"I will not tell you again, Carlos." Ross's voice was icier than the dead of winter. "If you don't knock Tora out cold, I will give you a week-long training marathon from dawn till dusk with no food during daylight hours."

Carlos turned white.

"You wouldn't."

"You want to try me?"

He swallowed, cold sweat breaking out over his face. Tora watched her. She knew it was a no-brainer. Carlos wouldn't sacrifice anything for rest and food, not even his beloved gaming consoles. She felt gingerly in the back of her mind for her telekinesis. Still nothing. The pot of golden liquid shimmered, enticing. Her throbbing neck still complained. She touched it; her fingers were icy on the hot skin. No doubt she'd have some impressive purple marks in an hour's time. Her nose and eyes had stopped running, however, for which she was thankful. She was not a pretty crier.

"It seems your fight isn't over," said Ross, giving Tora two pointed blinks.

Just as Carlos made to shimmer out of sight, Tora grabbed one of the sandbags stacked in the corner and threw them at him. His eyes, becoming translucent, widened. A dull thud sounded, followed by a shower of sand hitting the concrete floor, spilling all over the floor.

"Oh, man! You're clearing that up!"

"The loser does all the cleaning," said Tora with a grin, taking her stance. "And does the washing up after today!"

"You're making my life hell if I lose, Tor."

"Don't be a loser then." Despite the cockiness in her words, Tora couldn't shake off the feeling of unease as Ross crossed her arms – not without a wince – and observed.

Tora sprang forward. As expected, Carlos shimmered out of sight. Tora grinned. Carlos took the weight onto his back leg, about to strike her when she passed him, but she turned just before that point. Her momentum carried her body forward. She landed on her shoulder, taking the force into a roll. Carlos's fist whipped over her head, missing completely. Her extended leg swept backwards, connecting with his calf.

A shout sounded from above her head before he crashed onto the floor. Uttering an "oof", Carlos rolled out of the way of her next kick. His movement made a flurry of sand on the ground, marking his every action.

Tora didn't wait for his recovery. Carlos reacted too slow. A kick to his back – he shifted so her instep missed his spine – made him yell in pain. Hands clasped at her right ankle. She lifted her left to stamp on his wrist. He tugged, sending her crashing to the ground. Her brain surged with blood and her throat gave a spasm, making her gasp.

Her left foot kicked out, connecting with something soft. She heard a grunt, but the hands still clamped over her other ankle. She thrust her hands beneath her and pushed her body off the ground. Another tug sent her flat on her belly again, dragged backwards. Her elbows burned when the sand beneath ripped the skin apart. Pain shot down her hands, making her fingers tingle.

Her mind was blank throughout. Battle turned her instinctive, but a growing area of her mind kept a sharp eye on the pot. It was still full, not spilling. Her ability stayed flaccid and unresponsive.

A knee came down on her back.

She twisted, her neck straining. Sand dug into her skin, making her unseeing eye water. She breathed through the mouth; tiny particles caressed her chin.

Carlos knelt over her, sweat dripping down his face and panting. He still had her leg in one hand, preventing her from using any force with her lower body. His other hand was curled in a fist, drawn back.

"You gonna knock me out with one punch?" she said.

"Better you than me, man," was his answer.

The fist was coming. Tora struggled, but Carlos was bigger, heavier, with more muscle. Her spindly limbs flailing could have been feathers slapping him.

She dipped into the golden pot. On contact, energy surged through her body. Her soul was invigorated. Her eyes squeezed shut. She could almost glow.

Tora slipped out of that pot at lightning speed, but the overwhelming urge to tear flesh and eat came quicker than last time. For a moment, the euphoria melted into a desire for blood and death. Her hands curled, becoming talons. Spikes erupted along her spine. Her eyes melted into liquid gold and promised the apocalypse. Devastation and lava flowed the land.

With the sound of a heavy fruit hitting the floor, Carlos yelled expletives and leapt off Tora, shaking his fist. His voice jerked her back to reality. Blinking, she stared at her hands. Normal hands. Short nails. She pushed herself up with shaking arms. Normal pale flesh.

She blinked. The sand-covered floor of the basement came into sight. The foosball table stood a little way away. Crash mats piled neatly to the far side. The monkey bars, pushed into the corner, reflected the ceiling light. Two punch bags hung beside it.

No fire. No apocalypse.

No demon.

She sat up. Her back gave a twinge. Her breathing was shallow and rapid. Blood spun in her head, making comprehensive thoughts difficult.

Hisses of pain reached her ears. She blinked again.

Carlos sat against the nearby wall, clutching his fist. Drops of blood coursed down his wrist and stained his combat trousers. His teeth gritted so hard Tora could hear them grinding together from three metres away.

"You said your telekinesis was off!" he said, his words muffled.

"I thought they were!" Tora crawled forward on all fours and the injury came into sight. She whistled. "Holy crap."

The skin split across the knuckle, weaving over the tendons and knobbly surface. The bone structure was uneven. Something white, stained red, poked out of the flesh. Dark red bruising rose before her very eyes along his fingers, concentrating across the knuckle and the closets finger joints where he made contact with her shield. The more distant parts were turning black and blue. The fingers shook by themselves; the muscles jerked at irregular intervals.

"Wow."

"Ugh, I'm never fighting you again," said Carlos with a groan. "This will take at least two days to heal. What's going to happen if an alarm goes off?"

"Yeah, what's going to happen if Carlos and I both broke each other's spines and ended up bedbound for a week and the alarm goes off, Ross?" Tora shot at the lieutenant, irritation spiking every syllable. Ross had moved to the stack of crashmats beside the wall during the fight. She leant against it.

"Aww, poor diddums. Want Mummy to kiss it better?"

Carlos shuddered. "Please don't ever say that again."

"If you have a problem with me, take it out on me. Using Carlos with stupid threats like that is just pathetic."

Ross's lips curled.

"Or you can just confess, Tora. Who was that demon?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Tora's voice was barely steady. The uncertainty grated against her confidence like a pestle and mortar.

Carlos looked between the two girls, confused and nursing his hand still.

"You may have fooled Markl with your little act, but I see you for what you are."

"And what's that?"

"A traitor and a coward."

A blush moved up Tora's neck. Fire ripped up and down her back as her muscles stiffened. She gritted her teeth. Her fists curling tighter until they trembled, Tora glared daggers at the lieutenant.

"Funny I'm a traitor and coward considering I was the one who saved you from falling to your death."

"You say that," said Ross, her eyes narrowing, "but I don't believe you. We both know you don't have that power."

She left the remainder of that sentence hanging. Tora held back what she was going to say and, instead, sucked in a few breaths, counting to ten mentally.

"You assume you know a lot, Ross, but when you don't, you shouldn't pretend."

"I know you're every bit a demon as the ones we kill."

Tora stopped, disbelief emptying her mind of what she was going to reply.

"That's ridiculous," said Carlos, furrowing his brows. He stood up and turned towards Ross. "We've known Tora for over two years. There's no way she's a demon."

"Would you bet your life on that?"

"Sure."

Tora was taken aback, her eyes flicking to the back of Carlos's head for a fleeting moment before returning to Ross. If only Ross shared a fraction of his faith.

"Well, you're very stupid, Carlos. If you aren't careful, she'll kill you."

"What does Markl have to say about you saying all these things? You can't get away with these–these–"

"You see her denying any of these?"

Their eyes turned back to Tora. She swallowed, the anger still simmering in her chest.

"I'm not a demon."

Ross snorted.

"Just as one would say."

"She's nothing like anything we've ever fought! And she's Tora!"

"So you think we should keep a ticking time bomb on the team, then?" she shot at him.

"I... why are you asking me?" he asked, flustered. He glanced at Tora, his eyebrows knitted.

"You're part of the team, pea-brain. Or are you too stupid to make a choice?"

I swear Ross's personality got even grottier since she fell ten storeys, thought Tora.

"I want us to stay together, man. All this is too much trouble."

"Ah, the fence-sitter." Ross's tone was scathing. There was a brief silence as Tora looked at Carlos's wound again, for something to do.

There was a flurry of movement out of the corner of her eye. When she turned again, the eight crashmats in a stack were sliding over each other in a landslide towards her.

She froze. Wide and weighing twenty-five kilograms each, the results wouldn't be pretty if they were caught. Carlos looked up and yelled in alarm, but was too injured to move quickly.

Out of instinct, golden liquid sparked, filling her body. A glimmering shield materialised almost of its own accord.

The crashmats shuddered on contact and then slid, obedient, to the side. The shield vanished from sight, but the forcefield stood. With a few thumps, the other mats hit the ground, causing clouds of sand to flutter into the air. Carlos shuffled backwards, his mouth in an 'o' shape.

"Holy flipping cow, were you trying to kill us or something?" he said, staring at Ross with incredulity. "You've any idea how heavy those things are?"

Ross ignored him and instead surveyed Tora as she collapsed her shield. The rest of the mats tumbled onto the ground, creating more sand clouds. Tora turned, aware of the lieutenant's burning eyes.

"No telekinesis, huh," said Ross, her eyes like glaciers.

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