Tasting Darkness

Read Taming Darkness By Jessica Hall Book 3 Chapter 6 - Tobias Darius was gone, and we were sealed in by Darius’ magic. Aleera was stuck in this memories state, her eyes flitting back and forth, her power magnifying with each tortuous second that passed as | paced back and forth while getting dressed.

Black and gold webbing bleeds out of her pores, spreading like a rash over most of her body, her breathing becoming rapid as we watch her. Kalen’s worry and fear bleeding intolike poison as he chews his nails, staring absently at where Darius just left through a portal.

Lycus grips his hair, he now has shorts on, but his fear is also potent, only amplifying mine. “What are we going to do?” Lycus whines, she had only been out for a few minutes, yet that was long enough for Darius to escape us and trap us in this room.

We could still feel him, though we knew he was badly injured. We have tried to break the seal that snared us in, yet we were just wasting the energy and power we needed when it dropped.

With each passing second, we felt his power dwindle rapidly, and if she didn’t wake soon, we had no way to break the seal Darius placed on this room. We knew Aleera could if she would just wake. His magic now writhed through her. All our power flowed through her, strong like a beating heart, a muscle waiting to be flexed and used. So | know she could break the seal that is in place.

Her phoenixes were cawing loudly outside. A storm brewing fiercely, and the more her magic strengthened, consuming her, as she cinto more power, the louder the chaos got outside.

Kalen looks to the windows, light casting shadows through the room, when we hear a loud cr¥ck of thunder. And the power goes out. We are plunged into darkness, and at the stime, we feel Darius’ pain, like a knife carving through our hearts, splintering our souls into a million tiny facets.

The pain is so intense it drops us all. | gasp and drop to my knees. “He's hurt!” Kalen grits out, stating the obvious, and Aleera sucks in a deep sharp breath, yet she isn’t awake, still stuck in that transient state between the waking world and a talready lived.

Watching her, her back arches off the bed, her eyes opening, and her hands clawing at the sheets. She was fighting the memories, fighting to get back here, when suddenly the lights flickered brightly, too brightly, and the entire room started shaking, the brickwork cracking and glass shattering when she screamed.

The moment she does, a shift in energy smashes us, and | feel it surging in my veins when it erupts out of her like a furious volcano. Like a slivering cr*ck in the glass, | feel the seal Darius placed start to ripple, bend and cr+ck before it explodes along with the light bulbs. The sound is deafening, and | scream, covering my ears when the seal shatters completely, and the room goes black.

Opening my eyes, the room is so cold. My breath breathes smoke clouds in the air, fog fills the room, and goosebumps lace my skin. It was like ice in here; whatever awoke inside her wanted out, fire and ice, light and darkness, both combative and just as lethal. Both fought a war inside her as she fights his memories, she could feel him, feel us.

As | rise to my feet, Aleera is covered in ice, yet her eyes burn brightly, her veins turn to gold, and she is still stuck. She was stuck in a state she couldn't cout of until she saw every piece of him, bonded to the darkest parts of him, bonded and tamed the darkness she now possessed.

Lycus moves to touch her, hissing as his fingers touch her. They turn black as if frostbitten, and he screams as his magic quickly works to heal him. “How do we wake her?” he looks atfrantically.

“We don’t,” | tell him, gasping for air as Darius loses what's left in him.

“But Darius,” Kalen chokes, clawing at his throat. | groan, forcing myself to my feet— “I know,” Tossing my fingers out, 1 open a portal to the city.

“Tobias!” Lycus rasps, finding his feet again.

“I won't let him die,” | stagger toward it, and Lycus growls, grabbingwhen | stumble forward. “We can’t leave her.” Kalen whimpers.

“Her phoenixes will watch over her,” | tell him, and he hesitates before nodding. “God help them when she wakes up.” “Let's just hope she does in time,” | tell him, knowing whatever Darius is facing just absorbed half his power in one blow, he was the strongest out of us, and if he was struggling, we stood no chance. Not without her phoenixes.

“And if she doesn’t?” | glance at Aleera.

“She'll forgive us for leaving her,” | whisper, knowing full well if they kill us, Aleera will make it her mission to make them pay for it. “She is safe here, but Darius needs us. | won't abandon him, not when everyone else has.” | tell him before Lycus, and | step through the portal.

The moment we do, we step into carnage and chaos. We just escaped the room to be sealed inside a dplaced over part of the city. “Kalen wait!” | Lycus shrieks, but it is too late as Kalen steps through the portal directly behind us. “Too late,” Lycus shakes his head.

Kalen glances around and at the sky, and so do I, and | can see the bubble we are in, the translucent-like film wrapping the city. “Now what?” Kalen huffs.

“We find Darius and try not to die,” | tell them, glancing around the empty city street. The flickering of light between the buildings told which direction the fight was. The storm inside this dwas powered purely by magic, as we ducked and weaved out of the way of flying debris.

Dead bodies littered the street, and buildings were half blown apart. Power hunters had ripped through the place and by the feel of the dome. Power hunters sensed him the moment he entered and placed it to seal him inside i) | place my fingers over my infinity mark, searching for Darius’ location. | feel his anger and disbelief that we found him, seconds later | stop, hearing a growl! behind us. Lycus shakes his head, Kalen pivots, and Lycus sighs, almost sounding bored.

“I just got these f**king pants too,” Lycus snarls, turning to face the threat as | do. Kalen pats Lycus’ shoulder.

“Yeah, yeah, f**k me!” Lycus groans as | stare down the four gigantic wolves stepping out from between the buildings and rubble. They move closer, teeth-gnashing and growling as they prowl toward us from the end of the street.

They stalk closer and Lycus takes his damn tto remove his pants and | hold out my arm knowing he wasn’t losing those damn shorts, | could feel Darius fighting his way to us now, but he seemed to have the upper hand for now.

“I swear if one of you bas***rds givesrabies, | will be pissed,” Lycus huffs, passinghis shorts. | fold them, setting them on a broken sign board at my feet. “Oh, get on with it,” Kalen snaps at him.

“By all means feel free to take my place,” Lycus tells him and I roll my eyes, not a damn serious bone in Lycus’ body, the ssh*t whenever he used to con missions with us while finding Aleera.

“Not my species, not my boarding kennel,” Kalen says folding his arms, and | snicker. Lycus turns his head to glare at him, and Kalen shrugs. “What, | can revert the terminology if you want, but monkeys don’t seem appropriate, though the circus part still may be fitting.” he retorts before giving Lycus a nudge forward.

Lycus mutters, leisurely strolling toward them. “So which one wants to be my b*tch!” Lycus growls as they charge at him in full sprint. “Even in the pits they sweep, f**k sake,” | hear him groan as he peers down at the litter on the ground, then he shifts at the last second just as Kalen nudges me, pointing to the sky.

Darius sends a flare into the sky, it hits the shield letting us know his location, fire engulfs the shield, licking and sliding down it showing us exactly how big it is.

“Let's go,” | tell Kalen before taking off in the direction Darius is. Four measly wolves were no match for Lycus, so 1 did not fear for his life, Darius however | did, especially if he sent off a flare of his magic. Darius wasn't taking on a couple of wolves, but a damn army of power hunters.

However, what | am not expecting is the crater | nearly fall into as | rush out of the alleyway. My hand grabbing Kalen’s shirt is the only thing that stops him from falling in as | rip him backward.

Across the other side is Darius standing out the front of the old council building on the steps while Hunters surrounded him. Magic flew everywhere, the energy rippling and surging is intense, the air felt electrified and charged.

Kalen tries to open a portal, but it shatters instantly. “Go, | will find another way,” Kalen tellsand | nod. | didn’t really want to leave him, but Darius was in a very precarious position and backed into a corner. Backing up, | run, tapping into my vampiric abilities to jump over the huge crater.

As soon as | cross, | am chucked directly into the fray and only just see Kalen disappear as he tries to find another way across. Now we just had to hope Aleera’s Phoenixes could break this damn dto help us. If not, we may have finally just met our end.