Chapter 80: Chapter Thirty-One

Cassius

“It’s my job to keep the peace,” Stephanie shuddered in my arms then jerked away from me as black spread throughout her white eyes. “We should destroy them all.”

“And then what?” I asked. “To what end?”

“Peace.” Her voice took on a gravelly edge that I recognized.

Was it so long ago that I’d lost Eva? That I’d allowed Darkness to consume me?

That I’d wanted nothing more than to jump into the black hole and allow it to embrace every part of my soul I still possessed? For a few minutes, it had felt right.

But Ethan, Mason, and Alex had not allowed it.

Luckily, Ethan’s words had made sense at the time, enough sense that I used my strength to push away from Darkness and allow myself to mourn.

Mourn the life I felt like I should have had.

The life Darkness said I deserved.

But Darkness didn’t just call for the death of humanity, it also called for the death of Angels and immortals alike.

Darkness was within everyone.

It lays dormant, until it sees the perfect opportunity to offer a better suggestion to your circumstances.

Darkness is in humans.

It’s in immortals.

It’s in the very air we breathe.

But the worst type of darkness is the kind we keep in our hearts… we treasure it, hold it dear, allow it to help us justify our actions, and when it’s too late, we blame it for everything while it points its finger back at us and laughs.

Sighing, I reached out and pressed my fingers against her lip allowing the frost of my fingertips to cool her hot body down.

With a gasp she sucked in one finger, then two, then jerked my body against hers—our mouths fused in a battle of dominance as I spread my cold around her.

Darkness was always hot.

Comforting, to a Dark One, until it burned that Dark One alive.

“Come back,” I whispered, my lips pressed against hers as I called to her light… “Come back to me.”

Stephanie slumped against my body, her breathing erratic as her fingers dug into the muscles in my back.

“I think I want to be done training for the day.” Her voice was scratchy, like she’d just spent the last few minutes screaming at the top of her lungs, and who knew? Maybe she had. Maybe she was yelling at Darkness, maybe that’s what it took to pull away.

“It will get easier,” I promised. “It just takes time.”

Still trembling, I held her as tight as I could, swearing to myself I’d die before I let anything happen to her, and in a thought of true irony—to save her from the darkness, from herself, I’d allow her to kill me.

If that’s what it took.

I’d accept my fate.

Gladly.

“You know how Ethan gave Genesis lessons about immortals and our history?” Stephanie asked, changing the subject as we walked hand in hand down the sidewalk.

“Yes.”

She stopped. “I think it’s my turn.”

“Hell.” I released her hand. “I’m not sure that’s the best idea.”

“You don’t even know what I’m asking!”

“Yes, I do.” My laugh was completely without humor. “You want to know what the darkness really is, you want to know Dark Ones history 101.”

She nodded.

“Hell.”

“You said that already.”

“Steph…”

“Please?” She reached for my hand, gripping it. “If I just understood it, I could fight it.”

I wrapped my arms around her waist and whispered, “Lie.”

“Huh?”

“You lied to yourself.”

“We can do that?”

“We’re half human, we can do anything they can.”

“Can Angels lie?”

“They could,” I said slowly, then rolled my eyes. “Damn it, you’re going to get it out of me one way or another, aren’t you?”

“My next offer was some sort of mind-blowing sexual experience… with snow.”

I chuckled despite myself and the tense topic. “Snow, huh?”

“Lots of snow. You like snow.”

“Who told you that?”

“Genesis.” Stephanie shrugged. “I may have let it slip that I could dream walk, and she said in your guys’ dreams you always had snow surrounding you. You said it was comforting.”

“Home.” Emotion clogged my throat. “Always brings comfort.”

“Home?” Stephanie repeated. “What do you mean home?”

“Where I was born. It always brings comfort. Snow… represents where I was born.”

Stephanie leaned in, sniffing the air. “Truth. So, Cassius…”

She patted my stomach. I’d seen human couples do that before in teasing and never understood the need for such trivial flirting with one’s hands…

…until her hands were on me, until I was part of the couple, and every single glance and caress my way was like breathing for the first time, after being without air for an eternity. “Where were you born? Siberia?”

“Da.” I confirmed in Russian and then pressed my fingertips to her wrist.