Aya nodded goodbye to Hex and Nacht, then disappeared. She hadn't moved faster than I could see, which she easily could; the operators of this Mobius cell had just allowed her to leave.

She needed their permission, because, rumours went, even Fixer would have had a hard time breaking in or out of a cell like this, and not just because he got excited when he got to use his powers.

One day, maybe after I became somewhat trusted-as ARC didn't fully trust anyone, especially its members-I'd ask around and try to find out how Mobius cells were made, and who had invented them.

But first...

'The darkness inside me, huh?' I sat up, folding my arms. 'Gonna cut me open, or...? I'm assuming we're talking about the parts light doesn't reach, though in that case, opening me up would be kinda impractical.'

Hex said nothing as he mirrored my movements, longcoat pooling around him, hat covering everything above his chin in shadows.

Nacht's face split in a white grin so enormous it was almost semicircular. 'You are so funny, David~ Both Hex and I forgot to laugh. He did it decades before you were born, mind...'

'Talking about darkness, have you ever wondered why places like this aren't pitch-black?' Ignoring the freak, I gestured at the white cell, which was as bright as a cloudless day at noon, despite no apparent source of illumination. 'Where's the light coming from?'

'The numinous souls of cellmates like you,' Hex said in the flattest voice I had ever heard. 'We see you are being your usual flippant self. That is not good, but is reassuring. According to Odin, Chernobog's wordplay was much more vicious than yours the first time he possessed your body.'

My hands became fists. Odin had become able to see the Headhunt from the start after Chernobog's apparent death, and he had asked me several questions before letting ARC take me into custody-including if I wanted to liaise between my organisation and Asgard, which I'd declined, saying I needed more time to think and believing I'd never choose to.

So, why was I having second thoughts?

Maybe the coward in me wanted the protection gods other than mine seemed willing to offer while He...no. Down that path laid nothing but doubt and emptiness. The fact I hadn't been destroyed, despite what I was, despite having been touched and tainted by dark powers and other gods, was good enough. It would have been ungrateful to ask for more.

'Awww...he looks ready to cry, Hex! And the  best part?' Nacht giggled, moving around its partner to whisper in his ear. 'He thinks he will be weak if he does. How dare he feel anything after being used and abused and killing more people than anyone who has ever lived?'

It looked at me as it said the last, forming eyes like burning white coals. I gulped, then forced myself to smile, knowing it looked as pathetic as I felt. "Damn straight. I only like being used by my girlfriend."

'Ohhhh~' Nacht swooned, tilting its head back and forming a hand, pressing it between its eyes. 'Such dedication, from the one and future cuckold.' Eyebrows like stormclouds appeared above its eyes as it turned to glare at Hex. 'Why can't you look at me like he looks at her?'

'You're insane,' Hex said. Due to the positioning of his hat, I couldn't tell whether he'd been looking at me or Nacht at he'd spoken. I wondered which of us was feeling more called out.

'So harsh...now, David. I already know your fears, and hatreds. You wear them on your sleeve, next to your heart.' Nacht sneered, like it had found a slug in its salad. 'You and Loric-you are both pathetic excuses for strigoi. Why do you care about people and gods, whether they will remember you or not? You should lose yourself in the carnage, become one with your true selves.'

Well, we were clearly of one mind. I, too, thought Szabo wasn't evil enough.

'That was a rhethorical question. Now...tell me your wishes and vices, David-and do not try to cheat by speaking of your strigoi side, or letting it take over. I already know them, but...' It shrugged, grin still plastered to its face. 'I want to see you squirm, and drink your shame.'

'If you do not wish to speak, I will make Nacht tell me, and record its words.' Hex lifted his head, so that I could stare at his stitched lids. 'I will then compare them to the information in your personnel file, and cross-reference with your previous interrogators.'

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'Why?' I asked, bluntly.

'I do not care about your secrets, Silva-not unless keeping them will prevent me from learning and experiencing new things. If you feel it would take too long, I will leave, and drag the answers out of Nacht.'

I looked from the mage's stony face to the monster's ecstatic expression, and sighed. Here goes nothing.

'So...vices first. This should be shorter.' I fidgeted as I spoke, tapping a rhythm on my thighs with my fingers. A nervous tic I had gotten from pops, and which, it seemed, even death had been unable to wipe away.

'I like hurting people,' I said, lowering my eyes. Already feeling like I was doing confession with the world's most unhinged priest, I didn't want to see Nacht getting its rocks off as I laid myself bare. 'I'm not...I'm not just talking about...' Criminals? No. I was supposed to be honest. 'Evil people, though I love breaking them. I like hurting other agents, too. When we spar, and I feel their flesh tear and their bones break...when I choke a mage or fill a regenerator with lightning...I feel almost alive.'

Nacht snickered. 'Many do. Go on.'

'I like...being right, I suppose. I like correcting others and feeling like I get the last word-yes, I suppose that's why I snark so much. Sue me. And I like fighting. I like being hurt and torn open while not feeling anything, watching my enemies rage as I heal from wounds and fight them until they tire.' I laughed drily. 'I don't like  real wounds, obviously. I hate being hurt. It's really easy to act cool and aloof when I can't feel anything, while the people I mock have to grit their teeth.'

Yeah, look how great I was. There was really no difference between me and those little morons who acted tough while playing videogames. I'd never grown up, or I wouldn't be moping and feeling guilty because of things I couldn't control.

'A question: why do you think these are vices, David?'

'What, you don't know that, too?' I showed my fangs. 'How the fuck could they not be vices?'

'Indeed. How dare your humanity not remain in your grave after your undeath? You vile, vile bastard...'

I really wasn't in the mood to get patronised by this floating turd, so I continued. Better than letting it speak. 'Should I list the ways I shame my religion? Besides the fact I exist.'

'If you wish,' Hex said.

'Well. I curse and I doubt God, but, apparently, not enough to be worth smiting. Guess I'm not even good at blasphemy. I...break some of the Commandments, through word and deed. I kill and...' I was jealous of people whose partners were with them and only them, all the time. And then there were those who think that's not enough, or cheat, or...oh, the things I'd do to them...

'I covet what my neighbours have,' I finished.

'And you lie,' Nacht said softly, matter of factly.

I sighed again, even as my worse half paced in the back of my mind, growling. 'Yes, I lie. Usually by omission, when I'm talking about my job to people outside it, but...'

I was rambling. What else was there? Old-fashioned arseholes thought not being master of your household went against the Bible, but I liked to think that was narrow-minded. 'Um...' Did I look as mortified as I felt? I wasn't sure that was possible. 'I personally think "sodomy" isn't sinful, and I'm unsure if this even counts as it, but Mia often-'

'I will ask Nacht that.' Hex held up a hand as his partner laughed, images appearing in its pitch-black 'body' like fireworks on the night sky: people, laughing until they couldn't speak anymore, until they fainted or choked.

'Yes, Emil, I can confirm that right now.' Nacht chuckled, the images disappearing. 'Let us move on to desires now, yes?'

Aw, shit. I was going to give this bastard stuff to laugh about forever... 'It's not fair that the innocent suffer while the guilty slip through the cracks so often.' So many ARC agents had horrible youths, you could've made a whole army of guaranteed talent show winners. 'If I could, I'd kill them all, or at least make them hurt me.' Let me suffer. I could barely feel anything, and was hardly innocent.

'Masochist!' Nacht gasped in faux shock. 'I am almost surprised you did not list this among your vices, though perhaps I shouldn't be. You Christians see mortification of the flesh and soul as a virtue, after all.'

And who the fuck asked for your opinion? 'The rest are...petty, I suppose, as much as they are impossible.'

Little things, really. My friends having what they wanted. Nonsense, like the past getting changed, so my mother survived giving birth to me and Andrei didn't run away from fatherhood. Pops' parents living and his angel surviving to be with him.

'Come now, David. Don't be shy! Speak of what you really want.' Nacht blurred forward, surrounding me and filling my sight. 'I can make your zmeu lust for you, and only you. Just say the word, and she won't even feel it. She won't notice the change.'

'And what would you want? It's just that my soul is too worthless to sell, you understand.'

Nacht licked its lips as it returned to Hex. 'To eat your guilt, forever, after you accept~'

'Then I'll be very happy to cockblock you.' I turned to the mage. 'Anything else?'

'Not for now.' He stood up. 'Your thoughts are too human, in scale and nature, to be Chernobog's. That, or the Black God is fooling us again.'

'You bore me to death, David,' Nacht said, in a voice dripping with pity and disappointment in equal measure. 'Oh, if only the world was kinder and no one suffered! Oh, why must my mate switch partners! Are you even really a strigoi?'

As the two walked away, doubtlessly communicating through means I couldn't perceive, I realised Nacht had only spoken of lust. Not love. Had it meant...did it know, through its power, that Mia only loved me?

"Lust for you, and only you" , not "Love and lust only for you".

I won't say I didn't brood after their departure. But at least this time, I did so with a wistful smile.