My fingers wrapped around the chain linked fence, arms burning as they hauled me up it. Behind me I could hear the school's rental cop shouting for us all to stop running, that we were under arrest for breaking and entering.

I was slower than my brothers to get up and over, heart hammering away as I hit the pavement on the far side.

"Wait for me!" The shout echoed, and didn't slow down the other two at all. They vanished into the morning fog, arms full of the computer parts we'd spent all night taking out of various machines in the school library. "Wait! I'm not that fast!"

I ran as fast as I could, juggling plastic bags that were already being cut open by what was in them, but I couldn't catch up to them no matter how hard I tried. "No! Come back!"

The mist swallowed me, leaving everything tinged with gray. I couldn't see more than the shadows of the buildings around me, the little trees planted along the road. All I could do was run, cry, praying that I could catch up to my brothers before they drove off without me. Before they left me behind to get arrested, just like dad.

I never saw the metal fist coming through the tears, not before it struck my face. RAM and video cards tumbled down the street, a shriek of pain making my attacker laugh. I reeled, stumbled, and felt my shoulders slam into wooden boards.

"Stupid little bitch." The Templar looming over me grinned, her teeth as sharp as they were white. "Your magic can't touch me. I bet the boys in the Circle will have all kinds of fun with a tiny rabbit like you."

I... what? I... remembered this. What was going on? My brothers hadn't left me behind. They'd pulled me along, making sure I stayed with them until we got to the car. There'd certainly never been a character from Dragon Age wandering... around...

Oh.

...dreaming. I was on Thedas, not Earth. That meant the Fade.

I was dreaming.

"Now let's make you safe to move." That armored fist came for my head again, and I ducked on pure reflex. Memory had me go for the knife that had I'd used to open her throat when she'd swung at me in real life, only to grab at too-small jean's pockets instead.

"Quick, aren't you knife-ear?" She taunted, lazily throwing another punch that I barely avoided. "Like a festival game! Let's see how long you last!"

Dreaming. I was dreaming. I could control this. I could. I just had to focus. Had to-

A knee slammed into my gut, knocking the breath out of me. Fingers grabbed my too-long hair a moment later, twisting me around as the Templar laughed. "Pathetic little mage! I told you, your magic is worthless against me!"

This wasn't right. This had never happened, she'd never said anything like this. Done this.

And I was aware I was dreaming! So why couldn't I-

She hurled me through the air, tossing me out into the street. I hit the pavement with a yelp, rolling a few times before slamming into a pair of legs. I blinked, focusing in time to see a fully helmed Templar staring down at me.

"Pathetic." His said, his voice droning, bored. "This one has proven it cannot resist the lure of demons. Prepare the Rite."

Even in a dream, I felt the raw terror brought on by those words. "No! I'm dreaming!"

"Case your foolishness, bas!" An impossibly deep man boomed in reply. "This one is ours to deal with. Prepare the Qamek."

I whipped my head around to see a wall of hazy Qunari outlines forming a half-circle. Turning in panic let me see Templars finishing the wall, trapping me between them. As one they all advanced one step closer; letting me see the sunburst shaped brands in the Templar's hands, the heavy vials in the Qunari's.

No. No, not even in my dreams. I was not dreaming about this. I was not!

"Wake up!"

The shadow figures stepped closer again, a mocking laugh running around the circle, letting me hear the Templar woman call out once more. "Stupid little bitch. Your magic can't touch me."

This wasn't right. This wasn't right.

I was in the Fade.

"Wake up!" I poured my will, my magic, into the words. Desperate to get out. "Wake up!"

That voice deepened, "Stupid little bitch. Your magic can't touch me."

I couldn't wake up.

Something was stopping me.

Something... something had me in the Fade.

I had to get out.

I had to.

Another long step. They were nearly on top of me, arms stretching out, fingers turning into claws ready to pull me in. Ready to wipe my mind of everything that made me, me.

I had to get out.

I shouted her name so loudly that I felt my throat tear. "LONGING!"

Everything went still... then a woman screamed in pure, undiluted rage. It rose in volume and pitch until I fell to my knees, clutching my hands over my ears. A boiling wind rushed past, blasting away the mist, turning into the squalid buildings of Fade-Kirkwall.

The shadow forms abruptly twisted, bending unnaturally, then snapped back into place as spindly Fear demons. All of them turned together, as if they had one mind, then began bounding away from me.

They didn't make it far before red and purple flame washed over them like a tidal wave. The fire rolled, arching like a living thing, hunting each one of them down before they could escape. It rose in a curtain becoming a wall between me and...

...and the shadowed form towering in the sky, a thousand eyes glistening in the light of the flames as it stared downwards.

"Be Gone!" Arms slid around me, pulling me back against a soft chest. Longing's tail snaked its way around one of my legs, tightening possessively. I felt her chin atop my head when she cried out again, my own hands reaching back, feeling the shirt she wore as I clung to her. "This one is mine! Be Gone!"

The voice that answered made me want to scream; it was a thousand deep voices all speaking in stereo, echoing from every direction at once. "No, it is not. One bite does not a meal make, Longing. Your tether to it is weak, fraying, vanishing. You have no more claim than I to its weak soul."

Longing's entire body vibrated in a furious growl that I felt down into my bones. "I have every claim to her! She is mine, and I protect that which is! Be gone, Nightmare!"

The ground rattled as if a enormous foot had just stomped down nearby. "Come now, Longing. There is meal enough to share in that thing's little soul. You are old, and powerful, but I am older and more powerful still. Cease this bravado, it is unbecoming of Desire, and spoiling my meal."

Nightmare. Fear. Meal.

It was... it was still eating my emotions. Drinking them down as I trembled in Longing's arms. The mist began slowly creeping back in, emerging from dark alleys.

"The Templars will find her, sooner rather than later. Her foolish plan leaves them close. All it will take is one report, one thing said wrong, and she and her Dalish friend will become mindless drones with sunbursts upon their foreheads."

The fog warped suddenly, showing me two slim figures with pointed ears... kneeling as broader shapes pushed brands against them.

I shuddered, nausea rising. "N-no!"

"Maeve," Longing hissed, "Control it. Control your fear. You need to desire it."

So that she could feed from me instead? How the hell would that be any better!?

"Because I will not make you feel like this!"

Nightmare let out a mocking bellow. "No. You will simply devour her, body and soul, one foolish choice at a time. Until there is nothing left of Maeve Anderson but a demon wearing her as a second skin. Another discarded corpse in your wake, like the thousand others you have seduced and used up."

Longing snarled, "I have done no such thing! It is not like that, and Maeve knows it!"

"Oh but she knows that it is." The fog grew thicker, the enormous shadow leaning down closer to Longing's firewall... which flickered, withering at the sides as its power pressed against hers. "You are old, with personality beyond your lessers, and this little soul is wise to recognize it. You will not suffer to become an abomination, a merger of beings. You will take, and take, and take until there is only you, and Maeve is gone."

My heart felt like it was going to burst out of my chest. If Longing hadn't been holding my still I'd have been trembling violently, I could feel all of my limbs shaking.

...panic attack. I was having a panic attack in the Fade.

Out. Out. Out! I had to get out!

"Maeve is trapped here. Doomed. Her savior is not coming. She will never find those with the power to send her home." The Nightmare continued, the voice of legion growing louder, eager. Hungrier. "She knows too much about us, about the Templars, about the Qun. Knows to fear them. That they will hunt her when they learn the truth, as she knows they will."

...oh God. I felt each word hammer into my mind as he spoke fears I'd refused to ever let myself even think about it. Felt each tremble, felt... felt his magic cutting into mine, breaking off pieces of me and pulling them away.

Felt him drinking in my terror, savoring it.

A rumbling laugh boomed out. "Oh I do enjoy those aware enough to feel it, to know the real fear of it. She knows that I will enjoy feeding from her, until there is nothing left but the broken wreckage of a soul. That all of the bravado in the world will not save her from the nightmares. Not anymore."

My magic was completely out of control. I couldn't grab it. Couldn't pull it in. Couldn't get out from between two demons.

The fires flickered, burning away as the Nightmare bore down on us.

"...dammit!" Hands abruptly yanked me about, fingers grabbing my chin. Longing's amethyst eyes bore down into mine, "This will hurt us both."

"Wh-wh-"

I didn't get to finish asking her what she meant, because she shoved her lips against mine a moment later. Her tongue slid between them before I could try to resist, try to keep my teeth together. It was hot, quick, too long to be human. Too flexible as it wrapped around my own, her claws sinking into my shoulders as she held me against her.

Then I felt her lips move in words, pushing mine with them, spelling out the stupid little song I'd used to help me focus the first time I'd tried to empower my protections.

"Dream-catcher, dream-catcher, why do I dream?" She sang into my mouth, "To dream nevermore is the thing that I need."

My magic responded to the words... and pain abruptly shot up my spine, slamming into my temples. I tried to scream again, only for Longing to swallow the sound, forcing me to repeat the tiny song again.

Nightmare abruptly went silent, then a furious growl boomed out. "Too clever by half, Longing. I will not allow this!"

The pain turned white hot, my eyes squeezing shut as more tears ran down my cheeks. More magic slid against mine, feeling like fingers carefully grabbing my hand, directing it.

"Dream-catcher, dream-catcher, why do I dream? To dream nevermore is the thing that I need."

Something slammed into my spine. My neck. My leg. Fists punching me, fingers grasping at me, trying to rip me back, away from the demon's kiss.

Longing didn't let go. Didn't let me stop singing. Didn't let me stop hurting.

Five repetitions.

Claws raked down my back, turning the next chant into a scream of agony. I felt my clothing tear, felt blood run down my skin. Longing went stiff in my arms, her own fingers digging into my flesh as she let out a pained groan of her own.

Still her mouth moved. Forcing a sixth song out.

The fists came back. Punching my wounds. The world went white as everything became pain.

Seven songs.

Crackling fire accompanied furious howls, the arms and limbs mauling my back pulling away.

Eight songs.

The Nightmare's voice cut off at nine.

My legs gave out at ten.

Longing fell with me, both of us collapsing like puppets whose strings had been cut.

I couldn't find the energy to do anything. To do more than cry silently, gasping for breath against the dirt I was laying in. My head throbbed in time with my heartbeat, my back stung from my shoulders to my tailbone. The rest of me ached generally, my limbs feeling as if they weighed several tons each.

"Maeve?" Longing's voice was thready. She was hurt as well. "Let me tend to you."

...I hurt too much to say no, but couldn't find the breath to say yes.

"Relax. Relax." Soft hands touched my back, my torn skin. I whimpered in pain, which was the loudest sound I could make. The feel of her magic seeping into the wounds, taking away the pain, made me go utterly limp as the tears kept flowing.

I don't know how long she tended to me. Only that eventually she finished, gently pulling me into her lap like a child. Her jeans were torn and bloody, just as mine, and her black t-shirt hung in rags across her chest.

Those warm hands pulled me close, letting me bury my face in her neck, hiding from the world. Her clawed fingers began gently stroking my mane of hair, so carefully that I could barely feel it at all.

She sang quietly as she held me, pitch-perfect, asking Where Had All the Flowers Gone?

My... mother's favorite song. She must have pulled it from my memories. Somehow pulled it perfectly, every line, every chorus, even if I couldn't have sung more than a third of it on my own anymore.

I should have hated her. Should have fought to get away. She was a spirit, a demon. She was not my friend. She was a predator, and...

...and all I could do was sob into her fever-warm skin, hating myself, hating the Fade, Thedas, the Maker, God. All of it. I hated all of it.

I just... just wanted to go home.

"He smelled your nightmare through your wards. You... are very loud, discordant, your memories so out of place that they are easy to catch the scent of." She murmured when she'd finished the song, still holding me. "He saw you as easy prey. A strange Dreamer capable of being aware in the Fade, but too weak to recognize his shackles in time. He unmade your wards, then guided your nightmare to bring you ever greater fear."

I sniffled, nodding a little. "I... figured. What... did you do?"

"I helped you rebuild them, with enough power to keep him out."

"...didn't ask you to do that."

She shrugged, but the motion was oddly stiff. "No, you did not. You did not ask me to heal you either, but you desired it."

Sniffling again, I tried to pull back only for her grip to tighten.

"No. Stay." Longing ordered, gently but firmly pulling my face back against her skin. "He is still outside. You will not do well if you see him again."

That was... probably true. "...why?"

"You are mine." That possessive growl came back at once, "I have told you before, I do not abide poachers. Not even when they are one of the eldest of us."

"...so I'm just food then." I muttered. "You're... a lioness protecting her kill. Keeping... me fat and healthy... till the slaughter."

There was a long pause, and she almost sounded hurt when she replied. "It... is more complicated than that. You know it's more complicated than that."

"But it is that." I let out a quiet hiccup, then start pushing at her shoulder. "Let go. Wake me up."

"I cannot. We drained your magic to repair the wards, you need to stay here longer to recover." When I started pushing harder, trying to squirm back, she hissed at me. "Maeve. I do not lie. Your soul is ragged, wounded, worn. I could only heal you slightly with how drained you are. Stay, recover."

Something in the way she spoke there pulled at my memories for a moment, but nothing came to me. "No. Let go. I'm sick of spirits. Let me go."

"Meave, stop-!"

I shoved hard, finally getting my head away from her neck, "I said let me-oh god!'

Longing flinched, immediately yanking me right back down before I could do more than get a glimpse of her features.

Her horribly disfigured features. The right side of her face looked as it if had been shoved into a fire, that eye rheumy white, her normally beautiful skin glistening like an open wound. Even the horns on that side had been cracked, the jewelry melted away.

"What... what...?"

"I told you it would hurt us both." She said, chest heaving in a sigh. "As you said, you did not ask me to do what I did. You desired safety, but not my aid. I was not strong enough to wake you against the Nightmare's power, but I could help repair and empower your wards. It... was in the spirit of your desires, but only barely. I probably looked worse before I gave you your desire to be healed, to be held, to be cared for."

"...you..." I swallowed, trying to figure it out. "...you... wait. My dream-catcher is up right now?"

"And more powerful than ever." She confirmed.

"...and you're inside of it. With me."

"Obviously."

A spark of anger lit somewhere in my exhausted heart, giving it fuel to speed up again. "...fucking bitch. You changed them so you can come in and out now, didn't you?"

She stiffened a little. "I had to, unless you wanted me permanently trapped in this tiny space."

I was ready to scream at her for that, only for a flash of insight to hit me. "That's what burned you. You knew that giving yourself a way in and out went against my desires. You... acted against your nature."

"Yes."

"Why? I asked.

"It was the only way to stop the Nightmare from feeding on you available to me." She said.

"Fine, I guess, but why?"

"Mine." She repeated simply, as if that explained everything.

I groaned into her skin. "Would it kill you to give me a straight answer?"

"I just did." And some of her usual smugness returned around then. As did the fingers petting my hair, claws gently trailing along my scalp. "You mortals are simply terrible at listening. You more than most."

"Ha. Ha." I said. "Can I shove you out of here again?"

"My power is enhancing your wards. It is entwined with them now."

"So no, then."

"Not without bringing them down and rebuilding them completely." She confirmed. "Which will leave you vulnerable, and I am sure Nightmare will leave one of his lesser spawn to watch for just such a chance to feast on you again."

I couldn't stop another nauseous shudder. "...dammit. Fine, but you owe me."

Her voice turned a bit waspish. "I saved you, and healed you after."

"Yeah, but you could have just booted my wards back up, then made a deal with me to let you out. Or used healing me as payment for me to let you out." I countered. "You gave yourself a back door that I really, really didn't want you to have, and you didn't wait for me to say yes to heal me."

That made her entire body quiver, as if I'd just run pure electricity into her. "Yes... I suppose... but I am not a Fae from your Earth novels. I have no compulsion to balance our scales."

My own voice lowered to a growl. "You. Owe. Me."

"Maeve-"

"I will make Merrill teach me blood magic, and I will fucking supercharge my wards to keep you out forever."

Her fingers went still in my hair, "Then why not do such a thing regardless, if I am merely a predator protecting her meal?"

"I..." My voice hitched. "...better the devil I know than the one I don't."

"Liar." Oh and the bitch was seriously smug now. "You are fond of me, and grateful for what I did. I can feel it. You desire me as a companion, as someone to speak with. Maybe even to spend a tender evening in the Fade with."

Teeth ground on one another as I clenched my jaw. "You owe me. No more throwing memories at me out of spite in here, just to drive up my longing for home."

"...for one month."

"Forever."

"That is too long, I will avoid it for three mon-"

"Forever or you're out."

It was her turn to let out a frustrated huff, her chin coming to rest on my head again. "...One year, and I shall... try to abstain beyond that, but only so long as you let me come and go from your wards and dreams as I wish. In exchange I will maintain my power in your wards until you no longer need my aid to keep the Elder spirits out. Is that acceptable?"

This was stupid. This was so fucking stupid. Here I was, bargaining with her again, after all the crap she'd done in the past. All the times she'd openly enjoyed taking nibbles out of my soul, my emotions, just as the Nightmare had. Her descriptions of what life would be like if I gave in entirely. How she could trap me in memories forever.

...stupid, but... fuck.

I didn't want to hurt like that again. Fear like that again. Ever.

With that in mind, what choice did I have? Apparently I was a loud enough Dreamer than things like the Nightmare took notice, and I was nowhere near strong enough to keep him at bay. What would happen if some of the other heavyweights came sniffing around after I had an awful day? Like the Sloth demon from the first game, or a nasty Despair?

Longing was a devil, but she was the devil that I knew. She had a vested interest in protecting me from other spirits.

Even if that was just reserving my emotions for her personal feasting.

"...so long as you behave." I closed my eyes, wincing when I felt that strange tether snap back into place between us. I hadn't even noticed it was gone until then. It was a weak thing, not any stronger than the first one we'd made, but... shit. I'd apparently been free from her after she'd gone against my desires, and I'd let her right back in.

"...dammit."

"I did not trick you." She said at once, sounding defensive again. "I was entirely open, honest, and gave you all of the information to make an informed choice. You are the one who has finally admitted that you desire my presence in your dreams, if only for safety."

"You did." I had to give the bitch that much. "Just behave, all right? I'm... too out of it to fight with you tonight."

She purred like the world's largest cat, "I shall... endeavor to behave by your standards, but I remain who I am."

"I know." I sighed... then sighed against when I felt something warm pressing against my groin. "Get your tail out from between my legs. I need... I desire a sounding board, and you're my only option since no one else knows I'm not actually from here."

And it would be a good way to distract myself from the fact that an enormous fuck-all demon was lurking around hoping to eat me. Or maybe he'd settle for a nice spiritual mauling. Either way, something I didn't want to think about in the slightest.

That, and... well, I wasn't lying. Longing was literally the only being who I could be completely and totally honest with. That was bad on any number of levels, but that was the situation I was stuck with. I wasn't about to tell Merrill where I was actually from. Or Varric. Or anyone else.

With every sign of reluctance, she slowly slid her tail out from where it had started exploring, "Concerning what happened to inspire such nightmares?"

"Yeah. I'll let you kiss me again, for ten seconds, if you listen quietly to everything I learned today, and give me your honest opinions on what is going on."

"Ten seconds will not do anything to enhance our connection."

"That's the point. Deal or no deal?"

There was a frustrated huff, "Fine. Deal, deal, deal."

I nodded once, closed my eyes, and started talking. Telling her everything that had happened over the past day. Finding Gamlen, what he'd told me. The meeting with Petrice and my worries that I'd just gained a stalker intent on pulling me into her anti-Qunari crusade. Speaking to the Grand Cleric and realizing that I'd drawn attention at the highest levels of the city's government.

That our plans had worked. The Alienage would have Templar guards moving forward... and I was having some serious second thoughts about that plan.

Longing listened attentively, stroking my hair through it all.

"Your Templar gambit is a gamble." She said when I finished, "But it has a logic to it. You desire safety for yourself, and your kind there, and they are one of only two options capable of providing it in your world. A risk, but a mitigated one with your companion in charge of it."

"...still something to worry about. What if he gets replaced by someone else?" I said.

"Simply continue to drain your magic into your Dream-Catcher every morning, never carry a staff, and they will likely never notice." She advised. "I have seen their kind through the eyes and dreams of others. They struggle with spotting anything that is not blatantly obvious."

I snorted. "True, I guess. What do you think about Gamlen?"

"I do not understand your concern, because I don't know why it bothers you."

"Because Hawke should be here." I countered. "Aveline's husband should be dead. Gamlen should be piss-poor and living in Lowtown, not being sent enough money to clear out his debts before sailing to Ferelden. A Ferelden that should still be too terrifying to want to go to, even compared to the shithole that is Kirkwall."

Longing made a frustrated sound. "You know I did not take whatever memories holds those references."

"Yeah."

"...smug little mortal." But she sounded almost fond when she said it. "Teasing me with my own desire of knowledge?"

"Enjoying it?"

"Oh yes." She purred, "From the context, you believe certain people should be in Kirkwall that are not. That actions are happening as they should not be?"

"More or less." I admitted. "I mean, I shouldn't be here at all, and I've probably changed a few things, but nothing that should have stopped Hawke from arriving with Mythal's amulet. I just don't get what happened."

"Is it not obvious?"

"No, or I'd have told you."

The spirit chuckled, "You said that you should not be here, that you have changed things. If this Hawke was supposed to be here by some form of fate, yet is not here, than isn't the most likely reason because something, or someone, interfered?"

I froze, blinking slowly, staring at her shoulder. "...what?"

"Is it not likely that someone else interfered?" She repeated.

Someone else interfering? Someone else?

I...

I needed to get up. I had to move. "Is Nightmare gone?"

Her head shifted, turning, "He is, though one of his pet Terrors lingers."

"Whatever. Let me up."

She did, helping me to stand. I wasn't sore at all, which I knew I should have been. Stupid demonic healing, being so good. That or it was just the Fade being whatever the Fade was.

I scowled at nothing as I tried to organize my thoughts. My Dream-Catcher burned brightly as I did; once red-fire was now pulsing between red and purple, a mixture of my magic with Longing's. It was also a much tighter net that it had once been, with far smaller gaps between the ropes.

"Show off." I shook my head, walking the entire circle, thinking furiously and completely ignoring the Fear demon keeping pace with me on the other side of the burning strands.

Someone else. Someone else interfering with what the games should have had happening. Would that explain everything?

Well, yes and no. It could explain why Aveline and her husband were here, why Hawke wasn't. If someone else from Earth had been there, in Lothering. Had warned them to get out, told them what was coming. Guided them away from the Darkspawn. Kept them from coming to Kirkwall. Then... Hawke could have done something during the Blight to earn herself a title. Money. Lands.

Could have given her mother enough to cover Gamlen's debts. Inspired him to leave Kirkwall to join what family he had, instead of living in squalor. It seemed unlikely, but then again, I was here, wasn't I?

And if I was, maybe so was someone else. Someone who showed up in a better position than I to influence things.

Of course that didn't explain Fenris and Isabella knowing each other already. Although that... could have just been a case of gameplay and story segregation. They had real lives beyond their interactions with a player character. And as far as Merrill went... maybe Mythal would have sent some kind of magical signal to Merrill's clan, and hadn't since Hawke had never needed to be requested. That could why the Keeper hadn't kept Merrill around, exiling her ahead of schedule. Maybe.

Or maybe we were wrong as hell, and Hawke was both the Warden and Allistair's mistress or something. I just didn't know, and I hated it.

"My fucking kingdom for the internet... dammit. I need to know what's going on in Ferelden." I said finally. "Even if someone else from Earth isn't actually there, whatever happened during the Blight has thrown everything off from what I thought should be happening. If I don't get a handle on this soon... I don't know what's going to happen, and that's going to be dangerous."

"I can do so," Longing offered at once, watching me as I walked past. Her face was healing quickly, but her right eye was still milky-white. "For the memories that-"

"No." I interrupted her without hesitating. "A thousand times, no, Longing. I've given you too much already, I'm not giving you those memories."

She didn't look particularly surprised at the refusal. Or upset. She was probably content with having roped me back into her orbit for now. "Then how do you intend to learn the information that you need?"

"I'm working on that." I exhaled, shaking my head. This was going to be a long-term project, as much I hated that. There just wasn't a quick way to learn what I needed. Not without yet another Faustian bargain, and I'd passed my quota of those. "...I feel better now. Am I better?"

"Enough to wake up, if that is your desire."

I pursed my lips, then nodded once. "It is. I... thank you, Longing. For saving me. Patching me up. And listening."

"You are... welcome. But before you leave, my payment is due." One of her hands rose, crooking her finger. I felt myself slide across the ground against my will, pulled along by the connection between us.

"Hey! I can walk on my own!"

"But this way is more fun." A hand seized one of mine, the other sliding around my waist. Ignoring my second squawk of protest, she spun me about as if we were on a dance floor, then dipped me until I was parallel to the ground.

Then the bitch kissed me for exactly ten seconds, holding me in that position as she did.

...and I hated how good it felt to have her lips on mine again.

"Bitch." I groaned when she pulled back. "I regret this already."

Longing gave me a sultry grin. "Yes, but I remain your favorite devil. Now... Wake up."