Fire In The Darkness (Darkness Series #2)

by Stacey Marie Brown

  “Or have wanted to use and destroy me.”

  “For what it is worth, I do not want to hurt you nor do I want to see you destroyed. Quite the opposite.” He looked levelly at me. “Use you? Yes, I suppose I do; but I also want to train you, Ember. I want you to become the powerful warrior and fighter I know you are meant to be.”

  “But, still a weapon in a way—your weapon.”

  “You would work for me, yes.” His blunt honesty was comforting. At least I knew where I stood. “I want to prepare you for the war with the Queen, because it will come. You will need to be able to fight against her.”

  “And you think you can train me to take on the Queen? Are you nuts?”

  “That is yet to be determined.”

  I looked out the window. Grey clouds were rolling in covering the blue sky. It felt like some kind of omen. “Why are Daes so hated? What did we do?”

  “Do you know anything about Dae history?” I shook my head. “How about Fae history?” My response was the same. “Lily really kept you in the dark didn’t she?” He thrummed his fingers on his legs in thought. Hearing my mother’s name always tore at my heart, poking at my suppressed sorrow.

  He continued, “I do not recall when or where the first Daes came into existence. Knowing Demons and Fays, it had been happening since the beginning of time.” Lars stared off in the distance. “You should probably understand a little Fae history first to really understand where you fit in it.

  “The Fae once inhabited Earth’s realm. We lived numerous centuries all over the world. The major citadels were in what are now known as Greece, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and Ireland. Your heritage is Celtic.”

  “And Greek.”

  Okay, that was a new one.

  “Humans eventually came along, breeding faster than space would allow. Our ways were generally ignored by locals until Christianity and the church moved in. Suddenly there was fear, prejudice, and intolerance of our magic. This created hate and soon we found ourselves hunted, strung up, and killed. Survival caused Fae to retreat to the Otherworld. The future Queen, Aneira, and her sister, Aishling, were only children then.”

  Aishling. Interesting. One of my middle names. My mom named me after Fay royalty. Probably common in the Fay world. Humans picked their child’s middle name from British monarchy all the time.

  “It was their father, the King, who made the decision. I don’t think Aneira ever forgave him for retreating. She considered it a weakness. To her, humans were beneath Fae; therefore, Fae should not run from them. She also never forgave humans for taking her land. She’s had a personal vendetta against them ever since.” Lars got up from his chair and walked to the glass doors, looking out at his property. “She also resented that Demons and some Unseelie stayed on Earth, living quite contentedly alongside humans. I suppose she felt consorting with the enemy made you one as well. Her anger was set in stone when the former Unseelie King denied her retribution. She had come to him in hopes they could lay down their differences and come together to retaliate against the humans and take over Earth once again.

  “Foolish. She had forgotten Demons and some Unseelie need humans to live. We did not want our ‘energy source’ to be taken away. Humans gave us endless resources, especially the more the population swelled. Interestingly, we found humans were capable of the worst depravities towards each other. Greed, lust, corruption, unbridled ambition . . . And they call us evil.” He shook his head, resuming. “We were quite happy with how things stood. The previous Unseelie King had created a powerful empire here on Earth, ruling comfortably and growing in strength every day.

  “When she became Queen, Aneira was too vain to see how dominant the Unseelie King had become. She could not control him like she used to. When she comprehended how much clout he gained, her anxiety turned to hatred for him along with anyone who no longer followed her rule.”

  “What happened to him if he was so strong?”

  Lars turned around facing me. “He was killed.” There was no doubt that Lars was the one who did it. “We don’t inherit our roles. We take them.”

  I swallowed nervously as his yellow eyes blazed into mine.

  “As for Daes . . . when the Queen discovered she could not manipulate them with her glamour or bend them to her will, she started a relentless propaganda and smear campaign against them. Aneira still likes giving the impression she is not a ruthless dictator. She would not kill your kind unless it was for the ‘safety’ of her people. Therefore, she gave the people a reason for the killings. With a few set-up incidents, where Fae died supposedly because of a Dae, she easily got a law passed forbidding Demons and Fay from mating. But, of course, like on Earth, making it illegal merely renders it more tempting. And Demons do not like to follow rules, particularly if they can create a weapon against the Queen. Unfortunately, the former Unseelie King only encouraged this and it got way out of hand.”

  “You mean Demons were raping Fay women?” I spit out in disgust.

  “Yes—though not all did.” He seemed to hesitate before shaking his head slightly. “But, remember, Demons are female, too, so male Fay were raped as well. It would have been a lot more rampant if Dae weren’t only produced through an upper Demon and a pure, noble-blooded Fairy.”

  “Produced? It sounds like raping a Fairy to get a Dae baby was simply a manufacturing industry.”

  “To some it was.” He shrugged. “It was a dark time and something I halted as soon as I came into control.”

  “Aren’t you a sweetheart?”

  “Watch yourself, Ember,” he warned. “Be careful not to mistake Dark or Unseelie with evil. There are no good and bad sides here. Light and Dark might work differently, but ‘Light’ does not mean good, nor does ‘Dark’ equal bad. Good versus evil thinking is a narrow-minded way to look at it and will only get you killed.”

  My fingers nervously fiddled with the zipper of the grotesquely pink hoodie.

  He cleared his throat, carrying on. “It was said every Dae would eventually lose control—some getting high off their powers and letting it overtake them—becoming insane and killing everything in their path.”

  “What?”

  “This is not entirely untrue. Certain Daes can be too powerful and end up destroying everything around them—if not trained properly. But, all you need is a shred of truth for something to seem factual in people’s eyes. They destroy what they fear or do not understand. Aneira created panic, deciding the fate of your kind. There were some reasons to dread Daes, but it was more because she couldn’t master your kind than because of what you are or what you did.”

  “Did any Daes live?”

  “Very few that I am aware of. Some were smuggled here, raised by humans, to protect them from the Queen. Sadly, most were eventually found and killed. Ultimately, they could not hide their powers for long, especially if they did not understand what was going on. You were one of the lucky ones.”

  I looked away. Warmth for my mother wrapped around me. I was beginning to understand why she did what she did and why she had kept the truth from me. Her love and strength had kept me alive. It also sounded very similar to what happened to the Druids—what had happened to Kennedy.

  Aneira’s cruel smile popped into my head. The bitch had taken everything from me. She and Samantha.

  Vengeance . . . the word swirled around, enticing me. “My dad, my friends—I can’t sit here and let her have them. I have to go after them.”

  “And how do you propose to do that?”

  “I don’t know, but I can’t sit here and do nothing. I have abilities. She can’t control me. I can fight her.”

  His deep, haughty laugh echoed through the room. “Ember, you would not last thirty seconds against her.”

  “I don’t care. I’m not letting them suffer any longer.” I jumped up from my chair. Lars flicked his wrist and in the next second I found myself across the room, pinned to the wall by an invisible force. My lungs fluttered in alarm as air leaked from them.

  �
��You think you can go against the most formidable Fae? You are not even a match for a barely trained guard. You are a baby, untrained and ignorant.” He walked over to me, watching me struggle against his invisible hold. Veins in my neck and face swelled as the lack of oxygen gripped me. “Now, are you going to be more sensible if I let you go?” Lars spoke to me like I was a three-year-old. “I have a proposition for you, one that will help you eventually get your human father and friends out.”

  Black spots dotted my sight.

  “I would decide quickly, Ember.”

  He was right. There was no way I could go up against the Queen. My own fears had caused me to panic and act irrationally, but I didn’t know what else to do. It would be tough, but I had to play their games to get what I wanted.

  “Are you ready to make a deal?” Forcing my head to nod, I dropped from the wall and landed in a heap on the ground, coughing and gasping for air.

  Am I really going to deal with a Demon? Am I that stupid?

  Yeah. I guess I was. It was probably beyond the most idiotic decision ever made, but it was the only way I could see to help my family. I needed help. The Dark Dwellers couldn’t get to the Otherworld, and Torin was dominated by the Queen. Sadly, the only person I could count on right now was a Demon—the Unseelie King. Torin had told me to find Lars, and he knew I needed help fighting Aneira. This must be his way of helping me. I had to trust Torin; there was no other option now.

  “Good decision. A fight is coming. You need to be prepared.” Lars looked directly into my eyes, sauntered back to his desk, and pushed a button on the phone. Less than thirty seconds later, a firm knock sounded at the door. I pushed myself up, my legs shaking as I leaned against the wall.

  “Come in,” Lars called out.

  The door opened to a massive man who had to be at least 7 feet tall and 400 pounds of solid muscle. My Dark Dweller sense of smell perceived he was Fae. He ducked his head through the doorway as he walked in. Cuts and gashes covered his sour, harsh face. He was baldheaded, with coffee-colored skin, and his meaty hands, the size of baseball mitts, hung at his sides. My neck had to bend back to take in all of him. He was large and scary looking, not to mention the first ugly Otherworlder I’d seen. I immediately wanted to cower in his presence.

  “Ember, this is Rimmon.”

  “N-N-Nice to meet you, Rimmon,” my voice wobbled out. He nodded and grunted at me as he moved into the room. For his colossal size, I was shocked at his light steps.

  “He is the muscle of our security here.” Yeah, he looked like he’d be good at that. “He is the one who found you last night when he was out patrolling.”

  “Oh . . . thank you?” I didn’t mean it to come out like a question, but everything about him made me slink back in fright. His head jerked down in response. Not a talker.

  “Rimmon, tell Goran we need to double security tonight.” Lars walked over to me, and without a word or warning, grabbed my arm, flipping it over. His fingers slapped against a vein.

  “What are you doing?”

  He responded by jabbing a needle into my arm before I could break loose from his grip, quickly extracting blood.

  “Owwww!”

  He sauntered over to Rimmon and handed him the vial of my blood. “And have Maya reset the wards and incantations to include Ember’s blood around the property. We need to ensure they are extremely tight and solid. We might receive some immensely unwanted visitors from now on.”

  “What the hell? You can’t take my blood without asking,” I yelled, rubbing my arm.

  “I take whatever I need,” he declared. “But you should not complain. This will allow you to come and go freely. Without these enchantments you would not be able to even step across the property line without forgetting where you were or what you were doing. We have many levels of wards and spells that deter people from finding this place.” This was like what the Dark Dwellers installed around their property. “Last night you set off every security alarm and only reached us because you were mostly unconscious, which was when Rimmon here found you.” His glanced over to Rimmon. “You are excused.”

  Rimmon gave a swift nod, pivoted, and exited the room.

  “He’s a chatty dude.” I turned back to Lars. “And frightening.”

  “Yes, he is, but that is his purpose, to frighten, terrorize, and unnerve his opponent. For as big as he is, he’s also extremely quiet and quick in battle. He's an ideal guard; his presence alone stops most from even trying to attack here.”

  “Are Demons’ looks based on what they do?”

  “Not only Demons but most Fae use their shell for their needs. Most of the Dark prey on humans, mentally and/or physically. So, our human forms help us achieve this—whether to seduce, scare, or entice humans into our varying wants and vices.”

  It suddenly clicked why all the guys in Eli’s group were take-me-against-the-wall hot. Their looks were part of their "hunting" equipment. I cocked my head at Lars. “Is this why you look like you do?”

  “Yes, but I am a special case,” he replied, not elaborating.

  “What about me? I’m part Demon.” I stepped back to the chair I had being sitting in before being flung across the room. “Do I feed off humans, too?” My voice went higher than I even thought it could. The idea I had to “absorb” human energies to live made me want to retch. What if it was worse than that? Would I eventually have to kill humans to live?

  “Relax, Ember. You are also an unique case. You do not feed off humans. A Dae’s energy usually comes from earth or nature. There was a case where Daes took their powers from humans,” he said, then swiftly changed the subject. “As for our deal—you will stay here and train every day. I will decide when you have had enough or when you are ready. You will owe me one favor when asked and, in exchange, you have a home, food, and protection. You will be taught to use your skills and abilities for combat—learning to master them as easily as breathing. Do you grasp what is being offered to you?”

  I could feel the manipulation winding around his words, but that didn’t stop me from wanting it. I nodded. “Yes.”

  “You will not be able to back out of our deal once it has been agreed upon. Do you understand?”

  I again nodded. “I want you to train me.” I looked up, determination set on my brow. “I want to learn how to control and use my powers. I’m getting my dad and friends back.”

  His eyes watched me thoughtfully for a time. “So we have a deal? You live and train here until you are able to manage your skills to help me and to get your friends and father back. Agreed?”

  I sucked in some air. “Agreed.” As the words came out of my mouth, I felt a pressure of energy swirl over my body. “What was that?” I held out my arms looking for the imaginary source.

  “That is our bonding agreement. I do not take deals lightly, and if you sever our contract, repercussions will be severe. From now on you cannot leave when things get tough or you no longer think they are fun. You are committed.” I gulped, my head dipped in acknowledgment. “Good.” There was a slight gloating in his tone. He leaned over to his phone, pushing another red button. “Rez?”

  There was a beat of silence before a woman’s silky voice came back over the intercom. “Yes?”

  “Can you come in here, my dear?” Lars’ voice didn’t hint at any emotion, yet I couldn’t stop my eyebrows from popping up. He ignored my expression.

  “You knew all along I’d agree to this.”

  “There is very little that does not resolve in my favor. If I see a weakness, I go for it. Yours is the love for your family. They are your weakness, which is why you keep losing them.” My fists balled up against my side. Several expletives were about to roll off my tongue when there was a soft knock at the door as it opened. My mouth dropped open as the most beautiful, sexy women I had ever seen walked into the room. She looked to be in her late twenties or early thirties and flawless. Long black hair hung to the middle of her back, framing perfectly proportionate features: strong cheek bones
, an elegant swan-like neck, and big almond-shaped, dark chocolate brown eyes—maybe part Italian or Greek. She was thin, fine-boned, but curvy in all the right places. She was elegant, classy and sensual.

  She made me feel about as pretty as a hairless cat. Please say she’s a bitch, so I can hate her.

  “Ember, this is Rez.” He motioned toward her. “If you need anything, go to her. She is in charge of running the house.”

  She smiled and nodded. “I hope you are feeling better?”

  “Yes, thank you.” I was getting used to the Dark being beautiful, but well-mannered and nice? This was a little too much to grasp.

  “Rez, Ember is going to be staying with us while training. I would like you to help her get settled. Whatever she needs: clothes, shoes, personal items. Also, if you could introduce her to everyone so she feels at home.”

  “Of course,” Rez replied.

  Lars nodded and then moved toward his desk, signaling our dismissal. Rez motioned me to follow as she headed out the door. I had so many questions for Lars, but it was clear he was done with me for the moment. I got up, trailing after her. She wore a nice pair of black slacks with a creamy white, off-the-shoulder blouse. The outfit was simple but looked incredible on her and made my hot pink sweat suit look even tackier. She would have been a tiny bit shorter than I was without her heels; and like me, she was all legs, though she made having long legs look glamorous, not gawky. She was runway; I was alleyway.

  “I’m glad you decided to stay with us, Ember,” her voice soothed me. “I think you will like it here. Our home is yours now.” She turned around to continue on with the tour. “There are a handful of us who live here. I guess you could say we are a family.” It was a strange prospect, the Unseelie King putting on his jammies before going to bed. Demons living in a house together like some reality show, watching movies, eating, joking around. It seemed so human. “We work for Lars, but he gives us flexibility to go out and do our thing.” She said “our thing” in such a way I knew meant whatever they needed to do to live, which probably meant feeding off humans.