The Mythos Unveiled (Demona series) (10 page)

“Your
wife is your master?” Demona asked.

“Yes,
that is what I said.”

“Where
is she now?”

“This
is the last question I will answer and then we go back to training. She met her
telos
about a century ago.”

They
were back for training the next day, on a day with weather similar to the two
before. Demona stood in the dried portion of the creek bed trying to ignore the
cackling crows perched above.

“Today,
we will use silver blades,” Balen said. He unsheathed the swords he had brought
with them and handed one to Demona. “You shouldn’t worry about the silver,
since we don’t actually view each other as evil. But keep in mind that cuts
still hurt, and too many can begin to weaken you. Your
kataphraktos
will help to prevent superficial cuts, things like
scrapes or scratches. When it comes to deeper cuts by swords and daggers your
kataphraktos
is useless.”

They
returned to their positions and continued the dance of swordsmanship once more.
Demona struck and the blade tore at Balen’s stomach ripping the shirt as she
withdrew her sword. The tear revealed his rock hard abs and a small red
scratch. Demona was more startled by the glistening sweat on his perfect
muscles than by the mark she had left. She was distracted for a moment as she
admired him as a man, not as a coworker.

Balen
smiled at her success in training. He returned the favor by sliced through part
of Demona’s shirt revealing her bra strap.

“Balen!
You did that on purpose!” Demona glared at him, her mouth hung open. “That’s
it, I’ve had it!”

“It’s
Kerrick,” Balen said. “You don’t have to call me Balen all the time.” A grin
spread across his face.

Does he consider
me an equal?

They
danced longer, blocking each other’s blows. They both struck at the same time
locking swords. This brought them within feet of each other, their swords
locked and eyes met. Each of them was determined to outdo the other.

Kerrick
threw Demona’s sword out of the lock and she stumbled. She just barely caught
herself and swept the blade towards Kerrick’s legs. He jumped in an attempt to
avoid the sword’s edge, but he stumbled as he landed.

Demona
lost her footing and fell into, the already off balanced, Kerrick and they both
fell to the ground. Demona landed on top of him, but before she could respond
to the awkward position they were in, Kerrick pushed her off of him. In the
process Demona’s sword flew out of her hand.

Kerrick
quickly rolled into an offensive position. She felt the sharp of his blade that
was pressed against her throat. Demona looked up to find Kerrick’s face only
inches from her own. Exhausted they both remained in position and tried to
recover their strength from the fight.

Demona
looked into his eyes and found a flicker of excitement. Before she knew what
she was doing she reached up and pulled his face towards hers. Their lips met
fiercely and a fire burned within. There was no passion there, only pure lust.

Kerrick
returned her kiss with a forcefulness of his own. He pulled himself away only
slightly to withdraw his blade and threw it off to the side. He met Demona’s
lips again eagerly. Kerrick rolled onto his back and brought Demona to rest on
top of him.

This
was new for Demona, this was a fully fledged fire. They could not get enough of
each other. Demona bit down hard on Kerrick’s bottom lip and a moan escaped
him. He gripped Demona closer.

“Wait,”
Demona said. She managed to pull away. She sat near him and looked in his
direction. With a shudder she tried to bring her brain back to life. The
intensity had forced all conscious thought out of her mind. She shook her head
in an attempt to clear it. “I can’t do this right now. You’re my partner. I
think I still have feelings for Felix. This can’t happen.”

“It
was nothing. Sometimes it happens after a fight. Don’t get yourself all in a
huff,” Kerrick said. He got to his feet and brushed himself off.

“I’m
sorry,” Demona said.

“The
frustration and intensity of the fight can sometimes manifest into other forms
of emotion. No big deal,” Kerrick said. He turned to pick up their swords and
began walking back to the car.

Demona
got to her feet and began to follow.
Okay,
what was that about?

Chapter 11

Emotional
Trigger

The
phone rang. Demona untangled herself from her covers and groggily threw her arm
towards her night stand. With her eyes still closed she felt around for the
phone. After she found it, she peered through squinted eyes at the name
flashing on the screen. Kerrick. The feeling of butterflies grew in her
stomach.

“Hello,”
Demona said. She tried to hide a yawn.

“Demona,
I need you to pick me up. Darius gave permission to take the day for more
training,” Kerrick said.

“Okay,
where are you?” Demona asked. She threw the covers off of her.

“Home.”

“Why
can’t we meet at TGHC?”

“My
car isn’t working.”

“Give
me half an hour.” Then, Demona hung up the phone.

Demona
stretched and drug herself out of bed. As she changed she noticed multiple
bruises on her body from the past few days of training. Demona threw on a pair
of black yoga shorts and a light purple tank top. She quickly pulled her hair
up in a bun, so that it would not fall into her eyes. Then, she ran into the
bathroom to brush her teeth before she headed for the door.

Demona
headed down the hall for the stairway where she heard voices coming from ahead.

“…Felix…”

“She
can’t know.”

“…tell
her…finds out…be mad at…”

Demona
rounded the turn into the stairwell towards the voices.
What are they talking about?

“You
don’t understand.”

“Explain
it to me.”

Is that Hannah
and Kaleb?

“I
can’t. Not now anyway,” Kaleb said.

Demona
made her way down the stairwell and finally came upon Kaleb and Hannah going in
the opposite direction. They had been so engrossed in their conversation that
they failed to notice her coming down the stairs. Both Hannah and Kaleb looked
up unexpectedly.

“Hey,”
Demona said.

“Uh-uh,
hi,” Kaleb said. He cleared his throat and awkwardly greeted her.

“Hello,”
Hannah said. She was unable to meet Demona’s eyes.

“What’s
up?” Demona asked.

“Not
much,” Hannah said. “Just getting in.”

Demona
winked at Hannah. “Awfully early.”

“Yeah.”
Hannah’s hand rubbed her neck.

“Hey,
Kaleb have you heard from Felix?” Demona asked.

“Eh,
no. I haven’t heard from him lately,” Kaleb said.

“Oh,
okay. Well I have to go to work. I’ll talk to you guys later,” Demona said.
Something is up
.

“Alright,”
Hannah said.

“Bye,”
Kaleb said.

That’s got to be
the most awkward conversation I have ever had. I wonder what’s going on with
Felix. Well whatever it is, I want nothing to do with him anymore.

Demona
hopped in her car and drove across town to Kerrick’s house. She pulled up to
his house on the corner of a street lined with homes. The houses lined one
against the other; all built in a similar style. Kerrick’s house looked a
little less cared for than most of the homes on the street.

Demona
checked her face in the mirror and made sure she looked okay. Then, she stepped
out of the car and closed the car door behind her. She approached his door and
raised her fist to knock, but it swung open.

“Come
in,” Kerrick said. He stood in the doorway and opened the creaky screen door
for her.

Demona
stepped into the house and the screen screeched to a close behind her. When she
adjusted to the dim lighting and she noticed that Kerrick did not have a shirt
on. Her eyes lingered on his abs as he turned to walk away. She followed him
through the house admiring the way his muscular body moved as he took her into
the living room. She found herself noticing his scars less and the rest of him
even more. Kerrick turned towards her and she quickly averted her eyes to the
next closest thing.

“Have
a seat. I’ll only be a minute,” Kerrick said. He exited the room and jogged up
the stairs. Demona glanced around the room. He had a small TV, a coffee table,
and the sofa. No pictures or decorations were scattered about the room, not
even a pillow. A few magazines littered the table. The lack of personal items
did nothing to help give many clues to the real man behind all the brawn.

Geeze, talk
about your typical bachelor. He hardly has anything in this house.

Kerrick
slowly walked back down the stairs, this time in a thin gray t-shirt. It did
nothing to hide his muscles and only made her want to stare harder, to remember
what he looked like underneath. Demona chewed her lip. When Kerrick was ready,
she rose to her feet and they made their way out of the door to the car.

“I’m
driving,” Kerrick said.

“Fine,”
Demona said. “I’m not going to argue over it.” She tossed the car keys over to
him.

****

They
arrived at the same location as the days before, and made their way towards the
creek bed. Demona noticed Kerrick had not brought the swords this time. When
they arrived Kerrick stopped in the clearing and turned towards Demona. She had
halted also, waiting to see what kind of training was in store for her.

“Today…
we are going to work on controlling your
mageia
.
Stand here. Close your eyes, don’t open them. React to the feelings inside
you,” Kerrick said. He pointed at the ground in front of him for Demona to
stand in that spot.

Demona
waited patiently feeling nothing, but boredom. Then, whack. Kerrick had struck
her with a stick on the back of her legs. Demona’s eyes flew open as her
kataphraktos
formed on her skin.

“Hey!
That was not fair, I wasn’t expecting that,” Demona said.

“It
doesn’t matter what you were expecting. Try and find your emotional response.
Take it and use it to control your
mageia
.
Now, close your eyes. Keep concentrating, no matter what I throw at you. When
you learn to control it this way, then you can begin practicing with your eyes
open. You will be able to bring up the emotional triggers yourself.”

Demona
closed her eyes and waited for Kerrick to whack her again. Instead, she felt
something small hit her back. Her
kataphraktos
rippled with the impact.

“Owe.
What hit me?”

“An
acorn,” Kerrick said. “Concentrate.”

Again,
Kerrick whacked her with the stick across her upper arm. Demona’s arm stung
from the impact. This time she did not make a noise. She tried to feel the
power, but felt nothing. He struck her twice more, quickly. He hit again. Soon,
a rushing noise sounded close by.

“Good!
Keep going, feel the anger inside you. Now, take it and gain control over it by
forcing your anger at the wind,” Kerrick said.

Demona
opened her eyes. Kerrick stood hand raised in front of his face blocking the
wind and debris that circled around Demona. She faltered and almost lost
control, but quickly focused on her anger at Kerrick and used it to manipulate
the whirlwind.

Demona
held her hand out pushing the whirlwind towards her left away from Kerrick and
toward some weeds. The whirlwind swept through the trees sucking up branches
and twigs as it went. She then caused the whirlwind to dissipate as it grew
farther away from them. It traveled a few more feet and fizzled out into a mere
gust.

“Good
start! Next time, instead of just moving the wind away, try to bring it to
certain locations and hold it. Then, try moving it again,” Kerrick said.

They
repeated the steps once more. Kerrick struck at Demona, until her anger rose
within. She opened her eyes and grabbed the wind with her mind. She forced it
into the creek where it began to change into a small waterspout. She then moved
it towards the creek bed and up against a tree. There she released the
mageia
allowing the water to fall on the
roots.

“What
are you doing?” Kerrick stood leaning against a tree one foot propped behind
him against the trunk. His arms were crossed over his chest and his face had an
expression of pride.

“Playing.
I watered the tree.”

“Very
funny, but this is not for entertainment, it is training. It is interesting to
see how you can manipulate the elements around you by controlling wind and
water,” Kerrick said. “Good work. You never know when skills like that could
come in handy. Let’s try again.”

Demona
stood, eyes closed and concentrated. She waited for Kerrick to begin whacking
at her or throwing acorns at her again. It didn’t come. She remained still and
focused on her emotions. She heard the creek babbling beside her.

Demona
thought she heard some rocks move ahead and waited longer still. Instead, she
felt Kerrick’s hand rest on her waist. He pulled her up against him and wrapped
his other arm around her in an embrace.

“Concentrate,”
Kerrick said.

Demona
felt his lips brush against her ear. He never tried to throw her or push her.
They just stood like that for a long while. Demona felt the fire inside her
build because of his proximity to her, the same one that rose suddenly while
training the day before. She took it and used it. No sound of rushing wind came
and Kerrick did not yell.

She
opened her eyes to see if it had not worked. She looked past Kerrick’s suddenly
close face, out into the trees. Droplets of water hovered around them.

“Did
I-I do that?” Demona asked.

“Yes,”
Kerrick replied. He leaned into her and planted a firm kiss upon her lips.

Demona’s
blood boiled and their kiss intensified. Kerrick pressed harder into Demona and
she kissed him fiercely in return. Demona felt the
mageia
surge through her and as they kissed she tried to
concentrate with little effort. Her mind was absorbed into the moment between
them.

Kerrick
pulled back and gazed into her eyes as if trying to make sense of everything.
Then, he took a look around. “Wow.”

“What?”
Demona took a lightheaded step backwards and glanced around. All of the water
that had been running through the creek now floated mid air. Minnows swam
around frantically as if confused by their new surroundings. She returned her
attention to Kerrick who looked at the floating water.

“Never
in all my life have I ever met a being as magnificent as you. I think your
training is complete. I can’t teach you any more than I have. I taught you the
basics of harnessing your
mageia
, now
it’s up to you to learn to control your emotions. We should go back to TGHC,
Darius will want to hear about the latest development.”

The
water which had been floating momentarily before crashed down to where it
belonged.

“Wait.
You’re going to tell him?” Demona asked.

“Don’t
be stupid. He would give us new partners.”

“I
think we should talk about this.”

“Talk
about what?”

“This…us.”
Demona looked at him intently.

Kerrick
turned from her. “There is nothing to talk about, it was just a kiss.”

“Don’t
lie to me. You have to feel something. Not that long ago I was devastated
because I lost Felix. Now, every second we are together we can’t keep our hands
off of each other.”

“It’s
just training. Things happen,” Kerrick said. He kept his back to her still.

“Look
at me!” Demona marched over to Kerrick and grabbed him by the shoulder. She
spun him around to face her. Within seconds they were back in each other’s
arms.

Demona
pushed him away. “Kerrick! You can’t tell me that that kiss was just because of
training.”

“Fine!
Okay, what do you want from me?”

“I
want you to admit it. Admit that there’s something, anything going on here.”

“I
can’t admit it, because I don’t know what it is.”

Demona
began stomping back to the car. “Let’s just go back to TGHC and tell Darius the
news.”

Kerrick
drove her car into the parking lot at TGHC. They had not spoken the entire ride
back. They walked quietly side by side into the building and through the lobby
towards the cafeteria. They stood in line together for rations, still silent. Demona
ignored Marcie, the witch, behind the counter, and her attempts to provoke her.

After
she gulped down her food, Demona went up to Darius’ office alone. She informed
his secretary that she and Kerrick needed to speak with him. She sat against a
wall and focused on her hands, while she waited.

Kerrick
arrived only moments before they were called into his office. Kerrick closed
the door behind them and they both took seats in front of the desk. Darius sat
in his high back luxury desk chair with his hands folded. A copy of Plutarch’s
Lives
sat centered on his desk. He made
no sound, he just sat and observed the pair of them.