Jace vs. Liliana

That prickling sensation again. Almost like...

"You'd better do something," said the Raven Man. "I can't keep him out of your head forever."

In an instant, fear became fury.

"Jace? Are you insane? I almost killed you!"

"You almost tried," said the voice.

Jace. She'd befriended him on false pretenses, played on his emotions, manipulated him into joining an interplanar crime syndicate, then into overthrowing it. By the time it all went wrong, she'd grown genuinely fond of him, and betraying him had torn out one more strand of her threadbare sense of humanity. Not that that had stopped her, and anyway, if she hadn't done it they'd both be heroically, uselessly dead. Still, she could see why he might bear a grudge.

But never before, at any point in their dysfunctional association, had he threatened her.

She could see him now, right in front of her. She willed her zombie minions to attack him, but ropes of light bound their arms and legs, sent them toppling to the ground. She mentally beckoned more to help, to overwhelm him, but felt no reply.

"They're not coming," said Jace. "All tied up."

Liliana had never actually seen Jace lose a fight he'd had time to prepare for.

"Get out of my house," said Liliana.

"Why?" said Jace. "Am I scaring you?"

His eyes glinted beneath his hood.

"I certainly hope this display is frightening you," said the Raven Man. "This isn't like him."

"Yes," said Liliana, to Jace. "This isn't like you. I'm not convinced this is you."

The sensation at her temples became a pounding, with a whisper of voices behind it. She resisted the impulse to strain to hear them, which would only give him an opening. He really was attacking her, then.

Enough! She lashed out at him with a whip of death magic—just enough to cause agony.

The bolt of purple light slid right through him, and his image popped like a soap bubble.

"First you try to hide it from me," he said, this time from a corner of the room. "Now you're trying to silence me. But you can't hide something this big. Not forever."

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Liliana. "I don't know what you think is happening. But you are way out of line."

She turned toward him, but when he spoke again he was behind her. She'd seen him use his illusions and his mind magic to melt away into the shadows and become a phantom, to keep his opponents guessing. He'd never done it to her, and she didn't care for it.

"The drownyard," he said. "The angels! I've seen what they're building out there. And you're helping them. Admit it!"

The pressure at her temples became a splitting pain.

"Liliana," said the Raven Man. "I've invested too much in you—"

"Stop it!" said Liliana. "There are a lot of drownyards on Innistrad, I warned you about the angels, and you know damn well I wouldn't help an angel for all the gold in Orzhova!"

"Not for gold," he said. "For the Chain Veil, for the problem I wouldn't help you solve. You tried to keep me from seeing what happened to Markov Manor. You tried to keep me from finding Sorin. Why? Afraid I'll tell him what you're up to?"

"I tried to keep you from getting yourself killed," said Liliana. "And I don't know anything about Markov Manor I haven't already told you."

"You can't lie to me," said Jace. He seemed to be losing his train of thought. "You know better. You're...you're redirecting a whole world's mana into this...moon...thing, just to—just to be rid of the Chain Veil? Is that it?"

His voice was coming from all around the room now, his hooded form moving every time she blinked. There were two of him, then three. This little show would be annoying enough even if she'd actually done whatever it was. Based on false accusations, it was downright infuriating.

"Days ago you came to my door asking for help, Jace," she said. "Yet now here you are with accusations?"

"You can't keep secrets from me," he said, an edge of menace creeping into his voice. "All I need is time."

"I don't know what you ever saw in him," said the Raven Man, his face very close to hers. "You're nothing to him but a puzzle to be solved. And he's nothing to you, nothing whatsoever. Or did I misunderstand you?"

"Whatever you're accusing me of," said Liliana, "step out into the light and say it to my face. This isn't what you think it is."

"How would you know what I think?" snapped Jace. "And why should I trust anything you say? You've done nothing but lie to me, caused me nothing but pain."

Her head throbbed.

"He's getting through your defenses," hissed the Raven Man. "Do something!"

One of the images of Jace snapped his head toward the Raven Man, eyes wide.

"Who—"

So you can see him!

There was no time to dwell on that revelation, which was followed quickly by another. Liliana smiled.

And I can see you.

She let loose a bolt of magic at Jace, the real Jace, that left him doubled over in pain. The other two Jaces vanished.

"Now then—" she started to say. But the pressure at her temples started up again. Damned fool.

She raked another blast of necromantic energy over him. He cried out, fell to the floor—and lifted his head, eyes glowing, face contorted.

"Tell me what I need to know," he said, rising. "Tell me about the drownyard."

"He's asking leading questions, trying to bring certain thoughts to the front of your mind," said the Raven Man. He smirked. "A basic maneuver of the telepath."

The smug bastard was right. Liliana's vision swam as Jace tried to force his way into her mind.

"Stop it," she said. "Even if I knew anything about a drownyard, your tricks wouldn't work on me."

She sent another bolt of agony through him, then another, but he kept up his attacks. He fell, rose, fell again—and this time only made it back up to his knees before she lashed him again.

"Tell me," he growled.

Her skin had begun to burn, her demonic scars etched in purple flame. And the Veil...oh, the Veil wanted to help her. It siphoned off a few stray rivulets of necromantic energy and returned them to the stream fivefold. She struggled to hold it back, to keep it from killing him instantly.

"Stop doing this!" she said. "I can't control—"

Jace was screaming now, eyes still glowing, his assaults on her mind intensifying along with the pain.

"Just...tell...me!"

The backlash started, agony suffusing Liliana as the Chain Veil took its toll. Blood began to drip from her scars. She gritted her teeth. She'd felt worse, though—when the scars were administered, for instance. She'd survive this. Jace might not.

"He's almost broken through," said the Raven Man. "Kill him."

"Don't tell me what to do!" she shouted—at both of them, at the Chain Veil, at the moon and the world and at death itself. "Stop it!"

"You'll have to kill me," wheezed Jace, tears streaming from inhuman glowing eyes. Liliana's vision began to fade.

"Do it," said the Raven Man.

"Jace, I don't want to hurt you anymore!"

The words echoed against stone, the pounding in her head stopped, and for a moment there was no sound but the boom of thunder and the drumming of the rain. The Raven Man sighed in disgust and disappeared in a rustle of feathers.

The glow in Jace's eyes faded, and he stared up at her, wan and sweating, looking suddenly very vulnerable and very young.