Of Darkness & Light: Blood Descent Book 2

by T. L. McDonald

  A light knocking sounds from behind the curtains and I fling them open. Shoving the small stirring of feelings in my gut down, I stare out at him as if I couldn’t care less he’s there. I push up the window and cross my arms over my chest. “If you’re here for any other reason than to talk training and strategy, I don’t want to hear it.”

  “Well, tough because we have some things to discuss whether you want to or not.” The pleading look he had in his eyes from earlier dissolves into sheer determination. He swings a leg into my room, and I press a hand against his chest. His heart thumps against my palm, the beats fast and erratic. I look up, meeting his gaze. The pain shining through his tough guy resolve threatens to take me down, and for just a moment, I forget why I’m keeping him at bay. For a moment, all I want to do is pull him into my arms and hold on tight.

  For a moment, the icy numbness surrounding my heart loses its grip.

  I stumble back a step as a sharp jolt of fiery heat slams into my chest from beneath the pendant. It races through my veins, instantly replacing all my longings to hold him close, to press my lips against his, to wish for everything to be okay into cold, unfeeling numbness.

  He rubs over the center of his chest, his face pinched in a grimace. “There’s something wrong between us, and I know you know it. I know you feel it.”

  I cross my arms over my chest. “I don’t feel anything.”

  “Exactly. You don’t feel anything, but not because you don’t want to. Because you do. I know you do, but as soon as I feel your emotions coming through they’re ripped away.” His hand goes back to his chest, his voice softer when he says, “Someone or something is suppressing them. The question is why?”

  “No one is suppressing my emotions, Sebastian. Why would anyone want to? No one even knows there was a ‘you and me’.” He flinches at my choice of the word was, and for just a second the sting hits me too. “What would there be to gain by snatching them away?”

  “I don’t know, but I know it’s not you doing it.”

  “How do you know it’s not me? Did you ever stop to think maybe I’m doing us both a favor because one day you’re going to wake up and see what a disaster I am, and you’ll find yourself resenting me for all the things my ancestors took from you? For all the things I took from you? That I don’t want to continue falling when I know you won’t be there to catch me when I hit the ground because you’ll have realized the light you see in me was never really there?”

  I push against his chest to shove him back out the window, hoping he’ll just go and not make this any harder on himself than it has to be—any harder on me than it has to be. He shakes his head at my attempt, refusing to budge at all while the emotions swirling in his eyes seek to find a chink in my armor.

  He wraps his fingers around my wrist and holds my hand hostage against the beats of his heart. “You have never taken anything from me I wasn’t already willing to give. As for the light I see when I look at you, it’s so brilliant, no amount of darkness will ever snuff it out. But you are right about one thing. I won’t be there to catch you when you land, but only because I’m falling with you. I’ve always been falling with you.”

  Fire and ice collide in my chest as emotions and numbness battle for control. I want to reach for him, and I want to shut him out. I want to scream, and I want to hope. And the numbness eating up everything wants to burn it all away into nothing.

  A loud crack of thunder echoes across the sky, while the dark clouds rolling in illuminate from within. Wind whips in through the window, blowing sprinkles against his back as he shifts a little closer. I freeze, still torn between shoving him away because it’ll save us both the heartache when we find ourselves on opposite sides, and pulling him into my arms and holding on for dear life because I’ve never loved anyone the way I love him—as though he holds my very soul within his hands.

  Keeping my hand trapped, he pushes me backward just enough to fully enter my room as the rain behind him falls faster. He takes a step closer, the pounding beats of his heart thudding steadily beneath my palm, the complete opposite of my own staccato heartbeats. The intensity in the way he looks at me holds me in place, even after his lashes lower to sweep his gaze to my hand held over his heart. “Don’t give up on us, Indi. Fight for us, because I’m fighting for you.”

  The icy grip over my heart cracks again and again until the emotions I’ve been too numb to feel finally bleed through.

  His lashes finally rise, giving me a glimpse of the vulnerability he’s always so careful to hide. He lays his hand over my heart, and it skips a beat in response, pushing the numbness still fighting to take over further away. “I have a theory. I think the connection between us goes both ways. And while I’ve been able to feel you, I haven’t really let you feel me. I’ve spent so much of my life hiding everything below the surface, it’s become second nature. If no one really knows me, if I never let anyone in, then no one can hurt me. And you, Indi, you have the power to hurt me the most.” His breath tickles over my face, his fingers tangling in my hair. “But I don’t want to hide from you anymore,” he whispers.

  And then he kisses me.

  The touch of his lips shatters the last bit of numbness left fighting for dominance within me as his walls drop one by one, and I’m consumed by everything he feels. Not in words or thoughts in my head, but in raw emotions in the very center of my being, as if his soul were speaking directly to mine. His love, his desire, his protectiveness, even his fears—I feel it all.

  He rests his forehead against mine, his hand still pressed against my heart. “Now you know. I don’t care if your ancestors created vampires, and chasers, and began this war we find ourselves in. I don’t care about any of it. The only thing I care about is you. You are everything to me. You have been since that day in the park when we were kids, and you took my hand and gave me a reason to live. I love you, Indi. I’ve probably loved you since we were six years old.”

  “You remember that day?” He shouldn’t remember anything. Not with the spell my aunt and uncle cast to erase his memories of me. I only remember because I set my magic free.

  “I don’t have to remember it to feel it.”

  The connection between us pulses, flooding my senses with so much emotion I’m not sure I’m even standing anymore. For all I know, I’m floating on the clouds. “I’m so sorry I pushed you away. I—”

  “Apology accepted.” His lips crush against mine in a fevered rush.

  I can’t help the laugh that bubbles up any more than he can stop the smile I feel spreading over his face just before he kisses me again and again. Standing on the tips of my toes, I lock my arms around his neck as his arms circle around my back. He pulls me closer, and the connection between us intensifies, heightening every emotion until we become completely lost in each other. Every kiss, every touch, every beat of his heart, a drug I can’t get enough of.

  Grabbing hold of my thighs, he lifts me up, and I wrap my legs around his waist, my hands fisting in his hair. He moves across the room with ease, his arms tightening around my back with each step. Coming to a stop, he presses a knee onto the mattress, and lays me down slowly without ever letting go.

  The weight of his body spreads out over mine, and I relish the feel of us tangled up in each other. I was so stupid for thinking I could push him away, for thinking it’s what was best for either one of us. My heart belongs to him just as much as his belongs to me. I know that now. I feel it.

  He laces his fingers through mine as he maneuvers my hand above my head. His teeth graze my bottom lip in a small nip, and then his mouth is moving along my jaw and down my neck. Shivers race beneath every soft touch despite the heat setting me on fire from within. Releasing my hand, his fingers glide along my sleeve until they reach the neck of my sweater. Tugging it down, he plants a small kiss on my collarbone, and then another.

  Taking his face in my hands, I bring his mouth back to mine. The taste of cinnamon floods my sense as our kiss deepens, and I snag his lip betw
een my teeth in a small nibble. The low growl in his throat is immediate and sends shivers over my body. Slipping my hands beneath his leather jacket, I shove it below his shoulders. There are way too many layers between us.

  He pulls his arms the rest of the way out and tosses it to the floor. With his jacket out of the way, my hands find their way to the soft skin hidden beneath his shirt. A wave of goose bumps bloom over every inch of his skin, his muscles tightening under the gentle scrape of my nails.

  In one swift motion, he removes his shirt one-handed, kicking my already rapid heartbeats into overdrive. My gaze soaks up every inch of him, while my fingers explore every dip and curve of his muscles until they reach the waist of his jeans. He grabs hold of my wrists. My chest rises and falls so fast I can’t breathe, while at the same time I don’t think I’ve ever breathed so much in my life. I lift my gaze to his, a mix of nervousness and excitement flooding my system at the uncertainty of what happens next. The look I get in return… well, now, I can’t breathe at all.

  And then searing heat stabs through my chest with so much intensity I feel like I might rip in two. I slam my teeth down over an anguished cry, my back arching against the pain tearing apart my ribcage as I fist my hands around the covers beneath me.

  “It hurts. Make it stop. Please, make it stop.” I claw at my sweater, unable to grab hold of the fabric through the agony spreading into every single cell of my body. It scorches everything it touches, burning it all away as a frigid coldness sweeps in behind it in an unyielding numbness.

  I don’t want to be numb anymore.

  “I don’t want to be numb!”

  Sitting on my legs, Sebastian holds me still long enough to yank down the neck of my sweater. At the sound of him sucking in a sharp breath, I look down. A glowing red symbol burns through my skin. It’s harsh and wrong and… Ahhhh! It hurts. It hurts so much.

  “What is that? What the hell is that!?” I grind through my teeth.

  “Something bad.” Grabbing the neck of my sweater with both hands, he tears it straight down the middle, popping off the four buttons at the top. My jaw drops for half a second in stunned disbelief before another round of blinding pain sears through my chest once again. I scream until there’s no sound left to come out.

  The door to my room flings open and slams against the stopper hard enough to swing it back. It bounces off Liv’s outstretched hand. “What is going on in here?!” She takes in the sight of Sebastian on top of me and my sweater ripped open for all of two seconds before she’s flying across the room. “I’m going to kill you!” She takes a swing at Sebastian, and he catches her fist in his hand.

  “It’s not me hurting her. Look.” He glances down at the symbol, growing angrier and angrier by the second. He drops her arm, and she takes a step back, her hands flying to her mouth.

  “Oh my God, Sebastian. This is bad. This is really, really bad.” Her craze-filled eyes are so big when she looks at me, they scare me more than the symbol does. She runs to the door, her hands braced against the frame and her head stuck out into the hall. “Jack!”

  Rushing back to my bedside, she shoves Sebastian to the side and takes his place straddling me. “Get Jack up here now and tell him to bring the Book of Shadows from Mom and Dad’s room. Go! Now! There’s no time to waste.”

  Sebastian runs out the door as Liv looks down at me. “We have to remove this now before it’s too late. I’m not going to lie. It’s going to hurt like a bitch and you’re going to want to pass out. Do it if you can.”

  “Liv, you’re scaring me.”

  “You should be scared.”

  Jack rushes into the room, an enormous book in his arms and Sebastian trailing behind him. He takes one look at my chest and all the color drains from his face. “Holy shit. We need Mom and Dad for this.”

  Liv whips her head side-to-side. “There’s no time. Look at her veins. It’s spreading too fast. Who knows how long she’s had this on her. If we don’t stop it now, it may be too late. We can’t wait for them to get back.”

  “Okay, now you’re really freaking me out. What is this?” I swallow hard as another wave of heat flares beneath my skin. I scream out, my back arching once more. Burning fire and cold numbness spread through my chest, dulling the outer edges of the fear filling my insides. It promises to take it away, to take everything away. Part of me wants it to, begs it to, but then I see Sebastian, and my cousins, and I don’t want to lose what I feel for them. I don’t want to lose me.

  I scream out again as another stab of pain goes through me.

  Jack spreads the book out on the bed. Flipping through page after page, he finally finds what he’s looking for. His fingers run down the page, his eyes moving back and forth over the words. “We should have everything we need in the kitchen.” He takes a photo of the page and a moment later Sebastian’s phone chimes. “I sent you a list of the ingredients. Bring them and be quick. Liv and I will get started on the incantation.”

  Sebastian nods, makes for the door, then swings back around. His hand presses against my cheek so softly I barely feel his thumb brush away a tear. “Fight, Indi. Fight with everything you have.” He plants a desperate kiss on my lips like it might be the last time he ever gets to, and then he’s gone. The heavy steps of his boots on the stairs fill the room as Liv moves to my side. On her knees, she holds her hands out flat over my chest. On my other side, Jack does the same.

  Closing their eyes, they both chant in a language both foreign and familiar to my ears. The more they repeat it the more I understand it, and what they’re trying to do. Break a blood bond.

  Liv and Jack both lower a hand to my chest, placing the tips of their fingers along the edges of the symbol. A jolt of energy passes into me. Every cell in my body screams as the center of the symbol pulls apart—and tears my flesh open. Blood flows over my chest and down to my neck in warm rivulets. A scream dredged up from somewhere deep inside flays my throat on the way out. All around me, things explode—the mirror, the window, even the glass of water on the nightstand. The shattered pieces suspend in the air, held in limbo with me until I can’t scream anymore. Only when my cries die do they finally fall, and I finally slip into unconsciousness.

  27

  I wake up with a start, my back hitting the headboard and my hands slamming against my chest in the pitch-blackness of the room. I pat and pull at the shirt covering my skin until finally yanking it off. There was something on my skin. Something bad. Something very, very bad.

  A soft click chases away the darkness, and I fling my arm up to shield my eyes from the sudden brightness.

  A hand wraps around my wrist, and I jerk back in response.

  “It’s just me. You’re okay.”

  “Sebastian?” He lets go, and I drop my arm, taking in the full height of him standing beside my bed in the middle of the night. His t-shirt is on inside out, and his hair looks like he’s run his hands through it numerous times. The reasons why whisper in the back of my mind with each reiteration taking it from nightmare to reality.

  A glowing red symbol burning through my skin from the inside out. My cousins chanting over me as it tore apart. The pain—so much pain. Glass shattering, and then darkness. But now there’s nothing, my skin smooth and blemish free. No crazy glowing symbol. No stitched up wound. No broken glass on the floor.

  And no pendant.

  I look around my room in search of evidence to corroborate my memories. The mirror is pristine, the window too, not even a crack to mar the glass. As far as looks go everything is as it should be. Not a thing out of place. If it weren’t for a lingering charge in the air, I could convince myself it wasn’t real, but I can’t because it was. Bad magic burned through my body, the glass shattered, and I was ripped apart.

  “What happened to me?”

  “Someone used blood magic on you.”

  “Blood magic?” Flashes of Jack and Liv chanting over me blaze within my mind.

  “Yes, and they’d been reinforcing it with this.” St
uffing a hand into the front pocket of his jeans, he retrieves my missing pendant. It dangles from his fingers, the smooth silver catching light from the lamp in bursts of sparkly illumination.

  “My pendant?” I reach out for it, pinching the charm between my fingers. Words whisper over my mind. So long as you wear it, you will appear as an ordinary human. “But… it was just supposed to shield me from the supernatural world.”

  “Except it did a lot more than that.” He stuffs it back into his pocket, and I drop my hand. “It’s neutralized now so it can’t influence you anymore. Thank God your cousins were able to remove the symbol they’d branded you with.”

  “Branded me? They?” My mind trips over the multitude of disjointed thoughts, firing one after the other at his words. Someone branded me. Why would someone brand me? Who would brand me?

  Sharp pain pierces through the center of my brain, and I squeeze my eyes shut. Fragmented images play behind my lids in hazy fashion. An ouroboros. A hooded figure with his arms raised above my chest. The gleam of candlelight on the blade held in his hand. Blood—my blood—running over my skin.

  “Whoever did this is crazy-powerful.” The fear in Sebastian’s voice bursts through my tenuous memories, bringing me back to the here and now. Lingering images of snakes, and knives, and hooded figures disintegrate into wisps of smoke, fading into oblivion until I can’t quite remember what I’d been thinking about. “It couldn’t have been just one person,” he continues. “It had to be the work of a full coven.” His gaze rakes over me, the emotions churning in his eyes raw and intense. “They used some serious dark magic, Indi. Dark enough and powerful enough, you were completely cloaked. I couldn’t sense it. It wasn’t until you began pulling away, and I couldn’t feel you at all anymore that I knew something was wrong. I should have sensed it sooner. I’m so sorry I didn’t.”

  “It’s okay.”

  “No. It’s not okay, Indi. You have no idea how close I came to losing you.” He runs a hand through his raven hair, pushing it out of his eyes. It falls back over his forehead as he hangs his head, his gaze laser-locked on the carpet. “If it weren’t for Ava suggesting I use the connection you and I share to reach you, I would have. Your emotions were so cut off by the time I got here, I could see you drifting away. I was so afraid I wouldn’t be able to reach you, but then I did, and I could feel you again. I had you back. But then…”