DARK SOULS (Dark Souls Series) (25 page)

I did have to agree with her, but I was more relieved over the fact that Macy still found Amanda and Liz to be bitchy and that she hadn’t completely gone over to the dark side without me. And yes, I caught the irony in that thought.

Mood bolstered, I followed Macy through the crowd, unsure where she was going but not really knowing what else to do. I wasn’t surprised when my eyes automatically began scanning the crowd as I followed her through the dim lighting.

I would have liked to think that I was searching for demons and other potential threats, effectively using my powers for good and keeping these people safe, but no. I was scanning for Asher.

Despite talking myself out of approaching him these past few weeks and the potential danger he posed to me, I was still compelled to look for him.

I found him standing to the side, talking to a few other people, and I breathed easier once I saw, with relief, that Gwyn was nowhere around him. Asher was dressed in a dark suit, the exact color of which I couldn’t tell because he was partially obscured in the shadows. Half of his face could be seen in the golden light of the chandeliers and candles, his cheekbone stark while his eyes remained obscured under a hollow of shadow.

As if he sensed my stare, his eyes flashed up and skimmed over the crowd, locking onto mine. The familiar tingling brushed along my body as I held his gaze. I watched as he extricated himself from his conversation and started to walk over to me. I panicked slightly, knowing that it wasn’t a good idea to get close to him or talk to him, but I was held immobile by his gaze.

“Emily,” he said once he reached me, a mere arm’s length away, so close that I could lift up my hand and touch him if I wanted to.

“Hi,” I said, finding my voice, pleased when it came out strong.

“You look beautiful.” He paused, his mouth tilting up slightly in amusement before adding, “I’m not really sure what you are, though.”

I had to smile back.  “Oh, Persephone.” His lips twitched a little at that. “And what are you supposed to be? A guy in a suit?” I asked, feeling a little delight that I was confident enough to tease him.

He shrugged his shoulders slightly, tipping his chin down at me in acknowledgement of his lack of imagination. “I wasn’t really sure what to dress as for a Dark Masquerade, so I just bought this.” He held up his mask, and I saw that it was a rather disturbing one. What I thought had been a plain, black mask actually turned out to be faded, blackened gold that dropped down to cover his nose and cheeks but left his mouth free. Blue lines resembling veins drifted across the face of his mask, with two wide, tear-shaped eyeholes.

“That’s...kind of creepy,” I said.

He laughed. “Isn’t that what the mood is supposed to be? Dark and twisted?”

His description hit a little too close to home for me and I jolted slightly at those words; words that had been following me and haunting me for weeks on end. But even those weighted words couldn’t have shocked me more than the words that followed.

“Would you like to dance?”

“What?” I asked, well before my brain had connected with my mouth.

He smiled. “You know, dance. I think that’s what they do at these things.”

My eyes darted around the room, taking in all of the swirling gowns and masked monsters that looped and weaved around us, the dim lights casting all of their ghastly faces in shadow. The very fact that such an eerie, gruesome scene surrounded us should have only cemented the foreboding feeling that had enveloped me as soon as I stepped through the doors. I couldn’t dance with him. It was much too dangerous.

Yet I so badly wanted to.

“Yes, please. I mean—sure,” I said, flushing with embarrassment.

My darkness fluttered within me anxiously, and I stumbled slightly with surprise. For once, she wasn’t banging against me in fury, throwing her curled fists of black smoke so they cracked into my ribs and smothered my heart. For the first time, she was actually worried. She quivered around in my stomach like a dying butterfly, sinking down and away, plummeting as deep within me as she could.

Her strange anxiety caused me to pause and rethink my potentially lethal decision. I was letting my emotions override my senses by entering into Asher’s arms. Yet I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t look away from him.

He slipped on his mask and held out his hand to lead me to the dance floor, and I smiled with mixed delight and relief when I saw that his hand was gloved. I lifted my hand and curled it into his, making my own decision for once and finally allowing myself to feel like a normal girl who was just asked to dance by her crush.

He led me right into the thick of the twirling bodies and pulled me close to him, with one hand resting around my shoulders and the other curled around my waist, his face now covered by that unsettling mask. Mist hazed gently around our feet as he led me into a slow dance, holding onto me tight.

My heart leapt with the thought that his face was so close to mine—that if I moved my chin up ever so slightly, I would be within inches of his lips. I couldn’t help but dream about the thought. With the darkness at bay, it was so easy to believe that I could press my cheek against his, that I could tilt my head and his lips would meet mine.

He seemed to sense my raised emotions, because he pulled away, lifting his gloved hand and settling it under my chin so he could tilt my face up.

“Every part of me tells me to stay away from you,” he whispered.

I understood his feelings all too well. Breaking my gaze from his, I looked around at the other bodies in an attempt to become mesmerized by the sway of movement, their dancing forms resembling dark crests of waves in a sea of fog. I knew if I kept staring at him, if I remained with his warm arms wrapped around me, that I would tell him everything.

I so badly wanted to tell him everything.

Instead, I drifted closer to him and settled my cheek on his chest, swaying with him softly as we joined the dark sea of bodies around us.

“Maybe you should.”  

His arms tightened around me again as he lowered his head next to mine and whispered in my ear, “Maybe I don’t want to.”

My face filled with torment as I continued to press against his chest. I tightened my own hold on him before I let go and stepped away—away from the feelings he gave me. A cloud of cool mist instantly filled the space between us.  

Despite my tangled thoughts and my conflicted heart, I pasted a smile on my face in order to prevent drawing his suspicion. “A dance like this doesn’t really seem like your style,” I said, observing his stiffened posture and the tightness around his mouth as soon as I stepped back.

“You’re right about that,” he said. “But I had to come.”

He lowered his gaze and stared carefully at me, his tone quickly changing from warm honey to cold ice, making clear the meaning behind those words.

“You’re here watching something,” I said, slightly hurt that he was able to shut himself off from me so easily.

He nodded, his mask making him look faceless, emotionless.  

“But I can’t know,” I continued, voicing his thoughts. “Or else you’ll have to kill me.”

I said it with amusement, but I wasn’t quite able to hide the sadness in my voice. Asher continued to study me, the skin under his lip twitched slightly as he held my gaze. I studied him in return, surprised even a twitch of emotion managed to break through his hardened facade.

“You don’t want to know,” he said, his voice lowering when he added, “But I promised to protect you.”

The velvet tone made me want to stretch out underneath it languidly like a cat, but I couldn’t ignore the residual tension underlying his words. “I believe you.”

“Good.” His words were short, but his voice remained soft. “Try to stay out of trouble.”

“Oh, you mean don’t go running after slimy brown globs and throw scraps of metal at them?” I asked, smiling and attempting to brighten his subdued mood.

He was about to smile back, I was sure of it. His lips were just starting to curve upwards, but he was stopped short. His eyes left mine and narrowed onto something behind me.

“I have to go. I’m sorry,” he said, glancing at me one more time before walking by me.

I was initially taken aback by the frost in his gaze, his slate eyes surrounded by two tear-shaped hollows, but I recovered enough to look behind me and follow him with my eyes as he melted into the dancing crowd and navigated through the masks of monsters.

Awareness that not all of these monsters were actually human coursed through me. There were actually monsters dancing around me, and I was a fool to pretend otherwise. Asher had spotted one—a demon that had distracted him to such an extent that he didn’t even see my eyes blaze with golden fire, because I had felt it too.

Something powerful was here. 

I searched for Macy, finding her with Liz and Amanda, all dressed in ripped up and bloodied gowns. Macy was laughing through her mask as she held a drink up to her lips. Relieved that she was safe, I turned and began to follow Asher’s path.

In my haste to find him again, I almost ran head-on into Gwyn, and gave an internal breath of thanks when my heightened senses registered our near contact and stopped abruptly before my skin could hit hers.

“Emily, nice to see you,” she said without a trace of sincerity in her voice. “Have you seen my brother?”

I had been too busy searching over her head to actually look at her, but her voice caught my attention enough to meet her eyes. I had to smile in delight when I saw what she was wearing: a Corpse Bride costume.  However, I had to admit that while her face was powdered white and droplets of fake blood rimmed her mouth, she still looked beautiful.

“I just saw him. I don’t know where he went, though,” I said, making sure to tell her the almost-truth. I didn’t want her to know that I was looking for him, too.

Her mouth tightened and she began to glance around, her eyes alert and focused. “Okay.” She walked behind me without another glance in my direction.  

Shit. Now Gwyn was looking for him, too. I had to move quickly. I had to find the demon before Asher did. Before I was forced to reveal what I was, because the darkness had come back with a vengeance after sensing this new demon.

I wasted the next fifteen minutes wandering around the shadowy decorations, peeking into dark corners and breaking through clusters of people, but I couldn’t find him anywhere. It was only when I sat down at a corner table in defeat that I finally thought of what I should have figured out in the beginning. 

I was only using my normal senses. I hadn’t even tried to use the capabilities that I had been refining these past few weeks, and my own stupidity made me want to snort at myself in disgust. There was only one way to find the demon—I would have to reach another agreement with my dark twin, though with the way she was painfully clanging around inside me, I doubted she was feeling reciprocal.

You want it, too
, I reasoned with her.

Yes
. Her voice was so loud in my head that I winced with the pressure of it.

Yet, I could sense her willingness to at least partially play nice. She wanted the demon just as much as I did—it didn’t matter that our reasons were completely separate. All that mattered was our common goal.

I took a brief look around to make sure nobody was really paying attention to me, and was happy to see that most were too busy with their spiked drinks and the booming music to even register me. I closed my eyes and breathed in deep, nudging the dark flame and bringing her close enough to the surface for her to track the powerful demon in our midst.

At first she flickered hotly, and I felt the flames hit my center as she made clear to me her displeasure at being tempered for so long.  But she would come anyway. Even she couldn’t ignore the lure of feasting on such a powerful beast. I felt her curl outwards and upwards, the heat creeping up my neck and flames licking behind my eyes.

“There you are!”

My eyes snapped open at the sound of Macy’s voice.

“Ems, you look nice.” Amanda held a drink up to her lips, but I didn’t need to see them to know what kind of smile she was giving. “Super festive.”

“Just catching my breath, Mace,” I said, my face turned away from her.

“Well, come dance! You look so lonely over here.” She made a move to grab my arm, and because I didn’t expect it, I wasn’t able to move away fast enough. She snapped her hand back as if scalded. “Oh my—Emily, you’re burning up! Do you have a fever?”

“I need some fresh air, probably. Don’t worry.” I got up from the table sharper than I intended, knocking into Macy and almost sending her spiraling to the floor.

“God, Emily! Don’t break her,” Liz said, grabbing onto Macy.

I couldn’t let them see me this way. I had already let the darkness loose, and I was stupid to think I could keep her under control.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” I said, meaning every word as I grabbed her arms and steadied her. She looked up at me, meeting my eyes, and I watched as her face flinched back from mine. “Em...your eyes....”

“Jesus, what kind of contacts are those?” It was Liz again, peering over Macy and into my face.

I let Macy go without responding and flew towards the double doors that would lead me outside. I fought back the sick feeling in my stomach. I wasn’t sure what my eyes looked like, but I hoped I could explain them away the next time I saw them. I didn’t want to have to persuade Macy again, but I would if I had to.

The darkness saw her chance during my hesitation and thrust forward, knocking me off balance and scorching me from the inside out as I fell against the brick wall. I gritted my teeth through the heat, scrunching my eyes shut as I clashed with her. I didn’t want her to take full control—I just needed enough to find the demon, to find Asher.

She was in no mood to compromise, and each time I fought back she burned higher, charring me and blackening my very soul. I let out a scream of protest as she roared fire over me and I crumbled weakly to the ground, clawing against her as she blanketed my mind. With a cry of pain and frustration, I was pushed back into my own dark depths, anguish coating my cries as she forced me down, trapping me under her dark, black cloud.