Page 65 of Dark Souls
Just For Her
T he moment Ilaria gave her mortal soul to me for all eternity, a powerful surge of burning ecstasy travelled through every cell in my body. My vines glowed gold, capturing the very essence of her life and fuelling my dark soul. The precious treasure I had craved more than my own existence was now in my possession. I felt complete in a way I never imagined possible. She would be mine for all eternity, which exhilarated me but also came with an intense feeling of bittersweet agony. My life in the human realm was about to end. Which meant, so was hers. My demonic nature, twisted and distorted by darkness, felt a sense of victory that she would be forever mine even in death, but the weight of knowing I would drag her down to the depths of hell far too soon broke my black heart. Her soul would follow mine to the underworld where she would stay forever, stained by the darkness of our bond, losing the life she had barely lived.
“What have you done?” I choked, feeling a strange dampness glide down my cheek. A tear. The first one I had ever cried. I had no idea demons were even capable of it.
Her glassy pink eyes captivated me, consumed me just like they had the very first time I had ever looked into them. The feeling of contentment in her soul filled my own, making the most delicious meal, but the taste of something bitter was left on my tongue. Something dark and horrific. Her death. I peered down at her chest, her gaze following mine to find the sharp point of the stake lodged through it. Blood seeped through her black top, darkening the material. Her head rested against my heart as she closed her eyes.
“Your dark soul for mine.”
’ No!’ A voice I hadn’t heard for over a hundred years pierced my thoughts, deafening and full of anguish. Luka.
An earth-shattering roar shook the cellars as I thrashed with all my might against the chains on my wrist and ankles. After feeling the return of Luka’s presence and possessing Ilaria’s soul, a newfound power ignited in my veins. With the next vicious tug, one of my arms was freed, creating a hole in the cellar wall as I ripped the chain away. My arm wrapped around Ilaria’s waist, holding her limp body to me as I did the same to the other.
Belladonna’s face paled significantly as she staggered backwards. Her chanting grew louder and more panicked as she held my sigil in her hands. A glow resonated from her palms as she muttered the Latin to destroy it. But I was more concerned about my mate dying in my arms. Quickly, I reached around Ilaria’s back and removed the stake, praying it had missed her heart, and I was quick enough before the wood poisoned her blood. She grunted as it dislodged from her body and I dropped it to the floor, pressing my hand to her chest to stop the bleeding.
Ilaria’s hands lifted to my face, stilling me in my need to save her. Her bright eyes scanned my face as a slow, mischievous smile appeared on her own. A black ring on her index finger vibrated subtly against my skin and her eyes flicked over to it.
“It’s okay,” she whispered, gripping my face tightly. I frowned, unable to understand what was happening when her skin healed itself, leaving a scar. And then she fucking winked. My Snow Angel winked at me in the face of death. I knew she was ballsy, but that took me by complete surprise. Before I had time to question her, an excruciating spark of pure agony raced from my toes to the tips of my horns, causing me to throw my head back and fall to my knees. Belladonna’s magic wasn’t working on the sigil, and now she had turned her attention to me. It felt like every fabric of my soul was being torn to shreds as I recognised the Latin to the hellfire spell. She was attempting to turn my blood into fire.
In a blur, Ilaria was no longer in my arms but had zoomed across the cellar, slamming Belladonna against the wall by her throat. Her fists were pounding into her face at insane speed. The Devil raced towards Ilaria but was intercepted by a swirling portal. So many bodies filled the room, moving so fast and bringing with them a powerful energy, it was hard to comprehend what happened next.
The insufferable pain in my body eased, my mind clearing as I blinked rapidly to understand the scene. My eyes searched for Ilaria, panic intensifying until I saw her in her mother’s embrace. The Queen was half comforting, half restraining her as Ilaria heaved through her fangs, staring up at Belladonna with only pure darkness in her eyes.
An array of blinding colours surrounded Belladonna, causing her to float above the ground, her whole body strained and shaking painfully as an invisible force held her captive. The magic that surrounded her was suffocating. The energy rippled off every surface and made my throat tight with its power. My eyes moved to the man who was projecting it with his outstretched arm, palm upwards, and a deep scowl on his striking face. I realised he was the only member of Ilaria’s family I didn’t recognise, which meant he must be Leif Anderson. The warlock brother.
A sweep of red hair and bright green eyes full of unshed tears hurried towards me. Arms flung around my neck and her head buried into my shoulder as her body shook against mine. I blinked, breathing hard as my arm slowly lifted to run my hand down her soft hair.
“Hana?” My deep voice cracked with emotion as she tightened her grip on me. I could feel Luka’s relief flooding through us as I wrapped my arms around her body and closed my eyes. When I opened them again, I looked over her shoulder at all the faces of Ilaria’s family staring down at us.
“Arius, l-let me e-explain,” The Devil stammered with undeniable fear in his blue eyes. He was being restrained by King Ezra and Ilaria’s wolf brother, Lorcan, while Arius Romano stood in front of him, holding his hand in front of his face as a purple glow expelled magic to stop the vampire from being able to transport himself away.
“Which part?” Arius sneered, glaring at his face with a terrifying calm but deadly glint in his eyes that I had only ever seen one other person achieve so effortlessly before. Ilaria herself. “The part where you tell me how you came to run The Underground while also working for me? The part where you explain why you hid and used two Demonski Upirs as your pawns, forcing them to kill for you, work for you against their will and be your slaves just so you didn’t have to get your own hands dirty? The part where you abducted and tortured an innocent Romano soldier?” Arius stepped closer to his face, grabbed Mitchell by the throat and lowered his voice to a haunting tone. “Or the part where you tried to murder my granddaughter?”
The Devil’s head snapped back and a cry of suffering echoed around the walls as Arius did something unseeable to him with his magic.
‘Heathen. Give me control.’ There it was again. Luka’s voice. I hadn’t been imagining it.
‘Luka? Am I going crazy or can I really hear you?’
‘You mean crazier than you already are?’ There was a touch of teasing in his tone and unexpected laughter lodged in my throat and came out as a choked cry, causing everyone’s attention to turn back to me on my knees with Hana still buried in my chest. A strange sensation, a feeling I wasn’t accustomed to, made my skin tingle, and an odd prickling appear behind my eyes.
‘Fuck. I think I’m feeling emotional. Don’t make a demon cry in front of his new family, Lukas. I’ll never live it down.’
‘I missed you too, you fucking melt.’ I could feel Luka’s joy and relief radiating through me as I realised we were finally whole again. Heathen and Lukas. Sinner and Saint. Us against the world and now we have our Snow Angel too. Ilaria’s eyes met mine and all the darkness that stirred within her wilted away as a stunning smile appeared on her face. She could feel it, too. We were all together. ’ Share control with me, Heathen.’
I closed my eyes and searched for his connection. For years, all I had felt was emptiness where he was supposed to be. But not this time. As if I could physically feel his hand reaching out to me, I gripped it. I held on with all my might and tugged, pulling him to the surface. My body shuddered. We smiled.
A few gasps around us made us open our eyes, sharing our vision and control of our body for the first time in too long. When they found Ilaria’s face, she had happy tears running down her cheeks as her fingers pressed against her lips in shock. I knew what she was seeing. We were half-shifted. Luka’s body, face and hair had returned but my horns, wings and black eyes remained. The vines and demonic tattoos across our skin were still visible but not as dominant, mixing with his own tattooed, scarred skin.
‘Christ, what the fuck have you done to us?’
’I lost my vines and demon symbols ,’ Luka explained in our mind. ’ I had to make my own.’
Hana removed her head from my chest for the first time, sensing that I had shifted. I peered down at her, taking in her beautiful face.
“Lulu?” Hana’s voice, still so sweet and innocent, took us back to a time we had long forgotten. A time when we had only ever had each other. A time when she had looked up at us with those terrified, bright green eyes like she was right now, and made us promise we would never leave her. That we would always be with her.
“It’s me, little one.” Luka’s voice was deeper than normal, as I was still partly in control. She burst into tears, flinging herself back into our chest as we held her tighter and buried our face in her hair. “We never left.”
After a few moments, we stood to our feet. Hana released the chains around our ankles and hands and as soon as we were free, we sprinted across the damp ground towards our mate. Ruby let go of her daughter, who ran into our arms. She jumped up, wrapping her legs around our waist, and slammed her lips against ours. Our claws delved into her hair, pressing her against us. Our kiss turned passionate and fierce in seconds, neither of us giving a fuck about the audience.
A loud cough interrupted us and we broke apart. We turned our heads to see all the women in her family smiling but all the men looking extremely uncomfortable.
“That is really going to take some getting used to,” King Ezra grumbled, meeting our black eyes. “Best you ease us into the PDA slowly.”
Ilaria giggled, pressing her forehead against mine as I ignored the wolf and looked back at her. “How are you okay right now? That was a hellfire stake.”
Ilaria lifted her hand from our neck and wiggled her fingers at me, showing me a black skull ring with a pink diamond in one of the eye sockets. “Leif enchanted this ring so any vampire who tried to kill me would fail. He didn’t think to spell it against witches, though. Thank god, Belladonna had been turned, otherwise that stake would have killed me.”
“Bloody hell, ungrateful much?” Leif scoffed, turning his head to stare at us both while maintaining his magic shield around Belladonna effortlessly. His face transformed into a cheeky grin when Ilaria rolled her eyes and I could sense that he was joking. “She will probably have a scar, though.” I could tell from the look on his face as he said that the thought pissed him off.
“Thank you,” Luka pushed through and spoke for us both. The warlock’s unearthly eyes cast over our face, horns and wings slowly, taking in our body before he looked back at our face.
“Damn, you’re a good-looking motherfucker.”
“Leif!” Ruby scolded him.
“You’re just trying to make me forget you’re an Anderson,” I said, which made him laugh.
“Is it working?”
“A little. Keep the compliments coming, and I’ll let you know.” I dropped my banter and turned serious for once in my life, holding my claw out to him. “But like Luka just said. Thanks for saving her life.”
He shook it firmly.
“My sister has a habit of throwing herself into deadly situations with no fear for her life. And I seem to have a habit of saving her ass,” Leif answered, his lips twisting wider into an amused smile. “I’ll be happy to hand that job over to you now, demon.”
Ruby walked over to us and placed her hand on my shoulder. I peered down at it and then at her elegant face as she gave me a smile, still refusing to put Ilaria down.
“Now you are officially family and a royal,” she said, causing my eyes to widen. “You have the final vote. We all agree that there is no need for a trial. These two should be sentenced to death for their crimes. But the final vote rests with you.”
’ Did you hear that, fucker? We are royal! Prince of Darkness has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?’
’ Focus! The queen asked us a fucking question.’
We ran our gaze over Mitchell Morton as he whimpered pathetically, pleading for mercy. He didn’t want to die at my hands because he knew just how merciless I would be when it came to killing him. That much was certain. He was shitting his fucking designer pants. We moved our gaze to Belladonna. Her soulless eyes were fixed on us without a trace of fear. She was accepting her death. Giving me the satisfaction of seeing her scared would never happen. We clicked our tongue over our fangs, and then I let Luka speak for us.
“I’ve spent years planning their deaths,” he answered, before turning to face Ruby. “But I think I need a little more time to make sure they’re how I always envisioned them. Lock them up until I come for them.”
A flicker of her own darkness, an understanding of what I needed, passed across the Queen’s face and a sinister smile appeared, showing me a glimpse of just how scary this woman could be if she was crossed.
“Okay, you heard him,” Ruby said. “Lock them up separately, make sure not a soul can find them and ensure they cannot escape.”
Ilaria’s family disappeared one after the other, Mitchell and Belladonna, along with them. Ruby kissed Ilaria on the cheek and looked between the two of us. “We will give you two some time. Just tell us when you are ready for your revenge. In the meantime, we will interrogate them to make sure they were alone in their crimes and there was no other involvement.”
I nodded, and she vanished behind her own cloud of purple smoke.
“Luka.” Hana’s voice behind us made us turn around to find her standing with our newly formed vampire, Ronnie. We owe a lot to him. Not only had he agreed to our plan to turn him, but he had done everything we had requested of him. He’d played his part in saving my sister. But as our gaze travelled down to the arm he had curled tightly around her hip and her hand that was resting against his chest, that gratitude quickly dispersed. Hana’s smile faltered as our eyes narrowed.
“Luka. Heathen.” Ilaria’s voice was full of warning as we slowly let go of her body and allowed it to slide down our front, turning all our attention to the muscular giant of a man who dared to touch our sister so intimately.
We raised our sharpened fingernail, pointing towards Ronnie’s face as we growled together. “No. Step away from her. Right fucking now.” Ronnie did so immediately, the sire bond giving him no choice.
“Calm down. Don’t lose your shit. They’re mates. Ronnie is Hana’s soulmate,” Ilaria said, grabbing our biceps and trying to force our attention back to her as Hana’s green eyes widened with concern.
Our head whipped around to our mate as we stared down at her, unable to believe what she just said was true. She nodded, confirming it. “Ronnie was the one who found her. You should be thanking him.”
“I’ll thank him after I’ve killed him. Again,” we growled, our protectiveness and refusal to accept that our little sister was all grown up, enough to even have a mate, taking control. Which was ridiculous. Hana was older than everyone who had been in this room, except me. But try telling that to our irrational brain.
“At least wait until I’ve given her my soul before you kill me,” Ronnie said quickly, lifting his hands to his head in surrender when he saw the rage written on our face. Hana’s mouth dropped open, and she glared up at Ronnie in disbelief before taking a step forwards and standing between us.
“Lukas Heathen Nezera!” she shouted, placing her hands on her hips, showing her own anger. Our black eyes cast down to her furious face, and we couldn’t fight the little smile that tickled the corners of our lips because we had missed that bossy little girl who used to think she could stamp her feet at us and get anything she wanted. She could, of course. But not this.
“Not him, Hana,” Luka growled, shaking our head. “Not my mate’s fucking ex. No. It was bad enough that I had to allow him to live, knowing he fucked my mate but to know he will be fucking my sister–”
“Wait!” Hana’s face was a picture of confusion as she held up her hand. Her eyes ran over Ilaria’s body, and then she turned to look at Ronnie over her shoulder. “You and Ilaria?”
Ronnie looked like he was about to faint. Or beg me to kill him just so he doesn’t have to suffer my sister’s wrath. He’s lucky she can’t shift into her demon. That would be a game changer.
Oh, this is brilliant. We folded our arms over our chest and smirked, widening our stance to get comfortable as we waited to see how this played out. Hana was sweet and innocent on the surface, but she was a little firecracker underneath. Ilaria hit my bicep, glaring up at me for causing drama.
“It meant nothing and was before any of this! We were just–” Ronnie started but Ilaria cut him off.
“Hana, trust me when I say there is absolutely nothing between Ronnie and me except friendship. There isn’t even the slightest attraction there anymore.”
“She’s right. Looking at her makes me feel sick!” Ronnie shouted in panic.
“Alright, dickhead!” Ilaria snapped just as Luka shouted, “Watch your fucking mouth!” Poor bloke couldn’t win. I chuckled internally. Both Luka and I enjoyed this far more than we should.
“No! I just mean, I feel physically sick even thinking about the fact that I slept with anyone, because now I don’t want anyone else. I only want you, Hana.”
We stepped forward, hissing at Ronnie. “Not happening, fucker. Why? Because I am your sire. If I tell you that you will never touch her, you fucking won’t. Understand?”
He lowered his head to his chest in submission and nodded.
“Urgh! The fuck you will!” Hana shouted, slamming her hand on my chest. “I love you more than life, Lukas, and I have missed you so much, but hear me when I say I will never speak to you again if you get between me and my soulmate.”
It was Ilaria’s turn to smirk next to me as my jaw tensed. We glared at Ronnie over Hana’s head as he lifted his red eyes to peer at me meekly. We pointed our finger at him once more. “Fine. I will allow you to be with my sister as long as you promise you will be the best fucking mate in the history of supernaturals. I fucking mean it. One wrong move, and you will feel the entire depths of hell feasting on your ass when I am through with it.”
“Yes, master,” Ronnie mumbled, nodding his head.
“Don’t call him that,” Hana snapped, glaring up at me as I smirked.
“He has no choice. I am his master and he will do what the fuck I say.”
“Well, I am his soulmate and he will do whatever the fuck I say, too.”
“Ronnie, I feel so sorry for you right now,” Ilaria chuckled.
“Don’t.” Ronnie smiled sheepishly, looking between us all. “I’ve always been a secret submissive.”
Hana’s cheeks flamed as she peered over at him. A look of desire between them caused the air to thicken and bile to rise in my throat, wanting to kill the fucker all over again. Ilaria placed her hand on my shoulder firmly. “I’m getting this man out of here before he kills you, Ron. Are you okay with getting back to the palace yourselves? We will meet you there once he’s cooled off.”
Ronnie nodded. “Yeah. Arius gave me the power to transport now.”
Before we could say another word, we found ourselves no longer standing in the Knowlton’s cellars, where only ten minutes ago I thought my life would end, but in the brightly decorated and bohemian apartment owned by Ilaria’s friend Neve. She shoved our chest aggressively, slamming our back into the wall and pressed her entire body against ours.
“Now I have you both together. You two are in so much fucking trouble,” she husked, leaning up on her tiptoes to brush her lips against ours. “Did you really think I would let you get yourself killed? That you would escape this life without my soul? That I would let you die like that? You are never leaving me.”
It was only then that we had a chance to really take in the sight of her. She had a cut on her forehead that was healing, but dried blood ran down the side of her face. Faint bruising under one eye and raw red finger marks on her neck. Blood covered every inch of her exposed skin and our nostrils flared with rage at just how much she had put herself through to save our life.
Sensing our concern, she smiled up at our face as she traced her fingers over our skin sensually, causing a stir in our dick. “Don’t worry. It’s not all my blood. Some of it is mine. Some of it is yours. Some of it is Belladonna’s. But most of it is Mitchell’s.”
Our jaw ticked. Our hand snapped up and grabbed her jaw firmly, holding her still as her eyes danced with desire and excitement. “Don’t you EVER put your life before ours again. You are our mate. Our entire world. We only protect you from now on. No one will ever fucking touch you again.”
She licked those plump lips, leaving a seductive shine on them as she whispered, “That is not how this works, Red. You are my mate. My entire world. And I protect you too.”
Our heart expanded, breaking the shackles of invisible chains that we had wrapped around it for centuries to protect us from any more pain. But she had cut through them with a fucking smile. She may have given me the name Heart Thief, but she was the one who stole ours and made it beat again. Scarred and blackened but it still fucking beat. It beat just for her.