Page 76 of A Study of Blood and Ichor

Both men grunted as fists continued to fly. I was so captivated watching them stumble and spar that I barely noticed when Vain entered back into the VIP area and approached behind me.

“So glad I didn’t miss this,” Vain muttered, grinning as he brought his glass to his lips. The rigidity in his stance caught my attention, and there was a wavering shift behind his eyes before he tried to mask it.

“Okay, boys, that’s enough,” Nesera said after she knocked the rest of her drink back in one gulp. She slid off her seat and went over to the bruised and bloodied men. Grabbing one of them in each hand, she practically dragged them with her out of the lounge and onto the dance floor, their eyes immediately softening at her touch.

“I take it you’re enjoying yourself?” Vain asked.

“Where were you last night?” I looked into his bemused expression, not really sure what else I had been expecting to find there.

“You’re upset with me.”

“How come you get to decide when it’s convenient for you to show yourself? Rory needed you after what you did, and you were just…gone.”

“He seemed to get on quite well without me,” he said with a knowing glint in his eye as he looked me up and down.

“That’s not what I meant.” I clenched my jaw and punched a finger to his chest. “You left him to deal with all that trauma on his own.”

“I was—”

“You killed him! He was just a kid, Vain. I could have exorcised Ilo from him and you just—”

“He was already dead,” he interjected. “Whether you exorcised the demon or not, that boy’s outcome would have been the same. I did what I had to do to protect you.”

“Only you used Rory to do it. And he’s the one who had to bear the consequences of your violence.”

Vain pressed his lips together into a tight line. “I didn’t mean—”

“And how do you expect me to cut loose when all I think about every day is how to exorcise you from Rory? And now on top of that, I’m trying not to die at the hands of demons and a fucking archdemon in the process. How can you expect me to enjoy myself?” My tone was just as harsh as I meant it to be. I was done holding back.

Vain’s nostrils flared as he scrutinized me, curiosity furrowing his brows together. “Are you not happy, mellilla?”

“Stop calling me that,” I blurted and Vain actually flinched. “I know what you’re doing. You’re trying to get into my head and distract me. I’m going to exorcise you from Rory. I’m going to save him.”

I was letting my pent-up anger and frustration get the better of me, and I knew that if I ended up pushing Vain too far that I would be toeing a very dangerous, possibly deadly, line. Something was already digging under his skin, and I was only adding salt to his festering wound.

Vain set his drink down and rolled his lips between his teeth. “What’s gotten into you?”

“I could ask you the same.”

“Stop deflecting.”

“Who did you meet with just now that got you unnerved?”

Vain laughed. “It seems you know me better than I thought, witch.” He spoke the last word sharply. He hadn’t called me that in a long time. “One of Ilo’s crew came for a visit.”

That couldn’t be good.

“Were they here for Dru?”

“They asked for you, actually.”

Confusion set between my brows as I paused. “Me?”

“Yes,” Vain sighed. “But you don’t need to worry about it.”

“Not worry?” I parroted his words. “How am I supposed to not worry when you tell me there are demons at your doorstep asking about me? What did they want?”

Vain shrugged.

---