DARK SOULS (Dark Souls Series) (14 page)

That was the worst part—the hunger, the cold sweats, the trembling—almost as if I was an addict in dire need of another hit.

Was that where my sickness was stemming from? These things that I’ve killed, the life-forces I’ve been taking in, is it acting like a drug on my system? I made a mental note to ask Derek when I tracked him down after work.

“Crap,” I said for the second time that day.

I had no idea how to find that obnoxious, smart-talking demon-guy.

Lost in thought, I wasn’t paying attention to the caramel sauce I’d been pouring. When I eventually looked down, I narrowed my eyes in shock when I saw what I had written on the metal countertop:
Danger.

Panicking, I swiped my hand over the words, glancing up to see if the man waiting for his drink even saw. The last thing I needed was to be reported to the manager due to “worrisome behavior.”

The man didn’t even look up. He was too busy scrolling through his phone and frowning, his fingers tapping against the wooden pick-up counter as he waited for his drink.

 Good. I counted myself lucky. I squeezed the caramel into his coffee, adding a little extra because I felt I should, and handed it to him with a bright, fake smile. “Have a great day!”

He mumbled something, maybe a “thanks,” before he grabbed his coffee and left. I turned back to the orders waiting for me, this time focusing hard and refusing to daydream. I couldn’t be writing stuff like that in syrups. Next thing I knew, I’d be throwing sugar in people’s faces, purging them from evil.

Which, to be honest, wasn't so far from the truth. Any one of them could be demons.

My concern over my sanity came back when I was at the espresso machine and felt a tickle at the top of my head, the type of tickle that only human instinct could recognize as someone staring. I looked up and met cold gray eyes.

Only one other person had eyes like that, and he wasn’t here.

Realization hit me at the same time my cup nearly overfilled with scalding espresso. I reacted fast enough, removing the cup before it spilled everywhere. I didn’t even feel it as the hot liquid sloshed over the cup and onto my hand.

It was the girl. That girl that snickered at me as she walked beside Asher on that rainy night in the street. It felt like years ago now.

Even when I caught her eye, she didn’t look away. She continued her study of me, and I had to admit, I was intimidated. Raven curls framed her heart-shaped face. Her eyes were almost cat-like, tipping slightly upwards at the outside corners and were the color of smooth stone. Her face was flawless as porcelain and just as pale.

If I hadn’t just stared into her eyes right that second and seen the hardness in them, I would have described her to Macy as “dainty,” “pretty,” almost like a delicate exotic flower. But now, I knew better. Underneath her innocent exterior I sensed something calm and patient, waiting for the moment to pounce. She reminded me of a panther, casually and silently stalking the next innocent animal to wander by.

As I focused on her, the now-familiar buzz drifted through my body, and I couldn’t shake it off as easily as I did the last time.

She didn’t even blink as I stared back at her.

“Miss? Are you making my iced green tea with extra honey or what?”

I startled at the sound of the voice and turned around to face the front again, embarrassed.

God, I was really getting bad at my job these days.

“It’s right here. Sorry.”

I focused on the order, properly chastised. I refused to look behind me, though I stayed uncomfortably aware of the girl’s continued gaze on my back.

I heard her give her order, and knew the instant she walked back over.

“Hey.”

Her voice was both smooth and rough, and I envied it.

“You’re Emily, right?”

I turned to her, my polite etiquette refusing to allow me to ignore someone who was talking to me nicely, and faced her head-on.

She was even more breathtaking up close, and I had to control myself from gasping in surprise. She must have seen it regardless, as she smiled wryly at me in return. Obviously, I was not the first to react to her this way, and she was used to it. Maybe I could eventually ask her for pointers on how to handle the stares.

“Yes,” I finally said, aware of the awkward silence between us, mostly my fault because I couldn’t stop gawking at her. “But how did you know?”

“I’m Gwyn. Well, Gwynevere, but everybody calls me Gwyn.” She held out her hand.

The same instinctual warning that told me not to touch Asher prevented me from reaching for her hand. I couldn’t say why, exactly. I mean, they didn’t look
like demons—it’s not like when they touched me they would burn. Right? Again, I made another mental note to ask Derek about my instinctual aversion to touching these two mysterious strangers.

Instead, I gestured awkwardly with my head to the pot of milk I was steaming, smiling apologetically.

“Nice to meet you,” I said instead. Then, to remain polite, I added, “So, how do you know me again?”

Gwyn’s tilted her head slightly. “Asher.”

Again with awkwardness that only I could possess in this situation, I shifted my feet uncomfortably, unsure if I had just pissed her off or not. “Oh, okay. I’ve only met him once, really. Well, maybe twice.” I turned the milk steamer on, the sound loud, and I winced. “He’s nice. Macy introduced me to him. She’s my best friend…”

I physically had to clamp my jaw shut to keep from saying more. Usually I’m not so open with information, especially the type of information where people would think me mentally unbalanced. Like, say, hey Asher sends electricity through me, and so do you kinda, and also I’ve been killing people, but don’t worry about that, what were you saying again?

She continued to look at me with her unblinking gaze. When it was clear I wasn’t going to say any more, she narrowed her eyes slightly before looking away. Instantly, my need to tell her everything and anything to ever happen in my life disappeared. I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Well, okay then,” she said. “Thanks.” I made sure to put her coffee down on the pick-up counter so I didn’t have to touch her.

“Um, how do you know Asher?” I asked, not sure why I cared.

“He’s my brother,” she said, as if it were obvious. Well, I guess it was kind of obvious.  “We’re twins.”

“Oh! Wow, okay.”

Her eyes shuttered a bit, probably because that was how everyone reacted when she said she was a twin. “I guess I’ll be seeing you around. Maybe we can have lunch or something.”

I was slightly surprised at her open invitation. It didn’t look like she liked me very much. “Sure, no problem,” I said, smiling. Even to me, my smile felt forced. “I’ll catch you later.”

Turning, I moved onto the next order. Life was getting much, much too weird for me lately. Was I really going to start regarding everyone as a danger to me? That would be highly aggravating. I already had enough difficulty making friends. I didn’t need to start actively isolating people from talking to me. Gwyn’s thoughts probably strayed to
awkward weirdo
as soon as she turned away.

Which, if I were really to be honest with myself, was exactly what I was.

CHAPTER TWELVE

I headed to Washington Square Park after my shift, knowing that was the place where Macy usually hung out before heading to her evening classes. I had an urgent need to see her, to let her make me feel normal and talk about regular things for a while. I found her sitting with Liz and another friend, Amanda Roberts. The two of them were talking with their heads close together, probably about their latest victim.

I smiled, amused that my bitchy thoughts towards those two were entirely normal. They could only be discussing one thing that intently with each other: the latest competition to enter their midst of guy-conquering. Usually, I hated getting involved in school politics, but right now, it was the one thing I wanted most in the world. I made my way over to them, navigating benches occupied by various students and clusters of people sitting on the grass, but paused the instant I spotted Gwyn and Asher.

They were seated underneath a sycamore tree, just to the left of the marble Washington Arch, clearly in deep discussion. But, unlike the talking Barbie heads in front of me, it was obvious that they weren’t discussing the latest hook-up in school.

Asher’s eyes strayed over to me. I froze mid-stride as my eyes connected with his, the familiar
zing
creeping over my body. 

In the same instant that I realized I was probably gawking stupidly at him, his upper body jolted up, away from Gwyn, and he quickly broke his gaze from mine and scanned the park, his eyes resting on panhandlers, students and tourists for only an instant before moving onto another.

His reactions were so strange. My mouth tilted up as I had the thought that if it were even possible, he was even more sensitive to light and sound than I was. I remembered how he had looked in the coffee shop last week, the loud crash of breaking ceramic causing him spring into a fighting stance, his eyes flashing like shards of ice as he leapt in front of me.

An anomaly I still couldn’t quite wrap my head around.  

I ducked my head and scurried over to Macy, hoping against hope that he didn’t go back to staring at me or think that I was the source of his unease. 

I slammed into the grassy spot next to Macy, daring to look up and see if Asher had given up and gone back to his mysterious conversation with his sister.

No such luck. I found him staring at me intently.

I awkwardly smiled back and waved at him. A “
hey Asher, nothing’s wrong here, keep doing what you’re doing, nice to see you”
kind of wave. He gave me a careful smile and waved back just as awkwardly. Gwyn also glanced up, leaving me to face two sets of vigilant eyes.

“Oh Ems, could you be more awkward?” Macy laughed. Liz and Amanda both looked at me and shook their heads with disdain.

I put my attention on them, trying to ignore what looked like an extremely intriguing discussion—probably about me—that Gwyn and Asher had gotten back to. I could hear their voices, but they were faded, even with my honed hearing ability. I couldn’t make out their words.

“Sorry,” I said to Macy, pasting a smile on my face.

“Honestly, I’ve never seen you act this way with any boy. You are seriously crushing.” She pushed me playfully, ignoring my stony look. “Just be yourself. You’re awesome, and guys can only wish
they had your attention.”

“Barf.”

Ah, and there was Amanda, ever sardonic and bitchy. Her looks matched her personality: brunette hair and hazel eyes, with a straight, Romanesque nose in between. Light freckles decorated that nose which she not-so-successfully always tried to hide under a layer of heavy foundation. Although not as bitchy as Liz, Amanda came in a close second. I wasn’t really sure what Macy saw in either of them. They always seemed to me to be mean and petty, especially towards me.

“You’re looking good lately, Ems,” Amanda said, even making my nickname sound like a sarcastic joke. “What have you been doing?”

“Sleep, apparently.” Macy said. “She won’t tell me her secret.”

Souls, Macy. I’ve been killing people
, I wanted to tell her. It was killing me that I couldn’t tell her one thing about what had been going on, mostly because I was afraid she would look at me like I was a monster—if she even believed me. If she didn’t believe me, I wasn’t sure what would happen, but it wouldn’t be good. I knew that much.

My skin had been prickling ever since I entered the park, like tiny sewing needles puncturing my entire body. I took it as a warning, but I didn’t know what the warning was for. My body was constantly giving off danger signals, but if I couldn’t even decipher the source, how could I figure out the danger?

“You’re so distracted lately. Are you okay?” Macy asked.

I smiled back at her. “I’m fine,” I said, but I could tell she didn’t believe me. “I just have a lot on my mind.”

“Well, you can always talk to me. You know that, right?”

I nodded, my heart breaking at the same time.
No, I can’t always talk to you.

Thankfully, Liz chimed in. “If we’re done with the love-fest over there, can we get down to some serious business? I need ideas for our Halloween party. Stat.”

Liz always made sure to remind us of her burdens, and especially decried the weight of responsibility that hosting her and Amanda’s yearly Halloween party brought.
It’s just hard being this popular you know?
Her shrugs always said.
All the pressure
…

“Oh, okay! Let’s see, I probably have some ideas stashed somewhere in my head,” Macy said, her brows already drawing together in thought.

I sat back and observed the three of them begin discussing potential themes. Taking it in, I heard everything from “Heaven and Hell” to “Goth” to “Hollywood.”  No wonder Liz needed help, I thought, if these were the types of tired-out ideas she was throwing around.

“Dark Masquerade,” I said, so quietly I doubt they heard me.

Amanda caught it. “Explain.”

“Well, I know masquerade balls are common, even boring now, but if you made it a darker theme, like carnival masks of monsters and shadows and...devils, things like that. I don’t know, I was just thinking out loud. Continue on.”

I motioned awkwardly with my hands, embarrassed that I even spoke up. I was even more uncomfortable with the fact that I almost said ‘demons.’

“Twisted, Chaucer. I like it,” Amanda said. Of course she would. Although there was no demon to be found in her, she was a twisted soul, through and through.

Liz cocked her head at me, intrigued and also a little jealous. “That’s definitely interesting. We’ll think about it. Oh, and thanks.” She said the last part a little reluctantly.

I smiled back at her, knowing full well she would bask in all the credit. I didn’t mind. Right now I didn’t really care too much about anything that could be construed as the normal frustrations in life.

All three made moves to get up and head to class, and I was a little relieved. Turned out my break of being normal was becoming more abnormal by the second. Why did I have to bring up devils and monsters? Although the rest of my shift had been uneventful, I remembered clearly what I had written.