Chapter 81: Chapter Thirty-Two

Stephanie

“Where are we?” I gasped, rubbing my arms; they weren’t necessarily chilled, but they felt colder than ever before. The sun was just starting to set, casting a beautiful orange glow across a small city.

It reminded me of Christmas.

And the movie Frozen. The one that Genesis had forced Mason to watch only to ask him later if he could morph into a reindeer instead of a wolf for Halloween.

He’d said he’d attempt it. Ethan and Alex still made fun of him for his promise, but that was Mason. He lived to make others happy—maybe it was because he wasn’t capable of happiness himself.

“Mason,” Cassius said, interrupting my thoughts, “has a bright future.”

“And Alex?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“Once you can control your power you’ll be able to comb through futures at ease,” Cassius explained. “And Alex has… an intriguing few months ahead of him.”

“Hmm.” I liked the sound of that.

The wind picked up just as the sun made its final descent behind the snow-covered mountains blanketing everything but the few street lights in darkness.

“I forgot how quiet it was here,” Cassius mused, grabbing my hand in his. We were both still in our street clothes: jeans and T-shirts.

He quickly tugged me into the first store on the main street and pulled out a fur coat, hat, and pants that looked two sizes too big for my legs.

Boots were tossed in my direction, and then he was at the counter speaking in a harsh language I’d never heard him speak before.

Could it be that Cassius really was… Russian?

The man at the desk laughed loudly then pulled out a shot glass and a bottle of vodka. He poured one for himself, took it, then poured one for Cassius.

Without breaking his laugh, Cassius tossed the alcohol back and slammed the shot glass back onto the table.

They shook hands.

While I stood there open-mouthed like I’d just seen a miracle occur. Cassius almost appeared normal. Almost.

And then he smiled, and I was reminded all over again why he was so beautiful, so effortlessly gorgeous that it hurt to look at his face for too long of a stretch.

His beauty was like a constantly changing painting. I always noticed something different about his face, his bright blue eyes, how dark his lashes were, the angle of his jaw, the shape of his sculpted lips—there was always something interesting, something unique, different, and I was immortal, I was used to seeing pretty things.

I self-consciously tugged at my dark hair. Had my appearance altered much since the glamour wore off?

Humans didn’t seem to stare at me any differently, maybe longer, but they were born with a natural fear of things they didn’t understand—and immortality was something they would never be able to comprehend, meaning, they usually gave us a wide berth, even if they were interested.

Sensual lips pressed together in a wicked smirk as Cassius held out his hand. “Do you like the boots?”

“I’m wearing Mason.” I stared down at the furry boots and laughed. “I think he’d be pissed if he saw these.”

“They don’t hunt those types of wolves up here,” Cassius promised. “Even Mason’s kind stay away from the bitter cold of Oymyakon.”

“Siberia…” I shivered again even though the cold was normal for my typically frigid body. “So you were serious.”

Cassius smiled even wider, maybe being home was good for him.

“So…” I spread my free arm out as we walked down the abandoned icy streets. “This is where young Cassius grew up.”

Cassius’s face darkened for a brief moment before he grabbed my hand and started whistling.

The tune wasn’t familiar, but its haunting melody had me shivering as he continued to whistle and the wind picked up. I wrapped my jacket tighter around myself and ducked into his body.

I’d always hated the wind.

When I was little it had reminded me of anger, of cold, and now that I was a Dark One and didn’t really get cold in the same way, I still hated it because it was still angry.

Wind was nature’s temper tantrum.

At least it had always felt that way.

“Wind…” Cassius stopped whistling. “…is a warning of things to come.”

I frowned. “In nature or in life?”

The wind dipped and roared down the street as we made our way toward a small dark house.

“Both.” Cassius began whistling again, and the wind howled right along with him. By the time we made it to the house it had started to snow, the wind causing near whiteout conditions.

“Be afraid,” Cassius whispered. “Of the beauty of the heavens.”

“What?”

“Humans are afraid of what they do not understand, but the minute they come into contact with the very thing that brings them fear, and aren’t burned or harmed in any way, bravery takes over… they touch.” He winced. “They explore.” His body trembled. “And they fall.”

It seemed like he was talking in riddles.

He pushed the door open.

A fire was lit in the hearth, taking the chill away from my body immediately.

Stepping into the house was like stepping back in time.

A woman rocked back and forth in an old rickety chair, facing the fire, her small hands knit furiously at what looked like a child’s sweater. “I knew you would eventually come.”

Cassius hung his head, then pressed his hand to my back, pushing me toward the woman.

With a sigh, the woman stood, the fur blanket fell from her shoulders, and she faced me.

“What…” I shook my blurry, confused head. “What are you?”

I didn’t sense that she was human… but there was something about her blood as I sniffed the air.

She smelled human.

She looked immortal.

With pitch-black hair and bow-shaped red lips, she was like a princess; her eyelashes had pieces of snow in them as if she’d just been outside dancing and twirling underneath the moon.

“Mother.” Cassius’s greeting made me gasp. “Meet—”

“—your destiny.” The woman held out her hand. “I see a great darkness in you, Stephanie.”

I pulled my hand back and grabbed Cassius’s arm.

“Something we all possess, Mother,” Cassius said in a low voice. “Darkness is not new to you.”

“No,” she sat back down. “I guess it is not.”

I watched their exchange in silence. Still unable to understand how that woman could be Cassius’s mother.

How was she even alive?

“Sit,” his mother instructed me. “And I’ll tell you a story.”

In silence, I sank onto a tired-looking wooden chair, a bit surprised at how sturdy it turned out to be.

“I was told the beauty was unparalleled, like walking through paradise.” The woman sighed in contentment.

“The problem with humanity has always been its need for more knowledge and power, never satisfied, never content.” Shivering, she wrapped the blanket tighter around her as Cassius moved to her side and tucked the edges around her small body.

“Immortal beings have always… been.” Her eyes lost focus for a brief second as she stared into the fire.

“They were created right along with the Angels, have always co-existed in perfect harmony. Like two worlds that paralleled one another. The immortal plane existed, and the human plane existed. But there have always been situations where humans have learned of immortals or been forced to work with them.”

“That is where your stories of lore come from.” She rocked back and forth in her chair, back and forth, so far she wasn’t telling me anything I didn’t already know.

“There was only one rule.” She sighed. “Do not fall in love.” Her eyes locked on mine. “But I did.”

The fire crackled as she spread her hands wide, her palms facing down. “My father was trusted with the immortal secret, with the knowledge of another world.”

“He helped bring them humans in the beginning, he was the one who helped start the calling of numbers once immortals realized that humanity would need more help reigning itself in. The immortals were a type of police, and they didn’t have the numbers for it.”

“So my father helped start the calling of breeders. They discovered that if an immortal Vampire for instance, mated with a human, the human not only gained immortality but she was able to birth children. It was the perfect plan.”

“But not all immortals are created equal,” Cassius mumbled and then pressed a kiss to his mother’s hand. “Why don’t you sleep? You look tired, I can tell her the rest of the story.”

“Yes,” His mother nodded, tears pooling in her eyes. “Yes, I’ll do that.”

She stood and walked off, softly shutting the door behind her.

“How is she alive?”

“A gift,” Cassius answered. “From my father.”

“Sariel?”

Cassius nodded. “You said you wanted to know what Dark Ones really were and how it happened, so I’m going to take you back to the beginning.”

“The beginning of the Dark Ones.”

His eyes flashed. “To the first one ever created.” He sighed as if he bore the weight of the world on his shoulders. “Me.”