Page 4 of To Crave Darkly
I woke up surrounded by my familiar bedsheets, but I didn’t remember how I got here. I felt groggy and my limbs felt like they each weighed a tonne. I tried to move but it was just way too much effort. I closed my eyes and tried to remember how I got into my bed but there was nothing, just a blank space where the memory should have been. I remembered the alley way, and the three guys. I remembered being hit. I tentatively touched the side of my face and winced. Damn, that was sore. But not as sore as I expected it to be. Then again, I had always healed pretty fast although I never understood why. I had always put it down to being healthy but the doctors were always surprised when a broken bone healed in half the time. I didn’t care that it was a bit of a medical mystery; I was just grateful.
I gingerly sat up and propped myself against the headboard of my bed and realised I was wearing my pyjamas. What the hell? My clothes I wore last night were neatly folded on the chair in the corner and there was a glass of water with some painkillers on my bedside cabinet. Did I have a guardian angel? Then I recalled the man from the bar who came and saved me, and he was definitely more like an avenging angel than a guardian angel. There was so much blood. My stomach churned at the image of that man’s heart being ripped from his chest. The whole evening was such a blur, everything felt mixed up, and I couldn’t help feeling that something was off with those men. Somethingwasn’t right. The way they moved and the strength they seemed to have didn’t seem natural. Nah, I was just being silly; it was probably just a mild concussion making everything seem weird.
I gratefully swallowed the painkillers and drank some water, relishing the feeling of the liquid going down my throat. I closed my eyes again and relaxed, breathing deeply, trying to see if any more of the events of last night resurfaced.
“You’re awake,” a deep voice said, and I jumped a mile high with a shriek that made my headache ricochet deafeningly around my brain.
“Shit,” I said, looking in the direction the voice came. I locked gazes with those blue eyes and my heart stopped. I didn’t imagine them. They were real and now I understood why the guy wore sunglasses. His eyes glowed intensely, like nothing I had ever seen before, and if I thought he was good-looking in the dark lights at the club, it was nothing compared to the way he looked now. He literally filled my doorway. He was tall, well-built but not overly muscled and god I bet he had women dropping their panties for him everywhere he went. He just personified that tall, dark and handsome look with tousled black hair that had my fingers itching to run through. A five o’clock shadow graced his jaw line and my lady bits clenched as my eyes drank in the sight of him. He was smoulderingly hot. If my jaw didn’t hurt so much, it would definitely be on the floor.
“You’re wet,” he said.
Huh. What?
“Your drink, you’ve spilt it.” He pointed at the glass in my hand and I realised that I must have spilt it when he made me jump. I felt my face flush in embarrassment.
“Here,” he said, handing me a towel. It made me wonder how long he’d been roaming my house; how did he know where everything was?
“Thank you,” I replied, taking the towel and wiping at the damp patch on my pyjama top. The silence between us filled the room, making it the single most awkward moment of my life. He was just staring at me and it was starting to make me feel uncomfortable in my own skin.
“You ok?” he asked and I realised I must look a bit confused. To be honest, I didn’t think I was ok; I wasn’t entirely sure what I was.
“Not really,” I replied. “What happened?”
“What do you remember?” He perched on the edge of the bed and instinctively I scooted a bit further away from him. He might have saved me from those other creeps, but I still had no idea who he was or whether I could trust him.
“Not much. I remember the three men and being hit. Then you came and... You killed them all, didn’t you?” I asked tentatively, acutely aware that this man had the power to snuff my life out with his bare hands.
“Yes,” he replied, without showing any sign that killing three men affected him at all. Who was this guy? Who wouldn’t be bothered by taking someone’s life? Someone who’d done it before, I guess. I watched his face for a change in expression but there was nothing, no glimmer of remorse or regret, nothing showing any emotion other than a slight modicum of boredom.
God, this guy terrified me.
“Who are you?”
“My name is Jasper Farrow and I have been sent to protect you.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“You were attacked because you are valuable. I need to get you back to the Conclave where you will be safe from further threats.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I blurted out. There was no way I was going anywhere with this man. I didn’t know him, but I did know he was capable of murder and that was enough to keep as much distance between myself and him as humanly possible.
“Lori,” he sighed, “what do you recall about the men that attacked you?”
“You cut off one of their heads!” I screamed at him, tucking my legs up under my chin, trying to get as much of my body as far away as I could.
“Yes, but what of the way that they moved? How they acted?”
I thought back to the men, and the more I thought about it, the more I felt that there was something unnatural about them. I could feel my brow furrow as I tried to understand the images of last night that flashed before my eyes. The speed at which they moved, the strength they seemed to have, and did I really see fangs? Blood pounded in my ears, panic rose in my chest as I started to process everything.
I was attacked by vampires. But vampires didn’t exist, surely it was something chemical? Or perhaps the adrenaline rush I’d experienced during the attack had addled my brain. That had to be it.
“Look at me,” Jasper commanded, and my gaze snapped to his eyes. I was hypnotised by the timbre of his voice. It was gorgeous, just like the rest of him. There was something about Jasper I couldn’t put my finger on. He was intimidating and dangerous, but he also made me feel calm. It was surreal, like a soothing wave that invaded my mind and made me relax.
“Just breathe, Lori.”
I took some deep breaths whilst focused on his eyes, and I felt the panic ebbing within me.His eyes were fascinating, like nothing I had ever seen before. Dense black lashes framed them, making them appear inhumanly bright. From a distance they looked like one solid colour, but up close they were more than just blue. They shimmered between hues, the colours swirling like liquid fire. I was enthralled.
“Thank you,” I said.I had no idea what he had just done to me. I would file that question away for another moment because there were more important questions going through my mind likedo vampires really exist?
