Devil Inside (24 page)

             
Nya’s intense face was normally softened by a mischievous smile.  But now it was twisted with concern.  Her brows were knit together and her lips were pursed creating faint lines around her mouth.   Harley knew that Nya had forced her other eye open when the painful, blinding light stabbed through her head again.  She realized that for the first time, in what seemed like years, she couldn’t feel the darkness trying to beat its way through her defenses.  She could feel it shrinking back from the light and the momentary reprieve was a moment of bliss.  Nya took her hands away from Harley’s face and leaned back.  Harley found that her eyes stayed open.

             
“You must stop fighting,” Nya spoke softly.  “I know that it feels like if you let go you will never find your way back.  But that is not true.  The darkness is a part of you now.  It is no longer an either/or situation.”

             
Harley felt another tear spill from her eye as they slowly closed.

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OK.  I can do this.
  She let out an imaginary breath.  She could feel the darkness waiting.  It knew what she had decided.  It knew because it was her now and knew what she knew.  She had to get used to that idea now—get used to not being alone any longer.  She slowly forced herself to relax and steadied herself against the pressure that she had fought against for so long.  Painfully, slowly she focused on not pushing back against the pressure of the darkness.  She pictured it as a door that she had been using her body to hold closed.  First, she imagined relaxing her shoulders against the door.  Even the tiny bit of relaxation she had found brought an immense relief followed by a trickle of coldness that she found startling.  It wasn’t just cold.  It was a jagged, lightning strike of iciness that shot through her.  Immediately, she slammed her weight back into the metaphorical door involuntarily.  She stopped anymore from coming in, but the sliver of darkness embedded itself in her consciousness as Harley struggled to remain calm.  It wasn’t altogether unpleasant.  But it was startling and alien and would take her some time to come to terms with this new presence.

             
It was a long and slow process, but Harley found herself able to let a little more of the darkness inside the door little by little.  Now that it knew that she was going to stop fighting, the darkness stopped its aggressive assault on her psyche.  She could feel its impatience, but it resisted its natural urge to take what it wanted and instead waited for her to relax.  Harley was amazed by the connection she felt with the Nocte when she stopped fighting it.  That’s what the darkness was—the darkness was the Nocte itself.  The more she let it in, the more that she began to understand what was happening.  And the Nocte seemed to understand her better with time as well.  It stopped fighting her and patiently waited for her to accept it because it knew that it would never be able to get in if she chose not to let it.  Eventually, they both would languish and die if they didn’t come to an accord—this was clear to them both.

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              Eventually, Harley realized that she would have to let go and just open the door completely.  As she finally found the strength to relax and trust the darkness she felt the door begin to crumble away.  The bonding process ended with unexpected uneventfulness.  With the internal struggle that had gone on and on she figured there would be some sort of fireworks or something when it was done.  However, quite the contrary, Harley knew that the bonding was complete when everything went still.  The physical and mental silence was as shocking and disorienting as it would be if someone suddenly muted a wild, heavy metal concert.

             
The violent and jagged shock of darkness that had been slowly becoming a part of her, calmed to a comfortable hum.  The beating itself against the door of her mind settled into a comfortable embrace and she felt herself let go of a breath that she had not realized her body had been holding.  She could feel the bed underneath her and she could feel the griminess of her skin and her hair as it lay against her face.  She felt her nose flare and her chest expand as she took a deep breath.  It felt like the first breath of air after being stuck under water for a very long time.  It was a sweet relief and her body tingled in pleasure.  With a small pop her ears opened and she became aware of whispering from across the room.

             
“I think the bond is almost initiated.”

             
“Have you ever seen a bond take this long before?”

             
After a long pause, “No.”

             
“What does it mean?”

             
Another long pause, “I’m not sure.”

             
A lull in the conversation.  “Do you remember how long my bond took?”

             
“Almost a week.  And that was the longest bonding I had ever experienced.  Until now.”

             
“Harley has been like this for almost two weeks.”

             
Nya didn’t respond.

             
“You don’t have any ideas as to what it means?”

             
“I didn’t say I didn’t have ideas.”  Harley could hear the humor in Nya’s voice.  She was relieved that Nya’s sense of humor seemed to have come back.  It must mean that she wasn’t worried about her anymore.  “My best guess?  An unstoppable force meeting an immovable object.”

             
“Care to explain that?” Levi asked dryly.

             
“Had Harley been one to give up easily her Nocte would have taken over control long ago.  Had her Nocte been…weaker…less inclined to succeed, they would have both died already.”

They both grew quiet considering this explanation.  Harley could tell that Levi was worried by the stress in his voice.  It was an odd sound coming from him—someone who was normally so controlled and calm.  Harley could imagine him rubbing his face as he spoke.  Nya just seemed more curious than anything so Harley didn’t feel concerned with her situation any longer.  If Nya was calm—Harley would be too.  Harley felt so tired.  She knew that she had been stuck in this bed for two weeks (
had it really only been two weeks)
but she felt drained of energy anyway.

Slowly she opened her eyes.  Thankfully, the light was turned low this time so it was less painful on her eyes.  She could see Levi and Nya sitting in chairs across the room.  They faced each other with their sides to her.  Nya had a phone in her hands and looked like she was playing a game.  Levi was nervously playing with his large knife while sitting at the edge of his chair.  His shoulders were hunched and one hand rubbed the back of his neck as the other fidgeted with the knife.  He kept gently tossing it in the air and catching it by the handle.  As her eyes focused, Harley realized that she could see clearly again—she could see very well actually.  Not just well for being in the low light and having been unconscious for two weeks.  But supernaturally well.  She could count how many times the bands were wrapped around Nya’s braids from all the way across the room.  Even though she could tell that Levi’s knife spun quickly through the air, if she focused on it she could make it slow down until it looked like a special effect.  It took a moment for her to realize that she wasn’t actually slowing it down, she was just able to follow its movements so well that it seemed slower.

These realizations made her heartbeat pick up a bit.  It wasn’t as scary as it was exciting. 
Well maybe a little scary
.  It was like learning how to drive a car.  Realizing that you are in control of a lot of power—power that you didn’t exactly know what to do with.  Taking another deep breath, Harley resolved to sit up in the bed.  She slowly shifted her body so that it was no longer on her side.  She made the movement in small increments.  She hadn’t moved on her own in a long time and her muscles needed loosening.  They screamed in protest as she slowly rolled onto her back.

When she was finally looking up at the ceiling she took a deep breath and told her body to sit up.  She felt her stomach muscles contract and as she pulled herself upright.  It was easier than she had expected.  It hurt, but her muscles cooperated with minimal complaint.  Her head swam as the blood readjusted its flow.  She could feel her tank top stick to her back with old sweat and she knew that her hair stuck up in some places and was plastered to her head in others.  She heard a sharp thud and slowly turned her head.  Both Levi and Nya were watching her.  Levi looked amazed and had clearly been shocked into dropping his knife because it was now embedded blade down in the floor.  Nya on the other hand just looked amused and happy.

“Good evening, Sunshine,” she said with more brightness that Harley felt was appropriate.

She didn’t find that she could respond just yet.  Her body ached and her head hurt and she felt completely out of sorts.  It had taken a lot of effort just to sit up and Harley couldn’t find it in her to think of a response to Nya’s annoying cheerfulness just yet.  She looked around the room with wonder.  The minute details that she could make out were mystifying.  She could see the grains in wood and the fibers in cloth.  She could see a fine layer of dust on the top of, yet another, generic landscape painting that had been hung carelessly.  She could even make out the brush strokes in the paint.

She felt the bed dip next to her and Harley turned to see Levi sitting on the edge.  He watched her without speaking for a minute.  Harley watched him watch her.  When she looked at him she felt a pull deep from within her belly.  The feeling confused her.  It wasn’t the shivery, burning desire that she normally felt when she looked at him.  It was something different.  She was troubled by this but it was something that she would have to decipher later.  For now she was overwhelmed with sensations, so she tucked it away for the time being.

Slowly, Levi reached out towards her face.  Harley didn’t stop him.  She was curious as to what it would feel like.  When his fingertips made contact with her cheek she felt the hair on the back of her neck and her arms stand on end.  She could feel the heat from his skin burn through the coldness of hers and it tingled in the best way possible.  She felt like rubbing herself against his hand like a cat.  Levi’s eyes widened as he picked up on her feelings.  He trailed his fingers down her cheek to her neck and then to her shoulder.  She closed her eyes against the pleasure and tilted her head to bare more of her shoulder and a soft hum almost purred out of her. 
Good lord, what is that?
  Harley wondered, almost embarrassed by how obvious it was just how much she enjoyed this.  Levi’s eyes dilated blackly in agreement.

Abruptly, Nya broke the spell by clearing her throat.  Levi scowled and blinked away the blackness from his eyes.  They both gave her the same dirty look and she laughed heartily.

“Slow down, kids.  Harley, you have been through quite the ordeal.  You need to recoup a bit.  Eat something, drink something.  Take a shower maybe?”

Harley realized she was right.  She felt disgusting.  She could feel the fine layer of body oil all over herself.  Furthermore, she realized that the feeling that filled her up right now, the desire that she felt for Levi was strong enough to devour him.  She wanted to consume him.  Her jaw ached to bite him and her fingers itched with a need to grab onto him with such force that her fingernails would sink into his flesh. 
He is mine
.  She was startled by the thought.  She wasn’t sure if it came from her, or the Nocte inside her and she was appalled by her own thoughts.  She had never been the possessive type before, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she…
what?” 
Owned Levi?  She clenched her teeth and shook her head and came back to her senses.  There was an edge to Nya’s smile that made Harley think that Nya may have known how she felt.

“You’re right,” she finally spoke.  Her voice was dry and rough from lack of use.   “I definitely need a shower.  And something to eat.”

Harley tried to figure out how she felt as she stood in the shower, letting the hot water run over her head.  She felt more alive than she ever had before.  Her entire body vibrated with life.  And even though she was tired, she felt strong and jittery.  Her every sense was heightened and when she focused on something she could see it, hear it, smell it or feel it to a degree that she found impossible to describe.  Beyond that, she felt something else lurking inside her.  It was underneath her skin and in the back of her mind and it hummed in time with her heartbeat.  She knew that what she was feeling was the devil that now lived inside her.  She could feel it sliding beneath her skin and squeezing at her heart and churning her guts.  Harley found the foreign life inside her unsettling and she felt herself unconsciously push it away.  She couldn’t rid herself of the feelings of being invaded.  She tried hard to relax despite her discomfort.

After scrubbing clean, Harley stood in front of the mirror trying to determine if she looked as different as she felt.  She looked paler than normal but she really didn’t look all that different than she did before.  She was somewhat disappointed.  She had hoped that she would look...
I don’t know.  Supernatural?
She knew that her journey wasn’t finished yet so she told herself to be patient.   She dressed in comfortable clothes—pajama pants and a sweater of Levi’s—and made her way towards the kitchen.  She was surprised that she remembered the way since she had only been brought this way once before. 
Maybe the bond is helping my memory
.  Before she made it to the kitchen she could hear Levi and Nya talking.  She tried to not listen in because it felt rude.  But once she heard their conversation she found it impossible to tune them out again.