Jessamine's throat ached from her screaming. She'd said the name Avery so much that it no longer made sense in her mind. She'd tried different intonations, different volumes, different levels—crouched, on her tip-toes, sideways, backwards—to no avail.

Avery wasn't answering, or wasn't in proximity to the door. Ignoring her, avoiding her pain, disgusted with having had to speak to her before? Or was he in danger?

She saw the door from afar, taunting her to come closer, to reach out for it, to burn herself while trying to touch it. But she'd learned her lesson earlier, when the spiked vines had wrapped around her skin and plunged into her. A hallucination it might have been, but that didn't change the agony she'd experienced. A very real, very stabbing agony that she doubted she'd forget about any time soon.

"You need to face the facts, doll," said Landon, who'd opted to stand closer to her this time, squinting towards the door as Jessamine yelled. "He's not there, he's not coming back, and even if he does, he can't save you."

"I don't want him to save me." She seethed, clenching her fists at her sides as she lowered her voice. "I want him to tell me it's okay to do whatever is possible to save this realm. A realm that probably shouldn't be saved, but..."

"I'm telling you to save it." Landon extended a hand, peering around at the damage crawling towards them. "Is my word not enough? Is Avery's agreement all that matters to you? We have history, Jess, and I know I fucked up when it comes to you. I know I treated you like shit. But you know I wouldn't lie to you, not about this. We're on a time-crunch, here, in case you hadn't noticed." He waved his hands about him, gesturing at all that had been going on.

Jessamine had been so busy screeching for Avery that she hadn't spotted the slight change in scenery; the darkened skies were now orange and choked by fumes, and the surrounding air smelled of fire and burning wood.

She pried her gaze from the door to fully witness all the distant forests set aflame, smoke swirling up past the tree-tops and into the clouds. Red lightning streaked overhead, and the gloom from before was more pronounced, more apocalyptic.

"Fuck," she placed her hands on her knees and bent forward, "I can't do this. I can't do this."

Landon marched over to her, grabbing her arm to heave her upright. "Hey," he slid his fingers between hers, "seriously, do you not trust me? Why do you need this dude's confirmation to work with the demons?"

Jessamine snarled at him, ripping from his grip. "I don't trust you, Landon. Yes, you're right, we have history, but it's bad history, okay? You led me here! It was you and Angela who got me into this mess by alluring me, lying to me!" She spun to the door, wishing it were nearer, wishing Avery were behind it and listening to all this. "And it's not okay to work with the demons, we both know it. They don't want us to work with them, they want to possess us. Wake up and understand that. We'd be voluntarily giving them all that they want, and it'll be all over for us."

"I already understand that." Landon perked up, eyes narrowing. "I accepted their proposal while you were busy screaming your lungs out for someone who won't come and can't do anything if he does. We have to give them what we want, otherwise we're giving up our souls, our bodies. We won't survive whatever the fuck is coming out of those portals. You're gonna have to make an executive decision here, doll."

"Doll," she spat, scowling at him as he stood there all proud and prepared—or thinking he was prepared. "Don't call me that, ever."

A weak smile slid over Landon's lips. "You used to love it when I called you that."

"Yeah?" Jessamine stomped a foot. "Well, three years have passed, and I sort of started hating you since you disappeared on me and I had no idea why. I woke up in a fucking hospital, was lied to about what had happened to me, and you were gone. You were gone. Nothing is as it was before, Landon."

Landon's smile fizzled and he frowned as he dared a step closer to her. "You know damn well that wasn't my fault."

"But you led me to the house. Destiny or not, you started this." Jessamine folded her arms to ensure he wouldn't snatch her hand again. "And now you're leading me towards a decision I cannot and will not make. It's not fair. If you decided to help them, that's on you; you can't pressure me into making the same mistake."

She spotted the red glob of a demon a yard or so away, its big black eyes fixed on the oncoming chaos. The forest fires spread over the once sepia-toned dirt, scorching their way over the dried ground, lighting up the otherwise darkened area. How the flames could expand with no grass or bark, Jessamine didn't know; but in a magical, morose dimension such as this one, and with portals opening and unleashing who the hell knew what... she was sure there were plenty of explanations.

I don't want to hear any of them.

"You don't understand, though you think you do." She gestured at the demon. "Those things are malicious. Devils, literally. Pure, disembodied, soul-snatching monsters. They're evil incarnated, Landon. Thousands of them were in my body, regulating my every move, making me murder people for their own satisfaction. And now you're telling me it'd be best if I let them back in, to save a place I'm not sure should ever be saved?" She snorted. "Would it be that bad if this realm were to succumb to flames? I don't think so."

The demon zoomed over, having apparently heard her speech from afar. It pressed as close to Jessamine as possible, and she recoiled, falling onto her ass as she gawked up at the red being.

"Get the fuck away from me," she hissed, raising her arm in defense, as if it'd stop the demon from possessing her if it wanted to.

"I'm not supposed to be anywhere near those doors," he motioned at the exit from the realm, "but I can't listen to this anymore. We need you, Jessamine." His voice was distorted, shooting through Jessamine and eating her on the inside. "You're the strongest, the prophesied vessel. If we have you, we don't need any other humans to help. We wouldn't need to communicate with the outside world to beg for assistance. And we need assistance, you can't deny that."

The demonic world was burning, crumbling, falling apart. The flaring sky looked ready to collapse on top of them, and the smoke had grown so thick that even from afar, Jessamine sensed its tendrils spiraling into her nostrils, filtering into her lungs to suffocate her. Sweat pearled on her forehead, heat rose up and down her limbs.

Things were in the sky. Things that weren't birds or demons; things she couldn't identify.

The creatures let loose in this dimension were on fire, literally. They sprinkled flames like they were raindrops and left death in their wake. And death in an already dead realm... was that possible? What would it mean for her, a living, breathing human?

"They're getting closer," said the demon, distancing itself from Jessamine as Landon helped her to her feet. "You think we are bad, but you wait. Those things that are escaping the portals? You couldn't see them before, but you're about to, now. The fires they set in their wake are inextinguishable ones, and if those flames reach you before we're able to infiltrate your system..."

A sharp screech drew Jessamine's attention to the sky. The creatures were no longer blobs; they were skeletal, black-winged beasts. They flew below the clouds, their skull-like faces so vivid, so close-up despite their soaring in the sky, that Jessamine muffled a gasp. Their beaks snapped, the sound echoing across the area, mixing in with the flickering flames that were beginning to encircle her, coming from all sides of the dimension.

What in the circles of hell bullshit is this?

"I can't." She gulped, tugging her gaze away from the creatures flying overhead, threatening to swoop down and scoop her up to likely drop her into the heart of the flames. To watch her ignite, turn to ashes. Or maybe to eat her whole.

That might be better than living through all this.

"You'll ruin me," she said, sensing her cheeks warm up, her eyes clogging with liquid. "I don't think you realize how scarred I already was when you all possessed me. And now... what good am I to you? I'm damaged. You destroyed my soul, destroyed me. How do you think I can help?"

"Your strength," said the demon, his eyes widening, insistent. "You may be under the impression that you're destroyed, but you're not. Best of all—you're alive, Jessamine. A real-life human in this realm is unheard of, and you'll terrify the things crawling out of their cages. Your presence here is unnatural, and that'll throw them off. That's what we need."

"Okay," she blew out a shaky breath, "then why possess me at all? Tell me where to go, and I'll go there and look them in the eye and order them to go back into their cages. Wouldn't that be enough?"

"No." The demon actually looked apologetic, his eyes slanting, his timbre taking on a low, saddened tone. "It's your human presence plus our powers that'll get us through this. I said it would throw them off and terrify them—but it won't stop their invasion. And you think they'll only ruin this realm? They'll move on to others until nothing is left. These things... they don't want any world to survive, unlike us demons. You thought we were the malicious, evil ones; you had no clue, Jessamine. No clue."

Landon crept up to her and massaged her shoulders. She wanted to shove him off, but the pressure felt good, his fingers molding into her skin. He'd always been so skilled at calming her down, at getting her to shut her mind off. But she wanted her mind to work right now more than ever. She wanted to stay in this moment, focused, to figure out what to do.

This isn't a decision I can make lightly, and they need to realize that.

"Look," the demon's voice grated, growing more malevolent, "the thing is, I don't have to ask your permission. You know as well as I do that demons don't need authorization to possess someone. We do what we please. And you being our fated vessel... we do not need to wait around."

Through the demon's blob of a body, Jessamine saw the fires inching nearer. The stench infested her nose, and she sensed she wouldn't be able to hold in her coughs much longer.

"We're doing you a favor, a kindness." The demon's eyes slitted, then reopened, as if he'd been wincing. "And we don't have to. We're not obligated to you in any way. So wouldn't it be better for you to accept us, instead of us attacking you and entering without consent? Wouldn't you rather make the choice yourself?"

Landon's fingers dug deeper into her shoulders. "Let them in, Jess. It's temporary. They'll get out, and we'll be safe, yeah? That's what matters."

"Who's to say they won't stay inside me?" She swallowed, and gently removed Landon's fingers from her. "Who's to say their possession won't become permanent?" She whispered, her voice cracking with fear. "They lie. They lie all the time. There's no difference now, in this situation."

Though she'd meant her words for Landon alone, the demon approached her. "We can't stay inside you," he said, almost sounding sad, disappointed. "We're not really able to possess anyone in this realm, but you're a different case. We can be inside you for a limited time, and we plan to use that time wisely to block the escaped creatures from eviscerating our realm and turning it into dust. But if you decline us, it makes it harder for us to get into your mind. Harder for us to succeed. Consent... gives us more power when we're inside you."

She scrunched her eyebrows, wanting to believe, wanting to trust, but unable to lower her guard that much. "Harder... what does that mean? What would happen if I refused? You'd take over, we'd beat these guys, maybe... and then what?"

"If you refuse, it's possible we won't manage to possess you entirely, since this realm's rules are different. And I'd focus more on what happens if we can't stop this menace." The demon backed away. "You may be alive now, Jessamine; but if we don't seal those gates up, every last one of them... you will die. You'll have no chance of ever getting out. And you'll become a demon, a real one. Not a woman possessed by demons, but actually one of us in your own right. Without a body, without a conscience, with no purpose but to escape and reshape the world. To slice throats and drink blood to refuel. I know you loathed that more than anything else. So think hard on what you'd like to do, and how badly you'd like to live."

She was about to open her mouth and protest when the demon's comments hit her. "Chance of getting out... you're saying there is a way out, if I'm alive?"

Landon moved from behind her and settled at her side. "I'm willing to bet you guys know much more than you claim about entering and exiting this realm, huh?"

The demon shrugged. "I make no promises, nothing I can't be certain of. But I do believe there's a means for you to escape, Jessamine. You weren't supposed to be alive in here, yet you are. It's a matter of time before the realm wants to spit you out. You're a contaminant; a human whose heart still beats. You're abnormal, here."

The debate raging inside Jessamine's brain grew more intense. Accepting the demons within her was something she'd sworn to never do again. But if it saved Landon, saved her, and gave her a shot at leaving this dreadful place alive... if it helped save everyone in the main realm...

What more did she have to lose?

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