Devil With Benefits (Gods & Guardians)

I'm inside the devil's portal now. Fully. And there's no getting out.

Shock consumes my body, but there's no stopping the desires of the devil. Like a puppet, my body is stiff and unusual, and it is controlled.

Slowly, I raise my hands in front of my eyes. I form hooks with my fingers, knowing exactly what is about to happen.

The voice speaks once more. "Give me your sight," it sings. "I want to know what it's like to be mortal."

But just as I'm about to claw my eyes out, I feel Ash's touch. And just like when we made love, the energy shifts around me.

Our love is electric. And it just might be the answer to our prayers.

My shoulder blades shift, and an aching longing forces me to the floor. The feeling spreads toward my back as my skin starts to grow tight. Something is shifting inside of me. Something near my shoulder blades. It's the weirdest thing I've probably ever experienced, but it's really happening, and I have no choice but to give in.

Two small roots of cartilage break through from my back, one on each side. My breath feels like ice, and I let out a solid groan.

"Ash!" I scream.

Evil laughter rises around me.

"Raven!" His voice is still muffled, but his hand firmly grabs my arm.

My eyes swivel into the back of my head, and then I feel something strange slip against my shoulder blades. Growing from the two holes in my back are two giant, black wings, soaking with my blood as they spread outward.

Triumphantly, I stand. And despite my eyes' position, I can see everything.

Yes, everything.

Suddenly, I recognize my true powers. I take off into the air, flying through the blackened clouds and rising smoke rings from ancient coal plants and oil refineries. I zip past the four horseman of the apocalypse, reducing them to mere bone shard. They unleash one last cry before they turn to dust.

And the people of the world? What do they do when they see me?

They rise on their feet, standing with trembling curiosity. When I crash my body through the smokestacks outside of the city, they cheer. They reclaim the power that rests inside of everyone, and I can see the fight come back into their once fearful eyes.

I bring down every industry. I bring the world back to its natural state.

I hear the devil's scream, so hideous and gut-wrenching is his cry that it forces me to immediately weep with tears that seem to weigh me down.

I know that I can defeat him. I may not be a god, but I have a power within me greater than I ever knew.

All of this is so incredibly real to me. Yet, I know this can't be true. It's a fantasy induced by the portal I have stepped inside.

Or is it?

"Be gone!" the twisted voice cries. "Leave my realm at once."

I drop back and land on the ground. My eyes roll back into their normal positions, and I am somehow pulled out of the portal.

Ash takes me into his arms, screaming my name. I'm cold and shivering on the dry grass, covered in some strange embryonic liquid. I cough and spit out some of the thick solution, understanding that if I stayed within that realm for much longer, I probably would have died.

Drowned by some unknown demon mucous is not the way to go.

The demon disciples are all around us. Our path has been found out, and there are too many of them to fight off at once. But Ash has something in his pocket that can give us a fair chance at survival.

He brings the pistol forward, stands, and

aims at the horrid, writhing creatures. They bite wildly at the air, as if the mere scent of us is delectable enough to eat. As one opens his jaw and displays his sharp teeth and mangled flesh surrounding his mouth, Ash fires.

Bang - the demon disciple explodes into a flurry of flies. One by one, they drop to the floor.