Tasting Darkness

Read Tasting Darkness [Tempting Darkness] By Jessica Hall Book 2 Chapter 38 - It was the day Lycus met Kalen, the day Kalen’s bully beat him almost to death. Lycus’ blood boiled as he watched for a few seconds before intervening, the rage inside him was like an erupting volcano. Grew hotter and hotter as the memories of his father standing over his mother and beating her to death returned to the forefront of his mind.

He couldn't save her, but he could protect the boy being pummeled by someone much older. So that was what he did. Lycus’s protective nature | watched grew to obsession. Kalen bechis personal project to keep safe.

Not only from the other kids but also from the teachers.

Kalen was the weakest of the Fae. Lycus should have been like him, a dark Fae. And he couldn't bear watching the helplessness on his face, the shelplessness he felt tied to that tree muzzled and unable to fight back.

Kalen distracted him and kept him intrigued as he watched who everyone called the strange boy, the outcast.

Yet as he watched Kalen, he realized he was the strongest of all. There was something odd about Kalen, something dark and hidden, and for years Lycus watched over him waiting for him to cinto his own, only for him to remain the same.

It was odd seeing Kalen from Lycus’s perception, he saw so much more than we did, saw a different side of Kalen | was yet to witness myself. A darker side that was destructive and dangerous, so much worse than | could have even known without his memories becoming mine.

Something drew him to Kalen as if they were magnets, destined to collide on the scollision course. Lycus believed his growing feelings for Kalen were wrong until he no longer cared, and Kalen bechis world, his infatuation.

They were on their own, it wasn’t much longer after they escaped the orphanage. They were living on the streets and in a dangerous neighborhood. Sleeping behind a dumpster one night by a busy nightclub. Sdrunken men stumbled up the alleyway.

Lycus tenses because there was something familiar about the scent he could smell. He believed he was being paranoid and shook the feeling away until one of the men stopped to urinate on the dumpster they were sleeping next to.

Lycus eyed the man disgusted as he pi***ed on the ground. He growled and the man jolted clearly not seeing they were there. Yet his startled expression turned to a sneer as he looked them over. Kalen was fast asleep, unaware of the danger that surrounded them. The man was grubby, his light blue shirt stained and he quickly zips himself up and steps back.

“Look what I found?” he called out to his friends down the alleyway making Kalen jolt and wake up, he rubs his eyes as Lycus moves to get in front of him in a crouched position ready to shift. Kalen falls to the side not expecting Lycus’s abrupt movement. Lycus growls as footsteps draw closer and Lycus’ body twists, snaps, and breaks as the shift begins to take over.

He would kill the man that dared try to touch Kalen. Yet before the shift took over the other three stepped forward and Lycus, stunned by his fear, froze as he set his eyes upon a man that starred in his nightmares for years. His father. His blood ran cold at the sight of him and his father looked at him as if he was the sc**m of the earth.

“Leave them, Patrick,” his father told the man in the blue shirt, not even acknowledging him. Yet the drunken man was looking for a fight and launched toward Lycus makingrealize he too was were -fae. Bl**dy thirsty and lived for a good fight or hunt. Lycus doesn’t hesitate to toss himself in front of Kalen to attack the man.

Lycus took him down easily and his father watched with no expression at all, clearly impressed that Lycus was able to take down a wolf twice his size and without so much as looking exerted.

Yet when his father whistles loudly, he realizes he was calling for more of his buddies until the alleyway turned into smakeshift fight club. Yet as tdragged Lycus grew weary and he realized his mistake. By defending Kalen his father knew had leverage against him. A way to use him and as three more circled men cinto the alley and surrounded him he looked at Kalen in panic as his father moved toward him, where Kalen rocked with his hands over his ears having a full-blown panic attack.

Violence was never Kalen’s thing, nothing scared him more. He grabs Kalen by his hair making him cry out, yet Lycus was too far and surrounded. Yet that moment of distraction as he met Kalen’s petrified eyes earned him a knife to the stomach as the demonic-fae plunged and piping hot glowing dagger into him. He howled, swiping at him as his blood spilled out onto the asphalt.

The scream that left Kalen also distracted him as he turned to check him when the two other Were -fae jumped him, tearing into him.

Lycus knew death was coming he didn’t care, the only thing he cared for was Kalen who was screaming as his father started dragging him down the alleyway.

“Kill him,” His father told the other men. “I will get a good amount for this one,” he tells the men attacking Lycus.

Yet hearing that seemed to flip ssort of switch inside Kalen. And his father shrieked. He had no idea what Kalen had done, too focused on trying to remain alive as they tore into him. Yet when one of the were -fae whimpers and lets his neck go, the next one wails giving Lycus sight of what was going on.

His eyes instantly searched the alley for Kalen, yet he wasn’t by his father who stared off behind Lycus horrified.

Lycus sta****ers to his feet in a panic looking for Kalen yet when he finds him, he is just as horrified as his father when a flash goes off making him twist his head to look at his father to see his phone in hand pointed at Kalen.

Lycus’ head turns back to Kalen, who seems almost possessed as he meanders toward the three men. The air around him thickened, the energy rippled and Lycus felt like he was suddenly suffocating in every bad emotion.

Despair like he never felt before made him whimper, sadness so strong it broke his heart into a million pieces.

Kalen’s skin ripples as black veins slivered across his bare arms and feet, he steps closer the aura emanating from him grew thicker, harsher, colder and that was when he realized what Kalen’s gifts were, he was an empath and a strong one. Instead of feeling other's emotions, he forces them over the men that attacked him.

Empaths were never considered dangerous, they usually channeled emotion, and they didn’t use it as a weapon.

Lycus didn’t even realize it was possible as he watched Kalen force it over them as if it were an emotional cast, not a physical one.

The men start clawing at themselves, clawing at their faces, their skin shredding it to stop the cold ache of the depression moving through them, Kalen was touching them, yet whatever he was doing was making them suicidal as they tore themselves apart, one man started slamming his head into the concrete, bashing his own brains in the hard floor.

The demonic-fae set himself alight, becoming an inferno and the last one clawed his own face off and ripped out his own throat. Kalen killed them without so much as laying a finger on them, using magic that was considered harmless yet in the right hands could be used as a weapon.

When the last man falls, so does Kalen as he exhausts himself and collapses to the ground. Lycus limps over to him before hearing his father take off. Yet when the sound of sirens reached his ears, Lycus knew what would becof Kalen.

Fae authorities would investigate and once they learned what Kalen did he would be shipped off. One thing the fae authorities and the council didn’t like was power that was unknown because they couldn’t control it or know how to defend against it. He would beca science experiment and a lab rat. And Lycus wouldn't stand for that.

So he forced the shift, forced his bones to realign, and screamed out when they did. His injuries not wanting to heal, and even with a broken ankle. Lycus leaned down, scooped him up, and tossed him over one shoulder, burning magic he shouldn't have, he opened a portal and stepped into a dark park. Behind sseedy strip club.

Three days Kalen was out for three days Lycus kept watch and never left his side. Yet when Kalen woke he looked around in panic.

“How did we get here?” Kalen asked, clutching his head. “I had the strangest dream,” Kalen mutters and Lycus watches him.

“You don’t remember?” Lycus asks him and he could see the lost expression on his face.

“Did you get a chance to speak to the owner of the laundromat?” Kalen asked. That was last week and Lycus realized Kalen had not only no memory of that night but had lost almost an entire week.

“Yeah she hired someone else,” Lycus tells him. Kalen seemed confused as he took in his surroundings. So Lycus never mentioned that night but it made Lycus wonder if Kalen knew what he was capable of. So he kept it to himself.

Yet Lycus noticed though, that the longer he went without his meds the stronger his aura got, the more unstable he got, and the more depressed. So he walked into the strip club and asked for a job.

The manager told him Kalen could work the kitchens but he wanted Lycus on the floor. Lycus hated the idea, hated the idea of not having Kalen within sight. Yet after the first week, he had enough to put Kalen on his medication again. Worried that if he lost control like he did that night it would have him noticed by the authorities that Lycus would be powerless to stop.

Yet Kalen’s medication was extremely expensive when his father found him, once again. His father waited until his shift was over and Lycus did his best to ignore his presence. He knew Kalen was safe out the back in the kitchens, he just hoped Kalen didn’t stumble out looking for him.

As Lycus jumped off the stage, sn****hing up his tips. “Your boyfriend, interesting gifts he has,” his father sneered and Lycus stopped.

“What do you want?” Lycus sneered at him.

“I noticed you going to the pharmacy a fair bit, talked to the pharmacist and his medication is expensive,” his father tells him and Lycus shakes his head about to walk off.

“I have a video of that night, | wonder what would happen if | handed that to the council,” his father said and Lycus growls turning on the man.

“Though | wouldn't have to, we could cto an arrangement,” “I have nothing you want, or | can give you,” Lycus tells him looking at the tips in his hand. He tosses it at his father who picks it up and counts it. He clicks his tongue.

“I'll give you halves, you will triple this,” his father says, handing the cash back to Lycus.

“And then no one has to see the footage of whatever that freak is,” his father sneered and Lycus snarled, his canines slipping free.

“The pits, | owe speople, bad people that would like to get their hands on your boy toy, if they knew about him. Cfight in the pits, it pays well, if you win it does,” Lycus shakes his head knowing that was suicide.

“You took down one of their best fighters the other night without breaking a sweat,” “I am being nice Lycus; | could just hand this footage over, a manhunt is on, haven't you watched the news, they are looking for a serial killer. The entire city is in panic,” his father mocked.

“If only they knew that the man they fear is a pathetic dark-fae who isn’t even aware of what he is, and a p***fter at that,” His father sneered. Lycus lunged across the table grabbing his throat.

“Speak of my mate like that again and | will f****king kill you,” he spat in his father’s face. His father laughed, shoving him off.

“So you intend to take him as a mate?” “Kalen doesn’t seein that way,” he admits, that hurt him more than he cared to admit.

“One night, helppay off this debt and I will give you half the earnings to pay for his meds,” his father said and Lycus gritted his teeth, but they could use the money.

“When?” “Midnight, tomorrow in the old drainage system under the city,” “Think about it, Lycus. You don’t want that footage in the wrong hands,” he laughed before getting up and leaving.

The next night, Lycus organized with his manager to get Kalen to work back so he could sneak off to it. Yet he knew he made a mistake when his father kept coming back, using the footage over him to get him to comply.

After the first time, he refused and his father’s thugs cto their tent while Lycus was working back one night.

When he finished work that night and he stepped inside the tent he found Kalen beaten bl***dy with his pants around his ankles and a broken broom handle covered in blood lay next to me.

Before Lycus could react and help him, he was stabbed in the back. Literally, the knife plunged deep between his ribs collapsing his lung before his father’s voice sounded behind him as he took in a harsh pained breath.

“Next t| will have them kill him, ” Porter had whispered in his son's ear before twisting the knife making Lycus stand on his toes.

Porter ripped the knife out, and Lycus went sprawling on the ground before he could turn to fight back his father was gone.