Nikki came too in darkness. Her eyes opened and she rubbed a hand down her face. Her head ached and wave after wave of nausea lapped at her stomach. She recognised her surroundings. She was in the attic of the old house. 

Through the hole in the roof she could see the weather had changed for the better. The rain cloud that so often covered the town had gone and a vast array of stars shone down. As she breathed out, her breath fogged the air before her and she shivered. Without the protective layer of cloud, the temperature had dropped. She'd been warm enough as she'd slept but she'd been covered with thick, musty smelling drapes, now with only her tattered clothes and an old cloak, she was feeling the chill.

She made a mental note to source some fresh, warm clothes. Something a little more flattering than the rags she currently owned.

Jumping down into the green room below her, she thought absently of Josh and the words he'd used to pacify Joanne. Perhaps there was a way of getting back to where they'd been after all. Maybe all was not lost. Exiting the room she turned to head towards where the group had congregated, her mind picking apart every interaction she'd shared with Josh. Mechanically she moved through the house until a strange dull glow caught her eye. Like the flickering flame of a small candle, it bounced against the walls just around a corner up ahead. The light danced like a candle but instead of the familiar yellow, it shone a brilliant white.

Through narrowed eyes, Nikki stalked towards the glow, shifting instinctively into hunting mode. There was every chance it was Sam or Josh with some sort of torch but until she was sure, she was going to treat it as hostile.

The light drew her deeper into the house. Leading her away from the others and down into the dilapidated wing. Stepping cautiously, Nikki was careful to avoid the holes in the floor. She knew from past experience this part of the building was not to be trusted, more so the upper floor than the ground. She trod gently, her suspicions growing as the source of the light never wavered or struggled on the dangerous path. There was no way that this was one of her group.

As she neared the end of the hallway it extended left. She paused. She had never ventured into this section of the house and she wasn't naive enough to wander blindly along without knowing reinforcements were not too far away. Closing her eyes she reached out with her mind and called for Ezekius. At the very least she wanted him to know where she was.

Stretching her consciousness she waited for the usual pull to lead her to his mind but nothing happened. She closed her eyes and breathed slowly, listening for any hint of his unique psyche but still, nothing came. A chill crawled leisurely up her spine as she realised she couldn't reach him, their telepathic bond seemed to be severed. The feeling escalated as a sense of foreboding encased her in a breathless panic. In the past two years there hadn't been a second when she'd been unable to connect to him. God knows she'd tried to break the bond, many times and many ways over the years, but nothing had ever worked. They were as tied to one another as night and day.

Nikki suddenly felt very alone.

The light she had been following had paused almost as if it were waiting for her. With a tiny shake of her head, Nikki swallowed down her apprehension and leapt forward, into the next hallway. Landing in a crouch she readied herself to strike, her muscles taut and prepared for a fight.

But what she found waiting for her was as far from expectations as possible.

The light expanded filling the small space with a soft, warming glow. As it grew it kissed everything it touched, changing the decrepit house form shabby and disgusting to welcoming and homely. It became stronger and bigger, encompassing the entire hall and enclosing Nikki in its radiance, enveloping her in a euphoric state, illuminating the darkest recesses of her mind and chasing away every fear. She sighed blissfully, surrendering to the exhilaration it brought.

Unable to control herself, she fell to her knees. Some strange force compelling her to kneel but when she looked around she was still alone. If this was a demon, it was unlike any she had come across before. Nothing about this situation felt frightening or dangerous. Nikki smiled, realising that for the first time since she had collapsed in the centre of the battlefield at Vidaru, in Josh's safe embrace, she felt serenity.

Pushing the questions away, she concentrated on the tranquillity around her. For too long she'd struggled with the burden of her fate. And too many times she had locked herself away in the darkness and cried for the life she should have had. She deserved just a moment of contentment in a world that had become full of monsters, horror and bitter disappointment.

After a while, though she had no way of knowing how long, a voice spoke. At first she mistook it for the creaking of the building as the cold breeze crept through the rooms but eventually it began to make sense. And as it whispered its melodic words she listened, the benevolent voice soothing her woes, calming and disarming her.

"You have been blessed," it sang softly, "although you see it as a curse your gift, your flames saved thousands."

Nikki smiled as happiness was forced into her but it didn't quite penetrate her heart. 'They didn't save me.'

An invisible embrace surrounded her, griping her tightly and warming every inch of her flesh. "But that was not your destiny, that was not what was chosen for you, this is."

'I don't want this.'

"I know. But often we are blind to the truth. You are unable to see the bigger picture."

'Which is?'

"Your sacrifice saved thousands. One death, one soul for many. Isn't that a bargain worth accepting?"

Nikki's heart grew heavier at the words whispering around the hall.

'I want to say yes, I want to be selfless but I've lived this life for too long. My heart is broken and scarred, I-'

"What is done cannot be undone. What has passed cannot be changed. Nor would we want it changed. One soul for many."

Nikki's eyes prickled as tears welled. 'Are you who I think you are?'

"Yes."

'And you're here to tell me that it can't be undone?'

"Yes."

'So I am stuck like this until the end of my days, or time'

"Yes."

All the hurt Nikki had ever suffered, poured from her in an anguished cry as she hit the floor.

'Then there is nothing worth living for.'

Again, warm arms held her tightly pulling her to an invisible body that she knew didn't exist.

"You're fate does not end here, child. Your destiny is much bigger than this. There is a possible salvation."

Nikki sobbed harder. 'Not for me though, what reason do I have to keep fighting. Why should I? Everything I love has been stolen from me.'

The hint of a laugh drifted through the night.

"Sweet child, your redemption is more than possible, it's inevitable. You will never be his responsibility again but you are his equal and you can be his forever."

Nikki's breath faltered as she pushed back up to her knees. 'What do you mean?'

"You know."

In the confines of her chest, her heart stuttered at the possibility. 'How? How can it... How could it ever work?'

"Faith. Trust."

At that, Nikki's heart exploded, the jubilant elation momentarily drowning out the warning bells tolling in her mind.

'You would allow it?' Her lids closed as a vision of a happily ever after floated before her eyes. 'It's possible?'

"Yes, but..." Like a bullet through a bubble, Nikki's dream detonated around her. "First you must complete the task bestowed upon you before you were even conceived."

As if waking from a dream, Nikki regained her senses. 'What do you mean? What task?'

"The one you started at Vidaru. Now is the time to finish it."

Thoughts flew through Nikki's awakened mind at a mile a minute. This unseen power had tempted her with the promise of Josh but after two years living amongst the demonic scourge, she knew better than to be led blindly in to temptation.

'Why can't I hear Zeke? Why can't I see you? Why the hell should I trust you? You could be from Latébris or Mortemb, this could all be one more elaborate plot. Show me your true form.'

"Once you have seen me, you cannot unsee. You will be cursed to compare the world to my beauty. This is why I remain hidden."

'What are you?'

"Some call us angels but that is a name bequeathed to us by mankind. We are the Dantisticia.We intervene when the demon realms become to powerful."

'By using people like me.'

"Yes and no."

'Why should I trust you? And why can't I feel Zeke? How have you blocked our connection? I thought that was impossible.'

'Nothing is impossible.'

"Nothing?"

"There is a way to make anything happen."

Nikki mulled this over. 'So why can't I become human again? Why am I cursed to stay a demon? If anything is possible then prove it, make me human again.'

An indiscernible hand cupped her cheek, the sensation so soft it pulled a sigh from Nikki's parted lips.

"To make you human again would be to alter your path and that is something we can not do."

'Can't or won't?'

"It matters not, they both surmount to the same thing. But do not be disheartened. You are on the track to enlightenment, you will soon have all the answers you have spent years searching for."

Through the haze of silence and whispers Nikki heard her name echoing through the ramshackle building. Ignoring the intrusion she pressed on with her conversation.

'So you're aware of what I have been searching for?'

"We know everything. Every thought that has drifted through your head. Every dream or nightmare that has comforted and repulsed you. Every desire. We know it all."

'Will I find what I've been looking for?'

"Yes. But you must trust us."

Nikki shook her head, she'd been here before and she wasn't about to fall into the same trap.

"However," the voice continued, "we must earn your trust and so we wish to offer you a gift. We would restore your voice if you would only ask."

The voice reverberating through the house was much louder now, but still Nikki ignored it.

Once again the light was trying to tempt her and as much as she longed to have her voice back she was mistrustful of the whole situation. It seemed far too convenient that this all happened the moment Josh stepped back in to her world.

"Ask for your voice and I will return it to you now. You can speak again."

'At what cost?'

"We cannot break the ancient curse of your ancestors, the cost will be a human life, but you will not have to take it. Ask now and it will be done."

Nikki shook her head. 'I knew it. This is another trick. You're no better than Latébris or Mortemb with your tricks and deceit-'

"Except we offer the truth you seek. We hold nothing from you. You've grown, evolved. You are not the child you once were when Joshua found you."

'Fine, prove it. Tell me exactly what it is you want from me.'

"We want you to end the war."

'What? Why? I know what happens to you if the war ends.'

"No, you think you do but you are unable to grasp what it will mean for us when this happens, and do not be mistaken, it is only a matter of time. The two demon worlds are revolting, and the tide is turning. We have seen the disaster, the apocalypse about to strike and have chosen to end it."

'I...'

"Before we leave, ask yourself, who gave you Josh? Not just once but twice? We have no ulterior motive, we have seen the end and it is not what your people deserve. We are tired. Tired of the bloodshed. Tired of arbitrating for century after century. It is time your birth world lived without demons and destruction."

'But--'

"Please, Nikki, allow us to return your voice. Let us give you the two things your heavy heart so desires. Take Josh, complete your task and have your forever, ask us for your voice."

Tears threatened to spill once more as Nikki shook her head sadly. 'I can't end an innocent life, I just can't.'

"Then don't. We will claim a life that is spent. A soul on a deathbed who has already taken the hand of the reaper... There is a man across town curled up in a disused coal bunker. He is old and tired and at this moment he is freezing to death. In a matter of minutes his organs will fail and he will pass. Take his life, sacrifice him for your voice and put him out of his misery. Nikki, he begs for death. Listen to him cry."

Her vision wavered and for a moment she was next to a homeless man, curled up on his side shivering violently. His breath wheezed from his lungs and tears leaked form his closed eyes. His straggly grey hair clung in dirty clumps to his head, his hands clasped tightly in prayer by his chattering lips. She listened as he begged for death to hurry, crying out in pain and suffering as each new shiver wracked his thin frame.

"Ask us Nikki. Take back your voice and free this poor soul. Give him back to the love he was born from and send him home to the arms of his waiting wife."

'His wife?'

"Yes, she waits for him on the other side, she calls to him softly, listen and you will hear."

Closing her eyes, Nikki concentrated hard until she could swear she could hear a woman's voice singing sweetly near by.

"Ask us now, let us bless you both."

With her senses reeling from the assault of the woman singing, the homeless man wheezing and the disembodied voice lulling, Nikki broke down.

'Do it! Do it! Please, give me back my voice.'

The light around her vanished and Nikki fell to the damp floor in a disorientated heap.

"You have your voice. Now join with your brother, show him what has passed but we ask you not to tell the Guardian's. Their gaze must not waver from the path they are on. Their Charges must remain protected. Keep them safe and I will return when next you call for me."

"How? How do I call you?"

"Ask for me, I am always listening. Speak my name and I will come."

"What? What name? What's your name?"

"I am Materdúe and I am always watching..."