She whirled. The portal was gone, and Darkyn was in front of her again. Deidre watched in growing horror as his teeth turned from normal to sharpened, and two long canines half the size of her index finger lengthened from his gum. Like a demon's.
"It will require a great deal of effort on my part to keep this painless. Pain brings me pleasure. It goes against my nature to avoid it," he was saying.
Forbidden magic. Hell. She made a deal with a demon. Starting to panic, Deidre sought some escape route.
"Pay attention." He snapped his fingers in front of her face. "If you ever want to leave here, you will follow my instructions."
"We have a deal," she whispered.
"A deal is as much about the spoken terms as the unspoken ones," he replied with a predatory smile. "You didn't bargain to leave here once you arrived. The portal system does not work in Hell for mortals. You bargained for your life and pain. Do you want to leave?"
She nodded, forcing herself to listen.
"You will find your chances improve if you do exactly as I say," he said. He circled her as he had upon their first meeting. "You also didn't bargain against not becoming a blood monkey while you were here either."
"Blood monkey?"
An image not of her own creation pushed itself into her mind. It was of Darkyn's fangs sinking into the delicate skin of her neck. Her body began to shake, and her hands were clammy.
"I have your attention now," he noted. "To keep things … painless for my new blood monkey, it will require discipline on both our parts. I won't hurt you. You don't run, and you don't fight me. I love a chase and a fight, but the chances of me forgetting not to dull the pain increase if you resist."
Another image flashed, and Deidre gasped, covering her face with her hands in an effort to block it. It was of her running and Darkyn tearing out her throat, after doing much more horrible things to her.
"Understood?" he asked.
Gabriel's one percent was a cakewalk compared to this.
"Why is this happening?" she asked. "What did I do wrong?"
"You will get what you came for," he assured her. "In the meantime, I can't have you running from the Dark One. He is not merciful."
"Dark One. My god."
"Only a deity can turn a human immortal, which is what it'll take to keep you alive while we remove the tumor. Be brave, love. You've made it this far." The words were mocking rather than encouraging.