“This,” Cassius whispered, “is the fun part.”
A loud whooshing sound crashed in the middle of the warehouse and then it started to pour rain.
Demon scattered to the farthest edges of darkness. That was, until Cassius held up his hand, and like a light was being turned on, every single shred of darkness was removed from the room.
They shrieked and bellowed, and then finally, one stepped forward. I didn’t know his name, didn’t recognize him at all.
“You know why we’re here.” Cassius’s voice boomed, like it often did when he was exuding an enormous amount of power. He reminded me of the Disney cartoon Hercules. When he’d turned into a god, his voice had developed an echo to it while his body was light itself.
That’s what Cassius looked like.
Only better looking.
Real flesh and blood.
A man.
Not a cartoon.
“Y-yes.” The Demon covered his eyes. “Could you at least dim the lights, Cassius?”
With a slow nod the lights lowered to a mere glow while the Demon paced in front of Cassius.
“Well?” Cassius asked. “We don’t have all day.”
“It’s Angel blood.” The Demon tilted his head in my direction his eyes moving to the back of his head. “It smells like her. Like you.”
“Dark Ones possess elements of Angelic blood, you know this.” Cassius said in a bored tone.
“The spice…” The Demon took a cautious step toward me and sniffed. “It isn’t as sweet as her scent or yours… almost like the Dark One was born out of…” He shuddered. “Fear.”
Confused, I figured I could just ask later, but Cassius must have thought I needed to know right away.
“Most Dark Ones are born out of one of the seven sins, lust, greed, envy…” He sniffed the air in front of him. “But from what you’re saying… this mating… that took place was—“
“—rape,” the Demon finished. “Which is impossible, a human raping an Angel? Or Vice versa? They’d be killed on the spot for even thinking it.”
“Unless it was no human.”
“Unless the human wasn’t fully human… immortal, maybe?” Cassius wondered aloud. “Can you track it?”
“Whatever you wish. You know my friends and family are innocent, you’ve tasted the truth in the air the minute you arrived.”
The air was clear with honestly with nothing but truth, and yes, a bit of fear. Funny, I’d never recognized fear before, always thought of it to be this weird fleeting emotion that paralyzed humans.
But fear was small.
If I closed my eyes tight enough I could see it in my mind’s eye, it was like a child or toddler, and then, all of a sudden, it was given food, growing before my very eyes until it was a giant, until it eclipsed everything in its presence.
“Fear is born small,” the Demon whispered. “We are the ones who make it big.”
Pity rushed through me; the Demon were cursed just like the Dark Ones, cursed to live out the rest of their existence knowing that in the end, they would be judged just like the humans, just like everyone else.
It was also why they weren’t allowed to create.
Creating more Demon was creating more curses.
While creating a Vampire or a Siren, wasn’t as frowned upon, they actually possessed their souls.
Demon. Did not.
Though they did still have feelings.
And that was the saddest part of all. They could feel, they could hope all they wanted… it was always in vain.
“But we still try.” The Demon locked eyes with me. “We will try every day until our penance is over. We will try to stay in the good graces of Angels and Dark Ones alike.”
“Thank you,” Cassius mumbled. The rain stopped, and the darkness returned. “Track the blood.”
“The Darkness…” The Demon whispered as Cassius grabbed my arm. “It has her, Cassius. I can feel it.”
Cassius
I BLOCKED MY THOUGHTS from her. The last thing she needed was to be aware of my concern. Bringing her to the Demon was twofold. I needed information, and next to the wolves they were the best trackers we had, besides, there was no loyalty within their ranks.
Someone would talk.
Because they were constantly fighting for dominance, control. And when that person did talk, I hoped it would be loud enough for me to hear.
I also wanted to see if the Demon could sense the dark swirling within her, I was too close to the situation. Funny, I suddenly cared too much about our joint futures, our destinies that I was also blinded from hers.
The minute we mated.
Her future was lost to me.
Every time I touched her, I heard Darkness whispering.
She wasn’t even aware that Darkness was speaking, but like a slow storm it was building, brewing, and I could do nothing but hope that in the end, I would be strong enough to bring her away from the temptation that every immortal being who possessed Angel blood was given—to be like a god.
It was a lie.
Darkness twisted its lies in such a way, that the air didn’t taste bitter, but clear for the first time, because not every lie spoken, was done outright, yet woven with tiny bits and pieces of truth.
I shuddered and returned my thoughts to the Demons.
My money was on Timber, but I refused to visit him until Stephanie had more control of her powers.
She might be stronger.
But Timber was evil, and the Darkness in her would recognize his evil, and want to unite with it. Regardless of who was standing next to her, regardless of who I was to her, she’d be tempted, because we’re always tempted when we don’t understand things.
I had never told her the road would be easy.
I wished it were.
“What does he mean?” Stephanie asked once we were in the parking lot near the water at Pike Place Market. So normal, to walk with her hand in hand as we maneuvered our way through fish throwing and people selling flowers.
The flowers leaned toward us as we walked by, sensing the lifeblood flowing through our veins.
The wind picked up as insects paused whatever they were doing and watched. Curiously waiting to see if we would bring about the destruction we were so known for—or if we truly were just walking by the flowers.
Nature held its breath.
And I held Stephanie’s hand.
Her fingertips pressed against mine. It was really all I needed, but like a sick reminder of the direction of her thoughts, I sensed the Darkness in her, wrapping its black tendrils around her neck, choking her.
Whispering to her.
Give in, give in, give in.
It had taken me years to recognize that the voice was like the devil that sat on my shoulder. Most of the time it was right.
Most of the time it told me to destroy every human I saw.
It told me to drink their blood.
To snap their necks.
It told me I was a god.
It told me I should be worshipped.
And most days, I didn’t believe it.
But at my weakest—I did want those things. I wanted to destroy life… because life didn’t respect life.
Life was a fantasy, and the road to paradise was ridden with people who didn’t deserve to be traveling it in the first place. It would be my given right, to exterminate them.
And then, the light inside me, reminded me, you are just like them. Undeserving, at times very weak, and cursed. Yet, you are allowed to live.
Why not them?
People passed in front of us. I stopped Stephanie and pointed at the couple as the man fell to his knee and proposed to his girlfriend.
“What do you see?” I asked.
She sighed happily, squeezing my hand tightly. “Love.”
“Look closer,” I instructed.
Frowning, she stared harder. “I don’t know what you want me to see.”
“Call the Darkness, but do not touch.”
<
br /> “How do I call it?”
“It’s you.” I nodded, allowing my eyes to go black as I stared at the couple again, through what I knew would be my own shades of darkness. The couple that looked so happy, that appeared so perfect.
Was far from it.
The woman was worried for her safety. But he was so happy, the man proposing, that this was it, she thought, he was going to stop beating her. He was going to stop, because he loved her.
The man smiled brightly, his thoughts were of killing her… finally, he breathed a sigh of relief… she’ll be mine and nobody else’s, I’ll kill her before I let her touch anyone else. Mine. Mine. Mine.
As they embraced, bruises spread across her arms, her teeth fell out, blood spewed from her mouth, and the man began strangling her, and then, wrapped something around her neck, only to shoot himself in the head after.
With a startled gasp, Stephanie clung to me.
I pushed the darkness away, ignoring the tug to look further, and hugged her tighter instead.
“It’s getting worse!” She looked around at the people walking by, bumping into us, with each bump she was given a vision of the horror of their lives, of what they were capable of. “Stop! It needs to stop!”
“Shhh.” I held her as tight as I could and linked my thoughts to hers, pressing the darkness away. But it pressed back. Stronger than I’d realized. I tried again only to have it laugh in my face. “Cling to the happy… the light.”
“There is no happy,” she sobbed. “Everything is dark.”
“I’m light,” I whispered in her ear. “Look at me.”
She opened her eyes and then slowly, the black slid away from her irises, returning them to a milky white and then bright blue. “What just happened?”
“That…” I led her away from the crowd. “Is Darkness. It’s why it’s so tempting. Why let that couple live… when their certain future is doom?”
Cassius
“IT’S MY JOB TO keep the peace.” Stephanie shuddered in my arms then jerked away from me as black spread throughout her white eyes. “We should destroy them all.”
“And then what?” I asked. “To what end?”
“Peace.” Her voice took on a gravelly edge that I recognized.
Was it so long ago that I’d lost Eva? That I’d allowed Darkness to consume me? That I’d wanted nothing more than to jump into the black hole and allow it to embrace every part of my soul I still possessed? For a few minutes, it had felt right. But Ethan, Mason, and Alex had not allowed it.
Luckily, Ethan’s words had made sense at the time, enough sense that I used my strength to push away from Darkness and allow myself to mourn.
Mourn the life I felt like I should have had.
The life Darkness said I deserved.
But Darkness, didn’t just call for the death of humanity, it also called for the death of Angels and immortals alike.
Darkness was within everyone.
It lays dormant, until it sees the perfect opportunity to offer a better suggestion to your circumstances.
Darkness is in humans.
It’s in immortals.
It’s in the very air we breathe.
But the worst type of darkness is the kind we keep in our hearts… we treasure it, hold it dear, allow it to help us justify our actions, and when it’s too late, we blame it for everything while it points its finger back at us and laughs.
Sighing, I reached out and pressed my fingers against her lip allowing the frost of my fingertips to cool her hot body down.
With a gasp she sucked in one finger, then two, then jerked my body against hers our mouths fused in a battle of dominance as I spread my cold around her.
Darkness was always hot.
Comforting, to a Dark One, until it burned that Dark One alive.
“Come back,” I whispered, my lips pressed against hers as I called to her light…”Come back to me.”
Stephanie slumped against my body her breathing erratic as her fingers dug into the muscles in my back.
“I think I want to be done training for the day.” Her voice was scratchy, like she’d just spent the last few minutes screaming at the top of her lungs, and who knew? Maybe she had. Maybe she was yelling at Darkness, maybe that’s what it took to pull away.
“It will get easier,” I promised. “It just takes time.” Still trembling, I held her as tight as I could, swearing to myself I’d die before I let anything happen to her, and in a thought of true irony—to save her from the darkness, from herself, I’d allow her to kill me.
If that’s what it took.
I’d accept my fate.
Gladly.
“You know how Ethan gave Genesis lessons about immortals and our history?” Stephanie asked, changing the subject as we walked hand in hand down the sidewalk.
“Yes.”
She stopped. “I think it’s my turn.”
“Hell.” I released her hand. “I’m not sure that’s the best idea.”
“You don’t even know what I’m asking!”
“Yes, I do.” My laugh was completely without humor. “You want to know what the darkness really is, you want to know Dark Ones history 101.”
She nodded.
“Hell.”
“You said that already.”
“Steph…”
“Please?” She reached for my hand, gripping it. “If I just understood it, I could fight it.”
I wrapped my arms around her waist and whispered. “Lie.”
“Huh?”
“You lied to yourself.”
“We can do that?”
“We’re half human, we can do anything they can.”
“Can Angels lie?”
“They could,” I said slowly, then rolled my eyes. “Damn it, you’re going to get it out of me one way or another aren’t you?”
“My next offer was some sort of mind blowing sexual experience… with snow.”
I chuckled despite myself and the tense topic. “Snow, huh?”
“Lots of snow. You like snow.”
“Who told you that?”
“Genesis.” Stephanie shrugged. “I may have let it slip that I could dream walk and she said in your guys dreams you always had snow surrounding you. You said it was comforting.”
“Home.” Emotion clogged my throat. “Always brings comfort.”
“Home?” Stephanie repeated. “What do you mean home?”
“Where I was born. It always brings comfort. Snow… represents where I was born.”
Stephanie leaned in, sniffing the air. “Truth. So, Cassius…” She patted my stomach, I’d seen human couples do that before in teasing and never understood the need for such trivial flirting with one’s hands… until her hands were on me, until I was part of the couple, and every single glance and caress my way was like breathing for the first time, after being without air for an eternity. “Where were you born? Siberia?”
“Da.” I confirmed in Russian and then pressed my fingertips to her wrist.
Stephanie
“WHERE ARE WE?” I gasped, rubbing my arms, they weren’t necessarily chilled, but they felt colder than ever before. The sun was just starting to set, casting a beautiful orange glow across a small city.
It reminded me of Christmas.
And the movie Frozen. The one that Genesis had forced Mason to watch only to ask him later if he could morph into a reindeer instead of a wolf for Halloween.
He’d said he’d attempt it. Ethan and Alex still made fun of him for his promise, but that was Mason. He lived to make others happy—maybe it was because he wasn’t capable of happiness himself.
“Mason,” Cassius said, interrupting my thoughts, “has a bright future.”
“And Alex?” I couldn’t help but ask.
“Once you can control your power you’ll be able to comb through futures at ease,” Cassius explained. “And Alex has… an intriguing few months ahead of him.”
“Hmm.” I liked the sound of that.
&n
bsp; The wind picked up just as the sun made its final descent behind the snow covered mountains blanketing everything but the few street lights in darkness.
“I forgot how quiet it was here.” Cassius mused, grabbing my hand in his. We were both still in our street clothes. Jeans and T-shirts.
He quickly tugged me into the first store on the main street and pulled out a fur coat, hat, and pants that looked two sizes too big for my legs. Boots were tossed in my direction, and then he was at the counter speaking in a harsh language I’d never heard him speak before.
Could it be that Cassius really was… Russian?
The man at the desk laughed loudly then pulled out a shot glass and a bottle of vodka. He poured one for himself, took it, then poured one for Cassius.
Without breaking his laugh, Cassius tossed the alcohol back and slammed the shot glass back onto the table.
They shook hands.
While I stood there open-mouthed like I’d just seen a miracle occur. Cassius, almost appeared normal. Almost.
And then he smiled, and I was reminded all over again why he was so beautiful, so effortlessly gorgeous that it hurt to look at his face for too long of a stretch. His beauty was like a constantly changing painting, I always noticed something different about his face, his bright blue eyes, how dark his lashes were ,the angle of his jaw, the shape of his sculpted lips—there was always something interesting something unique, different, and I was immortal, I was used to seeing pretty things.
I self-consciously tugged at my dark hair. Had my appearance altered much since the glamour wore off? Humans didn’t seem to stare at me any differently, maybe longer, but they were born with a natural fear of things they didn’t understand—and immortality was something they would never be able to comprehend, meaning, they usually gave us a wide berth, even if they were interested.
Sensual lips pressed together in a wicked smirk as Cassius held out his hand. “Do you like the boots?”
“I’m wearing Mason.” I stared down at the furry boots and laughed. “I think he’d be pissed if he saw these.”
“They don’t hunt those types of wolves up here,” Cassius promised. “Even Mason’s kind stay away from the bitter cold of Oymyakon.”