DARK SOULS (Dark Souls Series) (19 page)

The demon was ready for me, catching me by one ankle as I slid towards him and lifting me up so I was upside down but eye-level with him. My face was so close to his nose that I could make out every greasy pore. I internally mewed in protest, shrinking deeper into my body.  He let out a choked laugh before swinging me in circles. Trees became blurred with the lake, my roaring stomach twisted with nausea and my hair tangled against my mouth before he let me go, throwing my body so hard that I cleared the bridge and slammed into the thick trunk of a tree on the other side.

I felt the impact and cried out in pain as my back splintered the tree in half. He threw me with so much force that the tree barely slowed me down and I continued to roll on the ground, picking up leaves and debris as dirt clouded my vision and coated my throat.

The dark flame still smiled.

Stop!
I begged.
Just take what we need and stop! You’ll kill us both!

The demon started to walk across the bridge to where I lay, its talons and beak extended, shining in the patchy moonlight and ready to pierce me with one last, bloody blow. I heard his staccato footsteps as he used his human host to walk forward, an unnatural, eerie rhythm as he came closer.

My body pulled up into a standing defensive position, my head lowered. Sweat and dirt coated me, and I could feel my hands trembling at my sides, even as my breath came out in short, hard bursts.

I heard his laughter, muffled and wet.

My darkness was done with playing with this demon—or playing with me, I couldn’t be sure—because my body lunged forward, my hands already out and open. My eyes locked with him as I jumped. He couldn’t help but watch me, stupefied, as I made my attack.

I landed on his chest, feet and arms extended like a bug, narrowly avoiding his sharp sword of a nose.

“
You want to come to me
,” My voice repeated, dilating the dark depths of his eyes, and slowly, methodically, I felt my hands wrapping around his neck.

He cried out in pain as I burned through his skin, sending a wave of flames into his body and surging into his brain.

He buckled, not from my weight but from the staggering pain, his knees pounding into the ground as he flailed, pathetically attempting to grab onto me with his talons and shake me off like a feral cat.

He was still under my spell, and he couldn’t look away from my eyes. I felt my lips curl back and the fangs grow out, each and every one of my teeth extending, sharpening. My jaw cracked and popped as it made room for the white blades.

I actually snarled along with the darkness before my head whipped down and made contact with the side of the demon’s neck, blood pouring and gushing down my hands and over his body in dark, hot streams of red.

He died quickly, my bite cutting him deep. He sagged to the side and I fell with him, my teeth still embedded, unwilling to let go.

When I no longer felt the pulse of his blood nor heard the beat of his heart, I knew my darkness had succeeded. I felt it retreat back, but only slightly, relaxing as it allowed me to take back some control. I unlatched my jaw and held my head high, my teeth retracting back into my gums and my features slowly softening back into their human shape.

Blood dripped down my chin as I looked down at the demon, now a man in his fifties with a giant gouge in the left side of his throat.

I couldn’t dwell on the guilt because my work wasn’t done. I needed the thing that I came for. I needed it desperately.

I lowered my head back to his, a mere breath away from his lips, and breathed in.

Oh sweet, sweet bliss, yes, oh yes...

I sighed as the bright blue smoke snaked through my mouth, up my nose and hitting the core of me in such honeyed pleasure that I actually trembled with the need for it.

My breaths became fast as the mist trailed through my body, strengthening and healing, pulsating and throbbing. I held my hands out with my head to the sky, almost in benediction, as I let it fill me, save me.

Heat wafted out of my hands and a glowing residue began to cover the body in front of me. It glittered as it coated the body before it disappeared, leaving nothing in its place but smooth, lush green grass.

Too soon, it was over. The darkness wanted to stay, but with my newfound strength I pushed it back to its place within me.

Your job is done
, I said to it.
My turn.

It flickered in annoyance, but eventually settled back in its place. I didn’t fool myself into thinking it would stay there for long. It was merely awaiting its next chance.

YOU ONLY LEAD ME CLOSER.

I gripped the sides of my head as I slunk back to the ground, clenching my teeth as the strange voice invaded my mind and pierced me like a knife, leaving bloody ribbons of thought in its wake. Oh god, I forgot about this part. This painful, agonizing part that would surely destroy me before my darkness ever could.

I WILL DESTROY YOU.

Groaning, I doubled over, resting my head on my thighs and shutting my eyes tight until the voice and its sharp pain faded away. Eventually, I was able to sit back up and maintain consciousness, blinking blearily as the piercing headache began to vanish.

A sharp snap of a twig caused me to turn my head at the sound. My honed vision made out the shadow of a human figure.

No,
I thought in panic.
No, please don’t let it be him. Don’t let it be Asher seeing me like this—how much did he see?

He came out from the trees, the moonlight hitting his face, his strong form trembling, shaking.

Derek.

I sighed in relief, expelling the breath I was holding and stood up, facing him. “There, Derek,” I said to him in irritation.  “I did what you wanted. I’m back.”

My body felt streaked with fire again, and I could swear Derek could see the effervescent glow lighting my skin from underneath.

“No,” he said, his voice shaking. “That’s not what I wanted. Or expected.”

I was taken aback at his reaction. He was a demon, for crying out loud. He had obviously seen—and been responsible for—a good amount of blood and gore during the centuries. My kill couldn’t possibly have driven fear into his shriveled, evil heart. If he even had one.

“What are you talking about? I did exactly what I needed to in order to survive. So I sent a demon somewhere. Too bad.  You make me take a human life, then I’ll make a demon suffer along with it.”

Derek shook his head, pulling his arms forward and clutching his hands in front of him, attempting to staunch the trembling.

“No, Emily, you don’t understand...”

“What don’t I understand?”

He took a deep breath. And then another. “You didn’t consume the human’s soul.”

He paused and, as if losing his balance, he took a shaking step back.

“Derek, you’re being cryptic again. Just give it to me straight for once.”

“Emily...” he started, but paused again, unsure if he wanted to continue. He seemed to muster up the resolve however, because he spat the rest of the words out in a rush, leaving him breathless and quaking.

“You devoured the demon’s.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

I glanced around at the spot that Derek was just standing in, but saw nothing. I blinked, and he was gone. “Derek?”

 I spun around the clearing, calling, “Derek, come back here! I’m not going to kill you!”

My cries hit empty air. Derek was long gone, using his handy demon trait of deft, silent movement and disappearing. I hoped he’d come back at some point; he’d just made me think of a thousand more questions.

I’m taking the demon’s souls…

I stared deep into the lake, not really seeing, but thinking hard.  

Was it a soul? No demon had a life like a human’s. But this force, whatever it was, did cause them to exist, at least until death by the Hunter.

Or by me...

I began to walk, not needing to push branches out of the way or stumble over loose roots, because my body just knew
.
Grace and stealth were like a second skin as I strode through the deserted park, the night wind raising goose bumps on my flesh.

Could the Hunter and I be on the same side? Was I a part of this Trine and just didn’t know it yet? I froze mid-stride as a thought slammed into me: could I actually
be
the Hunter that every demon was so afraid of?

I wanted nothing more than to be on the good side of things, the human side.

But with that thought came the remembrance of what I had to do in order to destroy a demon; I had to turn into a monster myself. I ran my tongue along my upper teeth, but felt only the smooth ridges of good dentistry. Not a sharp fang to be found. Could I really be the source of such ugly death, yet still be considered good? 

Sighing, I turned west out of the park, straightening my red t-shirt that had become all twisted up in the struggle and realizing belatedly that I had left my jacket at Asher’s. I scanned the front of myself, searching for demon or human remnants. It was all gone. I had to admit, the fact that I never had to deal with any gory mess afterwards was an upside to this whole debacle. Any passerby would just assume that I had either gotten lost or taken a late-night stroll in the park.

And if I ran into a patrol car that became suspicious or worried about a nineteen-year-old walking alone in the park, I could always persuade the cops otherwise.

My eyes flared wide in excitement at the thought. Power was coursing through me again, and I wanted nothing more than to use it.

Kill more demons?
I thought, giddy with the idea that it wasn’t human souls that were sustaining me. Although, it wasn’t all good. Just because I killed—no,
ate—
the demon didn’t mean I saved the human.

I still had to consider that, despite the wonderful realization of destroying demons, I had no idea what I did with the human soul.  

As I walked through the quiet, starlit night, the smell of decaying leaves heavy in my nostrils, I couldn’t help but think that I was still killing the human along with the demon.

The darkness in me was growing stronger, yet the humanity in me still remained. But for how long? I felt it like a second soul inside me, its movements mirroring mine, but its intentions weren’t my own. It was only a matter of time before its purpose was made clear.

Unless I figured it out first. Stopped it. Because I couldn’t let the unthinkable happen. I couldn’t let my worst fears come true.

The darkness couldn’t win.

I would find a way to save souls while eradicating demons from this world. I’d find a way to save my own soul. I just had to.

Emily Chaucer.

Demon executioner.

Human savior.

I could only hope.

***

Derek had deserted me.

After three days, there was still no sign of him, and I was forced to come to terms with myself on my own.

In my heightened, agitated state I tore through any book I could find, becoming a fixture in the public libraries as I flipped through the books with inhuman speed, my eyes moving back and forth so fast they were nearly popping out of my head. The librarian on shift would eye me with interest as I zipped from shelf to shelf, trying to look as human as possible as I pulled books off shelves and then put them back.

To my maddening frustration, I couldn’t find one piece of information relating to the demons as I saw them, and I had even less luck trying to locate information about myself and what I was turning into. Of course, I found books on demons, devils and angels, religious literature, mythological texts, but not one of them touched upon the facts as I knew them. Some were written by ancient authors and outlined names of demons and features that set them apart from each other, but I couldn’t find any information on the demons that I had actually seen, or their names.
Scraw...Melix... Damos.
I never did get a name from Derek about what the last one with the long hooked-nose spear. But it didn’t matter anyway, because none of these words existed.

These were beasts that kept themselves very well hidden from humans.

Derek had told me not to focus on heaven and hell, or angels and demons. That was not what he was, what
they
were. They simply lived and thrived for centuries. Yes, there was one who was considered powerful enough to rule over them all, but it was not in the same place some humans believed they would go to after they died. Damned human souls would not walk among these demons.

“We are creatures,” Derek explained during one of his lessons before he wimped out on me. “We’ve evolved, much like humans, but at an accelerated rate. We’ve made a home in our realm, but we come to this plane to survive. We’re not cursed souls walking among the living.”

Basically, I inferred that I wasn’t dealing with Hell in spiritual terms.

I was dealing with Hell as a species.

During my nights, when I tried to sleep, the dream would catch up to me, haunting me, the mist parting even more clearly as I made out the shape of the caved-in woman sinking into the tiles of the floor and the shadow of the man standing over her.

His image was sharper than it had ever been before, though I could only make out the side of his face, his jaw cut like glass, his hair dark as coal and flowing back from his face. But I couldn’t see his eyes, no matter how hard I tried. I couldn’t shift myself in front of him and truly see him.

All I saw was her. Crumbled, alone, haunted.

And him, vibrating with wanting but unable to move forward, unable to take her in his arms and hold her, calm her.

I woke up trembling, my face wet with tears. It was yet another puzzle for me to try and solve. I was getting so, so sick of these puzzles.

“Damn it, Derek, where have you gone,” I said the morning of the third day, my face in my hands as I sat up in bed, sunlight filtering through and dappling my blush-pink comforter. I stared down at the comforter, thinking,
Pink isn’t a color that belongs in my world anymore.