Rising Dark (The Darkling Trilogy, Book 2) by A D Koboah Page A

alone. I
could hear another’s ragged heartbeat and the sobs she tried to
suppress to no avail.
    Auria stepped into the clearing. Onyx
followed wearing a navy blue gown. She was dragging a short, slim
Negro girl with her. The slave, who was probably no more than
twenty, was a pretty girl with a slight build and mournful looking
brown eyes. She was shaking like a flower caught in a violent storm
and tears streamed down her face. Dread licked at my insides as I
stared at the terrified girl.
    “ Please, don’t kill anyone
else, Auria. I beg of you,” I said when they reached us.
    “ I’m not going to kill her,” Onyx replied and then savagely bit
the girl on the neck.
    She cried out, her pretty face
creasing in shock and pain. When Onyx released her, she brought her
hand up to her neck to try and stem the blood, which seeped through
her fingers leaving glistening red trails that gleamed in the
moonlight. She looked frantically about her before she tried to get
away. But Onyx pushed her toward Auria, who grabbed a handful of
her hair. The girl cried out again.
    “ Shut up!” Auria
said.
    I observed all of this in a mild daze.
The scent of blood—in fact, the girl’s scent—was having a curious
effect on me. I shook myself free of it, telling myself one of them
was using their supernatural powers on me again. But my attention
kept returning to the rich crimson blood, the sight of her chest
heaving in terror and the pumping of her heart an insistent call
making me want to draw closer to her. I focused on
Auria.
    “ Please, Auria. Just let
her go.”
    “ If you wish.”
    She threw the girl toward me and I
only just managed to catch her before she fell. But rather than
being reassured, she was screaming all the louder now.
    “ Please, jus’ let me go
back,” she cried. “I ain’t never done no wrong to nobody. Please.
My baby boy be waiting for his mama to come home. Please, I ain’t
afraid to die, but you cain’t make me leave my baby ‘lone in this
world! Just take me back, please .”
    “ It is all right. I will
take you back. There is no...”
    But even as I spoke those
words, I became aware of the fact that my hands were tightening
around her slender arms. I couldn’t finish my sentence because I
could not stop staring at the blood, the scent of it was somehow
aromatic and seductive . The grip I had on her arms was no doubt painful now, but I
could not let her go even though I could easily crush her bones
with the strength I now had. There was also an ache in two points
along my gum. Then I felt the top two incisors begin to lengthen,
pushing against the flesh of my lips.
    I took a deep breath and forced myself
to relax the hold I had on the girl. I saw hope flare briefly
within her dark eyes and she quieted somewhat, although she
continued to weep.
    “ What are you doing to
me?” I managed to gasp when I tore my gaze away from the girl, and
the blood, the warm, sweet-smelling blood. “Whatever it is that you
are doing to me, Auria, I want you to stop,” I pleaded.
    “ I’m not doing anything,” she said as she moved to my
side.
    Like a mother to a child, Auria gently
lowered my head toward the two small holes in the girl’s neck as
she began to wail again, fighting desperately to be free of
me.
    I gasped when the blood touched my
lips. I wrenched my head away from her neck. But I had tasted it
and it was electrifying. Lust overcame me in that instance and I
felt aroused, not only in my groin but everywhere, a scorching heat
that demanded to be sated, lest it drive me insane.
    “ Drink,” Auria commanded,
her voice almost tender.
    A part of me felt repulsed by what she
was telling me to do, but it was only a small part, and I again
brought my lips to the blood running down to the girl’s bosom,
which heaved and strained against her dress as she screamed and
begged for her life. I was so aroused, but I only meant to place a
kiss on her hot, bare flesh. I only wanted to feel her skin against
my