Untouchable Darkness (11 page)

“Sixty!” I blurted. “But that’s insane! They have to keep their numbers under three hundred! If they added sixty—”

Ethan held up his hand. “It makes no sense. I know. They’re claiming that they’ve been the victims of a Vampire attack leaving them with no choice but to… create.”

My blood chilled. “That’s illegal not to mention stupid, they can’t just create more of themselves. Not without the help of Angel blood.”

I hadn’t been alive back when Pompeii was destroyed but I knew the toll it took on all of them to this day. Ethan had said Cassius refused to talk to anyone for weeks. I knew there was more to the story. One of Cassius’s closest friends had been killed soon after the city was destroyed, but nobody talked about it.

Immortal blood should never be in the hands of the Demons. Because to create a Demon—you had to give up your soul. And most souls didn’t go willingly.

“Right.” Ethan sighed. “But with this whole Cassius scenario we can’t really send him in there to settle things down.”

Guilt crept over Ethan’s face. Cassius truly was the only one who could control the Demons, and if they went against him, he simply destroyed them with a snap of his fingers.

“Crap,” I mumbled searching Ethan’s eyes. “You want to send me.”

“But you aren’t ready.” Genesis said softly.

At least
she
was on my side.

“We discussed this.” Mason crossed his arms. “I can take care of it.”

“Like hell,” Alex spat. “If any of us go we’re just putting ourselves in a situation that we may not be able to get out of without Cassius’s help.”

I licked my lips. “Maybe I can talk to him…”

“Oh?” Alex’s eyebrows shot up. “And how’s that been going for you?”

Another door slammed upstairs. What the heck was he doing? Just opening and slamming doors because he could?

“Stephanie,” Ethan reached for my hands. “We need you… and for some reason he still won’t explain, Cassius needs you too.”

I hung my head.

Shame filled me to the core.

I was going to kill him.

That was the future I had seen.

I just didn’t understand it, no way was I naïve enough to believe that it was the only future ahead of us. Futures changed, just like the wind. I refused to concentrate on one so fleeting and meaningless. I loved Cassius, I would never hurt him—ever.

It would take ultimate betrayal.

And even then, I wouldn’t be able to follow through with it.

Besides, love or not, he was my King.

“I’ll try harder.” I bit down on my lip, nearly drawing blood. “I’ll have him teach me, and I’ll try to be less argumentative.”

Alex snorted.

I glared in his direction, and he held up his hands.

“I can do it.” I took another deep breath. “This is my job, right? All of us have jobs on the council, mine’s just shifted a bit.”

“Right.” Ethan’s eyes narrowed. “I’ll send a few of my men with you, just in case.”

“And by men he means starving Vampire soldiers who would love—and I do mean love—to get a good meal in.” Mason gave Ethan a fist bump and walked out of the room. Alex and Genesis followed.

Ethan didn’t budge. His green eyes flared to life. Oh great, I’d somehow pissed him off. How, I wasn’t sure.

He stalked toward me, picked me up off the floor and slammed my body against the wall as his fangs slowly slid out from his lips. “Tell me I can trust you.”

In all the years I’d known Ethan, he’d never been violent toward me.

Ever.

I knew it was his love for Genesis that made him paranoid, but it stung that he thought so little of me.

“I swear.” My voice trembled. “I would never betray any of you.”

“Or Cassius.” Ethan’s grip tightened on my neck as he squeezed. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew I could fight back—potentially kill him or hurt him, but I had no control over what I could and couldn’t do. They were right, I needed Cassius. We all did.

“Never.” I gasped.

Ethan released my body abruptly. I crumpled to the ground and rubbed my neck, I was going to have marks from his fingers.

“Betray us again—” Ethan shrugged, his fangs digging into his lower lip. “And I’ll be forced to take you to Sariel.”

My body chilled at the thought. “Ethan, you can trust me.”

He nodded, his incisors retracted, and a friendly smile flashed across his face. “Good talk. Sleep tight.”

I rolled my eyes and leaned my head back against the wall. “Damn Vamps.”

“Heard that,” he yelled from the other room.

I glanced down the hall and at the stairway. I could do this. I just needed Cassius’s help.

The last thing we needed was the Demons gaining a foothold. The peace between immortals was only kept if each of the groups stayed within their boundaries, and if they kept to the council rules.

If you wanted to procreate, you needed an approved human from the list, just like Genesis had been brought to us. She’d brought balance back to a world full of chaos, meaning we were already going to be opening up the calling again.

Where we’d call numbers of humans who were, in our opinion, superior to others, and allowing them into our world.

An immortal needed a human in order to create more immortals, possibly the reason that we kept our numbers low was because for so long the humans had died at our hands. But now… now, things were working again.

Thanks to Genesis and Ethan’s love fest.

I rubbed my neck again. If the Demons were already picking off humans we had a much bigger problem than Cassius trying to teach me millennia of self-control.

We’d be faced with war.

And possible annihilation.

The Archangels only let us exist if Cassius ruled with an iron fist, and Cassius was at this moment throwing a temper tantrum upstairs and his fists were anything but iron.

The last time Cassius had shown mercy—immortals had died.

I exhaled and rose to my feet. At least he only had twenty-eight more days—and we’d have good ol’ grumpy Cassius back.

I’d miss the human one—he at least smiled—and in rare times, blushed.

Cassius

Greece 79 AD

“
E
VA!”
I
HISSED OUT
her name, she reeked of human. “Where have you been?”

“Out.”

“Do not lie to me.” I’d never been so angry before in my existence. “I trust you will tell the truth so I’ll give you another chance. Where have you been?”

Her shoulders slumped. “I can’t stay away!” She shook her head. “I know I’m supposed to wait for a mate, and I will, Cassius, you know I’m patient. I just, the children are so innocent, so different from us. The way their minds work…” Her smile was contagious. “Just this morning, John said an entire sentence and was able to spell his name and—”

“John?” I repeated. “You named them?”

“They had names!” she argued.

“If you want a pet. I’ll buy you one.” I stalked toward her as the air between us filled with an icy haze. “But you are NOT to visit the children anymore. If Sariel discovers my treachery, it will be my head!”

“He won’t!” Eva argued. “I promise, just—at least let me say goodbye.”

“No.” Her entire face fell. “You’ve spent enough time there. Write a letter, but you are not to visit them again.” Cursing, I pressed a fingertip against the inside of her wrist. “Already you smell of human, when was the last time you fed?”

She frowned. “I don’t know, a few days…”

“So, not only have you been with humans you haven’t been taking care of yourself? What if Timber returns, hmm? What if he tries to fight you? And because of your inability to follow the rules, he kills you?”

Eva hung her head. “I’m sorry, Cassius.”

“Stop being sorry and simply be better, Eva.”

“All right. I will Cassius. I swear it.”

Cassius

M
Y BODY ACHED—
what the hell had I done? I flexed my muscles and tried stretching my arms above my head, but nothing alleviated the pain. I slammed two doors trying to gain control of my anger at my crippled state. Did humans have to deal with this on a daily basis? Not only was my body failing me, but my emotions were swirling out of control.

I could taste fear on my tongue, it had a hollow, bitter flavor. And my brain wouldn’t stop conjuring up images of Stephanie killing me.

Or my own father helping her do it.

I wiped my face with my hands and shuddered out a breath. Something wasn’t right. Then again, how would I know? My IQ had dropped since the Angel blood was no longer coursing through my veins.

The only thing I could do was ask Stephanie for some of hers.

But I figured that was the stupidest idea I’d ever conjured up considering I had to win her affection by being human.

I groaned in frustration and lay back against the fluffy mattress, head pounding, I had twenty-eight days left and I was pretty sure I was actually getting worse as time progressed.

“Hey, there.” Stephanie walked into the room. I didn’t get up. Didn’t look at her, just stared at the ceiling above and wondered for the tenth time that evening what the hell I’d been thinking, trying to save us both, trying to love her when I clearly didn’t even understand how.

“Hi,” I grumbled.

“Wow, someone’s happy.”

“It hurts.” I rose up on my elbows and glared. “This ridiculous body hurts.”

“You’re human, aches and pains are part of it, I’m afraid.” She offered a tentative smile. “You could always take a pain killer.”

“Pills.” I spat the word out. “I’ve never needed help!”

“Maybe that’s why.”

“Huh?”

Stephanie moved toward the bed and sat on the edge. “Maybe that’s part of this test. Maybe Sariel did this so you’d learn to rely on others.”

The idea had merit even if it was totally off base. “Maybe.”

“So,” Stephanie tapped her fingers against her thigh. “There’s a slight problem with something.”

My eyes narrowed. “You look nervous.”

“How soon do you think you can get this training thing down with me? I mean, how much can we push the limits before you think I’ll be ready to face things on my own?”

Face things? She wanted to do it without me? “I don’t understand. What would you possibly have to face?”

“Demons.” She swallowed. “Say an extra sixty shiny new ones with pointy horns and uncontrollable appetites.”

Every muscle in my achy body tensed. “What the hell? Please tell me that’s your idea of a joke.”

“Afraid not.” Stephanie pushed away from the bed and walked toward the window hugging her body. “According to Ethan, the numbers reported to us don’t match. They’ve been creating.”

“That’s forbidden!” I yelled, jumping off the bed, ready to march down to their headquarters and light them all on fire. “They know this, they wouldn’t dare. Ever since Pompeii the rules have been—”

“I know the rules.” Stephanie arched an eyebrow. “They dared all right, they dared at least sixty times without calling a human number, meaning they’re picking off randoms wherever they can find them.”

My headache flared to life. “I can’t do anything—not as a human.”

“I can.” Stephanie turned to face me. “Teach me what I need to know, and I can do it.”

“But—”

“Please.” Her blue eyes flashed a brilliant white then dimmed and saddened as she glanced away from me and back out the window. “I have to help. I mean you said you’d help me learn what I am, right? You said you were here to help train me. So, what’s the problem?”

The problem? I forced my irritation inward. The damn problem was that if I spent all my days training her—and believe me it would take all day and all night—I wouldn’t have time to romance her. To win her over, to prove my love. After tonight I’d already decided to switch tactics. I needed to do better. Dedicate my every waking moment to winning her the way she deserved.