To Crave Darkly: Trials Of A Morta: Book One

by Bailey Grayson

  I was drawn to my reflection again and I stared at my now black eyes. If they were just a mark like Orion said, perhaps that meant it could be reversed? They would be cool if it was Halloween and I was in some super fun costume, but I wasn’t, and they were just creepy. It looked like my pupils had completely taken over my irises and a small ring of bright red fire flickered around the edges. They were kind of mesmerising. The way that the fire burned around the rims was eerily beautiful to watch, the small flames caressing the black depths of my pupils, threatening to consume them in glorious hell fire. And don’t even get me started on that bloody mark. At least the top covered most of it. I traced my fingers over the lines. The skin was bumpy like a scar and it was warm to the touch. I could feel a flutter of a flame beneath the mark and I wondered if Orion could feel it too.

  “Lori.”

  I jumped and clutched my chest. “Holy shit, Jasper. Have you never heard of knocking?” I chastised while trying to get my breathing under control.

  He huffed and folded his arms over his chest. “I did knock,” he growled. “You were away with the fairies staring at yourself.”

  “Wouldn’t you if you woke up like this?” I pointed to my eyes to emphasise my point. He just stared back at me like I was crazy. Perhaps I was crazy. Maybe this was all a dream and I was strapped to a bed pumped full of drugs somewhere and this whole situation was my imagination just running wild. Wait. How was that better?

  I gave myself a mental shake and looked back at the vampire.

  “Grab your coat,” he commanded before turning on his heel and leaving the room. And the jackass was back. He had more mood swings than a teenager.

  I grabbed the jacket out of the bag which turned out to be both black and made of leather. I was going to look like a biker chick in this get-up. A biker chick with seriously creepy eyes and a vampire assassin for a companion. Gah! Since when did my life sound like a corny TV show.

  I had to run to catch up with Jasper who had already reached the end of the corridor. The polished solid wood floor and fancy wall lights proclaimed this to be a wealthy establishment. But as we twisted and turned through a series of long corridors, I got the impression that this place was a mansion. Eventually we came into the main entrance hall which included a fancy sweeping staircase and a monstrosity of a chandelier. I couldn’t help but gawk at it. It was huge. Looked like someone liked to show off their wealth.

  I continued to follow Jasper through the extra-large double front doors and out into the courtyard. A chill crept into my bones as we descended into the night and I was glad Jasper told me to grab the jacket.

  “Hey, Jasper, I have a question.”

  He side-eyed me grouchily. “Of course you do.”

  “Do you notice anything different about me?”

  He stopped and spun round to face me. His brow rose into a condescending arch. “Seriously?”

  “I mean apart from the eyes and whatever this mark is. I remember my leg was pretty badly mauled but it’s completely healed, and we were in a car crash but somehow I look like I’ve spent a couple hours in a make-up chair. What is up with that?”

  “It’s probably just your body’s reaction to my blood,” he mused.

  “But I thought my body didn’t like your blood. Isn’t that why I nearly died?”

  “Your body clearly absorbed some of it, perhaps there’s something in you that doesn’t like it. Something to do with your eyes, or maybe…” Jasper’s eyes roamed my face as if looking for something, as if maybe there was something he hadn’t noticed before. I suppose we had been occupied with the whole demon eye situation and bickering like school children. Maybe everything else had been overlooked. He reached out and took my chin in his hand and my traitorous heart jumped at the touch of his hand on my face. He turned my face from one side to the other, examining every inch of my skin.

  A flush crept along my jaw under Jasper’s inspection. He was so close I could count his thick, dark eyelashes. My breath turned shallow and my heart rate kicked up a notch. Bright blue eyes met mine and it was like the world stopped. A shaky breath tumbled from Jasper’s mouth as he realised how close we were. His thumb touched my bottom lip and pulled it down, parting my mouth, making it ready for his kiss. He leant down towards me.

  “Jasper…” I whispered. And instantly regretted it. I’d gone and fucking spooked him. He let go of me faster than ice cream melting in Hell then quickly marched his butt away from me. Why did he want to fight this? There was clearly something between us and as I stared at his back, steely determination starting to form in my mind. We were going to have a conversation about this, whether he liked it or not.

  “Jasper,” I called, but he wouldn’t look at me. I started to march towards him and called his name again. When he finally turned back to face me there was such longing, such confliction burning in his eyes that my feet stopped in their tracks and my anger melted away.

  Instinctively I took a step toward him, wanting to comfort him, but he flinched away from me.

  “Lori, don’t.”

  “I just want to help.”

  “I know, but please don’t.”

  He was shutting down right in front of me. Fine, I would leave this conversation for now, but I was not letting him walk away from it. We were going to talk about whatever this was, and he was going to give me an explanation.

  “Ok. I’ll leave it for now, but this conversation is not over.”

  He growled in warning. “Lori, just drop it.”

  “No. You fucking owe me.”

  “Fine,” he snapped.

  “Fine,” I snapped right back.

  He turned on his heel and walked away. I guess that was the end of our little chit-chat then. I caught up to him and we carried on walking side by side in silence. I could tell Jasper was pissed. He stared straight ahead, refused to even acknowledge I was there, and he stamped his feet as he walked. His jaw clenched as he worked to reign in his temper. I don’t think I had met anyone with a temper that could match my own. I got off on a good argument. Maybe that was part of the reason I liked pissing him off so much. He was kind of hot when he was angry. His face morphed into something a bit more beastly and I had to admit that thrill of danger that surrounded him really turned me on. He was like a timebomb waiting to explode and I wanted to see what destruction would lay in his wake when he did. Man, there was something wrong with me if I enjoyed walking head first into my own demise.

  “Where are we going?” I asked, determined to make at least some conversation.

  “The Cubiculum Veritas.” Jasper sounded irritated. Sheesh. What crawled up his butt and died?

  “The Chamber of Truth?” At my comment, Jasper spun to face me, awe etched into his face. “I went to a Catholic school run by nuns. I learnt Latin and some of it stuck.” I shrugged my shoulder in a show of nonchalance, but secretly I was impressed with myself that I had managed to surprise him.

  “Come on, this way.” And he was back to irritated. “De Santis will be waiting for us in his chambers.”

  “Chambers? Where are we? The fifteenth century?” I snorted. This place was ridiculous. Jasper merely graced me with a flat look. Honestly, I was starting to worry that this guy was completely devoid of humour.

  “Most of the creatures around here are older than they look. They have picked things up from many different centuries. Most are stuck in their ways, especially de Santis.”

  I wondered how old Jasper was. He looked to be in his early thirties but like he just said, he could be centuries old and I wouldn’t have a clue. I wonder what he’d lived through, who he had met. I bet he was a fountain of knowledge. Perhaps I should ask him. Or would that be rude? Like it’s rude to ask a lady how old she was. Would I get bitten if I asked a vampire how old –

  “Just ask.” Jasper folded his arms across his broad chest distracting me from my inner monologue.

  “What?”

  “Your face takes on this intensity when you’re thinking. I know wha
t you want to ask so just ask it. I won’t bite.” He grinned wolfishly. Shit, did he just make a joke?

  “When were you born?”

  “In the winter of 1598.”

  Holy smokes. That made him well over four hundred years old. “Wow. When did you… you know…?”

  Jasper just raised an eyebrow superciliously. He was going to make me say it, but it just felt like a really personal question and I wasn’t one hundred percent sure I would survive if I asked.

  “When did I what?” He smirked. He was enjoying watching me squirm, the bastard.

  “When did you die?”

  “1630. And no,” he butted in before I could ask how, “I will not tell you that tale.”

  I suppose I could understand that. I can’t imagine reliving your death was all that pleasant. But now my mind was running a thousand miles a minute as questions came flooding into it.

  “Ooh, did you meet Shakespeare? What about Elizabeth the First? Was she really a Virgin? What did you do in the 17th century; did you have a job? Where did you…”

  “Lori,” he rumbled in a warning tone, halting my inquisitive word vomit. “Are you normally this infuriating?”

  “Are you normally this grumpy?” I countered.

  “Yes. Now stop asking questions,” he barked before stomping off. I followed him as we walked through what appeared to be a small town. There were shops, cafés and numerous other buildings all organised in neat little rows. I’d love to come and see everything in the daylight. I bet it was a quaint little place. People were bustling around, and it seemed quite lively despite the lateness of the hour. Jasper and I received the odd look from people we passed in the street. They would scurry past, whispering behind their hands, but Jasper didn’t seem to notice. Perhaps it was normal that people steered clear of him, but for me it was a bit unnerving. I suddenly felt like an outcast and it made me watch the shadows around me in a way I never felt I had needed to before.

  The road we followed opened up into what appeared to be a town square, complete with a fountain right in the centre. Jasper was still forging ahead but something about the fountain drew me towards it. It was in the shape of man, woman and a huge wolf. The woman in the middle held her hands a loft to the sky, her hair flowing behind her as if caught on a breeze. The man to her left was shrouded in a cape, his face hidden, but his stance suggested he was ready for action and the giant wolf looked like he was about to pounce. The three beings looked like they had been captured in a moment of battle, fighting side-by-side, ready to unleash hell on their enemies.

  I looked down at the plaque and read:

  A Tribute to the Original Three

  “Jasper,” I called, eager to learn more about the fountain, but when I looked around, he’d vanished. He’d walked off without me and now I was alone in a town square surrounded by people I didn’t know. People that had now stopped and were openly staring at me. This quaint little town suddenly felt very hostile.

  A man stepped forward from the crowd. He was big and all muscle. He kind of reminded me of the bouncers that worked at Poison, but they were soft on the inside, like teddy bears. This guy looked like he ate people for breakfast.

  “What’s a pretty little thing like you doing all alone? Don’t you know there’s monsters around here?” His voice was gravelly and mean and I didn’t like the way he leered down at me.

  “I’m just out enjoying an evening stroll with my assassin friend,” I replied in a slightly squeaky voice, I really wasn’t fine about facing off a crowd of supernatural creatures on my own. I glanced round the faces staring back at me. Come on, Jasper, where are you?

  “Where’s your friend now?” He took another step toward me, sniffing the air as he went. “You don’t smell right. What are you?”

  “Jasper…” I called again, praying to God his vampire hearing would pick up my desperate cry for help.

  The big guy took another step towards me and sweat dripped down my back. Where was Jasper when I actually needed him? My heart was in my mouth and my stomach had plummeted to the floor. My eyes darted everywhere looking for an escape, but I was surrounded on all sides. I was going to need a miracle to -

  “Back off, Flint.”

  Thank fuck. Relief swam through me at the sound of that deep threatening voice.

  Jasper sauntered through the crowd toward me, looking every bit the lethal killer I now knew him to be. He placed himself between me and the big guy, Flint, to shield me from the thug’s advance. Instinctively, I stepped closer to Jasper. He tensed momentarily as he felt my presence against his back, but he didn’t take his attention off Flint.

  “Why should I?” Flint snarled.

  “She’s under the protection of de Sanits so you need to back the fuck off. Now.” Jasper spoke with deadly intent. His tone brooked no argument and I knew if Flint didn’t back down Jasper was going to take him out right in front of me.

  “She’s protected now, but you won’t always be around her. And when that day comes, that pretty little thing and I are going to become better acquainted.” He laughed and then blew me a kiss before turning his back and disappearing into the shadows. The rest of the crowd seemed to come to life again and carried on with whatever they were doing before Flint decided I was worth his attention.

  Jasper turned to face me, and I was about to thank him, but he cut me off before I could make a sound.

  “Are you trying to get yourself killed?” Jasper hissed. His eyes screamed bloody murder at me and I flinched. Damn, he was scary up close. “What were you thinking wandering off on your own?”

  “I wasn’t -”

  “You’re damn right you weren’t thinking.” He roared at me now and the stragglers who were still in the square looked this way. Well, this was embarrassing. I had already had enough of feeling like I was being gawked at in a freak show.

  “You were the one who left me behind,” I accused, pointing my finger directly in his face. “You were charged with protecting me and you were so wrapped up in all your grumpiness that you didn’t even bother to check if I was still there. Maybe de Santis was right. Maybe I should have someone else to protect me. You’re clearly not up to the task.”

  Jasper breathed heavily through his nose like an angry bull. I could tell he was about to charge at me but I didn’t care. He’d left me, forgotten that I was supposed to be with him, and he had the audacity to be mad at me.

  “Fine,” he snapped. “I will ask de Santis to assign someone else. It does me a favour anyway.”

  “Oh, are you that eager to be rid of me?” I yelled. My temper was starting to get the better of me now. I knew that I was starting to sound petulant but once I started on a rampage, my temper was like a runaway train. I only stopped when I’d crashed and burned.

  Jasper didn’t even bother to respond. Choosing to take the higher ground, he just walked off leaving me standing on my own in the square again. When he realised I wasn’t following him turned back to face me.

  “Lori.”

  My name was short and sharp coming from his lips, like he was calling a dog to heel. I levelled him with my best stare, trying to convey to him how much I disliked being ordered around. He clearly didn’t get the message.

  “Get over here right now. We don’t have time to waste.”

  I curled my fists and placed them on my hips.

  “Or what?” I goaded, fully prepared to go into full brat mode if he pushed me. I wasn’t some mindless damsel he could order around, and he needed to know that.

  Jasper strode across the square, bearing down on me with murderous intent. His eyes blazed with indignation. I really needed to stop poking the bear.

  “I will throw you over my shoulder and carry you,” he said menacingly. “So, move. Now.”

  The last word was a bark. My knees trembled, but I was standing my ground. “No. Not until you ask me nicely.”

  “We don’t have time to waste. Just move, damn you.”

  His tone was now all fire and rage, and I
was on the verge of peeing my pants. He was downright scary this close but I was brought up to not back down and his easy way of ordering me around had my temper flaring and my control slipping.

  I took a step toward him. “Stop yelling at me!”

  He stepped back as if I’d hit him. I was aware of a growing audience around us. It seemed like I was giving the town’s inhabitants a good show today, I should probably charge them a fee.

  I’d had enough of being pushed around, of being kept in the dark without any answers. I didn’t know why this mattered so fucking much but I’d be damned if I was going to let him push me around any more.

  His eyes flickered between the bright blue and the bottomless black of the beast as he took a slow, deliberate step towards me. “Move. Your. Ass. Now.” The words were clipped with menace.

  I grit my teeth and stared him down. “Enunciating. Your. Words. Won’t. Make. Me. Move.”

  “What the fuck is going on?” A voice I didn’t recognise boomed around the square, commanding attention. “Farrow, you need to stop.”

  Jasper’s face swam closer, his body forcing me to take a step backwards, but fuck if I was gonna let him intimidate me.

  “That’s it, Lori. Show him what you’re made of. Do not back down.”

  My pulse skipped. Orion was back again. I was going to have to figure out how to block him getting into my mind. It was really distracting, especially if he was going to keep popping in unannounced.