by Leia Stone
Lucas chuckled. “I do so miss that love for food. I pretty much just have blood now.”
I knew vampires could still eat food, but they didn’t need to, and they didn’t particularly enjoy it. Another ash entered then, and in his hands was a bottle of red wine. He showed the label to Lucas and the vampire nodded. The ash popped the cork with a whoosh of release, and the wine was allowed to breathe. Lucas filled both of our glasses; the scent hit me immediately. It was all red grapes, sweet apples, oak barrels and … blood. I straightened. Holy shit. They had alcohol with blood in it? Why the hell hadn’t I known this before now?
He talked as he poured. “This is a special blend that my company is manufacturing. It’s new to the market. I was hoping we could be the testers tonight.” The silver in his eyes flashed at me as he lifted his head and lowered the bottle to the table again.
I was intrigued. Lucas not only was a Quorum member, which was a fulltime job on its own, he also had a company that made cool things. Like blood alcohol. I reached for my glass, the wine swishing against the sides a little as I brought it closer to my face. My eyelids fluttered closed as the deeper tones of the scent hit me. I allowed myself moments to breathe it in. Blood had such a tantalizing smell for me now, that copper filled with spice and heat and life. Team that with rich grapes, the juicy sweetness of red apples, and aged wine and, well, shit, I was pretty sure Lucas had a winner here.
The first sip was a blast of flavor. Every single one of my taste buds jumped to attention and started screaming for more.
“What do you think?” My eyelids flew open to find Lucas watching me closely.
“Un-freaking-believable.” I almost moaned as I took another small sip. “I’ll take ten bottles.”
He laughed, flashing all those white teeth, the slightest tip of fang visible. “You survive the culling and you can have ten crates.”
Incentive enough for me.
The rest of dinner was relaxed. Lucas chatted to me about the general life and rules of the Hive while I devoured basically everything that wasn’t tied down. We finished the first bottle of blood merlot before opening a second. This one was less fruity, and spicier, but equally delicious. It was even giving me a little buzz and I wondered if maybe the blood worked with the alcohol to give more impact to vampires and ash.
“So tell me about your life before you were a vampire. How did you get infected?”
As my artlessly worded questions left my mouth, the animation fell from Lucas’ face and I realized that I might have pressed on a sore spot for him. The conversation before had been light and impersonal, and I’d just gone straight for personal. I opened my mouth to apologize and change the subject, but then he started to talk.
“I was infected in the late 1800s – I’m not even sure of the exact date any longer. Back then the bats had been culled, but the Originals had started to mass a decent number in their clans. But they weren’t always successful at keeping control. Newly turned vampires were driven to attack, like a bad case of rabies that can never be cured.” He swirled the liquid in his glass; my eyes remained locked on him. “I was a farmer, just a simple farmer. We grew wheat. My wife, Regina, she would stay at home and raise our two sons while I worked from daylight to dusk. It was a hard life, but it was perfect.”
God, this was harder to hear than I expected, especially considering it had been a very long time ago. But I could tell that for Lucas it was not long at all.
“One night I was out with the plow. There had been storms that season and it was imperative I finished the field that night. Generally, we did not stay out after dark. Everyone was aware of the problem sweeping the human race, and caution after dark was always advised.” He broke off then, ghosts of the past swirling in those captivating eyes.
“You were bitten?” I prompted.
He nodded a few times, his motions jagged. “Yes, a female, she came out of nowhere, attacking me. I managed to fight her off and in the struggle my horse took off dragging the plow over her, removing the head and covering my bite marks with her blood, infecting me. That was the only reason I survived. Well, sort of. I knew that everything I loved and worked so hard to provide for was gone. I could never go home to my family, I would kill them when the change happened and the bloodlust hit. So I ran. I ran for the city, to the humans who locked me and others like me away like science experiments. Luckily, technology was pretty sparse back then, so after I grew strong enough to control myself, I escaped and finally ended up in the Hive of those days, which was secreted away from humans.”
“You never saw your family again?” I asked breathlessly.
He dropped the wine glass onto the table. A few drops spilled, marring the brilliant white of his tablecloth. “I did visit them one time, just to make sure they were doing okay. The farmhouse was empty, deserted, and it had clearly been looted.” The depth of his anguish and anger filled his low tones. “I should have known that they’d be targeted, a single woman with two small children. I basically signed their death warrants when I deserted them.”
Either way, his family had been doomed.
“I salvaged her hutch and a few other pieces before burning the house to the ground. I never found my wife or sons. I still do not know what happened to them, and it haunts my every single waking moment.”
Gods, and I thought my story was horrible. I at least still had seen my mom and Tessa.
“That’s why you allowed Mom to come and see me.”
Lucas swallowed, his movements exaggerated as he worked to control his emotions. “You actually remind me a little of my wife. She was as tough and beautiful as you are. I … I knew you wanted to have a final goodbye with your mother, and it was within my power to grant that.”
I reminded him of his wife – it was all starting to make sense now. Lucas was a good guy, a good guy who’d had plenty of horrible things happen. Even now, with the cold ache of the vampire virus filling his veins, he was still being a good guy.
I reached across the table and took his free hand. “Thank you. I will never forget everything you’ve done for me.”
He returned my squeeze once before letting go. “Do not die in the culling, Charlie. I will be very unhappy, and I’d hate to have to start hurting the ash who hurt you.”
He would do it too. I could see it in his eyes. He was not happy about me going into this battle. But tradition was tradition, and not even a Quorum member could save me now. I was going to have to save myself.
Chapter 6
The next ten days passed in a blur of training, blood hunger, and ass-kickings. And straight up, Ryder was doing ninety percent of said kicking. I was getting a little bit better at fighting, but if my fellow ash fought anything like Ryder, I was a dead woman. I was starting to wonder if Ryder was punishing me for the revelations that day with that doctor, where she’d spoken of the anomalies in my blood. He’d been riding the shit out of me since then – pun intended – determined to turn me into a ninja freak show, and he was dragging my aching butt out of bed all hours of the day and night to do it.
A week ago we’d started weapons training, though Ryder only trained me on one weapon, the samurai sword. He thought it gave me the reach I needed on these big tall ash males. I told him it was stupid to teach me to use one weapon, especially if we had no guarantee that I would get the sword in my fight. He had said to shut up and do what he said because he had a plan.
The culling was tomorrow. One final day of training. And I was flat on my ass again.
“I can’t freaking levitate, Ryder. If you throw another fucking knife at me, I swear to the vampire gods I will find out where you sleep and I will sneak in and fill your bed with spiders – the kind that bite and kill.”
The enforcer halted himself mid-throw. Apparently he thought I lacked proper motivation to tap into my supposed power of the fourth house of the Originals. I thought he lacked a freaking soul, and was determined to kill me before I even made it into the culling.
“Charlie, you ha
ve more than a little untapped potential. I see it rarely, but it’s there. I’m struggling with a way to break down this wall of clumsy incompetence you hide behind. The culling starts tomorrow, and if you don’t deal with your shit you’re going to die.” His broad chest heaved in and out as if he was struggling not to completely lose his shit on me.
Wait, had he called me clumsy and incompetent? What a bastard. I was trying my best. A surge of emotion knocked into my chest, tightening it before it rose up in a burning wave of righteous anger. I was so going to rip his arm off and beat him to death with it. That would show him who was clumsy. I flipped to my feet and leapt forward, ready to strike. The movements came easier, and I was finally starting to understand why he’d drilled them into me day after day. In sparring I could hold my own now, even with Ryder, but I still lacked deeper technical training, which would be impossible for anyone to gain in such a short period.
I generally came at him front on and quite aggressive, but this time I did something different. I swung into his face, and right before I would have hit him, and he would have blocked me, I dropped down to my knees and drove both of my closed fists into his gut.
The shock reverberated up my arms and my hands ached instantly. There was not one ounce of fat on Ryder. Hitting his abs had been like smashing my fists into a wall. But I had hit him, and hard enough to stumble him back a little. I then swung one of my legs out, and ignoring the current pain in my knuckles, kicked out and smashed into his knee, hitting from the side and collapsing it in on itself.
The entire attack had taken no more than three seconds. I was fast. Ryder had been trying to get me to take advantage of my speed, and I was finally hearing his words. As he hit the ground, I dived across the long length of his body and straddled him, before slamming my fist down into his nose. He shifted his head at the last moment, and I knew he could have halted my movement – I saw that in his black and silver gaze – but he let me hit him, and it was this knowledge which stopped me from slamming into his face again.
We stared at each other, my breath heaving in and out as I fought for control. I knew I needed blood. I’d been trying to stretch myself out longer between feedings. But I was at the end. I wanted to bite Ryder so badly my teeth and gums were actually aching.
His expression was almost gentle as he stared up at me. “There is a wild strength in you, Charlie. You have beauty and brains. You need to figure out how to bring that all together. If you do that, there is no one who could stand against you.”
Those soft words brushed against me, and for a fraction of a second his eyes flashed pure silver. I realized then I was still straddled across his muscled form, and needed to move now. I blinked a few times, but my body didn’t seem to be responding.
Crap, Charlie, get your ass off him. He’s already tried to kill you five times today. My pep talk wasn’t doing its job either. I had to touch him, I needed to taste the skin on his neck. God he smelled so good. The way he stared up at me, before he raised his hands to my hips. His grip tightened and I almost moaned at the strength in his hold.
He leaned up, and as our faces moved closer together, he shifted his shoulders and … lifted me to the side. Disappointment flashed through me as I lowered my head and fought for composure.
“I’m going to the feeding room,” I blurted, stumbling to my feet and basically racing from the room. I glanced back just before I crossed out of the gym, and noticed that Ryder had moved across to one of the large bags hanging from the beams. He was already smashing the crap out of it, in a series of attacks that were controlled and smooth, leaving me breathless with jealously. I would never fight like him.
He snarled then, and in a show of unprecedented power drove his fist all the way through, completely destroying the bag and letting the seeds inside run out onto the floor.
That was all I got to see before I was out of sight. I’d never seen Ryder lose control like that before. He was always contained, but the pure fury as he ripped through that bag just then had my pulse racing and my heart stuttering.
I knew I frustrated him. But for some reason that had seemed more like he was fighting himself and his own control. I didn’t understand Ryder very well. He was this strong, powerful enigma, and I guess I had never stopped to think about his story. How long had he been an ash? I knew we aged very slowly, not quite immortal like vampires, but there was a long life in front of us. I had never seen Ryder much in social situations. From the little I knew of him, he mostly hung around the other enforcers in the sexy six, trained me, and went out on missions – though they dialed that back during the culling period. They only contacted Ryder now when it was something the rest couldn’t handle.
He was strong, he was their leader, and I was starting to find it hard to tear my gaze from him when we were in the same room together. I needed to get back to working on that getting laid thing. I wasn’t easy or anything. I could count the number of guys I had slept with on one hand, but lately I was having a hard time dialing down my hormones. Tonight, right after I got me some blood and Tessa time – my bestie was scheduled on the feed tonight – I was heading out to the underground club, Base Level. It was embedded deep into the Hive on level three. Tomorrow might be my last day on Earth – if I was called to the early culling fights – and I was not going to spend it alone or crying in my bed.
Screw Ryder and his hot and cold bullshit. I was a strong, independent, bloodsucking ash. I did not need his sexy butt in my new life. It was confusing enough already.
I slowed my run as I finally made it to the elevator, taking it to floor eleven. I only visited the feeder room to see Tessa and stock up on blood. I still wasn’t cool with sucking on a living person’s neck. When I entered the double doors, I went straight to the fridge and grabbed three bottles, before ducking into my usual feeding room. Tessa was sprawled back in the chair, her skin clammy and pale – though she jumped up straight away and threw herself at me.
“Friggin’ hell, Charlie, I’ve missed you so much.”
She stumbled a little in my arms, and I grabbed at her to keep her on her feet, pulling back to see her better. “What’s wrong, Tess? Are you sick?”
She waved me off. “No, nothing like that, just…” She held a hand over her neck to cover the right side.
I must have been slow or something tonight, because it was more than a few moments before I clicked in to what the hell had happened.
“Who?” I demanded, my hands gripping her biceps a little hard. “Who fed from you, Tess?”
No vampire or ash was allowed to just randomly feed, which meant she had signed up for this shit – additional feedings. Her round eyes widened a little and she dropped her gaze. I knew my own eyes would be a blaze of silvery green, so I closed them to try and regain control.
Placing my friend, with her overly pallid skin, back in the chair, I ripped into the top of my blood bottle. I was not going to be able to deal with this on an empty stomach.
She watched me warily as I prowled across the floor. “Why would you sign up to be a second feeder? You’re going to get hurt, Tess!”
Her lips crinkled into a smile. “Babe, you worry too much. It’s not like you actually feed from me, and maybe … well, you know, I might actually have a shot at being turned into a vamp.”
The bottle fell from my fangs and smashed onto the floor, spattering out the remains of blood. My jaw hung open. “What … why … I don’t… ” I was spluttering away, trying to figure out what to say to her. “Why would you want to be a vamp?”
Yes, she had always been fascinated, but this was taking it a step too far. Tessa was officially a vamp groupie.
Some of her usual fire sprang back into her body, and she pulled herself up to meet me in a clash of female pissed-off-ness. Her finger jabbed at me while she spoke. “I have been here eight times in the past few weeks but have only seen you twice. You are busy or injured, or basically living a fucking life without me. I can’t lose you.” Her breath huffed in time to her finger ja
bs. “I know it’s next to impossible to be turned, but I’m going to do my best. Besides, Blake and I have been talking while I wait for you to show up or not, and he’s hot and sweet. Plus, the feeding itself feels … amazing.”
Blake? I didn’t know what to say. I loved this chick so much; she was my person. If I ever killed someone, I’d call her to help me dispose of the body. I could not blame her for trying to keep us together, but I needed her to stop.
“Tess, I love you, but you can’t do this. The Hive is not a place you want to live. It’s rough, and dangerous, and there’s a decent chance that you’ll get killed by some overzealous vampire long before they will turn you. I need to know you are okay, that you and Mom are out there living normal lives. It’s what gets me through each shitty day here.”
“What about Ryder?” she said, ignoring all the negative I was saying. “Seems to be something going on with you two.”
I shook my head before reaching across to grab another bottle of blood. “Ryder is my trainer, end of story. He’s helping out Lucas, making sure I don’t die on my first day. He doesn’t have any interest in me.”
He’d made that perfectly clear.
“But you are interested in him?”
I had told her a little about my weird attraction to him.
“You should just go for it, Charlie. Dive on that delicious piece of ash. Don’t wait for him to figure shit out, you take what you want and don’t look back. There’s no way he doesn’t love you a little. You’re hot as hell and funny and awesome. He’s secretly crushing on you, I have no doubt.”
And that was the second reason she was my person. Girl had my back no matter what. I ignored her Ryder pep talk. I knew there was something between me and him, but he clearly had some issues below the surface, something that held him back.
“So besides Blake, how’s your love life going?” It felt like a million years since I’d lived with her in our college room. It was really hard missing all the things in the human world. I forgot about my old life when I was busy in my training bubble, but times like this it hit me hard that everything outside of the Hive continued to go on without me.