Demon's Alter-Ego Ch. 11-12

"Why would he kill you?"

Oldavai took a deep shuddering breath and tightened his fingers on mine. "I'm not sure if he would have. It wouldn't be to his advantage because then he would have to babysit you."

My hackles went up at his words, but he kept a firm hold on my hand despite my tug to pull away. He continued speaking. "I've never had someone come to my rescue from another brother before." He paused and I waited, letting him get his bearings. "I honestly thought you would do nothing to stop him from killing me. You could have been free of me." He gave a self-depreciating laugh, "And I know you didn't save me because of the sex."

He finally opened his eyes and turned to look at me, "What's so horrible is that I can't think of any other reason anyone would save me. But don't tell me because I already know I can't live up to your expectations."

I shook my head slowly, honestly, I didn't consciously have any expectations for him. I assumed he would continue to be a thorn in my side. I didn't say any of that and even miraculously blocked him from my thoughts beforehand. "Are you gonna answer my question about Shorn touching me?"

The demon at my side gave me a thoughtful expression, "That was my test."

"How so?"

Oldavai stopped himself from rolling his eyes, but he did give me his full-on exasperated sigh, "If you haven't figured it out by now, I am extremely possessive."

I snickered, "I've heard that about you."

He glanced sideways at me, "Call it an incubus trait, in any case, Shorn took away my shining."

My eyes widened, "He did! I didn't even notice, I didn't even feel him doing magic on me." My hand immediately went to my hair and then to my eyes. "Ha!"

Oldavai snorted, "He didn't use magic on you, Dove. As far as I know, all he needed to do was touch you as a hell carrier."

"A what?!"

"It's slang for his kind when they carry people to their homeland. I don't know if it's a derogatory term so don't call him that to his face. What his touch does is strip away everything that you value. Anything that is important to you. It's a manipulation of emotions to make you feel stranded and alone. It's difficult to describe."

There was only one thing to say to that, "Your shining isn't important to me."

He gave a self-depreciating laugh, "No, but it could be important to the one who put it on you."

I was afraid I knew what he meant, but prompted anyway, "Explain."

"Hell carriers can strip you of all attachments so that you are disconsolate when they take you to the Darkness. Shorn taking away my glamorization on you was a test for me. He was reminding me that you do not belong to me. He was waiting to see what I'd do."

"You don't think that, therefore you passed." I knew it for a lie, but I wanted the sentiment to be true.

He gave an under his breath laugh and muttered, "That's funny that you would even say that out loud to my face. You're a horrible liar." He shook his head, "I passed because I am learning to share extremely fast."

I squinted my eyes at him, "I'm going to ignore that. Why might he have killed you if you didn't pass?"

I could tell his head shake was in more exasperation, "Oh sweet Eros, you are so naïve! Because that would have meant more trouble for Ezra and more trouble for Ezra is more trouble for Shorn."

It was my turn to roll my eyes. I added a growl in agitation, "Fucking Ezra, it's always about him."

He grabbed me by the back of the neck and started to press his soft lips to mine. I attempted to pull back, but he wouldn't let me, "Just kiss me, Dove."

He paused and we stared at each other, his mouth pressed against mine. My own moved against his because I realized there was no more fight left in me today, "O.k."

His face relaxed and he smiled briefly as he angled my head and started his efforts again, pausing briefly to speak. "I know you're not into exhibitionism, but I want to straddle you on my lap, pull that skirt up and seat myself firmly in your flesh. Imagine all the views we would get. Pure viral."

I pulled my head back and raised an eyebrow, "Especially if you looked like an incubus."

His eyes sparkled, "Does that mean you're interested?"

I shook my head, "No. I just want to go home."

His hands pushed through my hair, dislodging the pins, and pulling the wayward strands away from my face, "How would you prefer to go?"

I couldn't keep the shock off my face, "Since when do you ask me?"

His face turned serious, "Since you protected me from Shorn. Since you surprised me by going after Salem. Since you had a golden glow almost as bright as mine and fire at your fingertips. I wasn't sure if you would have burned him alive or turned his sexual drive into a frenzy."

My emotions fell into a downward spiral, "I don't know what I would have done to Salem either."

He gently cradled my face, but I couldn't take any comfort in it. "I'm here, remember."

I groaned and thumped my head on his shoulder. I felt his warm embrace around my body as he lifted and scooted me to sit sideways on his lap. He bent his head close to my ear and started whispering foreign words. It was a calming lullaby that lasted until we somehow ended up back in my meditation room in Washington. I wasn't sure how he got us there because it wasn't through magnetic lines or residual sexual emotions. However, it was the calmest I'd ever felt.

CHAPTER 12

We had a week and a half to ourselves. No warrants, no anything. Oldavai weaseled his way into my meditation hours, and we would sit for hours next to each other in our own quiet. Only once did he speak during those times. It was when he first gained my permission and I couldn't stop giving him curious sidelong glances. Without opening his eyes to look at me he reprimanded me for my lack of focus.

Oldavai, of course, tried to get me to have sex with him several times a day. No moment was sacred for him. He'd attacked me when I was sweaty from a workout, irritable because of the time of the month, in the middle of the night when he couldn't sleep and I wanted to. On the days I was successful with keeping it to a minimum I would feel the consequences that night or the next morning. His cloying incense would fill the house and he would rile me up sexually with his magic. I would lash out at him as much as with knives as my tongue. And not always yelling.

It was while we were meditating that Shorn silently invaded my mirror without 'knocking'. I looked over because I could feel his presence. I wasn't sure if it was Oldavai's insistence on making me practice with the all the magic inside me or if it was Shorn himself.

After I got over my surprise, I gave him a small glare as we both moved to stand in front of it. "It's rude to break entrance into someone's communication mirror."

Oldavai grabbed my arm quickly at my words and squeezed it in warning.

Shorn smiled, it wasn't joyful. "I'm here for Oldavai." His eyes never left mine. "I have no jurisdiction with you, Dove, which Ila made sure I was reminded of in a somewhat violent way." His focus on me never wavered. "Ila tells me that demon hunters have a radical underground movement since you left Texas." He paused and enunciated, "Oldavai."

Oldavai moved closer to me until we were touching side to side. I think he was trying to garner Shorn's attention. It wasn't happening.

Shorn continued, "What did you do?" He paused, "Oldavai."

My mouth opened, but he wagged his finger at me and repeated, "Oldavai."

"I may have shoved a couple swords into a couple hardheaded demon hunters," Oldavai said without an ounce of repentance.

"This may sound strange for a demon to ask, but what were your intentions?"

"My intention was to have fun. Theirs, not so much."

I shook my head in irritation at Oldavai's words.

Shorn nodded his own slowly while keeping his stare riveted on me. His eyes started bleeding, never falling past his chin. "My intentions are not to have that be your answer if this gets unearthed by an internal investigation unit. I don't want your name on a warrant. Again. Now, tell me exactly how this started?"

As Oldavai proceeded to tell him about Michael, Shorn finally directed his gaze to his brother. My thoughts progressed from Oldavai's name on a warrant to the repercussions that would inevitably happen for me. My stomach cramped.

"They're dying... Oldavai."

With those words I knew. He was here to warn me Ila was coming and coming soon, if not right on top of Shorn's call. I blanched and made it to the bathroom before I spit up.

I was brushing my teeth when Oldavai mind spoke to me, 'Ila is calling.'

A tiny dry heave escaped, and I wiped my mouth with a towel. I was going to Hell. Shorn was going to take me to Hell with Ila's blessing.

I hurried back into the room and immediately saw her face in the mirror. Her green eye focused on me as soon as I walked in.

She started without preamble, her calm voice a facade, I could feel her angry emotions pushing out the mirror. "I had to ask myself, who was in Texas when this 'let's drive a very sharp sword through my chest' madness started?" She proceeded to tick off names with her fingers and slowed down when she got to Carlos' and mine. "Carlos, Dove. My two troublemakers." Her face hardened as she came to our names and continued.

"Carlos brought it into California like a virus. I interviewed him and I know something scared him... but he won't tell me what happened. Michael... won't tell me what happened. NO ONE IS TELLING ME WHAT HAPPENED!" I watched her reach around the mirror propped on her desk, whip back her hand, and hurl something. I remembered. Glass buoys were shattering on her wall. "We are trying to form a cohesive unit here. Demons and demon hunters to get the bad players. Now, I don't like the Binding Law, but if demons work with us, keep their damn magic to themselves, then we don't get tempted by it. Now tell me where the fuck you learned to merge our magic?"

My face registered surprise, "You already knew how to merge our magic!?"

Her face contorted in rage, "I hate that about you, Dove! You always answer a question with a question. You're so subordinate! There is a reason I don't tell my hunters everything. Not everyone can make the transition. Carlos, absolutely. Michael, maybe. You, no way in hell would I have believed you could. If you don't succeed you die. Period. Now, tell me."

I needed to know, so I asked instead, cringing inside, "Why are they dying?"

Her eye narrowed and her face frowned at my question. I watched the eye patch on the other side move with the forceful expression. "Because that much magic being forced into your body in seconds is exactly like a drug overdose. There's a reason our own power doles itself out in sparsity. And Carlos is doing exactly what I knew he would do! How could you think this was a good idea when you must have gone through the same experience?!" I watched the muscles in her arm flex in her short-sleeved shirt as she whipped another orb across the room.

I shook my head and cleared my throat, "He wants everyone to have an advantage."

Her voice turned low and deadly, "You know better. He's culling the weak and giving more power to the strong." She paused and her lips twitched in agitation, "I need to know what is going on, Dove. Start with who told you how to merge your magic."

"Laci."

Ila's eyebrows shot up in surprise and she quickly turned to Oldavai who stood like a golden guard at my side, then back to me. "She tried to get you to kill him."

I nodded in agreement, "That was her desired outcome when she shoved my sword into my chest. Didn't quite work out the way she wanted."

Ila laughed with genuine amusement, "She was always such a pain in my ass. Doesn't compare to you or Carlos through." She turned back to Oldavai, "She never should have tried to seduce you. I wish I understood how far she'd go when it came to the opposite sex."

I gave Oldavai a sidelong glance and saw a smile form on his lips. His hand came up and he twirled a strand of my hair around and around his finger. The movement had Ila studying me intently.

"You don't look like a kindergarten's art project."

I blinked, "Excuse me?" What the hell!

Oldavai spoke in my mind at the same time she continued, 'You're not covered in my glamor anymore.' My eyes flickered briefly to Oldavai before focusing back on Ila, who never expounded on her kindergarten comment.

"I don't like being in the dark. What happened after the Ratha warrant?"

Gods, how do I even answer that question. Before I could even open my mouth Oldavai chimed in.

"The truth is, since Ratha did a binding with Michael when he tor..."

Ila waved him off immediately, "We know."

Oldavai continued with a mild rumble for her interruption. "Then it should make perfect sense that once he learned about this extreme advantage that he would take it. Anyone who knows Carlos knew he would eventually follow whether Michael lived or not."

"Thank you for tying that in a neat little bow for me Oldavai, but what happened. Because I know something happened and neither you nor Shorn want me to know. Whatever happened was the precursor to Carlos' personal mission." She looked back at me, "Dove?"

I gritted my teeth, I knew Oldavai didn't want me to tell her, but fuck it, "Fine! Shorn happened and he scared the shit out of him."

Her forehead furrowed again, and her impatience got the best of her as she ground out from her clenched jaw, "What did he do?!"

My exasperation flowed from my mouth before I could stop myself, "Come on Ila! It's Shorn! He doesn't have to do anything but bleed all over himself and say your name. Carlos didn't expect him to know his name and the fucking house shook when he yelled for Oldavai."

"There's no reason for him to talk with any of you."

In for a penny, in for a pound, "He also bodily threw our chronicler out of his chair with his tail. Maybe killed him."

"That damn demon!" She reached for another globe. Glass shattered. "No wonder Carlos is on the war path. He hasn't even seen Shorn at his worse."

I gave her a considering look, "Have you?" My thoughts strayed back to Shorn crowding me in his office. My heart beat a rapid pace of nervousness just from the memories.

She said yes at the same time Oldavai said no. I looked back and forth between them. Oldavai shook his head, his hair a moving mass of beguiling glitter, and derisively said, "You would not survive Shorn at his worse, Ila." He gave my hair another twirl and rubbed the part wrapped tight around his finger. I turned to him with a look of annoyance when he pulled my hair. His voice drifted off in thought, "I'm beginning to think that Dove may be the only hunter who can calm that beast." I shuddered, feeling his words weigh on me like a premonition.

Ila opened her mouth in rebuke, but quickly shut it. "And some goddess is supposedly in you?"

I spoke while trying to get Oldavai's hand untangled from my hair, "Ah... Shorn told you?" Oldavai moved in closer to me with his smug grin.

"And...," she prompted.

I scowled at him and gave up on my efforts, "And what? Oldavai told Shorn what he believes to be true."

Oldavai made a derisive snort at my words, gazed at the floor, and mumbled under his breath, "What I believe to be true," he mimicked. "Ha ha, Dove."

Ila didn't miss it either, she gave me a raised eyebrow, "Mmm hmm. In any case, it's nice to know what I've been hearing is somewhat verified." She tossed an orb back and forth in her hands, fingers caressing the clear sphere before switching it to the other side.

I gave her beseeching eyes, "Whatever you heard, please don't believe I can do that on command. I can't."

"That's what Te'a said you told her, and I am not about to declare it to the Council." She paused and changed subjects, "I'm not bringing you in even though I want to grill you on this, but I need you in Seattle. The movement is coming up the coast and you need to mitigate it. Carlos said Oldavai had some herbs that helped with the overdose." She turned to look at Oldavai and then back at me, "Maybe you could have some available. Distribute them underground so they'll make it to our safe houses. Officially and non-officially I do not want any hunter doing this, but they're going to and that's where they'll go."

Oldavai's glow brightened the room significantly and his hand snagged around the back of my neck. He leaned into Ila's stare. I looked askance at him because of his menacing aura. His lip curled up as he spoke, "The only way anyone gets my medicine is if I get to shove their sword so deep inside their body they think they're already dead."

Ila scowled, arced back her hand and pitched the orb directly into the mirror.

I stared at the mirror.

Whatever she did to her side of the communication turned it into a black void. I cocked my head and slowly walked to it with my hand outstretched, the darkness seemed to waver and bulge forward. Oldavai threw himself in front of me and violently pushed my hand down. He turned around to face the mirror, keeping his left arm and hand awkwardly wrapped around my waist. He turned briefly back to me and placed his finger to his lips in a shushing move without sound.

We stood there, waiting.

Oldavai breaths grew shallower the longer we waited.

I was about to do something, anything. We couldn't stand here forever, but then two almond shaped red eyes glowed from the depths of the blackness.

A dark voice spoke from the mirror, "Who opened a portal?"

It was Shorn, only a more ominous version of him. I didn't even know that he was capable of being scarier. He wasn't even really there, just his eyes. Goosebumps rose all over my skin.

Oldavai answered, "Ila."

"Such a powerhouse. Why don't I see her?" Shorn asked.

Oldavai took a deep breath, "She shattered her side of the mirror." He paused briefly, "Do you always watch?"

The eyes moved closer to the front of the mirror, but his body was still cloaked in darkness.

"I keep a closer watch on all portals from this building. Foolish sorcerers, jail breaks."

Silence reigned for seconds and Oldavai took several deep breaths, doing his best to calm himself even though I could see his own goosebumps raised on his arm. Terror leaked in a trickle through his shields. My hands moved to his back seeking my own comfort from whatever was coming next.

Shorn finally spoke between Oldavai's deep noticeable inhales, "You know what needs to be done."

He straightened his posture, "Oblation."

"Oblation," Shorn agreed hollowly and his eyes faded.

Oldavai started to walk forward, but I stopped him by throwing myself in front of his forward movement. "What's happening?"

The demon looked down at me, his expression successfully blank. "It's the ravenous Dark, Dove, and it will not close without oblation. If we do not close this portal the best that may happen is those from Shorn's world may come through. The worse is that the Dark will come."

I kept my hand on his chest and demanded, "What is oblation?"

His voice stayed calm, bland almost, "It's an offering."

My voice raised, "Uh huh! From your reaction it might as well be sacrifice!"

Oldavai gritted his teeth and practically hissed, the glow of his body extinguished. "Get out of my way. It's not the first time I have met Shorn's ravenous Dark. If it accepts my offering, it will bring me back here and close the mirror."

If?

I have this mental deficiency. It's what keeps getting me in trouble.

This time it believed that if he had already gone through this once and felt that much terror then I couldn't be any less brave. Was it pride? It didn't matter, I couldn't let him go through it again. So even though I slowly lowered my hand as if in surrender and let my own fear shine through as if there was no way I was going into that darkness... well... I practically threw myself at that mirror. A little awkward since it was on a dresser, but once just the tip of my finger touched that blackness I was sucked in.