Tempting Darkness(Darkness Series)

Chapter 2

They could kill me, and I feel like they genuinely want to crush me like a bug beneath their shoes. Never in my entire life have I felt so small until I have their scrutinizing gazes looking down on me.

“Six years, Aleera. Six f*****g years, and you have the guts to ask for our help? We should have let them f*****g kill you,” one of them yells at me, making me flinch.

“Have you even got magic left? Because I can’t feel it,” he continues to scream at me.

My entire body shakes; I have feared no one more than my mates. I know who they are and what they have done. Now, I am second-guessing my decision to call them. Maybe I should have stuck with the savage beasts that now lie dead around us.

One of them yanks my hair, causing my head to rip back and forcing me to stare into the eyes of the one I fear most. Darius Wraith. His name is constantly in the media; nobody in the world fears anyone more than they do Darius Wraith.

And to think this monster is one of my mates - not that the three others have stellar reputations. No, they are just as dark and twisted as he is. I’ve never understood how I could be fated to be theirs. They are pure dark magic, while mine is not like theirs; mine is… well… I’m not exactly sure, but it is both. However, I’ve always felt a far stronger urge to my pure white magic. So, it makes no sense why the fates punished me this way by making me their keeper.

One thing I know is; they cannot get their hands on my magic. It would be dangerous in the wrong hands, and their hands would be the worst. They didn’t need more power, especially Darius. He is a demonic fae, and they are the strongest of our kind. He, too, like myself, is the last of his species. And from what I’ve heard in the media, he has an entire army of pure demons working for him.

Darius is both Demon and fae, a demonic-fae, and here I am, the last of my kind, and mates with the last of his. What were the odds, two dying species fated to each other as if we should create a more incredible monster? As if the world needs someone like Darius, who holds the most power in our world, to become stronger.

“f*****g answer me, Aleera! Say something!” he bellows as I clutch at his hand, trying to free his tight grip. He yanks my head back harder by my hair, and I cry out, my hair ripping painfully from my scalp.

“Please, just let me go,” I beg him, now wishing I’d chosen death. I was an i***t for even calling on them. A fate with them would be worse. Darius laughs at my pleading, but he lets go, shoving me back to the ground. His presence is suffocating me already.

“Never. You belong to us, Aleera. We gave you time, and we could have come for you when you were thirteen, but we didn’t!” he snaps at me, and I flinch away, shuffling back only to stop when I feel someone's feet touch me from behind.

“You ran from us. We are your f*****g mates!” he yells. His hands glow with his anger, and fear slivers through me, knowing the power he holds and the damage he is capable of. I watch as he clenches them into fists, almost as if he is trying to stop himself from killing me. I ready myself for the blow; for the pain that he will inflict.

“Bloody monsters,” I whisper before I can stop myself—stupid, no brain-to-mouth filter. The words I never intended to speak out loud, I instantly regret.

“What did you say?” Darius snarls. Pressing my lips in a line, I shake my head, not wanting to repeat myself, knowing that it would be a mistake. However, someone suddenly nudges me from my side. His foot connects with my thigh hard, and I pull my leg away, rubbing the spot where I can feel my thigh bruising.

“Darius asked you a question. Answer him,” someone says behind me, his voice velvety smooth, but its coldness sends chills down my spine.

When I don’t speak, my hair is yanked again, my head jerks back painfully at an odd angle, and I see the man behind me. His dark hair falls into his green, snake-like eyes as he glares at me. If he weren’t so homicidal-looking, I would say he is hot, but the look of rage on his face makes me want to cringe away from him. So… he must be Tobias Wraith. I can tell by the fangs protruding from his mouth. From what I know of him, he is vampiric-fae, a f*****g bloodsucker. Nice to meet you too, fuckface.

Tobias crouches beside me and grips my face with his hand that isn’t ripping my hair out. He turns my head to force me to look at Darius and leans his face close to mine. “Answer him now, Aleera. I want to go home, or we will leave you here to rot,” he threatens with a cruel smile, and by the look in his eyes, he’d heard what I said and knows the anger I would receive if I said it again. I say it, and chances are they might leave me here to fend for myself.

Tears roll down my cheeks, and I hate that I cry when I am angry. I also cry when happy and sad, too. I just suck at emotions. Emotions to me are like squirting onion juice in my eye. I guess that’s me. Onion girl has a nice ring to it.

Letting out a shaky breath. “I said, bloody monsters,” I spit at Darius through gritted teeth. His smile chills me to the bone when I feel fingers wrap around my throat, and Tobias suddenly lets go of my hair and stands back up. Darius glares at me, his fingers wrapped around my throat, slowly cutting off my oxygen, and I clutch his hand. His grip only tightens.

“You do not know the sort of monsters we can be. You would have been better off letting those mutts tear you apart because we will never forgive you for what you did. We will make you wish you never called upon us. And I will make you wish for death,” he snarls. Tears burn my cheeks, and my lips part as blood rushes to my head while I choke, needing air. Darius sneers at me, then let’s go. I suck in much-needed air, choking on my stolen breath. My throat feels damaged as I try to breathe through my mangled windpipe. My fingers instantly move to touch it, and his fingers feel like they’ve been burned into my skin.

“Grab her, and let’s get out of here,” Darius says before a pair of hands grab me, and I am tossed over someone’s hard shoulder.

The air around me heats and warps, rippling like a stone tossed into a lake, and I find myself pulled through a portal they have created. The motion and whooshing noise make my stomach turn briefly as my captor steps into our new surroundings. Hesitation runs through me when I reluctantly lift my head. Before I can take in where we are, I am thrown against the hard concrete floor.

With a loud crack, my head bounces painfully off the ground when he throws me off his shoulder. I hit it so hard that darkness swallows my vision for a few seconds, and I instantly clutch my head in my hands. A pained noise leaves my lips, and I grit my teeth through the pain that has just exploded inside my skull. My ears ring loudly, and the creaking and the slam of metal on metal force me to jolt.

Opening my eyes, I peer around to see I am in a cell. Tobias then locks me in with a key. He doesn’t even glance in my direction, just turns on his heel and walks away as I squint out the barred cage I’ve now found myself in. My head pounds to a beat of its own, and a chill so cold begins bleeding through me. It twists and locks my limbs, making my head pound harder. A whimper escapes me as the cold settles over me, and I struggle to remain sitting upright. So, I lay down, knowing firsthand how hard the floor is when your head bounces off it.