DARK SOULS (Dark Souls Series) (37 page)

“Stay away from me,” she said, sobbing.

Her efforts to escape from me used up the last of the energy that she had, her hands trembling and weak as they slipped across the tracks as she tried to move backwards in a feeble crabwalk.

“No, Macy, no, please understand...” I trailed off, watching as the terror in her eyes quickly turned into something worse. Something I had never seen before, and never wanted to see again. Something extremely close to hate.

“Macy,” I tried again, my voice cracking.

Her mouth opened to reply, but she could emit no sound. Her eyes widened with the realization that her throat was closing up, and she began to gasp and sputter, clutching at her throat as her body sagged against the tracks, her head barely missing the one with the electrical charge for the trains.

“
Macy!”

I scrambled forward to close the distance between us, my boots sliding against the decaying, damp ground as I tumbled towards her and clutched at her arms, shaking her, begging her to stay alive.

“Don’t leave me, Macy. Don’t leave me!”

I sobbed as I held her, the fire behind us illuminating her body that was now quaking with the venom unleashing itself inside of her. I watched helplessly as her lips turned blue, her body already beginning to cool against mine.

I didn’t know what to do. Everyone told me how powerful I was, how invincible I could be. So invincible that I could destroy the world, but I couldn’t even save my best friend. Nothing mattered if I was forced to watch her die.

She came to me then, the darkness that had remained so quiet and still throughout my battle with these ferocious demons.

“I don’t want you here,” I snapped at her, pushing her down with my hatred, using everything I had to keep her in that dark pit of my mind.

You refuse to see...

Her whisper was a soft song in my head, but I stifled it, my own pain and sorrow blanketing her teasing words and forcing her backwards, pushing her as far away from my soul as I could.

“She’s dying. She’s dying because of you
.
Get out of me.
Just get out of me!
”

I screamed into the tunnels, my face lifted up to the black ceiling as my angry sobs reverberated through the winding caverns.

Macy twitched in my arms, her breath barely a puff as her heart rate slowed, her pulse beating erratically in her neck as her heart battled against the venom.

“Tell me how to save her,” I whispered, my body slackening with grief. “Tell me how to save her.”

I saw no other recourse as I watched Macy’s life leak out of her. As much as I hated my darkness, as much as I wanted to rid myself of her black, scorching heat, Macy needed to come first. And I knew my dark twin had the solution. She kept so many secrets from me, and I didn’t doubt that the ability to save humans from demon venom was one of them.

I didn’t think she would listen. She played so many games and she considered me only a mere pawn for her twisted amusement—there was no way she would entertain my request. I was just so desperate and so broken over my dying best friend that I didn’t know what else to do. I needed to save her. I would do anything.

Anything...?
Came the whispered reply.

“Yes. Yes! Please, help her.”

I didn’t even reflect over the consequences of my answer, or the debt that I would now owe to the dark demon within me. I didn’t care.

She unfolded inside of me, her heat a welcome reprieve as I took a mental step back and allowed her to push forward.

My eyes began to glow unearthly gold, and I felt a pull as she moved those eyes to stare down at Macy. I watched as a rancid, puce-colored liquid lit up under Macy’s skin, trailing across her arms and legs like alien veins as my darkness directed the liquid up to the surface of her skin and pushed it towards her mouth. She coughed as the liquid clogged her throat, the bright neon trails fading as the last of the venom reached her tongue and ran out of her mouth. She turned her head, coughing hard as the slimy mass exited her mouth and hit the floor with a wet, smacking sound.

Just as suddenly, the darkness vanished, leaving only a trail of heat in her wake. I blinked with surprise but quickly recovered as I turned my attention back to Macy, holding her up as she continued to cough up the vile liquid. I’d consider the consequences later. For now, Macy was back. Macy was alive.

“Are you okay?” I asked, my eyes pleading as I searched her face.

Macy reacted as I thought, my worst fears realized.

“No. Get away from me. Get away from me!”

Macy turned, her arms and legs scrabbling around weakly as she grabbed onto the tracks to once again escape from me. To escape what I was.

Tears trickled down my face as I hardened myself into doing what I had to do. For her own sanity, I reassured myself, I needed to do this. Selfishly however, I knew what my true reasons were. I couldn’t lose my only friend.

 “Macy, I’m sorry. Please know that. I’m truly sorry.”

My broken voice caught her attention for only a moment, her eyes barely sparing me a glance before started to turn back around, but it was enough.

The heat pulsed into my eyes, turning the ocean blue into liquid gold, mesmerizing Macy and melting her thoughts into calm, warm water as her body relaxed, her eyes turning black underneath the firelight as I continued to hold her stare.

“
You won’t remember this
,” I said to her, my aching heart cracking through the melody. “
You will go home and curl into bed. You will wake up thinking this was all a dream. And it was, Macy. This was just a dream. I would never hurt you.
”

Her eyes on mine, Macy stood up, her superficial wounds healing underneath my gaze. I rose up with her, resting my arms gently around her as I pulled her into my embrace and blurred forward, flying us through the subway tunnels, avoiding active trains and bursting up into the fresh air, until we reached the roof of her dorm, where I would let her go.

She didn’t look at me as I released my hold on her and she turned around to sleepwalk through stairwell and down into her room. It was all I could do for her.

It was all I could do for myself.

Trembling and sobbing, I fell to my hands and knees, my stomach heaving with the hurt while even while my body reverberated with the new power. Three incredibly powerful demons now thrashed within me. I knew, with abysmal acceptance, that I was slowly turning. That I would soon turn. That was the sacrifice I had made to save her.

I was a Cambion.

I didn’t feel the net as it fell upon me. It was only when it tightened, when I was pulled off my feet and dragged across the stone roof that I realized I was trapped.

It wasn’t a normal net, like someone would catch fish in. The fabric burned me as it touched my skin and tightened on my face. It
burned.

My animal instincts taking over, I fought at the net, but it only seemed to pull tighter, to burn higher, the more I struggled.

A face soon formed above me.

Through my slitted eyes, I studied him. He had brown wavy hair and was tall in stature. His skin was tanned, allowing the ice blue of his eyes to stand out in stark relief against the backdrop of the night. He was thin, lanky almost, with long, gangly limbs sticking out of his dark clothing. Despite the night, I could make out a tattoo spiraling out of his t-shirt and onto his neck.

“You’re...the Hunter,” I breathed through my scorching pain.

He cocked his head at me as if amused.

“Not quite,” he responded before I saw his fist come towards me.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

The comforting blanket of unconsciousness had been a welcome escape for me these past few months, but it was only inevitable that I would be forced to float back to the surface and face the danger in front of me.

I wasn’t disappointed. As I opened my heavy, overworked eyelids, I felt myself tied up once again in a seated position, pressed up against a cool, smooth surface that could only be some form of a concrete wall. Only this time, I felt hard, iron chains binding my wrists, lifting my hands and bolting them into the wall above me.

It seemed these demons were smarter than the last ones.

I attempted to free myself from the chains, the power stronger in me than it ever was before. To my frustration, I felt a sharp snap of fire so hot it felt like ice at every move I made to break through my restraints.

I looked up, confused, every part of me telling me that I should easily break through iron and rip it apart like paper as I went.

I could see that the iron binds on my wrist were inscribed with strange symbols that flashed purple every time I struggled. I gritted my teeth at the icy fire, and only then did I feel a painful tightness in my face. The net had burned my skin. I pictured my face being covered in the bloody shape of diamonds, like some sort of ugly, nightmarish clown.

And I
would
be this demon’s nightmare, whenever he decided to show himself.

I remembered the face that floated above me, so familiar to me but so foreign at the same time. I’d never seen him before. Had I?

All my rattling must have drawn his attention because I soon made out a streak of light forming in the distance that illuminated a flight of stairs. Footsteps followed, falling softly as they descended. The door above was left open and it was the only source of light I had in this dungeon. I watched carefully as a figure soon took shape out of the shadows.

I couldn’t mask my surprise when the shape revealed itself.

“Asher?” I cried out with relief. “Asher! Oh, thank god. You have to get me out of here. Please, before he comes back.”

He remained still as a statue, his silver eyes a dull grey as he regarded me through the darkness.

“Asher?” I tried again, my voice starting to tremble.

“You’re a monster,” he said, breaking his silence.

“No,” I said, trembling, my body shaking so hard my chains began to jingle softly. “No, you don’t understand. I’ve been trying—I don’t even know what...please, I know you understand me. I know you
see
me.”

Emotion flitted across his face at my last words, so fast I barely even caught it.

“Yes. I’ve seen you. I’ve seen you for what you really are. I saw what you did in the subway tunnels.”

“Asher...” My heart twisted in agony underneath his stare. Then I remembered. “The children! I was trapped before I could get back to them. Are they okay?”

Asher seemed completely taken aback by my concern, his eyes darkening underneath his brows. He seemed to fight with himself before he finally said, “They’re fine. Gwyn found them, brought them back to their homes.”

Despite the fear, agony and pain flowing through every part of my body, I let out a sigh of relief. Asher reacted to my response by twisting his face away, but not before I caught the look of surprise on his face.

“The only reason we’ve kept you alive is because we’ve never seen anything like you,” he continued, his voice toneless as he refused to look at me. “We had to study you.”

My head lowered until my chin almost touched my chest. I couldn’t look at him any longer. I couldn’t see the hatred in his hardened features for one more minute.

“I’m a good person,” I whispered, my words almost collapsing in on themselves. “I survived this long because you care about me.”

“We’ll keep studying you before we kill you,” he continued, as if he couldn’t even hear the sorrow and hurt in my voice.

Pain cut across my face at those cold words, and I looked back up at him, my eyes wet. Every part of me screamed not to be weak in front of him, not to be defeated. But I also couldn’t ignore the deep connection I felt to him, a connection unlike any other.

He’s the light in my darkness
, I thought suddenly, brokenly.
I must make him see.

“Asher, we haven’t known each other for very long. But I know you feel it,” I said, forcing strength into my words. “We have something. You and I. We’re meant to
be
something.”

A muscle below his eyes jerked, betraying the only sign of emotion on his face. But instead of replying, he turned on his heel and made his way back up the stairs, this time with heavier footfalls.

“No, come back. Please...”

I couldn’t help but pull at the chains as I watched him leave, and I cried out as the icy pain blasted through me.

At the sound of my cries, he stopped, but only for a moment. He held one foot in mid-air, fighting something, before he slammed that foot back down and continued up the stairs and shut the door.

Let me out
, the darkness whispered deep within my soul.
Let me out and I will show him. We will desecrate. We will escape.

“No,” I said aloud. “I won’t let you. Not him. Not him.”

Though I didn’t know what he was, or even the danger he posed to me, I wouldn’t hurt him. I knew right then that I would willingly die, suffering a long, tortured death, before I ever hurt him.

Be prepared for that to happen
, the dark flame said.

Hours seemed to pass as I sat trapped in the pitch black, my body weakening with every minute that went by, the flashing purple symbols slowly sucking the life out of me.

I shook myself out of my despairing thoughts when I heard another person approaching. This time the footsteps were lighter, almost giddy as they hopped down the steps and into my frame of vision. I squinted against the sharp line of light. I felt like a bat in a cave.

When I could finally make out the figure, I growled with annoyance. I should have known. Gwyn.

“Well, well, look what the cat dragged in,” she said, daring to step close to me, confident that I couldn’t hurt her. “I was wondering when you’d mess up.”

“I didn’t mess up,” I said to her, the familiar gold flashing out of my eyes.

Her eyes widened at my show of power, but she otherwise continued to look unconcerned. “Oh, but you did. Liam described to me exactly what you looked like. What you turned into before you made your own personal bloodbath to soak in.” She paused, enjoying the dramatic effect it had. “You’re a grotesque, vile demon, just like the rest of them.”