"Let's do this in the house." I stood, and Oni followed me inside.I needed to leave a note, but we didn't have paper and pen. And if I asked Alexis to produce them, it might make him suspicious.I looked around for something to write with. Ugh! Why were Oni and Ran so neat?I opened the refrigerator and saw mustard. Like me, Ran liked hotdogs so they had plenty of mustard in the refrigerator. Perfect!I picked up the squirt container of mustard. "I'm about to mess up your breakfast bar. Sorry."Oni smiled. "It is okay."I squirted a simple message:I WILL BE BACKI could say more, but it wasn't exactly easy to write with a container of mustard.I looked at the pretty Succubus. "Let's do this."Oni nodded, her eyes never leaving my face.A moment later, she turned into billowy plumes of black smoke and vanished…~*~When Oni disappeared, I instantly felt lighter, emptied of some previously undetected weight. I never realized how much the demons inside of me meant t

The Seer was like no other child in the village. Since birth, she seemed different, barely crying and content to spend quiet hours alone. Her parents did not confide to the villagers that their child could communicate without using words, and it appeared that she communicated with other unseen beings as well.As the child grew, she was able to show her family frightening things: the recent dead and spirits from worlds vastly different from their own. Strangely, the child was never afraid and considered these entities to be her friends.The family swore never to speak of these things, but their child revealed her talents as she felt compelled to heal the sick—even the sick that were, by all accounts, already dead. Soon the King learned of the child, but instead of decreeing that she be put to death for consorting with evil spirits, she became the King's Seer. And once the little girl was a Seer, she successfully predicted the outcomes of battles and aided the people of the land throug

"You called me a Queen. But your Chosen were animated by the demons that you handpicked. I was created by the bite of a Neratomay. How can I be one of your Chosen?""Hold up," she said, "This is just another layer of the world, remember? Not heaven or hell. Let's think in terms of spirits and not demons. True demons exist, but they are not what animate the un-living. All kinds of spirits live here. Some are like the one you call Oni, a strong Succubus, and some have speed, strength, or cunning. Others are bad—ones that you don't want walking around in the world—the way you don't want Hitler or Charles Manson walking around."I looked over at Oni, who was still kneeling. I wondered if she could understand what we were talking about. I was happy that my friend wasn't considered a demon. It had been hard to think of her in those terms, anyway."When my Chosen procreated, they created living children, and when those children procreated with humans, they created Golden humans—like you."

I started to get tired and hungry, and the Mother seemed annoyed at all of my questions. "Can you send us back to the mortal world?""No," she said.Damn."After the Underlings attempted to evict me from the Underworld, I was brought to this realm and encased by my protectors. It also encased my abilities. I can't do anything to help my Children." I wanted to cry. Here was a powerful being on our side, but she was just as much of a prisoner as we were.Wait, maybe the question wasn't what she could do for me but what I could do for her."This isn't the realm that you created?""No. This is just a small sanctuary…one that is no bigger than this hut. When I first arrived, my friends created an entire world for me. They tried to make it resemble my home, but they didn't understand what my world was really like. How could they when this dark place has been their only existence? So, they showed me how to build it from my memories.""The way the Elders build their world from their m

I heard the wind before I realized we were no longer in the shelter of the hut. With the first shock of the gritty sand hitting me in the face, I covered my nose and mouth again with the makeshift scarf. I grabbed for Oni's hand and found only wisps of dark smokiness as she fluttered near me.And I was right. We were surrounded by spirits. Some had form and shape, but most were like Oni—billowing and insubstantial.I hated the way this world looked, like film exposed wrong. The sky looked stormy and was tinted with purples and blues, and the ugly trees were nightmarish. It was as if evil had corrupted and twisted it with ugliness.I didn't want to think of having to step through those many wisps of smoke.Stay on the path…Oni seemed to read my mind, and she moved forward, going through the entities that had no solid form. The ones that did have form, like the devil dogs and ghouls, stood their ground, staring at me with desire. Those she went around.I stayed as close to her as