The Cathedral of Ash

The wind howled like a dying god.

Ash drifted from the sky like black snow, curling around the twisted trees and crumbling statues that led to the ruined gates. Varek stared up at the structure before them—a monolith of broken faith and forgotten rituals, known only in whispers as the Cathedral of Ash.

"Is this where the priestess said to go?" Selene's voice was barely a whisper, tight with fatigue. Her eyes shimmered, gold bleeding into their blue irises. The strain of housing Eriseth's essence was becoming more visible with each passing hour.

"Yes," Varek said, his voice low. "This is where the souls of the forsaken gather. The last place where hybrid blood was blessed… before it was cursed."

He helped Selene over the threshold. Her body trembled against him—not from weakness alone, but from the constant struggle within her. He could feel it when she touched him. The goddess whispered in her blood. Sometimes… he thought she whispered in his too.

They entered.

The cathedral's hollow nave stretched like a gaping throat. Great stone pillars reached into shadow, cracked with time. Black vines snaked along the pews. At the center, a shattered altar oozed crimson sap from the wound of a forgotten god. The air smelled of old blood, sex, and sorrow.

Selene swayed. "She's louder here…"

Varek caught her before she fell. Her skin burned with fevered power.

"She's feeding off the relics buried beneath us," he said. "The blood that was spilled here—it never left. Eriseth remembers."

He pulled her into a shadowed alcove beneath a broken stained-glass window. Red light filtered through, casting her face in tones of blood and flame.

"You need to rest," he murmured.

Selene laughed bitterly. "Rest? I'm a time bomb with tits, Varek. She's clawing at my insides. I can't tell where I end and she begins anymore."

Varek stared at her, jaw clenched. "Then let me remind you."

He pressed her against the cold stone, kissing her with a violence that wasn't cruel—but desperate. She gasped against his mouth, her hands tangling in his hair as her back arched. The pressure of her body against his made every nerve flare.

"Do you feel this?" he growled. "This is you. Not her. Your heat. Your hunger."

Selene moaned as he bit her lip, drawing a thin line of blood. His tongue chased it with reverence. She trembled under his mouth, and her nails raked down his back, tearing his shirt.

"I'm losing control…" she whispered.

"Then lose it with me."

She kissed him again, rougher this time, and the cathedral around them pulsed. The vines twitched. The altar dripped faster. Somewhere in the dark, a hymn hummed from ancient bones.

Their clothes fell away in haste and need. Varek's hand slid between her thighs, finding her already soaked. He didn't tease. Didn't play. He claimed.

Their coupling was fire and blood, bodies slamming into stone, curses whispered like prayers. Varek's fangs grazed her neck, but he didn't bite—not yet. He needed her fully present, fully his.

Selene gasped as her climax built—power flaring in her veins. She was trembling, shaking, keening.

"I can't—I can't hold her back when I—"

"Then let her watch," Varek snarled, thrusting deep.

The orgasm hit her like lightning, and for one breathless second, Eriseth screamed through her mouth—a shriek of rage and longing. The stained glass shattered.

Silence followed.

Selene collapsed against him, breathing ragged. Her skin steamed. Her eyes fluttered open, still hers.

"She's quiet… for now," she whispered.

Varek pressed a kiss to her brow. "Because you're stronger than her. Even if you don't believe it yet."

Selene looked up at him, something new in her eyes. Fear. Awe. Love. And a hint of madness.

"We need to finish what we came here for," she said. "The relic."

Varek nodded and helped her dress. They moved deeper into the cathedral, beyond the altar and into the catacombs beneath. The descent was steep, the air thick with mildew and chanting echoes that did not come from their own voices.

They reached a door sealed in dried blood and bone.

Varek pressed his hand to the sigil. It burned his palm.

"She won't like what's behind this," he muttered.

"Then let's piss her off," Selene said, smiling with sharp teeth.

The door opened with a scream.

Inside was a circular chamber lit by fireless sconces. A pedestal of white stone stood in the center, and upon it rested a relic—a dagger forged of obsidian and bone, humming with ancient power. The Blade of the Womb Tomb.

Selene's body tensed. "That's the dagger from my dreams."

Varek approached carefully. "It's said to be made from the rib of the first hybrid… the one who defied both bloodlines. It can sever the tether between body and soul."

"You mean it can kill me," Selene said softly.

Varek turned. "No. It can kill what lives inside you."

Before he could reach it, a sudden growl echoed from behind them.

Kael.

He emerged from the shadows, flanked by six of Alaric's deathspawn—pale, eyeless creatures in cloaks made of flayed werewolf hide.

"You brought her to the cathedral?" Kael sneered. "Perfect. Now I don't have to chase you anymore."

Selene moved in front of Varek. "You'll die here."

Kael's fangs gleamed. "I already did."

He lunged.

What followed was chaos—a blur of claws, fangs, blood, and fire. Varek went primal, shifting partially into his hybrid form—eyes glowing, claws ripping. Selene moved like shadow and flame, every strike trailing a shimmer of her burgeoning divine power.

The cathedral walls shook.

Eriseth's voice returned—screaming to be released.

Kael reached the pedestal and seized the dagger, but Selene flung herself at him. They grappled, and Kael plunged the blade—not into her, but into his own chest.

Blood splashed.

And Kael's body began to change.

He screamed as Eriseth's essence flowed into him—leaving Selene gasping, suddenly lighter.

"She left me…" she breathed. "She went into him."

Kael laughed through blood and teeth, his eyes now glowing with goddess fire.

"She wanted a stronger host."

The deathspawn bowed before him.

Varek pulled Selene close. "We have to go. Now."

They fled as Kael, now fused with Eriseth, screamed into the ruined cathedral. The walls cracked. The vines writhed. The dagger vanished from the pedestal.

The Cathedral of Ash began to collapse.