“BE GONE FROM HER.”

  As though a sudden burst of wind had smmed through her, Jenny felt Yeshua's shout ripple through her entire being. The shock forced the air out of her lungs, knocking her off her feet and away, her hair swirling, her arms spreading. The orange fmes of her wings snapped out of existence and blue fmes billowed out of her every orifice. It streamed out of her eyes and her mouth, out of her nostrils and ears, floating above and away, and try as she might, she couldn’t hold onto Iblis’ mind as the demon was expelled from her body.

  She nded in a heap of blood, the liquid on the ground bubbling and frothing in the rain. Ghouls scrambled over, grasping at her arms and shoulders and hair – suddenly, their attacks hurt. Suddenly they were a threat again. Blood spttered her face and soaked through her armor, and without Iblis power burning inside her, Jenny felt heavier and weaker than ever before.

  “No!” she shouted as fingers and hands grasped her all over, as teeth fshed inches from her ears. She swerved and struck blindly with her hatchet, cutting off limbs, trying to clear some space so she could breathe. But in the mess of blood and bodies, there was no escape.

  Through the ghouls, she saw Yeshua had colpsed to his knees. Ghouls bounded onto his back and forced him to the ground, their teeth sinking into his shoulders and his back.

  “NO!” Jenny screamed again till her voice went hoarse. Teeth cracked through the armor of her elbow. She felt so weak. So pathetic now that the demon was gone. She cried out again, punching a ghoul away, kicking one before it could bite her foot. But these blows weren’t as powerful as before. The ghouls didn’t disintegrate, and there were too many to fight off. She roared to the sky, wondering why Yeshua wasn’t still fighting. Had he used too much energy to expel the demon from Jenny?

  She swore loudly and used ignite. Blue fire erupted from her skin, hotter and fiercer than any fme she’d produced before.

  The ghouls smoldered, their psticy red skin melting and sliding off their faces as they screeched and rolled away. But as powerful as her fmes had become, they cost more stamina to burn at this temperature, and within a heartbeat, the blue color faded to white then orange. But they’d done the trick; the fmes had cleared enough space for her to run toward Yeshua.

  Striking quickly with her hatchet, she lobbed the head off the ghoul biting Yeshua’s neck. She kicked another one and shoved a third off him before using Ignite again, roaring as she exhaled blue fme in a circle around her to force the ghouls back. Blood evaporated all around in a hiss of steam, and the ghouls scrambled, clutching melting body parts and screeching.

  Yeshua wasn’t moving. Jenny looked up at the sky, blinking through the blood spttering her eyes, trying to find any sign of Iblis, any sign of his sparkling lights. She spotted the other demons in their ghoul bodies, now colored red by the storm. They were only distinguishable by their burning eyes, and they rushed over to Jenny – forming a perimeter around her and Yeshua and the cross.

  Blood coated her throat, coated everything. It made her senses spin. Jenny forced Yeshua up as red lightning crackled across his body, patching his torn flesh back together. She saw a glimpse of his exposed shoulder bde. He was too skinny. Too weak. She had to get him out of here.

  “We have to move,” she shouted at him over the relentless rain. “To cross the light again.”

  “Demons,” muttered Yeshua, his eyes barely opening. “Demons haunt the earth, we must be rid of them. We must not let them into our hearts.”

  “No,” said Jenny firmly. “I made a deal with them. They’re helping me. You. They’re helping us.”

  “A deal? A deal with the devil? No, no, no!”

  She grabbed his face, digging her fingers into his beard. She pulled the crown of thorns off his head with her other hand, and his eyes finally opened as little bolts of lightning went crisscross around his head. She didn’t know what to say to him. They hardly knew each other, but he was... he was him, wasn’t he? She’d prayed to him all her life without him ever knowing. She needed him to trust her.

  “If it wasn’t for the demons, I wouldn’t have been able to get back here,” she said.

  “You can’t trust them,” he whispered. “They’re.... they abandoned the light.”

  “No,” said Jenny again, growing frustrated as blood rained down on still. “Look, we can figure all that out ter. Right now we have to get out of here, yes?”

  Yeshua nodded like he was drunk, and Jenny spit in frustration.

  “I’m gonna drag the cross over, okay?" She made to let him go and move toward it, wondering how she’d drag that thing through the crowd of ghouls. And where was Iblis? She could use his help right now.

  But Yeshua shook his head, gasping for breath as blood went down his chin. He was trying to stand.

  “What do you mean no?” she almost screamed.

  He grabbed her arm. “Only I can bear it. Only I can. It has to be me.”

  “Then get off your ass already!”

  But he was struggling to right himself, barely functioning. He groaned as he held onto her arm for bance, his head hanging low, his wet hair sticking to his face. “I need...”

  Jenny looked around in desperation. The possessed ghouls had sprouted burning wings, and she saw some of their bodies crumbling away into ash. But they needed the extra fire power to keep the blooded ghouls at bay.

  I am still with you, crackled Iblis’ voice through her ears. But the passageway will not remain open for much longer. Your body cannot tolerate that strain.

  The passageway! It was still open. She hadn’t closed it. She wiped blood and wet hair out of her eyes; she hadn’t noticed how much that was eating up her energy when she’d been possessed. Her breathing quickened, and she knew how to fix Yeshua who’d colpsed back to his knees, clutching his bony chest. She peeled the armor away from her fingers, away from her wrist, all the way up to her elbow, Jenny presented her forearm to Yeshua’s mouth, smashing her pale skin against his lips.

  “EAT!” she shouted.

  Yeshua’s eyes went wide. Blood spttered right into it, but he didn’t blink. He only shook his head fervently. But that movement caused his teeth to brush her skin, and she saw his eyes dite. She felt him shudder. And then he grasped her with both hands, just as she’d once grasped his. His fingers curled around her wrist. His other hand on her elbow. Jenny braced herself determined not to cry out.

  His teeth sliced into her arm. A scream filled her lungs, but she swallowed it, muffling the whimper as pain radiated from where Yeshua was chewing. Teeth snapped through her muscles, scraped her bone, and he slurped, drinking her blood. Swallowing. And when he slurped, she shuddered, feeling a tug on all the blood in her body. Wasn’t there enough blood in the rain?

  But he wasn’t growing... he wasn’t filling out again. He was still too thin, too painfully weak.

  What was wrong? He released her arm, shaking his head, his entire body trembling. “Desecrated...” he whispered, his breath hot against her exposed flesh.

  Shit. It wasn’t going to work.

  Jenny whirled around, the ghouls and demons fighting furiously in the mess of blood. Yeshua slumped, retching loudly. But whatever he was throwing up, mixed in with the pouring rain, and Jenny didn’t care.

  “Iblis!” she called as loudly as she could, ignoring her burning, aching arm, ignoring how the rain felt dripping into the missing chunks and running down her bone. “Come back to me!”

  I cannot, crackled his voice. Not with that man’s presence. His power is still active.

  “No,” she whispered, breathing hard, her arm hurting so much she wanted to rip it from her shoulder. What do I do?

  In the distance, she could see the st glimmer of her light. The Valescent Light, waiting, draining her. She didn’t have much left, but if Iblis could get back inside her.... she’d have more stamina, more Energy, more everything. Fuck.

  If only three was a way to open another wound... to open a new passageway. But could she even do that? Open another wound while the original was overflowing with Valescent Light? She was terrified of deactivating it – terrified that she wouldn’t be able to use it again for a while.

  Her mind spun. Her body wavered. The throbbing pain of her chewed up arm proving too much. Blood squirting out of her. Blood mixed with the blood of the storm. What was she supposed to do? She needed to move the cross to the light and...

  What if she could bring the light to her?

  Bring it to yourself.

  Will it.

  It’s yours to command.

  Jenny reached out toward the pool of light with her good arm. It’s golden aura shimmering brightly even with the pouring blood rain. When she’d used it before, she hadn’t just taken herself to another world, but she’d carried all the deaths and ghouls and demons too.

  You can do it.

  You are strong enough.

  This is Susan’s light.

  So Jenny shut her eyes, emptying her mind, freeing herself from the pain. The rain faded away. Yeshua’s whimpers became background noise. Everything emptied.

  This wasn’t Severed Spirit. It was something else. Almost like someone else, surfacing to the top of her consciousness. It reminded her of Iblis pressing against her mind. It reminded her of Eve. She was so sure someone else was here. Inside her body. Operating her thoughts. But it was just her. Just Jenny. Just me.

  Are you sure?

  Shivers ran down her spine. Goosebumps spread across her arms, and when she opened her eyes, tears ran down her face. “Who said that?” she whispered, but already a notification was surfacing in her head, already she could feel the squishy, getinous thing in the air that showed her where to open the passageway.

  She could feel it pulsing, moving, climbing along what felt like threads that reached in every direction, connecting her to the pool of light, and connecting the pool of light to everything else. She pulled the light toward her, elongating it, opening. The light bloomed furiously, growing with the warmth of the sun, and the ground beneath her unzipped. The blood and the dark sand gave away, and she was sinking again. She and Yeshua and the cross, and all the demons in their ghoul bodies and the countless blooded ghouls that had been swarming all over them.

  Valescent Light (tier 3)