He chuckled, but I hadn’t missed the hint ofsadness in his eyes. “It may look like absolutely nothing to you,”he told me.
“I’m prepared for that.”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“I won’t.” I wanted to ask him about what wasupsetting him, but decided against it. My curiosity to see him feedwas stronger than my need to question him, and if I pushed him, hemight change his mind.
He kept my hand in his as we turned andslipped into the woods. Throughout the forest, I glimpsed firefliesflitting through the air, tiny pinpricks of light in the darkcanopy of trees. One good thing about this trip, so far we hadn’tencountered overgrown insects looking to eat us. Bugs didn’t botherme, but the idea of man-eating spiders made my stomach turn.
The crickets chirruped loudly as he movedwith confidence over the forest floor. His hand rested on the logof a fallen tree before he turned to me, placed his hands on mywaist, and easily lifted me over it. I couldn’t resist kissing himwhen he settled me on the other side.
“Don’t distract me,” he murmured.
“I would never,” I replied and playfullybumped his hip.
His hand moved so fast I barely saw it beforeit was grasping hold of my waist and drawing me flush against hisside. His fingers stroked over my flesh as he led me furtherthrough the forest. At the edge of the woods, he pulled me to astop. Leaves dipped down from the trees above as I stared at thehill stretching before us.
The stars blinked to life through the inkycanvas of the night. On the horizon, the full moon was a brightorange color when it peeked out from behind the hill. It looked soclose, I felt like I could walk to the top of the hill, reach out,and touch it. The spectacular beauty robbed me of my breath as Iwatched its steady ascent.
Turning my attention from the orange globe, Irealized Kobal’s eyes weren’t on the moon, but on something elsewithin the sky. Something I couldn’t see beyond the canopy of treeshanging over us.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Wraiths,” he replied.
My eyes narrowed as I searched for whateverit was he saw. “What are wraiths?”
“They are what we call the souls who are sentto Hell,” he replied. “They become twisted and warped after yearsof torture, punishment, and our feeding from them.”
I knew he somehow fed off the souls sent toHell, but I had no idea what it entailed. “Are they dangerous?”
“Some are more powerful than others as somespirits can retain abilities they may have had while human, butthey cannot harm humans. Some of the wraiths left Hell when thegateway opened, but many of them still reside within its bowels.Wherever the wraiths are though, they can never escape a demon oncewe latch onto them.”
I tilted my head back to peer at the skyagain. “Are they around us all the time and I just can’t seethem?”
“No. Since we’ve entered your realm, theyonly come out at night. Their twisted bodies thrive on shadows andcan’t handle the sunlight.”
“Where do they go during the day?”
“They hide in the earth, but they’re unableto stay there once the sun sets.”
“Are they out every night?”
“Yes.”
“So they’re kind of like ghosts?”
“Sort of, but whereas ghosts were already apart of your realm, even if you couldn’t see them, wraiths neverwill belong here and will only be visible to those of us who feedon them. Are you sure you wouldn’t prefer to stay here?”
“Yes.”
“Come.”
Tugging on my hand, he led me to the top ofthe hill. The orange glow from the moon illuminated the other sideof the hill with every step we took, revealing more woodland. Thisarea had somehow survived the war; the healthy trees towered intothe sky, more so than any others we’d seen on our journey so far. Ihadn’t seen so many large trees grouped together like this sinceleaving my home.
Kobal’s head tilted back and a rumblevibrated his chest. The muscles of his arms bunched and flexed. I’dnever seen him look like this before; he was a hunter seeking hisprey, but then he’d tried to keep the predator side of his naturefrom me as much as possible.
“When was the last time you fed?” Iasked.
