Page 32 of Dark Desire (Dark Souls Spin-off Short Story)

I rushed inside the church, frantically hunting around for the books I had taken out about demons months ago. Flipping one open, I searched the chapters until I found what I was looking for.

Destroying a symbolic representation of the demon’s soul. Too complicated .

Hellfire. Like I have any of that lying around .

A sealing ritual to trap the demon and starve it to death. Long game .

Decapitation… oh .

I hurried out to the porch to grab the shovel, planning to use the small amount of transfiguration magic I could muster to turn it into an axe. I stopped suddenly when it wasn’t where I left it.

“Nooo! Those fucking cops!” I shouted, stamping my foot when I remembered it had been taken as evidence.

My gaze landed on a hedge shear. Grabbing it, I tried to transfigure the scissors into something a bit more deadly and just about managed to make them more pointed and spear-like.

It would have to do. I ran out of the graveyard, pushing my way past branches and back in the direction of aggressive sounds.

The fact that they were still fighting filled me with hope. It was better than the alternative.

When I saw them, I stopped dead in my tracks.

Zoran was covered in blood, completely battered beneath the hellish demon as they both had one claw wrapped around the other’s throat while their other hands were on each of their horns.

Oh fuck. They were trying to rip each other’s heads off.

Adrenaline rushed through me as I aimed the hedge shears at the demon’s head and found some desperate magic from deep inside me to send it flying through the air with perfect accuracy.

A disgusting squelch pierced the air as they embedded in the side of his head, and with one almighty tug, Zoran ripped his head from his body.

He kicked the headless corpse off him and collapsed back down into the dirt as I sprinted to his side.

Falling to my knees, a choked cry erupted from my mouth at the state of him.

Open gashes across his torso and a gaping hole in his side showed the movement of his guts that made bile rise to my throat.

I ripped my coat off and pressed it into his side to slow the amount of blood he was losing at a rapid rate.

His face was battered and bleeding, and from the dark bruising, it looked like his ankle and a few of his ribs were broken.

“Zoran!” I cried, holding the coat to his side and pressing my hand to his forehead. “Can you hear me?”

“A-m-” he coughed and wheezed, blood pooling in his mouth as he turned his head and spat it onto the ground. “Am-broz.”

I frowned because I had no idea what he was trying to say.

“It’s okay. You’re going to be okay. I’m so sorry!

” I looked over his body with pure horror as fresh tears sprang to my eyes.

If he was any other supernatural, he’d be dead by now, but the only hope I was clinging to was that he was half-demon.

Surely, he couldn’t die from these wounds.

“Say… it. P-please,” he wheezed, his head turning to stare up at me. Those inky black eyes met mine and I felt a deep connection I’d never experienced before.

“Say what?” I whispered as I stroked his cheek tenderly.

“My…n-name. A-mbroz.”

I smiled through my tears. “Ambroz. You’re going to be okay, Ambroz,” I whispered as he groaned with what sounded like a mix of pain and satisfaction. And then he passed out.

I leaned back on my knees, panicking about what the hell to do.

I needed help. My magic was too weak to get him back to the church so I could tend his wounds and I needed a light witch who knew healing potions.

I was so out of my depth. A bulge that radiated magical essence in his jean pocket caught my attention and I pushed my hand in gently to pull out a crystal.

I could feel its powerful energy in my palm and knew for a fact it was enchanted.

I held it tighter and gave it a rub, unsure what I would gain from it.

A green swirl appeared in front of us, and a man stepped through, half-dressed with unruly light brown hair, rubbing his stunning multi-coloured eyes.

“Z-dog, do you ever fucking listen? I said between sunrise and sun-” he abruptly stopped talking when he saw me on the floor, kneeling over Ambroz’s battered body.

His eyes drank him in and then snapped to me.

A sudden bolt of magic was flung at my chest and I was levitated into the air in invisible binds. “What the fuck did you do to him?”

“I-I didn’t!” I panicked, my breath sharpening at the added pressure of his magic. “It was another demon! Look behind you!”

The man narrowed his gaze and then peered over his shoulder at the mangled corpse of the headless demon.

“Are you Zoran’s friend? He needs help!” I cried. “Please. I used too much of my magic tonight. I can’t help him.”

The man faced me again and then slowly lowered me to the ground. He kept me in a bind as he knelt next to Ambroz and looked over his injuries. “Fucking hell. The nutter has a bloody death wish.”

“Please help him,” I begged, my voice wavering with emotion. “Is he going to die?”

The warlock shook his head. “Nah. He’ll heal.

But he’s going to need some help from us both.

” He stood up again and released me from the magical binds.

I exhaled in relief from the pressure and hearing that Zoran would be okay.

“So you’re the infamous Darcelle Knightsbridge. Or should I say Darcelle Raine?”

I froze, my face paling. No one had called me that since I was a child. “How do you-”

He chuckled, folding his arms across his chest and shaking his head. “Ah, fuck’s sake. He still hasn’t asked you, has he?”

“Asked me what?”

“Never mind. Let’s get this liability all fixed up and you two can have an overdue catch-up, yeah?

” He threw a ball of fire energy at the demon’s corpse, setting his body alight before he flicked his wrist, and Ambroz’s body lifted off the floor, hovering between us.

“I’m Leif, by the way. Zoran’s one and only friend. ”

“Darcie,” I answered, finding this man’s calm and unbothered attitude somewhat comforting.

The fact that he wasn’t freaking out like me had to be a good sign that Zoran would be okay.

I led us back towards the church, keeping my hand on Ambroz’s chest because touching him seemed to ease my anxiety a little.

When we strolled through the graveyard, Leif whistled and nodded.

“Impressive. Love what you’ve done to the place,” he bantered, sensing all my wards and charms. I smiled a little. “Though you couldn’t keep this one out, could you?”

His devilish smile made me pause. “You helped him get into my church, didn’t you? I’ve been going crazy trying to work out how he got past them and still tried to kill me.”

“Guilty.” Leif lifted his hands in the air with a cheeky smile.

“And I sincerely apologise for being an accomplice to attempted murder, but in our defence…we did think you were an old witch and slayer who murdered his father, trapped him as a raven for centuries and tried to hide from your own soulmate.”

I stopped walking as Leif lowered Ambroz down on my sofa. “That’s why he wants to kill me?!”

“Again,” Leif said, waving his hand between me and the demon.

“This is between you two. But to summarise, until two weeks ago, he had been a bird for centuries. He’s antisocial, hot-headed and isn’t a big talker, so you might need to take the lead on this one.

Do you have any bandages, herbs, or ointments? ”

I swallowed and nodded, dashing upstairs to get everything he’d need. I sat on the sofa, feeling helpless as I watched the warlock work, blending healing concoctions to help speed the process up. I frowned when I realised he was using light magic, but before he paralysed me, he’d used dark.

“Are you a light warlock?”

He lifted his head as he finished tying one of the bandages around Ambroz’s stomach. “Both.”

“How?” I gasped. “Isn’t that super rare?”

“It’s a long story.”

I raised my eyebrows and fell back into the chair. “You should be careful with a gift like that. You’ll be enlisted.”

He frowned deeply, glancing at me. “What do you mean by that? Enlisted by who?”

I rolled my tongue over my teeth and tried to decide if I should say anything. I wasn’t supposed to, but fuck it. I'd already broken my oath.

“The Fates.”

“The Fates?” Leif repeated, clearly confused. “As in the legendary entities that control mortal and immortal destinies?”

“They don’t control them. That’s where people have the stories wrong.

The Fates have the final say in life and death, but actually, we have more power over our fates than they do.

Things are supposed to go a certain way.

It’s the balance the universe needs to have harmony.

But sometimes we make choices that send our fates off course.

It’s The Fates’ job to make sure order and balance are restored. ”

“And they enlist people?” he asked, while smothering more of Zoran’s wounds with the healing concoction before bandaging them.

“Supernaturals with rare gifts that can help them maintain the balance.”

“Like you?”

I nodded and wrapped my arms around myself.

I hadn’t ever spoken to anyone about this other than other seekers, and even then, we were never friends, more like colleagues.

Being a seeker under oath, bound never to reveal our gifts and to give our lives to The Fates was a lonely existence and one I was so over.

The perks no longer outweighed the negatives.

Ambroz groaned, his body tensing with pain when Leif finished the final bandage. “He’s going to need blood to heal faster. Your blood will be best as his…um…I mean, if you’re not comfortable with it, I can give him mine.”

I shook my head, immediately moving to the side of the sofa because, at last, I felt useful.

“I’ll do it.” I ran a knife along the already open cuts on my hands with a hiss and pressed my palm to his mouth.

The moment my blood fell onto his tongue, I felt him lick against my skin, and then he sucked.

I melted with relief, laying my head against his chest as he started to take more urgent gulps.

“Are you hurt?” Leif asked, noticing the blood on my neck.

“No. I’m fine. Thank you. I don’t know what I’d have done if you hadn’t come.”

“You’d have figured it out.” He smiled. “I can tell you’re the resourceful type.” Leif stood up and brushed his hands together, looking down at Ambroz. “I know he’s probably been a complete asshole to you, and I’m not justifying his behaviour, but…”

“He thought I’d betrayed him,” I whispered, holding Leif’s gaze. Leif pressed his lips together and nodded.

“The ultimate betrayal. And he’s lived with that in his head for centuries.”

I closed my eyes, feeling the pain of those words. I knew he’d been stuck in a raven form for centuries, but for me, it had only been a few months. “I didn’t mean to do it. I just wanted to save him.”

“I know,” Leif nodded. “But he doesn’t. Just tell him everything. No matter how hard it is to hear, he just wants the truth. I don’t know what will happen between you two after, but I hope you’ll sort it all out. He deserves some light in his life.”

I nodded as fresh tears appeared in my eyes. I kept my mouth shut because life was so unfair. I couldn’t give him any light even if I wanted to. I’d be dead soon.

“Thank you. You may be his only friend but you’re a bloody good one.”

“Tell him that!” Leif pointed at the man beneath me. I smiled. “He’ll be fine now, so I’ll leave you to it. You guys have a lot to talk about. It was nice to meet you, Darcie.”

“You too, Leif.” I gave him a little wave, knowing I most likely would never see that kind man again. He opened a portal and stepped through, leaving me alone with my soulmate.