"No! Don't hurt him."
Zakar moved to blast Kat. She ducked and shot back a blast that sent him reeling.
"You got any more tricks? How about this?" She blasted him with ice.
Sin pushed himself to his feet and ran to her. "Kat, stop. You're hurting him."
"He doesn't care about hurting you or me. I say let him have it."
To his surprise, Zakar started laughing. Rising up from the ground, he floated toward Kat, who tensed, ready to fight.
"Listen to her, Sin. She's right. How do you even know this is me?" He changed into the form of Kessar. "Maybe I'm here to destroy you." The apparition ran at him.
Sin caught him by the throat and threw him to the ground. "What are you?"
"I'm fractured, brother. I've come here because this is the only realm where I'm what I want to be. I'm no longer in control of myself when I'm in my body. I can't trust me when I'm awake, and neither can you."
Sin sat back on his haunches. "You're infected?"
"Not exactly." Zakar pushed himself up so that he could sit in front of Sin. "Because of my immunity, the gallu don't have full control of me, but then neither do I. It's something else... something dark and deadly, and it lives inside me. I don't know who I am anymore and I can't control it. The only place you can trust me is here." Zakar hung his head. "I'm sorry I ended up being the coward Father always suspected me to be."
Kat scowled at him. "Coward? Are you serious? My God, we saw how cruel and vicious these things are. You fought them alone, even when you were held down. How could you ever consider yourself a coward?"
"I failed." He returned his gaze to Sin. "The gallu are worse than even you know. They can weaken you in this realm and learn how to attack you here. It's here they'll find your weaknesses."
Sin found that hard to believe. "Why have you never come for me in my sleep to tell me what was going on with you?"
"I couldn't. Because of them I'm weak even here. You were dreaming of me just now and summoned me. It's the only reason I'm here. I couldn't have come on my own. I don't have those powers anymore."
Kat stepped forward to stand in front of them as his words haunted her. "You have to explain to me how this works. I know the Greek sleep gods, the Oneroi, can enter anyone's dreams at any time. They have potions they can use to seduce a waking person to sleep. Are the gallu the same?"
Zakar shook his head. "Unlike your gods, they can't infiltrate the dreams of someone they haven't met. They must have physical contact first."
Sin winced as he remembered Kessar earlier. So that was what had brought him into the building. "The casino today. I knew there was something more to that bastard's visit."
Zakar nodded. "They touch you and then they can find you when you sleep."
Kat cursed. "And I let him touch me. Smooth move."
Sin patted her on the arm. "Don't feel bad. You're not the only one who screwed this up." He clenched his teeth as rage washed through him. "I could kill Enlil for this."
"You warned them," Zakar said. "But he thought he was too smart to be victimized. At least you didn't see what the gallu did to him when they killed him."
Sin could just imagine the horror and he was grateful he'd missed it. "What became of his powers?"
"Most were locked in the Tablet."
Thank the gods that Sin had been able to recover that from the museum. With those powers inside the Tablet, there was no telling what the gallu could do with it. "And the rest?"
"Kessar took them. He sent his agents out to take Enlil and then bring him to the caverns. Enlil had long enough to hide the Tablet before he was captured, and once he was in Kessar's presence Kessar bled him dry... in more ways than one. Kessar is even more dangerous than you think. And now that he's been freed..."
"What freed him?" Sin asked.
"The locks on their prison are weakening along with the Dimme."
Kat frowned. "But why hasn't Kessar come out before this?"
"He was being held in a different part of the cavern that had a separate locking system. Now that system has weakened to the point he and his worst disciples are able to be free. He wants total mayhem and bloodshed. Most of all, he wants Sin to suffer for helping to lock him in there."