What they failed to realize was that he remembered exactly what they'd done to his mother. They said she was possessed. They'd driven a stake through her heart. When she'd died and stayed dead, they'd called it divine justice, but her body hadn't vanished. She didn't dissolve like all the rest. No matter what they said, Thane knew they'd killed a human, and Dahlia said the eidolon couldn't possess bodies. He knew his mother had been a good woman. She'd just dared to ask too many questions.
Evidently, he'd come by it honestly.
Chapter Thirty-Four
DAHLIA
Dahlia paced the room waiting for Thane to get back. She didn't know why he'd summoned her again, but she'd take it. Clawing back from the Abyss wasn't easy without help, and her name still tied her to the realm of reality. Mostly it was the memory of her, but even a false one would do. That was how she'd expected to return: some horny teenager masturbating to an imagined woman that was close enough to give her a path. This way was easier.
But she had nothing: no clothes, no money, and no friends. The last time she'd come close to the Inquisition - four hundred and eighty years before - she and Mei had cut ties with the rest of the world and gone underground. It was how they'd stayed alive. With Mei, she'd never felt alone. She'd never needed anyone's help because her lover had always been there. Always. When one of them died, they'd whispered the other's name while seducing some desperate human. It had always worked.
And now Mei was truly dead.
A rush of grief slammed into her. For a moment, she couldn't breathe. Dahlia's body bent in half as she folded around her waist, but she held back the wail that wanted to come out. Not now. She couldn't do this now. So, instead, she pulled in a long, shaking breath and stood back up.
Right now, she had to be strong. She needed to focus on revenge, not the loneliness of a life without Mei. She didn't dare let Thane realize how much she was hurting. If she wanted to keep her last promise to the woman who'd made life worthwhile, then Dahlia had to focus.
She was wiping the moisture from her eyes when the door opened and Thane returned. He glanced at her, then dropped his gaze, moving to set a nylon bag on the bed. Without saying a word, he unzipped it and started removing items. The first thing she saw was silver. Sucking in a breath, she stepped back, tensing.
"Relax," he said, tossing two spikes onto the comforter. "Thought holy symbols didn't bother you."
"Those aren't holy." She was not about to get within range of that man if he had stakes.
But his hands paused. "Care to explain that?"
"Not really."
"Hm." Next he pulled out a pair of jogging pants and a dark tank. Those he tossed on the second bed, closer to her. "So what's the lie, Dahlia? You've been wanting me to ask, and I'm asking. Right now, I'm risking my brother's life, so I think I deserve an answer."
She grabbed the pants. She might be comfortable naked, but it would draw too much attention if she had to run out of here in a hurry. As she pulled on the shirt, he tossed over a pair of plastic slip-on shoes. They would be too big, being meant for his feet, but it was better than nothing. She pulled her hair out of the back of her shirt, and sat, still out of reach.
"Ok, so what have we already covered? There is no God. We're not demons. Your abilities aren't divine, and when you shove one of those into us, we certainly do not go to Hell - or Heaven."
He pushed the silver spikes aside and sat across from her. "So where do you go?"
"Where does lightning go after it hits the ground? Static electricity? The charge in a battery? It's physics. We're all ruled by the laws of nature, not some mythical man in the sky, Thane."
"So there's no God?"
She shrugged. "I've never met one."
He chuckled and leaned back, his hands supporting the weight of his upper body. "Ok. So why does the cross usually work?"
Dahlia tapped her head. "Thoughts. Do you know what they are? Nothing more than a few chemicals and some ionic charges. Neural fibers carry electrical currents. Molecules are made from positive and negative bits that are pulled together. It's kinda complicated, but pretty basic. From our cells to our concepts, it's all pretty much the same thing, and that current has a form." She gestured to her body. "Often, one we imagine."
"Wait." He looked confused. "You're saying that if I imagined you as a tiny little brunette, then that's what you'd be?"
"No," she laughed, the word caught in the sound. "My thoughts of who I am form me, not yours. All I'm saying is that this is me. I'm a collection of energy that can affect the world around it. If there's a path available for this form - any path - then I can fill it. No different from lightning's jagged path from the sky. It bounces from charge to charge because that's the shape it can get. This is me. My thoughts only know this, no matter what realm I'm in."
"Realm?"
The air fell from her lungs. This wasn't going to be easy. "Parallel dimensions. You've heard that theory, right? I mean, most sci-fi loves it. Well, the truth is we aren't sure where we go. We call it the Abyss, but we don't know if that's really a dimension or a state of perception."
Thane lifted a hand, begging her to stop. "What abyss?"
"Hell. I mean, there's no fire and brimstone. Actually, there's nothing in the Abyss. When we die - body death, like I did tonight - there's absolutely nothing. Without a body, I have no eyes to see, no ears to hear, and no skin to feel. There's literally nothing. No mass to weigh me down, no tongue to taste. Just a complete lack of anything."
"Sounds peaceful."