Page 86 of A Study of Blood and Ichor

Vain cupped the side of her face, forcing her eyes to his. Ava became so still; it was as if her entire body had turned to stone.

I could practically see her struggling to make sense of her own thoughts. I knew she was seeing Vain, but it felt like she was trying to see me too. It always felt like she was searching for me. I used to hate that look. Now I craved it.

“I see the way you respond to my touch. To my voice. You can’t stand that you find yourself attracted to me. But there’s no shame in it.”

Her breath trembled. “Stop it.”

“Stop what?”

“Trying to manipulate me.”

Vain shook his head. “I have never once,” he said and absently stroked his thumb across her jawline, her skin smooth and soft under his touch. “I know what your heart desires, what you long for and crave. And I also know that it hurts you to hear the truth.”

Her eyes flickered before she shied away from him. “Can we get this over with, please?” It felt like she was trying to shut Vain out—to shut the both of us out. And I didn’t like the sting of it one bit. She snatched up a short selenite blade and stalked over to the simulacrum demon with a fire in her eyes I hadn’t seen the likes of since the day we met.

The demon grew increasingly rabid the closer she edged to the slab. Its gaping maw clicked shut repeatedly as it strained its neck toward her arm, which was only a few feet from its face.

Ava lifted the point of the blade to the demon’s throat and the creature stopped moving, eyes ravenous. A knowing glint passed over its eyes and its forked tongue swept out over pointed teeth before hissing at her. The chilling sound sent a shiver through me, straight to my bones.

“Mmmmh. Sweet, mortal blood.”

“That’s a weak attempt at flirting your way out of this, don’t you think?” Vain said, totally bemused as he crossed his arms over his chest.

The demon’s head snapped to Vain, slivered eyes narrowing. “Traitor! You think when she is done with me that she won’t also rip you to shreds?”

“I highly doubt it. I’m going to enjoy watching her break you though,” Vain said to the demon who snarled in return.

“You enjoy seeing your own kind slayed at the hands of inferior mortals? We are meant to slaughter and rule their kind, not to align with them.”

“I don’t align myself with either side. I prefer the role of an objective outsider.”

The demon jerked its attention back to Ava, nostrils flaring before its lips curled back and bared an entire row of teeth. A knowing look passed over the demon’s eyes before its voice twisted, morphing into something…other.

“You were a pathetic mistake. Stupid, stupid girl. How could you be so foolish?” The demon’s voice had turned strangely feminine, almost like it was taking on the voice of someone else entirely.

It looked like Ava stopped breathing. Every part of her appeared frozen except for her chin that wobbled, and the muscle in her jaw flexed as she clenched her teeth.

The demon took on a different voice next—a man’s. “Our family name will forever be tainted because of what you have done.”

“Shut up,” Ava muttered.

But the demon did not stop. The simulacrum had somehow gleaned its way through whatever mental walls Ava had tried to put up and was on a war path.

“It’s your fault she’s dead! We will never forgive you for what you’ve done. You are worthless! You are nothing!” It hurled her deepest regrets and most shameful memories at her through rasping shrieks that grew louder and louder with each word. “You are our greatest disappointment.”

Ava didn’t blink. If she did, the tears welling in her eyes would have broken free. She white-knuckled the blade in her fist.

“It should have been you! IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN YOU!”

“Stop it!” Ava roared with the fury of a thousand demons as she unleashed herself on the creature, and even from where we stood, I could tell that this was not just about wanting ichor anymore. There was a fire in her eyes, a burning retribution fueling her as she drove her blade into the flesh of the demon’s stomach. Again, and again.

It keened an unearthly howl that pierced the room. Ava grimaced as she continued her assault, drawing long cuts down the length of the simulacrum’s limbs that sank to the bone. There was no mercy left in her eyes, only pain, and she threw it all into each downward strike of her blade into the demon’s chest.

Ichor, hot and black, pooled into the troughs carved along the edges of the slab and ran in a slow, steady stream toward the shallow well at the demon’s feet. My cock twitched, straining against the front of our jeans to the point where it had started to become painful.

How the fuck are you getting off on this?

A sick sense of pride welled in Vain as he watched Ava from across the slab. He delighted in her determination as she broke the demon within an inch of its pathetic life.

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