Page 72 of A Study of Blood and Ichor

“Don’t pretend you don’t fucking like it.” Vain’s smirk was practically audible and then he slipped away, handing back control. Now, get up. We have work to do.

I grumbled. “Sure, leave me in charge to clean up your mess.”

Technically, yours.

“Shut up.”

Vain growled in warning, but I rolled my eyes and swung out of bed, going straight to the bathroom. I needed a cold shower to snap me awake and ground myself back into my body, and maybe also to get rid of my raging hard on that was already aching for another release not at Vain’s hands.

The pile of wet clothes from last night rested in one corner of the shower, and even though the black material hid the stains from the ichor, nothing would be able to get rid of the stench. I stepped out and wrapped a fresh towel around my waist before scooping up the ruined clothes and chucking them into the bin to throw out later. But when I snatched the black jacket from the floor, there was a weight to it that triggered a memory of Eldin slipping something into the inner pocket.

I rooted inside them until I found it, and I somehow knew exactly what I would pull out as soon as my fingers touched the smooth leather.

It was as if it were made out of white-hot flame, and I couldn’t drop it quickly enough. The grimoire flopped onto the tiles, and I cringed away from it. Its essence was all wrong, like corruption had ingrained itself into the ink and pages. And there was a sentience surrounding it too, almost like the book itself was breathing, sucking all the air from the room until I felt as if I were suffocating in its presence.

Stop being so dramatic.

I backed up to the vanity and white-knuckled the edge so hard that if Vain were in control, he might have cracked the stone in half. “Why the hell did Eldin give you that thing?”

Together, we stared down at the book on the floor.

I don’t know, Vain said. Perhaps he decided he’d rather have it in anyone else’s hands but Ghen’s.

“Ghen seemed to know you. What the hell was that about?”

That’s a longer story than we have time for.

I shook my head. “Whatever. But I don’t want to fucking touch that thing again.”

Fine, Vain said, a pith of annoyance blooming from deep within him before he slithered to the forefront. He grabbed the leather-bound book and tested the weight of it in his hands. I shivered and drew back further into myself so the dark energy wouldn’t affect me as much.

What the hell is in that thing?

“More than your pathetically mortal brain could begin to understand. And honestly, you’re better off not knowing.”

Don’t pull that shit with me, I shot back at him. Not after everything we’ve been through.

That earned me a warning growl. I sighed.

What do you think Eldin wanted it for? Why keep it from Ghen?

Vain tsked before speaking down the bond again. I’m not sure yet. He could have had any number of uses for it.

He thumbed through the wafer-thin pages, skimming the contents, and deciphering what he could from the handwritten ink that occasionally bled through multiple pages. Demonic symbols and words appeared in different levels of legibility covering nearly every blank space, and even though I was able to understand their language, the words on the page still made little sense. A lot of it read like gibberish or the ravings of a mad lunatic.

Vain found the passages he was looking for, his finger trailing over the ancient and long forbidden magic that I could glean was unlike anything I had seen before or even imagined was possible.

My attention snagged on a block of text as I skimmed ahead, the words sending my stomach to my feet.

Vain…no.

“If Ava is willing—”

You are not dragging her into this. Not like this.

“It is the only way,” he said.

But the cost of this magic…it was too much. I don’t care. I would never ask that of her. Not of anyone.

---