Page 68 of To Crave Deeply
Shit. I needed to get my head together. I was no use to anyone like this. I was barely any use to anyone anyway, but this was ridiculous. The team had been talking for the last few minutes and I’d been too wrapped up in my own head to even pay attention.
Alec had returned to his human form now that he had tracked Lori all the way here. But he seemed pissed at something. Probably the fact that we’d gotten so close, and she’d slipped through his fingers.
“What do we do now?” Alec roared as he paced the space the Lori just vacated. He looked rumpled and dishevelled. His normal put-together appearance was nowhere to be seen as he ran his hands through his hair, pulling the strands in frustration.
Jasper grunted but said nothing. He stood away from us, staring into the blackness and not being very helpful at all.
“We should head to Strigavallis.”
Jasper turned to me at my words. “What?”
“They’ve gone to deliver the original witch. That’s where they’ll be.”
“We can’t just turn up at Strigavallis uninvited. Do you want to start a war?”
I shook my head and smiled wryly. “No. But standing here pondering what to do next isn’t going to help anyone.”
I knew I was being a dick, but it was like I couldn’t help it. Jasper started forward, clearly about to reprimand me over my disrespect, but I couldn’t find it in me to give a shit.
This wasn’t like me at all. I needed to get out of Hell and sort my life out.
Saskia bounded forward and jumped in between Jasper and me, her bright red hair wild and frizzy from all the heat down here.
“Stop it! This isn’t helping,” she shouted as her eyes cast a warning glance at all of us. I could always count on Saskia to be the voice of calm and reason when we started to fall apart. She’d been doing it a lot lately, which just showed me how fucked up we all were.
“Agreed,” Jasper growled. “Fenris, you’re right. They will have gone to deliver the witch and we need to get there quickly. We need to—”
Jasper’s head snapped to the right. His movements instantly froze as his eyes searched the dark cave at his side.
I looked in the same direction but saw nothing. Nothing but a void of light and a cavern of blackness.
“What is it—?”
His hand shot out and halted my question.
What the Hell was going on? What did he hear? I couldn’t hear anything other than my own breathing. Stupid vampire super senses. That was one thing I wish I had; not just hearing but enhanced senses in general. Having magic was useful, but being able to hear someone sneak up on you would be pretty useful too.
Saskia looked at me with a what-the-fuck-is-he-doing look. I shrugged my shoulders. I had no clue what he was doing. Then he spurred into action. One second, he was in front of us, and the next, he’d used his vampire speed to disappear deep into the cave.
“Jasper!” I yelled after him even though I knew it was futile. He could be miles away by now and never hear me. I moved toward the mouth of the cave and shouted again. Not that it was going to make any difference.
“Where could he have gone?” Saskia asked as she came to stand next to me.
“I don’t know. But it must have been something important.”
“But he’d never just leave us,” she said as she threw a fireball into the depths of the cave, hoping to illuminate something that might have captured Jasper’s interest. But all I could see were rocks, rocks, and more rocks.
“There could be anything down there,” Alec called from behind us. “Perhaps something called to him.”
What an ominous thought. Worry niggled at the back of my mind. What if something had called Jasper, and he never came back? That left Alec in charge and that was a more ominous thought than not seeing Jasper again. The man was currently pacing like a caged dog and muttering to himself under his breath. Probably trying to decide what to do with Jasper missing.
Minutes passed and still there was no sign of Jasper. Saskia kept throwing fireballs into the cave, still hoping to see Jasper reappear, but it wasn’t looking likely.
I tapped Saskia on the arm and nodded my head in Alec’s direction. “Do you think he’s okay?”
She gazed over her shoulder at him and pursed her lips. “In his shoes, I’d probably be freaking out, too. I mean, we just lost sight of Lori; Jasper has run off, leaving him in charge without any clear direction of what to do next. We’ve got no clear way out of here, unless he knows of a secret passage or something, and he’s probably a little concerned over how we are going to take orders from him.”
“But he’s led missions before.”
