Darkness Betrayed (Torn) Read Online Free

skin. I inhaled quickly. Breathtaking.
    For a moment I loo ked down at my torn jeans, dirty, white, long-sleeved tee and navy Vans. My hair was held in its usual, messy ponytail. I looked like the child she obviously thought I was. She couldn’t be that much older than me, but her demeanor suggested she had me by years.
    Her eyebrow arched, she smirked. “Something wrong, Samantha?” And I knew she knew exactly what I was thinking. Shut it down, Sam. But I couldn’t block her. No one had taught me how yet. I was an open book to anyone who had the wherewithal to listen.
    As my anger continued to rise, something was forcing it to calm , something outside of my control. As if reading my thoughts, she said distastefully, “It wouldn’t do for you to get angry, Samantha. We need you calm and focused. We won’t hurt you. We want to help you.”
    “We who? Who are you?”
    “My name is Malena and my job is to help train you. However distasteful I find my orders. Help you control what’s inside you. The way you fly off the handle, it’s a wonder the rest of them haven’t abandoned you yet.” She spoke bluntly, without an ounce of care for my feelings. Kind of like how I’d become.
    Pulling a chair in front of me, she crossed her long legs in one graceful movement and settled down, her hands gently folded on her lap. “Let’s just get to it, shall we?”
    I shrugged, knowing what I wanted didn’t matter at that moment.
    “Your guardian angel is conflicted, Samantha. He can’t keep you safe like this. He loves you, but he’s been working overtime to keep you in control. He’s losing. He won’t last much longer if you don’t try harder. In essence, you’re destroying him with your whining and indecision. Because of this, you are in no shape to face Sebastian.”
    “Don’t talk about Ethan like you know him. You don’t.” My words dripped venom even as the storm settled.
    “Oh but I do.” Her smirk led me to believe she did. It was unsettling.  “We’ve been watching you, waiting for you. We know more than you think. More than you’d want us to.” Her perfect mouth curled.
    “Think about it this way, if he continues to be distracted by your temper, how is he supposed to protect you? If you keep relying on him, feeding his love like there is actually some chance you two could be together – keep questioning the law –how is he supposed to be clear headed enough to do his job? And speaking of his job, don’t you find it odd that when you were being taken away he made no move to save you? He just stood there, didn’t he, with his sword at his side, watching you fly away?”
    The look on his face as I flew away punched me in the gut. It wasn’t sadness or anger. It was resignation. I must be imagining things. I thought back over the past few weeks and realized Ethan has been distracted and sad. He hadn’t been able to calm me down as of late. Not like he could before. I’d just chalked it up to losing his brother. After all, the old Ethan, the Ethan I knew before all of this, had all but vanished. Have I caused him more pain? I had just assumed he was overcome with his brother’s betrayal and with finding out Sebastian was his father. Could I have missed something?
    Cocking her head slightly, she looked at me like one would look at a child who didn’t understand. “It is a job for him. You do realize that don’t you?”
    I shook my head. “It’s more than that. I don’t know what it is you think you know but it is more than that.”
    Admiring her fingernails she spoke, “You are s trong but you are self-centered, as most teenagers are. The truth is he can’t help you, anymore.”
    What? Who the hell is she?
    Interrupting my thoughts, her hands waved in the air, dismissing me and the questions that ran through my head like a freight train. Head cocked to one side, she smiled tightly and blew out a long breath. “I don’t mean it as an insult. I am just stating facts you are uncomfortable