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Chapter 27
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2021-09-02 04:15:39Jasper sat with his elbows on the table and his face buried in the palms of his trembling hands. His raspy breathing echoed off the surfaces of the research equipment that surrounded him.
“What did they do to you?” Lila gently asked as she placed her hand on his shoulder.
His voice sounded muffled as he spoke into his hands while replying with, “Nothing, really.”
“You’re trembling,” she observed while maintaining a gentle and steady voice that belied the panic that she felt. “What’s happened?”
Lifting his face from his hands and looking her in the eyes, he whispered, “I’m afraid of what’s happening to me. I’m becoming this… this thing.”
“Thing?” she repeated with obvious confusion. “Do you mean a hybrid? They’re rare, so I’m told, but they exist.”
“If it was only that, I&rsqu
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“I paid your scientist a little visit,” Cerie said as she gracefully lowered herself onto the end of the Chippendale sofa.“What do you think?” Rowan asked.Running her slender hand along the edge of the sofa’s curved back, she made note of how well preserved it was.“I remember when you first acquired this piece so long ago. It has remained in fine condition,” she mused.“Stop playing games, Cerie,” Rowan grumbled. “This is serious. Is he a threat?”She allowed the silence between them to build up to a point of being almost unbearable for him before she smiled and said, “I think not.”“Is he vampire?” he asked.She leaned forward and gave Rowan a studied look as she asked, “What type of research was he doing before he came to you?”“He is a geneticist,” Rowan offered. “He was loo
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Jasper impatiently paced his room. It was hours since Lila had whispered that Benjamin would be rescuing them that evening and for him to be ready.Ready? He was more than ready.It took several tries over multiple weeks, but they’d managed to subdue all signs of zombie toxin from his blood. They weren’t gone, but at least they were dormant. They’d also enhanced the werewolf in him. This became a true challenge for him when he was forced to work with the volunteers in his research project.He was both happy and worried when he learned that they’d been successful in altering the vampire DNA enough for a few of them to attend an afternoon party amongst humans. Not only were they able to enjoy the light of day without significant repercussion from the sun’s brilliant rays, but the temperature of their flesh had elevated to a degree of passing for a human with poor circulation.A soft knock on
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Marcus took a deep breath while he focused on controlling his temper. Olivia was found dead almost a month earlier, yet they still hadn’t managed to get to the bottom of what really happened.“You know it was the vampires,” Freya hissed as she paced back and forth. “Why are you hesitating?”“Her wounds don’t coincide with the killing method of a vampire,” he explained. “They’re more in line with a wolf.”“A werewolf?” she screeched. “Are you saying that you think a member of your pack ripped my poor niece to pieces?”He vigorously shook his head as he snapped, “I said no such thing and I’ll thank you to not toss such accusations again.”She looked genuinely confused as she grumbled, “You just said her wounds were…”Annoyed and on the verge of losing control, he barked, “Madam, you are an original.&n
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Such a thick coating of sweat had formed on his forehead that beads of it trickled into his eyes as Joseph nervously paced the exterior of the cave where Ingrid’s coven met.Meeting with the coven leader was no small feat. It was no secret that he held minimal tolerance for werewolves and even less for vampires. It was also a well-known fact that he had a temperament that was considered by most to be precarious. One wrong thing said or done could set him off into a magical torrent of which Joseph was sure he wouldn’t fare well. He’d practically begged Ingrid for tutelage on how to speak to Benjamin, but she’d simply gently kissed him and insisted that being himself would be more than sufficient.He groaned at the thought. He was far from the diplomat of the pack. That title went to Marcus, his friend Sam, or even Freya. He was nothing more than a ‘fetch it’ man for the pack leader. At least that&rs
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“I should be staying here with you,” Lila complained as Jasper escorted her to the door of the werewolves’ lodge. “We’ve been together from the start. I don’t like separating now.”“You have your people to be with,” Jasper muttered. “You’ll be safe with them.”“You’re my people,” she grumbled. “Besides, I’ve been perfectly safe with you right along and that was with vampires. I can’t imagine it being worse with werewolves. They, at least, have a human side.”“If I’m not mistaken, we corrected that fact with our subjects before we escaped,” he observed.“True,” she said with a voice that hinted of irritation and conviction, “but that was only a handful of them and even they were still mostly vampire with a touch of humanity in them. It certainly wasn’t enough to make
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“Do you realize what you have done?” Freya screeched. She needed to raise her petite form up onto her toes in order to properly shove her face a mere inch away from Jasper’s, but it didn’t deter her from doing just that. “Vampires and lycans have altered in makeup since we were sent here, but not to such an extent as to allow those blood suckers the ability to make babies. It’s bad enough that they create more of their own by infecting the human with venom. I cannot imagine a vampire born of the womb. Oh! Yes, I can! That is what we lycans were forced to contend with prior to being sent to this hellish dimension. There is a reason Goethe took the ability to procreate from those demon bastards when he sent them here. It is bad enough that they discovered a means of surviving and multiplying through the transference of venom without them being able to naturally procreate. You have opened Pandora’
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Lila adjusted the cold cloth on her forehead. Her slender body lay stretched out on the oversized sofa that dominated the better part of Freya’s living room.“I think what I want should be taken into consideration,” she pouted.“What do you want?” Freya asked as she poured tea into two mugs. Holding one out for the younger woman to take, she said with a demanding tone, “Sit up and drink this.”“I’m not thirsty,” Lila complained as she sat up and removed the cloth from her forehead. Accepting the mug, she added, “I’m so upset that I’m nauseous.”“That is more than likely the pregnancy,” the she-wolf mused.“Oh, I see,” Lila snipped, “It’s pointed out that I’m pregnant and now I’m suddenly experiencing pregnancy sickness. Gee. Maybe I should have been left in the dark.”“I
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“His name is Samuel. He was the first to be made by Rowan and is his right hand man,” Jasper said as Marcus studied the vampire who, after endless days of hunting and waiting for the right opportunity to arise, they’d managed to capture and secure behind bars.Samuel angrily sneered, “How long do you think you can hold me before Rowan catches wind. You know that, when he does, heads will roll.”Marcus scoffed through a smug grin, “I’ll take my chances.”Turning to address Jasper, Samuel’s face grew serious as he said in a soft tone, “Rowan saved your life, yet you align yourself with these dogs.”“These dogs helped me to learn control of my wolf side. I no longer turn whenever I’m angry,” Jasper replied in a voice just above a whisper. He sensed that Marcus’ acute hearing would still make him privy to their verbal exchange, but he hoped the
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Jasper: The Beginning (Book 1) Epilogue
Admitting to Ben that they’d lost Lila to the vampires was far more difficult for Jasper than he could have imagined. The rage, pain, and panic that the warlock radiated upon the news made him realize just how much she meant to him. He couldn’t help his guilt over ignoring his own feelings for her, especially upon hearing Ben’s rants over not understanding why Lila chose Jasper over him.How blind had he been? How geekily focused on his work he must have been to not notice that Lila had feelings for him that went beyond those of admiration for his wisdom and intelligence. To everyone else it was clear. Why not to him? What was wrong with him that he didn’t even allow himself to notice how he felt about her until it was too late?After hours of apologies and patiently listening to Ben’s berating over their incompetence, Marcus, and Jasper bent heads with him to come up with a plan to rescue Lila. It wouldn&rsqu
Jasper: The Beginning (Book 1) Chapter 43
Jasper’s dejected form sat on the porch steps as he watched Freya and Marcus slowly approach the house. The wolves looked battle worn, but happy.“We won,” Freya said as she slowly made her way up the steps. With her small frame covered in blood that belonged to her and her opponents and notably beaten, she eased herself into her favorite rocking chair. Giving Jasper a curious look, she asked, “What’s wrong? I told you, we won.”“We won the battle, but a good deal of them got away,” Marcus interjected. “It was a victory, but a small one that I question if we deserved given the number who escaped. Especially since their army was surprisingly light.”“But, it was a victory,” Freya insisted.When Jasper remained silent, Marcus lowered his bruised and bloody bulk onto the step next to him. Like Freya, much of the blood belonged to his foe, but some of his own
Jasper: The Beginning (Book 1) Chapter 42
The location that Oscar had selected for the battle was far enough away from the prison that held his fellow vampires to avoid risk of detection. His spies had assured him that the entire pack was engaged in battle, leaving only the scientist and his assistant in the house that rested acres away from the remote old building that was their destination.“It will be easy pickings,” he said with a chuckle as he led a handful of specially selected vampires from his army to assist him in releasing Samuel and the others.His acute vampire hearing afforded him the ability to listen to the basics of the distant battle between his people and the werewolves. They were too far away to hear much more than the chaos of warrior fighting warrior, but he’d already concluded that the werewolves were getting the better of his army. A remorseful frown over the fact that they’d had to battle during the full moon consumed his face as he
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“You’ve got your war and you’ve got it tonight!” Marcus bellowed as he unceremoniously burst through the front door of Freya’s house and tossed the severed head of one of his men onto the highly polished tile of her foyer floor.Excitement and satisfaction was written all over her face at his news. Then, when the reality of the fact that there was the head of a pack member on her floor struck home, her expression became more of concern.With a dark scowl, she asked, “Who is this?”“I don’t know his name,” Marcus admitted. “I’m told he was assigned to patrol the south side of the lodge. Look at his neck. There are vampire marks clear as a bell.”Leaning over the severed head, she grabbed the chin and rotated it so that she could clearly see the vampire marks on the neck while she scolded, “You should know the names of those who serve you.”
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“The full moon is on the rise,” Oscar grumbled as he paced the floor of what used to be Rowan’s room. He’d moved in shortly after word reached him that Samuel and most of the other vampires who had participated in the study that Rowan had ordered were all missing. Turning to face the vampire who’d brought him the news that he’d discovered their whereabouts, he added, “If what you say is true, trying to rescue them could prove more dangerous than normal.”One of the oldest of the vampire den, Colin was made by Oscar when he was just nineteen. His youthful face often deceived those who opposed him into thinking that he was an easy pushover. Since he’d made it a point to study military tactics to the extent that he held a very high position in the vampire army, this was far from the truth. It was, however, something that he would often use to his advantage to keep the enemy off guard.He w
Jasper: The Beginning (Book 1) Chapter 39
Jasper paced the interior of his makeshift lab while Freya stared out of the window with an undecipherable expression. He couldn’t tell if she was monitoring his movements out of the corner of her eye or was lost in thought.Stopping not far from her, he finally spoke, “There’s something that has been troubling me for some time now. If Marcus was able to hear Lila’s baby’s heartbeat right away, why couldn’t that scum vampire when he went to her each night?”“Who said he didn’t?” Freya asked with a wistful tone as she continued looking out the window. “He probably thought it was your baby and paid it no mind.”“He’d do that to a pregnant woman?” he yelped with dismay.She leaned her forehead against the windowpane and with a tone that relayed her frustration, growled, “When are you going to get it into your thick skull that vampires look upon humans
Jasper: The Beginning (Book 1) Chapter 38
“I expected to see you two with your heads together in research over how to fix this vampire mess,” Marcus said as he carried Lila into the main room of Freya’s estate house, “not in a lip lock that’s enough to make a man blush.”Hearing his words, Lila’s head shot up. Her red rimmed, wet eyes shot daggerous stares at Freya as the couple separated from a lover’s embrace.Jasper nervously cleared his throat as he said, “We weren’t expecting anyone.”“Obviously,” Lila managed to choke out.Freya gave a smug grin. Sliding her hand over Jasper’s chest, she moved past him to sit on a nearby overstuffed chair. Her petite frame looked out of place as she sank into the cushions with a satisfied look on her still lovely face.“We are not only working on the vampire mess, but he is studying me,” she said as she preened her hair. “If he can
Jasper: The Beginning (Book 1) Chapter 37
The three-hundred acres felt more like three-hundred miles as Lila made her way across the fields to an old cinderblock building at the far end of Freya’s horse farm. She was an adept rider, but, because of the value of the child in her womb, both Freya and Jasper refused to risk allowing her to get on the back of a horse. She abhorred long hikes, but if she wanted to get a look at the vampires who Freya’s people had managed to capture without the tediousness of someone constantly monitoring her, she had no choice than to make the trek.She used the time making her way over what she considered rough terrain contemplating the development of Jasper’s relationship with Freya. Where, in the beginning, it appeared as if they’d be lucky to get through a day without taking each other’s head off, of late, they seemed almost bonded. Lila assumed that it had a lot to do with the closeness that was required in order for him to study
Jasper: The Beginning (Book 1) Chapter 36
Oscar waited at the door for Rowan to motion him to enter the room. The vampire king had all but become a recluse as he drained the old witch of her magic. He snickered as he strode past her limp body. She looked like a rag doll that was simply tossed onto the cushion of an oversized chair without care of how it settled. He'd always despised the arrogance she projected as she strutted about on her stilettoes. It did him good to see her taken down to such a state.Rowan sat with majestic flair as he watched Oscar approach. He wore only a smoker’s robe that was loosely tied at the waist. The robe was opened enough to expose a good deal of his flesh, but he made no move to cover it. Still feeling the rush of the magic that he’d recently syphoned from Cerie, he gave his underling a good-natured smile and offered him a seat.“To what do I owe the honor of this visit?” he lazily asked.Looking back over
