Not releasing his grip on her arm, he tugged her with him to an abandoned house. The place loomed like a malevolent creature staring down at her with its side-by-side windows like something straight out of The Amityville Horror. She didn’t feel comfortable about their place of rest for the night, but she couldn’t help but smile as he hauled her inside. He was pissed, and lashing out at everything around him except—strangely—her, but he wasn’t leaving her behind after all.
Chapter 9
Meredith woke to the glare of the midday sun cutting through the window. Charu sat in the corner of the room, his giant frame practically collapsing the dusty loveseat. His red eyes were fixed on his lamp. As if sensing her wakened state, those glowing eyes riveted to her. It was eerie looking into those eyes. There was no pupil, nothing human about them. Just the red glow of a being from another plane of existence.
The daylight revealed more of him than she’d been able to see in the glow of the lamp at night. She’d like to think that the light made his softer human features more apparent, except he didn’t have any. Massive size and inhuman musculature aside, everything about him was sharp angles and hard, unforgiving strength. There was nothing remotely soft about him.
Even in a seemingly relaxed position, he was alert and battle-ready. She imagined that, as she’d slept, he spent the early hours pacing and growling like a caged tiger before he finally settled on the small couch across from her. At some point during the night he’d swept his dark hair up, gathering it to the back of his head. It did nothing to make him appear more approachable.
Charu certainly didn’t look relaxed, as someone might who’d gotten any kind of rest. Instead, he seemed to practically vibrate with impatience. The snakes, though fewer than usual, broadcasted his foul temper as they twisted around him, hissing and striking at air. As he met her eyes, he glowered at her.
She glared back at him as she stood up from the couch upon which she’d been stretched out, straightening her clothes.
“Don’t glare at me like that. I’m only human. It’s not my fault that I need a few hours of sleep to be able to function. It’s something normal living beings require.”
He hissed and also stood, immediately dwarfing her.
“It is an inconvenient delay.”
Meredith held back the retort that had formed on the tip of her tongue.
Baring his teeth, Charu stomped past her, snatching up his hammer as he left the room. The message was clear. He was not waiting on her any longer. She could either keep up or be left behind.
For a moment, she considered making her way back to her apartment, gathering her few things, and going on with plan A: head toward the coast. He’d made it abundantly clear he didn’t want her with him and had only just barely tolerated her presence. If it hadn’t been for the lamp, he would have let her collapse in the road without a backward glance. She sneered at the gaping door, her arms crossing stubbornly over her chest.
He didn’t like her.
He was surly and cruel.
He was a monster.
He was strong.
He was safe.
“Fuck,” she growled. Shoving her feet back into her shoes, she sprinted out the door after him. “Charu, wait up!”
She’d barely stepped out of the building when she careened right into a wall of muscle. A blue hand stretched out to steady her before Charu snatched it back and shoved something in her hands. Meredith stared up at him in surprise. He hadn’t left her. He scowled down at her and gestured to her hand, and she saw what he’d given her and gasped.
It was an apple!
“Where did you find an apple?”
“Trees,” he muttered. “Mortal bodies are weak and require sustenance. Eat.”
“That was really thoughtful. Thank you,” she smiled up at him, a warmth sparking in her chest. It had been a long time since anyone had given her anything.
His eyes narrowed into an intense glare.
“I don’t wish to drag you behind me. It would be inconvenient.”
“Of course,” she agreed cheerfully and bit into the apple.
The sweet juice burst over her tongue and she groaned with pleasure. His eyes snapped to her face and stared. She flushed. She hadn’t meant to be quite that loud. Chewing the apple, she regarded him carefully.
“Aren’t you going to eat?”
“Unnecessary.”
“Okay, so you don’t require food to live. That’s cool. Do you ever eat just to enjoy it?”
He sneered at her, evaporating every good feeling she’d built up over his generous gift. “Humans are preoccupied with pleasure.”
The observation wasn’t inaccurate, but it stung. At the same time, it struck her as kind of sad. What kind of existence did one have without any pleasure? Using her teeth, she bit off a large chunk and offered it to him with her fingertips. His brow furrowed in confusion at the gesture.
Okay, apparently, she wasn’t the only one unaccustomed to getting gifts.
He took it warily between his thick fingers and arched a glossy black eyebrow at her.
“Eat it,”
“For what purpose?”
“For no purpose. Eat it.”
His brows slammed down and he growled, but he reluctantly brought the chunk of apple to his lips. She took another bite of apple and mumbled her appreciation around the mouthful as she chewed, his eyes fastened her the whole while. Finally, he slipped the chunk of apple into his mouth. He froze, his lips pinching, and then he began to chew.
She grinned up at him as he swallowed the offering. “Well?”
His expression immediately flattened. “It was pleasant,” he growled and turned away toward the road. “We delay. The wulkwos are this way.”
Meredith took another bite and frowned thoughtfully as she quickly chewed and swallowed. She trotted after him, glancing up at him as she spoke.
“Aside from the possessed guys who are pretty harmless as far as the limits of the human body go during the day, I thought the wulkwos things only came out at night.”
A rumbling sigh passed his lips. “It is more efficient to track them to where they den during the day.”
She supposed that made sense, though she wasn’t particularly eager to run into a large number of them.
“So, why are you able to be out in the day?”
His nostrils flared and his vipers coiled resentfully.
“I am not a wulkwos. I am not a minor being of Aites. I am the gatekeeper.”
“So, you’re, what... an underworld god?”
He grimaced. “I am not one of the blessed aiser; I am the gatekeeper.”
Meredith decided to drop it. Apparently, a gatekeeper was something specific, just under the divine status of the gods. Whatever the case may be, it was clear that he was a more powerful spirit if he not only hunted the wulkwos, but wasn’t vulnerable to the sun like they were,
She trailed after him as they walked through the city. The first few hours were just as brutal as the night before. Every now and then he glanced back at her, and then, miraculously, he shortened his stride. She still trailed him at a significant distance, but now she could walk at a more sustainable pace as she did so.
Meredith chewed her lip and wondered again at her questionable sanity following Charu in pursuit of the ravagers inside of fleeing from them. It hardly seemed like the healthiest option, especially if he was determined to hunt them down in a manner that could have them significantly outnumbered by the creatures. The only thing that kept her going was the fear that nowhere would ever be safe while the ravagers were in the world. Right now, her best chance was with him, even if it meant dropping down into a nest of wulkwos.
She shuddered at the thought.
Please let there not be a nest of them.
Briskly rubbing her arm through her hoodie, she jogged to catch up.
Charu looked at her when she slid up beside him, his body tensing before he seemed to dismiss her and turned his attention back to the road.
>
“Why do the wulkwos exist? They seem like a pretty awful thing for the gods to have created.”
His lips curved mockingly, and he shook his head.
“Why does the spider exist, or the vulture? Why does the jackal follow the predators, or the predators follow the herds? The wulkwos exist like all things in nature exist. It is their purpose.”
She drew up short in horror. “Their purpose is to eat people?”
A deep rumbling laughter that reminded her of thunder shook his chest. She would never have expected him to be capable of laughter, or even feeling amusement. He slanted a somewhat amused yet thoroughly disdainful look down at her.
“Humans—always assuming that the good is only what they find pleasant.”
She scowled. That was not funny.
“I don’t understand.”
He didn’t reply right away. There was no sound around them except their footfall and the rattle of leaves. She almost jumped when he spoke.
“If you died, would you hate the animals who dined on your remains rather than leave you to slowly rot?”
“Of course not,” she retorted. “They are an important part of the ecosystem. Cycle of life and all that.”
He nodded, his horns dipping with the movement.
“The wulkwos are the carrion eaters of Aites. Their purpose is to consume the remaining ties of the flesh attached to souls after they pass through the gates. It is part of the purification of the soul from its mortal life. They are not by nature cruel or evil. But they hunger. They are designed to hunger.”
“If they have such an important purpose, why are they here?”
His brow dropped into an angry slash.
“They escaped.”
Meredith stopped, her mouth dropping open in shock as she stared at his retreating back. She snapped it closed and hurried after him, her mind awhirl with questions.
“They escaped? But isn’t that your job, preventing stuff like that from happening?”
“It is,” he growled.
“Then how could they’ve possibly escaped?”
“They have been restless lately; dissent had spread among them over recent centuries. Under the will of the lauchume, their king, they discovered a weakness in the gate and attacked it all at once, breaking through the barrier.”
“So now you’re here to clean up the mess.”
“Yes.”
The answer sounded a little off with a distinct hiss, echoed and drawn out by the serpents that suddenly exploded out all around him.
Meredith dropped back, her mind grappling with the new information. She’d always assumed that the ravagers were wholly evil. If they weren’t...
The ground in front of her suddenly sprayed a fountain of dirt and rocks into the air as a loud crack ripped through the silence. Meredith froze in horror. Someone had shot at her! She scurried backward just in time to evade another bullet that kicked up tiny bits of pavement to the right of where she’d just stood.
They weren’t shooting at Charu, but at her. Why the fuck were they shooting at her?
Her eyes rose to meet Charu’s burning glare. She watched as the fire in his eyes grew brighter as his lips peeled back from his fangs. He let out a roar and with one fantastic leap landed before her, snarling up at the rooftop just above them.
She was aware then of the sounds of people shouting to each other from the roof. It wasn’t just one person but several, as if people she may have once called her neighbors had organized an intentional attack against them. She craned her neck to see if she could catch a glimpse of them and saw the glint of several rifles aiming down at her.
A burst of inky feathers obscured her vision as they flowed outward from Charu’s back. He let out another menacing roar as his body folded into an aggressive crouch and then sprung up in the air.
His dark wings blotted out the sun as he rose up higher, the largest serpents visible even from a distance, their bodies in strike position. With only a few pumps of his giant wings, he dropped to the roof and out of Meredith’s line of sight, but she could hear the gunfire and the screams. She had no doubt as to the fate of those who’d shot at her, yet she couldn’t feel sympathy for them either, not even when their last blood-curdling scream fell silent. They would have happily taken her life in their allegiance to the elusive benefactor and the Kessler family. The whole thing left a bitter taste in her mouth.
When Charu returned to her side, his bright eyes running over her, she didn’t comment on the metallic scent of blood that now clung to him as thoroughly as the dark crimson splatters covering his body. She didn’t speak at all as to what happened. She merely allowed him to reassure himself that she was okay, in an uncharacteristic and strange show of concern, and then followed when he gruffly turned away.
The lamp brightened the further they walked from the buildings, a red pulsing beginning in its center. Meredith had no doubt that soon she would have to once again confront her fear of the ravagers. Charu said the wulkwos weren’t evil, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t attempt to kill her without hesitation. Even her own people were trying to kill her now. After that confrontation, she felt more secure than ever in Charu’s shadow.
Chapter 10
Charu was disconcerted. He did not like feeling so... imbalanced. He had to wonder if the mortal world was starting to have a negative effect on his nature. He was always impartial, neutral in the face of great upheavals that were a constant among the spirits who occupied Aites and the flux of human souls. Aites was full of nothing but a havoc of spirits and souls, but Charu was always reserved, removed from it all.
Danger to a woman should not have motivated him to divert from his purpose. Their lives were brief in this world. It shouldn’t have mattered to him if the humans on the roof killed her. Whether or not she’d been able to save herself would have been a matter of her own strength and the will of the Fates. For him to get further involved disrupted the mortal world as assuredly as the presence of the wulkwos.
True, he’d foolishly spared her, that had been damning enough, but to get involved with her fate would have repercussions he did not like to consider. Not only had he interfered, he allowed himself to be distracted from his priority, finding the wulkwos. Yet the sound of her frightened cries and the percussion of rifles firing at her had sent him into a rage, his entire being screaming at him, demanding that he protect her and wreak his vengeance on those who dared to try to harm her. The terror on her attacker’s faces as he’d landed among them and mercilessly destroyed them was something worth savoring.
That they attacked was still a mystery to him.
Charu gnashed his teeth, seething with resentment and damning whatever strange instinct had come to life inside of him. He shouldn’t care why they attacked her. The lamp pulsated, its light mocking him. Even his serpents, born from the very fabric of his being, lay placidly against his muscle rather than share his indignation. He snarled, and the woman... Meredith... looked over at him with uneasy curiosity.
His mood darkened further.
His purpose had always consumed him. When he woke on Earth, the hunt for the lauchume and securing the wulkwos had consumed him until her. Rather than relishing the relentless drive his purpose fulfilled, he was catering to Meredith’s welfare. It burned how he’d adjusted without any conscious thought. Even now when he attempted to lengthen his stride again to resume his conquering pace through the city, he was unable to maintain it beyond a few steps.
The wulkwos were near, the red glow of the lamp signifying that he was nearing them once more, their scent sharp in the air. Meredith’s natural perfume was also strong to his keen nose, and unfortunately had the opposite effect. Rather than make him ravenous to capture and destroy, it made him hunger in new and intense ways.
Charu shook his head violently, chasing away the seductive smell. He ignored the way his muscles tightened in response to it, like a predator fixated on its prey. She was not his prey.
Adamantly, he turned his attentio
n to the scent of the wulkwos, ignoring any other scents in the environment. He followed the scent, and the brightening glow of the lamp until the road opened up to a grassy area. Unlike much of the city, which stank of filth and remains of human waste, stained with blood and gore from the wulkwos feasts, the park was clean.
His lips curved into a hard, cold smile as he surveyed the large lot of land. Despite being carrion eaters and highly miasmatic, the wulkwos were very specific when it came to their territory. They never allowed anything to foul their dens. Such a large patch of earth so well maintained spoke of numerous dens clustered through the park, hiding them.
Glancing up at the sky, his smile widened as he noted the yellow, orange and reds streaking through the heavens. He had plenty of time to overturn several dens before darkness fell. He knew that those who’d possessed humans would attempt to intercede. He looked forward to their efforts. It wouldn’t stop him from capturing their brethren.
Meredith pulled up beside him, shifting her weight to one foot, and eyed the park.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen the park look quite this good,” she observed as she turned her head, taking in the expanse of trees and grass.
He grunted and dragged in a lungful of air. Her sweet scent immediately flooded in, overwhelming him. He hated it and wanted it more all at once. He dragged in another breath and then another, drawing more of her scent into him every time.
“Hey, are you sniffing me?”
He looked down at the human. Strands of faded purple hair peeked out from beneath her hat, falling over her eyes that were narrowed with suspicion at him.
“You haven’t changed your mind and are now thinking about eating me, are you?”
The idea of placing his mouth on her and dragging his fangs over her skin had an unpredictable effect on his mind. It latched onto the image with an almost hypnotic fascination, unable to expel it or break himself free of its influence. It swept through him with an unfamiliar euphoria.
“You smell good,” he acknowledged truthfully.
She gave him a skeptical look and sniffed herself, her face twisting into a comical grimace.
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