Tasting Darkness

Read Tasting Darkness [Tempting Darkness] By Jessica Hall Book 2 Chapter 40 - At first, | thought | was staring at Tobias as a child, but it didn’t takelong to realize it was his twin, Thomas. He would have only been about five-year-old. We were in what looked like sbanquet room. A long table ran down the center as his father, who was an imposing man, snarled at Thomas.

Tobias watched in horror as he grabbed his brother and then him by the back of the neck, dragging them closer to the table that lay in the center of the huge room. Blood spilled over the edges of the table onto the tiled floors. A woman with a crown atop her head glared at them with pursed lips. She remindedof Tobias, makingwonder if it was his mother.

“Please, daddy, please,” Thomas begged, and they are steered toward the table.

“You were both told not to cdown here. Both told to stay in your rooms; this is what you get for disobeying me,” the man snapped at his sons, his grip on both their necks was hard and pinched their skin.

As we drew closer to the table, we found a woman lying on it, covered in bite marks. Thomas thrashes, trying to escape. “You wanted to disobey me. You wanted to see. Well, have a good look then,” his father tells them, shoving them toward the table. Tobias stumbles, catching himself on the table, his hands sliding across the slick surface, coating them in blood.

Tobias pulls his hands back in horror, staring at his palms covered in the woman's blood before his eyes dart to her pale blue ones. “Help me!” she chokes and gurgles on her blood. Tobias knew she was human and one of his parents’ victims.

“Now I'll teach you a lesson Thomas, one you'll never forget,” his father says, smacking Thomas up the back of the head.

“Go on, no sippy cups for you anymore. You think you are old enough to disobey me. Then you are old enough to learn where your fruit juice comes from. You both drink straight from the vein as a true vampiric-fae does.” his father says. His mother huffs, looking bored and staring at her nails.

“You heard your father.” she says.

clicking her fingers at them. Thomas backs away, shaking his head, tears rolling down his cheeks. “Her eyes are open. She is breathing; | can feel her,” Thomas murmurs, looking at his father.

“You will feel all over once you sink your teeth into her neck, boy. Now hurry up, drain her,” he snaps at his son. Thomas shakes his head, and I notice, like me; Thomas was power born, a rarity. He was already picking up on his gifts before manifestation. Tobias also knew this and knew his brother would be smacked and locked in his room away from him if he didn’t do as he was told. He also knew Thomas couldn't hurt the woman.

When neither boy moves to do as they're told, this angers his father, who grabs Thomas by the back of his neck and drags him closer, forcing his face in her neck. The woman whimpers, and Thomas thrashes.

“One of you will finish her, or it is a week in the cellar; now choose,” his father bellows while his son wails in his grip. Shakily Tobias steps forward. “I'll do it,” he murmurs before a s***b escapes him. He didn’t want to hurt her. He didn’t want to bite her. Vampiric Fae were born with fangs, relied on blood, and they were just curious where their parents went every day at tea time, so they followed and peeked through the door. They just didn’t expect it to be like this, not truly understanding the meaning of what they were yet because they were so young His father looks over at him and shoves off his twin, who falls down beside the table, “Go on then,” his father waves him forward, Tobias.

hesitantly takes a step forward. He swallows, staring down at the petrified woman slowly bleeding out on the table. He hesitates only for a second until his father grips the back of his neck, forcing it into her bleeding neck.

Tiny fangs protrude past his lips as a foreign hunger takes over him, Yet he shakes his head, tears trekking down his face as he realizes where his juice cfrom each morning and where his parents went every night to feast on the flesh of others and drain their lives. For his child-like mind, it was shocking but not as shocking as his father’s twisted anger when he couldn't bring himself to do it.

His father’s angry roar makes him jump to see his father grip Thomas by his hair and force him against the table.

“On with it,” his father snapped and snarled, thrusting a knife into his brother's hand. Thomas shook like a leaf in a strong gust as he shook his head “Please, daddy,” he begged and pleaded as the woman sobbed, knowing her death was sure to come. His father gripped his brother's hand and hovered the knife above her heart while Thomas fought not to take her life. Feeling her fear and reliving, Tobias knew if his brother did it, he wouldn't be able to shut her death out. That he would feel every second of her life slipping away along with his Tobias shoves his brother's hand away, earning a snarl from his father, but he ignores the sound to whisper into his brother's ear.

“Close your eyes, Thomas,” Tobias whispers as tears prick his eyes once more, his vision turning to a blur as Tobias did as he was told, and Tobias sank his teeth into the woman's neck. She thrashed against him as he gave himself over to instinct, taking her life so his brother wouldn't feel it, so that he wouldn't have her blood on his hands.

No, Tobias would carry the burden of her death, not Thomas. Even at this young age, Tobias understood the full weight of what he had done, what he had taken from the woman who was now staring up with wide vacant eyes at the ceiling The light had gone from her eyes, and the color drained from her skin, her lips turning shades of blue. He took her life as her body turned cold before his innocent eyes that saw too much and couldn't unsee what he had done. His rose-colored glasses of his parent's were removed, and he saw the monsters they were. Human life meant little to them, and he vowed not to be like them.

As the memory faded and a new one took its place, | found that Tobias was always Thomas's protector. He did the things he knew Thomas.

couldn't handle. With each passing day, he was sure that more and more of his humanity left him, leaving a cold hearted monster.

In this memory as it twisted and formed, Tobias was in his early teens. He waited for the Demonic King to arrive.

He waited impatiently. The blood of his father’s latest victim stained his lips, and once again, Tobias was forced to take another life. He stared off vacantly, head held high as he was taught from the day he could walk.

Tobias was of royal blood, his parents the Vampiric-Fae king and Queen. A title bestowed to him once he cof age. A title he didn’t really want but to spare Thomas, he would take it.

I watched as Darius walked in with his father, the demonic-Fae king, a respected council elder like his father.

Respect Tobias knew in both cases was built on fear. Darius followed behind his father, eyes ahead and vacant.

Tobias found himself doing the same, something that was unsettling and unnatural to see but also something familiar.

He had grown up around Darius but ruled by their father’s iron fists. Neither really spoke. They obeyed as good sons should. They attended all the sfunctions, sat at tables together, and sat side by side but never spoke.

Yet today, he found Darius staring at him as he approached. Tobias met his gaze and saw the sdead look in Darius’ eyes he saw every morning in his own reflection in the mirror. It was no secret what Darius was.

Everyone knew he had extraordinary gifts for a boy his age. Gifts that elders wished they had, his dark magic was feared even as a child.

“Tobias, take Darius here for a walk around the castle, his father and | have much to discuss, and | want no interruptions,” his father ordered. As they both left the ballroom, he tipped his head to his father, and so did Darius. They walked without speaking, walked in silence, when Tobias stopped abruptly, staring off at the river at the back of the castle.

“Darius?” Tobias called, having spoken the boy’s nfor the first time. Darius’s cold, calculating eyes peered at him momentarily before they glanced away back to the river.

“Your brother is upset,” Darius says, pointing toward the trees, and Tobias follows his hand, and his shoulders sag wondering what his mother had done to him this time.

“Wait here,” Tobias said, about to cross the manicured lawns to fetch him when Darius’ hand fell on his shoulder.

He fishes in his pocket and retrieves a handkerchief from inside his suit pocket.

“Clean up, you have blood in the corners of your lips, and your brother is an empath. He shouldn't scent her death.” Darius tells him. Tobias, shocked, looks at him.

“Her?” Tobias asks, and Darius nods his head. “It gets easier. Eventually, you will feel nothing,” Darius tells him.

“What do you mean Thomas is not an empath?” Tobias lies. Darius raises an eyebrow at him.

“Death, that gets easier. As for your brother, | won't say anything. His secret is safe with me,” Darius reassures him. Tobias and Thomas had gone to extrlengths to hide what he is from their parents. And now Tobias worried, with a rival kingdom's son holding . knowledge that would surely get Thomas beaten by their father.

“How?” Tobias asks him, accepting the handkerchief.

“I can feel his magic,” he says, simply crossing the lawns to get Thomas himself.

Yet as they approach, they find Thomas sitting on the ground, hugging his pet rabbit to his chest. Tobias gasped and rushed to his brother's side.

“She killed him, she killed him,” he sobbed. Thomas had raised the baby rabbit himself after its mother tried to kill it. He had it for three years.

“Who, mother?” Tobias asks. Thomas nods his head. “He got out of his cage,” Thomas cried. When Darius grabbed the rabbit from his hands, Thomas saw that Tobias was not alone. He quickly clears the tears from his face and straightens up, knowing better than to look weak in front of the demonic prince. His father would whip him good had he seen them.

Darius observes the rabbit finding its neck had been rung when he glances around nervously toward the castle.

Moments later, his hands glowed green, then blue, and his eyes turned white as he wielded magic he should not have.

Magic like mine. Seconds pass when the rabbit's feet suddenly kick. Thomas gasps, and Tobias’ eyes search around frantically, knowing what that means if anyone sees. Darius was an elemental Harmony-Fae. - “You'll have to set him free, Thomas. Your mother will question how he cback,” Darius tells him. Thomas stared at him with wide eyes.

“You're a harmony-" Darius winks at him.

“But that's our little secret. I'll keep yours if you keep mine,” Darius tells him. Confusion set in. | wondered how it was possible that Darius was a teenager and somehow survived two plagues set to kill him. He was around the age his sister died, and if he could resurrect the dead, why didn’t he bring her back? Why was he not kept down in the cellar with his sister and mother, and why was he still blessed with his gifts? At first, | thought | was staring at Tobias as a child, but it didn’t takelong to realize it was his twin, Thomas.

He would have only been about five-year-old. We were in what looked like sbanquet room. A long table ran down the center as his father, who was an imposing man, snarled at Thomas.

Tobias watched in horror as he grabbed his brother and then him by the back of the neck, dragging them closer to the table that lay in the center of the huge room. Blood spilled over the edges of the table onto the tiled floors. A woman with a crown atop her head glared at them with pursed lips. She remindedof Tobias, makingwonder if it was his mother.

“Please, daddy, please,” Thomas begged, and they are steered toward the table.

“You were both told not to cdown here. Both told to stay in your rooms; this is what you get for disobeying me,” the man snapped at his sons, his grip on both their necks was hard and pinched their skin.

As we drew closer to the table, we found a woman lying on it, covered in bite marks. Thomas thrashes, trying to escape. “You wanted to disobey me. You wanted to see. Well, have a good look then,” his father tells them, shoving them toward the table. Tobias stumbles, catching himself on the table, his hands sliding across the slick surface, coating them in blood.

Tobias pulls his hands back in horror, staring at his palms covered in the woman's blood before his eyes dart to her pale blue ones. “Help me!” she chokes and gurgles on her blood. Tobias knew she was human and one of his parents’ victims.

“Now I'll teach you a lesson Thomas, one you'll never forget,” his father says, smacking Thomas up the back of the head.

“Go on, no sippy cups for you anymore. You think you are old enough to disobey me. Then you are old enough to learn where your fruit juice comes from. You both drink straight from the vein as a true vampiric-fae does.” his father says. His mother huffs, looking bored and staring at her nails.

“You heard your father.” she says.

clicking her fingers at them. Thomas backs away, shaking his head, tears rolling down his cheeks. “Her eyes are open. She is breathing; | can feel her,” Thomas murmurs, looking at his father.

“You will feel all over once you sink your teeth into her neck, boy. Now hurry up, drain her,” he snaps at his son.

Thomas shakes his head, and I notice, like me; Thomas was power born, a rarity. He was already picking up on his gifts before manifestation. Tobias also knew this and knew his brother would be smacked and locked in his room away from him if he didn’t do as he was told.

He also knew Thomas couldn’t hurt the woman.

When neither boy moves to do as they're told, this angers his father, who grabs Thomas by the back of his neck and drags him closer, forcing his face in her neck. The woman whimpers, and Thomas thrashes.

“One of you will finish her, or it is a week in the cellar; now choose,” his father bellows while his son wails in his grip. Shakily Tobias steps forward. “I'll do it,” he murmurs before a s*b escapes him. He didn’t want to hurt her.

He didn’t want to bite her. Vampiric Fae were born with fangs, relied on blood, and they were just curious where their parents went every day at tea time, so they followed and peeked through the door. They just didn't expect it to be like this, not truly understanding the meaning of what they were yet because they were so young.

His father looks over at him and shoves off his twin, who falls down beside the table, “Go on then,” his father waves him forward, Tobias hesitantly takes a step forward. He swallows, staring down at the petrified woman slowly bleeding out on the table. He hesitates only for a second until his father grips the back of his neck, forcing it into her bleeding neck.

Tiny fangs protrude past his lips as a foreign hunger takes over him, Yet he shakes his head, tears trekking down his face as he realizes where his juice cfrom each morning and where his parents went every night to feast on the flesh of others and drain their lives. For his child-like mind, it was shocking but not as shocking as his father’s twisted anger when he couldn't bring himself to do it.

His father’s angry roar makes him jump to see his father grip Thomas by his hair and force him against the table.

“On with it,” his father snapped and snarled, thrusting a knife into his brother's hand. Thomas shook like a leaf in a strong gust as he shook his head.

“Please, daddy,” he begged and pleaded as the woman sobbed, knowing her death was sure to come. His father gripped his brother's hand and hovered the knife above her heart while Thomas fought not to take her life.

Feeling her fear and reliving, Tobias knew if his brother did it, he wouldn't be able to shut her death out. That he would feel every second of her life slipping away along with his.

Tobias shoves his brother's hand away, earning a snarl from his father, but he ignores the sound to whisper into his brother's ear.

“Close your eyes, Thomas,” Tobias whispers as tears prick his eyes once more, his vision turning to a blur as Tobias did as he was told, and Tobias sank his teeth into the woman's neck. She thrashed against him as he gave himself over to instinct, taking her life so his brother wouldn't feel it, so that he wouldn't have her blood on his hands.

No, Tobias would carry the burden of her death, not Thomas. Even at this young age, Tobias understood the full weight of what he had done, what he had taken from the woman who was now staring up with wide vacant eyes at the ceiling The light had gone from her eyes, and the color drained from her skin, her lips turning shades of blue. He took her life as her body turned cold before his innocent eyes that saw too much and couldn't unsee what he had done. His rose-colored glasses of his parent's were removed, and he saw the monsters they were. Human life meant little to them, and he vowed not to be like them.

As the memory faded and a new one took its place, | found that Tobias was always Thomas's protector. He did the things he knew Thomas.

couldn't handle. With each passing day, he was sure that more and more of his humanity left him, leaving a cold hearted monster.

In this memory as it twisted and formed, Tobias was in his early teens. He waited for the Demonic King to arrive. He waited impatiently. The blood of his father’s latest victim stained his lips, and once again, Tobias was forced to take another life. He stared off vacantly, head held high as he was taught from the day he could walk.

Tobias was of royal blood, his parents the Vampiric-Fae king and Queen. A title bestowed to him once he cof age. A title he didn’t really want but to spare Thomas, he would take it.

I watched as Darius walked in with his father, the demonic-Fae king, a respected council elder like his father. Respect Tobias knew in both cases was built on fear. Darius followed behind his father, eyes ahead and vacant. Tobias found himself doing the same, something that was unsettling and unnatural to see but also something familiar.

He had grown up around Darius but ruled by their father's iron fists. Neither really spoke. They obeyed as good sons should. They attended all the sfunctions, sat at tables together, and sat side by side but never spoke Yet today, he found Darius staring at him as he approached. Tobias met his gaze and saw the sdead look in Darius’ eyes he saw every morning in his own reflection in the mirror. It was no secret what Darius was. Everyone knew he had extraordinary gifts for a boy his age.

Gifts that elders wished they had, his dark magic was feared even as a child.

“Tobias, take Darius here for a walk around the castle, his father and | have much to discuss, and | want no interruptions,” his father ordered.

As they both left the ballroom, he tipped his head to his father, and so did Darius. They walked without speaking, walked in silence, when Tobias stopped abruptly, staring off at the river at the back of the castle.

“Darius?” Tobias called, having spoken the boy's nfor the first time. Darius’s cold, calculating eyes peered at him momentarily before they glanced away back to the river.

“Your brother is upset,” Darius says, pointing toward the trees, and Tobias follows his hand, and his shoulders sag wondering what his mother had done to him this time.

“Wait here,” Tobias said, about to cross the manicured lawns to fetch him when Darius’ hand fell on his shoulder. He fishes in his pocket and retrieves a handkerchief from inside his suit pocket.

“Clean up, you have blood in the corners of your lips, and your brother is an empath. He shouldn't scent her death.” Darius tells him. Tobias, shocked, looks at him.

“Her?” Tobias asks, and Darius nods his head. “It gets easier. Eventually, you will feel nothing,” Darius tells him.

“What do you mean Thomas is not an empath?” Tobias lies. Darius raises an eyebrow at him.

“Death, that gets easier. As for your brother, | won't say anything. His secret is safe with me,” Darius reassures him. Tobias and Thomas had gone to extrlengths to hide what he is from their parents. And now Tobias worried, with a rival kingdom's son holding . knowledge that would surely get Thomas beaten by their father.

“How?” Tobias asks him, accepting the handkerchief.

“I can feel his magic,” he says, simply crossing the lawns to get Thomas himself.

Yet as they approach, they find Thomas sitting on the ground, hugging his pet rabbit to his chest. Tobias gasped and rushed to his brother's side.

“She killed him, she killed him,” he sobbed. Thomas had raised the baby rabbit himself after its mother tried to kill it. He had it for three years.

“Who, mother?” Tobias asks. Thomas nods his head. “He got out of his cage,” Thomas cried. When Darius grabbed the rabbit from his hands, Thomas saw that Tobias was not alone. He quickly clears the tears from his face and straightens up, knowing better than to look weak in front of the demonic prince. His father would whip him good had he seen them.

Darius observes the rabbit finding its neck had been rung when he glances around nervously toward the castle. Moments later, his hands glowed green, then blue, and his eyes turned white as he wielded magic he should not have.

Magic like mine. Seconds pass when the rabbit's feet suddenly kick. Thomas gasps, and Tobias’ eyes search around frantically, knowing what that means if anyone sees. Darius was an elemental Harmony-Fae. - “You'll have to set him free, Thomas. Your mother will question how he cback,” Darius tells him. Thomas stared at him with wide eyes “You're a harmony-" Darius winks at him.

“But that's our little secret. I'll keep yours if you keep mine,” Darius tells him. Confusion set in. | wondered how it was possible that Darius was a teenager and somehow survived two plagues set to kill him. He was around the age his sister died, and if he could resurrect the dead, why didn’t he bring her back? Why was he not kept down in the cellar with his sister and mother, and why was he still blessed with his gifts?