Page 103 of A Study of Blood and Ichor

Ghen roared against them, his teeth bared in a sharp grimace as Alastair forced him to his knees. A growl crawled up his throat as Nesera continued her assault on him, but each time she sliced at his exposed skin, the dark gashes knit back together extraordinarily fast, even though her blades were forged from the purest silver and selenite.

Vain surged forward, his shadows swirling around us like a midnight storm. They pooled down his arm and coalesced into a sharpened blade, so dark it appeared to be made of night itself. He collided with Ghen and plunged the makeshift blade straight through the archdemon’s armor. It sank deep into his chest, and when Vain gave the hilt a sharp twist, it emitted a sickening crunch right before he yanked the blade free.

Ichor flowed from the wound in a heavy black channel, streaming down the front of the Ghen’s chest and seeping into the strange material of his armor.

Again, Vain drove his shadow blade through the archdemon. Then again. And again. But Ghen only laughed while rocking back on his heels as he took blow after unforgiving blow.

“You know this only ends once I’ve cut through every last weakness you hold so dear,” Ghen taunted in the demon tongue through a low chuckle.

A hum rose in the air again, that same thrumming warning. It radiated outward from Ghen and grew quickly with such a force that there was no time to brace for the surge before it exploded outward from him. The force launched our body off the ground, and Vain and I saw stars before we even connected hard with the far wall. Vain collapsed against it with a groan before lifting his head to survey the damage.

Bits of glass and debris rained down around us. Both Alastair’s and Nesera’s bodies lay crumpled together on the opposite end of the room. Vain scanned frantically in search of Ava. She laid at the edge of the terrace, one side of her face resting against the floor while she remained under the thrall of Ghen’s glamour, her eyes still wide and glassy.

Shake out of it. I chanted like a prayer, as if she’d somehow be able to hear me. Get up. Get up!

Ghen rose from his knees and lifted one hand above his head. Red-black flames flickered to life at his fingertips, and he cast them to the ground in a tall ring around where Nesera and Alastair still lay bruised and battered.

“And now to deal with you, brother.” The archdemon sighed as he stalked forward with one arm outstretched and sent an invisible force slamming into our chest that felt like a crushing weight, keeping us pinned in place and unable to move.

Ghen crouched low in front of us, his sneer softer than the one Vain wore. He plucked up our chin in one large hand and pivoted my face from side to side, his lip curling as he appraised us with apparent disgust.

“Just when I thought you couldn’t become any more pathetic, demeaning yourself and tarnishing our name by throwing yourself in alliance with these pests, you decide that confining yourself to their weak mortal forms is somehow a more suitable way to exist. I will never understand what you see in them and why you are determined to let them make you weak when you could be so much more.” Ghen leaned in close until we could feel his breath heat our face. “You’ve always rejected your nature, Vencula. Why?”

Vain took a breath before answering, the words coming out through a snarl. “I know what I am.”

“I don’t think you do,” Ghen replied with a shake of his head. He still spoke in their language, the words sharp and guttural which felt like an assault all on their own. “We were built to break them. To control. To rule. We are better than them in every way. But by denying that truth, you deign yourself to be weaker than they are. Perhaps all you need is another reminder of our place…starting with her, I think.”

Ghen stood sharply, and the invisible restraints around us tightened. No matter how hard Vain struggled against them, there was no breaking through the archdemon’s hold. He wasn’t nearly powerful enough confined in my mortal body. And that understanding gutted me more than anything.

Move, damnit! I yelled down our bond. Get up! Do something!

But Vain was already throwing everything he had—every last drop of power in his reserve—into fighting back, and we could do nothing but watch as Ghen strode across the room and lifted Ava into the air like she was a boneless puppet held up by invisible strings. His flames reappeared, licking up one arm and illuminating Ava’s face in an eerie red glow. When he dragged the back of his other hand down the side of her face, Ava’s eyes shot wide open as she finally broke out of the glamour. Her chest jerked with every quick and shallow breath. Her fingers and toes twitched the higher she rose into the air.

“Ava!” Vain cried out, but the sound was strangled and fragile.

Her eyes—those petrified amber eyes—locked onto ours, and I couldn’t stand just how fucking powerless I felt in that moment.

“Which would you prefer…” Ghen asked from over his shoulder. “Would you rather watch her bleed out? Or burn?”

No, not like this. There was no universe where I would let us watch Ava die—not at the hands of this monster. Not at all.

I dug deep within me, clawing at every last part of my soul and pulling for every shred of power I had until I was the one in control.

It was pure instinct that drove me. I threw myself at the demon, moving faster than should have been possible. If I was siphoning off some of Vain’s power or if I was running purely off my own adrenaline, I didn’t know, but the force of the impact as I slammed into Ghen’s chest and knocked him to the ground was earth-shattering. My bones vibrated as my body curved over his. Compared to his size, I’d never felt so small, and yet, in this position looking down at him, I’d also never felt more powerful.

The night air whipped around us alongside Vain’s shadows. I pulled them from me, wielding them as if they were my own, like they had always been mine and they sang to me just as naturally as they did for him.

It truly felt as if we were merged. With our essences co-mingling together, we were a shared force, stronger than we’d ever been. But mortal bodies were never truly meant to harness the power of gods.

As he stared up into our eyes, Ghen laughed. “Oh, how adorably pathetic. I can tell he’s already broken you, boy. And yet you still cling to him as if he were your divine savior.”

“He never broke me,” I said. It sounded like my voice, but darker, something sinister twisting the words as I spoke. “I was already broken when he found me.”

The shadows that curled around my fist formed into a sharp blade. I stabbed it straight into the side of Ghen’s neck, the muscles and veins beneath his skin bulging as ichor bubbled to the surface when I pulled it out and proceeded to drag it across his throat until I could feel the tendons shredding and the blade scraping to the bone underneath.

The archdemon gargled and sputtered as ichor began to overflow from each cut I made and it bubbled out from the corners of his mouth until it dripped down his chin and over my hands. Ghen’s power ebbed under my fingers, as if it were recoiling from me and attempting to bury itself like a wounded animal.

I struck harder, cut deeper.

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