To Hell & Back
Chapter Twelve

A wetness touching my cheek snapped me awake into a world of blinding light, suffocating heat, and intensely sore muscles. I was lying on my back with a weight on my stomach, and the sun was beating down on me. I closed my eyes shut and tried to stay still, knowing that movement brought pain.

When my eyes had adjusted enough for me to see without pain, I opened them up to see a small girl staring down at me, which explained the weight on my stomach, if nothing else. I stared at her in confusion as I got up onto my elbows. She shifted down my body, moving from my stomach to my hips, but she didn’t say anything.

Looking around, I could tell we were in a small rock outcropping in the middle of nowhere. All I saw beyond the outcropping was arid landscape and light blue sky. I blinked a few times and tried to think; memories were coming back slowly.

So… Oh yeah, I was in Hell, on a cellar-dungeon-whatever floor… fighting against a demon. It had big wings, claws, and glowing, red eyes— mustn’t forget the eyes— and now there is a little girl sitting on my lap, I mused as I sifted through recent memories. Not quite sure how this all fits together, but I’m sure it does. I guess this means I won the fight? I’m still alive, so that is a win in my book.

The girl on my lap leaned down close to begin inspecting my face, which gave me a good view of her eyes. They had a gentle, red glow to them. She gave me a big, bright smile when she noticed I was looking at her. Her smile revealed a mouth full of pointed teeth.

She leaned forward, pressed her nose to my cheek and sniffed. Without a word, she licked my cheek with a soft, wet tongue before rubbing her face against my cheek. I would have said or done something, but both the type and amount of power radiating from her, along with the red glow in her eyes, meant one thing: powerful demon. In fact, she had the exact same feel as the demon I had fought.

Right, so that answers the question of what does her human form look like… and now I’m going to be killed by the cutest demon ever, I thought with a confused sigh. Then again, she is just kind of staring at me now… Well, nope, now she is licking my face again. Yep… Okay, this… this is kinda gross and confusing.

I tried to sit up, but cramps in my legs, arms, and back immediately hit me when I did. I closed my eyes and grit my teeth, holding back a scream while the cramps racked my body in pain. I opened my eyes when I heard an exclamation come from in front. The little girl from a few moments ago was kneeling over me. She put her hands on my shoulder and shook me, panic written all over her face.

“Okay, stop that!” I growled through clenched teeth.

She froze, her eyes going wide. She sat back, folded her arms around her middle, and looked away. The sadness and disappointment of rejection hung thick in the air like a depressed fog.

Is she… She is. She is sulking. Wow, way to go, Stas, I thought with a pained sigh. You hurt the demon’s feelings. What’d she ever do to you, besides try and eat you? Way to be a jerk.

While carefully stretching and massaging muscles to avoid further cramps, I inspected the girl. Her skin was extremely pale, while her hair by contrast was jet black. If it wasn’t for her pointed teeth and slightly pointed ears, I would have suspected that she was human. Her eyes didn’t help her disguise either. I paused for a second, trying to think of a time I had ever heard of a demon being in a child’s body, but I couldn’t; it was too hard to think with the emotions pouring out from her. Her sadness hung like a thick, choking veil.

I’m not going to get anywhere trying to think with her fogging up my already foggy head, so I gotta do something, I decided after some time. I at least need to stop her Goddamn emoting… She is worse than Sasha.

“Hey, um… hi?” I said, fighting the cloud of foreign emotions. I reached out to her, being careful not to move my body too much, and touched her leg with my hand. “Hello?”

She looked up at me hesitantly, her whole body trembling as she continued to project a thick veil of sadness. Her huge eyes were tearing up, her eyebrows were drawn tight, and her face was scrunched up. She looked like she was ready to burst into tears.

Yep, definitely hurt the demon’s feelings, I thought with a sigh. Since when do demons have feelings that can be hurt? Whatever, just apologize and, um, figure out what comes next later.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you. I—” I began apologizing, not sure what to say, but I smiled encouragingly and forged ahead. “I, um… It’s fine and stuff, but just don’t shake me, okay? I’ve got sore muscles and—”

She immediately perked up and lunged forward, throwing her arms around me in a hug. I just froze as she pushed her face into my neck, unsure of what to do. After a moment, I patted her awkwardly on the back, thinking she’d be done hugging me soon. She didn’t stop hugging me. I waited a minute before I leaned back, transitioning to lying on the ground. She followed me, content. Her eyes were closed and she was smiling.

Right then, glad that’s handled, I thought, confused. As long as she is done emoting, it is all good. She is so cute though— No! Stas, bad girl! That is a demon, so don’t you dare go all, um, girly-feminine or whatever, just because the demon is adorable… but she is really adorable, isn’t she? Look at her little ears…

I shook my head, annoyed at myself. I knew I needed to get a handle on this situation, so I asked, “So… are you going to eat me, or what’s the deal? What’s your name? What… what are you doing?”

She seemed oblivious to my questions. Instead of talking to me, she got interested in my left bra strap. First flicking it with a finger, then she started pulling it back a few inches from my shoulder with her teeth and letting it snap back.

Is this what I did to Father as a kid? I wondered, thinking back to my childhood. Ignore parental figure: play with random objects… but she is a demon. What is wrong with her?

The white dress shirt I had on was bloody, grimy, and torn halfway to bits, but she didn’t seem to mind at all. Too tired to care about my shirt, or care about much of anything, especially thinking, I just tried to get comfortable while she tugged at my shirt and bra with her teeth. I told her to not chew anything up too bad while I slept. I wasn’t sure if I managed to get any sleep before the feel of teeth brushing against sensitive skin briefly snapped me awake. She made a small noise, like a grunt, when I looked down at her.

“That’s a bra,” I told her when she made another small noise. “Bra.”

She had discovered the cup over my left breast and was putting her nose under the strap just above it. I wanted to stop her, but I also didn’t want to piss her off, and I was just so damn tired. The thought of her teeth not knowing the difference between skin and cloth spurred me on; I couldn’t just let her chomp away.

“Bra?” she murmured, looking between me and my bra. “Bra.”

“Have you not seen one before?” I asked. I pushed my shirt completely out of the way and tapped the article of clothing in question, saying, “Bra.”

“Bra,” she chirped repeatedly, “Bra, bra, bra.”

“I like them, too,” I told her, nodding sagely. “More in the abstract, really… They give you support, you know? They are comforting… I mean they aren’t actually comfortable, per se, but… but you aren’t listening and don’t care. Right then, glad we could have this conversation, you and I. Please don’t bite anything particularly important off. Thanks…”

She hadn’t been paying attention for some time, as she was busy exploring again, and this time she was exploring with her ears, rather than her mouth. I watched as she placed her head over my heart, listened for a moment, then moved to my stomach, murmuring to herself all the while. I just closed my eyes and let her have at it. When I felt a bit more rested, that is to say I passed out for a while and woke up slightly less tired than before, I decided to try once more to get some answers from her, since anything else would require I stand up. I really didn’t want to stand up.

“Hey, what’s your name?” I asked, sitting up and pushing her gently off of me. I put my shirt back on, fully buttoning it up and dusting it off, as I waited for her to answer.

She bit holes in it… She bit a hole in my bra— Did she… she did; those are teeth marks in my pants. I’m sure of it. Another set of clothes ruined, I thought sadly. Can’t be helped. Life is a bitch… At least she didn’t bite my nipples off or anything— She didn’t bite me anywhere, did she? Maybe she does know the difference between cloth and skin.

The girl looked up at me, but she said nothing. We stared at each other for a while, neither of us doing or saying anything. I sighed, rubbing my eyes as I did. After some thought about how to proceed, I pointed to her and raised an eyebrow. She looked down at my finger, then back up at me, looking very confused.

“Staysa,” I told her, pointing at myself. I pointed at the ground and said, “Ground.” Then I once again pointed at her and raised an eyebrow in question.

Her brows came together in concentration and she traced my motions several times before realization dawned. She grinned and pointed at herself, “Verranzekeshraxinsch.”

“That… is your name?” I asked. I pointed at myself and said, “Staysa.”

She pointed to herself and said, “Verranzekeshraxinsch.”

“Huh. Wow. Okay. That… that’s a good name. It’s… very… strong, but how about something simpler… but still strong,” I trailed off, thinking for a moment. Suddenly it hit me. I had the perfect name, so I pointed to her and said, “Victoria.”

“Vikria?” she chirped, confused.

“V-i-c-t-o-r-i-a… Victoria,” I said, before slowly sounding it out for her several times.

“Victoria,” she echoed, repeating it several times. “Victoria. Victoria?”

“Yeah, lots of cool and strong women have that name: Queen Victoria, Victoria Beckham, um… probably some others,” I told her. “Look, that’s not important. It’s a good name, it sounds like your name— Well, it doesn’t really sound like yours, but they both start with ‘V’ and that’s the important part, right? Good, so… so how about that, Victoria?”

“Victoria?” she repeated, still sounding confused.

I nodded, pointed to myself and said, “Staysa.” Then I once again pointed to her and said, “Victoria.”

Dettrick Moatz / To Hell & Back / 98

She grinned and lunged at me, hugging me once more. I wasn’t entirely sure what that meant, but I’d take it. It had been a long day, so I was determined to take whatever even seemed like a victory at this point. I leaned back down and closed my eyes to rest, tired of it all.

I held the demon-girl firmly in an attempt to both reassure her and to keep her from ruining my clothes any further. It was when she started chewing rather aggressively on my bra strap and shirt collar that I decided it was finally time to go. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings by pushing her away, but I also didn’t want her to ruin what was left of my clothes. I didn’t exactly have a spare bra in my pocket.

Don’t forget you’re still in Hell, Stas, I thought. How long have I been here, anyway? Shouldn’t I be home by now? Right, evidence is what it is: I’m still here in Hell, so I need to keep moving… Will she come with me?

“Hey, Victoria,” I said, tapping her head so she would look up at me. When she did, I asked, “Do you know of a way out of here? I need to go back to Earth. There are exits, right? Can we walk there? Maybe a… Well… I actually don’t know what to look for, but you do, right? This is your home, isn’t it? So… so you should know…”

She just stared at me while I spoke, my bra strap firmly between two sets of sharp teeth. She had unbuttoned my shirt again to get at it, apparently.

“Right then, well… Time should punt me back anyway, but we should get moving,” I told her. Her only response was to set her head on my breast and stare at me. “Yeah, boobs are great pillows and you’re cute as fuck, but it is time to go, kiddo. I always feel better after a good walk…”

I stood up, making sure to give her time to relocate herself as I made the arduous journey from lying on my back to standing upright. I looked around as I re-buttoned my shirt, somewhat depressed about my options.

Alrighty, Stas, we have desert, some more desert and… Oh! Look! Desert is that way, too! I thought with a long sigh. Well, with such an abundance of choices… Once more unto the… unto the… Unto? Was it into or unto? Damn, how did that line go?

After sighing at myself in frustration, I began walking aimlessly, making sure to go in a more or less straight line. The demon-girl, Victoria, followed silently. I was glad of that. I didn’t want to be alone again. I felt surprisingly good as I started walking, but when it shifted from flat, lifeless dirt to rolling sand dunes, I began to feel the effects of everything that had been happening to me recently. I got dizzy at first. My head began to ache shortly afterwards. I didn’t need someone to tell me I was dehydrated, but I didn’t have anything to drink, so I pressed on. Up one dune and down the next. Up one dune and down the next. Up one dune and down the next…

Deserts are stupid, I moaned inwardly as I trudged up another dune. Shoulda just tried to break Craven’s grip on the hellhound… but noooo… gotta get all fancy… Stupid fucking desert and even stupider fucking Hell…

My sense of time, and awareness in general, slowly faded away until I was walking in a complete daze. My body walked, but my mind hardly moved at all. Victoria stood behind me as I walked up the dunes, and any time I tripped, or even just came close to losing my footing, she was there. She stopped me from falling backwards down the dune, easily supporting my weight until I took over control. When we crested the dune, she moved from behind me to in front so she could stop me from falling forward.

“Good kid,” I murmured as I patted her on the head.

I kept myself going by trying to remember everything I could about demons. I wanted to decipher Victoria’s behavior, but the harder I tried to figure her out, the more confused I got. Why was she helping me? I couldn’t make any sense of it. When we got back to a flat surface, she hovered around me like a mother hen, making sure I didn’t fall when I stumbled, which was fairly often. It was one of those times that I stumbled, that instead of getting up and continuing to walk, I was sitting next to Ted, discussing demons and Craven.

“They’re addicting, that’s the problem,” Ted told me sternly. “Have you seen those TV shows… the ones where people have deadly pets, such as big cats or lizards?”

“I don’t watch TV,” I replied. “You know that.”

“Right, well… Fine. Where to start… Most warlock teachers will tell you to separate demons into two categories, lesser or greater. Stupid, animalistic demons, and intelligent, human-like demons. This is wrongheaded,” he warned. “It is like good and evil. There is no black and white, only shades of gray.”

Dettrick Moatz / To Hell & Back / 101

“A spectrum?” I asked. “A supposed dichotomy, but really it is a spectrum?”

“Yes, exactly,” he said, nodding. “I forget how quick you are, sometimes. Every demon has in them all the ingredients, you might say, to be human. The difference between demons is how much of the different ingredients they have. Humans have their animal side too, remember? They are omnivorous pack animals, regardless of their silly notions. Demons… are the same, but… Well, anyway, the importance of the lesson is this: you can trust a demon to be rational, but only to a very finite point. Most you encounter that can talk, that are that human enough to talk, will talk to you, and they will seem surprisingly human while doing so. Indistinguishably so, at times. Do not fall for this. They are not human.”

“So what about Craven?” I asked. “He is just going to go mess with demons by himself?”

“I do not know his exact path, but what I do know is that I failed to impress upon him the seriousness of becoming a warlock,” he said with a shrug.

“Maybe he just has a penchant for it,” I said, hoping to make him feel better. It was obvious to me that he was bothered by his former apprentice’s choice. “Or maybe he sought training for that purpose.”

“Of course that is why he sought training, I never suspected any differently,” he said. “I suspect, should you ever replace yourself in Hell, you might even meet him. If he is lucky, he will be killed before he can be enslaved.”

“Is it that certain?” I asked, frowning.

“When dealing with fire, you expect to get burned,” he said. “Correct?”

“Until you train enough to stop making mistakes,” I replied, finishing the line he always told me when I hurt myself trying something new. “You don’t get mistakes with demons, huh?”

“I’ve seen a greater demon’s lackey tear through a coven of witches. This was the actual demon’s puppet. It was just a toy, a plaything. It killed eight witches, and it would have gotten the other fifteen or so had they not taken evacuation precautions,” he told me. “The circle that was to protect the witches from the demon was missing a layer, the layer that would sound a warning if the other circles were being subverted.”

“A witch forgot one step,” I murmured and he nodded.

“That one detail cost eight people their lives. Had the actual greater demon they were after answered the call, instead of using a lackey, they all would have died, and the demon would have been left to rampage until dawn, several hours later,” he said.

“Why were you there?” I asked, frowning.

He laughed and said, “I wasn’t there for the fight. I arrived after the fact. I got to play subtle artist for a warlock hunting group.”

“A what?” I asked, confused.

“Subtle artist, or hunting group?” he replied.

“Both? You’ve never explained the subtle arts or any hunting groups for warlocks,” I told him.

“Subtle arts is, ah… trying to replace words you’d know…” he trailed off with a frown. “Ah, yes. Reading psychic imprints, that is to say, watching a replay of a scene that just occurred, is subtle arts. All the… mind magic, you might say?”

“Palm reading?” I asked, uncertain.

“Were that a thing, it would be subtle arts, I think,” he replied. “You have elementalists, dealing with fire and so forth. Dark artists or warlocks deal mostly in blood magic, curses, and all that is demonic.”

“What about healing magic?” I asked.

“White magic,” he replied. “You have to remember, all these names are very… inaccurate. No council or some such body has gotten together to define or classify magic. Most names, classifications, etc, are just missing.”

“That is why you don’t like using titles like ‘warlock,’ right?” I asked.

He nodded and said, “Warlock is… fine. It is better than dark artist. Dark artist is a rather useless term, as the subject is so broad. Anyway, it is about time you—”

“How does a demon enslave you?” I blurted. “You said Craven might get enslaved. How does that work?”

“A pact is made… usually a trade of some kind. A portion of the demon’s strength is given to the human, but the human is subject to whatever terms they work out,” he replied.

“And the pact is enforced by magic?” I asked, intensely curious.

“It doesn’t have to be, it could just be words, like any bargain between two individuals, but forced pacts would be magical. It could be a pain enchantment, allowing the demon to cause massive amounts of pain, or even death, at will,” he replied.

“Do demons ever work for warlocks, like a permanent pact, or is it just…” I trailed off.

“Theoretically possible… but how do you propose to keep the demon contained and controlled for long? If they had a common goal, the two might work together, but that is unlikely to continue for long, as the demon will try to take control. He will, no doubt, turn on the warlock at some point down the road,” Ted replied.

“Are all demons bad?” I asked, yawning. I was getting tired, but I didn’t want to stop talking. Ted never talked about demons, so I wanted to learn all I could.

“Legend has it that demons and angels fought, destroying their land. God punished them by taking their powers away,” Ted said, leaning back in his chair and smiling at me.

“That doesn’t answer my question!” I complained.

“Doesn’t it?” Ted asked, raising a brow. “It takes only one side to create abuse, but it takes two to create a war, especially a war worth the punishment. Also noteworthy… only some had their powers taken.”

“So you think both sides have good and evil?” I asked. Realizing what he was getting at, I added, “The demons that exist now are the nice ones… nicer ones, I guess, or are they the mean ones? And what about angels?”

I got no answer.

“Ted?” I asked.

“Ted… Ted Ted,” a small voice chirped from my side. “Ted?”

Opening my eyes, I found I was standing in a desert. Ted was gone, but a familiar little girl was by my side. I looked down at her for a minute, wondering what was going on, before my memory caught up to me.

The kid by my side is a gigantic demon in disguise, and I’m stuck in Hell, but at least I’m not blacking out or anything, I thought with a sigh. Still tired as all hell, but also still alive. Probably just a sign of— What in the actual fuck is that?

We were at the edge of the desert; it just stopped abruptly. In front of me was a giant… thing. I saw hinges on either side, making me think it was a gate of some sort, but instead of two swinging doors, it was a mess of twisted steel bars interwoven together with no hint as to where one began or ended. On either side of the thing which I decided to think of as a gate, was a wall that looked almost crystalline. Upon further inspection, it was definitely translucent. It hummed quietly with energy. It went up and to each side as far as the eye could see.

So there is a big gate-thing, in the middle of a wall-thing, I noted tiredly as I stared up at the interwoven bars. Where do— What?

Something pulling on my pants interrupted my train of thought and made me look down at my side. I looked down to see the little girl, who I remembered calling Victoria, pulling down on my pants and marveling at the underwear she found underneath.

“Do you mind?” I asked, careful to try diplomacy before I just pushed her away. She looked up at me, her fingers curled under the waistband of my panties, with a curious look on her face. In a moment of inspiration I said, “You know what? You’ve done enough looking; it’s my turn to get a look at you.”

I knelt down, gently extracting her fingers from my clothes, and took stock of her. I didn’t have a tape measure, but I guessed she was about four feet tall at most. Her eyes were slightly slanted, framed by thin, dark eyebrows, and accentuated with long, lush eyelashes. Her pupils were massive, leaving hardly any room for anything else. They were jet black orbs, with red and purple swirls slowly moving around within them. They began to glow gold as I inspected her.

A being’s eyes glowing was usually the only outward sign of magical energy that was visible with regular human eyes. The most common reason for a witch’s eyes to glow was that they were channeling energy, but I couldn’t feel anything from Victoria, which I should have if she were a witch channeling energy. I could get a better view with witch’s sight, but even that wouldn’t tell me everything, since I just didn’t know enough about demons.

Witch’s sight, an evolutionary by-product (per Ted’s teachings) of handling magical energies, allowed witches to change what they saw, almost like changing a lens on a camera, so that magical energy showed up. I recalled Ted telling me of an old trick used by inquisitors: they gave a heavily enchanted item over to a suspected witch to see what reaction they got. If the suspected witch’s eyes changed color, or if they refused to take the object, usually a stick or some other simple object, they were beheaded and then burnt as a witch.

Such tricks lasted for decades until witch spies began leaking such simple, but effective, tactics to their masters. Work began on figuring out how to hide what we were, finally resulting in witch’s sight being trained to be interchangeable. Witches trained to make their eyes resemble a human’s, no swirling colors or glow at all. By the time I was born, it had reversed; I had to learn to use witch’s sight. Unless I was actively channeling a great deal of power or using witch’s sight, my eyes retained their human look.

I shook my head, getting out of my thoughts, and continued to inspect Victoria. For her part, she seemed content to let me do as I wanted to her. A part of me was uncomfortable with how pliable she was, but another part of me was glad of it. Not being able to satisfy curiosity was a huge pet peeve of mine.

Her hair was jet black, straight, and shoulder-length. A quick pass through it with my fingers showed it to be as soft as it looked. It really stood out to me that her hair seemed to be completely unaffected by the many hours in this incredibly sandy, sunny, and arid environment we had been walking in. I didn’t need a mirror to be jealous of that.

Possibly the most interesting aspect of her, was actually her clothes; she was wearing a black, one-piece bodysuit. Brushing the fabric with my hands, I found it was extremely soft to the touch, except for a few certain areas. Her elbows, knees, chest, ankles, pelvis, and neck were covered by black plates that seemed to move with her, but were very solid when I tapped them with my fingernail. She was like an armor-clad knight of old, except her movement wasn’t restricted at all. The suit left nothing but her face, hands and feet exposed.

The plates were only a small color difference from the rest of the bodysuit; they seemed to absorb the light a little better, managing to be darker than black. The plates forming around her pelvis fit similar to a bikini. The part around her chest fit like a tube top, starting just above her lowest rib and ending at her collarbone.

I was trailing around with my fingers, tracing the outline of the different plates by feel since my eyes couldn’t hardly tell a difference, when she made a spine-chilling noise. My hand froze on her hip. I looked up, thinking I had gotten too close to a sensitive spot, since I had been tracing her bikini-line, but that wasn’t it at all. She was looking over my shoulder, concentrating on something behind me. Her eyes were very visibly glowing a dark red and her jaw was clenched as she scanned behind me. Without a word, she grabbed me and began bodily dragging me towards the giant gate set in the wall. Looking behind me, I heard howling and saw something crest a sand dune a few hundred feet away. More shapes crested the dune, followed by more howls.

They’ve found you, I heard whisper through my head.

Before I could wonder who had spoken, Victoria took my hand and placed it on the gate. My hand clamped tightly onto a metal bar automatically. I opened my mouth to say something, but a deep rumble inside my body stopped me. I cried out as energy surged out from my chest and through my arm, ending at the metal bar I was holding. A few seconds later, something began to twist underneath my hand. I watched as the mass of twisted steel I was holding onto slowly started to unravel. I stared at the sight, transfixed, as the metal slithered around, faster and faster. Victoria moved between me and the oncoming demons as the gate unraveled itself.

“Blood,” Victoria chirped, prodding me from behind with a finger. “Blood.”

“Blood? What blood? From me?” I asked, turning around to look at her.

“Blood,” she replied, not looking back. “Blood. Gate.”

“Well, what am I supposed to use to…” I trailed off when I noticed an obsidian-bladed, bone-hilted dagger in my hand. “Yeah, okay, fine. I haven’t bled enough recently, I guess.”

Looking back, I saw the gate had changed; it was now just a large, flat, plane of blackness. I put my palm flat on the darkness. I could feel a distinct lack of energy. It was all but devoid of life. I took my hand away, cut my palm, then put my hand back on the door. I felt nothing for a moment before power surged outward from me. Colors exploded outward from my hand, filling the space where before there was only darkness.

Another round of howls brought my attention away from the gate. I tried to step away and remove my hand, but I was stuck. I frowned, confused. I tugged at my hand, but it just wouldn’t move.

Well, this is awkward, I decided, giving up on my hand for the moment. I didn’t have anywhere to go, anyhow.

Looking back from the gate, I saw hellhounds were gathering. They were circling, barking, and howling. They seemed confused, glancing back the way they had come anxiously. More, bigger, animalistic demons were farther back, getting closer now. Victoria stood firmly between me and the hounds, staring them down. They didn’t seem to want to get closer.

“I’m stuck, Victoria. Victoria… Victoria, I’m stuck,” I whispered, looking back at my hand. My hand was now fully submerged into the doorway. “Victoria, I can’t move my damn hand!”

She turned, stepped to me, then without a word, she roughly pushed me into the door that was now a sea of swirling colors. Before I could react, she launched herself at the gathering of demons, shrieking the same inhuman shriek she had made while we were in the dungeon together. I winced at the sound and tried to cover my ears, but I couldn’t get my arms up. Looking down, I saw my elbows were stuck, and the rest of me was sinking into the gate like it was some sort of quicksand. A strange, half-solid, half-liquid substance was wrapping itself around my body slowly, and it was pulling at me, pulling me deeper into the gate.

I… Ted never… What do… my confused thoughts trailed off as I looked down to see what looked like a tentacle made of rainbow move around my stomach and tighten, pulling me deeper into the doorway. Creepy doesn’t begin to cover this.

When I felt something cold wrap around my neck and pull the back of my head in, I started to panic. I tried to fight back at the panic, I knew it wouldn’t help me any, but I wasn’t very successful. I called out to Victoria, but she was fighting about fifty feet in front of me. She moved lightning quick, wielding a huge, scythe-like weapon in each hand. Each weapon was at least twice as long as she was tall, but she wielded them like they were nothing. They changed into shadows as she used them, then reformed in her hand in a new shape or size, like they were changing to suit her needs at that very moment.

Demonic weaponry? I wondered, momentarily panic-free thanks to my curiosity. My curiosity quickly disappeared, and my panic returned, when another rainbow tendril tightened its grip and tugged me a little bit more into the gateway.

My tired, dehydrated, panicky, and exhausted eyes couldn’t keep up with her exact movements, but she was doing a good job leaving mutilated bodies in her wake, shrieking and yelling as she went. If I had been on their side, and not stuck to a wall, I’d have long since run away from this mess. She killed several demons that tried to go around her, slicing one in half after slamming bodily into it, but she missed two of them. The ones she missed edged towards me, wary of the fight going on nearby. When our eyes met, mine and one of the demon’s, my eyes widened almost as much as his smile did.

I squirmed, trying to break free of whatever was holding me, but I got nowhere. I watched them get larger and larger as they closed in.

One of the demons hefted a huge, two-handed maul, as he closed in. I took one look at it and made a decision. I called to power with everything I had in one sudden burst and directed it through the open cut in my hand. Energy surged behind me, immediately absorbed. There was only a slight pause before tendrils, wrapped tightly around me, far more aggressive and much stronger than before. I closed my eyes as the tendrils pulled me roughly into the gate, submerging me completely in one quick pull.

I had a moment to wonder what was next before my body surged backwards. I picked up speed, going faster and faster. It felt like I was being pushed against something, like I was breaking through resistance and opening it up as I went. I lost consciousness somewhere along the ride.