Page 25 of The Soulless Witch

That should have been my first sign.

I had had many lovers during my lives, but it wasn’t until I met Roman that I felt truly safe and adored, so much so that for a time, the idea of moving on to someone else didn’t cross my mind. But once he marked me, it was hard to keep ignoring what was growing between us. Vampires could only pick one person to bond to in their immortal lives, and he had picked…me. A soulless monster that brought death and destruction everywhere. Even before I became that, I was never enough. The only man I ever loved, even as he promised me forever while I carried his unborn child, betrayed me and sentenced me to a fate worse than death.

So when Roman chose me as his soul-bonded, part of me was happy. But another part, bigger and louder, screamed for me to run before it was too lateagain. I knew if I gave into these feelings, I wouldn’t hold back, and if he betrayed me as well, the world might not survive it.

My hand slid to my chest, rubbing the skin where his mark stood, even though I could barely feel it under my concealing spell. For two hundred years, I had run away from him, because I swore never to accept another person inside my heart. All because I had one unshakable belief: Love was the beginning of all treachery, and the mother of all heartbreak.

I stormed out of the room, away from those adoring eyes that made him hard to look at. I couldn’t do this. It was better to get away from him and never see a day when he’d look at me with disdain. It was better to deny these feelings than let them consume me.

The sun was still up outside, but the sky was turning a pretty shade of orange and purple as the light drifted westward. A feeling of deja vu made me pause as I found myself atop a dark staircase, a memory of the night I ran away flashing before my eyes. This was it. This was the same staircase I used the last time. And now it felt even darker and longer than before.

Taking a step back, I headed the opposite way. I wasn’t sneaking away this time. I was going to walk through the front door, leaving no doubt about my intentions. Maybe then he’d finally stop chasing. Maybe then I’d finally stop regretting.

I couldn’t remember how I got to the entry hall, but once my hand wrapped around the handle of the front door, I found myself unable to move. There were no steps, no voices, nothing that would indicate Roman told his staff to stop me. I could go, Imustgo.

I yanked the door open, running down the steps before I lost my conviction. With the sun still up, Roman couldn’t leave the house, but I knew he was watching. Just as the thought crossed my mind, goosebumps crept over my arms. Even before I turned, I knew to whom those eyes belonged, but what I didn’t expect was to find Roman standing at the front door. His fingers dug into the doorframe, leaving deep gashes as his nails effortlessly pierced the wood.

“Running again, are we?” The anger in his voice made me take a step back. I had only heard him use that frustrated tone with people he was about to kill. “I know what is going in that mind of yours, darling, and you are wrong. I’m not going to kill you, but if you think you’re leaving before I’ve said my piece, you are gravely mistaken. Don’t make me come get you.”

He took a step back, sinking deeper into the shadows while his eyes continued to beckon me inside the house full of carefully preserved memories. I glanced at the setting sun, noting how the light spilled over the stairs, drowning the whole yard in its golden glory.

“Just stop, Roman,” I said, raising my chin with all the confidence I had left. “We had our fun, and that was it. I made my choice. I’m sorry you wasted your bond on me, but I—”

Roman moved forward, stopping at the edge of the shadows. His eyes were burning with that black fire that had destroyed enough souls to paint him a killer almost as hated as me. But it wasn’t murder that I saw in his gaze. It was something much scarier.

“I wasted nothing!” His lip curled up and his fangs popped out, making my body tense with both fear and exaltation. “If I had to choose again, I’d still choose you, because there is no one else, and there never will be, Celeste!” He took another slow step toward me, stopping just shy of the beaming sunlight. “I will kill, burn, and destroy everything that causes you pain. I will save, cherish, and protect everything that gives you joy. So no, Celeste, we did not just havefun. What we had—what we have—is what most people dream of finding their whole lives! I know the thought scares you, but you can’t run from your feelings forever. You love me—the mark cannot be forcefully given, it appears only when accepted! You are mine and I am yours! I will not change my mind, and I won’t betray you for—”

“Liar!” I shouted, taking another step back. Roman’s eyes narrowed as he swallowed whatever he was about to say. “Liar,” I repeated, quieter this time. “Everybody is a liar. So go to hell, Roman, and leave me alone. I can’t—”

Roman stepped into the sunlight so fast that a panicked scream escaped my lips. His pale skin started to blister, the muscles and ligaments melting like heated wax. Flames burst all over him, devouring his clothes while his blood sizzled as it evaporated into dark steam.

“I have been in hell for two hundred years,” he said with a calm a person on fire shouldn’t possess. There was pain in his eyes, so much pain, but he took another step down the stairs, his eyes never leaving mine. “I will gladly wait another two hundred years for you to finally trust that what I’m saying is the absolute truth. But if you really don’t feel anything at all, if you really don’t care if I lived or died, then let me burn here, for a quick death is better than losing you forever.”

Roman was almost at the base of the steps, his bones showing where the flesh had melted when his butler’s scream pulled me out of my stupor. My magic burst, the mark on my chest burning with an intensity I’d never felt before. My spell slammed into Roman’s chest, sending him flying back into the house. The vampire landed heavily on the floor, rolling a few times before his body stopped at the base of the inner staircase. The butler kneeled at his side and before I knew it, I was moving toward the door, cursing myself for being so slow. A few more seconds and he would have been lost. My magic couldn’t heal him since it didn’t work on vampires—they were no longer part of nature and they weren’t completely dead for necromancy to be used upon them. If the sun had burned his heart…he would have been gone forever.

Horror squeezed my heart at the thought, loosening its grip only when I noticed the body on the floor moving. Sighing with relief, I watched Roman push himself on hands and knees that were more bone than flesh. The butler reached to help, but a warning growl had him retreating to a safe distance.

“Chester,” Roman said in a low, raspy voice as he slowly got to his feet. The melted flesh and burned skin healed as I watched, muscles reconstructing and ligaments reforming with mind-boggling speed. Roman turned to face me, his only surviving eye meeting mine as skin spread over his high cheekbones, hair springing from his head where it had burned off. “Tell everyone to stay in their rooms until sunrise. I can’t guarantee your safety tonight.”

“Master…?” The old man’s brows furrowed as Roman discarded the tatters of his shirt, rolling his shoulders back while the holes in his body filled themselves up.

“There are three minutes of sunlight left,” Roman said, moving past the butler like he no longer existed. His eyes remained locked on me, the feral look in them making me break into a cold sweat. “I suggest you start running, Celeste. Make sure you throw everything you have at me, because if I catch you, I’m never letting you go.”

“No.” I shook my head, taking a step back.

“You should have let me burn, darling.” Roman’s lips pulled into a predatory smile while I stumbled down the stairs, afraid to look away from the dangerous creature that stalked toward me. “You once told me you couldn’t love a person because you had no soul, remember?” Roman’s hand slid over the matching mark on his chest and his smile grew. “I never believed that for a second. This bond allows us to feel each other’s emotions, so there is no point in lying. I know exactly what you feel even now.” His lean muscles flexed as he leaned onto the top of the doorframe, glancing at the darkening sky. “Two minutes left, Celeste.”

I ran.

I considered using the main road, but that would have made it too easy for him. I couldn’t run all the way to the city in two minutes, but I had some magic saved up since last night. I just wished I had put on the clothes the butler had left for me in my room, instead of opting for my dress and a pair of slippers, which I had lost even before I stepped among the trees.

The earth felt damp and cold beneath my feet, but my magic sang in unison with the forest. I had spent so many years resting in the embrace of Mother Nature that it recognized me as its own. I could feel roots moving and branches rising up, as if some invisible hand guided them out of my way.

I looked at patches of the sky still visible through the foliage, but all I saw was dark purple and black. I didn’t have Roman’s keen sense of time, so I wasn’t entirely sure if my two minutes were through, but if the strange thrill that filled my chest was any indication, I was already being hunted.

I glanced over my shoulder, half expecting to see him right behind me, but the trees were still and quiet, the only sounds coming from my feet beating against the ground. I tripped on a protruding rock, pain shooting through my toes as I felt the skin break and blood ooze from the cut.

Cursing under my breath, I tapped into that endless reservoir of magic that was now reduced to a pathetic puddle. Even if I couldn’t use any spells on Roman, I could use them on the things around him. Fully powered, I could take him down; I could even take an Elder down. I was nowhere near my peak now, but neither was he, not with all the energy he must have used to heal himself so quickly.

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