Page 8 of Dark Desire
“Don’t get fucking squeamish on me now, Luka. I have seen you do way worse.”
“I’m not. But why the fuck do I need to dig up a grave? If you’re hungry, you know you can use the green list of approved criminals to feed from. You don’t need to–”
“She killed a man and buried him there last night. I want to know who he is.”
“Won’t she realise the grave has been tampered with?”
“I’m counting on it.”
He shook his head but, like the loyal brother he was, dropped to his knees and used his vampire speed to dig rapidly. I glanced over my shoulder to ensure the coast was clear while he worked. After dropping into the ditch, he groaned as he slung the stiff body over his shoulder and tossed it onto the grass.
“Bring him here,” I ordered as he climbed out and put his hands on his hips, dirt covering his clothes and hands. He raised a snarky eyebrow. “Please.”
“What about the grave?”
“Leave it. I've got a plan for that,” I answered with a smirk. Luka dragged the man's body back over the magical border by his ankles and dropped him at my feet. I bent down, grasping the man’s jaw in my hand to study his face. Rigor mortis was definitely setting in, given the tightness of his facial muscles and the temperature of his skin, which suggested he had been dead for at least sixteen hours, but not much longer. I rolled him onto his side, lifted his shirt, and let out a sigh. From the purple-reddish discolouration at the lowest part of his body, it was clear his blood had already coagulated. “Shame. His blood won’t be much use anymore. But his organs are still pretty fresh.”
Luka scanned the hills with a frown.
“It was a joke.” I chuckled, only half joking. Ambroz was still quite hungry, and the temptation was there. Flipping open the man’s jacket, I searched all his pockets. Fuck. No ID or personal items. She must have removed them, or perhaps he never had any on him to begin with. I started searching his entire body for any fatal wounds or injuries. As I expected, there were no outward signs of murder. He was killed by her magic.
“Verdict?” Luka asked as I paused on a strange flesh mark on the man’s shoulder. Squinting my eyes and tilting my head to try and make sense of the symbols, I frowned. It looked almost like a tattoo but without ink. He’d been branded. Three swirling patterns merged to form a triangle, with the outline of an eye at each corner.
“She definitely killed him but look at this. Have you ever seen anything like that before?”
Luka bent down and ran his finger over the raised skin. “No. Never.” He pulled his phone out of his jeans pocket and took a picture. “I’ll do some research. I am sure the royals will know something or I can ask Alina to search the Council archives.”
“Thanks. Let me know if you find anything. When is Leif visiting from Heroux?”
“He should be home for family night in two days. Why?”
“I need to know how she is keeping me out of that church. There are several intricate layers of protection spells, but since you managed to pass them, and I’ve seen a villager come and go as well, I now realise it was specifically designed to keep me out. She knew one day I’d come for her.”
“Well, I’d offer to kill her for you myself but I know that isn’t an option.”
With a swift jerk, I grabbed the man’s blonde hair and tore his head from his body with full force. Luka didn’t even flinch at the brutality. “No. That's not an option. She’s mine,” I growled. His eyebrow rose slightly at the possessiveness in my tone. “To kill.”
He nodded once, then cast his eyes down at the dangling head in my hand. “Do I even want to know what you plan on doing with that?”
“Probably not.” I kicked the headless corpse on the floor. “Do your big brother a favour and drop that in the sea on your way back to the Romanos. I’ve got what I needed.”
“What, no organs?” He narrowed his eyes at me. “How are you keeping Ambroz satisfied out here?”
“There is a herd of cattle over that hill. I’ll be fine. And soon, I’ll have a witch’s heart to feast on.”
He remained silent as he slung the dead corpse over his shoulder, but his expression was full of doubt. Doubt about which part, I wasn’t sure.
“I’m good, brother. You don’t need to worry.”
He clicked his tongue over his fangs, which had just snapped down along with his horns and wings, as he shared control with Heathen. “Once all this is over, you will come back to the Romano Castle, right?”
I held his gaze a moment too long because I found myself promising something I wasn’t sure I was capable of. “Sure.”
He nodded and took off into the sky with the headless corpse. I watched him go, heading back to the life and future he had laid out in front of him. One that was so different from mine. I shouldn’t have said I’d return after this because I wasn’t sure I could. Not to stay, anyway. How could I watch my siblings living happily with their soulmates after this? A thought for another time.
I shoved the head into a plastic bag and placed it in my rucksack. Slinging it over one shoulder, I trudged down the hill towards Beryl’s house to set my plan for the day in motion.
It was as if someone had shoved a rocket up the villagers’ asses but they had no idea what their mission was as they continuously whizzed around in circles, barely achieving anything. I watched them all bustling about, trying to organise who was responsible for what from The Cove’s window. I sipped my latte with a small smile as Badger and Big Nige started arguing in the street about who was to blame for tangling the bunting before Badger’s wife stepped in and took control.
