Page 38 of Dark Souls

He swallowed, his throat moving with the motion as his claws dug into the jeans on his thighs so tightly I realised he was piercing them. My eyes widened as blood seeped through the material. Instinctively, I raced over to him, falling to my knees between his legs and grabbed his wrists, pulling his claws out of his legs.

“The things I have witnessed…” He stopped talking, his eyes lingering on my hands holding his wrists.

“...Haunt you,” I answered for him.

“Break me.”

We held each other’s gaze, and the tension between us sparked like a live wire. This was dangerous. Way too dangerous. Because I was starting to understand that the books had it wrong. The demon before me was far more complex and capable of emotions than they gave his kind credit for. I could see the pain, the heartbreak and the rage. He had lost. Lost more than I knew I would ever be able to comprehend. He wasn’t just a killing machine. There was far more to him than that.

“You should stop looking at me like that, Snow. Or I might have to cross a few more boundaries.”

“I don’t believe everything that’s written in those books.”

He inhaled deeply and closed his eyes. I waited, releasing his wrists and placing my hands delicately on his thighs instead to check his wounds. The thick muscle under the fabric was rock hard, but I focused on the blood staining his jeans. Rue’s hunger came forth, demanding I taste him. She clearly had a problem with boundaries, too.

“That’s good, Snow. I knew you wouldn’t. You need to have an open mind if you’re going to help me.”

“Help you?” I frowned.

“Is that not what you’re going to do?” He narrowed his eyes in question and guilt tugged at my gut. I looked away, removing my hands from his thighs and sitting back on my heeled boots. Until that moment, I’d been planning to lure him out and capture him. Gain enough evidence of his crimes and hand him over to the SIA so I could prove myself and become an agent. But… could I really do that now? The deeper I fell into his web, the more tangled I became. Like Rue said, nothing was black and white. And this demon was the definition of grey. He suddenly leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees so our faces were only inches away. Up close, I could see every intrinsic detail that made up his profile. The slight shimmer of silver on the vines, the weaving of mystical tattoos that danced along his skin, the reflection of myself in his glassy eyes. “Or if you still want to capture me, to hand me over… I’ll go willingly. But not yet.”

My eyebrows pulled down into the bridge of my nose. “But they might kill you.”

“Can’t blame them. I am a menace to society.”

I let out a half-laugh, half-whimper of protest, which curved the corners of his lips up once again. I sighed, rubbing my temples with my fingers and standing on my feet again. “This is very confusing, Heathen. You are making my life very...”

“Exciting?”

“Complicated.” I started pacing the small space between the sofa he was lounging on and the coffee table.

“This isn’t your usual style.”

I glared at him. What was he talking about now? He gestured to the flat before placing his arms around the back of the orange sofa, giving me a full view of his incredible six-pack and wide chest.

“Your room at the palace is elegant, dark and modern. At the castle, it’s gothic and charming. But here… it’s like someone murdered a unicorn and painted the walls in its blood.”

Despite myself, I burst out laughing, a genuine smile brightening my face. Heathen’s eyes filled with intensity as he stared at me.

“This is my friend’s mum’s flat.”

He nodded. “Makes sense. The witch, Calli, yeah? And your friend is Neve? The one currently in another realm?”

I was about to ask him how the hell he knew all that but, of course, he did. He’s been stalking me. God, I’d hate to think what else he’s learned about me without my knowledge. Does he know that I always blast punk rock or heavy metal and dance around in my underwear before bed to release the pent-up aggression in my body? Or that I always feed my Grandma Maddy’s boiled eggs to the birds because I stopped liking dippy soldiers when I was six, and I didn’t have the heart to tell her. Or that I have a rather large monster dildo called Apex in my bedside drawer. Oh Jesus, please don’t know about that.

“I know a lot.” He smirked in answer to my rising panic.

“Do you know how creepy that is?” I reprimanded and he shrugged, clearly not giving a damn. I huffed, flicking my long white hair over my shoulder and fixing him with a stern look. “What exactly did you mean when you saidif I’m going to help you?Help you how exactly? Because I hope you don’t expect me to keep you hidden while you keep murdering people. I won’t be your alibi or your ticket out of facing my family’s wrath or the SIA’s. I won’t ever go against my family for you.”

“I would never ask you to,” he answered without a hint of a lie. “All I need you to do is keep doing what you’re doing. Find out more. Uncover the truth.”

“What truth?”

“The truth about me.”

“Why don’t you just tell me and we can both save ourselves a lot of time?”

He chuckled. “If only it were that easy. But I can’t.”

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