Page 6 of Insidious Monsters
Nandi and I exchanged glances, and I saw my resolve written all over her face. We both peered up at him and smiled.
“Fabulous,” we said in unison.
I pushed back my chair. “We’ll tell you all about it tomorrow. I need to pop in and see Jacob before bed.” I beelined for the exit.
“Give him my best,” Nandi called.
“Will do.”
Tonight was game night and I’d missed it. Jacob was not going to be happy.
* * *
My great-great-grandfather had beendead a long time, but that didn’t stop Jacob Vera from having an opinion. Nope. Not at all. Out of all the ancestors living in the cemetery behind the black castle I called home, Jacob was the most vocal. The ringleader, if you will. He’d been the one I’d needed to soften to be welcomed into this ghostly community, and I had. Nandi and I both had. It was a shame that coming here caused her mental pain now. Ever since her abilities had manifested, the ghosts here had become too loud for Nandi. The leyline on which the cemetery was built made it difficult for her to put up a barrier to all the spirits wishing to speak to her.
She’d stopped coming here, but I hadn’t. For me, this was a place of solitude and comfort. My haven when I needed some quiet time to think.
Except tonight that sanctuary had been breached.
I heard voices coming from Jacob’s crypt. His laughter mingled with another’s deep, husky tones.
I stepped through the open iron gate and peered warily into the gloomy crypt. The lantern was lit, and two figures sat facing each other at the tiny table Jacob and I used for games.
Jacob looked up from the chess board and spotted me. “Ah, August, you made it.”
The other figure, the one with his back to me, tensed.
“Telarion is actually beating me at chess, can you believe it?” Jacob grinned. “Fabulous, absolutely fabulous.”
I wanted to ask Telarion what he was doing here instead of being out in the city hunting. I wanted to step farther into the crypt to get a better look at his face because it felt like forever since I’d gazed deep into his eyes.
Ever since our kiss in my bedroom six weeks ago, Telarion had kept his distance. He’d vanish at sundown and return at dawn, and when on the trail of an eldritch, we used Nandi and Archie as buffers. The only time we engaged was when he fed me his life force, when he touched me and made me unravel.
The thought of his body pressed to mine made my mouth dry and my throat ache.
His life force staved off the hunger for a week at a time, but I was getting close to needing another hit. Soon. And now he was here, and I’d get to see him before dawn.
“Hey.” I joined them in the crypt. “What are you doing here?” I kept my tone light and breezy.
He made a move on the board that had Jacob clapping his hands and chuckling like a maniac.
“Bravo, I did not see that coming. What a challenge, what a challenge.”
I frowned down at my great-great-grandfather. “Not cool.”
He waved a dismissive hand. “Ah, suck it up, buttercup, this is real chess.”
I crossed my arms and he peered up at me from beneath his bushy brows. “But I still love you.”
I rolled my eyes. “Telarion?”
He raised his chin and fixed his emerald peepers on me, sucking the breath from my lungs with a single look that made my knees weak. The tic in his jaw was the only indication that he was affected by the eye lock.
“I apologize if I overstepped,” he said.
“Oh pish posh!” Jacob waved his hand. “You can come visit me anytime.” He made a move on the board that Telarion countered immediately.
“Checkmate.”
