Page 62 of Dark Souls

Beautiful Monster

“D o you really believe that the raven is going to deliver that necklace to Ilaria and the royals?” Hayes drew a circle in the sand with the end of a bone. We were playing our third game of noughts and crosses because, well, what the fuck else was there to do? And Hayes seemed ecstatic to have an opponent after having only himself to play for years. He also couldn’t shut the fuck up.

“Probably not. The dumb bird will most likely take it back to its nest and sit on it again.”

“But you said it had helped you before?” Hayes wouldn’t let go of his hope and I had to admire the fact he still had any to begin with.

I thought back to all the times a raven had visited me down in the Knowlton’s cellars. It carried in dead mice and even rabbits through the drainage system to feed from when they were starving me. It had sat with me in the dark when I was battered and bleeding. Alatar Knowlton was once torturing me when it attacked him, trying to claw out his eyes. I could never be sure it was the same raven that had always been around. There were so many of them that flocked around the manor day and night that I just presumed they were a family of ravens that had grown accustomed to my presence there. Saw me as their… friend? Fuck knows. But this… this was extreme. How did the raven even know where I was? How did it know to bring me the necklace? Was it being controlled by someone? Did I have a guardian fucking angel after all?

“Used to think I was going mad,” I admitted, drawing a cross to block his vertical path with my finger. “Thinking the raven cared about me. I knew it couldn’t be the same raven because, as far as I am aware, ravens don’t live for centuries. But, I don’t know. Maybe…”

“Maybe it’s not what it seems?” Hayes answered for me.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I’ve learned to expect the unexpected in this life. If that raven is being controlled by someone, let’s just hope that someone is on our side.”

Hayes added his circle and drew a line horizontally. “Won again. You are terrible at this game.”

With a groan, I leaned my head back against the rock, staring up at the stars. I couldn’t give a shit about the game. I couldn’t focus on anything but wondering what the hell was happening out there and why I had called Ilaria Snow in that video. The word had just slipped out with no conscious thought as if it was instinctive. And it felt natural. It felt right to call her that, but I had no idea why. More questions plagued my mind. Had Ronnie done what I asked? Had Ilaria figured out where Hana was? Was Hana free and finally safe? Would the raven really do me a solid and take that necklace where it needed to go? Would I die never knowing the answers to those questions?

“Can I ask you something?” Hayes cocked his head to the side, staring at my face.

“Do I have a choice?”

“I noticed your eyes haven’t changed.”

“That’s not a question.”

“Is it just because you are… hungry?”

Glancing across at him, deadpan, I said, “I have no connection to my human side. That’s why my eyes don’t change.”

He swallowed. “You turned off your humanity?”

“I did.”

“Why? How long ago? What colour were your eyes before?”

“Fuck me,” I groaned. “Ease up on the interrogation.”

“Sorry,” he muttered. “Just excited to have another person to speak to after being alone for so long. I get it. Boundaries. You’re not a big talker. You don’t have to tell me. I’ll shut up and leave you in peace.” He pretended to zip his mouth closed and threw away an invisible key. I glared at him through my slits of red, seeing straight through his manipulation. He started humming. Fuck no. I’d rather his incessant talking.

“Can’t remember how long ago. Over a century, at least. I turned my humanity off because it was that or kill myself because I couldn’t live with the pain. The loss. The guilt. I knew I wouldn’t survive it. And I had to survive.”

Hayes just stared at me, for once keeping his thoughts to himself. I didn’t know if I preferred that or not.

“And I… I don’t remember.”

“You don’t remember…”

“What colour my eyes were.”

“You’re kidding?” Hayes’ mouth fell open.

I shook my head, folding my arms across my chest. “I don’t remember much from my previous life. I block most of it out, even when I try to think of my father. My brother. My mother. Their faces are blurred. Warped to dull the pain. Sometimes I dream of them. But I am no longer sure if the people I see are really them or just an image I’ve created in my head.” I kicked my leg out straight in the sand. “For years, I’ve barely existed. I survived because I had to, not because I wanted to.” I chuckled, the deep sound rumbling from my chest and vibrating off the cold walls. “And now that I want to live, I’m finally going to die. How’s that for irony?”

“Hmm,” Hayes agreed, cracking his knuckles. “One of life’s cruel jokes.”

“Jokes on me, huh?” I smirked.

We sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before Mr Can’tKeepHisMouthShut piped up again.

“Do you really think they are going to kill you? After everything they have done to keep you?”

“Yeah.”

“Why though?”

“Maybe they have put me down here to see how things pan out, hoping that nothing will come of the situation and the royals will remain oblivious to their involvement and then, maybe, years from now, they will let me out only to control me again. But…if my plan works, they’ll soon figure out that I’ve fucked with them. If Ilaria rescues Hana, they will know. And then they will definitely kill me.”

“So, wait…” Hayes shuffled forward a little. “You knew if you turned that human to protect Ilaria and help her find your sister that it would result in your death?”

“Their lives mean more to me than mine.”

“Wow. That’s some heroic shit right there.” Hayes shook his head in disbelief.

“I’m no hero. The world has always seen me as a villain. And I haven’t given them much of a reason to change that view.”

“Hmm, except you are willing to risk your life to save the lives of others. That sounds like a pretty heroic act to me.”

I held up my finger to pause him. “Two lives. There are only two lives I give a fuck about saving. Everyone else can go to hell.”

“Anti-hero then?” He smirked, amused with himself. I rolled my eyes. “And actually, three.”

“What?”

“You saved mine. You could have killed me, drank my blood and given yourself a better chance at surviving this, but you didn’t.”

“The night’s still young.” I fought the twitching of my lips.

He smirked, leaning back against the rock. “Nah. We’re buds now. You won’t kill me.”

“Well, isn’t this touching? Two captives bonding over their impending deaths.”

Hayes and I scrambled to our feet, turning around to see a woman in a thick brown fur coat over her well-fitted dress standing in the cave. She had literally appeared out of thin air. Her blonde hair fell in soft waves around a flawless face as she stared between the two of us.

“Parisa,” Hayes whispered behind me, stepping back until the shadows hid him, clearly terrified of this woman. She smiled with the vindictiveness of a snake about to strike, and I narrowed my eyes as I drank her in. She reeked of wealth. Of stature. But no matter how beautifully she dressed herself up for the world to see, there was only ugliness behind those eyes. And when they crashed into mine, the blue swirling with the outer ring of brown, my whole body turned to ice.

I knew those eyes. Eyes that had haunted me even after I watched the life drain from them.

“Hello, darling.” The silky softness of her voice sent an icy chill down my spine, confirming what I already knew. “Have you missed me, Lukas?”

My knees buckled under the weight of my shock and failure. I stared up at her, unblinking as ragged breaths wheezed out of my chest, every inhale painful because I couldn’t understand how this was possible.

“You’re dead.” My voice cracked as her smile widened. “I killed you!” I roared.

She threw her head back and laughed. The same laugh I had heard when she watched my brother burn to ash, when she watched her father torturing me time and time again, when she watched Hana crying and screaming for mercy when they separated her from her demon.

“There are always loopholes, Lukas.” She raised her perfectly sculpted eyebrow and then clicked her fingers, shaking out her blonde hair as it transformed into dark brown curls from root to tip. Her face morphed into the woman that had destroyed my life all those years ago, although her eyes remained the same. Cold, haunting and soul-crushing.

“Belladonna,” I hissed through my fangs. Just seeing her standing there, alive, and realising she was behind everything sent a maddening frenzy of pure unbridled rage through my veins, forcing my body into action. I zoomed towards her with my claws extended and fangs bared, ready to rip her to shreds like I should have done years ago. She lifted her hand and sent a ball of blazing fire into my chest, flinging me backwards through the air until my body hit the sharp cave wall. A scream of anguish ripped from my throat when I realised I’d been impaled on a spiked shard of rock in my lower stomach. My hands gripped the surrounding wall to take some of my weight but the pressure and pain made it hard to focus on anything as Belladonna’s magic pushed me further back onto the spike, keeping me fixed there.

“Lukas, Lukas, Lukas. You never learn, do you?” I heard her tutting from below as I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to fight against her power to push myself off the spike. “I have waited for this moment for over forty years. And you didn’t disappoint. That look on your face when you realised I had tricked you once again.” She put two fingers to her lips and made a smacking noise. “Chef’s kiss.”

I opened my eyes, seeing Hayes creeping out from the shadows behind her with a large rock in his hand. His red eyes were solely fixed on the back of her head. The damn fool was going to attack her with a rock? He was way too weak to fight her magic. She’d kill him before he even made contact.

I shook my head, signalling to Hayes not to do anything stupid and put his life at risk for mine. Belladonna glared up at me, her arm still outstretched as she focused her magic on keeping me pinned.

“Don’t even try it, Hayes,” Belladonna snapped without glancing over her shoulder at the vampire. “I’m giving you the chance to die quickly or painfully. It will be your choice.”

Hayes peered up at me over her head and I held his gaze. He inhaled deeply, his eyes blazing crimson with anger as he dropped the rock to the ground.

“Good boy.” She smirked before spinning quickly and sending the bolt of energy into his chest, knocking him back with force. His head hit a rock and his body slumped down to the sand, blood trickling out of the cut on his forehead.

Now her magic wasn’t focused on me, I pushed my body forward off the spike and fell to the ground. I could taste the coppery tang of blood filling my mouth, the first sign that my stomach wound was fatal. My arms shook under my black hoodie as I tried to lift myself onto all fours and then sat back on my knees. My vision doubled, and my head started spinning as I reached out for a rock to steady myself.

Belladonna’s face came into view. She bent over at the waist, her face so close to mine as she stared into my eyes. “Look at you, darling. My beautiful monster.” The moment I felt her hand caress my cheek, I jerked my head away and spat blood into her face. She stood up straight, wiping it away with the sleeve of her fur coat, as a twisted smile appeared.

“I killed you,” I repeated, needing to know how this was possible.

“Technically, yes. I let you think you killed me.” She grabbed my jaw in her hands and forced my head up to look at her. Suddenly, her eyes blazed red and two razor sharp fangs snapped down from her gums. My eyes widened with realisation. She’d been turned.

“The Devil turned you before I killed you.” I panted through the pain that was rocketing through my body. The cave was shifting beneath my knees as the dizziness took effect from the amount of blood I was losing.

“Bingo.” She giggled, releasing my face and allowing her vampire side to retreat. “It was all planned meticulously by mwah, of course. And you, my beautiful beast, were like putty in my hands. As soon as I realised my father had no intention of handing the coven over to me, I knew I had to take matters into my own hands. And who should I bump into one evening at The Underground? My very soulmate. A vampire member called Mitchell Morton. And guess what? He had just been appointed as Commander of the Romano Army. An elite. I couldn’t believe my luck. It wasn’t hard to convince him to do anything for me. That is the power of the mate bond. So, together, we planned my family’s demise. That’s where you came in, my darling.”

I fell forwards, black dots peppering my vision as I tried to stay conscious. “That’s why you convinced Alatar to auction Hana and me?”

“You were always so smart, Lukas. Mitchell bought you and, of course, you pleaded with him to buy your sister too, like I knew you would. You see, Lukas, I know you. I know you better than anyone on this Earth.” She shoved my shoulder, causing me to roll onto my back as I groaned at the pain slicing through my stomach. Sweat coated my skin as she pressed her hands against the open gash, leaning all her weight on it; the insufferable pain made me grit my teeth. She took a vial out of her coat pocket and pressed it against my skin, collecting my blood. “I knew what you wanted more than your freedom. You wanted revenge on my family. On me. And you wanted to be the one to do it. So, that’s exactly what we offered you. You killed my entire coven for me. You did all the dirty work while I kept my hands clean. I knew you’d kill me so I had Mitchell infect me with his venom that night. To preserve my magic, I channelled it into a crystal to ensure my hybrid rebirth. I may not be as powerful a witch as I had been before my death, but it was a sacrifice I was willing to make.

I changed my identity. Mitchell took over the Underground and you and your sister became our pets. Our puppets to do all the nasty, immoral jobs that would keep up our squeaky clean image as respected and decent elites. And it had been going so well for us all, wouldn’t you say?” She brushed my hair away from my face as my body shook from the cold, unforgiving sensation of a slow death. “Until you had to go and fuck it up. Ilaria Romano-Black, really? Did she flutter her eyelashes and make you think she needed you? Just like I had? Because that’s your weakness, isn’t it, darling? A damsel in distress?”

“Fuck you,” I spat, grinning widely with bloody teeth on show. “Ilaria is no fucking damsel. And she didn’t need to lie, manipulate, or spell me to make me love her.”

“Aw,” Belladonna cooed. “Is my beautiful monster in love again?”

“Not again,” I snarled, lifting my head with the last of my strength to stare into her eyes. “I never loved you, you fucking bitch.”

She started laughing as a vibrating sound echoed around the cave. She pulled out her phone and waved it in my face, Mitchell’s name flashing across it.

“Darling,” she cooed into the phone, staring down at my face as I dropped my head back against the sand, feeling myself slipping away. “I’m at the cave. I needed some of his blood for the last part of the spell, which he was more than willing to provide and then it should be ready. We can destroy that sigil and be done with our little problem.” She paused, her body turning rigid as she released my gaping wound and sat back, staring at the wall. I coughed up more blood, my vision completely dark now as the familiar promise of death enveloped me. The last thing I heard was the best sentence that had ever been spoken in the English language.

“What the hell do you mean Wesley is missing and Hana is gone?”

Looks like Belladonna didn’t know me better than anyone on the Earth after all. My soulmate did. Because she’d known exactly what I needed her to do.

I died with a smile on my face.