DARK SOULS (Dark Souls Series) (26 page)

When I opened my eyes again, I was her.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

My dark twin turned, tipping her head as she searched for the source of the power that had been vibrating against my body ever since my senses picked up the demon. It took her mere moments to locate the source, and I cursed her power and my continued need for her. I couldn’t stop her as she began to trace the trail of energy through the city, walking west as she melded in with the crowds.

The power pulsed louder as we walked down West 46
^th
Street, the trick-or-treater’s that had been running in and out of bodegas long gone. As we passed 11
^th
Avenue, I began to wonder where the hell she was taking me. Buildings and storefronts thinned out the farther west we moved, warehouses and widened streets taking their place. It became windier the closer we got to the Hudson River, my dress billowing out behind me.

When we reached 12
^th
Avenue, she had taken me farther than I’d ever gone in Manhattan, with only the loading docks, storage facilities and vacant parking lots surrounding me.

Yet, the pulse of the demon was becoming stronger.

Where were we?

If I could have, I would’ve gritted my teeth at the thrumming in my body. There was something different this time, I could feel it, and I knew she could feel it too.

We had been approaching the Hudson River by walking down West 46
^th
Street, alone on streets as she walked my body to the shipping docks. I watched at the same time she did as we saw a flash of light come from above, illuminating us for a few seconds before disappearing into the shadows.

The flashing light also lit up the looming structure directly in front of us, so large and imposing that it completely blocked out the horizon.

I was able to make out the outline as we got closer, but it didn’t make me feel any better. In fact, it made me feel way, way worse. It was the outline of a ship. A big, scary, hulking military ship.

The demon had chosen the
U.S.S. Intrepid,
an old World War II aircraft carrier, for its attack, a ship now permanently docked as a floating museum, its flat outdoor surface spanning nearly nine football fields long. It was massive, a gray giant standing still in the waters with the Manhattan skyline spiking up behind it. Its enormous surface originally held almost one hundred fighter planes before they took off and warred in the skies above.

But tonight, that surface was housing an entirely different kind of fighter.

Curious, my darkness kept moving forward, and it wasn’t long before I heard the thwack of bodies slamming together and the ominous sound of something fluttering against the wind. She crept closer, using the cover of the warehouses to her advantage as she honed in on the demon.

I gasped.

No matter how many demons I’m faced with, no matter how many I’m forced to see in their true form, I will never get over how horrifying and lethal each and every one of them can be, even from a distance.

This one was circling low in the sky, flying over the cables and spires of the ship, its black wings moving up and down in a slow, curved dance as it studied its prey below. My eyes glimpsed a dark figure, tiny like an ant as he stood on the ship’s platform and looked up into the sky. I didn’t need a closer look to know that it was Asher.

We need to help him,
I whispered through the burning pain as I watched the winged creature’s circles become smaller and lower.

She remained crouched against the warehouse, refusing to move. I glowered within her.

We have to move
, I tried again.

Just watch
, she whispered back, her mouth—my mouth—twisting up into a smile.
And see.

I was uncomfortable with the fact that my darkness was willing to watch and wait rather than pounce and devour this demon in one fanged gulp. She was up to something, and it never ended up being something positive.

In one giant leap, she was gripping the hull of the ship, climbing it with ease. It creeped me out, the way she used my body to crawl up like a possessed demonic bug in a dress. Halfway up, she leapt from the hull and onto the wide base of the ship, taking cover behind the white and black mass of the space shuttle that had been placed here as part of the museum.

I remembered vaguely when I told Macy I’d love to come here and see a space shuttle with my own eyes. Little did I know I’d be seeing it hunched over behind its wheels, the strong smell of rubber assaulting my nostrils as I watched a flying monster dive-bomb an aircraft carrier.

My darkness forced my gaze back to the present, and she made me watch as the creature dove at Asher with such speed and swiftness that it became a blur as its fanged mouth went for his chest. Asher twisted to the side and raised his arm, managing to knock the demon out of mid-air and send it rolling behind him. Although a part of me knew that he would have to possess that kind of strength in order to face these creatures, I was still shocked at his potent power.

Asher remained on his feet as he turned just in time for the demon to right itself and fling itself back into him, its glowing yellow eyes bright with fury as it flew towards him. Asher readied himself for another punch, but the demon predicted the action and instead furled its wingspan around Asher, enveloping him before rolling him to the ground and snapping at his face with its teeth.

No
, I thought in agony as I watched Asher thrash against the creature’s wings. I twisted against the darkness, my mind scrabbling to be back in control. Each and every time I fought through the burn, she would stomp on me, sending my soul flying backwards and crashing back into the fire.

She continued to level her gaze on Asher, unblinking. His mouth twisted into a grimace as he locked his hands around the demon’s neck and began to twist. The demon screeched as it fought against Asher’s grip, its winged arms flailing. I smiled inside.

But then, somehow, the demon slid out of Asher’s hold.

NO!

In the next second, the demon opened its mouth wide and sank its teeth into Asher’s neck.

Asher!

My voice sounded thunderous in my own body as I fought like hell to regain control over it. My eyelids flickered open and shut as my darkness fought against me. She was pressing back hard, trying to force me back down into the black hole that I had so often forced her.

You’re not going to win this time.
She snapped back at me with such force that it felt like being whipped with fiery, spiked chains.

My vision blurred in and out as I fought with her, and I frantically tried to catch a glimpse of Asher, still struggling on the black tarmac. I saw with horror that blood had started pooling around his head.

Let me OUT!
 I used my own fire against hers as I clawed through her grip over my mind.
I won’t let him die. I WILL NOT LET HIM DIE.

He needs to die,
she hissed.
If you weren’t so blind, you’d understand.

I was too frantic to answer her. I pummeled invisible fists against her walls and writhed under the pressure of her, twisting, pushing, fighting. Damn it, I needed to
fight.

Asher. Oh god, Asher.

With a force that I didn’t even know I possessed, I burst through her, my ears popping at the change of pressure and goose bumps covering my flesh as I finally felt the cool wind on my skin. Gasping, I clutched my stomach as sweat broke out over my body and I tried to orient myself back to the present.

I didn’t expect this; I didn’t expect to beat her.

She flared furiously against me, but I shoved her down. As my skin cooled, my anger became fear as soon as I was balanced enough to move. I had to save him. I had to save Asher.

Running with inhuman speed, I used the element of surprise as I launched myself onto the demon, cracking its chin and sending its head flying back with my elbow. I rolled to the side, leaping up to my feet as soon as the force of my launch ebbed away. It glared at me, its feast temporarily forgotten.

The beast’s wings were large and gray, each spanning over ten feet long, but its body, while taught with muscles, was small. Its eyes almost completely covered its entire face and were pressed close together, with nothing but a small wrinkle in the place of a nose, black blood coursing down its wounded, lipless mouth. I couldn’t look away from its face, mesmerized by the hundreds of sharp, small teeth and bright yellow, pupil-less eyes, its head bald and gleaming in the starlight.

I tried to look brave as it studied me. I tried to absorb that braveness and allow it to drive me. This really would be the first time I would face a demon alone; the first time I would face this demon as
me.
There would be no darkness to fall back on. Not only was I determined to fight on my own for once, to see what the good side of Emily was capable of, but I also wasn’t stupid enough to let my pissed off dark twin come forward and annihilate everything and everyone.

I hoped I could distract the demon enough that it would forget about Asher and come crawling towards me instead.

At the thought of Asher, I looked down, praying that he was still alive. I could see the top of his head over the demon’s wings, relief rushing through me as I saw his head thrash side to side as he attempted to raise his arm to press against the demon’s chest. He was still alive. I focused my attention back on the demon.

In its sideways movement to keep me in its view, its body was forced to move slightly, its left wing moving back towards its body by only an inch, but it was enough for Asher’s eyes to look over the demon’s winged talons and notice me.

“
Damn it
, Emily!”

I was suddenly unsure who I should be more afraid of: the gargoyle demon in front of me, or the furious human who was now writhing and staring murder at me on the ground. The demon wasn’t about to give me any more time to ponder—it flew towards me, its wings flat against its body and shooting at me with such speed that I couldn’t even blink before it was nearly upon me. Using my honed instincts, I ducked, my hand flying out just as it reached me and latching onto its leg.

It shrieked as it unfurled its wings and volleyed into the air. I swallowed my rising panic as my hand remained wrapped around its ankle and it brought me to the skies along with it. I wrapped my other hand around its ankle to maintain my grip, and I felt the burn rise up in me.

The mere touch of the demon’s skin on mine was sending my darkness into a hysterical frenzy, and I pushed back against her hard, so hard that I actually felt the pain as she attempted to scratch through me and up into the surface. My face flushed with the heat and the effort that I was expending on her, preventing me from focusing on the dark figure carrying me through the air.

“Emily!”

Asher’s voice caused me to look down, and a wave of nausea crashed through my stomach as I realized how high I was. The demon still shrieked above me, but it was unable to claw me off. Every time it tried, gravity would take hold and we’d begin to fall. The demon needed its hands to fly, but it also needed to stop the burn. We jerked up and down with the demon’s attempt at both. I gripped my hands tighter around its ankle, refusing to let go.

Suddenly, I heard the beat of its wings stop, the cool wind stilling around me. My throat filled with dread as the demon started curling its body downwards, and I screamed at it with all of the frustration and war that I had boiling inside me as it dove, the wind peeling back my lips and the ship’s surface flying up at me before I crashed into it with such potent speed that I felt my neck snap as soon as my face boomed into the ground. I was forced to let go of its ankle, my broken body rendered useless. But by some stroke of luck, I remained conscious.

“
Emily!
”

I registered Asher running towards me, and I wanted to raise my hand to tell him that I was okay, but I couldn’t. My bones needed time to fuse back together, and until then, I lay prone and vulnerable, a tasty treat for the demon circling and screeching above me.

The demon had dropped me right at the pointed nose of the space shuttle, but it wasn’t done with me. It swooped down once more, digging its clawed feet into my side and rising up with me still in its grip. I sagged underneath his claws, ripped and bloodied.

“Jesus, no!”

I was taken over the ship’s railings, and I saw Asher, his face drained of all color as he watched the demon let me go.

Air lifted up my broken limbs as I fell, the wind rushing into my ears. I let out one final gasp, just before my body splashed into the freezing waters and struck against one of the ship’s massive propellers.

As the blood flowed around me, my eyes stayed wide and I watched the glittering surface of the water shatter as the demon dove down for me, its jaws open. Its eyes cast two yellow beams on me as I sank, my body lifeless as it chased after me into the frozen, black depths.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

“You are
such
an idiot.”

I felt pressure against my body as Gwyn’s voice pierced my ears, her hands pumping into my chest over and over. Hard.

Gasping, sputtering, I smacked her hands away.  Where was I? Where was Asher? Cracking my eyes open took effort, but I did just that, Gwyn’s angry face hovering above me as my broken, wet body lay on the pier below the ship.

The ship…Asher was up there.

“N...no...save....him,” I said through my shards of teeth. “Save...”

Gwyn’s damp cheek was almost pressed against the side of my face, her soaking wet black curls covering my eyes and obscuring my view as she covered me from the soaring demon. I desperately tried to move and twist away from her, but my body only twitched in response.

“I
am
saving him,” she said into my ear. “By keeping you alive.”