Wake of the Dead | Three

Chapter Twenty-five | Jasper

Jasper was cold. The nighttime was possibly the worst conditions to sleep under, but the days were too hot to get any good rest as well. But above all was the pain. The wound in his shoulder from the gunshot was still aching. The torture had gotten much, much worse. It was almost as if seeing the previous wounds inflicted hyped up The Silence members to spill more blood. He wasn't sure whether one of his ribs were broken or not. It definitely hurt.

His heart was still beating, but that didn't mean it was devoid of all visceral agony. Killian was still in trouble, if Stephan hadn't killed him for shooting Harland already. I wouldn't be surprised if he'd beaten him to death. Just the thought of it made Jasper want to throw up. The vision of his lover's broken and battered body splayed out, his golden eyes lifeless—it was too much to even fathom. Oh, my love. He thought. I'm going to rescue you one day. Just be brave for me.

"Are you thinking about him?" A familiar voice murmured. It was one that still brought him comfort, but hesitantly so. "I'm sure Stephan hasn't killed him. He's too fond of the boy."

Jasper closed his eyes, lowering his head. Luke knealt down next to him. "Do you know?" He rasped. "If he's..."

"Forced himself on him? No. But the way he was treating him...I wouldn't be surprised. Though," Luke continued, "I wouldn't think he's fond of men, Jasper. He's fond of power."

A wry smile flickered across Jasper's lips. "Just like you?" He whispered.

Luke was silent, then changed the subject. "You know we hate one another. But it still hurts to see you like this. You had the chance to stop it but you didn't. Why did you not take up my offer?"

"I'd rather die than kill more innocent people, Luke." Jasper said. "Maybe you see it as loyalty to The Mistress, but all she's turned you into is a monster." He lifted his head to meet the other man's brooding gaze, "If you weren't already before."

Luke stared back at him, once again falling silent. Then his brows narrowed. Jasper knew his past lover was far too gone to reason with. He isn't the person I fell in love with. He reminded himself. That is, if he hadn't been lying about everything he ever said to me. "Your obsession with that boy is far beyond me." Luke tilted his head to the side, "It's curious, really. Because you've only fell for men much more...mature than yourself. But that one?" He snorted, "I would say it's borderline questionable of you, but I'm sure your moral high ground has sorted out some sort of excuse."

"It's the apocalypse," Jasper chuckled, but there was no humor in it. "And he's a grown adult. He can make his own decisions. Everybody's too focused on surviving to give two fucks anyways." He couldn't the stop smile that spread across his cracked lips, "If I didn't know any better I'd say you were jealous."

"I know what belongs to me." Luke replied tersely. "Having that...runt take it from me is, of course, a punishable offense."

"I'm not your property," Jasper said, "And even if I was, I won't be for much longer. I'm on death row, remember?"

"You only talk of the small one," Luke began, but Jasper interrupted him.

He growled, "If you're insinuating that I don't care for my group, you're wrong. They're my responsibility and always have been. Even our group leader...he resigned. The one they killed that night, Tom? He wasn't the leader when you all showed up. It was me." Jasper grit his teeth, "And I'll be damned if I ever say I never cared about the lot of them."

"Do you even remember their names?" Luke challenged.

"Tom, Darren, Casimir, Samantha, Wilson, Dominick, Harley, Aubrey," Jasped hesitated, the one he would name next was an odd case. They'd almost killed one another several times. The only thing stopping him from doing it earlier was Killian's pleas. "Jackson, Chris, Keagan, and Killian of course."