I kept my eyes closed and nothing happened. Slowly, I opened one eye. And then the other. I saw Io, her face a mask of fury, bringing the iron poker down to my heart. Time was paused, slowed, but something felt different.

“I don’t know what you did, but you did it,” Abraxas said. I saw him peer at me from just behind Io. “Well, get up,” he said, a bit annoyed. “I don’t know how long this will last.”

I did, gently pushing the poker out of the way.

“Does me moving actually move me?” I asked, dusting myself off. “It didn’t the last few times.”

Abraxas sighed. “Yes,” he said. “You’ve unlocked some of your own power, not just piggybacked on mine.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” I said. “I didn’t do anything.”

Abraxas just shrugged. “I felt it, as did you. You remembered something of your time as Abraxas. Memory is power.”

“If only I could remember how to remember,” I said. My body was sore all over, but it didn’t quite hurt so much. I checked my side and saw that my wound was beginning to stitch itself together.

“If you’re going to kill her, I’d do it now,” Abraxas advised.

I nodded and took a deep breath as a I stepped behind Io. I grabbed her by her neck and squeezed. What happened next is too disgusting to describe literally, so I’ll do a comparison. Imagine grabbing a water balloon full of pig guts by the middle and then squeezing until it burst. Yeah. Not pretty.

Time unfroze as blood, viscera, and bone splattered all over me and the room. Io’s head went flying and I shouted, “Fuck!”

I stumbled backwards and smashed a stone out of the wall by accident. I was having trouble controlling my strength.

In the corner, Io’s head was…wriggling. Her skin was bubbling and the point where it had been severed from the body was regrowing, albeit very slowly. It looked like a block of cheese melting in reverse.

“Gods above,” I muttered, “that’s creepy.” I grabbed a brick and began to smash Io’s head in. More blood and viscera sprayed, but I kept going. Finally, I’d reduced her skull to nothing except paste and flecks of bone in a recess in the floor. I stood up and immediately, her skull began to knit itself together again. Small fragments of skull began to work themselves together and before my eyes began to knit together. It began to dawn on me that I might not be able to kill Io, or whatever she’d become.

I pulled a loose brick from the wall and dropped it on the skull. I figured that would at least stall it.

I ran over to one of the doors and heard the distinctive sounds of combat behind it. Checking the other doors, I heard more of the same. Something was going on.

Near the wall where I’d left it, the brick I’d placed over Io’s regenerating head shifted. I wiped some of the sweat from my brow and was only slightly surprised to find the back of my hand come back bloody. I kneeled down and tried to get some grip on the bottom of the steel gate. After a minute of trying, I barely managed to, and I shoved as hard as I could, pushing it up. I got it above my head, which opened the wound on my side, but I gritted my teeth and pushed on. Behind the gate there was just a normal wooden door, so, while holding the door up and ignoring the slick and wet feeling travelling down my body, I kicked down the door.

It went flying into the hall, broken into pieces. One of them hit a fixer on the back of his head. He crumpled to the ground and as he fell, I saw Jala’s surprised face, her sword raised.

“Hi,” I grunted, blinking the sweat, blood, and dirt out of my eyes.

“Gods above, Jonas,” she said. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

“Popped out for a bit of shopping, ended up here,” I said through gritted teeth.

Jala whistled. “Someone help him with that!” she shouted. I saw some Hunters rush in from down the hall. They all had blood splattered on them and had their weapons drawn. Looking at the hall more, I saw the littered corpses of a few fixers.

Two Hunters got next to me and held the door up. It didn’t reduce the load as much as I would have liked.

“How did you even do this?” Jala asked, gesturing to the gate that was threatening to crush me.

“Switch—inside,” I blurted. “Made them fall.” I heard one of the Hunters swear under her breath as the door fell another inch.

Jala squeezed past us and immediately found the switch. She pulled it and the sound of gears whirring began to echo through the halls. Within a second, the gates were rolling up. I collapsed to the ground along with the two Hunters helping me.

“Did you not try the switch?” Jala asked, standing over me. She offered me and a hand up and I took it.

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“No,” I said, holding my side. “I didn’t think to. There were…uh…extenuating circumstances.”

“Gods you’re stupid sometimes,” Jala said. Then, she pointed to the corner of the room, where a stone brick was rocking back and forth. “What’s that?”

I limped over to the brick and kicked it off of Io’s head. Underneath was a shattered, but reforming skull with some brain matter collected in its recesses.

“That is Io Wellstone,” I said. “Or was. I think you know her better as the Doctor.”

Jala came and stood next to me, her lackeys crowding around. “What is it…er, she…doing?”

“Reforming, regenerating. Just like Hunters do, but on a much more powerful scale. I think.”

Jala murmured a prayer, or maybe a curse, before shouting, “Get the hexers in here!” Then, she turned to me and asked, “Are you alright?”

I gave her my ‘danger smile’ and the world started to go black. The floor rushed up to meet me and I felt Jala grab me, but the sensation felt weak, muddled behind a thick layer of exhaustion. I heard her shout, too, but that was muted, as if it came from far away.

Then, nothing.

—

“Sir,” the demon said, “you’ve been staring at the sky for a while now.”

I groaned and sat up. I dusted myself off and turned to look at the young demon. She had long red hair the same color as her skin. Her horns curled around her head and were as white as bone. She was wearing a uniform, one that resembled the one I’d designed, but looked just slightly different. The colors were brighter, sharper, and a bit moved around.

“I know I’ve been staring at the sky for a while,” I growled, rubbing my temples. “That was my intention. What’s your name, soldier?”

The demon gulped and nodded. “Legion, sir. And, no, of course I know it was your intention, my lord, it’s just…”

“It’s just what?”

“It’s been four hundred and forty-five years. Some of the foot soldiers are getting…antsy.”

“So?” I asked, stretching as I stood up. “How is that my problem?” Then, I paused. “Legion? That’s a bit of a peculiar name.”

“My parents both were officers in your military, sir,” Legion explained.

“Fanatics, I’m sure,” I said, sighing. Legion winced but nodded. I got up and Legion took a tentative step back. “Are you…scared of me, soldier?”

“Apologies sir,” she said, “I just didn’t expect you to actually listen.”

“Hm,” I said. “I guess we’ll have to catch up on a lot of paperwork.”

“We, sir?”

“You disturbed my relaxation, only fair that you help me with my work.”

“I’m not sure this is allowed, my Lord.”

“Don’t call me lord, and if I say it, it is.”

“Yes, Lord Abraxas.”

I blew some smoke out of my mouth and trudged off, Legion in tow. I had paperwork to do.

—

When I woke up, I was a bit disoriented. The lingering memories of the dream I’d had hung onto me like the smell of smoke after a fire. For a few seconds, I didn’t quite know who I was. I felt as if I’d lived an entire life in my dream, but I could only remember a couple minutes.

Reminding myself that I was Jonas Dreadstone, the Hunter, not Abraxas, Lord of Hell, I opened my eyes to take a look around the room. As my eyes adjusted, I recognized my room at Xico’s immediately. I was bandaged up, with most of my body wrapped in clean, white cloth.

I tried to sit up, only for a sharp pain through my entire body to force me back down. The aching soreness that my sleep had fought off returned, seeping its way into even my bones.

The door creaked open. I saw Xico’s eyes peak through the gap before she swung the door all the way open. I realized I didn’t know how long it had been since I’d last seen her.

“Hi,” I croaked, my voice hoarse and weak.

“We keep meeting when you’re really injured,” Xico said. “I’d like that to change.”

“I’d like that too,” I said. “And believe me, it will. I’m not going anywhere.”

“No?” Xico asked, stepping further into the room. She was wearing a dark blue dress that seemed to flow like water around her.

“No.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that.”

She walked over to me and sat on the edge of my bed. “You know, with me trying to kill you and everything…”

“I was thinking about that, actually.”

“Yeah?”

“I think we ought to start over. From the beginning.”

Xico looked at me curiously for a second before nodding. I stuck out a bandaged hand, which she took and shook.

“I’m Jonas Dreadstone. I’m a Hunter and I’d like to rent your free room, if that’s alright with you.”

“I’m Xico Salí,” she said. “And I’d love to have you.” Xico paused and then asked, “Do you think Char will ever forgive me?”

I shrugged, which my body rewarded me for by giving me jolts of agony in my arms, chest, and shoulders. “Not sure.”

“That’s a damn shame,” Xico muttered. “She was cute.”

I chuckled. “Wait,” I asked, “was this whole thing just a way to get at Char?”

Xico started chuckling, which then evolved into a full body laugh. After a minute she stopped, kissed me on the cheek, and then grabbed my chin, forcing me to look her in the eyes.

“I don’t need an excuse for you, Jonas.” She kissed me lightly on the lips and was then gone.

I was alone in my room, left to my own thoughts. I should have been thinking about any myriad of very important things, like Io, Jala, or the last month and change of my life, but all I could think about was what the hell she meant by that.