Venom in the Skin

by Jessica Gunn

  Will frowned. “Tell me everything.”

  I did, including about the ambush at Hunter’s Guild. And about Veynix. “He was right there, Will. Right behind me. Touching me.” I shuddered all over again.

  Will’s arms went rigid. “I wish I’d been there.”

  “No, you don’t,” I said. “We only got out alive because Veynix let us. I don’t think that if his entire hundred-demon entourage had followed us outside, we would have survived or made it back to Fire Circle Headquarters.” Even with my stupid decision when it came to acting regardless of the protection magiks.

  Will punched the mattress and swung his legs to get out of bed. I leaned forward and pushed him back down.

  “Don’t you dare,” I said. “You’re still healing.”

  He clamped his jaw tight. “You’ve been my best friend since before I can remember. I know there’s not much I can do against demons, but I want to be there for you. Not locked up in some Infirmary and in pain. Not while that bastard is wandering around free.” He sucked in an angry breath. “Touching you… sometimes I wish you’d never told me about him impersonating Brian.”

  Bile slicked my throat. I’d come so close to accidentally sleeping with Veynix that night. To letting him in completely.

  “Believe me, it’s not a fond memory for me, either,” I said.

  “Maybe after I’m better you can train me to actually fight.”

  I pressed my lips together and regarded him with a stare. “I don’t want you involved in this more than you already are. Sometimes I wish I wasn’t involved in this anymore.”

  “As long as you’re a target of Talon, I am too. So why not train me? I can throw a punch, but something tells me that’s not enough against demons.”

  “I’ll think about it.”

  Will’s eyes lit up for the first time since we’d found my room trashed and the snakeskin pinned to the wall. “Really?”

  “Sure.”

  He squeezed my hands. “Thanks, Ava.”

  “Don’t thank me,” I said dryly. “You haven’t met Trainer Ava yet.” I’d spent exactly one month of my time as a Hunter training the newbies and I’d taken after Avery a little too much—he’d been my trainer, and he’d been relentless.

  “Eh, I know you won’t kill me—”

  The sounds of gunfire interrupted Will’s words, a rain of firecracker sounds. I froze, listening for more activity.

  “Stay here,” I said to him, as if he were going anywhere.

  “What was that?” he asked as I made for the door.

  “Gunfire. But only a handful of Hunters actually use pistols.” Specifically, Avery and his team. And if they were active…

  A second string of gunfire erupted right along with an explosion that rocked the entire building. I grabbed the doorframe that led into the Infirmary hallway.

  “We’re under attack,” I shouted over the resulting din. Bits of the ceiling fell, covering me in debris and dust. I coughed as it made its way into my lungs. “I need to get you—”

  The area in front of me shimmered with a teleportante. I backed up a step but didn’t get far enough away before a demon appeared, red eyes shining beneath brown hair. He reached for my throat.

  I snapped up my hand, knocking his away, and used the momentum to shove my elbow into his windpipe. A quick shot to his shin and a knee to the stomach sent him to the floor. Through the dust cloud I just made out the red leather armor with dark violet detailing of Talon uniforms.

  Shit!

  I stepped back into the room and shut the door, then spun around, looking for something to barricade it with.

  “We need to go,” I said. But could I really leave everyone else here? I was more than likely the reason for the attack, and yet—

  The door shoved forward an inch despite being locked and despite the hinges holding it to the wall on the other side. But I wouldn’t hold it for long. Demons were stronger than humans.

  “Will!” I shouted, peering past more falling debris.

  “I’m okay. What’s going on?” he said from the bed. His words were stilted as if he were moving around, reigniting the pain in his veins.

  “Talon.”

  The door shoved forward again. I gritted my teeth and planted my feet. I’d hold this door until someone came to help or until I overcame the desire to not desert Headquarters during an attack.

  Even if I could have escaped with Will, where would we have gone? This close, any demons who got through the door within the first couple minutes—or indeed all of them that did—could follow our teleportante trail.

  My heart sank as my gaze met Will’s. There was no escape.

  Another teleportante stream shimmered in the air like a mirage. I readied myself for an attack, arm reeled back. As soon as a person appeared, I shot a punch out for their nose.

  Kian caught my fist at the last minute, his fingers white-knuckling around mine from the force of my attack. “We’re under attack.”

  I tried to pull my hand back, but he held on to it, as if he were afraid I’d punch again anyway. “No shit.”

  He glanced down where our fingers met and let go. “Here,” he said, reaching behind him. “A weapon.” He held out a dagger not much longer than the standard Fire Circle Hunter knife.

  “Great, like that’s gonna do a lot of good against Talon. We need magik. Where the hell is Ben?”

  “He and others are trying to hold them off on the second floor,” Kian said, staring at the door to Will’s Infirmary room. “About thirty Talon soldiers and various members of the Trade appeared outside Dacher’s office two minutes ago. They’re doing what they can, but…”

  The door burst open as a pillar of stone split it in two. At the same time, the air around us shifted with more teleportante streams as soon as the line of sight through the door had opened. I threw myself in front of Will’s bed, drawing my body into a fighting stance.

  Three demons appeared in the room and five more shuffled through the doorway. Kian swore loudly before launching himself into the middle of the five near the door.

  I spun on the three closest to me and volleyed attacks at them, dodging the ones sent my way. A fury of swipes and kicks followed, along with strings of fire and water. I cursed the gods that had allowed all demons to have magik.

  Fire seared my skin in streaks despite me somehow dodging most of their attacks. A dagger made of ice soared toward my head. I deflected it with my blade even as I kicked one of the male demons in the groin. He dropped, thankfully as susceptible as a human.

  “Enough!” someone bellowed.

  My body froze as it had before, caught in the icy telekinetic grip of a magik user. The unnatural hold sent a skittering sensation up my arms and back. I gasped as the demons around me also stopped on the spot, their bodies rigid while holding attacks mid-swing. A crackling near my head sounded as a ball of lightning appeared in one demon’s hand, the shocks of it coming too close to my hair. Even the demons Kian had been fighting had frozen, minus the two dead on the ground.

  Someone chuckled darkly as they walked through the door. Another demon, whose very presence churned my stomach.

  Veynix.

  His white-blond hair was still loose around his shoulders, and the evil grin splitting his face was wider than it’d been at Hunter’s Guild.

  “Leave us,” he said, his tone relaxed and undisturbed by the violence around him.

  To be so carefree.

  I gulped, stepping back again toward Will. One quick teleportante to somewhere, anywhere but here. Veynix could follow—probably would follow—but… maybe somewhere public would work. The risk of revealing ourselves to the common person would be high, but maybe it’d be enough to dissuade Veynix from attacking.

  But where? Think, Ava. Think.

  The demons that’d flooded the room left in various teleportante waves.

  Veynix turned to Kian, who was glaring at the demon of my nightmares. “You, too, may leave. This, unfortunately, does not concern
you. Although I’m sure there are others here who would jump at the chance to right the wrongs you’ve caused.”

  Kian’s eyes narrowed, aflame with anger and desperation. “No.”

  Veynix considered him for a moment before pushing his hand, palm out, into the air. Veynix’s telekinesis threw Kian backward through the open door, slamming against the far wall at the end of the hallway. He slumped down, his head drooping.

  “Kian!” I screamed.

  “He’ll survive.” Veynix spared him a passing glance over his shoulder. “For now.”

  “What the hell does he have to do with all of this?” I asked. “He wasn’t on my team.”

  Veynix returned his gaze to me. “He’s wanted for other reasons. As for you… and your friend here.”

  I lifted the dagger in my hand. “You stay the hell away from Will. If you want me, you fight me.” My life didn’t matter so much; I had nothing to go back to. But Will still had a family, a little brother who needed him.

  It was with that thought that I found the strength I needed to stare down Veynix.

  Veynix’s eyes lit with delight. He cocked his head and grinned. “As you wish.”

  He went to swing his hand up in another telekinetic attack, but I launched myself into the air, dagger ready to strike. Veynix’s eyes went wide and he adjusted his attack.

  I froze where I stood, gasping as my chest heaved. The next thing I knew, my toes were dangling in the air, my whole body now lifted two inches above the ground and my dagger had slipped from my fingers. The weight of unseen hands held me up in the air.

  “I do so miss playing with you, my pet,” Veynix said as he looked up at me.

  “Why don’t you make this a fair fight?” I asked. “Stop being a coward, relying on magik—”

  Veynix flicked his hand, sending me careening into the nearest wall. My shoulder slammed into it and folded under the impact. I gritted my teeth against the pain and stood.

  “Here then, my venom,” said Veynix. The sound of metal sliding over wood ended with my dagger appearing at my feet. “Arm yourself.”

  I grabbed it and glared. “You’ll pay for what you’ve done.”

  “And how long, I wonder, will this newfound confidence last?” he asked as he drew a dagger of his own from a sheath on his side.

  My shaky fingers had a hard time finding a solid grip on the dagger in my right hand. But every time I caught sight of Will’s pale, pained face in the hospital bed, unable to move due to pain, my sense of strength was renewed.

  I looked Veynix square in the eyes. “As long as it needs to.”

  “Ava, no!” Will cried out. He tried to get out of bed but fell back with a strangled yelp. Almost like Veynix had pushed him back with his telekinesis.

  Veynix charged first this time, his dagger out. We traded blows. Steel knocked against steel, echoing off the walls as we matched each other’s attacks with defensive blocks. But every attack Veynix dealt felt half-baked.

  He doesn’t want me dead.

  The realization drew my attention away from the fight for too long. Veynix swung his blade at me, now coated in a thin layer of a tan liquid.

  The tan liquid.

  I hopped out of the way and slashed at the unscarred part of his face, hoping to give him a new wound to match. He knocked my hand away with a force that nearly dislodged my hold on the dagger. I tightened my grip, but as I saw Veynix’s next attack coming, I knew I had no way to stop it.

  His free fist sailed through the air, crashing into my gut. All the air whooshed from my lungs on impact, my words caught in my throat.

  I dropped to my knees with a whimper and wrapped my arms around myself. People banged on the other side of the door, their shouts growing louder and louder with every minute that passed. But I was locked inside. And I was not leaving without Will.

  “My, my, pet,” Veynix said as he stepped away from our exchange. “At first, I thought you’d gotten better at fighting over the last few months. But you’re still the same helpless girl you were when I removed you from your team.”

  “You killed them,” I ground out, though I still couldn’t move. Stars danced around my vision as I tried to catch my breath again. “All for some stupid, ridiculous obsession of yours to watch people suffer. To watch me suffer from your venom and for your love of pain.”

  “Indeed,” Veynix said. “And now I will kill the only other thing you care about. Only then will my hunt be complete…” He turned back to me. “Save for killing you, of course. And oh, what a glorious hunt it’s been.” He made his way over to Will’s bedside. “I think I want it to last just a little bit longer for you, though, my venom. It seems as though things have gotten that much more interesting.”

  Will’s eyes went wide, but he didn’t move. Couldn’t, more likely, thanks to Veynix’s magik.

  “No!” I screamed. “Don’t you dare hurt him!”

  Veynix raised the dagger above Will’s bed, right over Will’s stomach. “I wonder if a double dose of the venom will kill him.” He glanced at me. “Would you like to find out?”

  I moved one knee first, then the other, standing slowly. A churning in my stomach had me gagging. “This is between us,” I spat.

  “And unfortunately, also everyone you and your team told about our plan. Which from what I hear is quite a lot of people.” He clicked his tongue. “My dear pristine venom, you have caused me and my employers so much pain and trouble and road blocks in our plans by giving word of them to the Hunter Circles.”

  “What about my pain?” I asked. “Maybe I told the whole damn Fire Circle. You really gonna take them all down too?”

  “In time, they all will fall,” he said, his voice low. “Until then.” He raised the dagger another inch and drove it downward, right for Will’s stomach.

  I dove, trying to grab it away in time. “Will!”

  Lightning arched across the Infirmary room, a bright cobalt blue, unnatural electricity that slammed into Veynix’s dagger and charged up the handle into Veynix himself. He shook violently and reached out to steady himself on the bed.

  I looked toward the door. A ragged, bloody Ben leaned against the doorframe, one hand held out as though punching the air. He stumbled, his other hand clenched around his lightning arm, and fell to his knees.

  Veynix growled, calling my attention back to him. “We will finish this another time, Christine.”

  Before I could register the blur of his hand falling on Will, I heard him say, “Teleportante.”

  And then they were gone.

  Chapter 15

  “Don’t!” Ben shouted, but it was cut off by his strangled cry as he fell the rest of the way to the floor. “Son of a bitch.”

  I whipped around to face him. “We can follow the trail.” Running to his side, I added, “I can get one of the magik users here right now and follow—”

  Ben grabbed my arm, his fingers digging into my skin, though only for a passing moment before his hand dropped. “Do not chase them.” He cried out again.

  I knelt down and pulled his hand from his arm—and gasped. His whole sleeve was coated in crimson. And along the tear in the shirt and his skin was a tan hue. Veynix’s poison.

  “Ben—”

  “I know,” he said through gritted teeth. “I can feel it.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Not your… fault…”

  Footsteps echoed down the hallway as Avery and his team appeared. Two of them broke off to check on a now-waking Kian, who blinked with bleary eyes at me over Ben’s injured form.

  “Ben,” Avery said as he, too, dropped to his knees. “How bad?”

  “One of the demons slashed his arm with a poison-tipped blade,” I said. “It’s Veynix’s poison.”

  Avery cursed under his breath. “Of course it is. Teleportante him to the hall downstairs. That’s where they’re taking the wounded.”

  I gulped. Ben hurt. Will missing. “How bad is it?”

  “Thirty injured, one dead.” Avery’
s expression darkened. “I’m only hoping the latter number doesn’t increase. I’m not exactly sure what their goal was that led them to not only attack here, but also kidnap several other Hunters before my eyes. Magik-users, too. Hit ’em all with requirem and disappeared before we could do anything.”

  My heart stopped. “What the hell would they need magik-users for, aside from the obvious?” Magik-users made great demons with predictable magik outcomes because they already had powers. But Autumn Fire, the few days in August when demons typically created more of their kind, was still months away.

  Avery shook his head. “I have no fucking idea, but most of them were rookies. I swear to God I’m going to kill these bastards.”

  “Take a number,” I said, glancing back at Ben. Veynix had come up here to fight me because he’d known Will was in the Infirmary because of his poison. He’d been toying with me. Distracting me from helping downstairs.

  Kidnapping Will, an innocent, magikless bystander, was just icing on the damn cake for Veynix. Just another way to torment me.

  “I’m going with Ava,” Avery announced to the rest of his team. “Keep looking for the injured.” He placed a hand on Ben’s good arm and looked to me. “Ready?”

  I did the same, then nodded.

  Avery brought us with a teleportante to the hall, a large half-amphitheater in the basement of Fire Circle Headquarters.

  “This is just bullshit,” Avery said as he hauled Ben over his shoulder into a fireman carry. Ben groaned in pain. “Sorry, man. I’m not referring to you. The bullshit is this attack on Headquarters, and those captured Hunters.”

  “Easy, Avery,” he said.

  “Avery, every move you make intensifies the pain for him,” I said. “Veynix’s venom is intense at first, then it dulls to the constant pain Will is in.” And that pain stays with you for weeks to months afterward.

  Avery regarded me with a suspicious look before glancing at Ben. “Sorry. I’ll try to be gentler.”

  Avery continued walking down the steps leading to the stage at the bottom where Bria and the other doctors and medical staff had set up a triage area.