CHAPTER#84

"Mike would go outside to confront him." Naia frowned. "He wouldn't let him come in, but I know he would at least talk to him. What could Daryl do to him if he was outside, on the porch?"

"Hmm." Lily tapped her nails on the side of the fountain. "His specialty is magic involving the flesh. He tends to necromancy, but that's a by-product of his gifts."

"So a trap has been laid." Cecilia looked at the others. "A trap to lure in Mike."

"Maybe we should spring it," Naia suggested. "Without Mike here."

"But what about me?" Dana cried. "If I don't deliver Mike, I'm stuck like this!"

"The alternative is worse." Lily shook her head. "Think about the process. He spent time researching you, hunting you down for this specific purpose. Why go through the effort? Let me tell you something else about Daryl. He's a grade-A asshole. When he snaps his fingers and your soul leaves your body, you won't be headed for the happily ever after you think you are."

"How do you know?" Dana asked. "Are you some sort of expert on dying?"

"Because you've been Damned." Lily scowled, her eyes on a distant memory. "And once you've been Damned, you don't get the preferential treatment in the afterlife."

"But it isn't my fault!"

"No, it isn't. But luring Mike to his death can be. Think of it as being on display. By becoming Damned, every action you make is carefully scrutinized. He isn't controlling you through magic. This is akin to being handed a bomb and told to detonate it in a shopping mall. You know what the repercussions are now, and no amount of do-goodery will spare you the cost on your tarnished soul for that."

"Speaking of the afterlife." Cecilia hovered before Dana, taking Dana's fingers in her own. "Tell me more about what you experienced there. Leave nothing out."

Dana told her the story again, glossing over her love making with Alex to when the world fell apart.

"Does that sound right?" Naia asked Cecilia.

"Hard to say. I feel like I'm missing something." Cecilia shook her head, her hair floating eerily. "Each person's journey is different. It could be correct, but I can't say for sure."

"She isn't talking about the fucking," Lily announced, splashing the water with her foot. "Maybe the detail is hidden there."

"But... I guess I'm not comfortable sharing that." Dana hung her head. "I'm not sure what good it would do to tell you."

A moment of silence passed. Naia looked at the others, a knowing look on her face.

"I'd better go check out front," Cecilia said. The banshee vanished, leaving behind the others.

"I have some tests I would like to run. In the garage." Zel bowed out, her hooves clipping harshly against the stones beneath. Dana looked at Lily. The succubus had crossed her legs, leaning forward expectantly.

"Tell me," Naia said, the water swirling up behind her. Tiny water globes spun free of the surface of the fountain, drifting lazily around Dana. The air suddenly smelled of lavender and sunscreen, taking Dana back to her reunion with Alex. "Share the moment. I would love to hear how her lips felt against yours."

"I... I guess it couldn't hurt." Dana went into great detail, pausing for several seconds between the most intimate moments. Something about Naia was both motherly and sisterly, and she felt like she could tell her anything without being judged. Lily, on the other hand, wore a mask that she couldn't see past that reminded her of a doctor examining a specimen. Dana had always been uncomfortable discussing her sexuality with others, but Naia smiled at the right moments, gave her space at others, and the single tear rolling down her cheek when Dana described losing Alex again made her wish that she was capable of her own tears.

"Well?" Dana asked. Naia was smiling, but Lily wore a frown.

"It sounds like you miss her a lot." Naia rubbed Dana's arm affectionately. Dana nodded.

"I do. I would do anything for her."

"Sounds like she would do anything for you." Lily smirked. "I wonder. What would you say if I told you that the afterlife you saw wasn't real?"

"Of course it was real. It was the same night we had together all those years ago, except this time it was on the balcony."

"Nope. Wrong." Lily crossed her arms. "It wasn't, no matter how badly you want it to be. This is how Daryl works. He manipulates you using your own weaknesses. Fortunately for us, he has his own weaknesses too."

"It actually happened!" Dana stood up, her fists balled at her side. "And unless I help him, I will never see her again!"

"Naia." Lily raised an eyebrow. "By now, even you should be able to see it. I can, and I don't even have to be inside her head."

Naia shook her head. "Is it always the direct approach with you?"

"We don't have time for niceties." Lily leaned back. "OK, let's see if I can help you understand. If the afterlife was real, then everything you saw really was a carrot dangled before the horse. But consider this - if you actually made it to the afterlife, then why was it so easy for Daryl to bring you back?"

"What do you mean?"

"Once you're dead, you're dead. Your spirit can be called back, but it can't be forced to stay. Not once you're there. The number one rule of the afterlife is that it can never be truly known. To that end, bringing a spirit back intact would take a tremendous amount of power, god-level stuff. There's a reason that boon is saved for messiahs and rock stars.

"Which brings us to the next point. If it wasn't real, then it was manufactured. If it was manufactured, then the whole thing was an illusion, and though you are dead, your soul never left your body, bound to it by magical means. That being the case, this fantasy of yours was custom built by Daryl." Lily uncrossed her legs, leaning farther forward. "Think. There has to be a detail that stands out. He isn't a mind reader, so surely he had to fill in the gaps somewhere. A seam in the dream, as it were."