Untouchable Darkness (7 page)

I sat down and crossed my arms. “Let’s all just agree that Cassius needs this much-needed break to train me and learn the wonder that is the internet… and iTunes.”

“Yes he needs this much-needed break because he needs to fulfill his basic human needs.” Alex said in a smug tone.

“I know what iTunes is.” Cassius glowered in my direction, immediately changing the subject.

I tilted my head. “Oh, yeah?”

“Songs.”

“You’ll have to do better than that.”

“Songs that people…” He gulped. “Sing.”

Alex burst out laughing.

Cassius rolled his eyes and glanced out the window. The bird, the same damn bird appeared.

“Food!” He jumped out of his seat.

I quickly got to my feet and pushed him back down. “Sit.”

“But—”

“Uh…?” Alex raised his hand. “Why is Cassius bird watching?”

“He’s watching because he wants to eat it,” I explained.

Mason placed a salad in front of Cassius.

You’d think he’d just asked Cassius to tend to the garden and eat raw tomatoes. “What’s this?”

“Salad.” I scooted the dressing toward him.

“It’s green.”

“Hey, at least you’ve got your eyesight,” Ethan remarked.

“But the bird?” Cassius pointed behind him, “Why aren’t we eating meat?”

Mason looked heavenward. “I must have done something seriously awful to be cursed with a Dark One who suddenly wants food. He’ll eat everything!”

“He’s starving!” I pointed at Cassius. “Come on, fix him something good Mason. Salads are for girls.”

Genesis laughed and reached across the table to grab Cassius’s plate, but he was busy poking the tomato with a fork or trying to.

“It’s like watching a baby learn how to walk. Come on Cassius, you can do it!” Alex clapped behind him.

And earned a fork in the thigh.

“Shit!” Alex collapsed to the ground. “What the hell, I thought you weren’t a Dark One anymore.”

“So, I’ve lost my aim?” Cassius snorted. “Hardly. And next time you make fun of me I’m grabbing a knife.”

“Ethan has a gun case, the code is 1492.” Mason said in a cheerful voice.

Alex glared. “Thanks, Mason. Real helpful.”

“Please, it wouldn’t kill you.”

“It damn well wouldn’t tickle either, you bastard!” Alex shouted.

“Guys!” I held up my hands. “Do I need to order take-out, or do we have enough meat to feed…” I pointed to Cassius. “…this?”

“Not even a person anymore.” Alex cackled behind him. “How’s it feel?”

“About as good as a bullet between the eyes, Alex, care to experience it?”

Alex jerked the fork out of his thigh and tossed it in the sink. “Wash the blood off why don’t you, Mason?”

“I can’t concentrate with all the yelling.” Mason reached for his cell. “I say we go out to eat.”

“Yes!” Genesis stood. “We haven’t done a date night in weeks!”

Ethan reached for her hand and kissed it.

“Date night?” Cassius frowned. “A night with dates?”

I leaned forward and rested my forehead on the table. “It’s romantic.”

“Date night,” he repeated again.

I stood. “Whatever, let’s go somewhere close because Cassius is about five minutes away from molesting that bird.”

“I would never!” Cassius stood, outrage pouring over his face.

“Sarcasm.” Alex slapped him on the back. “You should try it, Dark One.”

Cassius jerked away from Alex. “I know what it is.”

“Clearly.” Alex nodded in mock understanding.

“The Lodge.” Mason grabbed his keys. “They always make room for us. Let’s go, kids… before Dad eats the family pet.”

“The bird is your pet?” Cassius looked horrified.

Alex sighed and whispered again, “Sarcasm.”

Cassius shoved past him then stopped in his tracks and turned. “Stephanie, will we be riding together?”

His eyes were hopeful.

What game was he playing?

He held out his hand.

I took it, still frowning.

“Uh, sure. We’ll drive separate since we can’t all fit in Ethan’s car.”

“They’re all my cars,” Ethan said under his breath then sped past us with Genesis in tow.

I nodded toward the garage. Cassius followed, our hands still linked.

“Well, which one of Ethan’s toys do you want to take?” The lights flickered on as Ethan and the rest of the crew piled into his white Mercedes.

“That.” Cassius pointed at the red Hummer.

I sighed. “Of course. Big bad Dark One wants a big bad car.”

“It’s tall. I’m tall…” He shrugged, his smile flirtatious.

My heart skipped in my chest. “Fine, but you do realize we’re in Seattle, right? People are going to flip you off for just driving something that gets only eight miles per gallon.”

“Does it matter?” He was giddy. “When we can run them over anyway?”

“Good point.”

“I’d like to think so.”

“I’ll grab the keys.” I still hadn’t moved.

His eyes were penetrating as he held my gaze. “All right.”

“Keys,” I repeated.

“To drive the monstrosity.”

Slowly, I shook my head as I left his side and grabbed the keys then met him back at the car. He was already inside, strapped in and looking about as pumped as a ten-year-old at a carnival.

“Fast,” he commanded, and then cleared his throat. “I mean… please?”

I smiled and started the car. “Only because you said please.”

His eyes met mine. “I’ll have to remember that for future reference. Say please, and… she says yes.”

My body hummed with anticipation.

Or maybe it was irritation…

…that as a human he was completely wreaking havoc on my emotions—even more so than when he was immortal.

Cassius

Pompeii 79 AD

“S
ECRETS ARE THE REAL WAR
,” I whispered into the darkness as Sariel made his way toward me through the mist, purple and blue feathers expanded separately from his body testing the purity of the air. He was searching for lies, yet again testing me—testing us.

“They are,” Ethan agreed, standing to my right while Alex held the sword against the King’s throat.

“Why do you disturb me?” Sariel asked calmly. With a tilt of his fingers Alex’s sword was pulled back and the human king was thrust to his knees in a bowing position. “I have more important things to focus on than the measly war between humans and immortals.”

“We’ve been at peace for the last hundred years,” I said through clenched teeth. “And we disturb you because there has been a… situation.”

Sariel’s eyes went white as ice as his wings spread out across the large room, the span of them reached fifty feet. The blue and purple feathers fluttered and then stuck straight out. The air shifted and the feathers turned black as Sariel sucked in a gasp. “You dare defy me!”

King Ebal began to weep. “I was told immortality was obtainable. And they were right!”

“Demons use your greatest desires against you, weaving small truths into great lies. They will justify anything.”

King Ebal moaned out a curse. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know!”

“How much did he have?” Sariel asked aloud.

I sighed. “The Demon showed him how to put each of us in an immortal sleep. There’s no way to tell how much he took unless we spill his blood. Ethan has already tried tasting.”

Sariel’s wings suddenly wrapped around his body and then disappeared. Damn, that meant he was staying a while. He towered over the King. “You may look at me now, human.”

King Ebal lifted his head, his eyes wide with fear. No human could be in an Archangel’s presence and not fear the end of his own life. I knew firsthand that Sariel was the cruelest of the Angels, sometimes choosing to show humans a reflection of their own demise the minute they locked eyes with him.

“You have consumed immortal blood—it is their essence. You know this.”

“My girl!” the King sobbed. “She is sick! And they refused to heal her!”

“Are they God?” Sariel asked with exaggerated wonder. “Do you truly think they have the power to snap their fingers and make someone well?”

“Angel blood.” The King ignored the question. “Mixed with the other immortals’ blood heals all! She was well this morning!”

“Word spread,” I interrupted dread filling my stomach. “And his wife started handing out small vials of the concoction to friends and family.”

“How many people?” Sariel’s voice shook the room.

“By now?” I sighed. “A hundred, maybe.”

“Shall I destroy one city for your sin?” Sariel addressed the king again.

“You don’t want us to be healthy! You want us to rely on you for everything! Have I not served you well?” The King challenged. “And yet you refuse to heal my little girl! But the Demon said he could!”

“Of course the Demon said he could!” Sariel yelled back at him. “Because the only way to save a life that’s already been claimed for death is to die you fool!”

“But—” The King sputtered. “She’s alive!”

“Is she?” Sariel shook his head slowly. “Do realize you could have simply called for a miracle? Do you realize that you could have called upon the One who holds the key to life? Instead, you have damned her to hell.”

“No!” The king shook his hands in front of his face, tears streamed down his cheeks. “She is alive! Just this morning I—”

“Bring the girl,” Sariel stormed in an icy whisper. “Show her in.”

The door opened. Eva, held the tiny six-year-old in her strong embrace. Already the girl’s eyes were turning black, her body trembling as Darkness took hold.

“She was meant to die.” Sariel pointed at the girl. “In two days she would have been taken to paradise. On this day. She will lose her soul, along with every person who consumed the blood.”

The King sobbed, falling to his hands and knees. “Take me! Don’t take my little girl. Take me!”

“I take no one. These lives are no longer mine to take, that choice was pulled out of my hands the minute you decided to play at Creator.” Sariel glanced out the window. “If a hundred have the blood—within twenty-four hours the city will fall to sickness, they will need blood, they will have no choice but to feed from one another.”

Humanity had no place in this decision. I looked at the immortals I’d sworn to protect and then glanced out amongst the thousands of humans that would die for one man’s stupidity.

Sariel tilted his head in my direction. “This is your realm. What will you do?”

The human screamed at the unfairness of the situation, it begged, it pleaded, it bled.

It had no place in this decision.

“I will destroy them all.” I ignored every shred of human emotion. One day, I feared, I wouldn’t feel them at all, they’d simply disappear. “I will destroy the city, and every Demon in it.”

Cassius

“S
LOW DOWN,”
E
THAN HISSED
out of the corner of his mouth as I tore off another hunk of warm bread and shoved it into my mouth. “You look like a damn animal.”

“Mason.” Alex nodded thoughtfully. “I imagine he looks like Mason does when he feeds.”

Mason let out a low growl and clutched his beer tightly with his hand—though that same hand was shaking, his nails elongating. Alex better watch it lest he get his throat slit before dessert.

Ah, dessert.

I patted my stomach.

Why hadn’t the hunger subsided?

I reached for the bread basket. Empty. Damn. “Who ate all the bread?”

“You.” Genesis smothered a laugh. “What? You blacked out during the last of the loaf?”

“I uh…” My cheeks heated. “Sorry.”

“Gasp.” Alex said in a monotone voice. “I wasn’t aware that word was in your vocabulary.”