DARK SOULS (Dark Souls Series) (29 page)

Falling onto my elbows, I cried out, the fire within me raging against the venom as I felt myself boiling to death from the inside out.

The child-demon now stood above me, watching my suffering with delight.

“You were supposed to be much stronger than this,” she observed in her tinkling, youthful voice, though it did nothing to hide the evil lurking underneath.

“Why...” I said through clenched teeth, “does everyone seem to know what I am but me.”

Despite the pain, I jolted in surprise. I had just spoken. I’d just used my mouth.           

The dark flame was still here, I could feel her, but the pain was too much, even for her. She was no longer fully in control.

The child-demon laughed again. “I’m afraid that part is essential,” she said.

Gasping, gulping, trying feebly to draw air into my tightening lungs, I finally looked at her, using the only weapon in my arsenal that I knew that could possibly work, and drew her gaze to mine.

“Oh no, we can’t have that,” she said, blinking against my stare and promptly kicking me in the face.

My head flew back, cracking against the tiled ground behind me. Gasping and spitting blood, I attempted to move, only to be met with searing pain. I was paralyzed.

No, no, no
, I thought.
I can’t die here. Not yet, not yet...

I struggled to make my fingers move, to raise my hand, to touch her. I knew I had to touch her.

My vision began to cloud, my eyes fluttering as they fought to stay open.
Dark flame, where have you gone?
I wailed inside.
You have to come back...

The child-demon saw me weakening and drew closer.

“Oh, this is just too exciting,” she tinkled again, her lips pressing against her fangs. “My victory over you will go down in history!”

She danced. She actually started to gaily trot around me, arms swinging to a tune that only she could hear. In her twisted euphoria, I couldn’t help but observe that she gave new meaning to the term dancing on someone’s grave.

It pissed me off.

I had to fight this. I
had
to. I turned my anger at this little child-demon inwards, focusing on the dark flame, finding it through the winding pain, and drawing upon it with everything I had.

Grow, flame. Burn. Burn brightly. Burn through me. Light me on fire.

I mentally dragged the darkness forward, sweat beginning to bead all over my body as I used up the last of my energy. I struggled to hold on to the flame as it flickered in its attempt to respond to my demands at the same time the poison was blowing it out.

And then, when the last of my energy waned, when I could no longer lure it forward, I drew in my last breath while the calm settled over me, silenced me. I tried. I really did. But the draw of painless sleep was so, so tempting. All I had to do was close my eyes and let go. Then I could be free, floating. I could finally feel what it is to rest.
Yes…take me…

I don’t think so, dear Emily.

Roaring fire shot through me just as I began loosening my hold on life, and my eyes shot wide open as my limbs were literally lit with flames, licking under my skin, the curling tendrils igniting my conscious.

The dark flame was giving me one last chance.

I used the burst of energy to shoot out my left arm and grab the dancing monster-child by her ankle, hitting skin.

“Burn, you little brat!” I screamed as the fire shot from me and into her.

She howled with pain, immediately bending down to claw my hands off her. I used her lack of balance against her and toppled her sideways with my other arm, climbing on top of her and digging my hands into her shoulders.

The darkness was pushing against me, fighting for control again. I fought with her this time, and hard, but she was so, so strong. As I looked down to lock eyes with the child, what I saw caused me to falter. It was only for a second, but it was all the darkness needed.

I saw the demon in the child’s eyes, that much was true, but I saw a flicker of the true child underneath, and she stared at me in fear; the poor thing was beside herself with fear.

She’s a child
, I screamed as the darkness began to take over, my teeth already sharpening
. We can’t kill a child!

I fought harder, my body in a state of half-monster, half-me, my teeth no longer extending, but my eyes still glowing with the deadly burn.

She will kill us if we don’t
, the darkness said.
We must.

No!
I screamed, twisting inside, fighting with my unseen darkness, struggling against her weight but refusing to concede to her.
NO!

She skidded against my mental barriers, her black smoke forming into sharp knives that pierced through my mind and ripped into my soul. I pushed back, forcing her down as I desperately searched within me in a panicked attempt to find a solution against her deadly black power.

Flashing eyes entered my thoughts, the quirk of a mouth, and the warm press of a hand against my forehead.

I wasn’t surprised when a picture of Asher flickered into my mind, his silver eyes staring deeply into my soul; seeing me, feeling me. With my hands still digging tightly into the child’s skin, I focused my thoughts on him, his face pushing me to remember, to hold onto the light. 

Finding it deep within me, farther than even my darkness could reach, I focused on him, and it lit my soul from within, a flash of blinding, searing light. It filtered through my eyes, coating my vision with white as I gave one last, mighty push, forcing the darkness back into her black depths as she clawed and sank back down into the dark recesses of my soul.

The force of the white flash was blinding, and my vision cleared just in time to see the white energy warp within the air around me and heave itself, thick as a brick wall, at the demon. The white light bled through my body and bowled into the demon that been nestling comfortably inside the child. With a flash, the demon shot out of the girl’s body, screaming with anger, and landed in a crouch to my left.

It was as small as the girl, with tiny, bloodied strips of tendon and muscles for limbs and a ghastly, putrefied face.

“
How dare you!
” the demon roared at me.

I let go of the unconscious child’s shoulders and rolled off her. With all the power I had just expended, I could feel the venom overpowering my body. I didn’t have a lot of time. Was I dying? I didn’t know. All I knew was that I refused to die unless I took this repulsive little squirt with me.  

I still needed my strength and skill, my deadly self. I let my mind fold back, allowing the darkness to come forward and finish this demon once and for all. My goal had been reached; the child was safe. I would inquire as to how and revel in my success later. There was no time for that now.

She flowed through me, angry but still in need of this demon’s vital force just as much as I was. She coiled my body and sprang forth toward the demon, sending my body flying through the air. The demon leapt at me simultaneously and we crashed in mid-air, but my arms managed to wrap around her lean, slippery form and I twisted my head away just enough so her fangs wouldn’t pierce me again.

In those few seconds it took for us to land, my face had morphed into my dark self, my fangs fully extended and my jaw detached, my vision bright as I sank my teeth into her neck, tasting the licorice tang of black blood and reveling in it. I threw the demon down on the ground and watched her gurgle and struggle as she died. I licked my lips in pleasure as I stared. When she took her last breath, I bent down close.

“
Come to me
,” we whispered, the darkness and I now one, and it did.

The blue smoke trailed up, out of her mouth and into mine, the taste of it overriding all of my senses and melting within me like warm, sweet cream.

I let out a breath as I finished, the darkness backing up to make room for me, but only slightly. She was stronger now.

I breathed easily, the venom dissipated and my physical injuries healed from the vital force that nourished me, fortified me.

The danger now gone, I took the time to look at my surroundings, and cringed in shame. The shop was ruined, of course, and a little girl now lay unconscious beside me. I wasn’t sure how I was going to explain this away. The sky was beginning to lighten, and I heard the motors of vehicles nearby. New York was stretching its limbs, readying for the day. I had to take care of this quickly.

I stepped out of the broken storefront window, the girl resting peacefully in my arms. I could see I was already too late to sneak away. A middle-aged man stood above me just to my right, gaping at me as I walked up the small staircase and onto the sidewalk.

“Miss, what do you think you’re doing? Is that child all right? What have you done?”

I met his eyes, the gold in my irises expanding as I dilated his pupils.

“
There’s been a break-in
,” I explained. “
Vandals. And here. This girl fell and is hurt. Help her.”

I gently laid the little girl in his acquiescing arms.
“Forget you ever saw me,
” I added, and turned and walked off in the other direction, back towards 1
^st
Avenue.

After I passed a few quiet residences, I paused, turning into a side alley between two buildings and resting my hand against the cool brick as I tried to focus. I had used more energy than usual, but I wasn’t sure I used enough to alter reality and not just the man’s mind. It was unclear to me how to alter reality like Derek said I could, but I had to try. One man’s opinion may not be enough to convince the NYPD that it was only vandalism. After all, I was pretty sure my blood and the demon’s were splattered all over the shattered glass that littered the storefront floor, a jagged jigsaw puzzle left for the police to comb through. At that thought, I reached behind me and picked out a particularly large piece of broken glass that had lodged itself in the small of my back. Cringing, I let it slip out of my hand and fall onto the concrete.

How do I do this?
I thought, looking up to the sky as if the clouds could give me the answer.

Like a flower in bloom, the darkness spread through me, her black petals gliding underneath my skin and sending tingles of power through my body before she whispered the answer.

Once again, I was a slave to her knowledge—a slave to her power. As much as I hated being the weaker one, I knew I needed her. Sighing, I leaned against the brick wall in heavy defeat as she came forward.

I relented.
Do it.

She did. My vision went black for only a moment, but it was enough to cause me to panic. Before I could begin to feel true fear, however, my vision came back. I felt a flutter in my stomach, and my arms and legs began to tingle. My body jerked gently, and I watched, fascinated, as a ripple went through the air. It was unlike what I had caused before—that ripple had been a bright, blinding white. This one was more of a rainbow, the type of colors you would see when sunlight hit a crystal prism and flashed bright, multicolored light in all directions. It waved through the air, twisting lazily as it glided above the city. All sound and movement froze for only a second, but my eyes widened at the sight. The clouds halted in the sky, as if hitting an invisible barrier, before they once again began to move north with the wind. The cars moving on 2
^nd
Street jolted to a stop as the rainbow of light cascaded over them before once again motoring forward, the brief break in speed not even affecting the vehicles’ momentum. Almost as quickly as it came, the prism of light evaporated into the crisp autumn air above me, leaving New York City none the wiser.

Did it work?
I asked her, my eyes darting between 2
^nd
Street and the alley I was still standing in.
Will everyone believe it was just vandalism? Will they ignore the smell of licorice? The black and red bloodstains?

She flickered her assent.

How?
I pushed.
How did you do it?

I was met with silence and sighed. I should have known, of course. The darkness coveted her secrets.  

I pushed off the wall and began walking home, wanting to change my disheveled and torn clothing before Macy or anyone else saw me. Hopefully, Macy was asleep by now, because once she was out, only the sounds of an incoming apocalypse could ever wake her. As much as I accepted I was far from normal, I still had to keep up the pretenses and pretend it was just another normal day.

Unfortunately, I still had a full day to get through.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

This demon felt different.

I felt a constant rippling throughout my body, my stomach lurching as if I were on an endless roller coaster, dipping and rising, dipping and rising. My fingers wouldn’t stay still, even when I pressed them hard against my thighs, clamping my fingers so tight that my hands began to tingle from the lack of blood flow. They wouldn’t stop moving. My senses were moving into overdrive, my ears picking up constant conversations, even those conversations in the restaurant next door to Cream. I involuntarily listened in to a girl’s new sexual experiments as she cupped her hot coffee and spoke to her friend in whispers at the back of the coffee shop. But I also heard, to my relief, talk of a recent break-in on 2
^nd
Street and Avenue A.

I was jittery, wired, and Asher kept glancing over at me in concern at the same time he tried to maintain cold indifference toward me.

Finally, when he reached the front of the line, he asked, “Are you okay?”

I could tell by the look on his face that he was annoyed at himself for even asking. His soft question, however, didn’t match the look of death that he had also directed my way. Why did he even come here, then? If he didn’t want to see me, he could easily avoid me. New York City wasn’t exactly a small town. I frowned.