Chapter 10: Reassembling the Pieces

A typical office building was built from concrete and steel, then finished with drywall made from the crushed-up dreams of financial freedom. The flooring was usually the cheapest that could be found, the kind that made your feet hurt when you walked on it in order to keep your ass in its seat so that you complete your fucking work. Though it was considered impossible to squeeze blood from a stone, it was absolutely possible to crush the hope out of office drones through the use of passive aggressive feng-shui alone.

This one was intended to be a sham, a dimensional ouroboros designed to keep its occupants trapped and running in circles as an uncountable number of minotaurs chased you. In truth, it was a fairly practical metaphor for white collar drudgery.

Which is exactly why Lily found that it burned so well.

Wreathed in flames and standing almost eight feet tall, Lily had slipped into full demon form to combat the never-ending tide of minotaurs. They roared and charged at her, sprinting down long halls and even occasionally through walls. Lily eviscerated them casually, her anger fueled by her inability to escape this place. Hellfire licked at her skin and burned across her horns and down her hair. Her skin was the color of smoldering embers and cracking ash, causing any loose paper to ignite the moment she entered the room.

“That’s my girlfriend,” Mike shouted with glee. “Look at how fucking hot she is!”

A minotaur bellowed and charged at her from around a nearby corner. Lily spun in place and grabbed the creature by the horns, then yanked. With a loud snap, the beast’s neck was broken.

Another minotaur tried to ambush her from behind. She impaled it through the neck with her tail, then converted the point into a slashing edge and decapitated a third.

While trapped in here and fighting an endless minotaur army, Lily had heard a female voice echo through the hallways. It hadn’t been the speaker herself that had induced such a rage, Lily had no idea who she was. Rather, it had been the message.

“How is it that I’ve locked up a succubus with a human soul?” the stranger had asked. In that moment, Lily had gone absolutely still, afraid any movement would make her vulnerable. Oddly, the intruding presence had left shortly after, leaving her in an absolute panic to escape.

The minotaurs lay dead where they dropped until Lily lost eye contact with their remains. Then they would simply disappear, leaving behind only bits of ash. She couldn’t be certain, but it seemed likely that they were just respawning elsewhere in the building.

Her wrath had become the flames that clothed her now as she stomped with cloven hooves down hallways that could no longer contain her. Lily’s horns dragged along the ceiling, sending waves of fire out. The sprinkler systems had kicked on, but Lily burned too hot even for them.

Eventually, the floor gave out, crumbling to reveal the one beneath. The ceiling was a mass of black smoke that eventually peeled back to reveal the structure up above. Like a star going supernova, Lily now hovered in the void as the building burned down around her.

Minotaurs leapt from above in an attempt to grapple her out of the air. She casually struck them down, then watched their bodies fall into the flames below. The succubus would occasionally fly along the rim of her inferno, making sure the flames stayed nice and hot. On the odd chance somebody came inside to find her, they would discover a most horrible welcome indeed.

“Come at me!” she shrieked as the world burned. The minotaurs, unable to physically reach her anymore, simply stood at the perimeter of the burn zone and watched. Snarling, Lily darted in and yanked them with her tail down into the fire.

Mike cheered her on while hovering in the middle of the room wearing a very cheap angel costume. “We’re having steak tonight!” he shouted, pumping one fist in the air. “I hope you like your minotaur well done!”

She lost track of time as she continued to kill them. The office building continued to smolder, but with no sign of becoming unstable enough to burst the trap she was caught in. Lily tore through its hallways in a personal hellscape of her own making, only to eventually circle back to the epicenter of destruction and discover that the building had partially rebuilt itself. Much like the minotaurs, the structure itself respawned.

It didn’t stop her from trying, though. Terror flowed like ice through her veins at the thought that her captor may come in here and find a way to take Mike’s soul from her. Perhaps there was some way to break the trap. Given enough time, she would find it.

The succubus was in the middle of creating a giant pillar of flames in the building when all the air rushed out of the structure, causing her to fall out of the sky and crash into the ground. Spitting out concrete and drywall, she saw cracks appearing on every available surface.

“I ... did it?” she asked.

Mike, standing nearby in a fireproof suit, yanked off his hood and frowned. “I don’t think this was you,” he said as cracks appeared in the air itself.

“Guess it doesn’t really matter,” Lily replied as a particularly large crack appeared up above. The air shifted violently, pulling everything toward the crack itself. Spiraling through the air, Lily tried to dodge the debris as she made her way toward what she hoped was the exit.

The vortex yanked Lily toward it, ribbons of glass melting against her fiery skin as the compressed world around her began to collapse. Minotaurs fell alongside her, howling in agony as they slammed into busted concrete and had their limbs broken. What was left of the office building suddenly imploded behind Lily as she was flung head first into a brick wall, her torso breaking through to the other side.

Momentarily stunned, she just let her ass dangle, occasionally swishing her tail back and forth in case someone tried to come at her. Eventually, a gentle hand caressed her butt.

“I think we’re clear,” Mike said, giving her butt a little pat. “Shrink back down before you burn this place, too.”

Lily restrained her true demon form, which caused her to shrink down to her usual size. It was a simple matter now of backing out of the hole. She shook her head to rid herself of the debris.

She and Mike were in an office, or what was left of one. It looked like a cartoon bomb had gone off. The entire room was covered in a thick layer of soot save for a clear spot at the epicenter of the blast where some broken glass and the remains of a snowglobe were placed. Lily took a wobbly step forward, then heard something crunch under her heel. Looking down, she saw the remains of a minotaur, its body turning to ash and falling apart.

“Those fuckers better not keep coming back here, too,” she muttered, putting her hand on a chair for support. Pain raced up and down her spine as she fought to literally hold herself together. The last thing she wanted right now was to disapparate. Her options then would be to return directly to either Mike or Naia, or return to this location later and hope that the witch didn’t have another trap waiting for her.

She had tried offing herself inside the office building, but could only reform within its confines. Lily needed to finish her mission before taking the easy way home.

“What the fuck is that?” Mike asked. Lily looked down and saw what looked to be a hand carefully navigating the floor. Frowning, she knelt down and picked it up. There were bits of glass stuck in the fingers, and she yanked a piece out and was a little surprised to see the wound stitch itself up.

“I’d know this hand anywhere,” she declared.

“Because it’s been in your asshole before?” Mike asked.

“I never forget a fist.” Lily flipped the hand over, ridding it of glass bits. It fought her, so she did the rational thing and sucked on one of its fingers as if blowing it.

Dana’s hand relaxed, then tapped at her wrist.

“So do you think this is a Thing situation where her hand is alive on its own, or is she doing a remote thing?” Lily poked the palm of the hand. “Hello, can you hear me?”

“Try putting it down,” Mike said.

Lily obeyed, and the hand frantically tapped the floor, then flexed its fingers to stand up tall and point down repeatedly with the index finger.

“I think she wants us to go down,” Mike said.

“Of course she does. I’m really good at it.” Lily smirked and picked the hand up. “Okay, ladyfingers, if you want to go down, then where are the stairs?” It took her a moment to figure out where the exit was, as everything in the room was the same color. There was a large wooden door on one side of the room, but Lily figured Dana’s hand hadn’t come from that way. She wandered the office and discovered that there was a narrow hallway behind the bookshelves that led to a spiral staircase.

She descended the metal stairs, then cocked her head when she heard a distant rumbling. “Was that an explosion?” she asked.

“Nope. Gundam attack.” Mike looked at her and shrugged. “I have no clue. It sure sounded explode-y.”

“You’re lucky that you’re cute,” she muttered as she continued descending the stairs. Sniffing at the air, she didn’t detect any traces of salt water. Were they still in the Caribbean? If so, then it was very likely they were underground. But the office had had a window in it, right? Were they not by the ocean anymore?

“You’re thinking about this way too hard,” Mike said, giving her a gentle bump with his shoulder. “Also, how far do we go down these stairs? To the bottom?”

“Maybe here?” Lily stopped to open a door and looked out in the hall. Dana’s hand, somehow sensing their lack of movement, impatiently tapped at Lily and then pointed down and at an angle.

“Yeah, yeah, we get it.” Lily smirked and continued. They moved past a couple more floors before the walls of the stairwell opened up to reveal the polished floor of a medical laboratory.

When Lily stepped off of the stairs, the witty comment she had reserved for finding Dana died on her lips. Across the room, Dana’s head and torso were mounted to a board, and the zombie locked eyes with her.

“Oh, fuck me,” Lily whispered, seeing the state that Dana was in. She rushed over to Dana and touched her friend’s cheek. Dana’s lips twitched as she took a deep breath and spoke.

“Took you long enough,” she wheezed.

“You look like shit,” Lily replied.

“Practically falling apart,” Dana replied. “Tasia is stuck in that painting. If you can’t put me back together, take her and go.”

“I would rather die,” Lily replied, and meant it. “Now what’s this about a ... oh.” The painting was old, but there was no mistaking the disgruntled former Knight inside. Tasia was frozen mid-argument with an old man holding a pitchfork. “How did she get in there?”

“No idea. Didn’t see it,” Dana replied. “The witch took her hostage, so I let her knock me out to keep her safe. I don’t even know what all she did to me while I was unconscious. How bad do I look?”

“It’s not good. How are you even functioning right now?”

Dana’s lips twitched. “She did some experiments. Shoved a whole piece of vampyr jerky in my guts. It won’t last much longer, though.”

“Yeah, we’re gonna need ... something.” Lily studied the room and located every part of Dana. “I don’t know how fast I can stitch you back together.”

“Tasia can help if you get her out.”

Lily turned to look at the painting. “Should I stab it?”

“No idea. It could hurt them.”

“Or free them.” Lily made a face. This was a decision she didn’t feel qualified to make at all. “I’ve heard rumors of witches doing this, but the technique was lost a long time ago.”

The succubus studied the painting for several seconds. Trapping people, particularly children, in paintings had actually caused quite the stir in the magical world. Part of it was the sheer audacity of the act. The other was the magical prowess required to essentially create a self-sustained pocket world to use as a prison.

“Well?’ Dana asked.

“Still thinking.” Lily could see some of the magic of the painting, but not enough. She stepped up to the painting and gave it a little tap. At first, her finger brushed against the dry paint, but when she did it again, a tiny ripple went across the canvas.

“How very Mario 64,” Dana muttered.

“I ... huh.” Lily turned to look at the zombie. “You actually referenced something that went over my head.”

“Why did it do that?” Dana asked.

“Not sure.” Lily repeated the process and took a step back. “Well I’ll be damned.”

“You are.”

Lily waved Dana off. “This place is just full of surprises. It seems like this painting is some variation of the Dreamscape. Which ... wow.” She touched the painting again and a larger ripple went through it.

“Can you go in?”

“Maybe. But I don’t know if I could get out.” Hesitant to willingly enter another trap, she turned to Dana. “I think we should—”

There was a distant explosion, followed by the muffled sound of gunfire.

“Stitch you back together,” she finished, looking for a needle and thread. This room was clearly some type of laboratory, and the various instruments already on hand were more than a little unsettling.

“Over there,” Dana said, glancing at some shelves. “Surgical grade stuff. If you can get my hand back on, I’ll stitch my other arm while you do my legs.”

“It’s always so much fun hanging out with you,” Lily replied. “I’m not gonna bother with anesthetic today. Your HMO doesn’t cover it.”

“Just make sure you tie a pretty little bow on the end.” Dana tilted her head and watched as Lily peeled back skin and muscle to get at the bone underneath.

It was a grisly process, but at least the cuts were clean. The bones mended themselves faster than Lily had ever seen, and then the muscle came next. She worked fast, taking note that some muscles and tendons were reattaching themselves before she had finished stitching them back together. This significantly sped up the process, which meant that after about ten minutes, Dana’s hand was back on.

Lily used her tail to smash up the expensive storage containers to retrieve Dana’s remaining limbs then she held Dana’s other hand in place long enough for the bones to heal together. Lily pinched muscle fibers back together while Dana did her own stitches.

Dana’s legs were far harder to re-attach due to her hamstrings and quads. The ball joint of her femur had been sliced during limb removal, and that was a tricky bitch to get back in place so it could heal correctly. By the time Lily was only halfway done with the leg, Dana had two usable arms.