Untouchable Darkness (The Dark Ones Saga, #2)(50)

Stephanie



SLEEPING NEXT TO CASSIUS still felt forbidden, like someone was going to barge into our room and yell. Or like Alex was going to ground me, which was just ridiculous! I was a grown woman.

But still. I could see him trying it.

I only needed around six hours of sleep, and even then I could go days without rest, but Cassius, I’d learned, had turned into one of those over-protective boyfriend types.

When I told him I wanted to stay up and watch movies with Genesis, he picked me up, tossed me over his shoulder, and ran up the stairs with me. And when I tried to pull his shirt off, he lightly slapped my hands and told me to rest.

I didn’t even realize I was tired until my eyes were too heavy to keep open, why was I suddenly exhausted? I knew Dark Ones rarely slept. Maybe it was just the day.

“Sleep,” he’d kissed my forehead, and then lain down next to me.

I glanced at the clock.

Four in the morning.

Ethan would probably be up soon, Vampires liked to be up with the sun, and Mason had suddenly developed a horrible habit of baking first thing in the morning so that when Genesis woke up she was able to have a warm muffin to ease her morning sickness.

With a sigh, I tossed and turned, then finally got comfortable enough to close my eyes and nestle into Cassius’s strong arms.

Sleep again overwhelmed me as the blackness of the room swirled around me in… warmth.

I didn’t think I missed the warmth.

Until now.

“Cold?” a voice whispered.

I blinked open my eyes but all I saw was darkness. Was I dreaming? I felt the bed for Cassius. He was still next to me but I couldn’t see him.

“I can make you warm.” The voice chuckled. “Shall I start a fire? For both of us?”

“What?” I reached out in front of me, unable to even see my hand. “Who are you?”

“Darkness,” it hissed.

I would have laughed if my body hadn’t chilled in that very moment and then, nearly wept with the rightness of it. “Darkness, you say?”

“I am Darkness. Your other half. Hello.”

Did it just say hello?

Frowning, I reached out this time, my fingers came into contact with something, the Darkness rippled in front of me, and then like a mirage, the Darkness turned into a face. The beautiful face of a man. He grinned. “Come a little closer.”

I tried, but my feet felt like they were stuck to the ground.

“Mated.” He shook his head. “That is unfortunate for you. If you were free to choose me, I’d make you warm. Now, you must stay cold. Grounded.”

Black feathers surrounded his shoulders, attached in weird haphazard ways all around his muscled body. “Now, if he was gone… you would be mine.”

The idea thrilled me, but I had no idea why.

“I’m extremely powerful…” His eyes became pensive. “All you have to do is embrace the power…” He shrugged. “The power in every Dark One…”

“Cassius, he has this power too?” I asked.

“For a while.” The man shrugged. “He used it for a while, but his friends–” He spat the word. “–brought him back.”

Confused, I tried to search for something familiar, but the room was still blanketed in black and the man in front of me was growing by the minute. “One day… one day you will call upon me in your time of need. Then, I’ll prove my loyalty. And then, we’ll be together.”

The way he said it made it sound like a mating, but I already had Cassius. I didn’t understand. Was I just having a nightmare? A weird dream?

“The power is always at your fingertips… imagine, you could save all you love, all you care about, by simply allowing the darkness to overcome the light. A Dark One is born with both, but it is your choice. Always your choice.”

The idea that I had a choice was… life changing. Because my entire life, choices had been made for me. Even Cassius.

“Yes.” The Darkness continued speaking. “Even your love chose for you, he chooses for you even now… Do you have a mind of your own? Or are you a puppet?”

“I’m not!” I shouted. “I’m powerful.” Darkness swirled around my body.

“Yes.” He nodded approvingly. “You are.”

The Darkness suddenly warmed my body, singed me from the inside out, intoxicating in its warmth I allowed it to spread, when suddenly I was punched, or it felt like I was getting punched in the stomach.

“Wake up!” Cassius shouted.

I fell on to the floor and looked up at him. “What was that for?”

White eyes glared back at me as the smell of smoke filled the air. I scrunched up my nose as Cassius put out the fire on the bed spread. When I stood to look at the damage, I gasped. “What happened?”

The entire bedspread was singed.

The pillows, ash.

Cassius let out a loud curse and stood. “You.” He swallowed, his eyes swirling with blues and whites. “It seems you’ve finally met Darkness.”

“He, uh—”

“He?” Cassius chuckled. “I guess it would be a he for you, hm? More tempting that way. Darkness takes many forms.”

“I don’t understand.”