Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 Infestation
   Part 4 of 4
   This is a graphic story containing several erotic concepts and explicit
sexual descriptions.
   Occult Horror
   <->
   -_ Creature _-
   Guardian Ryan addressed the room of his colleagues, those who had
survived and the newly recruited.  "All those embedded in the Garai house
and even our own director were taken down because of this girl.  I believe
our departed colleague, Vincent, had the right idea.  The girl is important
to them, and she should be import to us."
   "We don't have any leads on the girl."
   "I could get us one.  We need to call in Lorenzo."
   Murmurs rose around the room.  Ryan waited while the rumors spread
regarding the former guardian with psychic abilities.
   "Lorenzo is no longer a guardian, but he has something we lack.  Both
the target male and female have a way of recognizing when we are closing
in. We have to try something new to combat that."
   "I take you you've already spoken to him?"
   "I asked him here, but I didn't say why.  I haven't explained the case.
If you don't agree, then I'll send him back home, but if you don't, then
I'll expect a better solution than sending in more of us to die." Ryan
waited while the murmur and whispers went round the table.
   "This situation is too important to let it fester.  Gordon would never
let this happen, but, you have a point.  Our typical methods have failed."
   Ryan escorted Lorenzo into the room.  He was a slight man, partially
bald, a few wispy gray hairs hanging around the back of his head.  He sat
at the table with a few familiar faces, but a great many more new, younger
faces.
   "Though we have succeeded in bringing down a great many houses of
desecration, the one that calls itself Garai has given us the most trouble.
We seek a female approaching the age of fertility.  She is not within the
house, but out in the world, leaving a trail of death."
   Lorenzo nodded.  "I will need something that belongs to her to establish
a connection."
   Ryan brought a box from a side table and set it down in front of
Lorenzo.
   Lorenzo opened the lid on the wooden box.  He closed his eyes, his
fingers roamed over the various items collected in the girl's wake. 
Minutes passed in silence.  As the time stretched, many wondered if calling
him had been a mistake.
   "A female?  A girl?" Lorenzo's scrunched in disgust.  He shook his head
and slammed the box shut, flicked his hands as if trying to get something
off it.  "You are looking for a creature, inhumane in the truest since of
the word.  Evil, foul.  I am willing to do everything in my ability to see
you succeed in ending this thing's life, but it will take time, and
reaching out to those whom you have shunned in the past."
   ***
   Marcus suspected something odd had been going on with Derek for a few
weeks.  First he started turning down his invitation to go out for drinks -
even when he offered to pay.  Derek never turned down a free beer in the
five years of working with the man.
   His attempts to reach out to his room mate, Aaron didn't help.  They
were always together, always at home, and neither of them accepting of a
visit.  He hardly thought Derek and Aaron had entered a relationship, but
his concern wouldn't quit eating at him.
   When Derek started taking days off work, Marcus decided to invite
himself to their house.
   Caleb answered the door, but only opened it enough to look out. 
"Marcus, hey man.  Derek didn't say you were coming."
   "Yes, that's what I wanted to talk to you about.  Have you noticed
anything weird about Derek lately?"
   "No.  Like what?  What are you talking about?" Cole's eyes shifted, he
looked over his shoulder, out the door as if expecting someone else.
   Cole, Derek, and Aaron were all acting the same.  Had the men developed
a drug habit?
   A noise drew Marcus' attention to the hallway, over Cole's shoulder.  A
girl jumped onto the back of the couch.  She looked like one of those feral
children escaped from the woods, thin limbs, dark skin, wild stringy hair,
ill-fitted clothes.
   "Who is that?" The moment he asked, she spun and dropped.
   "Who?" Cole turned and looked down the hallway, but by then the girl was
gone.
   "Is there a kid here?  You know that would get Aaron into trouble."
   "No." Cole laughed nervously.  "There's no kid here.  Are you sure?"
   "I'm not sure what I saw was a child anyway.  You all get a pet or
something?"
   "Who is that?" Derek's eyes looked sunken, dark, his skin pale.
   "Marcus."
   ***
   Cole stepped back and let Derek get rid of his co-worker before Cole
said something he shouldn't, like agreeing that he wasn't sure she was a
child at all.  Cole wasn't sure of reality, life, or his senses.
   Did the others have the nightmares at night?  Cole could never bring
himself to talk about his.  Did they wake in the middle of the night
questioning whether they were awake, if their eyes worked, if shadows on
the walls truly moved?
   ***
   Zaira sat on the back porch braiding yet another bracelet for herself
when Aaron scooped her into his arms.  She put her arm around his neck and
leaned on his shoulder as he carried her through the back yard.  He climbed
up a tree with her until they were snug on a high branch facing away from
the house.
   She reached up and played in his hair, twisting it around her fingers.
"Why are we up here?"
   "I thought you could use some time outside the house."
   "I'm not supposed to be outside the house.  Cole will be mad."
   "Maybe a little, but it's nice up here, isn't it?"
   She contented herself with playing in his hair, tightening the spirals
for a while.  "Are you afraid of something, Aaron?"
   "No," he thumbed her cheek, shook his head.  "No, I'm not afraid.  I
just want to spend some time with you.  Always seems dark in that house,
you know?  You don't mind, do you?"
   "I don't mind." She turned around in his lap and closed her eyes. 
Better than the sweetest deserts, his energy wrapped around her, flowed
through her.
   Aaron caressed her inner thigh, moving in small circles up toward her
vagina.  "When are you going to let me make you a woman, Z?  I'd make sure
you loved it."
   "One day, maybe." Zaira didn't want any of them like that, but giving
them hope always put them at ease.
   From inside the house, Cole called her name.  Seconds later, Derek's
voice joined in.
   Aaron put his hand over her mouth and kissed her neck.  His hips ground
against her back.  Zaira rolled her eyes.  He wasn't going to reach the
conclusion he sought.
   Cole came outside and eventually found them in the tree.  Zaira looked
down so that he could see Aaron's hand placed over her mouth.
   "Derek, out here.  Aaron, what the fuck are you doing up there?" Cole
turned around in a circle looking for any nosy neighbors.
   "Aaron," Derek hissed.
   Zaira twisted out of Aaron's hold and jumped out of the tree.  Cole and
Derek jumped back, looked ready to run, but she didn't feel like
pretending. She walked back toward the house to finish her bracelets.
   She picked up her threads and grinned as Cole, Derek, and Aaron argued
under the tree.  Each of them kept their voices level, neither one of them
shouting, put plenty of furious expressions and finger pointing.  No matter
how upset they got, they were never unaware that she was a secret.
   The creatures in the house gathered on the back porch with her, crowding
around to get a taste of the raised energy.  If they kept it up much
longer, then they would sleep for the next couple days.
   Zaira went back into the house, into her group home with all her
friends. They had become more than shadows and faint impressions, but took
on colors and distinct shapes, or made their own unique sounds.
   Khi sat on the counter while Zaira prepared herself a meal of canned
spaghetti and canned carrots.
   From the window over the sink, she could still see them pointing and
gesturing.  The argument appeared to be on the verge of getting physical.
   Zaira pulled up the kitchen window, put two of her fingers in her mouth,
and let a high pitched whistle loose.
   They all turned too look at her.
   Zaira shut the window and went back to cooking.
   They rushed back to the house and each apologized to her, even offered
to finish her lunch.
   Derek stood back along the wall while Aaron and Caleb continued to trip
over themselves.
   ***
   Aiden scrubbed the blood from under his nails.  The torture and eventual
death of this guardian was no better or more satisfying than killing the
first.
   "Violet!" He bellowed as he dried his hands.
   It was several minutes later before Heidi peaked into the room.
   He narrowed his eyes in anger.  This was not the woman he wanted to see.
   Heidi shook her head and cast her eyes downward.  "She didn't make it."
   Aiden directed his anger at the ebony statue beside the deer.  It lifted
from its pedestal and crashed into the opposite wall.  Violet died because
of him, but he didn't care.  Nothing mattered, nothing absorbed his rage.
   He'd fucked Violet to death.  Her screams, her pleas, even the eventual
silence did not tame him.  He had stopped, but he barely gave the woman
time to heal before attacking her all again.
   Aiden stared at the swell of Heidi's belly, the light stretch marks
peeking from under her shirt.  How long would her pregnancy protect her? 
Without Violet as a punching bag, he couldn't be sure.
   No matter how he tried to lose himself, focus his energies, nothing was
the same as touching Zaira, as simply kissing her, as being in her
presence, listening to her voice.
   He pressed on his temples.  "I want to conjure Talmut."
   Heidi paled.  "You remember the requirements for calling him to you?"
   "I know the requirements."
   "Do you care about our family?  How that will make you look?"
   Aiden shrugged and nodded.  It wasn't that he didn't care, but his
tenuous hold on the group would snap if this working failed.
   "Fatima held a meeting last night.  I wasn't invited, but Karen who told
me.  She wants to take over.  She says the guardians have more reasons to
come after us.  Her second son is mentally and physically fit."
   "Prepare the chamber." Aiden brushed his hair back.  "If that's her
thinking now, then one more infraction will hardly make a difference."
   Heidi took a step back, nodding.  "Shall I use myself?"
   Aiden burst into laughter.  It was dry, acerbic, and he could hear a bit
of his own madness.  He walked over to her and took her into his arms.  She
felt stiff there, but given her question, he could understand.  "No, Heidi.
Not you, not our child.  Find another.  There are two women meet the
requirement.  One of them," he rubbed his cheek next to hers.  "Whichever
is closer with Fatima."
   "Yes," she whispered, relaxing in his embrace.
   "I'm glad you understand." He placed a kiss on her forehead.  "Now go."
   The summoning of Zorient Talmut required the blood of a fetus that
belonged to a child of Garai.  The dire requirement insured that Talmut was
only called upon in an emergency.  The secret of his summoning was one
Heidi passed onto Aiden during his saner days.
   Though Heidi had not conceived her child with a formal ritual, she did
daily dedications to the Zorient in the hope that one would find her child
worthy.  Even as she prepared the near-term woman for ritual, Heidi
whispered a prayer that her baby would meet with Aiden's approval.
   The chamber door opened.  Even in madness, Aiden's charisma filled Heidi
with awe.  He stood shirtless in the circle, firelight gleaming off his
body.  His voice boomed as he spoke the words beyond the void.
   Talmut appeared with a smile on his face, not just for Aiden but nodded
to Heidi as well.  He answered Aiden's questions regarding Zaira.
   "Her position is tenuous, if you were to leave right this moment, you
would arrive too late as you have in past attempts.  This is not something
we can control.  The Zorient are not the only ones with her.  She has
amassed a following of several species.  They guard her location as
jealously as one of our own, with the aide of our own.  Beyond the
protection of family, she is a beacon to the shadow world.  Many answer its
call.  Several have pledged loyalty."
   "How do I find her?"
   "You must go into the future.  The intersection of where she will be
once she has stopped moving.  I can tell you the time and place but it is
neither soon nor close."
   Aiden sat and thought on it for a while.  "I want to know.  What is the
price?"
   "You must not spill the blood of a another child of Garai.  See to the
protection of the current mothers and family.  The information I give you
will be accurate."
   "I can assure all this as leader of the house, but a member seeks to
have me removed."
   "You will speak of our pact.  The pact will hold."
   "Blood will see it true."
   ***
   Though the sun was high in the sky, the house was dark.  Curtains
covered all the windows.  The light bill had not been paid in weeks, for
weeks earlier, none of the men had gone to work.  Work had become too
painful an endeavor, being away from her so long.  Their minds would not
allow for any other information.
   They heard things, saw things, felt worse, but it was too late to tell
others.  Going outside was like entering another world where everything
happened in a dream or a memory.
   Marcus drove by on occasion, but never went to the door.  He sat in his
car, looking at the shifting curtains as a heavy sense of dread blanketed
him.  Each time he attempted to visit, he never made it past his car.
   Derek lay on his bed, his arms too weak to lift.  He rolled onto his
side and looked at the gorgeous, long-haired woman sitting beside him on
the bed.  "Z," his lips cracked as his hand inched toward her.  "Z?"
   "Yes?"
   "Help us."
   "What's wrong with you?"
   "Can't you see?  We need help."
   Zaira giggled and grabbed his hand, brought it to her lips.  "I think
all of you are just fine."
   "No, Zaira.  Is this because of you?" His eyes shut as her lips and
tongue caressed his palm.  "Come here."
   She stretched out beside him and for a moment, Derek got that blessed
wave of euphoria.  He struggled until he was able to get both his arms
around her.  The house smelled rank, sweet enough to turn the stomach.  He
meant to ask her about that, but he couldn't smell it anymore, only her.
   ***
   Derek didn't flinch when Zaira bit into his hand.  She pinched the skin
between her teeth and peeled the skin back.  Once she had a sizable chunk,
she handed it over to Geeker.
   His green mist coated her like a robe in thanks, but not touching her.
Once, Geeker touched her and made her skin break out in tiny bumps.  Khi
nearly killed him for that.
   The others pulled on Derek's body until it went to the floor.  Zaira lay
on the bed and watched them feed from what was left.  Death, yet again, but
without the sadness of confusion.
   "We should." Two words, sudden, feminine, clear, as if they had come
from a radio turned on in her head.  "Go now."
   Zaira angled her head to the side and looked at Khi standing in the door
way.  "Did I just hear you?"
   Khi smiled.  "Yes.  Hurry."
   Zaira took her hand and led her out the back door.
   -_ Reform _Living on the road became second nature to Zaira.  She moved
between shelters, homes, and transient camps.  Her current living situation
invited all sorts of people to come and issue classes and give talks.  It
was a bit like a school but there were no tests, no grading.  She learned
things like how to handle money and how to take care of a house.  Things
that might come in use if she ever lived in one.
   For the most part, the shelter was an easy way to pass time.  Zaira
didn't have problems with family, chemicals, or money.  What troubled Zaira
could not be solved by a group.
   "I'd like to welcome a special speaker here with us today."
   Every speaker was special.  Zaria didn't pay that much attention.  What
grabbed her was his talk about loss and negative influences.  'Shadows' in
the dark that derail a person.
   "Do you know about them?"
   Zaria turned to the man beside her.  She met him he day before, Hassan,
but Khi stood between them.
   "I can't make them out visually, but some times, I make out the things
they say."
   Now he had her full attention, but he didn't say anything else.
   She ignored whatever the speaker had come there to say.  When the
meeting was over, instead of heading up to the rooms, Hassan headed for the
door.
   "Excuse me."
   He waved Zaira along to follow him.  Hassan took out a pipe and stood
under the smokers' awning.  This one wasn't used as much because of the
rattle of the generator across the block and the down draft from the
disposal end of a restaurant down the street.
   "Why here?"
   "More privacy.  I don't like to talk about this around others."
   Zaira leaned against the brick wall beside him.  She looked up and down
the alley, but didn't see any of the lurking creatures, not even Khi.  "Do
you hear them now?"
   "No, not unless I want to.  I've learned to control it.  My family
taught me how." Hassan exhaled a trail of blue-gray smoke then looked down
at her.  He was a man of very dark brown skin, coal black hair, and soft
stature.  "Are you asking seriously, or just playing games?  You don't look
a day over twelve."
   "I get that a lot," Zaira said with a polite smile.  "I think I know
what you're talking about." Zaira pushed off the wall and headed back for
the shelter.
   He didn't call after her, ask her to stay.  In fact, other than that one
glance toward the end, their eyes barely met.
   People always wanted to be around her - asking questions, interested in
her ethnicity or origins.  Smiling and trying to get closer.  She worried
her bottom lip as she went back to her room.
   That was different.
   ***
   Zaira sought him out several days later.  She couldn't take the waiting
any longer.  He didn't stop her in the dining room, didn't approach her
when she went walking through the park.  Nothing.  He seemed to be more
interested in other people, people who didn't know anything about the
shadows.
   She found him in the dining room, talking to someone else as usual, not
giving her any more than a cursory glance when he looked around.
   "Would you like to go for a walk with me?"
   Hassan nodded to her then turned back to the other woman.  "I'll speak
with you another time."
   "Okay," the woman, much older than Zaira, blushed.  "Thanks.  See you
later."
   How well did they know each other?
   "Where are we headed?" Hassan extended his hand, indicating that she
should lead.
   For a while, Zaira just walked.  She didn't have a destination, just a
question.  "How long have you seen them?"
   "Ah, so you weren't just pretending.  Well, Miss, before I go giving you
my life story, how about you answer a question for me?"
   "What's the question?"
   Hassan took the lead.  They left the park path and stood by the
watershed bank.  "Do you ever wonder what will happen if you lose control?
If things get out of hand?  What danger you might, mistakenly, cause
others?"
   Zaira stared at her feet.  "Yes."
   "Yes, I felt that way once too." Hassan looked at his watch and stood.
"I apologize.  I had another appointment I've nearly missed."
   ***
   Each time they talked, it was because Zaira asked, but he didn't agree
every time, not even most of the time.
   After only a week, Hassan told her, "I'm not going to stay here much
longer, Zaira."
   "Why?"
   "You haven't learned to control your power.  I know what could happen,
and I don't want to be around when it does."
   "I want to control it though.  That's why I always want to talk to you."
Zaira lowered her head and frowned.
   "I..." Hassan paced in front of her and shook his head.  "I could teach
you.  I will help you."
   "How are you going to help me?"
   "First, by being your friend, listening, coming to understand.  See, you
have to let me know how I can help you.  You must think you're so friendly
and open but," he shook his head again and scowled at her.  "I want to know
who you are on the inside, how to know your strength apart from the stuff
around you."
   "I'm bad luck already.  Maybe it's too late."
   Hassan laughed, a great belly laugh and slapped his knee.
   Zaira got on her feet and peered at him.  "What?"
   "That you can even say that means it is not too late, little girl.  I
have been worse luck than you will ever be."
   Zaira's curled the corner of her lip in a smirk.  "You think so?"
   "It's not just shadows.  There's another world, other creatures, with
lives and goals, and places just like ours."
   Zaira looked around for Khi, but she didn't see her.  Khi didn't like
being around Hassan, and that was fine at first, since Zaira was hoping to
gain his trust.
   "Leave with me now.  I know they haven't followed." Hassan pointed to
his ear.  "I hear we are alone.  Maybe you'll be safe.  It would help." He
shook his head and took several steps away from Zaira as if repulsed by his
own idea.  "No, go back to the shelter.  I should be the one to leave."
   Zaira watched him walk away, down to the end of the path, around the
corner, never once looking back.
   She took off after him at a run.  When she caught up, Hassan did not
look surprised, nor did he slow.  He took her hand, and for a while, it
seemed like fun to Zaira.
   He was always looking over his shoulder, as if really trying to get her
away from something.
   Zaira giggled.  They were never going to leave her alone for long.
   They checked into a hotel room.  Hassan closed all the curtains, checked
the closet and the bathroom.
   "I taught myself to stop talking about what I've seen, what I've seen
them do to people." He sat in one of the upholstered chairs.
   Zaira sat on the bed.  "You saw some terrible stuff, huh?"
   "Terrible.  Do you know what I mean?"
   She nodded her head, but only the slightest bit.
   "I might regret this, especially if you change your mind, but I'm glad
you found me.  I'm glad that I've taken this chance to save your life."
   Zaira hopped off the bed and ran to crawl it in his lap.  It felt like a
magnetic pull.  She liked him and wanted to feel that closeness with
another person.  They stuff wasn't around now.  Maybe she wouldn't hurt
him.
   Hassan put his arm around her and his other hand caressed her legs. 
"What is it?"
   "I miss touching.  I'm so scared all the time."
   He leaned down and kissed her.  Zaira kissed him back, forgetting that
before this moment he acted like he didn't want to be around her, couldn't
wait to have something important to do.
   Zaira whimpered as her hunger rose to the surface.  If the others were
here, they would be clearer to see.  She'd be able to make out their
voices. That wasn't happening now, now it was only her: heart pounding,
breath heavy, lights brighter, sounds crisper.
   The shudder went through her body.  Hassan looked right at her, right
into her-
   With a wounded cry, Zaira ran to the bathroom.  From the mirror a twin
looked back on her, honey brown eyes thinned to a golden ring around the
black hole of her pupils.  Longer teeth, brighter, like those of a predator
rather than a little girl.  Her muscles were rippled and swollen like a
weight-lifter's.
   Two long nailed hands covered her face.  She pressed her palms to her
mouth to muffle her tears.  It didn't matter if the others were here or
not. She had become like them; destroyed things like them.
   Zaria cried herself out before leaving the bathroom.  Hassan sat on the
bed against the headboard.  He'd taken his shoes, jeans, and shirt off. 
They were all on the chair.  Everything below his belly was covered by the
bedsheets.
   "Are you ...  all right?"
   Silence.
   Was this reality or some kind of fantasy she came up with in her grief?
   "Come on." Hassan patted the space beside him.
   She took a step forward.
   "I won't bite." He grinned.
   Zaira grinned, sniffled, then laughed.  Her steps were still slow,
waiting for him to change his mind.  She got all the way to the bed.
   "Are you sleeping in that?"
   Zaira undressed slowly, careful not to catch any of her clothing with
her nails.  Her heart still thundered, objects in the room were still
sharp. Her tongue felt sharp teeth.
   He did not run screaming, did not break down drooling and muttering.
   Maybe he really did know how to help her.
   Naked, she got into the bed, and rubbed her body to his.  She put her
hand in his crotch, but couldn't get him hard.
   "Do you think that's why I asked you here, Zaira?"
   "Not all of it."
   He pushed her hand away.  "First, I will teach you to control your
impulses.  I will take care of you and protect you until you are strong
enough to protect yourself."
   "You want to be my father?" Zaira tilted her head to the side.
   "Protector, teacher.  If the closest thing you can equate to that is
father, then there is hope for you yet.  I think you are going to be a fast
learner.  You're smart, aren't you?"
   With a proud grin, she said, "I always did well in my studies."
   Hassan gave her a glass of water and a small, dark yellow tablet.  "Take
this so that you can sleep."
   She went cold with fear.  "No.  I don't want that.  I don't need a
sedative.  I c-can't--"
   "That fear?  That's because they know they can't control you while you
sleep.  I don't want to see you suffer, not when I know I can help you. 
Are you going to commit to your recovery?" He sighed heavily.  Under his
breath, he muttered.  "Spoke too soon, I guess."
   Zaira nearly walked out, back to the shelter, back to being a creature,
scurrying from one temporary home to the next.  She opened her palm for the
pill.  It was a vitamin, just a vitamin.  As soon as it hit her palm she
knocked it back.
   "Now the true battle for your soul begins."
   -_ Battle _-
   Hassan sat on a stool while Zaira lay her morning ward.  Though he had
been protecting her, this was how she would be able to protect herself and
others.
   "Everyone should know self-defense.  You just need a different kind."
   Day after day.  Zaira frowned at the rising sun.  She should know how
many came before it.  Zaira looked down and to her left, waiting for the
answer.  How many days since she took that pill?
   Zaira went to sleep in a hotel room and woke in a house.  No neighbors.
No traffic.  No clocks, no television, no papers or magazines.
   "Well done.  Show me a greater banishing circle."
   "Can I have breakfast first?  Those make me feel sick."
   "Of course it does.  It's purifying you of the foul energy that
surrounds you, that festers inside you."
   "Please?  Just give me a little while.  I'm so tired.  How long have I
been here?  How long is this going to take?"
   "You are unique, Zaira.  I know why you came to me.  I know what you
were looking for, what you were searching for, deep inside." He pointed at
her.  "You want to be in control of your life.  You want to be free of
them. You know you need me."
   Zaira teared up and nodded.
   "Admit it."
   "I needed you."
   "And I put my life in danger to be here for you." Hassan got up and
pressed a soft kiss to her lips.  He pulled her into a tight hug.  "Now you
know what it means to be appreciated.  That darkness was tormenting you,
using you as an open door to destroy the lives of innocent people.  Your
family did not teach you how to cleanse yourself of their presence.  I will
be your family.  I will help you have a normal life."
   "You really think I can have a 'normal' anything?"
   "The best we can do is try.  After the ickiness, the weakness, you feel
more at peace.  Don't you?"
   Not really.  All she felt was tired and achy all over.
   Zaira didn't want to fail.  She nodded.  All she had to do was keep up
with his lessons and she would feel all the ways she used to without the
others feeding from her.  "You're right."
   "Prove me right.  Do the banishing."
   ***
   Even when Zaira was in the midst of her greatest depression, she was
never this tired.  If she went to a mall, or a concert...
   Just thinking about having fun, in a crowd, surrounded by others gave
Zaira a boost of energy.  She rolled out of bed and rushed to find Hassan.
   "I want to go into the city."
   "This is where your banishments are.  I haven't taught you how to create
a mobile barrier.  I can't until you perfect the purifications."
   "I haven't seen anything in ...  in forever!" With a low growl, she
pushed on him, sending him back onto his bed.  "I need to leave."
   He sat up and went to his closet.  For the moment, she thought she'd had
a victory.
   Hassan pulled out a belt from his closet, but he didn't have on trousers
with belt loops.
   Three steps.  When Zaira thought to run it was too late.  Khi would have
warned her.  The others would have made him too afraid to try.
   He pressed her face into the bed.  Zaira struggled, but couldn't do more
than fling her legs a few times before her muscles screamed for mercy.  He
put her where he wanted her, stripping her of the flimsy shirt and cotton
shorts.  Panting, Zaira struggled for enough energy get off the bed before
he got both her wrists and ankles tied.
   Zaira swallowed thickly.  She felt a little better now.
   Her right buttock and upper thigh burned.  Zaira screamed.  "What are
you doing?!"
   Another lash, the other cheek and thigh.
   The pain spread, went deeper.  "Stop this!  Stop!  It hurts!"
   "No one has ever turned your pretty ass red."
   The next lash stole her breath, what little of it she had.  Instead of a
wail, she grunted.
   "You lack discipline, Zaira." Whack.  "You are not a baby." Whack.  "I
will not treat you like one."
   Each blow heavy, widely spaced.  Some times long enough to make Zaira
think he would stop.  Between each one, he issued his lecture.
   "These impulses of yours, tantrums.  These are the foul behaviors that
attracts those things to you.  They will feed off you and everyone around
you.  Control yourself, and you will learn to control them."
   It was a long time before Zaira felt more than the throb of pain on her
ass.  Cold sweat, aching shoulders.
   He untied her wrists and ankles.  Then his hands slid along her thighs.
Something cool on his hands, soothing the parts of her skin turned raw. 
Just as methodical and careful as his punishment, Hassan rubbed and
caressed the balm into her ass.
   He kissed each of her thighs then each cheek of his ass.  "I care about
you, Zaira." Hassan moved toward her head and began to wipe her face with a
warm cloth.  "I care about you and I want to help you.  You need my help
before something truly terrible happens to you, before those things that
follow you turn on you.  Furthermore, I'm going to teach you to be a young
woman as beautiful and disciplined as I know you can be.  Understood?"
   She sniffled and nodded.
   "Speak."
   "Yes," she mumbled and her breath hitched and rattled.
   "We will not leave until you have perfected your ward, banishing, and
purification.  Understood?"
   "Yes."
   He put more of the balm and rubbed her back and shoulders.
   ***
   That first beating was one of the most gentle she ever earned.  Each
lesson was more harsh than the one before it.  Hassan added new lessons,
new rules.
   "This isn't your fault, girl.  You were just a ill-raised, spoiled
child, allowed to rot without proper education." At least that's how his
early lectures went.
   Zaira wasn't as smart as people led her to believe.  She didn't know
better than to let a bunch of strangers take advantage of her.
   "All those deaths were your fault.  You allowed them into your life. 
You gave into their poison.  You are not that dumb little girl anymore, are
you?"
   The buzz of electricity felt like the claws of flying insects racing
through her bones.
   "No!" Zaira screamed.  "I'm not that girl anymore!"
   "Nothing will take advantage of you again, will it?"
   He applied the voltage again.  She gasped through this one.  Her body
flopped on the table.  The world seemed to turn upside down.  "No."
   "Why is that?"
   "You're going to protect me."
   "That's right.  I will continue to protect you until you show me that
you've learned how to protect yourself."
   Much to Zaira's relief he powered the dark wand down and set it aside.
   Hassan undid the cuffs securing her wrists and ankles.  "Punishment
centers your thoughts on what matters.  Your behavior will improve.  Won't
it?"
   "Yes.  I'll do better." Zaira struggled to stay upright as he cleaned
her up.  Hassan carried her over to the chair - the one with the U-curve
that put her head at his crotch.
   Hassan unzipped his pants and took out his erection.  "Open." She parted
her lips and his cock entered her mouth.  "I know you'll be a good girl. 
Disciplining you is hard work, but you wanted me.  That's right.  I like
the way you thank me.  Good."
   ***
   Hassan checked around him before answering the small cell phone.
   "You missed check-in yesterday."
   "Only by an hour."
   "Is it safe for us to come in yet?  You said this wouldn't take more
than a few weeks."
   "It's not safe yet.  I'm teaching her to dispel those things from around
her."
   "Goodness, if you're that far along, then why didn't you--"
   "Not yet.  I need a little more time with her." Hassan didn't need any
time at all, but the thought of not having those tear-stained honey eyes
looking up at him while she swallowed his seed put a knot in his stomach.
Zaira was becoming his little perfection.  Each day she worked harder to
please him.
   He reached into his pants and fisted his erection.  She was something
special all right.  Powerful little tongue circling his hairy--
   The guardian had been speaking, but he'd zoned out.
   "What was that?" Hassan asked.
   "She's powerful, Hassan.  Lorenzo convinced us that your plan would
work. Be careful.  Monitor your reactions around her.  If you begin to feel
like she might be affecting you, be sure to call us."
   ***
   The time to call the guardians had come and gone.
   He had been caning her, putting bright red whelps over her toffee
colored skin.  The sudden impulse to make her bleed froze his arms in the
air.  Hit her hard enough to break the skin, send bright red running.
   He smelled the blood in the air.  He could taste her salt and copper.
   Taste her.
   The cane clattered to the floor.
   Zaira whimpered and twisted.  All he wanted to do was spread those
thighs and turn those cries into moans.
   "Hush." He kissed her on the shoulder.  "You've been a very good girl."
   "Then why are you punishing me?"
   "Does it really feel like punishment?" His comforting hand slipped up
from her hip and hefted one of her breasts.  "Do you feel the glow?" He let
his hand wander down between her thighs.  She was soaking wet.
   He thought he heard her speak, but the only thing on his mind was
getting a drink of her, a swallow of that decadent essence that was her
body.  His tongue dipped and sucked until he felt her body shudder.
   "Good girl," he whispered as he placed a kiss to her mound.
   Once he ended her punishment by having her suck him.  Hassan nursed from
her pussy, lapping into her.  He squeezed the base of his cock and licked
at her until she whimpered with satisfaction.
   ***
   "Today you prove to me that you can protect yourself."
   Zaira's eyes went wide.  Today?  She had begun to think this day would
never come.  What did she have to do?  Would she pass?
   "Drink this." Hassan set a glass down in front of her.  "The test will
consist of three parts.  First, you will detail the elaborate rights.  The
method you would take to clean a new building.  Second, you will go
through..."
   Zaira shook her head.  His words seemed to come from farther away.
   She woke in a cage, thick iron waffle around and above her.  Her hands
and wrists were bound.
   Fear.  Repetition.  She had been a little girl, taken from her parents.
   Khi found her then.
   They were all gone now.  She ran away from them, guarded against them.
   The ground under her was cold and unyielding.  The room beyond the cell
was another stone cage.  Tears turned to salty rivers on her swollen
cheeks.
   In her despair she tried to think back on better times, happiness. 
There was the boy, Aiden.
   No, Dane.
   Aiden.
   Aiden!  That was his name!
   Zaira bolted up on her knees and tumbled onto the iron grate in her
excitement.
   Aiden.  Aiden.  "Aiden."
   He cradled her in his arms.  They talked about the Zorient.  They would
seem scary at first, but she should go to him for help.
   He kissed her on the forehead, just like Dane.
   When Dane touched her, her skin would tingle.  Her body would come
alive.
   Aiden told her she was special, destined for greatness.  They were meant
to be together.
   Dane, under the red emergency light of the spa, talking about blood
lust, shifting, conjuring.
   No, that was Aiden.  Wasn't it?  They were too young to talk about that.
   One of them told her something, about being a child.
   Foot steps, laughter from the room beyond hers.  All male voices.
   Dare she call out for help?  Did she deserve it?
   ***
   Darkness, not the kind from a lack of electricity or sunlight.  A
shadow, as large as the cage.
   Zaira tried to remember.  She had met this one before.  It killed
Meredith and Quint.
   Was it here to kill her?
   She knew the words to make it go away, but she would not speak them. 
How could she undo the damage she had done?
   "Hello?" Typically, her words echoed off the walls, but now they sounded
flat, absorbed, as if she weren't in her cell at all.  "Who are you?"
   The hair on Zaira's arms stood on end.  She wrapped her arms around her
knees and cringed slightly.  The room felt full of anger and malice. 
Vehemence scraped along her skin as thick and potent as the darkness that
closed in on her.
   "I am sorry," Zaira whimpered around the tightening of her throat.  "I
don't understand.  I didn't.  I thought.  I believed what he told me.  I
have offended all those who have protected me.  I deserve your wrath.  I
don't know how to undo it." She sniffled.  "I'm sorry.  I accept the
consequences.  I shouldn't have banished them." The barely held dam of
tears broke and she cried into her knees as she had several times before.
   Nothing new there, crying, feeling sorry for herself, confusion.  Zaira
hoped that it would get old one day, that she'd stop feeling, caring,
looking for a way out of the cycle of death and evasion and loneliness. 
Getting rid of the shadows around her did nothing to help, only made the
loneliness more acute, sharper.
   The feeling around her shifted.  It was a slow change, like a change in
temperature or pressure.  She felt a soft brush along her cheek and held
her breath.  It happened again, this time at her shoulder.
   A bit of the tension left Zaira's body and she struggled to bring her
mind up to speed.  After days of not eating, the crying, the disturbed
sleep - it was a difficult feat.  She couldn't understand if she was
imagining everything.  Why would something so angry suddenly attempt to
comfort her.  Didn't she deserve to die like everyone in her past?
   'Child of Garai.  You are not so far removed.'
   Zaira rubbed her temples.  Why would she think something like that?  She
didn't.  It was like walking into a room and seeing an object that you know
how to be placed there by someone else.
   Child of Garai?
   "I'm a child of Garai?"
   'Yes.'
   This time the thought was in front of her face, a male voice, almost as
if turned on suddenly, heard like a television playing from another room.
   "Who are you?"
   'Servant of Garai.'
   "Servant of Garai," she whispered out loud, just to hear her own voice,
to make sure her thoughts were distinct from the sounds in her mind. 
Garai. Her family.  Had she done something to-
   'Stop.'
   Zaira waited as the mass of voices in her head began to form words.
   'Stop resisting.  No more crying.  Let them back in.  They will return.
Child of Garai calls to its servants.  They will answer.'
   And then there was a rush of energy, it was almost exactly the way Dane
had made her feel when he kissed her.
   'No apologies.  Mistakes are how we learn.'
   The room seemed bright, her mind empty, but her body felt full.
   Around her the cage lifted and she crawled from under it.  She stood up
and stretched her cramped muscles.  Cool, long fingers wrapped around her
palm.  Khi's hand.
   Others touched her shoulders, stroked her arms.  A creature of short
stature rested its head on her thigh.  Soon she was enveloped by sensation,
soft, fleeting, probably all her in imagination, but Zaira would not open
her eyes to check.
   This moment felt good, powerful, even if it was her imagination.
   She imagined feeding from the people in the house with her.  She pulled
the core of their vitality down into the tiny room.  In her mind, the
creatures that had gone so long without a feast gathered and ripped them
apart.
   Zaira gigged as reality mirrored her fantasy.  Screams, confusion, heavy
foot falls, glass breaking: all from upstairs.
   She collapsed to her knees, panting, sweating.  Her whole body vibrated
and buzzed with more energy than she felt in years.  The door opened as she
approached and then the smell hit her.  Iron and urine and bile, meat and
acid.  Death and fear.
   Mutilated bodies, congealing blood, chunks of muscle, organs, and fat
stuck to jutting bones.
   Guardians.  Zaira smiled as she goose-stepped her way through the
carnage, picking through their belongings, throwing information about her
into the fireplace.
   One of those files contained a picture of her with her mother.  Mommy
Skylar!  She palmed the tears from her eyes and tossed the photo onto the
fire.  The same with information on Daddy Preston.  She read the
information in each file, on every piece of paper before committing it to
the blaze.
   People were stolen from the House of Garai.  Her home, the place that
had been her family.  The file named 'Dansil' had several old photographs
in it.  She examined each one before tossing it onto the fire.
   "Aiden." She knew because she remembered when it had been taken.  He fed
her a birthday cupcake.  The hair stood up on her arms.  Add six years,
several feet, muscle ...  Dane!
   Zaira sputtered and sobbed.  All Dane's questions about her memory
suddenly made sense.  He wanted to run away with her ...  the day she had
run away from him.  She groaned at her decision to leave without him.
   Aiden had found her and was trying to bring her home.
   She set the picture aside and tossed the rest of the photos onto the
fire.  She found a pen and wrote on the back of it:
   "I am sorry we could not run away together.  For now, I run alone.  We
will meet again one day.  The pact will hold.  All this blood will see it
true."
   She spread her own blood onto her lips and pressed a kiss to the back of
the photo.  Once it dried, she put it in the envelop and sealed it.  "For
Aiden's eyes.  My blood will see it true.  Servants of Garai, see it true."
   Zaira set the envelop on the table and left the house with her spirits
in tow.
   ***
   Aiden learned about the guardian stronghold, but arrived long after the
police, the investigators, and news crews.  It was cordoned off by police
tape, windows covered by ply-boards.
   He pried off one of the boards and crawled into the cold and empty
building.  He didn't have to go far.  Ekani led him to the hole in the
wall.
   Aiden reached in and pulled out the envelope.  Back outside, into the
soft light of early evening, he opened the letter, found the photo.  His
heart thundered as he read the message on the back.
   He grinned and placed a kiss over the brown one under her message.  "Yes
it will." For a moment he felt her, smelled her, knew in his heart that she
would be all right.
   -_ Family _-
   The radio signals, channels in her brain sorted themselves out.  She
listened to them all, dissected the different voices and what they wanted -
if they were even speaking to her.  She matched what she heard with what
she saw, and the things she saw with what she felt or smelled.
   These disjoined sensations did not always sync.  She would see a quilled
round creature crawling up the wall, hear the gurgle of something wet, but
never in the way she could see or hear things that others could see and
hear.
   When Khi walked, her steps had no sound.  Zaira could see through her
body.  When Khi talked, no part of her face moved, her mouth did not open.
What Zaira heard was not words, but her own thoughts, even ideas or images.
   Zaira thought of the house with faded lavender siding, an over grown
lawn, and a rotting wooden fence before she saw it.
   "Charming," she said as she crossed the street so that she could pass it
along the way.
   Only a few feet away, and she felt the presence of the house: large,
malevolent.
   Zaira looked at Khi and back at the house.
   Khi pointed to the house.
   "This was your idea." Zaira squeezed through the half open gate and
walked on the nearly covered stone slabs toward the house.  She circled
around to the back.  One of the boards were hanging rather than nailed.
   Zaira tossed her bag inside first, then crawled into the house and stood
in a dark room.
   Something in the house was fast approaching.  She couldn't tell by any
other sense than an innate knowing.
   Khi had not followed.
   Of course.  Great.
   "My name is Zaira." She spoke at a conversational volume.  "I'm looking
for a place to stay."
   Hot breath on the back of her neck, short pants, but heavy volume. 
Zaira imagined its teeth bared in a snarl, claws positioned at her sides,
ready to gut her.
   "I understand if you prefer your privacy," she stared forward, "Tell me
to leave and I will."
   The nails pressed into her side.
   "I feel you behind me." Zaira took a steadying breath and allowed her
body to morph.  Her muscles thickened.  The dark house was now clearly
visible.  "I have a Zorient with me, two wraiths, half a dozen kipsies, and
several things I have no name for.  I require nothing more than your order
to leave.  If you want me to stay," Zaira gasped as she felt a hand smooth
down her belly and come up hard between her legs.  A tongue lapped up along
the side of her neck.
   That was a step above claws in her side.
   "What is your name?"
   "Death," it growled.
   "We are all Death." She said.  "Are you a Zorient?"
   His presence disappeared from the room.
   Down the hall, a door creaked open.
   Zaira jumped.  Her bag moved along the floor, being dragged.  She
followed it a few steps behind.  She hoped nothing in it broke as it
flopped up the stairs.  She turned down the hall.  Another door opened and
the bag stopped in the middle of the room.
   "Thank you."
   "Malut."
   At first the word meant nothing.  She wasn't sure if he'd said mallet or
gave some instruction, but she played the word around in her head.  "Thank
you, Malut."
   Khi arrived in the room, her expression was nervous.  She appeared to be
looking around the room anxiously.
   That was great, even a Zorient was nervous about being here.
   "I think we'll be okay." Zaira sat down in front of her bag and took out
a cereal bar.  If for no other reason, then she could get a few nights of
decent sleep.
   The only entity she had to compare Malut to was the one who had saved
her at the guardian house, the one who killed Quint and Meredith.
   Zaira woke that first morning on the floor beside her bag.  Just inside
the door was a blanket and a pillow.  She opened her bag to eat her last
cereal bar and found it had been duplicated, and joined by several bottles
of water.
   "Thank you, Malut."
   The others joined Zaira, but gradually.  Some of them were no bigger
kittens, crawling along the ceiling, hanging from old light fixtures,
causing them to shift slightly.  Malut decided which of them could stay and
who should go.
   The presence of guests did not socialize him.  These creatures could be
injured and killed.  Zaira witnessed their end by Malut's hand on several
occasions.
   This one was one of them.  Malut's figure, much like a hulking
over-muscled dog, backed away from the dissipated creature.  He lifted his
head to regard her.  The 'regard' was more of a pre-pounce stance.  His
lips were pulled back in a silent snarl.
   "Good evening, Malut.  I need water for a bath."
   His hackles raised, head lowered.  When he advanced, she took a step
backwards.  He stalked her into the bathroom.  It was one of the few rooms
not covered by dust, as she had cleaned it.
   He gestured toward the bath.  Zaira took off her shirt and stepped in.
   The pipes groaned, then begin to rattle.
   Please don't let it be cold.
   Please don't let it be scalding.
   She held her breath, waiting for the inevitable.
   The water trickled, a few drops, then the pressure increased.  Warm, a
little colder than she'd prefer, but warmer than she expected.
   She moved under the spray and began to rub her arms along her body.
   Malut did not move, the ferocious expression did not change.  She kept
him in her line of sight, but made sure to keep to her word.  She bathed as
well as she could manage before nodding to him.  "Thank you, Malut."
   No towel.  She used her hand to slough the water from her body.  With a
thump the water stopped flowing.
   Malut stood.  His fore paws braced on the tile on either side of her. 
He licked her neck, arms, and chest.  She couldn't feel the tongue this
time, but she watched the droplets of water disappear from her body.  With
his muzzle he made her turn and she stared at the tile as he dried her
backside.
   He went back onto all fours, took her shirt in his mouth, and left the
room.
   A new dress waited on her bed.  Simple, blue.  She pulled it on and
buttoned it closed.  It fit her perfectly.
   "Thank you, Malut." She spoke loud and clear, more afraid of him than
she'd been of anything in her life.  Those three words seemed to be the
only talisman keeping her safe and taken care of.  As easily as that tongue
removed the water from her body, his teeth could have sank into her flesh
and made a meal out of her.
   Malut devoured anything that displeased him.
   She picked up the book at the foot of her bed and read from the street
light.  This was a better place than running.  In a few months she would be
fifteen years old.  No telling when she could look old enough to care for
herself, to avoid being placed in a home.
   Would she ever be able to have a normal life?  One surrounded by people
and friends?
   A dry crackling sound came from over her head.  Zaira looked up from her
reading.  A long, thin insect, with legs as long as her arms crawled along
the ceiling toward the wall.
   Not with her entourage.
   ***
   Zaira moved her reading to the living room with a candle light, mostly
to keep herself from feeling isolated.  When she read out loud she had a
vision of calming the house with her voice, of the others gathering to
listen.  Some times she read fiction, but today she read from a book on
plants.  This chapter covered house plants and their care.
   She put a book mark in the book at the end of the chapter and felt the
immediate shift: anger, frustration.
   "No." Zaira said simply.  She was tired and ready to sleep.  Only the
sensation of Malut's desire would change that, but he said nothing.  The
room began to feel less empty.
   Class dismissed then.
   She went to her bed and curled up on top of her blankets.  Summer was
fast approaching and without the conveniences of central air, covers were
too stifling.
   Loud foot steps on the stairs, creaking boards in the hallway.
   This was a hell of a time to be practicing.
   Zaira lay in bed, waiting for the sound to fade or stop.  The steps drew
closer.
   Another thing she didn't have the patience for was a prank.
   "Keep it down!"
   The steps stopped suddenly, weight shifted.
   Zaira sat up on her bed.  The door to her room opened and a hooded
figure entered the room.
   He pushed the black hood back, short light colored hair curled in every
direction.  "Um ...  hi.  Uh, my name is Chase.  Sorry about this.  I
didn't think anyone was here working the area.  I take it you've heard
about the house, huh?  There have always been rumors about this place, but
the buzz is that it's getting stronger.  How long have you been staking the
place out?  Are you from the area?"
   Zaira stared.  Hearing his voice, smelling him, seeing him - everything
synced and real and required no interpretation.  Like the appearance of a
rainbow, she fixed on him, each of her breaths deep, even smelling him.
   He smelled so good.
   "I heard you call out.  Didn't mean to wake you.  This is dead time
though, so, hell of a time to be catching a nap.  I didn't see any of your
equipment, so psychic?  I'm guessing?  Hey, maybe you get images in your
dreams.  I actually knew a guy like that.  Or do you get impressions from
being in a place?"
   People had come too close to the house before.  Malut did not even let
transients sleep on the porch or in the yard, and yet, no one had stopped
him from coming up here.
   She didn't stop him from running his mouth.  Cute mouth.  He looked
tall. It was hard to be sure with him so far away.  The street light was on
him, his clothes didn't seem too baggy.  He had a bag over his shoulder.
   She wanted to touch him, to feel the heat of another body.  How long
since she'd felt something real?  With a pulse?
   "You," he cleared his throat.  "Do you understand anything I'm saying?"
   "Some of it."
   He took a sharp breath, his eyes narrowed.  Was he trying to make her
out in the dark?  He reached for his flashlight, but stopped.  "You're not
a ghost hunter?"
   "No." Please come closer.
   "Is this place haunted?"
   "There are others here with us." Zaira said.
   "Wow.  Hell yeah.  Well," he finger combed his feathered blond hair back
and set his bag on the floor.  He took three long strides over to the bed
and extended his hand.  "Let's start this over.  Hello, mysterious lady
with the beautiful voice, my apologies for making so much noise and waking
you.  My name is Chase."
   Zaira grinned.  Oh, she wanted to take his hand, wanted to wrap her
fingers around his warm skin and pull him onto the bed with her.  She
trembled as she fought the impulse.  She hadn't felt this anxious in years.
"Hi," she breathed.  Her heart raced, mouth went dry.
   His hand hung there for a while; then he cleared his throat and let it
fall.  He opened his mouth to say something, but something in his bag began
to glow red and two low beeps filled the room.
   Zaira snapped her attention to the sound.  He hurried back to bag and
cursed as he struggled to turn it off.
   She rose to her knees.  There must have been some kind of field trip,
because Malut was back.  He was downstairs, but wouldn't be for long.
   Chase looked at her and towards the door.  "Never had that happen
before," he put a hand to his chest.  "I only carried the detector because
you know, always prepared, but I've never had it go off like that.  Usually
it makes high tones or squeaks.  The low ones," He looked at the back of
the device and even in the dim light, she saw him pale.  He looked at if he
were about to faint.
   Zaira looked to the doorway and back to Chase.  He hadn't moved from his
position on the floor.
   He whispered, "Is it okay if I stay?" The hand that held the device
shook.  "If I am not welcome I will leave.  I will leave and never return."
   She wondered what the back of that device said.  More interesting, she
had spoken similar words to Malut when she first entered the house.
   Zaira edged closer to the end of the mattress.  Khi stood in the
doorway, Malut behind her.  It was a standoff, and he was in he middle of
the ring.
   "Turn all of those things off.  Disable everything." Zaira said.
   Chase picked up everything out of the bag, ripping out batteries,
powering down devices.  He even turned his phone off.  He refilled the bag
and zipped it shut.  He was still on his knees, no clue that if Malut were
drooling, his hair would be slick with slime.
   "May I..."
   Had she misjudged his intelligence?
   "May I also ask to leave here with my health and my sanity when we are
done talking?"
   Her eyes misted.  She blinked to clear the tears.  Underestimated, in
fact.  She smiled as her she swung her legs down from the bed to the floor.
"You ...  request a pact with me?  Sit and talk and leave as you arrived?"
Oh, she didn't want to talk to him, but he made this pact, not her.
   His breath came heavy and slow, like a controlled pant.  Beads of sweat
glistened off his head.  He whispered a curse, almost too low to make out,
but Zaira had very good hearing.  "Fuck.  I think ...  Yes, I'd like to,
very much."
   She crouched to the floor and crawled over to him, keeping out of the
street light, moving beside him, closer to the wall.  "This is how you bind
a pact?" She extended her hand to him.
   He laughed nervously, and rubbed his palm to his jeans.  "Yeah." His
hand shook, but looked much larger around her smaller one.  He rubbed his
thumb over her hand.  "You're real," he muttered.
   She knew the feeling.  "The pact will hold," Zaira said.  "My blood will
see it true." She looked to the doorway.  "Agreed?"
   Chase's eyes widened as he noticed her looking over his head, but he
didn't turn around.
   Khi and Malut moved away from the door, retreated to other rooms of the
house.
   Zaira looked down and turned his hand over.  "Strong hands," she
whispered.  "Warm.  Real."
   His eyes remained as wide as saucers as he took her in.  "Are you
naked?" He unzipped his hoodie and handed it over to her.
   Zaira set it down on top of his bag.  She took his hand and pulled him
over to her bed.
   She picked up the sheet and pulled it over her body.  Only then did he
appear to breathe normally.
   They stared at each other in the dark for a while.  Zaira wanted to
reach out and touch him, but she'd probably done too much.  She knew her
nudity might unsettle him, but not in this way.  She would have gladly
accepted him jumping on her, covering her in the hungry kiss of a man in
need.
   Zaira lowered her eyes and took a deep breath.  She might as well put
that out of her mind.
   "If..."
   She looked up and waited.  He looked truly terrified now, but she didn't
know how to put him any further at ease.
   "If you don't hunt ghosts, why are you here?"
   "When you hunt ghosts, what do you do when you find them?"
   He didn't seem to care that she wouldn't answer his question.  In fact,
he look relieved to have something to talk about.  Once she got him running
she didn't have to do much else other than ask a few other pointed
questions.
   Chase performed paranormal investigations for fun along with a group of
other friends.  He'd gained his interest in high school.  His friends
weren't able to join him tonight, so he decided to scout some new places on
his own.  Most of his investigations were bogus, more due to being afraid
of the dark than any real presence.  "There's an entire religious faith
built around contacting these things and learning to interact with them,
but I doubt it happens by accident.  At least I never have.  I still do it,
hoping one day to stumble on something real.  I'm not sure the uh, type in
here, is really the kind to come up on by accident, huh?"
   "No." Zaira looked out the window.  The streetlight turned off, the sky
turned light steel blue.
   "Yeah, so, I guess I better go.  You live here?"
   She nodded.
   "I'd like to come back.  Just to uh, talk.  I'll leave everything else
at home this time.  Promise."
   "Yes.  You can come back." Zaira said it before she'd really thought it
over.  He made her feel crazy, like her head was spinning, but she didn't
want it to be the last time.  She hadn't read too much about paranormal
investigation.  All the things he described her life, her experiences, all
in a different language.
   ***
   Chase returned, and their pact held.  He stopped by every two or three
evenings, most times with food, once with a whole pizza which made Zaira
purr with contentment.
   His visits then switched toward the day time.
   "Listen, I didn't bring any equipment, but I brought my lap top.  I
thought we could watch a movie or something."
   They did.  Zaira lay beside him on a blanket on the floor.  The movie
played in front of her, but she focused on the places where their skin
touched, the sound of his breath, his pulse, the woodsy smell of him.
   It had been maybe two weeks since his first visit.  It was late
afternoon.  Once Chase discovered her love of reading they began to read
together.
   Zaira set her book down.  She couldn't take this feeling any longer. 
She crawled over to him, dressed in the shirt he'd bought her.  She pressed
her lips to his and kissed him.  He kissed her back.  She put her hands
under his shirt and tried to take it off.  He seemed to be squirming under
her, gasping as if drowning.
   She was attacking him.  With an apologetic glance she backed out of his
lap.  He made a pact with her.  She couldn't do this.
   "Sorry," she whispered.  "Don't you want me?"
   "Why are you doing this?  I mean, why me?  Why do you want me?"
   Zaira eased back further and chewed on her bottom lip.  "I'm horny. 
You're handsome."
   Chase's face turned red and he coughed and laughed.  "Wow." He coughed
again and then smiled at her.  "Those are pretty good reasons, but aren't
you..." He sighed heavily.  "How old are you, Zaira?"
   She hugged her knees to her body and stared at him over them.  Why did
that matter?  No one cared about her age before.  Was she not young enough
for him?
   "Personal question.  Right.  Um," He breathed again.  "Am I in danger if
I do this?"
   "I don't think so." He was in danger just being in this house with her.
She shrugged and shook her head.  "Never mind.  Go." She turned her back
and crawled into her bed.  She didn't want to watch him leave.  Didn't want
to start crying.  If he wasn't in danger now, he would be then.
   The bed shifted as he lay behind her.  Soft fingers brushed her hair
back from her face then he kissed her.  "I want to be your friend.  I want
to get to know you.  You have a very beautiful body as well, but that's not
why I come here."
   Zaira hummed in the affirmative.  Yeah, sure.  Right.  She tucked her
body tight.
   "I'm going to see if you're being honest with me." His hand eased around
her hip, down along her thigh.  His fingers along the bottom of her butt.
   She turned her face into the mattress to hide her grin.  How many nights
had she imagined him touching her?  She felt his fingers slide along her
thighs and along her outer labia.  She wondered how the pool of liquid felt
to him.
   "Wow, okay.  How does that feel?"
   "Okay."
   "Tough crowd." He nuzzled his face next to hers.  He rolled her onto her
back and kissed her.  His fingers readjusted and enter her.  He fingered
her until she came, whimpering against his lips.  For a moment that whimper
was one of fear as she looked at Malut, in daylight, a shadow in the sun's
light, staring at them.  She couldn't get an impression of his mood, but
Chase was still alive.
   Chase went to remove his hand and she grabbed his wrist.  "Don't stop
yet, please."
   "Yes, ma'am.  You like it now?"
   She chuckled.  "It's all right."
   He nipped her slightly on the shoulder and Zaira moaned.  "I'll keep
going until you tell me to stop."
   ***
   Chase was looking at her, but she was looking over his shoulder.  The
room was heavy with the smell of sweat.  As it was dark out, Zaira saw
Malut in sharp relief.  Khi was in the corner.  She didn't seem nervous,
but Zaira could not drop the habit of being very careful when Malut was
near.
   "What are you looking at?"
   Zaira looked at Chase.  Malut always showed up after she had an orgasm,
but she couldn't figure out if he approved or disapproved.  "Do you want to
see him?"
   "You know I told you that it wasn't important."
   "But are you interested?  I can teach you, but you have to learn
everything, not just some of it.  You have to enter the pact for life, not
just until your curiosity is sated."
   "How do you mean?"
   "You said there were religions, faiths built around contacting the
Zorient?"
   "Yes."
   "You're going to need that." Zaira straddled his waist, but Chase
grabbed her hips, moved her down to his thighs.
   "How old are you, Zaira?"
   "How old are you, Chase?" She leaned over and took his nipple between
her teeth.
   "Twenty two."
   "How old do I need to be to have you inside me?" To switched to the
other nipple.  "As much as I want?" She tugged on the hard nub of flesh. 
"Without you asking me that question?"
   "How old are you, please?  I want to know."
   She eased up his body and sucked on his ear lobe.  He groaned and ground
his hips against her.  He put the head of his erection at her entrance. 
Just by flexing her hips she let the tip glide up and down her slit. 
"Today is my fifteenth birthday.  I am not a virgin.  You would not be my
first.  Is that a problem, Chase?"
   She whimpered as his hands took hold of her hips, moaned as he pressed
inside her.  "Don't be," she whimpered, "afraid." She licked the side of
his neck.
   His hands trembled as they wandered her body.  "I'll keep my eyes
closed," he said with a whisper.
   "K," she whispered back as she began to work her hips up and down along
him.  She hadn't been able to have this kind of abandon in years.  She
turned and saw them in the room, really saw them, attracted to the energy,
feeding.
   She directed her thoughts to them.  Hassan had taught her an important
lesson.  She could control them, could protect herself and others.
   'Don't hurt him.  None of us will hurt him.  He is my family.'
   ***
   Chase didn't talk about the things he felt, the sounds he heard, how it
felt like the petite girl he had become friends with felt heavier, thicker,
more formidable, and dangerous when he was inside her.  He especially
didn't want to talk about how much harder he fucked her because of it.  How
he ached to make her climax as much as she wanted.
   He tried to act normal in her presence, struggled to keep his mind on
his lessons, not to think about seeing her naked, kissing her, tasting her.
He concentrated on memorizing her every word, worshipping her instruction
as if worshipping the girl ...  the woman herself.
   Fifteen.  There was no way.  She looked twelve, acted thirty, but he
kept her all to himself, taking great pains not to let others know where he
disappeared to.  He claimed to stop caring about the investigations, begged
off party invites, turned down dates.
   Zaira leaned over to look at the sigils and inscriptions he'd been
practicing drawing.  "Good.  Wow.  Really good."
   He breathed in the scent of her, and his brain shut off.  He held her
down by the back of her neck, lifted her skirt and sank inside her inside
of ten seconds.  His body was bent over with her, his hips moving like a
dog, thrusting inside her, his other hand between her legs rubbing her fat
clitoris.
   "Don't stop," Zaira gasped, her legs straightened and her whole body
tensed.  She screamed, one long, body-shaking shriek as she came under him.
   He wasn't far behind her.  He'd had his share of quickies, but none had
come so close to making him pass out.  Chase collapsed in the chair,
struggling to keep breathing, seeing.
   Her arousal and his ejaculate dripping down her thigh.
   Chase reached out and caressed her ass.  She looked back and his hand
froze.  Her eyes looked like the pupils were so wide open that her eyes
turned black.  Could eyes even do that?  The hand on her ass eased to her
vagina, two fingers inside where he began to stroke her again.
   The black pools of her eyes closed, but her mouth opened and Chase
decided to focus on getting her off again, not those teeth.
   What was she?
   Zaira went to her toes as her body trembled.
   That time he pulled her off the table and into his arms.  He made her
straddle him and he cradled her head against his shoulder.  The
instructions were not to show fear, and be damned if he was going to do
that at this point.
   "Take me upstairs." She put her arms around his neck.
   Chase stiffened as he lifted her.  It was about to be a long night.
   He lay her on the bed and kissed her.  He knew those teeth were a little
longer and sharper, that her eyes seemed to be stuck open like a shutter.
Though she was more muscular in this state, he didn't go after her with the
same ferocity.  He caressed her, entered her with the gentleness of a
lover. Exactly like a lover.
   "I love you."
   She made a fist in his hair and he met her eyes.  It was almost as if he
could fall forward and be lost in those dark pools forever.  The pupils
didn't change.  She looked nothing like a little girl.  This woman was more
dangerous than any thing lurking in the house.
   He said the words again, mouthing more than voicing them.  "I love you,
Zaira." Then brought his lips down to hers.  "Let me love you."
   ***
   "I'll call it off if you want, but I just thought you might like to meet
them." Chase paced the floor.
   "How many?" Zaira twirled her moisturized hair around her finger.
"Three: Talia, Myra, and David."
   "What have you told them about me?"
   "You're my friend.  I've been learning some pretty cool stuff, but it's
hush hush.  I said if they wanted to know, they'd have to ask themselves. I
mean, some of the ceremonies you've taught me, they require others right? I
think Myra would dig it, maybe the others."
   Zaira cast a look to Malut.
   The Zorient bobbed his massive head.  He wanted the warm bodies as well.
   "Go ahead.  We could use the company."
   He took out his phone and texted the address.
   "These are your friends from high school?"
   "Yes." Chase stopped pacing and looked at her for a second.  "I'm not
going to tell them about us."
   She grinned.  "Good idea."
   Chase had Myra right.  She was instantly curious about what Zaira knew.
David also had plenty of questions.
   Talia, however, was the opposite.  She looked at Chase.  "I'm sorry. 
You've been in an abandoned house with a teenage runaway?" She sneered at
him.  "You totally could have been getting with this that whole time."
   Chase bowed his head and pretended not to hear that comment.
   "Where are you from?" said Talia.
   "I travel a lot."
   Runaway, Talia mouthed as she rolled her eyes.  "How long have you been
here?"
   "Since early spring, I guess." Zaira entertained Talia's interrogation.
The woman asked her questions Zaria had become well practiced at answering.
   She soon learned why Malut permitted the intrusion.  They stopped by
every other night with their instruments, camping out in the house.  Talia
played along because she got what she ultimately wanted: to be around
Chase. Myra took up every lesson like a sponge, listening far more than
Chase talked.
   Zaira didn't know how much David actually learned, because he reacted
the way she was used to a man acting around her.  Enticed by her small
figure, her beauty, and lack of modesty, he fought to be as near her as
Chase would let him.
   ***
   Talia cornered David in his home one day.  They had been going to meet
Zaria without her.  Just as David predicted, she figured it out.
   "She's in that dump living there like a fucking gypsy, and the rest of
you encourage it."
   "She's a little young to be renting.  Where else is she supposed to
stay?"
   "Where else?  Are you shitting me?  The whole fucking lot of you are
being led around by a child with a vivid imagination.  She needs to be in a
fucking home."
   "That's probably why she ran away in the first place." David said. 
"You're just mad Chase doesn't care about you."
   "Fuck you.  Chase will come to me when he's got no other option." She
picked up her phone.  "Hello?  Yes.  How do I report someone for squatting
in a vacant house?"
   David texted Chase.
   ***
   Chase received the text, but waited until Myra completed her encounter
with the Zorient.  The girl's light blue shirt practically dripped with
sweat.  To her credit, she never freaked out.
   The moment she closed, he showed Zaira the text from David.
   "Myra, clear up this room.  I'll get the living room.  Go upstairs."
   They had the place cleared out of their belongings within half an hour.
   "It's not going to be that easy as walking away," Zaira said as they
poured out onto the backyard.  She took her bag from Chase.  "Thanks for
everything, but I need to head out before the sun sets."
   Chase took her hand.  "Myra, get those bags." They piled everything into
the trunk of his car and piled in.  "I don't know what you're thinking,
Zaira, but you're not running away, and they aren't going to get you."
   They drove pass the police car on the way out of the neighborhood. 
Chase dropped Myra off.
   "Where are you taking me?"
   "My house." Chase pulled into the garage and parked the car.  "You can
stay with me.  You've met Russ.  He works nights and he thinks you're
pretty cool."
   Russ looked up from the television as they walked in.  "Hey, hey Z."
   "Hi."
   He pointed at the bags on Chase's arms.  "What's that?"
   "Her stuff.  Talia called the police on her."
   "A haunted house is no place to live."
   Zaira curled on a chair.  The place had a Zorient there, sure, but it
wasn't that haunted until she showed up.  This was why she didn't stay with
people.  This wasn't going to end well.
   "She's going to crash with us for a little while."
   "With us?" Russ glanced at Zaira.  "What are we going to do with a girl?
She needs to be put in school and stuff."
   "I can make it on my own.  I'm good at it."
   Chase opened the door to his room and tossed her bags inside.  "I know
that.  You're staying here.  She's old enough and independent enough for
that." He looked at Russ, his eyes pleading him to stop arguing.
   Russ walked over to Chase.  He lowered his voice, but Zaira heard every
word.  "You are just friends with her right?"
   She stared out the window, pretending to be oblivious to their
conversation.
   "It's not like that.  She's a friend who needs help.  If Talia hadn't
been such a bitch, she'd be there."
   "Is this who you've been with the past month?"
   "It's not like that."
   ***
   Chase kept to the facade of just being her friend.  Zaira even let him
play at it for a while.  She read her books and Chase did whatever kept him
entertained in the meanwhile.  When Russ left the house, Zaira would go lay
on Chase's bed on her back, her legs bent at the knee and spread, just a
shirt, no bottoms, a book up to her face.
   He stood at the foot of the bed for a long while.  "David and Myra are
on the way over." He said from his fog.
   She crooked her finger at him and he leaned over as if tied to a string
he held.  He covered her inner thigh in a line of kisses right to her
center.
   Zaira grinned and rolled her head back against the bed.
   ***
   When Chase and the others went back to school, Zaira busied herself with
her own self study.  In the evenings, she helped them both with their
lessons on the Zorient and with their homework.  She even managed to get
Russ involved.
   Myra's behavior changed the most.  For a while she went completely off
the deep end with drugs, risky behavior, and a full rebellious streak. 
Zaira never worried.  Malut enjoyed her too much to let her come to any
true harm.
   True to Zaira's word, Myra recovered and learned to set her limits.  She
began to follow Zaira's rules to the letter and made amends to the Zorient
that was with her.  She moved into the house with Chase, and another girl,
Allison.
   -_ Reunion _It was raining when he pulled up to the house, but not so
hard that he needed an umbrella.  He hadn't asked about her since that day
years ago.  He kept to his part of the bargain.  The House Garai was
growing, thriving.  Aiden and Heidi found a way to lower the rate of
defective births and no gun was ever brought into the delivery room again.
No child of Garai would be killed, no matter what.
   He rubbed the day's stubble on his jaw and cast a wary glance to the
house.  How old would she be now?  Seventeen?  Was she with a family?
   He turned off the car and wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans.  Now was
the time.  He needed to see her, no matter what.  No matter the years and
distance and the children in his life, he loved her.  She was his wife, his
reason...
   Aiden walked up the path toward the house and knocked.  What was he
going to say to her?
   The door opened and a gorgeous, petite woman stood on the other side. 
She'd gotten a little taller, but only a little.  Aiden's breath caught in
his throat.
   "Hey," she breathed, her eyes wide, breath shallow, she stepped back and
ushered him into the house.
   Aiden waited until she closed the door then he snatched her into his
arms.  This is what he missed, feeling her, smelling her, holding her. 
That spark between them, the energy, it hummed, low and constant.
   She put her arms around him and hugged him back, squeezed him to her
body.  There was so much he wanted to say to her, ask her, but for now he
wasn't going to waste a second.  He'd spent so much time in her presence
wishing to hold her, now he just wanted to hold her, as if each minute
could replace the years apart.
   "Aiden."
   His name on her lips.  He tilted her head back and kissed her, long and
hard.  He knew he should let her talk, let her breathe, explain.  Did he
think she was just standing around waiting for him to come back?
   'She's mine.  I don't care.'
   He lifted her into his arms and lowered her to the floor, in front of
the door.  He grabbed her thighs and spread her under him.  He moaned as he
rocked his erection against her.  He needed to get these fucking pants off,
to get her naked.  Just the thought of backing away from her, even for a
second made him whimper.
   She unfastened his pants, her cool fingers slid against his hips.  He
reached under her dress and pulled her underwear down.
   He cried out as he pressed into her, warm and wet and his all his. 
Aiden swallowed hard, old habits controlled him like the grip of a seizure.
Somewhere in the back of his mind he urged for patience, caution.  She
wasn't his, she hadn't been for years.  He didn't know if she was alone,
and--
   MINE!
   He thrust into her, hard, feeling her around him.  His growl
reverberated from his throat to his chest.  He'd been trying to imagine the
feel of her his whole life, the shape and sound and smell.  He kissed her,
breathed her air, tasted her.  Something sharp caught on his tooth.  When
he pulled back, his breath caught in his throat.
   Her eyes were two golden ringed caverns of darkness.  Long nails trailed
his arm as she moaned under him.  Then her eyes drifted shut as she
tightened under him.  Her whole body trembled, both hands gripped his
shoulders and he pounded into her as deep and powerful as he could.  The
waves of power rolling off her were like ambrosia, giving him only the
barest amount of sanity for what he needed to do next.
   Aiden pulled out of Zaira removed her clothes.  He undressed her and
stared down at her naked body as he began to shed his own.
   She rolled to her feet and Aiden nearly snatched her back to the floor.
   With a lop-sided grin on her face, she crooked a finger stepped
backwards through the house.  Aiden crawled because if he stood, he was
going to attack her.  She kicked a door open and stepped backwards all the
way to the bed.
   He grabbed her by the hips before she could sit down.  His eyes closed
as he smelled her sweat, her musk, the smell of him having been inside her.
Her hands reached into his hair and her fingertips massaged his scalp.
   He wanted the ritual, and now, but he needed to clear his head, talk to
her, ask her, the beast inside his head wouldn't tolerate her wanting
anything other than him.
   "Aiden," Zaira whispered.
   He lifted his head, suddenly afraid he'd hurt her, crush her, injure
her.
   "Get inside me."
   He surged to his feet and knocked her on her back, grabbed her legs,
dragged her to the edge of the bed and sought oblivion in her bliss.  She
moaned then, truly keened and the sound was sweet music to his ears.  She
cried out under him, trembling then begging.
   Aiden fell forward and bit her on the neck.  He bit hard as his balls
emptied into her, into a true child of Garai, a pure child of Garai.  His
wife.  His destiny.  The bearer of the future of the Zorient race.  He
moaned and swished the taste of her blood in his mouth as he thrust his
hips, making sure to get every drop of him deep inside her.
   And then the pain in his shoulder registered.  He pulled back and each
of their lips were bloodied.  When they kissed this time the all consuming
madness had left, but Aiden knew it was going to return.  He always fucked
like there wouldn't be a tomorrow, and with Zaira, he felt the worse case
was about to present itself.
   "Don't take forever to get hard again," she whispered, her words one
long string.
   Fuck.  She remembered him, remembered when she was a child and he taught
her.  Maybe this was going to be the best case.  He didn't even pull out,
didn't move.
   "Mine." The first word he'd managed to speak since entering her house,
fucking her twice.  His breath came fast and hard, daring her to contradict
him, wishing death on anyone who dared.
   She smiled and it grew to a grin.  "You're so handsome.  Even they're
impressed."
   They?  Aiden blinked and looked around, but his brain was in a fog.  He
couldn't look away from her for more than a second.  He felt himself
stiffen and a wave of relief washed over him.  Soon he'd make her scream
again, moan.  Soon ...  he got harder just looking down at her.
   "Aiden, talk to me."
   He shook his head.  He couldn't.  He pushed her back on the bed and
crawled on top of her, pumped inside her.  He put his lips to her ear and
let it rush from him in a whisper.
   "I've waited too long to be inside you.  I can't think of anything else.
My Zaira.  My wife.  You're mine and I need you.  Just take me, please. 
This one is going to last," he promised as he stroked her clenching walls.
"I want to fuck you until my balls are empty.  I am going to fuck you until
I can't anymore.  Please."
   Two breaths, that's how narrow the window of his sanity was, how fast he
had to whisper until he shut down and felt nothing but heat and skin.  He
lowered his head to lick at the place he'd bitten her.
   He mewed like a contented animal, and Aiden supposed that was true. 
This was the only place in the world he ever wanted to be, with her, inside
her.
   ***
   Damn if didn't keep his word.  It was dark and they were still in the
bed, sweating, panting, fucking.  She'd been on a marathon or two, but she
was setting a record, and who better than Aiden?  Zaira braced herself as
he clamped down on her hips.  They were at the end of the line now, the
smack of his thighs to hers filled the room.
   He roared as he came inside her, his whole body went rigid as a pole,
then he whined as if the force hurt him.
   Zaira caressed his cheek and sucked in her bottom lip.  She knew what
she was doing to him.  It was like a pure concentrated form, and she
couldn't do anything to help him.
   Please, she cautioned herself, don't kill him.
   Aiden sucked in a deep breath and opened his eyes as if breaking the
surface of water.  "Zaira."
   "Hey," she grinned down at him.
   "Please tell me I haven't hurt you."
   "You haven't hurt me.  I mean bruises and friction burns aside.  I'll be
fine."
   He chuckled and his hands touched her as if for the first time.  "What
time is it?" He looked around as if he'd just waken up.
   "Shower?"
   "Bath."
   She giggled and agreed.  Standing was a lot to ask from him.
   They eased into the warm bath together.  She lay with her back to him
and his hands traced up and down her body.
   "The last time I got that bad I killed a woman."
   Zaira swallowed thickly.  "You're the only person in my life I haven't
gotten killed.  Well, so far.  There's a few that have managed to survive
me."
   "I'm sorry about the farm."
   She turned to look at him in question.
   "When that guardian showed up and you were gone.  They didn't deserve
what happened."
   "I thought you had died, that one of my shades did it.  They'll kill
people to protect me."
   "Yeah, it's crowded in here.  How do you protect yourself?"
   She shrugged slightly.  "Between Khi and Malut, everyone learns to
behave."
   "Zorients?"
   "Khi and Malut, yes.  She's my best friend, but I met Malut a few years
ago.  I think he was summoned and never banished.  He attached himself to
one of my sisters, Myra.  He doesn't talk much, but I think he really likes
something about women.  He's very frightening."
   "I have a daughter," Aiden blurted.  Her expression didn't change so he
kept talking, his words a whispered flurry.  "She's a couple years old. 
Her name is Marissa.  She's at the house with family.  Her mother is child
of Garai, but physically flawed.  So far, Marissa seems okay.  We didn't do
the ritual.  She just wanted a child.  We have several children at he house
now."
   "Did you get my letter?"
   "Yes.  I summoned a Zorient and he gave me this date and time.  I made a
pact with him to protect and grow the house and to save the life of every
child born under Garai if I waited until this day."
   "It's a good day to be here.  Everyone is out."
   "Everyone?"
   "I kinda created a family here.  Myra, Allison, David, ...  Chase." His
eyes narrowed and she knew he'd heard the hesitation in her voice.  "I've
been making it up as I go with Khi.  She was a young girl, like me.  We
don't have the tradition of the family, no children.  So I made my own.  I
know how to protect them now."
   Silence fell between them and they left the tub for the bedroom.  It
reeked of sex in the room and he helped her change the sheets.
   "I'm glad, I guess, that you left." Aiden admitted as he held her.  He'd
pulled her into his lap, cradling her, rocking her.
   "Why?" She frowned.
   "I've needed you since you were a bump in your mother's belly.  I'd hold
you like this and talk to you until I couldn't resist the urge to kiss
you." He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers.  "The first time my
dick got hard I probably would have tried to put it in you."
   She giggled at that.
   "I would have smothered you, possessed you, devoured you." Aiden willed
himself to get hard, just one last time, but he was lifeless under her,
fully and completely on empty.  "You would have been pregnant with my child
before your first period.  I would have killed anyone who tried to stop me
from having you.  So, I guess the time apart..." The words died on his
lips.
   "A lot of people suffered because I wasn't with my family.  I suffered.
I think you would have waited.  I think you would have been happy teaching
me, protecting me.  We would have discovered our sentinels together."
   "You know the names of the creatures surrounding you?"
   "Some of them, some of the others I give names to."
   "You'd only know the one, your sentinel, outside of ceremony because of
the dangers.  We put up wards to keep anything else away."
   "It is dangerous." She stressed.  "Wards ...  have their use, but they
are my friends.  I can't keep them away.  I don't want to."
   He kissed her ear lobe.  "I would have fucked you Zaira.  I would have
done all the other stuff, and fucked you.  I was a virgin until I was
seventeen because I wanted you so much."
   She blinked at him.  "I'm seventeen and you see how virginal I am."
   "Exactly." He stuck his tongue out at her.  "You won't suffer anymore.
We're together now."
   They fell asleep in a pile on the bed.
   In the middle of the night, Aiden woke and tightened his arms around
her, and moaned 'love you' in his sleep.
   Zaira woke early in the morning.  She recognized the Zorient in the back
corner.  The one who'd killed Meredith and Quint, saved her.  "Aiden?"
   "Hmm?"
   "Who is he?"
   He stirred behind her and followed her finger.  "My sentinel Ekani."
   "Why did he kill Meredith and Quint?"
   "They called the guardians to come get you.  He used their blood to
strengthen Khi." He pulled her under his body, pinning her under his
weight.
   "He saved me too.  Did you know that?"
   "I know." He buried his head in her neck.
   "Thank you." She whispered to hulking figure.  He wasn't as big as
Malut, but close.
   Aiden's weight was a comfort rather than a burden.  He felt warm, solid,
real.  He'd already fallen back asleep.  The spot where she'd bitten him
darkened, forming a bruise around the puncture marks.
   The front door opened voices engaged in conversation hushed.  Zaira
imagined the scene they'd left behind, clothes strewn over the floor, hers
and his.  The strange car in front of the house.
   Chase stomped down the hallway.
   Zaira waited until the moment he would have reached out and snatched
Aiden from off her.
   "Stop." She held her hand up.  She knew how Chase could get when he got
jealous.  She'd seen him beat the face in of a man who tried to hump on her
at a club.  Zaira hadn't said a word then.  In fact, she looked upon him
with a warm satisfaction.
   Chase's hand hovered in mid air as if her word physically held him, then
slowly he pulled his hand back.
   Aiden woke and turned his head to look at Chase.
   The young man's curly blond hair framed his fury-red face.  He was
panting, angry, his fists balled into tight boulders at his side.
   "You want to fight me?"
   "Get away from her."
   Aiden reared back and got out of the bed.  Naked, he got to his feet and
stood in front of Chase.  Chase was much taller, but that wouldn't matter.
   The others were in the hallway, hiding and peaking and taking in Aiden's
body with wide eyes.  He bore whelps and scratches and hickeys from the
long night.  Chase eyed them as well.
   Zaira lay there in bed and let the time pass.  Chase was sensitive. 
He'd figure it out.  He'd have to or he was going to die in this room. 
Chase was smart.  He knew something was different about her when he met
her. He'd sense it ...  any moment now.
   Zaira kept telling herself all this was true, but Chase was surrounded
by Zorients and wraiths and other creatures constantly.  What difference
would two more make?
   As if a valve opened, all the tension left Chase's body.  She thought
he'd been hit or lost his balance, but he dropped to the floor, to his
knees and bowed his head.  "My first instinct is to protect Zaira." He said
by way of apology.
   "I know the feeling." Aiden sat back down on the bed and groaned.  He
winked at Zaira.  "I'm sore."
   She grinned.  "Chase, this is Aiden.  Aiden, Chase."
   Chase paled and seemed to shrink even further.  "Th-this is Aiden?"
   Zaira grinned.  "Yeah."
   ***
   They gathered around the table for breakfast and talked about their
lives apart from each other, marveled over the times when they had nearly
been reunited.
   "Do you want to come back?" Aiden said.
   "I don't know if I, if we can.  I don't know how the house does things,
but I," She looked around, not the at the people at the table, but the
entities within the house.  "The penalty for weakness is death.  I don't
want to leave them behind."
   Aiden smiled.  "Only the strongest should perform the ritual.  All of
you should come, all of your wraiths and shades.  We'll make it work.  You
can teach others what to do." He glanced over to Chase and waited until the
younger man met his eyes.  "You're welcome to come as well."
   "You aren't upset with him?" Zaira said.
   "For protecting you?  No.  I'm no more bothered by him than you are by
Heidi and Marissa."
   "No, it's different."
   "So, Zaira, how about we combine houses?"
   Zaira smirked around her dessert spoon.  "With a marriage."
   <->
Epilogue: And the epic journey of weird ends here.
Written: November 2012
   Contact: nysidra at hot mail dot com
  
Infestation_04