Page 25 of A Soul to Touch

“Alright. I’ll take these down for now.”

Mayumi started walking around the house to remove them, going down the porch stairs at one point to reach the ones at the back.

This only brought on a question of his own.

“Why are you allowing me to stay?”he asked when she finally made her way back to him.

“Because you obviously don’t intend to harm me, and the idea of having a big guard dog sounds far safer than some charms.”

“But you Demonslayers hunt Mavka.”Although rather unsuccessfully.

Mayumi halted before her cottage’s front door.

“Okay, I have two questions,” she said with her brows furrowing deeply. “Firstly, what is a Mavka? And how did you know I was a Demonslayer?”

“Mavka is what the Demons call my kind.”

He purposely didn’t answer her second question.

She waved her hands in the air, crossing them and then uncrossing them.

“No. Never. I don’t give a shit what those foul Demons call you. I’m a human, and to me you’re a Duskwalker. I’ll expect you to call yourself what I do.”

Since his jaws were parted in order to breathe because of his blocked nose, his teeth shut with a chomp. He hadn’t expected that from her, but he would follow her demand.

“Fair enough. You still haven’t answered as to why you are allowing me to stay when you Demonslayers usually hunt my kind. I am surprised to have your trust, which is why I ask.”

“And you chose not to answer my second question. So fair is fair.” His teeth chomped again, this time in irritation. “Also, I’ve been meaning to ask. Why the hell do you have that cloth wrapped around your face?”

His orbs flashed red.

“Because you keep doing shit that makes me want to attack you!”he shouted in outrage.“First you baited me into attacking your boar and then the Demon, then those humans in the forest,and now your arm! Do you know what would have happened if I were not wearing it tonight when you cut yourself?”

“No?” she answered with a hand raised as if to shrug.

“I would have tried to attack you. One thing you must be aware of, now that we have come to an understanding, is that Mav-Duskwalkers are often brought into a blind hunger by the smell of blood from any creature... or by the smell of fear.”

Mayumi folded her arms with a bored expression.

“As you so clearly pointed out earlier, I’m a Demonslayer. You’ll never have to worry about the smell of fear from me.” She butted her chin higher. “However, Iama woman. What are you going to do when I bleed once a month or if I accidentally harm myself?”

“You’re a strong woman,”Kitty stated with absolute confidence.“Just cut off my fucking head if I ever try to harm you.”

“Excuse me?”

“You cannot permanently kill a Duskwalker this way. The only way to stop us, although temporarily, is to remove our head. In a day, I will regrow the rest of my body and continue to protect you.”Then Kitty came closer, standing slightly taller than her despite being on all fours.“And Mayumi, I amexpectingyou to do this. If my eyes are ever red and I am coming for you, you are to do this because there will be very little else you can do to defeat me. You may be a Demonslayer, but you are still human. And I will be very,veryangry with myself if I am the one to harm you.”

Kitty heard the familiar sound of a snarling Demon in the distance making its way here. He nodded his head to the front door as he stepped back.

“Now go inside. There are Demons approaching because of your foolish actions.”

She placed a single hand on her hip. “I want you to know that I don’t actually need your protection. I’ve been hunting Demons ever since I was a teenager.”

“I don’t give a damn what you’ve been doing. I may be inclined to believe you’re capable, but that doesn’t mean I will allow you to endanger yourself while I am here.”

With an adorable little huff from thetinyhuman woman, she placed her hand on the round doorknob of her home. She opened the door and went inside.

He expected her to slam it. She didn’t, and he wasn’t sure if it was truly a sideways smile she had given him before she closed it.

---