"I do, however -" hHe groaned in exasperation when she started speaking again. "- reserve the right of clemency if said species is unable to be determined as a male simply by sight alone."

"Uh-huh, yeah, I think that's fair," Sally said helpfully.

Jen looked around Decebel's large frame and winked at her. Sally was trying to laugh silently. She felt like she shouldn't watch the exchange between the two, but now that she had a mate, she was curious as how to deal with such a dominant person.

"Jennifer."

"Decebel."

"Sally." Sally spoke. She'd tried really hard not to add her nam,e but when they both said each other’s staccato style, she just jumped on the wagon.

Decebel turned and glared at Sally, who quickly made a zipping motion across her lips.

His glare didn't soften as he turned back to Jen.

"Are you finished?" he asked calmly.

"Hold on a sec, let me think."

He growled, then leaned down to whisper in her ear. She stepped back and gasped. Her eyes narrowed and her lips drew tight. She looked positively ticked off. Decebel, however, looked very smug.

"You wouldn't," Jen snarled.

Decebel grabbed her hand and turned toward the door, dragging a growling Jen behind him.

"Oh, smart ass of mine, I will. I told you once that one day you would write a check your ass couldn't keep. Make no mistake."

Decebel's eyes were glowing again.

"Uh, no, you actually said cute ass. Get it right if you're going to quote yourself, you barbarian covered in hair and fleas. Bossy, domineering, overbearing, ridiculously overprotective -" Jen paused and hollered back at Sally,

"Sally, our conversation about the FAHDEH is not over."

Sally laughed when she heard a smacking sound and imagined Decebel had swatted Jen's butt. Then she heard Jen yell, "I don't care how hot you are! You're still a flea-infested butt head!"

"FAHDEH, FAHDEH, FAHDEH," Sally chanted out loud, trying to figure out Jen's latest acronym. She laughed and shook her head when it hit her. "Fine as hell, dimple-endowed hottie.”

Only Jen, she told herself as she climbed into bed.

Exhausted from the eventful evening, she closed her eye,s and there waiting for her in her mind’s eye was her FAHDEH.

Chapter 3

"How evil is my soul, you ask? Gaze into the darkness, a place where all light is consumed and not even a hair's breadth can be used to cast a shadow. Then you will begin to understand the depth of my depravity."~ Desdemona

She paced back and forth, back and forth, in one of the underground sanctuaries she had been driven to centuries ago. The dark, rough walls complimented her mood well, and the stale air continually reminded her that she had once again been forced to leave the land she called home. Her rage simmered and was dangerously close to boiling over. She had to keep control. This was all just a setback, not defeat. Mona hadn't realized how powerful the two healers together would be and they also had the aid ofthat intrusive Fae.

After the healers had countered her spells Mona had needed to break the connection before they were able to reach into her, into the very magic she drew from the living that she killed, then stored in her black soul. She couldn't let that happen. That would destroy everything she had become. So she stepped back to reevaluate her circumstances; she did not flee. Well, that's what she kept telling herself.

She had left on her faithful steed Octavian and into the protection of the foresst of Romania. Heedless of the cold, she pushed him until they reached a bridge deep in the Carpathian Mountains. If a human did not know what was below the bridge, they would just continue across without a thought. The supernaturals, however, would know what it was because there was no passing the bridge without paying toll to the troll who guarded the portal. If they could not pay the toll then they had to work it off by going through the portal to the In Between. Mona never paid the toll.  If she entered the In Between, it was always by choice.  So every time that she encountered the troll, they went through the same routine.  He asked for the toll and she told him to go to hell and entered under her own power.  She thought that the troll must find this amusing and a nice break from his mundane existence.

The In Between was the place between the human world and the demon realm. It was where the wicked went when they needed to lay low, and where the not so wicked went to work off an indiscretion toward the wicked. It was a place void of peace, or comfort. A place where the darkness covered you like a blanket and despair filled your lungs with every breath.

The atmosphere adjusted to the being's greatest discomfort. If you hate the cold, then you will be surrounded by ice. Blizzards will attack you, frostbite will cripple your fingers and toes – your very veins will feel as if the blood is freezing in your body, slowly depriving your organs of the precious fluid they need to live. The ice never melts and dehydration sets in even though you are surrounded by water.

If you hate the heat you will stand in the desert under the scorching sun, your lips cracked and your skin dry, your body calling out for water. You will hear the vultures above you, waiting for you to fall under the relentless, melting ball of fire. You will feel them swooping down, encouraging you to give up so they can pick your carcass until only bones are left, bones that will be incinerated over time.

If water is your fear, if the open ocean with no land in sight is what makes you shudder in your dreams, then there you shall be, water as far as you can see; no help in sight. You must tread water to stay above the salty, dehydrating fluid. With every bob of your head under the surface your body weakens. Your muscles begin to cramp, your thirst causes delirium, and you no longer know why you shouldn't drink the ocean water. You give into the temptation and take in gulps, but you are too weak. The water that seems to have a life of its own calls to you, you belong to the sea, and as you sink and your lungs fill with water the darkness you long to consume you stays just out of your reach.