Page 181 of A Soul to Touch

She was about to ask him who he was, but her eyes finally slipped lower to find black streaking marks over his sides and arms. They bounced from the golden bands and looping chains over his body, then to a singular pointed ear poking up through his blueish-white hair before they fell on the two dark horns curling back over the top of his head.

All of this informed her of who he was.

“This is what you wanted,” she almost growled – if a human could growl. She nodded her head in the tree line where she saw another Demon standing there – their big wings awfully familiar. “You watched us fight. You saw it. Why the fuck are you asking me for?”

She bet it had been entertaining for him to see humans fighting each other.

When he grinned, he revealed sharp fangs. She cringed in disgust when it looked like what she’d seen inside the mouth of sharks from sketchbooks.

“Testy, testy, for such a tiny human.” He even clicked his tongue in his mouth at her. “Was he your dear friend? Or did you let him ride your cunt like the other whores the Mavka have taken? I can smell his scent all over you.”

“Come into the sun and say that,” she bit in response.

“I could, you know.” He raised a brow at her. “I, unlike the rest of my subjects, can withstand the light for a short period of time. It comes with my Elven blood. You wouldn’t even be able to run since I can teleport to what I can see.”

Is that how he was able to get here so quickly?

She clutched Faunus’ skull tighter when Jabez, the Demon King that Faunus had told her of, laid his hand out.

“Give it to me.”

“No, I refuse. You can’t have it.”

“Mayumi!” Henry yelled, and she turned her head to the side to find all three of her friends running towards her.

Jabez threw his hand out to the side, and brown tree-root vines broke from the earth and twisted around their bodies. All three were pulled to their knees before they fell to the ground. They struggled to get out of their bonds.

“Stop!” Mayumi demanded.

Jabez twisted his head until he was facing her once more. “Or what? It’s obvious that stupid Mavka told you who I am, which means you know what I can do.”

She struggled for an answer, but she doubted anything she said would’ve prevented him from doing what he wanted. He’d tortured Faunus. Mayumi would bet on her life he didn’t care about anything other than his own desires.

Then he chuckled brightly. “You know what? After watching you fight and finally seeing that ram-horned Mavka die, proving my theory, I’m willing to be benevolent. I’m not evil nor cruel.”

Mayumi mentally snorted.I beg to differ.

“Keep the skull and your friends. I came here to end him; that’s all I truly cared to achieve.”

Despite crouching for so long, the position seemed so natural for him that he didn’t even sway on his legs. The balls of his feetwere deep against the ground while he rested his forearms over his bent knees.

“Why are you doing this?” Mayumi couldn’t help asking as she shook her head. “What are you targeting the Duskwalkers for?”

Jabez gave a curt growl against his closed fangs when he bared them at her. “Because they keep killing my kind, and they are in the way.”

Mayumi laughed so hard that her eyelids crinkled with the depth of her dark humour.

“That’s not enough. Humans are killing just as many, if not more, of your kind, but I don’t see you going to all the Demonslayer strongholds with all that apparent vast power you have.” She noticed his red eyes, tipped with white eyelashes, narrowed on her as one side of his jaw knotted. “So, what’s the real reason?”

“Very intuitive of you.” He cocked his head to the left with a sneer. “Why should I tell you?”

“Because I’m just so damn curious. Why else would I be fucking asking?”

She wanted to know why! She wanted to know why it was so important that the person she cared for had to be destroyed. She wanted there to be a legitimate reason other than cruelty and menace, hoping that might help her accept this loss.

He threw his head back and laughed.

“I like you. Why not come with me to the Veil? I watched you fight. You would be a formidable soldier for me. You could help me train my army, so they aren’t so useless. They can be fumbling buffoons at times, and they need discipline.” He offered his hand out again. “I won’t even use you like you let that useless Mavka. I need smart soldiers. I don’t care what breed they are.”