Page 33 of A Study of Blood and Ichor

The shift quickly enveloped us in shadow as the motel room folded away. Moments later, we were deposited into an empty field beside a private runway. Fat raindrops spattered onto the grass, and the air was so thick it felt like we were swimming in the humidity.

Vain kept Ava clutched tightly against our chest, almost as if he feared if he let go, she would be lost to him forever.

“Are you going to be sick again?” he asked.

Ava trembled in his grasp, but she said, “I don’t think so. You can let go now.”

Vain’s reluctance mirrored my own. He obliged, but not after inhaling in one last deep breath of her scent.

Her quiet “thank you” sounded forced as she put some distance between herself and Vain. I caught a hint of Vain’s surprise at her gratitude, but he stayed quiet, not ready to spoil what he considered a good thing.

A rural airstrip stretched out before us, and a small hangar and facility building no larger than a trailer stood a few hundred feet away.

Vain beckoned the witch as he started walking. “We can wait for the jet to arrive there.”

“Wait.” Ava hurried to catch up. She reached for Vain and moved her hands in the familiar way she did right before she would cast her magic.

Vain snatched her wrist and gave a low growl in warning. “No more spells…or tricks.”

“It’s not a trick. I want to ward us so Kalaei and the others can’t astral project to us again. Or do you want them to keep tracking us?”

Vain narrowed his eyes.

“Do you trust me?” she asked.

“That remains to be seen,” he said before he released his grip on her wrist.

“Turn around,” she instructed.

He obeyed, and Ava placed her hand across the back of our neck. Warmth bloomed against the skin beneath Ava’s palm. When she pulled her hand away, the heat of the magic faded, and she proceeded to repeat the same spell on herself.

We reached the facility building and found that it was empty, but it also happened to be locked.

“You’re not going to shift us inside?”

Vain leaned against the side of the building as the rain came down harder, and he pretended to find something interesting on the pads of our fingers, swirling his thumb across them absently.

“I’m not about to waste my power just because you’re uncomfortable.”

“Well, when will your jet get here?” she asked.

“Can’t say for certain,” Vain said. “Could be a minute, could be an hour.”

“Why do you even have a jet?”

Vain smiled at her. “For the same reason most other people do. I’m disgustingly rich. Besides, it does become convenient in situations such as these. And I am a creature that has become accustomed to such simple human comforts.”

Ava unfolded her arms and brushed past us. “Whatever. I’m getting out of this rain,” she said while tossing a sneer at Vain as she moved toward the locked door. She pressed her hand against the metal surface until I heard the mechanisms click. “You can stay out here and be miserable for all I care.”

She pushed the door open and waltzed into the room. Vain’s fevered attention hung on the curves of her waist and backside and how her fucking dress was plastered to her skin.

You’re pathetic, I told him.

And you’re a hypocrite. You’re looking too.

Ava proceeded to plant her ass into a well-worn, brown leather couch.

“So, breaking and entering is acceptable for you, but compelling a human and stealing a car is crossing a line?”

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