Jasper’s dejected form sat on the porch steps as he watched Freya and Marcus slowly approach the house. The wolves looked battle worn, but happy.
“We won,” Freya said as she slowly made her way up the steps. With her small frame covered in blood that belonged to her and her opponents and notably beaten, she eased herself into her favorite rocking chair. Giving Jasper a curious look, she asked, “What’s wrong? I told you, we won.”
“We won the battle, but a good deal of them got away,” Marcus interjected. “It was a victory, but a small one that I question if we deserved given the number who escaped. Especially since their army was surprisingly light.”
“But, it was a victory,” Freya insisted.
When Jasper remained silent, Marcus lowered his bruised and bloody bulk onto the step next to him. Like Freya, much of the blood belonged to his foe, but some of his own
Admitting to Ben that they’d lost Lila to the vampires was far more difficult for Jasper than he could have imagined. The rage, pain, and panic that the warlock radiated upon the news made him realize just how much she meant to him. He couldn’t help his guilt over ignoring his own feelings for her, especially upon hearing Ben’s rants over not understanding why Lila chose Jasper over him.How blind had he been? How geekily focused on his work he must have been to not notice that Lila had feelings for him that went beyond those of admiration for his wisdom and intelligence. To everyone else it was clear. Why not to him? What was wrong with him that he didn’t even allow himself to notice how he felt about her until it was too late?After hours of apologies and patiently listening to Ben’s berating over their incompetence, Marcus, and Jasper bent heads with him to come up with a plan to rescue Lila. It wouldn&rsqu
Darkness slowly receded as Jasper’s muddled mind gradually regained a semblance of consciousness. Blood steadily oozed past swollen lips as he lay, face down, in a shallow, muddy pothole. He could feel the flesh over his left eye swelling while the throbbing in his head intensified to the extent that he was sure the iron bar that was used to beat him with was lodged deep inside of it. There was a faint sensation of warmth coating his ears from the blood that steadily trickled from them. This explained why all sounds were muted and barely audible.He was grateful that the pothole was shallow enough to keep him from drowning because he had no idea when he’d find the strength to push himself up and out of it. Even the effort of rolling onto his back felt unobtainable.He’d run out of money to pay for his research. Never one for waiting until tomorrow to do what could be done today, he’d insisted on making the trip to the other sid
Cora pulled her thick and wavey, waist length auburn colored hair into a ponytail while she agitatedly paced the perimeter of the mansion’s medical room.“So, he brought home another one. This is the third in two months,” she grumbled as she stopped next to the cot that supported Jasper’s still body. “What does he think he is going to do with this one? The man is barely breathing.” The elderly whitehaired attendant placed her hands on her thick hips and slowly shook her head as she said, “Master Rowan has a reason for everything that he does. Although, for the life of me, I have no idea what it is this time. I cannot imagine what use he could be around here. This poor lad is on death’s door.”Cora’s slender form leaned low over Jasper’s still body. Placing her cheek near his mouth to feel for breath, she said, “Exactly. The others showed promise of recovering e
Several Weeks LaterJasper slowly eased his body onto its side. Mimicking sleep, he intently listened to the conversation between a young woman named, Cora, and the old nurse he’d heard called both Bess and Smithfield. He’d assumed that her true name was Elizabeth Smithfield with Bess being the nick name for Elizabeth, but names were funny things. He’d noticed the increasing pattern of nick names or abbreviated names being given to children at birth by parents wanting to be different. Therefore, he could have been incorrect on that assumption.“He has been here for weeks. It has been determined that he will not provide service in the household, but he has not been turned,” Cora complained. “Others have come and gone, yet there he lays. I do not understand what is so special about him. He wastes valuable bed space.”“I agree that he has been occupying a b
Rowan slouched against the back of his chair and stretched his long, lean legs to full length in front of him. Rubbing his tired eyes with his left hand, his right hand gripped the papers that he’d managed to acquire. They belonged to a physician turned scientist who lived a few centuries earlier. The man had been successful in putting life back into a human corpse. True, the revived corpse possessed a monster-like appearance, and the experiments went no further, but the concept was still a valid one. It was Rowan’s thought that, since the physician had been able to bring a deceased human back to life, surely there was a method for elongating the life of one still living– possibly to the point of immortality- without the need of polluting it with his vampire blood.With frustration and disgust, he tossed the soiled and dog-eared papers onto the table next to his chair. He’d combed over them at least a dozen times, but still came
“It was Halloween,” Jasper mused with unbridled confusion. “I thought they were in costume. Who knew those things were real?”“What better time to walk in the open without fear of discovery?” Rowan said as he inspected the color and shape of Jasper’s eyes and his mouth’s interior. “You have experienced mild alterations, but nothing severe. You still show signs of being human.”“Alterations? In what way?” Jasper asked with concern as his fingers roamed over his facial features. “I don’t feel like I look different. I don’t look like a zombie, do I?”“Would you like a mirror?” Bess asked as she moved out from behind Rowan to produce a small, hand-held mirror. “You are still a handsome man if you must know. The significant change that I see is the color of your eyes. They are much darker. In fac
Two Weeks LaterJasper eased himself into the chair opposite Rowan. Slight waves of pressure from the intense energy being emitted from the vampire who had saved his life caressed his body. Although he’d come to no harm since he’d been discovered by the ancient creature and was saved from death, he couldn’t help the nagging, unsettled feeling that remained constant. He’d yet to discover Rowan’s plans for him. Was he to become a vampire? Or, was he being saved as a food source for the many vampires that openly roamed about the estate?“I see that you are finally feeling well enough to be up and around,” Rowan said with satisfaction. “This is good.”“I need to get back to my lab,” Jasper complained with a boldness that he didn’t actually feel. “I cannot leave my work.”“You do realize that you are no longer human, do yo
Although he’d been on death’s door while being rescued from the alley, Jasper had a faint recall of being draped over the vampire’s shoulder and flying through the air for a considerable period of time. Because of this, he naturally assumed that their mode of travel to retrieve his notes from his lab would be the same. His first response when he slid into Rowan’s limousine was to mentally mock himself for thinking that they would fly instead of drive.He said nothing to Rowan about his assumption. In fact, as time passed and the road took them closer to their destination, he questioned if he’d really flown at all. Perhaps it was simply some type of crazy illusion by a man who was barely alive.They drove the roads in what seemed like a normal fashion, yet time didn’t behave normally. The world on the opposite side of the windows whizzed by so fast that it was barely discernable. A trip that should have t