The underworld comes back to me in faint color as the dusk lighting filters in through a balcony I don't remember having. With the air so still, tiny particles of dust float undisturbed in the glow of a moon with various colors reflecting on its surface.

Eternal Darkness.

In the vague light, my eyes blink open to establish the strange brightness of color inside my closet. Familiar pieces of blue and green, largely cardigans and a few pairs of jeans all come into focus.

Demetri had followed through on his unnecessary promise, bringing me some semblance of home. Almost knowing exactly what would bring me any sense of calm, no matter how awful it felt to know I might not ever get to wear them again. Alive or dead.

The small sympathy means the world to me.

The pants to my discarded uniform are crumpled on the ground, the tight fabric still clinging to me more than uncomfortable.

Without thinking, I get up and pry the leathery fibers from my body and throw them on top of the pants. I find a loose large shirt and pull it on, stumbling out to find food.

A tiny shriek shakes me when my eyes land on Demetri reading a newspaper. He merely raises a brow in my direction but doesn't look. "You're going to need more than underwear for the next trial, Doll."

I scoff and glance behind me. "So what? I get to parade around like a ninja again?"

"I figured you were a coffee person," he smirks. Still respectfully averting his gaze, Demetri tosses a finger towards a steaming mug. "I had some made to curb your appetite and keep that tongue on a leash."

"How thoughtful," I smile begrudgingly, his playful nature melting away my serious and all around bitter mood.

Without thinking too much of it, I go back and pull on the stretched suit and adjust in the uncomfortable leather. After a time, I won't feel it anyway.

We don't talk for a few minutes, but his attention doesn't change until I'm fully dressed and holding the caffeine in hand.

Demetri's eyes are searing today, the golden light laced with daggers slicing everywhere they land. Raw anger - perhaps something more aligned with hurt - dwells there. The sympathy once drawing out the best in me coils up and retreats like a snake.

A hundred questions whisper in my mind but all that comes out stings worse. "Are we going then?"

He nods, rising from the couch and escorting me firmly from the apartment. I notice, however, his touch as gentle as normal resting in the small of my back.

We skip the dining hall.

I'm led to a room I've never been to before in a hallway that looks ancient and unfamiliar. Demetri's frame is stiff, shoulder squared and full outfit on today. His cape flutters behind him and brushes up against my calves every so often.

Taking the last few sips from my coffee and setting it on a table as we pass, I try studying him for some further answer, but the Reaper yields nothing to me.

We enter a strange room, black marble like all the rest and he shoves the door closed behind me. It's empty. Of course, everything is worse than it seems to my eyes, but I can't help but wonder what theatrics this specific space is programmed with.

He stops to face me, dead in the middle of a circle. I bump into his shoulder ever so slightly.

Demetri looks at me and sighs, eyes cooling down to a simmer. "Your challenge today will not be easy, but I cannot stomach letting you enter without some practice first."

"Practice?" I ask, tilting my head slightly and looking around the room again. "What could we possibly be practicing in here, Demetri?"

He smiles a gentle, pained smile that doesn't reach his eyes. "I want you to knock me out of this circle."

"Physically?"

"Yes."

"Knock you-?"

"Yes."

"Out of the circle?"

Demetri laughs and nudges me playfully. "Hey, it looks like someone went to school."

"Why is knocking you out of a circle practice?"

He takes a step back and shoos me into doing the same. We're equidistant from the outside of the ring and apart from each other.

My best guess is that something about this trial is what's bothering him, though I'm not entirely sure what it could possibly be. Demetri was never involved in my challenges.

"Knock me out of the circle."

"Demetri, my abilities are evasive, I don't have superhuman strength or speed, I can't bully you out of a circle anymore than I can fly to the moon."

Ignoring everything I just said, he laughs. "Remind me to take you to the moon someday, it's pretty boring."

Closing my eyes and taking a deep breath, I feel myself start to disappear into thin air when he grabs my wrist. Startled, I open my eyes and gasp at the empty air he's holding. "What a-"

"You said it yourself, Holly. That is an evasive power, so find the ones that aren't."

My brows furrow. "What are you talking about? I have more than one?"

He only gives me a look.

I pour through every vein in my body and seek out the individual licks of smoke and shadow I felt once before. The pounding in my chest comes back, that insane thrashing as if an animal wants to burst forward and fight. Protect. The only thing I can think to focus on is that intense surge of pressure and force.

It builds up, tingling in my arms and legs before a pull takes everything from me. My eyes open and a cloud of dark energy drains from me and onto the floor, morphing into a large dog, a wolf whos back meets my shoulder in height.

Its eyes are a gentle lime green swirled with licks of grey, the pelt somehow defined but without solid form.

Demetri watches us both with a critical eye, assessing each movement carefully.

The large animal looks at me, analyzing me. Slowly, it bows before me as if in respect.

"You're more of a natural at this than anyone else is, that's for sure," Demetri says, walking around and inspecting the wolf. "Some of the others still don't know they're capable of anything."

I snicker, remembering David's inability to do more than flex for the second trial. "Yeah, I think I have an idea who."

"The surviving contestants are Noah, David, Lyric, and Seb. Besides your lovely self of course."

I sigh and realize that means that Wyatt passed at well.

Five of us left.

Each passing minute grows heavier in this contest, nearly suffocating even. Before I know it a few tears running down my face. Shoving my sleeve over my eyes, I feel the brush of weight against me and once again focus on the large animal.

"How do I command it?" I whisper groggily, ignoring the emotion in my voice.

Demetri looks at the dog and smirks, shrugging. "Every animal is different. Why not address it, instead of me?"

"Can you speak?" I ask.

To you, a soft feminine voice answers in my head.

"What's your name?"

The wolf places its head under my hand and nuzzles into it a little bit. You may call me, Morana.

Pushing my hands into my face I sigh and start panicking. I don't know how to use her, I don't know how to tell another living being what to do. Maybe she doesn't attack, maybe she's just a distraction.

Holiday, I'll do as you instruct, I am one with you.

I nod and close my eyes visualizing to the best of my ability everything I want to happen. Morana nods as if to agree.

Looking up, I don't warn Demetri. No training in the world could prepare me to fight something ancient and sarcastic. Not to mention my inexperienced, young self-doing things I've only seen in movies.

Charging him head on, he intercepts my wrists and gives me a look. Surprised but also amused. He tries to push me away but I kick out my feet between his legs and try to hook them out from under him, falling back just in time for Morana to slam into his chest.

Demetri slips and lands on his back, halfway out of the circle. Cheap, but worthwhile, I kick into his leg hard enough to slide him the rest of the way.

On the ground, he starts laughing. "Wow, well, that is resourceful, I'll give you that."

Getting up, I walk over and reach down to help him up. Instead of using the help, he grabs me in a whirlwind of movements and pulls me underneath him with a forearm on my throat.

"You're going to have to be smarter if you're going to kill me," he says quietly.

My eyes widen and I choke a little bit. "Kill you?"

The gold in his irises flickers and darkens before he gets off of me effortlessly and turns his back to me. "We should head to the next trial."

"Demetri," I rasp, throwing myself off the ground and transport myself in a blur to his side. My fingers dig deep into his bicep and yank him back. "What are you talking about?"

"That is the final task. If you want to win, you're going to have to kill me."

The wolf, once sitting patiently back in the ring, blinks, and shifts back into my chest in a twisting tunnel of energy.

Frozen in place, I start shaking and cover my mouth with my hand. Every word I can possibly think of jumbles up in my mouth and drowns my tongue. "K-Kill you..."

"We need to get back," he manages, a steel chill protecting the words. "You have one more trial left before we need to worry about that."

"Demetri... I won't kill you."

"Then I'll have to kill you," he replies, something breaking inside of him as the entire posture of his body threatened to change.

I stutter in response, but Demetri doesn't wait to hear anything else.

He leaves me alone, disappearing in a burst of light.

Leaving my reality shattered.

Total Word Count: 17,975

This story is getting to a point where I worried it wouldn't. I'm honestly so happy that I'll actually have a finished book for the first time in a while. It's been a long time since I've completed a paranormal work. 

Thank you all for reading up to this point. 

Have a great night!