Read Online Darkness Brutal (The Dark Cycle Book 1) by Rachel A. Marks - Free Book Online Page B

I’m pretty sure from that giddy look on his face I don’t want to know.
    He takes my hand, turns it over in his, studies my markings, the bite. “I’m assuming the demon that did this was corporeal?”
    I snatch it back. “What? No.”
    His head jerks back. “No? Are you saying the creature was still on the other side of the Veil and yet it somehow bit you?”
    My teeth clench at the memory and at the realization that I didn’t want that piece of information known yet.
    “Did you fight it off? You did, didn’t you?”
    “What the hell difference does it make?” It’s suddenly getting harder to breathe. Because I know it makes a difference. A huge difference.
    Sid shakes his head, looking almost awed. “You made physical contact with the other side.” And then he says, almost as if to himself, “How else could you have done that unless you exist on both planes?”
    My chest constricts in fear.
    The bodies in the room stir.
    Sid’s voice grows a little stronger. “That’s why you can see them. Unlike Kara, you must have one foot on the other side of the Veil. A part of your soul is on this side, and a part is on the other. You’re between .” He smiles suddenly, brilliantly, as if he just discovered the next big Internet craze that’ll make him millions. “That’s a lot of power, boy. A lot. You may have talents you haven’t realized yet.”
    In-between . Like Ava said this morning. “You’re insane.” I say it because I want it to be true, but I know he’s right. I just wish I knew what it meant.
    “Did you give yourself that mark?” he asks, pointing to my hand.
    “No. I’ve always had it. I don’t even know what it is.” And it’s growing now, apparently.
    “You should move in as soon as possible!” he shouts, making me jump. “Don’t hesitate!” Then he says under his breath, “This house is protected and hidden from anything that would want to harm you from the spirit world. I have done my due diligence in keeping it covered in wards. You will have no worries anywhere you stand on this property. Stay! And bring your sister as well. Today.”
    “Today?” A second ago I was figuring I’d have to bargain for a chance to prove myself.
    The others look surprised, too.
    “We need to make sure you remain in one piece. If the demons find you out, you’ll be in bits before sunset.” Sid points at Kara. “She’ll take you to gather your things and your sister. I’ll let Connor or Jax fill you in on the house rules.” He leaves the room, whistling as he goes out the back door.
    The others stare at me. I can only stare back, trying to get my head together.
    I’m moving in. With Ava. My sister will be safe, and with me.
    That’s all I can focus on right now. Everything else feels too overwhelming. It wasn’t something about the demon that made it able to bite me, it was something about me . So it won’t just be that demon. It could be any demon. That could bite me. Claw me.
    Kill me.
    “We should get going,” Kara says, snapping me back.
    I look over at her and realize the others have wandered off. It’s just her and me and Finger in the room. He’s still hypnotized by his game.
    “I’m fine,” I mumble. “I don’t need you to come.” I head for the front door.
    She follows after me. “Sid says I go, so I go.” Even though she says it, she doesn’t seem too sure. There’s a skittishness in her wide-open gaze as she looks at me now, and she’s not getting too close.
    I stop before opening the door. “Really, you don’t have to be around me. I can see you’re freaked.”
    And she doesn’t even know it all.
    Imagine how she’d look at me if she knew I could smell her fear in the air, a slight burnt tinge, or see the evidence of every sex partner she’s ever had on her skin. She’d run screaming in the other direction.
    “I’m not freaked,” she says, swallowing. A red spark reflects in her eye.
    I raise my brow at her.
    “Okay, I’m a little freaked.” She