Page 18 of Taming Darkness

I already knew that with killing off that part of him, Darius killed off what little control he used to have over his incubus magic. Anything he did have was lost and forgotten.

His Demonic side emerged far harder than he knew was possible. The very thing he tried to hide and control now was the only part of him that truly existed. The monster that lurked between him now became a dominant part of him.

It had more power and freedom than ever. Darius wasn’t in control anymore, every moment of his life, the monster could break free and prove it had the upper hand.

Darius constantly needed to fight against the monster inside him to keep it at bay. It explained so much about the man I have come to know, even the worst parts of him. And just when I thought Darius might get some reprieve from the horrors he lived, I was wrong.

It was only two days later that Molly died. The pain, even if only a memory, that surged through him was indescribable. It targeted his heart, shattered his soul, and drove his mind into a frenzy of regrets.

His mother begged Darius to save her, begged Darius to bring her back. And he tried, oh god, how he tried, but nothing worked. Darius couldn’t do anything to save his sister, to save the one person who was his true weakness. No matter how he hated that she was used as a weapon to control him far too many times, Darius still refused to let go of her.

He didn’t give up. He couldn’t. Over and over again, he tried everything, but the more time passed, the harder it became to admit that he didn’t have that kind of magic anymore. If only he still had his Harmony side, he could have saved her. He didn’t want to give up, but there was nothing he could do to save her. Not without his Harmony-Fae magic, the very thing he destroyed thinking he was saving the world from further damage. It was the only thing that could save her.

Darius knew that if he took the risk and chose to resurrect her, she wouldn’t be his sister anymore. His sister was dead, what remained was the outer shell. She was gone, forever.

Darius knew the risk of bringing his sister back from the dead was too great for him to take. Even if they managed to summon her, it wouldn’t be Molly anymore—instead, a darker version of her would exist. It would be something far more powerful than his incubus, and something far more sinister than death itself.

The black magic that would be used to revivify her was unbinding and unpredictable. He had seen its power before, felt the depths of its darkness when he faced the shadows of death himself. If he brought Molly back, there was no telling what kind of monster she would become or what she would do once she was fully alive again.

So Darius made the difficult decision to let Molly go and keep what remained of his family as safe as he could. He cried for days after he had decided, but eventually, he accepted that this was the only way for now.

It didn’t mean that he stopped searching for ways to bring her back, though; for days he tried, and for days he failed. He was tempted so many times to use his incubus just to stop his mother's pain.

But Darius knew his sister would never be able to live with them. She was purer of light than he ever was, softer, and the shadows would ruin everything he loved about his sister, make her hate herself. The shadows were something else, something dark and sinister, something all consuming, cold, and angry. Something dead and untamable.

Tears stings in my eyes as the memory fades. Though the pain disappeared, and the heartbreaking view was nowhere in sight, it left a sour aftertaste and more sorrow than my heart had ever felt. The memory moves to the next, and out of nowhere, unexpectedly, I feel my soul shudder.

Intense pain courses through me. I know it has nothing to do with this past ghost of his reality, but with the real world. Our world—our reality. Back home.

Darius!I pull and push on the veil, knowing my mates need me. I know something has gone terribly wrong while I am imprisoned in the memories and can’t break free. The more I push back against the veil, the sturdier it becomes.

The memories don’t stop as my mates’ panic bleeds into me, it consumes my senses and overtakes every thought running through my mind.

Pain. Such intense pain I could not have even fathomed before I felt it. The emotions I feel, however, can’t compare to the rage simmering inside of me. I can feel my soul darken, feel this sense of entrapment. Yet, it isn’t just being trapped within my mind, I can feel Darius’ magic wrapping around me like a cocoon. And our mates are trying to break his power down.

Chapter9

~Aleera~

As more memories wash past me, I can’t be bothered to focus on them. I don’t care for them. I can’t really focus on anything apart from the feeling of agony tearing through my chest as his pain bleeds into me through the bond. The pain is so intense and raw, so fresh, that I don’t believe it could be eased by the most skilled of healers. It tears at my soul.

Nothing I do can pull me out of my trance and into my body. It doesn’t matter how hard I try to fight back, how much of my energy and my own power I force into breaking the veil—it won’t budge. It won’t let me go.

I am forced to stay and watch his memories. I remain stuck, trapped between the pain I feel and Darius’ past. The veil forces me to endure Darius' pain physically in this memory state and in the waking world.

Even in my current surroundings, I can hear the voices of my mates breaking through. It’s almost like the veil took pity on me and lets me listen in while the memories keep playing. The foreign feeling forced me deeper into the past of the very man who shared his pain with me.

Their voices surround me like whispers in the wind. But despite their softness, I can still hear the intense panic resonating through the few words I can actually understand.

From what I can gather, Tobias wanted to help Darius. I could also hear my Phoenixes cawing loudly, desperately wanting me to come back. They were telling me something was seriously wrong.

Nothing works; regardless of what I try, I can’t do it. So instead, I decide to focus my anger on Darius' past. Anger at everything I watched him endure, the things I watched adults (who should know better) do to him. Maybe that could help me break the chains that held me in this helpless state.

A storm is brewing fiercely, making the wind howl, making me more and more aware of my outside surroundings. The memories that trapped my mind caught me between both worlds, present and past.

The more I see, the more enraged I become. Along with my rage, I feel my magic strengthen to the point it consumes me whole. But as time passes, the memories slow and still, this one sucking me back into the abyss of his tormented life. “No!” I scream. I was so close to the surface, only to be plunged back into his memories.

Desperate, I push against the wall separating these two states when I hear a laugh. One I recognize. Lysander. Turning, I come face to face with him, once again trapped in a vice-like grip. My hesitation at the sound of his voice has the memory devouring me, drawing me in, and before I know it, I'm in what looks like a courtroom. Only now, Darius is no longer a boy but a man. He is at a council meeting. Lycus, Kalen, and Tobias are all there when Lycus stiffens beside him. Glancing up, Darius leans back in his chair, eyeing the Lycan King.

---