“You'd better.”
The demon pulls me up and shackles my wrists. I don’t pull against him, but then I have nothing left. No fight, no will, I am a barren wasteland.
“Where are you going?” Becky snaps.
“I need to show her why she is losing,” Diablos says in a voice I don’t recognise.
“She can’t see, Diablos. You can’t take her there,” Becky protests.
“Hush, Becks,” Wilder says. “Mei needs this.”
“She doesn’t need to see with her eyes,” Diablos growls. “Mei is the most ferocious warrior the worlds have ever seen, and she can’t see, but she can be better. She can be more.”
I tilt my head.
“More? If I was more, could I save them?”
“Yes, you could save them.”
He takes a step, and we’re falling. My stomach drops violently, and then we stop. It’s hot here, like the desert wind, with a scent that I identify as that of demons.
“Diablos!” a voice snarls.
I turn in that direction, hearing the beating of massive wings that come closer and closer.
The minute I step towards the winged creature, I understand my nature, I understand what I am. I dance on the cracked surface of the earth, moving faster and faster. Runes blaze out of my skin into the air without me even trying.
Shape changing, skin changing, witch, strega, healer, killer, mate, omega, queen, lover, friend, enemy, ally.
We collide in a boom that sends a shock wave throughout the world.
“Who are you?” he hisses. “Tell me who you are.”
I can’t see him. I can’t grow back my eyes, but I let the fake shape I created to protect myself in Nightmare slide away.
“There she is,” the voice says.
The winged creature steps back. I can sense his approval, the bitter urge to attack slides away, leaving a throbbing curiosity. I remember his scent from the beach, like fire and ice. What was his name?
Annileo.
“This is the Healer of Nightmare,” Diablos says.
“She’s not one of them,” Annileo says coldly. “She’s one of us.”
“Yes, she is.”
I can sense him circling me as easily as if I could see him, his scent is so rich in the air, so potent. It doesn’t appeal to me, but it doesn’t make me want to gag either.
“You don’t know what you are,” he snarls.
I bare my teeth as my skin ignites with runes.
“I am Mei. I don’t need to know who I am.”
“You don’t know how to control it.”
There’s a beat of silence.
