by Lisa Marie
“So, she starts to laugh when she sees that I recognize the smell. Funny thing, it wasn’t until that second did I realize she was crazy. I’d always know she was vicious, deadly. But her being crazy was something I had never seen.” Ash shook his head, mentally berating himself for being so blind. “I couldn’t open it. I didn’t want to see. I asked her ’What the hell did she do?’ and she laughed again. She put the box on my lap, and told me to open it and find out. I wouldn’t. She flipped. Apparently that was the last straw. She’d had it with my constant disregard of her. She was the sire, and I had forgotten it. So she picked up the box and ripped it too shreds, right over my lap. My brother…” He had been speaking quickly, trying to get it all out before the forgotten emotion of yesteryear rose up to choke him. The memory of Patrick’s severed head, his cold sightless eyes staring back at him as it landed in his lap had his hand tightening around Eve’s.
She winced when he squeezed a little too tightly, but didn’t complain. She gave him a gentle tug to get him to sit, and immediately wrapped her arms around him when he did. He stared blindly over her shoulder to the blank wall of his bedroom, lost in the past.
“Patrick had been a baby when I left for war. He was living in New York. I never knew but Celine did. She went to his house, pretending to be injured, and got his daughter to let her inside.” Eve ran a soothing hand over his shoulders, trying to ease the crazy trembling threatening to overtake him. “She killed them all.”
“Oh, God,” she gasped, clutching him tighter as his harsh confession sank in.
“And not just Patrick and his family. All of them; Mama, Daddy. Charlie; all of them. Starting right before we left Georgia, because I wouldn’t do it. She thought by killing them, I would remember … which one of us was in charge. She laughed, while I just sat there, staring at my brother’s head. The last time I had seen him he’d barely been walking. And now … God, something snapped inside me.” Tears streamed from his eyes, soaking her shoulder.
Eve was caught up in his memories, her imagination supplying images to go with his words. She had to squeeze her own eyes shut to keep from breaking down in heartbroken sobs. Not for herself, but for him. For a brother he never knew and the family he had left behind to be killed by a mad woman.
Ash could still see Celine as clearly as if she were in the room with them now. Dancing around the apartment, her laughter sounding harsh to his ears. He had never seen her eyes so cold, so dead. Anger, as fresh and hot as it had been that night, raged through him now, making his eyes flash unholy red.
When he started to speak, it was with a growl, the sound making Eve jump. “I attacked her. She had been so sure that her plan would break me that she was stunned to find herself pinned to the floor underneath me. I was screaming at her, punching her. She’d tried to laugh at me, but I squeezed her throat. I saw real fear in her eyes for the first time that night. And it was the last time. I got up, started throwing things, a chair splintered against a wall. She managed to get to her feet. She was hurling her poison at me, telling me I was weak and what a fool she had been to create me. Didn’t matter that I was the most vicious vampire around at that time. I was outdistancing her in the vampire community. People were whispering about me and she couldn’t stand it. Jealousy, betrayal. Whatever she felt, it all came out of her that night. Then she started to describe how she killed them. How they had screamed and begged. The way their screams sounded with their blood draining out of their bodies. Everything. Before I realized what I was doing, I had grabbed one of the broken chair legs and rammed it right into her black heart.”
Every muscle in Ash’s body vibrated with tension, his voice thick with it. Eve could hear the impossible mix of love, hate, grief and relief coating his words, and held on to him tighter.
“But you know what was funny?”
“What?” For the life of her, she couldn’t imagine anything about any of this being funny.
“Before she turned to dust … she had this smile, like she had won, even though she was the one that was dead.”
“But she didn’t. You brought yourself back from that, from who you were then.” He snorted bitterly and pulled away from her, surprising her with his suddenness. “What?”
“I’m not so different now.”
“Yes, you are. You’re kind and good and honorable. You would never do what you did then.” Eve pushed to her feet and stood in front of him to stop his pacing.
He looked down at her, saw that she actually believed what she was saying, and hated himself even more. “Really? You think so?” He lifted a hand and traced it over his bite on her neck, a sad smile curving his lip.
“You were starving. Sebastian had been torturing you.”
“Don’t you get it, Eve? It didn’t take much to push me over the edge and make me that monster again. I wasn’t just a starving man trying to eat. I was him, the monster with no name. I wanted you scared. I wanted you desperate for me to fuck you. So you would taste sweeter when I drained you. I’m still that vampire. Maybe I always will be.”
“Ash, stop it. You didn’t hurt me. You didn’t. And God knows you could have. That proves that you aren’t who you were. You made the choice not to kill me. You did.”
“Evelyn…”
“No. I’m not going to listen to this. You are not going to stand here and start that shit about how you’re not worthy. I can see it in your eyes.”
Anger flashed brilliantly through her eyes, making him want to smile. She stood before him, her hair damp and unbrushed, her skin flushed against the white of the towel she wore. He vaguely wondered if she was going to punch him.
“That part of your life is over. Is it part of who you are? Yes. It always will be. It’s not about what you did then, it’s about what you are now. And I see a man that is just as screwed up as the rest of us. Do yourself a favor. Get over it.”
Whatever Ash might have said in response was cut off when Eve practically jumped on him, fusing her mouth over his. Desire, white hot, pushed aside everything but the feel of her warm skin against his. Her tongue slid easily between his lips, teasing his into a sensual tangle. When they broke apart, they were both breathing in heavy gasps, their eyes clouded with anger, arousal, and just a little bit of fear. Everything melted away as they looked at each other. There was no Celine, no Sebastian, no Cyrus or Brianne. The threat to their lives was nonexistent and the ever-present danger receded to the dark corners of their minds.
“Make love to me, Ash. Please.”
Eve’s soft words wrapped around him like a golden chain, exquisite and painful at the same time. Then, in an action that stole her breath, he swept her up in his arms and carried her over to the bed. He laid her down across the dark blue comforter, straightening to stare down at her with longing darkening his eyes.
“Come here,” she whispered, lifting a hand to him.
“Just let me look at you.”
The pleading tone in his voice had her hand dropping to the bed, the raw hunger in his face sent a thrill racing over her nerve endings. She shuddered with need when his hand reached out to tug the towel open, the brush of his fingers on her skin starting an ache low in her belly.
He drank in every inch of her, memorizing every curve, every mark on her skin. She was tiny and soft, from the delicate bones of her face to the full softness of her breasts. Her nipples peaked under his hot gaze, her blood rushed with the promise she saw there. Butterflies were dancing behind the taut skin of her stomach, and an aching wetness filled her core.
He took a deep, purposeful breath through his nose, a look of pure pleasure softening his features. “You smell so good,” he purred, slowly kneeling down at the side of the bed. The fact that she didn’t think he was talking about her shampoo sent her blood into a crazed rush through her veins, even as her skin flushed from embarrassment.
“Don’t be embarrassed,” he told her, making her eyes widen that he knew what she was thinking. He reached out and grasped an ankle, slowly raising it to his
lips. “The way you smell, the way you taste…” She shuddered when his teeth nipped lightly at her ankle, followed quickly by his tongue. Every muscle in her body turned to jelly with the light touch. “I want it all. I need it all.” His mouth traced a path over the sleek skin of her leg, testing the texture, teasing the muscle.
Eve moaned with each touch, her mind begging for more while her body delighted from his gentle caresses. He worked his way up her leg, across the quivering flesh of her stomach, bypassing the place she wanted him the most, to work his way down her other leg. He tenderly kissed the arch of that foot, before lowering it, and fixed her with eyes blazing with need. “I want to taste you, Eve. Can I?”
You have to ask?! her mind screamed. Since her ability to speak seemed to have flown out the window with the first lusty swipe of his tongue, all she could do was nod. He grinned, a predatory grin that sent her brain into a spiral of incoherency. She watched rapt, as he leaned over the bed, hovering over the juncture of her thighs. Her teeth captured her bottom lip to keep herself from begging, but her hips were writhing against the bed by their own volition. His hands slid up her inner thighs, his thumbs barely brushing the soft reddish curls covering her mound and making her whimper. She thrust up into each pass of his hands, trying desperately to get him to touch her where she burned for him. He was stubborn, though, and he waited until she was quivering with need before finally sliding his arms under her thighs and dipping his head.
“Oh, God, Ash!” The words ripped from Eve’s throat as her eyes rolled back in her head.
The first swipe of his tongue against her damp folds had her swirling out of control, her over-sensitized body crashing hard into orgasm.
Ash’s tongue pushed into her sheath, gathering her sweetness and savoring it. Her cries enflamed him, her erratic movements against his thrusting tongue hardened him to the point of pain. He kept up his ministrations, desperate to hear her cry his name again and again, needing it more than he needed his own release.
Twice more he pushed her to the edge and over, until she was nothing more than a pile of twitching, exhausted nerve endings. She collapsed on the bed, her clouded eyes watching him as he stood and reached for the fly of his jeans. Her gaze roamed over his skin as more of him became exposed. The leanness of his hips, the dark thatch of curls nestled at the base of his shaft, the proud angle of his erection against the hard planes of his stomach. His corded thighs and muscled calves bunched as he shed his jeans. The bed dipped under his weight as he crawled slowly over her. Their eyes locked, their fingers linked, their lips met when he was perfectly lined along her body, his weight crushing her into the mattress. They both sighed when his hard length slid easily into her damp body.
Gentle kisses broken by whispered words of endearment complimented the slow rocking of their bodies. There was no need for speed, no need to hurry now. It was just them, alone in the sea of horror that had followed them the last few days. This brief moment in time stretched to encompass them in its brilliant light, their very beings joining together as closely as their bodies.
“Ah, a-ah,” Eve breathed as she slid easily into bliss again, her fingers tensing tightly around his.
Ash looked down at her face as it went slack with pleasure, her glazed eyes the color of rich, dark emeralds. “God, Eve,” he gasped.
He lowered his head to the crook of her neck, his vampire face coming forward as his lips latched onto his mark. Her body spasmed hard when his fangs slid into her skin, her sex clenching tightly around him. The first drop of her blood on his tongue sent him shuddering after her, his cock pulsing deeply inside of her in time to the thrum of her pulse.
The sound of Eve’s heart drummed in Ash’s ear, calming from erratic to its normally soft beat behind her breast. He had retracted his fangs, cleaning the blood from the fresh bite with a tenderness he’d never allowed himself to feel. When he raised his head to look down at her, he felt his unbeating heart swell at the pure contentment on her face. Her eyes were closed, a soft smile playing across her lips.
“Mine,” he whispered, the word barely audible in the stillness of the room.
Slowly, her lids fluttered open, her smile becoming wider. He saw something shining in her eyes, something new and beautiful. Her hand came up to run her fingers through his hair and she took a deep breath before her answer slipped out, full of an emotion he’d never dared hope for.
“Yours.”
Chapter Sixteen
Midnight had come and gone and Edward had long since gotten tired of waiting for Ash and Eve. He’d followed them easily enough, even after they’d gone underground. He had to give the vampire credit, Ash certainly knew how to evade the average werewolf. Too bad for him, Edward was far from average.
Growing up, Edward had been the slower one, the smaller one. The runt. Then salvation had come in the form of a child’s nightmare. The big bad wolf had come to the door. Only, he wasn’t Red Riding Hood and Grandma was already a distant memory for him. Of course, he hadn’t seen it as salvation, not until the first time the school bully had tried to take his lunch money. That kid had been in a coma for a week.
Now, the kid that had always been afraid was the one that everybody else was afraid of.
Granted, the first time he had changed had scared him shitless. He’d woken up outside, naked and alone with no clue as to how he had gotten there. Blood covered his skin, his mouth. He looked like he’d been in some sort of accident, but had no injuries to prove it. A large block of his memory was distorted, like he was seeing it from a movie camera as opposed to his own eyes. He had remembered running through town, jumping over fences and bolting through yards like he had never been able to do before. He also remembered Katie Larson—pretty, popular Katie Larson—sitting outside talking on the phone in her backyard. He could picture her face as she screamed, could feel her fear as she turned to bolt. She didn’t get far. He was powerful, fast, strong. She’d never looked down her nose at him again.
When he had gotten home, a tricky venture since he’d been nude, his mother had been fluttering around the kitchen in horror. He’d sneaked upstairs and showered and dressed before going down. She’d clutched him to her, wailing about how the poor Larson girl had been attacked by a wolf. It hadn’t taken much for him to put two and two together. The wolf that had bitten him while Edward was running away from his brothers as they threw rocks had given him more than twenty-two stitches in his left leg. It had turned him into a killer.
Edward had become obsessed with learning everything he could about lycanthropy. He’d visited magic shops and rare bookstores to find out whatever he could. But he’d never looked for a cure. He liked having power, liked knowing that he could be the giver of death. What he’d wanted to know was how to control it. It had taken many years, and it had been extremely painful, but he had done it. Finally, he controlled the beast, not the other way around.
A cool breeze blew across Edward’s naked skin, making him shiver. What the fuck are they doing up there? he thought testily, shifting position to relieve the tingling in his leg. He could guess what they were doing, and smirked despite his irritation. He didn’t begrudge anybody doing their thing, but he needed to find Brie. And Eve and her vampire were the only way he was going to do that. He didn’t care about killing them, not like Sebastian did. For all he cared, they could stay alive and live out their vampire fairytale. As long as he had Brie, he didn’t give a shit.
Why weren’t they going to her?
A low growl erupted from his throat and he shifted where he stood, across the street from the old building that housed Ash’s home and the magic shop. At one point, Ash had come to the top window and looked out, almost directly at Edward. He had seemed distracted, as if he weren’t really seeing what was outside. But that had been some time ago, and other than a few shadows passing across the glass, Edward had seen no movement inside. He didn’t want to tip them off that he was here until it was too late for them to do anything about it. But he was tired, bored and m
ore than a little hungry.
Edward was considering running into the tiny deli at the corner when a woman coming down the street caught his eye. It was hard to miss her. Tall, big and blonde, cloaked in the most hideously designed caftan he had ever seen, she was all but a beacon for attention. Even so, he was about ready to dismiss her as one of the city’s local eccentrics. Then she pulled out a ring of keys and headed towards the same building Ash and Eve had gone inside.
“What’s this?” he asked himself, straightening. His sharp eyes trained on her, watching to see if she thought to lock the door after she went in. When she didn’t turn back towards the door, he grinned. Maybe he could get inside and find a place to hide. Maybe then he could find out when they would go meet up with Brie. Maybe even find out where she was.
Edward slipped out of the alley after checking to make sure there was no one on the street and no one in the windows. After a quick look through the front door to note where the woman had gone, he slipped inside, cursing silently when the bell above the door gave a merry jangle. He closed the door, ears pricked for any movement other than his own. Realizing there was no one on the floor with him, he followed the scent of the woman’s perfume through the stacks of books, piles of papers and shelves full of strange artifacts to a door at the back of the shop. He could hear her steps even as he pushed it open. A sharp knock reached him as he made his way slowly up the stairs.
“Flora! Oh, God. I was worried.”
Ash’s deep voice reached Edward in his hiding place. The woman sobbed in Ash’s arms, incoherent words tumbling from her mouth.
“He’s dead, Ash.”
That Edward understood, and he was more certain than ever that this woman had something to do with taking Brie.