Claimed by Fangs and Darkness (Everlasting Possession, #2)

by Maggie Sunseri

If you don’t grieve properly, that pain will leak out in far less desirable ways. Feel it, Kylo.

“I always suspected you hailed from the stars,” Kylo said softly.

“I no longer fear death. I fear not living.”

“What are my shadows for, Evie?” Hekate asked. I walked to her. In her outstretched hand, a heavy brass key rested. The old me would’ve said violence. Destruction. Oblivion. Chaos. “Revolution,” I answered.

knew I shouldn’t make someone else my reason for living, but I’d never claimed to be a perfect, holy man or an ascetic monk. I was Etherdale’s rightful lord, a vampire born from magick and blood. And Evie was mine.

More than that—she’d been right. There had to be meaning to all of this. To the series of beautiful, cruel, horrifying, grueling, celestial moments that had led us here and would lead us into the revolution. I wanted to believe.

“You know what’s better than being feared?” He paused, turning to lean over the island between us as he pinned me with his gaze. “Being respected. I want to worship you, Evie. I don’t fear you. I only fear losing you.”

Kylo groaned. “You have no idea how sexy it is to see you as starving for violent retribution as I am. How many couples can share this intense, intimate bonding activity?” He stroked my cheek, and I yanked back. Kylo smiled. “Is murder the bonding activity?” I shook my head, even as my lips threatened to form a begrudging smile. “No, baby.” He looked like he wanted to reach for me again but refrained. “It’s revenge.”

because despite Kylo’s breach of trust, I knew his devotion was the most real, unending, powerful force in Etherdale.

“I’d much rather your only job description include being my spoiled good girl, but alas.”

“I am so stupidly in love with you,” I whispered, unable to help myself. Evie looked away, a flash of reluctance in her proud, relieved eyes. “I’m still mad. But I stupidly love you too. Emphasis on stupid.”

“It’s so sexy you know how to read.” Kylo lifted a single brow. “What? Most men can’t.” His face shifted with displeasure. “Can’t or won’t?” “Uncertain.” Kylo sighed heavily. “The bar is truly in Lillian’s hells.”

“Maybe men just need eighty years to reach full maturity,” I said as I set up our magickal area. I used a branch to dig protective sigils around us. Then I sprinkled salt in a circle. Kylo laughed. “I’ve thought about this problem quite a bit, actually. It’s the reason for my expansive education system before and after clan initiation.”

Greatness is derived from connection. A man’s unchecked ego breeds alienation, profound spiritual loneliness, and insecurity.

“My strong, intelligent, fierce, loyal girl,” he praised. Ecstasy wrapped around me like shadows. I was held by the earth below, supported by the starlight above. “Your words are made of drugs.” Kylo paused his tattooing to laugh. “No talking, my subby, spacey, pliable angel. Just listen.”

“No, angel. The magick is us. It always has been. Let go. I’ve got you.”

“I don’t want anyone else getting your creative juices flowing,” Evie huffed. “If that’s what we’re calling it now…”

That was the thing about power that hadn’t been earned. It paradoxically created an avalanche of weakness to exploit. Those who struggled for power, who fought with something to lose, built an inner strength that was harder to crack.

“The person that fled—their note said I had beautiful eyes,” she said. I whipped my head around. “What? I mean, you do, but⁠—” “Yeah, yeah. You want to murder them for noticing,” she

Idris glowered. “I knew all this power would go to your head.” He looked past me to Kylo. “You’ve created a monster.” “I was already a monster.” I smiled. “Kylo just reminded me.” Kylo chuckled from behind me.

I want to live, I’d begged. I promise not to waste it. I want to live!

let Evie do this because I loved her. And loving someone meant letting them make their own decisions, even if those decisions wrecked me. It had been less than

“You are the only thing that has successfully given me a break from my obsessive, ruminating mind,” I said sleepily. “That’s probably why I love you so much.”

Kylo sighed. “The plight of being in a position of power. I simply can’t account for the varied proclivities of you insatiable deviants.”

“That’s the thing about men like him. They want a challenge. They don’t want someone who is already pliable and easy to control. They want someone who shines, someone free and independent and powerful. They want to break you. Like it’s an art form.

To be complacent is to be complicit.

“Good,” he said. “I want your life to be full of love. Not just from me. You deserve your own world outside of me, too. You know that, right?”

“You are unrealistically emotionally advanced for a man,” I muttered. Kylo grinned. “Thank you, angel.” He stared at my lips. “Like you said, I simply needed those extra eighty years to approach maturity.”

wanted to tell her I would do anything she ever asked of me forever, but I settled on, “Yes, angel,” instead.

“You’ve been mine since the beginning of it all, baby,” he whispered. “Since we were stars, and the world was a quiet landscape of darkness and light.”

My heart felt like it was physically cracking behind my ribs. And like a lovesick fool, I still couldn’t help but smile at such a beautiful, tragic description of my soulmate.

It wasn’t a loss to choose Kylo. I wasn’t self-sacrificing. I was admitting that we were two distinct trees intertwined, nourishing each other as we grew and reached for the sun.

He pulled back, studying my face as if in reverence. I smiled. The words were poised on my tongue. I choose you. I will always choose you.

“Being loved by Kylo is like staring up at the vastness of the cosmos and not feeling small. He has seen and studied all of me and fallen in love with every piece. Loving each other is worship.”

“Baby, I love your violence. But I love your mercy a thousand times more.”

When he opened his eyes again, heartbreak had eclipsed every drop of his rage. “You’re safe now, baby, do you know that?” I stared into those deep pools of blue. My shadows billowed around his ankles. “Yes. Thank you for always protecting me—all of me, but especially my heart.”

“I don’t think this is our first time around,” I whispered in the dark stillness, curled around Kylo like a vine as he traced patterns on my back. “This isn’t our first life together.” “Duh,” Kylo said. I scoffed at him, swatting his chest as he chuckled. “I thought that was obvious. Otherwise, my initial stalking was… a bit much.”

“The first time I saw you, I thought you were an angel.” I smiled. “The first time I saw you, I thought you were the devil.” “We’re so fucking perfect for each other. It’s so sexy.”