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She could feel the fox-skulled Duskwalker’s white orbs on her before they turned dark yellow in curiosity. However, a sharp backwards head-butt under his bony jaw had his orbs turning white again.

He lifted his skull back, parted his fangs, and let out a bellowing roar. It was loud, long, and unnatural – more like a signal rather than an emotional release.

The woman from before sprinted past them, running to the two Duskwalkers like a fool.

“Stay back!” the Duskwalker yelled, cutting his roar short.

Like she didn’t care about the very serious and threatening command, the woman ran to Emerie. All she could digest about her was that she had short black hair that came to her shoulders, tanned skin, a plump, round body, and she was wearing a lavender dress.

Emerie was too freaked out by what was going on to think about anything else, or what to do. How was this woman so calm with two Duskwalkers here? Especially since one of them was in a dangerous mental state and the other one was pinning him down.

The new Duskwalker’s antlers were imposing, and they seemed odd coming from his skull. He was also thicker than Ingram in body and had fewer bones protruding from his skin. At least, she assumed so, since he was wearingpants.His long and fluffy tail swayed side to side due to Ingram’s wiggling.

Suddenly the woman’s face was less than a foot from her own.

Comforting brown eyes were filled with worry, as were the crinkled lines of it in her lovely, rounded face. “We need to get you inside. Magnar has called for the others, but we need to get you away from the Duskwalker in case he gets free.”

The logic of that only broke through Emerie’s shock long enough to give her a reason to rise to her feet. With the woman grabbing her arm to steady her, she led Emerie like she was a horse.

“Delora,” the new Duskwalker warned. “We do not know her. She could be dangerous.”

“I don’t care. We can figure that out later, after you heal her. Right now, she needs to stop bleeding before she bleeds out and we can’t find out how or why she got here.” Then she pointed to Ingram. “Please be careful.”

Magnar... Delora...Emerie’s gaze slipped from the woman to the fox-skulled Duskwalker who was battling to keep Ingram down.They know each other.

“Oh my god, you know each other!” Emerie shouted as she ripped her arm from the woman.

Delora winced as she fought Emerie’s slapping hands to grab ahold of one again. Magnar growled behind them... at Emerie, for some reason.

“Please! I’ll explain later.” Delora tugged her along to the front of the house where there was a porch. “You’re really pale and look like you’re seconds from passing out.” She gestured to the stairs to make Emerie sit. “Please, stay here. I’ll only be a moment.”

Was she about to faint? Right now, her adrenaline was so high she thought she could take on a bear if she really wanted to. Yet, when her arse found the steps and she was forced to wait on them, her eyelids began to droop.

She didn’t even flinch when cloth was pressed against the multiple claw wounds down her back. Actually, they felt rather numb;shefelt rather numb.

“I’m guessing you were travelling with that Duskwalker,” Delora mumbled behind her. “You couldn’t have picked a worse time to come here. The Demons have been running in packs, attacking us any chance they get when we’re alone. You should have stayed out of the Veil.”

Sight and sounds were growing muffled and dim, so Emerie couldn’t distinguish if the woman was being condescending or was just voicing her worries and concerns.

Regardless, Emerie weakly gave a thumbs up to her. “I’ll remember that next time I decide to come for a stroll.”

Just when her head started to loll in grogginess, movement in her peripheral caught her attention. A fuzzy blob, as tall as he was monstrous, walked towards them on two legs. A whisp of white was fluttering behind him.

Emerie threw her hands up. Or rather, tried to. Instead, her hands only flopped between the gap of her thighs.

“Great! More fucking Duskwalkers, just what I need,” Emerie slurred.

That whisp of white turned solid. The only things Emerie could detail through her fuzzy vision and the black swirling dots, was that the person was short, had golden hair, and was wearing some kind of pale-pink outfit.

“Oh, thank goodness,” Delora rasped, getting to her feet. “Orpheus, can you please heal her?”

Delora quickly steadied Emerie when she sagged to the side, the back of her hand falling from her lap to thud against the stair she was on. Nausea bubbled as her head swam and spun in circles, causing acidic saliva to flood her mouth.

“Don’t look at me!” the new woman yelled. “Heal her before she dies.”

With a deep grunt, the Duskwalker placed his massive hand over her drooping head. It kind of felt nice, like it was stabilizing her. She even leaned into its warmth, since she felt like she was freezing into ice.

She closed her eyes. All she could sense now was her light panting breaths. Her ears were simultaneously filled with cotton and yet a thousand birds were chirping inside them – so quiet and yet so loud all at the same time.