Untouchable Darkness (The Dark Ones Saga, #2)(68)

A few minutes where I couldn’t trace her.

“Stephanie.” I jerked the knife out of my ribs and held my hand to the wound as blood continued to seep between my fingers in a runny-sticky mess. “Don’t do this. Let me help you.”

“Ever think that maybe, what I’m doing, is helping you?” she countered. Then she ran out of the house while I fell to my knees and screamed her name.





Stephanie



“TIMBER.” I WHISPERED HIS name into the air. I’d never summoned a Demon before. And wasn’t sure how exactly it worked, yet I had no choice but to try.

I continued running down the street, my feet taking me faster now that I was part Angel.

A half mile in, and a black Mercedes pulled up on the road, the back door opened.

Timber’s voice barked from the darkness. “Get in.”

His eyes slit vertically as they went from their normal clear blue color to a yellow. I wanted to shrink back. I was alone. With a very old Demon, one who hated my mate, hated me for some reason.

Hated his existence?

“Not too far off, Angel.” He smiled then tipped back a thick red liquid, the smell of earth filled the air. “Human blood, my pet.”

“I thought only Vampires drank blood.”

“It’s an acquired taste, also a necessity if we want to keep human form. Do they teach you nothing these days?” He laughed. “But of course they don’t, the council is perfectly happy keeping their innocent little female in the dark, just like Cassius.”

“That’s why I’m here.” I cleared my throat. “What are—”

“No,” Timber rasped. “Not in the car, and definitely—” He shivered and glanced outside as the trees filled with watchful eyes of the Werewolves, the ones who protected Ethan’s house. “—not around those who have perfect hearing.”

We drove in silence to downtown Seattle.

Once we were in front of yet another one of the bars Timber owned, the car door opened and another Demon helped me out.

The club was dark, humans danced in mindless abandon. They laughed, took shots of whiskey and tequila, danced around poles.

While Demon sat in the darkest corners.

And watched.

One crooked his finger at a human female. She giggled and walked over to him, straddled his lap and started kissing his neck.

I shivered. “Your kind disgusts me.”

“Hah.” Timber slid his hand down my back. “It shouldn’t.”

Being in their little den of sin was so not where I wanted to be spending the evening, but I needed answers, and I was tired of Cassius being the pawn.

It was time for someone else to take the brunt.

And although I sensed the darkness, I was too focused on my mission to pay attention it.

Maybe that’s what Cassius meant? Why Eva had helped him so much? As long as you had something else anchoring you—you could ignore the darkness.

We stepped through a large hallway. A red door was positioned at the end. When we reached it, Timber knocked twice, and then opened the door, shutting it quietly behind us.

The office had no windows.

The walls were black.

Facing the door was a desk finished in rich mahogany red. Nice black leather couches lined the perimeter of the room. Each couch had purple velvet pillows. The entire room was gaudy, as if it belonged in another time period.

Not to the present.

The chair behind the desk was turned.

Someone was sitting in it, I could see the top of his or her head, but the color of the hair was unusual. Red and dark brown?

“So, she comes on her own.” The voice sounded so familiar, masculine, warm. The chair spun slowly.

With a gasp, I covered my mouth with my hands.

He smiled. “How nice… to meet you in person.”

“But…” I shook my head. “You’re Darkness…”

“I prefer the name Bannik.”

My world crumbled around my feet. Because Bannik had been Sariel’s brother, Bannik was there in the beginning.

He was also in my mind, though a dark black haze had always been in front of him, transforming his features.

But they were the same.

I felt it.

I knew it.

Terrified, I took a step back.

But Timber shoved me forward. I turned to punch him but he was already exiting the room, leaving me alone with— I whipped my head around. “What are you?”

His black and red hair shimmered within the heat of the room as my body felt heavy.

“I believe the question that’s been plaguing your mind is… what… my dear…. are you?”

“I’m a Dark—“

“If you say Dark One I’ll simply laugh.” Bannik’s smile was cruel. “Did you know, I was never meant to be in the US? It wasn’t my territory. Twelve of us were sent to the ends of the earth to watch. Only this time, we knew human emotion. Imagine the difficulty in watching, helping humans keep the peace…. and knowing nothing but fighting and war? My brother was never good at following the rules, and I learned soon after, when he refused to see me because of his shame, that I was tired of following them as well.” He shrugged. “It seems that warmth… agrees with me.”

“You’re like Sariel,” I said dumbly.