Page 151 of A Soul to Touch

It often reminded him of himself. Both night and day blended into one. Just like every Duskwalker he’d met, each dusk was different.

“I’ll need to tweak those that didn’t hit their mark,” she grumbled, referencing the arrows that had missed the target and flew off into the forest. “Do you think you could get them for me while I pull out the ones in the stake?”

“Of course,” he answered with his tail curling, an animation of his glee. He enjoyed assisting her in any way he could, even if it was playing fetch. “However,” he started with a chuckle as he headed into the forest. “Are you sure you didn’t just miss because you cannot aim?”

“Rude!” she laughed back. “I’ll have you know, there were only a few in the guild who were as good as I am at archery. I rarely miss my mark, thankyouvery much.”

He began his search, following Mayumi’s scent that lingered on her arrows as well as the smell of the metal, wood, glue, and even the feathers. For a moment, he wondered if she had sent him off to go find them because she had been intelligent enough to know he’d be able to use his senses.

I believe I counted seven missed?

The lingering smell of blood made it a little tricky to smell through, but he was able to slowly find them.

A thought did cross his mind, especially when he could hear her struggle to pull out the deeply stuck arrows.

“Mayumi,” he yelled casually.

“Yeah!” she screamed back while groaning. Then she yelped, and he heard the shuffle of her feet before a dull thud.

She fell on her arse.His sight brightened in its yellow colour as the urge to laugh tickled him.

“I think it would be wise if you remained inside tonight. I’m not sure if we are at risk, but there is a lot of blood in the air.”

“Ooo! Are you saying we can lay in wait and hunt for more Demons again?”

She’s so bloodthirsty,he thought as he plucked a third arrow from its resting place – inside the very base of a tree.He inspected it, wondering what could possibly be wrong with it when it appeared perfectly made.I’m forever grateful to whatever being made her the way she is. It would have made it a lot harder to protect her if she had been trying to kill me the entire time.

His orbs brightened even further in their colour as his tail happily curled again.

Faunus chose not to respond to her, knowing she would make up her own mind on what she wanted to do tonight with the information he’d given her. He doubted he could change her mind either way.

At this rate, they’d have a permanent hunting ground. He bet that’d make her ecstatic. Would their new normality become fucking throughout the day and Demon slaying at night?

I’ll admit... It feels good to slaughter them.

If Jabez wanted an army and was willing to kill Duskwalkers to do so, then Faunus now wanted to absolutely get in the fucking way after what he did to him. Revenge felt good. It was so sweet he could almost taste it on his tongue.

You crack my skull, and I’ll crack all the ones in your army.

When he was just picking up the last arrow, a whooshing sound caught his attention. It sounded like a bird in the distance, and at first, he ignored it.

That was until he realised it was moving faster than any animal he’d ever heard, and... it was coming right this way. The loud rustles of leaves informed him that the creature was also very large and flying through the forest rather than above it.

It’s avoiding the last of the sun.His head turned in the direction of where he could hear Mayumi still in the clearing. White flashed in orbs.She’s in danger.

Faunus, still holding the arrows just in case he was wrong,hopinghe was wrong, sprinted through the forest. He wasn’t far from her.

It was too late.

Just as he broke the tree line, something black shot through a different section of the forest. It swooped, grabbing Mayumi, who had been standing on a low arrow with her thighs hugging the stake to grab another that was higher.

She gasped in surprise when a large, winged Demon grabbed her shoulder with its prehensile foot.

“Mayumi!” he roared as she was dragged into the sky just as the last of the sun faded over the horizon. He jumped to reach them, but the tip of his claw just scraped the underside of her boot.

She said nothing, made no demands to the Demon as if she knew it wouldn’t matter. She didn’t even scream.

With Faunus circling below them, he saw Mayumi narrow her eyes upward and begin bashing on its foot. When that didn’t work, she tried to peel one of its clawed toes back to release herself.

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