by Leia Stone
He must have called ahead, because the Hive gate was open, and we flew through no problem. Kyle’s grip was tight on the wheel, but he remained in complete control as I started to give him directions to the house.
“What happens if she’s dead?” I blurted out.
Kyle swallowed. “The humans can press charges against the ash. They will fine the Hive a shit-ton of money, and the ash that killed her will never forgive himself.”
Shit. Suddenly I thought of Ryder. He hadn’t forgiven himself yet, had he? Now wasn’t the time to ask and I was sure best friend code kept Kyle from telling me.
The van screeched around another corner and turned onto Monroe Street. We were at the right street now. This was where the woman lived.
As we ground to a halt in front of a sprawling, ranch-style house, Kyle swung around to face me. “You haven’t been trained, so let me take the lead. Newly turned ash are jacked up from the change and are super strong. They also have an unquenchable thirst. If he bites me, kill him. He will not hesitate to kill me, and then he will move on to you.”
Holy shit balls. I felt my palms sweating, and was suddenly a tiny bit grateful for the culling. At least I had some experience fighting.
“Was I that strong?” I asked.
“You were the strongest call Ryder and I have ever taken.”
Well, damn. Kyle opened his door and hit the ground running. I did the same, following him right up to the door. Two hard kicks and it was down. One day I was totes going to learn how to kick down a door.
“Ash enforcers! Lay down with your hands behind your head,” Kyle yelled, and I finally noticed that he had two bottles of blood in his hand, and what looked like a couple more in his pockets. When the hell had he grabbed those?
I stepped out from behind Kyle’s broad shoulders and saw a young man with dark hair leaning over a limp, pale woman. The male stopped feeding on her; his face shot up and he started to growl. Kyle pulled his weapon and I followed suit, figuring he had a much better chance of knowing what the hell to do.
Kyle flicked open one of the bottle lids. “Want some nice blood?” He slowly bent and set the bottle on the ground, about three feet from the ash.
The young man’s chest was heaving, eyes black as night, with the slightest silver ring. He ignored Kyle’s offer and leaned back down to bite his mother. The second he clamped down, I saw her fingers twitch. No! She was still alive. I acted on instinct, firing a shot into the guy’s back. He snapped his head up and looked at me.
“Shit, Charlie,” Kyle said calmly. “Don’t poke the lion while he’s feeding.”
My eyes widened as I got what he was saying. Too late. The guy stood, dropping his limp mother and lurching up, smashing aside furniture to get to me.
“Don’t kill him!” I shouted at Kyle. Something inside of me felt bad for him. It wasn’t his fault. This was me a few months ago. He came at me like a zombie, arms out, fangs distended.
I jumped up and did a roundhouse kick to his temple, but he caught my leg midair, and an instant later I heard a loud snap.
Son of a bitch…
I let out a strangled scream and shot him again, this time in the gut, mostly to stop him from ripping my leg off. The guy folded over on himself, clutching his stomach, and I used this opportunity to bring the butt of the gun down on the back of his head. Kyle was right there to pin him down and wrestle reinforced steel zip ties onto his hands. Which was great because I was in a world of pain, and about to be completely useless. I favored my good leg while waiting for Kyle to finish securing the ash. All the while I was trying not to cry.
Kyle stood then, and I could see the new ash was out cold. The enforcer appraised me. “I’m kind of impressed, although Ryder is going to kill my ass for letting you get injured.”
I tried to smile. It felt more like a grimace. “What do we do now?” I asked, hoping like hell we were heading back to the Hive. I needed blood, and rest, and more blood. And possibly a good hour with Jayden to cry about how people kept breaking me.
“The others are almost here.”
When he said others I knew it was members of the sexy six. This core group of enforcers were the badasses of the ash and vampire world. They stepped in when no one else would take the job. And since Ryder trusted all of them, I was also starting to think of them as part of my people.
Kyle left me then to attend to the boy’s mother. She was very still and pale, and I wondered if we were too late. Kyle’s dirty blond hair shone in the half light as he leaned over her, feeling for a pulse and shifting her into a better position. “She’s still alive, her pulse is steady,” he said, lifting his head so I could see the very dark of his eyes. “The human doctors will take care of her. She’s going to be fine – just a little blood loss.”
I sank against the wall, which was currently holding me up. “That’s great!” From the first moment I heard those screams on the phone, I’d feared we were going to be too late. Seems we’d made it just on time.
Noise drew my attention then, starting low and increasing as more than one set of heavy boots clomped outside the single-story house. The front door Kyle had slammed into when we’d first entered had been leaning into the doorframe, and now slid to the side to reveal Markus, Jared, Sam, and Oliver. As usual when they were all together, the room shrank in from all the tall, beautiful, and deadly they were throwing around. Oliver noticed me first and broke ranks to come and assess my leg.
I winced as he tried flex my ankle. “Ow!”
He shook his head. “What happened? Ryder will want a full report when he gets back from paying his respects.”
I frowned. Paying his respects? What was he talking about?
Kyle glared at Oliver. “She took a call. It was an emergency and I needed backup. I didn’t think she would roundhouse kick a newly-turned ash in the face.”
The other four guys whistled low and appraised me with pride. Markus’ deep brogue drifted across the room. “No shit? Our unicorn is kind of a badass.”
Great, unicorn had officially stuck as a nickname. Sirens could be heard coming down the street.
Kyle looked me in the eyes, both respect and a glint of something extra there. Like acceptance. “What do you expect from someone trained by Ryder?”
Since the humans were on their way, we needed to bail. Oliver scooped me up into his arms, which I didn’t love, but walking was out of the question. Kyle and silent Sam lifted the newly-turned ash by the armpits. He was groaning and just beginning to wake.
“Come on, you know the drill. We need to leave so the human medics can help the mom.” Kyle ushered us all outside and we loaded into the two Hive vans just as the paramedics pulled up. There was an awkward moment as our two groups crossed paths, the human medics glaring us down. Really? We just saved her life. Well … we wouldn’t have had to if one of our monsters hadn’t bitten her. Okay, point taken. Humans hated us, and rightfully so.
The new ash was taken with some of the enforcers back to the Hive to await a transfer to another city, whichever one was still taking ash, or had a culling coming up. Poor guy, he had no clue the shit storm that was about to be his life. Good luck in the killing – I mean culling – buddy.
Oliver and Kyle let me stretch out on the back seat, resting my leg for the trip home. Truth be told, my leg hurt like hell, but that was the most fun I’d had all week. Screw answering phones, I wanted to be an enforcer.
Later that day, as I was hobbling around the enforcer locker room, I heard the distinct clip of shit-kicker boots. I had a moment to wonder which of the males it was, then Ryder strode in. He did a double-take as our eyes met. The silver around his iris started to glow and swirl, and the air between us thickened. I watched his breathing grow deeper. He seemed to be working on controlling himself. Did he already know what had happened? Had he heard about the call out?
I managed to blink a few times when he wrenched his gaze from mine and strode back out of the room. Not one word had been spoken, but the air
felt heavier now. The tension was palpable. Within minutes, I heard steps again, and Kyle, Oliver, Markus, Sam, and Jared followed the hard-as-stone lead enforcer into the locker room. As they stood there in a line like that, I realized how different each of them truly looked from one another, and yet the way they moved … it was fluid, like a team that had been together for a long time. There was history there. True family style.
Still, that didn’t stop Ryder from losing his shit.
“Someone better explain to me right the fuck now why Charlie is not only injured, but rumor has it she was out on a call today?”
Uh oh, the lead enforcer rarely raised his voice, and he never swore. He seemed to be able to command a room with no more than a few tersely spoken words, but today his cool was missing.
I did find it kind of hot to hear him say fuck.
Kyle, who was all casually leaning back against one of the gray metal cabinets, met his best friend’s eyes. “I had no choice. This was an emergency call – a new ash attacked a human, his mother. We both know that a second’s hesitation could mean the difference between life and death.”
Ryder’s jaw clenched. “You brought an untrained ash to a dangerous situation? It could have been life and death for her. And you thought it was an even better idea to give her a gun? What the hell, Kyle?”
A slight pink flooded across the tips of Kyle’s cheeks, and his eyes darkened even further. “I was thinking I took an oath! I was thinking of my best friend visiting his fiancée’s grave today and how I didn’t want this new ash to live with killing his mother, like you live with killing Molly!”
Holy Shit. That was so not what I’d expected Kyle to say. The enforcer’s dirty-blond hair hung forward as he dropped his head. I could tell he was already regretting using such harsh words with his friend. But still, that was freakin’ deep. Ryder sort of looked like he’d been punched in the gut. More than one of us in the room were staring at our feet now – except for Sam, who was staring at the far wall like he wanted to put his fist through it. I struggled to hold back my tears. That’s where he had been, paying his respects to the fiancée he killed years ago?
The room remained in this bubble of uncomfortable silence for a few minutes, but then the strangest thing happened. Instead of another explosion of anger from Ryder, he simply stepped forward, clapped Kyle on his shoulder, nodded to the rest of us and walked away.
“Ryder…” Kyle’s handsome face fell as he called out, but Ryder didn’t stop. He exited the locker room, leaving us all to our silence.
“Dammit!” Kyle slammed his fist into a locker and I winced as I heard the crunch of bone. Tragedy affected so much more than just one person. Molly’s death took something from every person who cared for Ryder. I wondered then if Kyle had known the couple before the ash thing. How far back did their ties go?
Deciding it was time to give everyone a moment to cool off, I slowly hobbled back to the control room. Walking was not pleasant. God, these assholes could create superhuman freaks with their sperm, why the hell couldn’t they invent ash pain meds? I at least needed some vampire moonshine to take the edge off of my shattered ankle. Although, I was told by tomorrow it would only be slightly bruised and nearly fully healed. Another ash perk.
Opening my email, I saw Jayden had sent out an invite. It was addressed to Ryder, Kyle, Oliver, Sam, Jared, Markus, and a few other random ash.
Dear Bitches,
I have recently come across some fabulous information while gossiping in the feeder room. The Hive has just opened a brand new club and it features karaoke. Join me tonight for laughs, drinks and a damn good Diana Ross impression. Level 55.
Sincerely,
Jayden AKA Diana Ross
I smiled. If God were real, then he’d created Jayden just to keep me sane in this hellhole. I loved karaoke and needed to take my mind off everything. I replied with a big fat yes. I highly doubted Ryder would be attending, and couldn’t believe Jayden referred to him as one of his bitches. That alone was enough to brighten my mood.
After finishing my boring-ass shift, I hobbled home to get ready for karaoke. My leg was feeling better already and I was so pumped for tonight. Hells yeah. A little Celine, a few Whitneys – not to mention some Cindy Lauper – and I’d be in song heaven. Yeah, I had a penchant for 80s power women.
I chugged a bottle of O-negative and then put on some low-rise black skinny jeans, tucking one side into a knee-high flat boot, and the broken ankle side into the walking boot. I then threw on a vintage cut-off Star Wars shirt that exposed my stomach. Remembering Ryder’s compliment last time, I decided to leave my hair down, shaking out the kink from my ponytail. The front door closed and I walked out of my room to find Jayden just getting home from work. He looked at my outfit and I braced myself for his comment about how shitty it was.
“Hmm, it works … in a tomboy, grunge, gothic way.”
I rolled my eyes, but then he eyed my walking boot and his face became serious. “Oliver told me what happened today.”
I grinned. “It was actually fun.”
He raised one perfectly-shaped eyebrow. “Say what? Getting your ankle shattered was fun?”
“No, obviously not that – the excitement of going out on an emergency call, helping save the woman, subduing the ash. It was a thrill. I want to be an enforcer!” I blurted the last part because I wasn’t sure I could keep it in any longer. I hadn’t stopped thinking about it since I went out with Kyle.
Jayden laughed. “Hah hah, like for Halloween?”
I smacked his big-ass arm. “No, asshat, like every day. Do I look like I’m destined to answer phones for the rest of my life?” I put a hand on my hip.
He smirked. “You have a point.”
My eyes lit up. “Really? You think Ryder would let me?”
Jayden’s smirk fell. “No, honey, I don’t.”
I growled. Dammit, weren’t friends supposed to support your dreams?
The brand new Hive karaoke club was on level fifty-five and had the most banging view of Portland. The club had a stage and high-tech karaoke setup, with an oxygen bar off to the side, and some hot-ass female vamp waitresses wearing cut-off jean shorts and tight white tank-tops with brown cowboy boots. It was interesting to see the vampires serving the ash. Rarely in Hive society did that happen. These girls looked like they took the job just to be able to bag a hot ash – judging by the sultry looks and lingering touches between the vamp females and male ash.
As a perky blond vamp with some seriously gorgeous full lips took our drink order, I plugged in a song for Jayden and I to sing next. I couldn’t wait to let loose and feel the beat. My attention shifted then as a familiar group walked into the bar – the sexy six, only they were missing a member, so right now they were the fine ass five. My eyes remained glued on the door for a few extra beats, but there was no Ryder. Sigh. I really needed to get over that shit. I was getting pathetic.
Oliver spotted us first, and with eyes for his boy, reached our table and dropped a kiss on Jayden’s cheek. He turned and gave me a hug, whispering in my ear, “Word has gotten around that you’re no longer off limits. Fair warning.”
He pulled away and I tried to mask my confusion. Was he talking about the blood test results? My eyes darted around, trying to figure out if everyone knew I was infertile now, and why that would make them all think I was open for lots of casual sex?
I seriously hated my private shit out there in the Hive world. This information was something I intended to sit on for like five or six years before thinking too much about it. I’d probably cry about it on that day in the future, and then move on because you can’t change the past.
Unease trickled down my spine and I felt super aware of all the hot ash around us. Was I imagining things or were they all looking at me? I was distracted then by the speaker system. It called for Jayden and me, and at the same time the intro to our song started. My BFF grabbed my hand and together we ran to the stage. As the spotlight hit us, I was suddenly in my eleme
nt. I was a Leo, and there were two things Leos love: attention and more attention. Thank God for karaoke.
We grabbed the mics and stood together on the stage as the lyrics rolled up. Jayden flashed his full range of pearly whites and opened wide to belt out the tune.
We were pretty tame, right up until the chorus hit, and then it was time to let loose.
“Girls just wanna have fu-un! Oh girls, just wanna have fun!”
I cracked up on the last line as I noticed Oliver, Kyle, and Jared had left their booth and were crowded around the stage. I wasn’t sure if they were singing along or mocking the shit out of us. Either way, they were finally less badass and more relaxed-ass. Even the ash boogiemen needed a night off on occasion. Markus was laughing in the booth but hadn’t joined them. Sam was still in the shadows, nursing his vamp booze. That man had some demons. Even more than…
As if I’d conjured him with thought, a figure stepped out of the shadowy entrance and strode across to the bar. I almost dropped the mic, my palms suddenly sweaty and mouth dry. It was Ryder. He’d actually showed up. Our eyes locked and the rest of the room fell away.
What power did this man have over me?
He hadn’t looked away and I was barely singing anymore, totally forgetting the lines to a song I had sung a thousand times before. Our moment was broken then as a jostling almost knocked me off the stage. I swung around to find an ash behind me. He was clearly wasted as he jumped around and sent a few pelvic thrusts my way.
I wasn’t sure whether to be amused or horrified, but his dancing was borderline obscene, so I had to laugh. Oliver took control of the situation by throwing a lemon wedge at the interloper, which actually knocked him down. Glancing back up, my eyes zoomed back to the find Ryder leaning sexily up against the bar, eyes still on me, like he had not removed them for even one moment. Oh my. His expression was doing all sorts of hot things to my insides, and there was something different about him. Like he had less walls around him. Was he drunk again? Vampire moonshine seemed to be his warrior juice with the ladies.