Havoc of Souls

by S. J. Sanders

  Blind panic filled her. She struggled briefly against his hold, but his grip was like iron, his claws digging into her arm, and his grin a monstrous facsimile of a smile. His grip didn’t ease until she went lax, her breath rushing in and out of her in terrified pants.

  “No, you wouldn’t want that,” he agreed with his high-pitched laugh.

  “What you are offering isn’t any better,” she hissed, her eyes screwed shut as she felt him loom nearer.

  The air moved around her slightly as if he drew back, considering her claim. He laughed maniacally, his giggles making her skin crawl.

  “Short-sighted human, but yes, in a way, you are probably right.”

  He leaned down and pressed a smacking kiss against her cheek. Her stomach rolled with nausea, and pitched when he dragged her up onto her feet. Her eyes flew open at the unexpected movement and she looked up at him.

  No longer laughing, the ravager’s head had whipped to the window, his nostrils flaring. She could swear she could see his hackles raise as he backed away, pulling her with him. The last traces of the sunset still filled the window as he steered her deeper into the house.

  “It is time,” he muttered. “We must hurry. Magva has been waiting very patiently. She’s eager to meet you at last.” He giggled again and hauled her along at a quicker clip. They walked so fast that she nearly stumbled over her feet and had to be half-carried down the stairs and out the front door.

  The bite of the cold autumn air stung her cheeks and arms as he hauled her around the building. Her feet slipped through the wet leaves and, though it didn’t seem possible, the stench got worse as they rounded to a wooded area in the back.

  Meredith instinctively drew back, her feet kicking and scrambling as he tugged her into the trees. Glancing down at her petrified face, he laughed cruelly and dragged her along behind him.

  All around them, she caught glimpses of the ravagers sliding among the tree. They outpaced them and continued through the woods heading to a common destination. And they were heading straight for it. She knew for certain that her moment had come. Cold perspiration slid down her back as he pulled her into a clearing where a stone table had been constructed.

  The ravager pulled her in front of it and tore off her clothes with such brutal efficiency that Meredith flinched. He grinned at her reaction and pushed her back onto the altar. Her breath left her body at contact with the unforgiving stone. She drew in a deep, shaky breath as he loomed over her, his finger reaching to trace down the center of her body as if following an invisible seam.

  “I will savor this moment in my memories forever,” he purred. “As soon as she is one with you, we will celebrate our success. This very stone you bleed out on will be our first marital bed and we join here with her first breaths in her new flesh.”

  Meredith struggled but he tsked at her and pulled her arms and legs into restraints, tying the ropes tightly on her limbs.

  “For your own safety.” He patted her on the cheek. “Your body will heal better if you are not struggling in the process. I cannot abide any other to hold you still, and I wish to watch and so cannot do it myself. This is for the best,” he said with a happy smile.

  Walking around the altar, his head turned left to right, his form shifting to his true nature. His massive, muscled body was nearly colorless, its pale skin seeming to move as if alive. Tentacles drifted off his upper back, the ends bearing a series of deadly spikes as they whipped around him. Three horns, two longer ones and a shorter one in the center, rose up from his head like a crown. He was larger than many ravagers, and the others around the perimeter of the clearing gave him berth.

  His nostrils flared and he growled threateningly at them. Their glowing eyes blinked, and they backed further away from the clearing. Satisfied with their submission, he snapped his teeth and roared a loud bellowing sound that echoed through the trees. An answer rose up from ahead and Meredith turned her head trying to see where it came from.

  “Magva,” he called triumphantly.

  “Tirv,” a voice replied. Unlike the deep bass of the males, the pitch was high, almost like a shriek. The piercing sound made her ears ring.

  The grass crunched all around her as they circled her from both sides. Her eyes darted first to Jason... no, to Tirv... who grinned at her with cold glee. She felt the presence at her other side and her blood ran cold.

  “Look at meeeee,” Magva demanded.

  Tirv growled in warning, baring his teeth at Meredith. Meredith whimpered and slowly turned to meet the brilliant green glow of Magva’s eyes. A scream rose in her throat as she came face to face with the female ravager.

  Magva’s body was long and lean, with feline muscle packed over every inch of her. Short midnight scales covered her body where large horns didn’t protrude from along her back and shoulders. Even her long tail was dangerously armored. She crouched slowly on her legs, her six powerful arms bracing the altar as she leered down at her, long claws curving into the stone, carving deep grooves into the surface.

  The sharp face stretched with a mouth of jagged teeth, looming close to Meredith, rows upon rows of horns leading to a head full of whipping living hair coming perilously near her face, as Magva inhaled and hissed with pleasure. A pleased leer stretched the female’s lips.

  Without delay, the ravager climbed onto the altar, her arms bracing around Meredith’s head, her knees sinking around Meredith’s hips. Magva’s mouth began to open wide, a long, thin tongue slipping out to glide along Meredith’s face, leaving a slimy trail in its path. Meredith braced herself for the pain she was certain was coming at any minute.

  “Fuck you, all of you!” Meredith cried, her anger boiling as her fear reached new heights. “I hope something bigger and badder hunts you like you’ve hunted us and kicks your ugly asses!”

  Magva and Tirv laughed at her, but Meredith didn’t care. She glared at them, pouring out all her hatred as claws settled on her belly. She felt the sharp sting as they began to dig into her skin...

  A roar cut through the woods and panic swelled among the ravagers. They bellowed to each other with unmistaken sounds of anger and fear. Magva lifted her head and snarled, giving Meredith a view of the shadow forms of the ravagers fleeing through the woods.

  They were running from something.

  Magva crawled down from the altar quickly, but not quick enough. Serpents snapped up from the ground, wrapping around her arms and legs. They crawled around her neck and slid over her face. Magva screamed in fury and fear, her claws lashing out to remove them. Tirv attempted to aid her but a massive hammer dropped down, striking the male in the torso, sending him flying into the trees.

  A strange pulsating red light filled the clearing. Magva’s shrieks became louder and more panicked. From her awkward angle, Meredith watched as the ravager and serpents alike began to fragment and dissolve into a dark mist. This mist retreated as if being pulled by a vacuum away from the altar. Magva screamed, and Meredith let out her own cry at the sight, until there was nothing left of her other than a red glow in the woods that soon dissipated.

  Meredith twisted her head, trying to see what had happened, cursing how thoroughly Tirv had tied her down. A flash of movement at her side and Meredith was all too aware of the male rushing toward the altar. She did not know what the fuck had happened to the female; all she knew was that Tirv was up and pissed off.

  Screaming in panic she tugged on her bonds, certain that he was going to rip her apart in vengeance for the loss of his mate. Instead, he passed by the altar, moving out of her range of vision. Pulling hard, Meredith jerked her arms and legs futilely.

  A rumbling roar answered Tirv’s bellow. It sounded like it came from something bigger and far more dangerous. Meredith screamed louder and became more frenzied in her attempt to get away. Even if the thing was attacking the ravagers, there was no guarantee that it wouldn’t kill her too. Especially not when she was tied up like a sacrificial offering.

  The impact of bodies colliding was loud,
the trees shaking from the violence of it. The ravager howled, but after several percussive sounds those howls gradually turned into cries of pain. The sound of bones crunching was deafening in the quiet forest. Bones snapped with every meaty slam of a weapon.

  Tirv fell silent, and Meredith knew that whatever had once been Jason was dead. The forest flashed red again and then something heavy moved through the trees. She turned her head in the direction it was coming from, her heart racing in her chest. A large shadow fell over her, larger than any man, larger than the ravagers.

  A sour taste in her mouth, Meredith shook the ropes holding her arms prisoner.

  “Let me go!” she shouted. “I am not going to be anyone’s fucking dinner tonight!”

  The shadowy silhouette paused and then grew larger as it came closer. A face that was at once both beautiful and terrible leaned over her. Meredith’s eyes widened as she looked upon him and fear rose in her breast anew. This was not just some monster. He was infinitely worse. Like an angel of death and destruction, a demon without a trace of pity or kindness in his brutally carved face.

  She whimpered as he neared, and one huge hand reached toward her.

  Chapter 6

  The hand crashed down on the altar beside her head and Meredith took a shuddering breath. The demon’s heavy brow pulled down into a scowl over a strong nose with a slight hook to it, giving him both an angry and puzzled look. Beneath his drawn brow, his eyes were nothing but glow red orbs that narrowed at her.

  Although possessing striking features, the face looking at her was not pretty. She might have considered the odd blue pigment interesting, but his features were too harsh to be pretty. High, sharp cheekbones cut down over a strong bearded jaw toward a pair of full lips. Lips that were peeled back in a snarl, revealing double upper fangs and lower fangs.

  He leaned in close, nostrils flaring, the ebony horns on his brow coming dangerously closer to her face as he sniffed her. His dark hair fell over her breast and a movement among his horns drew her attention to an obsidian-dark serpent sliding through his hair between them. She bit her lip and eyed the snake fearfully. Like the demon himself, it had glowing red eyes that appeared almost like tiny jewels in its head.

  Suddenly the demon growled, pulled away from the altar, and shook his head. That was when she saw the other serpents. A number of snakes writhed along his body, and to her horror, his skin seemed to split to allow them to burrow in and out at whim.

  He snorted like an angry bull and his long, pointed ears shifted forward and snapped back against his head. His knuckles tightened around a giant hammer stained with blood. The center of the mallet had wicked spikes studding it. It rested against his thigh and that made her relax a little. He had not yet lifted it, nor had he yet made any kind of aggressive move toward her.

  For a moment he looked a shade uncertain, but then his face darkened, and he snarled. Enough so that she nearly pissed the altar right there and then. His body was thick with muscle and every one of them stood out with rock-hard tension.

  Meredith watched him in silence. She was certain she was going to die, but she couldn’t be too mad if he was out there getting the ravagers too. In truth, until that moment, he’d seemed more interested in the ravagers. She’d only drawn his attention with her plea to be released. A sense of hopelessness settled over her. In truth, he’d likely give her a cleaner and more merciful death than she would find with the ravagers when they returned.

  She met his angry, fiery eyes with a sad smile.

  “Okay, big guy. I get it. I mean, I’ve had enough of this fucked up world. Got to be something better on the other side, right?”

  His brow furrowed at her and he cocked his head, his ears shifting forward again. He glanced off to the side and huffed. She may have been delusional at that moment, but she swore she saw the barest twitch of his lips. He turned his head back to her, his expression stoic as his eyes ran down her length. He gave no reaction to the sight of her naked body tied down to the altar but seemed to regard everything with a cool critical speculation.

  He lifted his hand again, and she watched as long black claws slid out of his fingertips. This was it. She screwed her eyes shut and prayed that it would be over quickly. That there wouldn’t be too much pain. She felt the air move as his claws arched down toward her. Her arms jerked roughly, painfully, and then dropped loosely against the altar.

  She was... free?

  Her eyes sprung open and flicked over to him. He was already backing up, looking particularly surly about the whole thing. His eyes narrowed on her, his leather boots crunching on the leaves and twigs scattered over the forest floor as he stepped away.

  Meredith sat up and pulled the rope away from her wrists, rubbing the raw skin of before scooting down to release the ties on her ankles. Throwing her legs over the side of the altar, she slipped off the side and stood. She was just thankful that Tirv hadn’t bothered to remove her boots. She wouldn’t have relished walking through the forest with nothing protecting her bare feet.

  Wrapping her arms around her bare chest, she shivered and glanced at the demon.

  “Thank you.”

  The demon didn’t acknowledge her words. His eyes merely narrowed at her before he turned away from her, his massive body moving with agility despite his size. Meredith bit her lip and watched him as he walked away. He was leaving her naked and alone in the woods. Yeah, he let her live, but how long would she be among the living? Especially after she walked away from what happened here tonight. When it came right down to it, he was scary as fuck and could snap her neck with one hand without any exertion, but he was also the biggest, scariest motherfucker in the area.

  Licking her stinging lower lip, she tucked the loose strands of her purple hair behind her ear and took off after him. One of his ears flicked toward her but he didn’t slow his stride at all to compensate for her shorter legs.

  “Hey... hey, let me come with you.”

  He didn’t so much as glance back at her.

  “No.”

  She tripped and climbed over the fallen tree that he stepped over effortlessly. Panting, she drew up cautiously behind him. He growled low in his throat, but she made no effort to do something as foolish as touch him. She eyed the backside of the demon. How was she going to convince him to allow her to tag along?

  “I’m sure you got this kickass ravager-destroyer routine solid, but there can be a lot of good things about having a sidekick to help out.”

  “I do not need help,” he snarled, affronted. He looked at her that time. He whipped his head around and leveled her with an angry glare, his teeth bared.

  She smiled up at him innocently.

  “Well yeah, not with the ass-kicking stuff. I mean, I can hold my own against a handsy drunk, but I’m fluff against ravagers.”

  “Wulkwos.”

  “Oh, right. Jason... eh, Tirv did say something about that. But you know, I can help in other ways.”

  He grunted and kept walking briskly, his lamp swinging at his side died down to a soft flicker. It seemed to wink at her.

  “I can hold your lamp,” she said finally, gesturing hopefully at it.

  The demon rounded on her, his hair flaring out around him as the snake arched from against his body. His massive hand slammed against the lamp, clutching it to him.

  “No one touches the lamp!”

  She lifted her palms up and stared at him wide-eyed.

  “Right. No touching the lamp. Got it. Look, there’s got to be something I can do. I just... I don’t want to be alone. It sucks being alone all the time, okay? Especially now.”

  His snarl eased until his lips were flat once more in a neutral expression and he watched her stonily. A cold wind kicked through, and she wrapped her arms around herself again. At this rate, she was going to end up with pneumonia. It didn’t matter. She’d risk it. She didn’t care if she had to stand there naked all night; she needed to convince him to let her tag along.

  A low hiss of air escaped him.<
br />
  “Alone.”

  The word was said so quietly, that Meredith nearly missed it. He looked away and stared off in the darkness ahead of them. The sound of ravagers in the distance had his head snapping around, his nostrils flaring once again. Then he began to walk once more, yet his words were sharp and clear even as he strode ahead.

  “Keep up.”

  She peered around uncertainly as she scampered after him.

  “What about the Kessler family? I know many of the ravagers were connected with his family.”

  “Gone. The house has fallen, and the prey fled.”

  The final word was said with so much irritation she fell silent and wondered where the Kessler family might have escaped to.

  Chapter 7

  He warred with himself. The woman shouldn’t have been left alive. Though the wulkwos hadn’t bonded them, she was too closely tied to the infestation of the spirits. Just being in close contact influenced other beings around them. She should have died, just as every human he’d encountered. It would have been a mercy compared to what she’d have to face within herself.

  This was why beings of Aites did not belong in the living world. The miasma of death disrupted the living. For limited amounts of time, following death and birth, and the few times of the year when the dead were close to the living, especially in the autumn and spring, it did little damage. However, the direct exposure with the wulkwos for even days did considerable harm. Most of the larger cities that were infested. The worst would take generations before they would be clean again. Especially if those skilled in purifications weren’t present.

  His baleful gaze traveled to the human trotting to the left of him. Her arms were crossed in front of her breasts and her skin icy pale. While he was impervious to the elements, he had no doubt that she was cold. The weakness of flesh.

  Beneath her skin her spirit burned a brilliant, pure blue, but around the edge he could see the shroud of Aites beginning to obscure its brightness. Being in his company would hasten the process. It was foolish to allow her to accompany him. It was foolish for him to allow her to live. Never had he succumbed to such weakness that plagues the living. The spirits of Aites were not given the softer emotions that belonged to other realms. Only the dead brought with them love into the darker world, and the queen, whose road all human souls followed.