Page 26 of To Crave Darkly
He growled in warning. “Lori, just drop it.”
“No. You fucking owe me.”
“Fine,” he snapped.
“Fine,” I snapped right back.
He turned on his heel and walked away. I guess that was the end of our little chit-chat then. I caught up to him and we carried on walking side by side in silence. I could tell Jasper was pissed. He stared straight ahead, refused to even acknowledge I was there, and he stamped his feet as he walked. His jaw clenched as he worked to reign in his temper. I don’t think I had met anyone with a temper that could match my own. I got off on a good argument. Maybe that was part of the reason I liked pissing him off so much. He was kind of hot when he was angry. His face morphed into something a bit more beastly and I had to admit that thrill of danger that surrounded him really turned me on. He was like a timebomb waiting to explode and I wanted to see what destruction would lay in his wake when he did. Man, there was something wrong with me if I enjoyed walking head first into my own demise.
“Where are we going?” I asked, determined to make at least some conversation.
“The Cubiculum Veritas.” Jasper sounded irritated. Sheesh. What crawled up his butt and died?
“The Chamber of Truth?” At my comment, Jasper spun to face me, awe etched into his face. “I went to a Catholic school run by nuns. I learnt Latin and some of it stuck.” I shrugged my shoulder in a show of nonchalance, but secretly I was impressed with myself that I had managed to surprise him.
“Come on, this way.” And he was back to irritated. “De Santis will be waiting for us in his chambers.”
“Chambers? Where are we? The fifteenth century?” I snorted. This place was ridiculous. Jasper merely graced me with a flat look. Honestly, I was starting to worry that this guy was completely devoid of humour.
“Most of the creatures around here are older than they look. They have picked things up from many different centuries. Most are stuck in their ways, especially de Santis.”
I wondered how old Jasper was. He looked to be in his early thirties but like he just said, he could be centuries old and I wouldn’t have a clue. I wonder what he’d lived through, who he had met. I bet he was a fountain of knowledge. Perhaps I should ask him. Or would that be rude? Like it’s rude to ask a lady how old she was. Would I get bitten if I asked a vampire how old –
“Just ask.” Jasper folded his arms across his broad chest distracting me from my inner monologue.
“What?”
“Your face takes on this intensity when you’re thinking. I know what you want to ask so just ask it. I won’t bite.” He grinned wolfishly. Shit, did he just make a joke?
“When were you born?”
“In the winter of 1598.”
Holy smokes. That made him well over four hundred years old. “Wow. When did you… you know…?”
Jasper just raised an eyebrow superciliously. He was going to make me say it, but it just felt like a really personal question and I wasn’t one hundred percent sure I would survive if I asked.
“When did I what?” He smirked. He was enjoying watching me squirm, the bastard.
“When did you die?”
“1630. And no,” he butted in before I could ask how, “I will not tell you that tale.”
I suppose I could understand that. I can’t imagine reliving your death was all that pleasant. But now my mind was running a thousand miles a minute as questions came flooding into it.
“Ooh, did you meet Shakespeare? What about Elizabeth the First? Was she really a Virgin? What did you do in the 17thcentury; did you have a job? Where did you…”
“Lori,” he rumbled in a warning tone, halting my inquisitive word vomit. “Are you normally this infuriating?”
“Are you normally this grumpy?” I countered.
“Yes. Now stop asking questions,” he barked before stomping off. I followed him as we walked through what appeared to be a small town. There were shops, cafés and numerous other buildings all organised in neat little rows. I’d love to come and see everything in the daylight. I bet it was a quaint little place. People were bustling around, and it seemed quite lively despite the lateness of the hour. Jasper and I received the odd look from people we passed in the street. They would scurry past, whispering behind their hands, but Jasper didn’t seem to notice. Perhaps it was normal that people steered clear of him, but for me it was a bit unnerving. I suddenly felt like an outcast and it made me watch the shadows around me in a way I never felt I had needed to before.
The road we followed opened up into what appeared to be a town square, complete with a fountain right in the centre. Jasper was still forging ahead but something about the fountain drew me towards it. It was in the shape of man, woman and a huge wolf. The woman in the middle held her hands a loft to the sky, her hair flowing behind her as if caught on a breeze. The man to her left was shrouded in a cape, his face hidden, but his stance suggested he was ready for action and the giant wolf looked like he was about to pounce. The three beings looked like they had been captured in a moment of battle, fighting side-by-side, ready to unleash hell on their enemies.
I looked down at the plaque and read:
A Tribute to the Original Three
