The Dark Ones by Rachel Van Dyken

Author:Rachel Van Dyken [Van Dyken, Rachel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: paranormal romance, fantasy romance, vampire romance, romantic thriller, mature young adult, new adult paranormal
Publisher: Van Dyken Inc.
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Ethan

HER EYES WERE GREEN.

Just like mine.

I felt her emotions like they were my own — relived the entire thing as if I was killing Ara all over again.

She'd done the unthinkable. She'd not only lied to her mate but cheated on him and produced a child with that lie. I knew Genesis wouldn't understand. But I also knew trying to get her to understand while she was still trembling from shock wouldn't do any good.

"You didn't have to kill her." Genesis's voice was hollow, her eyes still blazing green.

"I did." I touched my forehead to hers. "Because if I didn't, Cassius would have."

"She slept with Cassius?"

"He never said." I sighed. "He never admitted it. The child was — not normal."

"Not normal?"

"She wasn't a vampire."

"What was she?"

"I don't know," I whispered. "Perhaps I'll never know — maybe that was Cassius's way of protecting me, of protecting my bloodline, my reputation, though it hardly mattered once everyone discovered my mate was suddenly dead."

"But…" The green of her eyes started to fade. "Is that what would happen to me if I left you?"

"No." My hands shook holding her down; from showing her the memory, my strength had been depleted. If I didn't feed, I was going to sleep for the next fifteen hours. "Humans are turned immortal after they produce a child, a gift we bestow upon them."

"So she should have lived."

"I killed her before she could accept the gift because Cassius was right. She was going mad with a lust for power. Had I given her immortality, I would have created a monster."

"You still killed her."

"I loved her too much to let Cassius do it — loved her too much to turn her into a monster. She wasn't made for it. She was one of the first humans to start… showing effects of the imbalance. A part of me believes it's my fault that the humans keep dying."

"What are you saying?"

"No human mate had died — until I killed my own mate."

"And then?"

"Every human after… has died — not right away. Most live past a hundred having not aged at all. We think the immortality takes, and they simply don't wake up."

"You did something," she whispered, "to the natural order."

"Possibly."

"So it's your fault."

Heaviness descended like a fog. "It was my fault… for loving her too much."

"Your love for her destroyed everything."

"So now you know." I moved away from Genesis and laid my head down on the pillow next to her. "Loving again will take everything I have left."

"You can't love again? Or you won't?"

"It's already too late…" I slurred my words, darkness overtaking me. I needed blood and sleep. "It's too late for me now… but not for you."

"What?" Genesis shook my body. "What do you mean?"

"If you don't love back, the final step never completes itself. You'll be free. I'm setting you free."

"Ethan." Her voice was distant. "Ethan, what's happening?"

"Exhausted." I barely got the word past my lips.

Something soft hit one of my fangs. And then blood was trickling into my mouth.

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