Page 32 of Bitten By Desire

“Your abilities haven’t been seen on Earth since my time, Charlotte. You’ve only begun to understand them.” She took me by the arms and turned me toward the purple and blue doors and whispered in my ear. “Which first?”

“What are they?”

“Reach out with your senses and tell me what you feel.”

Closing my eyes, I did as instructed. To the left—the blue side—power thrummed. It looked identical to the one I’d been drawn toward in Lorraine’s basement, but in here, I no longer felt the pull. What I did sense was something like sharp edges, deception, and…hunger. To the other, purple side, I felt a tug of need, longing, and the soft ease of illusion. I repeated these thoughts out loud.

“Very apt descriptions. The left leads to the so-called demon dimension. The right to the fae world.”

I tensed, and Pythia set a hand on my shoulder. “It’s ok. They cannot see you unless you choose to show yourself. Go. Pick one and find truth. But don’t linger. You must see both and you have only limited time in the other world.”

How long had I been here already? It felt both like days and like moments.

“Will you come too?” I asked, scrounging for some courage within.

“This is your journey. But when it is time to switch dimensions, I will let you know.” Pythia made a shooing motion with her hands, and the gold circlet on her head caught in the reflection of a stray rainbow, sending a cascade of color all around.

With a deep breath, I steeled myself and stepped through the demon door. I’d seen the fae world before, and it wasn’t my favorite experience. Besides, I had questions about why I was drawn here in my human body and why Zoe’s portals were so similar in color. At the very least, Pythia promised I’d find out more about the general here. Could he be a demon?

I stepped through onto cool marble, only then realizing I was barefoot and stark naked. I’d forgotten the fae device disintegrated the clothing of those in its clutches. The second I wished I was covered, a white shift gown appeared over me, the material so soft and billowy I wondered if it existed in my dimension.

“It has to be them,” a female voice hissed. “They’re the only ones who could do this without leaving a trace.”

“If we accuse them, it means all-out war,” a baritone male voice answered.

Looking around, I found I was in a corridor and the voices had come from a small offshoot to the right. Diffused, white lights glowed around the curved entrance, in what felt like a very monochromatic and sterile environment.

I padded through the lit archway and saw a man and woman seated at a floating tabletop. They each had skin the color of fall leaves and black hair thicker than the heavy drapes back in Lorraine’s mansion.

“If it’s war they want then why not give it to them? Nasty little feral vermin should be exterminated.” The woman spit after her pronouncement. That’s when I caught sight of her eyes, as black and bottomless as the general’s had turned.

I gasped, then threw a hand over my mouth, expecting to be confronted. But the two demons at the table continued as though nothing had happened. Bravado building, I stepped closer, walking around the table to take in the details of the scene.

A wide window curved along the opposite side of the table overlooking a world cast in red, orange, and black. Magma flowed like a river of death at the base of the building, which, on closer inspection, cast a shadow for several feet as though it were floating in the air just like the table in the room. Bits of blackened stone bobbed along the bubbling cascade, but rather than a volcano or any lush ground, all I could see as far as the horizon was flat turf, cracked and barren like it had been salted so nothing would grow—nothing except twisted, burnt trees with scarlet sores that bled lava onto their own misshapen roots. I swallowed and returned my attention to the demons behind me, suddenly sure where the stereotypical picture of hell came from.

“We are so close to being ready, but we aren’t guaranteed a win. Not yet. Sirena, they are trying to distract us from our mission because they know how near we are. Once we have the correct DNA sequencing, there will be nothing they can do.”

Sirena grinned, and a mouth filled with pointed teeth looked oddly attractive on her. “Don’t say we will be the most powerful beings to ever exist because I believe we already are.”

“Perhaps. But there will be no doubt anymore. Even the Fae will bow to us and our will.”

I examined the male demon whose long hair was pulled back in a braid. His muscled body bulged against his leather vest and pants, and a tail curled out from beneath his legs. My mouth dropped open. His size rivaled Sam’s, but he still wasn’t as large as the general. He lifted his hand, and a glass appeared, filled with smoke and bubbling liquid. “To demon rule.”

Sirena lifted a matching glass. He tapped the side with long black nails sharpened to points and downed the drink.

A third demon rushed through the archway, just as muscled as the man, but with a feminine body. “Master Grival, Mistress Sirena, I have word from the golem. The key has been captured and put in stasis.”

Golem? Weren’t those creatures made of clay and brought to life to serve?

“Excellent!” Sirena said, setting down her glass, which disappeared. “We finally have the little vampire slut. She should be ripe for harvesting. Is he bringing her?”

The woman in the door swallowed and her throat bobbed. “He cannot approach her. She used mind bending.”

“For sulfur’s sake,” Sirena growled, and the smooth white walls shook around us. “Enough incompetence. That creature you stole the recipe for isn’t strong enough. I’ll do it myself. Retrieve her and bring her through the portal. We need her blood.”

Were they…talking about…me? The blood she wanted rushed from my head, and I swayed, having to grab the edge of the floating table to stop from falling over. The general was a golem made from a stolen recipe? Maybe they could be made of stone as well?

“Don’t worry, Sirena,” Grival soothed. “We as good as have her, and we’ll start the testing immediately. Fae or not, let them kill the entire rest of the board. You and I are safe here. We’ll have what we want and need share so much less.”

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