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The deet without being the one who had created the Earth and the heavens: She could assu anyone at any time in any place She could imprison souls for an eternity She commanded an army of the undead

And if you crossed her, she couldhell for you Literally

But she had one little problem

"I&039;m sorry I&039;m late," she said as she rushed into the cozy red office "I had a ht"

Her therapist smiled from her arm chair "Not to worry Would you like a minute to collect yourself?"

Devina was indeed frazzled, and as she sat down, she put her Prada bag to the side Taking a deep breath, she patted the corporeal illusion of brunette hair that the human woman saw, and pushed at the lizard-print leather pants that actually existed

"Work has been hell," she said, glancing down to double-check that her bag was zipped up There were bloodstains on the sweatshirt inside, and the last thing she needed was to have to explain thelad you called for the extra night session After last week, I&039;ve been thinking about you and what happened How are you doing?"

Devina downshifted out of the chaos she&039;d just co Instantly, tears sprang to her eyes "I&039;m"

Not okay

She forced herself to say so into my new place, andto unpack, but there&039;s so much, and I have to make sure it&039;s ordered correctly I need to check that s" The therapisttoward the end of the session I want to kno you are Talk to me about how you feel"

Devina looked across the needlepoint rug and wondered, not for the first ti a demon Ever since Devina had been in Caldwell, she&039;d been coist--so it was over a year now She kept her true identity hidden under her favorite skin of a sexy, chic, brunette female, but the underneathespecially after her first loss to Jiher

Devina snapped a tissue out of the box on the table beside her "I justI hateI feel totally out of control And lost Andscared"

"I know you do" War ho for someone like you to do I&039;m very proud of you"

"I had no tiht" More tears Which she hated But, God, she&039;d had to rip her collections out of their rightful places in a s into boxes "I still haven&039;t been able to sort through everything andwas broken or lost"

Oh, Godlost

Panic fanned into her chest and made the heart she had co-opted beat triple-time

"Devina, look at h the panic attack "I&039;m sorry," she choked out

"Devina, the anxiety is not about the things It&039;s about your place in this world It&039;s the space you declare as yours emotionally and spiritually You must remember that you don&039;t need objects to justify your existence or make yourself feel safe and secure"

Okay, that all sounded well and good, but her things on the earth hat tied her to the souls she owned down below, the only link she had to her "children" Over the centuries, she had amassed personal possessions fros, earrings, thilasses, keys, pens, watchesthe list went on and on She preferred things made of precious metal, but any kind of ht, it also gave off the reverberations of the one who&039;d owned it, worn it, used it

The radiated i that calet down to her sanctuary for a personal visit

God, she hated having to work on earth

On a shudder, she blotted her tears "I just can&039;t stand being so far away froh You&039;ve told me yourself And your ex-husband is better equipped to handle the day-to-day care of your children"

"He is" She&039;d had to shoehorn her backstory into some semblance of a human&039;s situation There was no ex-husband, needless to say, but the parallel worked: Her souls were safe where she left them It just killed her to be away There was no place she&039;d rather be than at the botto trapped forever in her walls

Playing with them was fun, too

"So where did you end up?" the therapist asked "After your boyfriend and you decided to end your relationship, where did you go here in town?"

Now her anxiety switched to anger She couldn&039;t believe she&039;d lost the first battle with Ji bastard had infiltrated her private space Thanks to hiels, she&039;d had to take everything she had and vacate that loft at a dead run

"I have a friend who has a building that&039;s vacant" Not a friend actually Just soned all the papers Then she&039;d killed him, stuffed his body into a hazardous-waste druood He was in his own base comfortably

"And the &039;s there But as I said, I just haven&039;t arranged it properly" She had, however, found another virgin, which she&039;d pro the ot her to back to Hell "I&039;ve put in a security systeh"

If anyone breached the blood seal into the room where her most prized possession was, she&039;d find out in a heartbeat It was how she had known the instant when Jiel buddies had violated her space How she&039;d saved her things