Elle Jasper - Everdark

A feeling of impatience came over me, and I knew it was his feeling, not mine. I did the usual—scream, holler, but nothing came out, nothing worked, and I could not warn the plump baker that her death was coming.

No sooner had the baker woman swallowed her bite of croissant than I moved directly behind her. She must have sensed a presence, for slowly, she turned.

Her scream died in her throat.

The monster wasted no time. He lunged, held his hand over the woman’s mouth, and ripped right through her white cotton blouse. He sank his fangs into the flesh of her chest before finding the pulse of her heart. As he pierced the pumping organ, her warm blood gushed into his mouth and slid down his throat; fast at first, then slower, slower until her life force was no more. He dropped her on the floor, wiped his mouth with a rag left on the counter, and left.

The moment he stepped outside and noticed the jogger heading toward the river, I knew he’d kill again. I don’t know how, but I did. I thrashed, bile rising in my throat at the memory of the poor woman in the bakery, her blouse doused with blood, her dead face contorted in shock and terror.

Thankfully, the next kill was swift. The shirtless man jogging along the river was young, extremely fit, his chest cut with muscle, a six-pack to die for. He wore a Gamecocks ball cap as he ran, his iPod jamming in his ears. The moment he turned off the river and down an alley to cut through to another street, the monster was there. He stepped out, bumping into the man. The jogger stumbled, his blue eyes shocked to see someone else along his path. The monster waited for nothing. He changed; I knew this because of the horror on the jogger’s face. The monster ripped into him just as he’d ripped into the baker woman, nearly snatching the man’s heart out with his fangs. But the moment the hot metallic fluid pumped into him, he relaxed; he drank fully, and, when he was finished, he threw the jogger against the brick wall and walked away.

The last thing I remember before waking and separating from the monster, was his laugh.

It was oddly familiar. . . .

I bolted up in bed, my surroundings unfamiliar for a split second. Only then did I notice Eli was gone. I looked around, noticing how dim it still was outside. Eli must have slipped out the moment I’d drifted off. The exhaustion I felt was too real, too thick, and no way could I get out of bed right now. I must have closed my eyes at the exact moment the monster decided to feed; unless he knew me and was torturing me on purpose. If Eli was right, and Valerian, despite how Eli and his brothers had destroyed him, had manifested himself into one of his newlings, then he was the monster. He did know me. And I was pretty fucking sure he wanted to torment me to the fullest. He was succeeding.

There was nothing else I could do; no one I could save. I needed sleep. As selfish as it sounds, I lay back down, pulled the sheet up to my chest, and closed my eyes, allowing slumber to take me. Hopefully, Eli would return and pull me into his arms. I slept so much better with him wrapped around me. My eyes grew heavy; Sleep claimed me again.

I slept for some time; I don’t know how long.

When I woke, I emerged in yet another dream state. I was sitting in the dark. A dark room, a closet; I was on the floor, my back against . . . something. I felt a presence, though; someone was with me. Immediately, I knew who.

“Where have you been?” I asked angrily.

Victorian’s low, sexy soft laugh filled the dark empty space. “Why? Have you missed me?”

I thought about it. “Yes. And no.”

“Please, tell me why yes first.”

“I have no freaking idea, other than you’re my connection to why I behave and feel the way I do, since it’s your DNA clinging to mine. Yours and Valerian’s. And I sort of like you. When you’re not being so pervy. And I’m glad Eli didn’t kill you.” His soft sigh filled the shadowy space we occupied together. “And that pleases you?”

“Well, I don’t exactly want you dead,” I said. “Not sure why, but somehow . . . it doesn’t seem right.”

He laughed. “I’ll take that as a compliment, I suppose.”

“If you want,” I said. “But believe me, I’m the only one who feels that way.”

“No doubt. And why not?” he continued.

His presence seemed closer; I can’t explain it, since we were in total darkness, but I felt as though his body was very close to mine. I shrugged, even though we were in total blackness. “Because it seems whenever I experience a terrible vision of the monster making a kill, it’s not long after that you appear. That concerns me.”

I felt the brush of his whisper against the column of my neck when he spoke. “Do you still think he and I are one and the same?”

I shook my head. “No, not at all. I’ve seen his skin, his arms—they’re not yours. But they’re Valerian’s, aren’t they? Manifested in another newling he created?”

“That you’ve paid such close attention to my physical detail makes me happy,” Victorian said, and that warm breath brushed my cheek. “Very happy. And to agree, yes. I fear your monster is my brother. He’s even more powerful than I ever was.”

“Well, hold on there, Tonto,” I said. “Don’t get too wound up. It’s kinda noticeable that you have youthful pale skin. The monster has older, tanned-like-leather skin. Didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out.”

He laughed. “You wound me.”

“Whatever,” I said, resting my head against whatever hard thing was behind me. “Where are you?”

“Here, with you,” he answered. “And see what a good boy I’m being? Not once have I asked you to grope me.”

“Freaking miracle,” I answered, and he laughed again.

“It should hopefully win me points,” he said.

“I didn’t know we were working on a points system.”

“I’d work on anything to get in your good graces,” he said somberly. “If only you knew how much so.”

“Well, Vick, you’re not too difficult to read,” I answered. “How is it you’re able to totally block Eli from reading my thoughts, or yours, when we have these rendezvous?”

“Hmm. Is that what you consider our encounters? I think that turns me on, Riley.”

I chuckled. “What doesn’t turn you on, Vick? Now answer the question please.”

Victorian sighed. “Very well. It’s my strigoi nature. That part of my DNA is more potent than you can possibly imagine. You, Riley, have powers that have simply not manifested yet. When they do, you will . . . Let’s just say you will be amazed. Anyway, I am able to implant my thoughts, myself, into your thoughts and mind and keep any and all intruders out. I’m selfish that way.”

“That doesn’t surprise me,” I said. “And it also leads me to know that you have complete control over me. You can make me do whatever you want, can’t you?”

“I confess, it’s true. But because I’m a gentleman, I restrain.”

I chuckled. “You get another point, then, I guess.”

“Something’s bothering you,” he said next. “I can tell. What is it?”

I sighed. “You mean besides my being linked in a killer’s body while he feeds?” I asked.

With a soft chuckle, Victorian answered. “Yes.”

“I killed a vampire tonight,” I said. “She was young, and it bothers me.”

“Why?” he asked. “It was either you or her, and I for one am more than glad you emerged the victor.”