“He just texted. Apparently I need to provide results or I starve,” she said, then put her phone away.
“That’s Daryl for you.” Lily’s hair swished dramatically across her face when she turned her attention to Dana. “He’s done some pretty sick shit in his time.”
“Like this?” Dana asked, indicating herself.
“Oh, he’s done much worse.” Lily shook her head. “I’ve seen and heard things that made my stomach curl.”
“Worse than risking my immortal soul?”
Lily nodded. “Remember the Holocaust? The Nazis were delving into the paranormal, trying to find any angle they could to get a leg up. Well, at one point, Daryl offered to be of service. To a man like him, the opportunity to explore his abilities on a large scale was too tempting an offer to pass up. He did exactly one experiment with a room full of Jews. Just one. It was so disgusting that even the Nazis decided it was too much, that he was too much of a risk.”
“Wow, seriously?”
“Yes. For him, it’s not about morals. It’s about seeing what people will do, experimenting with what makes them human. While you may begrudge your current state, remember that there’s a chance we can fix it and you will walk away intact.” She sighed. “If not for his ability to undo bodily harm, his proclivities would be seen as a threat by the others in the society.”
“They aren’t worried he could turn on them?”
Lily laughed. “Not with my former master in charge, no, he wouldn’t.”
“Your former master?”
“That is a story for probably never.” Lily shivered, then turned away from the window. “I don’t like talking about him. It’s like splashing the edge of a pond with a crocodile underneath. If you make too many ripples, he’ll leap out and snap you up in his jaws.”
“Then he is the leader of the society? What do they even want with this place?”
“In terms of leadership, the society acts more like a boardroom than a dictatorship. However, he controls so many shares that they defer to him. Doesn’t hurt that he founded the place.”
“Is that why you know so much about them? Have you been with them this whole time?”
Lily laughed without humor. “Yes, I have. For them, keeping to the shadows is of the utmost importance. I remember when magic used to be commonplace, a skill that could be paid for like that of a plumber or an electrician. Over the years, magic has died out almost completely, and one of the main reasons is people like the society. They harvest it and keep it like gold, locking it away for their private use. You’re only a tool, much like I was. They would let me out to feed on selected targets, people who would pass away in the night from a heart attack, their souls sucked from their bodies. Centuries of doing someone else’s dirty work and reaping no rewards of my own. Do you know how lonely it gets, stuck inside of a gemstone prison?”
“You sucked out souls?” Dana’s eyes were wide. “What happened to them?”
“They’re in here.” Lily tapped her chest. “Damned for all eternity. I’m a demon, a creature of chaos. I feed off them until they are withered up, forced to do my bidding in the Dreamscape.”
“Why don’t you let them go?”
Lily’s mouth opened, but no sound came out. She looked down at the floor, deep in thought for several moments before answering. “If I do, I die. And then I end up in the same boat as you. Allowed to cross over and go straight to Hell.”
“But you’re a demon. Didn’t you come from Hell?”
Lily kept her eyes on the floor, her lower lip trembling. “I wasn’t born a demon.”
“Then you were born…human?”
Lily nodded. “Your fate and mine are very similar in many ways. I was once mortal and made a choice out of naivete that has haunted me to this day. Yes, I am a demon, and I have done wicked things. But the nature of eternity is that we often live to regret the things we have or haven’t done.”
“So you are like me. Trapped.” Dana shook her head. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t feel sorry for me!” A pair of wings sprang out of Lily’s back, flapping momentarily before vanishing. Dana took a step back, and Lily’s face immediately softened. “Shit. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you. I don’t want your pity. That’s what I meant to say.”
“Well, you can have it anyway.” Dana moved closer to the succubus and sat on the desk next to her. “I can feel him from here, you know. It’s like a sick feeling in the back of my throat. When I look out there, I know that that is the bastard who killed me and made me this way, and don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m glad you’re so mad about it. My emotions are just so numb right now, and I should be far angrier. It makes me happy, kind of, that you can do all the hating for me.” Dana moved her hand on top of Lily’s and gave it a squeeze. “That being said, I am feeling very murderous right now.”
Lily looked at where their hands touched, then raised her gaze to look into Dana’s eyes. There was a brief flash of light in them, and the scent of sulfur permeated the room.
“No.” Lily shook her head. “No. Forget I even said that.”
“What? Why?”
“There’s still a difference between us. All those bad things I did were because of a stupid choice I made long ago. You didn’t get to choose to become a zombie, but you do get to make all your choices from here on.”
“But how is that fair?” Dana took her hand away. “You don’t get to decide that for me.” When she pushed herself off the desk, her feet slapped against the wooden floor. A sharp pain tore through her stomach, and she gasped, falling to her knees.
Lily was immediately at her side,
