DARK SOULS (Dark Souls Series) (20 page)

I threw the comforter off and glided out of bed. I was still strong and feeling good. The hunger within me had abated, for now.

I managed to avoid Macy all weekend, unwilling and unable to see her without possibly bursting into tears and begging for her help. I always talked myself out of calling her, because I couldn’t involve her in this and potentially put her life in danger, put her soul in danger.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t avoid my aunt the same way and so I did the next best thing: any time those uncomfortable questions arose in her voice, I’d enthusiastically convince her otherwise. She had no idea how I looked or anything about my inhuman movements—she just remembered me as the same old, regular, innocent Emily whom she already rescued from darkness twelve years ago. It worked. My aunt talked to me as if nothing was awry and it was just another day of waking up to sunshine.

It only made me feel more alone.

“So how’s life in the big city?” she asked last night. Then, after a quiet pause, “You ready to come home yet, hun?”

With my cell nestled between my ear and shoulder, I continued to clean my small studio apartment, my energy crackling in all directions. “You know I love this city, Aunt Sandy.”

“Yes but…your voice. You sound different, sweetie. Tired.”

“’Cuz I’m cleaning,” I said, pretending to sound out of breath. “Nothing’s wrong, promise.”

I grabbed the Windex and headed to my sad, sagging blinds, more gray these days than white. I’d never had the energy to attack the furry black dust balls that had nested into them, but tonight, I needed to let off steam. I faced them with purpose.

“Is it a boy? Some dumbass playing games with you?”

I let out a choked laugh. “No, no boy in my life.” I cocked one leg on the windowsill, using both arms to spray and wipe while still cramming the phone into my ear with my shoulder. “I told you. Cleaning.”

“Now that’s an outright lie. You don’t clean. Tidy, maybe. Throw a comforter over your bed to hide a pile of clothes, yes. Never clean.”

“What can I say, the city’s changing me.”

My mouth tightened, not with effort of balancing on one leg, but with how close to the truth I was. “I’m a responsible, clean adult now, Aunt Sandy.”

“Well, you’re still my baby niece. You come home whenever you need, okay? I’m in Cold Spring, not Antarctica. I miss your stubborn face.”

I smiled, hopping down onto my wooden floorboards with ease, the blinds shining white behind me. “I know, I know. I’ll come visit soon.”

“Stay safe, hun. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

I had no idea when I could see her again. Not like this. Not when I would just have to persuade her…manipulate her into seeing a fake me.

Sadness enveloped me as I pulled clothes out of my closet to get ready for another day where I would yet again try to be normal. I tried to act normal because I didn’t know what else to do.

But that darkness inside me…it was no longer just a flickering, hot flame. It was a she, a being almost unto herself, and she would poke me, prod me into paying attention to her, to let her out. What she was, what
I
was, I still had no idea.

I could also sense when these demons disappeared, and they were disappearing methodically. My darkness would
ping
in irritation with every demon eradicated, as if that demon should have belonged to her and not the Trine. For it could only be the Trine responsible for the disappearance of these evil insects. I wished I could help them. But until I knew more about myself, I couldn’t look for them. Even though my instincts were telling me that I could be the new Hunter, they may just immediately regard me as a demon and, without further explanation, evaporate me.

The Trine was getting closer, but they couldn’t pinpoint me, that much I knew. Derek had said that demons were aware of each other, and they certainly were, nodding at each other inconspicuously as they passed, lifting their lips up in quick acknowledgement of each other. I now knew that my first glimpse of a demon was when I had literally run into Andrea, her teeth black and rotting as she snarled at me. It wasn’t a hallucination.

It was my last moment of innocence.

I could no longer ignore my physical changes. My eyes, usually a deep blue, now housed a golden ring around my pupils. When my emotions ran high, the gold would expand, overtaking the blue. I didn’t know what really happened to me when the darkness would take over. I could only feel my teeth expanding, my eyes changing, my muscles swelling with strength. But I knew that the gold belonged to her, my dark flame. She was making herself known.

I slipped into denim jeans and a burgundy oversized blouse where I left a few buttons undone at the top. I still felt continued heat snaking off my body. The lighter the fabric I had on me, the better.

I made my way into my kitchenette, bending down to pull open my fridge and taking stock of its contents. Three eggs, a single grapefruit of questionable age. My stomach twisted. I hadn’t eaten a single thing for the past three days, and I wasn’t about to start.

I slammed the fridge shut. My body wasn’t sustaining itself on human food anymore.

I wandered to Cream of the Cup, deliberately dawdling. I wasn’t sure how I was going to handle Macy when she showed up, and my thoughts were also heavily on Asher. I remembered falling into his arms and finally feeling comfort from someone other than my aunt. I remembered his warm breath on my cheek as he held me before lifting me up and carrying me to safety.

I wasn’t sure how to handle him. My body just responded to him, the electricity feeling like a rush of hot water coursing down my skin every time he was near. But with that feeling came a warning, my mind and my darkness becoming one as only one word floated to the surface even as my body rebelled:
No.

I wanted him. She wanted nothing to do with him.

That only made me want him more.

Still, there was something about him and his twin, something a little off-kilter. But I would have sensed if one of them was the Hunter, wouldn’t I? If I could sense demons, it would make sense that I could feel the Hunter, my greatest threat. But neither of them, not one of them, gave me that sense of impending doom.

Unless…

Unless I’m the new Hunter.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

I made it to work, putting my internal walls up and pretending to be just another barista on a regular Monday morning and chatting with Macy as she assumed her usual position leaning over the pick-up counter. She had spent the weekend with Liz and Amanda, which I was a little surprised over, but I didn’t comment. These were ridiculous, selfish thoughts of mine that I had to stifle, because she was giving off obvious vibes that she was upset with me for deserting her, which I totally did. She was entitled to hang out with other friends and have fun. At least one of us could.

“I feel like fifty guys are gonna want to sleep with you at Liz’s party,” Macy said, cutting through my thoughts.

I blinked and tried to focus on her as she continued to nibble on a muffin. “I know you won’t tell me what you’re doing,” she said, “but you’re looking seriously gorge. I
will
figure out your secret, you know.”

I tried to laugh, but it came out more like a wobbling bark. “We’ll see.”

“Ugh, enough about finding the coffee maker her coffee mate,” Liz said as she walked over from her table and stood with Macy. “I wanted to let you guys know that my—Emily’s idea of a Dark Masquerade is going to be a hit.”

I grabbed the damp dishcloth behind me, bypassing Liz and Macy as I walked around the counter to start wiping down tables. It was a slow afternoon, with only a few patrons scattered throughout the shop. Unfortunately, it meant that neither Liz, Amanda or Macy would be leaving any time soon.

Macy nodded in agreement, turning so she could still face me as I weaved through the tables. “It’s going to be so great. I’m gonna go in a huge ball gown, with the face of a dead corpse.”

I balked at Macy’s description, my hand frozen in mid-air. “You want to go as a dead person in a ball gown?”

“Well yeah, that’s the whole point, isn’t it? To wear our gowns like we normally would, but have crazy, scary masks.”

I suddenly realized that perhaps my idea was not the smartest, especially with all the real-life monsters actively walking around. Halloween weekend was bad enough for humans. But this party would be like a candy store to them. They could come in their true forms and no one would be the wiser.

Panic grew inside me. I was such an
idiot.

“You know, now that I think of it, Hollywood sounds like an awesome theme,” I said.

Amanda gave me a dry look from the table she was sitting at, acting like it was such a pain for her to lift her coffee so I could wipe down the bleached wood. “I’m thinking not.”

I sighed as I walked back behind the counter. Then I brightened as soon as I remembered that I could compel
them to change the theme!

I straightened, ready to lock eyes with them. Although I really didn’t know the logistics in compelling three people at once, I thought I could possibly do it. I figured I’d start with Amanda.

The darkness stirred in me, quietly whispering,
Don’t.

I caught Amanda’s gaze over the pastry display, but felt no familiar burn. Liz and Macy weren’t noticing, distracted by Macy’s phone as they tried to figure out ideas for Liz’s costume. But Amanda began to look at me like I had two heads.

“Problem?”

I squinted my eyes, staring at her harder. No such luck.

There is danger here
, the dark flame whispered. Feeling stupid, I lowered my eyes. Of course there was danger.

I couldn’t be so dumb as to tempt fate in public with demons and humans milling around outside, any one of them choosing to wander in at any second. I’d have to persuade Macy and the others later.

“Sorry, I just thought you had a piece of food on your face,” I finally said to Amanda. She slapped a hand on her face in panic and moved it around, checking for crumbs.

“You’re fine,” I amended as I leaned down and straightened the lines of muffins. She stopped, glaring at me through the plexi-glass.

Thankfully, Macy made noises about getting to class. I wondered if she had any classes with Asher. It was already closing in on four, and I still hadn’t seen him. Danger or not, I was drawn to him and wished he would’ve come in.

I waved as the three of them departed, Amanda very thoughtfully leaving her empty coffee cup on the table as she got up and left.

The rest of the afternoon ended quickly, and I grabbed my purse and ditched my apron downstairs, preparing to go to the abandoned gymnasium for a few hours before my restaurant shift started.

Although Derek no longer showed up to our Secret Clubhouse, I still went there every evening in an attempt to focus my thoughts in the peace and quiet.

I also had a lot of fun getting there.

Making my way to the edge of the East River overlooking the FDR highway, I paid little attention to my surroundings. The constant buzzing of demon energies felt like a flurry of mosquitoes hitting my skin, and I shut it off for the time being, knowing there was little I could do about them right now. Not until I figured out how to save the human host.

Manhattan skyscrapers rose up behind me, piercing the sky as the setting sun reflected against their shining surfaces. The drone of speeding cars could be heard below me, the congestion getting heavier as rush hour began to tick down.

I stood just behind the concrete barricade, casting my eyes over the East River with the Williamsburg Bridge on my left, its cables dipping down from each steel tower top as it crested across the horizon. The Manhattan Bridge spanned wide on my right, its pointed tower tops also holding cables and curving down in the classic shape suspension bridges were known for, its two stone portals rising high to let the growing traffic pass through.

Framed by steel and stone, with my city lit behind me, I raised my eyes to the sky, golden light coating my vision as I let my body disappear into the bleeding colors of the sunset.

I skimmed the river, creating curved white splashes with my feet as I flew into Williamsburg, landing lightly on the boat docks. It was deserted, the sun already set against the wide container ships that floated silently on the river. Waves from passing ferries knocked against the docks, and that was the only sound I heard as I walked around steel containers and weaved through the scattered pieces of heavy equipment.

I was alone, but I wasn’t afraid. Even cast against deserted loading docks and empty warehouses, I knew I was safe. I had the darkness, and when she was unleashed, no weapon could harm me. No man could survive me.  

My thoughts were quickly forgotten when I heard a scream pierce through the silence.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

My head shot towards agonizing wail that had come from behind a cylindrical warehouse to the left.

My dark flame burst to life.

Conflicted, I forced it back down. I refused to bring her forward before completely assessing the situation. For all I knew, the screams could be a result of a worker taking a tumble, or someone getting lost, a tourist who simply needed help out of the loading docks. Not everything had to be ominous and involve a secret demon species. Not every situation required the use of my mysterious, dark force.  

I ran like a human towards the screams instead, using only a little of my supernatural speed to get there faster. Once I was near enough to see, I took cover at the side of the warehouse, peeking out just enough to understand what was happening. I crouched down, moving pieces of damp, rotting beams of wood out of the way, taking in the scene in front of me, and I gasped.

Gwyn.

I saw her cowering on her side, her hands above her face and her legs curled underneath her as she lay against the tarmac. Spotlights from the docks illuminated her body, and I saw her arch up, crying out in pain.