Just A Taste | BOOK 1 The Night Lords Series

33. I Hate You More

Cassius

~~ flashback ~~

It couldn't be true.

My hands were outstretched, claws gouging the dirt beneath them as I knelt on the ground in the alley where I'd followed Eldric. A bit of his blood was splattered across my knuckles and I could hear him spit more of it onto the floor.

"Damn it, Cass. You didn't even let me finish." he spits.

I remain knelt in the wet earth, lifting my head to gaze blankly at the illusion Eldric hid behind. I was surrounded by a crowd of both human and vampire faces alike. Some were familiar while others were not. They were a moving mass of shuffling bodies, their boots leaving no prints in the mud.

"Come out and face me." I say quietly, my voice as thin and as cold as the black ice beginning to coat the cobbled streets. Winter was upon the city. It should be a time when everyone drew closer to each other for warmth. Instead, I found myself falling deeper into the gaping hole of isolation as lies were strung about my neck by this traitor. My fangs lengthen, the tips poking at my bottom lip. I can smell my own blood as it beads up from my punctured skin.

Eldric's voice shifts from somewhere behind me to in front of me. "You know I can't do that. You'll kill me before you even hear what I have to say."

"I don't care." I murmur. "I'm going to kill you and then I'm going to kill the humans who interfered with Emily and I."

"She is going to betray you!" Eldric growls, now somewhere to my left. "I gave her a hint. That's all. A false hint on how to find and kill our kind. It was a test and she failed. She told her father and now he's gathering men to-"

"SHE LOVES ME!" I roar. I stand and slash through a section of the lifeless illusion only for my claws to come back clean.

"She loved you," he corrects. "She loved a mortal lord she thought could take care of her. Not a monster who lusted for her blood. Even though it's clear you cared for her enough to resist-"

"SHUT UP!" I lunge right and hear a slight sharp intake of breath as Eldric barely dodges my attack. Focusing on that noise, I slash again, this time my fingers come back warm with fresh blood and I hear him curse.

"Cassius!" he snaps. His illusion wavers and I catch a glimpse of his sea-green eyes glaring at me before he disappears once more. I lunge at the spot but he's not there.

"Fine. You don't want to listen? Go to Albot Lane. Down by the old fountain, she awaits you."

I snarl and claw at the illusion in random spots, darting from throat to throat and slashing at nothing. "Don't you dare leave, you coward!" I snarl. But a moment passes and the false crowd around me dissipates and I'm left standing in an empty alleyway, my boots sinking in the mud while rain washes away any trace of Eldric's scent. I let out a roar of frustration before leaping into the air and catching myself on the wall, fingers digging into the wet brick before I'm climbing up to scramble onto the roof. I find purchase with the toes of my boots before I'm sprinting, leaping from roof to shingled roof like a panther, nothing but a dark shadowy glimpse from below. I'm there sooner than I would've liked. Sinking into a low crouch, I grip the edge of the roof I'm on as I peer down at the old abandoned square. Used to be a popular spot until one of my kind started killing drunk stragglers in this area and discarding the empty bodies in the fountain that sat at its center. Now, only children come here to dare one another to play around the supposed cursed fountain.

And yet, she was here.

She stood out in the open, right next to the fountain, hood of her cloak pulled low to hide her face as she stared into the shallow depths of the fountain's pool. Her reflection was warped in the water by the constant interruption of raindrops and I could hear her light breath as she exhaled. She was twisting the folds of her blue skirt together, her sky-colored dress getting ruined at the hem from the poor weather. She knew I liked that dress on her. Question is, why is she wearing it? In a place like this? To meet... me?