Cadaverous - Rewritten - P A Webster (free e novels TXT) 📗

usual, almost as pale as Chase and Aiden, and dark rings hung below my eyes. Even though it seemed rude, I searched through the bathroom drawers and cabinets until I luckily managed to locate some concealer that just so happened to be close enough to my shade.

 

Once I was satisfied that I looked more alive and awake, I left the bathroom to find Aiden patiently waiting for me right outside the door. He flashed me a welcoming smile, I found it strangely comforting.

"Wow, you almost look human now," he joked, I granted him a tight smile in return. He began to lead my down the hallway, I assumed that this was the beginning of his little house tour.

"No thanks to you guys," I sighed.

"Since you'll never get an apology out of Chase, I'll apologise on his behalf. I'm sorry that Chase dragged you into this shitty situation Holly," he said. His apology sounded genuine, it put me at ease a little bit. "It's now become very obvious to us all that Chase was nowhere near ready to be a leader."

"Why didn't somebody else take the role instead?" I asked.

"Emmanuel treated Chase as if he were his own son, it was obvious that the role would fall to Chase if anything were to happen. Those two have been around a lot longer than you and I have, they've known each other for over 200 years," Aiden explained. He smirked when he noticed the shock written all over my face.

"So… if they're that old, how old are you?"

"I've been alive for 23 years, but physically I'm stuck at 17," he revealed as he led me downstairs.

 

Now that we were standing in the main foyer, Aiden stopped walking and turned towards me.

"Alright, so here on your right is the lounge room," he motioned towards the room. There was no door leading into the room but an archway instead, allowing me to see enough inside to realise that I had been there before. "Basically this is where everybody hangs out now and then, we always invite guests into this room for a chat and we also tend to have our clan meetings in here sometimes too. You probably remember it from last night right? That's where Lily treated your wound."

"Yes, I remember now."

"Whilst we're on the topic, how is your wound?" he asked.

"Uh, still sore but I haven't really had a chance to get a good look at it yet," I admitted. "Do you think it'll scar?"

"Afraid so," he frowned, guiding me towards the next room. "Vampire bites always leave a scar on humans, and the scars are usually used as a way of marking somebody as your own. If another vampire sees that scar, he'll most likely leave you alone to avoid a fight with Chase."

"Hold on a second… Chase… he marked me as his," I paused, letting the unpleasant thought sink in.

"Yes, but I assure you it was completely unintentional," he stressed. "Anyway, this room right here is the room I think you'll like the most."

"Why's that?"

"It's the place that you're least likely to bump into Chase: the library," he smirked, ushering me into the room.

 

It wasn't quite as grand as I expected it to be, but even so, there were more books in that library than I'd seen in my entire life. Shelves stacked with a variety of books, old and new, lined each wall. In the center of the room sat an ornate arm chair that was probably worth more than my house. In the back corner of the library sat a chair and a desk that appeared to be coated with a thick layer of dust.

"Why would it be unlikely for me to bump into Chase here?" I inquired, running my hand gently along the carved wooden frame of the armchair. It was only after I pulled my hand away that I noticed that it too had a substantial layer of dust on it.

"Chase wouldn't be caught dead reading a book, but in fact, nobody really uses this room anyway," he explained, his eyes scanning the room as if it'd been a while since he had been in there too.

"So if I needed an escape, it would be okay for me to come here for a while?"

"Absolutely," he smiled. His frost coloured eyes became entrancing when he smiled, I'd noticed. "Feel free to come here whenever you'd like."

 

Aiden led me across the foyer next, to a room that I could quite easily identify without being told, it was the kitchen and dining room. A man with short, light brown hair that seemed faintly familiar sat at the mahogany dining table with a bowl of cereal. Next to him sat another guy with short blonde hair and eyes like princess-cut emeralds, I recognised him as the guy who had followed me on my way home and led me straight into Chase's trap. I was pretty sure his name began with an L, but I couldn't quite remember what it was.

"Ah!" Aiden exclaimed. "I don't think you guys have met properly. Holly, this is Lily's fiancé Dominic. He's a shapeshifter just like her," he explained. As Dominic stood from his chair I remembered that he was the one who had convinced Chase to back down during the confrontation with Cruz. I could remember him quite clearly since he seemed like the only member who wasn't afraid to stand up to Chase when he took things too far.

"Nice to meet you Holly, though I wish it could be under better circumstances," he smiled politely.

"And this over here is Levi," Aiden added. Levi made no efforts to give me a warm welcoming, his eyes flicked up to meet mine briefly before returning to the half-eaten slice of toast in front of him. His blank, almost pissed off expression gave him an intimidating aura.

"Come on Levi, it doesn't hurt to be polite," Dominic sighed. Just like his girlfriend, he seemed like a genuinely lovely person. In fact, at this point, just about everybody except Chase and Levi seemed like nice people. I could to some degree understand why Chase hated me, but I couldn't understand why Levi seemed so bothered by my presence. I didn't let it get to me though, he didn't seem like the sort of person I wanted to associate with anyway.

"What’s the point? She won't be around for long," he rolled his eyes before leaving with his slice of toast, much to Dominic's dismay.

"Sorry about that," Dominic apologised, running a hand through his hair. "He's always like this, even with us."

"I guess that's another person I should learn to avoid," I muttered, fiddling with the hem of my t-shirt.

"Who knows, he could warm up to you eventually," Aiden offered a warm smile. "Come on, you'll really like where I'm taking you next."

 

Back in the main foyer, Aiden gestured to the next couple of doors, simply stating that one was a door to the basement and the other was a bathroom. Ahead of us were a set of ornate dark brown double doors, I suspected this was our next destination. Aiden flung the doors open, the room ahead was so bright in comparison to the rest of the house that it took my eyes a few moments to adjust. Aiden stepped aside, allowing me to enter the room before him. I moved without a thought, feeling drawn to the room. I couldn't help by stare in awe as the room opened up around me, it was the most breathtaking room I'd ever seen.

"This is the ballroom," Aiden informed me from behind. Now it all made sense--the marble floor, the carved pillars lining the walls, the glistening chandeliers, the golden swirling pattern adorning the roof--it all looked like it was taken straight from a fairytale.

"This is amazing," I smiled. I closed my eyes and twirled, picturing myself dancing in a ball gown surrounded by hundreds of guests. I opened my eyes to find Aiden gawking at me as if I were acting odd. My cheeks grew hot as I realised that I must've looked like a complete weirdo. "Sorry," I blurted.

"It's alright, I guess you haven't seen many places like this before," he replied. I shook my head.

"No, I haven't. I haven't ever travelled that far so I've never seen a place like this before. I've never seen a house like this before, it's practically a mansion!" I exclaimed, following Aiden back into the foyer.

"Most other clans live in mansions like this. It's better for us all to live in a big house, at least everybody gets their space. We probably would've killed each other by now if we had to live in a tiny house together," Aiden joked. Or at least, I assumed he was joking.

 

I was led upstairs next, Aiden forewarned me that there wasn't really a lot to show me upstairs because obviously, nobody would want their bedrooms being shown off to a complete stranger. Basically, there were three hallways once you walked upstairs. The hallway to the left led to Aiden's room, and right next to it was a guest room, which was currently my room. The hallway to the right led to Levi's room and another guest room. The last hallway, one opposite the stairs, was the longest. Lily and Dominic's room was the first on the left, and Hunter's was the first on the right. Aiden suddenly came to a stop outside the next set of doors, I almost bumped into him before I noticed.

"Now, these rooms are important so listen carefully," he said in a hushed voice. I nodded, moving closer so that I could hear him. "The room to the left is Chase's. He doesn't like anybody going into his room or touching his stuff. He'll get angry, alright? And I mean, really angry."

"Alright, got it," I replied. Of course, I would never even plan to go to Chase's room or touch his stuff, quite frankly I wanted to be as far away from him as possible. I took a mental note anyway, just in case I ever considered doing something stupid.

"Chase also doesn't want anybody to enter this room to the right," he added.

"Why?" I raised an eyebrow. Aiden quickly scanned the hallway, clearly checking if anybody else was around.

"It used to belong to somebody very important to him," he said.

"Lana?" I asked, accidentally letting my voice ring quite loudly. Aiden's eyes widened and his finger flew to his lips.

"Quiet," he warned me. "And yes, it did belong to her. Be very careful when bringing up her name. You can't just carelessly throw her name around at the moment, especially not around Chase. You'll end up getting yourself in a world of trouble."

"Put yourself in my shoes, I'm finding it very difficult to understand why I shouldn't mention her because I have no idea what on earth happened with her. Can't somebody just tell me what is going on?"

"The only person who has any right to explain is Chase, and I wouldn't exactly suggest that you ask him right now either," Aiden retorted.

"You don't seem to respect him that much anyway, so why can't you just tell me?" I asked, beginning to feel frustrated.

"Because what happened is none of my business," he snapped.

 

Our banter ceased immediately as we heard the door to our left creak open. Aiden's eyes met mine, he looked just as panicked as I felt. I knew Chase was standing there to the left of us, but I was too afraid to look. I shouldn't have pressed Aiden for information, we should've just left, I thought to myself. It was no use now, surely we were screwed.

"What the fuck are you guys doing here?" Chase demanded. I slowly turned to look at him, bracing myself for the furious expression he was most likely wearing. However, I was caught off guard. He didn't look all that angry, he just looked exhausted. He was dressed in what I assumed were his pyjamas, a plain white shirt and black pyjama pants. His usually