Page 76 of Dark Embers

“You have no idea how much I miss you,” I said, lifting my hand to push a stray lock of brown hair behind her ear.

Brown. Didn’t it used to be red?

“Julian,” she sighed, closing her eyes to savor my touch.

“Julian?” An invited voice cut through my dream, startling me awake, and when I opened my eyes, the face laying far too close for comfort was the last one I ever wanted to see.

I pushed myself up to sit, scooting away from her. “Get the fuck out of my bed, Marguerite.”

“Oh, somebody’s testy this evening,” she teased, propping her head onto her hand and looking up at me like we truly were the playful lovers she wished we were. “Who is Shea?”

My heart slammed against my chest, and I paused momentarily in the process of getting out of bed.

“What are you talking about?” I growled without looking back at her.

“You always used to murmur Alice’s name in your sleep, but just now, you said ‘Shea’,” Marguerite explained, jealousy tainting her tone. “Have you finally moved on? With a girl who isn’t me?”

I didn’t respond, mostly because I found that ignoring Marguerite eventually made her get bored and walk away. But also…ithadbeen Shea in my dream, not Alice. Ever since my delirium from whatever shit Hadrian had put in the tank, Shea and Alice had become interchangeable in my dreams, and even in my mind.

I blamed it on the drugs and on the lack of blood I’d consumed since I got here. I was devastatingly thirsty, but blood bags were against Hadrian’s rules, and I absolutely refused to drink from the irritating Initiate he’d assigned to me. I didn’t drink from people, period, but even if I were to start, that girl would be far down my list of candidates.

I climbed out of bed and shrugged into a white button-up shirt, trying to ignore both Marguerite and the guilt that was welling inside me as I pushed the buttons into place. Why was I dreaming about Shea at all? Perhaps it was just because she looked so much like Alice, and her magical signature felt so similar.

I hadn’t so much as looked at another woman since Alice died, and I couldn’t help but feel like I was betraying her memory by craving this young witch.

My fingers suddenly fumbled in their task at the realization that shook me. I hadn’t admitted even to myself until that moment that I did indeedcraveher. And I had no idea how to feel about that.

I’d been here a week now with no word from Shea, and thoughts of her consumed most of my waking hours. Why hadn’t shecontacted me? Was she in danger? Or worse…had she decided to take the grimoire and run? No, I didn’t see her going back on her word. Not that I really knew her at all, having only met her once, but for some ungodly reason, I trusted her. And I didn’t trust easily.

Marguerite scoffed behind me. “I wish you would talk to me, Julian, like you used to. And just so you know, I came because Hadrian wants to see you.”

I fastened the final button and turned for the door of my room. “Thank you for delivering the message.”

I walked out without giving her so much as a passing glance. I’d have to acquire a deadbolt for that door. She could easily break through it if she wanted to get in badly enough, but at least the noise would wake me next time.

As I walked through the halls, I couldn’t help but notice that there were more vampires walking about than usual. And they seemed preoccupied, blurring down the halls with their inhuman speed. What were they preparing for? Did it have anything to do with why Hadrian wanted to see me?

Hadrian’s trophy room door was open, but I rapped my knuckles on the doorframe to announce my presence before I walked in. The vampire leader looked up from his papers on the table in front of him and waved me forward to sit beside him. I did as I was bid.

“What is the progress of your Initiate’s work?” he asked, getting right to business.

I straightened in my chair. “To be honest, the work is slow and tedious. We’ve tested several samples with no success yet.”

A flicker of displeasure crossed his blue eyes, striking a note of fear through my heart.

“But I believe we’ll be close very soon,” I amended quickly. “Edison failed a thousand times in his attempt to invent the lightbulb. Successes are hard won through failure.”

He tilted his head in appreciation at the metaphor. “I suppose that’s true. I like the way you think, my boy.”

My shoulders relaxed slightly. Hadrian was not someone you ever wanted to disappoint, so I’d had to be very tactful in my sabotage of the samples in the lab. I would do absolutely everything in my power to stop him from creating the hybrid monsters he was striving for.

While almost every attempt at genetic merging had indeed failed on its own, we got dangerously close yesterday. So, I did what had to be done, exposing the sample to oxygen before the merge could complete. It was a great risk because, if I’d been caught, I would have been executed on site.

If Piper suspected anything of my treason, she hadn’t let it show. I truly believed that her sleep deprivation made her a little less than sharp these days. All part of my plan.

“Well, seeing as you’re clearly not much needed in the lab, I have a special assignment for you,” Hadrian said, lacing his fingers on the table in front of him.

“Oh?” I asked, curiosity and apprehension playing tug-of-war with my heart. “What is it you want me to do, my lord?”

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