Von gritted his teeth and forced himself upright, ignoring the searing pain tearing through his side. Blood trickled down his torso in a thin, hot line, but he didn't care — not now. Not when something more urgent was standing right across from him, hissing and convulsing like a snake set ablaze.
The torch in his hand crackled as he lifted it higher, its flames flickering with new life as if recognizing the fear it instilled in the thing inside Sophia.
She — or rather, the spirit — still twisted and writhed, her limbs jerking at strange angles. Her head snapped side to side as her back arched unnaturally again, her fingers clawing at her own chest like she was trying to rip something out from under her skin. Smoke curled from the part of her cloak where the fire had touched. The small contact had only scorched the edge, but it had done far more damage to the thing within.
