Page 29 of A Study of Blood and Ichor

A shiver went straight down my spine, and the air around the diner vibrated with the power of the glamour as Vain compelled the human. Dread pooled in my stomach, but there was nothing I could do to stop him.

The man did not speak, only dug through his right pocket to pull out a set of jingling car keys and deposited them into Vain’s open palm through a complacent glassy-eyed stare without a single objection.

Vain turned to me and smiled before Rory regained control. He dangled the keys in front of his face as if he were taunting me with my horrified scowl.

“Let’s go for a ride, witch.”

TEN

Rory

“You’re delusional!”

“Look, I’m sorry you can’t grasp the difference between stealing and borrowing,” I said, raising my voice over the air rushing in through the windows of the pickup truck as we sped down the dark road.

“This is very obviously stealing!” Ava shouted.

I winced. “Will you give it a rest? All your yelling is giving me a headache.”

The feeling is very mutual, Vain grumbled.

“You just let Vain glamour him.”

I rolled my eyes and fisted the steering wheel tighter. “Again, it was a harmless glamour.” Out of the corner of my vision I caught Ava’s mouth pop open, ready to argue her point again, but I silenced her with a glaring look. “He will be fine. Once the glamour wears off, he’s going to realize his truck is missing and, by some strange luck, he’ll remember he left it parked in the motel lot down the road. And by the time he makes the trek back, he’s going to find it right where we left it without a single scratch, and we’ll already be long gone. No harm done in the end.”

“Yeah, like anyone would convince themselves that a ten-mile, midnight stroll to some shithole diner was their own idea.”

“You’d be surprised what some people will believe.”

Ava shook her head. “Vain has got you so fucked in the head.”

“I resent that,” I said as the motel came into view. “I’ll have you know, I’m the picture of mental health.”

Vain scoffed, and I gave him the mental equivalent of a shove before I turned the truck into the lot and pulled into one of the last available spots.

Ava scowled and glared straight out the windshield, her arms tucked tightly across her chest. Her skin glowed a soft blue under the neon and fluorescent lights. Even with her hard exterior, she looked so soft. I was half-tempted to reach out and touch her.

The memory of Vain holding her against us as we escaped still burned fresh in my mind. She’d felt better than I’d imagined. Even though Vain had been in control, I had still felt the sensation of her underneath my hands, the smoothness of her skin, her erratic, shallow breaths ghosting over my flesh, the warm flash of her pulse.

God, I wanted to touch her again. I craved her in a way that caught me completely off guard. And no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t shake the feeling.

“Stay here. I’ll check us in.”

Ava stuffed a wad of cash into my palm. “No more glamours,” she said.

“Fine.”

It took everything in me to keep from slamming the door shut as I exited the truck. Stomping up to the front desk, Vain stirred inside me at the sight of the short old woman behind it.

Behave, I growled through our bond.

He was itching to use another glamour for the hell of it. He’d gotten a taste for his power again and was begging for more.

Just a small one, he pleaded.

Knock. It. Off.

Vain slunk back reluctantly as I finished paying.

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