The Feminine Revolution

“Damaen.”

My heart raced in my chest as I watched the demon. I had wanted to face him, but not like this. “What’re you doing here?”

“Just having a bit of fun,” Damaen said with a shrug. “Who knew I’d find you and those Hunters here? But what are you doing here, I wonder? You don’t belong in Oyin.”

“Neither do you.”

“Touché.”

“You know what I’m doing here.”

“Do I?”

“Where’s Lily?”

Damaen smiled. “Getting right to the chase, I see. Lily’s at home. That is what she wished for, and since she’s the one who released me from that book, it’s only natural that the wish go to her.”

“If you took her home, why did she leave Earth?” I asked, worrying at my bonds in the hopes that I could work them loose. Unfortunately, they were much too tight. “That’s where her home is.”

“True,” the demon agreed. “But she didn’t specify whose home she wanted to go to, did she?”

I glowered at him. “So where-”

“Let’s talk about something else, hm?” Damaen hummed suddenly.

“No, we’re not talking about something else!” I snapped. “Where the hell is my sister?”

“Why do you even want her back?” Damaen droned, leaning closer. “Your life is so much better without her, isn’t it? Your parents are happy and together, you had a life and a boyfriend-”

“I don’t care about any of that,” I protested. “My parents both went insane because they couldn’t handle having a mentally handicapped daughter. We’re better off without them.”

Damaen’s eyes grew bright and seemed to change color; flecks of dark grey appeared, swirling with the crimson. “I like your way of thinking,” he purred, reaching out to take my chin in his hand. “If only you knew what you were talking about.”

“What?” I tried to tug free, but his grip was iron.

“It isn’t my place to say,” he replied. His hand moved to my neck and I thought he was going to choke me, but all he did was feel my skin. I shuddered under his icy fingers.

“You know, it’s nice that you want to save your sister,” he said, holding me in place with one hand and brushing my hair back with the other. He moved off the bed, moving close to me. “But you should give up. She’s happy where she is, and you and Tyler are better off without her.”

“Let go of me,” I said, alarmed when I felt his hand on my bare thigh. Another hand touched my waist, and I realized with a wave of revulsion that he’d grown two additional arms.

“Take your brother and go home, Jai,” Damaen said, eyes locked on mine. More colors were swirling together, making me dizzy. “I’m losing my patience with you. Go home, before you get hurt.” With that, he suddenly leaned down and ran a sandpaper-tongue across my neck

My cry of protest was drowned out by an explosion that shook the building and sent me into a collision with the floor. I immediately began thrashing, squirming onto my back to see that Damaen had vanished.

Screams and shouts came from downstairs. I tried to get up, but couldn’t find my balance; my entire body was shaking too badly. Another explosion sounded from farther away, soon followed by a third.

It wasn’t long before my door was yanked open and Noah entered, already dressed in her own clothes and cloak. She held Lyalin in one hand and a bundle of my clothes in the other.

“Jai!” She hurried to my side, looking relieved, and cut the ropes at my wrists before helping me up. “Are you all right? Where’s your buyer?”

“He-”

“Scum must have run off at the first sign of trouble. Did he hurt you?”

“No, I-”

“Good. Hurry and get dressed, the rebellion’s started.” She left my clothes and ran out of the room before I had a chance to tell her about Damaen.

I groaned and quickly changed clothes, buckling my belt as I left the room. The Black House was empty, the cage destroyed, and chaos met me in the streets.

The women, I could see, were taking well to the rebellion. They’d been supplied with what looked like swords with transparent blades; they didn’t appear able to kill anyone, merely putting a man unconscious when it was passed through him.

I spotted Maram and another man a few yards away, each holding one of the strange swords while they directed a group of frightened-looking servants into a house for safety. In the street, a blonde woman was on the ground, blood staining her clothes and the ground around her.

“Tyler!” I called, striding through the streets, ducking into alleys whenever anyone passed. I didn’t know where I was meant to go; I had no idea where the mayor’s house was, and I didn’t know where Tyler or the Hunters were. I spotted some more of the men Maram had recruited, but I ignored them, continuing my search for a familiar face. I found one quickly enough, but it wasn’t one I wanted to see.

I was leaning against the wall of an alley as a group of men passed, doing my best to stay out of sight, when two figures caught my attention. I quickly recognized two servants from the Black House scurrying along the other side of the street; Sitka, and the young girl who’d been harassed by the drunken man Noah had attacked.

Unfortunately, that man was in the group I’d been avoiding, and he recognized the girl, too.

“Hey!” he shouted when he saw her, startling the servants. Sitka quickly pulled the girl behind her, taking a few steps back as the man approached.

“Get out of the way, you little snake,” the man spat, anger reddening his face. “I’m going to finish what I started with that one.”

My skin crawled as I watched the scene, eyes wide. Adrenaline coursed through my veins, every fiber of my being insisting that I do something. I had no weapon, but that didn’t matter.

I pushed away from the wall and burst into a run. I had no knowledge of fighting and none of Noah’s balance or coordination, and so I ended up practically throwing myself at the man, fisting one hand in his short hair and wrapping the other arm around his neck from behind. It wasn’t as graceful and deadly as Noah’s attacks, but it was efficient.

The man choked, hands grabbing at my arm and taking a few steps back to try and keep his balance with me hanging off him. He was a bit taller than me, but I didn’t bother trying to keep my feet on the ground, instead putting all my weight on him to throw him even further off-balance. I yanked hard on his hair, tightening my grip on his neck as he stumbled backward.

Eventually, he regained at least a little of his balance, though he kept going backwards. It didn’t take me long to figure out what he was doing; realization hit me along with the wall of the building he slammed me up against, pushing the breath from my lungs and forcing my grip to loosen. Before I could recover, he stepped forward before squishing me against the wall again, pinning me between hard wood and his body. Sitka and the girl were calling my name, but I couldn’t focus on them, tightening my grip on his neck in the hopes that he would pass out before I did.

Suddenly, a loud bang echoed through the air, and the main jolted in my hold. Another bang quickly followed, followed by a third, and the man fell like a ton of bricks. I let go of him, sliding along the wall and landing hard on my bottom.

“Ow,” I muttered, rubbing my ribs. I looked at the man and saw that if he wasn’t already dead, he would be soon; blood was pooling around him, the puddle rapidly growing.

“Jai!” Sitka hurried to me, the girl close behind her. “Are you all right?”

I nodded, holding the wall for support as I stood. I looked around and with a rush of pleasure spotted my helper. “Tyler!”

My brother was running across the street to me, gun in hand. His face was pale and he avoided looking at the man’s body, rushing to hug me, instead.

I hugged him tightly, and he buried his face in my shoulder. I could feel him trembling, and I gently stroked his hair.

“It’s okay,” I told him gently, figuring the cause of his distress. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I killed him…” he muttered, muffled against my shirt.

“You were protecting us,” I reminded him. “Do you know what he would have done if you hadn’t stopped him? He would have done more than kill this girl.”

Warily, Tyler looked at the two servants. “Are you okay?” he asked, slowly collecting himself and taking deep breaths to stop the shaking in his voice.

Sitka nodded. “We’re fine,” she assured, hugging the frightened girl gently. “Thank you.”

“Go find Maram, he’ll help you get somewhere safe,” I told them. After the girls scurried away, I turned back to Tyler. “So where are we supposed to meet the Hunters?”

“The mayor’s house,” he told me, pulling from my arms and heading for the street, holding my hand. “Are you okay, Jai? None of the guys in that House hurt you, did they?”

“No, I’m fine,” I assured him, scratching at a burning spot on my neck. “Except-”

“Jai!” a voice called, cutting me off. “Tyler!”

We turned to see Mi’ta hurrying toward us, staff in hand and a worried look on his face. What looked like soot was smeared across his cheek. He noticed the dead body and raised an eyebrow, but didn’t comment. “Are you two all right?”

“We’re fine,” I assured him. “But listen. Right before the rebellion started, Damaen bought me.”

Both Tyler and Mi’ta wore matching expressions of surprise, simultaneously turning into horror. It would have been funny if I didn’t know it was so serious.

“Did he do anything?” Mi’ta asked, looking me over. Tyler’s grip on my hand tightened.

“N-Not really,” I said awkwardly. “He just… touched my leg… and licked my neck.”

Mi’ta grabbed my hand, pulling it away from my neck and examining the spot. “Doesn’t look like anything’s there…”

“What would be there?” I asked, disturbed.

He didn’t answer. “There’s no time to examine it thoroughly right now,” he said, frowning. “We have to find Alec-”

“Why do you need to examine it?” Tyler asked as I rubbed the spot nervously.

Mi’ta hesitated. “Well… You see, a demon’s touch can sometimes be… poisonous.”

“Poisonous?” Tyler cried.

“He licked me!” I spluttered.

“I know, calm down!” he said hurriedly. “Listen, I’m sure it’s…” He fell silent, considering his words. “All right, so I’m not sure that it’s fine, but it will be. So just stay calm, all right? Let’s go find Alec.”

I nodded uneasily, and the three of us continued through the town. Tyler clung to my hand, his fingers shaking around mine.

“What did Damaen say?” Mi’ta asked as he led us through the streets.

I hesitated, thinking back. “That we should give up looking for Lily because she’s happier and we’re better off without her.”

Tyler snorted. “Bullshit.”

Mi’ta sighed and remained silent. We followed the road toward the edge of town, approaching a large house which I assumed was were the mayor lived.

Lived, and died.

“Lovely,” Mi’ta commented as we laid eyes on a tall pole standing outside the house. At the top was a disembodied head; I assumed it was the mayor’s.

Noah and Alec were standing nearby with Sayr, Maram, and two of the men they’d recruited. Noah was talking with Sayr and Maram, and ignored our approach. Alec came to greet us, and when I looked at him I spotted a strange brown creature riding his shoulders.

“What the hell is that?” I asked warily.

The animal seemed to pout, jumping from Alec’s shoulder to Tylers and curling around his neck.

“This is Fio,” Tyler said. “He’s been following us around.”

“Alec, we have to move on quickly,” Mi’ta said. “We have to get somewhere safe so I can examine Jai.”

“Why?” Alec asked, looking at me in concern. “What happened?”

“Damaen got hold of her,” Tyler muttered, scowling at nothing.

Alec’s eyes widened. “Damaen’s here?” he asked, alarmed.

“He was,” I said. “He disappeared. I don’t know where he went.”

Noah joined us then, cleaning blood off of Lyalin with the end of her cloak. “All right. I left Sayr and Maram in charge. Turns out she’s the one he was trying to save when he got banned, so they already get along.” She looked around us as she sheathed her sword. “What’s wrong?”

“We’ve got to go,” Alec said, tapping at the Seeker. “Mi’ta needs to examine Jai, so we have to go somewhere quiet.”

“Wait,” I said, frowning. “What about the… thing the Seeker said didn’t belong here?”

“We found it,” Tyler said, indicating the creature on his shoulder.

“He’s a Yzar, from Seakna,” Mi’ta said before I could ask. “we think he found a portal or something and wound up here.”

“Fio,” the thing chirped at me.

“His name’s Fio,” Alec clarified.

“Oh. Are we going to take him back to his world?” I asked, warily interested in the creature that sat on my brother’s shoulder like an oversized, furry parrot on the arm of a pirate.

“I don’t think so,” Alec said slowly. “It’s obvious that he’s used to people, so I don’t think it’d be a good idea to send him back into the wild to fend for himself.”

“So we can keep him?” Tyler asked, probably unaware of how hopeful he looked.

“Well, for now,” Alec said, leading us away from the town.

“Where are we going next?” Noah asked, braiding her hair as she walked and watching Alec from the corner of her eye.

Alec typed at the keys on the Seeker. “Altaire, I think,” he said. “It’s peaceful there. And they make swords similar to yours. You can teach Jai and Tyler swordsmanship.”

“Sure,” Noah agreed.

“Are you sure it’s peaceful?” Tyler asked warily. “You said this place was calm, and look at what happened.”

Alec started to reply, then paused. “I am… almost sure,” he allowed, and Noah laughed.