A Soul to Embrace (Duskwalker Brides #8)

Chapter 30

Without warning, Zylah was teleported into a new environment. The suddenness of it made her gasp and shunt forward, but Jabez’s grip on her kept her securely on her feet.

Her fur remained puffed and agitated as she looked around before soothing once she sensed there was no danger anymore. She’d been expecting a battle, and she’d been rather nervous considering the size of the three Demons who had approached them.

All of them had been almost as tall as Jabez was.

“You okay?” Jabez asked, turning his face until it was barely an inch from her snout.

Her shoulders curved inwards in his grasp, and she was unsure as to why nervousness skittered beneath her flesh at his nearness. She’d been far closer to him in the recent past. After the wonderful experience she just had, which had been robbed from her, her emotions were all over the place.

She nodded, and he gingerly let her go.

“You looked like you were having fun,” he said with a small smile curling his lips, as if the ending was irrelevant to his thoughts.

At the reminder that he’d watched her dart through the grass, her sight shifted to a reddish pink. She couldn’t imagine what she looked like doing something that silly, but the desire had been so compelling she’d been unable to stop herself.

“That Demon spoke in a different language,” Zylah commented, trying to get away from the conversation of her behaviour. “You spoke it to Goldie when we first entered her shop as well.”

His expression fell, and his brows narrowed in thought. Then he cupped his chin, subtly covering part of his lips as he drifted his gaze away. His ears twitched and flicked the way they often did when he was thoughtful.

“Hmm. I just realised you won’t be able to understand a single word that’s being said around you. I should have considered this.”

“Oh.” Uncertainty tightened her gut. She remembered how hard it was to communicate when she was first learning how to speak, and having to restart that again was daunting.

His lips flattened at the way she shifted her weight. “Don’t worry. I’ll teach you how to speak and read it. You’re a fast learner, so I don’t doubt you’ll pick it up in no time.”

“What is it?”

“Nyl’kira.”

Zylah tilted her head at the word, finding that it sounded similar to Nyl’theria. “Nyl’kira?”

“I guess the English word for it would be Elvish, although that’s grossly inaccurate. I’ll figure out if there’s some kind of translation spell we can use. The Elysians used to portal to other worlds, so it wouldn’t be surprising if they found a means to communicate with their inhabitants.” The right side of his mouth lifted as he said with mischief in his tone, “Although, if we speak English, it means we can talk freely.”

Jabez then stepped to the side, and Zylah immediately followed. They only needed to pass one tree before a white sheen appeared a fair way ahead, flickering through the gaps in the trees.

Her fur lifted when she heard movement, and she accidentally bumped into him.

“I doubt there’s actually any scouts,” Jabez told her as he led her towards that sheen. “Any sound you hear is likely coming from within the village, and if something does approach suddenly, I’ll just teleport us away.”

Reassured, she managed to soothe some of the stress that had unsettled her flesh. Her hand constantly brushed against the back of his, but he didn’t seem to mind her nearness as they trudged through odd plants and the occasional glowing flora. Most of it consisted of orange moss, glowing mushrooms, or various flowers she hadn’t seen before.

Sensing they were close to their destination, Zylah resisted the urge to inspect anything new to her. However, her gaze lingered on the plants that were particularly strange.

As they approached the village, the colliding scents of a decent population of Demons flittered over the wind. The white sheen eventually revealed itself as some kind of transparent dome, and it encompassed a large, partially ruined village.

It was hard to see what it truly looked like behind a makeshift wall of reddish bark. It didn’t look as though the wall was there for protection, but there to shield the outside and inside from viewing each other.

They approached a narrow gap where people could come and go if they were to lower the dome.

“Jabez,” Zylah called, grabbing his forearm when she noticed a Demon watching them through the gap. “What do I do?”

He hadn’t told her how she should behave or if she needed to be careful. Now that they were here, she couldn’t stop the way unease twisted inside her.

“You don’t need to do anything,” he answered, shifting slightly so they could face each other. She refused to let go of him, and she was thankful he didn’t stop her. “Like I said, I’ve spoken to their leader before. Once I explain why I’m here, and where we’re from, he’ll likely take us to somewhere more private so we can discuss it.”

“A-and a glamour?” He hadn’t told her if he’d put one on her like in Spiral Haven.

His features softened as he looked upon her skull. “There’s no point in hiding what you are. Since we plan to be here long term, I’d rather they understand and accept you, as opposed to hiding what you are. We’re Demons, Zylah. We’re used to all of us looking different and strange even to each other, so the fact you have a skull will mean little to them. They will adjust, and I’m hoping you’ll feel welcomed in this realm.”

Her grip on him tightened as a lightness wrapped around her heart. She thought he’d hide her skull, or make her look different at first, but the fact that he had no intention of doing so made her really... happy .

She didn’t mind if people looked at her funny, so long as she was able to be seen for who and what she was, and eventually be accepted. She’d wanted the same thing in Spiral Haven too. Zylah wanted to be herself. She wanted to know that it was actually okay to be a Mavka, that her skull wasn’t ugly, and that she could be considered a person rather than a monster.

“The only spell I’m using, which I have been since we came here, is a scent cloak for myself,” he continued, moving his gaze to the small crowd of Demons now at the narrow opening. “If they know I’m an Elf, they’ll be unsure of my presence, and it could lead to danger.”

Zylah nodded and loosened her grip before letting go. To her surprise, he placed his palm over her lower back to gently push her forward, and kept it there as if to let the warm pressure of his palm soothe her.

Only when they were at the narrow opening did he drop it so he could step closer.

The Demons on the other side gawked at her, except the one who began to talk to Jabez in Nyl’kira.

He looked just like Jabez, except his horns were pointing straight up from his head. He had pointed ears, sharp fangs, red eyes, and even white hair, which was short and spikey around his head.

They all wore some kind of strange material. Although dirt-smeared, it reflected the light from Otholla like it was silky.

Their pants were similar to Jabez’s in that they were loose, but their shirts appeared to cross over the front of their torsos with long material flowing down their backs. She wondered if those capes were used as shields from the sun, or suns , as he’d mentioned once or twice.

Some of the males didn’t wear shirts, and many of the females were scantily dressed, most opting for skirts or dresses, while a few had chosen pants.

Half were barefoot, just like him, while others wore some kind of shoe that lacked a sole. All of them had pointed ears, some longer or shorter than others, and their horns were all varied. Most of them had brown skin, although quite a few had patches of that void-like glistening Demon flesh.

They were also tall. Not as tall as Zylah, and Jabez seemed to tower over most, but there were a few who matched him, as if his height was natural here.

They smell a little different. Their scents were spicier than most of those on Earth, and they completely lacked any pungent, unpleasant odour that came from lesser Demons.

After a brief discussion between Jabez and the one who initiated their conversation, they all stepped back to make room.

“I noticed the word dakura spoken a few times,” Zylah whispered softly, hoping not to be heard clearly.

“It’s the Nyl’kira word for our kind,” Jabez responded in a hushed tone.

Okay, at least she could start learning the language one word at a time. She put that one away, noting it was important to remember. I think it’ll be a lot easier to learn Nyl’kira, since he can tell me the English equivalent.

A triangular gap opened up in the dome just large enough for them to fit their bodies through one by one. Jabez led the way, and she ducked ever so slightly when it was obvious her short antlers weren’t going to let her through freely. She tried to remain as non-aggressive as possible when she straightened up on the other side.

Other than the handful of people who had come to watch them while maintaining a safe distance, the first thing she noticed was the inside of the village. Much of it appeared to be made of stone, and what once looked like houses or buildings lay broken or as rubble. Hide cloth had been strung up intermittently to act as shade, while giant leaves and branches had been installed as roofing.

Everything appeared broken down in some way, as if a battle had ensued here, or time had weathered it through disuse. She could tell there were attempts at making it liveable, most of it still in progress. She imagined it would be difficult to collect stone or ore if this world was even more overrun with Demons than Earth.

The smell of smoke was empty of meat, but all of it had essences of pleasant-smelling herbs – as if none of the fires were for warmth or food.

I was expecting this place to look... nicer. She’d been hoping it would remind her of Spiral Haven, not some war-torn village like in one of her books.

After another quick conversation in Nyl’kira between Jabez and the male who let them inside, they were led deeper within the village.

An ominous sense of foreboding crept up her spine the further they went as more nearly completed Demons came to stare at them. Heads popped out around leaf or stick doors, while others brazenly came closer to circle them as a growing crowd.

Her fur puffed in alertness, despite many of them appearing to smile warmly around tusks and fangs. She put the negative feeling aside, assuming it was just the adrenaline of being in a foreign world surrounded by fierce-looking Demons.

Many of them bore scars. Some here or there were missing an eye, ear, or even a horn, and their worn clothing was dirty or in tatters. Those close by looked nearly completed, although she did notice those further away were less so, with more void-like flesh glistening rather than brown.

At first glance, she thought those who were further from completion were hiding, but she figured it was just due to nervousness. Most were already peering at her with either a cautious or curious gaze, and she didn’t want to do anything but follow Jabez in case she did something wrong.

As they passed a building, a male inside was pulling silky strands from the inside of a leaf, but he halted to watch them. The deeper they went, the more she saw people in the middle of tasks, most of which she wasn’t familiar with.

They all abandoned their duties to stand and follow, creating a crowd behind them she found uncomfortable.

When someone came just a little too close to her, Zylah chittered and accidentally knocked into Jabez. He glanced at her, but offered no comfort or caring gaze before he lifted his eyes to the side.

In the corner of her sight, she noticed someone duck from view, and Jabez’s brows narrowed. His ears twitched constantly, yet he wore a dull expression as he drifted his gaze around the area.

He’s hiding behind one of those false masks again.

Zylah chose to focus on him, as she found that easier. She greedily sucked in his scent of bergamot and sandalwood to soothe her chest on each compression of her lungs, while her sight narrowed in on his features.

She wanted to hold his hand or arm, but she had a feeling he knew that since he gently, although purposefully, pulled away each time.

Then his steps began to slow. He spoke loudly – and in her opinion rather sternly – to the person in front of them. The Demon gave a deep laugh, turned his head to glance at them over his shoulder, then said something that was meant to put them at ease.

It worked. Despite the fact that she didn’t understand a word of it, his tone appeared sincere and his expression was welcoming and kind.

Jabez answered him with a smile in return until the Demon faced forward once more. Jabez’s expression instantly fell, and his head tilted forward ever so slightly so he could look around more subtly.

“Something is wrong,” he muttered, his ears flicking in opposite directions. “Last time I came here, I wasn’t crowded like this.”

“Could it be because of me?” she whispered back, nervousness now clinging to every fibre of her being.

She looked around and found even more eyes upon her. There were so many faces that she couldn’t even begin to describe all their startling differences.

Perhaps he should have glamoured my skull after all. It was obviously putting him on high alert, and she really didn’t like how many people had surrounded them.

Jabez’s features twitched, like he wanted to answer her, but his lips flattened in silence instead. She didn’t know if that was due to thought, or because he wanted to minimise how much they spoke in English before meeting with the Demon leader. Yet his glare only deepened when the person in front of them took them to the very middle of the village.

Some kind of wide and spacious village square opened up, and Zylah’s sight landed on the broken statue of a woman erected on a triangular pedestal. Half of her curvy body remained, while the top half lay on the ground. She had small ethereal wings that were partially shattered, while a motherly smile didn’t match the golden tears that had been painted on her face.

A plaque at the bottom bore runic symbols made up of circles, triangles, and slashes that appeared to represent different letters or even words. She couldn’t read what it said, but it was likely the name of the carved woman.

Jabez halted, and it wasn’t hard to know why.

Before the statue stood a male who had his arms folded and a grand smile on his face. He bore no shirt, showing off the strength in his bulky arms, chest, and stomach, while his loose pink pants hid his legs all the way to his feet. Once more, she noted the odd, soleless footwear.

His hair was white, wavy, and cut into some kind of short mohawk that had been brushed back. A set of sandy horns curled around the front of his temples before going back to jut up behind his head. Multiple golden and silver adornments were attached to them, as well as bands around his wrists, biceps, and neck.

The fur on her nape puffed up in a wave when she sensed someone directly behind them. Zylah spun while stepping to the side but found no one there.

The spot behind them was empty, yet she... swore she could smell someone had been there just a second ago.

I must be nervous.

That was it. Her senses were going wild, her nose, her ears, her sight, and even her instincts – all of them had been screaming at her from the moment she entered the village.

They’d done the same thing when she’d first entered the crowd of pedestrians in Spiral Haven, although it’d been less ominous and threatening.

I didn’t realise knowing so many could see my skull would be this... frightening. She could feel their judgement, their gazes. It made her fur itch in ways she’d never experienced before.

She realised then that Jabez and the male covered in metal jewellery were speaking, and had been the entire time she’d been turned around. He’d also stepped forward with his hands out as if to gesture or shrug, putting even more space between them since she’d stepped back.

Her gaze fell on the dozens of Demons who were covered in void-like, glistening flesh, and she found it difficult to swallow the lump in her throat. They skulked closer, making her want to retreat while the desire to growl pestered her, but she stifled it. No one appeared to look threatening, but they were strangers, and their approaching proximity had her growing more alert.

Her feet froze when her sight connected with someone who had such strange, inhuman features, she couldn’t even begin to decipher them – some kind of animal she’d never seen before. She swore multiple little horns on his forehead even faintly... glowed.

I thought he said these people were close to completion. Or at least that they’d appear fully human – or Elvish.

Jabez’s voice came out as a low rumble. Zylah sensed the hostility in it despite it being minor, as if he was trying to hide it. She knew him. Knew when he sounded displeased and untrusting.

Zylah spun to the male in the middle, who had a superior aura to him.

Disorientated, she couldn’t seem to get her bearings, and she wished, more than ever, that she could understand what they were saying. Especially as the male’s gaze was narrowed into a deep glare.

Jabez stepped back. He shoved an arm out to her, reaching for her, but only grasping air, since she was too far away. “Zylah, come–”

Before he could finish, he spun on the spot and shoved his hand up in front of him like a blade... into nothingness. An euk sounded, just as the clogging scent of Demon blood penetrated the air and began to drip down his fingers.

A body flickered into view, their arm raised with some kind of club in it, before they turned completely solid. Their throat materialised in Jabez’s hand and then the rest of them came into view.

I wasn’t wrong, she thought. Someone really had been behind them, but they’d just been invisible! I didn’t know that was possible.

He quickly removed his hand from their throat, purple blood gushing as he did, and they dropped to the ground. The club thunked and rolled, but Jabez skilfully evaded stepping on it as he turned to Zylah.

“We need to leave. Now!” he roared, just as the crowd of Demons closed in on them.

Their expressions changed, most grinning as if they’d been caught in some kind of trap.

Just as Zylah took a single step towards him so they could touch and he could teleport them away, something snagged around her ankle and yanked. She fell forward, just missing his swiping grasp, and the underside of her skull bashed against the ground as she was pulled back.

She clawed at the ground to get purchase, and Jabez roared when some kind of rope was flung around his forearm. He pulled, sending the Demon on the other side forward with a scream.

That was the last thing Zylah saw before she was covered in a swarm of bodies.

Her orbs turned white as her heart clamoured in her chest, sprinting hard and fast. Fear shot through her, harsher than she’d ever felt, and only seemed to deepen the further across the ground they pulled her.

None of them appeared to want to intentionally hurt her, all grasps designed to hold her arms and legs down. Yet the more she struggled, able to rise to her knees despite their attempts, the harder everyone tried to squash her. When they realised she was stronger than she appeared, more Demons attempted to lie on top of her, as rope was used to bind her ankles together.

Something smacked against the back of her skull, but it merely bounced off, followed by a blunt, radiating pain.

The bottoms of her orbs broke into glittery white tears. Why did I have to step away? Why didn’t she just stay glued to his side, rather than investigate behind them with worry? If she’d just stayed put and trusted Jabez, they would have been less than an inch from each other.

He would have reached her. She would have grabbed him before he even felt the need to.

She hadn’t expected everything to spiral so fast, or for these Demons to be so swift, strong, or cunning.

She could hear Jabez’s snarls and the answering calls of many others, but the sounds were muted, and she saw nothing through the swarm. Her fear for him grew, causing her breaths to come out as frightened whines.

Zylah fought back, her sharp claws slicing through torsos and rendering multiple Demons dead within seconds. She kicked her strong legs, shunting bodies back with surprised yells, as she twisted to get free before they could bind her fully. She tried to claw her way out, using all her strength and might to fight them off – and was succeeding. She was able to get her knees underneath her, then to her elbows to push off.

But the moment she’d turned violent, and the smell of their fear tangled around her, was when they became violent.

An agonised squeal left her when something sharp lanced through the middle of her shoulder blades – as if they’d been going for her heart. She fell to her stomach at the shock of some weapon cutting right through her body.

Red flared in her sight, just as blood-lust ripped into her stomach like a set of claws. Hot rage burst into her veins, causing her muscles to swell and her fur to lift in aggression.

Jabez’s face came into view, his knees resting on two different shoulders as he dug his way through the flailing bodies to get to her. His claw-like nails stabbed into the sides of faces and necks as he pried heads apart.

His face was fierce, nose bunched in fury and lips curled back as he bared his fangs, his red eyes never wavering from her. She’d never seen him look so menacing before, or so like a Demon – his snarl beastly. Uncaring about his own wellbeing, he fought to get to her, and his steadfast gaze promised he would.

Only a few seemed to notice him, but it was too late. He made enough space to reach a hand down to her.

Zylah tried to keep her Mavka instincts at bay against the pain and fear, even as she squealed when someone bit into the back of her calf. She felt the muscle tearing as they took a chunk from her, but she continued to reach up.

Relief swept through her like a blissful gust when their palms touched, just as a loud thunk came from above.

Instead of teleporting them to safety, Jabez’s eyes rolled back and his grip on her loosened. He went languid, his body dropping forward as though he was unconscious.

A droplet of red dripped against her nose hole, and the smell of blood was saturated in bergamot, sandalwood, and copper. His blood. It sent hunger through her within an instant when it slipped inside the hole of her snout, shielding any other scent from her.

Suddenly the pain became irrelevant, not with the starving grumble in her gut that roared for a taste of him. To eat and consume the source that was even more delicious than any human or Demon she’d ever smelt. To get her claws into her prey until she was able to lick at the ground for the last few drops that remained once she was finished eating him whole.

Rage took hold, and her prey was dragged away right as it did.

Uncontrolled and no longer truly present, Zylah lunged.