Darkest Sinner

by Van Dyken, Rachel

  “Bet you wish you would have taken that shot.” Tarek said with a smirk. “And don’t worry, he can’t help but be an ass, I’m convinced that it’s next to his name in the dictionary, you know, demon, evil, ass, ahhh Timber, there it is!”

  I tried laughing past the knot in my throat, it was a pathetic attempt. “A little extreme to call him a demon but yeah… that was… weird.”

  “Strap in,” Tarek said under his breath and then he was gone, leaving another shot poured ready for me.

  I took it.

  Coughed.

  And wondered if I should bring Timber something to sober up, only to see him breeze passed me like he hadn’t just downed over two gallons of alcohol. “Tarek make sure she doesn’t burn the place down.”

  I suppressed a growl.

  Timber stopped at the door and very slowly looked over his shoulder and barked. “Wear more clothes tomorrow.”

  I looked down at my jean shorts and crop top. “I thought—”

  “Don’t think, do,” he snapped slamming the door behind him.

  Tarek held the empty shot glass in front of my face. “One more before your double shift.”

  “Like it will help.”

  “Let’s just say I’ll make sure it does…” he said cryptically and oddly enough, I trusted he would.

  And even weirder?

  I made the most tips I’d ever made at any bartending job.

  And I actually felt good for the next eight hours.

  I forgot all about my parents moving to another country.

  I forgot about the disappointment they tried to hide whenever they asked if I’d found a job I liked or a guy that didn’t completely turn me off. The answer was always no, I was always anxious, always moving, always searching.

  Until now.

  Until that night, even after the rejection, something about Soul felt right.

  Like the world was a happier place than I originally thought.

  Like I had a place in it.

  TIMBER

  It was two seconds.

  Her touch.

  Long enough for the room to spin, for my world to tilt as a mirage of rainbow-like colors erupted in my line of vision, they surrounded her like an aura, one that pulsed in perfect cadence to the tattoo on my hand.

  Disconcerting, that’s what it was.

  Kyra was hiding something, or worse, it had been hidden from her, meaning she was a pawn in a very dangerous game that I wanted no part of. I thought that the games were over now that the werewolves were in their rightful place, now that the Watchers were done fighting us.

  The main war was over.

  And things were worse than before, because now the line between humans and the other worldly was slowly starting to blur into something else completely.

  I’d never reacted to anyone’s touch that way before—not Genesis, Serenity, or even Hope—a freaking elf and a friend.

  I hit the accelerator so hard, it tapped the car floor, and my Ferrari sped toward the forest.

  It was a last-ditch effort to get answers, the only way I knew how, to ask the oldest of the bunch what the ever-loving hell was going on.

  I didn’t want to face her again.

  I didn’t want to look at her and remember the nights spent in her arms, the stolen kisses, or the way she’d made me feel like a god.

  It was forbidden.

  No matter how much I craved it, and seeing her just made the hunger that much worse because I knew only she could quench my thirst, my need to be filled.

  If I had any chance of surviving another century, I would ignore the pull toward her.

  I hit the brakes and skidded to a stop, sending a cloud of dirt flying up around my car. When I killed the engine, silence roared in my ears. I walked away. No need to lock my doors; it wasn’t like Bambi was going to steal my car—and if any human tried they’d be sent to the hospital in a nice body bag, and if they were lucky straight to the morgue.

  I knew she would be here, Eris, the thorn in my side, the balm to my soul. The one woman I wasn’t supposed to touch. In a cruel twist of fate, she was damned to serve the virgin goddess Danu and wasn’t allowed to physically or emotionally attach herself to immortals or humans—especially the Demon King with creepy tattoos, but that wasn’t the point.

  She would at least have information I needed. She was old as hell, just like yours truly, and she knew the ins and outs of magic that seemed to create a pulse-like heartbeat in our world. Right on cue, my tattoo started to heat on my palm. It was getting bigger, something was growing inside me, I could feel it, could feel the need to break free—and I was afraid I knew exactly what was trying to break loose.

  A soul trapped too long in a body not meant for it.

  It felt like fingernails were digging against my insides, clawing away at my ribs—free—did I even know what that meant?

  The gravel crunched beneath my boots as I made my way into the forest. I knew what I would find, visions of women bathing would be the only thing I saw for the next mile as I passed by the large river and entered into the land of the fae.

  Danu and the other goddesses stayed on earth—that didn’t mean they stayed in our realm.

  Damn, it was going to be a rough night.

  I gritted my teeth and passed two golden nymphs who waved in my direction and blew a kiss; both of them had white hair and razor-sharp teeth behind those plump lips. Petals flew in my direction, and I ducked, careful not to let them touch me; the last thing I wanted was to be imprisoned under a tree for the next decade just because I wanted to touch their petals.

  And I mean all of their petals.

  It was irritating to an immortal and quite damning to a human.

  I passed under the cover of two large trees, their leaves changing from green to black as I made my way farther into the darkness of the forest.

  I was used to the way things died around me, or should I say I had been used to it until recently—I’d forgotten how it felt to carry death with me, to know that I would always carry it—a curse of my species.

  A curse of what I was.

  Power pulsed through my fingertips as I knew it would any time I entered into the immortal realm.

  Like my spirit was trying to remind me of my past.

  A past I couldn’t remember.

  Fragments existed.

  There was always so much burning, so much thirst, and the despair of loneliness couldn’t be matched.

  And then I gave it up, for what?

  Something that was slowly trying to destroy me from the inside out.

  I finally made my way to the meadow. Yellow daisies sprouted out from the tall green grass… And there Eris was, dancing in the field like I knew she would be. Her white dress was plastered against her body, her face lifted up toward the violet-tinted sky.

  I squeezed my eyes shut as I took a step toward her, the flowers instantly died beneath my feet, I crushed their petals, bringing death and destruction through the meadow until I was finally right in front of her.

  Yellow irises rimmed in blue locked onto me. “I knew you’d come.”

  “I always do.” My voice echoed, another reminder.

  I shook my head as pain splintered my temples.

  “It’s dying.” She reached out and pressed a hand to my chest. “You know this, don’t you?”

  “What’s dying?” I trembled at her touch.

  Her cherry red lips pressed together in a firm line as her jet black hair whipped around her face, and then the wind just stopped, leaving us there while my darkness overtook the small space where we stood.

  Flowers turned to ash.

  The sky’s hue darkened to a deep plum purple.

  A chill filled the already icy air.

  “You know what.” Her eyes went wide. And then she jerked her hand away. It was coated in black soot, she pressed her fingertips together as ash fell to the dead ground beneath her feet. “You should go.”

  “No.” I reached for her, and for the f
irst time in my existence, the goddess who had taunted me, teased me, told me I was hers, turned her back on me.

  I grit my teeth. “Nobody turns away from me!” My voice shook the realm, birds flew from the trees making their escape.

  What the hell was happening to me?

  “Once it dies, you’ll remember everything, once it dies you won’t want me anymore…” She shot me a cruel smile over her shoulder. “It’s been fun, though, hasn’t it?”

  “Dies?” I replied, dumbstruck.

  She lifted a shoulder, not answering, not really giving me what I needed at all.

  I showed her my hand, the seed that had now taken root, growing into a damn tree. “What is this?”

  “Your curse,” she whispered. “And your only chance at breaking free… Let it consume you and you may get everything you’ve ever hoped for. Ignore your true nature, turn away from your heart, from the restored soul you’ve been given, and you’ll die.”

  “Demons don’t die.”

  “No.” Her smile was cruel. “But that’s not what you are now, is it?”

  “Bullshit.” I was so tired of riddles, tired of games, just plain tired of everything. I grabbed her by the arm and jerked her against me. “You do not turn your back on the Demon King.”

  “I don’t turn my back on him at all—few would live to tell about it—but you are not he.” She jerked away. “The minute Hope restored you, she restored all of you. Your body is rejecting the used soul. It won’t get better, not unless you choose.”

  “Choose what?” I was afraid to ask as shame washed over me. I was bad, death itself, wasn’t I?

  “True nature can never be denied, not even for someone as powerful as you.” She took a step back. “You have been thirsty for so long, haven’t you?”

  Eris wiped the ash from where I’d touched as if she was cleansing herself from every thought of me.

  “For years we’ve been as close as lovers,” I reminded her. “And this is it?”

  “You cannot touch me without killing me, Timber. Before…” She sighed as a single tear ran down her cheek. “Before you could, but it’s too late. Too late for us, we were doomed from the start, you know the rules. A goddess of the earth and a demon? It was bad enough, wasn’t it? And now that you are… returning to your original state, there is no hope, not even if you devoured a hundred used souls. You are damned, prince of darkness.” And then she bowed and disappeared from the valley.

  I wasn’t sure how long I stood there, long enough that the purple sky went to black, long enough that when I turned around and started walking back toward my car, the path was lined with crows, an honorless guard garbed in cloaks of black feathers.

  Each of them with their eyes missing as if someone had purposefully poked them out so they would be blind to the world around them, to the darkness I carried with me.

  Creepier than that.

  When I finally left the realm of the fae and made it to my car, the darkness had followed.

  I stopped walking and turned around as stark blackness filled my line of vision. It should have been impossible.

  And yet there I was, surrounded by the very thing most people feared.

  I had brought death to the human realm.

  And I had no way of fixing it.

  Other than calling on the immortal council and once again asking for help I wasn’t sure they could even give.

  With a cry, I slammed my hands onto the hood of my Ferrari and looked down as ash fell from my fingertips.

  I was well and truly screwed.

  KYRA

  I hated how much I thought of him.

  Timber left like the hounds of hell were chasing him. From next to me, Tarek snorted out a laugh like something I said was funny.

  Only I wasn’t talking.

  “You okay?” I tossed one of the bar rags in his direction. He swiped it out of the air with his right hand and gave me an amused grin.

  He was beautiful in a hipster sort of way.

  Why wasn’t I thinking of my new co-worker instead of my boss?

  “Life and death are a lot like love and hate,” Tarek said cryptically again like he could read my thoughts. His brown eyes went almost black as they darted back and forth as though reading an invisible book in front of his face. “One cannot exist without the other, counterparts exist to bring balance to the world, just like good and evil.”

  “O…kaayyyy…” I narrowed my eyes and was tempted to press my hand against his forehead to see if it was burning up. “Too many shots?”

  He snorted out a laugh. “Not near enough, I have a fast metabolism.” He patted his flat muscular stomach. No crap it was a fast metabolism, I saw him maul two burgers an hour ago, if I did that they’d have to roll me out of here.

  I gave my head a shake. “Do you need help with anything else?”

  “Nope.” He shrugged and gave me the goofy grin I was used to. “You can go home. I’ll make sure all the drunk college kids make good choices.”

  “Hah.” I rolled my eyes. “They come in here to make bad choices not good choices.”

  “True.” He winked and again I felt nothing, huh. “Go, just…” He sniffed, then sniffed again.

  “Hey, are you getting sick?” I reached out toward him but he was already backing away and looking out the front window down the street. “Tarek?”

  “Shadows,” he whispered under his breath. “On second thought…” He shrugged. “I think I’ll just walk you home.”

  “I live only a few blocks away,” I pointed out. “And I have pepper spray.”

  He winced. “Yeah, pepper spray hardly keeps someone away if they’re hell bent on killing you.”

  “Wow, great bedtime story, thanks!” I snatched up my purse and jerked my head toward the door. “You can follow me if you must…”

  “I would be the most obedient dog, you have no idea,” he teased.

  And for some reason I had this vision of him with fur covering his body, golden eyes alert and watchful.

  What the hell was wrong with me?

  Our eyes locked. “After you,” He put his hand on my back while I gave my head another good shake. The vision had been so clear.

  “Right.” I gulped and walked out of the bar and into the cool Seattle air. The streets were still filled with college students and the few random families out for dinner. It wasn’t like we were in a crappy area of Seattle, so I wasn’t sure why he felt the need to walk me, but I wasn’t going to say no to company, especially after his weird warning.

  He kept his hand on my back as we weaved through the crowds and even weirder it was like he was able to dodge people before he even knew which direction they were coming at us from.

  I stared straight ahead and almost stumbled when I noticed a flicker in front of me, something dark, maybe a dog, moved to the right of my vision.

  “Shit,” Tarek grumbled under his breath and then fully wrapped an arm around me before jerking us off the sidewalk and into an alleyway where he pressed his mouth against mine before I could protest, his hands running up and down my arms like he was suddenly on fire for me.

  I shoved against his chest only to have him move his lips down my neck, his teeth nipping my ear. “Go with it.”

  Maybe it was the tone of his voice, or the chill that suddenly wracked my body, but I nodded briefly before wrapping my arms around him.

  It was a nice kiss.

  Hot.

  Aggressive.

  But it felt like I was kissing my friend, my very good friend, and I was too confused to ask him why he suddenly felt the need to do that.

  His kiss deepened, and then he pulled back, his eyes completely black. He gave his head a rough shake before dropping to his knees in front of me.

  “Tarek!” I was starting to panic. He was a good guy, right? Right? He wasn’t trying to take advantage of me? Was he? I was about ready to scream when his gaze softened.

  “You smell like him,” He said it so matter-of-factly that I had nothing,
absolutely nothing to say back as Tarek straight up ran his tongue from the bottom of my calf all the way up to my bare thigh.

  Chills erupted all over my body as the scent of cedar and pine mixed with the warmth of pumpkin and cinnamon, all my favorite fall scents filled the air. My knees almost buckled as I gripped his head, tugging his hair with my right hand, hauling him back toward my other leg.

  A guttural moan erupted from the back of his throat as he gripped my left leg with both hands and mauled me with his mouth like my leg was an ice cream cone and he wanted one more lick, or—God help me—seven. That was lick number seven, not that I was counting.

  He gripped me by the ass, his fingers digging into my skin as he slowly looked up at me like he was ready for the main course.

  And the main course was me.

  Heat enveloped my core in pulsing waves as his scent filled the air around us, and then he jerked his head to the street sniffed and relaxed.

  Panting, I was stunned as my arousal started to wear off like he’d just doused me in the strongest pheromone known to mankind.

  I shook my head out of the daze. What was happening?

  His eyes flashed back to brown, a trick of the moon maybe, as he stood to his full height, towering over me. Bracing me against the wall, he leaned in, his nose nuzzling my neck like he was a cat needing a bit of attention. “It’s really too bad.”

  “What is?” I almost reached for him again as waves of heat pulsed off of him. “The fact that you tricked me and just wanted to make out or that you stopped?”

  He stilled, pulled back just enough so I could see his brown eyes, at this angle they almost seemed to glow. “I was going to say it’s too bad you’ve already been marked.”

  “Marked?” I repeated. “Like with a marker?”

  His lips pressed together in a smirk. “Sure, let’s go with that.”

  “Tarek.” The voice was chilling and familiar, I quickly jerked my head toward the street where Timber stood. “You can go now.”

  “You sure about that, boss?” Timber ground his teeth. “Because the way I see it—”

  Timber held up his hand silencing Tarek faster than a trained puppy. “She’s safer with me than with you, especially after that spectacular attempt at claiming what isn’t yours.”