Free Rakshasa Book I, Part #4: Shadowfall by Alica Knight Page B

had lots of time to say our goodbyes.” Asena hesitated, ever so slightly, and I felt her grip on my shoulders tighten. “The thing is, at the end, we almost went out of our minds. The doctors said the tumour was inoperable and that there was nothing we could do, so Dad stopped his chemo and tried a whole bunch of ‘alternative medicine’ things. We ate heaps of chilli, went totally vegan, we tried everything we could. Everything people told us they’d heard from a friend of a friend, from their second cousin’s brother’s aunt’s dog, everything. I read books about antioxidants and free radicals, homoeopathic solvents, traditional Chinese medicine, Native American Indian recipes, even fucking Ouija boards and Tarot cards. My Mum died when I was just a kid, and I loved my Dad more than anything. We basically wasted every penny of our savings on things we knew, deep down, would never really work. But we did it, not because my Dad didn’t want to die, but because I really, really, really didn’t want to be alone.”
    I had absolutely no idea what to say or do. I didn’t have any friends except for Katelyn, and before my transformation I was the quiet Indian girl nobody liked. I’d never had anyone ‘open up’ to me, to give me girl talk, and now there was a redheaded Caucasian woman gripping my shoulders like I was about to fall off the Earth, looking like she was one ill-placed word away from bursting into tears.
    “I…”
    “About two days after he died, I went to the south bridge over Burley Griffin. I jumped, landing directly on my chest, trying to break my neck; but when I hit the water I didn’t die. In fact I barely felt any pain. That’s when my changes started to happen, when I discovered what I am.”
    I imagined what Asena had gone through, and how those crushing feeling of despair had lead her to try and jump to her death, to end her existence. Although the thought of suicide was abhorrent to me, on some level I could understand how she’d gotten to that point. How losing someone you loved so much, so deeply, could drive you to the absolute brink of madness, where you’d do absolutely anything to take away the searing, unstoppable, relentless agony; where you’d end your life if it would end your pain.
    My parents had died when I was young and I barely knew them. But if Ishan left, or died…
    Asena locked eyes with me, the grip on my shoulders painful now. “I know you’re worried about Katelyn, Aurora, and believe me, I know… when someone you love is sick, you want to do everything you can to end their pain. But the thing is, and I learnt this the hard way, sometimes there’s just no way to stop bad things from happening. And trying things, dangerous things, pointless things, makes things worse. Sometimes you do everything you can, throw everything you have into trying to save someone, and all you get is an empty bank account and a loved one to bury.” Asena took a deep breath, then let go of my tingling shoulders. “Katelyn’s just going to have to pull through this one herself.”
    I looked back to my friend who, as I predicted, was beginning to sweat again. “I don’t think she can. We need to find the Champawat Tiger and find out what he did to her, but before we do that, are you sure there aren’t any Rakshasa who are doctors?”
    “I told you, no.”
    I gnawed on my lower lip. “What can we do then?”
    Asena was quiet for a moment, then inhaled. “Maybe we could go see Cinder?”
    “Cinder?” I peered at her. “Who’s Cinder?”
    “A Rakshasa, one of us.” There was a hesitancy in her voice, though, that gave me reason to pause. “Someone we can talk to, if he’s willing. Someone we trust.”
    “I’m sensing there’s a ‘but’ in there somewhere.” I said.
    Asena scrunched up her face, nodding. “Cinder’s gift, amongst other things, is agelessness. He’s extremely old… as in, thousands of years. Moves around a lot. Has actually lived in India, you