Page 156 of To Free a Soul
Standing before Leonidas – or Kitty, as he preferred – Lindiwe put her hands up to block his path through the forest.
“You need to leave the Veil,” she demanded, her tone firm to ensure she couldn’t be ignored.
He snorted a huff through his feline nose hole, and on all fours, stepped around her.“Why? I should be fine.”
“Because Jabez and his minions are on the move. They’re hunting, and I’m worried he’s hunting Duskwalkers.” She quickly chased after him. “I’ve already warned the twins, since they’ve been lingering around the centre of the Veil lately.”
A low chuckle slipped past his sharp fangs.“Only an idiot would attack them.”His short-furred feline tail curled at the end.“You need to stop worrying. I won’t allow myself to be harmed again.”
“You say that, but his ability to teleport may render that argument moot.”
He shrugged.“I’ll rip him to shreds if he tries. His ability to disappear isn’t enough to save him from my claws. He’s already tried, and failed, to capture me again.”
His muscled biceps flexed with each movement as he carefully traversed through the forest. The backs of his hands grazed over twisted tree roots and rocks, while he looked one way, sniffed the air, and then brought his feline skull forward.
“Please. For once, just listen to me,” she pleaded, running in front of him and throwing her arms out. “He knows your skulls aren’t indestructible. He’s already tried to kill Orpheus.”
Leonidas sighed, and his yellow orbs turned black when he hung back for a moment. They opened, and he shone them at her.“You said his female companion is dead. Isn’t she the one who wanted Mavka dead?”
“It’s more than that. Jabez has his own vendetta against your kind, and he’s become... unhinged since she died.”
It’d only been half a year, and his movements had been... different. He left his castle often, rather than remaining inside it. He was more aggressive, more violent, to the point that the moment she saw him in the Demon Village, she got out of there quickly. There was a dark, crazed edge to his eyes that was more apparent than ever before.
Something in him had snapped, and she didn’t want to know what the result of it was.
“Even if it’s just for a little while, I think it’s best if you all leave the Veil for a few years. Let things die down. Especially you, since your home was taken from you because you left it for too long.”
“I’ll consider it,”Leonidas stated, stepping around her again.
That’s his way of saying he won’t!
Unlike Orpheus, who had stopped hunting humans due to wanting to make them his companion, Leonidas hadn’t. He was younger than his brother, but far more intelligent.
But it doesn’t make him any smarter sometimes.
He also couldn’t be told what to do, and he liked roaming the Veil as much as the surface. He was strong, formidable, and unimaginably quick – even compared to his brothers. He thought this made him safe.
He’s able to befriend some of the Demons. Does he think that sets him apart from the others?It didn’t matter if he’d madefriends with some of them; Jabez didn’t care about such things. He’d kill Leonidas and then those Demons under the guise that it progressed his war and vendetta. He’d destroy anything and everything, so long as it gave him what he wanted.
“They’ve entered the village,”Weldir told her as she watched Leonidas walk off, unsure of how to change his mind.
“Ugh!” she bellowed, raising her hands with tense fingers because nothing was working out for her right now.
She was out of time. It’d taken Delora and Magnar days to get to the centre of the Veil, and during that time, she’d been hunting down her wandering children to get them to leave. She wanted them on the surface, where it was safer.
Talking to the twins was impossible, as they hadn’t obtained enough humanity yet. Getting them to leave had proved futile; they preferred to chase her through the forest like they were playing a game rather than listen.
At least I know Merikh is safe,she thought solemnly, watching Leonidas’ tail swish before his backside disappeared into the blue-white mist.He’s travelling through human towns still.
I can’t help any of them if they won’t fucking listen to me.
“Keep an eye on him,” she bit out as she pulled her feathered hood tighter over her head.
“I always do. I’m watching them all, Lindiwe. I will tell you if something goes astray.”
She nodded her thanks, growing more tired and irritable by the day. She shifted into her owl form and quickly lifted off to head towards Spiral Haven.
I was hoping to get rid of the haunted ones there before they arrived.There would likely be many souls waiting to be harvested, and she’d intended to rid the village of them before Delora and Magnar made it there.But I had to warn my children first.
