While the reinforcements were settling in Leonor and I stayed behind to talk before I left.
She leaned back in her chair. "I wish I could have helped you better. You wouldn't believe ow many lives you saved by staying here."
I chuckled. "To be honest. I would have killed those wendigos anyways just to get their souls."
She lifted an eyebrow. "What do you actually do with those souls? I mean I have heard stories about you demons enslaving them, eating them, or just straight up turning them into something else. But you probably know just as well as I do that you can't always trust stories."
"Didn't you see me do it? I eat them. I rip away the very thing that makes you, you and eat it."
"Sounds gruesome. What do they taste like?"
"You are surprisingly calm about a creature from hell talking about eating souls."
She stood up and took the kettle from the fire. After that she poured some hot water in two separate cups. Both of them already had mint leaves at the bottom to make tea.
"Humans can do much worse than you. You know what a Rebis is? It is a creature that is both male and female. The perfect balance between two opposing sides. I have seen how people tried to make a shortcut to create a Rebis by sewing a living man and woman together. The idiots never took in consideration that a body isn't meant to be attached to another's in such a way. What they called a Rebis was just a tortured meat-pile that would always die an agonizing death within a day. You are actually doing us a favour by scaring off people that would otherwise commit crimes like that. Even if you don't actually come to claim our souls after we die, we humans just need that little fear that you might do it to prevent us from making horrible mistakes."
She handed one of the cups to me. "Careful it is hot."
I immediately took a sip and breathed out some flames afterwards. "Yea I am really worried about burning my mouth with this hot tea."
I placed the cup in front of me on the table. "But you wanted to know what a soul tastes like. Actually, I can't tell you. I have eaten human food in my life, but I have yet to find a taste that could be compared to that of a soul. But I can tell you that they all taste different. Most of them are way better than anything you humans can eat, but those that are corrupted like that of the wendigos are absolutely disgusting. However, those grant me the most strength."
"I see. Then I can only assume that, that is an attempt from the gods to create some balance. You know, only letting the ones with a strong will rise to the top."
I shrugged. "Or they just don't like us. And this is an attempt to supress us so that we are easier to kill by their priests."
She swiftly wrote a few things down in her notebook. "I actually have been wondering a lot about things like this. Why do the gods hate you so much? You too are one of their creations are you not? "
"Tough that is most likely the case, there is another possibility. Remember when I asked you about creatures from the place in-between worlds? I have met one of those beings. And it hinted at that there are maybe more things out there besides the gods."
"You really met one of them. could you explain what they were like. There is a chance that they show resemblances to some of the…"
I felt a stinging pain going trough the membrane of one of my wings and she let out a scream and grasped at her shoulder. There I saw a metal arrow sticking out. The arrow had a white feather woven around it. It probably came from one of the angels that had died here. Otherwise, the metal arrow wouldn't have been able to penetrate my wing.
I furiously ripped trough the roof of the tent and flew above it. the wound in my wing was small and was already healing so that wasn't much of a problem.
There were at least twelve people that had surrounded the tent. They all pointed their bows and crossbows at me now that I was out in the open. But before the whistling arrows could hit me, I created a strong gust of wind circle around me. Making the arrows unable to hit me and even sending some back.
"You foolish ape decent! How dare you point your weapons against me, even after I protected your kind."
I infiltrated the mins of those that were still standing. Now that they were unable to move, I burned the wounded right in front of them. they screamed in torment and pain as the flames ate away at their flesh.
"Do you understand that I was just going to leave tomorrow? Look at them burning in front of you. If you would have just let me, be, they wouldn't be dying right now. I want you to know that their deaths are on you."
I infiltrated deeper. And made all of them relive everything they had done in their lives at the same time. I even shared some of the things I saw in hell with them and what would happen to their world in the nearby future as well.
As their minds were falling apart, so did their souls show the first sign of corruption. After that I made sure that they left. I was not planning on hunting them down. I just wanted them to live on and know what they had caused.
I re-entered the tent. There I saw how Leonor was struggling to breath when black veins started to seep out of the wound. The arrow must have carried over some of my blood before it hit her. I knew that the dwarf had said that demon's blood would cause some nasty infections, but I never imagined it to be like this.
I carefully removed the arrow. I wanted to try and keep her alive. I had never stated how many information I wanted from her. I had fulfilled my part of the deal. Now I would be taking whatever I wanted.