Page 80 of Souls We Rip

“Glad that you finally noticed my presence, Stag Woman.” The Elk spat the last two words as if they were bitter on its tongue. “What you have to do is to take the soul of something that you believe in.”

“I won’t kill the Goat Man,” I said, my mind already conjuring the darkness that would capture my own soul.

“Good to know that you value my brother,” it chuckled, moving closer to me. I felt a gush of warm air on my face, and it reeked of death. “As much as I would love that, I do not desire his soul. Not yet, anyway.”

The Elk surely wanted his brother human. After all, the Goat Man would be the heir to whatever fortune they had.

“I want you to think about my previous words.” I felt its body closer to mine, and it made me squirm in my own skin. “Take the soul of something that you believe in,” he repeated. “Until then, my brother will stay here and reminisce about his previous life.”

“Ana, don’t!” The Goat Man shouted, but his urgency was soon replaced by cries of pain.

“Tiberius!” I yelled his name over and over again until my throat became hoarse.

My body felt numb as it was pushed out of the cave.

The light of the moon was hurting my eyes. Squeezing my eyelids, I breathed. Once. Twice.

It was time for the Elk to see that the Goat Man was not alone anymore.

The fifth soul

Five days had passed since.

“You exhaust yourself, Ana.”

Andrei floated around me as soon as I arrived in our cave. I bit my cheek, thinking that two months ago, I called this lair my own Hell. And after everything, it was our cave.

Ignoring him, I continued to swipe through the sea of souls that my Mirror showed. There were too many evil people in this world, and still, there were none who would mean what the Elk asked. Something I believed in. What could that possibly be? I believed in many things, and not one was evil.

Not even the Goat Man.

Tiberius.

“What about this one?” Andrei asked, his translucent body coming next to me. He smelled of fresh-cooked food, but I couldn’t stomach anything.

His eyes stopped on a child, who was doing unspeakable things to rats.

“I cannot take the life of a child, Andrei!” I almost threw the mirror away, my eyes roving over the glass. Although he resembled an angel, his actions were the opposite.

“Fine, then continue your despair!” His hands were up in the air, their movement flickering the flames of the candles, almost extinguishing them. He paced around the kitchen table, making me more nervous than I already was.

I gritted my teeth and continued.

Bruises covered my fingers from swiping on the Mirror's thick glass. One soul after another, I couldn't unravel what Elk meant by something ‘I believed in’. There were many things I had faith in.

God, love, sisterhood, family. Even the stallion that neighed loudly had a place in my heart. Poor beast sniffed my hair continuously, for comfort.

For the most part, I believed in what I felt for him. Even if I couldn’t voice it or act towards it, I believe I could fight for his freedom. Remembering his screams, I pushed myself to search further through the Mirror for days. Which meant that for days, he was under his brother’s torture.

My eyes felt heavy as images of evil people around the world played on my Mirror’s glass.

Once it got to a man wearing a large black dress.

Not a dress. A cassock.

I felt my pulse slowing down and the colour draining from my cheeks. My ears became hot, and my breathing accelerated.

Something that I believe in.