When Blood Runs Cold - Chapter 245

Think, Serena, think, I scold myself, my facade almost slipping as Azrael runs his fingers inquisitively over my body, his lips trailing across the exposed portion of my collar. I have never felt so grosley defiled in all my life- it feels my body is being scorched, and not in any remotely romantic way. But in all fairness, between having Azrael touching me and being burned alive, I would much rather choose the later.

Lucky me, I got both.

Come on,  I think desperately, sneaking a glance downwards to where the markings on my body remain unresponsive. There has to be some sort of a way to activate this thing.

But the longer Azrael stays glued to my body, the more and more hopeless it all begins to feel. It is just then in my mind where a sly voice coo’s, the familiar yet startling sensation of hands upon my brain shivering through me.

Relax, Serena, you will love this. Let us enjoy this night shall we?

And that command might as well be my death wish.

Crowds of masked faeries crowd around us now. Separate arms work on pulling at my trousers, tugging them off with a hungered fervour as I feel the heat of several mortal bodies press against me: lips, hands, touch, all slinking over my body as Azrael deepens our kiss.

This is torture.

And yet Soren’s markings are doing nothing. I am going to have to come up with my own solution, and fast. Trying to ignore the grimy fingers and mouths that slide over my body, I take a few breaths, trying to steady my mind.

Moaning in agony, a single solution passes through my mind as I do this, a dangerous one, but a solution nonetheless.

I am not sure how much more I can put up with.

A light barrier. I think to myself. It had worked against Azrael once before, and for the most part, will remain entirely inconspicuous.

Considering my body naturally exudes some form of light, it would not be an unfair assessment to say this light might just happen to… inflame under conditions of pleasure. Of course, no such occurrence will be happening today, but that is the theory I am hoping to seduce Azrael with.

A light barrier to protect my body- well, protect as best I can.. Whatever they do to me, I won’t feel a thing, because they won’t actually be touching me. I will be protected. Though that does not mean that I won’t have to endure whatever Azrael wants me to do to him. Physically, I won’t feel anything, but mentally…

Refraining from the urge to bite my lip, I sink further into my mind.

What other options have I got?

In truth, there is nothing else, this is all I have.

It is a risky maneuver, but worth a shot. Closing my eyes, I begin to feel that tingle of magic consuming my body, like pins and needles all over my skin. Desperately, I urge forth that tendrilous coiling light to spring up around my body, let it harden around me like the shell of an insect, impenetrable to the touch. There is no hint of recognition or understanding in Azrael’s eyes as this happen, the slight influx of glow around me being dismissed only by his wild enthusiasm to have his hands over my body and his lips on my neck.

Leaning up slighly, I give myself another chance to test the capacity of this magic. Hesitant- but not enough so to be noticable, I swing my arms around Azrael’s neck and pull him towards me. With a feigned eagerness, I press his lips against mine and…

I do not feel it any more.

Instead of feeling the soft caress of skin and lips against my own, all I feel is empty air, a small chasm between him and I that separates me from him. I suppose now I am going to have to get even better at acting.

But for the obvious reasons, my blood still bubbles with a grotesque spite, tugging at me to break free from this grim situation. Those hands are inching closer to the precious parts of my body I hoped the world would never see with such an intensity I think I might be sick. But Azrael is far worse, much too brazen, much too rough, his eyes gleaming as his fingers seek the warmth of my body, as if he would like nothing better than to skip to the action right now. A desperate hum rises in my throat as I squirm against the spread of the mattress.

And then it dawns on me.

Even with the light barrier, I am not sure I can endure this. Not with everyone, or this room, or those hands that rake their way across my body. There is too much to process, and all of it is impossible to ignore.

Then, as Azrael’s fingers begin slinking towards my core, I have one final idea. It is almost stupid really, how I didn’t think it before.

Soren, anyone, I beg against my mind. I know you told me to do what I can, but I cannot do this. I cannot let Azrael take me for his own. Please, if you can hear me, do something.

For a moment, nothing happens, the sways and sighs of the room continuing in their same drunk fashion, sweeping the room up with moans and wavering sighs of delight. Then, pin pricks of pain (not unbearable), begin to swirl over my skin, trailing down the valley of my breasts, following the pattern of the mark. It seems Azrael and the others are too distracted to notice the faint gleam of magic that runs under my skin, but not that I am complaining. Then, as I glance towards the right of me, I notice that globules of darkness are beginning to erupt from the floor.

My eyes widen.

This is it. Soren’s protection.

A little tremble runs through the ground. Small, but enough so that Azrael- whose lips are currently pressed tightly against my neck, pauses.

There is a pause, only for a second, before everyone, including Azrael, are completely thrown back of my body, rocketing into the looming darkness. I sit up, jolting myself upright as I glare around the room into that unforgiving blackness, my body humming with power and encased in roaring shadows. A familiar shadowy figure holds me in place, their back pressed against me in a manner that seem’s almost real. But I know what it is really, just a shadow puppet. It is not really him.

But Soren’s magic is not done there.

All at once the lights in the room shatter. Glass scatters over the floor in a series of flurried chimes as the gas lamps all flicker out, plunging the room even further into that cold, unforgiving darkness. Something about this earth shattering bang plunges half the room from its glamour, screams erupting like geysers in the mouths of terrified folk. Azrael jumps to his feet.

But from the darkness and the thrum of power, another sensation crosses the room, seperate from the one that I had already experienced. I can feel its presence- a deathly cold slinking its way around us, far different from the feeling that Soren’s power gives off.

This is somethings different. Or, someone else.

Another person has heard my call.

Then, from the darkness, a wordless hum rises. And from it, a figure peaks its head from the gloom, a booming voice echoing through the cavernous expanse, a voice with no words, just warning. My eyes cast blindly around the room, but in the darkness, everything seems almost disconcernable, sucked into the void of baseless unseeing and the spine tingling cold. A prick of white sparks the void- Azrael, his white air floating like ghostly tendrils around his head. There is something behind him, something he appears neither to see nor sense: a creature of bright, blue light, its form neither fluid nor solid. Like a ghost. It winds its fingers towards Azrael, never touching but beckoning, drawing a strange, iridescent matter from its victim.

That peculiar, wordless hum also voices from its throat as it opens its mouth, inhaling the air before it as the matter that floats of Azrael sucks into its maw.

But Azrael seems not to notice. Then a shift changes in the nature of its gaze, its body stilling as it turns its blurred face towards where I sit and watch.

Then that disconcernable figure, doused in blackness, turns itself fully to me, and with a sudden up lift of air, rushes straight at me, knocking through my chest.

My insides all at once turn impossibly cold as it passes through me. So cold they almost seem…

Dead.

Soren’s magic disperses around me, it’s duty fulfilled. The lights flicker back on.

Gasping, I jolt up bolt upright, my eyes wide, breath wheezing through my lungs as I cast around, unseeing at first before my eyes settle on Azrael with a dim and unseeing gaze. I manage to summon a little shake in my fingers as I lean out to grab his arm.

“H-help.”