Page 19 of Darkest Need

She died.

In my arms.

“For her sacrifice,” Sariel whispered, “the twelve children will live.”

I didn’t see Sariel again for five hundred years.

Later, when I finally did, I was already too far gone. I’d lost the mother of humanity.

I’d lost her.

And I’d set loose a monster, all because I loved her, and she’d asked—nay, begged—me.

I’d also cursed someone I knew I would most likely meet in my future, a person who would not survive it, at least according to my visions, weak as they were.

“But they won’t.” I shook my head and looked up at Sariel, the Archangel who’d birthed me by sleeping with a human, thus creating me as a Dark One—both Fallen and angelic. “Most will die before they reach sixteen. If they survive it, if they find each other, if I’m powerful enough to see it, then what? Do I kill them both?”

Sariel pulled a golden apple from his back and held it out in front of me. “Some futures are predestined. But, Cassius, we always have a choice. Take a bite.”

“No.” I hated him in that moment. “I won’t ever truly fall.”

“Says one who, by his choices, has already Fallen,” Sariel said sadly. “You’re the King of the Immortals. You roam the Earth with mixes of humanity from your mother in your blood. You question things, yet you want to rejoin the stars. What do you think happens when the first created is unleashed on this world? And what do you think happens when she finds a perfect match? What happens to the remaining gods who are allowed to roam? Chaos. Discord. Destruction. That will forever be on your head if you do not fix this. Maybe if they are raised with strong people, have principles, they will choose not to fall when the time comes… but to rise.”

“I’ll do it.”

“Then…” He hid the apple. “You have made your first choice since falling. You will fix what Eva did by any means necessary, and you’ll start with the immortal werewolf, who should not even exist. He should not have that blood running through his body or the gifts he does. You will start there, and you’ll promise to forget you ever knew him. By all costs.”

“And the girl?”

Sariel’s nostrils flared. “Leave her to me.”

Chapter Eight

Tarek

Present Day

“Well, this is great, just great.” It’s been an hour since Danu visited, and while Lilith is doing a stellar job of avoiding the need she has to both have sex with me and drink me dry, I don’t really have high hopes. “So, can you at least tell me your story before you murder me?”

“No,” she whispers, hanging her head in her hands. “You probably know all the gory details anyway. I’m one of the goddesses she controls to keep Discord,”—she uses air quotes—”from being released again. Balance has to remain the same. One slip of the scale to the wrong side, and disaster strikes. I’m sure Anubis knows all about it.”

I’m instantly annoyed. “Disaster always teeters toward us, every second of every day. Why is now different?”

She smiles down at her hands. “You don’t know your origins, do you?”

“Well, I clearly don’t have a really attractive werewolf to feed off of and gain power from, so I can remember. All I know is that I came to live in Scotland when I was around eight. Everything before that is somewhat of a blur, a nice dream, maybe a nightmare. There was fire, darkness, and a small girl. And then Mason, my brother. That’s all I remember. Maybe that’s for a reason.”

She nods as if she understands. How could anyone possibly? “Maybe it’s best that way before you die—to not remember the things you should.”

“I mean…” I try to laugh it off. “I’d like to at least remember all the sex we’re going to have, but I’m leaning more toward I’ll enjoy it in the moment, then go night night.”

She smiles. It’s so pretty, I really do want to lean in. But I wait for her to make the move first.

I’m no hero.

Maybe this is why I never saw my end. Ha, laughable that my end would come at the hands of the woman who started it all.

Lilith.

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