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Chapter 42
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2024-10-29 19:42:56The 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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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
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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
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Darkness slowly receded as Jasper’s muddled mind gradually regained a semblance of consciousness. Blood steadily oozed past swollen lips as he lay, face down, in a shallow, muddy pothole. He could feel the flesh over his left eye swelling while the throbbing in his head intensified to the extent that he was sure the iron bar that was used to beat him with was lodged deep inside of it. There was a faint sensation of warmth coating his ears from the blood that steadily trickled from them. This explained why all sounds were muted and barely audible.He was grateful that the pothole was shallow enough to keep him from drowning because he had no idea when he’d find the strength to push himself up and out of it. Even the effort of rolling onto his back felt unobtainable.He’d run out of money to pay for his research. Never one for waiting until tomorrow to do what could be done today, he’d insisted on making the trip to the other sid
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Cora pulled her thick and wavey, waist length auburn colored hair into a ponytail while she agitatedly paced the perimeter of the mansion’s medical room.“So, he brought home another one. This is the third in two months,” she grumbled as she stopped next to the cot that supported Jasper’s still body. “What does he think he is going to do with this one? The man is barely breathing.” The elderly whitehaired attendant placed her hands on her thick hips and slowly shook her head as she said, “Master Rowan has a reason for everything that he does. Although, for the life of me, I have no idea what it is this time. I cannot imagine what use he could be around here. This poor lad is on death’s door.”Cora’s slender form leaned low over Jasper’s still body. Placing her cheek near his mouth to feel for breath, she said, “Exactly. The others showed promise of recovering e
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Several Weeks LaterJasper slowly eased his body onto its side. Mimicking sleep, he intently listened to the conversation between a young woman named, Cora, and the old nurse he’d heard called both Bess and Smithfield. He’d assumed that her true name was Elizabeth Smithfield with Bess being the nick name for Elizabeth, but names were funny things. He’d noticed the increasing pattern of nick names or abbreviated names being given to children at birth by parents wanting to be different. Therefore, he could have been incorrect on that assumption.“He has been here for weeks. It has been determined that he will not provide service in the household, but he has not been turned,” Cora complained. “Others have come and gone, yet there he lays. I do not understand what is so special about him. He wastes valuable bed space.”“I agree that he has been occupying a b
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Rowan slouched against the back of his chair and stretched his long, lean legs to full length in front of him. Rubbing his tired eyes with his left hand, his right hand gripped the papers that he’d managed to acquire. They belonged to a physician turned scientist who lived a few centuries earlier. The man had been successful in putting life back into a human corpse. True, the revived corpse possessed a monster-like appearance, and the experiments went no further, but the concept was still a valid one. It was Rowan’s thought that, since the physician had been able to bring a deceased human back to life, surely there was a method for elongating the life of one still living– possibly to the point of immortality- without the need of polluting it with his vampire blood.With frustration and disgust, he tossed the soiled and dog-eared papers onto the table next to his chair. He’d combed over them at least a dozen times, but still came
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“It was Halloween,” Jasper mused with unbridled confusion. “I thought they were in costume. Who knew those things were real?”“What better time to walk in the open without fear of discovery?” Rowan said as he inspected the color and shape of Jasper’s eyes and his mouth’s interior. “You have experienced mild alterations, but nothing severe. You still show signs of being human.”“Alterations? In what way?” Jasper asked with concern as his fingers roamed over his facial features. “I don’t feel like I look different. I don’t look like a zombie, do I?”“Would you like a mirror?” Bess asked as she moved out from behind Rowan to produce a small, hand-held mirror. “You are still a handsome man if you must know. The significant change that I see is the color of your eyes. They are much darker. In fac
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Two Weeks LaterJasper eased himself into the chair opposite Rowan. Slight waves of pressure from the intense energy being emitted from the vampire who had saved his life caressed his body. Although he’d come to no harm since he’d been discovered by the ancient creature and was saved from death, he couldn’t help the nagging, unsettled feeling that remained constant. He’d yet to discover Rowan’s plans for him. Was he to become a vampire? Or, was he being saved as a food source for the many vampires that openly roamed about the estate?“I see that you are finally feeling well enough to be up and around,” Rowan said with satisfaction. “This is good.”“I need to get back to my lab,” Jasper complained with a boldness that he didn’t actually feel. “I cannot leave my work.”“You do realize that you are no longer human, do yo
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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
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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
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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
