Page 29 of Dark Souls

“Can you?” I questioned. “Because the hundreds of rotting corpses on your track record would beg to differ.”

He leaped down from the soaring height, landing on his feet right in front of me with dangerous agility that would have caused anyone else to flinch and step back, but I forced myself to stand my ground. I wouldn’t let him intimidate me. One thing I had noticed about his murders was the way he normally tortured them before he killed them. He wanted their fear. Craved it. Perhaps he even fed off it. So it was the last thing he would get from me. Like I said, I don’t spook easily.

’Unless you have eight legs and weave webs.’ Rue shuddered, causing my body to do the same.

‘Don’t remind me.’

‘Tell him about our phobia of spiders. I am positive he’d rid the world of every last one of them for us.’

I couldn’t stop the eye roll at my vampire counterpart’s weird affection for this psycho. She enjoyed him far more than was healthy.

“Did you just roll your eyes at me?” Heath asked, stepping in closer. So close that I had to physically crane my neck not to break eye contact.

“And what if I did? Would that be enough to warrant my death at your hands?” I shot back, frowning, when his lips twisted into another one of those unnerving smiles. “Or do your victims provoke you just by breathing?”

“You seem very curious about my motives. That’s good,” he said, his tone even and completely unaffected by my interrogation. I was trying to get a reaction from him. Trying to test the boundaries at play between us, but he was giving me nothing. Maybe it was idiotic, but some part of me wanted to understand him. Calm, cold and calculated. Those were the only things I was getting.

He prowled around me, a threatening act which I refused to cower to.

“So?” I snapped, growing impatient with his lack of information. “Are you going to tell me why you kill? Is it purely for sport? To feed? Or is there more to it?”

“What do you think?” He stopped behind me, pressing his chest up against my back. My whole body turned rigid at the contact, but the warmth he radiated seemed to melt the icy chill in my spine. Leaning down, he nestled his face into the side of my hair, inhaling deeply and not even trying to hide the fucking freak he was.

“Are you going to answer any of my questions or am I wasting my time here?” I hissed. “Because my entire family is only a short distance away and in seconds, I could alert them to your presence and you’ll be fucked.”

“Hmmm, say that again,” he husked, his voice deepening to an even more erotic sound that sent heat straight between my thighs.

“Say what?”

“The part where I get fucked. As long as it’s by you, I don’t mind,” he whispered, his lips right next to the shell of my ear. Unable to take the strange bodily reaction he was provoking, I stepped forwards, out of his suffocating proximity and turned to face him.

“I know what you’re doing.” I narrowed my eyes, folding my arms over my chest with attitude. “Trying to distract me from finding out anything real about you. But we had a deal. You wanted to earn my trust, didn’t you? Then you better stick to your end of the bargain and give me something in return.”

He held up his hands in surrender, a lopsided grin on his face. “Oh, I’ll give you something.” The cocky bastard winked before he lowered his hands and leaned back against a tree trunk, folding his disguise’s arms across his chest to mimic me. “Problem is, I’m not sure you’re ready for it.”

Losing my temper, I growled, “Stop wasting my time and tell me, for fuck’s sake.”

“You’re so cute when you’re being all bossy. I could just eat you up. In fact, I’d love nothing more. And I can guarantee that you’d love it too,” he replied. Those black eyes glittered with dark sexual greed.

“We’re done here. Don’t ever come near my family again.” I turned abruptly and started storming away towards the castle, calling his bluff. Suddenly, a blur of a body swept past me and I walked into a rock-hard chest. I stumbled back and gasped.

Towering before me at over six feet was the most alluring yet terrifying creature I had ever seen. Taut muscles sculpted his shirtless body, and thick black vines snaked across his chest, stomach, and down his arms, ending in two clawed hands. Magical tattoos of strange demonic symbols moved over every visible inch of his tanned skin. My wide eyes wandered up his thick neck and to his sharp, masculine facial features, which were also covered in those strange black vines apart from his jaw and mouth. Dark horns spiralled from his head and magnificent black feathered wings with pointed talons sprouted out from his back. He was a monster. A stunningly gorgeous monster. One that I knew I should be horrified by, yet all I felt was instant and intense attraction.

My heart thrummed in my chest, and my breath became laboured in his presence. Yes, there was a small flicker of fear there, but something far more deadly was manifesting itself—fascination. I’d always found darkness beautiful, and his beauty was deadly—hypnotising like a toxic plant reeling you in with its vibrant colours and alluring scent, just to poison you with one touch.

“What are you?” I whispered, my eyes continuously tracing every inch of him, completely entranced. I’d never seen anything like him.

“The callous villain in all the history books,” he answered, his voice still the same. Distinct, ancient and slightly accented. “Tell me, Snow, does seeing the true monster within scare you?”

I swallowed thickly and slowly shook my head. “No.” His smile widened, showing the sharpest set of fangs I’d ever seen and sent pleasurable chills through my veins. “Can I—” I paused, stopping myself. Was I seriously going to ask to touch him? I was losing my mind but I couldn’t help but feel drawn to his darkness.

“What?” His dead eyes narrowed into slits between the vines that protruded around them.

“Can I touch you?”

His powerful body tensed. His expression darkened with deep lust. I felt my core clench in response. He nodded once and I tentatively took a step forward. Reaching up, I caressed my fingers over the black vines on his chest and the mythical tattoos, feeling a range of sensations. His skin was hot, almost burning, but the vines were cool and smooth like the skin of a snake. I followed their trail up his neck and to the back of his head, having to lean up on my tiptoes to reach. He closed his eyes, a deep rumble coming from his chest with appreciation as he tilted his head down towards me to help with the distance. My fingers traced over the curve of his hard horns and down to the tip and he shuddered violently. His black eyes slammed open and stared right into my soul.

“It tickles,” he whispered in a low, raspy tone. My lips turned up into a small smile, but it soon faded when he had captured me in his trance. Unable to look away, I felt a probing in the depths of my mind. A dark power took over my sensations, making me feel touches that weren’t there. Caresses across my face, my lips, down my throat. They travelled all over me as my eyes fluttered at the sensual feeling. A gasp that quickly turned into a moan escaped me when I felt the phantom touch curl up my thighs and between my legs. The pressure heightened, and my lips parted. My breathing turned to small pants as the phantom touch played with my clit. I was in a haze of intense pleasure. A euphoria of sensation. And oh my god, I was going to have a fucking orgasm. Just as I neared the peak of my ecstasy, ready to tumble off the fucking cliff and fall into oblivion, the sensations disappeared. The dark power retreated. I opened my eyes, the cloud of seduction dispersing and, with it, the reality hitting me like a bucket of ice-cold water. He had caged me in, pressing my back against a tree. My hands dug into the hard flesh of his biceps as he peered down at me with such intensity that I struggled to breathe. What the fuck just happened? Did he do that?

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