Page 10 of The Midnight Order (The Thorngray Vampires Duet #1)

Silver

“Sorry about him. He can be a little…”

“Off-center?” I finish for him.

He smirks, his thin lips turning into a tight grimace within his tightly maintained beard.

“That’s putting it lightly, but yes.”

“What did you mean he’d have his day with me ?”

“I mean, that we test your blood first, and then if your blood proves you to be a possible key, we will spend time with you and see if we feel any connection.”

Connection?

I have many questions, but don’t want to press my luck. I want to get out of this insane situation alive.

“Oh.”

“Corvin said he shared some of his history with you last night.”

I nod, swallowing as I remember how old Corvin is.

“That’s big for him. He doesn’t open up to many. There’s only one other person I’ve ever seen him be so candid with, honestly.”

That strikes me as odd because Corvin seemed an open book last night.

“It was fascinating to learn more about him. Even if he’s a…” I trail off.

It’s probably not a good idea to upset the vampires holding me hostage.

“A vampire? You can say it. We don’t get offended by facing what we are.”

“Yes, being that he’s a vampire.”

“What else is he going to do to me?” I ask, unable to keep the shake from my voice.

“I honestly don’t know. He’s usually given me results by now.”

“Is that why you’re here? To make sure he hasn’t eaten me?”

His laugh is carefree and deep. “We haven’t drunk from a human in a very long time. You’re safe here.”

“As safe as one can be in a nest of vampires.”

“Coven, but yes.”

Silence stretches between us, but I note that it’s not uncomfortable.

“You’re Jasper?” I ask, taking a wild guess, and his lips tip up a bit in the tiniest excuse of a smile.

“Yes, I am. Heard of me, have you?”

“Only from Corvin’s stories last night.”

“Speaking of last night, I heard you took a little field trip.”

“I tried to escape, yes.” There’s no reason to mince words; it’s what happened.

It appears he respects my honesty; he walks to the bed and sits.

“So that you know, there’s no escaping this testing. The town knows you’re here. They even helped us watch you. They let us know the moment you stepped into the coffee shop. No one will help you, and we know where you live. The borders are being patrolled, and you’ll be brought directly back here.”

It’s the first time I genuinely feel like a hostage, and fear is traipsing through me.

For once, it’s a normal reaction.

“The entire town,” I murmur.

“Are vampires,” he adds, and my heart skips a beat.

“Excuse me?”

Every interaction, every strange vibe, returns to me like flashbacks.

There is something wrong with this damn town! I knew it!

“You shouldn’t have been able to step through the wards, but you did. The curse only lets those who might be the key through.”

“But my aunt…”

“She was not the key, but Lowell grew fond of her company. Hell, so did I. She was an extraordinary woman, so we allowed her to remain. With her memories.”

So, they can take memories.

One point for the uneducated on the supernatural.

“But I thought that you all—” I stop, not wanting to offend him and not knowing what words to use.

“That we what?”

“That you killed her.”

“Absolutely not. We’ve been looking into her death, and when we find out who did it, they’ll be dealt with; I can assure you.”

I remind myself that he speaks as if he’s… Well; he is from another time.

“You loved her,” I whisper, seeing the sentiment in his dark red eyes.

“We did. Well, two of us.”

“Won’t that be weird? For you, I mean, if I am the key. Being that you loved my great aunt?”

His features turn sad. “We’ve seen a lot come and go. We watched so many we loved age and pass on. No, I don’t think it’ll be weird. If anything, it’ll be like a piece of her lives on. For a time.”

He adds the last part, and his tone grows dark.

He’s reminding himself that I, too, will eventually pass on.

“So, if I’m the key to the curse and break it, I can then go back to my life?”

He laughs a bit absurdly. “Would you want to?”

“Well, to be able to answer that, I’ll need more information on the curse and how to break it,” I toss back.

Corvin bursts into the room with a chart, looking between us in surprise. “Hey, can I see you in my office?” he tells Jasper.

“Of course. Silver,” he nods, “it was a pleasure.”

The buff one of them, covered in tattoos, walks in wearing only sweatpants. “Don’t worry, I’ll monitor her.”

God, please don’t leave me with him.

I plead with Corvin with a fear in my eyes, but he turns to the man, leaning in to whisper something in his ear before following Jasper into the hall.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that. I’m not that scary.”

Corvin returned and allowed me to eat and shower before returning me to the cuffs on the bed, but this time, he left me with a television, at least.

I never slow down long enough to watch anything on TV.

There’s a marathon of some show called Yellowstone , and it’s completely sucked me in. So much so that when the door opens, and the scary one of them walks in, covered in tattoos with a grim expression plastered on his face, I forget I’m even a hostage—or possibly in grave danger in his presence.

“Come back during the commercials,” I tell him absently, watching Rip on the show lay into Beth for acting out of hand at the bar.

“You’re enjoying captivity a bit too much,” he says, his hands tugging to his hips.

The show breaks for a commercial, and I turn my gaze on him, shifting on the bed sleepily.

“Yeah, well, got to make the most of your life and everything in it.”

His red eyes narrow behind his mask. “Bathroom break,” he announces, flicking his wrist and opening my cuffs somehow.

Can they all do that?

If so, that’s unnerving.

I don’t know how I thought I’d get away before.

And now, I know the entire town is in on it and sacrificed me to these men like a fucking offering.

It makes me sick.

The moment I was enjoying my first-ever sugary coffee, Karen called Jasper and told him about the lovely piece of meat she had found.

I grit my teeth as I head into the bathroom and use it.

While I was washing my hands and examining my features, the scary one bursts in, looking around the room as if he thought I had escaped through the pipes.

“Can I help you?”

“Come on, that’s plenty of time.”

He seems bothered to have to take care of me, which is odd considering I could be the very thing that breaks a curse they all seem hellbent on ridding themselves of.

“You don’t have to be rude,” I mutter as I move past him.

I know I shouldn’t prod a man I don’t know, and I should be a bit more careful around them, but I’m exhausted.

One hell of a vacation I’m having.

I put my wrist up for him to reconnect the cuffs, not placing my wrist back in them so that he can magic his way through it.

He groans and storms across the room, lifting my arms and shoving my wrist into the metal.

A tingle works from his point of contact down my arm.

It seems he feels it, too, when he halts, looking down at me as he inches his face closer.

For a moment, it’s like we’re both caught in some ancient power that’s more than us. It’s like it’s forcing us forward.

“What’s your name?” I whisper.

“Asher.”

His hand drifts down my arm, and he forgets he hasn’t cuffed my wrist again as his eyes follow his hand’s path.

My body aches like I’ve never felt, and I call out for him to quell it with his touch.

I don’t understand it.

My brain scrambles to make excuses for why I’m having this reaction: hunger, deprivation of touch, exhaustion.

But at the moment, it feels like something I need so badly I’d do anything to get it.

“Your name,” he whispers, a plea in his tone as his red eyes take in my reaction to him.

“Silver.”

He grins. “The thing we’re all allergic to? Irony at work.”

The shred of news banks in my brain for later, and I don’t know if he’s realized he’s given me a weapon.

Or does he?

He leans forward, skimming his lips over mine as a breath escapes with a moan floating within it. “Don’t worry, you’re the only Silver in the house. We’re safe.”

Well, there goes that plan.

The longer Asher carries on; however, I wonder if I would ever harm one of them. When their touch and attention feel like this…

That’s madness.

Of course, I have to get away the first chance I can. And not to my aunt’s house.

Back to the city.

Far away from the reach of vampires.

Part of me wants to go without my memories, though.

Knowing they’re out there somewhere, I don’t know how I’d survive. Knowing there could be more of them would drive me insane.

I’d spend my life looking over my shoulder.

The urge to kiss him grows as he teases into my space further, licking my lower lip, and I’m appalled at how I arch off the bed and moan in appreciation of his touch.

“I bet you taste divine,” he whispers.

My body vibrates beneath him from his words, his energy.

“Please,” I plead, hating myself for the word, hating it for ever being invented. “Taste me.”

“Asher!” An angry voice enters the space, and Asher backs off me, leaving me bereft and breathless.

“What are you doing?”

It’s Corvin, and he’s pissed.

Not only that, but he’s… hurt?

It doesn’t take me long to figure out that these two are together based on the look on both their faces.

“I was…” Asher swallows, looking back at me as if I were going to help him.

God help me, I nearly do.

“You were what?”

“Nothing. There was something that pulled me to her, and… I’m sorry, Corvin.”

Corvin eyes me with hatred for a moment before seeming to recall our shared moments and softening.

“It’s my time with her,” he says to Asher, and the other man nods.

“It won’t happen again.” He storms out of the room much like he came, and my heart hammers so loudly I can scarcely hear.

“Sorry about that,” Corvin says, moving over to the side of the bed where my cuffs hang emptily like a promise of further captivity.

“Can you leave me unbound?” I ask, voice shaky from the entire experience with Asher.

He thinks it over, his red, calculating eyes searching my face.

“I know the town knows. I know I can’t escape. Just let me watch Yellowstone in peace until you decide what to do with me?” I manage a grin, and he laughs.

“If you try anything funny, I’ll let Lowell have you,” he tells me.

I toss my hands up, remembering how it felt to have Lowell lingering near me. “I’ll behave.”

“Your results should be in by the end of the day,” he says, and I note sadness in his tone.

It seems even though he hasn’t actually spent too much time in the room with me, he’s enjoyed his time .

“Well,” I pat the bed, “spend the rest of the time here with me.”

He turns, pulling a face of confusion I can see even with the mask partially concealing it.

“Come on. I don’t slow down. I assume you don’t either. Come watch TV and be a vegetable with me.”

He shrugs. “What the hell.”

“That’s the spirit!” I pull the covers back and allow him to slide under.

I don’t know if inviting a vampire to have a bingeathon with you is a brilliant idea, but I’m winging it at this point.