The Heart Of The Demon

Chapter Twenty - Two: In Her Arms

Despite how tight the stitches were, blood leaked around them at every movement I made. The stairs sway in and out, appearing as waves of water as I staggered to the only place I truly felt safe. The redness that had once dominated our blood was inky black, thick as though it were made of mud. Green tainted my veins and the opening in my chest, leaving behind trails of burns and blisters everywhere it touched. I should've had more power, I should have been granted strength with the demons blood pumping through our veins. This was wrong. Something wasn't right. Why was I on the verge of passing out? Why wouldn't the world stop moving beneath my feet? It had to be Lacey's suppressor that she had used, tormenting my demonic being.

Aayla's apartment door came into view, slightly tilted and stained in the blood of whoever had wandered the hall's the night before. I raised my hand to knock on it, almost collapsing from the motion. She would know what to do, she would know how to help me.

Aayla peeked through the chain, her dark hair messy and body scantly covered in a sheer night gown. "Fuck, what happened to you?"

"Had a party with a demonic woman who was into some weird kinky shit," I said with a harsh laugh as pinpricks of burning traveled from my hands and down my body. "Fuck." I sunk to the floor. How was I supposed to defeat Tragore like this? Whatever was in that shit Lacey shot us up with was mind-numbingly horrific. It bathed my entire body in fire, forcing me to suffer pain in darkness without the ability to know when it would end. When someone cut me with a knife, I could figure out their pattern, predict their strokes and how deeply they would stab, I could anticipate the pain and prepare for it. This was different. It haunted me even now in the waking world, coming and going in much the same way as I breathed.

Falosa didn't know what that stuff did to me, but I doubt he'd care. He wanted me gone, he had made that intention clear. I deserved to live as much as he did. I had equal rights that entitled me to a life in our shared body.

Aayla came out into the hall and dragged me inside her apartment, laying me on her bed that was soft as clouds. "Why are your veins that color—Lacey the demon physician got ahold of you didn't she?" Aayla's face flushed red in anger. "That bitch."

"How do we get it out?" I asked as another wave of fire flushed over my body. I bit my tongue to keep from crying out. Leaning into her hand, I sought comfort in her touch. It would be over soon, nothing lasted forever. I would come out of this stronger, I had no choice.

"I'm going to need to cut it out and bleed you like venom," Aayla stated as she grabbed a knife from the dresser. "Do you need to bite down on anything?"

I shook my head. "Just do it."

Despite the sharpness of the blade, all I felt was a slight pressure before burning hot liquid seared down my arms, leaving behind blisters and raw skin. I bit my tongue till it bled, holding in the noises that beckoned to come out of the back of my throat. The metallic taste took my out of my body and into my head. I'd been burned before, more times than I could count at the end of a fire poke or wax from a candle, whether for pleasure or for conditioning, it didn't really matter. Pain made me stronger, it made me a worthy adversary. What I could bear would push me to become better, I had to believe that. I had to enjoy it, for my own sake. There was solace in agony.

The burning in my body tapered off as Lacey's serum continued to bleed out through my arms and chest. Sweat coated the my back and chest, soaking through my clothes and making me shiver from the cold of the dark night.

Aayla knelt beside, watching in horror at the travesty the liquid left in its wake. It seared through the sheets causing smoke to rise from everything it touched. "That woman should be executed for the horrors she's done to you and others. How did you end up in her clutches?"