DARK (Supernatural Beginnings ) Book One

Truth Within the Lie

Nathan

Phoenix stared at me like I was a creature from another universe. Truth be told, I was, but being that she was my first priority, above all else, I had to shatter the illusion. What she saw now was my real form, completely tattooed, scared body and all. She kept repeating the words holy s**t like she would wake up from a dream any minute now. The situation had gotten serious in the past few hours. Phoenix had to get on board and fast.

Slowly, I approached her in her full-on freak-out mode. Guess my large black wings did make it a bit scary for her. She had the oddest way of making me smile, which I didn’t do often. I hated lying about her friends being in danger, but it was a half-truth in itself. She had no idea what her friends and she had stepped into. I was even surprised by the info after taking on this mission. Vincent, Alexis, and I were the Dark Three for a reason, but I couldn’t shake the foreboding feeling that the Cree was keeping something essential from us.

They could have at least warned me of how beautiful she’d be and the fact that she wasn’t human. Don’t get me wrong, everything about her screamed it except for those who were seers like me who noticed the golden trim of light surrounding her. It would be interesting to find out just what she was and why she was so important to my people.

“Calm down Phoenix.”

“Oh hell no fool!” she said, starting to panic.

I definitely couldn’t have that. Grabbing her quickly, I held her in my arms, following my instincts, and fled. We went up, too shocked she was to scream just looking around her in the air as we headed toward the safe house in place for us. This city was a sight at night, lights all aglow and full of life. It'd been a while since I held someone in my arms, so going there with her was forbidden, to serve and protect her and her friends was our mission.

Phoenix felt so familiar to me, but I swear we had never met before the night of the rave. I had to keep my head clear if we wanted to make it out alive. I received word from Alexis about Mariana. We were surprised to discover she had pure Hunter blood in her veins, a rare find indeed. Phoenix now had her legs wrapped around my waist. Her curves molded me like she was meant to be there.

I didn’t need to grab her ass to keep her steady, but I’m a damn man regardless of my breed and I took advantage. She let out a small moan as I gripped her tight against me while we flew. Phoenix was kind of perfect. I couldn’t deny my attraction. She was turned on by the movement, her scent was driving me mad, but I could and would not take things to the next level with her. It was forbidden, I mean, for now, it was. I would do it by any means necessary, regardless of the emotions I had buried deep, but she made me feel again.

We had to reach the planned exit point soon before moving forward on the next steps in our mission. Vincent was with Tonya and it was definitely a small world when we confirmed to Alexis and me about her being the same Toto in the orphanage he had been in love with.

The Cree was definitely up to something. There were no coincidences in this world that we're back to back like this. We had to complete our mission first because I knew we all needed answers. Many innocent lives were lost in that race, and viciously so. Leeches don’t frequent events like this, but three days ago they suddenly had. Given what we now knew about Phoenix, Tonya, and Mari, I had a feeling they were the real targets. We didn’t have a lot of time to collect ourselves, but I would stay on high alert. The real truth always lay in the lies that the Cree had given us in the form of this mission.

Phoenix

Holy s**t! I was in the air! Flying with whatever the f**k he was, a man. Why wasn’t I screaming, fighting, or anything? This was no time for being a coward. I had no idea where he was taking me. I even moaned when he gripped my ass tight as we flew. Nathan felt way too familiar for my liking. I wanted to pretend like I didn’t understand a damn thing. I had to find Mari and Tonya even though he had said he knew where they were.

That bullcrap was for the birds because they were nowhere near where the party had been three days ago. Nathan landed on the side of a building in the alleyway straight off from the blue line station. I knew this place all too well from Taco Tuesdays with her girls.

“This isn’t a good time to eat.”

“ We’re not,” he said, knocking on the side of the brick wall in the ally way, which was strange. The bricks fell back one by one to reveal a hidden club. The s**t was wicked, but I wouldn’t let him know. What bothered me was the calmness after a small breakdown like this was the norm for me. We both entered, and almost everyone knew who he was with a lot of curious looks my way.

“Stay close,” he whispered in my ear. I was all too happy to oblige him. No way was I getting lost or left behind. He made sure of it, holding my hand as I followed him through the crowd. A warm feeling came over me. It was nice, but I couldn’t play the fairy tale. Things were a bit extreme for my blood considering he said I wasn’t human.

Approaching a flight of stairs that led downward, I hesitated a bit, thinking of the last time I had done that.

He turned to look at me. His eyes were amazing even when they glowed.

“Trust me,” he said.

I couldn’t explain it but I did. He still held my hand the whole way. Another secret door was opened within the wall to reveal others that looked like him. What was this place?

“She isn’t supposed to be here.” a voice rang out from the group of people.

“No time for protocol, Ziege. I don’t need the bullcrap either.”

A woman approached us, with the same wings but different tats. She was a sight to behold, but definitely, a b***h as she eyed me cruelly.

“Why did you come here? You could have compromised us all.”

“One, I need to, and two, Phoenix needs to be protected,” he said, moving past her with me in tow toward the various walls of weaponry that was downright impressive.

Her eyes were burning holes in my back. She definitely noticed the hand-holding. Were they an item? Matter of fact, that wasn’t even my business. He moved stealthily, like packing what he needed as I glanced around, checking out the place.

“You’re quiet, and quietly makes me nervous,” he said, packing gear into a bag.

“Don’t have anything to say, I guess.”

He let out a chuckle, half snorting.

“Yeah right, you not speaking is a war within itself.”

“Ha!” I said, just before a blast was heard above us and all hell broke loose.

“Damn!” he said

“What’s happening?”

“We gotta move fast!” he said. We didn’t leave the way we came. Instead, we wound up five blocks away from where we started. How that was possible I didn’t ask. I just wanted to find my friends.

He stopped and turned to look at me intently.

“What?”

“Damn, I should have known.”

“Known what?”

“There was no way they could have found us that quickly.”

“Wait, what are you talking about?”

He checked his surroundings before unlocking the door to a house that contrasted everything else because it was so domestic. He rushed us in without turning on any lights. Obviously, knowing his way around led us to the basement of the house. I stood there dumbfounded. Who were these people after us?