Page 73 of Veil of Shadows

I slowly peeked an eye open. “What?”

Delilah smiled when my eye opened. “Hello, there.”

I opened my other eye. “What do you mean, someone’s been waiting to see me?”

“I’m going to have to keep you up there, though,” she said as she reached her knobby little finger up to me.

I tried flinching away when she caressed my cheek with it, but the hold that the gooey slime from the wall had on me was much too strong. The cold touch of her finger sent a shiver down my spine, and goosebumps prickled everywhere. And not the good kind, either.

“Now, close your eyes,” she said as she took a step back.

I blinked. “I just had them closed.”

“Oh, come come, now. Don’t be a control freak. You know, since we all know you struggle with not being in control.”

I scoffed. “Says the woman who legitimately believes the rules don’t apply to her.”

“Close. Your eyes,” she said.

What choice did I have?

I allowed my eyes to close once more, and a rush of air whizzed past me. I felt the bindings holding me hostage against the wall slowly loosen. Not enough for me to get away, but enough for the blood to rush back to my feet and hands. The prickling sensation made me groan and grunt. It felt like my appendages were being stabbed over and over as blood rushed back to the areas.

It felt good to take a deep breath, though.

“Now, open,” Delilah’s echoing voice said.

I knew what she was doing. She was trying to assert her dominance. She was trying to get me to understand that she wielded all of the control, and that I had none. Whatever. If that was the kind of game she wanted to play, then two could play it. And besides, now that I had my wits about me a little bit, I realized that Delilah made a fatal error; wherever she brought me was personal for her. It was clear she had the place all ‘magic-fied’ out and shit like that. Was I in a personal space of hers? Maybe a home base?

I could do a lot of shit from the inside if I was at a home base for her of some sort.

“Well,” an all-too-familiar voice said, “aren’t you gonna open your eyes, Bex?”

At first, I thought I was hallucinating. That is, until he spoke again.

“Whenever you’re ready,” he said softly.

And as my eyes slowly opened, there he stood. The man I never thought I’d see again. With his tall, valiant stature and his kind brown eyes. His jet-black hair contrasted with the paper-thin pale-ass skin he now sported. His brown eyes had a sort of reddish hue around them, sort of like Delilah’s, only not as strong.

“Jacob?” I asked breathlessly.

That’s when those fishy little lips of his peeled back into a smile I’d come to regard as a beacon of peace.

“Jacob,” I whispered as tears crested my eyes.

“I’m so sorry, Bex,” he said as he took another small step toward me.

My eyes blinked rapidly as I tried to keep my tears at bay. “The hell are you apologizing for?”

He swallowed hard. “I wanted to approach you so many times over the last couple of years. You know, just to say hi. Or… sit down and have dinner with you.”

I couldn’t help the tears that fell down my face. Jacob. My brother. My best friend. My partner. My confidant. He was… alive. I mean, not technically. But, he was walking. Alert. Talking.

Holy fuck, Delilah changed him into a vampire.

“And when I saw you at the funeral?” Jacob asked as he lowered his voice. “Bex, I damn near came out of the shadows just to hug you.”

My eyes grew wild. “You were at your own funeral?”

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