“So all of this,” Amber answered curtly, waving her hands at the ceiling and the room in a broad gesture, “is what... a setup? You’re just being played? You know how that sounds, right? After everything Oxivius has done for us? Are you sure you’re not just a little, um, jealous?”
“In his own words,” Xlina replied defensively. “He said not to trust Otherworlders making promises. He speaks in half-truths and riddles. How do we know he wasn’t telling me not to trust him?”
“You’re going stir crazy, X,” Amber answered, bringing her finger up to tap Xlina gently on the nose. “If you insist on seeing deception and lies everywhere, then you’ll surely find them. In every omission, in every misstep, you’ll read into things intent that isn’t there. You’ll be chasing lies of your own making.”
“Oxivius is always saying stuff like that,” Xlina replied, mocking a hint of suspicion before repeating in her best English accent. “It’s all about intent, love.”
“Trust me,” Amber giggled. “As far as dirtbags go, he isn’t one of them. Plus, I know a good lie when I see one.”
“Oh yeah?” Xlina responded playfully. “What makes you such an expert?”
“It’s how the popular live,” Amber replied with a nonchalant shrug. “Always looking out for the person ready to stab you in the back, to take your place, until the only solution is to stab them first.”
“You’re comparing my demon problems to your popular social circle drama,” Xlina mocked, staring into Amber’s green eyes. She could see what appeared to be genuine concern staring back at her.
“Damn straight,” Amber nodded in reply. “The stakes may be different, but the game looks the same from my point of view. Vying for control and power. I just don’t want you to get lost in the shuffle.”
“Sounds like you know something about that,” Xlina added gently.
“I do,” Amber stated firmly. “It’s easy to get lost in power. It’s even easier to forget how you are treating the people you happen to be stepping on to get that power. If you go at Oxivius with nothing but suspicion, you’ll find what you are looking for... whether it’s really there or not.”
“So you think I should have faith,” Xlina acknowledged.
“It’s what makes us human,” Amber answered, bringing her hand to rest on Xlina’s cheek. Amber’s gaze was intense, as if she were searching for something more as her hand lingered. Her soft touch was both warm and inviting.
“Human,” Xlina confirmed with a grin. “I like that.”
“You are welcome,” Amber responded with a grin of her own. “Now get out there and be the badass you are, girl.”
Amber lingered for a moment longer before rolling to an upright position and lifting herself from the bed. She padded toward the door, the soft footfalls of her bare feet on the hardwood floor stopping just at the door to turn back and look over her shoulder.
“I’d wish you sweet dreams,” she said knowingly. “But we both know that’s not what you need right now.”
“Thanks,” Xlina echoed back. “You too.”
“Happy nightmares, X,” Amber whispered.
With a parting glance, Amber was gone, closing the door behind her, and once again Xlina was alone with her thoughts. Amber was right of course; when she had first met Oxivius, he had called her the wolf, the hunter. She was hiding, hoping that she would be able to return to a normal life, but she had never wanted normal. She drifted in her thoughts until sleep finally claimed her.
It was dark, well past midnight, as Xlina’s eyes fluttered open, staring up at the ceiling fan. Her head throbbed with a resonance she couldn’t place, and a foul odor hung in the air that seemed a mix of smoke and acid. Her skin tingled, as if a thick strand of cobweb had stuck to her in her sleep, sending a shiver of revulsion down her spine. Xlina rolled from the mattress and nearly toppled as her legs found uneasy purchase. She felt terrible, almost sick to her stomach as she struggled to get the first few steps behind her. She strode toward the door to her room, her stomach knotting in a wave of nausea that nearly made her gag as she twisted the doorknob and passed through to the living area.
She tried to call for Amber and found a hoarse, dry throat waiting; her voice cracked in a hushed, coarse, froggy way that reminded her of when she had laryngitis as a teenager. A dim reddish light from the foyer drew her attention, and she ambled to the balcony overlooking the foyer. Peering out into where the foyer should be, she saw only an infinite black hole with a swirling red mass at the center. The whole room spun in her vision, and she grabbed the railing for dear life as she swooned, feeling like she was looking off the edge of reality into the abyss itself.
“Miss me?” Valeria’s sultry voice chimed in from behind, forcing Xlina to turn her head defensively and nearly swoon again from the sudden motion. The demon stood before her with no human guise at all. Her long black hair moved freely on an invisible current despite there being no tangible breeze. Her skin was ghost white, and her face was far more angular, with large fanged teeth that showed through her wicked smile. Large leathery wings flapped once behind her before folding back into place. She was nude save for patches of what looked like scales on her hips and feet. Her long demonic tongue slipped from her smile and extended down to her breast where it coiled, tantalizing a dark-gray erect nipple.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” Xlina gasped with a raspy voice.
“Where is here anyway?” Valeria parroted back, approaching in a seductive stride that accentuated her hips and allowed a forked tail to be seen dangling behind her with each step.
“It’s holy ground,” Xlina stammered, the feeling of betrayal sitting heavy in her stomach.
“Out there maybe,” Valeria cooed, pointing to the bay window on the far wall before pointing to her head and tapping lightly next to a small bony protrusion which could only be described as a horn. “But in here... Demons don’t dream. I bet they didn’t tell you that.”
“We’re...” Xlina stammered, looking at Amber’s door and realizing she wasn’t actually standing in the Heart’s Hearth. “We are in the dream world.”
“Yes,” Valeria cooed, still slowly approaching in a seductive manner. “The collective unconscious. If eyes are the window to the soul, then dreams are the back door to the heart.”
“You couldn’t follow me there,” Xlina declared, finding some assurance that their plan had worked.
“No,” Valeria replied with a shake of her head as her forked tongue lashed out once more, curling and caressing the demon’s breast before returning to hide behind those pointed teeth. “But you’re my property; I’ll just find you here. Demons should really play here more. It’s... intoxicating.”
She spread her arms in a wide flourish as if she were feeling the warmth of the sun for the first time, but there was no sun here. It was as if she had plucked the image of Heart’s Hearth from Xlina’s mind and replaced everything beautiful with the hellish landscape of the abyss. The air itself clung in a heavy, sticky manner that made her breathing labored as she swooned, seeing the demon approach.
“Why now?” Xlina barked defiantly. “Why tonight?”
“I need you,” Valeria purred as she closed the final couple of steps separating the two. “I tried to give you some space to figure things out, my pet, but I can’t wait any longer. I need you to come to me.”
“I have not killed the fae,” Xlina continued, finding her courage swell. “I don’t plan to either.”
“We can discuss that later,” Valeria purred once more with a sultry smile. “For now, come to me.”
“No,” Xlina barked, bracing for the mark to ignite in flames of agony, but instead Valeria reached out a hand, rimmed with scales on the knuckles and black hooked, talon-like nails. She delicately stroked the mark with the soft tips of her fingers, but Xlina felt nothing.
“Xlina, now is not the time,” Valeria hissed, a sudden stagger in her voice. “Just find me; use the collar.”
There was a desperation in V
aleria; Xlina could sense it. It wasn’t hunger or lust like their prior encounters. It was a need. She was tolerating Xlina’s defiance as well, a massive change of character that seemed so out of place. Xlina looked into the black eyes of the demon, but reading Valeria was nothing like reading a human. The mark remained inert despite being touched. Amber had touched it this very night, unknowingly sending waves of arousal through her. Before that, Valeria had elicited both pain and pleasure through the mark, but here in the dream world, nothing. This realm... Demons don’t dream.
“Demons don’t dream,” Xlina declared as she shrugged away Valeria’s hand. “That means you are a visitor here. No; you’re an interloper at best. You found your way in, somehow focused into a meditative state or a trance, but all of this, the smell, the abyss... this is your dream I am in.”
“Xlina, please,” Valeria replied, but her voice sounded strained, as if keeping herself in the Dream Realm were taxing her. “Don’t be a fool... I am trying to be nice.”
“This is my realm,” Xlina barked, feeling the nightmare energy flood into her. “In this place, I feed.”
Her hands burst into fiery blue flames larger than she had ever produced before. The flames flickered with raw power, nearly engulfing her arms up to her elbow. She looked out past the demon and could see beyond the walls of the dream; she could feel the energy of the ley line flowing into her, raw and unfettered. She shook away the feelings of dizziness and nausea, seeing them as part of Valeria’s carefully constructed dream meant to disorient her. The walls of the room cracked as Xlina exerted her will, seeing the dream for the cheap parlor trick it was. The foundations cracked and creaked, splintering to reveal the thoughts beyond.
“Xlina,” Valeria scolded firmly. “You mustn’t. You have to stay here.”
“Not in my realm,” Xlina spat, her voice filled with venom and hate. “You let me in. It’s my turn.”
With a flash of blue, Xlina lunged forward, landing a heavy cross on the demon’s jaw with a violent crack of energy. Valeria buckled from the blow and staggered several steps back until she was nearly where she had started. Her legs looked shaky, but she slowly regained her composure, rising to her full height and spreading her wings to a nearly six-foot span. She was beautiful in a perverse way, but Xlina could still feel the pain and humiliation the demon had so enjoyed inflicting on her, and it dampened her beauty.
“Xlina, stop,” Valeria begged. “This moment is for your safety. I am not trying to trick you.”
“Why should I trust you?” Xlina countered, raising her fists threateningly as she stalked closer, ready to pounce.
“Listen to me,” Valeria pleaded, almost in a whimper. She looked majestic but weak, far too weak as her wings began to slump. “Behind these mental walls are my thoughts, memories; you can’t go there.”
“Really?” Xlina smirked. “Maybe that’s exactly where I need to go. The secret to breaking the mark is in there, isn’t it? My freedom.”
Xlina stopped her advance on the wounded Valeria and instead glared menacingly at the door that would normally have led to Amber’s room. With a flash of unbridled energy flaring to life in her fists, she changed direction for the door, a determination to rip the very essence of the dream to shreds so she could explore unfettered.
“Xlina, NO!” Valeria shrieked, nearly falling forward. “Listen to me. I am a demon! Not some human meat bag. You don’t know the horrors you’ll be exposed to. I have lived in hell, girl. Think about what you’ll find beyond that wall.”
Xlina paused for a second, letting the warning sink in. This dream was different. Normally she viewed things as an outsider. The dreamer was never aware she was present at all, but here Valeria was in control. Conscious even. She was straining to keep her in this secluded part of her dream. Could it really be for her safety?
“All your recollections of hell,” Xlina repeated cautiously.
“My memories,” Valeria panted with a ragged voice. “Torture, pain, burning in the pits. All of it. If you break through, it will flood in like a tidal wave of anguish. More power that you can handle. You’ll snuff yourself out.”
“Why, Valeria?” Xlina asked, shaking her head, unsure whether to trust the demon was telling the truth, but she had to admit it made some sense. “Why come to me here, where the mark has no effect?”
“I’ll show you,” Valeria said with a nod. “But please no more. I can’t keep this going.”
“Fine,” Xlina stated flatly, dropping the blue flaring energy until she was standing back, cloaked in the darkness once more, in just her sports bra and shorts. She crossed her arms defiantly and tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for an explanation.
“You are right,” Valeria admitted. “Coming here was dangerous for me; you’re strong here, my little Baku, perhaps stronger than I.”
“Flattery will get you nothing,” Xlina stated flatly with a glare. Valeria didn’t meet her gaze, however, falling weakly to a knee while her wings seemed to hang limply rather than rest. Her forked demon tail swayed slowly but remained low, like that of a scolded dog. It could be a trick, but she looked diminished.
“I am in trouble,” Valeria relented. “I need you to come to me.”
“Why would I?” Xlina laughed in response. “Sounds like someone is about to free me from my mark.”
“It doesn’t work that way, my pet,” Valeria chuckled followed by a soft whimper. “If I die in the Earth Realm, I am merely sent back to the Infernal Realm. The mark, your soul, will be claimed by my patron.”
“Your patron?” Xlina asked skeptically.
“Yes,” Valeria huffed her breathing coming in short gasps, sweat beaded on her forehead and her voice trembled, growing weaker by the second. “My patron is an arch-demon. He isn’t to be trifled with by a foolish girl. I am but a lowly succubus, barely a blip on the demonic hierarchy, just a pawn in the game of the infernals. He will come and collect on my debts... he will have your soul and the souls of everyone around you.”
“That sounds like a convenient threat,” Xlina mused. “Better to save the devil I know than come to blows with the devil I don’t? That’s your plea?”
“I could have killed you easily,” Valeria continued, her voice straining. “I could have taken what I wanted at any time, but I didn’t. Do you really believe another demon would let you carry on like this?”
“I don’t know what to believe,” Xlina scoffed. “Demons lie, Valeria, just like you lied to me since the day you walked into the psych ward. You manipulated me, tricked me, and marked me. Now you want me to help you.”
“They haven’t killed me,” Valeria stated. “They left me alive. Why? Why don’t they send me to hell? Because you would still be out here, and my patron would claim you. I’m bait. Don’t you see that? they assumed I would use the mark to lure you into their trap, but I’m too smart for that. I found my way to talk to you through the dreams... to warn you.”
“Who?” Xlina demanded, sensing the demon’s strength fading. The cracks of the dream began to spread, reaching for the ceiling as Valeria’s strength and focus flickered.
“The Burnished Rose,” Valeria cried in pain. “Puc knows where you are, they all know, and they are coming for you. You must find me and free me.”
“All of this is your fault,” Xlina screamed at the huddled form of Valeria on the floor. “You will release me. I will save you, and then you take this damn mark.”
“No,” Valeria stated firmly. “You are marked either way, my little Baku; you need to think about your future.”
Like a dam crumbling under the weight of nature, the dream collapsed. Shattering into thousands of fragments. Xlina was flooded with an agony unlike anything she had felt before. It was as if her mind were filled with hot coals and her eyes boiled in their sockets. Valeria cursed in a language she couldn’t comprehend, and in a flash, she was back in her bed, soaked in sweat and breathing as if she had just run a marathon. She inhaled to steady her racing heart, but something still
felt wrong. She recalled the dream and Valeria’s warning, and she sprung from the bed, nearly slipping on the hardwood floor with her sweat-drenched feet.
“Amber!” Xlina called at the top of her lungs as she raced for the door. Bursting into the living area in the darkness of night, she fumbled and slipped in a panic-filled scramble. Amber’s door flung wide, and the platinum blonde stood wearily in the archway with an annoyed and exhausted look on her face.
“What?” Amber called but was cut off immediately as the glass of the bay window in the living room shattered in an explosive blast. Another loud boom, and the sound of broken glass echoed up from the foyer.
“They’re here,” Xlina warned, looking at the door and fearing for the Burglecuts. Oxivius thought we would be safe here.
Chapter Fifteen
A Ghostly Intervention
“Stay close,” Xlina commanded as Amber crouched low at the sound of another explosion and broken glass. Xlina motioned for her to follow as she crept to the living room door and pushed it slightly ajar to see the balcony beyond.
“This is bad,” Amber mumbled, the fear welling up inside and chasing the weariness away.
“Yeah, I know,” Xlina hissed, scanning the empty balcony for attackers.
The sound of broken glass crunching under foot caused Xlina to pivot back to the shattered bay window just in time to see the arrival of a long-haired man in a black trench coat. His torso was bare under his jacket, highlighted by a moving green tattoo of a cobra, and he wore ragged jeans with heavy boots. His nose was thin and pointed with reptilian eyes, as if his face were a contortion between cobra and man. He hissed a string of words, incoherent to Xlina, but she could sense the raw magic power building as he flung his hand forth.
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