The Devil's Ex

Chapter Twelve - Ice

The smell of formaldehyde was overwhelming as Jenny stared reluctantly down at the body. Her mouth twisted as she struggled not to cough. She'd forgotten how potent it was. She'd also forgotten how hungry the smell made her, whilst simultaneously making her want to throw up.

"Jenny?" She glanced up at Luca, he was restless, nerves making his body twitch.

"Have you got the candles?" He produced them from pockets in his long black coat. "Good, put the tallow one there," she pointed at his head, "and give me the clementine one." She took it from him and placed it right in front of her, hoping that once it was lit, it would hide the smell of formaldehyde.

With a flick of her wrist, she lit both candles until they burned brightly. Slowly, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the blessed blade that she'd wrapped in a fabric. "What is that?" Luca whispered in awe as he neared the blade.

She snatched it away from him and barked, "don't do that." Luca jumped back in surprise. "It's a blessed blade..." Luca gave her a blank look, she suppressed her sigh, "a blade from heaven's angels." Luca's eyebrows rose in surprise. "A long time ago, the angels used to come and go from hell. When they did...they'd either forget or...be 'relieved' of their blades." Jenny shrugged, "they're incredibly powerful, but also deadly to any demonic being. A papercut from this thing would kill you on the spot."

A small cut wouldn't kill her, however, she'd learnt that the hard way – it still hurt like hell. Luca though...she wasn't convinced he'd survive.

"And you happen to know someone, in hell, who had one of these and was just willing to hand it over?" Luca said incredulously.

Jenny shrugged again, "I said I'd been here before. What can I say? I have interesting friends."

Luca nodded wordlessly and she felt his silent judgement once more.

"Keep an eye on the hall, let me know if anyone comes. And Luca?" He paused, "you aren't going to like this spell. Blood magic isn't...it's not like normal magic. It requires...sacrifice."

"I trust you, Jenny."

Jenny grimaced, she wished she believed him.

*

With the candles lit, casting a soft orange glow around the room, Jenny took in a deep breath, pleased at her choice of clementine. It didn't technically need to be a scented candle, in fact, she was probably making some old wiccan somewhere roll in her grave at the informality of it all, but it was Jenny's favourite.

"Luca, whatever you do, don't touch me during this, OK?"

He nodded and was thankfully silent.

Jenny turned and slipped her necklace off of her neck, with a quick spell the metal box was sat beside the body. Flipping the lid, she rooted through until she found the ring with two horns on it. Closing the box, she shrunk it once more and refastened her necklace. She studied the ring in the palm of her hand, made of black onyx it had once been her pride and joy, before it became her chain.

She sighed deeply and slid the ring onto her finger, unnerved by the familiarity of it. If Luca watched what she did, he didn't say anything.

Taking the blessed blade in her left hand, she held it over the clementine candle until the blade glowed red, quickly she turned and stabbed the body through the heart with a sickening crunch. She ignored the gasp from Luca and pressed on.

Picking up the tallow candle, she poured the wax that had pooled in the top, in an arc around the head, and a matching one at his feet. Placing the tallow candle back at the top of his head, Jenny took a deep, steadying breath.

"As blood of my blood is spilled, so shall his blood be filled. As blood of my blood is spilled, so shall his blood be filled. As blood of my blood is spill-" Jenny repeated the chant over and over, as she held her wrist out over the blessed blade. Using the ring she'd once worn with pride, she pierced the flesh at the base of her palm and slowly dragged the horn through her skin until blood pooled and dripped slowly, like rain from a gutter.

Each red droplet fell onto or beside the blessed blade, she kept chanting as it dropped, her voice dropping lower as she fell into a trance. When enough blood had spilled, she raised her palms above his chest and upped the tempo of the chant.

The sensation began in her toes. It was like fire burning at the edges of her skin. It rose violently up through her legs, her abdomen, her arms and her neck. Her face heated and her body burned as her voice became primal, unintelligible. Jenny was gone in this moment. She was nothing more than a vessel of power.

Her body alight, she threw her head back as a voiceless scream parted her lips and her eyes rolled into the back of her head. With a giant thrust of power, her body convulsed and then fell still as the fire faded.

Jenny breathed hard as she sought oxygen that she'd been so desperately deprived.

In the same second that she feared the spell hadn't worked, there was a brush of a chilled wind that smothered both candles and left the room in pitch black darkness.

With another rush, the candles relit and with a gasp of air, the kind you never hear from a living being – the body before her sat bolt upright and screamed.