Dark Souls: Box Set: Books 1-5

by E. J. King

  “This was one of our better sexcapades,” he said smugly.

  I poked him and raised my head. “That’s not what I meant, Rafferty. I meant that I like having you as a man instead of a hybrid. It feels more real now. You feel more real.”

  My hands couldn’t stop roaming over his chest and abs. They were defined, but no longer abnormally so. His eyes were no longer unreadable.

  “I didn’t even realize how much the Soul blood affected my senses until it was gone. Everything feels more real for me, too.” He kissed me long and sweetly. “You feel so amazing.”

  “Wow, you really know now to make a girl blush,” I said, dropping my eyes bashfully.

  “Me? You’re the one doing that thing with your hands.” He kissed me again and we got lost in each other for the second time.

  By the end, I had no idea how long we had been in his room and I no longer cared. All I cared about was being with Rafe.

  “We’re supposed to spend the evening with everyone,” I said, remembering my deal with Hope. I really did want to see both her and Lincoln before they left. But then I would look at Rafe, and I wanted him, too.

  “If that’s going to happen, you need to put on some clothes and stop touching me. You are a bad influence.” He spoke firmly, but his arms were still around me, not letting me go anywhere. “You keep seducing me.”

  “Right. That’s what happened.” I rolled my eyes. “You are nothing but an innocent victim.”

  “I’m glad you agree.”

  I tried to poke him, but he caught my arm. We tossed about, playfully wrestling each other until someone pounded on the door.

  “Hey. You guys need to come downstairs.”

  The voice was quiet, but because it belonged to Lincoln, it had as much effect on me as a gunshot.

  “Shit.” I grabbed for the nearest piece of fabric which happened to be Rafe’s shirt, and pulled it on.

  “What am I supposed to wear?” he hissed.

  “You’re a big boy. You’ll figure it out.”

  I hurried into the rest of my clothes while Rafe went to his closet for another shirt. We were dressed and headed downstairs in less than two minutes.

  “Try getting rid of that grin,” I said in a hushed voice before we entered my apartment. “You look like you just got laid.”

  “Um, maybe that’s because I did? Twice.”

  “Fine, but you don’t have to look like it.” I yelped as he squeezed my butt.

  He hurried past me while I quickly fanned my flushed cheeks and smoothed wrinkles from his shirt.

  “In here!” Olivia called from the living room.

  We found everyone standing in the middle of the room looking shocked.

  “Why is it so cold in here?” I asked, looking around until I noticed the broken window at the front of the apartment. “What in the world happened?”

  No one in the room answered. Rafe went over to inspect the window, but I joined the others in the center of the room. They were all looking down at something and I wanted to know what.

  “Is that a brick?” I bumped Olivia aside so I could get closer.

  It was, indeed, a brick. And it had something tied around it. I knelt down to get a closer look, being careful not to cut myself on the broken glass.

  The paper wrapped around the brick was actually a photograph. It was a Polaroid of someone I knew quite well.

  Ethan.

  That was the moment I realized that he wasn’t in the room with us. Lincoln, Hope, and Olivia were there, but not Ethan.

  At the bottom of the snapshot someone had scribbled words in a bright red marker.

  Come alone or he dies.

  Rafe heard my gasp and hurried over. I tried to hide the picture, tried to protect him from reality, but he was too quick.

  “Is that Ethan?”

  I held the photo between shaking fingers, covering up the cryptic message at the bottom. At least I could spare him that.

  “Yes.”

  Rafe swore and clenched his hands into fists. “It’s Benton again.”

  “You don’t know that,” Hope said, always our voice of calm and reason. Which was a bit crazy considering she was also a homicidal blood sucker.

  “It’s him,” I said. Sure, I’d only known about my real father, Benton, for a few weeks. And I’d only met him once, a couple of weeks ago. But I knew him. I knew that he wouldn’t rest until I was dead, and that he would use the people I loved to get to me.

  “Let’s go.” Rafe started toward the door.

  “Go? Where?” Olivia stared at him, stupefied.

  I looked down at the picture again, focusing on the glazed look in Ethan’s eyes, the gash on his head and blood on his shirt. He looked like he had been tortured.

  Lincoln kicked aside a particularly large piece of glass. “We don’t even know where to start looking for Ethan.”

  “Kaylie knows.” Rafe looked at me expectantly.

  “Me? Why do you think I know?” Nothing about the picture revealed where Ethan was being held.

  “You always know,” he said simply. “Let’s go.”

  “Hold on.” Lincoln stepped between me and Rafe. “We need to talk about this first.”

  Rafe was noticeably annoyed. “I know you don’t like me, Lincoln. But my brother is being tortured by a sadistic supernatural creature, so can you hold off on being a jerk to me until after we save him?”

  “Whoa. This has nothing to do with you, Rafferty.”

  “Really?” Rafe’s eyebrows shot up. “You being a jerk has nothing to do with me and your sister?”

  “No.” Lincoln’s hand shot over and he grabbed the photo from me before I could react. It cut deep into and across my fingers as he tore it away.

  By the time Rafe read the words scribbled in red, blood was running down my fingers. It was nothing more than a deep paper cut- something that normally went without notice. But not when there was a hungry vampire in the room.

  Hope’s eyes flashed bright red the second she smelled the blood. Lincoln had his back to us, facing Rafe, so he didn’t see what was about to happen. But Rafe did. He threw himself across the room, colliding into Hope just as she was about to tackle me.

  “Get out of here!” Rafe pinned her to the ground and Lincoln shoved me toward the door.

  I wanted to stay, both to help Rafe and to comfort Hope. But as long as I was bleeding, I was nothing more than an enticing Happy Meal with hair.

  The apartment upstairs was eerily quiet as I cleaned and bandaged my wound in the bathroom. When that was done, I headed toward Rafe’s room, but I stopped at Ethan’s door. It was cracked open, so I stuck my head inside.

  I hadn’t spent much time in Ethan’s bedroom, so it was impossible to tell if anything was amiss. The bed was neatly made, a stack of books perfectly lined up on his bedside table. I recognized them from the Hart collection in my apartment. Ethan was always reading, always trying to learn more about the creatures we hunted.

  He was so curious, so inquisitive, that I had always been a bit envious of him. But now I wondered if that trait was what had gotten him into trouble.

  I had last seen Ethan in my apartment, passing him in the hall as I’d gone upstairs to see Rafe. He had been headed to Hope’s room to help her pack, and presumably spend some alone time with her before she left. What had happened in those few hours after we bumped into each other? Why had he left the house and how had he been taken? Ethan was one of the best Hunters I’d ever known. It wasn’t like him to take risks or walk into traps.

  Then my mind went back to the brick. Just a normal brick it seemed. Could’ve been from anywhere, really. But somehow, I knew where.

  I went directly into Rafe’s room and raided his closet. My own weapons and coat were downstairs and I couldn’t risk trying to get them without being seen. Instead, I pulled on one of Rafe’s coats, rolling up the sleeves until my hands were free. Then I loaded myself with multiple knives and a flashlight. When I crept back down the stairs, I held my
breath until the front door closed behind me.

  Every day on my way to class, I passed the old science lab. It was a three story, brick structure that looked like it would fall down if you leaned against it too hard. Apparently, the university agreed because they had recently begun renovating it. No classes were being held inside and with the heavy snow falling outside, I didn’t run into a single person on the short walk there.

  I stood in front of the old wooden door and took several deep breaths. I almost turned around and left. The last time I had crossed paths with my dear old dad, he’d tried to blow me up. I didn’t expect this meeting to go much smoother. If I got out of it without serious injury, it would be our best bonding activity thus far.

  “Enough, Kaylie,” I muttered to myself, thinking of Ethan.

  I picked up a discarded brick from the construction site, just like the one that had been tossed into my apartment, and used it to prop open the door after I entered. I didn’t want to accidentally lock myself into the trap.

  My parents had raised me to be a cautious Hunter. I knew better than to march ahead blindly, alone, in unfamiliar territory. I knew better, but I did it anyway. When it came to protecting my friends, my surrogate family, I didn’t care about following the rules.

  The inside of the science lab wasn’t as dark as I had anticipated. The ceiling in the lobby went straight up to the roof which had a number of large holes in it that let in the moonlight, as well as a thick layer of snow. I could make out vague shapes, but that was about it. I switched on the flashlight, emitting a dull red glow. It was a special bulb that allowed me to see without other people being able to easily spot me from a distance.

  I had no idea where to find Ethan inside the large building, but footsteps that had settled into the snow resting on the stairs seemed like a good enough clue. I followed them up to the second floor. Down a long hall, I stopped in front of a big wooden door. I could sense that evil waited for me on the other side.

  My phone rang, vibrating quietly in my pocket. I hurried to silence it and saw that it was Rafe. I should’ve just ignored it. I was sure by now that he had realized I had left without him. But I also knew that I was probably about to be badly outnumbered, and I might need help getting Ethan out. I figured I had enough lead time to get to Ethan before Rafe would arrive and put him at risk.

  “Yeah.” I spoke very quietly into the phone, really just a whispering sigh.

  “Get out,” Rafe said. “It’s a trap.”

  “I know,” I replied through clenched teeth. “But I have to save Ethan.”

  “He’s here,” Rafe said in a low voice. “Ethan is with us. Benton doesn’t have him.”

  My heart dropped into my stomach. Slowly, I began backing away from the room, willing the old floorboards beneath my feet not to creak. “Shit.”

  “Where are you, Kaylie?” Rafe sounded not just worried, but panicked. “I’m coming to you.”

  “No. Stay there.” It was going to be hard enough for me to escape, but it would only be harder if I had to worry about him, too. “I’ll be fine.”

  On cue, the floor cracked loudly beneath my foot, twisting my ankle and sending me tumbling to the ground. I dropped my phone in the process, and I cursed at the pain shooting up my leg.

  “Kaylie!”

  I could hear Rafe yelling on the other end of the phone and just as I picked it up, the door at the end of the hall crashed open.

  Dozens of Soul eyes flashed at me in the dark.

  Without hanging up the phone, I slipped it into my pocket and turned to run. Every step was agony on my injured ankle, but it didn’t slow me down. Back to the stairs, flying down them three at a time. I could hear footsteps pounding behind me.

  At the bottom of the stairs, I noticed that one of the walls was being propped up by carefully placed wooden beams. It was a longshot, but it was the only shot I had.

  With my good leg, I kicked hard at one of the beams and kept running. The beam fell, crashing into others like a life-sized game of dominoes. The brick wall leaned hard in my direction, then started to crumble just as I ran past it. I heard Souls scream as it fell on them, all three stories of brick crashing to the ground.

  Miraculously, I made it outside. If I hadn’t been injured, I would’ve waited there for any Souls that survived, taking them out before moving on. But with my throbbing ankle, I wouldn’t stand a chance against more than two or three of them and I had no idea how many might have survived. So I did something that was unlike me- I ran away.

  When I was only about a block from home, I saw Rafe and Lincoln running in my direction.

  “Kaylie!”

  Rafe caught me as I stumbled toward him, my ankle finally giving out. He stopped me from collapsing completely.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, eyes searching me for possible injury.

  “Home,” I said, gasping from the pain.

  Seeing how badly I was limping, Rafe scooped me up and carried me the rest of the way, setting me down only once we were safely inside.

  “What happened?” Olivia hurried over, alarmed.

  I spotted Ethan, unharmed, standing just past her. Despite my near death experience trying to save him, I was happy to see that he really was fine.

  “You jerk!” I said, laughing a little as I limped forward and gave him a big hug. “I was trying to save you.”

  “Much appreciated,” he said, hugging me back. “I must say, I thought you were smarter than that.”

  I pulled back. “You know that I’m not.”

  “Fair enough.” He turned serious. “Are you really okay? You’re limping quite badly.”

  “I’ll be fine.” I winced after putting some weight on the leg. “Probably.”

  Rafe passed behind me, his hand lightly grazing the small of my back. “I’ll get you some ice,” he said quietly.

  I plopped down on the couch, and finally started to breathe normally again. Everyone I cared about was in sight.

  “So, what happened to you?” I asked, still reeling from the night’s turn of events. As smoothly as possible, I slipped off my shoe and sock to survey the damage. The ankle was already starting to swell.

  “Nothing.” He looked as perplexed as I felt. “Well, not exactly nothing. I went out to run an errand, and I got jumped. Pathetic, I know. Person snuck up behind me, bopped me on the back of the head, and I was out cold. When I woke up, my phone and wallet were missing. I figured it was just a regular mugging until I got home and everyone started freaking out.”

  “How silly of us,” Rafe said, re-entering the room with an ice pack. He sat next to me on the couch and pulled my foot into his lap. He handled it gently, giving it a thorough study before holding the ice against it.

  “What happened to you?” Ethan asked, looking chagrined.

  “Me? I just walked right into a trap, twisted my ankle, got chased by a couple dozen Souls, and took them out by knocking down a three-story wall. The usual.” I winced as Rafe turned my ankle to reposition the ice.

  “Nice work, Hart,” Ethan said with a wry smile.

  “I was trying to save your life.” I stuck my tongue out at him and he laughed.

  Even though my ankle was throbbing, I found myself laughing, too.

  “Not to ruin this fun that we’re having, but you should also know that my house key is missing, too.” Ethan gave Rafe a meaningful look.

  “Great.” Rafe sighed. “This is worse than that time you gave a key to our place to that Valley girl you dated last year.”

  “Valley girl?” I asked eagerly. “Tell us more.”

  “No.” Ethan pointed a finger at Rafe.

  Hope joined in. “I’d like to hear more about this as well.”

  “What was her pet name for you again?” Rafe asked thoughtfully. “Eeby-weeby?”

  “Eathy-weathy,” he corrected with a groan. “Might I remind you that I have just as much blackmail on you, brother?”

  I was interested in hearing what that blackmail might be, but w
e needed to straighten some things out first.

  “You guys should grab anything important and bring it down here until the locks are changed.” I figured it went without saying that they should also sleep in our apartment as well. I certainly wasn’t going to say that out loud in front of Lincoln.

  “Some of us are leaving tomorrow anyway, so there will be plenty of room.” Hope frowned as the words left her mouth. “I almost forgot.”

  “Me, too.” The night was taking a bitter turn. The joy over seeing Ethan unharmed was replaced by the dread of having Hope and Lincoln leave the next morning.

  “Well, we still have tonight!” Olivia clapped her hands, cutting the tension. “I’ll get the booze.”

  Rafe carefully moved my foot out of his lap. “I’m going upstairs to grab some things.”

  “Yeah, same here.” Ethan followed his brother from the room.

  Olivia returned with beers and took a seat across from me after handing me one.

  “Glad you’re alright, sis,” Lincoln said, rubbing my head as he passed me on his way to joining Olivia.

  “I’m really going to miss you, Link,” I snapped, smoothing down my mussed hair.

  “You should. I’m awesome.” He grinned as I chucked my sock at his head. It hit Olivia right in the face.

  “Gross.” She flicked it away. “This is why I’m glad I never had siblings.”

  “Tell me about it,” Ethan said as he returned with Rafe. He dumped his bag on the floor. “Especially older brothers. They’re the worst.”

  Rafe shoved him out of the way. “Watch it. I can still beat you up.”

  As stealthily as possible, he took his things to my bedroom. I glanced nervously at Lincoln and he was staring hard toward the bedroom door.

  “What should we do tonight? We need to make this an epic event.” Mostly I just needed to distract Lincoln before he started in on Rafe again.

  “Drinks. Lots of them.” Olivia finished off her first beer and reached for a second.

  Rafe reclaimed his seat next to me.

  “How’s the ankle, Red?” He glanced at where the ice was starting to melt, dripping to the floor.

  Someone had boarded up the window while I was gone and the room was finally starting to warm up.