Watcher and Firebird

By Orren Merton

Firebird Alex didn’t know much about the Nephilim until they assassinated her friend in the United States government, kidnapped the man she considers her uncle, and tried to murder her—twice. Now she's learned that they, and their leader "the Watcher,” will stop at nothing to kill her, everyone she loves, and every Seduman on Earth.

Alex must stop their murderous plans even if it means compromising the heroine she’s become.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Orren Merton
• Release date: Sep 20, 2016
• ISBN: 9780990693659

Orren Merton

Orren Merton started writing fantasy and science fiction at an embarrassingly young age. In high school, he picked up guitar and start playing up and down California in a few bands. During that time, magazines, developers, and corporations began to pay him to write and edit music software related articles, manuals, and books. Since then he has written the urban fantasy novel The Deviant and the science fiction novel Skye Entity before working on his current series of YA novels. He lives in Southern California with his family, pets, collection of sci-fi/fantasy memorabilia, and curiously large stuffed animal collection.

Book preview

WatcherandFirebird-cover.jpg

The Sedumen Chronicles Book 5

Watcher and Firebird

Orren Merton

ISBN-13: 978-0-9906936-5-9

BISAC: JUV037000 (Fantasy and Magic)

© 2016 Darkling Books. All rights reserved

Cover Illustration by Dusan Markovic

Cover Design by Michelle Merton

Internal Design by Orren Merton

Special thanks to Simon Cann, Jools, Cathleen Small, and Barry Wood

1st Printing.

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any living person, demon, angel, or events is purely coincidental.

For all who strive to remain true to themselves

1

I always save the dog,

I assure Nadia.

Like everyone I’d rescued from this burning pharmaceutical lab, she was full-on panicking. But as I ran through the flaming hallway carrying her against my chest, she kept reaching back over my shoulder and shouting, Ravi! Ravi! I can’t leave Ravi! I assumed that Ravi was another lab worker. She pulled herself together and explained that Ravi was her brown Labrador retriever.

I kick open the glass double doors of the burning building and hand Nadia over to Stinger—my thirteen-year-old niece, my soul sister, my beloved Rachel. Nadia freaks a little when she sees her. Most people do, because she looks like a teenage human bug-girl.

Like me, Rachel is a Seduman: half-human, half-Sedu. Sedim are spirit beings from the universe of Sediin. They maintain their physical bodies and the entire realm of Sediin by draining the souls of guilty human beings. In order to convince guilty human souls to willingly submit to being drained, the Sedim manifest forms like demons out of human folklore and convince humans that the draining is punishment for their sins. I come from a line of Western European Christian demons, with powers relating to fire. The people I’m rescuing know me as Lady Firebird, a Seduman with superhuman strength, flaming hair, flaming eyes, and rock-hard, concrete-like skin. I also have really nasty fangs, but I haven’t manifested those in this situation—no need to scare these poor people even more, right?

Since I’m a Seduman with fire-based powers, I can’t be burned. Perfect for rescuing people from burning buildings. Rachel was adopted into my Sedu House, but by birth she’s a Seduman with insect-based powers. So she has dark, hard, insect-like skin and glowing eyes, and she can spit acid stingers; super cool stuff, but not as helpful when you’re in a burning building. As my niece, she’s immune to my spirit fire, but she’s not immune to physical fire.

Rachel’s awesome at helping the shocked and shaken victims when I get them out. Her human adoptive father was a Rabbi, and she picked up a real sense of how to calm people down and help get them to the paramedics and speak for them if they’re too rattled to talk. That frees me up to immediately return to the building and save more people.

Nadia manages to blurt out that Ravi is locked in an office behind Laboratory 102. I promise her I’ll return with Ravi, and I run back into the blaze.

I can hear her screaming her thanks behind me, which is nice but unnecessary. I’m a total dog person, and I’d hate myself if I knew there was a dog in there I didn’t save. But also, I love being the rescuer and not just the warrior demon girl. So far, all the YouTube videos people have seen of me or things they’ve read have been me fighting and killing monsters from the spirit universe. People have generally been grateful and received me as a heroine, but some people are afraid of me. I get it—people don’t know if they can trust us. This is an opportunity to save lives without violence. Hopefully it gives people more proof we’re on their side.

I run through the flamming halls following Nadia’s disjointed directions. Laboratory 101 exploded and took half the building with it; the shockwave started fires all over the rest of the building. So far, other than smoke damage, this far into the building things are in one piece.

Before I even turn down the corridor in front of me, I can hear Ravi’s muffled, panicked howls. I round the corner and look into the small window in the first door—nothing. I brush the smoke out of my face as I walk to the second door and peer through its little window. There’s Ravi, running in circles, jumping and scratching wildly at the door. I notice some hairless patches on his legs and muzzle—I’m guessing he’s trying to rub, scratch, and bite his way out. I grab the doorknob—it’s hot to the touch, and it’s very locked.

I can pull the door right off its hinges, but that will probably panic poor Ravi even more. I wish I could talk to dogs, and just tell him that I’m...

Hmmm.

Months ago, I’d run to the aid of a Rottweiler who’d been hit by a car—the dog we adopted and named Jesse. I’d tried to think to Jesse that I was going to help her; she seemed to calm down enough to let me pick her up.

It can’t hurt to try.

Okay, Ravi, I’m going to open the door and take you out of here, but I need you to back away from the door and not run.

I imagine a picture of myself pulling the door off and putting it to the side, walking up to a calm and relaxed Ravi, and taking him in my arms. I concentrate on sending Ravi that image. While still trembling from muzzle to paw, Ravi stops howling and jumping and slowly backs away from the door, whimpering and staring at me with desperate eyes.

I grab the doorknob and twist, hoping I can just pop the lock. I apply more and more pressure until the doorknob bursts apart in my hands—and the door remains locked. I let out a quick, frustrated sigh, take a few steps back, and spring into the door with all my strength. The door doesn’t burst open, but I do manage to smash the wood away from one of its hinges. Good enough. I force the splintering wood until it gives way, then get a good handhold around the door and tear it off the wall. I throw the door down the hallway.

To my joy, Ravi is still whimpering and shaking but hasn’t bolted.

What a good boy you are! Let’s go see your mommy, Ravi. It’s gonna be okay. I concentrate on sending him an image of me holding him, running through the building, and handing him to Nadia. Ravi lets me picks him up. I hold him tightly against my chest, give him a kiss on the head for being such a good sport, and dash through the smoke and fire toward the front door.

2

Nadia springs

off the edge of the ambulance as soon as I burst out of the flaming building with Ravi. The Labrador had been shockingly calm as I ran through the fire, but now that he sees Nadia, he loses it. Ravi lets out an excited squeal as he squirms out of my arms and races toward her. He leaps on Nadia and shoves her backward, but her tears and joyful noises make it clear that she doesn’t mind. The paramedics who had been next to Nadia replace the blanket they had around her shoulders and attempt to calm both human and canine and guide them back toward the ambulance.

I sigh contentedly and walk over to Rachel.

You did good, girlie, she smiles. Everyone that was in the building is accounted for. You pulled out all thirteen survivors, and you even saved the dog. Not too bad for one evening.

You too. I put my arm on Rachel’s shoulder. It’s so thick with chemical fumes and smoky in there now. If you weren’t here, I don’t think I’d have been able to get them all before I couldn’t breathe, even if I wasn’t getting burned.

Rachel shrugs, but I can tell she’s pretty pleased with herself too.

So should we talk to them— Rachel points to the police barricade. Interviewers and news vans have been crowding the officers since before we got here, and now the cops are letting some of them through, and they’re heading right to us. Or do we just leave?

Well, the news choppers have already shown that Lady Firebird and Stinger are on the scene, right? We might as well say something.

Sounds good, Rachel agrees, and we walk toward the closest ambulance, where four nearly recovered lab workers chat with each other and a paramedic.

Before we get halfway there, a long limo glides to a stop right in front of us. The back door swings open, and an old man rushes out toward the ambulance. Rachel and I stop and look at each other. We shrug to each other and walk around the limo.

The four rescued lab techs are insisting to this man that they have no idea what happened, and that they didn’t even think anyone was working in Laboratory 101 with anything flammable. A slender Asian woman lowers her head and starts naming people who didn’t make it out. I stop walking and reach out my hand to stop Rachel, too. The lab workers sound emotional, and the old man seems pretty concerned and disturbed. I begin to feel like maybe we’d just be intruding on their moment.

Maybe we should just talk to the news people, Rachel suggests.

Yeah, I nod.

We turn toward the reporters, who are now trying to talk to some of the other rescued workers.

Excuse me—Lady Firebird? Stinger? The old man approaches us.

We turn around. His hair is completely white but still thick, and the lines on his face are deep. But he moves fast—far faster than a man his age should be able to move. He steps around the paramedics with a ballet-like grace I can’t imagine anyone as old as he looks having.

I’m Doctor Mortimer Stygg, the CEO and chairman of HOS Pharmaceuticals. This is my company and my lab that was hit. I got here as soon as I could.

Stygg? Where have I heard that name before?

I’ve wanted to meet you for a long time now. He offers me his hand. Although I’m sorry that we have to be meeting under such circumstances. I’m grateful to both of you for the lives of my scientists.

I’m surprised that a CEO would be out here this late and this quickly. I shake his hand. Do you work in this lab?

No, he says, withdrawing his hand after we shake and offering it to Rachel. I was in Los Angeles all day today. I can get here in a moment’s notice when family is in jeopardy. And my employees are extensions of my family.

I take a long, serious look at him.

Rachel and I were sitting in the beach house we call Firebird Manor in the coastal Southern California city of Corona Del Mar when one of our social media notifications alerted us to live footage of this laboratory on fire. That was thirty minutes ago. We stepped through a portal in Firebird Manor to the House of Keroz in the spirit universe of Sediin, where time moves much faster. Once there, we found my brother, Garz, the Sedu Lord of the House, and told him what was happening in Tucson. We needed help; we can use the portal in Sediin to show us any location on Earth we’d already been to, but neither of us had ever been to Tucson. We were in luck: Garz, in one of his pensive moments, had transformed himself into human form and traveled around the Southwest, including Tucson. Rachel and I, along with two Mazzikim—lesser spirit beings that have created bodies that look like a mash-up of human animals—then stepped out of the portal into Tucson. The Mazzikim were both about five feet tall with large, powerful wings. They flew us from downtown Tucson to where our iPhones told us this lab was located. That’s how we were able to travel in only minutes what would have taken hours.

How did Dr. Stygg do it? And that name...

House and family are the most important things, aren’t they? A slight smile creeps into the right side of Dr. Stygg’s lips, and his eyes begin to glow red.

You’re a Seduman! Rachel whispers.

That’s where I remember your name! I blurt out. I met your father, Lord Stygg, at the first meeting of the Sedu Council that I called about six Earth months ago!

He told me. Dr. Stygg’s smile takes over his entire face, filling the deep cracks and making him look warm, almost grandfatherly.

I was deeply thankful that Lord Stygg was the first Sedu not already allied with with us to support my proposal for introducing cooperation and rules to the lawless Sediin. I also remember your dad because he kinda had the head and stuff of a giant spider...and spiders sort of weird me out. No offense...

None taken, Dr. Stygg chuckles. And you’re far from alone in your feelings about spiders. Think of it this way: you know the Sedim manifested their bodies to seem fearful to humans—my father’s form achieves that goal splendidly.

Dr. Stygg continues: My father was deeply impressed with you, Alex, both your loyalty to your House and your intrinsic need to save lives—all lives—and thwart the plans of those who would do ill in the process.

The doctor pauses, clearly getting angry. He takes a deep breath to compose himself before continuing: Speaking of those who mean ill... Tell me, I don’t suppose either of you saw someone slinking around here dressed in all black, with probably a black trench coat and ski mask and, most prominently, huge goggles?

The Nephilim! Rachel jumps in. That’s who you mean, right Dr. Stygg? I saw one of those guys at my old school in Tustin, and we saw them again in London just a few months ago!

Please, call me Mort. And I fear they are everywhere, Mort says, his expression suddenly very tense.

Do you know who they are? I ask.

I know—

Excuse me, Dr. Stygg, Firebird Alex, just a few questions, a reporter who ran to within a few feet of us asks. Tuscon Report. How did you get here so fast?

The reporter is holding his phone to Mort, but I jump in.

You’ve seen me use portals to my universe before. We can travel to anywhere on Earth quickly.

But you sir, how—

I was in the neighborhood, Mort interrupts. He doesn’t exactly sound angry, but he’s certainly not happy to be questioned. As soon as the news reports came in I drove here. My employees are like my extended family, and I wanted to be with them.

Arizona Times, a woman says. She is standing right next to the first reporter. Dozens seem to have passed the police officers and are running up to us now. How do you explain why every time one of your research facilities or offices has had some kind of mishap or accident, you’re nearby or on site?

Do you have a point to make? Mort nearly hisses.

And you, another reporter points his phone right at me. How did you know about the fire so quickly?

Requests for my aid were Tweeted to the Lady Firebird Twitter account. We can’t be everywhere all the time, but we do make an effort to help out whenever we can, I answer.

Did Dr. Stygg’s wealth and position influence you to intervene here rather than somewhere else? Clearly, there are always hot spots and wars and—

"What? I nearly shout. Maybe that’s not the most mature way to handle an impromptu press conference, but I’m not used to being accused of being a suck-up. We had no idea what type of place this was or who owned it; we just saw that people were trapped in the building!"

But you must admit, another reporter adds, this is just the kind of PR that you both need. You’re under fire in some quarters for being a threat, and various of Dr. Stygg’s corporations are under investigation for allegedly influencing congressional voting.

I can see Rachel clenching her fists so tightly that her darkened, insect-like plates are nearly white.

That’s enough! Mort bellows. I’m old enough to remember when you gave people the benefit of the doubt. And to talk this way to a young lady and a girl, who have saved so many from harm? You’re so quick to shame others, yet you have no shame yourselves!

He holds out his arms to both of us. He turns around toward his limo, and we follow him, the reporters still shouting questions. I try not to listen so I don’t get angrier. The way Rachel is gritting her teeth, I’m sure she feels the same.

I must go, Mort says, but I want you both to know how deeply grateful I am to you for rescuing my employees. Don’t let these cretins make you question yourselves—you are both noble, good people doing the right thing.

Thank you, Dr. Stygg. Rachel says.

Please, call me Mort. Insect Seduman to insect Seduman, he winks.

Okay, Rachel smiles.

It was good to meet you, I say, holding out my hand.

Mort shakes my hand as the limo driver opens the rear door. Mort lowers himself into the car as nimbly as if he was, well, a spider.

Alex, Rachel, I very much look forward to talking with you again. We should pick up this conversation another time.

I agree, I nod.

I need to be seen driving away to preserve my anonymity. But my suggestion is that you and Rachel not engage here anymore—open a portal and return to your House. Let Garz and Vetis know what has happened, and I shall inform my father.

Will do, I say.

Mort gives us both a tight and tense half-smile as his driver shuts the limo door.

3

My phone alarm startles me awake.

Must be eight in the morning. I fling my arm to my nightstand, awkwardly grab my phone, and switch my alarm off. I’m tired after last night’s activity, and if I could get away with it, I’d love to sleep a few more hours. I yawn and sink into the snuggly warmth of my sheet and comforter.

I agree... the sleepyhead next to me croaks.

I turn to face Jake and open my eyes. There’s nothing better in the world than waking up next to my Jake. This last year has been such a whirlwind; it’s hard to believe I’m the same girl who was alone, isolated in the condo I’d shared with my late mother. When I met Jake, I was in no shape to meet anyone. Thank God he wouldn’t take no for an answer. His nerdy good looks and blue eyes as deep as the world itself immediately struck me, but it was when I opened up and realized how openhearted, kind, smart, and funny he was that I fell for him. Hard.

He fell for me too, even after I revealed that I’m a half-human demon girl who breathes fire, and I’ve got a House full of crazy animal-shaped demon family, warriors, and servants in another universe. But he accepts me totally. When he asked me to marry him, he even gave me an engagement ring that he asked my brother to create out of the spirit of our House. It couldn’t have been more perfect.

You don’t have to get up with me, I smile.

I know, he yawns. I will anyway. I have homework. Might as well get an early start.

Well, we still have some time before we have to be up, right?

I slide over to him and press my open mouth against his neck, tasting his skin and stubble. He turns his body toward me and wraps his lips around mine. I breathe in his stale morning breath as I press my tongue against his. I reach my arms under his T-shirt and gently shove his back into the mattress.

I’m already up... he whispers as he slides his hands across my back.

At about eight-thirty, I put on a fresh sports bra, panties, black T-shirt, and jeans. I leave Jake in our bedroom and walk down the hall.

Come on in, I’m just messaging, Klara calls from inside the room nearest the stairwell.

I open the door and see Klara dressed in a purple top and blue jeans, lying on her stomach on her twin bed, buried in her phone. I can’t see what she’s writing, but I see a picture of a really cute girl on her iPhone screen.

New friend? I ask.

I dunno. Fellow Ukrainian, we can chat in my mother tongue. It’s nice, she smiles bashfully.

It makes me really happy to see Klara smile. She’s had such a rough time of it. Her mother died when she was young—most women who carry Seduman babies die of cancer. Klara ended up in a cold foster home, and if that wasn’t bad enough, she was then kidnapped, whisked away to Sediin, and forced to become one of the sex slaves of Dirk Raum, a twisted, horrible Seduman who wanted to breed an army to take over both universes.

Klara is the daughter of Gryx, one of our Sedu allies and a mentor to my brother and me. Gryx asked me to rescue Klara. I did, and after that she asked to stay with me here on Earth. I said yes, but I was too wrapped up in my own chaos to see how broken her experiences had left her. After she collapsed due to anorexia, we worked to find her the therapy and treatment she needed.

That was a few months ago. Now she’s out of Rebecca’s House residential care center and living with us in Firebird Manor, eating, stronger than ever, and gone from hating herself and her life to trying to meet cute girls on the Internet who are as kind and good natured as she is. The way she looks now that’s she’s eating and healthy again, she practically has to fight them off. She’s such a pretty girl, tall, blond, gorgeous smile—a real Slavic beauty.

I tease her for details about her new Ukrainian gal pal and whether it might turn into more one day as we walk down the stairs. We can already smell the eggs and potatoes.

When we reach the bottom of the stairs, we both laugh at the scene before us: Zaebos—a Mazzik spirit warrior from the universe of Sediin, the captain of my honor guard, who looks like a huge demon-dog the size of a small bear, with rust-colored fur, glowing red eyes, and two rows of razor-sharp shark-like teeth—and Daeba—his smaller, white-furred demon-dog mate—are chasing four of their six puppies around the living room furniture. Mazzikim may be smaller than Sedim, but they are extremely powerful warriors, terrifyingly demon-like to a normal person, and here they are, these two fearsome spirit-beasts, goofily prancing and grinning as their gray-furred, red-eyed little puppies—that we’ve nicknamed hellhounds—gleefully run circles around our coffee table and leap all over their parents. The two puppies who aren’t chasing their parents are busy crawling all over Jesse, our Rottweiler, lying in the middle of the living room on her back with the biggest smile on her muzzle that a dog can have.

It’s absolutely adorable until one of the larger, over-excited hellhounds breathes a small jet of flame over the coffee table. Jesse gets a bit freaked, rolls over, and stands up at attention. The two hellhounds that had been perched on Jesse roll to the floor and shake themselves off, not hurt but confused. Daeba quickly pats down the smoldering corner of the table with her paw. She then grabs the scruff of her misfiring puppy’s neck in her muzzle and walks with it away from the table. The hellhound goes limp, gazing at its mother with guilty eyes. The other five stop to watch what happens to their brother.

My lady, I apologize, Zaebos bows low. This behavior is unacceptable.

It’s no biggie, I chuckle. Everything here is sprayed with flame retardant.

Nevertheless, Zaebos inhales, standing tall to try and work through his embarrassment. This isn’t proper behavior for a Mazzik. We’re teaching our offspring, but it takes time....

Thankfully, they already have learned to respect Sedumen and humans, Daeba says, having scolded her puppy. Soon, we hope, that will extend to property. They are also becoming more verbal. We are confident you’ll be able to speak with them soon.

I wish you’d consider giving them names. I hate to refer to all your puppies as ‘the big one,’ ‘the grayer one,’ and all that.

I know, Zaebos nods his muzzle. But while our younglings were conceived on Earth and will spend as much of their lives on Earth as they can, they are still the offspring of Mazzikim from Sediin, and Sedu parents allow their children to name themselves.

I’m sure you’ll be able to tell them from each other soon, Daeba adds, letting her pup return to play with his littermates. This one, for example, has the most developed flame breath. He hasn’t developed much control, however.

Yeah, I noticed, I laugh. Well, until you give that one a name, if you two don’t mind, I’m calling him ‘Little Flamey.’

Klara, who has been silent, giggles.

Zaebos sighs and shakes his head, his slight grin revealing some of his razor-sharp teeth. Daeba smiles more widely and bows her head.

Did you notice the smell of food? a deep but slightly high-pitched voice from the kitchen asks.

Eggs, potatoes, fruit, and toast? says an equally deep but lower-pitched voice.

Oh my god, yes! Klara squeals. Thank you so much, Galdyr!

Please, enjoy your breakfast, Daeba nudges her muzzle toward the kitchen as if to send us away. Klara and I grin and walk into the dining room.

Galdyr, a seven-foot-tall, dark-gray, muscular, four-armed Greater Mazzik from the Firstlands—the original and long-forgotten realm in the spirit universe—walks into the dining room wearing a white apron that says Kiss the Cook in large, blocky black letters. He directs the glowing aquamarine eyes in his four upper eyestalks toward Klara and me, while his four lower eyestalks are on the plates he’s carrying. Each of his four arms holds a different yummy breakfast treat in its claw.

Thank you for this amazing spread! I take my seat next to Klara. But please, you’re spoiling us. You don’t have to cook and clean for us every single day.

I was tasked by Kesed to protect you, his upper mouth says.

I’m looking out for your health! his lower mouth cracks.

I roll my eyes and smile. Of course, Galdyr is right. Just as in my realm of Sediin, Mazzikim who choose to serve a Sedu then help their Sedu protect their House, so did Greater Mazzikim in the Firstlands help their Rishon to protect their compounds. But Galdyr didn’t just serve any old super-huge, super-powerful, eldritch-horror-shaped Rishon. Oh no. Galdyr served Kesed, who was the Greater Rishon.

Being a Greater Rishon—or a Greater Sedu, for that matter—means two things. First, it means that you’re twice as vast in body and spirit as a plain old Rishon or