The Soulless and the Wolf

"Mr. Bordeaux," I hid my shock behind a mask of annoyance, "I was not expecting to see you so soon."

"My apologies Miss Rose I simply wanted to check in on you and see if you have given my offer any more thought."

"I don't need to think about it because my answer is unchanging. Tell Deilos-"

"His majesty."

Much like last time my teeth clicked together in annoyance at his interruption. "Tell him my answer is no, it will always be no, and nothing he does will change it."

"This is most unfortunate," his eyes darted back to Zierra. "I seem to have intruded on you and your company. Business or pleasure?"

I stepped in front of his vision, shielding Zierra from his dead eye gaze, and glared at him. "It's nothing that concerns you Ceil. Please leave my establishment before I have you thrown out."

"I think you will find that most things concern me Miss Rose," he gave us both a nod and turned on his heel, waving as he made his way down the hall. "Until next time!"

I stood in my office doorway for a moment before taking a step back and slamming the door shut again. Zierra shuffled behind me and placed a gentle hand on my should, the sudden contact making me flinch.

"Are you alright?"

I shrugged her off and made my way to the fireplace where I paced in anger. "That arrogant asshole!" I growled. "He thinks that just because he's a bit more persistent than the others that I'll change my mind? I'm not hurting Deilos out here! Hells I'm doing his job for him!" My vision flashed red and I took a calming breath before I lost control of my human form in front of Zierra and slumped into a chair. "Why can't he just leave me alone?"

Zierra sat in the chair across from me and stared into the fireplace for a moment. "Hey why don't you tell me about how you and Shade met? It's not everyday you befriend a giant wolf. I wanna know how you did it."

I met her bright green eyes and felt some of my anger vanish. She's trying to distract me. Keep my mind off Ceil so I can calm down. I reached down and pat Shade on the head. "It was about five years ago, I think. Lyon and I had been running the Den for a year or so and we just started taking contracts. I had gone into the woods on a contract and found Shade caught in a hunters trap. I had never seen Lycan wolf so close to town before. We just stared at each other for a moment and it was like an understanding passed between us. I would free him if he didn't attack me. So I got him out of the trap and he stood there for a moment. He nudged my hand once then ran off into the trees. Then I went about completing my contract."

"What contract?"

"I had heard about a Soulless issue out in the woods and went to investigate. It was my first Soulless contract but not the first time I've had to deal with one."

"You handle the Soulless out here?" She looked at me, impressed.

I nodded. "Someone has to deal with them, the few of the Kingsguard that are stationed out here either don't really care enough to handle them or aren't skilled enough to deal with them. They stick mostly to the outskirts of town, lurking in the woods or out by farms until they can find a body to posses. This one in particular had gotten into a young man, couldn't have been older than eighteen."

"I wonder what happened to him for him to be viable enough for possession. Usually the Soulless require someone weak or dark of heart and mind to control."

"I think he was abused," I sighed as I leaned forward and grabbed the fire poker, giving the small embers that remained in the fireplace a few jabs. "He had marks on him before I found him, marks I didn't cause, they were weeks old and this kid was recently turned. Do you know what Soulless eat Zierra?"

She nodded sadly. "Flesh. Soulless don't have a tangible form outside of another person's body. They're just shadows and voices. My people say they are born of mortals hatred and greed."

"That's what I think too. But yes, like most monsters, they feed on flesh but until they get a body they can't eat anything. They just roam as a shadow, constantly starving until they find a victim. That's why when someone gets possessed by one they gain a near insatiable bloodlust. I found that kid feasting on the heart of his father."

Zierra winced. "That sounds like a horrible sight to see."

"It wasn't pleasant. I don't know why his father was there, maybe he thought he could save his son, or maybe he planned to take him out himself. Either way he wound up dead. I almost shared the same fate actually."

"It almost killed you? I though you said you've dealt with them before."

"I have but I never said it was easy. They're fast and quite strong, plus they don't feel pain. You can tear a Soulless possessed person to shreds but if their heart remains then they'll just pull themselves together and come back and they don't make it easy to get to their heart."

"But you succeeded right?"

I nodded. "Yeah because Shade showed up and attacked it. He just leapt out of the shadows of the forest and ripped into it, and it gave me enough of an opening to run my blade through its heart. He just sort of stuck around after that. He was timid at first and wouldn't let anyone but me touch him then he warmed up to Lyon and Kari and now," I motioned to him where he was rolling on the floor in an attempt to scratch his back, "well you can see."

"So you saved him and he saved you?"

"And it's been that way ever since. He's sweet most of the time but he has a really good sixth sense about people. You saw how he reacted to Ceil."

Zierra nodded. "I did. Speaking of which, do you feel better now?"

I chuckled as I stood. "He still pisses me off to no end but yeah, I'm calmer now."

"Saph? You in there?" Lyon's voice came from the other side of my office door.

I let him in and crossed my arms over my chest. "I thought you were keeping an eye out for Ceil?"

He stared at me in confusion. "I am. I haven't seen him at all today, not even wondering the streets."

"Then how come he was just outside my office asking me to reconsider his offer."

He looked around my office. "Did you send him away?"

"Well I sure as hell didn't invite him to stay the night."

Lyon frowned and met my eyes again in concern. "Sapphyre I never saw him enter or leave this building. You know how well I watch the doors there's no way he would have been able to sneak past me."

My arms uncrossed and my frown mirrored his but it was Zierra who spoke the words I was thinking. "Then how the hells did he get in here?"