Untouchable Darkness (25 page)

“We watch,” Bannik replied. “We do not sleep. We do not close our eyes.” The brothers all returned to watching in one loud clap of thunder and repeated. “We are the ones who keep our eyes open. We are the awake.”

But Sariel… did not repeat it.

For his vow was long ago broken, the minute he closed his eyes and wanted.

Stephanie hid her face in my chest. “I’m not sure I want to see anymore.”

“The story ends soon.”

“But does it end well?” she asked.

“It ends the only way it can.” I licked my lips as the vision disintegrated in front of us.

Sariel was again at the village.

And Nephal was already waiting for him.

He knew his brothers were watching, but he kept thinking, if only they saw the joy, if only they saw what they could have.

He slept with her.

Not once.

Nor twice.

Many, many times, and each time he grew more and more attached to the woman who held his heart. The woman he would bind himself to forever.

She was lying across his naked body when she whispered, “I am with child.”

“Impossible.” Sariel shook his head. “We are not human.”

Already he’d told her too much, about the heavens, about the stars, about his race.

“It is possible. It must be.” She touched her belly. “Already I feel his movement.”

“And how do you know it is a boy?”

“Is it?” She smiled brightly and Sariel caught on to the excitement, pressing his hand against her stomach in joy until the destiny of the child played out in horrific visions of the future.

With a gasp, Sariel pulled his hand back. “He must… not be born.”

Nephal jerked away from Sariel. “How could you say that? This child was conceived in love?”

“This child.” Sariel shook his head. “Will be hated… scorned, constantly surrounded by darkness.”

“Darkness?”

“He will never experience true joy or contentment, constantly pulled between two planes, between immortals and mortals alike. He will know division and darkness, the darkness and cruelty of the human race will be his lover, his companion. I cannot allow him to be born. My love for him, for you, is what guides this.”

“Never!” She shouted, tears streaming down her face. “If you touch me I’ll kill you!”

“Nephal—”

“Go away!”

Sighing, Sariel did as she asked.

And didn’t return until the babe was born.

That night, with Bannik at his side, he entered the tent, ready to destroy the abomination, when his eyes locked on the child’s.

Bannik tensed next to him and then uttered, “I cannot kill our flesh.”

“He is…” Sariel swallowed down his emotions. “He is part of us.”

He joined Nephal on the bed as Bannik looked on.

And then a great thunder sounded.

Bannik sighed, his eyes heavy, his heart heavier. “They’re here.”

And as if the sun had descended to earth, a legion of Angels landed in the camp, shining bright with gold and silver armor. The Archangels joined the first part of the ranks, while the rest of the soldiers fanned out around the tent.

And one hundred and ninety-nine of his brothers, marched down the mountain, for the last time.

To their death.

Sariel wrapped Nephal in one arm protectively while hovering over the child.

“Cassius,” he whispered. “We will name him Cassius.”

Nephal nodded, tears streaming down her face.

The tent door was opened.

“Creation is forbidden,” the Angel said in a booming voice. “What, brother, have you done?”

Bannik stood next to Sariel’s side, hand on his sword.

The Angel held out his hand. “We did not come to fight. We refuse to fight our own blood. We came to pass judgment, but what are we to do with a young child? Innocent in ways of the world? Innocent in ways of humanity and immortals alike?”

Sariel stood to his full height. “I could not…” He lost his voice and tried again. “This is my sin, but I cannot punish him for it. I could not.”

“Nor would it be asked of you,” the Angel fired back, his eyes blazing like fire. “Children will always be protected…” He sighed. “But this child or any born in this way, will forever be cursed.” The Angel’s eyes went black. “He will carry a darkness, and every day it will try to consume him. If he gives in, he will be killed. We will have no choice, for he has the knowledge of the heavens and the power to command at will. If he gives in to the darkness, there will be no saving him from himself, for he will be pure evil.”

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

W
E 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?”

“He fell in love.”

“Before that.”

Sheets of ice froze in front of our faces as we stared at the mountain.

“He closed his eyes.”

I sighed heavily. “Yes. He closed his eyes. He was not punished for his love, but for going against what he was created for. He was not meant to close his eyes, not made for it, possibly for the very reason that once we close our eyes, we look inward, we lose focus of what is right in front of us. The scariest things do not always lie outside…” I kissed her cold cheek. “…but within.”

“Ick.” Alex took a step back from us. “You’re both frigid and I mean that in a completely nonsexual way.” He winked at me and then scrunched up his nose as if we smelled. “Reindeer?”

“Close.” Stephanie shoved past him. “We were in Siberia.”

Alex shared a look with me, one I knew well, his thoughts were along the lines of,
Why the hell would you take her there only to scare the ever loving shit out of her?
Always so eloquent, Sirens.

I ignored his yelling in my head and continued walking through the house. With every step I took more and more ice released itself from my body, melting into a puddle on the floor.

Stephanie seemed agitated, a quick learner, her thoughts were getting harder and harder for me to read, as if she’d put up a block.

A block of something hazy.

Gray.

I couldn’t see through it.

And at times, I wondered if she even knew it was there, if she realized that even now, she flirted with things she had no knowledge of.

“Living room,” Alex called after me. “They’re watching Beauty and the Beast.”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course they are.”

Bickering was what I was greeted with as Stephanie took a seat as far away from me as possible, her eyes trained in on the fireplace, watching the flames lick and hiss.

“All I’m saying,” Ethan said as he stood, spreading his hands wide. “Is why can’t they make movies about Vampires? I mean a beast? It’s ugly as hell! What if—” He held up his pointer finger. “—the beast was really a Vampire prince, held under a spell, and the rose was her blood—”

“You’d ruin the entire story”! Mason roared. “Besides…” He sniffed the air. “I am beast.”

“You were the reindeer yesterday,” Ethan pointed out. “From Frozen, you can’t be every character that’s an animal just because you’re the only one with claws.”

“Man has a point.” Alex came in behind me and slapped me on the back. Mason, as if suddenly realizing my presence looked at me then at Stephanie, and then, unfortunately at her feet. “In three, two, on—”