Chapter Twenty-Nine

The rasp of the side door opening was loud, and heart pounding, I slid across the seat and followed Pierce out. We were at a sloping park where the streetcars turned around. The grass was cut and the bushes were manicured. Across the street, where the beach was, there was a small stone building that might once have been a public bathroom but was now boarded up. The wind was brisk by the water, and I sniffed, not bothering to tap a line.

It figured that Ku'Sox would be down here. Regular magic wouldn't work well. Demon magic would, though, and I smiled grimly, feeling like a cupcake on a sparkling white plate. Here I am, Ku'Sox. Come take a bite.

My shoes hit the pavement, and I looked at them, wondering how they had found me a pair so fast when the city had come to a standstill. They weren't new.

"Rachel, you said you had something for us to do?"

I forced the worry out of my eyes as I turned to Pierce. "Keep me alive when it's over?" I said weakly, and he took my hand. It was a horribly romantic gesture, and it only made me feel worse. Things were clearer to me than they had ever been, and yet I gave his fingers a squeeze before I pulled away and turned to Vivian. There was a radio playing somewhere, and she was squinting up into the distant buildings, trying to place the sound. Otherwise, it was silent, rubble strewn about the edge of the shore. On the bay, it was beautiful, not a car on the bridge or a boat running out to Alcatraz. Hi, Mary. Eat your toast and kill your magic. It's not worth it.

I didn't understand this. My entire life would be decided in the next five minutes, the lives of Ivy and Jenks, the safety of all good people, and here I was delighting in the smell of the seaweed and how the sun shone on the tiny little bugs darting on the hard-packed shore.

"Vivian," I said, forcing myself to look back to her. "Oh, Vivian," I said, softer when I saw her fear.

"I'm fine," she asserted, her voice shaking. "Trent isn't answering his phone. I'm sorry. I'll keep trying. I think he flew back to Cincinnati with his little girl. What else can I do? I want to help."

The woman was terrified, and my heart went out to her. She had fought Ku'Sox for three days, seen two of her peers eaten alive. And yet she stood by me, ready to fight to the last. I didn't want her here. I needed her in the city finding me a collective.

My hair lifted in the wind off the bay, and I smiled at the feeling. Focus, Rachel, focus. "Will you go back to the city for me?" I said, figuring the I.S. "driver" had left the keys.

"L-leave you?" she stammered, and I took her arm, leading her back to the van. "I can help!"

"I'm counting on it," I said. "I need you to go back. Stop at every church you can find. There are people there, right? Get them to ring the bells for me."

She stared, her blue eyes going wide. "For a collective," she said breathily, realizing what I was asking. A city-wide collective hadn't happened since the Turn. It was both a warning and a gathering. An act of trust. I didn't know if they would help or not, but if they didn't, then I would fail and they would suffer.

"I'll do it," she said, her voice trembling. "Rachel, if I have to light a fire in the middle of San Francisco, I will get you a collective. I promise."

Somehow I managed a smile, and I stumbled when she gave me a quick hug. Her eyes were brimming when she stepped back.

I blinked fast, trying not to tear up. "Thanks," I said, and her dusty shoes with the little bows scraped as she started to drift backward. "Don't take too long."

Nodding, she turned and went back to the van. The door creaked as it opened, and her slight figure made the jump inside. "At least there won't be any traffic," she said, and the door thumped closed.

The rumble of the van echoed against the abandoned buildings as the engine turned over. I felt Pierce's presence beside me, and together we watched her pull away. The sound of the van quickly vanished, and we were alone. Sort of. Ku'Sox was here somewhere.

Nervous, I rubbed my palms together and breathed in the last of the exhaust fumes. "You don't think they dropped us off at the wrong beach, do you?" I asked, and Pierce took my shoulders and turned our backs on the bay to look up to the hills of San Francisco. From here, everything looked normal, if a shade quiet and with the air markedly clean. If I had to do this with someone, I could do far worse than Pierce.

"Rachel," Pierce said, the depth of the emotion in his voice stopping me cold. He was going to say something, overcompensating for his part in getting me cursed. But I was a demon and he had devoted his life to killing them. I didn't want to hear it.

"Wait," I interrupted, turning to find that he was too close. I didn't move as he reached to steady me, his hand not falling when I found my balance. His dusty hair was all over, making him look endearing as he squinted from the wind off the bay. The slant to his eyes was determined, and I knew he had the strength to back up whatever he deemed a worthy task. He thought he loved me, even forgiving me for having prevented him from killing Al, and it was breaking my heart.

And I will cry when I go because I could love you forever.

I couldn't love him. It would destroy him slowly, and I didn't want that.

I leaned toward him, wishing I didn't stink of the ever-after and demons. He blinked as he saw my intention, and his hands moved, one sliding behind my neck and the other holding firmly to my fingers. My head tilted and my lips opened. They met his in a shock of ley line, and I quivered.

I felt a tear slip out as Pierce held me, space between us as we kissed, leaving me aching when our lips parted. I didn't know why I'd done it, except that I might die today. At least I'd die in the sun.

"Pierce," I said softly, our kiss ended but our foreheads still touching. "I can't-"

We shifted apart, and he put a finger to my lips. I could taste his salt, and I blinked fast.

"I know," he said, his eyes flicking behind me to the water for a moment as if unable to hold my gaze. "Don't say it," he asked. "Wait until the sun sets tonight, and if we are both here to see it, then my heart will break knowing you are safe and yet not to be mine. If you are gone, then my heart will break knowing that God has taken you home, because there is no way in hell that that demon Ku'Sox is going to kill you. I won't allow it."

There was a lump in my throat, and I wiped my eyes, only to get the grit of sand in them.

"No," I said, taking a step back until his hands fell from me. "Pierce, I don't love you." His lips twitched, hearing a lie that wasn't there, and I took his hands. "I don't love you," I said again, my throat closing up. "I loved the idea of you and me together, and from that, maybe someday love could have come, but that isn't going to happen. Ever. I am a demon."

He took a breath to protest, his eyes wild and his denial obvious. "You are not."

My eyes dropped to his hands holding mine, seeing his calluses and strength. "I am. I did something no witch, no male demon can do, and all the demons agree. There's no way around it. It's not like I wanted this." My voice had gotten squeaky, and I looked up, seeing panic in him.

"It's okay," I whispered, sniffing back a tear before it showed. "It doesn't mean I'm bad, but it does mean that there is no way that..." I stopped. It was too hard to say.

His grip on mine tightened, but I felt dead inside. "I'm not afraid." Pierce's hand drew me closer, and I resisted until he eased his pull.

"I'd never hurt you," I protested, remembering him standing before Ku'Sox, fighting for my safety, risking his life for me. What person wouldn't be humbled by that? Grateful?

His gaze jumped to mine, his anger lighting his eyes. "I meant I'm not afraid of love being difficult. If it was easy, then everyone would find it. But have it your way."

He turned away, and I reached after him, saying nothing as my hand dropped. It was better this way. "Perhaps you should call him out," Pierce suggested, angrily looking at the hills.

I nodded, even as my stomach clenched. I'd told him I didn't love him, and he didn't seem to care. I'd told him I was a demon, and he'd said so what? Then told me love was hard. I knew that, but it shouldn't be impossible.

Shoes silent on the pavement, I walked across the street to the beach, stepping up onto the cement bench next to the boarded-up restrooms. It was covered in gang runes, and my feet spread wide, I cupped my hands around my mouth. Damn it, why couldn't I have a normal life?

"Ku'Sox!" I shouted up into the park, my frustration giving my voice some anger. "You have something that belongs to me!"

The radio, I realized, was playing bouncy beach music. With a sudden snap, it vanished. My pulse hammered, and I glanced at Pierce. He was standing with his hands clasped, ready to fight for me, even after I'd told him I didn't love him. Why?

"Just a minute!" Ku'Sox shouted back, and my lips parted. I did not believe this. Just a minute? Had he really told me to wait?

Pierce shrugged, and I jumped from the bench. "You might want to put some space between us if you want to stay alive," I suggested, forcing myself not to touch my splat gun.

Pierce put his hands on his hips, flicking his duster back. "You might want to put yourself in a bubble to do the same."

What was I thinking, taking Ku'Sox on without Al? But he had Ivy and Jenks, and I wasn't going to wait.

A soft scrape of boot on stone pulled my head around and I felt the blood drain from my face. It was Ku'Sox, his arm around Ivy's neck and his other hand twisting her arm painfully behind her as he forced her down the park steps.

"Let me go, you freak!" I heard her sputter as she strained to break his grip, but it was useless. One of her eyes was black, and she had a split lip.

"Jenks!" I shouted as they reached the bottom, and I pulled out the splat gun, my grip sweaty and the ley line I was connected to seeming to jump in me. "Where's Jenks?"

Ku'Sox stopped in the middle of the street, his steel gray hair close to his head, shining in the sun like raven wings. Looking as if he was enjoying himself, he tugged Ivy around to be his shield. "Tell her what happened to the pixy," he said softly, whispering it into her ear as his eyes bored into mine and the wind played with his hair.

My heart almost stopped. Jenks...

"He's okay!" Ivy said, Ku'Sox's hand going white-knuckled as he gripped her throat. "Short dick here had to lock him in a box. Jenks kept slicing his ear off."

Ku'Sox bore down on her, and she choked, falling to one knee.

"Hey!" I shouted, taking a step forward, splat gun raised. "Let her go. It's me you want." God, I felt as if I were in a western. Hand over the little lady there, partner, and we'll settle this like men. I was so screwed.

Ku'Sox grinned, showing his small white teeth. "Does it bother you?" he asked, yanking her up and dragging her through the rubble that littered the street. Her foot got wedged between two rocks, and he yanked her free. My face went blank at her muffled grunt of pain.

Fingers shifting on the butt of my weapon, I said, "Let her go, and come over here. I'll whisper in your ear how bothered I am."

Confident and sure of himself, Ku'Sox stopped at the curb. His hand opened, and Ivy fell, her elbow slicing open on a chunk of ragged concrete. Head down so her hair hid her face, she pulled herself together, lashing out with her good foot, making Ku'Sox dance sideways.

I shot at him as he was distracted, but he raised a bubble, absorbing it.

Ivy, though, was free, and my heart quickened. I slowly continued to draw that broken energy into me, pulling it from the jagged lines and trying to organize it.

"I only snapped every bone in her body and mended it to get you to come face me," he said, mocking me as he grabbed her shoulder and pinned her where she sat. "It took me a day before I realized you were unconscious and not simply afraid, but I thought, why stop now? I was bored, so she got a little more. We had fun, didn't we, Ivy girl?"

I seethed, my hands in fists, as Ivy didn't look up.

"It was only play," Ku'Sox was saying. "Nothing permanent. I-"

In a smooth motion, I pushed the energy from my chi into my hand. Grunting, I threw it. There was probably little besides eating her that Ku'Sox could do to Ivy that Piscary hadn't done already, but something in me had snapped.

Ivy screamed defiantly, kicking his feet out from under him and rolling away before the demon could direct my energy into her. Ku'Sox fell, arms flailing. My ball of unfocused energy arched to him.

"Celero inanio!" I shouted, exploding it right above him.

He cowered, a dark sheet of ever-after snapping over him. I knew such a common spell wouldn't hurt him, but it shut him up.

Ivy had staggered to her feet and was limping fast to Pierce, not me. Wise woman. I needed room to work, and I shifted my stance for better purchase.

"Oh, really. Grow up, will you?" Ku'Sox muttered as he got to his feet and his bubble flickered out of existence.

There was a tweak on my awareness as he pulled heavily on a line. Not trusting anything but a well-drawn circle, I dove to the side, landing with my back to that squat building between Ku'Sox and me. I watched his black ball of nastiness thump into the sand at the edge of the sidewalk. Water and grit sprayed up, a tiny crater hissing as it cooled to a green, milky glass.

"That's how the big boys do it," he said with satisfaction, but I couldn't see him. Crap, I had to get away from this building before he simply blew it up around me.

"Ivy?" I called, praying as I hurriedly sketched a circle around me. He'd simply break through it, but there were no bells ringing yet. I had to stall him.

"I'm good!" came back, and I crab-walked to the edge of the building and looked, seeing her with Pierce, crouched beside a broken bench. They were both inside an uninvoked circle, relatively safe.

"Keep her alive," I mouthed, and he nodded, even as Ivy read my lips and grimaced.

The clink of sliding rubble jerked my attention back to the beach where a black, oily smoke drifted from the person-size crater.

"I can hear you...Rachel," Ku'Sox mocked, his voice coming closer as I edged back to my circle. "I hear you breathing."

I couldn't help it, and I held my breath, sitting with my back against the building. My heart pounded, and sweat made clean tracks in the dust on my arms. I listened for the sound of church bells, hearing nothing. Come on, Vivian...

"How sweet of you to have come back, thinking you could best me," he said, a rock clinking closer. "It took six demons to shove me under that rock they built the arch over, and I killed one of them in the process. Almost got Newt, too. Sweet little Newt, more trusting than you, even after I had convinced her to kill all her sisters. You should have waited until dark. Al can't help you, but at least you wouldn't die alone."

"I don't need Al's help to squish a bug like you," I said, teeth gritted as I attempted to figure out where he was by his voice. Trying to be quiet, I pulled away from the building, an odd sort of pain drifting through me as the curse made for him felt him and started to align itself. Pieces of me that didn't fit, chunks of Ku'Sox's curse. Slowly I gathered them together in my chi, praying for bells. Just one. But there was nothing.

"Don't need Al's help?" he said, and with a sideways step, the demon appeared from behind the side of the old bathroom, cocky and sure of himself with the sun in his hair and his lips curved up in amusement. Crap, he was almost on top of me. "You're stupider than I thought," he finished, smiling.

Pain exploded from nowhere inside. My concentration shattered, and the bits of the curse I'd pulled from myself sprang back into place with a twang. My knees gave way and I hit the pavement beside the building, burning in agony. It felt like my lungs were exploding. Teeth clenched, I lifted my head to find Ku'Sox standing beside the building, a bundle of cloth in his hands. Great, he had a focusing object. He didn't have to throw charms at me. He could just wish on a star.

"Oh God," I moaned, feeling the cramping slither across my heart and wend its way to my gut. Panting, I tried to inch my fingers to my scribed circle, but I couldn't focus long enough to even find a ley line. I took a gasping breath as I realized that there was a pair of black slippers in front of me. He'd moved, and I hadn't even noticed. But in all fairness, it was hard to see around the pain.

"That was so easy, it wasn't any fun at all." Ku'Sox pouted.

I looked up, squinting at the doll with red hair and leather boots, and I got a clean, albeit ragged, breath as his fingers loosened on it. "Wanna play dolls?" he asked me, and pursed his lips, exhaling.

I flung myself backward, landing against the building. My lungs were suddenly overflowing with air, feeling as if they were going to burst even as the hot, moist breath lacking any oxygen at all filled them. I was suffocating, though I heaved for air. One hand on my throat, the other on the ground scrabbling for the circle, I saw a movement behind Ku'Sox, a soft ghost of gray. I tried not to look, but Ku'Sox noticed my eyes, turning in time to see Pierce winding up with a black ball of hurt dripping in his hand.

"Compages!" Ku'Sox shouted, and a shimmering protection bubble flashed into existence, breathtaking in its utter sordidness. This was true smut, making the black shimmer on my own aura look like a drop of oil in the ocean. Pierce's curse hit Ku'Sox's protective bubble and bounced right back at Pierce.

It was a beautiful bit of defensive magic, but it cost Ku'Sox his concentration. The pain in my chest vanished. My head came up, and I took in a huge gulp of air. In an instant, I read the strength Pierce's thrown curse had absorbed from Ku'Sox's bubble, knowing that the ill-made, green-tinted circle Pierce had taken refuge in wasn't going to hold against it. The curse had Pierce's aura and would go right through.

My eyes narrowed, and still on the ground, I whispered, "Rhombus."

The rusty, broken West Coast ley line limped into me, and I wrestled with it, trying to get some semblance of order, but it was thin, ragged. My circle was huge, me at its center, as all theoretical, undrawn circles are, the edge of it just shy of Pierce and Ivy. They were outside my circle, but Ku'Sox and the deadly curse he had bounced back at Pierce were inside.

I grunted when Pierce's curse hit the inside of my bubble, absorbing most of the energy from his magic as it tore through my circle and hit Pierce square on, having passed right through his bubble as if it didn't exist.

"No!" I cried out as the curse struck Pierce and he fell, mouth open in a silent scream. "God, no!" I called again, struggling to get up as the curse spread to Ivy, and they both collapsed under a green-tinted wash of ever-after.

Mouth agape, Ku'Sox spun to me, his shock clear. "You...," he managed, and then I saw Pierce move, his chest rising and falling as he lay stunned by his own magic. They were alive. They were out cold, but they were alive. Thank you, God, they were alive!

"Clever," Ku'Sox managed, clearly peeved that I'd managed to save them, and I kicked him with all the force I had.

Yelping, he fell back. I sprang at him, my hands reaching for that doll, but he vanished an instant before I touched him, and I fell right through the space he'd been in, landing hard against the sidewalk, my curled-in fingers taking much of the impact.

"Ow," I huffed, then rolled, instinct and too many fights telling me to move.

I was too slow to escape everything, and the toe of Ku'Sox's boot helped me over, bruising my ribs instead of breaking them.

"Mother of a dog whore!" Ku'Sox shouted, following me with his foot swinging, and I rolled the other way, right into him.

He wasn't expecting that, and he fell forward over me, hitting the sidewalk with an oof of surprise. Immediately I reversed my motion, almost crawling across him as he lay facedown on the sidewalk. Inside, a part of me was shrieking with laughter. Here we were, two demons in the sun, down to kicking and punching.

"You're scum, Ku'Sox." I breathed heavily, straddling his back as I found his arm and yanked it backward, almost breaking it as I smashed his face back down onto the sidewalk, but he only started to laugh, his cheek against the cement and unable to see me. He was starting to piss me off, and I gave a little pull, cutting his mirth short.

"Rachel, what do you hope to accomplish?" he said, clearly feeling the pain of the position but not taking it seriously. "I can jump to a line from under you. Burn every last thought from you as I lie here."

Maybe, but he hadn't. Grimacing, I shoved his wrist into his back and lifted his bent elbow, making him yelp. "Then why haven't you?" I asked. I let up, but just a little. The hills of San Francisco were silent, not a single bell ringing. Please, Vivian...

"Because this is sort of nice," he said, and I pulled up on his elbow, making him laugh more even though his face started to show the strain. He was getting a kick out of this, the bastard.

"Nice?" I leaned closer to his ear. "You should see me when I get warmed up. I'm like a hemi, baby. Run all night."

"Maybe we got off on the wrong foot," Ku'Sox said, and I eased up a smidge. "I heard you almost killed Al. You made a damn fine construct for the collective. I walked it while you languished in Al's tiny kitchen, trying to survive its creation. I can admit I was wrong. You're a demon. A damn fine one. I don't care if you came from witches and the genetic engineering of elves. I myself am born from tinkering, and I'll admit that my abhorrence might have originated from my own shame."

"I'm not ashamed of where I come from," I snarled softly, my worry growing as I glanced at Pierce and Ivy, still not moving.

"I'm even impressed with how you tried to slide that curse into me," he added, eyes roving to find mine. "You forgot to include the collective, though. Good luck finding one. The demons won't help you. They want me even less than your pitiful coven does. No, you're down to one choice, and that's me."

Vivian would find me a collective. She would. I had to believe it. "You?" I said as I leaned in, my shadow covering his eyes, and he winced, his gaze finding mine at last. A grimace grew on my face as I pinned him to the cement. Ku'Sox was an ass; he was getting turned on by this. I could tell.

"I told you I liked red hair, yes?" he murmured, sand stuck to his face. "I could get to like you," he said, and I forced myself to smile back at him. "We could enjoy each other, enjoy the best of the ever-after and this world both. Just you. And me. The hell with the rest of them."

Keep him talking, I thought, feeling a weird sort of energy starting to slip from him to me. Damn it, was he trying to do a power pull? But the memory of him eating a pixy, the warrior struggling to pierce Ku'Sox's throat even as he gulped him down intruded. As if. "What about Ivy?" I asked breathlessly, glancing at her.

"Bring her along," he said. "Variety is the spice of life."

"I meant," I said in his ear, "you hurt her."

"I didn't do anything permanent." His voice betrayed his bewilderment. "You want to know the way to keep her soul after she dies, right?"

Shock quivered through me. "You know how to do that?" I warbled.

I couldn't help it. My grip eased, and Ku'Sox drew his arm to his chest, laughing low as he shifted out from under me, sitting up and turning to face me. Streaks of dirt had turned his black shirt gray, and he felt his shoulder before wiping the sand from his face and arranging his hair.

"That's better," he said, gaze taking in my rumpled body, eyes cataloging the curves and lines of my face all the way down to my borrowed shoes. "This is what you really look like?"

"You can return Ivy's soul to her when she dies?" I prompted breathlessly.

"No. I just wanted you to let go."

My jaw dropped. "You son of a bitch." I swung at him, my wrist bursting into pain when he caught my hand, inches from his face.

"Find something new to call me," he said, yanking me to him. My hand curled into a claw, and I panted through the pain. I was kneeling before him, and he pulled me closer, almost into his lap.

"I've been alone a long time," he said, his hand gripping my wrist painfully, promising me even more hurt if I struggled. "Lots of time to think of how to pleasure myself with a woman who wouldn't die at her first orgasm. Lots of time to imagine what it could be." His groping hand reached, taking the chalk from my pocket and throwing it away. "Lots of time to lose what few inhibitions I might have had."

My splat gun was next, and I struggled as he found it, slipped in the small of my back, and threw it into the nearby ocean.

"I can shift the smallest mote of energy," he said, a new depravity in his eyes, as if he wanted to strip me of everything else. "Make it dance in you."

"Promises, promises," I said, listening for the bells, but still there was nothing but the shush of the water and the crying of the gulls. It wasn't going to happen. They were too afraid, and my hope began slipping from me, leaving the sour taste of burnt amber on my soul.

"I don't want to fight you," he said, sounding reasonable as the wind moved the ends of his hair. "I'm not even asking you to submit. Simply...let me be."

Let me be. It was what I wanted. "Let you be?" I said, my gaze darting to the chalk, well out of reach.

He nodded, and my hand hurt when he let go and the blood flowed again. "You aren't wanted here," he said, his eyes lifting from me as I leaned back, the deathly silent hills watching us. "They hate you. Why are you trying to save them? This is your playground. Play! Play with me."

He was smiling, looking as beautiful as only a satisfied demon could, knowing the world was his and nothing could stop him. I felt my wrist, looking for a way out and not finding one. There was no collective to help me move the curse, no white knight in the guise of a city-wide outflowing of goodwill. They had turned their backs on me, not trusting me. The hurt part of me said screw them, but I'd been afraid before and I couldn't fault them. They were scared, and no one should die because they were scared. Not when someone else had the courage to say no.

"This isn't my playground, this is my home," I said, seeing my reflection in his eyes, my hair mussed, face flushed, and a heady hatred in my eyes. "And if you don't leave, I'm going to kick your ass out."

His head tilted and he laughed, beautiful in the sun with the ocean behind him. "Oh, Rachel, we could have had so much fun," he said when he looked back at me, the last remnants of his mirth still lingering at the corners of his mouth. "I wish I could make you last, but truly, you are too close to being a threat to survive. Right now you are alone, with absolutely no curses, vulnerable. But someday you'll be better than me. And I don't trust you."

Vulnerable. That's what Al had said. But I hadn't listened, and now all I had was what God had given me and what Trent's father had enabled me to survive. And as I squinted at Ku'Sox, hating that he thought he had power over me simply because he was stronger, my will solidified. I didn't need the damn collective. I was a coven-damned demoness.

Unaware of my thoughts, Ku'Sox reached out and snatched my wrist again, delighted as I struggled when he pulled me closer. "What, no long monologues?" I taunted him, and his expression became more domineering yet.

"No," he said, rising to keep the weight advantage. "When I see a snake, I cut off its head and have done with it. After I suck out its poison for myself, of course."

I twisted, trying to avoid his reaching hand, and he splayed his fingers. They were coated in his black aura, sparkling at the edges, and I did not want that touching me. But with a grunt of satisfaction, he thrust his hand against my face and shoved his will into mine.

I gasped as he was suddenly in my head with me, more oppressive and heavier than Al had ever hinted at. My heart pounded, and every thought of fighting vanished. Power. He had it. He was it. He had no morals. His soul was empty. He was content with what he was, confident that none could stop him. He was a day-walking demon who, like me, hadn't been born a slave to the ever-after. He could see the sun, and it gave him strength. And he wanted me dead.

Except, I wasn't a demon, I was a demoness, and that last little bit of X chromosome was going to save my ass.

You stupid son of a bitch, I thought, and then grabbed his thin soul by the short hairs, yanking it completely into mine with callous disregard.

No! Ku'Sox's aggressive sexual heat flashed into fear. His power suddenly meant nothing as my soul swallowed his, cutting him off from everything but the memory of existence.

Si peccabas, poenam meres! I thought, holding him within me as the pinpricks of the curse lifted from me, arrowing into him like flakes of iron to a magnet. And as he howled in fury, I screamed over him, I curse you, Ku'Sox, to be fixed to the ever-after, cursed be it day or night, forever bound as a demon! Facilis descensus Tartaros!

I'll kill you, you damned succubus! Ku'Sox shouted as he felt the curse lift from me and settle into him. I was a demoness, and I could hold another soul, even if it was as disgusting as Ku'Sox's. And once there, I could give him a curse, collective or not. Fix it into his very DNA so that even should he transform, it would go with him. Forever.

A heavy mallet smashed into me, and I fell off him, the connection between us breaking. The cement slammed into my back, and the sun blinded me. I blinked, trying to figure out what had happened. I was on my back, looking up at the sun. And my mouth hurt.

"Take it back! Take it back!" Ku'Sox demanded, and I propped myself up on an elbow to see him standing before me, stiff with fear.

I looked at the blood on my hand, then back to him, the sun in his face and the ocean behind him, the sky full of birds. "You lose, Ku'Sox," I said, panting as I started to smile. "I banish you. Get out of my reality."

"No!" he screamed, lunging at me.

My hands came up to fend him off, and just as his weight fell on me, I felt the line take us. He was taking me with him!

Shit, I thought, floundering as I reoriented myself, then clenched in pain as my bubble snapped into place around us. His hot anger made clouds of agony and hate rise from his mind, like the choking stink of decay. He gripped my consciousness, dragging me with him, and I felt my soul shiver in pain at the fire he poured into me.

Take it back! he demanded. Or I'll kill you here!

Try, I thought, then screamed as he began to shred my memories. I caught glimpses of my life as he burned them, taking them as his own. A blue-eyed tiger at the zoo, pacing to me as if he could walk right through the glass-and it was gone. A birthday at the hospital, him standing in the background as I blew out the candles and wished for a day without weakness-gone. One by one, Ku'Sox found my most happy thoughts and ate them, ate my soul.

Take it back, he seethed, shredding me, cutting me down to the bare bones of myself. Take it back or we'll die here together.

Gentleman's choice, I thought grimly, then punched a hole right through my protective bubble.

Infinity screamed in at us, and he let go of my mind, pushing me away as we floundered. Pain like no other crippled our thoughts. It was as exquisite an agony as angels singing the beginnings of the world, exploding the idea of infinity into reality, stripping my aura from me in sheets, scouring it layer by layer. I struggled to keep myself together.

The howling of the demons lost in the lines before us echoed, their voices caught in the moment of death forever. Out! Ku'Sox's soul shrieked, and I clutched it, a point of common ground amid the absence of anything but pain. He was struggling to keep his aura, failing. He couldn't get out of the line and was already dead. For all his strength, he didn't love, couldn't manage to tune his aura to another's, giving all, trusting. And suddenly it struck me that only the demons who knew how to love had survived.

Al, I thought, shocked to find it was a strong enough connection. A glimmer of light pierced the black pain, and Ku'Sox clawed at it, gouging my soul until memories leaked from me like tears. I'm opening the line, I thought, and Ku'Sox struggled, striving to get through the hole, failing as he ran into a barrier he couldn't see.

I'm opening the line! I thought more stridently. I'm saving your life, Ku'Sox. Remember that!

I'll kill you! he screamed, a vow to fulfill. You are dead. Dead!

Dead to you, I agreed. You will leave me and those I love alone forever! I demanded, bits of me drifting off, motes of thought sparkling in the nothing. Promise or I'll let you die here!

You are dead, he sobbed, the words becoming a promise, not a threat, capitulating as his soul began to burn. You are dead to me. You and yours are safe.

I started to shift his aura to match Al's, hard though the sound-never-heard beat at us, and the colors no one had seen blinding me. Good, I thought savagely. Because if you ever touch anyone I care about again, I'll find you. And then I'll dropkick you back in here to die with the rest of them.

A pinprick of an opening began, and he slipped from me, darting through it and closing it behind him like a trap.

He was gone. Alone, I writhed in pain, trying to scrape together enough memories to tune my own aura. I had to get out before I was shredded to nothing. I wasn't going to go to Al, who was now playing patty-cake with Ku'Sox.

The memories of those who meant the most to me flashed through my mind: Memories of Jenks, smirking at me, his hands on his hips as the sun lit his hair. The soft smile Ivy would allow herself when she thought no one could see. Trent, his face showing love as he held his daughter-and then his powerful grace when he sat atop a horse, the hounds baying and the moon lording over it all. And Pierce, a single wistful thought of a touch I'd never feel again, the soft sound of another's breathing against mine. I couldn't have him, and he loved me anyway.

One by one, I fastened on them as a way out, and one by one, my memories were ripped away by the energy screaming through me, burning until I realized that my aura was gone. There was nothing left for the line to recognize. I couldn't think fast enough, and I was going to die here amid the screeching of unbalanced energies and the forgotten souls of demons who couldn't love. In utter agony, I curled my memories around what was left and tried to see past the pain, to form another thought to prove that I wasn't dead yet. But it was too late, and terror struck me when my thoughts gave a hiccup, vanishing for an instant, then returning weaker than before.

Ms. Morgan! a panicked thought touched mine, and recoiled, leaving the scent of rock chips in the sun.

Bis? Mindless from the pain, I felt my soul start to burn. The sensation of dry grit and the sharp feel of ion-charged water grew stronger. I felt him wrap his soul around me, and yet I still burned.

Help me, Bis, I managed, and then with a ping, the shattered remnants of my soul shifted.