On the outside, my lips curled in a faint smile.
Hellsing saw it and his eyes darkened.
The night pressed in on the walls of theMidnight Wytch. The candles burned low. The circle held, for now.
My soul hung by a thin thread.
But Bael pulled, one careful tug at a time.
HELLSING
Grace was gone.
Bael sat in her chair and occupied her body. I felt it in how the air shifted. The tension in the room felt heavy and wrong, the way it always did when a demon settled in deep and stopped hiding.
Her head hung forward. Her hair fell over her face. The candlelight threw hard shadows around the circle. The spilled water from the bowl soaked into the boards, spreading in a slow dark stain.
“Everybody out,” I said.
My voice came out flat and hard, cutting through the last of Seraphine’s chant.
Hoax jerked his head toward me. Bullet immediately had a response for me, and Ajax stood in the doorway with his hands braced on the frame. Josh hovered near the edge of the circle, eyes locked on Grace.
“The fuck you mean out?” Ajax snapped. “We’re not going anywhere. That thing, whatever it is, will have to go through us first.”
“Oh, and it will,” I approached him, getting to toe with him and pressing my finger on his chest. “It will latch on to you, breaking you open from the inside and tearing your soul apart.”
Ajax brushed my hand away. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“This is my exorcism,” I said. “I will not fight him in four bodies at once. Get out.”
“I’m not leavin’ you in here alone,” Bullet said. “We just watched that thing choke you through her. You think I’m walkin’ away from that?”
“You heard him,” Hoax added. “We’re your backup. That is Jameson’s rule. We do not leave our own behind.”
“I’m not askin’,” I said. “I am telling you. He already tasted me. He knows my weaknesses. He will go for you next just to piss me off, or to hurt me. You all stay; you hand him leverage. You walk; you give me one less thing to worry about.”
Josh stepped in closer instead of backing up.
“I am not leaving Grace,” he said. “You told me to watch her. You told me to keep her in my sight.”
“You did your job, kid.” I spoke. “And you did a good job. These guys will take care of you for me if I don’t return.”
“Return from where?” Bullet asked.
“From Hell,” Hoax gave a whispered response, his eyes steady on me because he knew every intricate detail of what I could do.
“You know what you need to do,” I spoke only to him. “Get them out of here.”
Ajax shook his head. “You are not the only one with skin in this,” he said. “Those sigils mean somethin’ to us all, we are all protected.”
“Not anymore. You wanna argue while he’s settlin’ deeper in my girl?” I asked. “You wanna stand there and watch him pull her apart from the inside because your pride is sore?”
His jaw worked.
“We stay,” Bullet said again. “End of story.”
I turned to him and stepped close enough that he had to tip his head up to meet my eyes.
