The familiar tingle pulsed around Nikki's body, electrifying her nerve endings. It didn't matter that her fire had destroyed most of the room she was in, or that she was now as naked as the day she was born. All that mattered was the life coursing through her veins.

Something about Sam's blood had refuelled her power, a power that had seriously waned since she'd been reborn as a demon. Though she'd still had her gift, the flame had never burned as bright as it had at Vidaru and she had missed it. But more than that. It was like she'd travelled back in time, back to that fateful night. Her eyesight was incredible, she could see through the gloom across the room to make out the charred title of the books that sat precariously on their shelf. And her speed - flitting about the room she emitted a carefree laugh. Even Josh would be hard pressed to keep up with her now. She felt magnificent and invincible.

The door to the library opened and she whirled around, coming face to face with Josh. His mouth dropped as he stared at her.

"Nikki, your scars, they're ... Gone."

She grinned. She knew, she'd felt them knit together in the heat. Every imperfection she'd earned was now gone. Her body had returned to the flawless state it had been in when she'd first turned into a full demon.

Cocking her eyebrow, she licked her lips, "I'm naked!" She smirked, enjoying the look on his face as he drank in her appearance. Glancing to the floor where his jacket had been, he scowled at the smouldering mess that lay there.

"I have nothing to ... "

She looked to what had once been his jacket, "Oh, sorry about that."

He shrugged off his shock and regained his composure. Holding up his index finger, he ducked around the door, muttering something about decency and clothes. Unable to suppress the excitement that ran through her, Nikki chuckled. Suddenly every care she'd been carrying had melted away leaving her weightless and euphoric.

"Ezekius has gone to get you something to wear, in the mean time, here." He handed her Zeke's cloak. Wrinkling her nose she slipped it on. It wasn't exactly comfortable against her skin but at least it covered her.

"Okay, you can come in now."

Sam practically tore the door off the hinges to get to her. Running forward he wrapped his arms around her and lifted her into his embrace.

"Did you see her? Wasn't she beautiful?"

Puzzled, Nikki shot Josh a look of concern. "Sam?"

He set her down, his face as excited as his words, coming back in to her view.

"Sam, what happened?"

"You didn't see her? The Hunter--"

"See?" Nikki cried, "Sam, I had her arm through my chest. Through. My. Chest!"

Sam waved her away, dismissing her words. "That was before she realised who we were."

"Enough!" Josh roared, rubbing the bridge of his nose wearily. "Everyone, next door, now. We need to sit down and discuss what exactly happened here and where we go next."

Sam nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, yes we do." Grabbing Josh by the shoulder he smiled widely. "Buckle up boy, it's gonna get bumpy."

"What the hell just happened?" Josh muttered.

Sam left the room, leaving Nikki momentarily alone with Josh. Sliding over to him, she looked up through her lashes. "What ever it was, it's just changed things." Rolling up on tiptoes she tilted her head back and kissed Josh demurely. "Drastically."

With his eyes closed, he circled his arms around her, resting his chin on her head and sighing.  "What is it about you that just attracts danger?"

"Does that mean you're dangerous?" she flirted shamelessly.

He laughed. "No, but you are."

She shook her head. "Not little old me, I was nothing special until I met you. You're the catalyst that started this whole thing, I just ... "

"What?"

"I wonder if you'll be the one to end it?" She finished cryptically before pulling away and leaving Josh to mull over her words. "Zeke's here. Let me get dressed."

Josh caught her hand as she tuned to leave. "There's never going to be any normality here."

Her eyes clouded as she thought about his statement. "No. We're always going to have to fight for what we want, but sometimes, that's just the way it is. Besides, I've had normal and it's not all it's cracked up to be."

Closing the gap between them he guided her to the door, pressing her up against it as he claimed her mouth. Kissing her deeply and roughly he silenced his tumultuous thoughts by submerging himself in a lagoon of lust and love. Yes, Nikki was dangerous and distracting but he would take everything the universe threw at them, and then some, because when he was with her, she just completed him. Breaking away he tipped his forehead to hers and breathed her in.

"Always have..."

"Always will!" she finished, allowing his feelings to envelop her.

* * *

Dressed in jeans and a hoodie, Nikki sat next to Josh, discretely lacing her fingers through his as Sam prepared to tell them what had happened in the garden.

Every few minutes she would smile to herself. The despondency she'd lived with for so long had somehow disintegrated in her combustion and even after an hour, she was still enjoying a sense of relaxed hopefulness.

"Are you going to finish your story?"

Hey eyes flicked to Zeke, hovering by the doorway with his hood up and she considered his question.

"I was going to, yes ... What do you think, should I?"

She felt his mind shift and empty momentarily. Unable to help herself, she laughed. Zeke was speechless, for the first time since she had known him, he was unable to process coherent thought.

"Zeke?"

"That is a first. You asking for advice and actually wanting it. What ever was in Sam's blood has done you good. Perhaps I should sample some myself."

Although she knew he was joking, her temperament altered slightly and she became a little defensive.

"Sorry." She swallowed, composing herself. "I know you didn't mean that but I can't help--"

"Oh hush child, you think after twenty-seven years of watching over you I don't know how you think?"

The smile found its way back to her lips. "Did I mention that I love you?" she teased, unable to ignore the gratitude swelling in her heart. "I just wish I'd have known you the entire time."

His lips twitched but he controlled the smile desperate to break free. "Your sentimentality is touching, however you know the things I did, do you honestly believe a human child would be comforted by that monster."

Her smile died and she shook her head. "No, I guess not—"

"So you all know the back story about Elizabeth," Sam interrupted their private conversation as he settled himself back on the chaise long he'd acquired form somewhere in the house.

Joanne and Nate nodded, having been filled in whilst Nikki dressed.

"What I didn't know was that she didn't exactly die. She said she came back to get the revenge she so desperately craved, that she was offered a choice, but she was tricked. The thing that cursed her told her she could return, be more powerful than both the demons and Guardians and she could raise hell, but she would have to trade a part of her soul. She didn't realise what that meant so she agreed. When she returned she was the wraith like creature you know. She took the lives of any demons she came across for two reasons. Firstly revenge but secondly to survive. The hunters need the essence," he turned to Joanne, "demon's don't usually have souls unless they've earned them or stolen them, they have a powerforce that is in place of their soul."

She frowned, her eyes listing towards Zeke before finding Nikki.

Nikki shrugged. "Don't ask me, I don't know. I don't know if I have essence or a soul but I have a conscious and I can love so I'm hoping that I carried my soul over with me." She lifted her shoulders again and sighed. "When the other Hunter attacked and almost killed me, it felt like the very things that make me who I am were slowly being dragged out of me. In the end, the only two things I remember were the anger I felt about becoming a demon and," she shyly dipped her head, "and love. Make of that what you will."

Joanne's mask of intrigue morphed to empathy. "Sorry."

"Don't be. If you don't ask you never know."

"What about--" Joanne, bit her lip, too afraid to finish her question. For a moment Nikki stumbled over her unspoken question until the red head meekly looked towards Ezekius.

Zeke shook his head. "Once I would have laughed at the notion of owning a soul, but now I feel that I could posses one. Things I would have done without a second thought now repulse me. It could be that I have 'earned' a soul, or that I have been cursed by my former kings or maybe it is spending so much time around humans, I don't know, what ever the reason, soul or essence, I know the Hunters are after me."

"Either way, you and your kind sustain the existence of Hunters." Sam said, frowning into the distance.

"What else?" Nikki prompted, leading Sam back to his line of thought. "What else did Elizabeth say?"

"She said she was tired and that she wanted to go. And then she asked why I was protecting a demon."

The room waited, giving Sam the time he needed to filter through his private memories.  With eyes closed and a poignant smile on his lips he began to talk again.

"I told her your story, or rather she took it from me. Did you know they could do that? Like you, they have psychic abilities. That's when she told me what she wanted to do." His eyes opened and fixated on Nikki. "She knew you were dying, she'd taken too much from you, but she said it was important that you lived and that if she saved you she'd get back to where she should have been. She said that there were stories about you and about what you're capable of and there'd been whisperings among the underworld."

Nikki sat bolt upright and Ezekius stepped further in to the room. "What whisperings?" His rasping voice demanded.

"It seems that the people who sent us really do have a plan for you. She confirmed what Materdúe had said. There are rumours circulating that a demon with a power stolen from a Charge will rise up to conquer Mortemb and Latébris. There are stirrings in both worlds as they prepare to do battle, only no one knows where this demon will emerge and which side it will take. Nikki—"

"No! No fucking way, no! Don't finish that sentence; don't even think what you're thinking! No!" Nikki shook her head furiously.

"But—"

"I said NO!" She screamed. On trembling legs she crossed the room and headed for the door but Ezekius had other plans. He put himself in front of her, blocking the path with his frame.

"I think we need to hear what Sam has to say."

With her pale face and frightened eyes staring up at him, she reminded him of the young girl who used to check under her bed for monsters. Softening, he held out his arms and waited for her to curl up against him.

"Zeke?"

"I know."

Stepping forwards she gave in to the comfort of her friend.

"I don't want this. I can't handle this. Not again. I don't want this responsibility."

Clearing his throat, Sam appeared behind her. "Sugar, I know that what you've been through is more than anyone should have to, but—"

"Don't. Don't tell me that I have to do this, or that it will all be okay." Squeezing her eyes shut she blocked out the room and the people in it.

"She's fragile. More so than any of you can imagine."  Zeke's words drifted above her head but she fought to ignore them. Whatever was being said, whether it concerned her or not, was not going to permeate her happy place. Not yet.

"After she woke as a demon she took time to grieve for her life and for her love, for you." Ezekius dipped his head to Josh. "Then she became obsessed with the idea of becoming human again. She had read books in the library and had the notion that if she could discover the truth behind our world and yours, she could bargain her way back to humanity. And again, back to you."

Josh held his breath as he pictured Nikki's last two years.

"We traveled this country and many, many others following legends and trying to decipher myths. It was slow, most of the things we found were complete fiction but she insisted that many of the old myths were seated in truth and that over time their telling had been distorted." The demons empty sockets stared at Josh as he spoke. "She was adamant of this."

Josh's stomach dropped as he recognised the words he'd told her all those years ago at the start of her journey.

"For every piece of information, we discovered there were a hundred other fables to get past. But we did uncover enough to keep her hope alight. And that is what has kept her alive. The hope that she could return to you, Joshua. In the meantime, she has ridded each town of as many demons as she could, however, since she came back as a demon, her power has been much weaker. What you saw outside, that was the strongest it's been since Vidaru, and that was because she had a reason to fight. She was protecting you."

"You make it sound so joyless." Josh's voice broke.

Ezekius tipped his head down and hugged Nikki closer. "It was. If not for her sheer stubbornness, she would have died long ago at the hands of our enemy. There has been no light in her life until you forced your way in. She has known only pain and heartache and now here you are telling her that there is worse to come."

Sam stepped forward. "Sugar, please, hear me out." His desperate plea broke down her barriers and she silently cursed him.

"Every time. Every single time. You're corrosive, Sam, it doesn't matter how thick I build my walls, you always get through. It's not fair."

"No, no it isn't but, if you hear me out, you'll see that our happy ending is possible."

Nikki's heart skipped a beat. "What?"

"I think we need to hear each other out. Put your information with mine and then, then we can take the next step."

"I ..." In her mind her fantasy life played like a film.

"Baby steps." Ezekius reminded her, loosening his hold and stepping back.

Nikki thought back to the first few weeks as a demon, remembering the words, Zeke had rasped at her every time she became overwhelmed.

"Baby steps," she repeated. "Okay Sam, let's hear the rest of your story then we'll tell you what we found out."

Turning back, Nikki found Josh, his hollow eyes, sunken into his pale face. She crossed over and retook her place next to him and he slowly turned to her.

"Stop running away," he whispered, his voice thick with emotion. "Stop leaving me."

Only then was she able to see the full extent of her actions. His pain crushed her and reflectively she drew him towards her.  They came together, holding on to one another tightly both afraid that they were about to lose it all over again.

Josh put his mouth to her ear and whispered hoarsely. "If you run, I run. We can run together."

"Together," she agreed quietly.