Page 32 of Dark Souls

“Goddess, you’re a weird girl. But I love you.”

I ran my fingers over the lists, hers much longer than mine, before I slammed it shut and placed it under her bed, which had been its home for years. I was morbid back then, but I was even more so now. Everything I’d said had been the truth. Except now, I knew what I wanted. I wanted someone with a dark soul who would love me so fiercely and passionately that he wouldn’t even think twice about burning the world at his feet for me. Someone who would always keep life interesting and keep me on my toes. Because that is who I would be for them. And ever since Neve had found her mates, the possibility of meeting my own had crept into my mind, especially in the dead of the night.

I hadn’t been getting much sleep since Heathen had entered my life like a fucking tsunami of chaos. Before, it was the disturbing possibility of him turning up to watch me while I drooled on my pillow that kept me awake, but since I had seen his true form, something had shifted within me. Unholy thoughts of him plagued my mind, causing me to toss and turn for the last two nights.

I found myself wishing he’d appear. Which was just absurd. Who in their right mind hoped their stalker would come for them? And not just any average stalker. A lethal serial-killing demonic monster who was supposed to be extinct! Maybe it was time to accept what I had been lying to myself about for weeks. Those things that most normal people would find terrifying only fed a deep insatiable hunger in me that craved darkness and depravity instead of peace and light. Seeing Heathen in his true form had only deepened that appetite. He was the most beautiful monster I had ever seen. And if the dark fantasies that were playing out in my dreams the last two nights were anything to go by, I was into some weird, kinky shit.Was it technically beastility if I was a vampire too?I wonder if he could have sex whilst flying? I’d only had sex with a human, a warlock and one vampire before, and none of them were more powerful than me. There was just something so thrilling about knowing that this deadly creature could effortlessly snap my neck while ramming his gigantic—No. Bad brain. What is going on with me?

It hadn’t helped that the fucker had rubbed his dark and alluring scent all over my bedsheets and jerked himself off in my own fucking bed. At first, I was livid. He’d literally ripped my bed apart. And I knew I should have felt disgusted. I knew any sane person would be. Instead, I found myself wishing he’d have videoed it. That was something I really wanted to see. The heady scent of his cum, shredded silk canopy and rumpled sheets only left me with the wild images of what he must have got up to. A hot flush rushed through me once again as the perverse fantasies raced through my mind.

‘We are so fucking horny! Why hasn’t he come back to see us? What an asshole! Edging us with that near-orgasm, giving us a glimpse of how he could make us feel, fucking himself in our bed and then taking off like a bat in the night.’

I sighed at Rue’s persistence. Not only was I dealing with my own promiscuous thoughts but her pent-up arousal too. She’d never been so horny before. And nor had I. This was bad. Terrible.

Don’t get me wrong, I knew I should’ve been terrified of what I saw. I knew I should run for the hills and scream at the top of my lungs to my family so they’d hunt him down like the rest of his kind had been hunted and killed centuries ago because of the threat they posed to humankind. But I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Instead, I wondered if he could make me feel the kind of pleasure he did just by probing my mind the other night. What would it be like to allow him to touch me? To allow those claws to drag across my skin? To pin my hands above my head while I allowed that long forked tongue to…

The horny images that flooded my mind made me shudder with a mix of fear, excitement and desire. Damn, I had it bad.Get a grip, Ilaria!

Locking the perverted thoughts away, I made my way back to the open-plan living space and sat down at the dining table, exhaling a deep breath. Research. That’s what I needed to focus on. He said he was the villain in all the history books, so now it was time to see what I was really dealing with. Hopefully, hearing about all the reasons I should fear this demon would talk some sense into my sex-obsessed brain.

During my time at the Academy, I’d heard a few folklores about the original demonic bloodlines. The vampire syllabus included lessons about the first vampires of each breed and how they have adapted over time. There were so many myths created by humans over the years and most were false; a fabrication of manic hysteria that humans liked to create around the idea of us. Like the fact we would turn to flames under direct sunlight or we are repelled by garlic. I mean, come on. As repelling as garlic breath is, it won’t kill me. And don’t even get me started on those sparkly skin types in the movies.

No, the reality was vampires had existed longer than any other supernatural species. In fact, witches and werewolves only came about because of us. Witches were given magic by the Goddess Hecate and the moon Goddess Selene gifted her wolves to keep the vampires in check. To maintain balance in the human realm before vampires destroyed everything with their impulsive bloodthirst. We had always been seen as the villains in history, just like Heath suggested, but I knew that wasn’t the case. Every species had the capacity to be evil, including humans.

There are many theories about how vampires first came about. My favourite was that Hades and Persephone’s love created the vampires. A dark entity that was formed through the true love of darkness and light. It was why so many of us referred to our vampire counterparts as demons because they were our inner darkness. Hades’ influence. But there had only ever been one breed of vampire that actually had demonic abilities. Heathen’s breed.

I was classed as a Royal Sangura vampire just like my great-grandfather Lucius Romano. I came from a long line of pure-blooded vampires that were born from two vampires of equal power and hierarchy. Sangura vampires were famous for their strength, speed, sophisticated and complex emotions. Some were also given special gifts, mine being telepathy. However, the mystery was that my dad was a wolf and my mother a tribrid (vampire, witch and wolf), yet when my blood was tested, only pure ancient Sangura blood was detected. My brothers’ blood work showed similar results: Lorcan had only pure Alabaster wolf blood, and Leif had only Anderson magic in his blood. We were an enigma. It was as if the prior two generations hadn’t existed in our genes, and we had each taken on the pure blood of our great-grandparents.

I grabbed the first book from the towering pile and brushed off the thick coating of dust that lay on the cover. Damn, this book had seen better days.But then it was hundreds of years old and from the very back aisle that barely anyone ventured down in my grandpapi’s library.History of Vampires.A riveting title but I guess it did the trick. I lifted the leather-bound book, only to groan when I saw it was written in Latin.Ugh, headache pending. I’d been forced to learn it at school but it hadn’t come naturally to me, unlike my brother Leif, who was fluent. But I could muddle through if I focused enough. Scanning the contents page, I searched for the worddaemoniumor any variations of it. Flicking to the first page that mentioned demons, I skim read until I found something interesting.

It was the story dating back to 666 AD of a beautiful Slavic vampire named Katrina who lived in a human village, hiding her true identity so she could live in peace. She longed for a child, but female vampires can only ever get pregnant during their heat, which happens only once a year. Normally, it would only be triggered when they found their soulmate. Katrina had lived for many years alone, yearning for her lover or a child. For years, she had tried to get pregnant by seducing the men in her village, but she never could. The villagers, who were already weary of her because she seemed so different, shunned her and people feared her, believing she was cursed.

With nowhere left to turn but to magic, she sought the help of a Seer. She told the Seer that she was willing to give anything, to do anything, for the chance of a child. Even to sell her soul to the God of the Underworld, Veles. The deal was made. That very night, a demon from the Underworld came to her. Months later, she had a baby boy. That should have been a happy ending, right? Wrong. The baby boy grew up to be a monstrous beast gifted with a combination of vampire and demon abilities. A special breed known as Demonski Upir. His mother, blinded by her unconditional love for the child, allowed the boy to attack and kill all the people in her village, one by one, night after night, until there were none left. Unfortunately, by the time he was an adult, his relentless thirst had driven him to kill Katrina and rampage throughout Europe. However, he did not just kill but also seduced many women, impregnating them with his bloodline until there was a small but no doubt threatening breed of predator that wreaked havoc in the human world.

By the 18th century, a frenzy of vampire sightings and terror was sweeping through Europe. Where other breeds of vampires like Sanguras, the dhamphirs (vampires that were born from a human and vampire breeding) and the civilian vampires (humans turned vampire after their death) had adapted to become more civilised and hid in plain sight among the humans, the Upirs did not. They could not be contained. Their demon side was too demanding, too strong, too impulsive and too deadly. The other vampire breeds, the witches and werewolves, were all growing more and more concerned. It became apparent that the Upirs were the problem and they needed to be stopped. Not only to protect other supernatural identities and human lives but also because Upirs targeted and fed from all living things, not just humans. The threat the Upirs posed to this realm was so great that all the other supernaturals agreed to wipe them out. And so they were hunted. Slaughtered. It took over one thousand years before they were completely extinct. Or so we thought. Because that couldn’t be true. Not when one was stalking me.

I turned the page to read more about the Demonski Upir and scoffed. This book was clearly written by someone who feared them and perhaps had been a key player in seeing to the Upir’s demise because they wanted to evoke horror. First, the illustration was wildly inaccurate. Instead of the huge, delicious human body of muscle that Heath had, this drawing was of some mangled, skeletal creature with all its ribs on display. It had horns like Heath’s and large black wings protruding from its back, but it looked more like an enormous flying rat than the beautiful monster that stood before me two nights ago.

Leaning over the old, stained pages, I brushed my finger over the Latin paragraph below it, trying my best to translate.

The Demonski Upir is evil reincarnated.

Woah, okay, a little harsh.

Sent to the human realm as the offspring of Satan, Upirs are the deadliest and most savage kind of supernatural known to exist. Driven by an insatiable thirst for flesh, blood, and fear, Upirs feed on their prey’s organs, especially the heart or liver, to sustain themselves for longer periods. They have heightened senses and reflexes, are extremely strong and fast, can manipulate the mind of their victims, making them feel things that are not there as well as appear in a victim’s dreams to seduce or terrify.

Based on the other night, I’d say that was a pro rather than a con. Wait, dreams? That fucker!

Some can shapeshift, taking on attractive appearances to lure their victims by day, even replicating another’s physical being and scent.

Cough, cough, Harry Gould.

Wing manifestation means they can fly at extreme high-speeds and often target their prey from above before they are aware. They can also materialise from one known place to another. Some have other powers, such as telekinesis, telepathy or shadow weaving. Their lack of morals, empathy and deadly impulsiveness make them savage killers who think only about their next meal. They are solitary creatures, unable to care for anyone but themselves and their uncontrollable hunger.

I leaned back in my chair and frowned at the last line. Okay, so everything else seemed to be pretty accurate to what I had seen from Heathen so far, but that last trait just didn’t sit right with me. It gave the impression that the Upirs were only driven by killing. That they weren’t intelligent or emotional creatures, purely just existing to hunt. Yes, Heathen was clearly an unhinged murderer with a lack of morals, but was it really just to satisfy his bloodthirst? And if that was the case, why hadn’t he killed me? And I swear I saw a flicker of concern on his face when I was hurt by that branch. Maybe it wasn’t empathy but it was… something. Or was it all in my head? Was I just trying to justify my irritating attraction to a monster?

I pulled out my copy of Dorian Gray and flicked to the quote that Heathen had highlighted. ′You know more than you think you know, just as you know less than you want to know.′Is that what he was trying to tell me? Not to believe everything that was written about him?

Going back to the history book, I found an entire section with explicit drawings about how to kill a Demonski Upir.

---