Page 122 of Dark Souls

“Your father was my lifeline. My only food source. I was completely dependent on him. It is the way of our bond.”

“But—”

“We do not have time to discuss this. But I am slowly dying through starvation. Not the way I chose to go. I want to be with your father and Zoran, Lukas. If, through my death, I save your life, let it be. Let me go with honour. You must kill me and consume all my blood. My blood is as much mine as it was your father’s. With it, you gain his power. When they find me dead and attempt to remove me, you will have your moment to strike. Do not stay and fight, Luka. You must flee. Find your sister and run. Never stop. Do you understand me?”

“Mama, I cannot,” I cried, my voice shaking as I lowered my head.

“You must!” She grabbed my chin and lifted my face. “Please. Do this for me.”

Bile rose in my throat as I nodded slowly.

“You must promise me two things,” she said. “Do not let them take my body. You must protect my bones and reunite me with your father’s, so we may be together for eternity in the Underworld. And you must never, ever—”

“Surrender,” I choked as she smiled brightly, her natural beauty still breaking through.

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

I woke with a start, throwing myself over the side of the bed and dry heaving as I slammed my hand over my mouth. Ripping the covers off me, I darted into the bathroom just in time to make it to the toilet and threw my guts up. My hands shook as I gripped the rim of the seat and inhaled frantic breaths to calm my overactive heart.

Slouching down with my back against the bathtub, I brought my knees up to my chest and dropped my head in my hands.

Oh my fucking god.

With tears in my eyes, bile in my throat and a poisonous sickness manifesting itself in my stomach, I tried to calm myself down enough so that I wouldn’t freak Luka out. I said I could handle this. That I could handle the memories of his past. I knew it would be bad, but there really was no way to prepare myself for what I was about to see when I closed my eyes. That was so vivid. More vivid than any of the others I’d had. I only drank his blood a few hours ago. Was that why? Were his memories connected to drinking his blood?

I couldn’t stop myself. My shoulders shook as I muffled my cries against my arm. I sobbed like I had never done before. I wasn’t much of a crier. Neve and my brothers have always teased me, calling me the Ice Queen. But the pain and suffering through the eyes of my soulmate was the most heart-wrenching thing I had ever experienced. What that coven did to him… What that witch bitch did to him... And then his poor mother and the horrendous position Luka was put in. Did he go through with it? Did he kill his own mother? I couldn’t even imagine living with that on my conscience for the rest of my life.

I lifted my head when the realisation fell into place. That had to be it. The act that caused him to turn off his humanity. He couldn’t live with the pain and guilt.

Snuffling and wiping my tears away quickly, I felt pathetic and helpless. How dare I sit here and cry about whathewent through! I inhaled a sharp breath, preparing myself to climb back into bed with him and try not to show what he would deem as pity. It wasn’t pity, though. It was anger at what that coven put him through. Rage like I had never felt before. And I’ve experienced my fair share. But this was something else. Why would they do that to him? Why target Luka? Belladonna had called him a prize. What did that even mean? Was he gifted? What were they trying to achieve by torturing him? They wanted to break him down, get him to give into something, but what?

I tugged at my hair as the frustration became too much. Every time I felt like I was finally learning something new, it only added more unanswered questions to the long list I already had. But no matter my frustration, it must have been nothing compared to what he and Heathen felt every day, unable to talk about themselves.

As I carefully re-entered the bedroom, tiptoeing to avoid waking him, I stopped when I realised the bed was empty. He wasn’t there. Come to think of it, I didn’t sense him next to me when I woke up in a panic, spewing my dinner everywhere. A loud cawing noise came from the open window and I spun around to find a large black raven perched on the window ledge. The beginning of the morning sun’s rays were trickling over the cliff in the distance, painting its silky feathers in obsidian and purple hues. It tilted its head towards me as if it was sizing me up. Feeling a little judged and seeing that Luka must have brought my luggage upstairs at some point, I reached down into my suitcase for my hoodie and a skirt to throw over my naked body.

It cawed again and hopped onto the desk as I stepped back. When did ravens become so friendly? Suddenly, it took off in flight across the room and through the door leading out to the hallway. Bloody hell! First, I have to share this place with spiders and now birds too? My curiosity was piqued, and I followed it out of the room, needing to know what the flying rat was up to. I was surprised to find it waiting for me on the large, intricate banister. When it saw me coming, it took off again, heading downstairs.

“Hey!” I shouted, half expecting it to pause and listen to me. I zoomed down the stairs to keep up with it and stopped when it landed on a rectangular rug that lined the corridor towards the kitchen. “What now?” I asked, placing my hands on my hips.

It bent its head towards the floor and pecked twice against the rug. Exasperated, I shook my head, about to leave the silly bird, when I noticed the rug’s corner was folded over as if recently moved. The raven pecked at it again with persistence and then flew up onto the windowsill, watching me as I squatted down and pulled the rug away. There was a trapdoor in the floorboards. I glanced up in surprise to look at my strange little messenger to find the windowsill completely empty. It had already flown away. What the hell…

Chewing my bottom lip between my teeth, I twisted the heavy latch and lifted the trapdoor. I was greeted by steep stone steps that led down to utter darkness. I glanced over my shoulder to check Luka really wasn’t anywhere in sight.

“Luka?” I shouted down into the darkness, hoping to hear his voice, but when my own echoed back, I stood up. I removed a candle from the fixing on the wall and lit it with the box of matches Luka kept beneath it.

“Here goes nothing,” I said to myself as I started down the steps, only the flickering candle’s flame leading the way.

Once the steps ended and led to an uneven stone floor that was damp and slippery, I searched for more candles on the walls and slowly lit them as I went. The further I travelled, the greater the knot in my stomach twisted and I felt the familiar pang of poison take hold. Rusting hooks and chains along the walls and bloodstains on the stone suggested the place’s former purpose. I knew in my gut this was the cellar they had kept Luka in. Where they had tortured him within an inch of his life. God knows for how long or how many times. When the space opened up into a larger area, I paused as I noticed blankets and a pillow in the corner. They looked recently used. Clean even. I frowned as I approached, lifting one blanket to my nose and inhaling Luka’s scent. Did he sleep down here? On the floor?

My hands trembled as I dropped it and stood up. Turning around, I came face to face with a small cove. There, on a bed of hundreds of dried flowers, was a pile of bones and a skull. My fascination with all things morbid and macabre over the years led me to believe this was the skeleton of a female. And from the fangs in the jaw, a vampire.

“Ilaria.”

I jumped, slamming my hand on my chest as I turned to find Luka standing at the bottom of the steps, his eyes wide and jaw tense. The candlelight sent eerie shadows dancing across his face as he stared at me with a look I’d never seen on him before. Panic.

My lips quivered as the memories rushed through my mind once again and I raced forward, wrapping my arms around his body and hugging him so fiercely he stumbled back before righting himself. His entire body was like a solid wall of tension as I buried my face in his chest and breathed in his scent, reminding myself that he was alive. He’d survived all of that somehow. When I realised he wasn’t hugging me back but frozen like a statue, I lifted my head to glance up at him. His red eyes blinked down at me in confusion, but the clear panic was still there too and the darkest shade of green circled his pupils.