Untouchable Darkness

by Rachel Van Dyken

“I cannot rest until the mystery is solved and I can’t solve a mystery, train you, protect you, and love—”

  “Love?”

  “Er… food.”

  “You weren’t going to say food.”

  “I’m sick, cease your arguing.” He closed his eyes tight.

  I kissed his forehead, only to have him pull me close.

  “Stay,” Cassius whispered, his bluster spent. “When you’re with me…”

  “What?”

  “I feel… happy.” He opened his eyes as if the concept had only just now occurred to him. “More than that, I… feel complete.”

  My heart soared as I answered back. “Me, too.”

  He pressed his hand to my neck, then pulled me in for a searing kiss, one that burned so hot against my lips I let out a gasp. “Damn, you taste good.”

  “Because you’re hot.”

  “Attractive hot?” He pulled back, his eyes locking on mine with such heated intensity that it nearly took my breath away.

  I brushed a kiss across his lips. “Still arrogant even when he has a fever. Good to know.”

  “My body is different…” Cassius’s face fell. “But I find that my feelings… are very much the same.” His head tilted as he cupped my face. “More confusing than ever.”

  “Cassius.” I leaned in until our mouths nearly touched. “Why are you really here?”

  “To train you.”

  The air twisted in front of me, it tasted bitter. With a smirk, I whispered, “Lie.”

  Cassius’s mouth broke out into a blinding smile. “They taste different, don’t they?”

  “Bitter… wrong.” I nodded.

  “Because a lie spoken from your lips is a falsehood released into the universe, the atmosphere. A man’s destiny is decided by what he speaks. And when he speaks a lie, creation cannot knit together the pieces correctly, the result is bitterness.”

  “So, why are you here?”

  He was quiet and then, “I’m here for you.”

  No bitterness in the air this time.

  “To train me?”

  He was quiet again.

  “Cassius?”

  “To love you.”

  I expected the air to shift.

  It didn’t.

  My heart was pounding so wildly that blood roared through my system at a rapid pace dropping the temperature in the room.

  “And do you?” I was almost afraid to ask, but I had to know. “Do you love me?”

  “Fear is never welcome. I can feel your trembling, Stephanie.” He avoided the question. “Fear makes us weak.”

  “And love? What does love do?”

  “It makes us both. Strong and weak, depending on which side you’re on.”

  “Answer the question Cassius.”

  “I find I’ve suddenly developed some of that fear I’m always so easily dismissing.”

  “Afraid of what? My reaction? My response?”

  “All of the above.” His fingers threaded through my hair. “Everything about you terrifies this human body, to be sure. Words don’t just create, they have the power to destroy, to level a city with one simple phrase, the words of a Dark One… even more so.”

  “Well then, one of us will have to be brave,” I encouraged.

  “Yes, one of us will.” He smiled, his eyes crinkling at the sides, was he already getting wrinkles? And why was his body failing him so readily? So easily?

  “I love you,” I blurted. “I’ve loved you for as long as I can remember. And I’ll continue loving, until time ceases to matter, to exist.”

  Cassius crushed his mouth against mine then pulled back. “I love you more than I should… I love you in ways I shouldn’t. I desire you in ways that are hard to comprehend. And the love I feel for you is the scariest thing I’ve ever admitted out loud, to anyone. Because once those words are released, you can’t take them back. You could try, but love, weaves a thread of its own and once you confess with your mouth, your soul has no choice but to follow.”

  My breathing slowed, nearly stopped altogether. “Who knew you were so romantic.”

  “More like, who knew, that as a human, I’d be so capable of telling the truth, rather than lying.”

  “You’d rather lie to me?”

  “Absolutely. Lying is less scary. Honesty will always be terrifying. I’ve discovered I’m like a cat.”

  I pressed my lips together to keep from bursting out laughing. “How are you like a cat? Exactly?”

  “The scaredy cats.” He frowned. “Is that wrong?”

  “Not at all.” I covered his hands with mine, they were still burning up. “Tell me this feels good.”

  He leaned back against the pillows, his shirt inching up to show me an expansive area of lean abdominal muscles. “It feels more than good. I could lay in your cold forever.”

  “Funny, most people hate the cold.”

  His eyes flashed open. “Cold is life.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The earth.” His eyebrows pinched together. “The source of life is not heat… nor is it cold, it is the perfect balance of both. Without one, the other ceases to exist. The cold you bring, reminds me of the way things work, the balance that must always be kept.” His eyes closed again.

  I wanted him.

  Possessiveness washed over me.

  Not in a way that I’d ever experienced before, but in a primal, surge of energy that I couldn’t ignore as my heartbeat slowed in my chest, my eyes zeroed in on his neck.

  Mine.

  His humanity called to me, his… love, beckoned me.

  There are two ways to mark a human… His words came to mind. Force your will upon them.

  “Cassius?”

  “Hmm?” He didn’t open his eyes.

  I leaned forward and cupped his neck with my right hand, my palm rested against his hot skin. “I’m sorry.”

  “For?”

  “Doing something that’s forbidden….” I closed my eyes and forced my will on him, but rather than forcing him into slavery, into a typical hero worship. I gave him my love.

  I showed him my feelings.

  Opened up my heart and soul to the man who’d stolen my heart as a immortal only to give it back as a human.

  He was my everything.

  And I refused to let another moment go by, without anyone knowing, without the world knowing, that we belonged together.

  Even if it killed me.

  With a cry of pain he screamed beneath my touch and shards of light spread throughout the room.

  And then with a burst of white, Cassius’s skin went from hot to frigid. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and then turned completely white. He reached for me just as I reached for him.

  With one graze of his finger against the blanket, it evaporated into thin air, the clothes between us suddenly gone as if he’d willed them to disappear. Like slow motion the frigid air danced around us and then stopped.

  Time.

  Was.

  Gone.

  The world around us was black.

  Nothingness.

  Only Cassius and I existed.

  Eyes still white, his body returned to its godlike state right before my eyes, as his hair went from black to red, and then black again. His skin was perfection itself, a dizzying myriad of tiny little crystals smooth, golden.

  “Stephanie.” His words came out with a godlike echo, shaking the foundation of my entire body as he reached for me and kissed me so hard that my lips hurt, but it was a hurt that craved more.

  “Cassius.” I sucked in the air between our mouths. It tasted like sugar. He wrapped an arm around me, reminding me again of my nakedness, then pressed me against a soft surface. Were we still in my bedroom?

  I had no sense of minutes. Hours. It was as if the world had stopped, in order for us to have our moment together.

  “I will love you.” His voice shook. “Forever.” Cassius pressed his lips to mine and then cupped my neck as a shot of pure ice went from his
palm into my veins. “Mine.”

  Every thought he’d ever had was mine.

  Every moment of darkness too.

  I wanted to scream as I held Eva in my arms, as I watched her age, the sheer agony of that moment nearly destroyed my will to exist.

  The scenes of people dying.

  Screaming for justice.

  The stench of death was all around.

  The darkness was impossible to escape.

  I wanted to run, but something wrapped around my feet, thick large black tentacles tightened around my ankles as a raspy voice whispered. “Watch.”

  Thousands of stars in the sky suddenly went dark.

  And then the earth followed as an ominous darkness crept across the planet slowly inching its way into every single available space.

  “No!” I cried. “No!”

  And then, as if someone heard my call. A piercing light broke through the dark cloud, feathers followed, so many purple feathers.

  More blood was spilled as I tried to move, to join the fight.

  Cassius led the armies against humans, against Darkness itself. Against the Demon who refused to be ruled by an immortal king.

  Ethan was at his side, slicing his way through Demon after Demon.

  Timber led the Demon forces.

  I shouldn’t have been surprised.

  He was an ancient type of evil.

  “Eva!” Cassius yelled. “Take cover!”

  She sped out of the way then sliced the back of the Demon’s knees, he fell to the ground as black blood spewed out of his mouth.

  And just like that, I watched Cassius and Eva lead an army of five, including them.

  Against ten thousand.

  The darkness of the Demon constantly called to Cassius, and as the war raged on, clearly it was wearing on him, as light left his face. But every time it did, Eva pulled him back telling him how good he was, what he was capable of, and the shadows on his face would recede.

  The Demon, all destroyed but a few hundred.

  Sariel fell from the sky, landing on his feet so hard that an earthquake took out another hundred Demon. “Do you concede victory?”

  They put down their swords, while Cassius clenched his. He wanted to kill the remaining.

  “What good are they?” he spat, arguing with Sariel. “They are the very evil you wish us to exterminate. Yet, you let them live?”

  “I do not allow anything.” Sariel said softly. “It is not my call to make. In order for light to exist, we must also have dark, there will always be a need for balance.”

  With that he left.

  And the darkness continued to assault Cassius.

  With a roar he raised his hands and screamed. “Silence!”

  The Demon cowered behind Timber.

  “Cross me again,” Cassius spat, “and I will tear you limb by limb, then remove every last drop of life from your pathetic body.”

  Timber laughed. “I’d like to see you try.”

  The Demon had lost that day.

  Or had they?

  Suddenly someone was grabbing my hand. I refused to look away as Timber made his way toward me. “Well, well, well, interesting… I did not think he would share such memories.”

  “You can see me?”

  He nodded.

  “But this is a memory.”

  “Of an event you are re-living through your dear Cassius, yes, I know.” Timber sheathed his black jeweled sword. “In all the times he’s relived this memory, he has never brought… you.”

  Timber clapped his hands while I felt like clobbering him in the face or turning him to ice.

  “He’s made it too easy. Exposing his cards so soon.” Timber leaned forward and whispered in my ear. “Until next time… Angel.”

  Cassius

  WATCHING MY LIFE THROUGH her eyes was painful… almost as painful as her palm against my neck.

  The woman had marked me!

  And I was still alive.

  No longer fully human.

  But returned to my Dark One state. Was it truly that easy? That all she’d needed to do was love me back? And with that love, mark me? Would Sariel make it a riddle that had been in my power the entire time?

  Stephanie’s eyes returned to blue, she huddled against me, still naked as tremors wracked her body. “That was…”

  “Completely irresponsible,” I teased, feeling lighter than I had… in my entire existence. Because for the first time in my miserable life… I was sharing the weight of the darkness.

  With someone who had never experienced it before.

  Stephanie shuddered and pulled me closer. “A little warning next time.”

  I kissed her, I couldn’t help it.

  Our kiss shook the air in the room, as tiny little pieces of ice formed around my fingertips, encircling our fingers, linking our hands together. Her body moved beneath mine as her lips danced across my mouth.

  I’d never taken my pleasure with another immortal.

  Only with humans, who later died in agony at the loss of being near me. Several of them simply gave up.

  The last one, a hundred years ago, had jumped off a bridge.

  It was the last time I’d allowed my own carnal pleasures to destroy an innocent life.

  Until Genesis, until I figured it was my duty to try to mate with a human to bring about the end of the curse.

  Only to realize within days of knowing her—that she was never mine to have. Never would be.

  And that, even a woman as beautiful as Genesis—could never fill the gaping hole Stephanie’s absence had made in my life.

  “Make love to me.” Stephanie’s body twisted underneath mine for dominance as she pushed against my chest then pinned me to the bed.

  Chuckling, I drew the shape of a heart across her chest, my fingers etching an icy trail as they danced across her fair skin.

  Stephanie’s breath hitched as her eyes flashed white.

  “Like that?” I asked.

  She nodded. “But that’s not what I meant.”

  “So you don’t want me drawing hearts all over your delicious body until you beg me to stop?”

  She hesitated.

  I laughed.

  “I’ve never seen you laugh this much.” Her smile was bright.

  I sobered, kissing her again, tasting her. “I’ve never had reason until now.”

  With great care I lifted her into my arms, wrapping her legs around me as I kissed down her neck.

  She gasped when my tongue slid between her breasts moving downward until the angle forced me to stop.

  “This is…” She shook her head as the light above us shattered into a million tiny pieces blanketing us in darkness—our eyes glowed at one another. “Too much all at once.”

  “I wish I could tell you what to expect. But I’ve never been mated before,” I answered, my body craving more of her kisses, more of her touch, just… more of everything.

  “You’re stuck with me now.” She laughed against my mouth. “Basically married.”

  I nodded, then swirled my finger against her ring finger as a beautiful crystal diamond appeared wrapping itself in icy tendrils all the way up to her fingertip. “I shopped for hours.”

  Stephanie examined the ring. “Yes I can see that, great detail on the diamond and the rose petals around it.”

  “Eyes closed the whole time,” I whispered.

  “Keep them open.” She cupped my face. “I missed you.”

  I frowned. “I’ve been here the whole time.”

  “You’ve been missing half of your true self,” she answered. “And now… you’re whole.”

  “Because of you.”

  “Because of my selfishness.”

  “That too, though it sounds less romantic that way, more needy.”

  She pinched me in the shoulder but it didn’t hurt.

  “Now that we’ve gotten all the technicalities out of the way.” I motioned to her ring. “I’m going to make love to you.”

  “Okay.” Her e
yes brightened.

  “And then…” I brushed a kiss across her lips. “I’m going to do it again.”

  Without giving her a chance to respond I molded my mouth to hers, my hands sliding down every inch of her body as if it was made for my touch, my every caress.

  I never thought.

  Never imagined I’d be allowed the privilege.

  Of loving another woman.

  Of mating with an equal.

  My hands shook as they rested against her hips. Had my face not been frozen from emotion, I imagined tears would have found their place on my cheeks, proof of the undeniable love I felt for her—and gratefulness I had for the situation.

  Stephanie rocked her hips against me as she tangled her hands in my hair. Each kiss was met with desperation, returned with aggression, and repeated. Our bodies slid against one another as I took my time exploring every part of her I dared not touch before our mating.

  Mouth watering with the need to taste, I pressed her back onto the bed and began my wicked descent from her chin, down to her feet, stopping at each and every space in between, making my mark permanent as I bit and covered her skin with my mouth.

  Stephanie’s moans only encouraged me further.

  The sound of ice breaking didn’t even deter me from licking my way back up her body, careful to make sure I didn’t miss any important spot or angle at which I could give her pleasure.

  Her thoughts were my own as she screamed. “There.” Only it was in her head, not aloud.

  “Better?” I’d ask only to have her nod her encouragement.

  I was able to pleasure her before she even asked.

  With an eager lift, I had her on her stomach, realizing I had only pleasured her front, only made love to parts of her and left the other parts pressed against the damned mattress.

  “Cassius what are you doing?”

  “Touching.” I answered simply. “Biting.” Her pert ass jerked as I ran my hand down its curve. “Learning.”

  With a deep moan she relaxed against my hand as it pressed against her hip and slid between her legs.

  “I don’t think—”

  “Good,” I interrupted. “Don’t think… It’s extremely unhealthy to think in a Dark One’s presence. Who knows…” Thoughts swirled around her head of me touching her, pleasuring her. “…what a Dark One may do with those thoughts?”

  I fired back more thoughts of my own, my mouth covering every one of the spots she pointed out until she screamed so loud the room shook. “I guess he may do that.” I moved my hand then flipped her over again. “Or he may do this.” I sent her images of what I would do right before I did it, doubling her pleasure, making her slick with sweat only to have it evaporate within seconds. “But this,” I whispered, envisioning my mouth on her core. “This I think you will like best.”