At first, the demon simply refused.
Nikolai certainly saved my life as he shielded me from the worst of the pain the backlash of her refusal brought down on us.
Nikolai held me and shielded us as hot fire raced through my body and stabbed at my brain. He kept me anchored, kept me from fleeing. It still hurt, but it wasn't as unbearable as it would have been without him.
He experienced everything I did, wincing as pain seared our nerves.
"You should leave." I desperately didn't want him to leave me to this alone, yet I also didn't want him hurt.
"It is tolerable," he replied, and refused to let go.
I had no idea how long the torture lasted. It came and went. I suspected the demon offered several refusals before they finally commanded her to perform some sort of magic.
This time, the pain was different. My entire body was being stretched, filled, new pathways burned through me.
The demon and I both screamed as magic poured out of us. My body collapsed to the hard ground, nerves screaming in pain, completely spent.
"I told you," I heard Ash saying. "You can't force the integration. Sometimes it takes a while. If you burn her out before the demon is fully in control, she'll never heal, and she'll be useless to you."
"How long will it take?" Melinda snapped.
"It will take as long as it takes. Not usually more than a month."
Nikolai was listening as well, and he swore. "He's buying us time, but more would be better."
"Fine. You will stay with her constantly. Bring her to me as soon as the process is complete. We have work to do," Melinda snarled at them, and I got the sense that she left.
I had no energy, and neither did my body. Someone picked me up from the ground.
"And where do you think you're going?"
That was Alex's voice.
I growled, and Nikolai tensed next to me.
"I was instructed to stay with her. Not to leave her lying on the ground. I will take her somewhere more comfortable."
"Fine, take her back to them. It will torture them to see her like this, and maybe the two of you can learn some of their secrets. They're such idiots, I'm sure they'll allow you to stay around."
Nikolai held me close, kissing me, before stepping away. "I must go for now. One of us will return soon."
∞ ∞ ∞
For a time, I lost myself again, clinging to the guys, not aware of much else. The demon mostly left me alone, though she did check in on me every now and again to make sure I was still there.
Ed spent the most time with me over the next week. Though they both had to go to classes, he had managed to perfect hanging out with me while still doing life things.
It was so tempting to simply let go, but the guys forced me to hang on.
They forced me to have hope.
They forced the demon to have hope.
Ash followed us everywhere as commanded, and the guys tolerated him living with them. On some level, I got used to having him around, though I mostly tried to hide from the world as life went on around me.
I missed the first mountain snow. The guys were right though, it snowed before Halloween.
What is Halloween? The demon's voice jerked me out of a light daze in one of my rare times when I was alone.
For a minute I couldn't remember. Couldn't remember anything. What did it matter? Why was I here?
Sofia!
The demon had never used my name before, but that brought me back to myself.
"Uh, Halloween? It's a holiday, or like, a fun day for people to dress up in costumes, party, things like that. It used to be a harvest celebration, among other things. We've turned it into a party, though."
Alex is forcing me to go with him to the college Halloween social. This sounds annoying. I suspect he wants to annoy your men, and maybe try to get information.
I shuddered at the thought of having to go with Alex. The thought of him touching me in any way made me shrink away from the conversation with the demon.
I would have cried if I had actual eyes to cry with. It wasn't so much that I really wanted to go to the Halloween party, but that I was missing going with my guys.
Even if all I could do was be around him, I could hang out with Doc. I could get Ed and Allan and maybe Nikolai to dance with me a little. We would all have costumes. I wondered what the guys would dress up as.
Instead I was slowly slipping away.
Fuck.
What do I do? The demon sounded lost.
"I guess just find a costume. The guys can help you out if Alex doesn't have something horrible in mind. And do what they say, because otherwise, it will hurt." I collapsed into a chair that I formed in my mental prison, just so I could collapse into it.
She faded away.
∞ ∞ ∞
"Sofia!" Doc yelled my name.
I looked up from the ground I stared at and didn't recognize my surroundings for a moment. It was my grove, but the moss carpet had withered, and the trees no longer connected. Several were rotten, and a few had fallen. Brown pine needles littered the ground.
The effort of looking up cost me, and I almost didn't reply.
Doc looked around frantically, yelling my name again.
"Here," I gasped, though my voice made next to no sound.
He heard me and finally focused on me. Doc rushed to my side and pulled me into his arms. His arms nearly passed through my body.
After another moment, Nikolai appeared and warmth from the werewolves wrapped around me. Nikolai
