Untouchable Darkness (The Dark Ones Saga, #2)(60)

Cassius, the child, cried.

Sariel nodded. “I will train him.”

“Your punishment.” The Angel spoke low in his throat. “Your curse… is that you will always carry the weight of his decisions. Sariel, we leave you twelve brothers, to help you keep the immortals and humans in balance. Now that you have mixed the blood, we are no longer at peace.” The wind swirled, nasty and angry. “But, brother, a lifetime of war. Between the races. Between each other, for you have created, and that is beyond our realm. It is forbidden.”

Lightning flashed as Sariel made his way out of the tent.

Two thousand Angels stood, ready to fight as fire struck down from the sky, destroying the mountain where the brothers had watched.

A deep sadness ripped through Sariel as most of his brothers, the ones who were awake, were commanded to sleep, and fell to the ground.

“They will slumber,” the Angel commanded, “until their penance is paid. As for the rest of you.” He pointed at the twelve remaining brothers and spread his hands wide. “Do not fail again.”

In another loud clap, the Angels returned to heaven.

All but one.

He was small.

Like a child.

Slowly, he took a step forward and held out his hands to Sariel.

“We give second chances.” He nodded. “To our creation.”

The child smiled brightly like that of a star shining in the sky, sucking the breath from the very air Sariel breathed.

And then wings grew out of Sariel’s back. “Your brothers will not slumber forever. And you will need the strength and knowledge of the heavens for the darkness that is coming.” He spread his hands again. “Remember, where there is darkness…” His voice lowered to a whisper. “There is also great light.”

The dream ended.

Stephanie woke up sobbing against Cassius, he held her while his mother returned from her own sleep.

In one final gift, Sariel’s human was given immortality.

So he would never see her age.

But they were to never lie together again.

Or he’d be cursed to roam the earth for an eternity.





Cassius



WE SAID GOODBYE TO my mother. I knew I’d see her soon, I did always try to visit at least once a month. She always claimed she wasn’t lonely, that she had plenty going on in their small town to keep her company.

But, I knew the truth.

The day I was born, her world had changed forever.

As had mine.

As had Sariel’s.

Stephanie held my hand tightly, darkness still blanketed the snow-covered hills as we quietly walked back through town, through the way we had come, our feet crunching against the snow.

“That’s why Darkness is so dangerous,” Stephanie finally whispered, I’d been worried that the story had been too traumatic for her, hearing it is one thing, experiencing it through a dream, quite another.

“What do you mean?” I asked, the rhythm of her heart picked up as she leaned her lithe body against mine. “Why do you think it’s so dangerous?”

“It makes promises,” Stephanie finally answered, her voice somehow, sounded broken, altered. “It promises contentment. It promises peace.”

“To touch Darkness…” I stopped walking and faced her. “Is to experience war, it is untouchable, do you understand? The minute you grasp it, you’re already lost. Damn it Stephanie, if you have one flicker, one nanosecond of hesitation, it will wrap so tightly around you that all you’ll know is war.”

“One thing I don’t understand.” She brushed off my lecture. “Why was Sariel punished for falling in love? Isn’t love good?”

“You don’t understand the story clearly.” I kissed her gloved hand then pulled it off, one by one, kissing each finger. “He was punished for going against why he was created.”

Stephanie frowned. “That makes no sense.”

I wrapped my arms around her and turned her toward the mountain, it wasn’t as high as it used to be, rumors of the village stated that in the beginning of time, the ancestors experienced earthquakes along with a shot of bright light, when the light died down, all that was left was rubble. Half the mountain was gone.

The glorious mountain that used to protect the village from the cold, for it stopped storm systems before they were able to make it over the mountain.

Was suddenly defenseless.

And cursed with an eternal winter.

“Siberia,” I whispered, “Was never meant to be cold.” I wrapped my arms tighter around her, as tightly as I could. Unapologetic about the feelings I had for her, the fierce desire I had to protect her from the darkness inside. “The reason Dark Ones are cold, using ice particles and water with a simple flick of our wrist. It is cold because of us, we are the cold, we are the curse that surrounds us.” Tiny pieces of ice flew into the air. “You miss the point of the story, my love.”

Stephanie stilled in my arms then melted all at once. “Did you just call me your love?”

I purposely ignored her question and pointed to the mountain. “What was their job? Their purpose?”

She swallowed, her hands digging into my forearms as she swayed in my arms. “To be awake. To watch.”

“And what did Sariel do?”