by Leia Stone
I freakin’ flew, like some sort of strange bird, across the arena. The crowd gasped, and a weird sort of dead-air silence fell over the fight. That’s right, bitches. Levitation. I worked hard to land close as possible to the ash who was hurting my friend. Dude hadn’t even looked up; he didn’t know death stalked him from the air. But he was about to find out. I came down hard, knocking into him, throwing the asshole off of Jayden, the pain in my leg roaring back to life with an intensity that had my vision flashing with black dots.
I wobbled for a second, breathing deeply. Not the time to pass out, no matter how much I wanted to. Neck biter jumped up, and I was relieved to see Jayden was alive – clutching his bleeding throat but alive.
Neck biter circled me like a lion about to strike. Anger was coming off him in waves. I forced myself to envision how I would kill him. Then of course, the moment I did that I started raging at myself. This entire situation was screwed up. Why the hell was I having to become a murdering monster? Because the vampires needed to conserve space for their huge luxury Hive apartments?
Neck biter lunged, but I was ready – I was so ready. I might not want to kill him, but I wanted to end this. I dodged and threw out a high kick to the side of his temple. He wobbled and I dropped to my knees, stabbing him in the stomach. Not a kill shot, but a debilitating one.
He folded over and I took the chance to tackle him to the ground, straddling him, his hands pinned under my legs as he clutched his bleeding stomach. I couldn’t meet his eyes as I brought the dagger up and slid it straight under his chin and into his neck. Ryder had shown me many times the best ways to kill and debilitate quickly, information that had been very useful during the culling, but which no twenty-one-year-old should ever have to know.
I had no choice. I told myself that over and over. I had no mother-effing choice. But I still hated myself for it.
He started bleeding out, and I clenched my thighs to keep him from lifting his hands and stanching any of the blood. It was only that he was weak and injured already that I’d even had a chance. If Lucas hadn’t used his money and influence to ensure I was one of the last fighters … fuck this! This was so wrong. Tears lined my eyes as the last of my innocence died. I wasn’t Charlie anymore, that girl who liked to check out boys at Starbucks and get mani-pedis with Tessa…
It was inevitable of course. I had to harden all of my soft edges if I was going to survive my new life as a tasty Nutella unicorn, but it still pissed me off.
The ash beneath me ceased to breathe, and stopped moving, and I stood up to the roaring crowd as the buzzer sounded. I threw my dagger on the ground and met the eyes of my new society. Then I raised both hands and gave them all the middle finger, turning in a slow circle to make sure they all saw. Fuck you crazy assholes and your sadistic game. My gesture was met with mostly glares and a few sparse chuckles. Yeah, glare on, freaks, I didn’t give a shit.
I turned to Jayden, relieved to see he had wound a shirt around his neck and was sitting up. Together we left the arena, never looking back. Ryder came out of a side entrance and approached me with a solemn face.
“You did it.”
I could only nod. I had just fought for the right to live in a society that I wanted nothing to do with. Yay. Life was great.
Chapter 7
It had been a week since the culling and life in the Hive had completely changed. We were given ID badges with our actual names. Jayden and I received a nice two-bedroom apartment that happened to be down the hall from Ryder and the enforcers. Level thirty-three. We got to wear normal clothes and were assigned shitty jobs. Jayden worked the front desk at the feeding center and I helped in the communications room. I got to dispatch Ryder and his enforcer team to different situations that got called in. It was hella boring and I would much rather be going to the actual calls and enforcing, but I guess it was fine for now. The nightmares from the culling were also starting to ease. The fact that I’d ended lives and had to fight to the death still weighed heavily on me, but last night I’d actually slept five hours in a row. First time since that day.
I would never forget what the vampires had forced me to do, but for now I was going to bide my time. I couldn’t change anything yet, but one day I wanted to give it my best shot to end the culling. I was relieved to know that even as a full-fledged member of the Hive, vampires were still not around much. I wasn’t sure what those suckers did in their spare time – stuck to their own levels of the compound probably – but either way I was much more comfortable with ash now. Which was good, since that’s all I ever saw.
Thank God for emails from my mom and Tessa, some much needed female interactions. They’d been more than relieved to learn I had survived the culling, and both were happy to know that I was applying for permission to go back to my college classes. As an ash of course. I would have to sit in a special section and not with Tessa, but it would be nice to get back to some semblance of normalcy. Of course, I wasn’t allowed back for a year. That was how long new ash were monitored. Which left me bored and edgy in the Hive. Cell phones didn’t work in lower levels of the Hive, so for daily communications Tessa and I had to email each other. I smiled as I saw an email pop up.
‘Clubbin’, read the title.
Hey bitch,
I miss your blood drinking ass and now that you’re not on ash probation, I thought we could meet up at Club Shade. Blake invited me, I will stay out after curfew. Please come, I miss your ability to down an entire bottle of tequila. Don’t dress like a boy, show the goods.
P.S invite Ryder, I gotta see this guy in person.
Love,
Tessa
My smile grew larger. I glanced over my shoulder. The communications room was pretty empty right now. Just Markus, the Scottish enforcer, and my current communications job trainer.
“Hey, Markus, what’s the protocol for new ash going out during curfew hours?”
He gave me a look that said I might not like the answer. “For the first year, all requests go through Ryder.”
Ugh. This monitored for a year thing was going to get old real fast. I drummed my nails on the table top and then stood to go find the elusive ash. He had just gotten back from a call where one of the eleven new ash that survived the culling had tried to run away. He hadn’t made it far, of course. Ryder was very good at his job.
I knocked on the enforcer locker room door.
“Come in,” Ryder said.
I opened the door and had to keep my jaw from dropping as Ryder was standing before me wearing only a white towel. His skin still had droplets of water beading and rolling down. Good God, this man was trying to kill me.
“What’s up?” he said as he pulled on a black t-shirt. I followed the movement as it rolled over his tan delicious body.
In the short time since we’d stopped training together, I had almost forgotten how perfect Ryder was. Shit, okay, I hadn’t exactly forgotten, more like I made myself to think of him as only my friend and an enforcer. No one wanted to lust after someone who was not interested, no matter how many blazing looks he threw my way. I needed to meet up with Tessa … or meet a nice ash ready to settle down. Ugh, no, not an ash. A human maybe … screw the rules. It had definitely been way too long since I had had a boyfriend.
I stared at his mesmerizing eyes, the silver so prominent tonight. I wondered what emotion he was feeling strongly. “Just wanted to see if I could meet Tessa – my best friend who is human – at a night club tonight. During ash curfew hours of course.”
He took a moment before answering. “I don’t know … you’re new, and the Quorum brought a shit storm of questions down on Lucas after your levitation incident at the culling.”
Apparently it was rare for a new ash to tap into their houses special skill like that. Thankfully, the questioning had been brief, but the Quorum were now “keeping an eye on me”.
I forced myself not to lower my gaze. I wouldn’t beg, but I had to make him understand. “I need this.”
It was eithe
r he let me out or I really would start begging him to take that shirt off again so I could gawk at his perfection.
His chiseled jaw actually softened. “Okay, I’m off duty tonight. I’ll go with you. I don’t want any trouble.”
I gave a little excited jump and wiggle. “Thank you! Can Jayden come?”
He threw his hands up. “Sure, invite all the newbies. I love to babysit.”
I threw him a grin. “You’re not such a bad guy after all.”
He returned my grin with a withering glare. “You can go now so I can finish getting dressed.”
I sighed and left, trying not to imagine Ryder replacing the towel with pants. Stupid pants. What use were they anyway?
I pretty much bounced the entire way back to my room. This was what I had been waiting for since the moment I collapsed at my mom’s place – time to feel normal, to pretend for just one night that I wasn’t some weird, mythical creature that needed bottled blood to live. Now that I had survived the culling, I was hoping for a lot more normal moments in my life. I wasted no time smashing into Jayden’s room in our apartment.
As expected, he pretty much squealed when I told him of our upcoming field trip from the Hive. “Seriously? Yummy Ryder is escorting us to a club in town?”
I rolled my eyes at “yummy Ryder.” Jayden had his own sexy six. He had to stop with all the man greed.
“Yes, get ready,” I told him. It was midnight and Ryder would be here soon.
Jayden lurched to his feet. “Me get ready? What about you?” He eyed my skinny jeans and tank-top like they were dirt-covered canvas bags. I flipped him off but he persisted.
“Honey, a body like that needs to be showed off. Please, please, please, let me dress you.”
Well shit, Tessa had been replaced by her clone. Knowing my new bestie pretty darn well already, I knew he would not give up. And I was too excited to care tonight.
“Whatever,” I declared, and just like that he attacked me with all of his gayness.
My hair was pulled down and curled in loose waves, my makeup applied with expert precision – darker than I usually wore, but still perfect. He finished with a red stain brushed upon my lips. Then Jayden ducked out of the room, he was gone for a bit so I guessed had headed to the Hive’s clothes stores, before he returned holding what looked like nipple pasties triumphantly in the air.
I put my hands up. “Hell no, I’m not a stripper.” Jayden was even worse than Tessa.
He rolled his eyes. “Duh, strippers don’t wear pasties.”
He dropped the packet on the bed and whipped out this small black scarf.
“What’s that scarf for?” It was cold outside now. We were well into October, but ash were naturally warmer than humans. I wouldn’t need a scarf.
He smiled. “It’s not a scarf, it’s a top.” He motioned for me to lift my arms.
With a sigh I complied, somehow knowing I was totally going to regret allowing him free rein here.
Ten minutes later, I was looking in the mirror – Good lord – wearing a black backless shirt that scooped so low in the front you almost saw my belly button. It fastened at my neck, and if I leaned forward the pasties were the only thing keeping my modesty. Jayden let my keep the skinny jeans and ass-kicking boots. My upper half was stripper central and my lower half was Lara Croft Tomb Raider. Which was actually kind of perfect.
A knock on the door startled me. Shit, my eyes flashed back to my outfit.
I had forgotten for a second that Ryder, and who knows how many other ash, might be at the club tonight. With my freaky blood, maybe it wasn’t the best idea to have so much exposed skin.
Before I could voice my protest, Jayden opened the door and I turned to meet two silver eyes.
The head enforcer took one of his large strides into the room. He wasn’t alone. His five guys were with him, the core group of his enforcers, AKA the sexy six.
I took a second to stop and stare, at all of them, but mostly Ryder. This was the first time I had seen him in civilian clothes. First time I had seen any of the enforcers in civilian clothes.
I already sort of knew Oliver and Markus, and had been briefly introduced to the other three. One was Kyle, with his mess of dirty-blond hair and NFL player’s physique. He was Ryder’s second and best bro. Those two were always together. They had epic bromance written all over them. Kyle had been off on a long mission during my culling, so this was the first time for us to really hang out.
One of the other two was Jared. With his hot-ass Australian accent and blond curls, he was the epitome of surfer dude. I sort of guessed his eyes had been sky blue before the ash transformation, but now were the same black, with slight rings of silver. He was a funny, laidback guy, seeming to bring lightness to the other more serious ash. He had been the one Ryder wanted to train me in weights, and as I had admired his biceps on more than one occasion, I’d been looking forward to it. Unfortunately, he’d had to leave with Kyle, so some other random enforcer had helped.
The final of the six was Sam. Sam was a bit of a dark horse. I wasn’t sure I’d ever heard him speak. He just stood there with his black hair cut militarily short and his features hard. He wasn’t the tallest of the enforcers – that went to the mammoth of Markus, who was at least six and a half feet – and he wasn’t the scariest – that was definitely Ryder – but there was something about him, a contained energy. He was one to watch.
I found my eyes drawn again to Ryder. I was like a fucking bee with a flower, needing to suck out whatever sweetness I knew was inside. He wore clothes like no one’s business. He had on a dark blue polo shirt and dark-wash jeans. As my eyes dragged across his broad shoulders and slim hips, I realized he was checking me out almost as closely. His silver eyes were hooded now, his expression hard to read. I wasn’t sure if he appreciated all my skin or was hoping I had a large coat to throw over it.
He didn’t say anything about my outfit though, he just flicked his head to the hallway. “Let’s go.”
Oliver gave me a grin, his teeth very white against the dark tones of his skin. He crossed the space, and showcasing not an ounce of shame, interlocked fingers with my bestie. Go Jayden! I had quite the happy feels. Nothing like knowing your bestie was all hooked up with some hottie.
Ryder gave me a side glance, distracting me. “The boys have been bugging me to go out.” He flicked his head to the group. Kyle fell in on my other side. I tilted my head back to meet his lazy smile. Strangely enough, I was immediately comfortable with this guy. He induced no confusing and often x-rated feelings like Ryder, and even though he had the same tough, badass vibe going on, he seemed a little more relaxed.
“Fuck yes,” Kyle said. “It’s been boring as shit here for a while. Even my request in the UK proved to be nothing. The action has dried up since we got that call all those weeks ago about our mythical ash girl.”
Those black eyes twinkled at me and I found myself smiling in return.
“I’ll bet you thought that was some sort of system malfunction.”
He gave me a wink. “I was more focused on keeping Ryder from smashing the shit out of every single one of the ash who were at your mom’s house when we got there.”
My eyes shifted across to the silent enforcer again. “What did they do?” I asked, as some worry seeped into my voice.
He shrugged. “Nothing much, but they were too caught up in what you were. They abandoned protocol.”
“And the fact that one of them was cradling her in his lap while she convulsed had nothing to do with it?”
Ryder turned that dark stare on Kyle, who just laughed. You could tell they’d been friends for a long time. He was one of the few males not afraid of him. We walked in silence for a bit. I was still pondering Kyle’s words, even though I really didn’t want to be. Ryder shifted a little closer, and as my eyes rose to meet his, he said, “Your hair looks good down.”
Whoa. That was completely unexpected and I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t used to Ryder dishing out comp
liments. I didn’t want to read too closely into it. He was an honest guy. Probably there was nothing more than simple approval.
“Thanks,” I finally murmured.
You look good in a towel.
We traveled the rest of the way through the Hive in silence, before ending up in the courtyard. Everyone piled into a big black unmarked van and then we headed to the club. Hell yes. Finally, some normalcy in my life.
The doorman was a vampire. They must completely change shifts when the curfew ended. I had no idea, I wasn’t one to break curfew much. Ryder nodded at the bouncer and we all strode in without paying or ID checks. Ryder posse perk.
The club was pumping, the music louder and more bass driven than the last time I was here. I felt my body loosen up as we strode further in. This was my world, not the fucking Hive.
“Charlie!” my bestie shrieked, bounding over to me with blond curls bouncing. Girl looked all kinds of gorgeous in her short, tight blue dress, eyes extra blue against the dark liner. She slammed into me with the force of a truck and I laughed as I hugged her. We stayed like that for an extended moment, flashes of our past flittering through my head, and I knew she’d be thinking the same thing. The last time we were in a club everything had been normal. Then that very same night, everything changed. You really couldn’t take anything in life for granted, it could be gone before you even had a chance to really know you had it. Eventually we had to untangle ourselves and I handed her over to my other bestie. Tessa and Jayden had been chatting over email but hadn’t met in person.