Page 24 of Dark Souls

Never Better

T he bouncer in front of me led me down another dark hallway, which felt like we were heading deeper underground. I glanced over my shoulder at the bouncer behind. His dark gaze gave nothing away, but as his eyes locked with mine, I heard his thoughts.

What the fuck had The Dealer losing his shit over this piece of skirt? Must be some fine pussy if it’s got him losing his cool. Or perhaps she’s about to lose her membership too. Damn shame if that’s the case. She’s a hot, young thing. If The Dealer has no use for her, I’ll take her on myself. I need a new plaything.

I scoffed, causing his eyes to narrow. “Yeah, okay, buddy. I’d like to see you try.”

“Try what?” he asked, baffled.

I smirked, turning back around and leaving him confused. I started planning an escape route if things went tits up. I was pretty sure I could take them both on pretty easily. One was a dhampir vampire and the other a wolf. As long as I took the wolf out first, I’d be golden. The man in front stopped in front of a steel door. He tapped it with his knuckle before giving me a pointed glare.

“Wait here.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” I held my hands up in surrender. He opened the door, slipping in before shutting it. The man behind me cleared his throat as I peered over my shoulder at him, catching his lingering gaze on my ass.

“Keep that up, buddy. Let’s see where it gets you.” I winked at him. Yeah, I’d kill him before he laid a hand on me, but now I also knew, so would my mate. My chest filled with warmth because of that knowledge. Grandma was right. On some level, Red wanted me. Or he at least was feeling the effect of our bond because he didn’t want anyone else having me either. Wolves were known for being possessive of their mates, but personally, I think vampires are way worse. Where a wolf might fight or injure in a fit of jealousy, a vampire will kill without warning. It was just the way we were wired. It’s what makes us so unpredictable and ruthless. Two qualities Red clearly possessed.

The door opened wide and the bouncer nodded me through. I strutted past him to find myself in a large, depressing space. It was pretty vacant except for two armchairs and a table on one side of the room and a makeshift bar on the other. I paused when I saw his broad back, his head dipped low as his arms worked something in his hands on the surface of the bar.

“Leave us,” he demanded, his tone laced with deep gravel and fierce dominance. The bouncer closed the door behind me and I lifted my chin, waiting for him to turn around and face me so he could look me in the eye and explain himself for being the world’s most infuriating bellend in existence. But he didn’t. Instead, he carried on doing whatever he was doing with his back to me. I took a moment to study him as I crossed my arms over my chest. It was a challenge to not drool over the way his back muscles rippled with every slight movement of his arms but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. His tanned skin was so covered in dried blood, I couldn’t tell how much was his and how much belonged to others. His ripped jeans, which showed off a perfectly firm ass, were also covered in blood. The air was potent with a coppery tang of the brutality he’d committed. But there was another scent in the air. The dark and erotic mix of bergamot, mandarin and lavender had my fangs tingling and heat travelling between my legs. I inhaled deeper, closing my eyes for a moment as the memories that scent evoked came rushing back. He smelled of sinful fantasies and a perfectly clear night after a storm had cleansed the air.

“I thought I told you to forget me.”

The words were like a slap in the face.

I was going to kill him. I was going to be the first member of my family to murder their soulmate. The anger tore through me, bubbling just below the surface like red-hot lava, ready to cause total destruction. But instead of erupting immediately, I narrowed my eyes with a vindictive smirk as I observed him with his head hung low to his chest. Therapy with Grandma had taught me that becoming nuclear and turning to violence never got me anywhere good. Communicating my feelings was the key to understanding. But everything in moderation, right? He lifted a piece of white cloth that was soaked in alcohol and wrapped it around his torso. When he lifted his arm, I saw the large wolf bite in his side. His jaw clenched as the wound stung against the alcohol, but he didn’t make a sound.

Ignoring the damn concern that tried to replace my anger, I made my way over to him with confidence. I physically saw every muscle in his back tense when he felt me approaching. My fingers brushed against the white bandage around his waist and his hands froze their action of tying it in a knot.

“Let me help you with that,” I whispered with an edge of seduction in my voice. I gently took the ends of the bandage from his hands, hating the pleasurable ripple that just the touch of our skin caused down my spine and tied the knot myself. His head tilted slightly to watch me, giving me a glimpse of his side profile, splatters of blood and bruises across his skin and that silver eyebrow bar that caught the artificial light in the morbid room. Suddenly, I yanked the bandage extremely tight as I dug my fingers into his wound before tying the knot tightly in place. He jolted forwards, hissing a little through his teeth, but then a wide, sadistic grin appeared on his face. He peered over his shoulder. His dangerous, glimmering eyes shone with amusement, which only made me dig my nails in deeper.

“I guess I deserved that.”

I scoffed. “You guess? Forget me? Fucking forget me? As if you were that memorable to begin with.”

“Well, the message obviously wasn’t clear enough. Because here you are. Fucking up my night,” he said with such arrogance. My fangs snapped down and nails extended, but he stepped away from me, moving around the bar to grab a bottle of vodka and putting some distance between us.

“I’m fucking up your night? Wow! You really are an arrogant, narcissistic prick.” I released a disbelieving laugh as I shook my head and tried to remain as unaffected as he appeared to be in my presence. See, growth. Grandma would be so proud. “That’s rich. Need I remind you; it was you who caused the fucking scene out there, not me.”

He raised an eyebrow as he poured himself a drink but didn’t even meet my eye.

“I know big egos have small ears but try to hear me when I tell you I am not here for you. Far from it, actually .”

“You think I have small ears?” He leaned back on the bar counter and took a sip of his neat vodka casually. It was unnerving how only ten minutes ago, he’d appeared as the most soulless, maniacal psychopath and now, he was the image of nonchalance.

“I think you have an enormous ego,” I corrected.

“I don’t have an ego problem, love. I’m way too awesome for that.”

I folded my arms across my chest with sass as he turned to peer at me over his shoulder again, his red eyes looking me up and down slowly but settling on my face.

“That was a joke. Just trying to lighten the mood.”

“You need better material.”

He turned back to face me, his eyes crashing with mine in a silent battle to see who would look away first, and my lips thinned with irritation. He was infuriating. There was so much I wanted to say. No. Scream. I wanted to scream at him. But I didn’t know where to even begin.

“Let me guess…” He broke the silence first. “You’re here because of Heathen.”

I paused, licking my lips as I contemplated how to answer that. Of course, they knew each other if they worked in the same place and for the same person. That also made sense why Red had questioned my drawing in my journal. Was that why he had been at the campsite in the first place? This whole thing had just become very complicated. Now I knew The Dealer was my fucking soulmate. Regardless of if he wanted me or not, which he had made pretty clear he didn’t, this was still messy.

“Yes.” I decided to be honest. Heathen had said I’d need this asshole’s help and to earn his trust if I was going to figure any of this out, but the chance of that happening was dwindling by the minute. “I don’t do bullshit, Red. So I’m going to be honest with you and I hope you’ll have the decency to do the same. He said I could trust you so… I’m here to help him.”

He broke our eye contact to stare down into his glass and I felt a small victory. But it was short-lived when I became fixated on the way his biceps were flexing and his thick tattooed neck was vibrating as he swallowed down another sip. The atmosphere was so thick with tension I was beginning to sweat.

“Help him with what exactly?” he finally asked.

“I… I don’t know yet. That is what I am trying to figure out.”

He chuckled humourlessly. “So, he sent you here?” He took a step towards me, giving me a fiery glare from head to toe. “Looking like this? How did you even get through the door?”

“He gave me a membership card. Told me to wear a black wig and yellow contacts to match the profile. That’s how I got in tonight. I had no idea that you were… you. That you were The Dealer. If I did, I—”

“If you did… what? What would you have done? Would you have stayed away, knowing who I was?” He finished the remainder of his drink and turned to pour another. His tone dropped to a deeper octave when he said, “I’m sure I’m quite the disappointment, right? You got the shit end of the stick in the soulmate department, love. You saw me out there. I have no humanity. I kill without mercy or remorse. And that wasn’t even me at my worst. You know nothing of who I am.” He met my gaze once more, his nostrils flared. Once. Twice. His hands tightened around his glass. “Yeah, we fucked before I realised who you were to me. And it was good. But that was all it could ever be. Because I am me and you are you,” he said coldly. He tilted his head to the side as I swallowed at the sinful darkness in those eyes.

“You didn’t realise I was your soulmate when we slept together?”

He tapped a finger on the side of his head. “Flicking that switch up here has those consequences. I feel no emotions apart from rage.”

So it was true. He really had turned off his humanity. Well, fuck. That should be the biggest red flag there was, but I just saw it as a challenge. Because if anything could break through that icy, cutthroat exterior, surely it had to be the mate bond. And even though he was clearly a dick, he was still my soulmate. And I wasn’t about to walk away from the man who could somehow undress me, fuck me, and leave me breathless with those eyes alone.

“I call bullshit.” His eyes narrowed as I stepped towards him until we were so close I felt his breath on my face. “You killed that man for touching me because of blind rage? You sure there wasn’t anything else going on? Why did a man putting his hands on me make you so angry if you don’t give a fuck about anything?” I pushed like the brat I loved to be, with a smug smile pulling on my lips.

He scoffed, shaking his head. “I may be dead inside but that doesn’t mean anyone gets to touch what’s mine.”

“Oh.” I slammed a hand over my chest with exaggeration. “So, I am yours now? Damn, I’m getting whiplash over here trying to keep up. So, which is it? You want me, or you don’t, because you’re kinda giving off mixed signals, knobhead.”

He stepped forward, closing the gap between us completely and forced me to look up at him from his intimidating height. “You are mine. You will always be mine. But that doesn’t mean I can have you. And you shouldn’t want me either. We are from different worlds. This is the last place you should be. Heathen fucked up, letting you come here and I’ll fucking kill him for it. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll leave. You’ll stay away from me. You’ll stay away from Heathen. From this club. Forget him. Forget me. We are no good for you. Don’t be tragic, Ilaria. Just go home.”

“I know you are trying to scare me away. But I am not some innocent doe-eyed princess that can’t handle a little darkness. In fact, bring it the fuck on, Red. You don’t intimidate me.”

“I am the epitome of darkness, love. There is no light left in me. Can’t you see I have nothing to give you? I’m not trying to intimidate you, I’m trying to save you from me. It might be the one decent thing I ever do in this life. So, go fucking home, Ilaria.”

He turned, striding back towards the bar, grabbed the entire bottle of vodka, and left me standing there, reeling from his pathetic attempt at a warning. Or was that supposed to be some kind of official rejection?

“No.”

He froze, with the bottle halfway to his lips. Then he groaned, throwing back his head and taking many gulps.

“If you haven’t noticed, I don’t take orders from anyone, especially not you. I am stubborn as shit. I do what the fuck I want to do, when the fuck I want to do it. Heathen asked for my help and I want to help him. So I am going to, with or without you. You can make this difficult, or you can make it easy. But I’m not going anywhere, Red. Not until you answer my many questions.” For effect, I marched over to the bar, grabbed my own bottle of whatever was closest to me and stormed over to an armchair, flopping down dramatically and taking a swig. Tequila, urgh, the worst.

‘Yes, girl. Let’s show him who’s boss here.’ Rue was just happy to not be leaving and to continue the conversation, even if it turned into a full-blown argument.

His pupils dilated, the black consuming the red until it was a mere border, but he remained silent. Just stared at me like I was a woman gone mad. Maybe I had. But I meant it. I’d finally found him and I wasn’t leaving without answers.

“Where is Heathen?” I started and he rolled his eyes, hissing between his teeth, before he took another swig.

“Locked away.”

I scowled, not liking that answer. “You locked him away?”

“No,” he gritted, already irritated by my questioning. Well, buckle up matey, because I was only just getting started.

“Who locks him away?”

“Why do you care?” He spun, his demeanour turning icy and hostile. His posture was rigid and I could see that rage had returned to his eyes. I’d clearly hit a nerve. Or maybe he was just being jealous.

“Because I do.”

“Are you fucking him?” he growled. Ah, jealousy it is. I was about to point out that he was feeling another emotion other than rage in my presence, but I bit my tongue. I needed to pick my battles wisely.

I scoffed, “No.”

“But you want to.”

“I’m not having this conversation. Especially with you, of all people.”

“Why? Because you feel guilty?” He strolled towards my chair, his eyes so intense I had to look away and stare down at my bottle. “You feel guilty that you want to fuck someone that isn’t me?”

“Why would I feel guilty? We only fucked once, right? And that was all it was. A one-night stand. Best way to forget you would be to get beneath someone else,” I replied with sickly sweet venom, watching as his nostrils widened with anger but otherwise he remained blank. Expressionless. Cold as the fucking artic. “God, Heathen warned me you were like this. I thought he was exaggerating, but clearly not.”

“Answer the question, Ilaria. Do you want to fuck him?”

Honestly, I didn’t know anymore. Yes… at one point, I had wanted to go there with him and the way things were heading, it wouldn’t have been long until the inevitable happened, but then… Red. I hadn’t even seen Heath since before that night, so I had no idea how I would feel about him anymore. I knew another man’s touch would probably disgust me now that I’d experienced Red, which just made me hate him even more. He’d ruined me for all other men and then left me. What the hell was I supposed to do with that? I stared up at his gorgeous face, wanting to hurt him like he’d hurt me. Yes, I hated him.

“Maybe. I did. Before you. Maybe I still will. Who knows? Once I forget you, I mean. Not that it will be any of your business.”

He remained silent but all the muscles clenched in his angular jaw before he took another swig from the vodka. Jeez, he guzzled that thing like it was water.

“You need to stay away from him. You need to stay away from us both.”

“So you keep saying.” I rolled my eyes, tugging off the wig with relief and massaging my scalp with my fingers.

A small moan left my lips at the bliss and Red stared at me hard. I paused. Our eyes met as the room’s tension multiplied. His burning gaze took in my natural hair and his throat moved as he swallowed thickly. It was still there. The sexual tension between us. I could feel it pulsing like it had a life of its own.

“Take them out,” he demanded, his voice low and thick with arousal.

I knew exactly what he was asking for. He wanted to see the real me. I carefully took out the contacts, casting them onto the table and glanced up at him. His expression darkened, a hunger so raw and primal possessing his features.

Oh god. I wanted him. I hated him. I didn’t know a thing about him. Who he was. Where he was from. He could be pure evil. I mean, so far, it didn’t look good. Killing for sport. Ruler of The Underground. Fuck boy. But I still wanted him so badly.

What had happened to him to make him carry so much anger? To make the choice to live this way with no humanity. It’s all I could see in those eyes. Pure rage. Except when he looked at me. In those moments, I saw a flicker of something else. Longing. And it gave me dangerous hope.