Page 169 of A Soul to Embrace

Remaining upside down caused his face and head to heat from excess blood. His heartbeat quickened to try to orientate itself for a natural flow, which only intensified the thumping in his brain and blurred his sight further.

In the muted background, as if he was below the surface of the water, the distressed roars of a creature reached his clogged ears. It sounded both afraid and enraged, and many voices responded to it in kind. A scream burst through the buzz muting his hearing before it quickly died.

Zylah?he thought, and his features twitched.Fuck. My head feels like it’s on fire.

How he’d gotten into this position wasn’t a mystery, but he sure as hell was angry at himself for it. Had he monitored her position better, she may not have been just out of reach when chaos ensued. He could have prevented all this.

Then again, he’d had an inkling that something was wrong halfway through the village.

There had been far more void-like flesh than he remembered, but he thought perhaps these people had allowed new faces to join. No one had looked similar. It was only when they greeted the leader that heknewsomething had happened since his last visit here.

The male Demon, Lueka, had been much younger than the previous leader, Szala. That had already raised his hackles, but the older leader had been well into his years, an elder who had been alive much longer than Jabez. It wasn’tthatunusual thathe may have died, especially as he’d relied on a cane to keep his weak body up.

But speaking with Lueka had only deepened Jabez’s mistrust, especially as he’d seen a scheming glint in the Demon’s red eyes. Lueka had acted too cocky, too arrogant, too much like himself when he’d been king of the Demons on Earth.

To see his own reflection in another meant trusting him was unwise, and the closer the crowd came, the further Jabez wanted to distance himself from them. Not a single face had been familiar, and those he’d met here before had not come to greet him amicably.

It was too suspicious, even before they’d done anything malicious.

Then he’d detected magic right behind him. Although his foe had been invisible, he’d sensed them there – enough to land a killing blow before he could even be touched. The Demon had likely eaten many creatures that had camouflaging abilities.

If one person had the ability, he didn’t doubt more did.

It’s likely another had come along and bashed him over the back of the skull just as he reached Zylah.

If she hadn’t been swarmed, he could have teleported to her with ease. But with so many bodies on top of her that he couldn’t even see her, doing so would’ve had him materialising within someone – which would have instantly killed him and the other person.

Every ability came with a weakness, and that was a risky one for his teleportation. So, he’d materialised above the swarm and landed on top of the middle of it, shoving them aside to get to her.

All this did little to change what happened, but it meant his memory was intact. He needed to think so he could figure out the best way out of this, and he kept as still as possible while waiting for the rope to twist enough so he could see.

A horrible squeal had his ears pricking, and something dark clung to his heart when he knew the source. As he managed to orientate his mind, the buzz in his ears softened so he could properly hear the sharp, agonised whines and whimpers of a clearly distressed Mavka.

Zylah,he thought with a wince, trying to find her. There were too many Demons circling him now, blocking his slitted view of his surroundings.

He took note of his wounds and only registered the one across his fractured skull.

Someone grabbed his face and squeezed his cheeks just as he picked up on the string of conversation.

“He smells like an Elf, but he has Demon features,” a male stated, informing Jabez that his damn scent cloak had broken when he passed out. He forced Jabez’s lips apart to expose his sharp teeth to all. “See? He has horns and fangs, but I’ve never seen a Demon bleedredbefore.”

“He could be a hybrid,” Lueka’s deep voice boomed from the exact spot he’d originally been standing in, like he’d been a spectator to the fight Jabez had joined. “I wouldn’t be surprised if those Elysians began creating a way to infiltrate our numbers and kill us from the inside.”

Jabez considered two reasons as to why they hadn’t immediately begun eating him. One, they usually did this to those who got caught in their trap – probably to share the pieces of him with all. Or, secondly, they wanted to question him now that his hybrid blood had been revealed.

The fact that he’d fallen for a trap at all was infuriating, but the last time he’d come here, which wasn’t long ago, it was peaceful. It meant they’d only taken over recently. This ruined village made it difficult to decipher that it’d been recently attacked.

“He’s strong and fast,” Lueka continued, lifting a hand to cup his jaw and hide his short goatee. “That ability of his to disappear and reappear in another spot may be useful to us.”

Zylah’s scream overshadowed the conversation, and the pounding in his chest doubled at the pained sound. His gut twisted, and clarity flared in his hazy vision.

He found her, and the heat of rage simmered beneath his flesh at what he saw. Tied down by multiple enchanted trappings, many spears lanced her as she tried with all her might to get free. There was no red in her orbs, as it’d snuffed to white in what he thought was pure fear or agony, or perhaps both.

“You promised us food!” a bystander yelled at Lueka. “We haven’t eaten in two days.”

“We don’t give a fuck about his abilities. Our hunters haven’t returned, and many of us are starving.”

“Feed us like you promised! If he’s part Elf, then his meat will help us evolve more than eating our own kind. We can’t mess up this opportunity. What if he escapes?”

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