Tasting Darkness

Read Taming Darkness By Jessica Hall Book 3 Chapter 10 – Aleera POV
As the memories slowly started to fade, the shadows started slivering over my skin. I shuddered; feeling for my magic, desperate
to reach it and grasp it in my hands.
If I managed to capture it, to hold onto it for long enough, I would be able to break free and go after my mates. They needed me
now more than ever. Especially Darius.
A loud s*b tore out of me at the first twitch of my fingers. Any movement was welcomed, needed and long awaited. The
necessity to move and get out of my own mind was so intense that I kept forcing my thoughts and prayers towards another
movement.
Once my prayers were answered and my toes wiggled, I finally came back to my body.
My power flexed – strong, intense, angry, and so, so dark. Yet, to my surprise, it was so light, like a feather. As if it floated in my
veins, under my skin.
It was an odd and unheard of combination. I sucked in a breath as I found my bond manifesting and bonding onto them.
I could feel them as if I were them.
Could sense and almost touch them as if they were extra limbs, suddenly attached to my body, yet so very familiar. I could feel
their magic mold and transform with mine.
Their powers became mine and mine became theirs, molding into something much bigger than everything I have known until
now.
After what felt like an eternity, I jerked upright to find my body covered in snakes. I couldn’t tell where one snake ended and the
next one started. Heads, tails and bodies slid over me as if I were the home these reptiles had never known they sought.
I should have feared them, I should have tried to get away from the cold scales that slid over my skin, but I didn’t. I didn’t fear
them or have a flight or fight response.
Deep down, I knew that wherever these snakes came from and whatever they were – they were mine. All of them were a part of
me, just like my phoenixes.
A loud caw at the window startled me.

My head twisted to look at the window, tearing my gaze away from the newfound addition. Two glowing eyes peered back at me.
A soft sigh left my lips at the view. Finally, there was something familiar that proved I had *********** escaped the memories and
was right where I needed to be.
“Ryze,” I murmured, and he c**ked his head to the side.
The storm outside raged like the power burning inside my veins. Maybe everything around me didn’t happen for a reason, but I
had a feeling that the weather was copying everything I felt. As if nature tried to match what was going on inside my heart.
Ryze cawed and flew over to me. He perched on my shoulder with such grace, anyone who saw him would claim he had done it
at least a thousand times before. Ryze screeched and tried to sn*tch one of the snakes, but the moment he did, the snake
evaporated.
Just like that, with ease, it disappeared right before my eyes, as if it had never been there, as if it never existed.
Shadows. They were shadows – they had to be. But how? As the snakes silvered and climbed up my body, they felt too real to
be a figment of my imagination or a weightless shadow.
A jolt through the bond forced me back to reality. Right back to everything I was missing in the moment of confusion, created by
the shadow snakes.
Before the thought flitted through my head I was standing, no doubt that had to be one of Tobias vampiric charms.
Besides, I usually didn’t move that quickly, yet I felt different, felt... I couldn’t identify the feeling, or try to describe it, so I focused
on more important matters. Those feelings were a question to be answered later.
As I moved about the room, I snatched my jeans off the shelf. I instantly pulled them on, there was no spare time to waste.
Before I reached out my hand to snatch my bra and a shirt, I froze on the spot as I caught my reflection in the mirror I didn’t
recognize myself, I couldn’t even if I tried my hardest to notice some of the details that made me look like... well, me.
The shadow snakes wrapped around my limbs like tattoos, they created intricate designs that didn’t only adorn my skin – they
stood out and made me look better than ever. My eyes, however, reminded me of pure blood demons. Black, no whites. What
was different and stood out were the irises of my eyes that were glowing like pure embers.
I shook my head, reminding myself there was something more important to focus on, and quickly put on my bra.

Then, I reached for my shirt, about to pull it over my black bra before looking at the fabric.
Once again, before the thought registered, my body reacted as my wings shot out strong. The power behind the sudden action
was so great, it nearly sent every object close by flying to the sides.
I gasped in amazement. My wings felt heavy and looked hard as steel. However, they were no longer the same either, something
had changed.
Ryze cawed, and I twisted, dropping the shirt as my eyes zeroed in on the open window. I don’t have to think or voice my
intentions when my wings close around me. My body bolts forward on instinct as I torpedo out of the window right before the
wings open.
The feeling is indescribable. The wings are strong and powerful, effortlessly hovering my body in the air. I could be wrong, but I
felt as if this was just another time I could fly and watch over the world.
Spark screeches high above me before shooting down toward me. I glance over my shoulder just when Ryze zips out of the
window I just came from.
My wings beat a few powerful fl*ps, thrusting me higher when Spark’s massive body swooped beneath me and up. My legs
opened as I dropped onto his back. I didn’t have to think or plan anything, Spark felt me, he knew me, and perfectly
complimented me. There was no better and more trustworthy ally than him and Ryze.
“Take me to them,” I told Spark, brushing my fingers through his feathers. Feeling him under my weight, under my palms, calmed
me. Just a little, but for a moment, I felt as if everything was going to be alright.
The loud, deafening screech that left Spark broke the short, momentary trance. My phoenixes mimicked the sound as my army
headed for the city.
We were a force to be reckoned with, and if my mates had a problem with that, they could voice everything after I saved them
from the very mess they created.