DESTINED, jasper hale [book 01] ✓

iii. just a little welcome present

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𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐃

❀ 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦: 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵

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𝐤𝐚𝐲𝐚 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞

     THE SECOND KAYA'S EYES open, she knows that something is wrong. There's no air going into her lungs, and she doesn't feel like she's suffocating. Sitting up, jer suddenly perfect vision is looking around the half burned church. Dust motes and ash; bugs and hair; material and skin. She can see it all in microscopic detail, and it's making her panic. If she were still being required to breathe, she would most certainly be hyperventilating right now. As she continues to look around the church, a wave of calm douses the fire of panic burning within her, and Kaya launches to her feet, turning to see Jasper sitting on the pew behind her.

     "Good morning, Miss Kaya," Jasper greets, his eyes no longer pained, but worry still evident in them. "It's good to see that you survived the bite."

     Kaya frowns, sitting down beside him. "There was a chance I wasn't going to make it?"

     "Sometimes the pain is so extreme that the human body shuts down before the venom has a chance to change the person."

     "How many have died since you've been a vampire?"

     "In the past two years, almost a quarter of those Maria has attempted to create have died — even with my help."

     Kaya looks at him in surprise. "You've only been like this for two years?"

     Jasper's red eyes shine with amusement. "Yes, ma'am. Maria only created me mere months before we saved you."

     Before either of them can say something else, Maria walks into the church and slows to a stop in front of the pair, her red eyes scanning over Kaya. Without saying a word, she walks away and Jasper moves to follow her. Quickly picking up her discarded cloak, Kaya follows the two older vampires outside into the sunlight. Instinctively, she flinches at the sudden heat, but she doesn't burn like myths have led her to believe. Instead, the heat from the sun makes Kaya itch, and, for some unknown reason, she sparkles in the light.

     Jasper laughs at Kaya's reaction, making her glare at him for a moment, but a smile of her own grows as his happiness becomes contagious. Maria turns and smiles at the newer vampires before speeding off into the distance, Jasper holding out his hand a few seconds later for Kaya to take. Without hesitation, she takes his hand and everything blurs around them as they run across the open plains to where Maria and Jasper live with what other vampires she has created. What feels like seconds later, they slow to a walk and Jasper releases Kaya's hand as they walk inside an old stable.

     As soon as she walks in, almost ten other vampires launch themselves at Kaya. Instinctively, she retaliates, her fists swinging and successfully sending them all flying. Some come back for another attempt, but she out manoeuvres them with ease, ducking under their flailing limbs as they try their hardest to land a hit on her. After knocking them all down, Kaya comes face-to-face with a stoic and apprehensive Jasper, and a surprised Maria. Neither of them were expecting that Kaya was going to easily beat ten vampires, and that is utterly obvious.

     Kaya lowers her hands and dusts off her dress, not entirely certain as to what to do. Jasper steps closer to her and Kaya instantly moves to the side, dodging his fist. He sends a quick succession of blows and she instinctively moves out of their paths without a blow landing on her. The instant he goes for her stomach, Kaya jumps over him and flips, landing with her back to his. Moments later, he lands in front of Kaya and his head tilts to the side slightly, as if disbelieving that he didn't manage to land a single hit.

     "You know basic combat," Jasper muses, studying her. "Your father?"

     Kaya nods, still having her guard up. "Yes, and my husband."

     Maria walks over and stops mere inches from Kaya. "You married?"

     "I had no choice. My parents needed the money only a wedding could provide, and I am currently their only child. I used to have a brother, but he went to fight in the war before he was eighteen and lost his life."

     "Do you have a child?"

     Kaya can't help the small smile that grows on her face. "Yes, a daughter. Her name is Jaida. She's almost two years old."

     Almost instantly, Maria turns on her heel and walks away, tension rolling off her in waves. Kaya doesn't need Jasper's ability to feel that. The man himself is rigid until Maria is no longer in the room, and then he turns his brilliant red eyes to Kaya, looking at me as though she has lost her mind. Although, maybe, just maybe, Kaya had lost it since she was human — however long ago that was. She hasn't a clue how long had passed since the night she left home.

     Jasper feels her unease and sighs, sitting on a hay bale. "Maria wants a family. She had one before they were murdered — both her human one and her vampire one. None of her former coven survived when it was attacked."

     Kaya stares down at him, glad that she no longer has to crane her neck to meet his eyes. "Should I not have told her about Jaida?"

     He frowns suddenly, brow furrowed and confusion sweeping his almost angelic features. "You love your daughter, but not your husband — it's more indifference and slight affection. Why did you marry him if you did not love him?"

     Kaya's tongue darts out and wets her lips. "My parents needed the money, and he's the son of the man who owns the town. I did have feelings for him at one time, but they left years ago."

     Jasper's ruby eyes meet Kaya's mirroring ones and he stands, his right hand taking hold of her left, feeling one's cold skin press against another's. He knows why the feelings she had for her husband vanished two years ago, and he's not entirely sure what to think of it, but he knows that both of them have to live with that fact. The one thing Kaya is glad that he can't do is read her mind — her memories — and find out just how deep the result of that is.

     All it took was a ten minute encounter, and Kaya knew that she was never going to feel the same about anyone ever again. One look into his soulful eyes and Kaya knew that she was long gone — there was no escaping the thrall she had been put into.