The creature that was Seela, but also not Seela, hissed at her, long, sinewy tail flicking behind her thick, gray form.

She was agitated, favoring her left front leg, which had a harsh red line carved across its width. Her forehead glittered with a trio of golden leaves.

“It’s just me,” Soraya heard herself say with Sunny’s voice. “Let me help you. Please.”

Another hiss and more flicks of her tail, but the nightdemon didn’t attack. As she watched, the creature began to gnaw at her own injured leg. This, of course, only made it worse, but she couldn’t seem to help herself, as though driven by some misplaced instinct.

“Don’t do that!” she cried, rushing forward. “You’re hurting yourself!”

As soon as she drew near, the nightdemon reared up, her other foreleg lashing out with the speed of a snapped whip. She fell back, wincing, hand rising to touch her cheek, where pain, hot and sharp, had flared. Her fingers came away wet with her own blood.

She looked up, watching as the nightdemon returned to her incessant gnawing.

All Soraya wanted to do was go to her, to stop her, even if it meant she was hurt, or even killed. She would do anything for this creature, who, in her eyes, could never truly be a monster. Soraya felt this desire so strongly that it was like being wrapped in the warmest blanket while sitting by a happy fire. She wanted to live in that feeling, wanted to be painted with its warmth and light. For it was a love like none she’d ever known.

She wanted to bask in it.

“No,” she heard her own voice growling, from another place.

But still that emotion held her back, like strong, thick cords wrapped around every part of her—unbreakable.

You are not her, she thought desperately. She is not you. You are… What was her name again? It started with an ‘S’, didn’t it? S-S-S-Sunny? No! That was wrong, wasn’t it?

Wasn’t it?

GET. OUT. OF. MY. HEAD!

The command was full of such force that Soraya was physically launched back as she was expelled from Sunny’s mind.

“Please,” Sunny said, staring at her. Soraya was now laying several feet away on the floor, feeling rather bruised. “Please don’t hurt her.” This woman was so strong on the outside that it was hard to believe what she did next. She dropped to her knees and clasped her hands together. “I beg you.”

Soraya knew what she was supposed to do in a situation such as this. For as much as her heart hurt for this woman, her pain mattered not compared to what she’d been charged with doing. Protecting Narcissi at all costs. Being the Guardian she was always meant to be.

“She’s killing people. She almost killed my friend. He still might die.”