Page 129 of Dark Souls

He’d only been gone an hour and it was already torture. I couldn’t focus on the words in the books as my mind spun with crazy ideas about what kind of event he was at. So far, he’d been in a ring fighting to the death and then at a sex party. Even without the bond between us making me extremely possessive and protective, any woman would have to be a goddamn angel not to be worried about that kind of track record.

My phone started ringing for the zillionth time today. My nosy family kept asking me what I was doing with all my new ME time and inviting me to do shit with them. No, Grandma, I do not want to preen the rose bushes with you. And no, Dad, I would rather preen roses with bare fingers than go to the gym and lift weights with you. They just couldn’t fathom that I actually liked my own company. Even though, granted, I wasn’t alone.

I sighed with relief when I saw Calli was the caller ID.

“Hey Calli, thanks so much for doing this. I know you must be busy with the move, so I appreciate it.” Calli had told me earlier that she and Niko had decided to move to Heroux to be with their daughter. I couldn’t blame them, and I was happy that Neve would have her family around to support her.

“No problem! I’m leaving Niko to his infuriating system of ‘everything has a certain position in a cardboard box’ and staying out of it. You’ve probably saved our relationship by giving me something else to do, if I’m honest.”

I laughed, knowing she was likely not exaggerating. I’d never met a bigger perfectionist than Neve’s dad.

“Hey, there is nothing wrong with the system!” Niko shouted in the background.

“There is when it makes zero sense!” Calli yelled back and I smiled. I loved them so much. They always challenge each other. “Okay so… I’ll send over the translated pages for you to read, but I have to say, I actually found this all really fascinating. I didn’t know that much about the history of Demonski Upirs until I read all this, but when I saw the Knowlton name, it caught my attention.”

I sat up straighter. “Why’s that?” I tried to keep my voice even, but my heart rate spiked.

“Well, they were a very well-known coven back in the day. Famous even. Especially because of the mysterious way they all died one night. The Father of the Coven killed them all before killing himself! Like a bloody sacrificial cult.”

‘Hm, nope. That was down to our creative soulmate,’Rue snickered proudly in my mind.

“Before that, they were one of the most influential covens in Europe and many American covens knew of them or had some runnings with them over time. They had quite a reputation for being, well, a bit demented. Anyway, they were founders ofThe Underground,but I am sure you already knew that with your SIA missions there and what not. That’s why you are looking into them, right?”

I hummed in agreement, afraid to say anything else.

“But what I didn’t know about them was that one document you sent to me was an outline plan of the Demonski Upir Slayers. It looks like they were one of the joining forces in Europe who hunted those demons. There is a pretty extensive list of supernaturals who joined the cause all over the world to put an end to the destruction caused by Demonski Upirs. I didn’t read them all but the Knowltons were right at the top. There were a few other familiar names on that list, too.”

I exhaled slowly as a strange restlessness and agitation seeped beneath my skin. “Who?”

She lowered her voice a little. “Your grandparents, for one. Lucius Romano. Celeste and Cora Anderson. They must have been slayers at one point because they are on the list.”

I slammed my hand over my mouth and closed my eyes. Fuck. Fuck. Fuckkkkk. My great-grandparents hunted Demonski Upirs? I felt sick. A feeling I was becoming more and more used to with the amount of twisted shit I was uncovering at such a rapid rate.

“Oh, really? That’s… crazy.” I said, trying to sound as unaffected as I could.

“Yeah. But is it, though? I mean, we all know they had a dark side. And in all fairness, they were doing the world a favour. Demonski Upirs were evil and merciless monsters who killed with no remorse. They were reckless and had to be stopped before they exposed us all to humans. I suppose it’s no different to what the SIA does now. Protect the good and rid the world of evil.”

“That’s not true!” I snapped. Rage and protectiveness took control as I lost my cool. “Demonski Upirs weren’t evil! Not all of them! That’s a load of bullshit.” There was a long pause and I internally cursed myself for letting my emotions get the better of me. “I mean, I am sure they weren’t. You can’t always believe what the history books say, right? Like how can an entire breed be evil? Evil is everywhere, no matter what race you are.”

“Uh huh,” she agreed apprehensively. “Is everything alright, hun?”

“Yeah. Course. You know me. I just get in my head about stuff and find it unbelievable that every Demonski Upir deserved to be wiped off the face of the planet.”

“Yeah. I hear you,” she agreed. “When you see the list they kept, it is quite sobering. It’s harrowing to think so many were killed.”

“There’s a list?”

“Yeah. I’ve sent that over to you, too. Didn’t recognise any names, but then again, why would I? The last Demonski Upir died around a hundred years ago.”

My heart was thundering as I put her on loudspeaker and fumbled through my emails on my phone. Would Heathen’s name be on the list?

“The amount of other crap the Knowltons were into was insane,” she continued as I waited impatiently for the documents to load. “It looks like they were actually thinking of trying to control a Demonski Upir with dark magic at some point.”

“What? How?”

“I’m not sure. It just seemed like ramblings of mad ideas and theories, really. There was talk of sigil to possess and trap the soul as a physical representation and a grimoire or something. It didn’t seem well executed or successful. They seemed to have trouble with the whole two souls issue.”

“Two souls? What do you mean?”