Darkness Fades (Darkness Falls Series, Book 3) (10 page)

Eventually, the cave that we hid in earlier
comes into view right as daylight is getting ready to kiss the
land, trickling drops of light come down from the foggy sky. Aiden
veers towards it and I wonder what the hell he’s doing
.

“Where are you going?” I call out as I keep
walking straight.

He turns around at the edge of a boulder and
raises his arms above it, showing me his torn sleeves and the
massive amount of tears in the fabric. “I guess I got a little
carried away,” he says, seeming proud. “I’ll have to hide out until
the sun goes down.”

Part of me thinks he did it on purpose. Part
of me wants to leave him. Part of me wants to knock him out.

Shaking my head, I change directions and
head towards the cave. When we arrive at it, nestled down between
the rocks, Aiden rushes inside just as the sun glimmers over the
horizon. I decide whether to keep going or wait since I’m not sure
if he’s going to help me or not then ultimately settle on waiting,
more because I worry what he’ll do if I leave him behind. Go back
to the colony maybe and do something bad? At this point, I wouldn’t
put it past him. Still, I find myself wishing I had some silver or
something to knock him out with… although I’m not sure if it’d work
since Aiden seems a lot different from a Day Taker.

I sit down outside on a rock with my knife
in my hand, my elbow propped on my knee and my chin resting on my
hand. I watch as the sky turns grey, lost in my thoughts.

“
We can’t let the Higher find out about
your perfection,” Monarch tells me as he rummages through his
medicine cupboards. “If they do, then everything we’ve done to save
the world will become pointless.”

“
But what about Aiden? What if they find
out about him?” I ask as I climb up on an empty hospital bed.
“Won’t he put everything at risk, too?”

Monarch shakes his head as he looks at me.
“I’ve told you that even though Aiden’s the only other one like
you, he’s broken.”

“
Broken how?” I look down at my arm as he
places a needle full of black fluid into my skin.

“
Kayla, we’ve talked about you asking too
many questions. You need to stop. Concentrate on everything you’ve
been trained to do.” He pushes the needle deeper into my skin,
injecting more dark liquid into my vein.

“
But…” Everything goes blurry and I
collapse onto the bed as I fade into unconsciousness.

“Kayla, are you going to sit out there all
day?” Aiden’s voice brings me back to reality.

I sigh and look over at the entrance of the
cave. Aiden is standing near the edge of the shadows with his hood
down, watching me with a puzzled look, as if he doesn’t understand
why I won’t go in there with him. I climb off the rock and hop down
to the flat space in front of the cave, staying in the sunlight.
“Did you really mean everything you said last night? About it being
better for humans to change into the same breed as we are?”

Aiden looks at me intensely, leaning forward
just the slightest bit. “Kayla, please, just let it go.”

I back away from him, putting more and more
space between us. “You’re not trying to manipulate my thoughts
again, are you? Because you know it doesn’t work on me.”

He holds his hands out in front of him.
“Relax. I wasn’t trying to do anything to you. I was simply trying
to figure you out. Why can’t you see that what we are is
better?”

“What happened to the Aiden that thought
that becoming a Day Taker was the wrong choice? The Aiden who cared
about people?” I ask him, storming back towards him.

“That Aiden was naive and stupid,” he says,
inching to the edge of the line where the shadows meet the
daylight. “He didn’t understand what it was like to be fearless,
strong, perfect.” He tries to grab me, but I’m too fast, jumping
out of his reach.

I glare at him and narrow my eyes as I back
towards the rocks again, deciding what to do. Walk away? Stay? Hurt
him? “If you’re so perfect, then how come you are stuck there in
the shadows?” I raise my eyebrows at him, challenging him, then tip
my chin back and look up at the grey sky. “You’re flawed and your
inability to go in the daylight isn’t what I’m talking about.
You’re cold and uncaring. I’d much rather have the human Aiden than
what you have become.” I turn my back on him and walk away.

Aiden growls, furious, and bursts out of the
cave into the light, running straight at me. Without thinking, I
spin around to shove him back, but it is too late. Sun blankets him
as he stumbles back, still out of the shade of the cave. There’s a
moment where he doesn’t realize what’s going on then he sees my
terrified expression and his gaze drifts down at his hands. Time
seems to slow down, yet the more time that slips by, the more aware
we both become that nothing is happening. He doesn’t burst into
dust as the sun touches his face, his hands, his arms. Aiden’s a
Day Taker. Monarch told me that Aiden was broken, but apparently
his flaw is not the sun.

A grin spreads across Aiden’s face as he
holds his hands up to the sky. “See, we
are
perfect.”

I roll my eyes, resisting the urge to shove
him to the ground.

He drops his hands back to his side and
walks over next to me, placing his hands on my shoulders. “You know
I would never hurt you, right?”

“I know you
can’t
hurt me,” I say
then let out a breath of frustration. “Aiden, I care for you and
everything; I don’t want you to become something different just
because you suddenly feel powerful.”

His expression falls, but it quickly
vanishes. “You care for me, yet you don’t love me?”

“I don’t love anyone,” I say, but for some
reason it feels like a lie.

“That’s not true. You love Sylas.” He waits
for me to deny it.

I open my mouth, planning on denying, but
for some reason, the words won’t leave me.

“Don’t worry,” he says, pretending to be
nonchalant about it when really I can tell he’s hurt. “I’ll always
be here for you. Especially now that Sylas is gone.” Then his mood
shifts, and suddenly, he’s back to being as cheerful as can be; a
bounce in his walk as he breezes by me towards the path. “Well,
since daylight isn’t a problem, how about we go get those
papers?”

I can feel lies radiating from him, although
I can’t figure out what they’re coming from. He’s so moody and I
know I’m going to have to be on my guard. Either that or knock him
out and leave him somewhere.

As I follow behind him, up the rocks,
beneath the faint flow of the sun, Monarch’s words keep echoing
through my head.
He’s the only other one like you, but he’s
broken. Broken.

I’m beginning to think that Monarch meant he
is broken in the head. I wonder if he’ll ever be able to be fixed;
go back to being the same Aiden he used to be. The one that cared
for others. The one that I cared about, in a way. Because right
now, I don’t care about him, and if he tries to put humans or me at
risk, I’ll stop him no matter what it takes.

Chapter 14

It’s a long journey and exhausting, but only
because Aiden makes it that way by being happy one minute and rude
the next. His mood swings are tiring. Finally, though, we’re
walking across the park where Sylas, Aiden and I once played when
we were smaller. The place where Sylas gave me a flower on my
birthday... one of my rare, good memories, well, at least the
beginning of it anyway.

“Is something amusing?” Aiden asks, watching
me intently.

I realize I’m smiling and quickly erase it
as I focus on the building across from the park where the papers
were left behind. He practically burns a hole in my head, trying to
decipher what I’m really thinking about, but I ignore him and speed
up, leaving him a ways behind me.

As we reach the building, I veer to the
right and head towards the doorway that’s covered with torn
plastic, which I cut open the last time I was here. I carefully
push the plastic aside and peek into the building. It looks vacant,
so I cautiously duck through the hole, glancing around at the empty
space, the plastic above. Nothing else seems to be around.

I motion for Aiden to follow me and he ducks
through the plastic, looking around the empty room curiously. “So
where are the papers that we need?” he asks, turning in a circle,
looking at the walls and the ceiling.

I nod, holding my finger up to my lips.
“Shhh… We don’t want to get caught and be locked up,” I hiss.

He shrugs my comments off and begins to
wander around the room, like he doesn’t care if we get caught. I
dash through the room and make my way down the hall in the
direction of where I dropped the papers; where I last kissed Sylas.
I cautiously peer around the corner and then step into the room
carefully. I see the doorway that leads to the cells and I rush
over to it. As soon as I get to it, I see the papers still
scattered over the floor with droplets of dried blood on them.

I bend down quickly to collect them as they
flap in the gentle breeze blowing from somewhere. I have a few in
my hand when I hear a noise through the doorway that leads into the
cell area I was locked in. The door is still missing from where I
ripped it from its frame. I slide my knife out of my pocket,
setting the papers down on the ground before I make my way towards
the noise. I’m on guard as I walk down the hallway between the
glass cages, peering in each of them, secretly hoping that Sylas
will be inside one of them and that’s who made the noise

“You know that he is gone, right?” Aiden’s
voice rises up behind me. I whirl around in surprise, ready to
fight. He’s standing in the doorway at the end of the hall, staring
at me with a guarded look. “But here you’re still hoping that
somehow he’ll be inside one of these cages.”

“I thought I heard a noise.” I give him a
dirty look then.

Choosing to ignore him, I check the rest of
the cages, but of course they’re all empty. When I turn back
around, Aiden’s no longer standing in the doorway and I quicken my
pace until I reach the end of the cells. I stop when I get to the
papers, then glance at the spot on the floor where Sylas and I
kissed, memories hitting my mind like pinpricks. I tear my gaze
away before it becomes too much then bend over to scoop the papers
up from the floor. I stack them in my arms and head towards the
door when Aiden steps in front of me, putting his arms on the
doorway like a barricade.

“You’re really going to do it, aren’t you?
Can’t you see that you’re wrong? We need to change the world. Make
the rest of the world like us…” He pauses and I see a threatening
glint in his eyes that puts me on high alert. “Well, at least the
people in the world that we feel are worthy to be like us.”

“Move out of my way, Aiden,” I say in a
calm, yet firm voice. “This isn’t the place or time to fight about
this.” I shove him, but he doesn’t budge.

“I can’t let you do it. I won’t let you.”
His fangs slide out and he bares them at me.

Tucking the papers under my arm, I aim the
knife at him. “Now get out of my way, or I’ll make you get out of
my way.

He laughs, however the amusement quickly
leaves his face as a misshapen form emerges from the room to the
side of us. My body tenses as I hear the growl. I slowly turn,
pointing my knife at it, bending my knees, ready to plunge into the
monster. Another one appears just behind Aiden, snarling as it
creeps towards us on all fours.

I set the papers down, moving slowly, eyes
fixed on the monster to my side. I take a deep breath and then
without warning, I dash over to it. It nips at me as I reach its
front and I skitter to the side, going around. Blood drips out of
its mouth as it turns with me, following my movements as I shuffle
towards the wall.

Its crooked legs bring it closer to me as I
back towards the wall, searching for a way out. When it’s within
reach, I bring my foot up and slam the tip of my toe into its
mouth. Blood splatters on the ground as it lets out a shrill howl
then barrels at me. I swing my knife down right as it’s about to
take a bite of my leg. The blade enters its spongy body and it
cries out as I plunge the knife deeper. Blood gushes out as I
wrench the knife out and flip back as the monster lurches towards
me. I spin and sink the knife inside of its chest, slashing open
the skin. It howls again, so loudly I want to cover my ears, then
it flops down on its side, blood pooling around it.

It continues to snap its teeth at me for a
moment until its head falls to its side as its body goes limp. For
a second I just stare at it, wondering if it could have been Sylas,
which only hurts to think about.

Panting, I spin around just in time to see
Aiden finish off the other beast, slamming his knife deep into the
monster’s chest. Blood spurts out of the wound as he removes the
knife and backs up. The monster lets out a furious cry and then
drops to the floor like a bag of bricks. I wipe the blade of my
knife over my jeans, pick the papers up, then without saying
anything to Aiden, I hurry to the plastic and duck outside.

I can hear Aiden’s footsteps as he rapidly
catches up with me and grabs my arm. I shrug him off and continue
walking.

“Kayla, we need to talk,” he demands,
striding alongside of me.

I turn the corner and stride towards the
park, hugging the papers tightly to my chest. When he grabs my
shoulder again, I whirl around and push him back, ready to get out
of here, save the world and forget. Forget about everything. The
choices I’ve made, the things…

I stop walking as I reach the spot where the
land opens up. There are dozens of abominations standing in front
of us, down on all fours, drooling on the ground as they look at us
with hunger in their eyes.

“Let’s take them,” Aiden says, stepping
forward with a pleased look on his face.