Chapter 115: Chapter Twenty-One

Alex

~London, England, 1815~

Their eyes were empty, as though someone had sucked the souls directly from their bodies. The scent of earth filled the air.

I fell to my knees amidst the gory scene before me, dipped a finger in the blue blood… and tasted.

The youngest elf had just left to get Sariel.

They’d been nervous about another one of the elves.

The scene unfolded before me like a play. One of the elves, the smaller, announced a pregnancy.

A hush sounded around the room as a moment of silence descended over the chosen women.

Elves were capable of mating with immortals and humans alike, they helped further the races—though every time they brought a new life into the world, it meant that they sacrificed their own.

To bring life.

It meant their own death, no matter who they mated with, human or immortal.

That was why they were a protected race.

But weak.

Weaker even than a human. Even though they had blood that fused with both worlds, they were a lot like Dark Ones — they didn’t belong in either.

And yet, it was a great honor, to carry an immortal into the world.

“Who is the father?” one of them whispered with leeriness in her voice.

“He is beautiful.” Her sigh was heavy with longing as the scent of burning wood and charcoal filled the air. “He said he would take care of me… of us.”

One of the other women stood. “You smell wrong.”

“Maybe it is the pregnancy?” another piped up.

“Her eyes. Look at her eyes.” With a choking cry, one of the elves covered her mouth.

The small one shook her head. “I feel fine.”

Dark smoke filled the air and then.

Death.

Five minutes. Had I been on time…

Death would not have come knocking. ~

I jolted awake from the nightmare covered in sweat. The dreams always ended there.

Like a puzzle without its final piece.

They had never found the killer.

And the bodies of the elves were buried in the immortal compound, locked away from anyone trying to seek any part of their bones for some sick ritual.

Because all immortals knew, the only way to create an abomination—was to use the immortal dead.

My memories always ended there, as if a giant ass chunk of my past was so painful that my brain refused to logically lock onto the memories like they were real. And every single mention of it to Cassius only ended up with him shrugging and saying, “All in good time.”

I wiped the sweat from my body with the cool sheet and stood as the moon shone into the room, casting a silver glow across the white sheets.

She belonged next to me.

But every time I closed my eyes, I saw her blood on my hands.

I would be her death.

With a curse, I stomped over to the window and pushed it open, taking a much-needed deep breath.

My car was still gone.

I glanced at my nightstand and let out an irritated sigh. It was late at night—too late for her to be by herself. Who the hell took a job watering plants anyway? Especially a defenseless human?

Elf.

Of course.

It made sense that she would be drawn to life—because a small part of her was always consciously aware that her one and only job was to produce life—and then die.

What a miserable existence.

A weak existence.

I had at least another ten hours before I needed her again.

Wanting her? That was an entirely different story. My body shook with want like I was a drug addict, my mind told me that one taste was all I needed and the burn would stop. But I knew the truth.

The burning hadn’t stopped since I’d turned fifteen.

The burning would not stop.

Until my death.

A loud knock on my door jarred my thoughts.

The door opened.

Of course it did because privacy wasn’t exactly something that was freely given at Ethan’s. But I was too much of a menace to society to live out on my own.

Cassius had created a nice little protective barrier around my room making it so that the trees didn’t try to uproot themselves in an effort to fly through my window and fall prey to my seduction.

In all my years living it had only happened once, and it was awkward as hell getting pinned to my own bed by a freaking branch.

“What?” I barked.

“You’re a giant asshole,” Mason seethed and then shook his head like he was trying to clear his thoughts. “Damn it, turn it off!”

“Like I can!” I yelled back at him. “You think I want you to—” I made a face. “Mason, that’s a physical impossibility and you know it.”

“OUT OF MY HEAD!”

“You need to get laid,” I smirked. “If I wasn’t mated I would do you a solid and—”

“Finish that sentence and I’m killing you. To hell with what Cassius says,” Mason growled. “I’m perfectly fine, you’ve just been… running too hot lately.”

“You’re telling me,” I whispered under my breath as a flicker of power burned beneath my skin. I thought I could hide it. But in the last few hours, it had gotten worse, the need, the want, the desire to explode everything around me into tiny little fragments for my own pleasure. “Now what’s this asshole business about?”

“She fell down the stairs.” Mason lifted his chin in defiance and then smiled wickedly. “But don’t worry, Siren, I licked her wounds.”

Color exploded in my line of vision. “I’m sorry, you did what?” I rasped.

“Licked.” He took a step toward me and crossed his arms. “She tastes good, no?”

“Son of a bitch!” I charged at him, slamming his body against the nearest wall as cement crumbled to the floor. “You touched mine?”

“And…” Mason wasn’t deterred. If anything, he looked downright cheerful. “I liked it.”

My fist came down on his face so hard that blood spewed from my knuckles and caked his cheek.

“That tickled.” Mason laughed through a mouthful of silver blood.

I was pulled away from him by both Ethan and Cassius.

Genesis and Stephanie came running into the room just in time to see the show.

“He licked her!” I accused.

“So?” Genesis shrugged. “Ethan bit her.”

“HE WHAT?” I roared as the room shook beneath my feet.

“If he turns into a rainbow you owe me ten dollars.” Stephanie elbowed Genesis, who nodded her head in agreement.

I couldn’t control the colors.

Pinks. Reds. Blues. Purples. They all flashed as a buzzing built in my body, my blood roared to life.

“He looks like a unicorn,” Genesis said in awe.

“Quick, a saddle!” Mason snapped his fingers at Cassius.

Vision blurring, I fell to my knees, in a desperate attempt to control my emotions. I didn’t want to kill my friends.

But it felt like a good idea.

It felt necessary.

Yes. Necessary.

~Reach your full potential!~ A voice screamed in my head.

~End them all! Just as I taught you! The pain only goes away when you lose control, Alex. ~

“No,” Cassius pulled the word into existence and then placed a hand on my head. “Alex, you must learn to control yourself.”

“Don’t. Want. To,” I snarled. “Let me kill them!”

“They healed her when you did not,” Cassius leaned down to my eye level; his irises were a bright white. “Is that not friendship?”

“I didn’t know.”

“Bullshit,” came Mason’s reply.

“Downstairs,” Cassius whispered. “All of you.”

For once, nobody argued.

And I was left alone with the stupid angel.

The last person I wanted to be left with. Cassius saw too much.

Because he saw everything, and thanks to his good ol’ angelic dad— the blood that ran through his veins was so pure it was a miracle he was able to even exist on the human plane without destroying everything in his path.

“You withhold yourself from her.” Cassius tilted his head. “Why?”

“Elf,” I managed to get out. “She is an elf.”

Cassius was quiet and then stood. “I see.”

“No, you don’t.”

“I do.” His tone was damned irritating, so calm, so rational. All of the things I wasn’t and would never be.

“I am her death.”

“No,” Cassius shuddered as he lifted his eyes heavenward, an icy mist began to fall from the ceiling. “I cannot see the future, you know this, only possibilities.”

“Mine is death.”

“You’re wrong.” Cassius’s eyes flashed white before the mist fell to the ground coating my room like an ice skating rink. “I see… Hope.”