Page 163 of Dark Souls

“No.” He shook his head. “He doesn’t know. Apparently, whenever he meets with him, he is under a magical disguise. All he knows is that he is a vampire and has blue eyes. Those are the only things that have remained consistent with his appearance. He always dresses well in suits and designer clothes. And he has a soulmate, who is a witch, but he’s never met her in person. He thinks they might have children but he couldn’t be certain. The only other thing he knew was that he had a nephew, someone called Wesley, but he didn’t think that was even his real name. He is a member ofThe Underground.”

“Wesley?” I repeated, trying to think of anyone I knew by that name. I came up blank. But it was something, at least.

“Ilaria?” Ronnie turned to me and the emotion in his eyes caused my heart rate to spike. “The Devil knows about you. He doesn’t know you are soulmates, but he knows you were seeing each other. He found your diary, and he realised you knew about Heathen. Luka had to persuade him to let him try to deter you by making you never want to see him again so that he doesn’t come after you. He had to make it believable.”

“Pfft,” I scoffed. “I’d love for him to come after me. Fucking bring it on.”

“He will use his sister.” Ronnie grabbed my hand in his and squeezed it so hard with his new vampire strength I actually winced. “The Devil will send Hana to kill you if this fails. If he senses that this is all a trick and Luka betrayed him again, they will command Hana’s demon to kill you.”

“Oh fuck,” I breathed, realising the genuine danger I was in. “Where is Luka? How can I speak to him? We need to come up with a plan to find and free Hana and expose The Devil at the same time.”

“That’s why I’m here,” Ronnie said with sadness. “I don’t know where he is, but I know he said The Devil has him now. He said if he turned me, he would buy you some more time. Time to figure out who The Devil is and save Hana. I had to find you and tell you all of this. And tell you that…” He paused and inhaled a breath before continuing. “That he’s sorry for hurting you the way he did. He didn’t mean any of it. He loves you more than you’ll ever be able to understand. With your help, we can find Hana and hopefully expose The Devil, because he turned me to help him save her. But… he said it was too late for him. They’re going to kill him, Ilaria.”

My hand shot to my chest on hearing those words, feeling nothing but profound dread, fear and agony coiling around the very fabric of my soul and suffocating my heart. An acute sense of loss at just the thought of that coming true left me breathless. No. I wouldn’t let that happen. There was absolutely no way. Luka may believe that he’d never had anyone to save him, that sacrificing himself to save everyone he loved was the only way, but that was before. Before he met me. One thing was for sure, no one was taking the man I loved from me.

Not even the devil himself.

The Devil’s Lair

“Whatyouaresuggestingis extremely dangerous, Ilaria. To walk intoThe Undergroundalone, knowing The Devil already suspects you.” My mum clasped her hands and lifted them to hide her mouth. I don’t think I have ever seen her so anxious before. And I could understand all their concerns, but this was the best plan we had.

“I won’t be alone,” I argued, glancing at Ronnie. “Luka gave Ronnie a key to the back entrance of the club. He will be waiting there and will come to my aid if anything goes wrong. And I’ll wear one of the SIA’s hidden cameras so you can all keep an eye on me the entire time.”

My dad exhaled a loud breath, running his hand down his face.

“This is the best chance we have. I am the only one with a membership to get into tonight’s event and I can read minds. Luka told Ronnie that he is convinced that Wesley will be there tonight and that he is the key to finding Hana. If he is the Devil’s nephew, I have to find him. Apparently, he wears a silver dagger ring on his index finger, and I’ve met him before at another event. I know what he looks like.”

Once Ronnie told me what Wesley’s appearance was like, I remembered the disgusting interaction I had with him at the Pleasure Den. Looking back, it made so much sense why Luka reacted the way he had to him now.

“As long as you know that if anything goes wrong and you are in serious danger, we will be ripping that place to pieces,” Lorcan growled. His mate entwined her hands with his to calm him and the tension visibly left his face but remained in his hunched shoulders.

I shook my head. “No. You have to give me your word that you won’t expose the fact you all know about this. If any of you storm into that club, it’s game over. They will kill my mate and Hana before we stand any chance of saving them. The Devil won’t be at the club, of that I am sure, but he will easily hear about anything that goes down there. No matter what happens, I need you all to promise me this. You will not come to my rescue. I am a big girl. I can handle Wesley alone. I really need you to trust me on this.”

“We do trust you,” Mum spoke with complete confidence that filled my chest with warmth. “It doesn’t stop us worrying, though.”

“I know.” I nodded. “But I have to do this.”

“We know you do. Any of us would do the same in your position and as much as we want to take your place and do it for you, this is your soulmate. Fate brought you together to show you the person that matches you perfectly in this life, but it is love that truly saves a soul,” Grandma Maddy said with a smile as she glanced at Grandpapi, who was locked in her gaze, his eyes sparkling. The corner of his lip lifted ever so slightly. My chest tightened with longing and desperation for my own mate.

The last eight hours had been the most difficult of my entire life. Not knowing where he was or what they were doing to him had caused a constant agonising ache in my chest and a sickness in my stomach that never intensified or dispersed but incessantly throbbed. A never-ending reminder of how close I was to losing him. Every move I made, every decision and every action was the difference between life and death. His life. His death. I couldn’t make a single wrong move.

Leif opened the door and breezed into Grandpapi’s office, where we were holding our extremely private family meeting. The transformation in my brother in just the last twenty-four hours was phenomenal. His eyes now shimmered with a kaleidoscope of colours, ever-swirling and mixing like a mystical vortex of magic. He’d shaved and showered, his floppy light brown hair bouncing with every enthusiastic step he took towards me. And even better still, he hadn’t touched a single drop of alcohol since I’d found him sucking Lia’s face (I wasn’t getting over that anytime soon). But that was my brother for you, the one I knew was buried deep beneath the pain, grief and anger, stepping up when I needed him most. Under the clownish, playboy persona he liked to show the world, he was unbelievably selfless.

“Here. I made you this.” He threw something small in the air towards me and I caught it in my hands. I peered down to find a black ring made of onyx and formed into the shape of crossed bones and a skull. In one eye socket, there was a hot pink diamond. It was stunning. Perfectly me in every way. “It’s enchanted with a protection spell against other vampires. I couldn’t make it specifically against Wesley or The Devil, seeing as we don’t know who they are, but thanks to Luka, we know they are vampires, so it’s the next best thing.”

While he spoke, I put it on my finger; the weight calming my nerves. I knew I could take on Wesley, but not having to concern myself with my safety when I was thinking of Luka and Hana’s was truly a relief. I stood up and grabbed him for a quick hug. He chuckled, patting my back before I released him.

“Thank you. I love it.”

“The enchantment will only work for tonight, but I thought if I made itIlaria worthy, you’d be able to wear it anyway, and I could always cast another enchantment on it when needed.”

“I take it back. You are insanely brilliant, Leif.”

“Oh, I know.” He smirked with all the natural cheekiness he’d had since birth. When I glanced back at the rest of the room, all the faces of my family were wearing the same loving and emotional expression as me. The Leif we knew and loved was on his way back to us.

I twisted the skull ring on my index finger repeatedly as Sienna tugged the strings at the front of the leather corset that was placed around my waist and over my leather mini dress. As she tied it in a knot, checking the disguised SIA camera device which had been sewn into it like a jewel, her amber eyes flicked up to my vacant expression briefly before they returned once more to my corset.

“You’re being very quiet. Nervous?” she asked.