Page 73 of A Study of Blood and Ichor

“You can’t ask me to give up on you—”

I’m not asking! I shot back firmly. I’m telling you. We’ll find another way.

The longer Vain kept our hands on the grimoire, the more the sentient energy radiating from within seemed to grow stronger. Whatever this book was, it deserved to be locked up in a fucking tomb, deep in the crust of the earth so no one could lay a hand on it ever again.

Vain…you can’t say a word to her.

He clutched the grimoire tightly in his fist. “Are you asking me to lie to her?”

I’m telling you to omit the truth.

“Rory.” My name rumbled from his chest like it was a warning. “Eventually, she will need to know.”

I’ll tell her when I decide, I said. But we’re not doing it like this. This isn’t the way.

Vain didn’t press again. He silently let the towel around our waist fall before he padded into the bedroom and went straight to the hidden panel next to the nightstand, revealing the safe tucked behind it. A wooden box sat inside, and the intricate locking mechanisms clicked open in response to Vain’s touch. He tossed the book into it without a word and threw the locks closed with the snap of a finger. Whatever wards or charms he had in place, they did a good job at blocking the grimoire’s malignant energy, and the absence of it immediately cured the prickling sense of unease that had been building inside me since the first moment I’d touched it.

“Don’t be relieved yet, mortal,” Vain said as he regarded our reflection in the mirror, his black eyes searing straight through me and reminding me of the dark beast who’d made a home beneath my skin and in my soul. “I haven’t finished with you yet.”

TWENTY

Ava

My head jerked up from the desk in Vain’s library, disorganized stacks of various texts splayed out in chaotic disarray. After shaking away fuzzy remnants of sleep, I wiped at a small trail of drool from the corner of my mouth. I couldn’t be sure when I’d drifted off, but based on the books in front of me, it had been somewhere in between researching how one might strengthen the potency of holy water and the exorcism techniques used by the Vatican in the early 1700s.

Between brewing a new batch of calming elixir for Dru, sitting with her to keep her company through the morning, and continuing my research in the library for the better half of the afternoon, I was drained.

Dru had refused anyone’s company besides me and Nesera, though she was still somewhat hesitant with the cambion. In the time that I spent with her, I could tell she was wary, even a little skittish, and I did my best to make her as comfortable as possible while she was here.

Nothing lifted my spirits more than the moment I watched the first smile light up her entire face. When she’d finally opened up and started telling me about her family, specifically her two older brothers back home, it was clear how she adored them, and I knew she could have gone on about them for hours if I let her.

Once she took the elixir, eventually her eyes grew heavy before she quickly fell into a deep sleep. Dru needed to rest, and the calming brew would keep her down the rest of the day and into the night, keeping the worst of her nightmares at bay.

There was a soft rapping sound and I looked up to find Rory leaning up against the doorframe, tattooed arms crossed over his chest. He wore a light smile that I found myself wanting to kiss right off his face.

Infernal hell. I really was in over my head.

“How the hell do you read all day?”

Were it not for his bright gray eyes, I would have thought I was looking at Vain with his dark and lustful gaze.

Was he thinking about last night like I was? Had it been a mistake? A one-off encounter we’d only been driven to act on due to a near-death experience coupled with our lonely, desperate need for some sort of connection? A part of me hoped that wasn’t the case. And even though I knew it was dangerous to entangle myself with Rory when Vain was still a constant presence lingering underneath his surface, I couldn’t shake my desire for him that continued to creep into my the crevices of my soul, seeking to bury itself there and turn me into some lust-crazed thing.

Something had shifted between us, and I knew there would be no going back to how things had been before. How could it when he had drawn out my desire and tempted me so sweetly with his words, his lips, his fingers…

I cleared my throat and attempted to smooth my hair, which I was sure looked like a frazzled mess, and desperately hoped he wasn’t able to tell I had drooled on Vain’s desk. “How the hell do you walk around with a literal demon possessing your soul all day?”

His sinful smirk turned into a full grin at that. “Touché.”

“Rory…” I started, but paused, finding that I was still unsure of the new dynamic we’d found ourselves in. “Were you and Vain able to get the grimoire?” I hadn’t asked him before only because there had been no opportune moment that presented itself after everything that happened last night.

There was a slight tick in Rory’s jaw before he answered. “No.”

“But Vain said—”

“It doesn’t matter what he said, Ava.” I didn’t like how his tone took on a stern edge.

“No,” I cut in sharply. “You’re not doing this. Do not push me away like that.”

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