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Cisco blinked upon seeing Damian. His head felt odd, but the warring thoughts abated, allowing him a kind of tired peace. He didn't let his attention waver too much, though. He'd never seen such a grave expression on Damian's face before.

"What do you want, Germal?" the old man said. His tone was not at all the jovial one that Cisco had come to know.

"You're looking well, all things considered. I'm glad."

"For a dead man, you mean?" Damian released his grip on the other man's wrist.

'Where is Nerovoy, you monster?' said Feromas. The reaper, too, sounded shockingly different from his usual self. Where Damian sounded flat and cold, Feromas now sounded like he was barely containing his anger.

The stranger, apparently named Germal, regarded the reaper with an icy look. "You should not ask questions you do not want the answer to, old friend."

'And you shouldn't be using that body or that voice, outsider. If you think your tricks will work here, you are sorely mistaken.'

"When will you accept that I am Germal truly?"

'Never. Act like him all you want. Fool as many others as you like. Damian and I know what you really are. Until you bring Nerovoy back, there is no hope for a viable union between us again. Of that, you can be sure.'

Germal broke for a sigh. "I had hoped that all this time would have allowed you to cool your head, but I see that is not the case."

'You devoured my best friend of two millennium, you unholy son of a bitch. If you think that's something I'll ever--'

"And what if your other best friend were to become endangered?" said Germal. "At the hands of the Mad Demon, no less. Would that give you pause?"

Feromas fell silent.