Page 106 of A Soul to Embrace

Thus, he constantly shielded all his dangly bits behind a seam like most Demons. Being punched there was preferable over a gory removal, although that could still make his eyes water in agony.

When he was alone with Zylah again, and wasn’t surrounded by potential danger, he’d release them to their natural state. Doing so for the past two months had been pleasant, and it reminded him how much his precious jewels preferred the freedom.

Ah, the things I have done to protect myself.Another was hiding his Elvish markings by morphing them into the black streaks he’d displayed for most of his life, giving him more of a Demon appearance.

Once Zylah was able to stand on her own, she was quick to move, as if she wanted to throw herself into the chaos of the village. Her excitement was contagious, despite the fact that he’d walked these streets countless times.

He tried to see it through her eyes, especially when she let out a cute rasp at the twinkling lights moving here and there.

Now that they were on the ground, the last remaining fireflies swarmed as they tried to escape before dawn. Something about this place brought those insects here, and he often wondered if it was the nectar mead that many establishments sold.

Hanging between the browns, creams, and clay orange of the many buildings, lanterns helped to illuminate the splashes of colour. Red was the most common, but Demons enjoyed the luxuries of different colours. They tried to make Spiral Haven as bright and beautiful as possible, and they all involved themselves in that task.

The music was much louder now, as was the chattering and laughter coming from the throngs of people.

Her head twisted and jerked, facing one way and the other as she tried to pick up on strings of conversation. He thought the sudden loud influx of noise would bother or overwhelm her, but her excited panting and her bright-yellow orbs gave away that she was overjoyed.

She’s very different to the rest of her kind.

She was tackling this head-on, when he knew other Mavka would have immediately been on high alert and aggressive. She even ran straight into a street without caution, and immediately bumped into a group of Demons who were distracted by a heated conversation.

They offered no apology, even when she stepped back in surprise and knocked into Jabez. He pushed against her lower back in order to stop her from tripping, and she turned to him with reddish-pink orbs.

“Oh wow. It really is busy!” she stated from their empty pathway, her head constantly scanning the crowds.

Many different Demons passed them as they made their way lower into the village, each of them on their own mission. Some looked nearly human with varying skin tones, while others had a mottled, patchy appearance that mixed in with their void-like absences of flesh. Then, of course, there were many more that completely lacked human flesh and still had more animalistic features.

“Careful,” he warned when it looked as though she was about to throw herself into the street again. He grabbed her wrist to halt her. “It’ll annoy people if you constantly barge into them. You have to be self-aware when in busy crowds.”

She nodded as if she understood, but he had a funny feeling she wasn’t truly listening.

“I’ve never seen so many people,” she whispered with a coarse voice, before turning her head up to the closest rooftop.

A scrawny male with wings played some kind of flute. She pointed right at him and giggled when the male waved at her between notes. She was taller than everyone else, as was Jabez, making them easy to spot.

Most human-eating Demons didn’t gain great feats of height, but he’d met Elf-eating ones that were nearly as tall as himself.Jabez had, and likely would, tower over everyone who wasn’t a Mavka.

She waved back before facing Jabez with her feet stamping in joy, and he chuckled at her for it.

Part of him wanted to tell her to calm down, so she didn’t draw too much attention to herself, but he also didn’t want to take away her fun.

This is the first time she’s been in a village like this.She likely wouldn’t get to experience this again unless he brought her back here, or he achieved his goal and overtook the Elven city.

He also reminded himself that she’d been in isolation for all her life, and likely had oodles of energy to expend. He could imagine what that was like – feeling different and finally getting to experience being ‘normal.’

When he visited here, he often wore a glamour just to hide his identity and mingle as someone other than himself. His presence as Jabez, the king of Demons, meant people treated him differently.

Which often robbed him of normality.

He’d been robbed of that from the moment he was born.

Which is why a small smile curled his lips as he watched her bounce on her little bunny feet.It’s nice to see her experience this so joyfully.Even his chest radiated with warmth, although he wished he could have experienced such exhilaration alongside her.

At least he could do so vicariously through her.

Seeing she was getting impatient when she grabbed his forearm and tried to tug him into the street, he rolled his eyes playfully and let her lead him. Her touch was not unwelcome, even when she held his wrist and dragged him through the bulk of the crowd heading towards the centre of the village. They wanted to get to the markets before everything shut near dawn,which was when most of the stalls would close for their owners to grab a few hours’ sleep.

Getting bumped into didn’t bother him, but they each gained a wary eye as they passed people. He had to remind himself that he looked much different, and she appeared as a normal Demon.