The corpse smiled thinly, lips flecked with blood. Ignoring Angel, he stared at Raem. "Oh, but this is my true form, mortal. I am pain. I am memory. I am deceit. I am Sharael, the Deceiver, the cold terror that lurks inside every soul. Before you drift off to sleep, when the seed of awareness rises inside you, the realization of the great pits of agony that lie beneath your safe world—that is me. When in a moment of silence fear strikes, true understanding, true sight of the enormity of agony—that is my whisper. I am worlds untold, undiscovered, waiting, sharpening my blades, nurturing my darkness. I am the dark hills beneath the mind where no life grows, where souls shatter, where vast spaces expand beyond all that mortals can know, beyond all that minds can comprehend. My true form?" He cackled. "Upon seeing my true form, your eyeballs would shatter, and your mind would shriek. A man cannot comprehend great numbers of multitudes, great sizes like the space between worlds, or minute universes within grains of sand. The minds of both mortals and demons are limited. But I am unlimited. If you saw my true form, it would engulf this hall, the Abyss itself, the world above, and you would beg me. You would beg me to take the form of your dead child again, Raem Seran."

A chill ran through Raem. His tentacle twitched. Angel, however, growled at the shapeshifter.

"Your skull is worth less than a pot to piss in," the Demon Queen said. She reached out her claws. "I've banished you from this hall and you've returned. And now your pain begins."

She leaped toward the demon.

Sharael changed again.

He grew taller, slimmer, brighter. Silver light flowed from him. His body became smooth and naked, formed of liquid silver. He lowered his bald head, and his palms opened at his sides, facing outward. His light, pale like the moon, grew brighter than the sun.

"Taal," Raem whispered.

The light fell upon Angel, and the Demon Queen shrieked in pain. Cracks widened across her body.

"Deceiver!" she shouted.

Sharael laughed. "You still cower at the sight of your father! I am mightier than Taal, mightier than you, mightier than this mortal you seek to wed. I will be your husband. I will be the King of the Abyss. I am more than a demon. I am a god. I will rule this underworld, and you will be my wife. You will be my slave, my whore." The shapeshifter turned toward Raem. "And you, mortal. I will find your precious Issari, the girl you still love. Oh yes, I saw your love for her when I took her form. I will find her . . . and I will make her suffer. I will twist her."