A Soul to Embrace (Duskwalker Brides #8)

Chapter 11

Shifting into her monstrous form for additional strength and speed, Zylah hesitantly stepped into bright sunlight.

When she saw the two people disturbing her new territory just within the tree line, she instinctually lowered and placed herself in a defensive stance. With one hand against the ground and her knees bent into a crouch, she raised her fur on end in wariness.

Since they were too busy talking to each other to notice Zylah, she tried to decipher the Mavka and human approaching.

The human appeared to be stout in comparison to her male companion, since she only came to the bottom of his ribcage. Her figure was round and curvy, and she was so plump that her breasts and stomach jiggled with each step. Hair so dark it almost appeared black waved around her face and shoulders, while her eyes were a bright brown that changed depths depending on if the light hit them or they were cast in shade.

She was dressed in a cream blouse with a light-brown skirt, and a fluffy, wintry black coat sat around her shoulders. The rounded toe of dark boots pushed up the hem of her dress as she crossed over forest debris.

Once Zylah assessed the little human, her sight moved to the well-dressed Mavka beside her. She knew his skull was that of a fox, thanks to Jabez capturing one to show her. His antlers were unmistakable in their deer-like quality, although much, much larger than her newly evolved, daintier ones.

Despite having no wings, he had a collar of long black feathers around his neck. Other than that, his fur was black with a blue highlight and obviously covered him from neck to toe, much like Zylah. He wore a button-up shirt, black trousers, and even strange boots that left his odd hooflike toes free. She noted the white protruding knuckles on his hands and peeked at her own.

She tilted her head at the orange flame of a curvy woman floating between his antlers. She’d never seen anything strange like that before.

Why would he carry fire with him? From her experience, fire was nasty, despite being alluring to stare at and providing warmth.

The little female glanced up from where she was watching her footing before looking down once more. With lips parting on a quiet gasp, she snapped her head up, eyes wide. She smacked her Mavka companion on the arm with bouncing, rushing steps, causing him to dart his arm away with a surprised grunt.

“Oh my god, Magnar!” the female exclaimed. “There she is!”

Zylah chittered nervously. She skittered back at the high pitch of the human’s feminine voice, her parted grin, and the way her eyes had homed in on her rabbit skull. Zylah stomped her hand forward to show confidence and that she wouldn’t so easily back down.

She had to be brave. I must protect our home.

Once they broke through the tree line and walked into the bright sunlight, Zylah turned to them on the small, thin path right next to the mountainside. With her back towards the opening of the cave, and a wall of rock to her left, their scents gently brushed across the dirt to her on the light wind.

There was something familiar about them, but she couldn’t place where or how she knew their smells. Despite how comforting she immediately found them, her settling fur rose on end again when the human stumbled over her hasty footsteps with liquid bubbling in her eyes. A soft warning growl left Zylah’s parted maw, just as the male Mavka grabbed the female around her centre to prevent her from coming too close.

“Careful, Delora,” the Mavka rumbled softly, his voice deep, gruff, and scratchy in comparison to Jabez. It sounded inhuman even to Zylah’s ears – which made her wonder how her own voice was interpreted.

“But it’s Fyodor,” the female, Delora, whined, facing his fox skull. “It’s our baby, Magnar.”

“She may not remember us,” Magnar responded, and his green orbs shifted to a deep blue when his words caused the female’s face to appear crestfallen. “Mavka do not remember the beginning of their life. She’s now an adult and very dangerous.”

Delora brought her gaze to Zylah’s rabbit skull with a beseeching furrow to her brows, while her eyes bowed with sadness. “I know, but... I’m hoping she remembers at least something .” She looked back at him once more. “Our voices, our scents, something.”

Zylah tilted her head in curiosity. They know me? Could they answer questions she’d been missing, like where she’d come from, and why? Who were her parents, and why had they left Zylah alone all this time?

Why did they... abandon her?

Magnar patted Delora’s dark hair before brushing down her cheek. “I know you’re excited, but slow, my pretty raven. Careful.”

The female rolled her eyes while also simultaneously bringing them to Zylah. A soft, caring, and almost welcoming smile curled her lips when she stepped out of her male’s arms.

“Hiya there,” Delora cooed, holding out her hand and presenting the back of her wrist. “I’m not sure if you understand us, but we mean you no harm. We’ve been searching for you.”

Zylah warily stepped closer to the rock wall to her left, blocking their path forward while also evading the human.

“I understand you,” Zylah responded, her voice taking on a monstrous graininess in her more animalistic form.

Delora’s doe-brown eyes widened until the whites of them became stark. Her lips parted, and she rasped, “Y-you spoke!”

Zylah tilted her head at that. “Yes. I can speak.”

Delora turned to Magnar with a frown wrinkling her forehead. “But Emerie and Ingram said she couldn’t speak, and that was only two months ago.”

“Emerie? Ingram?” Zylah asked. She didn’t know these names.

Delora brought her gaze forward once more. “Emerie is the human with red hair who you took to your home. Ingram is the Duskwalker with a raven skull who... took her back. They said you lived in a burrow.”

It didn’t take Zylah long to remember these people.

She hated admitting that her memory of them was... blurry. She remembered the woman’s bright-orange hair, light skin marred with redness, and blue eyes, but nothing else about her features. Not the shape of her nose, eyes, chin, or body, nor could she remember what she wore. The male they spoke of... he was a blob of black fur and a white, bony face that lacked shape.

She knew their scents better than their features, and the female more, as Zylah had spent a few hours with her in comparison to the raven Mavka they spoke of.

Zylah sniffed at the air, wondering why this female smelt so familiar. I... like her scent. It was gentle but had the strangest coolness to it that she appreciated. She reminds me of the green apples Jabez eats. Although she smelt less sour and much sweeter, as if there were different types. It makes me sleepy.

When the dark-haired female stepped closer, the back of her wrist still presented, the fur on Zylah’s neck rose. Delora’s sweet scent may have been oddly comforting, along with her voice as well, and Zylah might have been curious about them, but her protective instincts flared.

She currently had a smaller, weaker being within the home of their shared cave, and his earlier concern hadn’t gone unnoticed. At least, she took it as worry and anxiety. Their presence made him uncomfortable, and therefore, Zylah’s territorial and possessive aggression was heightened.

I must protect him.

She wanted them gone.

She didn’t know or trust them.

Zylah stood, making herself taller, and hopefully more threatening. “I don’t know why you’ve been searching for me, but I want you to leave.”

Delora didn’t back down as she expected her to, nor did Zylah sense any unease from her. Magnar, however, quickly gave Zylah a soft and almost... half-hearted warning growl. His orbs remained green as he crept in Delora’s shadow protectively.

“Please, Fyodor,” Delora pleaded with her eyes bowing beseechingly. “We want you to come with us.”

Zylah’s head cocked to the side in question. “Fyodor? What does this mean?”

Delora’s cheeks pinkened as a small smile curled her lips. “It’s your name.”

“My name is Zylah,” she swiftly corrected.

“You have a new name?” Magnar asked while gingerly stepping forward, then sniffing at the air. He snorted out a mild huff. “You also have a companion.”

Delora gasped and turned her eyes to him. “She does?!”

“A Demon,” he grumbled with mild displeasure. “It smells like they have been living here together for quite some time.”

Once more, Delora brought her gaze back to Zylah. Concern glinted in her big brown eyes, made evident by the deep furrow of her brows and the downturn of her lips. Her expression faded, and she tried to smile once more – although it was broken and weak.

“Zylah, then,” Delora whispered, before her voice strengthened. “Please come with us. Someone is obviously helping you, and we’re so thankful for that, but there’s so much we can do for you. We can show you what it’s like to be family.”

“How to hunt, how to be a Mavka,” Magnar added, placing his arm around Delora’s shoulders to hold her with tenderness. “We can explain many things you’ll need to know that you cannot learn on your own.”

Zylah shook her head. “I don’t need your help.”

“Please,” Delora begged, stepping forward, only to be dragged back by her Mavka, who was wisely wary of Zylah but remaining unhostile. She could almost feel the tension coming off him, but it didn’t heighten her aggression in return. “When we heard from Emerie that you were still so close to the Veil, we thought it might be because you, somewhere inside, longed to be with us again. We searched for you in your burrow, your territory, and it led us here. You don’t have to live like this. We can show you a home, and what it’s like to not be alone.”

“I’m not alone!” Zylah barked out with her sight shifting to a deep red. She stamped a singular foot in annoyance and made it thump loudly, wishing they would just understand. “I have Jabez. I do not need you.”

The words appeared to cut so deep that the female’s lips shook as tears flooded her eyes. Then, in the next moment, her tanned features paled.

Yet it was Magnar who asked, “Who did you say?”

A chitter of shame and nervousness exploded from her, and her orbs morphed to a stark white. She cupped her hands near her chest when anxiety flooded her gut. I should not have said that. She shouldn’t have mentioned his name.

“Fy... Zylah,” Delora rasped, and even Zylah could hear how fast her little heart was beating despite the space between them. “Please tell me you didn’t just say Jabez .”

Stepping back, Zylah almost tripped over her elongated rabbit feet in her monstrous form, just as a small, deep, yet dark chuckle rumbled from behind her. Without giving her back to strangers, she looked over her shoulder to see Jabez exiting the cave.

With his hood propped over his head to protect himself from the sun, it cast a rather ominous shade over his features. The red of his eyes became stronger, and the coldness of them even harsher with his silvery eyelashes.

“I guess there is no point in hiding any longer,” he stated, his voice void of any emotion.

Zylah chittered as reddish pink entered her sight. She’d told him she wasn’t capable of doing this on her own. Instead of removing these strangers from their territory, she’d accidentally spilled the secret of her companionship with him when it had been obvious he wanted to avoid that.

I failed, her mind whimpered.

Stepping out from the shade of his hiding spot, Jabez noted the way Zylah had shrunk within herself and even lowered into a crouch. Although he kept the mask of his cruel indifference firmly in place, he understood that he’d just given her too big of a task.

Risking the sun, he reached out to pat the back of her arm and ignored the sting that cut across his knuckles. “It’s fine,” he stated calmly, before bringing his hand back within the safety of his cloak. “You did your best.”

She’s only just learned how to communicate properly. Hiding one’s emotions, thoughts, and secrets was hard for an inexperienced person. Let alone one who had never spoken to strangers.

He wouldn’t show any ire towards her, not when he was hoping he could... mitigate the problem.

There had also been a nag at the back of his mind and a trickle of guilt sliding down his nape while he’d been eavesdropping.

My relationship with my parents is non-existent. Jabez had no desire to ruin that for Zylah, despite knowing his companionship with her may already do that.

Walking to be at her side, he thought, Let’s see just how much she wishes to remain with me.

Jabez never removed his sight from the human woman before him, nor the Mavka who’s orbs had taken on an angry crimson hue. A snarl echoed from him, while his collar of feathers puffed in aggression until they threatened to spike around the back of his fox skull.

Let’s see how much she can learn of my actions before she turns on me. A rather dangerous thought, considering he could find himself alone against three potential enemies by the end of this conversation.

Yet, in a corner of his untrusting mind, he had... faith in Zylah. Strange – he didn’t believe in anyone other than himself.

“Zylah, come away from him,” Delora whispered as she beckoned Zylah closer by curling her outreaching fingers. “He’s dangerous.”

Zylah stepped forward and put her shoulder in front of him protectively. He moved out of her shield to show they were on even footing, despite that he lacked his magic. They didn’t know that – they knew him to be a great being of unimaginable power.

A cold-hearted, villainous killer who cackled on his mountain of metaphorical corpses like the psychopath he’d led all to believe him to be.

A lie, of course. A mere ruse to incite fear.

“No,” Zylah snarled back, her hackles rising.

“Calm,” Jabez stated as he stroked her back, never taking his eyes from those before them. He cracked a large grin, flashing his shark-like fangs purposefully. “I’m sure you have questions.”

“You’re supposed to be dead!” Delora blurted out, stamping her foot forward in outrage. “Y-your castle, it was destroyed!”

“And here I stand,” Jabez answered, waving at the ground with both hands. “You have Zylah to thank for that.”

“What?” she rasped, her horrified gaze slipping to Zylah.

“That nasty little bomb did quite a lot of damage to me. Without Zylah healing me through it, my chances of survival were exceptionally low. Had she come even a day later, I’d likely be dead.” He spared Zylah the briefest glance to show that he lacked any fear of the two people before him. “She’s remarkably adept with her healing magic.”

“What do you want with her?” Magnar rumbled with a growl, lowering himself into an offensive stance. He pushed his shoulder before Delora, who leaned into his side like it was natural for her.

Jabez tilted his head at him, and his grin grew more malicious. “You know... I never would’ve guessed that you Mavka could hold such protective instincts towards your children.”

“Children?” Zylah asked softly, despite the graininess in her voice due to her monstrous form. She turned to him ever so slightly and tugged on his cloak with an inquisitiveness he found rather cute.

Dropping his malice, as he didn’t wish to shine that upon her, he nodded his head towards the pair. “These are your parents.”

Her orbs shifted to an unusually bright yellow. “They are?”

The tension in her shoulders eased slightly, and he figured it was out of curiosity and awe, rather than truly becoming relaxed in their presence.

“Yes,” Delora rasped, her bottom lip shaking as tears welled in her eyes. “I’m your mum, and Magnar is your dad. That’s why we’ve been searching for you.”

Zylah placed both her palms against her chest. “But you don’t look like me. You are not Mavka.”

“I told you,” Jabez stated without a shred of arrogance in his tone, “your kind are born from a human turned Phantom.”

Zylah tilted her head. “You knew who my parents were this entire time?”

Jabez offered a benign, false smile. “I always intended to explain this to you, and who they were, where they were.”

Delora’s brows furrowed in confusion. “Why would you do such a thing?”

“Who do you think gave her more humanity? Taught her how to speak?” Jabez deflected. “To read, write, count? Of course things have been slow, since she needed to learn all that before we could have complex conversations, but I know much about Mavka and the history from the origin of their birthing. All this was planned to be shared in due time. I couldn’t explain any of it when the only language she understood was her own chitters.”

“But why would you help her?” Delora pushed.

“Consider it payment for saving my life.” Jabez no longer knew if that was a lie or not.

Sure, in the beginning his intentions had been rather self-serving, but... in the months of learning who Zylah was, he’d begun just simply wanting to aid her.

Much of her future could be filled with violence, and the threat of her life was solely his responsibility. He’d shared the secret to the Mavka’s demise with the Demons, and although he couldn’t care less about the others, he did feel indebted to Zylah. If he could right that wrong with at least the person who allowed him to take another breath, it was a small atonement for that mistake.

“Okay, you’ve done that.” Delora’s features took on a hard edge. “We can take over. We can do the rest.”

Jabez chuckled as he folded his arms. “That would be solely up to Zylah.”

Delora looked upon Zylah, and her lips parted in disbelief, as if what he said was ridiculous.

“She’s just a child! She doesn’t know any better!” She fisted the brown skirt of her dress.

His chuckle evolved into full-blown laughter. “She’s obviously not a child. She is an adult who can consent to with whom she spends her time.”

“She was only born two years ago!”

“And her intelligence already exceeds her parent,” Jabez argued, raising a finger at the male Mavka. “You have no idea who she is or what she is capable of. I’ve seen it, and even I’ve been amazed.”

The fact that Mavka didn’t age like a human or even an Elf, but more like a Demon, made this situation strange. Her age was defined by how many humans she ate, not by her length of life. He imagined for some humans that would be difficult to understand, but this woman was pushing human ideologies onto a magical being that could eat her because it suited her, uncaring of their blood relation.

Everything was upside down and skewed, and even he knew little of it made sense – only that this was just how Mavka were. They were odd creatures that existed outside of normality and logic, which had infuriated him for the last few centuries because they had been his enemy.

Her brows drew impossibly tighter. “But...”

“You are the reason for it,” Jabez cut in. “You, as her mother, have gifted her evolution the others belonging to Lindiwe can’t achieve. It has taken half the number of humans to bring Zylah to this level of humanity, if not less.”

“I don’t understand,” Magnar grumbled as he raised a hand to his snout. Like the idiot he still was, he tapped the point of a claw against the bone.

“Of course you don’t,” Jabez stated with a sigh, rolling his eyes as if that should have been obvious.

“Are you saying that the further they are from the spirit of the void, the quicker their minds develop?” Delora asked with a pensive flattening of her lips.

“From what I’ve seen in her, yes,” he answered. “A Mavka’s age has always been irrelevant. Only their level of humanity matters. I’ve seen Mavka remain mentally younger than those who were born after them. An excellent example of this is Orpheus and the feline-skulled Mavka.”

With the way Delora’s expression turned shy, Jabez gathered she already knew the truth of that. He, however, had known it for a long time.

Orpheus stopped eating humans when he longed to keep one. The feline Mavka, on the other hand, didn’t give a shit. He’d hunted everyone, humans and Demons, and grew indiscriminately and without care. And Orpheus has lived decades longer.

He’d hindered his own development in his pathetic search for a companion.

For a few fleeting moments, Jabez watched as the pair in front of him soaked in the information he willingly offered. Even Zylah had gone pensive.

It gave him time to truly look upon them.

Jabez, admittedly, knew very little about Magnar. He and the twins were the Mavka he’d had little contact with, for various reasons. Magnar had stayed away from the centre of the Veil, and therefore, had been an ignored presence within the forest. He rarely attacked Demons.

The twins, however, were two ruthless creatures and attacked anything out of boredom. Being near them was dangerous, and their intelligence had been so low that having a simple conversation with them resulted in the most humorous example of talking to a pair of moving trees.

From what Jabez could tell of Magnar, he was trying to emulate Orpheus. He stood similarly, spoke similarly, and appeared to even be dressing like him since he wore a nice black dress shirt and pants. There was more of an uncertain stance in his posture in comparison, and it was obvious he let his woman lead in most instances.

His eyes slipped to Delora. She was plump, and it made her appear soft and feminine. Her dark hair waved around her shoulders and framed her delicate, tanned features. She looked healthy, but unlike last time, she lacked any tiredness and instead seemed to shine in a way only a person who had achieved self-worth could.

Like he had the first time he’d met her, he found her beauty rather beguiling.

Then again, Jabez’s perspective on beauty was insanely skewed. He found many Demons attractive as well. For Jabez, attractiveness could be born from the most abstract features. He’d found Katerina lovely for the opposite reasons he found the woman in front of him lovely. They were completely different, from their eye colour, body shape, skin tone, and even gaze strength.

Even Mavka were handsome fellows to him, not that he’d ever let one know he appreciated them platonically. But he’d always admired their strength and peculiar exoticness.

Although he’d been struggling to admit it, he found Zylah beautiful as well.

He didn’t think his glances upon the female Mavka had been desirous – or, rather, he hoped they weren’t – but it was becoming increasingly difficult to deny her sensuality. Sensuality she had no idea she possessed, and something he’d attempted to cover up with a garment that appeared to just make it worse.

It was like it had become a tease of material that was so short he found his eyes following the way it lifted over her furry, thick thighs. Even the way one of the thin straps would slip over her shoulder and lower the material around the top of a breast was eye-catching.

His lips flattened tight. Why am I thinking about this right now? In this situation, of all times?

It didn’t help that Zylah was currently naked beside him, since her clothing had sunken beneath her flesh. He was finding it hard to look upon her, regardless of her being in her monstrous form.

His thoughts and the silence were broken by Delora.

“It doesn’t matter,” she eventually whispered, raising her eyes from the ground to him. “I-I, as her mother, can’t approve of this. I won’t.”

Jabez rolled his eyes so hard it pained him. “Like I haven’t heard that before.” Lindiwe had said something similar once she’d learned of his and Merikh’s friendship. “Come now, you can’t be that forgetful. I already told you it’s solely up to Zylah.”

As if on cue, Zylah said, “I wish to stay with him.”

Before Delora could open that pretty mouth of hers, Jabez spoke over the top of her.

“I’m offering for us to air out some... differences. ” He waved to the ground. “Sit with me, and perhaps I can share some insight into the past. Much of it, Zylah should learn. Then we can allow her to make her choice.”

“Why should we do anything you say?” Delora bit out, her gentle features sharpening in hate. He did rather like the defiant glint to her gaze. “I don’t trust you, or that you’ll actually share the truth.”

Once more, Jabez allowed a malicious grin to fill his features. “You should take the offer when I’m so willingly gifting it. I can teleport Zylah and I away from here in the blink of an eye, or have you forgotten my abilities, human?”

The emotional woman visibly grew sickened at the reminder of the power he’d once held. He found her terrified expression rather delightful.

“But you–” Zylah started.

“Then I can easily take her further and further from your reach,” he interrupted before she could share his loss of magic. He made sure his voice held nothing but sickly sweetness, digging into the wound he was creating with feigned kindness when the words were nothing but cruel. “If you found us again, we’d be gone before you even reached the end of our scents. You’d never catch us. What would you prefer? Because, currently, I’m feeling inclined to be benevolent.”

“Is this the magic you told me of?” Zylah asked, her teal orbs shifting to dark yellow.

He just responded with a smile and a pointed gaze. His eyes darkened as he brought them back to the pair.

“I’m offering for us to speak on even footing. A temporary truce, if you will, where we all sit in the dirt together.” He waved at the ground once more.

Then, to highlight just how little he feared them, and how he expected them to fold to his whims, he smoothly transitioned from standing into a crossed-legged seated position.

After a few moments of mulling, Delora was slow to sit, each of her movements stilted and wary. She eyed Jabez mistrustingly the entire time, even when she pulled on her Mavka’s clawed hand to make him sit as well.

Zylah, wanting to mimic them, shifted into her more humanoid form. Her dark-grey dress came to the surface as she sat with her knees together and her feet poking out the opposing side to Jabez. Her shoulder brushed his, and he was certain she sat in a way that touched him in order to silently seek comfort from him.

He didn’t mind, and even considered leaning back to help ease her, but refrained due to those before him.

This was one of his favourite positions when having an unpredictable conversation with another. They couldn’t stand over him nor he them, giving everyone the illusion that no one was better than anyone else. It also helped to mitigate agitated body language that could be perceived poorly – especially when dealing with Mavka that didn’t know how to handle their emotions well.

Lastly, it allowed the others to perceive Jabez as indifferent.

He was sitting in filth with them, his shoulders at ease, as though he was relaxed in their presence. Not a king, not a Demon, but a person who was intelligent enough to have a conversation that wasn’t stipulated in cruelty and self-serving gain.

All of it was a lie on his part, of course. At least, before the loss of his magic, that was true. The ability to teleport from one place to another allowed him to also change positions. He could go from sitting in front of them to snapping their neck while standing behind them within a heartbeat.

It was a rather unfair advantage he’d had.

For now, he did this to hopefully reduce their distrust of him by even a little. He lacked magic, and it needed to remain a secret. Acting arrogantly would get him nowhere, although that was his default when faced with any enemy – an enraged being fighting without thought was easier to battle than a cunning and calm one.

Once everyone was as comfortable as they could be in this tense situation, Jabez placed his elbow on his knee and rested his cheek upon the knuckles of his enclosed fist.

“So,” he started, stifling the urge to grin manically like a deviant. “Where shall we begin?”

“There’s much you have done,” Magnar growled, his orbs once more flaring to crimson. “All of it unforgiveable.”

“You... you ate me!” Delora exclaimed, throwing her hands forward.

“I did do that, didn’t I?” he answered with mirth, humour glinting in his gaze to the point he could feel the heat of it.

“You ate my mother?” Zylah asked, her voice returning to that rather sweet cuteness he preferred. Surprisingly, her tone held curiosity more than disgust.

“In all fairness, I was rather livid at the time,” he stated in his own defence. “You’re a rather devious woman when you wish to be. It’s not often one would defy me, let alone trick me. You played your role rather admirably, and I’ve always respected you for that moment, despite how much it angered me at the time.”

Delora’s lips parted in surprise, likely not expecting his response. But it was the truth, and how he’d always felt about it.

“Let’s just say I have a rather nasty temper. I’m also a very cunning man. Sure, I ate a little bit of you, but I knew my torture would be fleeting and have no lasting repercussions for you. You’re a Phantom. Your revival ensured anything I did meant little, except for how it affected your psyche.” His brows narrowed as he remembered that day, and it wasn’t with fondness. “I also did truly want the Mavka beside you to come to your rescue, which he wisely didn’t. I also didn’t want to allow the Demons to consume you and grow any additional abilities. It was either me or them, and I guarantee you, their bites would have been nastier.”

“W-why didn’t you want the Demons to gain abilities?” Delora asked, her lips tightening in uncertainty. “Isn’t that what you wanted all along? To strengthen your army?”

“I can’t develop Phantom abilities.”

Jabez knew it at the time, since he’d consumed Lindiwe a few times, to no avail. But he’d threatened the woman with it to incite fear and make her watch over her shoulder constantly – to haunt her as much as Phantoms could haunt others.

“Sometimes Demons have the ability to gain attributes from those with magic, or even venom from certain creatures – both things I can’t do. I’m fully formed and not a full Demon, therefore any additions to my abilities must come from either being taught the magic, the runes, or consuming mana stones.”

Her lips pursed, and her eyes darkened in annoyance at him. “That doesn’t answer my question.”

“Have you ever considered that I allowed my fellow Demons to evolve, but not reach a higher level of power than me?” A rather hollow smile curled his lips. “You forget they eat each other. When they had no need of me, or saw a chance to gain the leadership I held, what would have stopped them from turning on me? A Demon with the ability to turn incorporeal would have been a tough opponent to face, even with my ability to teleport. What would you have done if a Demon had the ability to turn incorporeal and slip inside your ward, your very home, soundless, scentless, and without warning? What then? I couldn’t teleport within your ward, but could they have moved through it with an intangible body? What would have stopped them from doing that to me in my very own home?”

It was something that had worried him constantly about Lindiwe, and why he’d put special wards in place to protect himself while he slept. He’d always hated the paranoia – which had the hairs on the back of his neck and on his arms rising – that she could be lurking where he couldn’t sense her.

“You could have just let me go,” she muttered with a pout present in her voice and her bottom lip sticking forward.

He rolled his eyes at her ridiculous statement.

“Do you know how powerful fear is? It is the biggest tool in my arsenal. Your fear of me, his rage towards me, made you both predictable.”

“Predictable, huh?” She scoffed at him, while averting her gaze. “I bet you didn’t see us showing up at your castle.”

He smiled at her for that. “No, but that wasn’t your idea, was it? Lindiwe is as unpredictable as you can get. She has lived over three hundred years and has the experience you lack. Her fear turned into motherly rage, and with the power of a god on her side, she is the only being in this forsaken realm who can best me. Without her, what you did never would have been a possibility.”

Delora gave him a rather bored look, her head lifting back superiorly. “It sounds like you admire her.”

“Don’t you?” he rebuffed, cocking a brow in astonishment. “I may hate that fucking pest of a woman, but underestimating your enemy is foolish. I have never been a fool.”

As if she was done with the current conversation, he watched her expression turn spiteful and scheming. Her gaze slipped to Zylah beside him.

“He tried to kill you,” she said quietly. “You were nothing but a baby.”

“Did I?” Jabez countered. “I’m not in the game of harming children, no matter what they are.”

Delora’s back went rigid, and she clutched her skirt until the backs of her knuckles paled. “You tried to break her skull!”

“Did I?” he repeated, once more cocking a brow. “Or did I attempt to drive a poor mother who clearly loved her child to take action? How about the father who quickly turned on his own sibling?” Without removing his cheek from his fist, he shifted his gaze to the forest beside them in thought. “You’ll be surprised to know just how powerful love can be. I had no intention of truly harming her, otherwise I wouldn’t have made a show of it.” His eyes slipped back to her. “Or given you the opportunity to prevent it. Devious, no?”

“You’re a fucking sicko,” Delora rasped.

“I have been called evil so many times over that it gets old. What happens in war is devastation.”

“A war we want no part in!” Magnar snapped out.

“And yet... it’s a war you have been part of from the moment you took your first breath.”

At Delora’s confused face, and Magnar’s head rear, he sighed. Why can they not see it? Why must he spell this out for every single one of them?

“I actually have very little hate towards Mavka,” Jabez admitted, finally lifting his head to sit upright. He wiggled his shoulders back to give a superior air to his aura. “Sure, I have a deep hatred for one of your kind and his bride, but the rest of you don’t particularly matter to me. But you are the children of Weldir, and he’s prevented me from taking action for centuries.” He gave a singular, knowing chuckle while shaking his head. “And none of you humans are enraged by it. Then again, you would have to know that the devastation of Demons upon your world solely rests in his untouchable hands.”

“He’s not the one who brought them here,” Delora argued.

“Neither did I. I brought six Demons here. The rest came on their own and then remained stuck here due to Weldir’s ward preventing them from going back through the portal I created with a mana stone. Many of them long to return to the Elven world. Without his interference, humanity wouldn’t be nearing extinction. Had I been allowed to take them back centuries ago, life here would be vastly different. The history you know is missing vital pieces. Would you continue to side with him, with Lindiwe, had you known that their sole purpose is to keep the Demons here just to spare the Elves? Inherently selfish, isn’t it?”

“Life is what it is,” Delora whispered as she lowered her gaze. “I’ve learned to accept it, especially as it brought me here.” To give away what she meant, she rested her hand on Magnar’s trouser-covered leg. “We can be angry, or just accept that they had their reasons.”

“Ugh, such a tender-hearted, meek answer,” Jabez bit out with disgust. “I refuse to accept such a notion.”

Why were the Elves constantly forgiven for the exact things he was blamed for? What he’d said was true. Without the Elves, humankind and their lives would be vastly different.

Without Weldir, Jabez could have saved hundreds, if not thousands, of human lives by removing the Demons from Austrális. He could have been humankind’s saviour as much as the Demons’.

But instead of being thanked for what he’d been attempting to do for hundreds of years, he’d been despised for it.

“You are the most selfish creature I know,” she retorted. “Everything you’ve stated so far has been cruel and selfish. How are you any better?”

“I’m not,” he willingly admitted with a deadened expression. “I’m very self-aware that I am a despicable fuck. The only life that matters to me is my own. I’m the product of their carelessness, and then they discarded me like filth. I have spent my whole life wishing to avenge myself for what they did to me as a child.”

“And yet you wish to ruin others just to achieve that. I can never see your side, no matter if the truth isn’t what I first thought it was. What you did to me, to Magnar, to Zylah... I could never forgive it, nor allow you to make me think better of it.” Then her eyes again filled with the tears he knew she’d been holding in. “And what you did to Faunus...”

His head cocked, while his ears twitched. “I have no idea who that is.”

“It’s the feline-skulled Mavka,” Magnar answered.

“Ah.” Jabez nodded in understanding. “What I did to Faunus was what was done to me.”

“By him, though?” Delora asked, although her tone said she knew the answer to that was already no.

“By Lindiwe. Like I said, I have been locked in battle with her for centuries. Everything she did to me, I did to him. Judge me all you want for it, but I responded to cruelty with more cruelty. Will you pity me now that you know the truth?”

Her lips thinned, and under the weight of his scrutiny, she shied away from his gaze.

“You won’t, will you?” He tilted his head and offered a callous grin when he saw she couldn’t even muster up a false tear for his sake. “What I did to that Mavka is nothing in comparison to what was done to me by her. And with my inability to hold her due to her Phantom abilities, not once have I ever been able to enact such violence upon her. And I’m not a deathless being, unlike her children. My wounds do not heal in a day, and I must go out of my way to fix myself before permanent damage is done to me.”

Other than cracking that Mavka’s skull, his torture was mediocre in comparison to what Lindiwe had done to him. But no one would cry or pity him, so why should he return the same sentiment?

He also hadn’t done it to be needlessly cruel. He hadn’t taken that Mavka from the middle of the Veil just to cackle like a villain as he tortured him. He did it to find out how the fuck to kill them, and he was just the unfortunate soul that Jabez had picked. Had Jabez known how they died, none of that Mavka’s pain would have existed – Jabez would have just ended him mercifully.

“Why not just teleport away then?”

“I haven’t always had the ability. It’s actually rather new, in the grand scheme of things.” He raised his right hand to look at his palm before turning it over to inspect his wrist. Or, rather, the runic symbols that danced a line around both his wrists – although they had nothing to do with the ability. “I’ve been able to teleport for a few decades, and it took a buried Elven library to discover such an ancient ability. You’d be surprised what is now locked beneath ruins in dark places not even Demons can infiltrate. I started out weak. Such strength doesn’t come from a youngling; it must be taught, earned, or discovered.”

“So you can go back to your realm?” Delora asked quietly, obviously losing enthusiasm for their conversation. “Why not just fucking stay there and leave us alone?”

“I have my reasons. But yes, the fact I’m an Elf allows me to cross freely, and only me.”

I’ve always wondered if that was purposeful. If, perhaps, the Elves wanted him to return one day in order to seek his forgiveness. Disgusting.

He turned his head to the female Mavka beside him and noted that her orbs shone a dark yellow. “You have been quiet.”

“I am... listening,” Zylah answered softly.

I doubt she truly understands all of what we’ve spoken about. There would’ve been words she didn’t know the definition of, things she didn’t understand the true repercussions of. Then again, other than torturing her mother and pretending to want to kill Zylah, nothing else had truly been revealed. Even the depth of his cruelty towards Faunus had been skilfully hidden by Jabez speaking quickly before the human could elaborate.

She’d come to learn of it all eventually, but at least she knew his side before he’d even stated it all.

“I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but Zylah hasn’t moved from my side,” Jabez announced, giving a pause to allow all to digest that fact. He brought his gaze back to her. “So, after learning what you have today, do you still wish to stay?”

Although he remained nonchalant, he had no idea how she would respond. Given that he hadn’t denied anything he’d done, much of it rather villainous, her choice could go either way.

“Please, Zylah,” Delora implored, reaching out to place her hand against the dirt and leaf debris, when it was obvious she wanted to touch Zylah’s knee. “He’s not a good person. He’s hurt so many people.”

“So have I,” Zylah answered, her orbs shifting to a deep blue in sorrow. She lifted her palms to stare down at her curved, sharp claws. “How many have I harmed? I’ve gained much humanity, and whenever I have been attacked, I always wish to defend myself. How am I any different?”

“It’s not the same, sweetheart,” Delora cooed. “You probably attacked when provoked. He attacks because he’s a fucking asshole.”

“But he cares about me,” she said with a whimper. “He teaches me.”

“Because he wants to use you!”

That hit a little too close to the truth.

Jabez placed his cheek on his fist once more. “Have none of you ever wondered why I know so much about Mavka? A bystander can’t learn intricate and secretive knowledge of another species without good reason.”

Delora turned a rage-filled, tearful gaze to Jabez. “Because you’ve pulled them apart like a creep?”

His eyelids drooped in annoyance at her pettiness. “Because I was once friends with a Mavka. For quite a long time, may I add.”

“No one would befriend you,” she sneered, her nose scrunching up in distaste.

“No? How about Merikh? The bear-skulled Mavka,” he answered pointedly. “For decades he was my companion – long before I knew of Orpheus, long before you were ever born, human. I doubt you’re aware, since he’s a reclusive loner who has a deep dislike of everyone, including his own kind.”

“What does this have to do with anything?” Magnar asked, shaking his silly fox skull.

“I cared for him, taught him, just as I’m doing for Zylah. I likely have more knowledge to share with her than you ever could.” His gaze tipped to the soul floating between Magnar’s antlers. “I even watched the first time your kind bonded with someone.”

As if appalled, Magnar hid Delora’s soul from him with both his hands. “You can see it?”

“Is it strange that I do?”

“Those who aren’t bonded usually can’t see it unless they’re another Mavka.”

Jabez pondered this for a moment. He shrugged.

“It’s likely because I’m an Elf. We have the ability to see essences and magic that would usually be hidden to a human.” He curled his free hand forward to glance at his claw-like nails with feigned boredom. “My point is: you have no idea of what I want, nor why I’m helping Zylah. Please keep your unsolicited and false assumptions to yourself. You know so little that you’re nothing but a tiny blip on the string of history.”

Delora’s lips parted in disbelief at his sharp rudeness, but he remained indifferent to it. He despised people thinking they knew him and his reasonings when they clearly didn’t.

“So, Zylah,” Jabez prodded, tilting his face to her rabbit skull. “What decision have you come to?”

Zylah looked between them, before her shoulders turned inwards. It was obvious her gaze fell to the ground with the way her skull dipped forward.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know you.”

Tears gathered in Delora’s eyes, and a strange whimper fell from her lips. “But... but we’re your parents.”

Zylah shifted nervously, then shrugged – which was new. He’d never seen her do that before. “I don’t truly understand what that means, nor why it matters. You abandoned me.”

“We didn’t!”

Zylah clutched her left biceps and turned her head away, in Jabez’s direction, as if she needed to see him. Her orbs shifted to deep blue. “But I have been alone.”

He took in the solemn colour of her glow, then sighed.

“Because that’s the natural evolution of Mavka,” Jabez stated in their defence. “You likely grew your antlers and then ran off into the forest like a wild creature. That’s not their fault.”

He had no intention of manipulating the truth for his own benefit, not when it could have a deeply traumatising impact on Zylah’s mental wellbeing in the future. He doubted she’d been abandoned and had just taken the next step in a Mavka’s life – one that meant they’d transitioned into adulthood.

Zylah shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. I... know him. I wish to stay with Jabez.”

“There,” he stated, uncrossing his legs while simultaneously pushing off the ground to stand. “You have your answer.”

Delora and Magnar were quick to rise, so he didn’t tower over them, and the Phantom readily took a defensive stance. She’d become rather stupidly brave over the last few years.

“Zylah,” she rasped, but immediately quietened when she received a growl in response.

“I have made my choice!” Zylah exclaimed, and Jabez knew by the shaking tone of her yell, and the way her fur puffed, that she was agitated and likely very confused. “I wish for you to leave me... us ... be!”

Zylah rose to a crouch before quickly leaving – as if to say she’d hear no more on the subject. She didn’t enter their shared cave, instead escaping into the forest to put as much space between her and them as possible.

He was surprised she’d abandoned him with strangers nearby, since she could be rather protective and possessive of his presence. She must be extremely upset.

His chest tightened in sympathy, causing his forehead to furrow in deep concern for her.

Looking away from where Zylah ran off through the ferns and shrubs, he connected eyes with Delora. Her pain-filled tears did nothing for him. Jabez refused to allow his victory to be worn on his face like a prick, but it sure as shit radiated in his chest cavity.

He had been chosen; it’d been a long time since someone had done that for him.

And she will be presented with that choice again... and again.

“You...” Delora sneered in his direction.

Jabez folded his arms across his muscled torso and let his head fall to the side. “Me.”

“What you’re doing here is wrong.”

“How so?” he asked, cocking a brow at her. Confidence widened his stance and straightened his posture, but he couldn’t deny his cautiousness at being alone in the presence of enemies – a Mavka, no less.

He hid his wary regard of Magnar by lowering his lids in abject boredom.

“You know what you’ve done to us!” she screamed, making him wince at the high-pitched, eardrum-vibrating tone. “To them!” She placed her hand over Magnar’s wrist, clutching it as if she needed additional support.

My poor fucking ears. They twitched as they rang, his sensitive hearing making it far worse.

“I’ve done many things. It comes with living for centuries.” Growing tired of the conversation now that Zylah was no longer present to hear the truth within it, Jabez gave them his side as he shooed them with a wave of his hand. “I’m expecting you to take your leave now, and you best do so to prevent upsetting her further. She will only turn on you should you try to fight me or go after her.” Yet, his arms loosened their fold as his lips thinned pensively. “But... you are welcome to return.”

Delora’s brows twitched as they furrowed, and she rasped out, “Pardon?”

“I have no intention of getting in your way. If you wish to visit, you are welcome to.” He raised the forefinger of his right hand. “However, you must do so alone and without the others, or I will see it as an attack – and Zylah likely will as well. I’ll make sure we’re gone before you even reach us.”

Another lie, but a threat nonetheless.

Magnar tilted his head at Jabez, his orbs taking on a curious yellow glow. It was nice to see something other than red. “Why would you allow this?”

He shrugged as if he didn’t know, but he did. Whether it be he was indebted to Zylah, or just felt... guilt over what he’d done, something inside told him this was best. With him nearby to control any situation, what harm would there be?

“The likelihood of us being here past winter is low. But if you come searching for her, I won’t interfere,” Jabez informed them as he straightened once more, before letting a rather vicious glare fill his face. “But know that if the Witch Owl is within sniffing distance of me, remember who it is at my side . ”

He let that open-ended threat loom over the pair as they eventually – unwillingly – departed. They were slow to retreat, as if their feet were stuck to the earth, but they understood there was little that could be done to change it.

They could fight him, could argue or chase after her, but they had to know it would be a stupid move. It would only enrage Zylah, and it would damage whatever relationship they wished to build with her.

Perhaps they aren’t as idiotic as I first thought.

Turning his gaze up to the blue sky with his cloak shielding him, he took in a fluffy white cloud and a random pair of birds chasing each other.

Weariness set in, the day late for him, and his lack of sleep from the previous day weighed heavily. I wonder what you’ll do when you hear of this, Lindiwe.

That woman was no fool. He doubted she would come near him, not with one of her offspring’s children in potential danger.

A danger that, funnily enough, didn’t exist in his heart.

Something else was beginning to form, and he had no idea why, what it was, or what it meant.

It was only a few minutes before he heard Delora’s wailing, distressed sob coming from partway down the small mountain.

A smile crested his lips.

Today has given me hope.