Page 52 of A Study of Blood and Ichor

“You really don’t know me at all then,” I said, attempting to keep my voice down so as not to be overheard as we passed a demon crunching down on a severed femur between three rows of razor-sharp teeth, strings of sinew and flesh still hanging off the bone.

“That’s right, I forgot how brilliant you are. You already know everything about our kind, so you don't fear anything.”

“Don’t mock me, asshole.”

Vain shushed me and maneuvered us to an open door at the end of the hall. The warm summer breeze caused the gauzy curtains to flutter as we stepped past and onto a small private balcony. Vain removed his hand from my back, and I shivered in the absence of his warm touch. The night air felt cool against my skin, which only aided in reminding me of how much of my body was exposed for all the demons to gawk at.

“Are you going to tell me what we’re really doing here?”

“I told you, I’m visiting a friend.”

I looked to the courtyard below. The perfectly manicured trees and shrubs were strung up with twinkling lights, basking the whole yard in a gentle glow. I could barely make out the faint trickling sound of water splashing from a nearby fountain over the swell of stringed music echoing from an open window on a floor somewhere below us.

“I doubt you have any friends,” I said, and Vain put a hand up to his chest in mock offense. “And you would only go out of your way for something if it was important. So, what is it you want, Vain?”

The demon leaned against the railing turning his head to the side as he cast his gaze toward the horizon where the lights of the city shone in the distance from across the river.

“I underestimated how perceptive you are,” he said. “And because I pride myself for my continued honesty with you, I will be honest with you again now. Eldin used to be someone I considered a friend once. But as time is so often unkind to us in our immortal lives, we drifted apart a long time ago.” There was a hint of sadness tugging at Vain’s words, his tone flat and expressionless as he spoke. “We reconnected not long ago over a shared interest in a particular item, a quite powerful one. Have you heard of the Grimoire of Aeternum?”

I shook my head.

“It’s an infamous book. Most demons believe it to be no more than a legend, long thought lost to the eons. But Eldin and I found it. Only it just so happened that an archdemon had gone to great lengths to attain it for his prized collection. Looking back on it, I see how foolish it was of me to trust Eldin. The prick had always been greedier than myself, but I never thought he would betray me over it.”

“He was the one who got you captured by those cambion hunters that brought you to the coven. He set you up?”

Vain white-knuckled the railing. The contempt over the betrayal was etched into every line on his face.

“So, we’re here to take back a stupid book he stole from you? Or are you exacting your revenge on him too?”

“If revenge happens to be convenient, then yes. Whatever it takes to get the grimoire back.”

“What’s so important about it?” I asked. “Why go through all the trouble?”

Vain paused and pressed his lips together before he said, “Because it may be the only chance Rory has.”

“What do you—”

“On the Mother herself,” a smarmy voice called from somewhere behind us. “Decided to show your face again, Vain?”

I half-turned to peer past the sheer curtains. Stepping out, was a demon encased in human flesh with black eyes that matched Vain’s. The male he possessed looked young, at least younger than me by a few years. His face was handsome and boyish, but his cheeks were hollowed and the red rings around his eyes reflected just how poorly the demon had been neglecting its vessel.

I managed to swallow down my horror as best I could while the demon's soulless eyes blinked back at me.

“And I see you found yourself a new vessel since we last crossed paths. I barely recognized you until your stench and that little mark you like to brand them with gave you away.” The demon wriggled his vessel’s nose and then jutted a sharp chin in my direction. “Who is this delicious treat you’ve brought for us?”

Vain clasped my arm above the elbow and tugged me closer to him. “She’s not for sharing, Ilo,” Vain said.

Ilo pouted. “Shame.”

“Besides, it looks like you have your own pet to attend to. Or have you already grown bored of that one too?” Vain said through a snarl as he motioned toward a small cowering figure behind the demon.

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep my lips from curling upward in disgust as Ilo dragged the girl out. Vain must have felt my rage because his grip on my arm tightened.

The human couldn’t have been older than nineteen. She shook next to Ilo as the demon stroked his hands over her bare skin. Her eyes remained pinned to the floor, but she shuddered and flinched at every movement he made.

Ilo had obviously attempted to make her a showpiece tonight. She’d been shoved into a tight pink dress, which matched the bubblegum strands streaked through her dirty-blonde hair. Her mascara was smudged down both hollow, bruised cheeks, the yellow and green marks barely hidden underneath the layers of concealer.

The need to comfort her strained inside my chest, aching to reach out, yet I couldn’t do a damned thing to help her nor Ilo’s possessed vessel. I fantasized about dragging Ilo into the Hull and exorcising him before tearing his demon body limb from vile limb, then burning his flesh until there was nothing left of him but sinew and ash.

---