(Author's note: writing.com counts this chapter as to long, so it will be split in two parts)
Chapter by yearends on writing.com
You and Luna both quickly turn to face the source of the voice. She looks shockingly familiar in her nudity.
"Naamah?" all three bodies say in unison.
"Don't mention that failure's name to me," the woman, clearly another demon, snaps. "She's as weak and pathetic as I always knew she was. No, I'm here to do what she couldn't. Now get out of those bodies and give me the ring."
"And if I say no?" you challenge.
"Well then, I'll just take it from you." A fireball begins to form in her right hand while electricity arcs between the fingers of her left. "From your dead body, if necessary. Which would, of course, also mean killing whoever you're possessing right now."
"Fuck you, bitch!" Luna shouts, starting to move between your sisters' bodies and the demon. The demon lowers her left forearm.
"Lu--" you start to shout, and then everything goes white.
--
When you come to, you're back in your own body, dressed as you had been before you possessed your sisters. You quickly take stock of your surroundings.
It looks like a comfortable, well-appointed sitting room. Two comfortable armchairs, one on either side of a merry fire in the hearth, with a table between them. A pot of tea sits there, and an empty teacup rests on a saucer in front of one chair. The other chair, however...
"Naamah?" you say in disbelief, for the second time in the last few minutes.
But this isn't the Naamah you remember defeating and trapping in your ring--which, you only just notice, is back on your hand. She's still as jaw-droppingly gorgeous and sexy as ever, but instead of being naked as she had been, she's dressed in a red turtleneck sweater, accentuating her curves, along with a pair of slightly ripped jeans. Her feet are bare, and her spade-ended tail holds up her saucer, onto which she puts her own teacup, having just taken a sip.
"Hello, Nick," she says calmly, though her voice, like her body, is trying to make you hard, and only your shock is keeping it from succeeding. "Long time no see. Please, do sit down. There are a few things we must discuss."
"What the hell do I need to discuss with you? You tried to take over my body and steal my life!"
Naamah sighs, impatience in it. "The chair is safe, the tea is not poisoned, and my sweater is yellow." At that last you feel a twinge in your mind. "Your girlfriend's name is Jane"--another twinge--"and you're the CEO of your own multi-billion-dollar firm." Another twinge. "I can't knowingly tell you an untruth, Nick. And anyway, we're inside your mind, basically. I can do a little, but this is your place to reshape as you will."
Still wary, you turn the armchair into a sofa and lie down on your back, swinging your legs up on an armrest. "What do you want, Naamah?"
"To save your life, of course," she says.
"And why would you want to do that? I'd think you'd welcome any opportunity to get your revenge on me for what I did to you."
"I would," she admits. No twinge. "But futility can dull even the sharpest hatred. I am bound to you, Nick. My existence is forever linked with yours. If you die, so do I. Whatever hatred of you I might bear, it is not as strong as my desire to continue living, even if it must be in such a limited state as this." Still no twinge. "So if you think my motives must be purely selfish, just consider that I want to do everything I can to keep you safe and secure."
"All right, so what's going on, then?" you ask.
"You put the ring on again," Naamah says, stating the obvious. "And so the demons will start hunting you again, as I did. Only now more will come, since the ring has grown more powerful."
"So I'll just take it off," you say. "Put Luna back to normal, wipe my sisters' memories again, take it off and put it away. I got by without it."
"Won't work," Naamah says. "You and it are linked. When you put it on you awakened to full force the latent powers that had been growing within you."
"Latent powers? Do you mean..." You trail off, not quite sure where the captive demon is going with this.
"I mean that ever since you put on the ring in the first place, there's been a bond between you and it that's been getting stronger, even once you took it off. About a year ago it became strong enough that you could, if only you knew and if you applied sufficient focus to the matter, use its powers in at least a minor form, whether or not you wore it. Now the bonding is complete."
"What are you saying, that I wouldn't need the ring to do all this stuff now? Well then, why don't I just give it to whatever-her-name-is and be done with it?"
"She is Maanah. My twin sister." Naamah grimaces. "Our parents were not especially creative when it came to naming their children. And there are no rivalries stronger among demons than those between siblings, especially twins. And giving her the ring is the one thing you cannot, must not, do."
"Why not?" you ask.
"Because while the ring cannot be taken from you--indeed, fool that she is, Maanah does not know that if you die, the ring perishes with you now--it can be freely given. Then you would lose your powers and Maanah would begin to bond with it." Naamah scowls. "And I would be her captive, not yours." She tosses her head, a touch of pride in the gesture. "And if I must be a captive, I would much rather be that of the one who defeated me."
"This is fascinating and all," you say impatiently, "but Maanah was about to kill Luna. So can you get to the point?"
Naamah waves a hand lazily. "We're communicating at the speed of thought. Magical thought, not bound to the electrical impulses in ordinary brains," she clarifies. "You'll become aware of your dorm room again at the moment you left it."
"Just tell me how to deal with your sister like I dealt with you."
Naamah smiles slightly. "If I were inclined to attempt to be false with you, Nick, I would say that that was an unfortunate wording on your part. As it happens, however, Maanah can be dealt with just as I was."
"How?" you press, finally sitting up and leaning forward.
"When you defeated me, possessing your entire town and leaving me no place to hide, I attempted, in desperation, to possess you." She shrugs. "That was my undoing. Fool that I was, I did not realize what your ring actually is. In attempting to take your body from you, I was trapped here instead."
"And so, what, I need to get Maanah to try to possess me?"
"My sister is arrogant and easily goaded. You need tell her nothing but the truth--that you will not give her the ring, and that killing you will destroy it also. She will conclude that the only way to gain its power is to steal your existence from you, claim it for her own. That will be her undoing, as it was mine."
"And then will she be here, like you?"
"She may be here," Naamah says. "Likely trapped in a cage until she accepts her fate, as I was."
You reach for your teacup, feel the side. It's pleasantly warm and you take an unmannered gulp of what you have to admit is excellent tea. "One last question, then," you say, hopefully knowing what you need to do to deal with the immediate threat. "What is this ring?" You hold up your hand while you swallow the rest of the tea.
Naamah smiles. "The Master Ring."
You've already started to focus on returning to reality, and the words hit your ears, your eyes going wide, just as the room whites out.
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