I hop off the stage, leaving the mic with Sky.
Let's just get this over with before people start trying to put a crown on my head…
Raising my voice, I call out to all the volunteers. “Alright, everyone sit down! I’m going to walk through and check who can be changed. Those that I pick, stand up and remain standing!”
Shifting my vision to see mana, I quickly walk through the rows and columns of soldiers, looking each of them over as I go.
“You, stand. You. You. You –“ I continue as I go through the crowd, looking each person over from head to toe and poking at my instincts to ask which ones that I can change. Surprisingly, not everyone that repels mana can apparently be changed. For those that come back as negative, I try to ask myself why it is that they can’t be.
Some of the answers come back a bit vague, others more clearly. For most, it is because they are too old. For some, they aren’t worthy. I have no idea what it means for them to be worthy, and my weird instincts don’t seem to be particularly arsed to bother explaining it. So, I ask some questions of the soldiers as they come to me, trying to figure it out.
“How old are you?”
“Thirty-three, ma’am.”
“You’ve ever eaten monster meat, soldier?”
“No ma’am! Uhm, should I?”
“Where did you get that scar soldier?”
“Mutated Raccoon, Ma’am. Tried to rip my throat out, but my squad killed it and pulled it off of me.”
Moving through the crowd, I keep asking one off question, choosing not to answer any follow-up questions ask in return. By the time that I have finished walking through, I have twenty-seven people standing and waiting at attention.
I return to the stage and Sky hands me the mic. Giving her a kiss, I ask her to return to her chair and reassure her that I will be alright.
“Ok… Looking over all of you, many of you hold the potential to be changed but are lacking in some way or another. Some are simply too old; some are just not worthy yet. I do not know the lives you have lived, nor the battles that you have fought. But my best guess is, that if you really want to become a Demon. You need to risk your life in battle. And I mean really risk it. Like being on the knifes edge of almost getting yourself killed, kind of risk… I apologize if this isn’t the answer that you want to hear, but I am still learning these things for myself. Still learning the rules that I now live by.”
I stop to take a breath and focus before continuing.
“Those that are standing. You have been found worthy. You have what is necessary. I look at you and see soldiers that have fought against the odds and survived, when by all rights you should be dead. Now, amongst you twenty-seven gathered here today. I ask you this.”
“Who will take the next step and shed their humanity? Who will it be that will become Demons today? I will not pick for you, nor will I be turning all of you today. I will only accept the ten volunteers that approach me of their own free will and volition. Now. Decide amongst yourselves.”
All of the standing soldiers move to talk with one another as a group. Eventually, after some talking, someone breaks from the group and approaches the stage, getting my attention. He calls out, “When you change someone, what happens if they are missing limbs or other part?”
I just point at Nathaniel and say, “You see that hunk of man meat over there? Before I turned him, he was missing half of his face and was covered in acid burns. He was missing an eye, an ear, and several pounds of flesh, meat, and nerves. Lungs burned and filling with blood. Burned down to the bone in some places. Practically a corpse. And literally on his final breaths. I hope that answers your question.”
He seems to happily accept my answer and turns to return to the discussing soldiers. But before he can, I remember something and speak into the mic really quick.
“Oh, uh, quick disclaimer. As part of the deal, I will make you beautiful, or cute, manly, womanly, sexy, if you prefer, whatever you want, but I’m not going to take it as far as I did with Nathaniel here…” I say, turning to look at him as he stands there awkwardly. Probably not used to being the center of attention.
“I sort of went overboard with making him look good… If I did that for every person I turned, I’m afraid that I might make the human race go extinct…”
With that said they get back to talking amongst themselves. Surprisingly, I get a few laughs and whistles from the audience. Quite a few women are still giving Nathaniel hungry eyes, so I decide that my decision is probably for the best.
Thank goodness, humanity is saved…
Nathaniel makes his way over to me and whispers, “Am really that good looking now? I know that people keep joking about it but…”
“Joking!? The hell? No, trust me. You're practical radiating sex appeal like a statue of a Greek God carved from uranium. Just look at the crowd. Half of them can’t rip their eyes off of you and some of them I think are even weighing their chances at being able to force themselves on you. Do you not see how they are looking at you? If I dipped you in chocolate and tossed you out there, I guaranty you, they would all turn into a bunch of ravenous hyenas and tear each other apart just to get a taste of you!”
He blinks as if shocked and then turns to the crowd. Finally, as if for the first time, he notices how people are looking at him. He immediately turns back to me, reduced to a blushing mess that would have most women swooning at the sight of him. I grab him and force him to look away from the audience, lest they decide to swarm the stage.
Thank the gods I am a lesbian, or I might have kissed him just now. Does he really not realize just how dangerous his looks are?
He looks over his shoulder before turning back to me in shock. “Holy crap, they really are all looking at me!” He whispers in a panicked tone. “There’s even… there is even guys looking me. What the hell!?”
“Just relax and keep your shirt on. And stop looking like that, you're just making it worse…”
“Stop looking like what?” He asks, but I notice that the volunteers have finished talking. So, I shoo him away and promise to talk later.
Crap, I made it so that my Demons will be able to live amongst the humans, but I didn’t even consider Nathanial! Thoughts fill my head of him walking through town, causing riots with just a single look. Am I certain that I made him a Fiend and not an Incubus?
I give Nathaniel one last look and give a sigh of relief at what I find. Fiend. Mine.
Thank goodness, not an Incubus.
Forcing myself to focus and turning my attention to the soldiers, I watch as ten of them make their way to the stage. General Louise is quick to move and direct them to stand off to one side while Dr. Doe and the other medical staff move to get their stuff ready. I approach the line of soldiers, scratching at my head as I look them over.
I talk into the mic and try to loosen the weight on my shoulders with some humor. “Jeez, feels like I’m about to do some weird ritual stuff. Doesn’t help with everyone being here watching, but I did ask for this… I want everyone here to see that my demons used to be just like everyone else. That they are still human on the inside. Wouldn’t be the same if we did this behind closed doors…”
Taking a calming breath and trying to ignore the onlookers, fighting back an urge to look to my family, I speak.
“Soldiers, volunteers, what will follow is rather simple. I will offer you my blood and you are to drink it. When I make my offer to give you my gifts, you must accept them in their entirety. If you unable to do so, do not drink my blood. If you consume my blood, but do not accept the contract, you will suffer as my blood ravages your body. Do you understand the risk of what it is you are doing?”
They stand resolutely before me and nod. I look them over and see them as they are covered in scars. One gentlemen is missing his hand and most of his forearm. Another one of interest is a woman missing an eye, scars covering half of her face from where claws or teeth had raked across her face.
I had noticed them earlier when I was walking thought the crowd, and I am guessing that the others offered to let them go first. Gave them a chance to regain what they had lost.
“Good… If you have any special request for changes that I can make, make sure to tell me when it becomes your turn. Taller, shorter, you don’t like your nose, etc. Now is the time to ask for it because there is no changing afterwards. Don’t be shy, because you are going to be stuck with your new bodies for a very long time and I want you to be happy with your new selves.”
I look them over and give them a little time to think things over. After about a minute passes, I walk towards the first person on the left of the line, speaking into the mic.
“After the contract is made, the changes will occur over the course of about two to three weeks. Unlike Nathaniel and I, you are all currently healthy. I give you a choice. You can either remain awake during your transformation or I can order you to sleep until it is finished. If you stay awake, know that you will have to endure the pains of your body growing and changing.” I look to the researchers and give them a look. “You’ll also have to endure the doctors constantly bothering you and asking how you're doing… Personally, I recommend asking me to knock you out.”
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Standing before the first soldier, I address him so that everyone can hear us. “Name?”
“Corporal Frank Sanchez, ma’am.”
“Frank Sanchez, if I offer you my blood, my gift, will you accept it?”
“Yes ma’am. I will.”
I nod, lowering the mic so we won’t be heard by the audience, I ask him, “Do you have any special requests for your appearance?”
He looks over to Nathanial, sizing him up and taking in his stature. His might. “No ma’am. Please make me like him, make me big, strength is what I need.”
“Very well. I shall make you a Fiend. You shall have strength.”
After I say that, I take and hold the mic with my tail, which apparently gets some people in the audience excited, but I try to ignore them. Moving to cut my hand open and draw blood, I speak for everyone to hear. “Frank Sanchez, I offer you Life, Power, and Beauty, three of the core desires of mortals. In exchange, your life shall be mine, your service shall be to me, and your descendants shall belong to me. If you accept, drink my blood.”
I drag a claw across my palm and force my flesh open, letting black blood flow and pool in my palm. I hold it up to him. He only hesitates for a moment, his eyes moving to Nathaniel and seeing just what it is that I offer. He takes my hand and brings his lips to my palm, drinking in my blood. As he swallows, and releases my hand, his lips stained black, I can feel as the connection is forged between us.
Immediately, my markings, the tattoo of my promises start to glow in a golden light and they are brought to the forefront of my mind. I speak, compelled to uphold my promise.
“Frank Sanchez, This order extends not just to you but also to your descendants. Ingrain this within your DNA. Unless it is explicitly stated to be an order or a command by me, or any future descendants of mine, you do not have to do as I say. I grant you and your descendants, free will. You are to be your own person, and that shall never be taken from you.”
The glow from my golden markings dims as I finish my words, the feeling of my control over the person before me slackening as the order settles in. Unlike from before, I can feel it. I am unable to revoke this order. His free will is not something that I can take from him. I may be able to still order him around, but I will never be able to make him a slave.
He places a hand to his chest a look of amazement about him as he feels his own soul. The order settling into his very being and becoming protection from the very person standing before him.
Relief flows through me and I let myself smile. I will not make slaves. My Demons shall be people. I have nothing to regret.
I feel my connection tugging me along, now that my promise has been upheld, I now need to deliver on my end of the contract. I let my instincts carry me forward and speak. “Now then, Frank Sanchez, I order you to change and grow. I order you to become a Fiend.”
Giving the order, I draw on the experience that I got from making the Gremlins and focus on how I want to change him. How I want him to look. Shaping the order to fit my desires. He didn’t give me any specifics for how to make him look, besides being big. Being a Fiend, the tall and muscular part is going to happen without my needing to do anything. So, I decide to make him bigger than Nathaniel. Mister Max Charisma is already eight feet tall, but I’ll make Frank nine feet tall. That will set the height limit for my Fiends. Don’t want them getting too big. Besides that, I mostly focus on his face and decide that instead of going for beautiful or sexy, I would aim for manly and handsome. He already has most of the facial features there, so I just have to give him a nudge in the right direction. Harden the jaw line, straighten out some features, give a bit more of an intensity to his eyes. Becoming bigger will make his voice deeper so I decide to lean into it a bit more and give him a voice that you would expect to be accompanied by a drink of scotch and the strumming of a guitar if you heard it. Soothing, but commanding.
Hmm, there we go. That is a good look for him. He’ll probably have all the girls wanting to call him daddy after just one look and a few words. Just have to be careful around any Brokeback Cowboys… Unless he is into that, in which case, have fun I guess. I’m not going to tell my Demons who to love.
With the image solidified, I push it along the connection and mold the order to fit it. A small feeling of the order settling into his soul comes back to me, and I know that things are now underway.
He places a hand to his chest and grimaces as the pain starts to set in, his bones already starting to shift and crack and grow slowly, his muscles itching to grow under the confines of his own flesh. His own organs shifting as they wish to become more advanced and hardy. The changes want to explosively change him, to do everything at once, but it is all far too complex and must be done slowly. His changes are much more complex and delicate than simply changing a rat to look like a little human. It requires more time and fuel.
The doctors come over with a hospital bed and help him to lay down. I ask him before they have a chance to cart him away. “Do you want me to knock you out? You can sleep through the changes and the pain. All it will take is one order and you will be out like a light.”
He grits his teeth at the pain, “I’ll… stay awake. I want to see this through, awch…”
“Alright then, but if it gets to be to much, tell the doctors and ask them to call for me. I’ll come running and make you sleep. Ok?” I ask him sweetly.
I can’t help myself as my feeling start to shift a bit as I look at him. Mine.
This twenty something year old guy that I have never met before is now mine. He used to be a stranger, but now he is one of my people. He chose this and accepted me. He is mine and I have promised that I would love all of my creation.
I don’t fight back against the feeling like I did with Nathaniel. I don’t let myself feel guilty. I accept my desire to want to baby my newest Demon. He is mine now, but not as a slave. I let the doctors cart him off stage and watch as they go. Part of me want to stand by his side and watch over him, but my instincts are reassured that he is safe. He is in the center of my territory and my allies will be watching over him.
The promises etched into the flesh of my own arm hum pleasantly in the back of my mind and for once, I let myself feel proud and happy about what I did.
As he disappears from view, I take a calming breath and move to the next soldier. Feeling much more confident now, I start the process over again.
I ask the soldier, “Name?” and she answers.
…
Nine more times that day, my blood would be offered, and nine more times, a Demon is born.
Almost two years after the world ended, a new race of people has officially been born upon this world.
And from the words learned from two children riding on the back of a god, we are not the only ones to emerge.
----------------------------------------
“Haaaaaaah… I never want to do that again…” I complain, scratching at one of my horns.
“Well, at least you managed to get through it without being crowned Queen of Humanity. I saw how some of those people were looking at you. You would have thought that the Queen of England came back from the dead.” Nathaniel jokes back as he follows Sky and I through the medical wing of the research facility.
“Queen Elizabeth never died. We all know that she is immortal. Her death was just a cover-up for an extended vacation.” I joke back. “But in all seriousness. Fuck no. I am not doing that. Even if every person here on base unanimously came together and decided to name me as their ruler, I would refuse. I am more than perfectly happy to just let other people lead. If I have to hold some political power to get things done, fine, I’ll do that, but I am not going to be putting myself in charge of everything. Life is much easier when I can just get told what to do by smart people that actually know what they’re doing.”
Nathaniel shrugs and gives me a smile, “Well, a bit too late for that. You're already the Demon Queen. Every time I look at you, my mind reminds me of that. Even those little guys that you made… the Gremlins, even they started calling you that recently.”
“Please don’t remind me of that. I keep asking them to just call me Lain, or big sister, aunty even! But they keep wanting to call me that…” I spin around and point at Nathaniel. “And you guys better not start calling me Demon Queen or anything! I don’t care what our instincts are saying or that I am your progenitor. I’m not ready to accept that title yet!”
“You could always just order us. Order your Gremlins to stop calling you that…” He says, his voice half joking but also serious.
I stop walking and they stop as well. I don’t look at Nathaniel as I say, “I won’t do that…”
“Mhm, you won’t. You could, for any reason, but you won’t. Not unless it’s important.” He agrees quietly.
I just nod as I hold Sky’s hand, she gives me a squeeze. I feel Nathaniel place his large hand on my shoulder and give me a pat. “I’m glad that it was you that got this power. It’s easy to imagine what could have happened if someone else had gotten it…”
His hand leaves my shoulder and I turn to look at him. My first. He gives me a little smile and offers his hand for a shake. I take it, his hand easily covering mine in his grip, but he holds my hand softly.
Shaking my hand slowly, he says. “I never did thank you, did I? Or at least not properly… For saving my life that is… It’s a scary thing, what you're capable of. What a single word from you could do to me… to us. I have to admit that I was frightened by you. But you're not the kind of person to do that… and, I’m sorry that I spent so long being afraid of you, I saw the way that you look at me sometimes, even if you tried to hide it with a smile. Even you were afraid of what you could do to me.” He gestures to my left arm, the marking still softly glowing golden with divine light. “You even go so far as to bind yourself for us… Thank you, Lain. Thank you for saving my life… and thank you for not being a monster. If it is alright with you, I hope that the two us can becomes friends. If you’d like…”
“Thank you…” I manage to work out of my trembling lips. Fighting back some tears in my eyes, I move forward and give him a hug, wrapping my arms around his abdomen as best I can and giving him a tight squeeze. It is probably one of the tightest hugs I have given since becoming a Demon. I would end up killing someone if I don’t usually hold back.
“I would love to be friends.” I say into his shirt.
He seems a bit startled at first by the hug, his arms not knowing what to do with themselves, but he eventually relents, letting out a single laugh before awkwardly returning my hug. Being almost twice my height makes it a bit difficult to do.
“Geez, it's hard to imagine why I was so scared of you, hahaha. You're just so short.” He jokes.
“Shut up, you're just too tall. I’m shorter than the average for a human, but you blow it out of the water. If anyone is the scary one here, it is the giant eight-foot-tall Demon. Hahaha” I joke back, whipping away a tear that managed to escape me.
Giving him one more squeeze, I finally release him and step away. Taking a few breaths, I get my feeling back under control. Sky grabs my hand, giving me a smile. She keeps her words to herself, but I can see in her eyes that she is happy for me. Ever since the day that I turned Nathaniel, I have been tearing myself apart on the inside. But I am finally starting to let all of that go. I am finally starting to relax.
Yes, my powers give me the potential to do horrible things. But I have finally overcome it. I have made my promises and carved them into my very being. I won't let myself become a monster that enslaves people, but will instead be able to use this gift to help people. I can use it to turn those who volunteer into fighter capable of helping others, I can even use this gift to help disabled soldiers get their bodies back. Just today, I was able to give a man a new arm and a woman her eye back.
I can do good with this. Even if I am a Demon now. A Devil.
For once in long while, my body is actually feeling light and relaxed. Some of the stress from my life seemingly starting to drain from my body…
It's nice.
I give Sky a smile in return, letting her know that her love and support has reached me, and say, “Come on. Let's go check on our new Demons. I want to see if Frank is still unwilling to get knocked out or not.”
We turn and resume our walk down the hall, the feeling of ten new connection lightly calling to me from further ahead.
And for once, I find myself not dreading the pull of those connections. I welcome them, wanting to be drawn in and be near to those that are bound to me. I want to get to know them.
I want to give them my love.