Untouchable Darkness

by Rachel Van Dyken

  “Of course not!” The thought made me sick to my stomach. “Are you hurt?”

  He didn’t answer, but his face was paler than before, and I noticed his breathing was a bit uneven. Was it from the violence or the kiss?

  “If you don’t learn to control your emotions we’ll both be dead by the time we reach Ethan’s. If we make it that far.” Another wince. “Now, I know everything is very new to you, but if you could try not to kill one or both of us within the next ten minutes, I’d be eternally grateful. I’m still not used to being fully human.”

  I swallowed and looked away in shame. “I don’t really know how to control certain things—where you’re concerned.”

  “Wouldn’t have guessed that,” he said dryly, his eyes narrowing in on me with the precision of a sharp knife.

  “What?” I licked my lips nervously and stared ahead out the window.

  “Nothing, it’s just I’m trying to decide if that’s a compliment or not.”

  I stole another glance at him. How was he so calm? And why didn’t he lose all of his good looks the minute he turned human? How was that fair? His blue eyes were electric in the night sky. His skin still so smooth and flawless that I wanted to reach out and touch it.

  Thank God he couldn’t still read my thoughts.

  “Don’t look at me like that if you don’t plan on following through,” he snapped, his white teeth flashing against the blanket of darkness in the car.

  “Fine.” I put the car back in drive. “So, I just have to keep myself from losing control emotionally—for the next what? Ten miles?”

  He sighed. “Yes.”

  “And then once we’re safely within the walls of Ethan’s little compound?”

  Cassius shook his head, an amused grin spread across his face. “Well then, I’ll allow you to try to kill me if that’s what you really wish.”

  “I don’t want you dead.”

  “Things would be easier if I were,” he whispered.

  “Since when have you ever taken the easy way out?”

  He broke eye contact and looked down. I’d never seen Cassius do that in all the time I’d known him. His confidence never wavered.

  Yet as a human I could see chinks in his armor as if he was falling apart before my very eyes.

  “Hey.” I grabbed his arm, and immediately I regretted it as tiny ice crystals formed around my fingertips and imprinted themselves against his smooth skin.

  He hissed and pulled back. “Huh, never thought I’d be on the receiving end of that.”

  “What?” I clenched my hand into a tiny fist, flexing my fingers.

  Cassius caressed the spot on his arm that I’d just touched or marked was more like it. You could still see the indentation where my hand had just been. “Pity… and…” He let out a long exhale like it was getting harder to breathe. “It’s not easy to combat, is it?”

  “What? Pity?” Was he losing it? Was being a human finally taking a toll on his once immortal brain? Was that part of his punishment from Sariel?

  “The pull… the flavor…” He licked his lips as if he could taste me. “The promise of a Dark One’s touch.”

  “But I just touched you. I didn’t…”

  “You tried to mark me.” He exhaled again and rubbed his arm vigorously. “We should go, before you kill me.”

  “I would never—”

  “Just drive the car, get me to Ethan’s in one piece, and then I promise we’ll talk more.”

  “No more running away?”

  “Where could I possibly go where you wouldn’t find me?”

  I wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or just a jab at my stalker tendencies considering he knew how I felt about him, so I left it alone and pulled back onto the freeway.

  The car ride was as silent as death the entire way to Ethan’s.

  And I couldn’t help but wonder if Cassius being turned human, was the final nail in the coffin.

  Hope died in my chest as I realized—I would never be his equal even as a Dark One. He would always be on step ahead of me. He would always be—Cassius. And I? I would always be the little girl he saved.

  Never the woman he loved.

  Cassius

  MY BODY WAS HOT and cold all at once. It was an odd feeling, like my face was burning up, but the rest of my body had a chill. Maybe I was dying. Hah, wouldn’t that be part of Sariel’s cruel trick? Give me thirty days but kill me before I can even attempt to do anything.

  I was doing a hell of a job—of pushing her away, that was.

  Every single time I opened my mouth it was like I lost complete control over what I should say and just blurted out things that I knew caused pain. My thoughts were jumbled—when I’d been immortal I was able to compartmentalize, to attack each problem, find a solution, and then deal with the next. Being overwhelmed was never an issue because it never occurred.

  But in that car, driving toward Ethan’s, I was so overcome with—life that it was hard to breathe, hard to keep my thoughts straight. It didn’t help that I was ninety-nine percent sure I had internal bleeding and would have trouble getting out of bed in the morning.

  I wanted to claim her.

  Yet I worried she’d resent me.

  I wanted to help her.

  And at the same time a part of me was fearful of what she was capable of, even as I was fully aware of how weak I was.

  And then her scent would suddenly invade the car and I was lost again to a wave of lust for her—something I’d never in my life experienced until now—because I had no power to push it away.

  When I had been a Dark One, I was able to recognize the lust for what it was and shove it away to the furthest recess of my mind. But ignoring the Siren’s call had been manageable, never easy. And now? I shook my head. Impossible. The air was filled with her scent; my arm still tingled where she’d left her fingerprints. Damn it, she could have easily marked me; she was the equivalent of a superhero who’d just discovered they had supernatural powers.

  She sighed.

  I held my breath. Afraid I’d do something stupid.

  As a human it was damn near impossible to ignore anything—hell, even her breathing had me leaning toward her, just wishing she’d turn her head so I could kiss her.

  That wasn’t the way to win her over—a sneak attack.

  At this rate I was going to die before anything even started.

  “Home sweet home.” Stephanie said it like a curse as she pulled the car to a stop in front of Ethan’s compound and turned off the car. “This should be… interesting.”

  The ice that had formed across her beautiful skin was receding—good, at least she’d calmed down enough not to kill both of us.

  “And here they come,” Stephanie muttered, then pushed open the car door leaving me in silence as I watched Ethan, Mason, and Genesis approach, followed at a distance by Alex, Stephanie’s brother, who I assumed was still pissed off at me on account that I told Stephanie the truth about her heritage.

  Slowly, I unbuckled my seatbelt, opened the car door, and stood.

  The talking that had been animated only seconds before I stood ceased altogether.

  I didn’t lift my head.

  Didn’t acknowledge anyone at all, simply stared at the ground and walked, only stopping when I saw a pair of black boots step in my way. Slowly, I looked up and into Ethan’s flashing green eyes.

  “You smell…” He blinked, sniffing the air around us, then eyes wide, took a big step backward. “Hell, that’s not good.”

  “Baths.” Mason growled and walked toward me. “You should try one Dark—” His face paled as he joined Ethan.

  I turned to Alex, waiting for his reaction to be the same. It was normal—typical, for an immortal to give a human, at least a male human, a wide berth. They had no use for male humans, and our history wasn’t necessarily a pleasant one all things considered.

  My scent reminded them of the wars fought.

  The wars lost.

  The wars yet to
come.

  The kings that had sworn fealty to us only to hunt us later.

  It would be hardest for them since they were the oldest, old enough to have been involved in many of the great battles that nearly wiped out both the humans and immortals.

  Alex tilted his head, his eyes held mild amusement. “My, my, how the mighty have fallen.”

  In response, I had such a strong desire to run my fist through his mouth, that my hands shook. It would only end in blood—my blood—being spilled. Therefore, I chose not to do anything. A complete first for me, I’d always been a man of action.

  “Get it?” He walked closer and elbowed me. “Because technically you were like a Fallen Angel with your half blood, only now you’re just…” He shrugged. “Human.” He wrapped his arm around me, pulling me tight against him, not enough to hurt me but enough to remind me that I was yet again on the low end of the food chain. His ability to snap me in half wasn’t lost on me at all—it was humbling, and irritating as hell. “I imagine there’s a story here, care to tell it?”

  “Care to go to hell?” I countered.

  “Super.” He nodded. “You’ve been cursed to humanity, and yet you still have that chipper attitude…”

  “Cassius?” Genesis interrupted. “You look…”

  “Rough.” Mason coughed. “He looks rough.”

  I sighed, “As much as I love family reunions, can we please take this inside? I’m cold.”

  The minute the words left my mouth I felt weak.

  And ashamed of my weakness, so much so that I felt my cheeks heat again. Shit, I didn’t like this, not one bit. How the hell was I supposed to win over Stephanie when I had nothing to offer her?

  No protection.

  Only weakness.

  I was beginning to realize I hadn’t made a deal with an Angel, but the Devil, and I was going to end up paying with my life.

  Stephanie

  “DID HE JUST SAY he was cold?” Alex repeated after Cassius’s disappearing form.

  “Yeah.” The words felt hollow coming out of my mouth. “He did.”

  Alex tapped his chin then looked at the doorway Cassius had just walked through. “Interesting.”

  Interesting? Try terrifying.

  I rubbed my arms, I wasn’t cold, just uncomfortable… It almost felt like we’d switched places, though I had never been human to begin with, so I couldn’t even imagine what Cassius was going through—or what desperation had taken place in his mind to get him to a place where turning into a human was even a bargaining chip.

  It was a punishment. It had to be.

  Ethan put his muscled arm around my shoulder and kissed my temple. “So it seems you have a lot of explaining to do… or maybe just Cassius?”

  I shrugged. “I know just about as much as you guys.”

  “Well.” Mason rubbed his hands together and cackled. “This should be fun.”

  “Play nice,” Ethan snapped. Then, as if realizing what he was saying, he chuckled. “I should probably remind myself of that.”

  Genesis nodded. “You did try to kill him a few days ago.”

  “He wanted what was mine,” Ethan fired back, his eyes blazing green as he hissed out a curse.

  I stepped away from his embrace and made my way slowly into the house. Cassius was sitting in the kitchen staring out the window like it was going to suddenly turn into a TV and show him his destiny if he stared hard enough.

  “Penny for your thoughts?” I joked.

  He was silent.

  The room was strung with tension.

  I gulped.

  “Weak.” Cassius whispered the word. “I had forgotten how weak humans were.”

  “Are,” I interjected without thinking.

  His nostrils flared, “My apologies. Are. Present tense.”

  “Grammar lessons?” Mason waltzed into the kitchen and pulled out a chair; it scratched across the floor loud enough to make my ears hurt. “So Cassius, feeling… all right?”

  Cassius rolled his eyes. “Just come out and ask it, Wolf.”

  “You look funny.”

  Cassius snorted out a laugh. “That all you got?”

  “Smells funny too.” Ethan joined in from behind me.

  “And let’s not forget.” Alex patted Cassius on the shoulder. “Your eyes aren’t freaky anymore.”

  “I was never freaky,” Cassius defended looking completely insulted as he crossed his bulky arms over his chest. Pieces of his dark hair fell to his sharp chin.

  “You were,” everyone except me said in unison.

  Cassius briefly glanced down at the table then back out the window. I sat next to him, not really knowing if it was my place to offer him comfort or just wait for everyone to finally pry out of him what the heck had happened.

  “So.” Ethan spoke after a few minutes. “Now that we’re in the safety of the house, mind filling us in?”

  Cassius gazed at me out of the corner of his eye, his jaw was set in a firm line almost like he didn’t want me to be there.

  “It’s a… test of sorts,” he finally said. “From Sariel.”

  Mason grumbled “bastard” under his breath as he walked over to the island and started pulling out pots and pans. He’d turned into one of those people who stress cooked even if he didn’t eat what he cooked—which was fine considering Genesis was still human and now that she was pregnant really needed food. The guy could probably compete on MasterChef and win by a landslide. Ever since Genesis had moved in, it seemed all he did was watch the cooking channel and go grocery shopping.

  Odd behavior for a species known for ripping humans’ throats out.

  “A test,” Ethan repeated. “Care to elaborate or is that all we’re going to get?”

  Cassius was silent.

  Of course.

  No emotion. It pissed me off. At least being human I expected him to do something, react somehow, at least the way he had in the car, but now it was like staring at a stone wall.

  “It involves Stephanie.” He said my name like a curse. I recoiled slightly into myself, nobody seemed to notice how his words affected me, how they made me want to flinch and scream all at the same time. Instead, I plastered an indifferent look on my face and waited. “I’m to… help her.”

  “Help her what?” Ethan’s voice was laced with dread.

  “Find herself?” Cassius said it as more of a question.

  “Is she lost?” Alex piped up.

  “She was at Starbucks staring at couples, let’s not forget that,” Mason called out from the kitchen, while my face flushed with heat. “And she’s been moody.”

  “She’s right here,” I hissed.

  “Her powers…” Cassius shrugged. “She’s unstable, dangerous. I’m here to help her but I need to be human in order to do that.”

  “Why?” I blurted out.

  He shrugged.

  I rolled my eyes in response.

  “Seems odd…” Ethan put his hands on his hips, his muscles were tight like he was ready to pounce on something—maybe Cassius.

  “What’s odd?” Cassius folded his muscled arms across his chest. Damn, did he have to still be so built? I scolded myself for my fleeting thoughts and quickly looked away.

  “Well,” Ethan’s voice was doubtful. “Why would Sariel need you to be human in order to do that?”

  “I don’t make a habit of questioning Archangels,” Cassius said in a hollow voice. “Do you?”

  “Man has a point,” Alex piped up. “So what, you’re human, you help her, she kicks ass, and then you go back to normal?”

  I stole a peak out of the corner of my eye to gauge his reaction. Cassius’s mouth turned down into a scowl. “Yes. Something like that. But I’ll need to be with her twenty-four seven, and I can’t very well do that if I’m not living… near her.”

  Was it my imagination or did he just blush?

  I blinked.

  The pink tinge was gone.

  Right, my imagination.

  “House party,
” Alex sang, “Does that mean we get to finish watching all the Disney movies Genesis set us up with?”

  “No,” Cassius barked out while everyone else said yes.

  “Outvoted.” Mason pointed with his spatula. “Trust me, Cassius, it will do you some good. After all, it’s good to remember what humans are like, think of your time here as a… learning experience.”

  Cassius growled low in his throat. “I’d rather not learn from movies.”

  “Don’t worry…” Alex swatted his back. “We won’t make you watch the romantic ones about kissing and falling in love and sweeping women off their feet and—”

  “What?” Cassius blurted. “What did you say?”

  “Uh, romantic movies, sweeping women off their feet?”

  Cassius fidgeted in his seat. “It may help… learning how to deal with women, since I’ll be dealing with a prickly one for the next few weeks.”

  Right. Now I was prickly. Had he been immortal I would have knifed him in the chest.

  “Great!” Alex clapped his hands. “So that’s settled. Cassius stays here until Stephanie learns how to control herself… considering we don’t really know what she is…” All eyes turned to me with pity. “And since technically she gave her immortality to you…” Alex’s eyes narrowed. “Yet, now she has it back and you’re… human.”

  “No.” Cassius cleared his throat. “For the time being no… but all will be well soon…”

  “Not immortal,” I repeated out loud. I’d forgotten about that… barricaded the damn memory so far into my mind that I wouldn’t recall what it was like uniting myself with Cassius…

  Because it was the only time in my entire existence that I’d belonged.

  And it had been ripped from me the minute he chose to walk away. Granted he returned but I imagined there was more to the story, like if he didn’t help me the big bad Archangel was going to stab Cassius in the throat.

  So really he had no choice.

  My heart plummeted to my stomach.

  “I think I’ll go lay down for a while.” My voice was weak. I didn’t look back, not even Alex called after me or even when I felt the ice start to tickle down my fingertips and lightly frost the air next to me.