Anton snarls, as terrified as me, and grows in size, stepping between me and the wraiths that scream as they fall hungrily upon Anna. She shrieks in turn, trying to bat them away, but their insubstantial figures are too many. The screams of fear become those of pain as the wraiths tear at her with their claws, sinking them deep into her flesh, reaching for her very soul.
I moan in terror and agony, my hand slapping over my mouth as I reach for Anton, wanting to cling to him – wanting his support –
The wraiths find what they’re looking for at last and grab onto it, shaking Anna as they set her soul free, pulling it forth – grey and insubstantial – from her body. The body itself falls to the ground in a heap, a dead husk, as the wraiths continue to swarm around her immortal soul. She cont
