Becoming the Demon
Chapter 8
If I've played my cards right, this should be the last chapter.
I'm in so much fucking pain. I don't know what blood loss feels like, but this must be it. I'm on my back, and I'm so fucking cold. Am I dying?
"Is it dead, little Lamb?" A growly voice sounded from somewhere. "It looks dead."
"I don't think so, dear Wolf." Fingers touched my face, and my eyes snapped open. "It's alive."
"For now." I tipped my head to the side, coming face-to-face with the Kindred.
"I'm not dead yet, but it feels like I am." I could only huff, reaching up to rub my face. "The hell are you doing here, Kindred?"
"I smelt death!" Wolf flew around us in circles. "I still smell it!"
"Feels like that could be me, soon." Lamb chuckled and rested a hand on my chest.
"I can feel your heartbeat, but dear Wolf is correct. Part of you is dead." I moved my arm back to my side and tried to push myself up. "Try not to move, Enforcer."
"You guys aren't going to kill me, are you?" I asked, looking into Lamb's bright eyes.
"I am unsure if it is your time." She said, looking up to Wolf. "Is anybody else near?"
"I'll check!" He floated away, and Lamb looked back to me.
"Cait's gonna be so mad at me if I die." I grinned, followed by coughing. Lamb placed her bow down and moved her hands over my body, settling on my stomach.
"Here. This is what is dead." My stomach. "The Summoners have told us that you are in danger. I didn't know that it was quite this serious, though."
"So, I am dying?" I asked. I thought that I'd be more upset than this. "I want to see Caitlyn before I die, though."
"Are you and the Sheriff enamoured?" I gave Lamb a weird look, and she sighed. "In the more common tongue, are you and the Sheriff in a relationship?"
"Not that I know of. It's been a long time coming, though." I grinned, moving one leg from under the other. "Where even are we, Lamb?"
"At the foot of Mount Targon." Great. "It's been snowing for most of the day, which probably isn't helping your condition."
"I thought I was cold from blood loss." I know I'm covered in the stuff. It's become routine now.
"Nobody is around!" Wolf yelled as he came back. "I wanted a chase!"
"In time, dear Wolf." Lamb put a hand on his… neck? "First, we must help the Enforcer."
"You're actually going to help me?" Lamb nodded, picked her bow up, and got to her feet. "Wait, what are you doing?"
"Have faith, Enforcer." I could barely move as she notched an arrow and drew it back. "This shall only hurt for a moment." She let it go into my chest, and my world went black again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~X~~~~~~~~~~~~
I wasn't running, no matter how much I wanted to. The news had obviously spread quickly, and people moved out of my way. Nobody tried to stop me, and I made it to the morgue without interruption. I pushed the door of the darkened room open and pushed it shut, my eyes falling to the Kindred sat in the corner of the room.
"Sheriff." Lamb said, without turning to look. "Please do not be upset."
"How can I not be upset?" I ignored Wolf as he floated at my heels. "Why?" My eyes settled on my partner's lifeless form.
"It was the only option!" Wolf barked from behind me. "Little Lamb knows best!" I walked around to the other side of the table and cupped Vi's cheeks. She's… really gone. I leaned down and pressed my forehead against hers. I've gotten used to her being cold over the past few days, but… this is different. A very bad different.
"Sheriff." Lamb touched my arm, probably because I started crying. "Please do not despair. This was the painless way." I brushed her off and worked one arm under Vi's shoulders to pull her into a hug. My best friend, my partner, and my love. All gone.
"I can smell Icathia!" Wolf laughed, nudging my waist.
"Stop that!" I pushed him away by the nose, but that obviously meant something to Lamb.
"Sheriff, you have a piece of Icathia with you?" She asked, staring at me intently.
"Do you mean this?" All of us ignored the tears on my cheeks as I pulled the horn that Vi gave me from my belt. "Vi told me that she snapped it off her head when the void creature, Tal'Zul, took over her."
"No wonder she smells like death, Little Lamb!" Wolf floated around the table and looked over Lamb's shoulder as she took it from me.
"Indeed, Dear Wolf. Any human or animal that contains part of the void begins to rot from the inside out." I wiped my face and stared at them.
"How long has Vi been…" I'm not sure if I can say it. "…dead?"
"The Enforcer is not truly gone." Lamb looked back at me. I then covered my mouth at the gasping noise I made. "It takes something of Icathia to expel Icathia, but this is both human and Void."
"What does that mean?" before I could shout for her to stop, Lamb drove the horn's point directly into Vi's navel. Her eyes snapped open, and a lot of breath escaped her lunch, shortly followed by a purple mist.
"The source!" Wolf laughed. "Let's chase, little Lamb!"
"Hey, hey, calm down." I put my hands on Vi's shoulders as she started coughing and looking around. "You're okay." Instinctively, I pulled her into a hug. "You're okay…"
"Cover both of your mouths!" Lamb yelled. I got back up and looked up at where Wolf was snapping at the purple mist. "We don't need another possession!" I felt Vi's hand clamp over my mouth. She'd pushed herself up onto one elbow with a look of great pain.
"What is going on in here?!" Law pushed the door open, a look of shock crossing his face when he saw me and Vi. "What in the-"
"Summoner! Close the door!" Lamb yelled again. "We have the creature!" He saw the purple mist and slammed the morgue door shut.
"I'm going to need an explanation!" He jogged over to where Lamb and Wolf were trying to catch it and trapped it in an orb of magic.
"Cait?" Vi moved her hand from my mouth.
"It's alright." I smiled, laying her back down. "Don't push yourself."
"Why are you crying?" She brought one hand to my face and cupped my cheek. "What happened?"
"I'll explain later. You just need to start moving slowly. Rigor mortis started to set in." I understood the shock that covered her expression. Still smiling, I gripped one of her hands in both of mine and brought it up to my face to kiss her knuckles.
~~~~~~~~~~~~X~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Lamb was right, I feel like absolute shit."
"Well, maybe if you stayed still, you wouldn't feel as bad." I stuck my tongue out at Cait, who smiled and shook her head.
"You're not still mad at me, are you?" I asked, laying down and holding my hand out for her. After countless 'You're alive!' speeches, I was put into a hospital room because of my stomach. I hate wearing this dumb gowns.
"I don't quite understand why you didn't tell me," Cait gripped my hand. "But I'm not mad. I was just worried."
"Well, my stomach is literally rotten, so maybe that's karma?" my partner rolled her eyes and shifted her chair closer. "I'm sorry for lying about it, Cait. I didn't want it to spread."
"Speaking of which." A Summoner walked into the room, scaring both of us. "We caught Tal'Zul." He held up a bottle full of purple.
"Can I see?" He nodded and walked over, handing me the bottle. I put on a fake thoughtful look for a few seconds, and then started to shaker it quite hard.
"Vi, what are you doing?!" Cait asked, reaching over me, trying to grab the bottle.
"Making sure he knows how much I hate him." The Summoner almost had to wrestle the bottle out of my hand. "Aw, come on!"
"This creature is going into the vaults before you drop the bottle and release it." The Summoner sighed, walking back to the door. "I'm going to send somebody in for a visit." Something crossed my mind, and I grinned.
"Hey Cait?" She looked back at me. "C'mere."
"For what?" She got up and sat next to me on the bed. I pushed myself up and kissed her cheek. "Oh, that." She was still smiling. "Do you remember when you said that we acted like a married couple?"
"Whoa, hey." I put a hand on my chest and leaned away again. "Cupcake, are you proposing?"
"Not quite." She took my hand and kissed my knuckles again. I don't think either of us wants to feel the rotten stomach. Me especially. "Let's try it a bit slower. You still need a transplant."
"Yeah, fuck this." I huffed, laying back down. "It sucks that I couldn't punch that demon in the fucking face. I still need to fix my fucking gauntlets."
"Well, the worst is over." I looked over at Cait. "The demon is gone, thanks to the Kindred."
"Didn't Lamb stab me in the fucking stomach with my own horn?" She nodded. "It's a good thing I gave you that, isn't it?"
"Vi!" The door flew open, and Jinx ran in, basically jumping on me. She landed on my stomach, though. I pushed her away and turned over the side of the bed to throw up into the bucket I was given.
"Calm down, alright?" Cait said, most likely to Jinx. "There's a lot of internal damage."
"Really? Is the purple gone?" Jinx then tried to yank my gown up, and I cursed her out holding it down.
"Seriously, though." She stopped laughing long enough to listen. "Are you okay, Jinx?" I sat up and she sat on my lap, still covered in bandages.
"I'm fine! I was stitched up! It's gonna take more than some weird demon to take me out!" Smiling, I laid back and gripped Cait's hand.
~~~~~~~~~~~~X~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I'm not helpless."
"You just came out of surgery."
"I'm not helpless!" Cait still kept a hold of my arm. She's not too happy because people don't get the hint that she wants me to herself right now. So many people have told me that they're glad I'm alive. Jayce included. "I only have a scar across my abs, nothing more."
"You don't need to downplay everything, Vi." Cait almost pushed me into her room, faking annoyance.
"Pushing me into her room?" I grinned, turning and spreading my arms. "I know I've made jokes about you pouncing on me before, but I didn't expect it!"
"My intent is for sleep, Vi." Cait took her hat, rifle, and boots off.
"What kind of sleep?" She backhanded my arm and picked some clothes out for pyjamas. Giggling to myself, I moved to the drawer that I was given and finally changed out of the grimy clothes that I'd had on for days.
"I hope you're planning on throwing those away." Cait always dresses in sweatpants and a t-shirt for bed. I think it's cute. I go with shorts and a t-shirt, usually.
"I wasn't, but I guess I am now." I tossed them across the room, and into the wastebin. "Cait, do you think that everything is really over now?"
"What makes you say that?" I must have pissed her off by sitting on the edge of the bed instead of climbing in like she did.
"It was such a big thing. It can't be over just like that, can it?" Cait grabbed the back of my shirt and pulled me onto my back.
"Let's sleep. It's been a long week." I rolled my eyes and worked my way under the sheets. Cait pulled herself closer and put her head under my chin. I still have a bad feeling. I don't know how long it was before I woke up again, but I did in fucking fear.
"Cait?" At some point, she'd turned away from me. I lifted the front of my shirt and ran a hand over the gauze on my stomach. I can't tell if the purple spot is back, but I dreamt that the demon was.
"What's the matter?" Caitlyn rolled over again and put an arm over my lap.
"I… I had a dream that it came back." She sat up and kissed my cheek.
"It's not coming back, Vi."
"How can you be sure?" Cait rested her head on my shoulder, and I hooked my arms around her. "I'm sorry, I'm-"
"It's alright. Try to sleep again, Vi." I laid back down and gently stroked Cait's arm as she went back to sleep. It's going to come back. I'm sure that it's going to come back.
This is legit the quickest fanfiction I've ever finished, goddamn. Thank you for reading!