The Dark Ones

by Rachel Van Dyken

  "What idea?" I played dumb, knowing exactly what was going to happen. Cassius was going to pursue Stephanie… as he should.

  "I'll murder you," Alex said in a low voice.

  "Any more fears, Alex?" Cassius taunted.

  "Bastard."

  "King." His eyes flashed. "And don't you forget it."

  CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

  Ethan

  THE MINUTE I'D DISCOVERED SHE WAS pregnant, it was like I'd ceased to exist, and every thought focused on the tiny life growing inside of her.

  I couldn't stop staring at her all throughout dinner. I didn't want to eat food. I wanted to taste her — taste and make sure the baby was healthy — and force my own blood down her throat even if I had to trick her. It would make the baby grow faster.

  And I'd feel a hell of a lot better about protecting both their lives.

  "Stop fidgeting," Alex said to my left. "You're worse than a woman."

  "Don't call me a woman," I snarled, trying to pay attention to the card game, while Genesis and Mason attempted to bake a cake.

  She wanted chocolate.

  He had some extra berries for the toppings.

  And now they deemed themselves professionals. Pans went flying, and I knew it was only a matter of time before my gourmet kitchen was going to have dings all over it from both Mason's inability to do anything gentle and Genesis's newfound strength.

  A knife had impaled itself into Alex's thigh when she was cutting vegetables. Don't ask me how. One minute it had been in her hand; the next minute it had gone flying. Naturally, I'd gotten out of the way.

  Alex, however, had been too busy daydreaming.

  He'd bled for mere seconds before he healed.

  But he was still irritated.

  It was torture — waiting for the cake to bake. Waiting for everyone to stop talking.

  Waiting, waiting, waiting.

  Finally, Cassius cleared his throat and whispered something in Genesis's ear before giving me a fleeting look and walking out of the room.

  She jumped to her feet, reached for my hand, and the next thing I knew, she was pulling me up the stairs toward our bedroom.

  The doors slammed behind us.

  And her mouth was on mine.

  "You taste like chocolate," I growled, biting at her lips. "Sweet."

  "Mmm…" She gripped my hair with her hands, jumped into my arms, and wrapped her legs around me. "…and you taste like sugar."

  I chuckled and bit at her lips again. Tasting a bit of her blood mixed with her scent had my mind racing as I tossed her onto the bed and ripped at her clothes aggressively. "I've been wanting to do this for hours."

  "Rip clothes?" she teased.

  "Only yours."

  "I didn't know." Genesis tilted her head back while my lips found her neck, trailing kisses all the way down until I came into contact with her bra — worthless piece of material. I ripped it off and made a mental note not to let her wear any undergarments — ever. Too many unnecessary layers.

  She let out a moan when I licked between the valley of her breasts, my mouth making a wet trail down her stomach.

  "Cassius said we needed alone time."

  "Remind me to vote him into office." I swirled my tongue around her belly button and moved lower, tugging her leggings away. Damn, she wore a lot of clothes. Where the hell were all those dresses I told Stephanie to buy for her?

  "You vote for king?"

  "Stop talking," I hissed, licking her hipbone then biting the sensitive flesh above it.

  "O-o-okay." Genesis gripped my head and forced it down.

  I chuckled. "Demanding."

  "Sorry, I was… distracted."

  "Allow me to distract you more." I leaned up on my knees, still hovering over her and ripped off every stitch of clothing left on my body. "Also, remind me to lock you in the bedroom for the next few weeks."

  She laughed, her hands dancing across my naked chest. "You're beautiful."

  "Vampires are deadly. Not beautiful."

  "Fine. You're deadly."

  I smiled.

  "Still pretty though."

  "Dangerous," I corrected her.

  Her eyebrows arched.

  With a hiss, I flipped her onto her stomach and moved between her thighs. "Still think I'm pretty?"

  "Very." She moved up to her knees and looked over her shoulder. "Is this you trying to prove me wrong?"

  With a growl, I rocked her hips back, plunging into her. "Guess I'll have to try harder."

  "Yes, harder." She closed her eyes and whimpered.

  With a growl, I filled her and began slowly stroking, moving. I ducked my head down and bit the side of her hip, drawing blood between my lips as I went deeper, filling every inch of her.

  Eternity.

  Immortality.

  I experienced it only with Genesis.

  And I knew my life would never be the same. Because she lived… I was forever changed.

  "Ethan!" she screamed.

  I pulled out and flipped her onto her back, sinking my fangs into her neck as I thrust one last time, nearly taking us both off the bed. "I love you," I whispered hoarsely against her neck. "Forever."

  EPILOGUE

  Cassius

  I WANDERED THE STREETS, LETTING THE darkness consume the loneliness inside my chest. The irritating little jab that continued to beat in a melodic rhythm, reminding me that I was alive.

  That she'd almost died.

  I muttered a curse and pulled the hood of my jacket over my head, moving through the shadows, watching, waiting.

  "You called?" an amused voice cracked into the night sky.

  I flinched at the way his every syllable made my body want to convulse with anger — rage. "Yes."

  "And?"

  "She gave me her immortality. Is it possible to give it back?"

  He stepped out of the shadows, his white hair a stark contrast to the dark air swirling around us, protecting us from watchful eyes. "Why would you want to do that?"

  I hated my father, hated Sariel for forcing me into the position of king over a people who, for the most part, feared me but despised me with a hateful rage that could never be fixed. "She's weak."

  Sariel smiled, folding his large arms across his chest in a manner that reminded me what he was — and what I was in comparison. Small. "There is always a way to return what has been given, but things always come at a cost. You give back the gift — you earn the same fate."

  I figured as much.

  "Being human, is it so horrible?" Sariel held his hands out in front of him as the cloud of darkness disappeared and people walked around us, mindless of our presence. "Some of them are happy."

  "But most of them are full of fear, anger, sadness." I shook my head. "The same emotions that would overtake me if I didn't have your blood."

  Sariel's eyes flashed white. "Emotions are something we don't readily experience."

  I licked my lips and nodded once. "Thank you."

  His eyebrows shot up. "That's a first."

  I ignored him and turned my back, walking in the other direction. It was a mistake to call for him, a mistake to meet with him — only to find out that I was in the same damn position I'd been in a few days ago.

  In love.

  Chasing after something so forbidden that I'd risked my life in order to follow my heart.

  "Thirty days," Sariel called behind me.

  I glanced over my shoulder. "Thirty days?"

  "Thirty days of humanity — learn to love as a human does. If she loves you in return, truly loves you as you are and mates with you, I'll restore your immortality — and allow her hers."

  My heart picked up speed in my chest. "And if I fail?"

  Sariel grinned menacingly. "Then I kill you. Blood must always be shed for balance. You know that by now, son."

  "Thirty days," I repeated.

  "Thirty days, oh, and do try not to get shot or develop a sickness that's not yet found a cure."

  "I haven't agree
d."

  "You agreed the minute the words fell upon your ears." Sariel raised his hands above his head.

  A clap of thunder sounded.

  Severe pain ripped through my legs as I fell to my knees onto the cold wet pavement.

  Heart racing, I reached for my chest only to find that my skin was warm to the touch.

  "Thirty days," he whispered and disappeared.

  Shaking, I rose to my feet, stumbling past buildings. When I finally made it out of the alleyway and into the lit up street, I glanced at my reflection in the store window and almost got sick.

  My skin had color.

  And my eyes… were blue.

  DIVINE UPRISING

  Excerpt

  When men began to multiply on earth, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw how beautiful the daughters of man were, and so they took for their wives as many of them as they chose. Then the Lord said: "My spirit shall not remain in man forever, since he is but flesh. His days shall comprise one hundred and twenty years." At that time the Nephilim appeared on earth (as well as later), after the sons of God had intercourse with the daughters of man, who bore them sons. They were the heroes of old, the men of renown.

  Genesis 6:1-4

  CHAPTER ONE

  Athena

  MY WHOLE LIFE I'VE been taught to be good.

  I've been good.

  I remind myself of that every time the job gets to me. On days like today, when I look at what I've done — repentance comes to mind.

  I took in the complete and utter mess around me. By the looks of it, I clearly had a lot more in store at the end of my life than normal people.

  Normal.

  The word itself mocked me.

  My feet touched the cold slate of the floor. Blood pooled around the spike of my leather heels, instantly making me feel irritated that I'd have to clean them.

  It had been too easy this time. We were supposed to be looking at the apartment across the way. Adonis convinced the real estate agent that I needed my space, so we boarded the elevator alone, and when we reached the fifth floor, headed to the room where the human was waiting.

  It was over before she could even pull the trigger on her .45 Auto, not that it would have done much damage.

  But after we found out she was trying to trap us for the Phantoms, her only remaining option was death — not that it was an option to begin with. Death rarely was.

  I rolled my eyes and knelt down by her body. I was literally standing in a mess of my own creation. The form was pale and lifeless. Its entire source of energy… gone.

  The Phantoms started this war. Now it was up to those who remained in His favor to end it.

  It's what Seekers did. They sought out the evil in the world that threatened to destroy everything pure and good.

  All I knew was that until the Phantoms were burning in Hell, my entire existence was spent saving the weak human race from being destroyed by their own stupidity.

  After taking a deep breath, I realized I only had two options: call for reinforcements or clean up the mess myself. I decided against the latter. I didn't feel the need to get dirty. After all, a girl hates to get messy, and I was dressed in all white, the typical uniform of the Seeker.

  I whistled to bring my partner Adonis around the corner, where he was most likely basking in the glow of our victory. Not that he was any help. Well, I mean he had his uses. Each of the Seekers did. Mine was to fight, his was to… entice. And I mean that in the literal sense of the word. He could get anyone to do anything. Case in point: the young woman whose corpse I was stepping over had been so entranced by Adonis's face she didn't even feel the sting of my knife in her back. One twist and she was done for.

  He blew her a parting kiss, his way of keeping it classy. And voila, case closed, mission complete. His job was easy; mine was hard. Adonis never got his hands dirty, or his clothes for that matter.

  His dark, curly hair and crystal blue eyes almost made a person uncomfortable, not that I would ever admit that to him. It would make living with him absolute torture. Being his partner was hard enough without having to live with a man whose ego was larger than that of the entire cast of Jersey Shore. "So we cleaning this up, or are you calling in Headquarters?"

  I rolled my eyes in disgust at his mention of Headquarters. Too much red tape. "Don't do this, Athena, don't do that…"

  I could tell Adonis thought I was about to do my usual "I hate everything about the rules in our society" speech. He took out our card and made the decision for me. The card immediately melted into the body, leaving a giant gold S in the middle of the corpse.

  "I've sent the signal. Let's go." He wrapped his arm around me, pulling me in close to his body. All six feet five inches of him was covered with thick corded muscles that made any ultimate fighter look like a pansy.

  I sighed into his shoulder, thankful that at least I'm one of the few Seekers whose partner was still living, and followed his lead into the elevator.

  "It's getting harder for you, Thena." Adonis pushed the illuminated lobby button and ran his fingers through his hair. "I never thought I'd say this, but you're losing your touch."

  I bit my lip to keep from causing him physical harm. "Me? I'm losing my touch?"

  He shrugged in a totally Adonis way, which infuriated me even more. "I just killed her. I took her down in less than five seconds. How on earth am I losing my touch?"

  "It used to be less than three seconds." He sighed.

  "You're kidding, right?"

  He stopped the elevator and pulled me closer. "You've been doing this too long. Maybe my concern for you gets in the way, maybe…"

  The words were left unspoken, but I knew they were there. Behind the cool mask of indifference and cockiness was a heart. He didn't want me to become like so many other Seekers who ended up losing their minds and being sent back to Headquarters. They were sentenced to live a life being hand-fed bottles of medicine that made them forget all the horrible things they'd done in the name of saving a few measly human lives.

  "It's not them I mind killing," I said.

  "I know."

  And he did. Phantoms weren't meant to be walking among us. They were half-breeds: half fallen angel, half human. Many of them still possessed powers nobody on planet Earth should know about, let alone possess.

  The humans had a word for our kind: Nephilim. We were also half-breeds — all of us. It's what made us different, what made us almost immortal, considering we were basically demi-gods.

  It was the humans. The informants. The ones who mindlessly worked for the Phantoms, thinking they have some sort of use, when really they were pawns in a much bigger game than they'd ever imagined. Those were the ones I hated killing. Even if they were idiotic enough to think they had any say in this war.

  I stared at Adonis as his eyes searched mine. He brought his hand up to my face. I shuddered as his touch brought me reeling back from the darkness that plagued me.

  Touch.

  It was what saved Seekers from turning into their worst fear: evil itself. A person could only see so much evil, and commit so much in the name of a cause, before they truly forgot which side they were fighting for.

  The touch of another being, another energy source, was what kept Seekers balanced, and what kept us alive. It was one of the main reasons Seekers were partnered up. We needed one another in order to stay strong.

  God help me, but Adonis was my strength.

  His lips touched mine for a brief second before he pulled back and traced the outside of my jaw with his finger. I leaned into him, nearly swaying on my feet as I did so.

  "Better?" he asked, kissing the top of my forehead.

  I sighed. "Better. Thanks."

  "Anytime." He winked and moved back to push the button as I rolled my eyes. I needed to remind myself to never give the guy compliments.

  "Stop talking trash about me, Thena."

  I offered him an innocent look. He and I both knew he couldn't read minds, even though
some Phantoms could.

  Unfortunately, he also knew me well enough to guess almost exactly what I was thinking most the time.

  I knew I had to put my game face on. After all, the entire reason for going into the building had been a set up. We needed to get into the apartment; therefore, we pretended to be apartment-hunting. I was sure the real estate agent was waiting with bated breath for our take on the penthouse.

  The elevator door opened, leading us back into the lobby where the real estate agent was waiting anxiously. I took Adonis's hand, as per our arrangement and laughed as I looked into his big, baby blues.

  "Oh, baby, it's so perfect, let's take it!" I kissed him firmly on the mouth, enjoying the fact that I got to see him squirm. He hated being the one being hit on, considering his life's work was doing the exact opposite.

  "So what did you think?" The real estate agent walked up to us in a full-out red leopard jumpsuit and gold heels.

  What I wanted to say was, "I should kill you for dressing like that."

  What came out was, "My boyfriend and I really need to discuss it."

  I plastered a grin on my face as Adonis worked his magic.

  He leaned in toward the middle-aged woman and closed his eyes for two seconds before focusing the weight of his godlike appearance onto the poor soul. "What do you think, Katrina?"

  Katrina blinked a few times and sucked in a deep breath, before placing her hand on her heaving chest.

  Nice work, Adonis, you've officially given her a stroke.

  I nudged him in the ribs, signaling him to back off before the woman started panting. Katrina shook her head and giggled.

  "I don't know what came over me. Well, you two just take your time. You have my card. Call me if you need anything." Katrina said the last part with a suggestive wink toward at Adonis.

  "Cougar," I coughed as she sauntered off.

  Adonis laughed and led me out the door to the waiting black SUV.

  "So…" I exhaled once he got in on his side.

  "Food?"

  "Food." He grinned and drove off faster than a bat out of Hades.

  CHAPTER TWO

  I WAS GRIPPING THE seat like a vice. Adonis looked at my hands and snorted. Clearly he sensed my irritated mood. So we drove up to the first fast food place he could find. I needed carbs, the only thing that seemed to make my mood better — other than being in his arms for an extended period of time — but that's just uncomfortable for a number of reasons I didn't feel like thinking about.