Page 6 of Taming Darkness

“And if we don't fight, Sasha? What future will he have? They need all the help they can get, they need us. Mom will keep him safe until we return, we signed up for this, we can't run now.” She sucks in a shuddering breath.

“I promise, I'll keep him safe, we'll go underground. I'll keep him safe until you return for us,” an old woman says, who has similar features to her son.

“For him,” Sasha states.

“We must, Love,” she nods then stands, leaning in as she kisses his head.

“Be safe, son, help the humans. Bring down the Demonic King. I'll watch over Kalen until you return,” the old woman tells them. The memory ripples and my surroundings blur as I move through their memories. Darius searches each one like files in their head.

Darius skips through the memories of their return and them on the run with their son and the old woman who is killed trying to protect them. He eventually pauses again. Through his memories, Darius learns Sasha and Valen were vigilantes for humans; they fought alongside them when the demonic king tried to enslave them. They were freedom fighters, fighting for the humans, the White-Fae and their son's future.

A war they fought and won alongside the angels until the first plague hit. Killing off all the White-Fae, yet I noticed in the first plague the Harmony-Fae weren't affected. They rose up and fought harder, angry that so many lives were lost recklessly. Desperate and on the run, they made a decision that almost broke them, wounded them beyond repair.

The very person they were fighting for a better future for, they were forced to give up. A bounty was on their heads, and the risks outweighed their ability to keep running, especially with a baby.

They made the right decision. Their winning battle was short-lived, and eventually, they were captured. The memory fizzles, and we are moving again through the files of their minds. Suddenly he feels a tug, a connection outside their memories. One in the real world, a link anchored to them, to their memories. Darius follows the pull, tugging on it until he opens up a connection.

Darius looks around the room, yet I have seen it before. Déjà vu hits me, like a slap in the face, and it only takes me a moment before I figure out why. We’re in an orphanage.

Darius pinpoints the location where he feels the brightest energy, a power similar to his. He follows it, virtually walking through the place, just by merely touching them, he had a connection to their child. The orphanage lights flicker along the ceiling, casting shadows on the walls, coming to a set of stairs, Darius pauses, feeling the energy emanating from above. Alluring and strong, he climbs the steps, coming to another hall lined with doors. Like a beacon calling him, he's led to the last blue door. He stares at it, the door seems to be glowing, and he walks straight through the thick wood.

Beds line the room, and he peers around, trying to find the beacon he was chasing. Something catches his eye, and he turns, walking toward the back of the room.

What I wasn’t expecting was to see when he stops beside a bed is a face I had already seen before. It was Kalen.

Darius watches him sleep for a second. Seeing the boy, he knew what would become of him. He knew what would become of his parents. His parents were no longer Harmony-Fae, but Dark-Fae and Darius knew his father did something bad to them. He turns around, gazing into the room, trying to figure out what this place is. Yet when he turns back to the boy, he's sitting up. Staring directly at him. Darius gasps and takes a step back from him.

“You're not from here, are you?” Kalen asks him. Darius shakes his head, trying to figure out how the boy could see him.

“You can see me?” Darius thinks, yet the words seem to echo the whisper around the room.

“I see many things, sometimes I wish I didn't see them,” small Kalen murmurs. Darius peers around the room again, and Kalen seems to guess his question before he can even ask. “It's an orphanage,” Kalen whispers. His stomach plummets at his words.

“You have no parents?” Darius asks.

Kalen fiddles with his fingers. “They didn't want me,” he shrugs. “It's okay though, no one ever does.” Hearing these words makes emotion clog me and Darius. They did want him, they wanted him very much. “Sometimes I hear them,” Kalen tells him, and Darius tilts his head.

“Your parents?” Darius asks him.

Kalen nods, “I just want them to stop.”

“Stop what?” Darius asks, trying to understand what is going on right now.

“To stop screaming, I don't like when they scream,” he whispers.

Darius jerks out of their heads, jerks out of the vision he saw and the boy he spoke to.

“Where is he?” his father instantly demands as his eyes focus on the man and woman at his feet. Darius swallows, peering down at them. The woman sobs, dropping her gaze, while the man’s eyes stare off vacantly. He looks defeated.

“Well?” His father demands.

“He’s dead,” Darius lies. The man’s eyes flick to him. His lip quivers when Darius does something I didn’t believe possible, proving the magnitude of his power. He speaks to Kalen’s father, his voice in his head, much similar to how Kalen tampers with auras and how Kalen spoke with him. “I’ll keep him safe,” Darius tells him. Kalen’s father inhales sharply.

When hands grab a hold of Darius, Xandrious shakes him. “What did you see? Where are they hiding him?” his father bellows.

“He’s dead,” Darius repeats. His father slaps him, not liking the answer. Darius recoils in fright, rubbing his newly reddened face.

“He can’t be dead. Look again; I know they had a child,” he growls. His father turns, reaching for the woman’s hair when Darius wipes his lip.

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