"You were not born to this."
Rhea stood in front of Sara's colleagues and tried to pretend that her demon blood wasn't pounding through her veins like drumbeats. As the days went by, as the Ruler got closer, it became harder and harder to contain her darker side. The changes were small – her temper was more easily provoked, longer fingernails that verged on talons when she was angry, and everything about her was a shade darker – and she wasn't sure if anybody noticed them, but they were undeniably there. And when the Ruler's demons fought her and her people, which was inevitable, she was no longer sure whose side she would end up fighting for. With that in mind, she had taken it upon herself to teach everybody she could how to fight demons. Sara's colleagues were the most pressing group of all. They were inexperienced and more of a burden than an asset to the movement as a whole, but Sara's trust was a fickle thing. The only people Rhea was confident Sara trusted were the people who had fought alongside her in her first petition against the Ruler. With many of them dead, disappeared or mentally broken, that group was small.
"You were not born to this," Rhea repeated. "Magic, fighting, and especially fighting demons are things you don't know and were never taught. You will be at a disadvantage in every battle you fight. You are weak and tactically stupid, and the only reason you've lived this long is because Sara is very good at what she does and because she cares for you."
"It is a fair statement." Violet, at Rhea's back, looked directly at Nick and answered his unspoken thought. "Everything we're taught about combat dictates that we not involve individuals who weaken the group, which you do. And even if we do involve the weak, reason and self-preservation say we leave you to live or die at your own hand. Sara cares for you, and the lot of us," Violet swept her hand in a broad motion to include all the absent warriors who were pledged to Sara's service. "are bound to Sara through oaths. Those of us you're familiar with – Rain and I, Akona, Jordan – are bound to her through blood. We fight for you because she wants us to. So yes, Rhea is being fair when she says that you're not alive because of your own power."
"The imminent battle will not be the same as others you've fought." Rhea said "Sara and the Ruler can't keep going back and forth in conflict like this. They've fought three battles so far, and this one will be the last. Sara's fed up at living with a foot in two worlds, and the Ruler is a demon, and they're not a patient sort. This battle will be a traditional one. Vows or not, people are going to be fighting for their lives, not yours."
As she spoke of demons, Rhea could feel her skin prickle as she fought to keep it from becoming the harder, thicker demon skin it wanted to. Not yet. Not until we're ready. She could feel the pull of her joints as they fought to shift, the tug of her fingers as she kept them from becoming claws. Her shoulder blades ached and hot fingers of blood ran down her back where her dark, translucent wings were starting to break free.
Violet. Rhea's thought was a plea and Violet winced as it assaulted her mind.
No. Violet thought, but Rhea couldn't hear her.
Violet wasn't ready, but she probably never would be. She was there for one purpose, and it wasn't to teach. Violet knew next to nothing about demons, and even less about how to fight them and win. Violet was there that day as a conduit and a puppeteer. She was there because she was powerful and because she was strong. She was there to weave her consciousness into Rhea's and control her friend's every move. She was there to pick thoughts on battle and defense from Rhea's brain and relay them to the team as they learned to fight for themselves. She was there, but she was terrified.
Violet. Rhea's thoughts were coloured with pain and struggle. Violet saw how Rhea's skin flickered briefly, how her eyes had darkened. She pulled at threads of Rhea's mind and pictured braiding them together with strands of her own. As she made the bond stronger and stronger, she could feel how hard Rhea was working to keep herself human, or as near to human as she had ever been. Violet could feel Rhea's pain like it was her own, and as she wove together their minds, Rhea's struggle to maintain her humanity became Violet's struggle. Rhea was no longer in control, and Violet could feel in her friend's thoughts the immense relief that brought. A moment more of weaving, and Violet looked into her friend's colourless eyes and nodded.
Yes. She thought, and Rhea exploded.
The change took milliseconds, but as it screamed through Violet's mind, it felt like years. She could feel the momentary agony as Rhea's skin became like leather, as her fingers became talons, as the razor-sharp tips of her whisper-weigh wings tore from her back. The worst part was the part that the team couldn't see – the part inside Rhea's head. Inside Violet's head. As the change tore apart Rhea's body, the thoughts of demons tore apart her mind. Everything malevolent about the world flooded her thoughts and coloured her vision in red. Images of blood, war, violence and terror were met with anticipation and a sick joy. Violet wanted to throw up on the grass. She wanted to push Rhea back into her own mind, but that wasn't an option. In the corner of the demon's mind was the human Rhea, her thoughts of reason and order, of logic and love and friendship and mercy. But the demon was strong and hungry for existence. Unmooring the demon's mind from Violet's own would mean setting the demon free, because as she was now, Rhea would be hard pressed to change back on her own.
Inside Violet's mind, Rhea sighed in contentment. This is nice.
Violet tested her control over the demon's body, making it lift one arm, letting it flap its wings. It rose a foot off the ground and dropped awkwardly, the torn remnants of Rhea's clothes fluttering around it. Violet had to admit it was strangely fascinating to see Rhea as a demon. As a halfling, Rhea didn't have the avian-reptile body that most demons did. She had a human body with thick, ashen skin, talons that were long and glossy black, and wings that looked like they were made from cobwebs and ink.
Give me something back. Rhea directed, and Violet slowly let Rhea have some of her autonomy. She could feel as Rhea's mind and the demon's became one, as Rhea took control of the demon's body. Violet still had the upper hand – she could separate Rhea and the demon in seconds and force the demon to do what she wanted. Still, she wasn't sure how much she liked being only half in control.
Rhea examined her taloned hands and scratched experimentally at her arm. It made a harsh grinding sound, but her skin didn't break. Then she rose into the air, higher than Violet had let the demon go by itself, so high that Violet could barely see her. She let herself drop like a dead weight and landed as easily and as gracefully as if she had stepped from the air. Seeing Rhea like this, in her own body, holding nothing back, was strangely right. She didn't look pained or ill at ease. She looked like she belonged there, and that's what scared Violet the most.
The team returned bruised, bloody and disheartened as the sun was sinking below the horizon. Rhea was jubilant walking beside them, in no worse shape than she had been that morning, and her hair a deep raven-black. Her eyes were still fathomless, and she still smiled as if she dreamt of danger, but she was human once more. Violet, beside her, was exhausted.
"I take it they're not ready?" Was all Sara said when she saw the bedraggled group.
"They will be." Rhea said. "In time."
The group shuddered collectively as they imagined having another day like the one they had just experienced. Violet's knees buckled as she thought of having to share the demon with Rhea for another minute.
"They," Rhea grinned her demon grin. "don't like it."
"It's necessary." Sara's smile was more sympathetic. "Violet, I need to talk to you."
"Now?" Violet was having small battles with her eyelids every time she tried to blink.
"It won't take long. Rhea, you're free for the night."
"Come," She twirled Greg around and danced down the hall. "We'll all have fun."
The team grumbled after her, leaving Violet and Sara alone in the hall. On an unspoken cue, the two women went to Sara's office, raising the wards against listening at identical moments. The effort almost toppled Violet, but she knew the necessity was there.
"How did it go?"
"Badly for them." Violet sank to the floor, unmindful of how dirty it was or how she was probably breaking some sort of rule by sitting in the presence of her leader. "They need practice."
"And for her?"
"She was…fine."
"Did she react…"
"Exactly as we thought. She loved it. Every minute."
"God," Sara sighed and massaged her temples. "Every day, she gets closer…"
"To changing for good." Violet nodded her assent. "I've seen the signs."
"Her thoughts?"
"Ecstatic. She loves the freedom, the feeling, the power…"
"And her manerisms?"
"Natural. As natural as breathing. She was graceful and coordinated and happy. This isn't the first time she's done this lately, either. She's been changing without our knowledge."
"And she can come back from it?"
"Apparently so. But it's the future I'm worried about."
"With so many demons coming so close…"
"Her blood sings for them, Sara. She wants to be in the horde."
Sara looked more worried than Violet had ever seen her. Her leader was a generally unflappable person. It took something big to put that fear in her eyes.
"She has my power, Violet. She leads this mess in ways I don't even know. She is their master and commander. If she leaves, everything will fall apart."
Sara's thoughts were tangled with fear even as Violet said. "Nonsense. You're their leader, and you'll keep them together with or without Rhea." But inside, Violet knew that was a lie. Sara, for all the magic she had pounding through her veins, was very much of mortal mind. Violet couldn't bring herself to believe the lies, even as they poured from her mouth.