Page 81 of A Study of Blood and Ichor

The problem was, I was still no closer to unraveling the mystery of Vain and how to exorcise him. It felt like there had to be some solution, a piece to the puzzle I wasn’t seeing. The idea of the answer being just out of my reach was nothing short of infuriating, and as the hours droned on, my mood soured abysmally.

While I sipped at my tea that had long gone cold, I flipped mindlessly through the pages of the book in front of me, noticing the splotches of ink on the handwritten pages, and I was struck by how much it resembled the shade of pitch-black ichor.

Ichor.

I pressed my fingers to my lips, recalling the taste of Ilo’s ichor on my tongue and the power I felt as its energy surged through my body.

Power.

Perhaps that was the key. Maybe I simply wasn’t strong enough, but if I could become stronger…

I shot up and ran into the great room, finding Rory sprawled out on the couch with a book raised over his head.

“My shoes aren’t on your couch. They’re hanging over your couch,” I caught him saying to no one in particular, so I knew that he must have been talking with Vain. Rory flicked his gaze over the edge of his book with one brow quirked as I scrambled into the room.

“I have something that might work,” I said, sounding more out of breath than I felt.

“What might work?”

“I think I know how to exorcise Vain.”

Rory unfurrowed his brows before Vain took control. I swallowed hard at the switch. I had been unprepared for him to appear so suddenly.

His voice was ice cold. “You still wish to get rid of me?”

I ignored him, because I didn’t know if I could answer him truthfully and I couldn’t risk him sensing a lie, no matter how hard I’d tried to convince myself it wasn't. “I need demon blood. Ichor.”

Vain didn’t utter a word, but I could still see the surprise reach his eyes as he studied me intently. He knew exactly why I intended to use it. He wasn’t a fool.

He cocked his head to one side and said, “Last I heard, your silly little witch Council forbade the use of ichor nearly three centuries ago.”

“That doesn’t matter.”

His mouth quirked to one side. “Quite the rule breaker…” He paused, but after a moment, Vain said, “No.”

“I know you think it’s probably dangerous, but—”

“It is dangerous. And it’s not up for discussion.”

I bit my tongue and took a breath to keep from lashing out at him. I wanted to keep Vain calm and not send him into a rage. “This was our deal. I give you my company and you’ll let me find a way to exorcise you. I’m not giving up on Rory. We tried your way. But since whatever plan you had for the grimoire got us nowhere, now we’re going to try mine.”

He took a deep breath and held it for a moment before he said, “Do you even understand what you’re asking of me to allow you to do this?”

“I’ll turn in my favor if I have to. Or are you afraid this might actually work?”

Vain scoffed and then grumbled curtly. “I know it won’t work. That is not the issue.”

“Then what is? Because you look scared to me.”

Vain’s already dark eyes seemed to darken further. He pulled himself off the couch and advanced on me in one graceful motion. Suddenly, I was looking up into his face as he eyed me through narrowed slits.

“Demons don’t fear anything, mellilla. But I can admit that I have one fear. And that is losing either of you. I almost lost you once, and I promised that I would never allow it to happen again.” I could have sworn I heard a slight tremble in his voice, but I waved the thought off as Vain inched closer. “You’re aware of what ichor can do to a mortal. So please, convince me that you’re not foolish enough to attempt this.”

“I know what I’m doing,” I said, squaring my shoulders. “When you killed Ilo, I accidentally had a taste. It wasn’t much, but I felt the extra power it gave me. I just need a small amount. I swear. That was the problem all this time. I haven’t been powerful enough to exorcise you before. No one was.”

Vain sighed and shoved his hands into the pockets of his dark slacks. “Ava, you are powerful already. Most exceptionally so.”

It sounded like he was trying to give me a compliment if I didn’t know any better. That or he was just an excellent manipulator, which, of course, all demons were, so I settled on it being the latter.

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