Symbiota Sapiens

Chapter 23

The two figures crash through the glass and are gone. Damion turns back to the woman writhing and shuddering on the floor. 

"Elizabeth. Shhh, it's okay, it will pass." He soothes her. Takes her hand in his and kisses her forehead.

He looks at her, using his enhanced sight. The nanites are tearing through her body, breaking apart and rebuilding everything perfectly. The Caretakers have done the same thing but not nearly so thoroughly. They cleanse, but the Esseren reconstruct from the cellular level.

"Damion, it hurts!" She whimpers, clutching his hand as if in childbirth.

"I know. They are rebuilding your body cell-by-cell." Damion tells her.

"Why?" she gasps.

"I don't know. You are very healthy already. Maybe it is normal. When I was attached I was unconscious."

A scream rent the air as Elizabeth arched in pain.

The Esseren were dealing with her spinal cord now. Damion gingerly pulls her upper body to hold in his lap.

"Shhhh, it will pass. This will pass and you will live forever."

Another pair of eyes spot a cruiser speeding towards the yacht. Damion jerks his head up, extending his senses in all directions.

There.

The unmistakeable signatures of immortals...above...falling.

Parachuters, again.

"Doesn't make sense." He mutters.

Another boat, coming from the opposite direction. He can sense the immortals onboard. Guardians.

He stands, cradling Elizabeth in his arms.

Movement. The other immortal on the boat. The Elder. So fast. He suddenly appears in the open window where the two boys had jumped out.

::YOU!:: Damion huddles backwards, the woman in his arms. Holding her as if not sure whether to protect her or use her as a shield.

:::Damion.::: Rom greeted him politely.

::Romulus. This is your trap, isn't it?::

:::Not only mine.:::

::The boy could not possibly be cognizant of this. He needs me to find a way to release his friend.::

:::Is the slave not free if the overseer is destroyed?:::

::Not always.:: Damion hedged.

Rom moved forward, standing in the center of the room.

:::Your little games aren't going to save you tonight Damion. You have made yourself a danger to everyone. Making slaves of mortals? Disgusting, but it's been done before. But this...this literal enslavement of their bodies, this holds a danger even you should comprehend for the future! No, especially you, Damion!:::

Damion circled to his left, keeping his back to the wall as Rom stalked him.

::You won't kill me. You can't. You don't even understand what I've done. What will happen. Killing me won't stop anything.::

:::Your days of manipulating the world from behind a silver curtain are at an end, Damion. You've reached too far.:::

::What is too far!:: Damion challenged, stepping forward suddenly. ::Are you so cold that you do not understand what it is to set your entire being as a shield for someone else?::