Page 171 of A Soul to Touch

She swiftly leaned to the side while dipping her body, the action so swift and sudden that Mayumi fell against the side of her arse with an oomph.

Her head turned upwards to thethunkshe heard against her front door, and her eyes widened at the arrow shaft quivering from its impact.

It had been aiming right for her chest.

There had been a tenth Demonslayer hiding within the forest in preparation – possibly even more. She turned her gaping face to the people in her clearing, who were now bearing their weapons in their hands. The deadly points of them all were aimed in her direction.

It didn’t take a genius to figure what was happening.

They planned to kill me...Her lips parted in shock.What fucking for?

Shit. I don’t have my bow,Mayumi thought as she spun to her feet to get into a crouched position.

She hid behind the support post that held her roof upright where her stairs were. Pulling her sword from her scabbard and holding it upright, she mentally prepared herself for a battle.

“What is the meaning of this?” Mayumi shouted while eyeing the door, choosing her words carefully.

Stay inside. Please, for all that is good in the world, just stay inside you big, protective oaf.

Thank goodness it was winter as the thick snow created enough sound for someone with trained, alert hearing to notice footsteps crunching closer.

And closer they were coming.

“It’s nothing personal, Mayumi Tanaka,” Cordon said in a grand voice. She could almost picture his hands out facing upwards as though he was giving a stupid apology. “Out of respect for your late father, we let you leave the guild rather than imprisoning you for your crime.”

Since her ear was turned to the left so she could listen, she almost missed someone coming towards the right side of thehouse with their bow armed. Mayumi dove to the other corner post of her stairs to take shelter behind it and the railing.

“Then why the hostility now?” Mayumi looked left and then right to make sure it was safe. “I aided you, gave you information.”

She noticed there was a darkness under her door in the middle. Faunus was listening, and by the fact that darkness moved, she knew he was considering coming out.

“Because you’re privy to information you shouldn’t be. If all this information got out, if civilians learned there is a Demon King and that Demons are becoming like us, there will be chaos. The people are already afraid, and you know how deadly that fear can be.”

There was someone approaching her stairs, and the person from the right side of the house was beginning to emerge to a point where they’d be able to freely shoot down the porch.

Fuck.She bashed the back of her head against the timber post.Guild secrets. I should have known. Why do I keep trying to do the right thing?

Baiting and fighting Demons had gotten Faunus injured further, and for what? Humans that were going to become extinct no matter how many she killed? For a guild that had tossed her to the side rather than compromising with her after all the years she gave them?

I’m starting to feel like I’m fighting on the wrong damn side.She eyed the bottom of the door once more.I’d rather fight on his side.

“You don’t want to do this,” Mayumi pleaded, knowing it was useless but trying regardless. “You know I won’t tell anyone, and I’m harbouring things youreallydon’t want to come out.”

She shouted that last part, hoping Faunus understood she meant him.

Within the blink of an eye, a pair of feet made a double thump on the porch right next to her while the person swung their sword downwards.

“Shit!” Mayumi raised her own with one hand to block their attack.

Thechingof their weapons colliding rung right before the front door opened with a loudbang.

Faunus was nothing more than a black blur as he tackled the Demonslayer and launched them through the air. They both hit the ground just beyond her first step, but the Demonslayer was dead since they landed with Faunus’ on top of them with his claws embedded into their chest.

“It’s the cat-skulled Duskwalker!” one of the Demonslayers shouted.

With a growling groan of irritation, Mayumi chose that moment to finally come out of hiding.

The guild members were discussing how she had him in her house, that they were friends and she’d been hiding him all along, and so on, but Mayumi cared very little.

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