by Leia Stone
I had just about convinced myself that she was leading me toward a fire-breathing dragon, or a pack of pissed-off vampires who would eat the flesh from my bones while I was alive, when she paused outside a large, ornate double door. There was an emblem engraved into the door, and words written beneath, but in no language I’d seen. Maybe some type of secret vamp language.
Red seemed to be waiting for something. Finally, she tapped out a weird pattern and the doors silently slid open.
“They’re waiting for you,” she cryptically said, before fading off into the dimly lit tunnel.
Great…
I placed my hand against the cool stone, and taking a few fortifying breaths, shoving the door back with a hard push. If I was going down, I wouldn’t cower out here, I’d march in with my head held high and confidence in my ash eyes. Never let them see your fear, right?
It took me a few seconds to adjust to the brighter room. More fire lanterns were scattered around. Maybe it was hard to get electricity to run down here. There was also a massive fireplace with a heavy mantel, which had a huge fire burning inside. The room was circular, and in the center stood a heavy wooden table. It looked to have been carved from the largest tree in existence, because it was a single piece spanning at least twenty feet in diameter.
The room appeared to be empty, no dragons or gang of crazy vampires, or so I thought until a familiar head of very blond hair came into view.
My feet were moving, stray tears rimming my eyelids as I dashed across the space.
“Mom!” I threw myself at her, forgetting for a moment that she was much more breakable than I was.
She held me tightly, no hesitation in her grip. It was the same as it had always been. Unconditional love.
She still smelled like lilac and spearmint, her favorite gum flavor, and despite the fact that I had to push down my urges when I was this close to her neck, I managed to control my desires and just enjoy having my mom here.
I pulled back, and we both sank into one of the large chairs. I rested against the heavy wooden back, which was intricately carved with an array of roses, that towered high into the air.
“How are you here?” I couldn’t tear my eyes from her, a little slice of normal in the last few crazy days of my life. I had no idea how much I needed this. Seeing Tessa was one thing, but my mom was everything.
“I needed to speak with you, sweetheart.” Her face was serious; I didn’t like it. “I have to explain why I never spoke to you of this. But I didn’t want you blindsided during the culling.” Her voice wavered a little on that, but she plowed ahead. “You never were very interested in this world, no matter how many times I tried to broach it with you. There are so many things you don’t know, but the first one is that I never married the man in the war photo, John. He was just a boyfriend, and for a long time I thought he was your true father because girl ash don’t exist.”
I leaned forward in my chair, wondering where this story was going.
“I don’t like to speak ill of the dead, but John was an alcoholic, and abusive.” She looked down timidly at her hands.
Oh hell no. With that one sentence, part of my world and soul came crashing down. That asshole in the photo that I had always adored and loved had hurt my mother.
She went on: “When he was deployed in the war I thought it was a good clean break-away for us. I would write him a letter and end things. We were intimate the night before he left, and afterwards he hit me again. This time there was no alcohol. This time his excuses fell on deaf ears. I was done with being a victim.”
Okay, TMI. But still, go mom.
“The next day he was deployed and it was the perfect time to make the break. I felt so free, so glad to be out of that destructive relationship. Of course, in an ironic twist of fate, it was that very night I almost lost my life and all sense of freedom with it.” Her brows drew together, a shine of tears at the memory glistened in her brown eyes. “On my way home from class I was attacked by a rogue vampire. Rogues were a little more common back then. The enforcers weren’t quite as concerned about public opinion.”
Even though all of this had happened a long time ago, my breath still caught in my throat. How was she still alive?
“What happened?”
Those brown eyes softened then, as if some wonderful memory had superseded the horror of her attack. “Carter happened. He came out of nowhere and saved me. He fought the vampire, and despite killing him, ended up quite injured himself.” She brushed back her mess of hair. “I couldn’t leave him like that, no matter what the rules said, so I took him home and patched him up.”
Mom was a nurse, and would never ignore the plea of an injured person. What was she talking about rules though?
“Carter was so different than any man I ever knew. He was gentle with me. Caring.”
Shit, I was starting to see where this was going.
She finished in her soft voice. “That night, passion was high, and, well, you know how these things go.”
TMI times two. Thanks, Mom.
“Carter and I were inseparable for the next few days, and I realized that for the first time I was in love. We’d already broken so many rules. What was one more?”
The pieces sort of came together for me then. What human could have fought off a vampire and just ended up injured? None. So that meant…
“Mom, are you saying…?”
She nodded. “Carter was a vampire.”
Holy shit. Holy, holy shit. Well, at least I knew my father wasn’t Lucas. ‘Cause that would have been whacked out.
I heard a sniffle and knew this story hadn’t been easy for my mom to share with me. But I was really glad she had. I reached for her hand.
“It’s okay. I’m so sorry you were with the Army asshole. I’m actually more grateful to know that my father is a vampire than an abusive drunk.”
Tears sparkled in her eyes.
“When I fell pregnant, I wasn’t sure whose it was. Carter wasn’t able to visit me often. He said some internal politics were shaking up the Hive and he might need to go into hiding. He was special in the vampire world but he never told me why. Then I found out it was a girl and I knew you were John’s daughter. I told Carter and he promised to be around either way, but then one day … I never heard from him again. Days after this, I got a letter from the Army saying John died in battle and, well … I knew that it was just going to be you and me.”
One of those tears slid down her cheek. Shit, this was heartbreaking. Carter was almost as big an asshole as Army dude. Who left a woman he loved, even if she was pregnant with another guy’s baby? It wasn’t like she cheated on him or anything.
“He’s probably dead,” I stated.
But my mother shook her head, her blond hair rippling in the firelights. “No.”
She said that with such surety. There was definitely something else she wasn’t telling me. Before I could press her harder, she reached forward and tucked a chunk of my hair behind my ear. For a second the closeness between us and the distinct and delicious smell of her blood distracted me. She pressed that same hand to my cheek, and I knew she was about to drop something else big on me.
“Carter is not dead. Every year on Christmas, since your birth, I get ten thousand dollars wired to my bank account.”
I blinked a few times, trying to remember if there had ever been any indication of these secrets that littered my mom’s life. How could you know and love a person so much, and yet not really know them at all?
“Forgive me for not telling you all of this,” she choked out.
“Mom, of course I forgive you. It’s okay.” Yeah, it wasn’t really okay, she’d kind of effed-up my world, but there was no point mentioning that now. The past couldn’t be changed and I would never stop loving her. We hugged for a long time before I finally pulled away. She looked into my eyes and chuckled.
“You have his eyes now. The crazy dancing green-silver.”
That was interesting. I was already curious abo
ut the difference in my eyes to the other ash, so much more silver. And she was right, this weird dancing green, like an arc of electricity, zagged through it.
My mom leaned in very close. “We could run away. I could give you blood. I don’t want you going through the culling.”
My heart pinched at her words, her so very tempting words. But I knew there was no way. I needed blood six times a day. Not to mention my crazy eyes. Humans would flip the hell out and my mom would die of blood loss. “Mom, that’s sweet, but I don’t think we would last very long on the run.”
I had already scoped the plump throbbing vein in her neck more than once. My mom sighed. “Well, this Lucas person seems to care about you. He sought me out and snuck me in here to see you.” She raised an eyebrow. “Maybe you could use your female gifts to make sure he takes care of you.”
Oh my God. She did not just said that. “Female gifts? Are you whoring me out?”
She laughed, and just like that some of the heavy emotional stuff lifted and we were back to making jokes. “I’m saying he’s in a place of power and you’re a good looking young lady.”
I plugged my ears. “La la la. Oh my God, Mom.”
She shrugged. “That’s all I got. Those were the only two plans I had.” Her voice shook.
I sat up straighter and grasped her hands in a strong grip. “Well, I have a plan.”
She looked hopeful.
“I’m going to get some big, buff, scary looking ash to teach me how to be a badass, murdering fighter, and I’m going to survive the culling with my own two hands.”
My mom smiled weakly as if she didn’t believe that was possible. Great. Team Charlie, party of one. A knock at the door jarred us from the moment. The stone barrier swung open. Red was back. Her graceful catlike poise had me instinctively leaning in front of my mother in a protective gesture. Home-girl looked ready to pounce at any moment.
“Number forty-six, your time is up. The human must leave the Hive now. No more visitors until after the culling, when you have earned the right, like everyone else.” She practically spat out the last words.
My mother and I shared a look. Bitch. And the next person to call me number forty-six was getting a fat lip.
I hugged my mom and took one last sniff of her lilac and spearmint scent. If I closed my eyes I could almost pretend for a moment I was back home. Then, with my heart heavy and my eyes aching, I stood and followed Red. I turned back to meet my mom’s eyes one more time, as another vampire appeared out of nowhere to escort her away.
I struggled to get my emotions under control the entire time I followed Red. Vamp-bitch dropped me back off at the double doors on level eight, the training room. The only sound in the space was her high heels clicking off back down the hallway. I took a moment to gather myself, to focus.
Training. Right. I was going to train to fight for my life. Everything about this felt wrong. One moment I was an upstanding human citizen and the next I was being booted to bloodsucker-ville to fend for my life. Effed up. Well, maybe I wasn’t exactly upstanding, but I wasn’t a complete drain on society. Now I felt discarded. Where the hell were the police? Couldn’t I call 911 and get bailed out of this? Hah! Yeah right. I was infected, no one wanted me.
“Are you going to stand out here all day or do you actually plan on learning something.”
I tried not to jump as Ryder’s deep voice broke through my thoughts. Dammit, he’d snuck up on me again. I turned to glare at him, startled to see he was with another ash, tall and pale with short, military-style dark blond hair. God these men were gorgeous. I wasn’t sure how long my hormones could be stemmed here and have no release. My fear and distrust used to keep the interest at bay, but I was slowly becoming desensitized to their freak ways and now only seemed to zero in on their hotness. Plus, I was starting to see that blaming an entire race for the actions of two assholes, was pretty darn unfair.
When I didn’t answer, Ryder introduced blondie. “This is Zeke, your trainer.”
I scanned Zeke up and down. He looked buff, like he might be a deadly weapon, but nothing like Ryder. “Hi, I’m number forty-six.” I shook his hand, giving Ryder a bright smile. Laced with venom of course.
The corners of Ryder’s lips curled slightly.
Zeke nodded as he released my hand. “Do you have any training at all?”
I stood taller. “Yes, women’s self-defense, shooting range, and I’m a runner.”
Zeke huffed as if that was nothing. “Well then, let’s see what you got.”
He opened the double doors and I was assaulted by the smell of leather, blood, and sweat. For the first time, the noises from within were audible. The room was soundproofed. There was a lot of grunting going on, especially as most of the ash were being slammed onto the mats that littered the open gym floor. Looking up, there were huge exposed rafters and a forty-foot ceiling. Surrounding the fight-zone were a few spectators sitting in bleachers suspended above the gym on some upper floor viewing area. Great, a crowd.
I followed Zeke to an open area. Ryder took a spot leaning against the wall to watch.
Zeke planted his big frame in front of me. “Okay, attack.”
“Like, for real?” I scratched my arm nervously. Damn, he wasted no time.
“Like, totally for real,” he said in a valley girl voice. Asshole. I put my hands in front of me in a boxer’s stance and heard Ryder and a few of the other trainers chuckle behind me. Bastards, all of them.
I decided to act like the airhead they clearly thought I was, stumbling forward and pretending I was going to clock Zeke in the face. He acted as I expected – his arms lifted to block my pathetic attempts at a swing. Then, instead of throwing the punch, I whipped my leg up and kneed him in the groin, connecting solidly. The air whooshed out of him. This was followed by a groan as he curled in on himself.
I forced myself not to smile, but that was perfect. And would hopefully teach him not to treat me like a Barbie doll. My celebration was short-lived though. He recovered quicker than I expected and threw himself forward, taking me down to the ground.
Shit. Being underneath your attacker was the worst possible position to be in. He straddled me, his bulk securing my limbs, and in seconds he had an elbow to my throat. I squirmed, trying to breathe. Ash needed to breathe or they died, right? I tried to pull both knees up, but he was too strong.
As I struggled, he continued to stare at me, those black eyes piercing and strangely empty. “You’re dead,” he said. “If this were the culling, you’d have been gone in five seconds.”
He released my neck and I rolled over gasping and coughing. I popped up quickly and placed my hands up again, sucking in huge lungfuls of air. Mothereffer was going down.
“Yes!” Zeke said. “Use anger, come on. Show me what you’ve got!”
Once I managed to breathe freely again, I was up and bouncing on the tips of my feet, trying to remember that I was an ash. I was stronger and faster than my human self. With a battle cry I ran at him, spinning and delivering a roundhouse kick to the side of his head. He fell backward, but used his long legs to snake out and trip me.
I landed on my right elbow, but was able to prop myself up before he could pounce on me again. He was too big and strong; I couldn’t allow him to take me to the ground. I kicked out and smashed him in the stomach with my heel. He winced as I jumped back up into standing position.
“She’s scrappy,” Ryder called out to Zeke. Damn straight. Scrappy Charlie. Bring it on, you beautiful bastard.
Zeke lifted a brow at Ryder. “She’d scrappy, but also slow and weak.”
Before I could track his movements, his arm snaked out lightning-quick and karate-chopped me in the throat. I bent over gasping as his knee came out of nowhere and cracked me in the skull. Then it was lights out.
Chapter 5
I came to groaning; the throbbing in my skull was awful. What the hell had happened to me now? It took a few seconds, but the training hall and Zeke slowly started to come back to
me. What the freak? Where were my awesome ash healing powers?
I cracked open one eyelid to see Jayden peering at me. His dark eyes flashed and he looked worried.
I sighed. “I feel like shit.” My thirst knocked into me as Jayden handed me a bottle of blood from our refrigerator.
His full lips straightened as he frowned at me. “Yeah, skull fractures take a while to heal.”
My eyes widened as I sat and chugged the glorious blood, moaning a little. I couldn’t help it, blood was so damn good now. But seriously … I had a skull fracture? I thought I was supposed be training, not getting completely broken beyond repair.
After downing the bottle, I looked at Jayden. “Did everyone see? Did all those assholes laugh?”
He chewed his bottom lip. “Not really.”
I could already tell when he was lying. His luscious lashes fluttered around like they were butterfly wings trying to take flight.
“Liar,” I said, wanting to roll my eyes, but figuring it would probably increase the ache in my head.
He leaned into me a little more. “Well, they might have at first, but Ryder put a stop to that fast. He threw one of the trainers across the room and into the stadium.”
Well, that was interesting.
The blood started to work its magic and I was already feeling a bit better. I sat up, ignoring the faint throbbing in my skull.
“So I’m definitely a dead person once the culling begins. Awesome.” I gave two thumbs up.
Jayden shot me a weak smile. “I don’t think so. I heard that after seeing you get your ass kicked, and throwing around a few members of the Hive, a certain scrumptious badass offered to train you himself.”
I swallowed hard, my heart picking up. “Ryder is going to train me?”
Jayden nodded.
I was sort of intrigued about that. Why would Ryder offer to train me? And did I even want him to? I was slowly starting to forget that electrocuting me thing he’d done. I was falling victim to that chiseled jaw and those damn elusive dimples.