Page 25 of To Crave Darkly
Chapter 13
LORI
Half an hour later, I was washed, dressed, and staring at myself in the mirror. Something was different. Obviously, the freaky eyes and the new mark were different, but it was more than that. My hair looked thicker, richer and my skin looked flawless. There were no blemishes, no dry skin, no trace of that bruise on my jaw from the attack and my leg was completely healed. Hell, I looked like I was glowing. But that wasn’t possible, right? Maybe it was because I was wearing all black clothes. I mean, talk about stereotyping the vampire. I was in a long sleeve black top with skin-tight black leather pants, which were actually more comfortable than they looked. I might have to invest in a pair. They made my ass look amazing and my legs look longer which was no mean feat. These pants were definitely a keeper.
I was drawn to my reflection again and I stared at my now black eyes. If they were just a mark like Orion said, perhaps that meant it could be reversed? They would be cool if it was Halloween and I was in some super fun costume, but I wasn’t, and they were just creepy. It looked like my pupils had completely taken over my irises and a small ring of bright red fire flickered around the edges. They were kind of mesmerising. The way that the fire burned around the rims was eerily beautiful to watch, the small flames caressing the black depths of my pupils, threatening to consume them in glorious hell fire. And don’t even get me started on that bloody mark. At least the top covered most of it. I traced my fingers over the lines. The skin was bumpy like a scar and it was warm to the touch. I could feel a flutter of a flame beneath the mark and I wondered if Orion could feel it too.
“Lori.”
I jumped and clutched my chest. “Holy shit, Jasper. Have you never heard of knocking?” I chastised while trying to get my breathing under control.
He huffed and folded his arms over his chest. “I did knock,” he growled. “You were away with the fairies staring at yourself.”
“Wouldn’t you if you woke up like this?” I pointed to my eyes to emphasise my point. He just stared back at me like I was crazy. Perhaps I was crazy. Maybe this was all a dream and I was strapped to a bed pumped full of drugs somewhere and this whole situation was my imagination just running wild. Wait. How was that better?
I gave myself a mental shake and looked back at the vampire.
“Grab your coat,” he commanded before turning on his heel and leaving the room. And the jackass was back. He had more mood swings than a teenager.
I grabbed the jacket out of the bag which turned out to be both black and made of leather. I was going to look like a biker chick in this get-up. A biker chick with seriously creepy eyes and a vampire assassin for a companion. Gah! Since when did my life sound like a corny TV show.
I had to run to catch up with Jasper who had already reached the end of the corridor. The polished solid wood floor and fancy wall lights proclaimed this to be a wealthy establishment. But as we twisted and turned through a series of long corridors, I got the impression that this place was a mansion. Eventually we came into the main entrance hall which included a fancy sweeping staircase and a monstrosity of a chandelier. I couldn’t help but gawk at it. It was huge. Looked like someone liked to show off their wealth.
I continued to follow Jasper through the extra-large double front doors and out into the courtyard. A chill crept into my bones as we descended into the night and I was glad Jasper told me to grab the jacket.
“Hey, Jasper, I have a question.”
He side-eyed me grouchily. “Of course you do.”
“Do you notice anything different about me?”
He stopped and spun round to face me. His brow rose into a condescending arch. “Seriously?”
“I mean apart from the eyes and whatever this mark is. I remember my leg was pretty badly mauled but it’s completely healed, and we were in a car crash but somehow I look like I’ve spent a couple hours in a make-up chair. What is up with that?”
“It’s probably just your body’s reaction to my blood,” he mused.
“But I thought my body didn’t like your blood. Isn’t that why I nearly died?”
“Your body clearly absorbed some of it, perhaps there’s something in you that doesn’t like it. Something to do with your eyes, or maybe…” Jasper’s eyes roamed my face as if looking for something, as if maybe there was something he hadn’t noticed before. I suppose we had been occupied with the whole demon eye situation and bickering like school children. Maybe everything else had been overlooked. He reached out and took my chin in his hand and my traitorous heart jumped at the touch of his hand on my face. He turned my face from one side to the other, examining every inch of my skin.
A flush crept along my jaw under Jasper’s inspection. He was so close I could count his thick, dark eyelashes. My breath turned shallow and my heart rate kicked up a notch. Bright blue eyes met mine and it was like the world stopped. A shaky breath tumbled from Jasper’s mouth as he realised how close we were. His thumb touched my bottom lip and pulled it down, parting my mouth, making it ready for his kiss. He leant down towards me.
“Jasper…” I whispered.Andinstantly regretted it. I’d gone and fucking spooked him. He let go of me faster than ice cream melting in Hell then quickly marched his butt away from me. Why did he want to fight this? There was clearly something between us and as I stared at his back, steely determination starting to form in my mind. We were going to have a conversation about this, whether he liked it or not.
“Jasper,” I called, but he wouldn’t look at me. I started to march towards him and called his name again. When he finally turned back to face me there was such longing, such confliction burning in his eyes that my feet stopped in their tracks and my anger melted away.
Instinctively I took a step toward him, wanting to comfort him, but he flinched away from me.
“Lori, don’t.”
“I just want to help.”
“I know, but please don’t.”
He was shutting down right in front of me. Fine, I would leave this conversation for now, but I was not letting him walk away from it. We were going to talk about whatever this was, and he was going to give me an explanation.
“Ok. I’ll leave it for now, but this conversation is not over.”
