Dead Girl's Ashes (Dying Ashes Book 1)

by Annathesa Nikola Darksbane

  I returned it in kind, once again worrying that I might accidentally injure her. A frown crawled across my features as I fully realized that she, like many of the other girls, was in a state of partial exposure, with her shirt gone and one leg of her favorite pair of fuzzy pink lounge pants torn completely away. “Hold on.” I gently pried her free and stripped off my hoodie, hesitating when I saw how wet and pukingly gross it was. When I looked back up, the garment dangling and dripping in my hands, she was staring at me.

  “Ash...what’s happened?” She wrapped her arms around herself, as if fighting cold I couldn’t feel. “Something’s wrong.” Her eyes clouded as she shifted, suddenly anxious.

  Fearful.

  “Hey, no, it’s okay—” My voice was a rasp. I reached out, stopping cold, still as a statue as she recoiled ever so slightly.

  “You feel…” She hesitated.

  A voice cut through the moment. Tamara. “I need everyone’s attention, please!” Lori glanced past me, blinking warily at the Moroi for an instant before returning to my face. For myself, it was only a matter of sheer will and Lori’s presence that kept my eyes from being drawn to my vampire friend as well.

  Lori frowned, peeking cautiously past me. To my heartbreak, she didn’t move any closer. “Ashley.” She wrapped her slender, perfect arms tighter around herself to cover her small breasts, her voice cold and trembling. “What happened to you?”

  “I…” I stammered uselessly to a stop. What does anyone say in a situation like this? “Lor, I—”

  “Ashley.” Charles’ gruff voice cut across my concerns from behind me, tapping me on the shoulder with the crown of his staff. I twisted in sudden irritation to snap at him, only to see him nodding significantly at the plethora of unopened cages. While I’d been absorbed in my personal dilemma, a dozen girls sobbed and begged for release. At least, the ones still able to do so.

  Dammit. “Lor, just…hold on, okay? I’m fine. I’ll explain everything…soon. Okay?” I tried as hard as I could to make my voice like it used to be. And failed. I couldn’t bear to watch her eyes shimmering with wetness any longer, and turned away. Sorry, Lori. I got murdered while you were away, but I’m alright now. Really. My heart sat there, cold, silent and heavy in my chest.

  I tore free metal bars and cage fronts one after the other, ripping away the front of each cell with a reckless abandon and muscles that could no longer know fatigue or pain. Not every girl was frightened of me and my freakish strength; a few were just relieved to be free, and two or three even threw their arms around me as if I was their hero. Several were simply despondent, intact but in poor condition.

  I pulled them out of their holes in the wall one by one and carried the ones who couldn’t walk to Charles, who took them and got them on their feet. He encouraged them to stand on their own if they could and explained to them that they were safe in soft, deep, soothing tones. He even threw his heavy coat around the shoulders of one young girl whose lack of clothing and ragged strips of missing flesh left her desperate and vulnerable.

  At some point, I realized that about a dozen of them were missing. Where are the rest of the girls? There was one easy answer: that we’d been stepping on what was left of them since the moment we’d entered the cavern, but I refused to accept it.

  Corey kept watch for incoming trouble as Charles gathered the girls up, speaking to them quietly and reassuringly in his own restrained, confident manner.

  With nothing more I could do to help, I had to turn and face my Lori once more. I found her not far away, talking quietly to Tamara. I supposed if anyone could calm her down and help me explain, it was a Moroi, though Lori didn’t seem as soothed as I would have expected.

  “You can’t expect me to believe that! You’re saying that she—” Lori cut off as I approached, looking up to me almost reluctantly. “Ash…”

  “Lor, it’s still me.” I tried to look in her eyes, but she evaded me. “Look at me, Lor. Please. It’s just me.”

  Her heartbeat quickened as I reached out to her, but not in the way I remembered from holding her close.

  Trembling with anxiety, she finally met my eyes, the pale blue shimmering wetly with...fear. “Ash, there’s something wrong. You think I can’t tell? Can’t you tell? Something’s changed, like you’re different, like you’re not all there anymore.”

  That time, it was I who looked away.

  “Miss Harper,” Tamara stepped into the conversation gently, helpfully. “It’s not her fault. Maybe if you just—”

  “Stay out of this, Tamara,” She snapped. “You don’t know what I’m—” Lori looked back at me, tears flowing freely now. “What we’re going through!”

  “Lori, I…” I would have given so much to cry along with her. “Lor, I’ve had some bad shit happen to me over the last few days.” I pried a halfhearted smile free and displayed it. “You got taken by this thing, and… And I... I’m still me, okay? I still love you.” My voice nearly broke before I could finish the words. I reached out to her again, my eyes pleading.

  “Ash, you don’t understand—you don’t know what I’ve been through, what I’ve had to do, what that thing did to me, I can’t…” I trembled as she shied away from my embrace and stepped back, shaking her head. “Ash, I love you, but I just...can’t.” She shivered.

  I suddenly remembered what pain felt like. “So… What does that mean?” I stared deep into her beautiful eyes. The sting of rejection was like a dagger in my heart. “We can work this out, right, Lor? Try to make things okay?” Timidly, I extended a hand without approaching closer. After a long, long moment, she took it, and I held it as tightly as I dared.

  “So cold…” she whispered finally. “So strange.” She never answered me. But, eventually, she embraced me, two bloodstained, dirty women making the best of a tragedy. But regardless of what either of us might have wanted, things had irrevocably changed, and our embrace wasn’t the same as it had been, just a few short days ago.

  Charles wandered into my field of view, staff slung over his shoulder, his posture weary. “We don’t have time,” he said simply, his face reserved.

  It took me a moment to nod, trying not to chew at my lip with my fangs.

  “What happened to us?” A tall girl called out, young, but with an obviously strong, athletic build and dark tanned skin. “What was that thing, and where are we? Are we safe? Is it coming back?” She shook as she asked the questions, fearful, but also angry. Several of the other girls looked up as she spoke, rallying behind her for answers.

  “A demon.” Charles’ tone didn’t pull any punches. “But it’s gone now, and none of you will ever see it again. I promise you that.” He said it like he meant it. “Right now, it’s too busy running from us to do anything else. We’ll get you home, get you all safe...and then we’re coming back for it.”

  “I know it’s hard to believe,” Tamara gave Lori and I some space as she spoke. “But it’s true. You survived this.” Her sad, triumphant smile warmed the room. “Come with us, and we’ll get you to safety. I know some people who’ll help you.” Lowering her voice, she gestured Charles over, where only the three of us and my lover could hear. “We’ve got to get them out of here, Charles. Before anything else happens. Can you do it?”

  The wizard’s eyes flashed. “You should all go back. I should stay and hunt that monstrosity down.” Corey wandered over, and Charles snapped at him without looking, “Stay with the girls.” He shook his head, gripping his staff tight, speaking quietly but vehemently. “If I leave now, I risk letting the trail get cold, and—”

  “No.” Everyone in our small group stopped and looked at me as I spoke. “You can’t go chasing shadows. These girls need our help, your help, now. ” I looked up into Charles’ dark eyes firmly. “I have to know Lori’s going to be okay. But after that? I’ll come back here with you, and make damn certain that thing gets what it deserves.”

  He only paused a moment, sharp brown eyes studying me. “I’ll hold you to it.” Charles square
d his shoulders. “Let’s get them to safety. And quickly. The sooner they get medical and psychiatric care, the better.” His expression as he glanced back at the main group was sympathetic, mixed with ire. “I just…” He trailed off, still clenching his staff, running his other hand through his short, dark hair, now singed and splattered with blood.

  “It’ll be okay, Charles.” Tamara’s presence seemed to soothe everyone, except Lori, who tensed and looked away. “This isn’t over. We just need to rearrange our priorities.” She tugged her phone from a hidden pocket. “In fact, we don’t have long. It’s getting late.” She glanced significantly at me.

  He gave her a blank look as she powered the phone back down. “What?”

  I mirrored the look, and Tamara sighed, rolling her eyes at us both. “Dawn, guys. Dawn.”

  I flinched reflexively, a few memories of the previous morning forcefully returning. It hadn’t been fun, and I couldn’t say I was looking forward to it. I guess I’ll have a lot of time to get used to it. Lori looked up at me uneasily with her shimmering blue eyes.

  Then, she finally pulled away from me. I was reluctant to let her go, but didn’t dare hold onto her. It would only make matters worse. “I just want to go home,” she whispered.

  Tamara managed to take my lover’s hands easier than I had. “Lori. Please. You can’t go home right now. Not with that thing still at large. None of you can.” I could feel Lori’s heartbeat jump as she shuddered. “Please, let me help you.”

  It took her a moment, but Lori nodded, looking down, still holding Tamara’s hands. “You’re right.” She looked back up, giving me the saddest, most sorrowful look I’d ever seen. “There’s no home to go back to right now.”

  My heart was a hollow, dead space in my chest. I tried to ignore it.

  19

  Tamara's wild ride

  I couldn’t go home, either. There was just enough time to get there before sunrise, but what Lori had said went double for me. It wasn’t home without her there. Besides, I knew of at least two monsters who knew where I slept, so to speak.

  “I can give you a ride,” Tamara offered. “I’ve got a place to stay with an extra room and bed. Should be sun-proofable. Or I can grab you a hotel room, if that’s not cool.” I was pretty certain she could sense my internal conflict. In fact, I was pretty certain it didn’t take a psychic vampire to sense my internal conflict right now.

  “Either one sounds fine.” Beggars can’t be choosers. My other options were to go home anyway or sleep in a storm drain. I figured I could trust Tamara not to not to cut out my kidneys during the daylight hours, what with all we’d been through tonight. And past that, I just plain liked her. If I had to trust one relative stranger tonight, it was going to be her. Besides, if she turned out to have some sinister hidden motives, I supposed I simply wouldn’t wake up again tomorrow night.

  And right now, that sounded okay, too.

  Ambulances and a couple of sharp-looking SUVs had already come and gone, taking the poor girls with them. Tamara had assured us—and them—that they wouldn’t simply be dropped off at the nearest hospital and left to fend for themselves but that she instead knew some people who would help them recover from the aftermath of the Rawhead’s supernatural assault and kidnapping.

  Lacking any better options, the girls simply took her word for it. The battered group we’d rescued were weary to the bone, exhausted both physically and mentally, and their collective relief that someone was willing to take over and take care of them was palpable.

  Lori had gone with them. The last I’d seen of her was the shadow of a wave goodbye through the back window of one of the SUVs, and her haunted blue eyes getting further and further away. I could only hope she’d be alright.

  Charles and Corey had left almost immediately after the girls were safely away; the dynamic duo almost as weary as the rest of the humans. Opening a huge, stable Window back Home seemed to have taken its toll on Charles. Not to mention that fact that his drugs had promptly kicked back in as soon as he stepped across. With Corey functioning as designated driver, the big black Chevy had roared off into the night to find refuge and rest at the wizard’s home.

  I settled myself stiffly into Tamara’s white Supra once more, and the engine rumbled to life. It took me a moment to find my voice. “That…” I trailed off, but Tamara gave me an encouraging look and smile. “That wasn’t exactly how I thought things would go.” I hung my head. “I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t...this.”

  “I’m sorry, Ashley.” Tamara frowned sympathetically, and I wondered if she could feel how sad I was. Probably. I wondered if it made her sad too. “Did talking to her not help?” She asked after a moment.

  There’d been a good fifteen minutes between Tamara’s phone call and the swift pickup. Lori and I had spent it holding hands and talking, but none of it was about our relationship, what happened next, or even how she’d come to be in the Rawhead’s lair. I knew better than to press her on the latter with the incident so fresh. “No,” I responded finally. “It didn’t.”

  She’d trembled every time she’d almost spoken of the events she’d endured, and I was glad Tamara was able to get her somewhere safe where people could help her. It was clear Lori was too messed up to handle things on her own right now.

  “So, I told Charles we’d meet soon after dusk tomorrow, as soon as you were able.” Tamara changed the subject with a smile. “Didn’t figure you’d mind. Then I told Corey, too, to make sure he actually got the message tomorrow.”

  I snorted. “I didn’t know he was that bad off.”

  She grinned. “Bad off enough to let me eavesdrop on them talking. Want to hear it? It’s pretty funny.”

  I nodded, tried to smile. “Sure.”

  Tamara chuckled, light and melodic. “Corey suggested that the two of them go after the Rawhead and the other girls tomorrow, instead of being out the whole day because of you. But Charles shot him down.” Tamara straightened, squared her shoulders, and deepened her voice, putting on her best, hilariously inaccurate Charles impression. “Did you see the size of that Rawhead? Did you see what she did to it? She might be a monster, but holy shit. And it’s not dead, yet. What if it comes back? Besides, I need to study.” She degenerated into chuckles, while I wished I could join her. “A shame about your horn, though.”

  I snorted.

  I’d taken the sundered horn along for the ride when we’d left, with the full intention of using it as a club on its previous owner at my earliest opportunity. But as soon as I’d returned Home, it had disintegrated in a burst of static and jumping, arcing sparks, dissipating like so much dust in the wind.

  “But it doesn't work like that,” Tamara explained with a smile. “You can’t bring material over from Next Door without some kind of spell or something’s willpower keeping it intact. Otherwise, it just disperses like any other energy.”

  “I figured that out,” I replied. “Shame, though. I’d already become attached to it. Like a souvenir. In case we crossed ways again.” I swung my hand back and forth a couple of times, careful not to actually harm Tamara’s car.

  She glanced at me, light laughter lingering on the air. “You were going to beat it to death with it own horn? Now that’s funny.”

  “Was damn sure gonna try.”

  Her laughter didn’t last long before its echoes died out, subsumed by the muffled rumble of the engine and road. “Do you want to talk about it?” she offered.

  “Just thought it’d be a good weapon, you know?” I pretended to misunderstand her, and the Moroi let it drop. I looked out the window. In the distance, I saw the airport, rundown buildings and the corpses of old factories stretching outward from it in all directions. We passed a broken and deserted cathedral, too old to even have a sign left telling us which sin we should repent today. Like most of the buildings on this street, the church looked like a giant with a temper had taken a sledgehammer to it.

  “Are you sure we’re in the right place? This isn’
t the most hospitable part of town for a girl like you or me or, you know, anyone. I mean, calling this area unsafe is kinda like calling lava ‘a bit warm.’” A series of apartment complexes started streaming by on either side of the battered roadway, so dirty and rundown that even I, the ichor-splattered living corpse, didn’t want to touch them.

  “Just a shortcut,” Tamara said defensively. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. ”

  I frowned. “Don’t say that. Never say that.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Don’t be a paranoid Charles. I’ve gone this way a hundred times. It’s perfectly safe for people like us.”

  “There’s no way you or your family live around here.” I repeated my thoughts aloud.

  “You wouldn’t want to meet my family, anyway.” She shook her head, and I stared at her. Tamara finally huffed, leaning back in the driver’s seat and removing a hand from the wheel to run through her brightly dyed hair. “It’s complicated. You see—”

  I didn’t get to see, because she was cut off by an explosive blam from the car. The Moroi’s pale hand darted back to the steering wheel like a striking cobra, and we swerved wildly, fortunate that the road was barren of other cars. At first I wondered if her carefree driving style had suddenly come back to haunt us, but I quickly recognized the whump thump screeeeech of a blown-out tire and metal on asphalt.

  Tamara fought with the wheel for a moment, but to my relief, it was no match for the vampire. We pulled over onto the side of the road, slowing down to the uncomfortable, rhythmic rumbling of a fuckered car tire.

  “Great. Because tonight just hadn’t been rough enough, had it?.” Tamara sounded frustrated despite a forced, cheery tone. With a sigh, she got out of the car to check out the damage, and I followed suit anxiously. Urban instincts were telling me to get the hell out of this part of town, ASAP.