Page 22 of True Sacrifice
“You will get plenty coming from me,” I replied quickly.
“Teach me the animal thing.” She giggled, and it reminded me of the time we spent in her room. I wish I could have been myself for those three days. I couldn’t believe how quickly she had me wrapped around her finger.
“Ok,” I said with an affable smile. I was excited, not just feeling her excitement, but feeling my own as well. It was like just being around her was wiping away some layers of toxicity that I have amassed over the centuries. She was new and exciting and helped me to remember what it means to live. When you get as old as demons do, nothing surprises you anymore. She shocked the hell out of me.
I instructed her to sit down comfortably on the blanket. I settled in behind her, my legs spread apart so I could get right up to her back. I kept my hands on my legs, mustn’t scare the little fox away. I could hear her breathing. Just these short little bursts of air thrumming against the beating of her heart. Such little things got her blood pumping.
“I want you to close your eyes,” I whispered in her ear, “and see in your mind where you are now, the record hall.”
CHAPTER10
MORRIGAN
Iclosed my eyes and imagined myself sitting on the pile of blankets, stacks of pillows encasing us in our own private bubble. Not that there was anyone else in the library, anyway. We had a large warm fireplace on one side and a big black leather sofa on the other. Our two vulnerable sides had the large freestanding bookcases essentially blocking view of us to most of the space.
I had no problem visualizing the room in my head. The image was almost as crisp as if I was a drone taking a picture overhead. Definitely a newly gained demon power. I wonder if reading would be like this. If so, I would easily lose centuries in other people’s worlds.
“Now try to reach out from your mind and see what other minds you can find,” Justice whispered in my ear. I felt his body against my back, every muscle shifting as he moved. I matched my breathing to his, taking in deeper, slower breaths.
Closing my eyes, the mental depiction of where I was coming back easily and effortlessly, but I struggled to figure out how to look for other things. Did I mentally pull up, or out, or was it like a pinch and zoom to see more of the picture? In my confusion, I noticed a small shimmer where Justice was in my mental image. I imagined getting closer, and the image obeyed. The absolute best resolution shit I had ever seen. Holy fuck, this was intense.
I felt myself, my mind self, approach his shimmer. Guess that was his mind self. The shimmer almost glowed excitedly as I approached and sank into the shimmer. I found myself in a dark room. As in nothing, maybe it wasn’t even a room, there was simply darkness.
“This is my mind.” Justice’s voice came from all around me. “You can see the world through my eyes if I allow you. My barriers are open to you right now, but when I have a full mental shield up, you wouldn’t be able to get into my head at all. It is important to learn how to shield your mind, so others do not use your mind against you. Unlike humans, animals only contain a fracture of a soul, which leaves them unable to shield against mental powers.”
“So, they aren’t willing?” I yelled into the nothingness.
“I don’t think you understand what a fracture is yet. We create the animals you find in Hell for a purpose. The crows are here for me to use when I need. That is their purpose.” His voice was soft but stern.
“So how do I see what you see?” For now, at least I would focus on having a willing mind and learning the skill.
“Open your eyes,” he laughed.
I opened my eyes and saw the back of my head. It was a little discomforting, to put it mildly. I went to turn my head to at least look at something that wasn’t my meat bag, but his head stubbornly refused to move. I watched as my head turned toward the fireplace instead of his.
“You can only control the eyes. You see or you do not. To control more, you must take over more control from the host. With a bird, you likely would have been able to move his head. You can also go in deep enough to fully take over the body of a host, but this requires leaving your physical body vulnerable. You enter a sleeplike state while your consciousness is absent. Unless you have proper runes, others can enter your vacant body.”
I mentally pulled back, closing my eyes. I opened them a moment later, and I was happy to find myself back in my own body. I knew damn well I didn’t have any of these runes the boys kept mentioning, and I was not leaving my body open to any demon penetrating me without my permission.
“Why did you leave? You were doing so well,” he whispered in my ear, and I calmed a little.
“I don’t have any runes,” I whispered back. It felt weird not to whisper in a library.
“You were still in your body. It wasn’t vacant. You only leave it vacant when you push into full control. I can look through a crow’s eyes mid swing in a fight. Just for a second. You lose your sight for that moment, but everything else still works the same,” he explained. His hands came up around me, rubbing up and down my arms in a soothing manner.
“But when do I get some of those protection runes?” Never too soon to magically cover all the bases.
“You will need to finish your human to demon transformation. Mostly, I used a rune infused bed to protect myself on long journeys. You’re still mostly ghost for now, other than our powers, which are just emerging.” He used just his fingertips of one hand to run up my arm, leaving shivers in its wake. His hand curled around my shoulder, and he began massaging it. I groaned and leaned back into him.
“I’m not a demon yet?” His other hand joined in on rubbing the knots from my neck. I’m pretty sure I didn’t even have knots in this body, but I didn’t want him to stop rubbing me.
“Fuck, Jasper did a terrible job at explaining things to you,” Justice breathed from behind me.
“You are a demonling right now, a human in transition into a demon. When you have completed the transformation, you will be a demon. Only demons can hold demon runes, so all of those will need to wait.” He explained while massaging, which is the best way to have information delivered.
“How long does that take?” I twisted to look up at him and his hands stilled. His eyes were green like a bottle of poison, constantly churning with volatility. So far, I had seen nothing but kindness from him, more so than even the others, but that gentle reminder that somewhere inside him was a ferocity that would be unrivaled. I don’t think it would be healthy to be on the receiving end of that.
Justice broke our gaze, looking off into the firelight. “A few months, give or take. We want you training as you gain more and more power. New abilities will come to you as your power increases. Then you will be ready to receive all the runes you will need. There are also a few ghost powers you can learn and use until you are fully in your demon body.”
