The familiar heavy sensation wakes me and I open my eyes to a dim haze.

No. It's happening again.

I feel my heart thump in my chest and I pinch my eyes shut, hoping that playing asleep is an option. After half a minute, I hear a laugh that is unmistakably Victor's.

No no no.

"Faking asleep won't work with me, Sam. I'm not in the fucking mood." His voice thunders through the room and every muscle in my body tenses.

I stay still, paralyzed by fear and lacking any better options.

I just want you to leave me alone. I just want to sleep. No dreams, no nightmares—just sleep.

"You know how I know you're not asleep?" I feel the mattress dip under his weight as he sits beside me and I do my best to keep my breathing unshaken. "Because you can't be asleep in your dreams."

I feel his breath at the back of my neck and a deep discomfort creeps beneath my skin, urging me to jump away. When I feel his tongue in my ear, I launch off the other side of the bed with a piercing shriek.

"And suddenly you're awake," he says with a laugh. But I know this laugh—it's not the chesty laugh he makes when he finds something funny, no. It's the vindictive laugh of a man who wants to make you pay.

"What do you want?" I ask, shaking as I back up against the wall beside the bed.

He gives me a dark glare and replies in a low voice.

"Who... the fuck... is Zara?"

"What?"

He appears suddenly in front of me, grabbing my neck, and pinning me against the wall. The quick motion knocks the air out of me and I instantly start clawing at his hands on my neck.

"Who is Zara and why is he with you in the middle of the night?" he growls.

In an instant, warm light floods the room and I'm freed, gasping for air as Victor launches backward off of me. He crashes into the wall, the impact rattling the house. Another figure stands between us, one that I recognize: Kieran, the cute bartender.

What the fuck?

I cough as I watch, trying to make sense of what's happening.

"What the fucking fuck are you doing?" Kieran asks, hovering above Victor, who quickly rises to his feet.

"Me??" he sneers. "Who the hell are you and why are you in my girl's dream?"

"Your girl?" He turns to me with a smirk, then back to Vic. "If you have to lay your hands on someone to get them to be with you, they're not yours. Do the fucking math, dude."

Vic winds up to punch Kieran, but he freezes mid-swing, as if time has stopped.

"Who are you?" he grunts, seemingly unable to move.

"Oh, my bad." Kieran smiles, crosses his legs, and does a 360-degree spin. He stops with his hands raised, palms up, and a red glowing neon sign appears above him.

The Demon King of Lust.

Vic narrows his eyes and his posture falls as he's seemingly released from whatever hold Kieran had. Kieran turns to me and smiles.

"What do you think?" He looks up at the neon sign still hovering above his head, then back to me. "Too much?"

I open my mouth to speak, but no words come out.

"Speechless?" Kieran asks. "I get that a lot."

"You're not Asmodeus," Vic snarls. "He is the true king. You're a pretender to the throne."

"Oh great, a loyalist. Well, Asmodeus is dead, and I've got his powers. And I know you're aware I've made changes."

"So I've heard." Vic rubs his neck and huffs. "Staking is forbidden, huh?"

"Yeah, also, new rule—don't use your powers to stalk your ex like an insecure bitch who can't let go."

There's a flurry of motion as Vic launches toward him with a roar, but Vic collapses to the ground before he ever reaches him.

"Dude," Kieran says, shaking his head. "You really don't get how this works, do you? I can literally control you with my mind. Not only that, but I can control anything in the dream realm. How exactly do you think you're gonna fight me?"

"You can't kill me here," he snaps, sounding almost feral. "So what do you want?"

"I want you to leave her the hell alone, creep. Because, yeah, I can't kill you here. But if you push me, I'll find you and make you eat your own intestines."

"And what are you going to do with her?" He gestures to me like I'm just a prop in their discussion.

"I'm not going to let you get to her, if that's what you're asking."

Kieran holds his palm out toward him and Victor's image blurs until it's gone. He turns back to me with a soft, sympathetic smile.

"Are you okay?" he asks.

I walk around the bed and sit down on his side.

"Wha-... What happened just now?" I ask. "What was that?"

"Which part?" He sits beside me but leaves some distance between us.

I don't know what to make of any of it, really.

"How are you in my dreams? Is this a dream, even?"

"Do you want the truth, or do you want to feel better?"

I've never been the type to shy away from the truth, so I'm not about to start now.

"Truth."

"We both have the ability to enter people's minds and dreams, but this isn't exactly a dream. It's more like a plane of existence. It's the subconscious, really. A way-station between dreams and reality."

"Why does it look like my bedroom?"

"I'm not really sure. It always looks like the place you fall asleep, but there's no world beyond it."

"You can't see out the windows..." I mumble, remembering what Victor had said before.

"Yeah, that's true."

His eyes meet mine and I find myself swooning a bit. Apparently I'm so hard up that I'm now crushing on a fictional dream man.

Man? Is he even human?

"What are you?" I ask. "And Victor?"

"He's an Incubus. I'm sort of the king of Incubi."

"Incubus?"

I'm not one who's usually at a loss for words, but I find myself just repeating his word as a question.

"Do you know what an Incubus is or would you like me to explain?" He leans his elbows on his knees and looks at me.

Aren't they the band that does 'Megalomaniac'?

"It's a mythical creature or something, right?"

"An Incubus is a demon that looks like a man and can visit your dreams. When they look like women they're called a Succubus."

This is a lot to process. I feel like I've gone so far past delusional, but I can't ignore that I'm talking to this man inside my own dream and I just saw him control Victor with his mind.

His words reappear in my head and I focus on one in particular—demon.

The Demon King of Lust.

"You're a demon?" I ask.

"Yeah," he says. "But it's not what you think."

"You're a demon... and Victor is a demon?"

"Yes, b-"

"A demon. With two horns, claws, and a pointy tail?"

"Uh, technically yes. But all demons are different, and a lot of us used to be human."

"Were you human once? Or Victor?"

"I was, yeah. And Victor probably was too. I can usually sense the demons that were created by Asmodeus—most of those guys are psychopaths. Plus they usually have names like Zelphistus and Berzemgog. The Zs are really a dead giveaway."

I can't help but giggle at his comment. Even with this absolutely crazy conversation, he's making me laugh.

"Who's Asmosis?"

He laughs and his eyes twinkle slightly.

"Asmodeus," he corrects. "He was the old king. I'm actually pretty new at this."

"How long have you been king?"

"About six months."

"What happened to the other guy? Did he retire?"

"That's a really long story, but the gist is that he's dead."

My chest feels tight. I'm suddenly reminded again that the man I'm talking to has just told me he's a demon—literally, horns and all.

"Did you kill him?"

"Ahh, yeah, that's a complicated question."

A chill runs down my spine and my hair stands on end.

It doesn't matter how hot the guy is if he's a murderous demon, Sam. You need to remember who it is you're dealing with here.

"I'm not trying to freak you out. I didn't kill him, but I would have. He was trying to kill my friends and he killed a lot of innocents. He ended up dying and I absorbed his powers. I'm not, like, evil. I'm just not what you'd call good, either."

This can't possibly be real.

"Is Victor going to come back?" I ask, deciding it's best to change the subject.

"I'm not sure if he'll try, but I can keep an eye on you."

"What does that mean?"

"I guess it means I'll see you around, Red."

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