Page 242 of A Soul to Embrace

“Oh wow. They didn’t even notice you,” Jabez commented as he folded his arms and waited for the inevitable.

From the corner of his eye, he noticed Merikh slyly sliding to the side to get out of harm’s way. Then he just blatantly hightailed it out of there with his actual bull tail curling in delight. He stayed in sight, though, especially since he actually headedtowardsthe cave entrance.

Just as he was taking a seat on the edge of a large rock like it was a chair, a roar sounded as a winged Mavka ran from the cave opening. He dived straight for Jabez, with his lizard twin brother scuttling with speed below him.

Although he had a very simple way to win this bet, something Merikh had overlooked, he merely ducked beneath the bat-skulled Mavka’s claws. Then he jumped over the raven-skulled one, his legs going wide as he shoved against the top of his skull to go over him.

They both almost crashed against each other as they landed on the ground. Jabez turned just in time to watch the bat-skulled Mavka – he believed his name to be Aleron from his earlier conversation with Merikh – skid across the ground and narrowly stop himself from bashing into a tree.

He didn’t know the raven-skulled one’s name, but he was quick to dig his claws into the ground to get purchase and turn to him. He ran at Jabez with lightning speed, so he let magic cascade through his feet. Grass shot out from the ground and twisted around the raven’s feet, causing him to trip as he easily ripped from weak trappings.

Aleron leapt into the air and circled above, readying himself for an opening.He isn’t attacking uncontrollably in a rage.That at least proved he wasn’t as unintelligent as Merikh had supposed.

Both their orbs were red, but they were still present, which made them much more calculating and harder to fight against.

Just as Jabez was backing up from the raven skull snapping his beak at him, the wind blew from behind in his direction. A familiar, feminine scent fluttered over him, far too close for comfort.

He peeked over his shoulder just in time to see the redheaded woman about to ram her sword into his back. He dodged to the side, rolling before sliding his leg out to retain his balance. Hehad to flip backwards when a small axe came down towards his head as the male human leapt off a rockpool’s ledge towards him.

A snarl rumbled above him, just as another sounded on his left. The humans wisely stayed back as each of their Mavka dived for him simultaneously.

Jabez looked Merikh straight in his yellow orbs of joy and let humour crinkle his eyes. He turned incorporeal. Both Mavka bashed right into each other when they went through him, Aleron punting his own twin brother in the back with his skull and backward-spiralling goat horns.

“That’s cheating!” Merikh roared as he got to his feet.

Jabez tilted his head back and laughed with his hands on his hips. “You only said no teleporting, you idiot. You forgot I’m a Phantom now.”

“Merikh?”Aleron called in surprise, his voice distorted and grainy from being in his monstrous form, as he turned towards him.

The raven-skulled brother paused as well, as both humans turned to him stomping across the clearing.

“Yes, yes, hello you pair of boneheads,” Merikh greeted, before getting in Jabez’s face. “You win, but you’re a sly fucking bastard.”

“You,” the male human sneered as he raised the blade of his axe towards Merikh. “I remember you from the Elven realm. You’ve teamed up with this asshole now, huh? Turned on your own family?”

Surprised the human man was speaking of him, Jabez looked around Merikh’s wide body to be greeted by baleful green eyes. His long, flowing white hair curtained down one side of his tilted head. “I don’t even know you.”

“Yeah, well Emerie told me all about you,” he said, as he stepped towards the redheaded woman. “You’re the reason Aleron died.”

With both Mavka on the other side of them, he and Merikh were surrounded. Merikh turned his skull around while keeping his torso facing Jabez.

“You should thank him then, considering that’s the only reason you two met,” Merikh stated, before he twisted his neck to look at the woman.

Her face was exactly how Jabez remembered it. With freckles on the right side of her light skin, and a mixture of white-and-pink burn scars covering the left side of it. He could see more freckles and scars going down the side of her neck and into her dress, as well as smudges of it on her biceps due to her sleeveless garment.

She narrowed blue eyes at him, and her glare was the same as the day she’d thrown that sun stone against the ground. Resentful but determined.

“You almost killed me, you know,” Jabez stated, letting his features dull – he was still rather displeased about it. “Do you know how much pain I had to endure because of you?”

She lifted the tip of her sword to his face, and the polished iron glinted in the oncoming sunlight. “It’s less than what you deserve.”

“What is going on, Merikh?”Aleron asked in his monstrous form, as he flared his large, feathered wings.“Why are you here with the Demon King?”

Merikh placed an arm over Jabez’s shoulders and leaned almost the entirety of his heavy weight on him until he felt his knees trying to buckle. Then his bull-horned companion waved his hand in the air as if he was about to tell some grand story.

“Jabez, here, went and got himself bonded to a Mavka. He is now family.”

“You’re joking,” the female human stated in utter disbelief. “What Duskwalker would bond withhim?”

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