Chapter 73: Chapter Twenty-Four

Stephanie

I was worried. Worried because Cassius had none of my blood left, and I didn’t want him to face a crazed Demon.

Instead, the tables were turned back on me once I made my way down the stairs.

“Well?” Ethan crossed his arms.

“Great to know you guys really trust me,” I said sarcastically while my chest tightened.

Cassius’s face softened. “You’re the only other Dark One we know of in existence.”

“And what? You think I’d just give over my blood to a sick dirty little Demon? So he could use it?”

They both fell silent.

“Well.” I crossed my arms. “You’re more than welcome to let Alex invade my thoughts… but I’m telling the truth.”

“Damn it,” Cassius muttered. “It would be so much easier if you weren’t.”

“Pardon?” Now I was really confused. I glanced down at the dust at Cassius’s feet and gasped. “Is that John?”

“John can’t talk right now,” Ethan said in a chipper voice. “He was annoying the hell out of me, but his dust shouldn’t be—”

—red.” I finished. “It should be black, mixed with flecks of gray depending on how old he was but… red means he was given the blood of a Dark One.”

“Right.” Cassius stood and then fell back to his knees. “Damn this weak human vessel!”

I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing; he sounded so medieval, looked it too with his long black hair hanging nearly to his shoulders. His aristocratic face was too pretty to exist in this modern era.

“Come on,” I lifted him into my arms. “Bed.”

“And my shame is complete,” he muttered as I carried him upstairs. “A woman is carrying my weak body up the stairs as if I weigh nothing but a feather.”

“Less than that, actually.”

“Because that’s ever so helpful to my pride.”

“Sorry.”

“Then why are you smiling?”

“You’re cute when you pout.”

“Cute is the word humans use to describe things with fluffy tails… hamsters… pet birds. Hell, I’ve turned into your pet! Release me immediately!”

Laughing, I carried him back into my room and set him on his feet. “You’re not my pet, but you are weak.”

“I tire of your compliments,” he smirked. “My pride cannot handle any more—” He fell toward me.

Gripping his broad shoulders, I slowly lowered him back to the bed. “You know, you only get one body, you better take care of it.”

“I—” Cassius yawned. “Despise humanity.”

“No, you don’t,” I answered quietly, bringing a blanket over his shoulders as tremors wracked his body. “You just need to rest.”

“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 an 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 Demons. “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.”~