His heart numbed at the trick it was using on him. To drown him in words he wanted to hear. To toy with his head and heart for feelings it only guessed he felt for her.
“I need you," she continued.
If he hadn't already been sure this was an Infi, he definitely knew then.
She sniffed back tears, lavender eyes glistening. "I need you so much. I didn't know how to tell you. I—“
"You don't have to say anything," he played along. He pushed her hair from her face, feeling his heart pick up pace as he moved his hand in position to strike.
"Dorian—“
But she had seen him pulling the knife.
She paused. Yellow eyes flashed before him. A smirk rose on her lips.
Dorian grabbed her hair and yanked her head back. The knife creased at the Infi's throat.
"Did you think that would work?" he snarled.
He didn't give it a chance to respond. His knife slide across the flesh. Nearly black blood splattered over his face.
The creature fell backward. It shifted from Reverie's figure into that of its true self. Dorian sprang to his feet as it crippled and stumbled off balance. Clutching at its bleeding throat. Morphing into its form. Dorian set up for it to come at him. Knife in his hand.
The Infi finally grew to its grey corpse. As tall as Dorian, black blood still spilling down its front as it turned towards him. Scarred skin stretched over its starved muscles. Yellow eyes infiltrated Dorian's own blue ones.
It lunged.
Dorian caught it by the throat. It whipped and clawed, knocking the blade out of his grip. Snarls evacuating its throat. Dorian winced as its long nail struck his skin as though it were a cat maiming him. This one was stronger than those he'd dealt with before. Dorian's own form attempted to swell to the surface, jaw clenching with the weight of holding it at bay. The beast continued to kick and spit in his face, grappling at his body and scratching his arms and side.
His knife gone, he knew there was only one thing he could do.
His own rattled grunt filled the cavern. He pressed his blackened hand to the Infi's chest, flames burning through its flesh. The Infi wailed but didn't slack its mauling. The further Dorian pushed, the deeper it dug its nails in his side and arms.
Until Dorian felt the ribs.
The bones cracked beneath his fingers, and he yanked out the Infi's heart.
The creature fell in a heap onto the ground.
"DORIAN!"
Dorian hardly heard the shouting. His form settled back inside and the pain of the scratches all over his body emerged to the surface, making him wince despite himself.
Reverie and Corbin appeared in the cavern door. For the briefest of moments, Dorian was relieved at the sight of them unharmed standing before him. Corbin threw the Infi body from over his shoulder onto the ground.
But the heart in Dorian’s hand continued to beat, and Dorian grabbed his knife.
"Are you—“
"Stop," Dorian demanded, feet firming, holding the knife at the ready.
Reverie and Corbin went rigid.
Dorian couldn't catch his breath. If these two were Infi in front of him too... He didn't know that he could trust his own eyes.
"Tell me something only the two of you would know," he said fast. "Something we've shared or words we've said to one another. Please."
Corbin's jaw clenched, and he seemed to understand. "We keep fighting," Corbin said.
