Darkest Sinner (The Dark Ones Saga Book 5)

by Rachel Van Dyken

  Kyra gasped. “And my parents knew?”

  “How could they? They were blinded by the thought of peace.”

  I released her soul and waited while she stumbled back and sat on the edge of the bed, my bed.

  It was like existing in two times, I was remembering everything but at the same time was still Timber, still my old self.

  The only difference was the power I felt surging through my veins and the very real need I had to strip Kyra naked and keep her that way for the next decade.

  I assumed it would be easy to get her to see.

  Instead, in perfect Timber ridiculousness, I’d made it worse.

  Once a demon always a demon, lucky me.

  “I um…” She looked up, and I knew, this was what rejection felt like, when all you wanted was the person looking at you with regret and pity in their eyes knowing you would sell your soul for just one taste—and do it again and again until you were sick with it. “This is a lot right now.”

  I clenched my teeth, took a deep breath. “You should sleep.”

  “But this is your—”

  “Don’t argue with the cranky boss, Kyra.” I smiled sadly. “I’m going to go shower and pray that food finally tastes like something other than sand.”

  “That’s horrible.”

  “Sadly, you get used to it.” It was painful, taking a step away from her, leaving her in that room, my room, knowing what I knew.

  It was like my soul was getting ripped apart all over again. I’d assumed it would be easy.

  I forgot—about free will, about fear.

  What a cruel twist of fate, that all would work out in the end, only to find out that the one woman I gave everything up for.

  Didn’t feel the same way.

  KYRA

  I didn’t sleep.

  Instead, I sat in that room, with my arms hugging my knees to my chest, wondering what was wrong with me.

  I’d always been a loner growing up—never really had any friends. Though I tried really hard to connect with people, it always just seemed like people either ignored me or were afraid of me.

  My own parents even kept their distance, saying that they just weren’t like that.

  I remember hugging my mom’s leg only to have her give me a sad smile, a pat on the head, then pry my arms from her body.

  It stung when I was small.

  Who was I kidding? It stung even now.

  The worst part was that I had a perfectly gorgeous man—god—rummaging around in the kitchen, and I, Kyra had sent him away.

  Sent him away!

  I guess he kind of offered but still! Was I insane?

  My stomach was in knots, and my chest hurt.

  I wanted to believe he was kissing me because he wanted me, yet I couldn’t help but think it was because we were destined.

  And for once in my life, I wanted someone to just, want me, no matter what. No souls, no being reborn, no weird cosmic time travel involved.

  Just me.

  Maybe I was asking for too much.

  Maybe I was just going crazy—at this point, who could really blame me?

  “I didn’t sacrifice thousands of years of my life for you to pout alone in a bedroom without my brother.” Horus’s voice stunned me out of my pity party.

  I frowned as he braced himself against the door. He was wearing jeans that looked way too tight and a black band T-shirt I’d seen on Tarek once.

  “You’re back.” I gave him a forced smile. “Going into shock yet?”

  He shrugged. His dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail. “I almost got run over by a car. Then again, Mason was driving it, so I’ve been told that’s completely normal. The world is a vastly different place from what it used to be” A wry half-smile tugged up one side of his mouth. “In some ways better, in others much worse.” He walked all the way into the room and then sat on the bed. “I expected the door to be locked and the house shaking. Instead I find my brother downstairs grilling a sandwich, whatever that means, and attempting to see if it’s possible for a god to get drunk.”

  I winced. “He tried…”

  “Ah, but did you?” Horus fired back. “Did you try or were you afraid?”

  I gulped. “It wasn’t fear necessarily, more like… okay so it was fear, but he doesn’t know me, I mean not really, he can’t love me if he doesn’t know me.”

  “Humans.” Horus groaned and pressed hand to his temple. “So simple and yet complex. Do you even know what a soul is?”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Yes, it’s the essence of every person, the only thing that lives, I hope, beyond death.”

  “Correct, and Anubis, in all his years would weigh souls in the palm of his hand, he would test them, bargain with them, keep them safe, he was the Keeper of Souls. At death, he would weigh a feather against a person’s heart and soul and see what won out. He has touched millions of souls. To touch one is to know that person intimately. Imagine the cost on your sanity, imagine the burden he bears. It’s not like every soul he touches is good, and yet he takes that in.”

  My mouth went dry. “Isn’t that dangerous?”

  “He was made for it,” Horus said simply. “The gods were made in a similar way to humans, given dominion, given souls, and each of us has our job, the one thing that we were told was to never fall as the Watchers did—never involve ourselves with the human races, specifically females.”

  “That’s a lonely existence.”

  “Absolutely,” Horus agreed. “And then you came along, a human with the essence of a god in her blood, the soul of a god in her body, not only did he touch your soul and recognize that you were his other half—but he could actually have you.”

  “Except I was promised to someone else”

  “Exactly. He was willing to die in order to have you, even if it meant his time would suddenly be limited, even if it meant he would be struck down for interfering. He was willing to give up everything for you—and did. The moral of the story is this: What have you sacrificed for Anubis? What have you given him other than his life back? You have given him your trust, you have even given him part of your heart, but you have held the one thing he wants more than anything and hidden it away.”

  I frowned. “He wants my soul?”

  Horus sighed in impatience. “He wants you, his other half, you and only you, Kyra. He could take your soul if he wanted, he could take your very life, he could force you to love him, yet he doesn’t. He wants you. And he’s eating a sandwich, do you understand me?”

  I nodded. “Maybe he likes sandwiches better.”

  Horus laughed. “Nobody likes food better than sex, least of all a god who’s been celibate as long as he has.”

  My ears perked up. “I’m sorry, what?”

  Horus frowned. “Were you listening at all?”

  “Yes, and I’m pretty sure you never mentioned that.”

  “Save me from humans,” He put his hands on his hips. “Regardless of the ridiculous stories you may have read about, gods don’t just run around creating demigods. Like I said, we have rules. Your other half will always have the blood of the gods running through their bodies meaning you can mate with them—anything outside of that, we don’t touch.”

  “Oh.”

  “Your cheeks are turning red.”

  I glared.

  Horus just grinned. “I’m off to watch TV, Mason said it’s the only way for me to get caught up, though he was going on and on about Lion King—”

  “No.” I held up my hand. “Log onto Netflix and—”

  “Log? You have logs in the house?”

  “Er, no, just…” I sighed. “I’ll help set you up.”

  And that was the story of how I helped a god binge watch Orange is the New Black. What can I say? He was invested after one episode. I left him in Timber’s study and made my way into the kitchen.

  A bottle of wine was opened.

  A half-eaten sandwich next to it, but no Timber to be found.

  Frowning, I went bac
k to the master bedroom and heard the shower. I was just about to leave the room when Timber walked out in nothing but a white towel.

  My eyes widened.

  He jerked to a stop, water dripping from his hair down his body, his eyes flashing gold while I drank my fill of his perfect muscle tone. Even his feet were sexy—how was that fair?

  “Sorry,” I blurted. “I didn’t know that you were showering.”

  “I felt dirty.” He shrugged and then winced. “That came out wrong.”

  “Or right,” I offered. “However you want to look at it.”

  The corners of his mouth moved into a dazzling smile. “I thought you were going to nap.”

  “Yeah, well, your brother needs to catch up on a few thousand years of history so I turned on Netflix for him.”

  Timber rolled his eyes. “And you thought that was a good idea because?”

  “Because, he needs to learn, and watching TV is probably better than taking a stroll downtown and pointing out things while people take pictures of him and weep with ecstasy.”

  Timber stiffened. “Excuse me?”

  “You know…” I waved my hands in front of him. “You guys don’t really blend in.”

  “I blend in just fine.” Timber actually looked offended.

  I laughed. “Um, no you really don’t.”

  “Do.”

  “Don’t!”

  “Do!” He threw his hands up. “I’m the same person!”

  “Really?” I grinned. “Care to prove that?”

  “Of course.”

  “Good.” I crossed my arms. “Because we’re headed to Soul.”

  His eyes narrowed. “And when I win and everyone recognizes me and nobody runs away screaming or worse, starts humping my leg, what do I get?”

  I licked my lips and answered. “Me. You get me.”

  “And if I lose?” He took a cautious step toward me. “Do I lose you too?”

  “No, you just have to sleep on the couch while I take your glorious bed.” I winked.

  “I feel like I’m being tricked.”

  “I would never trick a god.” I held up my hand. “Scout’s honor.”

  He chuckled. “Little yet absolutely terrifying. Remind me why we hired you again?”

  “Oh, you didn’t. Tarek did.”

  That earned me a grunt. “Fine, I can’t sleep anyway, may as well check in… maybe I’ll get lucky and the girl of my dreams will buy me a drink.”

  Heat bloomed across my face. “Maybe she will.”

  “Let’s just hope she remembers what I like.”

  “How could I forget?” I licked my lips.

  And then I stood there like an idiot, my body pulsing with the need to be next to his.

  “I need to change.” He grinned. “You’re more than welcome to watch if you think you can handle it.”

  “Oh!” Flames licked at my already hot face. “No, no, I mean, I’ll give you some privacy and just,” I almost ran into the door in an effort to escape and felt his laugh like a direct arrow to my heart as I smiled the entire way down the hall.

  Progress.

  We were making progress.

  TIMBER

  I made her laugh.

  Bonus, she didn’t shy away from me.

  Double bonus, she looked ready to lick me from head to toe.

  And on top of that, she talked the entire way to Soul, about the trip to the past, about meeting Ra. I already respected her but hearing the story from her lips did something to me.

  She’d risked her life for me.

  When we were finally at Soul, I got out of the car and opened her side helping her out and pressing a hand to the small of her back as we made our way to the entrance.

  I knew something was off the minute my security did a double take.

  It was late, around one a.m., so I knew the place would be crawling with demons feeding on humans. What I didn’t expect was to garner so much attention myself.

  Tarek was behind the bar pouring drinks, and Kyra was like a statue next to me as all of the demons stopped feeding and dancing and turned their attention to me.

  The music stopped.

  It was like a bad movie.

  I had no idea what to do.

  I was still the Demon King. I had always lorded the underworld and kept that title even when I lost my soul.

  But this was different.

  This was fear. I could smell it, taste it like ash burning on my tongue.

  They were petrified of me.

  “So…” Kyra said with fake enthusiasm. “I think we should just act normal and go sit at the bar.”

  “I am acting normal.”

  “You’re glowing,” she said through clenched teeth.

  “Shit.” The humans were hopefully too drugged to notice. I snapped my fingers at the vamps holding court at the door. Security would need to make sure all the humans’ memories were wiped so they didn’t report me to CNN. “All right, let’s go sit.”

  Tarek slid two glasses of amber liquid toward us the minute we got to the bar. “So, that’s a neat trick, glowing like a Christmas tree. I think a demon shit himself and then puked for good measure.”

  I sighed. “I didn’t realize.”

  “Timber, you control shadows, darkness, death itself. You could take every remaining soul in this room with the snap of your fingers, send them to Heaven or Hell, you were given that job. Before, you were just creepy as hell and semi-powerful in your own right. Now, well, now you look like you could incinerate everyone with laser eyes.”

  “Thanks, Tarek,” Kyra said through clenched teeth. “Super helpful!”

  Tarek looked at her then back at me. “Well, things just took a turn for the worse. What the hell have you guys been doing? Painting each other’s nails?”

  “Excuse me?” My voice boomed, a few demon shrieks followed. This would take getting used to.

  “You…” Tarek pointed at me, “…are fully restored. She…” He pointed at Kyra. “…is still confused and the only way to un-confuse her is to…” He made an odd motion with his hands.

  “Are you clapping?” I wondered out loud while Kyra gaped at him.

  “Yes. No.” Tarek took a deep breath. “You…” More pointing, “…and you…” Repeated pointing. “Are two halves to a whole. You can’t be whole unless you’re…” He said it slowly, probably for my benefit. “Who-o-ole.”

  “You're talk in riddles.” I grabbed for the glass only to have him get there faster and replace it with something else. “Hey, I was going to drink that!”

  “Nope, you both get this now. By the way, I’m not sorry.” He slid two new glasses in front of us. “Now, drink, and be… not too loud.”

  “You’re being weird.” Kyra felt his forehead. “Are you sick? Drunk? Sad?”

  He slapped her hand away. “No, I’m just frustrated. We risked everything for you two, and you’re at happy hour!”

  “And that’s bad?” Kyra guessed.

  Tarek looked ready to murder both of us. “I have customers, deal with this—now—or I’m tattling, and the last thing you need is Dad giving you the sex talk.”

  Kyra looked absolutely horrified at the thought. Fantastic. Talk of me and her having sex made her look ready to run in front of oncoming traffic.

  Cheers!

  “The last thing this world needs is Cassius uttering the word sex, to you, in front of him,” He pointed to Timber. “It doesn’t get more awkward, Alex says he uses sock puppets.”

  Kyra burst out laughing. “I doubt it.”

  “Just the idea of it makes me want to break out in hives,” Tarek muttered. “Now, finish your drinks and go to the office.”

  “The office?” I grinned. “Why would we go to the—”

  Tarek shrugged while I stood and steadied myself by the bar.

  “You okay?” Kyra asked, her eyes dilated, and then she reached out and grabbed my free hand. “Ohhh… You feel soo good.”

  “Your skin always feels like velvet to me
.”

  Her eyes grew hooded. “I can feel your heartbeat.”

  “Office.” Tarek coughed. “Go. Now. I poured you strong drinks, enough to make you loosen up a bit, but the catch is this—your body sings to him and his to you, alcohol around you two? It’s like dousing a fire with kerosene, have fun kids! Off you go!”

  “Great idea.” I was ready to haul her over my shoulder as we quickly abandoned Tarek and sprinted toward my office.

  I barely got the door closed, the lock turned, when Kyra was on me, her fingers digging at my shirt, jerking it open as buttons went flying.

  I groaned as I dipped my head and tasted her mouth, the whiskey on her tongue. Her soul shivered in her chest, mine copied.

  This.

  This was what we needed.

  Each other, always each other.

  I knew that. She knew that.

  And suddenly there was no hesitation, maybe she just needed permission—I would love her forever.

  Our tongues twisted together, our mouths sliding in a way that had me kissing down her neck and back up again as her nails dug into my skin. I threw my shirt to the floor and reached for hers.

  We were a tangle of arms and legs, kisses, and heat.

  I picked her up into my arms and set her on my desk. “You’re so beautiful.”

  “So are you.” She wrapped her arms around my neck. I could taste her heartbeat through her kiss, could feel the way it beat for me, strained for me in a way that was other worldly.

  “Anubis…” She rasped my name. Mine!

  The room shook, it transported me to a different time and place, to a hallway where I grabbed her dress and made her mine, feet from where my father slept.

  “Yes.” With one hand, I jerked her jeans and underwear down tossing them to the floor as her head fell back, exposing her neck.

  Visions flashed before my eyes.

  Our hands joined as I deepened the kiss, spread her mouth wider with my tongue, drinking her while her soul chanted my name.

  Thunder cracked in the distance as papers crashed to the floor followed by the phone.

  I didn’t care.

  I panted against her body, then spread her legs wide, my fingers digging into the sensitive skin of her thighs, I was delirious from her taste, from the way she clung to me like I was her everything.