Page 32 of A Study of Blood and Ichor

Vain bristled with a nervous energy I matched.

“Ava, what the hell is this? What have you done?” The figure, a woman, spoke. She sounded young, maybe Ava’s age.

“Kalaei—” Ava’s voice trembled. “I—this is not what it looks like.”

“You helped the demon escape…”

Ava stiffened. “Lena was going to kill Rory. I couldn’t let her, not when there’s a chance I can save him.”

“What did the demon promise you?” Kalaei asked with sharp accusation.

“Kalaei—” Ava pleaded. Her mouth hung open slightly as her throat bobbed.

“Was it controlling you?”

Ava shook her head.

Kalaei’s lips pressed together. “Then what the hell were you thinking?”

Ava flinched, and the corners of her eyes shifted for a split second to the coffee table in front of Kalaei.

“Where are you? We can send a group to rescue you and bring you home.” Kalaei’s eyes drifted to where Ava’s had, a magazine laying across the surface of the table, and she squinted.

With Kalaei distracted, Ava wasted no time in throwing out her hands, a spell cast outward toward her figure which dissolved into nothing but air in an instant.

“What the hell was that?” I asked, my voice louder than I intended.

Planeswalker, Vain growled.

Ava jumped out of bed and flicked on the bedside lamp. She grabbed the magazine and shoved it in my face. The glossy cover sported a misty photo of the Smoky Mountains with the title, Discovering the Best of Dead Oaks, Tennessee.

“She knows where we are,” Ava said.

“She can’t know exactly where we are. There’s no way she’d be able to tell which motel we’re in.”

Ava turned back to the coffee table and threw a small rectangle of cardstock onto the bed that showed the name of the motel, address and all.

“Shit.”

Vain clawed his way into the driver’s seat, and I was more than happy to take shotgun.

“There’s a smaller coven not too far from here. Lena will send word and have them on top of us in no time.” Ava paced while shooting furtive glances out the window. “Get us out of here. Now,” she commanded as she tugged the strap of her bag over one shoulder.

Vain reached deep for his power and assessed the amount of strength he had built up since the last shift. But even I could tell his reserves were still low.

“I don’t have enough power to get us very far,” he said. “Rory’s body is too weak for my power to summon it any faster.”

“So get out of him,” she challenged with a raised brow.

I did the mental equivalent of rolling my eyes, and Vain subdued his chuckle of amusement. “Not going to happen. Nice try, though.”

“Fine,” Ava huffed. “Just get us somewhere, as far as you can. Anywhere is better than here where we’re sitting ducks.”

“Come here,” Vain growled and grabbed Ava’s arm, pulling her to our chest and placing his other hand against the nape of her neck.

Her hair felt soft between our fingers. Pressed that close, the faint eucalyptus scent of her overwhelmed me, and if we had the time, I could have counted every one of the freckles on her face.

Vain’s grasp tightened around Ava, and he breathed against the shell of her ear, “Hold on.”

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