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The air was thin and stale, with hints of a foul stench that the air just wasn’t strong enough to support. There was a powerful feeling of everything being off somehow, much like what I felt in Val Halla, but much MUCH stronger. Then as I looked at the thick fog surrounding me in every direction, I knew without a doubt where I was. The Twilight Realm.

Only moments ago, I’d fallen through a portal that had been created by a daemonite ripper, and was then dropped onto the hard stone ground. As I got back to my feet and looked around, I saw no sign of the portal that had brought me here. That had brought US here. Nessa, the daemonite ripper responsible for this trip was lying motionless on the ground, looking as though she was either dead or unconscious. Jass, who’d been pulled through as well, was already on her feet and drawing her sword. Without hesitation, she started towards Nessa.

“Wait,” I exclaimed, feeling a moment of panic.

Jass paused, giving me a dirty look and demanding, “What?”

“We need her to get back,” I quickly pointed out, knowing that if I was going to get Jass to listen to me, I’d have to give her a good reason…one she wouldn’t just shrug off just because I was the one who’d given it.

Jass scowled at that and looked around. “We’re in the Twilight Realm. We should be able to find Val Halla…”

“Do you know where it is?” I asked doubtfully, gesturing to the fog around us. “Or how far? For all I know, it could be a thousand miles in that direction.”

For a moment, I was sure that Jass was going to argue with me, but then she shook her head. She didn’t look happy about having to agree with me. Instead of putting her sword away, she carefully brought it down and used the flat of the blade to tap Nessa’s shoulder. Nessa still didn’t move.

“Unconscious,” Jass said, which was a relief. If Nessa was dead, I had no idea how we’d get back.

“I overheard her talking earlier,” I said grudgingly. “She said she’d exhausted herself moving daemons…so I guess this just pushed her over the edge.”

“Wake up,” Jass exclaimed, giving Nessa a bit of a kick, though it didn’t do any good. After a few more ‘gentle’ nudges to try waking the daemonite, Jass looked at me and scowled. “You need a jatta.”

I nodded at that, thinking about my growing collection of injuries, which included broken bones that hadn’t fully healed yet, a nice collection of bruises and lacerations over much of my body, and of course a couple bullet holes. Thankfully I was Val Kyr, because if I didn’t have my enhanced constitution and healing, I’d probably be dead now…or at least in the process of bleeding to death.

“Or some bandages and pain killers,” I muttered.

With a grimace, I slowly looked at our surroundings again, noticing for the first time that there were silhouettes in the mist around us, shapes for buildings. I was a little started at that, but stretched out my senses as far as I could, which increased my visibility from about fifteen feet to fifty, though barely.

Now, I could make out that I was in some kind of courtyard, surrounded by stone walls and buildings. From what I could see of the closest one, they were in bad shape, little more than ruins. However, I also noticed a large structure just beyond the courtyard, though I could only make out a vague shape through the mist. It looked like a pyramid…one of the layered types from South America rather than the Egyptian ones I usually think of.

“Where the hell are we?” I muttered as I looked around.

When I’d first come to Val Halla, Lindrell had told me that there had once been other places in the Twilight Realm, other anchors and fortresses scattered about, created by the various gods. I felt a chill go down my spine as I realized that this might be one of those places, a long forgotten fortress. For all I knew, I might be standing in Asgard or Olympus…though from the nearby pyramid, I rather doubted it.

In spite of the fact that I was standing in the middle of what appeared to be ancient and abandoned ruins, I noticed one thing that didn’t fit with that. There was a beer bottle on the ground just a short distance away from me. In fact, as I looked, I saw other bits of litter scattered about. There was an empty water bottle, a candy bar wrapper, and even a tennis shoe. Obviously, we weren’t the only ones to come here, which shouldn’t have been a surprise. After all, we’d been brought here by a daemonite, so this may very well have been one of their bases.

I turned back to Jass, hating the fact that I was trapped here with her of all Val Kyr. Being trapped in the mist with no company except for Jass and a daemonite was like my worst nightmare come true. I was in Hell…literally. The only thing that could make it worse was if some daemons showed up to attack me while I was naked and unarmed.

“Do you see anyone here?” I asked Jass, knowing that as a kaern, her senses were even sharper than mine, though not by much.

With a shake of her head, Jass responded, “No.” But then she tilted her head a little as if listening carefully. “But there are a couple daemons at the edge of my limits…though they don’t seem to be coming this way.”

“Stragglers,” I muttered, thinking about all the daemons that had been shipped off to Earth. “It looks like they left a few behind.”

Jass gave me a suspicious look. “You know something.” It sounded almost like an accusation.

I nodded weakly at that. “Estrid is making her move. She pulled all those incursions to get the Val Kyr out of Val Halla...then she used our little friend here to send the daemons to Val Halla.”

For a moment, Jass had a look of skepticism on her face, though it quickly flashed through shock and horror. “Get up,” she snapped, kicking at the daemonite again. “Take us back NOW!” The daemonite still showed no signs of waking, much to the mutual annoyance of my unwanted companion and I.

“It looks like we’re going to be here for a bit longer,” I pointed out reluctantly. “We should probably look around while we have a chance.” I started to talk towards an open doorway, but after taking several steps my leg started to collapse beneath me. My injuries were taking a toll.

“Useless,” Jass muttered. Then she drew a dagger from her belt and tossed it to me. She gestured to Nessa, saying, “For her.” The meaning was clear. I was to stay and guard Nessa in case she woke up and tried to escape while Jass looked around. I nodded agreement.

Jass started for the same doorway I’d planned on checking out, not looking happy about having to go. I suspected that she was probably about as thrilled with being trapped here with me as I was with her. I felt a little satisfaction in that since if I had to be miserable, she should too. However, I did feel a small twinge of guilt for wishing any ill on her after she’d just saved my life…and possibly saved me from something worse than death.

“It looks like it’s just you and me,” I said as I moved over and sat down beside Nessa, keeping the dagger firmly in hand. I wasn’t too worried about her, but Jass had pointed out that there were daemons in the area too. I definitely didn’t want to run into one of them unarmed.

Just sitting still like that and resting was good for me, and I felt my strength returning a little. A jolt of jatta and a nice hot soak in the baths were what I really needed, but at least I was away from Estrid and that psycho binder. I shuddered at the memory, still not completely sure if he meant to rape me or eat me. He was proof positive that sharing headspace with a daemon was NOT good for your mental health.

When Jass returned, she unceremoniously dropped a small pile of clothes onto the ground in front of me, followed by a first-aid kit. “This is a daemonite camp,” she said gruffly. “Or at least it was. Everyone departed very recently.”

I grunted at that, already knowing where the daemonites had gone. Estrid was making her move against Val Halla, and it looked like she hadn’t left anyone behind. That was good news for us, because things would have been even worse if we’d found ourselves surrounded by a bunch of daemonites.

I cleaned up my wounds and bandaged the worst ones while Jass kept poking at Nessa, trying to wake her up. She finally gave up and sat down on the ground a short distance away, opening up some canned chili she’d found among the daemonite supplies and began eating. When I was finished getting dressed, I helped myself to a can of soup. I hadn’t eaten anything since well before my capture, so I was starving.

Jass and I ate in uncomfortable silence, each of us doing our best to ignore the other. Eventually, I noticed that she kept glancing at me, scowling as she did so.

“What?” I demanded, expecting yet another snide comment about how I was inferior or couldn’t be trusted.

For several long seconds, Jass just stared at me with an unreadable expression. “When they had you,” she started quietly, tearing her eyes from me and staring at the ground. “Did they…?”

I was startled by the question since that wasn’t what I’d been expecting. I was silent for several seconds before quietly answering, “No. It was only torture.” I gave a wry smile at using the word ‘only’ when referring to torture.

“Good,” Jass said, and I knew she didn’t mean it was good I was tortured. Neither of us said another word for a couple minutes, then she abruptly said, “Sorensen.”

“What?” I asked in surprise since no one in Val Halla called me by my last name.

“He saved my life,” she grudgingly admitted, making me blink for a moment until I realized that she was referring to my dad. Jass scowled, looking oddly conflicted about having her life saved like that. There was a long pause before she said, “He and Lindrell have some kind of past together… What do you know of it?”

I just stared at Jass in surprise since I’d thought that by now, all the Val Kyr with us would have heard about it. However, Jass obviously hadn’t been told all the details, perhaps because the others knew the kind of issues the two of us had.

“They were married,” I finally answered, trying to keep my voice calm and even. “They had a kid together.”

This time, it was Jass who gave me a look of surprise, which confirmed just how much she’d been left out of the gossip loop. “I assume it ended because he couldn’t deal with her bring Val Kyr.”

I shook my head at that, wondering why I was bothering to tell any of this to Jass. It certainly wasn’t any of her business. However, I could see that she was curious about Dad, which I suppose was understandable considering the fact that he’d saved her life.

“Daemonites tracked her down,” I explained grimly, “and a daemon bit off his leg.” Jass gave me another look of surprise. “She returned to Val Halla to keep the daemonites away from her family.”

Jass bowed her head faintly, then quietly asked, “And do you know what became of their child?”

“He was disemboweled by a daemon,” I answered in a flat tone as I stood up and looked around our surroundings again. Jass let out a faint gasp at that. Without looking at her, I quietly added, “And then he became Val Kyr.”

I could feel Jass staring at my back in realization, though I made sure not to look at her. Instead, I stretched my senses as far as I could, trying to take in as much as I could of our surroundings. I did this as a distraction from the conversation more than for anything else.

Then I noticed something and looked down at Nessa. “Our ride home is starting to wake up.”
“Good,” Jass said, seeming just as relieved for the distraction. “I’m tired of being here.”

After a little ‘gentle nudging’ from Jass, Nessa woke up and stared us with a look of hatred and fear. She tried to scramble to her feet, but Jass immediately had a sword to her neck.

“Take us back,” Jass ordered. “Now.”

“Fuck you,” Nessa responded with a sneer. However, Jass pressed the blade against her neck just enough to get the point across. Nessa paled. “Fine…” She had a look of concentration on her face, but nothing happened.

“Now,” Jass repeated.

“I…I can’t,” Nessa blurted out. “I’m tapped out…” When Jass snarled and pressed the blade close against her skin again, she blurted out, “I’m too fucking exhausted… I need to recharge…”

“Then we’ll just have to keep you close until you can take us back,” Jass told her. Nessa gulped, obviously not liking the idea of being stuck with Jass’ sword at her neck the entire time. However, we couldn’t afford to let her escape, not while we were trapped in the Twilight Realm.

“Since our dead weight is now mobile,” I said, gesturing around us. “I’d like to look around a little.”

Jass nodded at that and the three of us started to walk in the opposite direction Jass had gone exploring in earlier. Since Jass had a sword to Nessa’s neck and I was moving slowly due to my injuries, we didn’t make very good time, but we were able to see a little more of this abandoned daemonite stronghold.

On the far end of the courtyard, we found something that immediately caught my attention. There were three familiar looking stone pillars, or at least two and a half. The pillars looked just like the anchor in Val Halla, though one of the pillars had been broken in half and destroyed. There was no hint of the blur in between them that would have marked an anchor still being there.

Jass and I shared a look, but neither of us said a word. This was just confirmation that at one time, this place had been much like Val Halla…and it had been destroyed, just as the daemonites might be doing to our home at that very moment.

Nessa seemed to realize what we were thinking, because she smirked and said, “By now, Estrid has your anchor…” Jass slapped her, knocking her to the ground. “You Val Kyr are done for… We’ve won.”

I glared at Nessa, realizing that we couldn’t keep going like we have been. Sure, having her walk with Jass’ sword at her neck would keep her from trying to escape, but all it would take was one trip, one time trying to attack Jass to escape, or even one daemon attacking us…and we could lose our ticket home.

“I want to try something,” I announced, going over to Nessa and reaching out for her.

“Don’t you fucking touch me,” she snarled.

“It’s either this,” I pointed out in a cold flat tone, “or Jass keeps holding her sword to your throat.” Nessa glared at me with a look of hatred but didn’t say anything.

With that settled, I reached out again and touched her forehead. I tried to remember everything that Ionne had taught me about this as I stretched out both my essence and my kaern energies, merging them and infusing them into the daemonite. I was careful to build the geis the same way my mentor had in the daemonite prisoner…and in Lindrell.

“I lay a geis on you,” I told Nessa in a firm tone. “You will not try to escape from us.”

“What did you do?” Jass asked, staring at Nessa in surprise. “You mixed essence and kaern…”

“I put a geis on her,” I explained with a sigh, feeling just as worn out as I had after healing Mr. Rosewald. “A compulsion.”

Jass stared at me with a skeptical expression. “Only Freya can do such a thing…”

“She’s the one who taught me,” I pointed out, reminding her of who my mentor was. “It’s an old atra trick.”

“And she will not try escaping?” Jass asked, staring at Nessa with a skeptical look.

I shrugged at that. “Not if I did this right. It’s the first time I’ve ever made a geis.”

“Then make her obey all our commands,” Jass told me. “It may be useful having a ripper in our service…”

Nessa stared at me with a look of fear as she realized I might be able to actually enslave her. However, I shook my head, then admitted to Jass, “It doesn’t work that way. A geis can only give a single command…or forbid one. If I try making it too broad or general, it won’t take…and I can’t give her any other geis either as long as she has this one. At least, that’s what Freya told me.”

Jass grunted at that, obviously disappointed, though Nessa was clearly relived. She was also relieved to find that she was allowed to walk on her own after this, without a sword being constantly held to her neck. However, our daemonite prisoner didn’t show any gratitude for this. Instead, she kept muttering insults about the Val Kyr as we walked around.

Most of the ruins were just that…ruins, but we did find more signs of daemonite activity. There was an area they’d converted into outhouses, what was obviously a kitchen area, and there was a trash pile, large enough to show that the daemonites had been here for years. And through all of this, there were plenty of signs of daemon activity as well.

After awhile, Jass froze and said, “There are a couple daemons coming in our direction…”

“Good,” Nessa responded with a smirk. “They’ll tear you fuckers to pieces… You’ll pay for murdering my friends.”

“If the daemons find us,” Jass threatened, pointing her sword at Nessa’s throat. “You’ll die before we do.” Nessa paled at that.

“Are you recharged enough to take us back?” I demanded.

“No,” Nessa started, though I was sure she was lying…as was Jass who took a step closer to her. “Fine… I might have enough built up to make a small portal…”

I nodded faintly at that, pretty sure that she’d been planning on keeping that bit of information to herself. If she found an opportunity, she might have attempted to use a portal to escape, in which case she probably would have found that she couldn’t even go through it without us. Or maybe, she’d just planned on holding off, on keeping us here long enough for daemons to arrive and kill us for her.

“Even if you do get back,” Nessa announced, “It won’t do a bit of fucking good. It’s too late… You bitches are finally going to pay for what you’ve done.”

“For what we’ve done?” I demanded. “You’re the monsters who keep murdering innocent people…”

“They’re just humans,” she responded with a snort of disdain. “They’re soft and weak…prey. The strong eat the weak. It’s just nature.”

I stared at Nessa, horrified by her attitude. But of course, all daemonites seemed to be that way. She had been in daemon headspace, so she saw the way they thought and felt…and had picked up on it. In a way, I actually felt sorry for her, because whoever she’d been before becoming a daemonite was gone. Of course, she may have been a psychopathic bitch then too. I’d never know.

“You bitches are the real fucking monsters,” Nessa spat out furiously. “You murdered Bobby and Marcus… You’re the ones who’ve been keeping the daemons locked up here…for thousands of years. All they want is food, freedom and territory, and you keep them locked up as if they’re fucking animals…”

“Daemons are worse than animals,” Jass stated grimly.

“They’re nothing but monsters,” I agreed.

“You don’t understand,” Nessa snapped angrily, glaring back and forth between Jass and me. Then she suddenly grabbed my arm and exclaimed, “But you will…”

The moment Nessa grabbed me, I felt a surge of something rush into my arm and flood through my body. I let out a gasp of surprise and yanked my arm away from the daemonite, but it was too late. Whatever she was doing to me, she’d already done it.

Jass immediately had her sword at Nessa’s throat, demanding, “What did you do to her?”

“I just opened her eyes,” Nessa responded with an evil grin. She stared at me, looking surprisingly smug for someone who had a sword at her throat. “Let’s see you murder daemons when you can hear them…”

“Oh shit,” I exclaimed in understanding and horror.

“She’s turned you into a daemonite,” Jass hissed, glaring at me with a look of suspicion and pity. “I can feel the power settling in…”

“SHIT!” I repeated even more emphatically, using my senses to feel the foreign energies spreading through my body, trying to take hold. They hadn’t taken hold yet and I wouldn’t be a daemonite until they’d done that and transformed me. I grimaced, trying to remember what Estrid had said. Then before Jass could do something impulsive like ‘put me out of my misery’, I quickly blurted out, “Estrid said that this could be fought off…that you couldn’t become a daemonite unless you willingly accepted it.”

Jass seemed skeptical of that, and I couldn’t blame her. Any information that came from Estrid would have to be taken with a grain of salt, though in this case, I was REALLY hoping she’d been honest. In fact, was sure she’d been telling the truth. I refused to believe otherwise.

I wasn’t sure how to fight back against this infection of daemonite energy, but I tried pushing it away, tried willing my val to reject it. I felt it starting to happen, but the daemonite energy wasn’t going that easily. This wasn’t going to be quick and easy.

Nessa just grinned, not seeming to care that she had a sword at her neck. “It won’t be long, then you’ll see…”

“Shut up,” I snapped at her, knowing that if I hit her like I REALLY wanted to do, I’d probably end up breaking her neck. It took nearly every ounce of willpower I had to keep from doing that. It was bad enough being infected with this daemonite energy, but I refused to deal with that while being stuck here at the same time.

“I think you’re about recharged enough,” Jass snarled at Nessa. “Take us back…NOW.”

Nessa gulped, looking terrified again. She nodded and had a look of intense concentration on her face. The energies in my body seemed to respond a bit and I could feel what she was doing in an odd way. A moment later, the air ripped and tore, creating a portal.

“Come on,” I told Jass, grabbing Nessa firmly. “I’m not staying here a moment more.” And with that, I stepped through, dragging the daemonite with me.