by Lori, Rae
“Stop it!”
Both turned to Ariya racing inside to close the door behind her. Her dark eyes focused on them, a mixture of quiet strength and that of a hint of fear.
Rich slowly morphed back into his human form, his muscles dwindling to human size. The fur shrunk back into his skin as if time rewound itself. His yellow eyes widened and focused on Ariya.
“You left the door open?” Jace said toward Rich.
“He’s protecting me,” Ariya said walking toward him. Her eyes darted from one to the other and Jace had to give it to her. Despite the way he had treated her, how scared she was in this new world, Jace noticed she was showing a healthy dose of moxie. He was impressed.
“Is this her?” Rich pushed off of Jace and turned to Ariya.
Jace straightened his unbuttoned shirt. “She is not your concern, Rich!”
Rich’s bright yellow gaze danced from Jace to Ariya. He took one step toward her and was met with a hard slap as Jace slammed his hand against his chest.
“Back off,” Jace said coolly.
“You know what you have to do, Jace. If you don’t go to the council, I will.”
“Why won’t you just let me handle this?”
“You don’t know who this is!” Rich said pointing toward Ariya. “She could have killed Shelly!”
Ariya stepped forward between them. “I assure you it wasn’t me. I saw what killed her. And I’m sorry—I may have put you all in more danger now than I had intended. I escaped from a dangerous creature that may be after me this very moment and I thought I would find solace here, but I may have been wrong.”
Rich raised an eyebrow and scoffed a little. “Is she serious?”
Jace shrugged it off. “She seems to believe so.”
“Either way it’s your duty to tell Julian, Jace. As regents we have to bring this murder up to the council so it can be dealt with.”
Jace headed back to the kitchen where his drink waited for him. Just what he needed; duty and interrogation. That contract looked more tempting each moment. “The council will have to wait until I figure this out first.”
Rich scoffed. “So, then what?”
Jace took a slow thoughtful sip of his drink. He swallowed even slower. “We talk about this later.”
“Jace—”
“Later!” Jace yelled, his loud voice melting into a growl.
Rich took one last look at Ariya before storming toward the front door. “If you aren’t at the Ashen Twilight House at 8 p.m. I’m telling Julian everything I know.”
“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out,” Jace sneered into his cup.
The door slammed behind Rich, the room and windows shaking with a loud vibration.
Ariya turned to Jace and watched him closely as her heart raced within her chest. “What just happened?”
“Goody two shoes at its best.”
“No, I mean. He changed—into a wolf—man—creature—.”
“Lycan.”
Ariya raised an eyebrow. “So he wasn’t like those werewolf Lycan shifter things—only bigger? And—bipedal—”
“No, he can only shift into Lycan and human form.”
“Well, what’s the difference between Lycans and werewolves then?”
“The difference between bipeds and quadrupeds? Look, do you always ask so many questions?”
“When I’m curious about something I ask questions to get to the truth,” Ariya said folding her arms. “A natural instinct of interrogation.”
Mumbling to himself, Jace stormed past her and wandered into the bedroom. Ariya followed close behind and stopped in the doorway. She watched as he descended onto the bed and buried his face in his hands with a sigh. The room fell silent.
Ariya wasn’t sure what to do. She regretted entering this world due to the death and destruction following her. It had already caused a rift between two best friends.
Jace peered up from his open palms. “How did you know we were best friends?”
She shrugged. “I could tell. The passion you feel for each other and the way you two are at odds. I didn’t have to read your mind to sense it.”
“Hmm. Yeah, well he’s always been the boy scout of the two of us.”
“And you?”
Jace peered ahead, deep in thought, remembering a dark side of his past he kept locked away. “I’m the complete opposite.”
Slowly she approached him, her hand outstretched as if she wanted to touch him. “You don’t seem so bad.”
Ariya felt his hand grip her wrist. In the blink of an eye, he was on top of her, pinning her against the bed with the weight of his body as he seized her throat.
“You sure about that?” his voice was low, husky and somewhat inviting. “You don’t know me, Ariya.”
“No,” she said evenly, staring deep into his blue eyes. “But by the time this is all over, we’ll know more about each other than we ever imagined. Plus, if you wanted me dead, I suppose you would have done it already.”
Jace’s expression softened. He reached to his back and pulled his shirt off over his head. Tossing it to the side, he fell back onto the empty side of the bed next to her.
“You got me there.”
Ariya looked to the living room, illuminated by broken strips of sunlight streaming through the closed blinds. It was then she noticed that the bedroom held no windows and the only light came from the immense amount of candles that lined the room.
She thought to question him about it. Instead she put the idea out of her mind when she spotted his bare muscled chest, rising and falling with each breath. Slowly she crawled up next to him. His handsome face remained blank with peace, unaffected by outside events. He looked like an innocent young man and she had to wonder what brought him to this point in his life? How did he become this creature lying before her?
“Scotland. Fourteen hundred and forty three. But never mind me. I think you owe me an explanation.”
Ariya quickly moved away from him. “Must you keep invading my mind?”
He chuckled. “Must you let me?”
“Look,” she said sitting up. “I’m tired of fighting and running. Maybe I was naïve when I came here, but I thought—” Slowly she turned to face him. “Did you say Scotland? Fourteen hundred and forty three?”
“I sure did.”
“It couldn’t be him in the dream,” Ariya said softly to herself. Or could it? If it were true, then that would explain what led her here.
Everything happens for a reason, Ariya. Her father’s deep voice returned to her in that instant like a voice from the grave.
“Okay.” Jace folded his arms behind his head and peered up at her. “Why don’t you start at the top? Where’s your family?”
Ariya ignored the twisting ache in her heart.” They’re dead.”
His eyes widened for a moment before he let out a deep breath. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
Relaxing her posture, she couldn’t help noticing his demeanor softening.
“And this creature you keep thinking about? It killed them?”
“My sisters and my parents, yes. When I last left my realm, it was after me.”
“And how does this dream factor into everything?”
Suddenly she felt light headed. She slid off the bed to her feet and gripped the side of his dresser without looking. She felt the brush of a falling sculpture on her hand.
Jace leaned forward and the next thing she knew he stood over her. He quickly caught what looked like a mini wood sculpture of a medieval trebuchet with one hand and slipped his other arm around her to anchor her body against his.
“Be careful now,” he said with a smile. “Your body may be wearing out from all the excitement going on.”
Truer words were never spoken, but she was sure he meant the external goings on rather than the emotional chaos he was causing to her body. “Yeah, could be,” she breathed. “Being thrown out can do that to a person.”
Jace cleared his throat, focusing on the sma
ll trebuchet in his hand. “This was a one of a kind gift from the artist Germain Pilon. It helps to remind me of our military advancements over the years. How far technology has come. I can’t just go to eBay and get another.”
She fought the urge to ask what an eBay was as she felt his body against hers. Although his skin was cold, an undeniable heat emanated between them.
Jace looked down at her, his blue eyes signaling he felt the same desire. This time it didn’t feel metaphysical to her. It felt genuine.
Ariya quickly moved away, brushing her curls behind her ear. “I, uh—was saying something.”
“The dream and the creature, yes.” He set the trinket back on the dresser and returned to the bed. “My apologies for rudely interrupting your story. Please continue.”
“Right.” She nodded again and cleared her throat. “The night of the attack I dreamt of a war that happened a long time ago. The closest I can think of is the Ottoman war— the people of Turkey now, I guess you call them—against Vlad Tepes of Wallachia, Romania. The problem is you were there.”
Jace nodded. “Understandable. I fought in that war.”
“How?”
“It’s a long story but I will say that I fought alongside my immortal brethren for the freedom to live and survive as we were allowed when we were mortals.”
“Considering you were not mentioned in the books of history I studied nor did I see you until now, you understand why it is strange that I dreamt of you.”
“Look, I know what you’re thinking and I’m not one to believe in destiny or fate or any of that. I think it’s highly possible that you dreamt of someone who looked like me and when you saw me, your mind made the connection.”
“Is it also highly possible that you happened to be wandering by the exact alleyway at the exact time I needed help?”
Jace shook his head. “Coincidental.”
“All right, well considering this creature tracking me, I’m not quite sure what he is but the closest I can identify it is an elemental creature. I’ve only seen him command itself like the wind but if he is a true elemental, that would mean he can integrate himself into almost everything from fire, water, earth and air. We’ve tried to stop him.”
“Hmm? You know what he is then?”
Ariya nodded. “Somewhat. I felt it was him and a familiar one at that but I don’t know who or what it is exactly. My parents realized that I could feel some events before they happen. Sometimes it comes as a dream. They tried teaching me to harness the elements of nature. But my powers aren’t what they should be.” Slowly she shook her head. “I still don’t know how to control it, but if I were to use my ability of second sight—I fear he’ll find me and kill me like he did my family. There has to be a reason he’s after me. I just don’t know what he’ll do once he’s crossed into this land. In fact he may already be here because I dreamt of that girl dying, exactly the way your friend found her and the same way my two sisters died as well.”
“Well, I don’t know if I believe all of this. I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that you exist.”
Ariya smiled. “That makes two of us. I still don’t know what you are.”
Jace stared ahead with her words echoing in his mind. Very rarely did he have to explain himself to anyone. In the centuries when he would feed upon unsuspecting humans, he never gave a hint of what he was, rather used it as his way of charming them. Now he felt as if he was being challenged to look at himself and define the being he had become. Finally he turned and faced Ariya’s curious, waiting eyes. “I’m a Nightwalker.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning I can only walk around freely during the night or else I’ll be destroyed by the sun. And I need blood to sustain my existence or else I’ll die.”
“Wait a minute. If you aren’t an Asiman creature then—
“The Western civilization calls us Vampires and that’s the closest description of us. We’re not blood drinking spirit creatures that inhabit other people’s bodies. “
“You mean, you really exist? So you couldn’t have known about the elemental. There has been no recorded history to link the two.”
“Apparently not. None that I’ve seen firsthand anyway.”
Ariya froze and looked up. “Wait, I thought you were just a part of mortal legends and scary stories told for entertainment. The mortals seem to have a strange fixation on you. Garlic, crucifixes, holy water and nights of skulking around for innocent mortals as their prey. At least that’s what I read in my studies.”
“That’s basically what we’ve been reduced to thanks to a crazy Irishmen who never visited Wallachia. And Angel’s father, but that’s neither here nor there. One person in a battle saw a feed break out amongst our army and mistakes one of the bloodiest murdering conquerors in history as a Nightwalker. The massive depths to which, our history has yet to recover.”
Ariya shook her head. “I don’t understand. Dracula was fiction.”
Jace tilted his head in thought. “Ah yes, but the true history was not fiction. Like I said, I was there in the battle against the real demon. Thankfully the depictions of us are so varied across the world or else we’d be in big trouble.” He stretched and relaxed his muscles with a heavy exhale. “Vampires wouldn’t even be an accurate term for us. We predate the origin of the word by three or four centuries.”
He tossed around the history of his family and the birth of the Nightwalkers in his mind. Maybe one day he’d share the details, but not everything. No one but the Patriarchs of the house knew everything and he wanted to keep that way. He swung his legs over the bed and stood. “Besides, I’m not really one to divulge too much of my life to anyone. Especially an outsider I don’t know too much about.”
“You know you can trust me.”
“I can, huh?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
Ariya walked to the bed and leaned forward, resting on her hands. She gave him a half smile. “Or else you would have killed me by now.”
Jace cleared his throat and Ariya stifled a smile at the effect she had on him. “Well, you are correct there,” he said smoothly. “Mortal definition of the vampire term is pretty narrow to describe our kind. We need blood to live. Just like they do. The old mythology of holy water, garlic and all that jazz is just that—fiction.”
“And how do you get the blood to nourish you?”
“From humans and animals.”
“And each other?”
Jace nodded. “At times.”
Ariya remembered how the display heated the room. The exchange was pleasurable for both of them and part of her wondered if she would ever share such an experience with him. She gently shook her head to rid her mind of the thought. Why would I want to share it with him anyway? If the legends about his kind were true, this creature didn’t die. Instead he was but a trapped spirit defying the very laws of life and death. What kind of abomination of mankind did I run into?
“Mankind.” Jace shook his head. “We are hardly a part of mortals anymore than we belong to the family of wolves. Some of us anyway.”
“But it is the very nature of life to die so that your spirit may live on in another. To cheat death by taking the blood of another life it’s—
“Surviving.”
Ariya scoffed. “Defiance of life’s very nature to maintain itself. A stolen life.”
“Your rules are very different than here. The exchange of blood sustains the body and life, yes. But to continue to feed off that blood—”
“Is sacrilegious.”
Jace’s gaze narrowed on her. “Is likened to the predatory animals I’m sure you’ve come across. For them it’s survival, for us…it is an intimate feeling. A close exchange of one’s very essence. With the right person, it is highly pleasurable, but potentially deadly. It’s hard to put into words the heights of bliss one rises to as they are pushed to the edge of death. Unless they share the experience with me, apparently. Then they don’t survive at all.”
Ariya folded her
arms. “Well if you wish to read my mind and prove yourself, answer this question. Would you ever bite me? Push me to the edge of death?”
Jace stood and walked to her.
He lifted his head to sniff her skin, blood and essence. It was like nothing he ever sensed before. The temptation rippled through his body like water beneath his skin. He tingled with a sense of desire for her. With one bite, he could take her and see just how far his tendency to kill would reach. Then again, maybe she would live after the act. Maybe she would be the one exception to his blood filled rule.
“If I so desired,” Jace said without blinking.
Ariya shivered as she looked deep into his eyes. Lust was in those deep pools of blue and she knew this man was capable of intense passion—and a quick kill. She hoped she hadn’t made a mistake running here and falling into a more sinister threat.
“I assure you, though. You are safe with me.” Jace gently brushed his fingertips along the length of her bare arms. “Looks like you’re stuck with me anyway. At least until this whole thing blows over, and our names are cleared once we get to the bottom of Shelly’s murder.”
Ariya tried to ignore the chill running along her skin behind each touch. There were more pressing matters to attend to at the moment but she had a hard time focusing as her heart raced whenever he was near.
* * * *
Rich veered his bike around a corner and across the quiet streets of downtown Tempe later that morning. The sun rose in the sky across the horizon as a new day was welcomed once again. His body and muscles were still tense from the previous encounter with Jace and the mysterious girl. Questions cornered his mind about her whereabouts and even more, he wanted to know what happened with Shelly.
Like the mortals, the act of taking the life of their own within the Ashen Twilight House was against all laws. Only the patriarchs had that authority and even then it was under special circumstance that required much discussion over lethal offenses. During his years as regent, he had seen many deaths in the years before the houses were united under a common rule. The Nightwalkers, the Lycan pack and the Shifter Elves all had a common threat with the mortals and decided the only way to survive was to band together.