Page 1 of Her Demon Mate

Font Size:

Page 1 of Her Demon Mate

THE WORLD OF PROTHEKA

THE WORLD OF AERASAK

ELIA

FIVE YEARS EARLIER

“Ineed to get a new set of needles,” I decide.

I cannot help but admire my work when I look down at the dead xaphan. He looks almost serene lying there on the cobblestone ground. It helps that this kill didn’t have a lot of blood.

His wings, large, bright, and feathered, are flared out on either side of him on the ground. A bit of dried, crusted blood remains where I plunged my knife through each wing, but still, this is the cleanest kill I have done in years.

“I’m getting better at this every day.”

I smooth my hand over his eyes that stare blankly at the ceiling and close them gently before I trace the sutures that I used to sew his lips shut.

Perfect.

The xaphan I killed today is almost beautiful. His dark skin is bright and smooth, his body large and powerful. He has tight, curly hair, and his eyes, when he was alive, were a striking gray.

And you killed him.

Something painful twinges in my chest, twisting in my stomach and rippling through my head, as I realize that I have, again, taken a life.

You killed him.

I breathe through the pain and the guilt, like I always do.

I guess I haven’t learned how to feel nothing when I kill.

I get up and heft my satchel onto my shoulder before I lean down and grab the xaphan by the feet. I drag his body into the middle of the street.

“Now you’re just being arrogant,”I say to myself as a smile stretches across my face.

I never used to leave my work where it could be found. But lately my hand has been so steady, my aim so true, that I simply have to show off.

I didn’t even get any blood on me this time.

I look up at the sky to ensure that I have placed the xaphan in the correct spot.

“There you are,” I murmur out loud to myself. Footsteps pound on the ground somewhere close by.

I look up at the moon, Neomia, that hangs full and fat and beautiful in the sky. Her light shines down on the city like a spotlight. And right now, the xaphan’s body is directly in the center of her light.

I thought it would be fitting when I figured out that Neomia would be full tonight.

Tonight is my last night in the city, and I want to leave my best work behind. Leaving a xaphan lying dead, bathed in Neomia’s light, is the best I can do on short notice.

“And now they’ll know,” I mutter as I adjust the straps of my satchel. “Now they’ll know that someone is killing their kind off.”

The footsteps and shouts grow louder. The xaphan have been arriving at each murder scene more quickly, as if they have been tracking me.

Who fucking knows? Maybe they have.

I slip away from the brightly lit street and head down a darker alleyway. The air is bright and sharp with the scents of salt and seawater.

I head for the docks. Like I said, it is my last night in the city.




Top Books !
More Top Books

Treanding Books !
More Treanding Books