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Not physically, but psychically.
I ran into the gray fields, where the tenuous link between this evil and that woman would fade, as all things that stepped into the gray realm faded unless they had the skill and the power to traverse them.
I did.
This creature—no matter how powerful—didn’t.
But on the gray fields, the invisible became visible. The real world might fade to little more than shadows, but those things not sighted on the living plane gained substance when viewed from here. The soul stealer was a dark and twisted thing, its body mutilated and limbs malformed. Its skin was black and leathery, its face all teeth and snout, and two long horns extended from the top of its head. The claws reaching into my flesh were viciously curved. It was like nothing I’d ever seen before, and it wasn’t something I wanted to see again.
It shoved its claws deeper into my flesh, still seeking that energy, that spark, that gave me life and made me me. I was safe as long as it didn’t find the delicate thread that connected my soul to my flesh. If it did …
As I battled to breathe, battled against the rising tide of panic, power surged from my flesh. The Dušan came to life, her lilac body exploding from my arm. Her energy flowed through me, around me, as her body grew and became so solid and real that I wanted to reach out and touch her warmth. She screamed as she whipped around me—a sound filled with fury and frustration.
Because the thing that was attacking me wasn’t on the fields and the Dušan couldn’t get at it. I needed help. We needed help.
Azriel!
The scream was silent, but it echoed across the fields like a call to war.
I saw him before I felt him—he was a blaze of sunlight in this ghostly otherworld, and the sword clenched in his right hand was pure blue and wraithlike, throbbing with a life of its own.
He was half on the gray fields and half in the real world—a ghostly fierceness that was suddenly standing between my body and my soul.
He swung the sword. A scream rent the air—a scream that was pure energy and coming from the sword itself—and the blade cut through the creature and then me, severing the shroud-like contact between me and the soul stealer. The sword swung again, straight down this time, rending the creature in two. It fragmented, its ethereal remains becoming just another ghostly remnant of the gray fields.
I closed my eyes and willed myself back to my flesh, careening into my body with enough force to knock me sideways. My head hit something hard, but I barely even felt it. As the Dušan crawled back onto my arm, I hugged my knees close to my chest. For several seconds I did nothing more than simply lie there, shaking and crying at the horror of the evil that had so briefly stained my soul.
Heat warmed the air. But I kept my eyes closed and didn’t acknowledge him.
“Risa,” he said softly. “You are all right.”
It was a statement, not a question. I curled up into a tighter ball and wished he’d go away. Wished they’d all go away and leave us all in peace.
But that train had long since left the station, and there was no catching it now.
“Risa,” he said, his voice still soft and even. And God, that irritated me. Right now, I wanted emotion. Wanted to be held and hugged and told that he understood, not just that it was all right. I knew he was a reaper, I knew he confronted this sort of evil on a regular basis, but I didn’t. “There is no remnant of evil left inside of you. Valdis severed the connection and ensured that no scraps remain.”
Despite myself, I looked up. “Valdis?”
He moved his sword lightly. Fire shimmered up its side and the blade hummed. “That is her name.”
His sword was a she? Weird. I released my knees and pushed up into a sitting position. But the movement was too sharp and my stomach rebelled. I managed to scramble to a nearby trash can before whatever was left in my stomach rose yet again.
Azriel didn’t say anything, simply stood and watched.
“What was that thing?” I said, when I could.
“An oni.”
I blinked. “A what?”
“Oni. They are not usually soul stealers. Flesh is more to their liking.”
Well, at least it hadn’t tried that. Stuck as I had been on the gray fields, I couldn’t have done much to stop it.
“Why wasn’t the Dušan able to attack it?” I’d already guessed the answer, but I knew so little about the creature who now shared my flesh that I wanted it confirmed.
“Because they can only protect on the gray fields. The oni remained on this plane, so the Dušan could do nothing.”
