The dreamscape twisted the moment she let Xander in.
One blink, and the ballroom was gone. The throne shattered. Mirrors cracked.
Now it was just darkness—and his voice.
> "You invited me, little liar. Did you really think you could trap me here?"
Ariana tried to move, but her limbs felt chained. Not physically. Spiritually.
Xander appeared, within her, like smoke behind her eyes. He walked toward her—no longer taunting. Now… hungry.
> "I've tasted your fear. Now I'll wear your skin."
---
Outside, in the real world—
Ariana's body arched on the chamber floor, sweat slicking her limbs. Her eyes glowed pitch black. Her lips parted.
And Xander's voice spoke through her mouth:
> "Hello, little brother."
Damien dropped to his knees, heart in his throat.
He gripped Ariana's face, trembling.
"No. No. No…"
He slammed his wrist against her mouth.
"Drink. Drink me, damn it!"
Nothing.
Her lips curled into a cruel smile.
"You always were the weaker one."
---
Inside her mind—
Ariana stumbled through the void, heart pounding. She saw glimpses of herself: shattered mirrors, bleeding images, fragments of pain.
And at the center—Xander, coiled like a serpent around her spine.
"You can't kill me," he hissed. "I am you now."
"No," she whispered. "You're nothing but a ghost in the machine."
She forced her eyes open—inside the dream—and screamed.
A burst of white fire exploded outward.
Xander roared.
---
In the real world—
Damien sliced his palm deep, letting blood pour in thick rivulets over Ariana's chest.
He began the chant.
> "Blood of mine, soul entwined, pull the rot, sever the bind…"
Magic pulsed.
The chamber darkened.
Ariana screamed.
Her body convulsed violently. The black smoke in her eyes began to boil. Her voice turned ragged—two voices overlapping.
"Damien," she gasped. "He's—inside—!"
He pressed his forehead to hers, blood smearing between them.
> "Come back to me, Ariana. Come back."
---
Inside her mind—
Ariana staggered to her knees.
Xander writhed, his form glitching—losing grip.
"You can't—"
She grabbed his throat with both hands, eyes glowing silver.
"Get. Out."
And she bit down—on his spirit.
Consumed it.
Burned it.
And in one blinding flash, she woke.
---
She gasped, eyes wide, pupils blown.
Damien held her, breath ragged, his hands covered in her blood—and his own.
Her chest heaved. She clutched at him, nails digging into his back.
"I'm here," she whispered. "He's… gone."
But Damien saw the flicker in her eyes.
The residue of darkness.
The part of Xander she had kept—not willingly.
> A fragment of his power now lived in her.
---
"You didn't just banish him," Damien said slowly. "You… absorbed him."
Ariana's mouth trembled.
"I had no choice."
He looked at her—long, deep, unreadable.
Then he kissed her. Hard. Desperate.
> "Then we train you to control it. Because this changes everything."