Page 9 of A Soul to Touch

TURN!

Then it did. It wasn’t finished eating its own kind like a freaking savage, but it turned its head to the side to look off into the forest.

Glowing red orbs came into view.

She had been expecting red eyes, but these were odd. Her own widened when she realised it wasn’t a Demon at all, and the waxing moon highlighted the side of a white skull.

Shit!Mayumi ducked down and laid her arms flat to hide.A Duskwalker?

She pursed her lips together as her brows knotted tightly. Her eyes traced over the reflective snow next to her as she thought.

I can’t fight a Duskwalker on my own.

Still, she perked her head up just slightly so she could watch it eat the last of the Demon it had killed. It was only now that she realised she’d been able to see the back of a skull the entire time.

I’ve never fought a Duskwalker before. How different could it really be?Nothing could survive an arrow between the eyes, right in the forehead where their brain was. She doubted a Duskwalker would be any different.

Hmm. But I have heard their skulls are basically impenetrable.

A mental debate warred heavily within her.

She didn’t know how many Duskwalkers there were in the world, but the guild knew for certain of five of them.

There was an Impala-horned one with a wolf skull for a face – one many had tracked and lost their life to. A deer-antlered one with a fox skull. A bear-skulled one with bull horns spiking on its head like the devil himself – it was ruthless. Every Demonslayer within the guild had been told to never to engage it.

There was a new one that had only been sighted once in the last two or so weeks. She’d received a pigeon message about it, as had most towns and villages.

The new Duskwalker had antlers on its head and a rabbit skull. It was larger than any they’d ever heard of and was rabid, attacking anything and everything within earshot. Another‘do not engage’warning had been given by now dead Demonslayers who’d released a messenger bird before their death.

There had been sightings of a fifth one, but no one had managed to get a good look at it before retreating to safety so far.

Many guild members died at the hands of both Duskwalkers and Demons. She was sure there were many more of both. Information was often lost due to the constant death.

Mayumi rose up on her haunches, once more aiming her weapon.

But if I kill a Duskwalker and obtain their skull as proof...She pulled the bow string as far as it could go, hoping for a blow powerful enough to shoot through its skull.They might let me back into the guild.

Mayumi had been discharged for violating an order.

It was an order she would never follow, even if it meant she could never be a part of the guild and could only hunt Demons as she did now – at her home or in her wanderings.

She was no longer allowed to fight alongside guild members, hunt with them, or be within ten miles of a Demonslayer stronghold. She wasn’t even allowed to wear her uniform, but it was the safest thing to wear. It hid her in the shadows, just like the Demons themselves.

I’ll kill it. I have to.

She felt the malicious grin form as her upper lip twitched, her eyes bowing with it. The Duskwalker started to turn around, finally finished with its meal.

If not, I’ll die trying.

She found its glowing red orbs, and then got a full-frontal view of its skulled face.

All the fire in her veins, all the determined heat, instantly deflated out of her. So much so that a surprised gasp tore out of her.

Thankfully, it didn’t hear her. It just shook its head as if trying to clear its thoughts before darting it to the right, then to the left, before staring at the house.

The colour white snuffed out the red in its orbs, its body frozen like it was in the clutches of fear. It was almost like it’d seen a Ghost.

The Duskwalker darted off to the side and disappeared into the forest.

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