What room was this? I saw faces. Faces near me, faces along the room’s wall. They looked at me like they knew me. Did they? Did I know them? My legs buckled underneath me, weak like a colt’s. One of the men standing near me reached out, but I scrambled backward, needing to escape. I couldn’t let him touch me. Of that, I was certain. My mind had been shredded and ripped open. I didn’t want to be touched in any other way. The floor was cold and smooth as I scurried over it, but I was stopped by a wall. At least, it felt like one. I saw nothing there, only a blue line upon the floor. The invisible wall was familiar and triggered fear. It reminded me of the box. I drew my knees up to me, trying to make myself small as I trembled.
The men near me—four of them—were speaking in a language I didn’t know. They were arguing. One kept trying to come to me, but another stopped him. That one was terrifying. His features were nothing extraordinary—tall, with dark brown eyes and hair—but there was something about him that made me cold all over. There was power in him, power all around him. I could feel it and see it. It reminded me of sulfur. His eyes fell on me as he spoke harshly to the others, and I cringed further. I felt certain I knew him, but he still scared me.
Suddenly, another of the men exclaimed something and touched the dark-haired one’s arm. This man was blond. I sensed power around him too, but it felt different. It was clean and crystalline. All four turned around, putting their backs to me as they stared at something. Nothing was there at first, then I began to see and feel it. A glowing purple orb appeared before them, becoming larger and larger. As it did, I saw it was more of a spiral, its arms whirling as it grew. The two men who didn’t radiate power stepped back. If the unseen wall had let me, I too would have moved away.
Out of the purple light, two black forms suddenly materialized and stepped forward. Two black figures who were somehow luminescent at the same time and had brilliant blue eyes. My own eyes widened. I might not know anything else that was going on around me, but I knew them. I knew them, and I was going to kill them.
I’m not sure how I did it since there seemed to be no spark of life left within me, yet somehow, I mustered the strength to spring up and run toward them. My shrieked words were incoherent, but it didn’t matter. Only their destruction did. I would rip them apart. I would make them suffer the way they’d—
Strong arms grabbed me, stopping me as surely as the wall had. It was the blond man, and his grip was like iron. “Let me go!” I screamed. “Let me go! I’ll kill them! I’ll kill them both!”
The dark-haired man glanced back toward us. “Do not let her go,” he said mildly, this time in a language I understood. I fought in vain against the arms but made no progress.
The dark-haired man turned to the Oneroi. “This isn’t your world,” he said.
“We’ve come for what’s ours,” said one of the Oneroi. “You took her.”
“I took back what was mine,” the dark-haired man countered. “You stole her.”
“We won her. She came to us of her own free will.”
The dark-haired man snorted. Jerome, I suddenly remembered. His name was Jerome. “We have different definitions of ‘free will,’” he said.
“We want her back,” protested the Oneroi.
“You’re taking nothing back,” countered Jerome, voice hard. “Go before I change my mind.”
I’d gone slack while they spoke, but now my fury was renewed. I struggled again. “Let me kill them!” I screamed. “Jerome, it’s my right! Let me destroy them!”
Jerome turned back, maybe surprised I’d used his name. “I don’t think you’re in any shape to kill anything.”
“It’s my right,” I said. “After what they did—they’ll suffer like I did. I will shred them. I’ll rip their souls out!”
“They don’t have souls,” he said dryly. “But I like your enthusiasm.” He turned back to the Oneroi. “So, you stole my succubus and tortured her.” His voice carried that reptilian chill. It froze my blood. It made the air crackle with tension. The Oneroi shifted uncomfortably. They weren’t unaffected.
“Because of her, our mother was recaptured,” one of them said. But he didn’t sound as confident or outraged as before. “We are entitled to revenge.”
“You believe insult to another justifies revenge?” asked Jerome. Oh, that voice. That voice made the air grow still.
“Yes,” said the Oneroi as one.
“Me too,” replied Jerome.
He didn’t even move, but I felt the power flare out from him, like a torch thrown into dry tinder. It exploded—and so did the Oneroi. Well, it was more like they imploded. That power hit them, and then—they were no more. Just like that.
“Oh, Jerome,” said the man holding me. “Do you know what you’ve done?”
Jerome glanced back at us and shrugged. “I don’t like people taking my things.”
The swirling purple gate had never left, and now it began to grow brighter and rotate faster.
“Shit,” said Jerome. “I was hoping no one would notice.”
The man holding me sighed. He looked down at me, and silvery gray eyes pierced my soul. “Listen to me. Do not move. Do you understand? Stay right here.” When I didn’t answer, he sighed again. “Do you know me?”
Did I? Yes. The eyes. I knew the eyes. “Carter.” The word came out strangely on my tongue.
“Yes,” he said. “You know me. Trust me. Do not move.”
He let go of me, waited to see what I’d do, and then walked up to join Jerome when I stayed in place. Nothing could have made me move anyway, not when I saw what came through the gate.
It was monstrous. Literally. Yellow-eyed and scaly, mottled purple and gray. It had what looked like a pig’s snout, and seven horns ran over its head like points on a crown. It towered over Jerome and Carter as it emerged from the gate, but the two of them stood where they were, regarding it defiantly.
“You destroyed my subjects,” the creature growled. Its voice came from deep within its throat and made the floor vibrate. “You broke the laws.”
“Your subjects were in our realm,” said Jerome. He was perfectly calm. “They stole one of my people and abused her. They broke the rules.”
“That doesn’t give you the right to do what you did,” came the response.
“They would have destroyed her if they were capable of it. Next time, keep a better watch on your employees so that they don’t go causing trouble where they shouldn’t.”
The monster’s nostrils flared. “I could destroy you for this.”
“Try,” said Jerome. “Try taking on both of us.”
Those yellow eyes flicked over to Carter. A few teeth showed in the creature’s mouth. I think he was smiling. “An angel and a demon fighting together. It would almost be worth seeing.”
Heavy silence fell as everyone sized each other up. I had no sense of the monster’s strength. Physical size was not proportional to power. Jerome and Carter, however, were burning like small suns, ready to burst at any moment.
At last, the monster shrugged. Or did his equivalent of it. “But it’s been enough just to see you defend each other’s honor. I will not destroy you…today. There will be no more assaults on my people. If there are, I won’t be so forgiving.”
“And if your people don’t leave mine alone,” said Jerome smoothly, “I won’t be as forgiving either.”
The creature snarled, and for a moment, I thought he might very well change his mind. He didn’t. Instead, he stepped backward toward the purple light. He merged into it, vanishing to our eyes, and then the gate itself disappeared as well.
“He is such a fucking liar,” said Jerome. “‘Forgiving’ indeed. He knew we’d blast his scaly ass out of here.”
“Yeah, well, I hope we never find if that’s true or not,” said Carter. “Fighting a Morphean demon would generate paperwork even on my side.”
Jerome’s lips twitched into a smile. “Now that would be worth seeing.”