Devil Inside (22 page)

“Is she better than you?”

“Oh, she has handed me my ass more than a few times,” Levi smiled his crooked smile.

Levi and Harley only got out of bed to use the bathroom and eat for the rest of the night.  They both were content to spend Harley’s last few hours as a human in bed.  Once they had both drifted off into a nap only to be woken a short time later by loud voices.

“I couldn’t care less,” Harley heard a man shout.  The haughtiness in the voice was unmistakable.  The voice also had a slight European accent, probably English but maybe Irish, Harley wasn’t sure.  The voice was accompanied by footsteps that drew closer and closer.

“If you knock on that door I will rip your head off and shove it up your ass.”  That voice Harley recognized.  It was Evie.

“Oh come on, Love.  His first night day back and he spends it in bed.  And he actually brought a girl with him to boot.  How can I resist interrupting that?”

Harley looked at Levi.  He was scowling and his jaw was clenched tightly but he made no move to get out of bed.  Harley didn’t know what was going on outside the bedroom.  She couldn’t hear a response from Evie but she must have done or said something because Rafe (she assumed) gave a loud, disgruntled “Fine!” before Harley heard their footsteps fade away.

“Rafe?” she asked.

“Yep.”

“He sounds like an ass.”

“Yep.”

Immediately, Harley took a disliking to Rafe—this only confirmed her initial decision to trust Levi’s opinion of the Nocte.  She hadn’t even laid eyes on him but just the sound of his voice grated against her nerves.  
And I normally like British accents
.  She could tell that Levi was equally, if not more, annoyed.  Harley didn’t want Levi to be in a bad mood and ruin these last few hours.  To distract him she quickly ducked under the covers laughing at Levi’s surprised gasp.  They picked up where they left off as if they had never fallen asleep.  There were a couple of things Harley remembered that she wanted to do one last time as a human.

Later, Harley finally drifted off to sleep trying to imagine what the bond would be like.  She tried to imagine what it would be like to learn how to fight.  Her brain was a tangled knot of thoughts.  She hadn’t figured that she would be able to sleep much at all, but she and Levi had worn themselves out and her body finally won out over her mind.

Harley woke just after sundown the next evening.  The sound of Levi coming back into the room was what woke her.  His hair was wet and he was drying himself with a towel.  He just wore jeans and she could see the waistband of his boxer briefs poking from underneath the top of his pants.  She had always found that irresistible and it was impossible to not let her imagination get carried away.  When he noticed her watching him he smirked at her. 

“Don’t get any ideas—we need to go to Nya.  The process can take a while and she wants us to get started soon.”

Levi’s words made Harley’s mouth go dry and her heart thump against her chest.

Sensing her anxiety, Levi assured her.  “It will go fine,” he said simply and firmly for what seemed like the 1000
th
time.

“It just all seems so…fast?”

Levi shrugged.  “Why wait.  You’re ready, right?”

Harley took a deep, fortifying breath.  “Yes.”

“Then it’s settled.”

Harley nodded, not trusting herself to speak.  She slid out of bed while Levi finished dressing.  “Is it OK if I take a shower?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.  I’ll be here when you are done.  Wear something comfortable.”

Harley crossed the hall to the huge bathroom carrying fresh clothes—pajama bottoms and a tank top.  She kind of hoped that she would see Evie again this evening.  The blonde Nocte’s cheer was infectious and she could stand to catch some good mood.  But no one else came into the bathroom while she showered and brushed her teeth and hair. 

She found Levi checking messages on his phone when she came back into the bedroom.  His brow was furrowed and he seemed distracted, barely looking up when she came in.

“What’s up?” she asked.  Her voice sounded weak and she felt empty and jittery from nerves.

“I’m not sure.  Strange stuff is going on in Miami.

“What kind of strange stuff?”  Harley asked, putting away her dirty clothes.

“It’s too long of a story to go into right now.  We’ve got something more pressing to think about, right?” he raised his eyebrow at her, shrugging whatever it was that had been troubling him.  He stood in front of her and gripped her shoulders.  “Are you ready for this?”

Harley took a deep breath, “Yep.”  Even though it was obvious that Levi was concerned about something, she decided to not worry about whatever was going on in Miami.  Miami was a long way away—and Levi was right, she had more immediate stuff going on.  As long as “Miami” wasn’t storming the house looking for a fight, she wasn’t going to worry about it at the moment.

“Are you sure you still want to do this?” Levi asked, searching her face.

Harley felt annoyance flare up and struggled to not snap at Levi.  “I’ve come this far.  If I was going to back out I’m pretty sure it would have been before now.

“Fair enough,” Levi reasoned.  “I just had to ask to be sure.”

Harley nodded.  “OK.  Let’s go,” she breathed.  “Let’s do this.”

______________

Harley sat on a firm clean bed.  Nya and Levi stood beside it giving her reassuring looks.

“What’s going to happen?” Harley asked in an unsteady voice.  It was like getting on a roller coaster.  You knew you wanted to do it—but you couldn’t make your body ignore the impending danger and excitement looming ahead.  She griped her knees to stop her hands from shaking.

“Levi will need to bring you to the point of death.  It will weaken you enough to allow the Nocte to enter.  Levi will give you some of his blood to help the Nocte find you.  His blood will act as a beacon of sorts.  It’s the scent and pheromones.  Then I will call the Nocte,” she gestured towards a wooden chest against the wall.  “The rest will be up to you?”

“Wait—what?” Levi looked at Nya alarmed and surprised.

She looked at him calmly.  “I can’t be the only one here who knows how to initiate the bond.  Now is the best time for you to learn.”

Levi looked doubtful for a moment before taking a deep breath and nodding.  “OK,” he said finally.

Harley watched the exchange.  She had never seen Levi so disconcerted.

“How do you know I’ll be able to do it?” he asked.

“The same way you know that Harley can survive the bond.  I won’t let anything go wrong.  Your job will be simple.  You will drink her blood until she is almost gone.  Then you will feed her yours.  She will have the hardest job.”

Harley’s blood turned cold.  “Why’s that?  Is it going to hurt?  What do I have to do to make this happen?  If I’m almost dead how will I know what I am doing?”  She felt the panic beginning to take over and her control slip.

Nya interrupted her stream of questions.  “I cannot say if you will experience pain or not.  Some do, some don’t.  It is different for everyone.  I can tell you that as long as you choose this—you will not suffer.  Struggle and pain only become suffering when you have not made the choice to experience them.  When you choose to undergo your trials, pain and suffering become an obstacle—a challenge.

Don’t worry about how to do it.  You will be unconscious, but you will still have your wits about you.  Think of it as a very vivid dream.”  Nya was a lot more excited and amused than it seemed necessary and it made Harley more than a little uncomfortable.

Harley considered Nya’s words and decided to find some reassurance in them.  She had made this decision and she would see it through.  Both Nya and Levi believed that she could do this—and she wasn’t afraid of challenge.  She would just have to dive in and figure it out as she went.  She made the choice to trust them both and their confidence in her. 

“How do you call the Nocte?” Harley asked.

Nya gestured towards the chest again.  “With sound.  The right amount of notes and right amount of sounds will cause vibrations that will weaken the veil between the dimensions. “

Harley rubbed at her temples.  That was too much for her to envision on top of everything else, so she decided to just accept it.  She nodded solemnly, deciding to stop stalling.  “OK.  I’m ready.”

Nya sat to her right and Levi followed suite on her left.  He looked cautiously at Nya.  “I’ve never drunk human blood.”  He didn’t look excited by the prospect.

“It won’t be pleasant.  It will probably make you nauseous” Nya answered, smiling at Harley and not looking at Levi.  “But this is a challenge for us all.”

Levi rubbed his face.  “What if I can’t drink enough to get her to the point that she needs to be?”

“Then I will help you.  But I am sure that you will be able to do this.”

Harley concentrated on the floor in front of her.  She listened to Nya and Levi discuss the process but it sounded like she was at the bottom of a barrel and they spoke above her.  Her heart thumped out an erratic beat against her chest and she could feel her blood pound in her ears.

“Are you ready for this?”  Nya asked her, pulling her out of her daze.  Nya’s bright, unblinking eyes had not dimmed in their intensity.  She still had her slight smile and she was watching Harley with excitement shining from her eyes.   Harley looked to Levi.  He looked excited as well, but not in the same way as Nya—he wasn’t having as much fun as she seemed to be having.  He looked worried but determined.

“I’m ready,” Harley said again, finding her voice.  It was stronger than she expected and the strength behind it almost made her jump because it felt like her voice belonged to someone else for a minute.  “You can do this,” she told Levi.  “I believe that you will be able to do this.”

Levi smiled slightly, “I’m kind of glad that I am the one to get to do this.”

“Me too,” Harley assured him breathlessly.

Nya stood up and backed away to give them space.  “I will be here when you need me.  You need to drink now, Levi.  And don’t stop until you feel that her heart has almost stopped.  You will know when it seems like she won’t be able to give anymore.  At that point—stop, before her blood turns cold.”  Nya began unlocking the wooden trunk that apparently held whatever instrument that would make the vibrations to weaken the veil.  She stopped concentrating on what Nya was doing when Levi scooted closer to her.

Harley’s heart beat harder than ever and her breathing had become shallow.  Levi took a deep breath and reached for her.  His eyes had gone black and she could see his chest rise and fall rapidly.  The Nocte may not feed on humans, but his Nocte was excited nonetheless.  He cupped his left hand around her head and his right arm slid around her waist and drew her closer.  She could feel his breath on her neck as he hesitated for a brief moment before sinking his teeth into the large artery in her neck.

Levi didn’t drink slowly.  Instead, he stabbed his fangs into her skin quickly, with a small growl.  Had he hesitated or been too timid the pain would have only lasted longer.  When he latched onto her Harley had to clench her teeth shut to stop from crying out loud.   There was no euphoria that she had always read about in books.  This was purely pain.  It felt like an animal had latched onto her neck.  Levi wasn’t trying to be rough, and for that Harley was grateful.  She could tell that he was trying to be as gentle and quick as he could.  Had he been too overwhelmed to control himself she didn’t know if she would have been able to stand the pain.

             
Very quickly she felt coldness spread throughout her body.  She could still feel, but her whole body was filled with pinpricks as if her entire body had gone to sleep.  She could feel her hands flop uselessly in her lap but she couldn’t control them.  She realized that this must have been what she saw the large Ignis that Levi had fed on go through.  Something about Levi’s bite had a paralyzing effect and she didn’t have real control over her muscles anymore. 
Does this mean that I’m dying?

             
What’s worse is that she could feel the blood loss beginning to take effect.  She felt sick to her stomach and light headed.  She could feel the pull on her heart and it slammed against her throat causing the blood to pump out even faster.  She could hear Levi sucking at her neck trying to keep up with the flow.  Despite his efforts she could feel blood spilling down her shoulder and onto her chest in a warm trickle.  Her vision had become blurry and she couldn’t focus on anything.  She had been staring at the hardwood floor this whole time but it had become a brown blur.  She struggled not to cry. 
This is for Jamie, this is for Jamie
she began a mantra in her head.  It distracted her from the pain.  But not from the nausea that threatened to overwhelm her and her breathing became more erratic and her flickering vision told her that her eyes were rolling back in her head.

             
Suddenly, a warm hand gripping hers broke through her agony.  Levi hadn’t broken his hold on her neck, but he had reached out and grabbed her hand.  Almost without her control her hand gripped his back.  She felt her breathing slowing and at first thought that it was because he had calmed her down.  But as she felt her heart flopping like a dying fish her fear picked up again. 
This is what it feels like to die
she realized. 
I’m dying.