Page 5 of A Study of Blood and Ichor

There was nothing I hated more than being shoved back into the driver’s seat against my will. Damn witches.

I shifted to a seated position on the stone floor and rested my elbows on my knees. I hadn’t caught any of the witches’ names. The light-haired one with the dark hooded eyes seemed to be their leader based on the way she held herself and the fact that Vain had called her “High Witch.”

The male witch with the dark skin and buzzed hair had kept his face hard and unreadable like the High Witch. But the other male was more timid and more nervous, though he’d tried to hide it.

See how the smaller one trembles when he thinks no one is looking? Vain had chuckled through our bond. He would be easy to break.

Careful, I’d cautioned back mentally when his excitement nearly bubbled over.

Since becoming possessed, I’d learned demons were observant motherfuckers, Vain especially so. He was quick to notice qualities about others I was never sharp enough to pick up on. He also had a keen and uncanny ability to exploit those qualities either for his personal gain, or whether a particularly devilish mood struck his fancy.

When Vain scented the female witch with the coppery-red hair, she had smelled faintly of tea and eucalyptus. Her voice had an almost sweet and slightly raspy quality to it, and her curious honey eyes melted through to my soul as she stared, laying me bare for her to examine. There had been something behind those eyes that I hated. It had looked something like pity.

She had looked so temptingly soft too. Pretty enough to fuck.

I vigorously shook my head. Those were Vain’s thoughts. Not mine. Right? It was hard to tell the difference when they seemed to blur together so often.

Sure, she was beautiful—stunning even—but my first thought surely hadn’t been that I wanted to fuck her. And yet my thoughts wandered, imagining what it would be like if I did.

I raked my hands over my face, then attempted to smooth my hair out of my eyes—anything that might distract me and brush away the remnants of Vain’s lust for the witch from my mind.

A gentle tug in my core caused me to still. It was a soft nudge, almost lazy, as if Vain was still waking from whatever spell the High Witch had used to force him under. Another tug came, more insistent and sharper than the first.

Enjoying your time back in control, mortal?

There was no mistaking the taunt in his tone. Vain knew how to push my buttons better than anyone. In fact, sometimes I swore he thrived off it.

“I fucking hate it,” I responded. My voice sounded rough and unused, like I hadn’t spoken in years.

I didn’t need to speak out loud. I’m not sure why I did. Vain was like a constant headache that refused to go away. He was privy to every thought and emotion I had. Always watching, always listening. I’m not sure what it said about me that I found his presence oddly comforting.

“I forgot what it feels like to…feel. I feel everything.”

If I was being honest, it was easier to let Vain control me. For the most part, it wasn’t so bad, and frankly, I couldn’t give a shit what the demon did with my body. I’d stopped caring a long time ago.

You were thinking about the pretty one, weren’t you?

I let out a growl from deep within my chest before answering, “Stop it.”

She’s mine.

I practically shouted through the bond, Will you shut up for once! I'm not in the mood.

Vain’s essence tightened inside me with sick, twisted pleasure, like a vicious and poisonous grin. But he let my outburst pass without retort, eventually filling the silence hovering between us with his soft melodic humming as he slowly regained his strength while I watched the smoke curl into the air above the flames licking up from the metal braziers surrounding the chamber. It felt more like a dungeon.

I was going to die in a dungeon.

Chuffing out a small laugh, I alternated between wringing my hands and running them up and down my arms, trying to soothe the anxiety rising like a wave in my chest. Fucking hell, I hadn’t missed this at all.

Are the witches going to kill us? I asked Vain. I didn’t mean to sound scared, but I did.

Is that what you want?

I thought for a moment and then responded, No.

Then I won’t allow it to come to that, Vain said. I’m forming a plan.

Great, a fucking plan.

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