Page 30 of Dark Desire (Dark Souls Spin-off Short Story)

Chapter Fourteen

I should have expected it. I mean, why would he hang around for me to make pancakes in the morning or spoon me through the night? I bet he’d be an exceptional big spoon. But no. He was gone. Prince Charming couldn’t even wait until sunrise to leg it out the door.

Glancing at the floor to check he hadn’t fallen out of bed in his sleep, I found it empty. No sign of his clothes, either. Maybe I’d dreamed the entire thing. Except I was pretty sure the human-sized hole in my wall and the smashed shards of glass from the broken window were clear signs I didn’t.

I sat up, pressing my hand to my neck to feel the bite marks and dried blood as I stared out the window into the black night.

The cold wind lashed at my naked body, and I shivered.

The guy couldn’t even throw a blanket over me before he left?

He may be a six-foot-six, deep-voiced dreamboat with an impressively talented cock, but he had appalling manners.

If the strange aching in my chest from his absence wasn’t unsettling enough, the soreness and stickiness between my legs were there to remind me of him, too.

Urgh. Just wonderful. Hobbling to the shower, I turned it on and stood under the scolding water with my eyes closed.

Well, I suppose I should look at the silver lining of tonight.

I was still alive. He didn’t kill me. I was starting to think he never actually would.

He seemed to be struggling with it, but I couldn’t understand why.

Did he feel this weird connection between us, too?

I raked my hands through my wet hair as I tried to understand what the hell happened tonight.

It was incredible sex, I’ll give him that, but I felt…

different. Had he rearranged my brain chemistry as well as my insides?

Because I felt like crying over the fact he wasn’t here.

It felt like the ultimate rejection, which I never normally felt after a one-night stand.

I craved him, but I also wanted to…know him?

Drop to my knees and beg him not to kill me so we could run off into the sunset together and make lots of red-haired, green-eyed babies?

Oh, sweet Jesus. I had truly lost the plot.

What the hell was wrong with me? The psycho gives me one great fuck and I’m suddenly planning our wedding.

Turning off the shower, I dried myself off and pulled on leggings, boots and my coat.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep, so I might as well try to summon the raven again, or if that still fails, perhaps I’d try my luck with The Underworld.

Slinging my bag of magical contents over my shoulder, I made my way out of the church and up the narrow, crystal-lined pathway, which reminded me, how had he got into my church to attack me earlier with my wards in place?

Was I losing my touch? Was that why I couldn’t find the raven?

It was a chilly but clear night and the wooded area at the back of my church felt alive with activity.

I smiled at the owl watching me pass by with its sharp, unnerving gaze and saluted the fox that dashed across my path and into the undergrowth.

I loved the forest at night, especially the nocturnal animals.

It felt like I was entering their world for a while and leaving my own.

Finding the perfect space, I knelt on the forest floor and arranged my candles, crystals and scriptures.

I no longer had the ancient spell book that once belonged to the St Wythren witches, but I could remember enough of the Underworld spell to hopefully make it work.

Closing my eyes, I focused on calling to the raven first, reopening the wounds on my hands and thrusting them into the earth.

After three attempts, I gave up, panting as I hunched over and pressed my forehead to the ground.

I took a few minutes to catch my breath before sitting up to look at the bright moon between the thick canopies.

This was it. The riskiest dark magic I’ll ever use and probably my final act in this life, but if it meant freeing that demon from his raven form, I knew it would be an act I’d be proud of.

I licked my lips and inhaled a deep breath before holding the rare crystal of Payrenion in the palm of my hand, smothering it with my blood.

This crystal would not only enhance my abilities but also thin the veil of the in-between, allowing the dead to hear my call.

On the second verse, I felt a shift in the air.

The wind howled, and dried leaves circled the space as my eyes glowed golden.

Thousands of voices echoed on the breeze, chaotic and urgent, too many to decipher as I reached the peak of the incantation.

I tried my best to block them out, to only focus on my spell.

“I call to thee from root and bone. Witches of St Wythren’s Cove, aid me in my plea. Stand with me. Lend me your power, your wrath, your will. Flow through me in blood and breath. Not as your servant but as your kin in death.”

The wind whipped through my hair, blowing my curls across my face as the flames on my candles turned black.

Five ghostly figures appeared around me, their white cotton dresses billowing around their ankles and hair dancing in the breeze.

I recognised them as the five witches who I nearly burned at the stake with.

They each stepped forward, and a cold, phantom touch peppered my skin as they each placed one hand on my shoulders and arms. A combined power surged within, leaving me breathless but full of might.

Abruptly, the wind stopped, the figures disappeared and everything fell still again.

I fell forward, panting heavily in a daze. Oh, my gods. They came. I had the power of six. It may not be the same as an entire coven, but surely it would be enough to summon a demon from the Underworld?

My hands shook as I reached for the five rocks and painted the demonic symbols I remembered from the spell book onto their surfaces with my blood. I didn’t know how long I’d have the witches’ powers flowing through my veins, so I didn’t want to waste a second.

The sound of rustling behind me caused alarm bells to sound in my head and I turned just in time to see the blur of a male form speeding my way.

I attempted to dart sideways, but he was too fast and had me pinned to the ground by my throat.

My eyes bulged as he crushed my windpipe and I stared up at a vampire with blonde hair, red eyes and vicious fangs. Shit. Another seeker.

The power within me surged forwards as I slammed my hands into his chest and sent him soaring through the air.

He landed a far distance away in the forest, giving me time to scramble back to the spell circle and chant the ancient Latin to summon a demon.

Cutting into more of my hands so my blood coated the inner circle, I was barely through the second verse when the seeker collided into my side with such force, the air was knocked from my lungs.

My head hit something hard, a tree perhaps and my vision blackened, but I refused to be defeated this close to the end.

I sent a blast of dark magic his way, which smashed into him and dislocated his shoulder.

He hissed through his fangs and zoomed towards me in a blur, throwing me against the tree as I screamed in agony when his fangs stabbed into my neck.

It was violent and painful, unlike the times Zoran had bitten me.

He drank endlessly as I tried to fight him off with my magic, but I knew I needed to save enough energy to complete the demon spell, and the lack of blood was affecting my focus. When I was on the verge of passing out, he pulled away from my neck, blood marring his chin, and snarled at me.

“Where’s your mate, witch?” he hissed. “I can taste him in your blood.”

Mate? My head lolled as I tried to regain my strength and understand what the hell he was saying.

Suddenly, my body slumped down the tree when the vampire’s vice grip on me vanished.

A brutal, jarring collision of bodies assaulted my senses; their movements were too fast to follow.

I didn’t have time to worry about what the hell was going on because I could feel the witches’ power within me wavering.

Remembering what I needed to do, I crawled forward on my hands and knees to the spell circle and panted out the final part of the spell, using the last of my energy and power to open the veil to the Underworld.

I rolled onto my back when it was done, staring up at the starry sky.

If that didn’t work, I knew I’d never find the raven.

My time was up. A vicious battle between two vampires echoed through the woods, emphasised by the sounds of breaking trees and savage roars.

The wind picked up again and the sky darkened to pitch black as a dark mist swirled in the middle of the spell circle.

I found some energy from somewhere to scramble back as adrenaline spiked.

Holy crap, I’d done it.

The mist cleared to reveal the most terrifying creature I’d ever seen.

The sight of long, black horns twisting from a skull-like head, wreathed in venomous-looking vines, sent a chill down my spine.

His towering height and thick muscles, covered with black shadows and similar vines covered every inch of his body.

He had sharp black claws instead of hands and feet.

Huge wings unfurled behind him, ending in pointed talons, while the soulless void of his glistening black eyes peered down at me.

When he flashed his menacing smile, revealing two rows of razor-sharp teeth like a shark, I couldn’t help but gasp in horror.

What the fuck has my crazy ass done?

He cocked his head to the side, studying me.