by Mia Taylor
She shrugged almost indifferently, slipping by him with a silly smile on her face.
“Sure,” she said but Ash could see there was a difference in her as she made her way into the kitchen. “Are you hungry?”
He followed her, his lids narrowing as he looked at her.
“Did you have a pleasant day?” he asked, watching her as she pulled a cardboard box out of the refrigerator and opened it.
“Uh huh,” she replied, her brow furrowing as she realized there was nothing left of the three-day-old order. She turned to him, the smile on her beautiful face widening.
“Let’s go out for dinner,” she offered brightly, and Ash was not sure he understood what she was asking. She spun toward the door again and Ash had no choice but to follow her as she walked into the hallway, bag in hand once more.
Suddenly, he lunged for her, spinning her around to look at him. She gaped at him, startled by his sudden movement, but she didn’t resist his hold as she steadfastly met his stare.
“You are different,” he told her bluntly.
Her green eyes sparkled but something was missing from their depths; the fire he had been drawn in by was gone.
“What do you mean?” she asked, almost blankly. There was no emotion to her words and desperation overwhelmed Ash as he tried to understand the change inside her.
Concern and anger filled him simultaneously, his lips crushing against her as he willed her to respond.
While she didn’t push him away, she also did not return his affection and Ash felt a chill of apprehension filling him.
“She does not seem as smitten by you as she was this morning,” the Commodore chirped in his ear and he bristled at the sound of the dark ruler’s voice. For several days, he’d heard no word from the Commodore. He had no doubt in his mind that Sera’s lack of response had something to do with his tricks.
Ash drew his head back sharply, pushing Sera into the wall as he gaped at her.
“What did you do to her?” he demanded psychically but there was only laughter as Sera continued to gaze at him, a faraway grin on her face as if she were part of some amusing joke of which he had no knowledge.
I should have known, Ash thought, fury coursing through his veins. There would be no way to win this wager without a fight. I knew this going in and I naively trusted he would do the right thing.
Panic overcame him with the realization that he’d come so close to getting everything he wanted, only to have it wrenched away by shameless games.
“I’m hungry,” Sera announced, and her tone was singsong, like a child’s. “Can we go now?”
He stared at her, his mind beginning to whirl.
What has the Commodore done to her and how can I get her back?
The looks, teases, and caresses they had shared that morning had left him feeling warm and excited all day, but there was nothing in Sera’s face which showed any signs of those emotions at that moment.
It was like she was both there and not there, as if the woman at whom he stared was a shell of the one he’d seen only that morning before she’d gone to work.
Sera tried to brush past him, but he blocked her way.
I will not give her up without a battle, he thought furiously. I found her. I deserve her and no one is going to take her from me. Do you hear me?
“Are you accusing me of something?” the Commodore cackled innocently. “I haven’t done anything.”
The emphasis on the word “I” did not go unnoticed by Ash but he still had no idea what that meant.
“Ash…?” Serafina insisted. “Can we please go? I’m so famished, I could eat an entire cow right now.”
“No,” he said flatly. “We cannot go.”
She eyed him and for the first time, he saw a glimmer of the girl to whom he had been so drawn.
She is in there! She is not gone!
But as quickly as the spark had come on, it was gone.
“I’m hungry,” she repeated but Ash did not care.
He pinned her back against the dirty wall, his mouth finding hers again.
His tongue lashed out, prodding her lips apart as his body meshed against hers.
At first, she seemed stunned by the motion, as if she did not know how to react, but when he seized her arms, pulling her wrists above her auburn waves, Sera’s body slowly relaxed into his, her kiss responsive for the first time.
There she is, he thought grimly, his hardness poking against her lean frame, grip tightening around the tender flesh of her arms.
Sera bucked outward, her chest and hips welded against his, and Ash began to lose the worry he had felt upon her return.
She’s mine. She belongs with me. Nothing the Commodore can do will change that.
Their embrace deepened, Sera allowing her head to fall back as he inhaled the scent of her hair, mouth grazing her earlobes.
“Are you going to take me right here in the hallway?” she breathed excitedly as his lips suctioned against her throat.
“I will take you anywhere I please,” he replied, and she shivered with pleasure at the response.
“Excuse me!”
Reluctantly, Ash raised his head to look at the irate black woman standing in the hallway with her two young children.
A slight guilt swept through him as he released Sera.
“This is not a whorehouse!” the woman yelled, and Sera snickered.
“It’s certainly not cleaner than one,” Sera replied sarcastically, but they pulled apart as the woman ushered her brood through the dirty corridor toward her apartment, muttering obscenities under her breath.
Ash was fixated on Sera’s face, his pulse slowing slightly as he watched her. Gone was the trance that seemed to have befallen her and Ash knew she had returned to him.
“It’s probably for the best,” she told him, laughing. “I’m seriously starving. If you ravage me one more time, you might kill me. I’m not exaggerating.”
He offered her a smile.
“I wouldn’t want to do that,” he told her, reaching up to brush a stray strand of hair out of her face. It seemed to be the same piece which slipped onto her forehead over and over, no matter how many times he moved it aside.
But it wasn’t her shiny mane of reddish-brown hair which had him enraptured; it was the look in her bright eyes as she studied his face.
The hypnotic expression had vanished but it had been replaced with a look of confusion.
“I feel funny,” she confessed. “I think I really need to eat.”
He nodded quickly, happy to pursue their evening now that he knew they were out of danger.
I cannot very well hide her here forever. We will simply have to overcome the darkness as it tries to interfere with our love.
“Let us go, then,” he agreed, and he watched as she locked the door.
The two of them made their way to the tiny lobby and into the dusky Detroit evening.
“Tacos work for you?” she asked as they began to walk, and Ash nodded although he was again at a loss with what she was asking.
Life was so much different than it had been when he died. It was difficult to believe he was on the same world.
I will have an infinite amount of time to learn the ways of this life, he assured himself. If the Commodore stays out of my affairs.
Yet Ash knew he was losing to the Commodore, something he had already predicted when he had accepted the ridiculous bet.
He had known there would be no chance he would ever roam the earth as a free man, away from the Commodore’s treachery and games. He had accepted it—at the time.
But suddenly, things had changed.
Serafina was worth fighting for and he would not give up his chance to stay with her, no matter what tricks the ancient bastard threw his way.
She feels the same way about me, he told himself firmly, watching her through his peripheral vision as he walked. If she had not, there would have been no breaking whatever spell the Commodore had put upon her.
True l
ove always conquers. Even the Commodore knows that, he thought, shaking his head. Why is he trying when he already knows he has lost?
Sera paused, her face pale.
“What is the matter?” he asked, his arm encircling her waist.
“I-I don’t know,” she admitted. “I just feel a little dizzy.”
“Come on,” Ash instructed, guiding her inside a nearby café. “Let us eat here.”
But as they sat, he realized that her odd feeling was connected to whatever it was that had happened to her that day.
He sat her in a booth and signaled for a nearby server.
“What’ll it be, hon?” the too-skinny bleached blonde demanded as she approached. If Ash had known anything about the modern world, he would have marveled at the cliché the employee seemed to be.
“Food,” he replied, and Sera laughed at his glib answer, not realizing he wasn’t trying to be funny.
“A menu would be good,” the ginger corrected. “And I could use a Coke.”
“Pepsi okay, hon?”
“Anything with sugar,” Sera agreed, and the waitress turned to Ash.
“And you, hon?”
“Water,” he replied shortly.
“All righty. Be right back, hon.”
Ash wondered if the overuse of endearments was commonplace in the city, but the server’s vernacular was the least of his concerns. The rapidly fading color in Sera’s face was alarming and he felt as if he was watching her essence slip away before his eyes.
Not today, Commodore, he thought acridly. No matter what you did, I will undo it.
“What did you do today?” Ash asked, leaning across the table to take her hands. It seemed that she was growing paler with each moment that passed.
Her skin was nearing opaque, the veins showing through. Ashur’s heart began to hammer in his chest.
“What did you do to her?” he roared again at the Commodore silently, but the ruler only laughed again.
“I did not do anything!” he cried back again. “I have upheld my end of the wager.”
“I… I went to work,” Sera started slowly. “And… oh yeah, and then I went to meet a client at the Hilton…”
She trailed off as if trying to put together the pieces of her day, her face registering the perplexity she seemed to be experiencing.
“I don’t remember much of what happened today,” she admitted, her head jerking up to stare at him. “I-I don’t even remember coming home.”
The words sent spirals of worry through Ash but he forced himself to be calm.
“What do you recall?” he asked urgently. Ash needed to know what force he was up against, what the Commodore had done to his lover.
“She will never tell you!” the Commodore cooed in his ear. “She is too weak to remember!”
Rage was building inside Ashur, a fury worse than the one he had felt toward his brother during the ultimate betrayal.
“Serafina, you must look at me,” he told her urgently. “Look into my face.”
A stab of fear overtook his ire as her face took on a greyish tinge, but she managed to look into his face.
“Please try to remember your day. I fear you have been…” he trailed off, unsure of how she would react to the news she had been put under a spell.
“Drugged?” she mumbled and Ash’s brow furrowed.
Yes! That is what I will tell her. It is easier to explain than the truth.
“Yes,” he replied quickly. “Who did you meet at the… Hilton? Who was the client? What did he say to you?”
She shook her head, blinking several times.
“I don’t remember,” she insisted. “I just…”
Again, she trailed off and shook her head, the words faltering on her lips.
“Did you go alone?” Ash demanded, unwilling to leave the subject, even though he could see it was making her frustrated.
She shook her head and suddenly, her mossy eyes lit up.
“No! Boy Wonder came with.”
“Boy Wonder?” he echoed, wishing desperately that he understood the language of today’s world. “Who is this boy?”
“Barry Christensen. He works with me at the law firm,” she tittered, realizing that he didn’t comprehend the moniker. A slight feeling of relief shot through Ash and he nodded.
“You must call on him and ask him the name of the man you met.”
Sera gazed at him, a lopsided smile on her face as if the gesture took too much effort.
“I have absolutely no interest in speaking with Boy Wonder during office hours. What makes you think I want to text him afterward?”
“Sera, you must!” Ash hissed, squeezing her fingers with too much force. The bemused but weak grin faded from her face.
“You’re acting weird.”
“I would say you are the one acting strangely,” he replied. “It is very important. Please, we must learn the name of the man you went to see. You must want to understand what happened to you today.”
“Or woman,” she piped up. “It could have been a woman. I don’t remember.”
Ash glowered at her.
“I am not arguing semantics with you, Serafina. I am trying to save your life.”
The words hung over the table as the waitress returned, depositing their drinks on the table before them.
“Ready to order, hon?” she asked Serafina.
The redhead shook her head, reaching into her messenger bag for something Ash could not see.
“Not yet,” she replied. “Give us a minute.”
“Okay, hon. Be right back, hon.”
“What are you doing?”
She didn’t answer immediately, her head lowered to look at her hands.
When she raised her eyes, she smiled weakly.
“What are you going to eat?” she asked, opening her menu, and Ash gaped at her.
She does not understand the severity of this situation, he thought, shaking his head. She is in danger and her—
A chiming noise filled her ears and Sera pulled the device onto the table.
“His name was Parker,” she told Ash. “Suite 2902.” Her green eyes clouded over as she continued to read the text. “What?” she exclaimed, anger clouding her eyes. “What the actual—?”
“What is it?” Ash asked, his body almost completely over the table to see what she was seeing. She showed him the device in her hand, shaking her head in consternation. A series of words on a screen only served to blur Ash’s vision.
Her cellular phone, he remembered.
“Barry says I insisted on seeing Parker alone, that I kicked him out of the room. Why don’t I remember any of this?”
Ash’s arms exploded into a mass of goosebumps.
He knew exactly why.
“You cannot win,” he told the Commodore coldly. “I will always bring her back.”
The Commodore chuckled.
“Will you?” he replied lightly. “It did not seem that way today.”
“She has free will, do not forget. She chooses me. You cannot fight love with games. There is no competition.”
“Oh, Ash, my poor, deluded boy. It is not me you must worry about. I have sworn not to interfere, remember? I have not as per our arrangement.”
Ash scoffed in disbelief. He no longer bought into the lies he was being fed by the ruler of the dark otherworld.
“What did this guy do to me?” Sera murmured. “He must have drugged me.”
She jumped to her feet suddenly, fury coloring her cheeks.
“What are you doing?” Ash demanded, rising with her.
“I am going to confront this son of a bitch!” she howled, shaking her head, but the action caused her to stumble sideways in her weakened state. “And then I am going to castrate Boy Wonder for leaving me alone with him. Who the hell does that? Ugh. I’m gonna be sick.”
Ash hurried to her side, righting her body as she leaned against him.
“You must regain your strength first,” he told her firmly, pulling her bac
k into the booth. “Then we will go together to Suite 2902.”
She stared at him hopefully.
“You’ll come with me?” she asked softly, and he gaped at her.
“Of course!” he growled. “You think I would leave you to confront the Co—this man alone?”
A timid smile fell on her lips.
“You’re really something else, huh? You come across as this gentle soul, but you have the core of a killer, don’t you?”
Ash lowered his eyes, shocked that she could see his true nature so clearly.
“I would kill for you,” he told her simply and he meant it. He would kill anyone who tried to keep him away from Serafina, the Commodore be damned.
He thought of the cab driver who had disrespected her and how easily he had killed him without a second thought.
When did I become that being? he wondered, but he also knew he was grateful he was precisely that man. He would keep her safe at all costs.
Sera sighed and fell back against the booth, closing her eyes heavily.
“I don’t envy Jayce Parker right now,” she said and Ash’s head jerked up so fast, he felt a snap in his spine.
“What?” he gasped. “What did you say?”
She opened her eyes as if she felt the whoosh of wind and glanced at him.
“What? I’m just saying, he’s gonna get what’s coming to—”
“No!” Ash interrupted. “What did you say his name was?”
“I already told you—Parker. Jayce Parker.”
Suddenly Ashur knew the wager’s difficulty just increased tenfold.
“Well played, Com,” he hissed in his head.
“I thought so,” the Commodore agreed, giggling almost maniacally. “But as I promised, I have nothing to do with it.”
“I bet you don’t,” Ash spat back.
“You should not take on any more wagers,” the Commodore laughed as Ashur glowered, his face crimson.
“What is it?” Serafina demanded. “Why do you have that look on your face?”
Ash shook his head and closed his eyes.
“It is nothing,” he replied quickly, his mind whirling. There was only one way to win this, but how? The question turned around and around in his head as he tried to figure out an answer.
How am I going to eliminate my brother once and for all?
After all, the last time he and Jayce had gone head to head, Ash had come out the loser.