Devil Inside (13 page)

“Right.”

“How am I going to get even then?”

“Fight them,” he answered simply.

Harley met held his gaze, “What are you suggesting?”  She went still, her interest peaked enough to stop her raging around the room.

“Do you want to be able to fight them?  Fairly?”

Harley considered briefly.  “Absolutely.  But how am I supposed do that?”

Levi smiled, “Be a supernatural creature yourself.”  He smile grew wider.  “Become Nocte.”

Harley stared at Levi, temporarily at a loss for words.  He didn’t say anything else, he simply watched her in return—waiting for her to come to terms with what he offered.

“Seriously?” Harley asked him finally.  She could feel her anger subsiding as she was distracted by Levi’s suggestion.

“I wouldn’t offer if I wasn’t serious about it.  It’s not like I’m offering you a beer.  This is not a small offer—or decision.”

“Well, yeah.  I totally get that.”  She stood with her back to the fire.  “I’m just—I don’t know—surprised that you are offering.  Aren’t vampires supposed to be opposed to turning people?  Because of the sacrifice and what not?”

Harley could tell that Levi was struggling to not react to her sarcasm.  “First of all—stop calling me a vampire.  Secondly—Nocte are powerful, eternally young and virtually immortal.  That’s hardly a curse—”

“You said there were downsides though.”  Again Harley was surprised to realize that she truly did believe Levi. 
Yep, I’ve moved right out of logic and I’ve moved right into crazyville.
  Not only did she believe Levi, but she was considering his offer.  As soon as he had spoken the words that vengeful part of her perked up, sensing its opportunity for retribution.

“I was getting to that,” Levi continued.  “Not everyone can take the bond.  I believe that you are strong enough too—otherwise I wouldn’t have suggested it.  But some people aren’t”

“What happens to them?”

“Usually—nothing.  These days it’s possible to bring someone back from the brink of death.  In history, before the medical advancements that we have now, people often died if they rejected the bond.  But today it’s kind of rare for that to happen.”

Possible death was daunting to say the least.  But knowing that she could mostly likely be brought back didn’t seem so bad to Harley.  There was danger to most aspects of life—to one degree or another.  She was a rollercoaster rider, a bungee jumper.  Given the opportunity, she took risks.   She maintained a nice boring life because she knew that it was safe and comfortable.  But part of her struggled against boring and when she let it loose, that part took the bait and ran with it.  It was the same drive that led her to jumping into bed with men that she didn’t know that well.  She kept herself safe and guarded so much that when she let go—she dove off the cliff and hoped there weren’t rocks below. 
Besides
, she told herself,
you are surely wanted for questioning by the police.  Your best friend is dead.  You have no family.  What have you really got to lose?
  It was that wild, reckless, kamikaze part of her that brushed aside her fear of death and continued the conversation.  “What other drawbacks are there?”

Levi seemed only slightly surprised by her lack of concern over possible death, but he left it alone. “You’ll mostly have to live at night.  Like I said, you CAN go out during the day, but you’ll be weaker so it’s really not all that safe.”

“I’m a red-head.  I’m used to not doing well in the sun,” Harley responded with dryly.  “Keep going.”

“It’s a hard life.  The Nocte aren’t evil.  But it’s a lot of power to contend with.  It’s a struggle to do the right thing.  It’s a struggle to not let the darkness overwhelm you.  It’s a struggle to maintain focus on the important things.”  Levi paused, measured his words carefully.  “It’s not unheard of for a Nocte to lose themselves in the power of the darkness.  To get drunk on their new found power.  To blackout on Ignis blood.  To let themselves get lost in base needs and functions.  Rogue Nocte on a hunting frenzy is dangerous.  It puts everyone at risk.  The Nocte themselves, the humans around them, the Praesidio—they are all at risk if Nocte lose focus.”

Harley took his warning seriously.  “Do Nocte lose control often?”

Levi considered briefly, “Maybe one out of twenty are not able to handle it.”

That prompted a question that Harley hadn’t thought of yet.  “How many of you are there?”

“Nocte?”

“Yeah.”

“A few thousand.”

“What about Ignis or Lux?”

“There are definitely more Ignis than either one of Lux or Nocte.  Probably more than us combined.  And lately the imbalance seems to be even greater than normal.  I think the balance between Lux and Nocte are pretty close right now though,” he showed a crack in his calm demeanor by running his fingers through his hair roughly.

“Why are there more Ignis than Lux or Nocte?”

“The bonding process for Ignis is easier than with the Nocte—and Lux I guess.  And there are more opportunities for an Ignis bond,” Levi answered, letting the implications of that hang in the air.

Harley was saddened by that fact, but not surprised.  She began pacing again, chewing at her cuticles—a habit that she always thought she had ditched—until she caught herself doing it again.  The idea of accepting some sort of creature into herself took her breath away and appalled her on some levels.  Strength, youth and immortality sounded wonderful—VIRTUAL immortality, Harley reminded herself.  But the idea of losing control over herself gave her the chills.  Giving another creature—being—person—whatever—power over her wasn’t something that she was used to accepting.  “Does it feel like something has control over you?” she asked thoughtfully.

Levi considered this before he answered.  “No.  Like I said before, it’s more like having a devil on your shoulder or something.  You feel stronger and feel a strong bond to other Nocte.  But you don’t feel like a puppet or anything of the sort.”

That relieved Harley more than she had expected.  “What kind of bond?” she wondered.

Levi sought a way to explain the bond between the Nocte.  “It’s a kinship of shared experiences, really.  An understanding.  A loyalty.”

“Hmm,” Harley replied thoughtfully. 
That didn’t sound too intimidating
she decided.  “It kinda sounds like a club, or a job,” she reasoned.

Levi considered this, “That’s not too far off really.  We make money.  We consult each other.  We are given guidance and simple rules and we have responsibilities.  But if you follow them then you are allowed to do as you need and want to do.”

“You get paid?”

“Yeah—not much.  But if you are responsible you will have plenty.  When you live pretty much forever and never get sick and have only basic needs—it’s easy to acquire wealth.”

“Where does the money come from?” Harley asked.

Levi shrugged.  “There is a fund.  It’s grown over time.  It’s invested and has interest.  It’s surprisingly corporate these days.  Our commanders control it through a ‘committee.’”

Harley nodded.  “You said there were rules.  What exactly are the rules?”

“Kill Burners.  Try to keep human knowledge to a bare minimum.  Don’t lose control.  And fulfill your responsibility to the Praesidio,” Levi shrugged.  “Simple.”

Harley had some doubt that it was as simple as that.  She didn’t think Levi was lying to her.  But she knew that it was complicated and a huge responsibility.  But she also knew that it was something that intrigued her greatly.  And usually, when she was intrigued and her interest piqued, she plunged in and learned to swim after she got into the water.  Not the wisest life philosophy but one that she was used to.

Harley continued with her questions.  “You said Nocte weren’t really immortal.  What does that mean?”

“Anything that is alive can die.  We aren’t any different.  It’s just a lot harder to kill us.  Just like Ignis and Lux.  We can heal from nearly everything—except cutting off our head, destroying our heart or burning us badly enough that the heart or brain is destroyed.  And the Ignis don’t drink blood, but their bite is poisonous.  If it’s a bad enough bite it can kill us.”

Suddenly, another question occurred to Harley and she stopped pacing.  “How old are you?”

Levi smiled his dry smile again, “I was born in 1903.”

Harley felt the floor drop out from underneath her.  “So that makes you…” she tried to do the math in her head.

Levi did the math for her, “109.”

Holy shit
“Wow,” she croaked out loud.  “You…definitely look…good for your age?  How exactly should I respond to that?”

“That works,” Levi smirked.

Harley resumed her pacing and Levi watched her quietly.  “Why did you join the Praesidio?”  Even as she asked it, she felt like it was a personal question.

Levi held her gaze for a moment before looking away.  “For the same opportunity I’m offering you.”

Harley wanted to ask more about Levi’s decision to risk death, given the time period—an even greater risk than she herself was considering—but the closed off look on his face made her change her mind.  Finally she asked another question.  “Are there any other drawbacks?”

Levi hesitated, she recognized his hesitation as leading into something she probably wouldn’t like.  “You won’t be able to see your friends or family again,” he said finally.

Harley considered this.  “Because they will want to know why I’m not aging, right?”

“That.  And you’ll be different—to some degree.  It probably won’t be drastic, but it will be noticeable to people who know you well.   Also, it would be dangerous for them.  The Ignis could come after them to get to you.  Plus, human society can’t know about us.”

“Why can’t humans know about you?  Wouldn’t it make sense to tell humans?  So that they can protect themselves?”  The question wasn’t necessarily prompted by the concern of not being able to see her friends again.  It just seemed fair to give humans a chance to defend themselves.

“Humans are happier not knowing—in a lot of ways for a lot of reasons.  The Turba—the Burners—work covertly right now.  If humans knew about them, they would actively hunt the horde.  The Turba wouldn’t be concerned with trying to hide and avoid human knowledge.  They would launch full scale invasions.  While human technology would give them the advantage—there is a difference between an all-out war and small covert operations.  It’s a ‘for the greater good’ thing.  A lot more people would die if there was an all out war.

“Plus, human desire for the bond—either with Nocte or Lux and maybe even in some cases a bond with Ignis—would be overwhelming.  Can you imagine how many misguided people would want to become all powerful and forever young?  Not to mention those that believe we are some sort of angels.”  He let the weight of that statement hang in the air briefly.  The thought made the Harley’s hair stand on end.  She knew the danger of those who used religion as a weapon and they would probably see this as the ultimate weapon.

“And then there are those humans that would want to hunt even without the bond.  They would interfere and mess things up.  We have to train to fight Ignis.  Humans trying to hunt them as well would only cause us more hindrance than it would help.  And there aren’t enough Nocte or Lux to bond with everyone.  And those who did receive a bond—what does human nature tell you of how they would respond to the Nocte’s and Lux’s power that they were denied?”

Harley knew that he had a very good point and she grudgingly agreed with him.  Humans would fear the Lux and Nocte alongside the Ignis.  And people dealt with things they feared with a shoot first ask questions later method.  Lynchings, science experiments, genocide.  Humans certainly did not embrace the objects of their fear.   

“I wouldn’t be able to tell even one friend though?  Or even talk to him after the bond?”  Her heart ached thinking how much she wanted to discuss this with Jamie.  The hole that Jamie’s death had left inside her still hemorrhaged brutally.  She couldn’t imagine losing Jamie and Jason both.  She didn’t know Olivia as well, but she considered her a friend too.  Jason and Olivia were the closest friends she had left.

Levi sighed and answered her so softly it was downright gentle for him.  “Do you want to worry about protecting your friend—constantly?”

Harley knew he was right.  She continued pacing as she evaluated her options.  How many friends did she have to lose?  She had a few coworkers who were acquaintances.  But Jason and Olivia were really the only friends she had left.   While she considered them both good friends the pain of losing Jamie outweighed her ability to consider Jason and Olivia’s feelings.  She knew it wasn’t fair to them to let them suffer by not knowing what had happened to her or where she went—but was that more important than ridding the world of as much evil as she could?  Even if the douche from the bar wasn’t responsible for Jamie’s death, she didn’t want the Ignis to hurt more people.  She wanted to make sure that they couldn’t hurt anyone else.  Creatures like that didn’t deserve to walk freely among humans causing and creating pain and chaos.

Even if she didn’t choose to become Nocte and join the Praesidio, would Jason and Olivia be safe?  Wouldn’t she have to worry about more Burners coming for her again—thus putting her friends in danger?  She knew that she wouldn’t feel comfortable potentially exposing her friends to danger. 
If blowing that guy off in a bar was enough to piss him off to send “henchmen” after me—what’s he going to do now?
  On the other hand, if she was Nocte, she could—would—stay away from those that she cared about.  Thus she would be drawing them away from her friends while at the same time doing her part to reduce the Turba numbers.