Tainted Heart (The Tainted Series Book 2)

by Marie, Tarisa

  “Can we just hang out and watch TV or something? I’m not feeling up to much to be honest,” I groan.

  “Of course, whatever you like. Why don’t you pick out a movie or something while I go shower, that is, unless you’d like to join me,” he suggests sexily.

  I can’t help laughing at this though it comes out a bit choked. I’m so terrified for everyone going to fight that I can’t even think straight. How is he handling this so well?

  “Sure,” I agree. Maybe a shower will help me get my mind off of everything, and not just any shower but a shower with this god.

  Chapter 10

  “You cheated!” I accuse Daymon as he glides his game piece passed the finish line and wins the board game we’ve been playing for the last two hours.

  “Did not! Where’s your proof?” he answers flirtatiously with his famous smirk plastered across his face.

  I don’t have proof but I’m like ninety percent sure that he’s used some sort of witchy trick to win the game.

  “My proof is that smirk on your face!” I try to point at him accusingly.

  He chuckles and shakes his head. “That’s not good enough.”

  “One day when I get my power figured out, I’m going to know when you’re cheating you know and then you’ll be in for a whole lot of trouble!” I warn him and pretend I’m angry, throwing the pieces back into the box in a rush.

  He scoffs. “Sore loser, are you?”

  “You’re the one that couldn’t accept that I was going to win so you had to cheat!”

  “I wouldn’t do such a thing,” he reassures me.

  “I rolled a one eight times in a row and you rolled a six eight times in a row. You cannot tell me that was coincidence,” I argue playfully and shake my head at him in disdain.

  “And if it wasn’t coincidence? How much trouble would I be in?” he asks, basically confirming that he did in fact cheat.

  I think about it. “Then you’re not allowed to use your power for the rest of the day.”

  “What? That’s not fair, that’s like me saying that you can’t walk for the rest of the day,” he challenges.

  “I guess you shouldn’t cheat,” I say flippantly, not giving him an ounce of sympathy.

  “Fine, but I want a rematch,” he offers.

  “Fine,” I challenge and throw the pieces from the box back onto the floor where we sit cross-legged across from each other.

  “You know, if I was allowed to use my power I could set the entire game up with the swipe of my hand, right?”

  I scowl at him and finish setting everything up again.

  “Your go,” I offer him the chance to go first.

  “Ariella? Where am I?” a familiar crystal-like voice asks. Baylon is standing behind Daymon looking confused.

  “How did you get here?” I ask confused and Daymon turns to greet our guest.

  I can’t see his expression when he makes eye contact with Baylon but I see hers. She looks like she’s looking at a ghost.

  “Daymon?” she says finally, shock filling her voice.

  “Margaret?” Daymon demands, and I wonder if I almost hear anger in his voice. What is going on?

  “This is my half-sister Baylon,” I correct him, confused.

  They continue to stare at each other. “I have a lot of explaining to do,” Baylon says finally.

  “I would say,” Daymon stands to face her.

  “What’s going on? Do you two know each other?” I infer.

  “You look well, cleaned up and put together. I mean more so than you did years ago,” Baylon acknowledges and they both ignore my questioning.

  “You’re Tario, I wouldn’t have been able to tell that years ago, especially in my state, but I see it now in your eyes and the way you carry yourself,” Daymon observes.

  “Ariella, remember when I told you that I faked my own death years ago and left my daughter with the man I loved? This would be that man,” Baylon finally explains.

  That’s when the name ‘Margaret’ rings a bell. Daymon had once told me how he had a daughter and the mother died giving birth. I let this sink in as they stare at each other. Daymon fell in love and had a baby with my sister. It’s not until this moment that I truly understand the saying ‘it’s a small world’. I don’t know why but I feel like puking. I feel dizzy. I feel almost angry. I have to use the tactics that Tyler taught me yesterday to try to push away the darkness which threatens to overwhelm me.

  I listen as Baylon explains everything to Daymon starting from the very beginning when she introduced herself to him as a human. Eventually when Daymon is done questioning her further they move onto the topic of how the heck she ended up in my mother’s home but they come up blank. I can only guess that mother brought her here to keep her out of the bloodshed, but why? Yes, Baylon is her daughter but she never seemed to care much about her, Tyler didn’t even know she or her sister existed. Why bring Baylon here and not her twin sister Anessa?

  I’m frozen to my place unmoving until Daymon finally turns from Baylon and looks to me. His expression seems to be filled with both confusion and pain.

  I manage a forced smile only because I don’t know what he expects me to do.

  “It’s been too long not to speak over a glass of wine, no?” Baylon suggests and suddenly there’s a bottle in her hand.

  Daymon seems to agree and I follow because I don’t know what else to do. Daymon had a child with my sister. He loved, maybe still loves my sister.

  As she pours us each a glass of wine at the table, I can’t help wondering if I’m intruding. Should I leave them alone to talk? I’m feeling utterly self-conscious when Daymon says, “Margaret, Baylon whoever you seem to be, this is Ariella, a very good friend of mine. I understand she is your sister.” This causes me to swallow hard. I’m his very good friend?

  “I can see both of your auras, Daymon, I am one of few Tario born with the ability to read auras. I am aware that you are in love. I am not about to come into your lives and intrude. It’s been a long time. Too long and I’m sure we are both very different people than we were,” Baylon explains while looking to me. “You are lucky to have him and lucky that his lips aren’t stuck to a bottle any longer. I do have question though, what became of our daughter Marilyn?”

  Daymon seems sickened by this question, like he’s about to puke. I know he doesn’t like talking about his past and so I never bring it up.

  “She was kidnapped by black witches from what I understand. I’d went to town to get something for the cattle, I can’t remember what, and left her with my sister Rose. When I returned she was gone and Rose claimed the black witches had taken her. She was two at the time and I never seen her again,” he admits sheepishly and runs his hand through his dark locks nervously.

  “She was as much Tario as Ariella or even more so. The Tario were no longer killing those with Tario blood at that time and so they let her live and made me leave her with you. They should’ve been watching her like they watch all those with Tario blood. If she were alive surely someone would’ve told me. She must’ve died long ago,” Baylon accepts this as if she’s always known it. “So are either of you going to explain what is going on? I have a feeling that you know more than you’re letting on. Tario are dropping like flies meaning someone has the knife and there’s a halfling who knows how to use it.”

  Daymon and I exchange a look. Should we tell her? We haven’t had the best of luck trusting Tario so far.

  “Do you know anything about the Tario’s plans?” I ask her.

  “What do you mean? No one tells me much of anything. I’m on probation remember? I can’t even leave my own home. Well, that is, until now. Someone seems to have busted me out and as much as I’d love to thank that person, they’re probably going to get me thrown in jail. There’s no way that whoever is killing the Tario is going to get far. There are too many of us and words out. If I were you, I’d tell whoever it is to retreat if you know who they are. This isn’t a game, they will die. The Tario k
now they’re attacking and they’re ready.”

  “And if they retreat, do you really think that the Tario will let them live? Now that they’ve begun, they cannot just back out, you know that,” Daymon quizzes her.

  “Ariella, remember the advice I gave you when you were in Tarot, about the Tario?” she asks, carefully choosing her words as if someone is listening and she wishes not to let them know what she told me. I recall what she said. She said to never trust a Tario.

  “Yes,” I answer confused. I stare at her, awaiting her next words.

  “Good, heed that advice. I, Baylon, of the Tario, have one question for you,” she says as if there’s a deeper meaning that I’m supposed to get from this.

  Ariella, the power instilled objects in this house confused me into thinking the protection wall was still up. I don’t know how long it’s been down, but it’s definitely no longer up. Daymon voices in my head and suddenly I know exactly what is going on…someone is listening in on us, using Baylon as a spy. I immediately suspect Blaze.

  “Who is killing the Tario?” she asks,

  “We don’t know who is killing Tario,” Daymon says finally. I hope that he too has caught on to what is going on but I doubt it.

  “You’re sure?”

  “Yes,” I answer.

  “Both of their auras are clean, they are telling the truth,” Baylon says automatically as if to a ghost.

  A dark haired man, her father, appears across the room with a wicked smile and says, “That is all we needed to hear from you, children.”

  Baylon smiles almost apologetically and then both of them are gone as quick as that. For the love of god, we were nearly dooped again.

  I don’t know if they’re actually gone but we need to get out of here if the protection spell is no longer working. They could come back.

  I wish I could ask him how we were supposed leave when they could just follow our essence trail but I don’t know how to do his neat little mind speaking trick.

  You need to get angry. You need to snap. That is the only way we’re going to be able to get out of here and destroy the essence trail at the same time. You need to throw around all that destructive dark power like you did when you were with Marco. I could do it but there’s no sense in me losing my light and not being able to get us out of here and who knows if I’d be able to snap back. Do it now, I’ll bring you back, I promise.

  I’m shocked by this. He wants me to do what?

  He looks at me expectantly and I just stare back at him because I frankly have no idea what I’m doing. How do you just get angry? I think about things that make me mad but none of them are things that make me made enough to snap.

  The Tario killed your mother, Ariella. Get mad. Let the darkness in. He’s right, if the protection spell on the house is down, my mother is dead.

  I try, I really do but the only thing I can think of is snapping and hurting Daymon which is something I really don’t want to do. We’ve been lucky so far but what if I snap and really hurt him or kill him this time? What if he can’t bring me back before I essentially murder him by accident?

  Ariella, we don’t have time for this, they could be here any second. They’re probably itching to check out your mother’s hideout.

  I try harder. They killed my mom. My mom who I already thought was dead for fourteen years. I’ve been through being angry over that. I’ve dealt with her death before. This thought isn’t enough to break me.

  Ariella, honestly, something must make you really angry.

  I think really hard. I imagine my brothers dying, I imagine my father dying, and I imagine Daymon dying. This only makes me extremely sad, not angry. Come on, Ariella, the one time you need this darkness to take over, it won’t? Focus. I focus on remembering what brought out the darkness the times before. The first time, I’d been attacked to the point where I snapped. The second time my father took away the one I loved. I see Daymon getting inpatient and begin freaking out.

  Suddenly his face, full of affection and worry, changes to one of chilling coldness.

  I had sex with your sister, Ariella. I had children with her. I don’t regret it. In fact, I would do it again. She was looking pretty fine, hasn’t aged a day.

  I gag. I can’t help it this makes me physically sick to my stomach. I want to punch him even though I’m sure he’s only trying to make me angry enough to let the darkness in. Right? He’s only saying this because he has to? Suddenly I’m second guessing myself. What if he’s not? What if he’s said this to make me angry but he also means it? He did in fact call me his friend earlier while speaking to Baylon. Are we not more than that? A tear slides down my cheek and I refuse to look at him. My heart hammers in my chest and then I feel the darkness begin to creep within me. At first it’s subtle but then it begins to grow and instead of pushing away from it like I always do, I let it seep into my heart, my mind, my everything. Prickle-like feelings grow in my finger tips and my breathing quickens as I unroll and become angrier and angrier.

  That’s right, Ariella, get mad, come on hate me. He stands up from his chair and to my surprise he dumps the remainder of his wine on my lap. You were just a hobby, something to keep me busy, do you really think I’d fall in love with someone as young and inexperienced and plain as you?

  I snap. I completely snap. I throw him into a wall and then through a wall. I pin him to the ground and I’m about to send the biggest blast of power I’ve ever felt into his chest when to my surprise our surroundings change to a forest. I vaguely remember that I’m supposed to be running from someone or something. This should be a good thing that we’ve left the house, but all I can think about is that I’m going to kill him and nothing is going to stop me. Not this time. Last time he took the darkness away from me and this time he will not.

  My hesitation costs me the advantage of having him pinned to the ground and he somehow ends up on top of me.

  I send that power I’ve been holding in, into him and he flies back, eyes wide with surprise. He hits a tree, hard.

  Jesus fuck, Ariella that hurt. I hear in my head.

  He stands up miraculously and uses his own power to send me into the air and twirl me around so that I’m so dizzy I can hardly think. Then he places me gently on the ground on my back and stands over me.

  “Ariella, your sister is a lying piece of trash. She left me to care for a child alone when I was hardly able to keep myself alive. I barely even knew I had a child. I barely remember her because I was drunk every single minute of her short life. I met your sister in a bar, she was an entertainer who went home with a different man every night. I was young, and I was dumb, and I was an entirely different person than I am now. I wasn’t in love with her and I never could be,” Daymon says while standing over me, watching me recover from my dizzy spell. “I have only known you for a year, but from the minute I first met you, I knew you were special. You’re the furthest thing from plain. You keep me sane. You keep me from my darkness. I quit drinking completely only days after meeting you because you made me want to be sober and experience life. I was with your sister for fifteen minutes and she had me drinking wine.”

  I begin to sit up when everything around me stops swirling, but he knocks me back down. I can’t focus on my power enough to fight back.

  “Let the light back in, Ariella, we’re safe or at least as safe as we can be. I don’t want to sleep with your sister. Not in a million years. She’s no more to me than someone who I used to know,” he coos.

  I finally build up enough strength to knock him back and away from me but he’s expecting it and sends me twirling through the air again. This is getting real old.

  “I love you, and only you. Remember last night? That was the best night of my life and I’ve had some pretty good nights,” he says tauntingly.

  That’s when I have an idea. Daymon too struggles with his darkness, what if I can get him to give into his own? Wouldn’t he then stop trying to convince me to let the light in? Anger triggers my darkness but I have
no idea what triggers his.

  “I remember last night, I wouldn’t say it was one of my favorites,” I jab at him. “I’ve had some pretty good nights.” I laugh and lick my lips, hoping to either make him angry, or make him jealous.

  I do see something spark in his eyes but not enough to flip any switches.

  “You’re lying. You know you can’t resist me. You love me. Remember when I kissed you like this..?” he asks softly and his face is suddenly all too close to mine. His lips mold to mine and then he trails kisses down my cheek and neck. “You really liked it when I did this…” he says sexily and I feel a prick on my neck. A feeling of pleasure shoots through me and I remember the bliss I felt last night. “Remember?”

  I shake out of my memory and push him off of me.

  He looks a little surprised and hurt but he doesn’t waver. He sighs, throws me to the ground, and then there goes his shirt. He throws it onto the ground. He smiles cockily, smirks, and winks at me in a way that stirs something inside of me.

  Then I’m back. My head swirling and throbbing.

  “I knew it would be my body that brought you back. Admit it, you love me for my body,” he teases and unbuttons the top button of his jeans as if to only tease me more. “That wasn’t so bad. You didn’t almost kill me that time. I guess you don’t like spinning. I’ll have to remember that.”

  I groan. My back is killing me. I try to sit up but I can’t.

  “Ariella?” he asks, concern in his voice. “Are you alright?” He comes to kneel beside me. “What hurts?”

  “My back,” I mumble through clenched teeth.

  He rolls me over and pulls up my shirt. He intakes a sharp swipe of air.

  “What?” I ask. “Is it bad?”

  “Yeah, looks like you landed on a tree’s branch and it snapped like five or six ribs,” he explains while touching my back where it’s most tender. “One second,” he promises as a heat touches my back. “I guess I underestimated my strength. I threw you a little hard. I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful next time,” he promises.

  “What? Why would you be more careful? I was trying to kill you, Daymon. Do you realize that when I snap like that I want to kill you?” I demand and sit up a little too quickly. My vision whirls.