Page 198 of Dark Souls

“Mitchell!” Belladonna shouted when he still hadn’t moved. “Fine. I’ll do it myself.”

The moment she turned her back on me, I flung myself at her, tackling her to the ground. Grabbing her hair, I slammed her face into the sand and viciously sunk my fangs into her throat, causing her to scream. I ripped away, forcing blood to gush out from her neck and kept her thrashing body pinned beneath me with all my strength.

I raised my head and screamed across at Lia, “Get him out of here! Go to my family!”

“Lia, No!” Mitchell demanded as he glared over at her. “Stay here. We are your family. We won’t kill him, I promise.”

Lia’s gaze flicked between me and her father, realising this was the moment. The moment she needed to pick a side. She threw herself on top of Hayes, and they disappeared before our eyes. Mitchell roared and in the next second, his hard body collided with mine, sending us both rolling across the ground. My head slammed into a rock and black spots peppered my vision as I groaned, feeling the warm trickle of blood down the side of my face. Steel-like arms grabbed me by the waist, tearing me from the floor and pinning my body in Mitchell’s embrace as I struggled to fight my way out of his iron grip. Belladonna’s hateful eyes ran up and down the length of my body. She performed a spell with her hand stretched towards me, which caused my muscles to weaken as she slowly took steps towards us. She grabbed my jaw roughly in her hand.

“I always knew if he had a soulmate, she’d be a spirited girl. Full of fire and savageness. Just like me.” She grinned with malice as I hissed between my fangs. “Telling me he loved you before he died was his biggest mistake. I’m going to enjoy killing you. But do you know what I am going to enjoy even more?” My red eyes narrowed as she pushed my lips together roughly, pulling my face closer to hers. “Making him watch. Taking away the love of his life so he can finally understand that no matter what he does or how hard he fights, he’ll never win. Not against me. We will ensure he is alone for all eternity. Even in the afterlife.”

Suddenly, a flash of red blurred towards us from over her shoulder, grabbing Belladonna aggressively and throwing her against the cave walls. I gasped when I realised it was Luka pinning the front of her body against the rocks with his own strength. She laughed when he twisted her arms behind her back and hissed in her ear, “I will never let you kill my mate.”

Mitchell tightened his grip around my throat, digging his nails into my flesh in response as my heart thrashed wildly against my rib cage, relief and so much love flooding my body with every beat.

“Are you sure about that, darling? Because I am interested in knowing how you plan on stopping me.”

The moment Luka tried to twist her neck in his hand, a powerful magical force catapulted him backwards. His body slammed into a ragged boulder and he fell into a crouched position, hissing between his fangs. His red eyes swerved towards me as my breathing became sharp with panic. The fear in his eyes made a shiver run down my spine. We both knew he couldn’t kill them because of the damn sigil.

“Let her go. I’ll do anything you ask. Just let her go,” he hissed, slowly standing to his full height as his huge shoulders heaved up and down.

“God, it is so pathetic to see you like this, Lukas.” Belladonna walked towards me and Mitchell. Luka growled in warning, which only made her chuckle. “You have always been soft. Even turning your humanity off didn’t help you, did it? You stillfeel. You would still do anything for love. That’s why you have always been so easy to control.” She shook her head, giggling as she picked something off the floor. “Shall we see just how far you would really go for your princess?”

My eyes widened and my body trembled uncontrollably when I realised what she was holding. It was Luka’s scorched dagger. The one charred by hellfire. She twisted it in her hand, glancing up at me with pure wickedness in her eyes before she looked over at Luka.

“I’ll spare her life. For yours.”

“No,” I breathed, as Luka stared at her.

“The time has come to kill you anyway, my beautiful monster. I have completed the spell to destroy the sigil, which you know will be the most painful form of death for you and Heathen. But, given our history and everything we have been through together, I’m feeling generous. I’ll stake you with hellfire in Heathen’s form and grant you a quick death. We will let her go before we disappear and restart our lives somewhere else as new people.”

Luka’s eyes darted over to me as I shook my head frantically. “No. Don’t do it, Luka! Don’t believe a word she says. My family are coming and—”

Belladonna shouted angrily in Latin, waved her hand towards me, and I suddenly had no voice. I screamed soundlessly and thrashed against Mitchell as my eyes pleaded with Luka not to agree to this. Belladonna became a blur of speed, zooming up to Luka and grabbing his hair, yanking his head back aggressively and forcing him to his knees.Oh my god, she was a vampire too.I screamed for her to leave him alone, Rue using all her strength to fight against her magic, but no sound left my lips.

“You’ll still try to kill her after you’ve killed me,” he stated, distrust deepening his tone.

“I guess you will just have to take our word for it. You don’t really have any other choice, do you?” She peered up at Mitchell. “We need to change location. If Evangelia goes against us, Ilaria is right. The royals will come.”

“The manor?” I could hear the smirk on Mitchell’s face through his voice as he spoke behind me. “For old time’s sake?”

Belladonna smiled. “Seems rather fitting.”

The scene of the cave distorted as Mitchell transported me to the Knowltons’ cellar and a second later, Belladonna appeared with Luka. She let go of his hair and shoved his head forward, but he didn’t fall on his hands and instead kept his eyes fixed on my face. I could already see the defeat in them and tears formed behind my eyes. Silently, I shook my head, begging him to continue fighting. I forced myself forwards and then slammed myself back into Mitchell’s body in another attempt to free myself, but he held on tighter, squeezing me in a bone-crushing hold that made it hard to breathe. That just seemed to send Luka into a frenzy as he sped towards us to attack, only to be thrown backwards once more. He stood up and clenched his fists at his side.

“Her family isn’t coming, Luka. They have no idea where this place is. And even if they do work it out, we’ll have killed you both and disappeared before they could do anything to stop us. So it is your choice. Watch her die and then suffer a cruel, horrific death when I destroy your sigil, or I kill you right now with your own dagger, and we let her go. Your choice.”

“I don’t want her to watch,” Luka said quietly, still staring into my eyes as tears streamed down my face.

Belladonna exhaled and pointed towards the chains that were attached to the wall. He walked over slowly, positioning himself against the wall and lifting his arms. With a flick of her wrist, the chains that were woven with magical rope attached themselves to his wrists and ankles and pulled tight, slamming his arms and legs against the wall. I hated how he looked so unfazed by the situation, knowing he was used to being tied up here repeatedly.

My determination to not let this happen sent a surge of energy through me as I fought with everything I had against her magic manipulating my limbs and tore myself out of Mitchell’s grip. When I kicked Mitchell in the groin, it worked, and I zoomed over to Luka, slamming my body against his and grabbing his face in my hands. I knew what I had to do but I needed my voice to do it.

“Wait!” Belladonna said from behind me, pausing Mitchell in his attempt to come after me. “Let them have their moment. It will make his death even sweeter.”

Luka’s red eyes peered down at me, and he gave a small smile as the constant tears escaped my eyes. I tried to speak, but Belladonna’s magic was still in effect.

“I love you,” he whispered, lowering his forehead to touch mine as he stared into my eyes. “Go. Save yourself for me. Please.”

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