Call Of The Dark

But Emma wasn\'t the type who would… behave. She pulled away from his fingers that were pinching her chin. She was going to continue in her efforts to woo Lazarus.

Their caravan stopped only for a few hours in the afternoon to give rest to the horses and to have lunch. When the carriage stopped, Emma got out to stretch her limbs and breathe in fresh air. Her body was sore from constant rolling of the carriage on the dirt road that was pretty bumpy in some stretches.

Ginger came rushing to Emma with a trencher. "Would you like to eat something, m\'lady?" she said as she gave her the plate that had fish sticks wrapped in a cloth.

Emma\'s stomach growled with hunger. She devoured the fish with a loaf of bread that Ginger produced for her.

"Where are the other men, and where are Magnus and Yul?" Emma asked as she chewed her food, leaning against the carriage.

Ginger said, "Oh they are—"

"Come in soon," Lazarus growled, cutting off Ginger. He didn\'t come out because the sun was bright and he didn\'t like that she was asking about them. Did she want to go to them and ride the rest of the journey with them? The thought left him… rattled.

Ignoring his command, she asked Ginger again, "Where are they? I don\'t see them."

Ginger pointed at another carriage. "They are in that carriage. In fact, they were asking about you. Would you like to come and see them?"

"I would!" Emma replied with a gleam in her eyes.

Jealousy flared like a demon in his chest. He opened the door despite the strong rays of sun falling over his skin, burning him where they fell. "You would dare to go to them?" he growled and yanked her inside.

Emma squealed as she was picked up and seated on her bench inside the carriage. Lazarus was kneeling in front of her on the floor, his chest falling up and down as he took ragged breaths. Scared that she was going to meet Yul all over again, he ordered her, "Now you won\'t get out of the carriage till we reach Upper North Jupan." Saying that he shut the door on the gaping face of Ginger.

There was so much tension in the carriage that Emma could feel it crawling over her. He took a piece of fish stick and made her eat it. His fingers grazed her chin and electricity charged in the air around her. She chewed the fish stick and realized that he had put his thumb inside her mouth. On an instinct she began to suck it and he sucked in a sharp breath.

Her cheeks pinkened till her ears and his thumb came out of her mouth and traced her blush. He smelled the air around her sharply. The scent of violets was mixed with spice and lemon. What would it be to draw blood from her at this moment? Suddenly, he pulled away, restraining his vampire-ish thoughts. Cool breeze coated her body at the lack of his proximity. She lowered her head and focused on eating.

They reached Upper North Jupan by the next evening. When they alighted the carriage, Lazarus saw his brother, Cain, standing at the front stairs of the castle. "Brother Lazarus!" he said as the two clasped their hands on each other\'s forearms. "I had given up all hope that you would come to attend Samhain!"

Lazarus shrugged. "I made an exception this time," he said with arrogant air.

Cain\'s lips lifted, seeing his brother\'s familiar attitude. "Where is Maeve?" he asked, looking behind her, hoping to find her. Instead he saw a beautiful, young girl with hair the color of sun rays, sitting and peaking at him over Lazarus\'s shoulder. His breath hitched. "And who is this beautiful mortal?" He thought that she was his concubine. "I am sure you would love to share her, won\'t you?"

A feral snarl escaped his lips and he was short of lunging at Cain and killing him when Emma cut his thoughts. "I am Lord Lazarus\'s mate." She got out of the carriage and bowed to Cain who was looking utterly surprised with his eyes wide like that of a saucer.

Lazarus\'s mood lifted immediately. "No one can dream of sharing her," he snarled and then walked past Cain, budging him with his shoulder.

Cain stumbled back but when he regained his balance, he barked a laugh. He looked at Emma with amusement and said, "Let\'s see how she bells the cat." Then he turned over his shoulder to look at Lazarus and muttered, "In this case, a bull."

Emma stifled a laugh. She bowed to him again. Magnus and Yul came to her side. They bowed to Cain. Cain\'s wife, Naomi came over and after exchanging pleasantries, she ordered the servants to take the guests to their rooms and take the luggage after them.

"I hope your journey was good," Naomi said politely to Emma.

"It was… bumpy," she replied innocently, wrenching another laugh from Cain and others.

Naomi\'s younger sister Olya joined them as Naomi escorted them to their rooms. Suddenly, Magnus fell absolutely quiet. He stole glances at her which didn\'t go unnoticed by Emma.

"Tomorrow we will be celebrating Samhain," Naomi informed. "The celebrations would be held in the main gardens of the castle. I would suggest that you all sleep well throughout the day, because the night is going to be a long one!"

Naomi wasn\'t prepared for having Emma, and so she directed her servants to make arrangements for her in Lazarus\'s room. When Emma went inside, she saw that Lazarus was sprawled on the bed. She tiptoed her way to her trunk, took out a nightgown and then tiptoed to the bathroom. She needed a hot bath and Naomi had suggested that the servants had filled the bath for the guests already.

Emma stripped and stepped in the copper bathtub, moaning as hot water hit her skin. She closed her eyes as she submerged beneath the surface of the water. She stayed there for long and when she came up, she smoothed her wet hair back and saw red eyes staring at her. "Lazarus!" she squeaked. He was standing naked, gazing at her.