Untouchable Darkness (22 page)

“It’s Home Depot,” I corrected. “And don’t pay attention to them, they’ve been bickering all morning.”

“Here.” Alex tossed a pinecone into the air. “Have some tree.”

“Technically, it’s a seed,” Mason grumbled, biting into his berries while Ethan slowly made his way over to the group. The tension in the room was extremely uncomfortable as his eyes blazed Vampire green.

Oh, good. He was pissed.

With a snarl, his fangs elongated. “Two days.” He jammed a finger in my direction. “She gets her powers under control in two days and she can stay. If not, then you’re on the streets.”

“And when he says streets, he means you get to shack up with Cassius so you don’t burn down Ethan’s house with his precious human in it,” Alex said.

“I thought we were beyond that?” Genesis breezed into the kitchen, immediately causing Ethan’s eyes to go back to normal as he hissed and pulled away from us only long enough to tug Genesis into his arms and kiss her neck.

“No biting in public,” Cassius mumbled under his breath. “That’s against immortal rules, not that you listen to me anyway.”

“I’ve been bitten,” Alex announced as all heads turned in his direction. “I found it extremely erotic… then she tried to kill me.”

“Surprised only one of your stories ends that way… I imagine if women were in their right minds while you seduced them they’d all want to kill you.”

“An Elk followed me home once too. Thought itself in love with me.” Alex yawned.

Disgusted, since I still thought of him as my brother, I stood and held out my hand to Cassius. “Should we get started?”

His face was void of emotion. I was almost afraid that we were going to go back to the way things were, him ignoring me, me ignoring the searing pain in my heart every time he refused to acknowledge that there was something between us.

“Outside.” Cassis gripped my hand in his then raised it to his lips. “Lesson number one… Dark Ones know no fear.”

I was about to respond when a cold blast of air slammed me against the wall. I tried to move but the air held me immobile. My breathing came in short gasps as air pushed against my mouth.

Cassius leaned in, his lips grazing my ear. “Afraid?”

“No,” I wheezed.

The pressure increased.

Why was nobody helping me?

Because you can help yourself.
Cassius’s voice was a small whisper in my head.

I closed my eyes and then willed my hands to push out in front of me as I turned the wind on Cassius.

With a grunt, I had him slammed against the floor, the same wind pushing him down.

“Oh, no!” I covered my mouth with my hands and leaned over him. “Are you okay?”

His smile was bright.

Deadly.

A bit more erotic than I’d ever seen it.

“Oh, yes.” He chuckled darkly. “More than okay, I think.” He reached for my head tugging it down to press a hungry kiss against my mouth.

“Is that porn?” Mason whispered.

Alex let out a groan. “No, Wolf…”

“But they are engaging in front of others? Is that not what Porn is? Why Genesis said no to the other store we walked by with the bright lights and—”

“Where the hell are you taking him at night?” Alex yelled. “Geez, Genesis, he’s like an innocent. You can’t just prostitute the pinecones out of him!”

Genesis let out a loud laugh. “Don’t worry about it. What’s between me and Mason is between me and Mason.”

Another loud crunch of a pinecone.

Cassius pulled away from me. “Outside?”

“Yeah, let’s take this outside.”

“Big boy.”

Cassius’s warm laughter made my entire morning.

Stephanie

“T
EACHING YOU,” HE EXPLAINED
once we were outside. “Isn’t the same as showing you… therefore… we’re just going to get into it.”

“Into it?” I asked.

Cassius grabbed my arm, the cold stung like icy needles running up and down my arm.

When my eyes were able to focus again, I wished I was stuck with temporary blindness, everywhere I looked, Demon were sleeping. Somehow we’d gone from standing outside Ethan’s house to somewhere else completely, all within the span of seconds.

“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.”

“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.