A Soul to Touch: Duskwalker Brides: Book Three, page 1
A Soul to Touch
Duskwalker Brides
Book Three
Opal Reyne
Copyright © 2023 by Opal Reyne
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
ISBN: 978-0-6455104-6-1
This book is a work of fiction. Any names, characters, places, and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Cover art: Sam Griffin
Trigger Warning
Major spoiler below
Please only read further if you have triggers, otherwise you will seriously spoil the book for yourself.
Firstly, I will list what triggers AREN’T in the book so you can stop reading in order not to spoil it: No rape, non-con, purposeful harm done to the FMC by the MMC, torture, suicide/self-harm, depression, ow/om drama, abortion, mental/emotion abuse, incest, drug/alcohol abuse, or child harm.
Please consider stopping here if your trigger has been detailed above as the rest are major spoilers.
There is no pregnancy in the main story, however there is an epilogue pregnancy which is skippable. We delve into a wide variety of kinks in this book such as, breeding kink, dp, minor bite/blood play, minor strangulation play, tail play.
This book does have detailed descriptions of wound and wound care, such as stitching, blood, gaping wounds. As always, my books have gore.
There are descriptions of death, mourning before death, discussions of a possible upcoming death, and grief. A HEA is always guaranteed in my books.
The FMC is a hunter and Demonslayer who uses animals to bait Demons. There are descriptions of wild animal deaths, although there is no maliciousness or torture. She tries to do so painlessly.
Author’s note on language
I’m from AUSTRALIA.
My English is not the same as American English.
I love my American English spoken readers to bits. You’re cute, you all make me giggle, and I just wanna give you a big ‘ol hug. However, there are many of you who don’t seem to realise that your English was born from British English, which is what I use (although a bastardised version since Australians like to take all language and strangle it until it’s a ruined carcass of slang, missing letters, and randomly added o’s).
We don’t seem to like the letter z.
We write colour instead of color. Recognise instead of recognize. Travelling instead of traveling. Skilful instead of skillfull. Mum instead of mom. Smelt is a past participle of smell. We omit the full-stop in Mr. Name, so it’s Mr Name. Aussies cradle the word cunt like it’s a sweet little puppy, rather than an insult to be launched at your face.
Anyway, happy reading!
To all the horny MonsterFuckers out there,
this book is for you.
For the people that the monster would be more afraid of you than you are of it. Where you’d grab that big badass by the horns and direct them between your thighs – doesn’t matter if it’s their otherworldly face, or their strange, fancy cock.
Embrace your MonsterFucker heart, you know you want to.
I would like to give a big shoutout to the wonderful sensitivity readers who helped to make this book a safe place for those I am trying to positively represent. As you all know, representation is a big part of what I want to do, but I want to do so in a way that isn’t harmful.
Thank you Amanda, Careen, Charna, Emily, Marcella, PollyAné, Sue, Susan, Tracy, and Veluz for your contribution regarding Asian sensitivity.
I would also like to thank Crystal for your contribution towards POC sensitivity.
I appreciate all the time and effort you put into helping me with this book. You will forever have a place in my heart.
The snow pressed against her flesh, causing goosebumps to flare up her bare legs until they assaulted her spine. Mayumi shivered, her little four-year-old legs sinking so far into the cold, dry powder that it came all the way above her wobbly knees.
She didn’t have far to fall, constantly having to steady herself with her hands to dig herself out so she could press forward through the forest.
It was dark.
But she’d been marching through the night for so long that her eyes had adjusted to it. She could tell the difference between shadowy tree trunks, their leafy branches reaching down, and the shrubs on the ground. The sky was blue-black, helping her to know where darker obstacles were so she could avoid them.
The glow of the moon bounced off the snow, aiding her vision as she searched.
Should she, a child, be walking through the dangerous forest by herself? Definitely not, especially since her family resided outside of a village and its towering, protective walls.
They were one of the rare families to live in the potentially Demon-filled forests, but her father guaranteed them they were safe – even more so when she was scared and in need of comfort.
Did her parents know where she was? She sincerely hoped not – otherwise her father would give her a stern talking to. He was comforting and yet very scary. He was strict; he had to be with such a curious girl as his daughter.
So, what was she doing outside in the forest by herself on one of the darkest nights of winter when she very much knew she’d be in trouble for it?
Her tiny breaths came out as huffs that fogged in front of her face. They tickled her freezing nose, giving it a moment of warmth before fading. One nostril was dripping, and she constantly sniffled it.
Her feet felt frozen in her night boots, and they ached with a numb kind of pain. It was the same in her hands and fingers. One of her hands pulled the jacket she’d thrown over herself taut while the other steadied her so she could, once again, dig herself out of the snow.
Luckily, she was small and light. She’d seen both her parents struggle to walk through such thick, fresh powder.
“Shadow!” she called, her young voice echoing. “Shadow! Here, kitty!”
She received no answer.
Her thick, black hair fell across her brow as she searched. As they had many times during her stubborn march, tears began to well in her eyes.
“Please! I’m-I’m sorry for pulling your tail!”
Her cat, which was nearly black other than a white mask across its face, had been missing for most of the day. Usually, she’d come home after running off, but she hadn’t returned for dinner.
She was gone, and Mayumi was heartbroken.
Since Mayumi always stayed home with her mother as she was too young to travel through the forest safely, she hadn’t met any other humans her own age. Shadow was her only friend. They’d known each other all their lives.
Mayumi skilfully stemmed her tears and furrowed her brow with determination. She even pursed her lips, more so on the left than on the right side – she hated it when her mother made fun of her pout.
But it was Mayumi’s big girl brave face.
She was going to find her kitty, and then she would return home before either of her parents knew she was gone.
Yet as the night drew later and somehow became colder – the wind soft but biting with frozen teeth – she started to slow. Although her teeth were clacking from her jaw jittering, eventually she started to feel... warm.
So warm, in fact, that sweat beaded on her forehead.
The trees began to split in two, as did the bushes. The ground became wavy, and she found herself stumbling.
“Here, K-kitty, K-kitty, K-k-kitty.”
No matter how far she wandered, Shadow never came.
Mayumi didn’t know how far from home she was now, but she knew she needed to return if she didn’t want anyone to notice she was missing.
She turned around, foolishly believing home was directly behind her, too young to take into consideration that she’d been swerving around trees, bushes, and the odd boulder.
A cracking, crunching sound caught her attention.
Her heart raced with delirious hope, and she headed straight for the noise. It’s Shadow. It has to be Shadow. Of course, it was her cat – nothing else could possibly be lurking in the dark.
Unwittingly, Mayumi sprinted straight into danger, her mind foggy and her fever getting worse by the second.
A creature, so black it made it near impossible to see how big it was in the dark, turned its head to her. Yellow eyes caught her attention, big, just like Shadow’s. Mayumi smiled brightly. Like Shadow’s mask, their face was white, and with how blurry her vision had become, it was easy to mistake what it really was.
Yay! I found her! Mayumi tripped in the snow in excitement. It distracted her enough that she didn’t notice the reflective slick of the snow that revealed the yellow glow had turned red.
Their maw was opening as a growl echoed, but she took that bass as a rumbling purr. They were coming to greet her.
A black paw landed right in front of her as she got to her feet. Mayumi leapt blindly with her hands reaching.
“Kitty!” she squealed joyfully, wrapping her arms around their thick neck.
All rumbling sounds suddenly went quiet.
Mayumi started rubbing her face into the familiar soft fur she was used to. They were warm, and she lost herself in it, her body seeking the
“D-don’t,” she started, her voice raspy and growing softer. “Don’t l-leave me again. I missed you.”
Mayumi grew weak. All her determination faded now that she’d found her pet, and eventually her arms loosened their tight, hugging hold. She fell to the side, knocking into a fluffy limb, as though the creature had been standing on all fours.
Out in the open, thinking she was laying in front of her cat, Mayumi fainted as her fever took hold...
“Fuck!” Mayumi yelled, the blanket falling from her chest to her hips as she quickly sat upright on her bed.
Her long black hair swayed forward. The ends settled against her chest while the length of it framed her face.
She panted, breaths sawing in and out of her rapidly heaving chest as sweat dotted her brow. She looked around, making sure she knew where she was before bringing her legs up.
She placed her left elbow on her bent knees so she could cup her forehead, ignoring the perspiration there as she stared at her blanket with wide eyes.
It’s that dream again. A dream... or a memory?
Mayumi didn’t actually know. She had been too young to remember what she’d seen, too sick to really believe what her eyes took in that night.
All she knew... all she knew was that she’d never actually found her cat. Shadow never returned; she never saw her again.
But whatever her four-year-old self had stumbled upon... whatever the fuck it was, it hadn’t eaten her. At least, she didn’t think it had tried to.
After collapsing in the snow when she was four, she’d woken in bed, fever-stricken, to her parents panicking – mostly her mother. Someone or something had taken her home.
They didn’t knock, didn’t yell for her parents, didn’t stay around to explain anything.
Her parents had found her in front of the porch steps laying in the snow after they’d been searching for her. Of course, her parents had realised she was gone in the middle of the night.
They thought she was dead, most likely eaten by a Demon that attacked her while she was stupidly walking around. One would have stumbled across her frozen corpse and eaten her eventually.
With the help of Priests coming to their home to aid her, they’d healed her fever over the course of many days.
The scolding and punishment she’d received from her father after she’d gotten better had been brutal enough that she never left their home after dark again.
“Fuck,” she cursed again quietly. “What the hell did I see that night?”
It was a question she’d asked herself many times over her life. She’d often had this reoccurring memory-like dream.
There were only two options available: a Demon or a Duskwalker.
Blindly, Mayumi reached out beside her roll-out futon bed. She patted the ground before her fingertips grazed a cool ceramic bottle that tried to roll away. She grasped it.
“I really need to stop drinking,” she muttered, lifting the bottle above her head so the remaining drops of alcohol would coat her tongue. “I always have weird, vivid dreams when I drink.”
She’d been hoping there were more than a few drops in the bottle, but as she turned her gaze to the side, she realised she’d knocked it over and spilled its contents. Before or after she had fallen asleep, she wasn’t sure. At least it fell the other way and didn’t ruin her futon.
Dropping the bottle to the side, she got to her hands and knees to crawl over to the last dry log. She threw it in the fireplace, knowing the remaining coals would eventually set it alight and rewarm the house.
Completely and utterly naked, since there was no one else in this empty house besides herself, she dragged her sorry, hungover ass to the kitchen counter.
She unlocked the wooden blinds and pushed them to the sides to reveal the long, plain, gridded window behind them. It was snowing lightly, the world a sea of white. With drowsy eyes, she paid the outside world no mind. It was warm enough within her house, and that’s all she cared about.
She reached across the well-maintained wooden counter for the ceramic jar she wanted, removed the lid, then immediately sighed and rolled her eyes.
“I forgot I was out of my morning tea.”
She reached for another jar, one she rarely opened because its contents were precious and extremely difficult to obtain – and costly. She opened it.
“What the hell?” she growled, tipping the empty jar upside down to see a few brown speckles fall from it. “The coffee too?”
She stamped her foot, leaned over the counter while resting her elbows onto it, and groaned into her hands. I don’t want to go to town today!
She’d been saying that for three days.
However, she was now officially out of everything decent in this house. No tea, no coffee, and she was well-aware she was out of booze.
Nope. No. Not doing it. She leaned back so she could stand straight, rolling her shoulders back defiantly to no one but herself. I can survive without that shit. I’ve been doing it for years.
Her eyes drifted to the front door.
“There’s only one option left.”
A gasp was rendered from Mayumi the moment her entire, bare-ass naked body hit the snow. She’d thrown herself off her porch and into the thick powder right in front of her stairs, basically salmon-diving into it.
All her grogginess dissipated within an instant.
“Woo!” she squealed, sitting up and throwing both her fists into the air. She blinked at the brightness surrounding her in the late morning sun, as falling snowflakes slowly collected in her hair. “That never ceases to hit the spot.”
Her light, fawny skin began to pinken in some areas, the air frigid and cruel to her complexion.
She quickly got to her feet, incidentally sinking to her calf in the fresh snow and having to steady herself. She yanked her foot free and grabbed the metal bucket she’d brought with her so she could start shovelling snow into it.
Her nipples were tight and uncomfortably hard, almost pinching. They pointed the way as she sprinted inside her cottage house to escape the wintery elements, making sure to clean her feet before entering her home.
She placed the metal bucket over a heating rack within her fireplace before kneeling in front of it to warm her body and blue-tinged fingertips.
It wasn’t long before she had fresh water, and she used a ladle as a cup to moisten her tongue. Then she let the water heat for long enough that she could use it to wipe her body clean with a dampened cloth.
She had little else to occupy her thoughts and couldn’t help but look around her home while she waited.
Most would say it was modest. It bore only one additional room and was made mostly of wood, but it was sturdy and had stood the test of time. Her family had resided in this medium-sized cottage for centuries.
On the left wall behind her, there was a wide kitchen with a rack nestled between its countertop and the door. There were no cupboards above the counters, but many spanned underneath, and there was a rack behind the door hiding her dwindling fruits and vegetables. On the right hand-side of the counters was a dining table that had been pushed long-ways against the wall to save space, but could be pulled out to sit four comfortably.
Currently, there was only one chair available. The other three were being stored outside in a wooden shed.
Next to the table at the far left corner was a door that led into a storage room, where Mayumi mainly kept her clothes. It was designed to be a space for everyone living within the house to store personal items. Clothing, toys, weapons.
It was where her futon currently was. She’d rolled it up and put it away with all her bedding before she’d gone outside. Most of those who lived outside of protected villages used futons to save space, especially since the number of people within the house could frequently change.
She usually slept next to the fireplace as it often had the freest space – her parents had done this as well. It was also warmer in winter.
To her left, which was also the back of the house, was a sort of seating area. There were two bags filled with sheep wool; thankfully, they were light and easy to move around. One of them was on the floor as she often sat in it, while the other rested in an unused armchair made from leather and wood.
