When my eyes fluttered opened, I cried out in pain. White hot fire shot across my temples. I forced myself to sit up, and stars blazed across my eyes. Something hot and wet dripped down my face. I reached up and touched my forehead. It was warm and sticky. I put my fingers down in front of my face and looked at them, confused. It was blood—I was bleeding.

I looked around and found myself back in the room. I'd been thrown into a wall. I was lucky I hadn't broken my neck.

That's when I saw it floating a few feet away.

I thought it was a cloud of black, but as I looked closer, I saw it wasn't a cloud at all. It had a shape—a human form—like a body, though not the body of a man or woman. It was something else. There was a head, arms, and warped limbs.

As I looked at it, I felt a pain radiate between my eyes. I blinked. The thing's head was turning toward where I lay. A set of four, dark red eyes focused on me, and I felt nauseous and sick to my stomach.

I heard a deep, rumbling voice echo within my head. YOU HAVE RELEASED ME, it growled.

The dark thing's face morphed, and I was looking into the face of my father, but this was not the kind and loving man I knew. These eyes were red and full of evil.

A wicked grin spread across its face.

"Who are you?" I whispered.

Its face morphed. My father's features disappeared, replaced with something warped, something that no longer resembled anything human. THEY'VE NAMES FOR ME, BUT NAMES HOLD POWER. WHY WOULD I BE SO FOOLISH AS TO TELL YOU MINE? Its voice vibrated in the recesses of my mind.

"You're a demon?" I didn't need to ask the question; I knew the answer. My worst nightmare was now standing before me.

I had somehow released the demon.

THAT IS WHAT THEY CALL MY KIND. I PREFER SOUL EATER, OR PERHAPS LEGION. It went on in a villainous voice, WE ARE LEGION! It laughed with a sound like cracking granite.

With a shock, I found that I recognized its presence. This was the dark presence I had felt during each ritual. This thing had come out of that black abyss. This was the thing out there that had made me feel like a deer being hunted. It was this creature, this being. It was this demon.

As if reading my thoughts, the demon bowed in my direction. YOU ARE CORRECT. I'VE BEEN WATCHING YOU SINCE YOU BEGAN YOUR JOURNEY INTO THE DEATH ARTS. The demon laughed. WHEN YOU TRIED TO HEAL, IT WAS ENOUGH FOR ME TO FIND YOU.

Pieces started clicking together in my head. "Macaven kept finding us. It was you—you led him to us."

I DIDN'T THINK THE DEATH DEALER BRAT HAD IT IN HIM. I WORRIED HE'D KILL YOU WITH HIS INEXPERIENCE DURING THE RITUALS. Its voice slid across my mind like dirty, oily water. I WAS WRONG, THOUGH...HE DID SUCCEED. LOOK AT WHAT HE'S DONE, HE'S CREATED YOU IN YOUR NEW FORM, JUST AS YOU SHOULD BE. HE MADE YOU FOR ME.

I was frozen, horrified. "Made me for you?"

YOU THINK I'D ALLOW MYSELF TO COME FORTH ONLY TO BE BOUND TO SUCH A PUNY, WORTHLESS CREATURE? It gestured toward where Macaven lay on the floor, holding his head and looking dazed. I NEEDED YOU TO SET ME FREE. AND HERE I AM, UNBOUND, NOW ABLE TO DO WHATEVER I PLEASE...AND THAT PLEASES ME AS WELL. YOU'RE MINE NOW, AND THAT PLEASES ME EVEN MORE.

I reached up with a trembling hand and wiped away the blood dripping down my forehead and into my eyes. When I'd been thrown through the air, I'd hit my head against the wall. Maybe I have a concussion. Maybe this isn't real. It can't be real.

I took a deep breath and willed myself to wake up from this terrible nightmare. I felt dazed, confused. I looked around the room at the bodies strewn across the floor. The creature stared back at me. No, this wasn't a nightmare. I could feel my blood chill at the realization that this was really happening. I had done this. I'd created this creature. "What do you want from me?"

I CHOSE YOU. I MADE YOU WHAT YOU ARE. Suddenly, I was looking into my father's face again. TRUE, TO BE RELEASED INTO THIS REALM I NEEDED TO ENCAPSULATE THE SPIRIT OF ONE WITH INCREDIBLE POWER INTO THE DAGGER, A POWERFUL BRIDGE TO HELP GUIDE ME INTO THIS WORLD. IT WAS BECAUSE OF YOU. I KNEW YOU WOULD NEVER TAKE THE JOURNEY YOU NEEDED TO TAKE IF YOUR FAMILY WAS ALIVE.

I shook my head. "No, Macaven killed my family."

OF COURSE, HE DID AT MY BIDDING. It looked over at Macaven. DO YOU THINK THIS FRAIL CREATURE IS CAPABLE OF CREATING SUCH AN ELEGANT PLAN ON HIS OWN?

It couldn't be true, what the demon was saying. It's not true. I raised a trembling hand to my forehead. My words barely came out. "You killed my family because of me?"

I SET YOU ON YOUR PATH. I HELPED GUIDE YOU ALONG. OF COURSE, WHAT I TRULY WANT, TRULY NEED, YOU AREN'T YET READY TO GIVE. NOT YET...BUT SOON ENOUGH. FOR OUR FATES ARE TIGHTLY WOUND TOGETHER, COLINA. I shuddered as it used my name.

BUT FOR NOW, I GIVE YOU A GIFT, SOMETHING YOU DEEPLY DESIRE IN RETURN FOR GRANTING ME MY PHYSICAL BODY. FOR FREEING ME, I'LL GIVE YOU A PRETTY PRESENT ALL WRAPPED UP WITH A SHINY BOW...I'LL GIVE YOU YOUR INNERMOST DESIRE.

I heard the remembered words whispered across a breeze, Revenge will be yours, but it will come at a price.

The dark thing started floating across the room. It was heading toward Macaven. The mage was slowly picking himself up off the floor. He looked uninjured. He seemed to sense something moving in his direction and turned. When he saw the demon, his face lit with pride.

Macaven yelled across the room, "Rise up, my brothers and sisters. Our day of glory has finally arrived! We've raised a piece of the greater darkness and bound it to our will. Our enemies will fall before us now! They'll be consumed by hell's own flames." As the surviving coven members began to rise from the floor and move toward Macaven, he faced the demon.

"Hellion, you've been raised by our will. Our enemies are yours. Your power is ours to command." With an evil grin, he pointed a hand red with sacrificial blood in my direction. "She came to the bait, just as you said she would, our pact is complete. Now her purpose is fulfilled, and she must pay for the damage she's done. The coven has been crippled, and she has to die."

The demon laughed again, a wicked sound. NO, YOU HAVE IT WRONG. YOUR USEFULNESS IS DONE. YOU FOOL. AN UNBOUND ARCH DEMON, COMMANDER IN THE DEVIL'S ARMY, IS NOW BEFORE YOU. I AM FREE TO USE YOU AS I WILL. A deep growl came from the demon's mouth. BUT YOU'RE NOT WORTHY TO SERVE IN MY ARMY...YOU WILL FEED MY HUNGER INSTEAD.

Macaven stumbled back, his eyes showing white with horror. He screamed at me. "You released it before we could bind it! Do you know what you've done? You've unleashed a demon into the world with no one to control it!"

The demon, I released it, but not on purpose. I had only wanted to help my father, but I didn't save my father's spirit. My father was now part of that unholy creature. An unholy creature I was responsible for setting free.

Macaven raised his arms and shouted a spell. Orange light flew from his hands. Members of the coven still capable of action turned and ran from the demon, but three stood to fight, adding their power to Macaven's. Their spells reached the demon, enveloping it completely.

Whatever they were hoping to do didn't work.

As the orange cloud washed over the demon, it laughed and waved its clawed, long fingered hands, leaving a trail of fire in the air, and the cloud slowly disappeared. The demon clapped and a crack of thunder filled the air. A black storm that materialized from nowhere rolled toward the closest of the robed mages. The storm hit him, and he exploded, sending a splatter of blood and chunks of flesh into the wall behind him.

Macaven directed banshees at the demon, but it just drew in a deep breath, and right before my eyes, inhaled one banshee and then another into itself. It seemed to grow more solid with each soul it took in.

I realized that James's spirit was rushing toward the creature. My brother's spirit would be the next one consumed.

"James!" I screamed his name, but there was nothing I could do. I watched helplessly, tears streaming down my bloodied face, as the demon sucked James in.

Both my father and brother were trapped within the wicked being.

The demon finished off the banshees and then paused a moment before blowing a cloud of ashy black smoke into its hands. It moved its palms around as if molding clay. It worked and worked until it seemed pleased. It dropped the object to the floor. The impact of it caused the ground beneath us to shake. Ever so slowly, the thing grew and morphed until it took the shape of a monstrous dog. It looked like a massive pit bull on steroids. The dog's eyes glowed with flickering red fire as it moved to stand beside its master.

It can't be. There are no such things. But it is, I'd seen a picture in one of Luke's books, the animal standing before us was a hellhound, a creature straight out of myth and nightmare, pulled from the air by the demon. The demon lazily gestured, and its hound leaped at the next mage. It passed right through his falling body, ripping his soul away with a pair of red, gleaming teeth. What remained of the mage dissolved into flame.

The hellhound stood gnashing its teeth as it gobbled down the mage's glowing red soul. It then turned to the last of Macaven's supporters. A spout of flame jetted from the hellhound's mouth, lighting the man's robe on fire. The man screamed, and his hood fell back, revealing the graying hair of the death dealer who'd fought Luke at the magic shop. The hellhound leaped at the man, ripping off a smoking chunk of flesh from his face and swallowing it whole. His terrified screams echoed out from the growing column of flame. As the screams died down, the hound shook its head and out sprayed a cloud of ash and embers.

Amidst this chaos, the demon continued toward Macaven. It floated a few feet from him, completely unconcerned as Macaven flung spell after spell at it. Each spell broke harmlessly against its cracked, black skin. When it was finally close enough, it reached out and touched a finger to Macaven's forehead.

Macaven screamed. From the touch sprang welts across his face and body. He raised his hands and watched in horror as they erupted in bloody, oozing blisters. The blisters multiplied until they covered every inch of exposed flesh. They began to rupture, and the smell of infection and rotting flesh filled the room. Macaven touched a hand to his face, and a huge section of the skin slumped away, showing the gray, dying flesh beneath.

I looked away, no longer able to stomach the sight of my vengeance. I had given up so much to see the men who murdered my family die horribly, but even my darkest fantasies didn't prepare me for this reality. I had sacrificed my future, my innocence, I even died, and now that it was happening, I just felt sick.

I couldn't block out the sound. Wet, gurgling screams continued to tear through the room. The sounds he made were more terrifying than the banshees.

When the world was silent again, I looked back. Macaven was dead, I was sure of it. His limbs were twisted in unnatural angles.

The demon turned toward me again, its eyes glowing brighter. I stood frozen as it came closer. It reached a slow hand out and delicately wiped a claw across my face. My skin burned and blistered under its touch. Its claw came away smeared in my blood. I shrank back as it raised the finger, bright red with blood, to its mouth and sucked with evident pleasure. It gave me a wicked smile. Without warning, the dark creature twisted and spun, morphing before my very eyes.

Where it had been, a little girl now stood.

Dark pigtails hung from each side of her head and freckles spread across her nose. It was the color of her eyes, a reddish orange not found in nature, that gave her true identity away. And when she grinned, my stomach turned. The smile was not that of an innocent child. It was an unclean, unholy grin...one that was somehow oddly familiar.

"I'll come for you when the time is right, Colina, and what fun we'll have." Her little girl voice was somehow even more chilling than the booming demon voice. Before I could think of what to say or do, the child turned and skipped across the room. She stopped by a broken display case that had once held an assortment of magical artifacts. With a childlike cry of delight, she pulled an antique doll from the wreckage. Its shredded dress fell away as the demon girl picked it up, but that didn't seem to diminish her pleasure. She clutched the smoking doll to her chest as she turned and headed toward the door. Flames erupted behind her as she went. The room slowly began to fill with smoke as she glided out.

The demon child whistled over her shoulder, and the hellhound followed, shrinking as it went until it was the size of an average pit bull. An air of menace radiated off them both as they exited through the flames.

***