Chapter Text
“Are you ready?” Monica laid a hand on Torrey’s forearm.
Torrey nodded. “I’m ready.”
“Alright, crank up the heat. This’ll just be a warm up for you.” Monica smirked at her stupid pun before continuing. “We’ll start on the harder stuff after a little while.”
The two girls were sitting cross-legged in the grass near Rick’s group, facing each other, so that Torrey could practice with her powers. T-Dog, Dale, Carol, Lori, and Carl were in the camp area, watching with slightly suppressed fascination; after all, they had never seen anything like this before.
At the moment, Torrey was going to perform the simple task of heating her skin, a power that came in handy on warm nights, and in the presence of walkers. It was a relatively simple trick, since her demon blood was always boiling below the surface. She gave her friend a smirk as she willed her blood to warm to a higher temperature. She could feel it simmer through her veins, rising to a slow bubbling, and finally a rolling boil.
Monica merely grimaced at first, the excess heat from Torrey’s skin making her uncomfortable due to the already warm temperature outside, but soon she had to retract her hand from Torrey’s arm completely, lest her fingers get burnt.
“Looks like you’ve got that covered. How about we move on.” The scowl on Monica’s face made Torrey giggle, but she nodded, and let her blood return to normal.
They continued in much the same fashion, Torrey testing her abilities, and Monica being a sort of guinea pig to make sure the redhead’s powers worked the way they were supposed to. T-Dog, Dale, and Lori wandered off after a while, attending to other matters, but Carol stayed near the camp, as did Carl. Torrey couldn’t tell if Carol merely stayed around to watch Carl because she didn’t have much else to do, or if she actually wanted to watch Torrey’s show, but the demon did catch the older woman watching every so often.
Carl seemed particularly fascinated with the way Torrey could make flames appear on her fingertips, as if they were candles, and then flick them into the air like a lighter’s flame receding into its hole once more. His face lit up with his smile, and his blue eyes danced with the magic the redhead managed to unfold, and she couldn’t help but give him an encore whenever he persisted that she “do that trick again.”
Torrey was truly pleased that she had been accepted by the group’s surviving child member, and his smiles were often followed by Carol’s as she watched over him while attending to the camp chores.
After a while, for some reason or another, Carol and Carl had both been called away to other duties, and Torrey and Monica were alone in the grass to practice by themselves. They couldn’t have been alone for more than twenty minutes before the sound of gunshots sent Torrey jumping to her feet.
“Walkers?” Monica asked calmly, looking to Torrey for answers.
Torrey’s eyes widened as a new vision slapped her in the face. She could see Rick’s group and Hershel’s family huddled in a tense group, watching Shane rant and rave, a loaded gun pointed at a walker on a leash held by Hershel. Rick was holding one, too, and he was pleading with Shane to calm down and listen to his explanation.
More gunshots broke the vision from Torrey’s mind, and she staggered as she came back to reality. Monica raised an eyebrow, still waiting for an answer.
“Yes, walkers, but there’s a much bigger problem in need of resolving. They’re at the barn. Let’s go.” Torrey nodded to her friend before they both took off running toward the barn.
When they passed the house they could see everyone in the distance. The sound of gunfire was like a thunder storm gushing down around them, and Torrey could make out about four people standing in a line in front of the barn doors, taking down all the walkers that spilled out.
Torrey didn’t bother to wonder why there were walkers in the barn, she just knew she needed to get down there as quick as she could; she knew where Sophia was now, and when that girl stumbled through the doors Shane was sure to shoot her down before Torrey could fulfill her promise.
The gunfire had stopped now, and Shane was speaking to the group; the two girls were still too far away to make out the words. Suddenly Shane turned with a start back toward the barn doors, his gun poised to shoot. Sophia came into view, her corpse’s feet shuffling out into the sunlight, making low growling noises. There was a collective gasp between the two groups, and Rick’s head fell slightly. Carol ran forward without thinking, and Daryl grabbed her before she could get to the walker-Sophia, pulling her to the ground and anchoring her there.
Rick’s head swiveled around, searching for Torrey. He saw her just as Shane raised his gun once more and cocked the hammer back. There was a harried cry to wait just a moment more, Shane, but he made no move to lower the weapon again, and Torrey could feel his anticipation as he placed his finger over the trigger.
Finally the girls were there on the outskirts of the group, but even at the rate they were going Torrey would make it to Sophia just seconds too late. She would have to teleport in front of Sophia, protect her from Shane’s bullet, and now seemed as good a time as any to reawaken that power.
One minute the redhead was solid, the next she was nothing but air, and then she was solid once more, right in front of Sophia. Depending on your view, she was either a second too late or just in time, for when she burst in front of Sophia the bullet that had been meant for the walker-girl’s head hit Torrey in the stomach instead.
Another collective gasp as Torrey slumped to her knees, one arm wrapping around her torso to keep the blood in. She wasn’t worried about her safety; all she could think was that this injury was wasting her energy, and that could affect her ability to save Sophia.
Rick started forward to help the redhead, but she held up one bloodied hand to stop him; she could handle this herself. She placed her hand directly over the bullet hole and managed to pull the bullet from her body, stop the bleeding, and close the wound. Torrey was thankful that her powers made such a procedure easy, but wished she could have numbed herself first to ease the pain; that would have taken up too much energy, however, and she would rather suffer a little and bring a child back to life.
Walker-Sophia, having no more human feelings or thoughts left, smelled Torrey’s blood and lurched forward, sinking her teeth in the demon’s shoulder. Torrey didn’t cry out in pain, merely grimaced and pushed the girl away gently.
Shane’s annoyed huff could be heard by all, and he raised the gun once more, ready to put Sophia out of her misery once and for all, and take Torrey down with her; the redhead had been bitten, and it was only a matter of time before they’d have to put a bullet in her head anyway.
Before he could pull the trigger, the long, curved blade of a girkahs was pressed against his throat, Monica standing at the end of it, her eyes hard as stone.
“Pull the trigger and I take your head off, you got it?” Monica hissed through clenched teeth. As much as her and Torrey teased each other and acted like they could easily do away with the other it was all just in light fun, and Monica would kill whoever threatened her friend’s mission without hesitation; this guy had already shot Torrey, and that was excuse enough to slit the fucker’s throat, but Monica refrained only because she knew Torrey wasn’t seriously hurt.
Shane glared at Monica from the corner of his eye, but dropped the gun anyway; Monica, however, did not lower the sword from his throat. Shane was uncomfortable with that situation, but Monica didn’t care; she kept the knife there as a warning to him, and until Torrey had done her job that warning would be in effect.
Meanwhile, Torrey’s blood was raging under the bitten skin on her shoulder, boiling the infection away until it was gone, and the wound sealed over with a protective piece of scar tissue; the redhead would not become a walker that day. She turned to walker-Sophia and placed a hand on the girl’s throat, paralyzing the body so that she could do what she came here for.
“Michael,” the redhead called under her breath, and there he was. Torrey could hear the confused and shocked murmurs from those behind her, but she ignored them for the time being. She looked up at the dark angel, gracing him with a smile, before reaching up and taking his hand. She had to stifle a laugh at the jealousy she felt rolling off of Rick in waves when Michael twined their fingers together.
Michael nodded to the demon, and Torrey closed her eyes. She pushed her soul out of herself, the only thing left back on earth being her body, still clasping Michael’s hand and Sophia’s throat. Luckily it would only take a moment to get Sophia from Heaven, so she wouldn’t have to leave her body too long.
As she made her journey to Heaven the world fell away from her, turning to darkness before she could see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. She was greeted by the pearly gates of God’s Kingdom, and Christ stood with Sophia just outside of them. Torrey fell on her knees, bowing in reverence to the Lord, and the demon side of her raged in His presence.
Once upon a time, Torrey had been a good Christian, but through a lurid turn of events she fell from grace and became a demon instead. She couldn’t say she didn’t want the powers and perks that came with being a demon, but she hated not being in God’s graces anymore, and the sickness inside of her when her demon side rejected the Lord was something she could do without for all of eternity.
“Thank you, Lord, for allowing me to do this.” Torrey spoke softly, her voice filled with respect and love for Christ, though the blood in her veins boiled in a way that pained her.
When she looked up Christ nodded once, gracing her with a smile that quelled the burning inside of her. He patted Sophia’s shoulder, and the girl stepped forward. She turned back to wave goodbye to the Lord before taking Torrey’s hand, and the two descended back to earth.
Torrey’s soul returned to her body and she gasped, breathing in deeply. All that was left now was to reverse the effects of the disease before pulling Sophia back into her own body. Michael’s large black wings wrapped around Torrey as she leaned over the girl, giving her all the strength she no longer had, and helped her turn back the clock, so to speak. Torrey could feel the death seeping out of the girl’s body, falling away into the ground, and then it was gone; there was all the space in the world left for Sophia to move into.
Somewhere inside of her, Torrey could feel Sophia’s hand slip from her own as the girl re-entered her body, and then there was a gasp beneath her, and the child’s bright blue eyes were staring up into her own.
Michael’s wings receded, and he released Torrey’s hand. “I’ll give your regards to Lucifer.” Then he was gone, and it was just Torrey and Sophia on the ground by the barn.
“Welcome back, sweetheart.” Torrey smiled warmly at the girl, and gently pulled her into a sitting position.
Sophia didn’t speak, but instead threw her arms around Torrey’s shoulders, hugging her tight. “Thank you.” She whispered, the tears rolling down her cheeks.
Torrey hugged the girl back, patting her shoulder. “You’re welcome, Sophia. Now go see your mother.”
Sophia pulled back and nodded, then got to her feet. Torrey turned to watch the scene unfold and was met with several wide pairs of shocked eyes. Those eyes flickered toward Sophia, who slowly walked toward Carol. Daryl released the older woman and sat back on his heels, his expression not betraying the surprise he felt inside. Carol choked back a sob and hurried to embrace her daughter.
Monica sheathed her girkahs once more and walked calmly over to Torrey, kneeling beside her friend. “You did good, kid.” She grinned down at the redhead, placing a hand on her shoulder.
“I know. But now I’m going to pass out.” Torrey laughed lightly to herself, her head feeling fuzzy for the second time in a week.
Monica rolled her eyes, a grimace pulling her mouth down at the corners, which made Torrey laugh even harder.
Before the blackness swallowed her, Torrey saw Rick’s piercing blue eyes staring at her, a smile filled with nothing but gratitude on his face, his expression full of hope.