Page 76 of Dark Souls
I closed my eyes and leaned my forehead against the shower tiles, allowing the heat of the water to run over my body. My mind was restless. Not only because of the private conversation I had with my grandparents, parents and siblings before I went to find Luka in the woods but because of what they had offered me. It was everything I had always wanted. They had all agreed that I had proven myself and showed control and restraint in the worst of situations and that they had come to an agreement with Archer Brooks that I could become a SIA agent if I wanted.
They also offered Luka and me to move into the right wing of the Romano castle with our own privacy, staff and vampire soldiers. And then the biggest bomb of all was handed to me. Grandpapi wanted to retire as leader of the Romano Clan in the next few years. He wants me and Luka to become the new leaders. Luka could then choose his own Head of Army either in Zoran, Ronnie or Hana. All three would be invited to live in the castle with us, too. It was a lot. And more than I could have ever asked for. Yet, I was struggling with it. Something just didn’t quite fit. And I hadn’t spoken to Luka yet because I wasn’t really sure he couldn’t handle the added pressure of it all.
Wrapping a towel around my body, I stepped out of the steam from the shower and tried not to feel bothered by the fact that Luka had turned down my offer to join me once again. It had been four days since he had turned his humanity back on and I couldn’t help but notice that it coincided with the last time we had sex. Every time we kissed since, he’d stop before it went too far.
I understood that he was dealing with so much from his past and finding out his brother was alive would impact him but that didn’t stop me from craving him like he was my own form of heroin. I couldn’t even look at the man without wanting to jump and hump his bones, even more so every time I looked into those mossy green eyes. And after watching him fighting Zoran yesterday, I was more sexually frustrated than ever. I’d even considered getting myself off with the shower head, hoping he would hear me and feel overcome with desire and possessiveness over my pleasure that he wouldn’t be able to hold back anymore. But then, that didn’t feel right either. I didn’t want to force him to be with me if he wasn’t ready yet. I knew I would need to be patient with him as he worked through everything but I just never expected sex to be one of those things. It had never been a problem for us before.
As I glanced up at the bathroom mirror to check my reflection, I paused when I saw the handwritten message in my lipstick.
Do Over.
Do over? What the hell?
“Luka?”
Yanking the door open, I walked into my attic bedroom to find it empty. Everything was exactly how I left it, except the man who had been dozing on my bed. He was gone and in his place was the most stunning dress I had ever seen in my life, laid out with a pair of my laced goth boots neatly placed on the floor below. I frowned, walking over to the outfit and lifted the note that was left on my pillow.
Put on the dress and meet me in the place where we first met. I’ll be waiting for you. Luka.
My bottom lip caught beneath my teeth as a shy smile lit up my face and my heart fluttered like crazy. Was I swooning? It felt good. Tracing the deep-scarlet velvet of the long train with my fingers, I then lifted the dress by its ribbed corset, adorned with black and red jewels and beads. I let out a little squeal of excitement, allowing my towel to drop as I danced on the spot and then shimmied into the masterpiece. I expected my mother had a hand in this but it didn’t look or feel like anything she normally designed. This dress was gothic, elegant but racy and was a perfect representation of both me and Luka combined. I was completely in love with it and as I twirled towards the floor-length mirror, my mouth gaped open at the sight.
The hip-high slit on one side showed the flash of my white flesh all the way up to my hip bone but the way the heavy, red velvet draped across and flowed to the floor it also covered my modesty and cascaded around me like a soft cloud. The corset narrowed my waist but made my petite boobs feel fuller and busty and a piece of velvet hooked over one shoulder and wrapped around my bicep on only one arm. It was the most unique and beautiful thing I had ever worn and tears sprang to my eyes because I’d never felt more like myself. I laughed as I tugged on my clumpy goth boots and laced them up my shins, because Luka knew this was what I was most comfortable in. I wasn’t a heels girl. And somehow, the overall look was perfect.
I let my hair down and applied a red lip to match my dress before I hesitated about where exactly Luka meant because, technically, there could have been two places. Did he mean where I first met Heathen at that club or where I first met him by the lake? This ball dress was far too grand for both locations but my gut was telling me this was all Luka.
I transported myself to Miles’ luxury camping resort, which flooded me with memories of the last time I had been here for Sienna’s hen do. Just like that night, the entire place was deserted and all the lights were off in the reception. Shit, had I got it wrong? Stomping up to the front door, I read the sign hanging in the window that said the resort was closed for a private event and was sorry for the inconvenience. I sighed and was about to transport myself out of there when I noticed a sprinkling of faded leaves on the ground that led from where I was standing into the forest. I bent down and smiled when I realised they weren’t leaves but dried petals. Dead flowers.
‘ Oh my dark heart, behave !’ Rue gushed in my mind, swooning just as much as me.
She was right. Our heart was not behaving as it pounded with excitement and nervousness like I’d never felt before. I wasn’t sure anyone had made me feel this giddy. I felt ridiculous, following the path of dried petals through the forest in an insanely amazing ball gown and a beaming smile. Who was this girl? My smile soon fell when the path let me straight into the high fence that surrounded the perimeter of the resort, keeping trespassers out. The petals continued on the other side of it, trailing into the darkness of the pine trees.
“You’ve got to be kidding me?” I grunted with my hands on my hips. He expected me to jump this fence in this dress? Now the shoe choice made even more sense. Why couldn’t we just use the entrance? Was he really breaking us into my parent’s friends’ resort? Grabbing the train of the dress and bunching it in one hand, I crouched low and leapt into the air and over the fence. I was more concerned about the dress snagging on the top of the metal than I was about landing gracefully and I nearly twisted my ankle on impact.
“Fucker!” I groaned, standing upright again and checking if the dress was okay before rolling my ankle. Luckily, it was.
Continuing on the path of petals led me deeper into the rural woodland and the familiarity of the area tugged at my chest. He was showing me the exact route he took to the lake the night he found me swimming in it. I was positive. My heart raced and I picked up my speed a little, eager to see him, but the petals led to a tree, blocking my path. There, stuck to the trunk with a silver dagger, was a note. I tugged the silver dagger out with a smirk at his choice of fixture and then read the most romantic yet filthiest words I’d ever seen.
You have just walked in my footsteps. The night my world changed. Is your heart racing? Are you desperate to see me? Because that is how I felt as I walked through this forest, na?ve as to what I was about to discover but knowing there was nothing that could have stopped me from taking every step closer.
This is the tree I hid behind after I saw you in the lake. This is the tree I leaned against trying to catch my breath because you had stolen the air from lungs with just your eyes. This is the tree where I inhaled the sweetness of your cunt from your thong and knew I would never desire anyone else ever again. This is the tree I stood against when I changed my plans to leave and decided I had to stay. And that was the moment you saved me, love. Without so much as a word exchanged between us, you saved my life by just being that girl in the lake.
I just didn’t know it yet.
I pressed the note up against my chest and closed my eyes, fighting my own emotions. No. I was not going to cry. Not when I looked this darn good. I folded the note up and tucked it in the top of my corset. I bent down and put the dagger in the side of my boot, where I normally always had one, but tonight I’d gone without.
I carried on walking towards the lake and stopped dead when the long wooden jetty came into sight, hovering over the inky blackness of the water. Candles lined the entire length of it and circled the man standing at the end with his back to me. The illuminating half-moon was high above him and he was staring up at it with his tattooed hands clasped behind his back. From here, all I could see was that he was cloaked in darkness, wearing black and only his deep-red hair that matched my dress stood out.
I inhaled a quick breath to calm my nerves and stepped on to the jetty. The moment I did, he turned.
Hooooly fuuuuuck.
A well-fitted black suit perfectly covered his muscular frame. An inked chest teased out of the black shirt that was open at the collar beneath his tailored jacket. The smart trousers hugged his firm thighs and couldn’t mask the large bulge of his manhood, which instantly made my mouth water. But as my eyes roamed down to his feet, a small chuckle left my lips when I saw he was wearing his black combat boots instead of smart shoes. I slammed my hand over my mouth to hide my amusement as I walked towards him because he wasn’t smiling at all.
His green eyes shimmered like emeralds as they took me and my dress in and all the muscles in his jaw ticked with sharp restraint. My laughter died away when I saw it. Desire. Intense, soul-consuming desire as he devoured me with his gaze. Suddenly, I had to focus on breathing because it felt like I would forget if I didn’t. The intensity of him was so spell-binding, I wasn’t even sure how I had walked the short distance to him but when I was only a foot away; I stopped.
Our eyes met and slowly, like a painted picture with the last stroke of a brush, a dazzling, heart-wrenching smile appeared on his face.
“You’re stunning.”
I swallowed thickly at the deep husk of his compliment as it sent a pleasurable shiver down my spine.
“It’s the dress,” I answered, holding the skirt in my hands and giving it a little swish.
“No. It’s not. It’s the woman wearing it.” He held his hand out towards me.
I stopped my nervous movements and tilted my head to the side, studying this man that I thought I knew everything about. But looking around at what he had done, the place, the scenery, the thoughtful gestures and the dress, he still had the ability to surprise me. I placed my hand in his and he tugged me sharply into his chest, wrapping one hand around my waist and lifting the other to my face. My breathing hitched as his eyes scanned every inch of my face and his thumb brushed against my lips tenderly.
“You didn’t need to do all of this, Luka,” I whispered. My staggered breathing became visible in the air between us as he continued to trace my skin with his fingers, across my cheek, down my throat and along my collarbone.
“I wanted to. A do over.”
“I didn’t need a do over. I loved how we met.”
The corner of his lips tugged up into a side smirk and he was so damn sexy that butterflies ignited in my lower belly at the sight.
“So do I. But you only met one side of me that night. So I need you to humour me a little. Because I am old as fuck and once upon a time, some might have called me a romantic. I dreamed of you. Long before you were even born. I dreamed of the girl who would one day save me from the life I was living, the girl who would pull me from the shadows and bring me back into the light. And when I met her, I wanted to make sure she knew just how special she was to me. So, Ilaria Romano-Black, will you dance with me?”
I pressed my lips together into a smile that fought the overwhelming emotions to remain just below the surface and nodded. He took my hand from his shoulder and he led me in a slow glide, side-to-side, never taking his eyes off my face.
“We have no music,” I whispered with a giggle and he smiled wider.
“Don’t we? Because Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata is playing in my head right now.”
My chin must have hit the floor because what the fuck? He laughed at my surprised expression. “You like classical music?”
“That was my era, love. Though I do prefer the later darkwave, gothic classical version to the first movement.”
My mouth opened and closed a few times and it was only when he spun me and then tugged me back into him that I managed to compose myself. “I’m shocked. Any other surprises I should know about you?”
“I can play it on the piano. Though it’s been a while. I might be a little rusty.”
I hit his chest. “You play the piano?”
He chuckled deeply. The sound vibrated through his chest and warmed my insides. I loved that sound and was so pleased to be hearing it more and more.
“I do. Or I did. I’m sure it will come back to me easily enough. My mama taught me. She was the musical one in our family.”
I placed my cheek against his chest as we continued to sway to the phantom music and closed my eyes, just relishing in the sound of his heartbeat against my ear. We stayed like that, in complete contentment, for a few minutes before he spoke again.
“You know, the-bitch-who-shall-no-longer-be-named was wrong about my humanity.” I lifted my head and peered back up into his eyes. He stopped moving and placed his hands on my face, tilting me towards his lips. “Zoran may have been the final trigger to me turning it back on but the moment I saw you in this lake, the moment I looked into your eyes, I felt something . I felt more than I had in centuries. You awoke something deep inside of me that night, love. And every day since, you continued to pull me out of my darkness. So, she was wrong.”
His lips teased against mine in a slow caress that caused mine to part in waiting. My whole body was burning with the need to feel him claim me. I grabbed the lapels of his jacket and fisted them, pulling him into me and finally, we collided. Our lips moved together with slow, delicious intent as our tongues tasted forever. His hands tightened around my face, leaning my head back further so he could deepen the kiss and my insides melted with his dominance. Kissing Luka with humanity was an experience people should write poems about. Because it took me out of every moment and made me feel nothing but him and how he evoked every emotion with his lips. Without magic, he made the world fade away. I forgot where and who I was when he kissed me like this. I forgot my own fucking name.
But all too soon, he broke away and my lips chased him through the air, not wanting it to end because I needed more. I needed so much more of him and I couldn’t wait any longer.
“If you don’t promise to fuck me in this dress tonight, I swear I will jump in that lake to cool off because I can’t handle the heat and ache in my pussy anymore.”
He threw his head back and laughed before staring down at me with a mischievous smirk. “Aw, love. You are suffering that much without my cock?”
“Luka!” I scolded. “It’s been four days—”
“Four days, six hours and forty-one minutes, give or take, since I’ve been inside you.”
I eyed him suspiciously as his gaze turned heated. “You’ve been keeping count? Wow, you really are a sadist. So why have you been punishing us both?”
He chuckled again. “Because… all this.” He waved one hand around us. “Took a little bit of planning and, like I said, I wanted a do over. I tried to make it happen as quickly as I could, but apparently, they need a bit of notice before they can shut the whole resort for one night. Something about disgruntled customers.”
“And here I was thinking you were breaking and entering again.”
“I have my morals back now, love. No more illegal acts, killing or fighting. I’m done with it all. Turning over a new leaf.”
“Is that so?” I smirked, leaning back to study his face and body. I raised one eyebrow and his serious expression dissolved into that sexy smirk.
“Not fooling you one little bit, am I?”
“Not in the slightest.” I giggled too and he let me go, taking my hand and leading me back down the jetty towards the woods. “Where are we going now?”
“Well, seeing as you are in such a hurry to get to the main event, we’ll move on to the next part of the night, shall we?”
“There’s more?” I couldn’t mask the excitement in my voice. He suddenly turned and threw me over his shoulder and sped through the forest in his vampire form to the same luxury lodge I had stayed in before. The very one he had broken into fucked me in and then told me to forget him. Ha. Look how well that worked out. He really had no idea of the kind of woman he’d met that night.
This time, he opened the cabin with a key and stepped inside before placing me back on my feet. I turned around and smiled at the roaring fire, the candles everywhere and the bottle of red wine and two glasses on the kitchen top.
“You don’t drink wine,” I accused, remembering how he had refused it that night. I poured us both a glass each.
“I don’t but if I’d had my humanity, I would have taken a glass when the prettiest girl in the world offered it to me.” He took the glass I held out and sipped it. His face immediately scrunched up with disapproval and I snorted. “Nah. I’m sorry but it’s disgusting. I can’t do it.”
I glanced over at the dining room table and froze. My eyes narrowed as I took in the strange items.
“Is that… Wait? What is that?” I sauntered over to it and picked up a long needle.
“It’s my tattoo kit.”
My head snapped back to him in surprise. “Your tattoo kit. As in… you did all your own tattoos?”
Another one of those mischievous smirks painted his face. “You are learning so much tonight, love. I had a lot of time to waste alone in the manor. Learning how to tattoo my skin helped pass the hours of the day.” He stepped forwards and took the needle out of my hand and got to work putting everything together. “Do you remember that drawing in your journal of Heathen?”
My eyes widened. How did I forget about that? “Yes. You questioned me about it. Oh my god, and you knew at that moment I knew about you. Or not you, but your kind.”
“It was a good drawing. I liked it a lot. I want you to tattoo it on my back.”
“I’m sorry, what? You want me to tattoo your back?”
He shrugged his shoulders out of his jacket and slung it over the chair before slowly unbuttoning his shirt. I licked my lips as his inked, ripped torso came into view and he tossed his shirt away, standing only in his trousers and combat boots. Whyyyy? Why did everything he did have to be so damn sexy? I was about to combust.
“I’m not going to hide who I am anymore. I’m going to celebrate it. And if people are going to see what I am, then I want them to see your version.”
My heart ached. He leaned down and kissed my lips quickly and then delved into a detailed explanation about how to use all the equipment. He got himself in a position on the bed, lying on his stomach with his arms spread out wide and I kicked off my boots and climbed onto his back. Straddling his waist, I tried to ignore my nerves and keep my hand steady as I sketched an image of Luka and Heathen sharing control as their true form with a pen first.
“I could be drawing a giant dick on your back and you’d never know.” I smiled as I finished the sketch and reached for the needle. The adrenaline spiked through my veins, but I kept my focus, allowing my tongue to poke out a little in concentration as I leaned forward to start.
“Well, look at this for a level of trust,” he mumbled into the pillow, only his side profile and half smile in view. “You could draw whatever you wanted on me, love. I wouldn’t care. As long as it was you that marked me.”
“Famous last words,” I whispered as I applied steady pressure to his skin with the needle. He chuckled. “Don’t laugh or your true form will have two heads!”
He closed his eyes, and after a few minutes, the air thickened with delicious sexual tension. I never thought marking someone’s skin in this way would feel so intimate but because it was Luka and it really showed me how much trust he had in me, I felt it all the way to my toes. I squirmed a little on his back, biting my lips to fight the urge to rock my hips and gain some friction to dull the needy ache between my legs. I knew Luka could feel the change in the atmosphere too because he stayed extremely quiet the entire time, but his fists were clenched and his muscles were rigid and I had a sneaky suspicion it wasn’t because of the pain. He liked the pain.
I sat back on his ass and held my hands up beside my head, the needle still firmly in my grip.
“Finished.” My voice came out breathless and thick with arousal. My tits were rising and falling against the unforgiving corset of my dress.
“Wipe it clean with the antiseptic and watch it heal.” The deep gravel of his voice told me all I needed to know. That had turned him on just as much as it had me. Was that his plan? Foreplay by tattooing? Because if it was, it was genius.
I cleaned the blood away even though it took everything in me not to lick it clean myself and sat back while his skin healed with its rapid vampire healing and left only the ink tainted on his skin behind. I would never be the next Da Vinci but it looked amazing. His demon wings unfurled across his shoulders, and horns curled to the base of his neck.