The way he said it made it sound like a mating, but I already had Cassius. I didn’t understand. Was I just having a nightmare? A weird dream?
“The power is always at your fingertips… imagine, you could save all you love, all you care about, by simply allowing the darkness to overcome the light. A Dark One is born with both, but it is your choice. Always your choice.”
The idea that I had a choice was… life changing. Because my entire life, choices had been made for me. Even Cassius.
“Yes.” The Darkness continued speaking. “Even your love chose for you, he chooses for you even now… Do you have a mind of your own? Or are you a puppet?”
“I’m not!” I shouted. “I’m powerful.” Darkness swirled around my body.
“Yes.” He nodded approvingly. “You are.”
The Darkness suddenly warmed my body, singed me from the inside out, intoxicating in its warmth I allowed it to spread, when suddenly I was punched, or it felt like I was getting punched in the stomach.
“Wake up!” Cassius shouted.
I fell on to the floor and looked up at him. “What was that for?”
White eyes glared back at me as the smell of smoke filled the air. I scrunched up my nose as Cassius put out the fire on the bed spread. When I stood to look at the damage, I gasped. “What happened?”
The entire bedspread was singed.
The pillows, ash.
Cassius let out a loud curse and stood. “You.” He swallowed, his eyes swirling with blues and whites. “It seems you’ve finally met Darkness.”
“He, uh—”
“He?” Cassius chuckled. “I guess it would be a he for you, hm? More tempting that way. Darkness takes many forms.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You wouldn’t.” Cassius pulled me into his arms. “Because Darkness… is you.”
I was still reeling from my weird dream, or was it an introduction? The singed smell of burning sheets filled the entire upstairs. Ethan was irritated. Then again, ever since Genesis had become pregnant he’d turned into an over worried tyrant.
He’d already taken it upon himself to baby gate the stairway.
Mason was on board with that idea with so much enthusiasm he offered to install six of them.
Things were going downhill fast, and as much as I wanted to join in on the excitement…
There was… the whole darkness thing.
On top of trying to find whoever was making more immortal Demon.
Oh, and if life wasn’t stressful enough.
In less than thirty days, I apparently was going to kill the man I loved.
Life sucked.
A plate slid in front of me, the pancake was fluffy, huge, and had been smothered in enough syrup and butter to kill a human.
Mason sat across from me, his plate filled with a spiky pinecone and a handful of raspberries. “You looked like you needed it.”
I picked up my fork. “You remembered my favorite meal.”
“How could I forget?” He grinned. “Every year on your birthday, once you joined the council, you wanted pancakes instead of actual cake. Apparently nobody taught you the difference as a child, so let’s blame Alex.”
“I heard my name.” Alex limped into the room.
“What the hell happened to you?” Mason burst out laughing as Alex found a chair and winced.
“Baby gates.” Alex cursed. “A hell of a lot of baby gates. Who knew that would be my downfall?”
“I did,” I said between bites. “You’re a Siren, it’s like your kryptonite. The fact that you could have sex and produce children… it’s enough to make you abstinent.”
Face blank, Alex outwardly trembled.
“Shhh…” Mason handed Alex a berry. “You’re scaring him.”
“It’s like a mean bedtime story.” Alex glared at me. “Also, a little bird told me you nearly burned down the house last night. Care to share any intimate details?”
“She met Darkness.” This from Mason as he used his incisors to take a huge bite out of the pinecone.
“Ah, crazy right? Like meeting the worst part of yourself, while at the same time being seduced…” He pressed his lips together in a seductive pout. “I bet Darkness is hot.”
“He is,” I corrected.
Alex looked nonplussed, his expression didn’t change. “You know I don’t discriminate between the sexes, if he’s good looking, good for him, good for all of us.”
The sound of Mason chomping on the pinecone scraped over my nerves like nails on a chalkboard. I gave him a pointed look. Slumping, he dropped it back onto his plate and popped a berry into his mouth, his hand transforming into a claw so that he didn’t need to use a fork to poke each berry.
“Circus freak,” Alex muttered reaching for Mason’s coffee.
“Why—” Ethan stormed into the room. “—didn’t you warn her?”
Cassius followed, close on his heels. “What the hell did you expect me to say? Oh by the way, in your dreams, you’re going to get a visit from Darkness, have fun, be careful not to get to set the house on fire. Oh, and if you’re hot and bothered, it’s not me?”
“For the record,” I interjected. “I wasn’t hot and bothered, just warm.”