Lilly's Torment(31)

"Only in rare cases is it irreversible. Like in the case of Gavriel's  mother. Hers was an early implant and one where it was too close to the  bone of the skull. The body sees them as intrusive bodies, which they  are. So if they are in the wrong place, the body attacks them. Hers is  grown into the skull, or rather, the skull has grown around it. They are  worried about trying to break it free because they don't know exactly  where it is now. Because of the organic properties of the chips, they  can't exactly get a read on it. Mine's right where it's supposed to be,  so I can have it removed. Most Luhpynes don't actually have the chips,  because of the magic that controls their bodies and their shifting. They  can't have them in their heads. Hell, the chips that hold all their  data and monies are heavily fortified in their wrists so they aren't  damaged during the change." He tipped his head to look at her. "If you  want to have yours removed, I'll get you an appointment, too."

"That would be wonderful." She hated the implants, a great deal. She was  a throwback to a time before the implants. "I would very much like to  have it removed. I'm sure that Gav wouldn't appreciate it, but I hate  them. I really do. I know that they are supposed to be able to make  things better and all that, but I honestly and truly dislike them a  great deal."

"The one in your wrist will have to stay, that's a law now. But the one  in your head we'll get out. And Gav doesn't have one in his head. The  one in his wrist is shielded since he's a Spiryte and his magic would  otherwise fry it. He's a very powerful Spiryte, power yet untapped  fully, unlike his mother, whose abilities lie in science and not in  magic. So he really can't say much of anything about you having yours  removed."

"Wonderful," she said with a grin. "So how will we all communicate? Cell  phones? I know that they do still make them, and we should be able to  link them with our implants in our wrists so that it will boost the  signal or something."

"There are still the old-fashioned cell phones, but in our case we'll  use something a little different. It's something the Luhpynes use, and  those of the other races that can't have the implant in their heads.  It's a device like your world's old Bluetooth devices. It clips on over  the ear, a piece sits against the jaw line for you to speak into, and  the on-off is a small tap to the back that lays behind the ear. It's  quite sleek and lightweight. You'll barely know it's there, and you can  wear it at all times while you're awake." Artaxias smoothed a hand over  her hair. "To anyone looking on, it will appear you still have the  implant because the motions are nearly identical to activate it."

"Ah, very cool. All right. That will be far better than what we have  now," she admitted. "And the fewer people that know that we don't have  them, the better, right?" she asked with a frown. "So they aren't able  to falsify the tech to pretend that they are us."

"No one could falsify anything where you are concerned, little mate," he  said with a smile. The smile dropped as they both turned their heads  toward the sound of the front door opening and then shutting. "We're in  here, Gav," Ax called out. He sat up a little, taking her with him, his  arm around her waist keeping her from sliding off his lap.

Gavriel appeared in the doorway a moment later, looking exhausted. His  hair was sticking up at odd angles, obviously from fingers being raked  through it constantly. He wandered deeper into the room and fell onto  the sofa next to them. "Hey," he muttered, sounding even more tired than  he looked.

"Hey." Lilly moved so that she could wrap her arms around Gavriel and  settled into his lap. Hugging him close, she rubbed her cheek to his  neck. "I am so sorry that you are hurting. How can I help you, Gav?" she  asked and pressed a kiss to his neck.

"This is good," he said with a chuckle. His arms wrapped around her and  held her tight before loosening, but not letting her go. He heaved a  sigh and rested his cheek to hers. "This very good right now and just  what I need."

"Good," she said and rubbed her cheek to his neck again. "This is what I  need as well. I've missed you," she admitted quietly. "You just tell me  what it is that you need, and what you want, and we will do it, okay? I  only want your happiness. I need it so very much."

"Shh," he murmured. His hand was rubbing up and down her back. "I just  need to hold you for now, Lilly. And then I need a long, hot shower,  something to eat, and bed. Not necessarily in that order. I may switch  it up to bed, food, and shower, given how beat I currently feel."                       
       
           



       

Lilly nodded. She looked to Artaxias. "Will you make him a sandwich? He  can sit here and eat it and then we can all go up and go to bed  together? In the morning will be soon enough for a shower, right?"

"Of course," Ax said. He got up and touched her hair with a smile before leaving the room.

"He's a good egg," Gavriel murmured. "Don't tell him I called him that,  he has enough issues with what I call him behind his back without adding  another to the list." He let out a loud, long yawn and slouched down  more in his seat. "What have you guys been up to since I left?"

"Ax fed me and we chatted. We are both going to have our implants for  calls removed. Him because of obvious reasons, and me because honestly I  hate the tech in my head." She shrugged and began to pet him slowly,  softly. "That's about it. Oh, that and we figured out what was setting  me off with the body in the morgue. It's the tattoos. They are working  on breaking them down now."

"Wow, you guys have been busy." He blinked at her. "I'm rather  impressed. But I do have to ask you, just how did you narrow it down to  the tattoos? I know how I'd likely have done it, but how did Artaxias  narrow it to just those?"

"He took me to a clean room and we went over the images one at a time,  slowly. He knew that it was the right one when I was suddenly desperate  for a phone, needing to make a landline phone call instead of using the  implant."

"Interesting," he said with a nod. "He was always methodical about such  things." Gavriel was stroking her hair slowly, his fingers combing  through the strands over and over. His other hand was on her thigh,  holding tight like he was afraid she might jump up at any moment. "I'm  glad you figured out what was setting you off, love. I hate the fact  you're being yanked around by an unknown person or persons."

"You and me both." Lilly sighed and closed her eyes. "I'm happy you are  back with me. I've missed you," she confessed. "Even though we've been  going and going, I've still missed you." Her hand over his chest, she  asked, "How is your mom? Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really," he muttered. But then he heaved a sigh and scrubbed a hand  over his face. "She's getting worse. She knows who I am, but when she's  like this, when her mind isn't all there, she thinks I'm barely big  enough to pull up my own pants. When I try to discuss things with her,  she shushes me and tells me to go play or go to the kitchen for a sweet.  Then she has moments of clarity that I try to get everything done in.  Mainly because I never know if that's going to be the last chance I get  with her. That's the part that hurts the most, never knowing when I'm  going to lose the woman she is for the woman she was. But, I got her to  sign everything necessary and she's going in tomorrow to have the chip  behind her ear disabled. It's a ten-minute procedure but it will never  activate again, and she'll have to irritate Ax the old-fashioned way.  Video conferencing or good old phone calls."

"I'm so sorry, Gav. I can't even begin to imagine the hurt and the pain  that you are going through right now. It's never easy to lose someone  that we love, but a mother? I just wish that I could help you somehow. I  want to be there for you, I need to be there for you. As long as you  will let me, I will be, too. I just. I just want to help."

"You are helping me, little mate," he said quietly. "Holding you like  this, being with you right now, is helping me a lot. I don't need much  else, just you like this." Gavriel squeezed her closer to him and kissed  her cheek. He held her like that for a long time before he lifted his  head and looked past her.

"Sorry to interrupt," Artaxias said. He came up next to Lilly's hip and held out the plate and bottle of water.

"Mmm, thank you, Artaxias," Lilly said and accepted the plate of food.  Looking to Gav, she smiled, "You going to eat with me?" She wasn't ready  to leave his lap and she had a feeling he wasn't ready to let her go.  There was something in the way that he was holding her that made her  think that he was just millimeters from falling apart.