Page 51 of Wicked Bite
I bared my fangs at him and hissed. “Piss off.”
He sighed. “It is time for you to accept this.”
Deep down, I knew he was right. Piper was broken before we even started the transition. I wanted to believe that she was strong enough. But I felt she was gone. I placed my hand over the cold dirt and tried to remember her the way she’d always been to me: alive. Yet, flashes of her sightless eyes looking up at the sky filled my memory. “Where were you?” The question hit me like a ton of bricks. Where was I? I was scurrying about trying to avoid a curse that I didn’t even bring down on my family. If only I had been there as I should have been. Piper and I, we belonged together. There was no doubt in my mind. Had it been even a day longer, I would’ve fallen head over heels in love. As it stood now, I was deeply attached, and it was my own damn fault I would never see her again.
I couldn’t even explain to Dice what happened. I tried to save her, and I couldn’t. That failure would haunt me for the rest of my life. It was such a human way to die, and I’d seen some messed up things in the supernatural world of Evermore. But this, in the real world, was the worst waste of life a person could possibly bear.
My eyes were dry of tears. Too many of them had fallen to the ground where she lay. The constant ache in my chest wouldn’t ever leave me. I knew the pain of grief and would hold it close always as a reminder of what I had done and what I had lost. The world would be a little more gray. There would be no joy in art without her, and I could only pray that each time I got a smell of honey, it would remind me of her in this infinite life I had to spend alone.
I rose to my feet, and black dots swarmed my vision. I’d spent two days on my knees praying for a miracle I knew wouldn’t come. “She needs a gravestone.”
“I’ll see to it for you.”
“You’ll show it to me before we place it here.” I couldn’t take my eyes off the dirt. “And you’ll make it so her friend has closure. I don’t want Dice to spend her life searching.”
Sav nodded. “I’ll see you home, then I’ll return and ensure all is well.”
“You’re a good friend, Sav.” I turned and met his eye. “Now take me home.”
Maybe everyone was right. Maybe we were all damned to be cursed. And I was no exception. But I would return to where the cursed belonged. My life was never meant to be my own, and losing Piper like this proved that. I was cursed. I was damned. I had nothing else, and now it was my time to return to The House of Shade.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
GRAYSON
High on top of a hill overlooking dreary London stood The House of Shade. It was the home I’d grown up in and at one time loved. I’d always known I had a duty to my people and to the crown. Lately, it seemed to weigh just a little bit heavier. I stood in my room staring out over the countryside and London in the distance. The grass had long since turned brown with the incoming cold and had only sporadic patches of green. The houses that lined the countryside were all decorated with twinkle lights in preparation for Christmas. In London, it was all motion and bright lights. It reminded me of New York City.
December in London was enchanting. December in the castle was more so. It may have felt confining to me, but to others it held all the interest in the world. From the outside, it was dark and imposing with opaque windows. The castle itself was made of thick dark stones that carried from the outside to the inside. The front wall stood tall, with an iron gate that rattled each time they raised or lowered it. Multiple towers rose from the main building, each of them with cone-shaped roofs that stood stark against the sky.
A single winding road led up to the castle, and The House of Shade emblem sat at the entrance to the gate and in a stained-glass window on the front of the castle. On the inside, candlelight illuminated the dark halls in huge chandeliers and scones that gave every room a warm glow. On the outside, twinkling lights hung from the roof and around the doors. It was a simple, elegant look that remained timeless at Christmas. Not overdone but just nice. It was a sight I would’ve loved to show Piper. I could almost picture her smiling up at the lights and the huge castle I called home.
A flash of her broken body in my arms ruined the vision of her smile. I flinched, shaking my head, trying to clear the thoughts. Dirt on her face. Blood everywhere.
“Grayson!”
I spun around. “What? Why are you yelling?”
Sav walked into my room and closed the door behind him. He was dressed in burgundy dress pants, black leather shoes and a black button-down shirt that was open at the collar, showing his raven tattoo. Even his hair was somewhat combed.
“Because I’ve been saying your name for five minutes.”
I turned from the windows extending the length of my wall toward the mirror on the other side of the room. My room had been the same for decades, with a mahogany four-poster bed and a plush crimson carpet that shielded my feet from the stone floor. The walls were also made of stone but had thick wooden beams running over them and up to the vaulted ceiling. The sun had already set, and court would be in session soon enough.
Thoughts of Piper and nothing else occupied my mind. I was going through the motions in the hopes that if I repeated things enough times, I would start to breathe again. “No need to shout. I’m here.”
“And the look on your face tells me otherwise. Do try not to be a sad sack when before Titus.” Sav grabbed my suit coat off the back of a chair next to the closet and threw it my way.
I caught it and slid my arms into the sleeves and pulled them at the cuff and straightened my collar. Black, on black, on black. Like I was going to a funeral . . . all over again. I gave myself one more glance in the mirror then headed straight for the door.
“Let’s get this bloody sideshow over with.” I was home, but really all I wanted was to fall back into my bed and lie there until forever was over.
Sav opened my door and let me pass by him. I held my head up and kept my shoulders straight. If there was one thing a vampire knew how to do, it was bravado and right now, I needed all I could muster. It’d been months since I returned to this home and even longer still since I wanted to. Yet, now I had no place else to go, and I returned home to find the comfort I once had years ago. Comfort that was taken away from me by a chance night with a hit-and-run driver.
It was all so . . . human.
The halls were similar to my room, with dark stone flooring and walls. Wooden beams arched from the ground up the ceiling where they met in intricate carvings that ran over the ceiling. Warm candlelight lit the way to the throne room, and I felt that knot in my stomach tighten ever so slightly. I hadn’t seen Titus since I left, and it wasn’t on the best of terms.
Two double doors at the end of the hall were maned by two other Vampires. As we approached, they grabbed the handles and pulled them back in a simultaneous move that looked choreographed. A mere human couldn’t open those doors. When they opened, I felt all eyes swing toward me. I ran my hand through my hair and forced that half-smile I was known for.
