Warning: sexual violence and gore ahead.

19.

I am reeling from the shock of seeing Danny again, living and breathing, despite the very real fact that I put a bullet through his brain.

I soon have to get a grip, however, because he and the no-name Demon are walking directly towards me down the hall. I look around for a room to duck into before they reach the end.

I settle for a broom closet that smells like moth balls and decaying something. I'm sure I'm stepping on rat bodies, or something of that nature.

I'm still, not even daring to breathe as I hear their voices grow closer.

"They're here now, she said Ebony's inside the building.  Can't wait to get my hands on that bitch. Won't she be surprised? Takes more than a bullet to kill me."

"I'm going to get the surgery soon. Can't wait," says No-name. "Maybe Ebony will be mine?"

Danny scoffs. "I deserve her more than you. Look at everything I've done for the Necro Proxy, for the Underworld. I was their damn guinea pig."

"Get off your high horse. You got a hot blonde as your Sync, anyway."

"But Ebony..." My skin prickles at his tone, a possessive one. "I don't know. I like the ones with fight. Her soul would probably taste really good."

"Whatever, man. You aren't the one who calls the shots. Once we pick off S.H.A.D.E., there will be no one on Earth who can stop us from dominion."

"I hear the Demon Lord's daughter has returned. You know-- that one."

No-name laughs, and both come around the corner, walking in front of the closet. I watch them pass through the slits in the door.

"No bitch is gonna stop us. We have these chips now, and the healing antidotes. I can't wait for Doom's Day."

"The sooner we kill off S.H.A.D.E., the better. That includes Gray. Guy thinks he's hot shit, thinks he's our superior. A fucking human -- our livestock. And if he thinks that he's gonna get Ebony, I'll rip his heart out of his chest myself. Now, Jade says that they're just outside the gate, hiding in the thick of the trees. Stupid humans, don't they know? But I guess the mice always try to hide from the owl..."

Their voices fade away down the hall.

I am paralyzed by shock for a few seconds. Jade. A Sync for the Demons. An agent.

Yes. Yes, of course.

Why lie about the bars on the window, why hinder our escape? Why refuse to leave the basement that had been her prison?

"I thought your chips were disabled?"

How did she know our chips were disabled? How did she know that Copper was my Sync?

"Gray helped me escape."

Her freedom in exchange for her service to the Necro Proxy. To help take down S.H.A.D.E., the ones who turned their back on her.

She was never a prisoner. It was all staged. She is the best actress I have ever seen.

.... and Copper?

"Copper! They know we are here, don't trust Jade, she--"

The closet door wrenches open, and Danny's reptilian smile is all I can see.

He grabs my arm, flinging me out of the closet and against the wall.

"You think I wouldn't notice you are here?" His body pins me and his lips graze my neck. "You think I wouldn't recognize the smell of your skin?"

I struggle against him, but his Demon strength makes me look pitiful. "Don't touch me!" I scream.

"Ebony? Ebony?"

Danny's hands slide around my waste, cupping my butt and giving it a squeeze. I suppress a gag.

"Do you know the things I want to do to you? And it would make us even, since, you know, you tried to kill me."

My heart races and I slam my hands against his chest, but he is unmovable.

"Ebony! Answer me!"

Before I totally give in to my panic, I feel her at my back, pressing into it like a reminder. Bellona.

Danny's hands travel up to my breasts, squeezing them so hard I cry out in pain and my eyes water. "I don't usually like humans, but there's something about you. The way you cleared those floors of Demons-- well, I really got off on that. Grey doesn't deserve you, and neither does Copper."

I let him grind up against my body, my lip trembling. Let his hands slide up my shirt, feeling like maggots consuming my skin.

When he is good and close, distracted by my body, I move my hand back carefully, unlatching Bellona. The axe falls to the floor with a thud, and Danny pulls back.

I grab the handle and as swiftly as possible, shove it into his stomach. Of  course, this doesn't hurt him, but it does get him the hell off me.

I take a swing at him, but he zooms to the side, out of dodge. A deadly kick lands on my back, and I stagger, crying out in pain. But I will not let him touch me again. I would rather die.

I ignore the pain and latch onto my fury. Pretending to be finished, I whimper on the floor.

"See? That's what I like about you. I just want to break you-- show you who's boss. Yeah, you deserve someone better than Copper. I've been made invincible, I'm like a God. You're perfect for me. How would you like to be the pet of a God?" he asks, strolling over to me, his intent in his eyes. He wants to violate me right here and now. "I can heal from anything, I can take anyone down! Even the Demon Lord himself."

He grabs my hips, begins yanking at my clothes.

My hands curl around my axe handle, Bellona cool and sturdy, a grounding force. I see my reflection in her blade. I am not terrified, I am not scared of this pathetic creature. I will show him the wrath of a God.

When I hear Danny unbuckling his belt, I fly around like a storm, my blade splitting the air as it sails towards his neck. He pushes himself back just in the knick of time, but I feel the heat of my anger behind my eyes, knowing what it means.

I release it with a blink, and he is catapulted backwards down the hall.

No-Name comes out from a room, his look of confusion quickly diminishing into menace.

I blast him back too, his body slamming against the wall in such a way that I hear his neck snap.

Danny is getting to his feet, a crazed smile on his face. "You think you can hurt me?"

The heat grows stronger. I focus it all on him and his body straightens out on the floor, pinned. He squirms, trying to break the hold, smile falling from his face.

I walk toward him slowly, readying my axe. "I want to thank you," I say, my voice incredibly measured, "You'll be this axe's first kill. I cannot think of anyone better for the honor."

"You dumb whore! I'm immortal! You can't kill me! I'll heal, and then I'll tear your body to shreds! I'll heal, you hear me?!"

I look him in the eye. "Heal from this."

I bring the full weight of my axe down onto his jugular, a satisfying spurt of blood soaring into the air at the impact. Danny's head is severed clean off, his mouth still open from his screams.

I am different from before. I know why. It's because now I know why these things have to die.

"Copper?"

"Oh, thank God.  Oh god. I thought--"

"I killed Danny, but before that he said--"

"Danny? What the fuck?! I'm coming, I'm coming to get you!"

My blood runs cold and I begin sprinting down the hall, towards the exit. "No! Drive away! Get away from here! They're coming for you! Jade--"

As I come around the corner, a fist like a hammer comes down right on top of my head.

And it's lights out.

***

I am back here again, in the Blank Room.

Except it's no longer blank.

Images float around me, some good, some bad. This is who I am now.

I watch my memories, snapshots of my time as a Shade, as Ebony.

Sprinting through the industrial plant, Indigo wrapping me in a blanket, Grey smoking his cigarette in the dark. Scarlet... and Iris, sharing a kiss, both smiling against each other's lips. My Swatch, laughing together in the Impala. Them being murdered.

And Copper, lowering his hood in the moonlight of the desert, gripping the steering wheel of the truck as he apologizes, kneeling with me at the memorial, patching up my shin, lying in bed with me, a smile on his face.

His face when he saw Jade again for the first time, how he looked at her with affection. How he dropped my hand.

"I'm such an idiot."

I whirl around, and there he is, standing in the center of the endless room.

I run to him, throwing my arms around him.

"Jade..."

"I know. I'll take care of her. She tried to keep us outside the gate, but I made everyone leave. Scarlet didn't come back either."

I pull away from him, horrified. "No... Oh god, please no."

"We don't know for sure that she's dead. You're still alive, that means there is hope. I will come for you." His hands cup my face. "So don't be afraid."

"I'm not afraid."

He smiles down at me. "I know you aren't." His form glitches. "I'm waking up, I must have dosed off in the car for a second. Soon as I'm awake, I'm gonna light that warehouse up. Onyx is ready to go as well."

"They're strong, but their arrogance is their weak spot. It's their fatal flaw. Be smarter than them," I exhale a shuddering sigh,"and for god's sake, please be careful.

He pulls me to his chest, but his form flickers worse than before.

"I'm going. Wait for me."

I lean forward, sliding my hands around his waist, and kiss him like we will never see each other again.

Why had I waited so long? Iris' death showed me how fragile life is, how we should embrace any moment, especially moments of love.

We pull away breathless. "I'll always wait for you."

His beaming smile is the last thing I see before he glitches out.

I stand in the room, looking at the beauty and the horror that surrounds me, preparing myself for whatever awaits me when I wake up, holding onto that kiss.