Darkness Fades (Darkness Falls Series, Book 3) by Jessica Sorensen Page B

here?” I ask, stepping
around the crate, wondering if maybe there’s someone else around.
“Did you save me from that monster?”
    I take a few more steps towards the crate,
listening to his labored breathing. His arms come into view, but
the flesh is strange looking, like it’s trying to melt. “Maybe if
we hurry we can go back to the town and get help.”
    “I can’t,” he croaks. “I can’t go anywhere
just yet.”
    “We have to,” I say, swallowing hard, not
sure if I want to take the last few steps to see him changing. “If
you’re changing… if we both change… we have to make sure the papers
get back to the colony.”
    “No,” he says almost sharply.
    Frustrated, I turn for the door, ready to
leave, knowing that I might be running out of time… I might have to
run the entire way there.
    As I’m getting ready to exit, the memory of
Sylas replays in my mind. I remember him begging me not to let him
turn; pleading with me to end him before he changed. Guilt spreads
through me and I pause in front of the door. I can’t just leave him
here like this, let him change into one of those horrible
creatures, even if he’s done things I don’t like and made me mad.
He still deserves not to go down that way.
    I set my papers down on the floor and turn
around. I slowly walk back towards the crate, worried about what
I’ll say, what he’ll say to me with what I’m about to do. Then the
crates abruptly shift slowly and he pushes himself to his feet,
standing tall with his back towards me, like he knows what I’m
about to do. He doesn’t have a shirt on and his dark hair is matted
to the back of his head.
    I carefully walk up behind him, wondering if
he knows, if he understands. I almost back out; however, I swallow
my feelings as I take in the sight of his skin that hangs loosely
from his body with open wounds which are bleeding.
    Elevating the knife above my head, I aim it
at his back, ready to plunge it deep into him, end him and help his
suffering. But he spins around, his dark eyes focusing on the knife
I hold in my hand. He looks scared. Before I can change my mind, I
quickly thrust my arm downward towards him.
    His eyes widen, his arm snaps up and he
grabs hold of my wrist, stopping the knife just a fraction before
it clips his skin.
    “Kayla, stop.” He tightly grips my hand and
I struggle, trying to break free, twisting my arm. “Kayla, look at
me.”
    I’m not sure what registers first. His
command, the change in his voice, or the calm feeling being throw
at me. I stop fighting and look up at him, meeting his gaze. I gasp
when I see him and he lets me go. My hand falls to my side and the
knife slips from my fingers, landing on the floor with a clink. It
can’t be.
    Yet the more I look at him, the more I know
it’s true. The cold, dark eyes that are looking back at me don’t
belong to Aiden, they belong to Sylas.

Chapter 16

    It’s quiet for a while. Neither of us can
speak. Or maybe he’s just waiting for me to say something, but I’ve
lost my voice. He looks so different, still him—black hair, eyes
like charcoal, a slight cocky expression—but beneath it is pain.
Pain from his flesh rotting. He’s changing. Still?
    “Aren’t you going to say anything?” he
finally asks, stretching out his long legs.
    Say what? I’m too speechless to speak. “Why…
I mean how are you changing, just now… when I saw you last, you
were so close and that was a while ago?”
    He shrugs nonchalantly but there’s emotion
in his eyes, though I can’t tell exactly what. “I did turn. I
turned into one of those horrible monsters. It was like being stuck
in a bad dream…” His forehead creases in puzzlement as his head
cocks to the side. “Until I bit you.”
    “What? You changed and then you changed
back?” I ask, shocked, wanting to pick up my knife so I can maybe
be comforted by this lost, helpless feeling inside me; one I’ve
never felt before. “I don’t understand, Sylas. Aren’t the