Page 13 of Dark Souls

“From your secret admirer. Apparently, he thinks you are the most beautiful woman in this bar,” the waitress said in a bitter tone, her eyes flicking over to me before she walked off. Ilaria twisted in her chair, scanning every face until she found mine.Or his. She narrowed her eyes into a glare as she scraped over my body with distrust, just like she had the first time I met her. Obsession shifted inside me, harnessing into something even stronger. More sinister. Unrelenting desire. Fuck, I wanted this woman. Badly. I wanted to consume her. I wanted to devour her until there was nothing left. Feed off her until she and I were one entity, bonded together by blood.

I held her gaze. A slow feverish grin spread across my face as realisation dawned on her. She was trying to read my mind. She couldn’t. And then recognition painted a stunning picture as her eyes widened, her lips parted and her fingers gripped the back of her chair. She spun back away from me and I took the opportunity to slip out towards the back exit. Before I darted through the storage room, I took a final glance back, catching her confused expression when she stood from her chair to find my table empty except for an unfinished bottle of red and a handwritten note just for her.

Heart Thief

I found you. Now it’s my turn to hide. Come and find me, Snow. H x

Irereadtheeleganthandwritingscrawled across the white napkin as my legs bounced impatiently from where I sat in the waiting room of the SIA HQ. The pristine white floors were so well polished I could almost see my reflection as I leaned forwards and placed the folded napkin in the front pocket of my rucksack. What did he think this was? A game of hide and seek? Well, that had always been my favourite pastime growing up, so game on.

I chewed my bottom lip between my teeth, allowing one of my naturally longer incisors to dig into the flesh. That fucking pretty boy. The one who tried to warn me about my drink after Eddie had spiked it. How did I overlook him? Even when I’d spoken to him at the bar, I sensed there was something off about him. Something in his eyes didn’t mesh with his youthful, pompous appearance. Yes, he was attractive in a perfect-Disney-floppy-haired-prince-who-could-charm-himself-into-your-bed type of way but he was so far from my type I had barely given him a second glance. It was only his eyes that spoke to me. Dark, brooding, and dangerous. The moment I found him across the room last night, all the hair on the back of my neck had stood on end. I knew it was him instantly. My stalker. His crooked smile and the destructive lust present in those damning eyes clashed so harshly with his pretty boy image it was chilling.

“They are ready for you now,” Archer’s assistant, Dawn, said as she gestured for me to head to his office. I nodded, grabbing my rucksack and taking the elevator to the top floor. I hadn’t rung ahead or told anyone about my stalker yet, and I still wasn’t sure I would. H had dealt the cards, but I was still undecided about how to play my hand. All I knew was that I had to figure out who he was and using the SIA resources was the quickest way.

“Ilaria.” Archer’s tight smile did nothing to ease his clear tension at me turning up unannounced and demanding to see him. He stood from his desk, holding his hand out to gesture to the chair opposite so I could take a seat.

“Sorry for just showing up like this, but I have remembered something I think is extremely important in finding the heart thief.”

“Heart thief?” The skin around his eyes crinkled slightly with amusement at the nickname as he sat back down. It made me wonder if he would decide to have Amelie turn him into a vampire before he aged too much, or perhaps she had a thing for older men. “I like that code name. It has a ring to it.”

“Well, I say call it what it is. He steals hearts. Or Heart Eater could work too, I guess.”

He nodded morbidly, even though it was meant as a joke. Clearly, he didn’t understand my dry sense of humour. The door to his office opened and my uncle stepped in with an irritated expression. Of course, Archer would send for back-up. He was probably so terrified I would somehow manipulate him into making me an agent if I had him alone.

“How many times have I told you? You cannot just show up at my place of work and demand—”

I held my hand up to stop him, turning my head to meet his hard glare with my own. “Do you really think I have nothing better to do than come here to harass you?”

Raiden’s face softened. He stood broadly, shifting from one foot to another as he studied me. “Then what’s this about?”

“I have some information that may help the case. I remembered something I think could be crucial.”

“Go on.” Archer leaned forwards on his desk.

I shuffled in my seat, straightening my spine. “The night I had Eddie arrested, there was a man. At the bar. He spoke to me. Warned me not to drink what Eddie had spiked, as if he had been watching the whole scenario. He came out of nowhere and I thought he was harmless, but now, I’m not so sure.” I paused, glancing between their dubious expressions before I continued, “I think he was supernatural.”

“You think?” Raiden frowned.

“He didn’t give off any telltale signs and his scent was human, but there was just something about his eyes. Call it a gut feeling, but there was something seriously odd about this man. And I… I couldn’t read his mind. It was as if he was blocking me. Only a supernatural could do such a thing.”

They both remained quiet for a few moments as I let them digest that information. I wasn’t going to tell them I had only tried to read his mind last night after he’d left a bloody heart in my room and followed me on a night out. Not until I was sure I knew who I was dealing with. Because this killer was extremely unpredictable and could potentially lead me down a dead end. I didn’t want to look like a fool in front of my future employers.

“Look, it might be nothing, but we know the killer was still in that area when Eddie was arrested because he targeted him next. Don’t you think it’s worth pulling up some CCTV from the club or something to see if we can get an ID?”

Archer huffed, leaning back in his chair as his blue eyes darted to Raiden. My uncle shrugged as if to say what was the harm in trying, and I smiled.

“And you’d be confident in identifying him?” Archer asked.

“One hundred percent.”

“Okay. Give me a few hours to get a hold of the footage from that night and I’ll call you back in. See if we can find your heart thief.”

My own heart did a weird little somersault. Your heart thief. Archer couldn’t have known the meaning behind his words. This killer had latched on to me for some unknown reason and was now initiating some kind of thrilling, deadly game between us. Did that make him mine? Did the fact I was keeping him a secret give me some kind of claim over him? Does that mean he has the same claim over me? This was the most brilliant plan I’d ever had or the most idiotic. But I just couldn’t care less. Because it was exciting. It was consuming. It was all I could think about.

The three of us huddled around Archer’s computer screens as he clicked on the links for the CCTV feeds from the club. First, we focused on the entrance, trying to catch what time he had entered and left.

“He was wearing a black hoodie and jeans,” I added as we all watched the footage of various club-goers entering the graffitied door throughout the night. At 12.43am, a figure with a black hood covering his head came into view. “There!”

Archer paused the footage just as the man lifted his hands to the hood and pulled it down. He walked up to the bouncer at the door. I squinted my eyes to focus on the grainy image but could make out his floppy blond hair and chiselled jaw. “That’s him.”

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