[right][h2][color=#8493ca]Caught in a Snare[/color][/h2]
[@silver21][@DaftJive][@Stanifly][/right]

[color=808080]Viné pads out of the shadow into the garden. In his wake, the plants wilt. He stops in front of Damien and regards him like a father who has found a child somewhere he should not be.

[i]"You are not walking away from me,"[/i] says Viné, the words running over a low rumble.

He looks across the thyme and the basil and the climbing nasturtiums, mildly amused. [i]"This is a pretty dream you have made for yourself, Damien. But it is not real."[/i]

[i]Brrring.[/i]

[i]"Oh?"[/i] Cupping a paw around his ear, he tilts his head toward Damien. [i]"Do you hear that? The phones are still ringing."[/i]

A phone is ringing somewhere, and the longer Viné stands there the more ringing there is, until the air around the garden is thick with the sound of it and the clatter of keys no one is pressing.

The goetic demon steps closer.

[i]"Your mother's room is not in this garden. Her nurse is not in this garden. The bills that arrive at the end of the month are not in this garden. They are out there, where they have been since you took my hand. They are not going anywhere."[/i]

Shadow covers Damien now, and the head over him bends close. Eerie light comes up in the eyes above him. The light brightens. It burns.

[i]"I do not begrudge you your rest. When you are ready to come back to the work, I will be waiting,"[/i] promises Viné. The earl of hell reaches for Damien.[/color]