Page 170 of A Soul to Embrace

Jabez picked up on the string of arguing, but his gaze never strayed from Zylah.Let her go,he pleaded, just as she let out a roar and managed to lunge forward in her bindings when another spear was shoved through her back.

She didn’t make it far. The Demons holding onto the rope dragged her down and slid her back across the ground. They were too strong as a collective for even her.

“Shut that thing up!” Lueka bellowed, turning to her and the fuss she was creating. “How hard is it to kill one creature?!”

“We’re trying!” one of them yelled in return, just as he lost his grip against her fierce tugging. “It’s strong, and we’ve pierced it in the heart multiple times. It won’t give up.”

Because she’d never give up. Because in order to protect itself at all costs, her body would compensate for any injury to ensure she kept fighting or could flee.

His eyes bowed at the state of her fur covered in purple blood, and the way she fought while crying out.

“Break open its fucking head then. I’d like to see it move with its brains splattered.”

Something cold and painful lanced his chest to the point his heart clenched up. At first, he thought it was a weapon. Yet there was no burn, no slice, and no blood, and he realised it had come from within him in reaction to their words.

The threat to her bit into his mind, and his lungs seized on a pant. Despite the languidness of his useless body, he felt a tremor rolling through him, of sickness, of revulsion, of strength.

Jabez teleported, intending to go straight to her side. Instead he fell against the ground face first, like he’d melted from the bindings, and the thud of his head hitting the hard dirt blasted agony through his mind. Trying to get to his shaking hands and knees to pick his sorry body up off the ground, he attempted to teleport to her once more, only to flicker in place.

Shit. I can’t teleport properly.His cognitive abilities with his magic were disrupted due to his injury.

He managed to get to his feet, only to stumble to the side once he was standing. He staggered, half his body trying to crumple as he fought against the languidness and dizzy vision swarming him.

At least being upright stopped his skull from feeling like it’d implode.

“Let her go,” Jabez demanded quietly with a wheeze, stepping towards her with a hand out.

“He got out of the bindings!” someone shouted with a gasp.

“How?! He should be unconscious!” another yelled.

“Shut up and get him!” Lueka bellowed.

Someone dived for Jabez. He dodged while thoughtlessly teleporting and slammed into a person on the other side of thestatue. He knocked them over, and the impact of their collision thankfully stopped him from falling.

“Fuck,” he bit out, since he’d been intending to go to Zylah.

He shook his head, feeling inebriated as he tripped forward. He held the side of his throbbing head, his left eye aching as if there was too much pressure behind it. Each step felt like hell, radiating up his bones to pierce behind his eyes.

But at Zylah’s next scream, sharpness rushed into his senses, and the anger within him exploded.

The reason he hadn’t wanted her to come to this realm with him... the reason he’d tried to go the political route as an alternative... was to avoid this. Her pain, having to hear it, see it,scentit.

The taste of her blood and fear in the air was nothing but fucking sour.

How dare they make him witness this!

“Let her go!” Jabez roared, giving up on his ability to teleport at the moment until he managed to heal himself enough to regain full control.

If he couldn’t use his magic, then he’d use his entire body!

He ran and lunged for the first Demon he could find like an animal. With his feet against their broad chest, a rabid snarl erupted for him as he bit into the side of their neck and ripped their throat out. Blood gushed across his face as he swallowed to steal their essence.

He felt the warmth of a rune right next to his heart lighting up. What he’d stolen wouldn’t do much in terms of healing, but it should help him to start gaining back proper clarity. Right now, he was relying on adrenaline and fury to fuel him, but he was aware his impulsive attacks would only hinder him.

He hissed as he jumped off the Demon crumbling to its knees to evade the swipe of claws coming from his left. He stepped on the back of his attacker’s head, and his weight shoved themheadfirst towards the ground. At the last second, he extended his legs to quicken their fall, and the satisfying crush of their skull splattering rang in his ears.

Just as a launched spear was about to connect with his chest, Jabez dodged, extending his left leg and placing his hands on the ground to balance himself.

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