Soul of Darkness (4 page)

After sliding his pants down past his hips and discarding them, he lay down beside her.

Persephone immediately pulled him closer. All hands, she was grabbing at him incessantly without the slightest indication of slowing down.

This was not what he wanted, Aidan suddenly realized in a belated moment of clarity. Yes, he desired her more than he could ever put into words, but he wanted to cherish this moment…wanted to savor the feeling of being with her. He didn’t want to hurry through the sensations; he wanted to go slowly…make it last.

She was special to him, and he didn’t want to lose that feeling by giving in to sheer lust. But she was throwing herself at him as if there was no tomorrow. He had to slow her down somehow.

“Wait,” he urged her, but she continued to claw at him wildly.

He had no other choice but to hold her down.

Catching her delicate, flailing wrists in his large hands, he gripped them tightly and pinned them to the mattress on either side of her head. But that didn’t stop her body from bucking underneath his. She was moving against him provocatively instead of calming down.

As she writhed about, the top of her loose-fitting sweater slid down so low that Aidan could see the mark on her chest. He remembered exactly what it had looked like when he’d seen it last: a half-bloomed rose in shades of red, pink and cream.

The image remained the same, but the vibrant colors had evaporated. The petals were no longer bright…they were black and devoid of life. It seemed like a sick and twisted window into her heart.

And it suddenly and forcefully reminded Aidan of every single reason he should stay as far away from her as possible. He couldn’t believe he’d almost been reeled in.

He’d been so immersed in his feelings for her…in his desire for the Persephone whose body she possessed, that he’d completely failed, in the heat of the moment, to recognize he was about to make love to a cold, heartless version of the woman he loved.

Not to mention the part about destroying the world…He could not let that happen.

He had come to his senses just in time.

Aidan let go of Persephone and started to roll away from her. But she was faster and pulled him back, her hand suddenly rubbing against his shorts. He moved away, jumped to his feet, and retreated to the wall furthest from her.

He’d been sure she would stop once he’d put enough distance between them. But she would not let up. Getting up from the bed, she slowly, but purposefully, walked right up to him as he stood immobile with his back against the wall.

He couldn’t believe it! Why wouldn’t she just stop? She was like a robot…or a zombie…single-mindedly and relentlessly pursuing whatever impulse it was that drove her.

If she could even have something similar to an impulse; that would suggest she actually felt something.

So maybe she was following something akin to orders, instead.

Whatever her motivation was, finding out the reason for her behavior would not help him deal with her in the slightest. At the moment, he couldn’t find any other way to stop her than by rendering her unconscious.

Needing a while to gather the energy for the task at hand, he let her push him up against the wall.

She was pinning his arms to the bricks at his back while her lips sensually moved over his chest.

When her tongue slid over one of his nipples and her teeth closed around it, leisurely tugging on that sensitive part of his body, he had to summon every last ounce of willpower not to abandon his plan and just let her seduce him.

Somehow managing to keep his hea
d―
though he had no idea ho
w―
he summoned the energy and magic he needed and directed it at Persephone. As he lightly touched his hand to her forehead, she immediately lost consciousness and slumped into Aidan’s outstretched arms. Gently, he carried her back to her bed and laid her down, pulling the covers up over her.

She would sleep until morning.

Chapter 3 * Plans

A
idan descended the stairs and entered the great hall. A roaring fire in the gigantic fireplace spread an inviting glow through the room, lending it warmth and a soothing atmosphere.

Malcolm and Aaron were seated in comfortable-looking leather armchairs, sipping on an amber colored liquid that looked suspiciously like single malt whisky.

Aidan strode toward the side of the room that incorporated a small bar area holding different kinds of liquids and glasses, grabbed a fittingly shaped crystal glas
s―
a snifte
r―
and poured himself a substantial amount of whisky.

He was going to need it.

Heading to an armchair placed opposite his father and brother, he sat down, took a large swig of his drink, and waited to hear if one of them had anything to say.

Undoubtedly, the subject they should be discussing was Persephone’s current state of mind.

But Aidan didn’t feel like talking.

It seemed neither his father nor his brother were inclined to, either. So they sat in companionable silence, watching the dancing flames and listening to the crackling sounds of the fire for what felt like an eternity.

“How is Persephone?” Malcolm suddenly asked, apparently having decided they’d lost enough time to silent contemplation.

“Unconscious,” Aidan answered simply.

“What does that mean…unconscious?” Aaron demanded, alarmed.

“It means the opposite of conscious,” Aidan replied.

“Don’t give me that shit.
Why
  is she unconscious?” Aaron shot back heatedly.

“Because I had no other choice than to make her ‘sleep’ for a while,” Aidan replied.

“Wh
y―
what did she do, son?” Malcolm asked quickly.

“Come now, get it off your chest,” he urged Aidan, who had hesitated and not yet replied.

“She…,” Aidan paused and cleared his throat nervously, “…she wouldn’t stop…coming on to me.”

“Why would she come on to you?” Aaron asked suddenly. “Malcolm told me she’s turned cold inside…that she likely wouldn’t have emotional responses. So why would she come on to you?”

“I didn’t say she was emotional. She rather struck me as being controlled by someone or…something. As though she wasn’t acting of her own volition.”

“Darkness,” Malcolm said simply.

“What?” both Aidan and Aaron asked.

“Darkness is controlling her. Her soul belongs to
it
now, and it is telling her what to do…how to act.”

“So
―
what? Darkness is directing her actions and now she’s seducing Aidan?
That’s
  what it’s using her for?” Aaron asked, clearly not happy by the sound of it.

“Who says I’m being seduced? She’s merely
trying
,” Aidan responded heatedly, his voice rising along with his anger.

“That’s a pretty strong reaction for someone with a clear conscience, wouldn’t you say?” Aaron goaded him.

“That is enough, lads. Stop your bickering,” Malcolm interjected before Aidan had the chance to spit out the very vulgar phrase that lingered on the tip of his tongue.

“To answer your question, Aaron: Yes,
that
  is what Darkness is using Persephone for. It is making her
try
to seduce Aidan…to fulfill her destiny…your destiny,” Malcolm said, looking at Aaron and Aidan in turn.

“So what am I supposed to do?” Aidan asked his father.

“Stay the hell away from her,” Aaron answered instead, his voice dangerously low.

Aidan could feel Aaron’s loathing right down to his bones. It seemed their brotherly bond had been doomed from the very beginning.

Just as doomed as either of their relationship with the woman they loved.

Destiny didn’t do things halfway, did it?

“Why? What’s it to you?” Aidan retorted.

“It’s none of your business, that’s what it is,” Aaron threw in his face.

“Boys, this is not helping,” Malcolm interjected. “I understand that both of you are in love with Persephone, but…”

“I beg your pardon…,” Aaron interrupted him, “…I am no such thing,” he finished angrily.

“Of course you are not,” Malcolm replied, though his tone of voice and choice of words clearly stated that he didn’t believe Aaron’s words for one second.

Aidan didn’t say anything. He was not going to deny his feelings for Persephone; there was no point. As he sat in silence, his eyes following the movement of the glistening amber liquid in his glass while he swirled it around, he could practically feel Aaron’s gaze lingering on him.

It was obvious that his brother was waiting for him to deny being in love with Persephone, as well. Aidan didn’t care. He had more pressing matters to discuss.

“Father…,” Aidan addressed Malcolm. Before he got any further, Malcolm’s words interrupted him.

“Aidan,” he sighed heavily, “I know what you are about to ask. And I wish I could tell you that there is hope…that there is the slightest chance of a light at the end of the very dark tunnel that is currently Persephone’s soul. I am afraid, however, that I cannot do so. I am not saying she is forever beyond redemption…for I can honestly declare that I have no way of knowing. What I
can
  tell you is that I have witnessed similar cases in the past. The souls that had been taken into darkness have not stepped back into the light. They remain lost to this day. But Persephone is strong. Strength lies in her very nature; it is the reason why her power is so great. If we can urge her to use that strength…if we can get her to try and feel again…to care enough to want to fight for her soul’s light, I believe we might have a chance. But it will not be easy.”

“I don’t care about it being ‘easy’,” Aidan said resolutely, his voice mirroring the determination he felt in every fiber of his being.

He would get her back!

“You will need to be very careful around her, son. You must try to trigger an emotional response. You must remind her who she is, remind her of the strength and purity of human emotions, and how it feels to be alive…to be loved. And all the while, you cannot let your guard down for one second because she will get to you, will try to seduce you. In any case, she cannot be separated from both of you for too long or she will die. Since we have not yet found a way around the curse, you might as well make the most of the time you need to spend with her. Do you believe you are up to the challenge?”

“I am,” Aidan replied, not a single doubt in his mind. He would succeed…he had to…

Because the alternative was too ghastly to imagine:

If she remained frozen, she would do anything Darkness demanded…would do everything within her power to see destiny fulfilled.

And chances were she would succeed.

Unless the gifted that had attacked them earlier returned and ended the immediate threat by taking her life.

But that would just postpone the inevitable.

Without the most powerful witch in existence, none of Aidan’s family could hope to undo the magic web of destruction she and Darkness had spun so many centuries ago.

And if Morrigan was continually killed whenever she re-emerged, all the assassins would ever be able to accomplish was to widen the path of blood they were bound to tread for all eternity…or for however long it took for destiny to finally be fulfilled.

Whichever way Aidan looked at it…if he failed, she would be forever lost and the world would remain doomed.

They would all die.

But if that happened, if he couldn’t get her back
,
Aidan didn’t want to survive. Not without her. That was the extent to which he had fallen for her. She had only just come into his life, and already he could not envision a future without her.

It was crazy, and if someone had told him he would fall madly in love with a woman mere days after meeting her, he would have laughed out loud at the absurdity of such a prediction.

Had that somebody moreover declared that the woman he was bound to fall in love with was the reincarnation of the very same Morrigan he had been reading about all his life, he would have had that person committed.

But so much had happened in such a short time. And the very first time he’d seen her, he’d already been halfway out of his mind. She had made his heart stop.