Taming the Darkness Read online

  Taming the Darkness

  By: Sarah Kay Carter

  Copyright

  This book is a work a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Taming the Darkness ©2018 by Sarah Kay Carter.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented without the express written permission of Sarah Kay Carter.

  This book is dedicated to my writing sidekick. This wouldn’t be as great as it is if it wasn’t for you. I love you and thank you.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Snippet of Shift ( book 1 of the Neturu Chronicles)

  Chapter 1

  I watch them sitting around me. Laughing. Staring down on their phones. So predictable. The guy to my right keeps trying to reach for this girl’s hand. He is about to do it, but then obviously loses the nerve. I feel bad for him, but I also feel bad for myself. I have never felt an emotion before, not like love. I see it as a weakness. In battle, there is no time for love. I sit and twirl the spoon in my tea. The light side of me. The dark side wants to put some liquor in it. Our liquor, not human liquor. Stay to your good side Raven, don’t fall into the blackness. Blah. Blah. Blah. Yes, Marked One. I will be a good girl.

  Suddenly, there is the scent. The scent of death. My favorite smell in the world. It’s time for me to do my job. I’m the best. The best they have come across yet. So young, but so lethal. What can I grow into? I guess we will see. I’m only 19, so I guess we will see. I see my target walking to the counter to order a coffee. He’s kind of hot. But he smells like death. So, it’s the guessing game. What is it that you did wrong that I got sent after you? Murder? Rape? Stealing from a disabled child? Cheater? No, it has to be far worse for me to be after you. Serial killer maybe. Haven’t had a really evil one in a long time. I get up and go and put my cup on the counter. I spread my aura around him. No demon attachment.

  The guy spins around and looks at me. I stick some gum in my mouth and smile. He stares at me apprehensively. “Hi,” I giggle, acting completely clueless. The target pauses and then smirks. His eyes scan down my body. The benefit of being half good, half bad, we are the hottest things you will come across. My hair is blood red and long. My eyes are a deep green. I have a body that almost seems unreal, because, well, it’s not a human body. The joys of being what I am.

  “What’s your name?” The guy asks.

  “Ginger,” I giggle.

  “How old are you Ginger?”

  I bite my lip and say, “Old enough.”

  “Old enough to do what?” The guy asks, with a sleazy grin.

  “Old enough to do a lot of stuff,” I whisper, biting my lip a little harder this time. I wink at him.

  He shifts his weight and nudges his head to the door. “Wanna get out of here?”

  “What are you offering?” I ask, playing with my hair. Come to me young man. You have something I want.

  “I’m all about sharing. I have a lot of money. Can show you a good time.”

  I step up to him and run my hand up his chest. “Wow, I definitely think there’s something of yours that I want.”

  “Let’s go.”

  “What about your coffee,” I articulate playfully.

  The guy’s eyes twinkle. “Forget the coffee.”

  “Let’s go,” I whisper.

  He puts his hand on my back and ushers me out the door. I’m getting a feeling off him, but still can’t guess what they mystery is. If the Marked Ones revealed the mystery, it would take all the fun away. We walk outside. The sun is already blazing and it’s May. That’s what you get when you live in the desert. The people who come here are like a lamb to the slaughter. I will take my time with this one. I just need to get him alone…

  “Here,” the guy says, pointing to a Dodge Charger. “Get in.”

  “Should I be worried about getting into the car with you?” I giggle. Giggling always gets them. Giggling equals stupidity. Stupidity is a weakness. The bad guys always feed off that. Be the helpless prey that they seek. I bat my eyelashes. This is so not me. I want to give him the finger, punch him in the face, and then take what I came for, but there are rules. There are always rules. We will go over those later.

  “You will be just fine,” the guy states, looking at me like a predator. Oh Honey, I have far much scarier looks than that. I can literally look into your soul. See what color it is. See what all your secrets are. See if it’s time to repent, bitch.

  I nervously laugh and say, “Okay. You seem like a trustworthy guy.”

  “I’m exactly what you’re looking for,” the guy says.

  “I bet you are,” I snort. He unlocks the door and opens it for me. “Thanks.”

  “My mom was always strict on my manners,” the guy says, shutting the door.

  That makes me laugh out loud. Yeah, I bet she was. My target gets into the car, so I ask, “What’s your name?”

  “I’m just going to make one up,” the guy laughs.

  “Just give me a name,” I purr. I press out my aura a little bit. Tell me the truth, jackass.

  “Tyrone,” the guy exhales, looking dazed. I snap my aura back. He shakes his head and goes, “What the hell.”

  I straighten my skirt. “Tyrone, huh? I haven’t met many Tyrones.” Lies. So many lies. Blah. Blah. Blah.

  “Well, I’m going to make the biggest impact you have ever seen,” Tyrone states.

  That makes me laugh. “Pretty sure I’ve come across bigger and better.” Tyrone shoots me a look. I roll my eyes and look out the window.

  My biggest score was named Albert Rossen. Killed and raped 25 women. His soul was so black it was a void. He had had a demon attached to him. I killed the demon with my trusty seraph blade, but his soul was black before the demon. The demon was drawn to him like a moth to a flame. Maybe he called it to him, I don’t know. I didn’t care either way. I got what I came for and left. Poof into the night, kind of like Batman. I’m much scarier than Batman though. Even the angels fear me. I’m not really one of them. Can’t really blame them. The black sheep of the family, I guess.

  I turn my attention to Tyrone. He’s talking to me so I guess I should pay attention. “So, how old are you really?” He asks.

  “19,” I reply. In human years. I’m a baby when it comes to our kind. We live for thousands of years. So, I’m kind of like a newborn. A baby to the game, but I’m being talked about. That’s how scary I am. When the Marked Ones watch you as you pass, you know you’re good.

  “What do you do?”

  “I’m a…nail tech,” I reply and then look down at my nails. They are black, and not because of polish.

  Tyrone raises his eyebrow. “Umm, okay.”

  Pressing out my aura, I ask, “And tell me something about yourself.”

  “I’m 23 and a stock broker,” Ty
rone says. He shakes his head and looks confused.

  “Where are we going?” I ask.

  “My place. It’s a pent house.”

  Oh, I can throw you off the roof then. Suicides are so sad. The thought makes me pause. Okay, no, suicides are sad, incredibly sad. I want to grab the victims and put them back together again. But that’s not how I work. I can only take apart. I can throw this guy off the roof and make it look like a suicide. But who knows, maybe he will prove me wrong, maybe he will truly repent. It doesn’t happen very often, but it does happen. They finally see the light of God.

  And let me be honest, God freaks me out. I know reapers are cool and all with them, and I’m doing my job, but…it’s God. Don’t want to piss them off. I always say they going to smite me one day because I tell people to fuck off. I say it’s the dark side of me. I can’t help it. Which I really can’t. It’s kind of like being bipolar. No idea when the switch is going to be flipped. Bang! Out comes the ugly side of me. The dark side. The scary side.

  My eyes turn and look at Tyrone. I wonder what this little excursion is going to be like. Bloody? Eh, doubt it. I’m not a slicer and dicer. I don’t get my kicks from doing this. Not like some of my…coworkers.

  We drive for a little while in silence. Absolute silence. His eyes don’t waiver from the road in front of us. I start to think he’s a sociopath. Again, turning to serial killer. We get a lot of those. We also just get a lot of people who are pure evil. The devil gets to them too early in life. It’s my job to figure out how it ends for them. It needs to stop either way. Whatever it is, it needs to stop.

  Finally, we turn into a parking garage. Here we go. I smile and giggle, “Wow, what a nice apartment complex. You live here?”

  “No, it’s just a place that I own,” Tyrone huffs. “Are you ready, Sweetheart?”

  “Of course,” I giggle again. I hate giggling. It makes my skin crawl. I have to do it so often. Giggle, giggle, flirt, flirt. The dating habits of humans boggles my mind. Now it’s time for the part I like. Time for the game.

  I open my door and get out of the car. Tyrone comes around and says, “I would have gotten that for you.”

  “Oh, that’s so sweet of you,” I reply, leaning into him. I touch his chest. “A real man.”

  “I’m all man,” Tyrone says, running his fingers down my back.

  Pressing up against him, I softly whisper, “I bet you are.”

  “Let’s go.” He grabs my hand and leads me to an elevator. We get in and he pushes the button for the 15th floor. This should be interesting. The elevator whisks us up and the doors open. It leads to another set of doors. Tyrone pauses to unlock them, then swings the door open and gestures for me to go in. I step inside and scan the area. It’s large, that’s for sure. I sniff the air. I smell bleach but no blood. Hmmm.

  “Nice place,” I say, walking farther into the living room. The kitchen and dining area are to the right. A hallway leads down the other half of the apartment. Bedrooms? “How much does this set you back a month?”

  “Five grand,” Tyrone says. “You like?”

  “It’s alright,” I reply, walking around the apartment. “I’ve been in bigger, but it’s got a great view.”

  Tyrone walks up behind me. “You should see it at night,” he whispers, in my ear. The stench of death wafts over me. Your time is ticking, sir. “Do you want something to drink?”

  “What do you have?” I ask, sweetly, batting my eyelashes.

  “What do you want?” Tyrone asks. “I have everything.”

  “Champagne,” I gleefully reply. “I’m feeling fancy.”

  There is a slight roll of his eyes. “Champagne it is.”

  Champagne is the only thing I can tolerate. I hate human alcohol. Ech. Blach. I have to drink it too much for this job. It really doesn’t affect us. It takes a lot, and by a lot, I mean buckets of tequila to feel even the slightest bit tipsy. It took some practice to actually get drunk. Now, I get tipsy off two drinks. Oh my gosh, it went straight to my head. Whatever will I do?

  I turn and follow Tyrone to a bar area. He opens a refrigerator and pulls out a bottle. “Chilled perfectly.”

  “That is important,” I reply. It’s then that I sense something. Fear. Unbridled fear. I spin around and close my eyes. It’s coming from down the hallway. Turning to Tyrone, I giggle. “What’s down there?”

  “The bedrooms,” he replies, with a smirk.

  Trying to appear as innocent as possible, I ask, “Can I go look?”

  “Oh, better, I will show you,” he purrs. Tyrone comes around and grabs my hand. We start to walk across the apartment to the hallway. We pass a mirror and I look into it. My pupils flash silver. It’s show time.

  We walk down a long hallway. Passing one room, I see it’s an office. Pass another room, a spare bedroom. There is one more door down at the very end. The scent of fear is strong now. I extend my hand and a blade falls into it. Tyrone opens the door and we step inside. I quickly look around. I don’t see anything unusual. There’s another door, but it’s open. I see that it’s the bathroom and what seems to be the closet. Slowly, I turn around and look at Tyrone. He flashes a grin at me.

  Stepping up to him, I put my hand on his chest. “Who else is here?” I whisper.

  He guffaws at me. “No one. What are you talking about?”

  I press out my aura. “There’s someone else here.”

  Tyrone face scrunches up and he looks like he is in pain. “There’s no one else here,” he hisses.

  Ooo, the darkness is strong in this one. “I will give you one more chance,” I sigh. “Who else is here?”

  “No one,” he hisses again, through clenched teeth.

  “Okay, you brought this upon yourself,” I snort. I open my hand and in a flash, Tyrone is against the wall. With another flick of my wrist, his hands slam down on each side of his head. I take the blade in my hand and make it into two. Walking over to him, I slam a blade into each of his palms, pinning him to the wall. He screams out in pain. “Seraph blade,” I whisper. “Forged by the archangel Michael himself. Leader of God’s army. It burns like the fires of hell. It can be anything I want. Sword. Dagger. Whip. Bow and arrow. It’s very versatile. Everything a girl needs. Fits in my purse, too!”

  He looks at me and then cowers in fear. “Your eyes! What’s with your eyes!?”

  “Pretty freaky right,” I snort. “It gets people every time. Happens right before a reaping.”

  “Reaping? What in the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  I press up against him. “That’s for me to know and for you to find out. Now, who else is here?”

  “No one.”

  Rolling my eyes, I turn away from him. Time to use the light side of me. The dark side is itching to take over. I walk around the room. Nothing in here. I walk into the bathroom. The fear is stronger but not quite…

  Turning to the closet, I walk in. It’s overwhelming in here. Oh crap. There’s someone. Someone alive. I spin in a circle. It’s then that I see it. A slight outline in the wall. I walk over and push against it. It swings open as a door revealing a dark room inside. I reach for a light switch. Flicking it on, I gasp. There is a girl, around my age, tied up and blindfolded on the ground. She is gagged with a scarf.

  I run over to her and undo the gag. “Please,” she cries.

  “It’s okay,” I say. “You’re okay.” Quickly, I undo the binds.

  She shakily undoes the blindfold. Looking at me, she asks, “Who are you?”

  “My name is Raven,” I whisper, reaching out to her. She pulls away. The dark side. She senses it. I pull my hand back. “You’re going to be okay.”

  “He’s going to come,” she whimpers. “He’s going to come.”

  Tilting my head, I say, “He’s pinned up against the wall by angelic blade. Pretty sure he’s going nowhere.”

  “What?” She stutters, looking at me like I’m crazy.

  With a heavy sigh, I stand up and put my hands on my hips. “Alway
s crazy.” Looking up, I groan, “Raphael?”

  “Yes,” I hear next to me.

  I turn to see a demon standing next to me. His hair and eyes are as dark as night, with a perfect, sinister beauty. Rolling my eyes to the heavens, I snap, “Raphael, not Azrael. You better go before he kills you.”

  “I thought you got me a present,” he sneers, looking at the girl. She cowers and scoots behind me. “Oh, is the little reaper going to protect you? I doubt it.”

  “I will shove my foot so far up your ass you’ll see God,” I state.

  “Maybe I’d like that,” Azrael purrs, stepping closer to me. “Reapers can be so much fun.” Suddenly, his eyes widen and he’s gone. A burning blue dagger is in the wall behind where he was.

  Turning, I look at the angel behind me. He looks my age and beyond gorgeous, but he’s older than dirt. “Dude,” I say.

  “One day, I will kill him,” Raphael says plainly. He looks at the girl and tilts his head. “Hello dear.”

  She cowers more. “Oh no,” I say. “You want him more than me, hands down. He’s an archangel. Nothing will happen to you with him around.”

  Raphael squats down and extends his hand. “Come here child.”

  “I need to take care of dude in the other room,” I say. “Got some reaping to do. Wanna take her?”

  He looks up at me. “You’re not as heartless as you’d like yourself to be.”

  “Ugh, yes, I am,” I retort. “Now, take your angelic ass and do some saving. It’s what you’re good at.”

  Sighing, Raphael says, “You do have a soul.”

  “Yeah, the fallen side of me does,” I snort. Trying to brush off his comment. I don’t want one of his heart to heart pep talks.

  “I’m talking about the light side.”

  “Well, that’s all fine and everything but you know I don’t fit in with you.” I don’t fit in with anyone…at all…ever.

  He turns his beautiful eyes to me. “You would if you gave us a chance.”

  Sauntering over to him, I grab his ass. “I’ll give you a chance.”

  “Raven…” he sighs.