***
Asherik left her body in an exhalation that went on impossibly long, until she felt like her insides had all been expelled. But as she sucked in a greedy breath, Cady tasted freedom. Her senses restored, she tested her limbs, finding incredible relief in the control of her own body.
Ethan had said to run, but she couldn’t leave, not now. There was too much at stake. Even as she looked down in wonder to see the smooth, unblemished skin beneath the sticky blood, she spotted the rusted dagger lying beside her and a rough plan came to mind.
“Asherik? Are you in there?” she asked, looking deep into Ethan’s blue eyes, still clouded in confusion.
“I’m here,” he smiled, hands opening and closing as he flexed within his new host. “I knew you wouldn’t flee, I knew you’d stay by my side,” he beamed.
“Yes, you know me,” she smiled, leaning close. “You know I’d never leave the man I love.” Her lips brushed against his, and as his eyes drifted shut, she slid the knife between his ribs. Moving fast, she groped around for the other rusty dagger, plunging it into his abdomen before he could do more than groan in pain.
“Ethan, I know you can hear me in there,” she cried, the black ritual knife skittering away from her scrabbling fingers in her haste to grasp it. “I know you can still think and speak… you have to fight him!”
“Why…?” spilled from his lips, and she knew it was Asherik, not Ethan who asked the question.
“Because I love him, you dumbshit, and I’ll be damned if I let you have him too.” Her hand closed around the bloody hilt, and she drove it into his tattooed palm. “Say it, say the binding ritual now!”
Cady had no idea if it would actually work. If Ethan could repeat the binding ritual inside his head or if the words needed to be spoken aloud, but it was all she could think to try. If nothing happened… then she’d have to think about calling the Company like he suggested, but she had to try.
Ethan’s mouth worked, spittle forming at the corners of his mouth as he struggled. His free hand came up and she stepped on it with her knee, leaning her full weight on him to keep him from reaching for any of the daggers. If she couldn’t buy him enough time to get the ritual completed, it was all for nothing.
He was so goddamn strong, she felt him start to pull free of her hold, and Cady shifted to shove at the knife protruding from his side, driving it a fraction deeper. Ethan howled in response, but something very like fear shone from his eyes, and she held tight to the dagger, tearing a larger wound into his flesh.
His lips moved, soundless, but steady, and Cady strained to hear what he had to say. “Alligo te in umbras ubi tu sollicitent non spiritum liberum sempitérna sæcula.” The words grew louder, more distinct. “Ubi constringo vos, ut non nocent. Alligo me ad unum caro unus est.”
At the final syllable, his body stiffened in an arc of pain, and she felt the air crackling around them, charged with energy that pebbled her skin in gooseflesh. An inhuman scream left his lips, piercing the early morning calm and sending a flock of seagulls into frenzied flight. The cry cut off so abruptly, her ears still rang with the sound, the absence of noise eerie in the resulting stillness.
Tasting the bright tang of her own blood where she’d bitten the inside of her cheek, Cady swallowed, moistening her lips. “Ethan?”
“Present,” he murmured weakly, fingers twitching around the obsidian dagger in what might have been a wave.
Cady hesitated before pulling the knife free. “How do I know it’s you?”
“Should be new tattoo… somewhere,” he replied, his voice thick with pain. “Give me minute… catch my breath. I’ll take a look.”
Cady knelt by his side, lifting the bottom of his shirt cautiously, but it was hard to see much with two knives sticking out of his torso. Careful not to cause any more damage to his torn flesh, she grabbed the edges of the fabric and ripped, exposing most of his chest to the chilly, morning air.
It was easy to spot, the new tattoo lay directly over his heart, the symbol faintly resembling a highly stylized dragon, coiled in slumber. “It’s there.” She breathed a sigh of relief, pulling the dagger out of his hand, but keeping it at the ready if anything seemed off about him. The other two knives followed suit, and she immediately saw the relief in his face when she pulled the rusty blades free.
The blood gushed from the wounds faster than she liked, especially the one she’d laid into extra hard, and Cady scrambled to put pressure on them, using the torn remnants of his shirt for bandages. Ethan lay there unmoving, letting her fuss over him with little more than a groan when she pressed the cloth to the wounds.
“I hate to say it, but I think you really do need a doctor this time,” she frowned over the bloody mess.
“I think there are still some traces of rust in there, but I’ll be fine.” His voice did sound a lot stronger already, and there was more color in his cheeks.
“Of course you will,” Cady smiled down at him when his hand covered hers. “A little duct tape, some tea, you’ll be good as new.”