The Power of a Name

Part 7

She watched in horror as he begged her father not to do this. Dreading the moment he would go stiff and dead-eyed like the others, but her father called the name and he didn't. He flinched as if he'd been struck, looking down at his hand as the name appeared. She watched as he looked up at her, about to say something, but his eyes widened and he collapsed as if his strings had been cut.

She rushed toward him, but her father stood catching her arm before she could leave the dais they stood on.

"What is this?" he demanded gesturing at the young man on the ground. "What did you do wrong?"

The two men that had brought the group shrank back from the client's anger. "Nothing, we did everything exactly right. This isn't our first time bringing our own here."

"This boy held the most important one, he should be standing like the rest right now, ready to awaken!"

The young man moved, not much, but it caught her attention.

"We didn't do anything wrong!"

A sardonic laugh interrupted their argument. "No, you technically did everything right."

Everyone searched for the voice, but she saw it was coming from the boy still laying sprawled on the ground.

"Kudos for creativity too," he peeled his body up from the ground. All eyes fixed on him as he got his legs under himself. "It's so hard to find good hosts these days," a wicked grin split the face that was no longer his. She couldn't see the boy behind those eyes anymore, this was someone else. Something else.

"You're awake so quickly," the client seemed warily happy. "You must be strong."

The boy lazily glanced at the others standing around stiff and blank before looking back at the client, "You should have listened to the boy, you know." He tilted his head, "you should really do more research before choosing hosts for your whatever-this-is." He waved his hand dismissively.

"You know exactly what we're doing here, what are you talking about?"

He turned away from the client, toward the two that already hosted his kind. "And you two. I could sense you a mile away. What's the point of hiding in a human body if you're going to loudly project to everyone you're here."

The client called the thing's name angrily as if it were a dog that could be brought to heel. It's hand twitched, but it gave no sign of deference it should when being called by name.

"What did I tell you about research!" It turned on the client. "I don't appreciate you trying to hijack my host." It bared its teeth at him. "If you want to take him from me you're going to need someone better than this weakling." It showed his hand with the name which was leaking out of his skin running in black rivulets down his fingers.

The client recoiled from the boy standing before him that was no longer a boy.

It smiled without humor, "I'll be going now. Oh, and fair warning: you'd better keep those away from him. He was quite attached to a few of them." it gestured to the group that was slowly starting to awaken. "He'll hate me for it, but I will kill them if they try to hurt us." It turned toward the door, flicking the blackness across the white floor. The two men stood between him and the exit.

"You can't leave."

"Want to try it?" it asked, letting more of itself show through.

They stood aside, the ones inside them recognizing a stronger being.

"We will find your name," the client called after it. "You will be mine."

It kept walking. "Not likely," it said to itself. Everyone who knew it was dead. And even the boy had been too young to remember.

***Author's Note***

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