Page 12 of Dark Souls

Obsession's Descent

W ell fucking played. My Snow Angel had done an impressive disappearing act on me and while I enjoyed the hunt to begin with, I was starting to feel desperation seeping into my bones. The need to find her was driving me insane. To smell her. Feel her. Talk to her. This thrilling game we were playing was only meant to affect her. To get me so deep under her skin that I was all she could think about. I wanted her sharp little mind on me at all times. I wanted to own her every emotion: her fear, her adrenaline, and her excitement. Well, more fool me because what I didn’t account for was not being able to find her would send me spiralling. My obsession was out of control, pushing me to the edge of recklessness.

I had no idea how long it had been because time was lost on me when I was constantly pulled back and forth from the void. But I knew it had to be over a week. The last couple of times Master had summoned me, I’d been distracted. I used to take my time on his tasks, stretching out my short-lived freedom for as long as I could, but now I was becoming impatient with my missions. I completed Master’s tasks as quickly as possible so I could spend the rest of my time searching for Snow. I needed to be careful. Because soon, he would notice. Or I’d slip up. And I couldn’t allow that to happen.

The sigil and grimoire were a cruel way to control me, binding me to an invisible prison. The punishments were meant to force me to submit or keep me locked up. He knew that was the worst punishment for me. I could handle the tortures, but what I hated more than anything was the black emptiness of the void. After I’d refused one of his commands to kill an innocent child just to ruin her father’s life, I’d been kept in that unforgiving void for a full year.

And now I have even more reason never to let that happen again. Snow.

So, I forced myself to slow down, assess the situation and ensure I was leaving no tracks behind. Leaning down, I opened the fae woman’s bag and rifled through her purse. Finding the matte black Underground membership card, I removed it and placed it in my back pocket. Then I moved to the lifeless body next to me in the woodland. She must have pissed off The Devil because the order was to revoke her membership, in other words, death.

I didn’t like killing women. Men, I couldn’t care less. But the first woman I ever killed had left a tragic, distressing imprint on my black soul, and it was always triggering. So, I tried to make this fae’s death as painless and as quick as possible. She didn’t even see me coming. Lifting her arm, I rubbed my thumb up and down her forearm, searching for the tracking device that every member of The Underground was injected with upon joining. With what happened at the events, we couldn’t have members disappearing on us and potentially exposing the club's secrets. It was a symbol of control. One that made The Devil truly feel like the Master of his domain and all his members, his puppets. To have that kind of power over even the most ruthless and despicable supernaturals was an ego boost, not that the asshole needed one.

When I felt the hard bump of metal, I used one of my sharp claws to meticulously slice a thin line through her flesh and remove the device. Her blood trickled out of the cut and the scent of it sent my thirst into overdrive. But I didn’t have time to feed. Not if I wanted to spend as much of the precious time I had finding Snow. Instead, I raised her arm to my mouth and let my long, forked tongue lap the blood away. Fuck. I was in so much trouble. The fact that I was passing up a perfectly good feed just to catch a glimpse of Snow again proved it.

Digging a deep grave, I placed the woman’s body in it and covered her with mud. The SIA were on my back, especially after I killed Rapist Prick so I needed to be more attentive.

Taking off into the sky, I headed for the Romano Castle. I knew she hadn’t been to the palace for a while, as the last time I’d visited her room, her intoxicating scent was fading. I’d also stalked a few of her family members in the hope they’d lead me to her. During my last visit, I’d overheard her mother say she was at the Academy. My little vamp was very clever to be hiding out at her grandfather’s school for supernaturals because it was in a magical dimension that only students and teachers were granted entry to.

Landing inconspicuously on the tall spirals of the castle roof like I had the last time I was here; I used my powers to open the latch with my mind and let myself in through her window. Although her scent was strong, as though she had visited recently, she wasn’t there.

That desperation and frustration caused an ache in my chest and molten lava to spread through my veins. Being surrounded by her personal objects and delicious scent made my obsession stir into dizzying madness. Until now, I’d left her things alone. Merely looking for any sign of her and when there was none, I’d leave and move on to the next place in search of her. But I had grown too impatient now. Too fucking needy.

Extending my forked tongue, I lapped at the air of the room to take in more of her sweet and spicy scent as my dick hardened in my jeans. I wanted to be closer to her in every way possible. I needed to feel her on my skin, taste her on my tongue, have her under me, or above me. However she’d fucking take me, but I knew she wasn’t there yet. I was under no illusion that I was two steps ahead in this relationship, but she’d catch up eventually.

Moving towards the huge four-poster bed draped with purple and black silks as a canopy, I carefully ran my claws over the soft sheets, making sure not to snag the threads and groaned as I imagined her sleeping on them. Was it possible to be jealous of Egyptian cotton? The knowledge of her smooth ivory skin bare against them instead of me was making me want to rip the material to shreds. And if she slept naked…

An impulsive growl rocketed from my throat as I caved into the primal need to leave my mark, to claim anything and everything that had touched her skin. Removing my top, I cast it aside on the floor and slid against the sheets until I reached her pillow. The scent of roses and pepper was even stronger here, causing my dick to strain against the coarse fabric of my jeans. My hips ground into the mattress, needing the friction as much as I needed air.

“Fuck,” I mumbled into the pillow as my claws balled it under my nose. My mind clouded with lust, sending toxic, erotic images of her beneath me, writhing and moaning with pleasure. I reached down for my zipper, releasing my raging cock from its confinement. The moment the sensitive flesh stroked across the softness of her sheets, I moaned, imagining it was sinking into her sweet pussy and not her mattress.

“Fuck, Snow,” I gritted through my fangs as I gripped the top of the headboard and started thrusting harder, my hips shifting uncontrollably as I let my imagination run wild. “Fuck, you take me so well, Angel. You fucking love my monster cock claiming you.”

She screamed, moaned and begged for me to fuck her harder as I got lost in my fantasy. My hips pounded into the mattress over and over. My wings shot out of my back as my balls tightened, the need to release growing heavy in my lower spine but I was having too much fun to end it so soon. I rolled onto my back, tangling myself in her sheets and her scent as my hand wrapped around my cock, fucking myself fast and hard. I couldn’t stay still, rolling, thrusting, moaning as I brought myself closer. Grabbing the pillow that smelt so strongly of her and placing it under my groin, I started grinding and fucking it into the bed as my wings beat above me, causing my talons to catch on the silks.

“You’re mine, Snow. Soon. So soon, I’ll be filling you with me. Drinking your sweet blood. Fucking your sweet cunt. You’ll be so addicted, you’ll never let me go.”

I slammed the headboard against the wall with my violent thrusts, groaning as the most intense orgasm took me over the edge of madness. I was lost. Lost to my desire, a hiss of pleasure filled the room, and my hips jolted one final time, emptying myself all over her sheets. I collapsed, completely spent. I think it was safe to say her scent was an aphrodisiac.

Climbing from the bed, I chuckled wickedly. Shit. I got a little carried away. The canopy’s silken drapes, shredded by my wings, lay in tattered heaps on the crumpled bedsheets, their fabric infused with my powerful scent and claim. Perfect.

I gnawed my bottom lip between my fangs as I pushed my still semi-hard cock back into my jeans and thought about the fact someone other than Snow might find the mess. That just wouldn’t do.

I had to find her. There were no two ways about it. I could have sworn she’d be here tonight. I felt it in my bones. Maybe she was closer than I thought. Picking up my top and walking over to the bedside table, I lifted the bookmarked classic, ‘ The Picture of Dorian Gray’ . I smirked at the irony. She was reading about a man who sold his soul for vanity and youth. To stay forever beautiful and young on the outside, but only to become hideous and burdened by his crimes and lack of morality within. I’d read the book centuries ago and yet it still stuck with me. My reasons for selling my soul to the Devil differed from Dorian’s, yet the consequences of that were very much the same.

Opening the page she was on, I skimmed the text, stopping on one sentence that jumped out at me from the white of the page. Grabbing a pen from her desk, I highlighted the sentence, doodling little hearts around it, too. Replacing it on the table, I climbed back out of the window, locking it with my mind and took off into the sky, only to swoop down into the thicket of trees in the castle gardens.

I masked my scent and drew closer until I spotted a vampire guard, one that clearly was tasked with the security of the grounds. Taking on his identity, I strolled towards the other side of the castle, pretending to be doing a sweep of the grounds. It was still early evening in England and the lights were on in many rooms. I paused near the huge stained-glass window of what seemed to be an elegant dining room, where many voices and laughter could be heard. Hovering nearby, enough to hear the ongoing conversations but hidden from view, I listened in.

“Oh, my Goddess, Leif is a genius. A video sent via the mind. A mideo! That’s brilliant.”

“He’s creative, alright. So do I dare say what we are all thinking?”

“That those beasts terrorising the Heroux realm were created from magic?”

“Yeah, that was my first thought, too. But that kind of magic is extremely rare and powerful. I’m growing more and more concerned about what our boys are up against. This isn’t just some war between wolves where Lorcan is there to help with battle techniques and leadership. This is far darker than that.”

“What did I miss?” My ears pricked at that smooth, sultry voice. Chancing a glance over my shoulder from my position as a vampire guard, I caught sight of that icy white hair and ivory skin through the window. She had clearly just transported herself from wherever she’d been hiding from me. A smile appeared on my disguised face.

Found you, Snow.

“Your brothers have managed to send a physical message through this crystal. They’ve captured one of those beasts and want our help to see if we can work out who is behind this and how to kill them. Play it again,” her father explained. He was a gigantic man with the scent of a powerful wolf.

The room fell silent as they all watched a strange projection of images illuminating from a crystal on the dining room table. I kept my gaze locked on Ilaria as she frowned deeply at whatever was in that teleported message until the end, when a bright smile lit up her face. It was the first time I had seen her smile properly and it was a sight to behold. Her pink eyes twinkled and she looked as captivating and delicate as the first fall of a snowflake. When it faded, she raised her eyebrows and let out a deep breath.

“Well, it looks like they’re having fun, at least,” she said.

“I’m not sure fun is the right word. Lorcan looks stressed,” the black-haired woman responded. Who, after my stalking, I’d worked out was her mother and the Supernatural Queen.

“Lorcan always looks stressed.” Ilaria shrugged. “But he also looked… different. He’s hiding something. They both are. Something personal. Call it triplet senses. Maybe he’s met his mate.”

“Oh my Goddess, do you really think so?” Her mother practically started bouncing in her chair, clearly enthralled by the idea.

“Or maybe he’s just finally fucked someone.” Ilaria shrugged. Her mother gasped and a few sneers came from the men in the room.

“Are you staying for dinner, darling? You’ve been coming and going so often, we’ve barely seen you. One day you’re here, the next at Amelie’s, then Sienna and Raiden’s. The Academy. What’s going on with you?” asked another woman with blonde hair, almost as light as Ilaria’s. I pulled my lips into a straight line to fight the laughter. My little vamp really had been trying to impress me with her hiding skills.

“There was a spider,” her father answered, raising his eyebrows in an amused expression. “In her room.”

“It wasn’t just any spider!” Ilaria shouted. “Leif sent it from Heroux. You should have seen the thing. So I am living the nomad lifestyle now. I’m quite enjoying it. But I do need to do laundry.” She dumped her overflowing holdall on the table and smiled sweetly at Arius Romano. I could tell it was him by the mismatched eyes he was notorious for, as well as his reputation.

He chuckled, nodding his head. “Anything for you, Princess. Just stay here. I don’t like you travelling all over and not knowing where you are.”

She rolled her eyes. “Which is exactly the reason I can’t stay here!”

“Why?”

“Because you suffocate the poor girl with your overbearing love!” the blonde woman sitting on his lap exclaimed.

“I do not!”

“You do,” they all said in unison.

As if she could sense someone watching her, Ilaria’s eyes lifted to the glass window and locked with mine. Her features turned into an angry scowl at the guard eavesdropping on her family. But then I twisted my lips into a devilish smirk. Her whole body stiffened and her expression turned to panic when she realised who was behind that knowing smile. Just as her family noticed the shift in her demeanour and moved their attention to the window, I darted out of view.

“Everything alright?” someone asked.

Ilaria cleared her throat before replying quickly, “Yeah, fine. I saw a movement outside but it was just the guard on patrol.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. I’ll stay for dinner but I’m going to go for a walk in the gardens while I wait for my laundry.”

I heard her footsteps fall away as she left the room and the voices of her family dipped to a lower tone.

“She’s been acting so odd lately. I don’t know what’s got into her,” Arius whispered.

“She’s missing her brothers and Neve. She’s just feeling a little lost, that’s all,” her mother said. I couldn’t help but feel elated. If her family were picking up on a change in her, then my plan was working. I was becoming her addiction.

The light from the entrance hall shone out across the driveway when the front door opened and the silhouette of her shadow appeared on the ground. I smirked, loving that she was no longer hiding from me. She knew she’d been caught and instead of running; she was surrendering to her curiosity. Perhaps she’s even missed me as much as I’ve missed her. One could only hope.

Pushing off from the castle wall, I strode across the lawns and towards the forest, not bothering to check if she was following. I knew she was. She wanted answers. She wanted information. The mystery of me was slowly driving her crazy. But I was limited to what I could give her. Because of the confines of my captivity, I couldn’t speak freely. But I could show her. Let her put the pieces of the puzzle together. I was under no illusion that she would try to capture me at some point. Her loyalties were with her family, her righteous morals and obligations to the crown, and I was the deadly beast that lurked in the shadows that threatened everything she’d ever known. But the story is never quite so simple. And I needed my Snow to put aside what she thought she knew, what the world wanted her to think and figure shit out for herself.

For the second time in my life, I was taking a gamble with my fate. I would risk everything to have this little spitfire. I only hoped that when the time came, she’d be willing to do the same for me.