His head was pounding. Every beat of his heart sent blood rushing up, a thundering filled his ears. It didn't smell like the broken down old shack he had been in. It smelled urban—garbage and rot, smog, the air heavy with the fumes that were pumped into the sky. Slowly, his eyes opened. He expected to see a ceiling overhead, rotting rafters of thick wood groaning to hold up the weight of the rooftop overhead.

He saw a stretch of midnight black, peppered with the silver of stars. Grey clouds lazily strolled across the sky, a few lights cut through the light fog in the air like wide, pale beams. It was quiet for a city, but he gathered it was pretty late into the night. He rolled onto his side, regretting it immediately.

Pain flared through his senses, numbing him to everything but the sharp reminder of his cracked ribs. He coughed out a surprised gasp, gritting his teeth as his eyes squeezed shut and he forced himself to stand. Lying in a dirty alleyway wouldn't help him heal any. He needed proper bed rest.

Chicago, he assumed. It had to be. He had been only a handful of miles west of it when he had fallen unconscious. He steeled himself for a decidedly painful trek toward the end of the alley, out into the street it was connected to.

Strange. He couldn't remember the last time he saw a cobbled street. He couldn't remember Chicago ever having any of these.

Still, it was hardly a matter of importance. He needed a place to rest, then he needed head back west, find his car, his gear, his target.

It was a long list and he didn't have a lot of time, but he wouldn't be any good in a fight, half-dazed with cracked ribs and what was surely a concussion. So, he stumbled down the street, blinking at the signs that lined some of the nearby buildings. There weren't any people around.

One rose above the rest, declaring the location of an inn. He hurried toward it, turning down the street the sign pointed to, only to find himself standing suddenly on lush, green grass. The sun shone bright overhead, blinding him with the sudden flash of light. He squinted.

All around him were large, thick trees. The clearing wasn't very big. In front of him were tire tracks, leading to a car.

When he finally came to, he was still in the dented, crumpled and beaten Pontiac. He was sprawled across the seats, struggling to sit up and peer out the shattered windshield. The forest around him was gone. He was in a city again, parked in a large, vacant lot beside an old warehouse.

It was with great effort that Robin managed to pull himself out of the window, stumbling away from the car to turn and look at it.

He groaned. Not out of pain, but sorrow. The Pontiac had suffered several beatings in its lifetime, but nothing so drastic as this. The hood had been crushed, caved inward. The two doors were all but sealed shut from the weight of the blows delivered, the roof was mostly caved in and the windows were all shattered. Large, wicked gashes lined the car's sides, like some great beast with massive claws had cut into the metal.

On the crumpled hood were smaller scratches, forming letters.

Welcome to Rhy'Din

The demon laughed, stepping forward as Robin turned to try and circle around him. "Where are you going, Robin" We have business, you and I."

Before Robin had a chance to speak another force if invisible energy slammed into his recently healed ribs, sending him sprawling to the ground in a limp bundle of limbs. He rolled over, pushing to stand up, but was met with another furious telekinetic burst to the face, as though the demon had simply kicked him back down. His head slammed hard against the stone beneath him, his vision went white around the edges and he was sure that it was blood that was trickling down the back of his neck. Despite this, Robin rose to his feet shakily, continuing to circle around the demon, eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Keep it up. The more you piss me off the harder I'm going to come after you," Robin reminded the demon pointedly. "Like your friend up north. Remember him' He thought he could play games with me, too."

"At least he wasn't stupid enough to mess with my car."

"I'm stronger than him, Robin. Stronger than you. I could crush you like an insect with just a thought," the demon replied, smirking as he tried to step forward. His eyes widened in surprise and he looked down to see a series of circles, pentacles and symbols carved into the stone under his feet.

"How did yo-" he was cut off by the sight of the rosary bead that Robin had produced from his pocket, or the way his lips began to move as he started chanting in Latin.

"Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, omnis congregatio et secta diabolica."

The demon began to laugh at Robin, shaking his head as he fought against the barrier of the devil's trap. "What' Did you memorized the whole damned thing, Robin" I'm sure you'll miss a word, and in the end you'll just piss me off more. Let me out of here, and it will be easier for you in the end."

"Ergo draco maledicte et omnis legio diabolica adjuramus te. Cessa decipere humanas creaturas, eisque aeternae Perditionis venenum propinare."

He began to writhe, shuddering and flailing as he stepped away from the edge of the circle, moving toward the center. His face was contorted with a mixture of rage and pain, his black, shark eyes focusing with deadly intent on the hunter. His mouth opened, releasing a furious roar of protest as the demon felt itself being torn from the man's body, being removed forcibly. He fell to his knees, snarling like a common beast.

"Vade, Satana, inventor et magister omnis fallaciae, hostis humanae salutis. Humiliare sub potenti manu dei, contremisce et effuge, invocato a nobis sancto et terribili nomine, quem inferi tremunt.

Ab insidiis diaboli, libera nos, Domine. Ut Ecclesiam tuam secura tibi facias libertate servire te rogamus, audi nos. Ut inimicos sanctae Ecclesiae humiliare digneris, te rogamus, audi nos.

Terribilis Deus de sanctuario suo. Deus Israhel ipse truderit virtutem et fortitudinem plebi Suae. Benedictus deus. Gloria patri."

A sudden scream pierced the night. The man's head fell back and expelled the demon in a whirlwind of smoke and sulfur, the inky black mass shooting up and outward toward the sky, only to be forced back down to slam into the ground beneath the man. The devil's trap was washed away, leaving blackened ground in its wake. He waited for a moment before reaching down to the unconscious man, checking his pulse for signs of life.

Sighing with relief, he patted down the man's pockets until he found a cell phone, flipping it open to dial for emergency services. He didn't respond to the operator who answered, only set the phone down, leaving the call open, and turned to hurry away before the authorities arrived and began to start asking him awkward questions that he couldn't answer.

The light at the end of the hall flickered away, leaving Robin in complete darkness for a short time before another, bright bulb flared to life in the center of the room. He squinted at the sudden brightness, peering past his lowered lashes at the figure that now dominated the center of the room. She wore a simple, slim black dress that hugged her womanly curves with such a tantalizing fit. Her long, supple legs carried her with a swaying step toward where he hung from the wall. Her hair was dark and lustrous, falling down over her shoulders in thick, rich waves. Her eyes were the only part of her that stopped the entire look from being downright tempting.

Like the man's, they were blacker than night, cold and lifeless like the gaze of a shark. Her pretty red lips parted in a smile, revealing pearly white teeth as she came to stand in front of the stirring hunter. He groaned as he shifted, the rope burning his wrists. His arms and shoulders were terribly sore from the awkward way he was hanging.

"Shh..." she lifted a single finger to his lips, leaning close to breath in the smell of his sweat and blood. Conversely, she smelled of cinnamon, of temptation and sulfur. "Don't move, Robin," the woman whispered, her voice so sweet, so warm and welcoming. Her breath washed over his lips, he could taste it.

"Wh-" as he began to speak she shushed him again, smiling still.

"Don't speak."

Before he had a chance to protest she had surged close, her lips had taken his forcefully. She delivered a kiss so full of fervent desire and heat that his struggles against the ropes that bound him ceased. It was an all encompassing sensation, spreading such delicious warmth through his body that the tension fled from his weary bones.

Then, just as suddenly as that warmth began, a cold, biting pain lanced through his body. He wrenched free of her tempting kiss to release a sudden cry of pain that originated from his stomach, where he felt something hot and wet begin to trickle down. He looked down to see her delicate little hand curved around the handle of a long knife, which had been plunged into his abdomen, his blood leaking over it, her fingers and dripping to the concrete floor beneath him.

His mouth opened to shout, instead he coughed up blood and began to gurgle and choke as another bite of pain sliced across his throat. Faster than the eye could see, she had wrenched the knife free and cut a wicked line along his throat, his blood pouring into his windpipe to cut off air and any hope for survival.

Already, he was beginning to lose his grip on reality, the world darkening around him as the woman's laughter filled his ears again.

"You should have left him alone, Robin."

—-

His eyes were wide as they stared up at the ceiling, sweat drenched his already dirty and torn clothes. He crawled to the edge of the bed to sit, leaning forward onto his knees as he lifted his shaky hands to wipe the sweat from his brow. His heart hammered in his chest, his lungs screamed for air, slowly expanding as he filled them. It had been such a vivid vision.