Living Amongst the Shadows

Chapter 9

Fuck. Not good, not good, not good at all.

I look up at Salis again, he doesn't even glance at me. My legs are dropped and he tilts me up to stand. Wobbling I try to stand up straight as he darts in front of me. He's so tall and broad I can't see around him. I peek my face around his arm to look at the Dark Gods.

Twisted, grotesque, and macabre. They're nightmare creatures with all the power in the world.

Crowded behind them is a squad of Followers, sheathed in their usual cloaks. They are separated into different groups, following a different god. They too hold weapons. Some of them have spells cradled in their hands or wreathed around the blades of their weapons. They bristle under their cloaks, ready for action.

I don't know who any of the gods are. They all have the same hungry, fierce expressions. They're crouched at various heights ready to spring forward. Two of them have long, broadswords in their hands. A couple have spears and the rest their clawed hands. Even shielded by Salis I can feel their potent mix of influence.

All at once I feel darkness, light, chaos and hunger. Rage and lust twine together like mating snakes and slither with the feeling of barbed wire over my bones. The conflict makes me shudder. How can The Followers stand being that close to such war? I roll my neck and shoulders to try and ease some of the urges. I want to murder someone and have sex with them. I want to run into the light and embrace the darkness simultaneously. I want to run riot around the city and join their hunt but I want to gorge myself on a feast or something else. The hunger joins the writhing snakes of wrath and desire. My teeth clench like I'm hearing the hells awful shrieks of cats fighting and the incessant barking of a hundred dogs.

I want their showdown to hurry up. Are they going to attack Salis or move on? What do they want? We were heading away from them and it seems like they've followed us and circled around to confront us.

One of the men with spears saunters forwards, straightening up and lowering his stick. On his head is a wrenched crown of bone dripping with blood and echoing screams of pain, pleas for mercy. The god of war?

He smirks at me hiding behind Salis. I blink back at him probably resembling a wide-eyed owl. Hoo.

"It is not like you to avoid a hunt cousin... but now I can see why, I wouldn't leave this beauty either," he strides forward some more and pauses under a street light. He turns his attention to me again.

"Who are you mortal?"

Salis stiffens in front of me.

"Come on, I won't bite, I promise I'm not as much of a beast as I appear," he holds his hands out wide, opening his posture to appear more friendly.

"My name is Shaelynn... you are?"

"Ah Shaelynn, an unusual name for a rare beauty," he presses a hand to his heart and staggers back as though I've pushed him. I frown. He seems a tad dramatic.

"My name is Veryn, the god of all things dark and wicked," he winks.
"And far more charming than my cousin... perhaps when you're done with him, you'll charm me with your company if it would please you."

Are all of them so formal? I suppose if you have eternity, you can use fancy words.

Veryn throws a wicked glance at Salis when he finishes making his invitation. By his side Salis 's hand is tensed and curled a fraction. He's angry at Veryn but trying his hardest not to let it show.

"Why do think she is free to do as she pleases... if and when I am done with her, I may consider sending her to you."

Salis 's words raise my eyebrows. Excuse me? If and when he's done with me? I narrow my eyes I am not- oh you- he's throwing Veryn off. Staking an indirect claim. Too strong and he'll take it as a challenge, too weak and he'll see that as an invitation to do what he likes. I grasp the plan quickly enough to rearrange my expression before Veryn looks back to me.