Full of the Devil, Chapter 2

(Continued from The Devil You Don’t Know: Chapter 1 of the Devil series)

Tabitha knows she’s dreaming.

She -- or whoever she is in this dreamscape -- runs through a thick forest. Branches lash out, biting at her arms, while spiky twigs and burrs pierce the soles of her bare feet.

Tabby knows this is her body, but also knows it isn’t her body. She pauses in her haste, using a nearby tree to support herself. The stitch in her side is unforgiving, but she has to push through it.

Glancing at the hand pressed against the rough tree bark, Tabby knows she’s seen it before, but it isn’t her hand now, the one in the waking world. Dream Tabby pays no heed to this revelation, and propels herself on, forcing her legs to pick up speed, nearly tripping as the material of her night shift tangles around her legs.

Ahead, just visible through the light of the full moon above, the trees begin to thin, and before her a clearing appears. She loses her footing and falls forward. She tries to get her legs back under her, to keep from falling, but she goes down, and the moment her body hits solid, cool earth, she stays down.

The tears come, pouring forth with every emotion she had not allowed herself to feel over the past few months. She cries and cries, wetting the grass and dirt beneath her.

“Surrender” was not a word in her vocabulary, but her...