Made in Hell Chapter 5 (Sex scene)

“You’re sure that’s what you want--” I started to say, but the demon woman tightened her grip on my arm.

Her silver eyebrows pinched together in what almost looked like fear, and I waited as I wondered what her Lord Captain was saying to her this time.

“I’m sure… hurry!” Ashe finally hissed. “My Lord Captain just left to check on my hounds. When he sees they’re injured, he might decide I can’t handle this job and send another demon right away. They’ll track me straight to you!”

“We need to find something sharp with the strength to remove this from your tissue,” I explained as I caught her hand and jogged back in the direction of the inn.

The moonlit Shadow Quarters still looked deserted, and the shattered trees and stonework Ashe and I had left behind scattered the muddy streets.

“What did you use last time?” Ashe asked with genuine curiosity.

“A iron spike from a wall,” I replied. “It hurt like a bitch, but it did the job.”

“Sounds good to me,” she sighed blissfully. “Nice and sharp…”

I smirked at her demony sigh, but stress pumped through my veins as I searched for something to use for this task. Our clock was ticking, and if Ashe really wanted me to do this, then I had to make sure it happened now.

The Lord Captains would be pissed when they found out Ashe hadn’t returned to the Hellscape, especially if they realized I was the one who helped her manage it. They would send up Hellhounds, tamers, and even more hunters to complete the job Ashe failed to do.

I felt confident I could defend us from one pack of mutts, or even another Infernal Huntress, but it all depended on how angry the Lord Captains were. They had the power to send up whoever would fit the bill best, and there was a good chance they’d eventually choose someone more powerful than myself and Ashe put together.

We made an amazing team back in Rannicor, but the Hellscape was vast, and the number of voids couldn’t even be counted. Even I couldn’t guess all of what festered down there just waiting to be unleashed.

“Have you found a place to stay, or are we kicking back like rogue criminals?” Ashe’s question broke me from my musing.

Then she let go of my hand just long enough to run up the road and grab her discarded cape. As soon as she had it in her arm, she sprinted back to me, and I was a little surprised when the demon woman clasped my hand once more.

“I’ve found a place,” I replied as we jogged onward. “It’s controlled by a half-orc, but it’s somewhere to lie low for now.”

“Half-orcs?” she repeated. “Damn, these humans have everything living on their doorstep.”

“I killed a group of trolls yesterday to get some pieces,” I said as I tugged her around the next corner.

“Oh, that’s right, I forgot they have to buy things around here,” she snickered. “It’ll feel strange not fighting to the death for things.”

“They do that, too,” I assured the demon. “I know they have their own fights and mortal wars, but I don’t think they’d do all that shit just for food. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure we’re safe and well fed. You’ll have everything you need.”

I noticed Ashe hadn’t taken her eyes off the buildings around us, and she’d occasionally turn her head around to see what was in the opposite direction.

“I think I can smell more than the half-orcs,” Ashe whispered.

“There’s a whole slew of non-human creatures around here,” I replied.

“That explains the Church’s presence,” the demon woman mumbled.

I came across an old abandoned cart, and I started rooting around as I thought about the creatures I’d encountered already. The cart looked like the same one I’d seen earlier that day, with the man pulling vegetables on the back, except this one was completely empty apart from a couple of items. There was an empty brown sack that felt rough on my finger tips, clumps of dirt spread around the floor of the cart, and also a thin piece of metal. The metal held no clues about what it had been used for, but it looked to be the perfect size to help free Ashe from her shackle.

I ran the base of my thumb over one of the edges to get an idea of how sharp it was, and while it didn’t break the skin of my human form, it certainly looked sturdy enough to complete the task. I kept a tight hold of the metal since we didn’t have the time to look for anything better.

Ashe was expected back in the Hellscape imminently.

When we arrived at the inn, the half-orc was nowhere to be seen, and it almost felt like we were the only ones in the building.

“It’s better than a void, I guess,” Ashe commented.

“It has a bed that’s not hard as nails, too,” I replied.

We rushed up the stairs, down the hall, and into room seven, and I barely gave any notice to the weapons and coins that were still safe where I’d left them. The whereabouts of a few mortal weapons was the least of my worries right now, but I did notice Ashe’s face formed into the same angry expression.

Her Lord Captain was talking to her again, and knowing what kind of snide shit he’d be saying to the woman made my own fury mount in my chest.

Not that it was my job to skin a fucker alive for the way he spoke to the Infernal Huntress, but this was Ashe. We had some form of history together, however brief our time in Rannicor had been, and now, she was trusting me to get her out of the Hellscape.

Everything about her expression proved she needed the shackle off her arm once and for all, and I was more than happy to be the demon who freed her from the fury of the voids.

“He’s found the hounds,” Ashe growled. “Quick, before he can track my exact location.”

Ashe sat herself down on the edge of the bed with her left arm angled out in my direction, and ripped my jacket off and tossed it toward the table across the room.

I wanted to make the process as easy as possible for her, but I knew we didn’t have the time for a gentle approach. It would have to be hard, fast, and painful, but it was the only option we had. I started at the top of the shackle and slid the metal in between the hell gold and her skin. I felt the restriction as it met the first prong, and I pushed the gold away and spotted the blood that began to trickle down her arm already.

“Are you okay?” I asked as I noticed her eyes begin to roll to the back of her head.

“Yeah,” she blew out a deep breath. “Thank you.”

“You sure?” I checked as I pried the metal firmly to the side, and the demon woman just drew another deep breath and offered a small nod.

“Keep going,” Ashe murmured in a low, sultry tone. “It’s delicious agony. I could never do it to myself, but when you do it…”

For a second, I was surprised she took the pain so well, but then I remembered from our time in Rannicor that Ashe was from the Fiendish Void.

The thrill of pain and torture was practically infused in her sinew.

I did begin to wonder, though, if it was a bit of a kink for her as well.

The longer I tore at her flesh, Ashe seemed to enjoy the sight as the dark red, congealed blood continued to flow down her arm, and instead of fighting back the painful cries, the demon woman turned them into subtle moans.

The noise hummed from behind her lips, and my neck began to prickle as my blood started to heat up.

Fuck, I hadn’t been this close to a demon woman in a locked room since before I could remember, but I was starting to understand why the Dark King forbade it.

“That’s one half done,” I said as I removed the metal object and angled it underneath the rest of the shackle. “Is your LC--”

“Yes,” Ashe growled in a smoky timbre. “Keep going, I don’t fucking care what he says anymore.”

“Good,” I growled back.

Due to the position of the prongs underneath the skin, I noticed the lower half had been harsher to remove than the top, and this became more clear when Ashe let out the first pained groan since I’d started.

Her pink eyes winced closed and she pushed her chin into her shoulder to hold in the fire. Then she felt around for her cape and bundled the material up against her arm to stop the blood before it splashed onto the wooden floor.

“Only two more to go,” I said softly.

“Fucking hell,” she moaned. “I thought I could handle pain.”

I decided not to reply verbally since her moan caused my throat to constrict, and I continued with the job while I started grinding my teeth together.

The shackle hung off Ashe’s skin with only two prongs to release before she was free, but as I knew, they were the hardest ones. Ashe dug her front teeth into the flesh of her bottom lip, and as the same pained moan vibrated through the room, I could have sworn I felt it deep in my gut as well.

The second the shackle fell to the floor with the metal I’d been using, Ashe collapsed back on the bed and took a few deep, ragged breaths. Her cleavage rose and then lowered with each breath, and her body trembled lightly in a way that made it hard to keep my eyes off her.

“The voices have gone from my head,” she whispered.

“They have.” I nodded and forced myself to look away.

I kicked the fallen shackle to the edge of the wall because the last thing I wanted to do was touch the metal and get siphoned back the Hellscape by accident. Then I grabbed Ashe’s discarded cape, and knelt to carefully slipped it underneath her bleeding arm.

I wrapped the fabric around the deep black gouges as best I could, but I was too distracted by the sight of her chest as it rose and lowered. The same heat I’d been feeling for several minutes only kept building in my veins, and I focused on tethering the makeshift bandage on rather than how much I wanted to graze her bare shoulders with my fingers.

Even just once.

Ashe turned her head to the side to face me. A blissful look formed over her face.

“How are you feeling?” I asked.

“Incredible.” She grinned. “I didn’t think I would feel so free so soon. I almost feel overwhelmed by it all.”

“It is a euphoric sense of freedom,” I agreed as I started tying a knot on her bandage.

“Oh, it’s far past that,” Ashe said, and I realized she was looking up at me through her long silver eyelashes. Her pink eyes connected with my violet ones, and the pull and urge to touch her quickly overtook my entire body.

Then I felt the light brush of her hand as she traced it across my forearm. I did what I could to keep my hands working on the fabric, but it was difficult when her fingers left a tingling trail across my flesh.

“I can smell you resisting your lust, Atticus,” Ashe murmured.

“Then why are you still touching me?” I muttered through gritted teeth.

“Aren’t you free now?” she asked.

I didn’t have a reply because the notion caught me off guard.

I was free. No lashings would come if I gave into my hunger for Ashe. I wouldn’t be punished for taking what I wanted without express orders from my superiors, and the way Ashe kept tracing her fingers across my arm made me realize she wouldn’t tear my lungs out for it, either.

This wasn’t another demon woman’s distraction. I could smell her lust as clearly as she could smell mine.

“How many eons have you been forced to deny yourself?” Ashe asked in a soft voice as she rose onto her elbows.

“I’ve lost count,” I admitted.

“It’s been more than four for me,” Ashe said. “You’ve been serving the Dark King longer than I have. Don’t deny yourself anymore, Atticus. Not with me. You’ve freed us of those bonds. You deserve to have what you truly desire. At least until they find and destroy us.”

The same heat rose in me as I finished tying off the bandage, and I couldn’t help but notice how delicious the demon woman looked in this position. Now that she was propped up a bit, her corset forced her breasts up even higher, and I traced the tantalizing shape of her from her slender neck to the exposed thigh beneath the slit of her dress.

Then Ashe abruptly stood from the bed.

“Where are you going?” I asked in confusion.

“The blood’s going to get on my dress,” she said before she turned away and began untying the back of her red corset dress.

I tried not to focus on the silver of her skin as it caught the moonlight that drifted through the window, but I couldn’t take my eyes off her. I raked my gaze all over her smooth, pale back, and when she let the dress fall to the floor, I kept on devouring her frame.

I started to salivate as I realized her curves were just as perfectly proportioned as I’d guessed when she was clothed, and her sleek legs were lithe while her backend rounded in a way that made me want to bite into it.

Then Ashe turned around to face me, and fire surged in my throat.

I let out a long breath as the scent of ashes billowed up into my nose, but I hardly noticed. I took in the sight of Ashe’s heavy breasts and perked nipples, and the silver of the buds glittered in the moonlight until I was almost drooling for a taste of her.

She was smooth, lean, and muscular all over, but pillowy in all the right places, and I couldn’t remember a time I’d seen a woman of any species this naked before. I knew it had happened, but it was so long ago, I felt like I was opening my eyes for the first time in my life.

And I was greedy for exactly what stood in my line of sight.

Then Ashe slowly crossed the floor, and her breasts jostled with each step until she was within six inches of me.

I could see the want and need in her glowing pink eyes, and a coy smile curved on her lips. I felt her hands as they travelled up my sides and then toward my belt, but she stopped just above the buckle as this one touch sent my arousal to a whole other level.

A shiver jolted down my spine, and a low growl slipped from my lips while I tried my best to hold back.

“Yessssss,” Ashe whispered. “I need this as badly as you do. I’ve wanted you since we first met.”

“But I might hurt you,” I growled, and my demon voice rippled around the dim room.

“Good.” Ashe smiled. “I like pain. I want you to hurt me.”

Without a second's hesitation, I kissed the irresistible huntress, and the overpowering taste that swarmed my mouth was enough to cause the pulsing and throbbing to build even further.

The demon woman tasted sinfully sweet, and I found myself biting into her plump lips from how hungry I was for more. The smell of her lust was almost hypnotic, and it was only becoming more potent by the second.

Then Ashe’s hands grazed the waist of my pants as her tongue slipped between my lips, and I delved deeper into her mouth to make her moan.

The trembling sound of her arousal around my tongue caused a forgotten feeling to rip right through my body. My hands latched onto her pillowy hips as my nails dug into the flesh, and her breasts pressed firm against me so there was no separation between us.

It had been too many eons since I’d last held a female like this, and I’d buried the sense of desire far down below just to keep my sanity.

It was finally time to unleash it.

The demon woman made quick work of the buckle on my belt, and as soon as my pants dropped around my ankles, I toed off my boots, kicked the clothes away, and wrenched my tattered shirt off over my head.

Then I was devouring Ashe’s lips again, and she let out another soft moan as her hand closed around my rigid cock.

Her breaths hitched as she explored the full length of it, but I refused to stop kissing her, and she met my urgency with her own nips and bites until I couldn’t take it anymore.

I tightened my already rough grip on her hips and forced her back to the bed, and Ashe chuckled with greed as I knelt down and began kissing her silver thighs. The inside of her legs were lithe and silky, and I traced my lips over the muscle and scars she bore from a lifetime of hunting evil souls.

Even in her human form, the proof of her battle wounds showed through, but the scar tissue glittered in the most beautiful way, just like her nipples. I wanted to hear what beasts she’d murdered to gain every one of them, but Ashe grabbed the top of my head, and she pulled me farther between her legs.

The demon woman let out a smoky groan as I gently blew on her sleek pussy, and I grinned to find she was as pink as her eyes down here. Goosebumps formed on her silver skin as she shivered with arousal, and at first, I worried once more about hurting her.

But the wicked smile she was sending me invited me to do whatever I wanted with her.

I let out a low growl as I saw her exposed labia glistening in the most delicious way, and I began kissing her as passionately down here as I’d done with her other lips. I let my tongue explore her as the tangy flavor of her arousal told me she was enjoying herself, too.

Not that her moans and shaking didn’t make it perfectly clear.

The demon woman didn’t stifel any of her enthusiasm, and the rougher I got as I plunged my tongue in and out of her, the louder she cried out.

“Atticus!” Ashe finally screeched, and she squeezed her thighs together, but she couldn’t hold back from her orgasm.

I wouldn’t let her.

I forced my thumb down firmly on her clit as her pink pussy constricted around my tongue, and when she finally released, the taste of her juices splashed all over my lips and into my mouth.

I growled again as my hunger only increased, and I greedily lapped up all I could before Ashe yanked my head up to her. I was seconds from pinning her down when she used all her strength to flip me onto my back, and then she turned herself around and straddled me backward.

Now, Ashe’s luscious ass was in full view while her pussy lingered directly above my angry dick, and I didn’t bother trying to hold back the gurgling snarl that ripped through my chest.

I hadn’t felt intensity like this in so long.

Thunder built in my palms as I grabbed Ashe’s narrow waist and forced her down onto my cock, and she screamed in ecstatic pleasure as half my girth made it into her flaming hot tunnel.

She was as scorching hot as the Hellscape inside, and it felt like being home again, but I revelled in the sensation. Ashe was so soft and tight, she made the hellish fires the most pleasurable thing I’d ever experienced, and she was begging me to keep going even though I could see her pussy lips straining to fit my girth.

“I need more,” the demon panted. “Deeper in me. Fuck me. Hard.”

I chuckled like a fiend as her arousal dripped down my shaft, but I didn’t give her more.

“Don’t your type like torture?” I reminded her.

“Atticus,” Ashe moaned in desperation, and she scratched at my thighs until I was shaking with pleasure. “I need it. Give me all of you, please!”

A growl built in my chest.

I’d never heard a demon woman say please before.

In one swift motion, I sat up and drove my dick deep into the Infernal Huntress on my lap, and I locked my fingers in her silver-blue hair to pull her back against my chest.

Ashe screamed and shook in my hold as the heat of her pussy doubled, but she didn’t try to break free. She forced my other hand down between her splayed legs, and I roughly rubbed at her clit as I used my knees to spread her thighs even wider. Then I thrust into her again and again, and I tugged on her hair some more and bit at her bent neck from behind until I drew blood.

The sight of the little red beads dotting her silver skin only excited me more, and I saw violet bursts of energy crackle from my fingertips as Ashe started to wail.

“Harder!” the demon woman begged.

Her heated walls tightened around my throbbing cock as I pounded into her, and I could feel the tension of her tight, wet pussy lips stretching around my girth. She was dripping sweet juices all over my shaft as I kept ravaging her clit with my sparking fingertips, and as I tore her head back and clamped my teeth on her neck, the pleasure overtook me.

White hot flames seemed to spray from my cock as I sprayed the demon woman’s tunnel with my heated seed, and Ashe’s moans sounded miles away. I forced her to cum with me as I throbbed deep inside of her, and it didn’t matter how much she bucked, I kept her locked on my cock while more and more of my cum gushed into her greedy body.

But I still needed more.

I hadn’t even come down from my first climax, but I abruptly pulled out of her, and Ashe growled with fury as my seed continued to spray on her ass and legs. Then I flipped her back onto the bed so she was laid out for my enjoyment, and I admired her glittering nipples and splayed legs for a moment. The sight of my heathen seed seeping from her pink entrance and dripping down her thighs was too much to resist a second longer, though.

Ashe snarled with lust as I mounted her, but when I plunged my cock all the way into her in one thrust, her snarl turned into a smoky shriek.

The bed creaked beneath us as I thrust myself in and out of her scorching tunnel, and I watched Ashe’s silver nipples stiffen as her heavy breasts bounced up and down. The sight spurred my hunger until I was blind with lust, and every jiggling jolt pleased the beast in me to no end.

Then I twisted one of her painfully taut nipples, and she caught my hand and bit my finger in response.

“Ouch!” I hissed.

“More of that to come if you’re not careful,” she said with a wicked grin.

“You know I’ll have to punish you for that,” I growled, and my demon voice made the woman’s pussy start to spasm around my shaft.

But I wouldn’t let her cum again just yet.

I caught her legs, flipped her over, and forced her ass into the air as I pinned her shoulders down, and one firm slap to her backend made her spread her legs for me.

“Yes!” Ashe whimpered. “Punish me, Atticus.”

“Beg for it,” I ordered.

“Pleeeease,” the demon moaned. “Show me what I get for misbehaving.”

A satisfied growl rippled through my throat, and Ashe’s own velvety growl echoed around the moonlit room.

Both of us needed this night more than we could have put into words.

I delivered another, firmer spank to her red asscheek, and while her growl turned into a snarl, I plunged my cock deeper into her tight pussy.

Her muscles tensed as her smooth back contorted from the gyrations she was taking, and my nails pierced the skin of her hips from how hard I was fucking her. I could barely keep her steady as I let every ounce of my pent up lust take over my mind, and Ashe’s shrieks of pleasure only urged me to keep going.

My slick cock was burning as I neared the fiery brink of another orgasm, but Ashe sensed my peak coming.

“Please, Atticus,” she whimpered. “Let me taste it. You’ve already filled my tunnel. I want it down my throat now.”

“Fuck,” I growled as her words hit me directly in my loins.

I’d already pulled out of her, too, and Ashe dropped to her knees like a starving slave, grabbed my cock, and started pumping her hand up and down with an intensity I couldn’t resist.

Then my seed erupted into her waiting mouth, and I stroked her silver-blue hair as I watched her try and drink it all down. Some of it sprayed across her face in the process, but the greedy demon didn’t seem to notice or care. She plunged her lips over my dick to suckle out the very last of my heated cum, and she purred like a heathen as her pink eyes rolled back into her head.

“Fuuuuck me,” I moaned out loud.

“I just did,” Ashe murmured as she finally released my cock, and she wiped her face before licking the last bit of cum from her fingers.

Then I caught her uninjured arm and dragged her up off her knees, and the two of us collapsed back onto the bed in a sweating, panting, sticky heap.

“Holy hell--” I started to say, but Ashe moved back down and took my cum-slick cock back in her mouth.

“Goodddd…” I let her have her way since she’d certainly let me have mine all this time, and it was several minutes before the demon woman finally coaxed another climax out of me and guzzled more of my sperm.

“Is that me I taste on your cock?” she purred as she licked her bottom lip.

“I’m not sure… let me check,” I replied, and Ashe let out a shrieking laugh as I pretended to dive for her pussy.

The sound of her demonic enjoyment was enough to make me almost purr, and I dragged her into my arms as she chuckled against my chest.

I stared up at the ceiling above the bed as I gradually came down from the high I’d found myself in. The wooden beams were dark and etched with the signs of old age and the years they’d been here. The bed beneath me was soft against my back, but it was nothing compared to Ashe’s silver skin tucked against me, and I let out a long sigh as my demon voice finally slipped away again.

Calm overtook every muscle in my body, and my nails drew circular patterns on the base of Ashe’s back as I felt a shiver run down her spine.

“Shit, I knew freedom would be sweet, but I never imagined it’d get this good,” I sighed.

“Mmm,” Ashe moaned in agreement. “I’m just glad I still get to be punished up here.”

“You little fiend,” I chuckled, but then Ashe sat up, and I would’ve stared at her glittering nipples if her frown didn’t distract me. “What is it?”

“Nothing, really,” the demon murmured. “It’s just… I am a fiend.”

“I noticed,” I snorted. “I’m into it.”

“Really?” she asked as her eyes glinted with hope, and out of nowhere, she was speaking in a human voice like me.

The tone was still smoky, but soft, too, and I was confused to see the demon woman looking so vulnerable all of a sudden.

“Ashe, are you alright?” I finally asked and furrowed my brow.

“I’m unshackled,” she answered. “I have nothing to keep me in hand, but--”

“That’s a good thing,” I assured her. “Fuck those devil bastards and their commandments.”

“But I like obeying,” Ashe persisted, and I started to catch on. “Not the Dark King, and especially not the Lord Captains, but… just like you, I was reborn to obey, and my void made me love it all the more. I love pain and torture, too, but I love knowing my apetite can be forced into submission if it gets out of hand. It makes me content, otherwise I’m just… vulnerable to any little whim. I’m unshackled in every sense.”

“I see,” I muttered, and I drew a long breath as I sat up in the bed.

Then I brushed her silver-blue waves behind her ear, and I kissed her much more gently than before.

I wasn’t from a void like hers, I was reborn in the Tempest Void, so I couldn’t really relate. I was forged from storms and unrelenting chaos, and the desire to build my strength without any binds was the strongest urge I knew.

Still, I could smell how sincere Ashe was about all this. She smelled almost scared when she admitted how she felt without her shackle, and I really, really wanted Ashe to be content on the surface world with me. The thought of her feeling too vulnerable made my throat heat with frustration, and fury against the Dark King began to surge in my limbs.

If I could, I’d tear his head from his rotting torso one day for forging us into these festering messes.

But there was something else burning lower down in my gut, and I felt like it tied me to Ashe in a way I’d never experienced before. Not from this side of things, anyway.

Ashe and I had both broken free of the Dark King, and tonight, she’d turned straight to me and trusted me to take her, punish her, and basically do anything I needed with her. This made her feel content, and I’d felt for myself how much she loved it.

I honestly loved it, too.

I pulled my lips from hers so I could look into Ashe’s pink eyes, and she still had a hopeful glint about her.

“Obey me, then,” I offered without a second thought.

Ashe’s demon eyes lit up. “You’d really do that? You’d be my king and master here?”

“If that’s what you need,” I replied. “I told you earlier that I’d make sure you had everything you needed up here, and I meant it, but I won’t treat you how the Lord Captains treated us. I’ll be a different kind of master, and one you can trust.”

The demon woman purred with gratitude as she pounced on me, and I chuckled as I found myself pinned under her silver body with her sweet tongue roving my mouth. The two of us bit and licked at each other as her purrs tickled my lips, but just as I was entertaining the idea of kissing the little fiend elsewhere, I smelled something in the air.

It was strange, and faint, but it made my gut clench, and I cupped Ashe’s bare ass to slide her off of me.

“Hold on a second,” I muttered against her lips.

“What is it?” Ashe asked.

“I don’t know,” I replied and got up from the bed. “Just caught a scent.”

“I love a man who’s always willing to hunt,” Ashe purred from her place on the bed. “It’s a beautiful sight to witness.”

I stifled a chuckle as I sent a wink over my shoulder, and the demon woman openly admired my naked form while I headed toward the window.

I couldn’t get the scent of her lust out of my nose or head, especially now that she was under my command, but my gut was still tightly knotted. My hackles rose the closer I came to the dirty window pane, and my demon senses started to fester under my skin.

The strange scent was stronger over here, and I stooped to peer out through the one clean corner of the glass.

“Atticus?” Ashe said as she probably smelled my tension.

Then I heard her coming over to join me, but something else held my undivided attention now.

From the dark alleyway opposite the inn, the telltale sign of gold, glowing eyes illuminated the shadowy space. I couldn’t see who exactly those eyes belonged to, but even the glass and the space between us wasn’t enough to hide the potent scent of pure, holy evil that wafted from the street below.

“Shit,” I whispered.

“Who's out there?” Ashe breathed as she stayed back out of sight. “I can smell them, but I don’t recognize the scent.”

“It’s the Blessed,” I growled. “They’ve already found us.”