He paused for a long moment, but soon his form bubbled and shifted. The inkiness of his mass grew and widened, encasing everything around me. His eyes locked on mine. "Wrong answer."

I dashed to the edge of my bed, falling over myself trying to get away. Someone! "Help!" I shouted into the void. "Someone help me!" Should I take the risk? Would the void consume me?

I didn't care. I scrambled off the bed. If I could make it to the door, wherever it was, I could call for someone. They could help me. But before I could hit the ground, tentacles wrapped around my waist, digging into my stitches.

Screaming in pain, I kicked and flailed. "This isn't necessary," The monster stated matter-of-factly. He lifted my body toward him. "If you would simply comply, this ordeal wouldn't be needed."

No! I can't do anything. "Let go! Let me go! It hurts!" I sobbed through cries.

"If you would just think rationally, we could have been well on our way by now. It's time to go." His form started to melt into the floor. I sank with it.

Please. I pleaded in my mind. Tears streamed down my face. Someone. Anyone. Save me.

Suddenly, the sinking stopped. The monster whipped his head toward the door. A blinding light shone through the frame and banished the nearby darkness away. A figure stood in the doorway in a stance ready to fight. A woman.

"I am Holy Angel Samara and you will release my child." she commanded stepping onto the void.

Sam? I blinked at the bright light. She wore her nurse uniform, but instead of a stethoscope around her neck, a bow now draped itself across her chest joined by a satchel of golden arrows on her back. She wore a holster of knives at her waist.

Subconsciously, my hand reached out. Save me.

The monster rose slowly from the darkness. "Damn angels." he muttered. Throwing me onto the bed, his form shifted again until it thickened and hardened into a rocky beast.

I gasped in a breath, clutching my torso. Pain blossomed in my stomach, holding itself steady as a blazing roar.

"I knew who you were long ago, angel," he replied, collecting his composure. His eyes smiled as if he was in on some inside joke. "Surely you must know me? Allow me to introduce myself," he said with a bow. "First piece of the mighty Xyphrus, king of demons. I am the embodiment of shifting, Mateo."

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Sam's bow was drawn in an instant, sending a golden arrow of light flying toward the creature. He sidestepped it easily. It soared past his body and burst out of existence with a puff of light as it collided into the wall behind him. "Don't think for a moment that I care about pleasantries, demon. Whether you're full demon, a piece, or a bastard, I don't care. I only wish to have your head on a platter," Eyes locked hard on the demon, she said to me, "Lynette, you need to move behind me."

There was a pause, but then everything happened so fast it was hard to keep up. Mateo suddenly appeared next to me, making a move to grab my arm, but Sam was upon him at the same time.

She tackled him away from the bed and they clambered to the floor. The moment she drew her knife, Mateo sank into the floor. Sam jumped up at the same time that I felt a presence behind me. His energy is what I felt first. I barely felt his body over mine before an arrow whizzed by my right ear, inches from my face. It exploded in a firework of light behind my head, sending a force that shook me to my core. I fell hard into the bed, covering my ears.

The demon sank back into the ground. Sam's face was calculating when tentacles suddenly wrapped around her body, pulling her down into the darkness. She held her ground, but struggled against them. Sweat dripped from her forehead.

"Just hand the girl over," the demon said coolly from the void. His voice rang out from every direction. There was no telling where he was or where he would be next. "I wish her no harm. This fighting is going to do nothing. In the end, he will have her," The tentacles gripped her body tighter, snaking their way to her throat. "Give up." he said, suddenly behind me. A hand gripped my left shoulder. I barely registered his touch over my attention on Sam.

Sam's face paled and she squeezed her eyes shut. "Sam!" I screamed reaching toward her.

The demon grasped my arms. His eyes smiled in triumph.

In an instant, Sam's eyes burst open. Now, a pure shining gold cut through the darkness. With a warrior's cry, her body radiated golden rays. The tentacles evaporated and the darkness around her cowered. She stood tall, staring down Mateo.

He released me and staggered back.

Flicking a hand toward us, a ray of light shot from the ground up at the demon. His agonizing scream echoed in the nothingness until it came to an abrupt stop and the darkness dissipated. The void shrank away and he disappeared entirely.

The room returned to normal as if nothing happened. Even the light above my head flicked back on. Sam stood in the center of the room, breathing heavily and seething at the wall behind me as if it was about the break open.

"Sam?" Reaching out, my arm quivered.

Her eyes dulled to their copper shade and she rushed over to my side. "Oh, honey. Lynette," she breathed. "Are you alright? Did he hurt you?"

"No-I... I'm fine. He's gone? What was he?" My body shook.

"Trouble. He's gone. But just for now. He'll be back, so we have to go. I have to hide you." She scooped me up in her arms, cradling my back and under my legs.

"But-my mom!"

"Shhhh, we'll figure that out later. For now just...sleep." She blew a cool breath into my face.

It became hard to fight the drooping of my eyelids. As Sam opened the hospital room door and stepped into an impossibly bright light, I lost.

Darkness took me.