Page 10 of A Study of Blood and Ichor

“Keep playing games, demon, and see where it gets you.”

“Oh, please, call me Vain. Demon is so degrading.”

“I’ll call you what you are,” I spat.

The demon’s eyes gleamed, bright as coals. “Oh,” it purred. “I do like you very much.” Its nostrils flared as it leaned forward. “There’s something deliciously dark in you, witch.”

I could admit this demon was captivating, both in its appearance and its velvety smooth words spun to ensnare me. But because it wore Rory’s features, it was uncomfortable to look at it for too long. Its eyes were dark and soulless, and yet the rest of it looked so…unsettlingly human.

If not for the demon inside him, I might even say Rory was my type. He’d possessed a solemn and quiet presence when Lena had brought him forward yesterday. His physique was tall and lean, and there was a slight definition of his forearms hidden under the mural of tattoos. He had a classically attractive face with strong brows and dark hair—the kind I could imagine sinking my fingers into…

No, shove those thoughts down.

When I looked up, the demon was smiling at me as if it could read my mind. I swallowed hard, crossed my arms across my chest, and shifted my weight to one side. There would be time to question Vain about the dark plots the demons were stirring up later. I needed Vain out of my sight. My mask was slipping, and I didn’t want to look into the demon’s soulless eyes for another second. Not when they reminded me so much of Sascha…

“Let me speak with Rory.”

“He isn’t in the talking mood at the moment,” Vain said with a smirk. “Am I boring you, witch? I thought we were having a lovely conversation.”

“I’d like to hear Rory tell me himself.” I tried not to clench my jaw so Vain wouldn’t see how annoyed I was.

“You don’t trust my word?” Vain feigned offense, raising one hand over Rory’s heart.

“The word of a demon doesn’t mean much to me,” I said. “If you won’t let Rory out, then I'll force him out myself.”

The words of the incantation came to me with practiced fluency. Immediately, Vain’s cool demeanor slipped. Its expression grew dark as its muscles spasmed and flinched at every syllable.

Before I could finish the second line of the spell, black eyes fell away like a curtain being drawn back and Rory’s gray ones met mine, hard like a steel blade sharpened with rage.

“You pull me forward, and I’ll make you regret it, witch.” He spat the words, his voice rough.

That skin-prickling sensation at the back of my neck returned at the sight of him. His anger directed at me rather than Vain unsettled me to my core, almost more than the demon itself.

“What has Vain done to you?” I asked, barely a whisper as my eyes searched his for an answer.

“You’re wasting your time,” Rory said before the unforgiving black filled his eyes again, as if threatening to consume him entirely.

Vain’s expression was that of a demon who had just won a small victory. It made me want to knock that stupid smirk clean off.

“What did you do to him?” I demanded, taking two steps closer to the edge of the ward lines.

“He’s safe,” Vain said, sounding bored. “Rory can come and go as he pleases. And he doesn’t wish to speak with you at the moment.”

I wanted to believe that Vain was lying. Demons usually did. But the anger that had flashed in Rory’s eyes—anger he’d directed at me—had told me all the truth I needed to know, even though I couldn’t wrap my head around it.

It was illogical.

“You’re lying,” I said. Raising one hand in front of me, my magic grasped at the restraints around the demon’s wrists and ankles. With one quick turn of my wrist, I yanked at the chains and forced Vain to the floor. Sharp echoes of scraping metal filled the empty chamber, the suspended rings overhead resonating with the sounds.

The demon lay flat in the center of the pentagram. My magic kept the chains taut as I strode to the other end near Vain’s head. The demon craned its neck off the floor, looked straight at me, and laughed.

I stepped alongside the outer ring of the wards, keeping as little distance as I dared from the dangerous edge. My heartbeat thundered in my ears. I relished the strained grimace working its way up the tight corners of Vain’s eyes and the edges of its mouth.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were enjoying this,” Vain gritted through clenched teeth. The demon bucked against the restraints and flicked its tongue across cracked lips as its eyes tracked my movements.

“Do you like inflicting pain, Ava?” I froze. The demon spoke sweetly, almost tenderly, and I felt my traitorous heart flutter.

How had it learned my name? I only wondered for a brief moment before realizing—Luke.

---