Page 18 of Hunted By Darkness

My head swirled with the reality of what I’d need to do, the tight rope I’d be forced to walk to do what needed to be done when the time came.

“You think the dream is because of the text the lad was mentioning?” Silas slid around me, his naked torso catching strays of moonlight. “Finding the two souls is a step toward balance, are they?”

I was momentarily distracted by the dark edge of his tattoos. He’d mentioned how each one signified a moment in his life, often dark, to serve as a reminder whenever he looked at it. Or in many cases, as a warning. He admitted in the privacy of our bedroom that he despised the person he was when he killed his brother. The person he was in the Brotherhood. And while he still lived in the grey, he never wanted to go back to black.

If anyone knew what it was to be grey, it was Silas. For some reason, I was confident when the time came, he’d be the reasonI could strike the perfect balance. He’d be my guide. He’d be the reason I could find the perfect shade.

“I’m not sure, but I think anything to do with sending a demon back might require a little more than a few symbols. Everything comes at a cost, no matter if it’s meant to help or destroy.” I paged through the journal until I reached another spot. “Grandmother talks about dark souls that escaped the After in this part here…how they’re much harder to deal with.”

I hadn’t read everything in the journal yet, but I was sure that there was more about them later on. I’d seen a few mentions in passages I hadn’t decoded and studied yet.

Silas might bemoan the days I’d spent studying this five-hundred-page journal, but weeks wouldn’t be enough with how much information it contained. I’d eventually need to build an index alongside the notes I was taking to aid me in the future, because I was determined to have one.

“She didn’t call it a demon per se, but I imagine it’s similar to Rilas. He went a step farther than the ones she describes who escaped the After. He gained a physical body. Nothing in this section talks about a resurrection. I’ll look through and see if I can find anything about it. I’m not sure if a body changes much because the soul is the same, but she talks about balance here, too. The balance of life and death to send them back, and the fact that it takes an especially powerful Soul Collector to do it. Right here it even says: ‘Even one soul for a soul is a heavy price to pay, but a price we must’.”

Brushing his hair back, Silas eyed the text. “Maybe whatever book the lad was talking about has something in it about all of this. Rilas can’t be the first demon they’ve summoned, seeing how Reaper knew how to do it. Others would’ve done it before. Even I’ve heard of demons once upon a time, though never been daft enough to summon one. Suppose your nan faced enoughto write about it. Maybe she has something in there that’ll help you.”

“You’re right,” I murmured, determined to find something. Without looking at him, I headed for the couch again. Silas was quicker, though. I was scooped up, the journal plucked from my hands, and up the stairs before I knew it.

“I know you’re eager, love, but you’ve barely slept. You can pick it back up in the morning,” Silas chastised.

“And whose fault is it that I’ve barely slept?” Despite my snark, I didn’t fight him. I couldn’t when he’d already settled in next to me on the bed and wrapped his arms around me.

“I haven’t any clue what you mean, little rebel. I was as quick as I promised.” Silas chuckled and spooned me like it was perfectly normal. And in a way, it was.

Smiling to myself, I closed my eyes and snuggled closer. “Three hours is quick?”

“For me it is.” He scoffed and kissed my shoulder. “No more dreaming unless it’s your handsome rogue, and even then, tell dream me to bugger off. You’re mine.”

9

Silas

After making a few calls, the lad had gone off to gather the necessary items we’d need to infiltrate the Dark Fae Society. It wouldn’t take long, so I didn’t feel bad for relying on him again. My bird needed me, and I wouldn’t leave her unless there wasn’t any other choice.

I slipped back into the bedroom like a ghost and caught sight of the slumbering beauty on the bed. Her hair was strewn around her head like a halo, half on my pillow and half on hers. I’d blocked out the sun before leaving.

She hadn’t moved much since I escaped to chat with the lad earlier on in the day and been fast asleep since our little middle-of-the-night revelation. She’d barely stirred in my arms all night, only repositioning a little when I begrudgingly left the bed to update the lad and narrow down plans for our little skip and hop through their home territory.

I’d leave her to it if it wasn’t important we got a move on. It’d already been half a day, and the saucy bird would never forgive me for letting her sleep.

Last night had been full of unfortunate revelations. Nika would stop at nothing to get answers. Suppose it was a case of like father, like daughter. Nika had already put pieces together most would spend weeks trying to understand. My quick-witted Soul Collector would let no one and nothing stand in her way. I might be a notorious assassin, but she was a bleeding legend, and I knew better than anyone not to get in her way.

Nika had only gone to bed on the promise I’d wake her at a decent hour. Decent had slipped by a few hours ago, but she’d forgive it as long as we didn’t lose the entire day. Despite what the gorgeous nymph might think, she did, in fact, require sleep like the rest of us.

Tossing off my shirt, an evil grin played across my lips as I snuck under the covers and shouldered my way between her legs. I kissed a trail up one, then dropped a few on her naked stomach. She’d only worn a pair of shorts and tank top, both easy enough to remove. My fingers slipped under one side of her shorts, getting a good handful of her squeezable bum.

Nika’s hips moved before resettling. I froze, waiting for a strike I no doubt deserved, but then a sleepy sigh whooshed out of her and she relaxed.

Still deep in dreamland.

I, the blubbering troll, reveled in the stolen moments where her heat merged with mine. It was a secret only I knew about when I touched her like this, under the cover of darkness, ina room with just the two of us. In these little moments, the looming danger didn’t exist.

Pulling the fabric aside, I dipped my tongue into her soft folds and swept the length of her sweet opening. The sleeping rebel gasped, hips rolling in surprise. I licked two fingers and slid them inside, while my tongue tortured her clit. It wasn’t minutes before Nika’s waist chased the pleasure, seeking more of it, coaxing my fingers to go deeper.

The whispered exhale of her breath, the tantalizing roll of her waist, the flood against my tongue—it was fucking brilliant, it was. My rebel was at her loveliest when she let go and gave into her urges.

The blanket came away, and her hand reached down for my head so she could tangle her little fingers in my hair. My cock throbbed, weak to her touch the same way she was mine.

---