Page 26 of A Soul to Guide

The problem was... now that he knew what she was, he was no longer interested in eating her. Okay, maybe a little, and much later, but he had plans for her first. He would take her help, whether she wanted to assist him or not.

With a snarl, Merikh pounced on her again.

She heard him coming, and a shield formed above her like a basket of thick grass. Its links appeared like hexagons, and his snarl deepened as he tried to dig through it to get to her. Yet, when he ripped a link away, another quickly formed in its place. He threw grass stalks from his fists so he could dig again.

He dug and dug, going faster and faster until he was quicker than her pesky spell. Once he could get both hands gripping the hole he’d made, he tore her shield in two.

“Please,” she whimpered, but he just reached down and grabbed her throat and shoulders with his large hand.

He brought her closer, his heart racing with a thrill – not just from this difficult battle, but at the potential that lay before him. He was vibrating in exhilaration.

“How did you get here?” he asked, his voice husky with excitement. “How did you get to Earth? Where’s the portal?”

“Leave me alone!”

Vines tried to wrap around him again, but he heard their rustling this time and rolled to the side to dodge. He took her with him, uncaring if he hurt her in the process.

“Can we get back there?” He shook her when she didn’t answer. “Is that why you were desperate to leave Clawhaven? To go back to a portal?”

Her eyes were tightly clenched shut, as were her fists. She was so afraid of him that she was visibly shaking, and tiny droplets had collected on her long eyelashes.

In a small, trembling voice she cried, “Are-are you going to kill me?”

It was a like a punch to the gut that sobered him straight.

He looked up and around at their environment. He’d been freaking her out, scaring the hell out of her, and just because he was using a scent barrier to hide himself from fear and blood scents didn’t mean it was actually hidden.

I need to calm her down or she’ll bring a horde of Demons upon us.

Awkwardly, as he’d never comforted another before – a predator soothing prey would be strange – he petted her head. Honestly... it was the best he could think of.

Yet he kept doing it, petting this trembling female Elf’s hair, as he said, “I told you yesterday, if I wanted you dead, you’d be dead.”

That did absolutelynothingto ease her. His claws scraping over her probably wasn’t aiding him.

It was already too late.

Within moments, the foul scent of rot fluttered on the wind, as did the quick thumps of a speedy Demon making its way closer.

Merikh went to scoop her up in his arms and run with her, his precious, valuable prize, but a whoosh of wings from above made him look up. He despised winged Demons for this very reason: they were hard to track, as they could glide near silently, and their scents never reached him in time.

It swooped down the moment he turned his sight upward, and he threw himself over Raewyn to protect her.

Bat-like chirping mixed with the mangled cry it gave as it dived. “A Mavka! I’ll be rewarded if I bring your skull to the Veil!”

The Demons always said that these days, although they hadn’t two years ago.You’ll just be another added to the number of Demons I’ve slaughtered.

The humour that tightened his chest was filled with malice. He tensed, and the base of the long, sharp quills that usually laid flat over his back, calves, and forearms stiffened. His quills lifted, creating a dense layer of deadly spikes that tore through his red flannel shirt, his black pant legs, and dark-brown cloak.

The bat-like Demon’s shriek was ear-piercing as it stabbed its clawed feet on the quills.

In her fear and confusion, unable to see what was happening, Raewyn beat at his shoulders. He doubted she was able to sense anything happening around them with his body and cloak shielding her. He’d be a barrier of sound and scent.

Her fear also may not be allowing her to register what was truly going on around her.

The upward pointing bull horns on top of his head were enough to ward the Demon away from grabbing his skull. At the moment, from above, Merikh was untouchable.

Still, if he didn’t calm the woman shaking beneath him, who was even trying to crawl out from under him, more Demons would come.

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