Page 246 of Dark Souls

No one spoke. I stared at Zoran. He stared at the unopened envelope. Leif frowned, clearly not happy that no one was celebrating his brilliance.

“Okay, I was expecting a round of applause but a simple thank you will do. So, I don’t have her name. Or her picture but her location is the next best thing, right?”

Zoran swallowed harshly, his throat moving with the motion, and then he looked at Leif. “Thank you. It’s more than enough.”

“You’re welcome.”

“So… where is she?” Hana asked nervously, her wide green eyes darting across the table between Zoran and me.

“That’s the craziest thing!” Leif was animated while we were all sitting in silent shock. “She’s right here! In England.”

Zoran suddenly ripped open the envelope aggressively and scanned the map. Leif had circled a red ring around an area. My brother flipped through the next few pages as Leif continued to explain for the rest of us what Zoran was looking at.

“She’s living in a very remote area in the south of England. It’s rural, near the coast and from a quick internet search, it’s a small village with a population of 1,679. There is no coven located there so my guess is a lone witch hiding among humans. But she should be easy enough to find in a place so small.”

Ruby stood behind Leif and placed her hands on his shoulders, squeezing him. “Well done, Leif. That’s amazing. Perhaps I can go down there and see if I can draw her out? She might be willing to come for questioning? If not, we can force her.”

Zoran’s jaw ticked and he stood up abruptly. I stared at him in warning and I was relieved when he held his rage back enough to say thank you for the offer but he was doing this alone. Ruby opened her mouth to argue but then seemed to think better of it and just nodded in agreement.

Leif lifted his hand and Zoran grabbed it in a silent gesture of thanks before he turned and stormed out of the room with the envelope. I stood up, bent down to kiss Ilaria and said, “Do you mind if I give tonight a miss? I feel like I need to be with him right now.”

“It’s fine. Go. We do this every week.” She waved me off and I kissed her once more before following him out. I zoomed up to the guest room he was staying in and opened his door to find him sitting at the end of his bed with his head in his hands.

Sitting down beside him, I exhaled deeply and placed my hand on his shoulder. He was shaking. My eyebrows furrowed as I tried to understand whether it was from shock, relief or something else. He stood up suddenly and started pacing the room, his fists clenching and unclenching at his sides. His eyes were as black as a starless sky and I realised he was shaking with anger.

“Z.” I stood up carefully, lifting my hands up to try to calm him. “Take a breath. Talk to me.”

“I need to go. Right now. I need to see her with my own eyes before I can believe it’s true.”

“And you will. But not like this. Not while you’re so close to losing control. You need to get answers. You need to figure out who she is and why she did this before you go charging into her life to destroy it.” I tried to make him see reason over his fury because I couldn’t let go of the niggling feeling that there was something about this witch that wasn’t adding up. And I didn’t want him to do anything in a rage that he would come to regret.

He growled through his fangs, the veins in his neck protruding as his whole body strained to fight back his demon. “I want her dead, Lukas. What’s stopping me from flying there tonight and ripping her fucking heart out of her chest? It’s what she deserves.”

“Maybe,” I said calmly, watching him like a hawk because if he was about to catapult himself out the castle window, I would have to restrain him. “Or maybe not.”

He paused. His black eyes slammed into mine with vengeance. His hand wrapped around my neck as he dragged me into his body. “What did you say?”

I remained calm, knowing this was the only chance I had to bring him back to logic. To make him consider it might not be what it seemed. “Why would she save you, Zoran?”

His hellish eyes that blazed with cold, hard conviction glared into my soul. “She didn’t save me. She cursed me!”

I nodded and I felt his grip on my throat ease a little. “She cursed you. Yes. But in doing so, she saved your life. Why would she do that?”

I was hoping he’d come to the same realisation that I had. That she could be his soulmate but clearly, he wasn’t ready to hear that. He glared at me, snarling through his fangs before he let me go and started pacing again. His hands raked through his long red hair and he grabbed a fistful painfully.

“Because she is sick. Twisted. I don’t know.”

“Don’t you want to keep her alive long enough to find out?”

He closed his eyes and after a few moments of deep breathing; he opened them again, his natural green irises showing that he had calmed himself enough to listen.

“Look. You have her location. You know where she is. You’re going to find her. But you need a plan. You need to at least be able to control your demon if she’s living in a human village. You need to be subtle and inconspicuous. You’ve already said that you’ve come close to finding her before but she runs. She can’t see you coming and in order to keep your identity hidden, you need to think rationally and clearly.”

‘Tell him to stalk her!’ Heathen shouted with excitement.‘It’s so much fun and will scare the shit out of her. Win, win.’

‘No. It will make her run.’

‘That’s what Ambroz wants. The chase. Trust me on this. It will keep Ambroz calmer.’