Heartworm

Vyra’s perfume had always been pleasant. It smelled fresh, or at least the closest approximation of that concept into a bottled perfume. It always carried the light fragrance of morning dew on blooming flowers. Not as strong as the smell of actual flowers, like you were smelling a garden from the other side of a closed door. It made for a subtle scent, yet it found its way into every crevice of her room.

All the more haunting then when I arrived in Vyra’s empty dorm room. The last time I was here, I was staring at my friend- no, my lover. Impaled into the wooden boards on the floor, I stayed with her until I was dragged out. The room had been all but exsanguinated of all life. Every drop of life that had been poured into the room with her paintings, her clothes that scattered the room after overflowing the provided closet space, and even the furniture she had added to the room. The shell that was left behind was daunting to even stand within. This room carried with it so many memories, the idea of a new life that could have begun within these walls within the shelter of her room and her kindness.

I was not technically allowed in here. Nor was anyone. In the time I’d been locked away in isolation, this room had sat condemned. Deemed too dangerous for any student to occupy it, but structurally improbable to destroy. It was just a hollow memory, one that I had snuck out to visit in the middle of the night. I thought it might give me closure. In all honesty, I have no idea what I seek to gain by standing in the center of this room, gazing down into the small hole in the floor that remains to this day. The walls had been subtly repaired. But it seemed they had lost interest in truly restoring it once it had been condemned. I could still see the char marks from the short fight that took place along the walls and floor.

“I’m sorry.”

The words couldn’t have been for Vyra when they came out of my mouth. If I was heard apologizing to a greater demon, even the memory of one, I’d be thrown back into isolation. The words I spoke must have been for me, then.

“I’m sorry for what they did.”

I sincerely hoped that no one would walk by this room. Every logical atom in my body was revolting against my continued speech, yet it continued. It felt like something I needed to say. Something that had been boiling up inside of me throughout isolation. A knot that had only grown tighter, one that I needed to untie.

“I’m sorry for what I did. I messed up.”

It was strange to admit it to myself at that moment. I’d had trouble coming to terms with it for some time, and I supposed that I would never truly know for certain if it was accurate. I believe myself to be responsible for Vyra being caught. The clothing that she had lent me upon her return to Varenthell was her own personal clothing, not any of the scant offerings she had picked up while shopping at the academy. They were from her home. As such, they bore certain markings within them, markings that clearly indicated her family name. I had always wondered why she was so vague when she told me about how her parents didn’t allow her to bring any of her clothes from home. Her parents were always doing that. Restricting her in some manner or other.

It had made a lot more sense when I had put the pieces together in isolation. During one of my corrective lessons, Dr. Rectin had shown me a number of demonic symbols to see if I could identify any of them. I only recognized one. Vyra’s family crest, the one that was engraved on the inside of the collar of the shirt that Vyra had given to me.

I was furious when I realized what she did that day. The moment it happened, I was far too blinded by euphoria to even consider what it meant.

* * * * *

“You uh… remember that picture that I showed you?”

“Right. ‘That picture’, thank goodness you described it so aptly, I know exactly what you’re talking about.” I rolled my eyes at Vyra’s vague question.

“The fancy shmancy outfit, Ester! You remember when I showed you that?”

“Oh. Oh, yeah!” Vyra had shown me a picture of herself a few months ago. It was a picture from some kind of regal celebration that she had attended.

“Well… I might have gotten a little something special for you…”

“No…”

“Oh yeah.” Vyra grinned and reached underneath her bed to pull out a small box. When she lifted the lid on the box, my eyes lit up like infernos that could match the beautiful red inside of the box.

It was a formal top. The exact same from the picture that she had shown me and I had fawned over before. She must have seen the envy plastered across my face whenever I looked at the picture. It was a beautifully made piece, with intense blacks and reds intertwined across the front, with black lace wrapping around the neck and framing the chest with a diamond opening. The material itself was luxurious. With how much I had spent around luxury in my life, that meant a lot.

“Are you serious?”

“You can have it. With some rules, of course.” Vyra smirked and crawled onto the bed to sit next to me as I ogled the decadent tailoring of the shirt. “It’s more like borrowing, since I might need to ask for it back. Only if my parents need to drag me along to any kind of important dinners. Other than that, it’s all yours. Oh, and do not let this get picked up for laundry. It’s far too precious to be cleaned here at the academy, it’d utterly destroy the make. Just let me know if you want it washed and I’ll take care of it, yeah?”

“I don’t know what to say, Vyra.”

“Then don’t say anything. Put it on!”

* * * * *

I hadn’t meant to break those rules. I had kept it hidden, like all of the rest of the clothing that Vyra had let me borrow in order to wear in the comfort of my own room. I hadn’t even known that it had been taken to be washed until a year into my isolation. They had brought the garment to me during one of the check ups to question me about it.

To them, it was a clever signal that I needed help. A plea for freedom from Vyra, the greater demon. It had just been a mistake, one that I would never let down. A single slip up that had ripped away a generous life. It had only happened because she wanted to make me happy. That’s not something worth dying over.

I need to get back to my room. This place hurts far too much. If I stay too much longer, I fear that I’ll be pulled into the grain of the floor and never leave. I wouldn’t have enough energy or motivation to fight back if it did happen.

* * * * *

Vyra’s perfume had always been pleasant. It felt foreboding as it lingered in my nostrils. I should not be smelling this right now. I should be smelling blood. The blood that was sputtering out along the holy knife in Cecelia’s chest. The soft scent of distant flowers conjured up one painful sight. Vyra, with a holy sword pinning her to the floor of her dorm room, blood sputtering out along the blade. It was happening again.

It couldn’t happen again.

I wouldn’t let it happen again.

“CICI!” It hurt my ears as much as my heart to hear Phern’s pained cries echo from behind me. I knew it was the last thing she wanted to do at this moment, but I prayed that she would continue to free the boat in order for us to have an escape.

“CECELIA!” Almost in tandem, I heard Sebil’s shout from down the street. I saw him running towards the docks. He could see enough from where he stood to know what had just happened.

Laia hesitated for just a moment when she turned to look towards Sebil. I didn’t have time to wonder why she was surprised, I needed to take the opening. My body transformed, the fastest it had ever done before, as I lunged a claw towards Laia’s neck. Like she had predicted that exact attack, a small golden field shimmered into existence by her neck, causing my claws to scrape against a magical surface instead of the soft flesh I sought. Where one claw failed, another succeeded. My other claw had already moved towards her side, where my shadowed digits found a home inches inside of her body, cracking a rib as they entered.

Laia let out only the smallest of cries as she turned and effortlessly flung her body weight into her leg to roundhouse kick me. I blocked it with my arms, feeling the bones in my forearms sprinter ever so slightly. I had forgotten just how much force Laia managed to pack into her punches. I would need to make this quick. Each glance I took towards Cecelia as she stumbled backwards to lean against the hut sent a solar flare of hatred through me. I knew I needed to remain rational, but there was nothing rational about this hunt. I would tear her L I M B from L I M B, and suck the marrow from her bones once I had stripped them of meat.

‘If you cannot remain cognizant, you need to give me control. Now.’

I’m fine, Lilith. I pulled my focus away from Cecelia and back towards Laia. I needed to be able to count on the bandits. Sebil and Phern would need to help Cecelia while I dealt with Laia. As for Lucas… I could see the Marked man running alongside Sebil. I could not see his expression clearly from this distance, and the blindfold that obscured his face as he ran, but I didn’t need to see anything to know what I would do to him.

I leapt towards Laia to continue our fight. The shadow’s that wreathed my body swirled vigorously as I moved, a visual that I am sure would help disorient other foes. For a blind one like Laia, that relied on an otherworldly sight, I feared it would be of no use. Fists met claws. Claws met fists. Contrasted to the other times that I had fought Laia, I had certainly gotten faster. While her strikes would still hit home here and there, I was avoiding or blocking a significantly higher amount of them. My claws had trouble ripping flesh from her limbs, yet they were not entirely unsuccessful. I had managed to find purchase along her skin a number of times as we exchanged blows. While some could hardly be called a scratch, others had opened bloody gashes along her arms and legs.

If I managed to keep things up at this rate, it was a battle of attrition that I would certainly win. Her wounds remained, while mine were healing in front of her very eyes in a taunting manner. She seemed to realize that her current strategy was resulting in a negative outcome for her, and switched tactics seamlessly as she fought. Inside of remaining close to me, she took an opening to kick off of my chest and create space between us that she swiftly filled with conjured holy weapons that floated above the ground. A glaive and a whip dangled in the air between us.

Her holy weapons turned the tides quickly in her favor as we fought. With her standing more than ten feet away at any time, I had no more openings to leap for an attack, not without immediately getting a glaive across my chest or arms.

‘For fuck’s sake, little morsel, fight! You’ve tied your horse’s legs together and expect to win a race!’

I had no time to try to decipher Lilith’s words while I focused on the fight.

‘You are Deathless. Creatures of immense innate magic. You fight like you are always drained of mana. You have overwhelming magic. Use it!’

Legs tied together. I suppose it was odd that I had been fighting without making use of any magic. Easier said than done for someone with so little experience. I would have to make the pressure of the current situation lend me an assist. The next time that I made a move towards Laia, her glaive carved its way across my chest. While I might not have been fast enough to avoid the attack as I had planned, I figured it was the best opportunity to enact plan B. As my blood followed in the arc of her swing, I reached out to it using the same strange sensation as last time. ‘Imagine it as a third arm’, I told myself. Before the blood could spill across the ground, I had swung it around towards Laia while I hardened it into a crystalized form. The improved bloody spear took her by surprise. Despite attempting to jump out of the way, it impaled her left leg, causing her to stumble and nearly collapse to the ground as she landed on her injured leg.

“There it is. The hunger of Baehevar. Starved for desolation, you come crawling out again. Done playing your little act, beast?” Laia spoke to me as she did at the estate. She seemed convinced that when I fought like a lesser threat, I was simply acting. I suppose that made sense. It would be difficult to rationalize that you are fighting an old dead God if they refuse to use any magic in combat.

“Every word you speak is another minute I’ll bleed you from a post.” I spat back at her. I had no room for kindness, not when my muscles quivered under my skin with an intense rage. I was barely holding back the weighty emotions that welled up when I looked at Cecelia.

“Do you pity the familiars that you send to their deaths?”

The words felt like acid as they leaked into my ears. I had heard more than enough about familiars. Especially from the lips of the Empire.

“It doesn’t matter to you if she’s a familiar! You’d kill as many people as it takes reach the Empire’s fucking goal!”

“Every life sacrificed now ensures that a thousand other lives remain safe in the future. Any citizen of the Empire would give their life if it meant a thousand others lived!” Laia hissed back. She didn’t speak much, but she seemed to have a special hatred for me that required words to satisfy.

“Easy to say that if you never ask the citizens before you kill them…” My claws were clenched so deeply into my hands that I could feel blood begin to steadily drain from the holes I had created. I could see that Sebil had made it to Cecelia by this point. Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see him lifting Cecelia to move her towards the docks. Curiously, Lucas stood just above him with tightened fists. Gods only knows why Sebil hadn’t used his metallic hand to dispatch the Marked.

“Any price is worth paying if it stops the catastrophe you bring.” Laia unfurled the golden whip that hovered in the air. It was readied for an attack. We stood locked in an uncomfortable stalemate by the dock’s edge while Sebil moved Cecelia. Lucas had stayed behind, lingering by the nearby fishing hut. “If you truly cared about those fools, you’d give up now. By the time I take you captive, they can be far away from here.”

I sought to delay our next encounter as long as possible. The blood that was pooling in my clenched fists was almost enough for the plan I had.

“Nothing to say? Is the might of the Empire too much for you?” Laia laughed.

“You’re just a dog for the Empire. You fetch when told, and heel when ordered. I have no need to speak to dogs.” My words hit some kind of nerve. Her mouth immediately clammed shut into a malicious grimace. She opted against expressing distaste with words. Instead, her weapons swept towards me as she screamed. It was a furious wail, one that could only have been the result of pressure exploding within her.

With no more time to prepare, I lunged forwards and threw my hands out in front of me. The blood that had been pooling in my palms sprayed out before me into a visceral mist. I quickly coagulated the blood as it traveled towards Laia, until a wall of thin needles was thrown towards her. Our attacks hit each other at around the same time. An intense offense made for a pitiful defense from the both of us. My needles found a new home across her entire body. Laia had shielded vital organs at the last second with holy magic, but all across her body in the spots that had not been protected, my bloody needles tore apart her skin. It left her looking like a macabre porcupine across half of her body.

I wasn’t faring any better. The whip had restrained me first, before I could even move away after throwing out my handfuls of blood. I was only just able to move my head slightly back before the glaive swiped across my neck. The attack that had meant to take my entire head, had instead cut through the front of my neck.

A horrible coldness was spreading through my limbs as blood sprayed from my neck like a grotesque fountain. I should have been dead. By all accounts, I was currently dying, if the freezing cold sensation across my body was anything to go by. But I couldn’t die. Not now. Cecelia and Sebil had almost made it onto the vessel that Phern had readied. If I was cut down here, they would never make enough distance in time. I needed to keep going. At any cost. I would survive.

‘Little morsel, what are you doing?’

Blood waterfalled out of the front of my neck. When I turned to scream towards the Bandits to get them to leave, only a pathetic gurgling managed to come out. I was losing blood rapidly. I needed more. I needed more blood. Blood is what I need. I will take it.

‘You are being reckless, fledgling. Give me control. You are a child wielding a weapon you do not fully understand yet.’

Blood will be mine. With a fierce screech, I pulled at everything around me. There was immense blood nearby, all I needed was to take it. The blood from any fish stupid enough to linger around the edge of the water was mine. The blood of the fish that sat ready to be skinned nearby was mine. The blood of the people in the town was-

‘ENOUGH. The fish are enough, Ester! You do not need the people of Urden as well.’

I had no time to argue with the voice in my head. The blood of all of the fish would be enough for now. I siphoned it all towards myself and let it spill down my throat and into all of the wounds along my body. That Marked woman before me… I wanted her dead.

Her blood will be mine.