FF: Kyle and Jasmine.

“I'll keep you by my side. Journey on through our adventure, eyes open wide, we'll see the light. I know we'll be alright.”
~Give Me the Power Voodoo and Serano

Kyle stood on the balcony. Below him lay the normal hustle and bustle in the streets of the ruined city. The sounds of engines, car horns, shouting, and bird chirps all mix to form a kind of symphony. Only the rumble of the warplanes and tanks, and the craters in the streets and buildings spoiled the effect. Feeling naked in just his pants, Kyle took in the scene with a quite, almost resigned sigh.

He could still remember when the city was whole, when his neighborhood was filled with bright, shiny high-rise apartment buildings with shops on the ground floor. He could still remember when the sounds of children laughing, shouting, and playing could be heard coming from balconies, rooftops, and sidewalks. He could remember, but that was all it was, memory. Everything had changed with the return of the multitude of angry races known collectively as the Fae.

He was dimly aware of a shouting and gunfire somewhere in the streets below him. Even as his mind barely registered the noise below him, a loud crash and a scream from somewhere above brought him back to his senses. “The roof,” the thought ran though his mind disbursing the remaining fog of nostalgia.

Running back through the doorway and through kitchenette into the living room, he paused at the door. Quickly sliding on his sneakers he grabbed his cell phone, badge, and .38 glock before heading out the door. Sprinting down the hallway to the closest end, he threw open the door to the stairway and bound up the stairs.

Several flights later, he came upon the top of the stairway and the door that led out onto the roof. Drawing his gun, he carefully opened the door, jamming a piece of rubble into the hinge preventing the door from being able to fully close. Looking around cautiously, he slipped out the door onto the rooftop.

The rooftop was a maze of pipes, vents, poles, air conditioning compressors, ventilation fans, clotheslines and rubble. He looked out over this maze looking for the source of the crash he heard earlier. He didn’t have to look far. Snapped clotheslines, a broken vent pipe, and a trail of crimson smears led a path almost directly toward one of the large compressors.

Thumbing off the safety, he cautiously made his way to the side of the compressor. Pausing just long enough to listen for any hints of what might lie around the corner and hearing none he took a deep breath and then spun himself around the corner, making a complete 180. He didn’t see anything at first and was about to lower his weapon when a sharp inhale drew his attention down.

She was trembling. That was the first thing he noticed as her crystal pale blue-green eyes peered up at him from between raven black locks and crimson smears. The right side of her face was completely scraped up, her pale creamy skin reddened and bleeding. The second thing he noticed was the wings. Giant black and dark blue wings that reminded him of a cross between a butterfly and a dragonfly sprouted from somewhere on her back. There seemed to be four of them although judging by the angle, the shredding, and the blood it appeared one was almost sheared off.

A closer look showed her clothing wasn’t much better. She wore what appeared to be a dark jumpsuit or coverall of some kind, the side of which was almost completely shredded with additional tears around the chest, arms, abdomen, and legs. Her right boot was curled under her at an awkward angle, but Kyle could still tell it was scuffed and even torn in places. What was probably a belt encircled her at an odd angle, the clasp broken. Hanging from the belt was a sword that seemed to have a slight blue glow to it, and not too far from her lay the remains of what looked like a bow.

Still keeping his gun trained on her, Kyle kicked the pieces of the shattered bow further away. Her eyes followed his movements unflinchingly, though she continued shaking. Although Kyle had heard rumors that here were Fae fighting on behalf of humans, he wasn’t going to take any risks. He reached for her blade. His fingers were just about to grab the metal blade when her hand grabbed his.

“Hey!” He immediately straightened up his gun centered on her head. He watched her tensely, ready to fire. She made a reply in a language he couldn’t understand even when he had her repeat it. Finally, realizing that he didn’t understand her she gripped the blade and slowly slipped it free. Finally looking away from him for a minute she ripped free a dangling piece of her bodysuit and wrapped it around the blade before handing it to him. He relaxed slightly as she handed to him, making gestures not to touch the blade. He took it and slid it into his belt, careful to make sure the wrapping did not slip.

“Can you stand?” he asked, looking at her injuries skeptically. She just stared up at him. “I said can you stand?” He asked again, but not seeing her react he suddenly chuckled. “Wait you don’t understand what I’m saying at all, do you?” He took her lack of response as an affirmative.

“My name is Kyle” He pointed to himself. “Kyle.” He then pointed to her. She looked confused so he again pointed to himself. “Kyle.” He pointed to her again. Her eyes grew wide in fear and her shaking increased. When he repeated the process a third time, she let out a sigh. “J’zmin” Her voice was neither a soprano nor an alto, but a pleasant midrange despite the trembling but it definitely had a defeated tone to it.

Kyle nodded as he quickly analyzed the situation. A Fae that didn’t seem to understand English didn’t necessarily mean that she was one of the invaders, but odds were heavily in favor of it. Looking down at her clothing, he didn’t see any sort of identification immediately visible, and given her condition she needed medical treatment anyways. Time to call it in and let someone else deal with it.

He was about to reach for his phone when he heard the access door on the far side of the roof open. “She has to be up here,” a deep baritone voice stated.
“I wonder if them fairy bitches are any good for a fuck,” A second answered.

“Much as I hate the fairies, no one deserves rape,” a female voice retorted. “We simply kill her.”

Kyle turned, his free hand digging out his badge and displaying it openly to the quickly growing crowed coming out of the far stairway. “Police!” he shouted. “This fairy is in my custody. She is a prisoner. No one is going to harm her further!”

“Oh yeah?” One burly man holding a 12 gauge shotgun pushed himself to the front. Just what cha gonna do about it, eh Kyle?” Kyle recognized he man as Justin, the complex bully.

“I think Kyle here is a fairy lover.” A thinner version of Justin stepped forward, his little brother Paul. “I say we show him what happens to traitors.”

“Traitor, my ass. The law is clear. Unknown Fae without identification are to be taken in for questioning. This has nothing to do with who or what she is. She is a prisoner in my care, and I am not going to let anyone hurt her. I don’t care if she’s Fae, human, or whatever monstrosity it was that gave birth to the two of you brutes. While she’s in my care, I’m responsible for her.” Kyle’s voice took on a dangerous edge.

Some of the crowd began to disperse, but Justin stepped forward and pumped his shotgun at Kyle. “I ain’t letting no asswipe stop me from giving the fairy bitch what she deserves just cause he gots a badge and thinks ‘es better than me!” He leveled it at Kyle.

That was his last mistake. Training took over and Kyle reflexively fired two rounds into Justin. He needed have bothered with the second. The first ripped apart a good portion of his heart. The second destroyed what was left.

“Bastard!” Paul launched himself at Kyle, only to be dropped by another round. Everyone else that was armed dropped the weapons and everyone backed up a step or took off running.

“If anyone else wants to be foolish enough to attack the prisoner go right ahead. Otherwise get the fuck out of here.” Kyle was pissed. Shootings were never good, and he knew that killing two brothers in front of several witnesses to save a fairy would not go over well with some of the brass. Regardless, he was committed and he knew he was right anyways.

The rest of the crowed dispersed, but Kyle knew they would be back. Trading his badge for his cell phone he dialed into 911 to report the prisoner and the shootings requesting ambulances and backup. After assuring him help was on the way, the dispatcher patched him through to a lieutenant.

“Keep the prisoner and protect her if you can until we get there, but put your safety first, even if it means letting the prisoner escape or releasing her. We don’t know she’s even an enemy for sure so no use in risking either of your lives.” The lieutenant reasoned.
Shouting erupted from the far stairwell again and Kyle looked up to see several people emerging onto the rooftop, all of them armed. “Bloody hell,” he muttered. “Better hurry it up boss, getting to be quite the party here.”

“Get the hell out of there. Find someplace to hide…”

“Way ahead of you there, boss.” Kyle cut him off slapping the phone shut and reaching down to scoop up the fairy. Shaking J’zmin reached out to accept his help up but then screamed as the gravity tore away the remaining scrap of flesh holding the sheared wing to her body. Without thinking about it he let go of her to catch the wing. It was heavier than it looked.

Giving him a grateful look, J’zmin reached behind her to take the wing from him, leaning heavily on him as they hurriedly made their way to the stairway. She gasped in pain as her remaining three wings caught on the doorway to the stairs but kept her limping pace up. As quickly as they could given the condition she was in, they hurried down the steps.

They just made it past Kyle’s floor when they heard pounding and voices below them. Turning them around, Kyle led her back up the stairs to the landing. Opening the door he checked to be sure the hallway was clear. Seeing it was he led her into his apartment. He had just gotten them inside when she collapsed to the floor.

Kyle quickly locked he door then turned around and gently picked the fairy up and carried her into the bedroom. J’zmin tensed as he laid her into the bed, her eyes looking up at him with a mix of fear and near-hatred. He laid her upon his bed, somewhat embarrassed that it wasn’t made. Noticing her look, he stepped back “Well Jasmine,” he tried to approximate her name, “I know you can’t understand me, but I’m not going to hurt you. This is just the best place I can put you for the moment.”

He walked into the bathroom. Taking some towels he wet them down. He then pulled the first aid kit out from under the vanity. Heading back into the room, he found the fairy trying to sit up on the bed. Her eyes snapped to his and she said something that Kyle could not understand but assumed by the tone of her voice wasn’t particularly nice. He set the first aid kit on the floor and then laid he stack of towels on top of it.

Kyle sat on the bed and picked up the top towel reaching towards her. Flailing desperately she tried to beat him off. He held still for a few moments until she realized that he wasn’t trying to take advantage of her and only wanted to help. Slowly she relaxed and let him sponge off her scrapes and cuts. He bandaged up the more serious wounds. Several of the towels were bloody by the time he motioned her to roll over.

When she rolled onto her stomach, a pool of blood was left behind on the sheets. He examined her back. A tailored cutaway on the back of her bodysuit allowed for the three wings and a stump that sprouted between the small of her back and her shoulder blades. He couldn’t quite see how the three wings folded up but he guessed that each wing folded up something like a paper fan and that normally the upper wings would fold over the larger lower ones. Only the upper left was folded up like that however. Where the other wing should have been was what resembled a jet black shoulder socket sprouting form her back ending in a jagged stump oozing puss and spurting blood.

As gently as he could, Kyle dabbed at the wound eliciting a series of gasps and whimpers from the fairy. Taking the last towel, he wrapped it around the stump then secured it in place using gauze bandages and medical tape. He was almost done when he heard sounds of a commotion coming from the hallway. Finishing quickly, he hurried into the living room.

By the time he reached the front door, he could hear lots of shouting in the door. He had just pulled out a gun when there came a heavy pounding on the door “Kyle, you there? Open up, buddy!” Relived to hear a voice he recognized, Kyle opened up the door, to reveal several cops, most of which were keeping a quickly growing crowd at bay.

The cop at the door offered an apologetic smile. “Sorry it took us so long but there was a crowd out here trying to hold us back. Probably so their friends up here could finish trying to quietly break in.” He gestured to the damaged door knob. “Figured it was best we secured things first. Medics are on their way up now.”

“Thanks Adam.” Kyle felt relieved.

A noise pulled Kyle’s attention to the hallway. J’zmin was limping out, one arm wrapped around her severed wing, hugging it close to her body. Her raven hair, still matted with blood fell around her face wildly and her crystal eyes moved from Kyle to Adam worriedly. Kyle motioned her to join them. She came up behind Kyle, just out of his reach.

Adam let out a long whistle. “So this is what all the fuss was about. Managed to land yourself quite an interesting one there. I gotta admit she’s pretty though.”

The two female medics arrived and pushed their way through the crowd. J’zmin was very nervous at the crowed and backed up away trembling. She nearly collapsed again, and Kyle quickly grabbed her holding her up. One of the medics stated that though she didn’t know much about Fae, that it was pretty obvious J’zmin needed to get to a hospital.

The medics, Kyle, J’zmin, Adam, and a couple of the other cops went back to the hallway and took one of the elevators down to the lobby. On the way down, Kyle felt the weight on his left side increase a bit. Looking over, he saw J’zmin had pressed up more against him, her arm wrapped up against him. Unsure what to do, he grabbed her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

The elevator opened up into the lobby. It was unusually busy. Several groups of people stood around on the dirty white marble linoleum tiles. In the laundry room across from the elevators a couple of middle-aged women were folding clothes as washers noisily tumbled behind them. In both the vending machine area to the left of the elevators and in the central lobby, groups of police officers were interviewing people, some in handcuffs.

Off the far right, about halfway to the main entrance a police officer was talking to a young woman with a baby in her arms and a small girl at her side. Off behind them were the planters of roses and lilacs that decorated the front windows that sandwiched the front doors to the complex. Through the windows and doors, multiple police cars and an ambulance could be scene.

As Kyle stepped out of the elevator he was so distracted by the little girl suddenly breaking free of her mother to run to the window pointing up at the sky to notice that he inadvertently ran J’zmin into the potted rose bush that stood between the elevators or hear the thud and gasp that accompanied it. He failed to notice J’zmin suddenly pulling her arm free of him. He was also looking the wrong direction to see her suddenly tense up her eyes widening as the little girl pointed up at the sky asking loudly “Mommy what’s that?”

What he was not too distracted to notice however was the thorny vine that less than two seconds later suddenly shot along the ground past his foot to wrap around the ankle of the girl, knocking her down and dragging her back. Kyle heard the safeties click off weapons, heard people shout “What in the hell?” and “Hey stop that!” He barely begun his spin to face J’zmin when a fiery mass dropped from the sky striking a police car and causing an explosion so powerful the plate glass doors and windows shattered sending glass into the area the girl had just occupied.

All this had taken less than 5 seconds. The vine released the little girl that was now lying on the floor with a bloody ankle looking in shock at the place she just was in openmouthed shock. Her mother was also looking that direction. “Incoming!” someone shouted as a second meteor-like object struck the parked ambulance turning it into a fireball.

One of the officers dropped the gun he held trained on J’zmin to scoop up the girl, dragging her back into the dubious safety of the elevator. Most of the other people in the lobby also took cover in the snack bar or the laundry room.

The remaining police officers called for backup or requested firefighter support. Several took defensive positions behind what cover they could find or shielding the civilians, drawing and checking weapons. “Think they’re coming for her?” Adam asked Kyle. Kyle could only shrug in reply.

“Probably.”

“She saved my girls life,” the mother stated, clearly still in shock as the officer interviewing her herded her toward the elevator. The shaken woman gave the fairy a grateful look as she knelt down hugging both her baby and her daughter to her. “I am in your debt, miss.”

Kyle followed the woman’s gaze to the J’zmin, belatedly realizing that the fairy had the index finger of her free hand pointed on the rose bush, the tip of it both touching the rose and glowing with lavender light. The rose bush was several times its previous size and had several huge vines sprouting from it. Even as he watched the vines slithered toward the planters digging into the soil. A moment later a thick hedge of rosebushes grew obstructing the windows and doorway only to be incinerated by a third explosion.

Immediately following the third explosion several Fae in dark uniforms came flying through the openings and coming to various landings, some one knee, some on both feet. All were armed with either what looked like bows or guns. One that came through the door appeared to be the leader. He looked past Kyle. “J’zmin, alsthe’a ma’thorae?”

Kyle found himself suddenly jerked back, and suddenly J’zmin was in front of him, her arms spread as if shielding him, though she still clutched her severed wing with her left hand. Her right hand, finger still glowing reached out to grab part of the vine. She entered into a verbal exchange with the other fairy that became almost a shouting match.

Suddenly there were vines everywhere. Vines that were growing, thickening, weaving to form a huge living wall separating the humans, except for Kyle, from the Fae. Kyle began feeling nervous, especially as some of the vines began wrapping around him, one pulling his own gun away from him.

All the while the raven-haired fairy with the severed wing continued her exchange with the male fairy, her face growing red, and anger seeping into her voice. This continued for several tense minutes, made tenser by the fact that the humans behind the wall were obviously scared and frustrated by the still expanding living wall behind him. At last the Male fairy seemed to give in with a shrug barking out something. He and the other Fae lowered their weapons and J’zmin released her grip on the vine to limp over to him.

Looking at Kyle with obvious contempt, the male fairy spoke in thickly accented and almost archaic English. “Human, Thou beist lucky this day. J’zmin states thee has saved her life thrice over. Thus, she argues on thy behalf that thy might continue thy pitiful existence. She also states thou hast given her aid for wounds she sweareth are not of thy making. I have agreed to let thou live in exchange for her canceling her blood-debt to thee. Though should know the name she doth giveth you is not her true name, and thy cannot summon her with it. Know too, that I would have slain thee without her intercession on thy behalf.”

With that the group turned and walked out the door. Two of the fairies supporting J’zmin between them, they took flight leaving a relieved, confused, and tired Kyle behind.

****

Kyle stood on the balcony. Below him lay the normal hustle and bustle in the streets of the ruined city. The sounds of engines, car horns, shouting, and bird chirps all mix to form a kind of symphony. Only the rumble of the warplanes and tanks, and the craters in the streets and buildings spoiled the effect. Feeling naked in just his pants, Kyle took in the scene with a quite, almost resigned sigh.

He could still remember when the city was whole, when his neighborhood was filled with bright, shiny high-rise apartment buildings with shops on the ground floor. He could still remember when the sounds of children laughing, shouting, and playing could be heard coming from balconies, rooftops, and sidewalks. He could remember, but that was all it was, memory. Everything had changed with the return of the multitude of angry races known collectively as the Fae.

Fae like the pretty raven-haired fairy with the blue and black wings that had crashed into the rooftop some three months ago, sheering off one of those wings only to be rescued by what he assumed were her friends or fellow squad members. Sometimes he still wandered about her from time to time. What was her name? Jasmine? No, not quite but that was as close as he could pronounce.

He was dimly aware of a sudden breeze out of nowhere. He heard a slight buzzing and then a soft click behind him. Before he could react, something pressed up against his back and two arms wrapped around him to envelope him in a tight embrace. Silky black hair brushed against his face and down his shoulder and a warm breath played across his ear. “Kyle,” the whisper was tentative, but the emotion behind it was not.

“Jasmine?” His voice squeezed in surprise.

A giggle and a slight brush against his head as he felt her shake her head no. “J’zmin,” her voice was soft, patient. “J’zminnatre” The name seemed to echo in his head and somehow he knew there was power in that word..

“J’zminnatre” He whispered. He felt that power call out to her, saw the slight lavender glow that suddenly emanated both from the arms around his chest and from the corner of his eye on the side her cheek was pressed against. He heard her squeal of delight and then felt himself being spun around. And then he was kissing her.