"Well, wasn't that just a heartwarming experience," Cammie said with a lilting voice that dripped with mockery. "You convinced that poor schmuck that you cared about her and that you weren't just using her to make your goals and your quotas. You're gonna use her up and spit her out, right?"

  "Oh yeah, definitely the case you little gremlin. Seriously, though, are you gonna be putting up this mocking evil voice thing for very long. Don't get me wrong, it's definitely a look you can pull off, I just don't think you're gonna find it a great use of your time. I'm not really the sort to fall for it."

  "Are you really sure of that, dearest Lenore? Maybe I've already wormed my way into who and what you are, making you take risks and liberties that you'd never have considered before meeting me."

  "Oh come off it, You're not even all that unique in terms of evil temptresses. Do you know how much pop culture crap I consumed back in my world? I've had this stuff drilled into me since I was a kid. Consequences of deals with the devil, consequences of giving a little of yourself to make headway. Yeah, all that is old hat but so much of it really just boils down to making the best decision with what you've got available. It really doesn't matter whether you've gotten inside my head or not, I'll still be making the best choice I can manage the next time the situation demands and I certainly am not gonna be going out of my way to listen to you while you're being all creepy like this. If you want to talk, just talk."

  "Huh?" Cammie blinked.

  "You're clearly bored, Lord knows I get it. I just spent a tremendous amount of energy and time staring at papers. Can't imagine that was any more fun for you than it was for me. We've been at it for ages and it's bound to take a toll. You're not exactly one to keep your peace for that long if you don't have to, so I appreciate that you actually did."

  "Not like I had that much choice," muttered Cammie, dropping the childish act for a moment. "We both know you'd have just locked me away and ignored me entirely if I'd made too much of a pest of myself."

  "Probably," Len paused, considering her words. "It's a raw deal, being tied to me. Granted, you brought it on yourself and I'm not gonna waste that much energy feeling sorry for you, but I still get that it's rough."

  "How gracious of you," there was a bitter bite to the words that didn't usually find its way into Cammie's voice.

  "Holy shit, are you genuinely pouting for once?" Len laughed, trying not to be cruel about it but overwhelmed with amusement at the prospect. "I mean, you've given me plenty of fake ones, but this is the real deal, isn't it?"

  "Oh shut up," the fiend growled. "I'm stuck with you, and you're just so damn relaxed. Do you know how long it took me to bend the other guy to our will? Five days. That's it. He crumbled to a pliable mass in no time and you, meanwhile, just don't give a shit about me? That's so much more insulting than raging against me or trying to get me to stop. You just don't give a fuck, it's infuriating."

  "So sorry for not crumbling to a pliable mass at your bog-standard tricks. Hate to tell you this, kiddo, but they’re not exactly the best tricks out there. Pitch was a hell of a lot more frustrating and scarier than you've ever managed to be. The Lolita thing works well enough, but it also makes you a bit to, well, normal."

  "Normal?!?!" the outrage in that exclamation brought another round of laughter from deep within Len's soul. Disturbing though it was, she was starting to have fun teasing a demon. Probably a sign that she should get some sleep, but it would be rude to cut this conversation short.

  "I said it. Look, there are any number of hierarchies of evil entities causing terror. Little girls disguising ancient evils is all well and good, but it's also been done to death at this point. Might be good for a jump scare or two, but it's not gonna get anyone pissing their pants these days. Slightly creepy and off-putting just doesn't do it like it used to."

  "What would you know about it?"

  "Well, not to brag, but I've watched hundreds of horror films at this point. Granted, even talking with you is breaking about three dozen of the basic survival guidelines that those movies taught me, but what can ya do? Gotta pass the time, am I right?"

  Cammie just stared at her like she was off her rocker. Sleep deprivation was probably having a bit of that effect, but there was also the part where she was having a bit of fun at the creature's expense. Unlike Pitch, who had assimilated most of the knowledge Len had of her old life, Cammie only got glimpses. The exact nature of their bond was one that Len didn't understand fully but it wasn't as deep as her bond with Pitch. Cammie was in a decidedly more subservient role and hated it.

  The thing Len really wished she could understand better was the competition that Pitch and Cammie were engaged in. It had been explained to her vaguely and seemed to amount to a basic survival of the fittest battle where these creatures struggled to rise to the top, but the rules were so poorly defined that she suspected there really weren't any. More than that, the nature of their creation was equally foreign. There didn't seem to be any particular rhyme or reason to when one of their kind came into being and the consequences of that creation were equally hazy. She had no way of knowing how many of these beings there might be and couldn't even begin to guess at how she might prepare herself to do battle with them when they came. It was a daunting thing to consider that wasn't great to add to everything else that was going on.

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  "The hell is a 'film'?" Cammie finally asked, surrendering to curiosity.

  "It's like a play, you know what that is?"

  "Sure."

  "Well, imagine a device that can make a copy of a play, recording every moment of it in perfect detail and then making it available to be played back an infinite number of times in an infinite number of locations, provided that those locations have the right equipment. Then imagine a whole industry devoted to making those recordings and selling them."

  "That sounds like more outlandish magic than anything I've ever heard of."

  "Not magic, technology. That's the world I came from: one where technology made miracles possible that exceed anything this world's magics have to offer."

  "You can't honestly mean that."

  "Oh, I absolutely do. That's the thing about the world around us. Yes, magic's an impressive thing, it does things I wouldn't have dreamed of before, breaks laws that I had always thought couldn't be broken, and yet it's all pretty much a pale imitation of the things that I used to experience. Except for healing magics, that stuff's an absolute godsend and I'd love to take it back with me one day. Whole lotta assholes I'd love to put out of business."

  "You still think you're going to be able to get back home? To swap places with that other woman?"

  "Well, hopefully. I don't hate doing what I can around here, but I'd much rather get back to the world that I know. This isn't where I belong, I'm just doing what I can."

  "What... what do you think would happen to me there?"

  "No clue. I mean, my counterpart did kinda imply that there was an apocalypse going on back there, so it's possible you'd be right at home. Presumably, if I ever get back, she'll have straightened all that up and we won't have to worry about it. I dunno, not like I'll be able to be rid of you, guess you'd just have to hang around and keep me company. Maybe you can badmouth my boss and try to make me laugh at times when he's looking to fire me."

  "You make me sound like a petty jokester."

  "I mean... aren't you?"

  "I most certainly am not," Cammie huffed. "I am a dark temptation that will drag your soul into nothingness."

  That time they both burst out laughing. It was an odd thing, sharing a comradely conversation with one of her personal demons, but it wasn't so bad. If Len was honest with herself, she was glad to have Cammie around. Sure, the advice the creature gave was absolutely terrible, but it was still good to hear, to make sure that those ideas didn't make their way too much to the forefront of her mind. It wasn't like she was ever going to take them at face value, and she wasn't so stupid as to imagine that she could ever trust the thing that looked like a girl, but it was still a fun experience to have. Sad though it may have been, she'd had worse friends in her time and at least with Cammie, she knew what she was dealing with.

  "All right, Cammie, I think I'm ready to crash. It's been a long fucking day and I've got an even longer one ahead of me tomorrow. You can get back to your temptations soon enough but for now I'm just gonna go ahead and make with the not being awake."

  "Quitter," said Cammie with something that might have been fondness.

  "You're damn right," Len replied with a smirk, then made her way to her private quarters to find Kes already passed out in bed.

  Len was suddenly struck by the full weight of her weariness. She'd been running on fumes for at least the past four hours but had kept moving because she'd felt the need to get things out of the way. The conversation with Cammie had been a surprise that had sapped the last of her energies from her and just left her with nothingness when all was said and done. It had been a rather pleasant conversation she had to admit, but it had still been one more conversation than she really had had in her. Struggling to go through the final motions of the day, she managed to strip off her work attire and slip into a nightgown. A part of her scolded herself for not bothering with more of a nighttime regimen, but she just didn't have it in her at the moment and she collapsed onto the bed beside Kes.

  "Mmm..." the girl muttered, rousing slightly from her slumber. "Len?"

  "Hi Kes," Len managed, struggling to keep herself together as the welcoming bed tried to swallow her into darkness. "How was school?"

  "Hated it. Miserable. Want to stop." the girl slurred through her own sleepiness. "So many words. Why was there all that speaking?"

  "Hate to tell ya, kid. But that's kinda the way school works. Gotta cram a lot of knowledge into that head of yours. Wouldn't want you to grow up dumb, now would we?"

  "Hrmph."

  "You make any friends?"

  "Not really, One boy tried to pick a fight with me, but I punched him in the nose."

  Len smiled. Not really behavior she should be encouraging, but this wasn't the sort of world where pushovers had a good time of it. Better that she ended fights quickly rather than letting them fester or worse yet: letting people think she was weak.

  "Well, make sure he doesn't hold a grudge, take him something to eat tomorrow?"

  "Why, he was a jerk."

  "Yeah, but he's a kid. No sense holding onto the anger. Make peace if you can and move on."

  "Hrmph." Kes said again, but nothing more.

  Len wondered if she should say more but decided against it when the girl released a shockingly loud snore. Chuckling slightly, the Dark Elf let sleep take her as well.