“Jeriel? Help me.” Those were the last words I uttered as my body–this body–slipped away from me. Jeriel is my soul, but this body I loved. I know that sounds harsh, but consider this for a moment. The woman who was this body, not only loved me, but she knew what I was. She accepted me completely in life, and in death. That love and compassion was replaced, in an instant, by pain.

“Pain… what a way to come to.”

She was not dead. Even if I wanted to escape this body, I was unable to. I couldn’t speak, or move. Knowing that my love was suffering crushed my soul. I saw dark gray clouds, as rain fell from the sky. The agony was unbearable, but she was feeling it too.

“That thunder is your heart beating in my chest. Those crashes are the raindrops falling…”

She was right. She heard what I did now. How? More importantly, why? I took this body to end her pain, now I’m the one who is forcing her to suffer again.

“I can smell the metal in my blood, and the rain smells like a thunder strike. Are these your senses?”

They were, and I was losing my fight to shield her from this. I wanted to cry, or scream, or take to the skies, but I couldn’t. There was nothing I could do.

“Oh my god! She’s been shot! Call 911!” a woman screamed as my vision faded in and out. I could still hear her voice. Her stringy, wet blonde hair and the gray frames of her glasses stuck in my mind like a photograph.

“She has green eyes. I’ve never seen eyes like that before.”

Before I could think on that, the woman whined in frustration, then sighed with hope. “You’re going to be okay. Hold on….” she said, as I heard Jeriel’s ringtone playing. Did I bring my phone? I never bring my phone. The scent of vanilla and sandalwood flooded my nose as the woman searched me, finding it.

“Jackie… are you okay?” Jeriel's voice said, all distant and tinny.

“Whoever you are, you’ll need to call back. I’m trying to call for help!” the blonde yelled into the phone, hysterical.

“Please don't hang up!” Jeriel pleaded. “I’m a doctor volunteering at Mission Hospital. I know my friend needs help. Can you tell me what happened?”

“She’s been shot. There’s blood everywhere! She’s breathing, but there's so much blood….!”

“I have your location on an app on my phone, I’m sending an EMT right now, okay? Can you stay with her please? Until I arrive? That woman means the world to me.” My remaining senses muddled together as the voices faded out.

“So the blood is ours? We were attacked?”

“We were, this body should be dead, but it lives, for now,” I thought. I hoped I could talk to her like she was talking to me.

“If we should be dead, why aren’t we?”

“Human weapons cannot kill us, I heard in my head as the pain faded away to nothing. Just rest. We will heal from this. When our body is healed, we will remember… and feast upon our adversaries once more.”

“Your words should frighten me, but they do not.”

“You have nothing to fear, not even those who did this to us. I promised to stay with you.”

“Why do you say that?”

The question pained me much more than the attack had. Fearing that I had lost her forever, I thought, “Because you, my beautiful flower, have my heart.”

I opened my eyes to find myself in a hospital room. Plastic and bleached linen odors bombarded my nose.

“Okay… nose is in overdrive…”

“If you only knew…” I mused to myself.

“I see you’re awake,” I heard, looking up to see a man, standing at the door. He was white, though his complexion spoke of endless summers spent outdoors, in the sun. He appeared to be a little over 6 feet tall. His hair was black and so short it was spiky. He wore dark blue slacks, a white button down shirt with a dark blue tie, and a khaki trench coat. He smelled of brass, steel and gun oil. Under that was a distinct smell. I knew that smell from somewhere. He was clean shaven, but I could smell that whatever blade he used was getting a little dull.

“How do you deal with it all?”

I didn’t have an answer for her, so I tried to regain some control over this form. “Who are you?” I asked, as I fought to look at him. I could feel again, somewhat. The pain was now a dull ache, and I felt my pulse in my face and back. I was weak, but could move some. This was good.

Looking down, I realized something. All of my clothing has been removed, probably cut off. They had one of those flimsy hospital gowns draped over me, and tied behind my neck. It covered me somewhat, and normally nudity didn’t bother me, but… I was injured, weak, and vulnerable–naked as you will. I cringed, and whimpered, feeling powerless as pain shot through my face.. It subsided as I looked at him again.

“Detective John Static, Asheville P.D.,” he replied quietly, his left hand pulling the trench open to reveal his badge. Before I could reply to him, the door flew open, and a thin woman barged into the room. “I’ll come back,” he said, stepping through the open door.

The woman looked at him strangely as the door closed behind him “…Odd,” she said softly. She ran to the bed, taking my hand..

When she did, several scents filled the room… Lavender, passion-fruit and energy, if it could have an odor. I closed my eyes and tried to take it all in. This scent was familiar… comforting… home. Jeriel.. my soul.

“I can see her face through a cloud, old as time, That face.. that memory is fleeting… but I remember her touch, her taste… “

She was shorter than the man who just left, barely 5 feet tall… but had more of a presence, as if her aura was twice the size of John. Her hair was the color of rose gold. Anywhere else it would have looked artificial, but on her… it brought color to her alabaster skin and intensified the gold in her hazel eyes. Her face was long and angular, but with a softness to her chin. At first glance she seemed fragile, delicate, ethereal.

She wore a white lab coat that threatened to swallow her whole. With a clipboard in her right hand, she sat on the bed beside me and sighed.

“Jackie, do you know what’s going on yet?” she asked, melancholy seeping into her voice.

Before I could try to answer Jeriel, my body's thoughts came from our lips. “Jackie… Is that me? That doesn’t sound right…” she stammered, as a tear streamed down my cheek. All of our thoughts and memories crashed together. My control was lost, through a fog that I could not see through. “Every memory is just out of reach,” she sobbed. “… and I hurt too much to jump to grasp it. I know you, but I can’t remember who you are…” Tears streamed down my face, burning as they contacted my wounds.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Calm yourself,” I whispered to her thoughts. “She is a part of us. Relax and tell her what you remember, because I have been disconnected from you.”

Jeriel took our hand as she sighed softly. “I don’t,” she replied, looking down. “I don’t know anything before the attack… wait. That’s not right either. I remember the dense forest, the feel of the warm stone on my back… the gleam of the sacrificial blade. I was a gift to Kukulcán… but I am here now. I should have died twice now, yet I live. Why?”

Before I could form words, Jeriel explained. “Your body, your essence. She refused to let one who was so special to us perish to the wickedness of a false deity. Your soul ascended, so she took your broken body as her own. We love looking in the mirror and seeing you. She loves drifting through your memories of us. You were our friend, our lover, our heart. Look at me, child, and tell me I’m wrong.”

“This connection feels so real. Is it all true? Is she family? A lover? My best friend? I feel… that I could trust her with my soul.”

She took over control of our speech again. “This makes no sense. I keep hearing this weird voice in my head, and my sense of smell is off the charts…”

Jeriel chuckled. “You find her voice weird? Think, and remember her. You have her heart, as well as her nose.” I laughed to myself at the irony of it all.

“Hush, dammit!” she said, most likely to me, then faced Jeriel. “What is going on? I feel like I've been in a daze for longer than I’ve been alive. Speaking of that… Why am I still alive? I was told I was attacked in the back and in the face? I don’t get it. Wouldn’t I be dead from that?”

“That’s why I was thankful that the detective left. Science and magic don’t mix well, Xochil.”

“You remember me?” she asked, astonished. This was good. She remembered her own name. “It feels like an eternity has passed since I've heard my name on someone's lips.”

“How could I not? You were the flower that stole my lover’s heart after all. The heavens rang with the cries of our pleasures.” Jeriel blushed so badly that crimson was flooding down her neck. The memories she spoke of were like specters in Xochil’s mind, fleeting, just beyond her reach. Before I could dwell, Jeriel composed herself and started again.

“First of all, the shotgun blast to the face was mostly superficial. Whoever did this wanted to ruin your appearance. You can heal it back, but not here. The others frankly make no sense. I looked at the x-rays. One grazed your spine, shattering bone, and was quite damaging, but the other lodged itself in a major artery. Either they were sloppy, or they expected you to not be human. The biggest issue now is that you should have bled out or be paralyzed. That’s why I need to keep the humans away from you. The police don’t like miracles, and don’t like things they can’t explain either. We need to get you out of here so I can work on you privately, but until we get those rounds out of you, they’re not going to let you leave.”

“Humans… huh? Wait, I didn’t understand a word of what you just said,” she mused aloud, trying to make sense of this. “...But I still have two of these weapons in me? Is that why I can't remember anything?”

“No but… If I try to explain, it would only serve to confuse you more… which is bad.” Jeriel sighed again, and touched me on the forehead. “You’re going to rest now. I’m going to talk to that voice in your head for a bit… and get these bullets out of you… okay?”

I nodded as everything grew black again.

---V---

It’s been over two millennia since I have felt this disassociation… this disconnect.. That was when I lost my last shell. WIll I lose this one too? Xochil gave me this body, as her last gift to me. After all this time, I can not lose her. through tear-streaked eyes I look up to see the other part of my soul, Jeriel, looking down on me.

“Jeriel…” I said, as I could feel Xochil asleep again.

She smiled. “Thank the Goddess my spell worked! Glad to see you are still in there.”.

“Barely…” I sighed. “There is a problem,” I mumbled, trying to shake the numbing poison flowing through these veins.

“Indeed. You were attacked. Shot thrice. I don’t think they knew what you were… to leave you in this state.”

“I should have bled out… there was blood everywhere…”

She nodded. “I was able to stop the bleeding, for now. Your heart refused to let her die…”

“But where did you get…? You know that this body…” she cut me off.

“I gave you some of my blood. Universal donor by design….”

“Thanks Jer. Can we leave now?” I begged.

Her face grew somber as she shook her head. “Quickly, before my spell fades. There's a cop who wants to ask questions about the attack.”

“All I have is the scents, Jer. Will it help? And about this human… is he the one whose scent still lingers in this room?”

Jeriel nodded. “He claims to be a detective. He’s only asking about the attack. I worry that he might wish for more information than we are willing to give.”

“If I answer his questions, can you take us from this place? I cannot lose her final gift, Jer.”

“I know, my love,” she whispered as she wiped the tears from my face. “Are you ready now?”

I nodded slowly. “Let him back in. I’ll answer his questions, so you can take me from this place. I need to be whole again.”

Jeriel nodded and opened the door, letting the man back in. “Before we begin, detective. Jacqueline will be able to answer your questions now. Understand that the details she gives may seem odd. She still has two bullets in dangerous places and the pain meds will most likely affect her.”

“Odd? Okay, I understand. I will keep it simple.” He approached, pulling a tattered memo pad from a pocket, along with a pen. He walked to the bed. “Can you tell me what happened?”

I took a deep breath. “The one who injured me… Stood taller than me. His steps were heavy and slow. He was covered in different scents.. so I can’t tell you if he was hu… “ I can’t call him a human. Damn.

“If he was what?” John asked.

I shook my head. “Never mind. He… smelled of waffle house grease and myrrh smoke. His revolver smelled more of rust than gun oil. It was a snub-nose, hammerless… possibly a Ruger. He wore a white collared shirt that only had buttons down half the shirt. His pants were black denim. Sunglasses hid his eyes, and he had no hair on his head. I could smell the skin damage from a blade.” I closed my eyes for a moment. “He was light complexioned… he had high cheekbones and his jawline was sharp. The shotgun… smelled more of new plastic and gunpowder than of metal and gun oil… like it was new..?” I could hear how odd I sounded, but it was a struggle just to get my thoughts out. I squeezed Jeriel’s hand to let her know that the spell was starting to fade.

“Hmmm.. Myrrh smoke? You give more details about his smells than his description.”

“Detective,” Jeriel began, squeezing my hand back in acknowledgement. “This woman took a shotgun blast to the face. That trauma… probably opened her other senses to fill in the pieces.”

“Okay… I’ll check the local businesses and see if this guy shows up.” He looked at Jeriel. “If you can get me those slugs, it might help us. I want to get this guy before he does this shit again.”

“Oh he won’t. I will find him. Those who harm me don’t live long.” I growled… or tried to, rather, as the spell ended, throwing me back into the void I was in earlier… only to see as an onlooker, and to whisper to Xochil’s mind.

“This is our job. You just focus on getting better, okay?” John said as he headed to the door. “We’ll be in touch.”

“Oh, before you leave….”

John paused, with a hand on the door handle. “Yes, doctor?”

That made her smile. “Jacqueline was just attacked in broad daylight. She is well known in several different circles in Asheville. What if her attacker returns to finish the job?”

“I can have a couple of uniformed officers put on the door.” he replied, starting to grow impatient.

Jeriel placed a hand on his arm. “Let me take her to my clinic. I have resources there that they just don’t have here. Plus she’d be more comfortable in familiar surroundings, and we can protect her better there.”

I watched as Jeriel’s aura enveloped the human’s as her enchantment began to take hold. Jeriel was better at this than I ever could be… Must be in her blood.

“Well… It would keep down on personnel…” he said, as his face slowly lit up in revelation. “Yeah, that’s a good idea. I’ll go have an ambulance prepped for your transit.”

“Excellent, detective, and have a good day,” Jeriel said as John quickly left. As soon as the door closed, she turned towards the bed. “Humans… such fascinating creatures…”