Untouchable Darkness (The Dark Ones Saga, #2)(16)

My body hummed with anticipation.

Or maybe it was irritation…

…that as a human he was completely wreaking havoc on my emotions—even more so than when he was immortal.





Cassius



Pompeii 79 AD



“SECRETS ARE THE REAL WAR,” I whispered into the darkness as Sariel made his way toward me through the mist, purple and blue feathers expanded separately from his body testing the purity of the air. He was searching for lies, yet again testing me—testing us.

“They are,” Ethan agreed, standing to my right while Alex held the sword against the King’s throat.

“Why do you disturb me?” Sariel asked calmly. With a tilt of his fingers Alex’s sword was pulled back and the human king was thrust to his knees in a bowing position. “I have more important things to focus on than the measly war between humans and immortals.”

“We’ve been at peace for the last hundred years,” I said through clenched teeth. “And we disturb you because there has been a… situation.”

Sariel’s eyes went white as ice as his wings spread out across the large room, the span of them reached fifty feet. The blue and purple feathers fluttered and then stuck straight out. The air shifted and the feathers turned black as Sariel sucked in a gasp. “You dare defy me!”

King Ebal began to weep. “I was told immortality was obtainable. And they were right!”

“Demons use your greatest desires against you, weaving small truths into great lies. They will justify anything.”

King Ebal moaned out a curse. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know!”

“How much did he have?” Sariel asked aloud.

I sighed. “The Demon showed him how to put each of us in an immortal sleep. There’s no way to tell how much he took unless we spill his blood. Ethan has already tried tasting.”

Sariel’s wings suddenly wrapped around his body and then disappeared. Damn, that meant he was staying a while. He towered over the King. “You may look at me now, human.”

King Ebal lifted his head, his eyes wide with fear. No human could be in an Archangel’s presence and not fear the end of his own life. I knew firsthand that Sariel was the cruelest of the Angels, sometimes choosing to show humans a reflection of their own demise the minute they locked eyes with him.

“You have consumed immortal blood—it is their essence. You know this.”

“My girl!” the King sobbed. “She is sick! And they refused to heal her!”

“Are they God?” Sariel asked with exaggerated wonder. “Do you truly think they have the power to snap their fingers and make someone well?”

“Angel blood.” The King ignored the question. “Mixed with the other immortals’ blood heals all! She was well this morning!”

“Word spread,” I interrupted dread filling my stomach. “And his wife started handing out small vials of the concoction to friends and family.”

“How many people?” Sariel’s voice shook the room.

“By now?” I sighed. “A hundred, maybe.”

“Shall I destroy one city for your sin?” Sariel addressed the king again.

“You don’t want us to be healthy! You want us to rely on you for everything! Have I not served you well?” The King challenged. “And yet you refuse to heal my little girl! But the Demon said he could!”

“Of course the Demon said he could!” Sariel yelled back at him. “Because the only way to save a life that’s already been claimed for death is to die you fool!”

“But—” The King sputtered. “She’s alive!”

“Is she?” Sariel shook his head slowly. “Do realize you could have simply called for a miracle? Do you realize that you could have called upon the One who holds the key to life? Instead, you have damned her to hell.”

“No!” The king shook his hands in front of his face, tears streamed down his cheeks. “She is alive! Just this morning I—”

“Bring the girl,” Sariel stormed in an icy whisper. “Show her in.”

The door opened. Eva, held the tiny six-year-old in her strong embrace. Already the girl’s eyes were turning black, her body trembling as Darkness took hold.

“She was meant to die.” Sariel pointed at the girl. “In two days she would have been taken to paradise. On this day. She will lose her soul, along with every person who consumed the blood.”

The King sobbed, falling to his hands and knees. “Take me! Don’t take my little girl. Take me!”

“I take no one. These lives are no longer mine to take, that choice was pulled out of my hands the minute you decided to play at Creator.” Sariel glanced out the window. “If a hundred have the blood—within twenty-four hours the city will fall to sickness, they will need blood, they will have no choice but to feed from one another.”

Humanity had no place in this decision. I looked at the immortals I’d sworn to protect and then glanced out amongst the thousands of humans that would die for one man’s stupidity.

Sariel tilted his head in my direction. “This is your realm. What will you do?”

The human screamed at the unfairness of the situation, it begged, it pleaded, it bled.