Where All Souls Meet Read Free Page A

though he could not find her without his eyes.
    "Let's just keep moving," Aaron said, running his hand over his short dark hair.
    "If you see something we don't, ignore it and just squeeze my hand to let me know," Yuri said. "Demons are like bullies. If the demon doesn't get a reaction, maybe it'll stop."
    She knew Yuri was just trying to be optimistic for her sake. She knew demons and so did he. It didn't matter if she reacted or not. The demon would keep torturing her until it got what it wanted. Unfortunately, what it wanted was probably her.
    ****
    Eden continued to hear the sound of whispering in her ear. She shivered, hating the way the voice sounded. Which demon was it this time? Or had she finally done it and angered Satan so much that he was pursuing her freely? If that was the case, then she was going to have to be careful. Unfortunately, it would be hard. It wasn't like she intentionally drew attention to herself, but she had waist-length blonde hair and one green eye and one grey eye. She was also tall and abnormally thin, a trait she had gotten from her mother. As far as girls went, she didn't exactly fit the norm.
    "What is that ?" Jared asked, drawing her away from her thoughts.
    She turned and stared where he pointed. At the base of a hill several yards away, there stood a large castle-like fortress which had a moat of glowing orange lava, making it easier to see. There were no lanterns to keep out the Raiders. In fact, the mist appeared to be even thicker around it. Her necklace, which hadn’t stopped glowing, pulsed with more fire. It reminded her of a campfire surging with flame as it devoured wood.
    "The souls couldn't have built something this big in such a short amount of time," Aaron said, running his hand through his hair. "How long were we gone? Four, maybe five, months?"
    "It is odd." Yuri took a step toward the castle, and then paused. His eyes narrowed.
    I don't like it. A strange smell filled her nostrils, but one she recognized. Eden took a step back, repulsed. It smelled so sour it left a bad taste in her mouth, but there couldn't possibly be any corpses in Zemiothstai. Purgatory had only souls and Satan Spawn, which disappeared in a wisp when they were destroyed. The smell grew stronger and stronger, until she was forced to put her hand over his nose to block it out.
    She heard footsteps behind her and whipped around, her lantern swinging once again. There was the sound of high-pitched, cold laughter. If she had a heart, it would have thundered in her chest. Instead her hand quivered as she held her lantern.
    "Yuri," she said nervously and then cast a look over her shoulder.
    To her dismay, her friends had meandered closer to the castle in their curiosity. Yuri had not heard her. She opened her mouth to yell for them to come to her quickly, but she was stopped by the sight of the mist forming into a mass which was twice her height. The mist figure was built like a football linebacker, only bigger.
    This can't be happening. Her mouth dropped open. The Raiders are all women.
    The mist figure sucked up all the mist completely, then tossed back its head and gave an inhuman howl. It opened its mouth and she saw strings of mist between its lower and upper lips. It turned and gazed straight into her eyes. The eyes glowed an eerie golden hue, reminding her of a stray cat peering between garbage cans. When she took a step back and gasped, it smirked, even though it was still misty.
    "G-guys!" she screamed. " Guys! "
    With another howl, the mist figure began to charge toward her and stopped seconds before it reached the edge of her lantern's light. She screamed and fell on her butt in the dirt, almost dropping the lamp in the process. A pudgy Blood Worm that looked like a white cocktail sausage climbed onto her lap and fed from her soul, unaffected by the lamp. She didn't care. She could not take her eyes off of the massive, hulking beast which stood before her with glowing red eyes.
    "What's the