Page 5 of Releasing Darkness

I looked down at the wax and stamped seal, not recognizing the insignia. Not that I would. I had been gone too long and hadn’t been well educated on the high-ranking members of our demon society. I was just a girl, after all. According to my father, I was only a step up from a servant in importance. I contemplated my options, eager to see what was written inside but also knowing that I needed to keep whatever it was a secret from everyone in the living room.

I felt like the worst piece of shit, keeping a secret this huge from Varek. My loyalty had been with him for over three hundred years. He’d saved me, clothed me, fed me, and when I was ready, he trained me to be a warrior until I was good enough to be one of his few trusted. But if the demon was to be believed, if I told him about a brother possibly waiting to be rescued, everything could fail. I believed in the Fates. All demons did. We understood how important it was to take their words to heart.

With a sigh, I tucked the letter under my shirt and into the waistband of my jeans. I would follow instructions because there had to be a really important reason why.

I carried Adrien back into the living room with a smile plastered to my face that I really didn’t feel, doing my best to appear calm and like my world hadn’t been upended in the last few minutes. As I walked over to the settee where Juliette sat, the baby began to make fussing noises, and I took the opportunity presented. I placed him carefully into her arms.

“I think my little buddy is starting to need his momma,” I cooed softly down at him and traced my finger over his downy, soft cheek. I chuckled when he turned his head and opened his mouth, beginning to root around for his next meal. I swallowed back a pang of regret at the thought of what lay ahead for me. I would be leaving soon, and I would miss out on seeing Adrien grow. Maybe I would only be gone for a week or two if I were lucky, but babies age so quickly. I blinked quickly before pasting the same fake smile on my face. “I’m going to head to my room for a little while. I just need a little bit of quiet time.”

It wasn’t an unusual thing for me to do. Everyone knew the struggles I fought with my hunger and the urges that battled inside of me. When I lived and worked at Brimstone, I was surrounded twenty-four hours a day by sex, allowing me to absorb the pheromones through proximity. At the mansion, it was decidedly less so, though what I managed to absorb from Varek and Juliette and now Valen and Kallista kept me from starving.

I had attempted to go without for a while a couple of years ago, but that had ended in a near disaster. I apologized profusely to Ivy, the Hunter, and mate to the vampire I had stupidly attempted to seduce. It was a lesson that opened my eyes. I hadn’t actually wanted to seduce anyone, least of all a mated male, but my stubborn pride had tried to overcome the hunger.I no longer abstained from the sex of others. I accepted that I needed the pheromones to function. Without them, I was weak, both mentally and physically. And apparently, when pushed too far, my succubus nature would just decide to take over, damn the consequences. I shuddered at the thought of what could have happened if I’d attempted to seduce someone else, someone who wasn’t attached and wouldn’t say no.

“Okay. Thank you for keeping him company, Sasha. I hope you feel better soon.”

I laughed softly. “I’m sure either one of the brothers will see to that later.” I winked at Kallista and chuckled as she blushed, quickly figuring out what I was implying.

I walked away from my group of friends, hoping it wouldn’t be the last time that I saw them.

Chapter

Two

SASHA

As soon as the door closed softly behind me, I reached under my shirt for the heavy parchment paper. I strode over to the bed, tossed the cream-colored paper on the duvet, and stared at it. Then I spun around and paced the length of the room.

The mansion had more rooms than I cared to count and each of them had been lavishly furnished. The room I was given was larger than the suite I’d had at Brimstone for the last couple hundred years. Hell, I could fit most of the suite in my private bathroom.

I walked over to the sitting area next to the French doors leading onto my private balcony and flopped ungracefully into one of the plush armchairs. I tapped my fingertips on the arm of the chair as I stared over toward the bed where the letter was waiting for me. I snapped my head around, forcing myself to look through the glass doors and out onto my balcony, seeing the riot of greenery waiting for me outside.

I had taken to gardening years ago. It was a little-known secret about myself that I didn’t care to share with outsiders. Iloved plants. I loved watching them grow. I would find one on a rack at a store, any store, that was near death and carefully, patiently nursed it back to health. My balcony sported many of those once-dying plants, their glossy green leaves lush and full of life. I would have to leave strict instructions for the staff that tended to my room, or else I’d return to nothing but brown, withered stalks.

I sighed. I couldn’t continue to put off the inevitable. I had to read whatever was written in that letter. If I understood correctly, it was sent by the brother’s mother. As I stood and moved closer to the parchment lying there so innocent and unassuming, I wondered who their mother was. She had what I assumed to be a personal royal guard, so she must be someone important, right? Why was she just now contacting us… me? Was she a victim of the spell that had robbed everyone of their memories?

Once standing in front of the letter, I knew I had stalled long enough. I reached out slowly and picked it up with just my forefinger and thumb, and that was when I realized that my hand was shaking. I let out an annoyed huff at myself. I wasn’t this person. I didn’t get worried or scared. I was trained to be a killer, someone who could take down demons twice my size without receiving a single scratch. I wasn’t afraid of a simple message from the Underworld.

Right.

Swallowing hard, I slid a fingernail under the edge of the wax seal, careful not to damage it. I figured once this ordeal was over, Varek might want to see it. Maybe he would know who the seal belonged to. Once I had carefully pried it open, I smoothed the thick sheet of parchment open. It was unlike any paper we used here on the Earth realm, at least not in the last hundred or so years. I had to admire the weight and thickness, then finally focused on what was most important.

I had to read the words twice before closing my eyes and letting out a long breath.Fuck.Was I really going to do this? I had to go back to the one place I swore never to return. It wouldn’t be a quick or safe journey, but what worried me the most was… what if my father caught me? There was no way he would let me walk away. I’d be dooming myself to being another one of his prisoners for the rest of my life. If I even survived.

I read through the note another time much slower, taking in every word and letting it settle in my heart. There really wasn’t a choice given, nor would I say no anyway. The elegantly scrawled words swam in my vision as I let one moment of fear and anxiety race through me before I folded the note back into its neatly pressed lines. As I went into my closet and pulled a small bag from a shelf inside, the urgent words repeated through my mind.

My Dear,

I have recently consulted the Fates for divination of the Underworld. Their words were clear with the ominous conclusion that were you not to succeed, the future of all demonkind lies in ruin. Make haste. Time is at hand.

I must urge you to enter the Underworld through the Northern Forest portal. Find your way to the High Dungeon. There, you will find one of the Four. He must be set free to join his brothers. This is a journey you must take alone. May the Divine be with you.

A friend

Did I want to go on this quest? No, I absolutely did not. Did I like that I was personally chosen to do this? Fuck no. Did I believe every word in that letter? Unfortunately, yes, I did. One of the first things young demons were taught was to respect the Fates. You couldn’t run from a predetermined destiny. If you tried, it always spelled certain disaster, and not only for yourself. I couldn’t stop the tremor of fear in my gut that if I told someoneelse or even thought to ignore the instructions given, the brother in my father’s dungeon could die.

I looked down at my satchel, and a memory of a very similar one had tears swimming in my eyes. I didn’t stay to see that Sein was buried properly. I just ran away without a backward glance like a coward. My sweet little sister died because I was weak and couldn’t protect her. Well, I would do anything within my power to protect Varek and Valen’s brother. I would free him from the High General’s dungeon and bring him back here to be reunited with his brothers.

I didn’t know what kind of shape he would be in, but he was a demon, and we healed quickly with only time and rest. If he was in bad shape, it would be hard to navigate the forest, and we would have to find a place to hold up for a short time. Thinking of the terrors of the Northern Forest, I filled the bag with more weapons than I already had. Blades would be essential. I found a small first aid kit under the sink in my bathroom and added that as well. We would survive the journey. We had to.

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