Tasting Darkness

Read Taming Darkness By Jessica Hall Book 3 Chapter 23 - Despite how my body had reacted, this was still to my advantage. This weakness hadn't been planned, but what better way to sell that | was powerless than not having the ability to walk? | would stop her, no matter what | had to endure. Her vile future plans and the madness she sought to spread over the world was going nowhere.

She laughed again as | flinched being drug through the doorway. When this was over | would never have to endure that laughter again. It was already burned into my memory, a sound that echoed in my head and featured in my worst nightmares. | would do anything to never have to hear it again.

They shovedthe rest of the way through and for a moment | thought they would throwdown the narrow flight of stairs that led downward, but surprisingly, they held back.

One of my captors letsgo and pushesto the side as he stomps down the stairs. The other shovedafter him, makingstumble on the stairs. | caught myself before I lost control and took a deep breath as | descended.

Worst decision ever. The intense stench only got worse the lower we got and these monsters had to be nose blind, they didn’t even respond to it. | glanced around, trying to make out where we were going, but beyond the dim light that reflected on the stairs everything else aroundwas pitch black darkness.

We were nearing the end of the steps and | let my mind race. What would she try next? What exact wicked plan did she have up her sleeves? Considering she was bringingdown here, | was likely a prisoner for her schemes, I'd be thrown in a cell until she was ready to use me.

However, once we reached the basement floor, | understood how wrong I had been all this time. This wasn't a basement, it never had been. My mother was waiting foron the hard concrete floor, tapping her foot. My trauma of coming down the stairs had apparently bored her. “This floor here is the original basement, however, this...,” she motions to a door that she goes through, as one of her men opens it. They don’t givetbefore shovingthrough it into another stairwell leading farther down. “Was where | opened a portal to the night Darius cfor you. Your father’s experiments died on the floor above, but this place remained untouched,” she continued to explain in that mocking tone of hers, while | descended the cold concrete stairs, only accompanied by her thin irritating voice.

The darkness below seemed to stretch forever, and it made perfect sense why | was never allowed to enter this place. Why they had gone so far as to cause fear insideat the thought of this place.

Once | reached the bottom, she flicked on the lights and illuminated the room. | was positive she hadn't done it earlier because she wanted to remindthat she was the one in control here. A clinical white glow cast over the scenery around me. | had thought this was ssort of torture room, but the scene beforewas a different sort of depravity. The stench that had been tormentingsince | set foot down here made more sense now. If I had any doubts about the type of woman she had been, they were all cleared away now. There was no way for her to fall lower, not after this, not after everything she had done.

Tears stung my eyes as | took it all in. An entire wall that stretched farther than I could even see, was full of rows of glass cages. They were separated cells and crystal chains were attached to each wall, ready to torment whatever subject found itself in its walls.

| nearly broke when | saw what occupied almost every cell. Harmony-Faes, we were supposed to be like unicorns, mythical beings of the imagination that had been snuffed out of existence. And yet, she had an entire basement full of them, caged like animals to be used for whatever sick purposes she so desired. It madewant to bend over and vomit, one of those unbearable odors was coming from them and | shuddered to think what they endured all this time.

| scanned the vast clinical room, but couldn't see any restrained by the crystal cuffs. Those spots must have been reserved for her next victims. She wouldn't take any chances by leaving the house and leaving them out in the open. No, she had to insure no one had the tiniest chance of being able to escape her twisted clutches.

The scale of this place was beyond my comprehension, but it was obvious that the Harmony-Fae weren't the nearly extinct species | had been led to believe they were. There were more Harmony-Fae here, more than | could have possibly imagined still existed. Not even in my wildest dreams would | have thought there were so many of us.

All were prisoners of my mother, to use however she wished, or even kill if it suited her. Test subjects just waiting for her to need them. Used as a way for them to keep power. It explained how the power hunter's lasted so long.

My mother wasn’t just crazy, she'd crossed that line long ago and lost any shred of reality she had left.

From the moment I'd seen my childhood home, I'd made plans to escape this hell, but now | needed to change those. | wouldn't leave all these innocent prisoners behind to endure her wrath, but how would | find a way to release them? There were far too many forto just escape with, and none of them looked like they would be useful in a fight. Their dull, hopeless eyes didn’t even register me.

While | was still gaping at the imprisoned Fae, my mother’s minions forcedto move down the hall and stopped at my very own cell, similar to those of the other Harmony-Faes. One of them opened the door, while the other roughly shovedinside, closing and locking the door behind me.

As soon as the workman disappeared from my view, my infinity mark burned, reminding| wasn’t alone. It was a hard reach with the cuffs still on, but | managed it and covered it from prying eyes. | needed to alert my mates, they had to know what was happening here.

| pushed my fingers deeper into the mark. This had to work. | needed to recharge their magic with my own and share my location with them. | couldn't give up, | needed to help these poor people that were trapped, being used for my mother’s selfish gain. And | couldn’t do it without my mates, they had to cafter me.

They had to find out that the Harmony-Faes didn’t die or becextinct. All of them were kidnapped and hidden away by my evil bitch of a mother for all these years. How she managed to fool everyone into believing they were all dead for all this twas beyond me. It showed what greed and the promise of power could truly do to a person.

| wanted to stare at my mark to see if maybe my mate would feel the mark and that my plan would have a chance to work. A defeated sigh escaped my lips, yet my mark tingled, making my lips tug in the corners at the reminder of them.

A movement to my left caught my attention and my head snapped in the direction and my eyes widened. Porter? Lycus’ father stood there just a few feet away. He smirked atthrough the glass, triumph glittering in his eyes.