Damiano thought he would go mad, until ice water flowed into the fire. It didn't quench it, but it was as if it filled the space around him, shielding him. Only now it felt like he might drown if it was there too long.

"Tera, enough!" Sofia's voice reverberated through him.

"Never enough," he heard himself say, but his voice barely sounded like him at all. "Release me or I will destroy him."

"You can't," Sofia replied, eyes bright blue. "He's stronger than you or you would have taken over the moment you entered him."

"I was biding my time," Tera replied through him.

"Lies," Sofia said. "It was only the turmoil of yesterday that allowed you to gather enough strength to attack, and even then you failed."

"He's mine," Tera hissed.

"He is his own," Sofia countered. "You will never win."

"Watch me."

"Leave the children be, Tera," Sofia said, her voice softening slightly. "You are dead, your body is gone. You had your time."

"I will never die," Tera snarled. "They will all be mine. I will use the link between them and I will have four new bodies."

"Damiano, sleep," Sofia said before the terror of that statement could sink in.

He hadn't been expecting it, and neither had Tera he guessed, because it was like a switch. One second he was aware and staring out of a body that barely seemed to be his own, the next there was nothing but darkness.

~*~

Damiano came back to awareness slowly, like swimming leisurely up to the surface from the bottom of the pool. He could see things above the water for a while, but they were all distorted and didn't make any sense until he broke the metaphorical surface. When he did, he discovered he was on his knees in a space he did not recognise, but that could have been any generic dungeon in any one of a hundred movies. The floor was stone, the walls were stone and light seemed to be ambient and coming from nowhere in particular.

There was a hand on his neck, holding him in place. He could feel long claws against his skin.

It felt as if he had woken into something and he did not move.

"Come any closer and I will destroy him," Tera snarled, confirming exactly what he could feel.

The claws dug into his throat for a second and he smelled blood. That woke his senses even more and he took in what he could see in front of him. What he saw stirred something inside of him.

There were Sofia, Victoria, Ethan and Thomas, only they didn't look like they had in the bedroom.

Sofia was dressed in a white hooded robe, like an ancient priestess or druid, her face framed by her pale hair in perfect ringlets. Her eyes were glowing bright blue. Victoria was to her right and she looked like an avenging angel, flaming sword, armour and wings to go with the look. To Victoria's right was Thomas, dressed like he was cosplaying from an anime, holding a huge axe. Tight pants and a waistcoat finished off the look. And to Sofia's left was Ethan looking as if he had just stepped out of the pages of a fantasy novel, hair plaited back to fall in a mane down his back, shirtless with leather trousers and long boots and a curved sword in both hands.

All of their eyes were glowing just as brightly as Sofia's, but with varying shades.

It was like some weird mismash of movies, but the power humming at the edges of Damiano's senses made him believe it was happening. He didn't understand how or where, but it was definitely happening.

"You cannot win, Tera," Sofia said, her voice echoing around the chamber like an ancient goddess.

"I can and I will, Little Rabbit," Tera replied, "you cannot defeat me."

"You lost the right to call me that a long time ago," Sofia replied, "and I am no longer the timid child you first met. Besides, Tera, it is not me who will defeat you."

"These pathetic children," Tera spat back.

Damiano met gazes with Victoria and he felt power sizzle up his spine. He could help the tiny movement he made at the shock. The grip on his neck tightened and he found his head forced to the side as Tera's thumb threatened to cut off the circulation to his brain.It hurt, but he bit his lip and refused to make a sound.

"You have no concept of what you created," Sofia replied, smiling sadly.

"They are mine," Tera snapped, "and if I cannot have them, I will destroy them."

"You can't," Sofia said, but she met Damiano's eyes, not Tera's as she spoke, "you have no power over them anymore. Together they are stronger than you or me."

Tera laughed.

"Deluded fool," she said.

But Damiano had got the message. He looked back at Victoria and this time he held her gaze. Energy sizzled up his nerves. Next he flicked his eyes towards Thomas, feeling his cells light up as vampire power flooded into him. Finally he looked to Ethan and it was like completing a circuit. His whole system was deluged, just like it had been when they achieved rapport, only this was not about sex and pleasure, it was about raw power.

"What..?" he heard Tera say, but as she tried to squeeze, he reached up, fingers going around her wrist and he tightened his own grip.

Claws ripped at his skin, but any pain was irrelevant as he pulled her hand away. He stood, turning as he did so, feeling himself changing as he moved. It occurred to him he had been wearing only soft pants, but by the time he was facing Tera he was in leather pants, boots and a chest harness, almost like some of his stage gear. Only this looked ready for battle. In his free hand he was also holding a long, deadly pike.

Tera did not look as twisted as she had in his nightmare, but her hands were distorted with the long claws that had been digging into his flesh, her teeth were sharp as she hissed at him, and her eyes were the insane red he remembered, but she was whole and her face was mostly human. With their combined power coursing through his body, however, she looked almost pathetic.

"Let go," he said and his voice echoed with all of theirs, as if they were all speaking at the same time. "Do not make us destroy you."

It was hard to think anything except straightforward thoughts as all their reactions mixed into one. Anything more felt like fighting against each other as they responded in their own individual ways.

Tera growled, bringing her free hand round in a swiping gesture even as she tried to free the arm he was holding. Damiano didn't move. He didn't have to because Ethan lunged, blocking Tera's blow with the back of one of his swords.

"Don't make us hurt you," Ethan said, and Damiano felt his own vocal cords vibrate, even as his voice joined with Victoria's and Thomas' to echo Ethan's.

"Remember who you were," Victoria spoke, stepping up to Damiano's shoulder, speaking for them all.

"Go on to what comes next," Thomas added with all their voices as he joined them.

"We don't want to cause you pain," Damiano told her.

"Weaklings! Pathetic children," Tera screamed at them.

Damiano released her hand. She staggered backwards a step. For a second the tableau held, Tera poised for attack, all four of them simply waiting. Something flickered in her expression, almost as if she was doing as Victoria asked, but Damiano saw the madness slam back into place. He knew the others did two as Tera screamed an animalistic battle cry and came at them.

Damiano moved first, bringing his pike down, so Tera threw herself onto it. It slowed her down, but her rage was so complete she barely seemed to notice she was impaled. Thomas swung his axe in from the side, biting into her thigh, causing her leg to collapse. Ethan struck from the other side, one sword joining Damiano's pike through Tera's chest, the other, cutting a line along the top of her grasping arm. Victoria moved in last, her flaming sword coming round, straight at Tera's neck.

It wasn't like a real fight, more like a video game against the final boss where the perfect combination of moves was guaranteed to destroy the enemy.

The moment Victoria's sword touched Tera's body everything stopped and Tera screamed. Not a scream of rage, but one of agony.

Damiano could not move as what felt like flame rushed through him. All he wanted to do was drop the pike and back away as that scream tore at him. He could feel the others' regret and disgust, mingling with his own, but none of them could stop this now.

Tera did not flail and bleed. In fact she did not seem to be able to move anymore than Damiano could, the only thing she was capable of being the terrible sound she was making. Where their weapons pierced her skin, she was glowing. It started red, like her blood, but over long, agonising seconds it grew brighter and brighter, going orange, then yellow, then white. It began to spread over her skin, obscuring the woman beneath, until she was nothing but a glowing caricature of what she had been.

The scream cut off, the light disappeared, only Tera was not gone. She was slumped on Damiano's pike and Ethan's sword, with her head lolling to one side where Victoria had sliced her neck. There was blood now, only she no longer looked like a monster. Tired, normal eyes opened and looked straight into Damiano's. For the first time meeting her gaze he did not feel afraid, but before he could react properly, she vanished.

As she went, so did the weapons. Damiano almost pitched forward as the weight he was braced against suddenly wasn't there anymore, but Ethan caught him.

"It is over," Sofia said from behind them and Damiano didn't know what to think.

It wasn't like waking up from a dream, more like taking off a VR headset when playing a computer game. Damiano blinked and his surroundings changed. He found himself back in normal clothes, sitting on the floor in the middle of the lounge, supported on one side by Victoria, the other by Thomas and from behind by Ethan. They were in a ring of candles, the curtains were closed, and Sofia was sitting directly in front of them.

Sofia's eyes were still bright blue, but as he looked into them, she also blinked and the blue faded.

"She's gone," he said, and there was no doubt in his words.

"Forever," Sofia confirmed.

Damiano had the strangest desire to laugh. He felt light and floaty and like a huge weight he hadn't even realised was there had been lifted from his shoulders. He was so euphoric that it took him a moment or so to realise the world was going kind of shiny. Everything turned various shades of silver and began dimming on the edges and he didn't have any say in the matter as he unceremoniously passed out.