverbial creek.” I exclaimed.

“I guess that throws subtlety out the fucking window.” Ray added.

Breaking into a run, we chased the woman between several small buildings and through numerous bends and turns before cornering her near a dead end which housed a number of dumpsters and sludge pipes for neighboring businesses.

J and Ray dropped to a stride and stopped short to cover the alley entrance as I continued to move forward slowly in an attempt to calm Nanci and talk to her. I scanned the rooftops nervously as I approached her in the most unthreatening manner I could manage given the circumstances.

Both Jeruian and Waimund had pulled out their wheel guns behind me at this point. J using his to draw down on the girl, while Ray turned about in order to cover my and Jeruian’s back; ready to chase off any who came our way.

The trap that we surmised to be waiting for us was seeming more and more likely. I could feel something in those first few minutes of studying her. Something almost tangible; something that was building. A tingle across the surface of my skin that I should’ve recognized sooner. But it was almost completely lost on me for the heat of the moment.

Standing close to her now, I realized that she was even smaller than she appeared in the surveillance pictures or from a distance. She was like a young girl wearing her parent’s clothes as she stood there cowering in her heavy coat.

“We need you to calm down. I promise, we’re not here to hurt you.”

She scanned me thoroughly with her green gaze, full of mistrust, as she crossed her arms timidly in front of her. As if to block the prying view of a pervert who were undressing her with his eyes. She looked as if she might cry from fear. Gone was the air of an independent woman. Present was the image of a scared child.

Maybe I misread her.

“I’s warnin’ you. Don’t dare touch me! You hear? I’s a free woman. You aint’ got no reason to be houndin’ me!”

There was venom in that soft little voice. And it occurred to me that she might actually put up a fight. I’d have to be more cautious. Move more slowly.

After all, three dark skinned men with guns chasing a lone fair skinned girl into an alley didn’t exactly bode well for the girl in question. It was no mystery that she mistook us for slavers.

“Look, we’re not in the skin trade. We know you’ve got papers and that you're legal.” I hazarded a glance behind me to see that Jeruian still had his pistol pointed at her, just as I surmised he had. “I know how this looks, but we’re not trying to hurt you. We just have to protect ourselves.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Protect from what? What gun I got?”

I took another step forward. “We don’t know. How about you tell us? Do you have one? Is anyone else coming?”

“Back!” she yelled. “Who the fuck is you?! I sees you tryn’ to follow me. Tryn’ to take me.”

“We weren’t trying to snatch you off of the street. Not exactly. Not how you’re thinking.” I exclaimed as I extended my arm slowly to the left. This is Jeruian.” I extended my opposing arm in the opposite direction. “And this is Waimund. My name is Samahdemn. My friends and I-”

“-Be skiptracers.” She bluntly stated.

“She’s got us dead to rights.” Jeruian commented to Waimund. “Who put you onto us? How did you know who we were?”

“I aint’ know. Just felt like you was trying to get me is all.”

“Bull shit.” Waimund called over his shoulder. “She’s lying. She knew us.”

“Why’d you run?” Jeruian asked forcefully.

“Thought you was tryn' to take me to chains. Wouldn't be the first time it happen. Got family who had their paper ripped up in they face. Ended in chains anyhow. Do it really matter to ya’ll?” she asked. “Won’t change nothin’.”

Then there it was again. That feeling…an energy surrounding me. Hairs standing up on my arms. I pay attention to it this time. I listen to it. I sniff the air and I glance about for the briefest of moments. It sings to me like heka, but it’s…off. Warped. Wrong. Nobody was around us and nothing about this woman had previously led us to believe or even speculate as to any affinity for heka on her part. I think on these things in silence. Maybe it’s just my nerves?

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

“If you know that we’re working for the bounty hunters,” I continued aloud, “then you know that we won’t do anything to you. In fact, you’re not who we actually care about. We just want to ask you a couple of questions about the person we do want.”

“Ask someone else. Leave me be.” She was antsy. Her eyes jumping from one of us to the other. I could almost feel the run she wanted to go for.

I braced my feet slightly, putting myself in position for a grab if she tried to run past me. “Let’s start again. Simply. Okay? Nanci, we just need to talk to you about a woman named Katelyn Claire. Alright?”

“Fuck this!” She blurted as she darted in my general direction.

As I reached to my left and grabbed her shoulder to keep her from running past me, I suddenly noticed a heavy chain link bracelet that fell to her wrist from its hiding place under her sleeve.

A slave bracelet. This woman was somebody’s property. Her papers had to have been forged. Our information had been wrong.

Her head snapped to me sternly as soon as she felt my touch and she stopped dead in her tracks. And in that instant, I failed to see any further fear in her eyes. Her entire countenance had changed yet again. Back was the woman I’d seen in the photos and in the lounge. Back was the all-too-in-control balani; and she was going to attack. We’d been duped, and I’d been careless.

All at once, I realized what it was I’d been feeling in the air; that sensation of someone “walking over my grave.”

She’d been a Magi after all.

I could suddenly taste it in the air. The copper. I’d been too distracted since the lounge. I wasn’t focused enough.

With impressive speed, she turned towards me and I felt a palmed hand strike my face before I could even register its movement; somehow resulting in my contact lens falling loose. By the time I realized what was happening, she’d already palmed my wrist and turned my pinky finger skywards. Pressing forward with her body weight on my now wrapped up arm, she used the pressure to quickly bring me to the ground. I could be wrong, but it felt as if she paused for a moment. Maybe it was the site of my eye giving her momentary pause. Or maybe she was trying to see where by two colleagues were. But it didn’t last long as her knee impacted with my nose just as I heard gunshots crack by past my head. As I fell away, she stumbled backward in the opposite direction.

One of the shots I heard had apparently hit her.

Good job J.

As my vision reflexively filled once again with tactical information, I saw her arm rising. And a dual toned pistol came into my view. Nine millimeter compact. An illegal semi-automatic. A thin chain, twisted and covered in rust, running from it to the inside of her coat. Floating about it were ethereal characters in magickal-speak. She was going to shoot one of us. And Waimund was too busy repositioning himself behind a nearby dumpster to cover him.

My Amalgamate had already worked out its best predictions for the trajectory of the woman’s shots. But, it was a fruitless exercise. I ignored the mental guesstimations that it fed me. This girl was an Askew. And physics meant very little. I knew for certain only that she wanted to kill us. And unless I acted, she’d do just that. So I mustered every ounce of urgency I had, ignoring the throbbing of my nose, and reached for her weapon as soon as I was back within reach of her.

But instead of firing at them, she noticed me, readjusted her aim at the last moment and pulled the trigger. The heka of the shot guided the bullet into my palm and my body nearly crumpled in a splash of pain as the round exploded from the back of my hand and impacted a nearby wall.

Instinctively, I threw my head forward with the whole of my body weight behind it and impacted her skull.

I could hear screaming from the sidewalk and the surrounding buildings as people reacted to the sounds of gunfire. But I was too into in the fight to care.

I could see an oozing bullet hole in the left shoulder of her coat where she was hit when she had me wrapped up; she was hurt. And I was too close to her now for her heka to help her against me. I was in a very advantageous position.

It was time to seize the initiative.

I charged her but was stopped when her palm suddenly struck my already injured nose. If it wasn’t broken before, it was definitely broken now. Her pistol swung back towards me, but I managed to deflect it with my good hand just as it went off by my head.

“I don’t have a shot! Get the fuck away from her!”

Waimund’s cry sounded muted in my now nearly deafened ear. All I could hear was ringing.

My Amalgamate was spitting out a thousand calculations for the close quarters fight but my equilibrium was shot. Things were moving so fast, I could barely keep up. Not only that, but I was forced to keep the struggle close and tight, so my more comfortable dance-like style of fighting wasn’t an option. Not enough room to freely maneuver and it was far too free flowing and lacking in locks, holds and throws. No oppositional body control. Not that it mattered much. With blood blurring my vision and my hand destroyed, fighting in the style I was most accustomed to would have been less than ideal anyway.

Traditional Knightly combat it is then.

I slipped to one side as the gun went off a third time, its round missing me by inches. And I deflected two more of her shots in rapid succession as I attempted to square back up with her.

“Stay down!” I yelled to my friends over the commotion. “It’s the Aske-”

That’s when the shin pain came in a sharp stab as she kicked me with all of her might. Its intensity blinded me for a fraction of a second as I involuntarily started to fall to my left. Within that instant, her muzzle was pointed squarely at my face; her finger depressing the trigger. I instinctively grabbed the bottom of her wrist with an inverted grip and pushed up as the gun went off. Planting my feet, I guided her gun hand over my head in a wide arch. The pistol was now upside down and pointed downward to my side and I heard it go off again as she pulled the trigger in an attempt to hit my leg. Fortunately, it didn’t work out for her.

I need to break this bitch’s arm right now! I thought as I stepped briskly to one side, placed the wrist of my injured hand against her elbow and manipulated her arm in such a way that she found herself bent over beside me.

But just before I could follow through with the elbow break, she deftly executed some quick footwork and grabbed my wounded hand. I was so stunned by the pain that I couldn’t even begin to say how my elbow ended up locked out instead of hers. Before I knew it, I found myself in the unfavorable position of being on my knees, with my face on the ground and my arm helplessly in her hand; our situations utterly reversed.

It’s impossible for me to adequately explain what it feels like to have a joint broken. But needless to say, as she brought down her free elbow to break mine, I experienced a new type of pain.

In spite of all this, I must say that I was thoroughly impressed by her level of skill.

As she pulled me back up to my knees by the limp appendage, she pointed her pistol at me and pulled the trigger. The bullet she released impacted my chest at nearly point blank range. As I fell backwards the world became as a blur. I couldn’t track anything. It was all a haze. Scrounging up the remainder of my wherewithal, I pulled my Knight’s arm and drew almost blindly on the girl; firing four shots in her general direction and missing every one as she fled the way she came.

I clumsily gave chase as promptly as I could through my exhaustion and pain.

Your gun’s empty now girl. Your ass is mine!

Just as the thought crossed my mind, I glanced down to see an empty clip sticking up out of the snow. I looked up in surprise only to see her quickly spin and fire twice in my direction from her fresh reload. I instinctively listened to my Amalgamate and adjusted myself to dodge the first bullet. Weather by fortune or design, it was a straight shot. But as the round passed me by, the second was already curving towards me and I lacked the speed or balance to adjust to its unnatural course. And as the bullet spun my body around to the ground, she continued her escape out and around a corner through a maze of side alleyways.

----------

“Sam, you ok over there?”

Ray’s voice was distant. Both my ears were ringing. I could feel myself being shook by the shoulders. “Fucking talk to me!”

My face hurt too much to want to speak. But the cold snow that melted against my skin felt nice over the heat of the pain.

“Sam?!”

As the world slowly came into focus, I could see that my vision had returned to normal; the tactical overlay was gone.

For all the good it did me. I thought as I began to realize that my arm was feeling numb. I can’t feel my hand. This is going to suck when the adrenaline wears off.

“Sam! Talk to me you little shit! Tell me something!”

“I’ve been hit Ray.” I said that far too calmly. This isn’t good…

My mind was drifting everywhere.

“I…I think I’m down.”

Why I said that, I’ve no idea.

The slushy ground beneath me was warm and sticky to the touch. I’m probably spewing blood all over the place.

I know now that she’d severed an artery, but at the time, I had no idea how much trouble I was really in. At least my vest stopped that other bullet. It did its job. Best gold sterling I’ve ever spent.

I pushed the sickening taste of bile back down in my throat. My chest was sore, and it got harder and harder to breath as time passed me by. One of my ribs was definitely broken. Others were probably fractured or bruised from the shot I took to the torso. And I felt as though I might bleed out from the rounds that had torn through my arm and hand, but still-

Best gold sterling I’ve ever spent.

I could feel myself drifting into delirium. Never a good sign. Sounds were becoming more muted and I was becoming cold in spite of my nature and my relatively warm clothing. I thought I could hear J’s feet shuffling heavily in the snow. Erratic breathing and voices saying something about being hurt. Talk of magisters, and Waimund echoing how he was bleeding. He was swearing more than usual. And that’s saying something.

“You two…get help!”

Was that J’s voice? It’s so hard to tell. Who was he yelling at?

I wanted to move my head; to shift my gaze from the sky. But my head wasn’t listening to me anymore. I heard some arguing back and forth, but lacked the motivation to listen very closely.

My Amalgamate couldn’t do anything for me. I was losing blood faster than it could stabilize me. I needed surgery. Where’s a doctor when you need one?

“We need…help here! Get us to a doctor!”

Now that was definitely Jeruian. He’s reading my mind. He was getting louder. But I still couldn’t tell who he was yelling at.

“There is no time for that. Besides, if we did, it would draw attention from eyes outside of Alphava. Attention from The Link. Maybe even from as far off as Hesijua. And I know that is attention you three do not want. We have to take him. And we have to do it now.”

Who’s that? They sounded serious. Have to take who? Take me? Where does he want to take me? Who’s “we”? They’re not taking me anywhere. As if I were in any position to fight them; whoever they were.

“What are you talking about? Wha…what the fuck?! What in the fuck are you two? What in the fuck is going on with your eyes?!”

That’s right Ray. Ask him the tough questions. Wait a minute…what is going on with his eyes? What do they look like? “What do his eyes look like?!”

There was no answer to my question. But I think that I laughed aloud from my place on the ever moistening ground at the unfunny commentary in my head. I’ll just nap here while you get the answers.

“He is dying.”

“You will be too if you try to fucking touch him without giving us answers.”

I knew that tone of voice. Waimund most likely had his gun aimed right between the mystery man’s eyes. I’d listen to him if I were you. Ray’s wound up pretty tightly right now.

“Fruitless. You are both injured, and in no condition to fight. But, if you choose to continue…”

The sound of a gunshot. The familiar ping and zip of a ricochet. Did Ray shoot him?

“Next one won’t be a warning shot. And I promise you, I’m really good with this.”

“I’ve no doubt, for all the good it’ll do you.” challenged a female voice from nearby.

She must be with him. Sounds pretty. “Must be my lucky day.” I said aloud with a guttural chuckle.

“Look, this is not how I want this to go.” said the deep voiced mystery man. “We are trying to help you. I truly do not want to fight you or your friend. I know you two are good and loyal people. But Samahdemn is too important for us to allow him to die here.”

“How…how do you know his name?”

Yeah J. How does he know my name?

“I know all of you, Jeruian Bel. Waimund Richards-”

“-And Samahdemn Astaroth.” the female voice added.

That lady knows our names. Must be a fan of our work. I remember thinking as the world started to spin. Boy she must be disappointed right now.

“I will be more than happy to explain it all to you, in due time. But not now. This is not a debate, and I am not giving you a choice. So either drop your weapons, or my companion will be forced to do something that I do not wish her to do; to separate you from the chains of mortality. In two minutes, your friend will be beyond even my companion’s help, and then he will go to meet the All-Mother. And believe me when I tell you, that will be a grave tragedy for all of us.”

Who talks like this?

“Decide!”

My vision was becoming hazy again and I could feel exhaustion weighing down on me. Everyone’s so serious…and I’m so sleepy. I’ll just close my eyes for a minute and get back to all of this craziness later.

“Fine! Fucking fine! Do whatever it is you’re going to do. But if you do anything to hurt him-”

“Yes. I’m sure you’d try.” the female voice said defensively in response to Waimund’s threats.

After what felt like an eternity, the voice kneeled over me. Black eyes with vibrant hazel orbs that seemed to pass for her pupils looked at me with desperation and sadness. “This isn’t going to work. Jeruian and Waimund I can help easy enough. But not Samahdemn. Not on any basic level. He’s too far gone.”

“That is not what I want to hear from you Mē’Cållįå. Give me a solution, not a problem.” the overly structured voice ordered.

She paused and looked me over again. Then she looked back up at the mystery man who still hadn’t entered my skyward view. “I’ll have to cross over.”

The silence that hung heavy in the air behind her words told me that, whatever ‘crossing over’ meant, it wasn’t something that my unknown savior wanted to hear, let alone willingly allow to happen.

“Look, you wanted a solution, there it is. Forget about Tįlåtħ and her ilk.” she said forcefully. “She doesn’t matter anymore. Not right now. Either we’re going to save his life, or we’re not. If he’s as important as you say, then can we really afford to do nothing for fear of someone sensing our spirits or some mortal glimpsing our glory?”

“Fine. We do not have the time for anything else. Do it Mē’Cållįå. I will watch for any attracted Fallen.”

She nodded.

Fallen? Fallen what?

“Gentlemen,” the man said, “You are about to see my companion…well, for lack of a better word, shift. Or, change. It can be…a little traumatizing for your kind.”

Our kind?

“Just breath Samahdemn.” Said the she-elf with the hazel pupils. “Stay calm, and remember we’re here to help.”

Mē’Cållįå inhaled deeply. And as she exhaled, the air was suddenly sucked out of my lungs. I felt a sort of, pressure, in the atmosphere and a sudden breeze washed over my limp body with great force. She positioned her dark, blue tinted hands over me and I could almost instantly feel her heka washing over my skin; my eyes closing blissfully as I relaxed into it. Faster than I thought possible and more potent than I’d ever felt. Not even a circle of the most celebrated restoration masters from the Link could’ve produced a weave so complete and so perfect so quickly.

Opening my eyes to behold this woman again through the warm white glow of the healing air, I saw tell-tale glowing heka phrases weaving themselves about her arms and hands, almost as if her very appendages themselves were her focuses. And I could almost swear that behind this powerful Magi, I saw…wings. Massive, awe inspiring, vapor covered wings. I saw hair of living fire back dropped by flaming layered halos thick with magickal characters I didn’t recognize.

Beautiful.

Terrifying.

It was like glimpsing something that my failing mind couldn’t bring itself to grasp onto. Something I couldn’t quite understand. Something positively…Ǻngëlic.

Great. Now I’m seeing things. I must really be dying.

Who were these people?

Somewhere in the ever-growing distance to my ears, I swore that I thought I could hear Waimund sobbing. Asking for forgiveness for every sin he’d ever committed. Every sin he’d ever thought of committing. He was even praying for sins he hadn’t even committed yet. Saying that even in his moments of doubt, he never truly doubted them. That Brigid was right in asking them to help me. He was saying so much so quickly that it almost sounded like some sad erratic chant.

As my hearing all but faded, I could vaguely hear Jeruian saying over and over “I knew You were real…I knew You were real. Thank you Goddess…I always knew You were real…

Ever so faintly, I heard steps hastily moving towards me. Feet crunching on icy slush. But the soothing hekas of the lunar elf were lulling me into a deathly sleep. Then, into my vision, came a pair of eyes looking down on me compassionately. Luminescing purple pupils which, much like the elf’s, were almost marble like; surrounded by deeply black irises.

Breathtaking.

The last thing I remember going unbidden through my mind before everything went black, was a vision of cultivated lilies and clove. The feeling of my fingers combing through dense, decorated braids. Affectionate whispers under the moon’s light. Ñä’s beckoning eyes being cupped by wafting smoke. And a moment dripping with anticipation.

I wondered, sadly, if she was still thinking about me.

"My...Ñä’."

Then, against my will, darkness blanketed me up, and consumed me whole.