Page 101 of A Soul to Steal

He looked around, wondering how far from home he was.

So far, the Duskwalker wasn’t hurting him, and had spoken to him. Perhaps he could get answers from it.

“What happened? Where am I?” And how could he get away from the monster before him? Which direction would take him to the safety of Fishket’s protective walls?

“We are west of the Veil.”

Gideon flinched at that, and the depth of his growly voice. No matter that they’d had a conversation earlier, it still startled him that this beast could talk.

West? Fuck! Just how far did that Demon take me?He anxiously darted his gaze to the wings before him.Or was it he who brought me here?

Had he taken Gideon as far away from his home and family on purpose to ensure he felt hopeless?

“Why the fuck am I naked?” he asked, refusing to look upon the Duskwalker’s skull. He found it unsettling.

Now that he thought back on it, the Demon who had flown off with him had a wolfish muzzle – which absolutely had skin on it.

Regardless, his damn face heated in embarrassment at being as naked as the day he was born. In the forest, no less. It didn’t matter who or what was before him. He could even feel a rock stabbing into his arse!

“Your soul is naked, so you did not have any clothing when you materialised.” The Duskwalker placed a massive clawed hand against the ground, inching closer on his knees, until Gideon drew his legs up. He halted. “There is a town nearby. I have been waiting for you to wake up so we could clothe you.”

“Clothe me?” Everything this monster stated just added more levels of confusion to his rapid and frantic thoughts. “I don’t understand. Aren’t you going to eat me? That’s what your kind do: kill humans.”

His skin crawled when the Duskwalker brushed the backs of his smooth claws against his shin. He shuffled his leg back.

Quietly, and with a hint of sadness, he said, “I would never hurt you.”

Could he trust that? He brought his gaze to him, trying to assess skinless features that could never reveal any hint of truth or lie. He took in his twisting, spiralling goat horns and how they loomed above his form like a pair of devil horns. His skull was that of a bat, white, and yet it shimmered in the sunlight with hints of gold.

The rest of him just became a blur as he took in long fur and feathers, his wings and bird-like tail. He looked soft, but he was so damn massive it was like looking at a bear. His claws didn’t help, and his bird-like feet were weird to look at.

“Why am I here?” Gideon whined.

His anxiety and fear still remained high and hadn’t eased at all. Actually, it grew worse with each huff of breath, his torso beginning to heave with it.

“Because you are my bride. You do not remember, but we bonded in the afterworld.”

A callous laugh snorted out of him, and he finally braved standing.What nonsense is he going on about? Bride? Afterworld?None of it made sense.

“You have not been alive for a long time,” he continued, remaining where he knelt. “You were in Tenebris, a realm belonging to Weldir, the spirit of the void.”

Gideon stepped back, shaking his head side to side.Great. He’s fucking crazy.

“Which way did you say the town was?” Gideon asked, trying to sound casual, hoping to get away from the nutbag of a monster as soon as possible.

He could figure shit out from there. If someone could just clothe him and put an axe in his hand, he’d work to the bone to get back to Fishket.

Gideon suddenly covered his face as dread made it pale.Shit. Beau must be so damn worried.Beau was the most soft-hearted, caring man he’d ever met. He’d be pulling his hair out at his disappearance, probably his long beard too.

The Duskwalker tilted his head, the sound of dry bones rattling from him. It was unnerving, and reminded Gideon too much of the taunts Demons made from the shadows.

With his orbs darkening in their blue, the Duskwalker’s skull pointed in a direction between two trees. “I smell humans that way.”

“This way?” he asked, hiking his thumb towards it. When he nodded, Gideon gave him a two-finger salute, and his skulled head tilted, like a big curious dog. “Sweet. Thanks for the help, but I’ve got it from here.”

Choosing to believe that he truly wouldn’t hurt him, and maybe even was the one who accidentally saved him for whatever reason, he strolled off into the forest. The heavy, unnerving crunches behind him made him wince.

He’d been hoping it wouldn’t follow.

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