A moment later, already another fifty-yards away, a rotted body burst from the earth in a spray of frozen terra and snow. The jikininki barely found its feet before it advanced. Yukihime gasped, stumbling back as the carcass of a recently dead moon bear galloped for her.
“A bear jikininki?” the vampire screeched. Ash never told the child vampire what Pandora had really been and the vampire was none the wiser. It made Ash equally nervous and proud. Now that she’d shown her secret, the pride flooded in and she wished to surprise Yukihime again.
The bear snapped strong jaws shut inches from Yukihime. Something that might have been fear showed on the older vampire’s face. And awe.
To Ash’s delight, Yukihime was being driven back at the will of her bear jikininki. A moment later Ash moved. She moved quicker than she’d ever pushed herself to do and descended upon Yukihime from more than five-hundred yards away. Behind her, the remains of Yukihime’s umibozu scattered in the snow from the blast of seikonō she threw at it.
“Asta!” Yukihime gasped as she was smacked down flat to her back in the snow. “You… you flew!”
Ash smiled triumphantly and drew her fist back. Yukihime gasped and pulled herself together, calling up a cloud of snow to stop the hit. When she’d caught Ash, she parted the snowy blanket to look her in the face, her own expression lit up with pure joy. “You have a fire in you today! You must come to—”
“Absolutely not,” Ash said calmly but firmly, interrupting the other vampire. “It was a miracle that I survived once in your bed, I will not test the fate of my luck again.”
Yukihime harrumphed, keen on her focus to keep Ash trapped. “Such a spoil-sport.”
“Think what you like, but I am no longer your puppet. I will be no one’s puppet ever again.” Not with the help of Innokentiy’s knowledge anyway.
Yukihime’s brows lifted in wonderment, her mouth falling into a surprised “oh” for a moment. “You’ve met an ancient. Who—”
Again, Ash interrupted her. Never once in her life had she heard a single thought from the older vampire, and not once did she really wish to. She was just that good at understanding the young woman’s mind. Sadly… “Who it was does not matter. What the ancient taught me is irrelevant. And no, I will not teach you a thing I learned from said ancient either.”
Yukihime tisked, a sneer slowly slipping in. “Such selfishness cannot be forgiven, my dear. It’s unkind and unmoral to not share such precious secrets. By the gods, you flew! That had always been fable.”
Ash laughed and flung her hand out in front of her. In a flash, Yukihime’s seikonō-built snow shield evaporated. The older vampire was too stunned to respond. “You, of anyone, speak of selfishness?” Ash scoffed and gave Yuki a little shove, lifting herself up. “I owe you nothing.”
“I saved your life!” Yuki hissed as she sat up. “Do you forget that? I was the one who saved you from killing yourself.”
Standing over the smaller vampire, arms crossed over her chest, Ash only glared. For the first time in—ever, she wasn’t afraid of Yukihime or anything she could do to her. Perhaps it was the immense knowledge she held now that gave her a false confidence or perhaps it was that she was finally seeing Yukihime for what she really was—a sad, lonely child, afraid of being left out and alone.
But the ancient vampire was right about one thing, she did save Ash’s life. No, more appropriately, she saved Asta’s life. But Asta was gone now, a persona Ash knew she never could, or wanted to for that matter, be again. And while Ash was grateful for her second chance, all of the wrong Yukihime had wrought since had paid for Ash’s debt of gratitude and then some. Yukihime, as far as Ash was concerned, was in the red.
“I think, after the hell you put me through following that tiny moment, we are even.”
“Even?” Yuki spit, jumping to her feet and tearing her kimono in the process. “How—Even!” Yukihime went off on a tangent in Japanese, most of it incomprehensible in her rage.
Ash sighed to herself and crossed her arms over her chest. She should have guessed a child like her would have a tantrum, just not so loudly. She wondered how long she’d have to wait for the vampire to calm down.
There was movement behind her and Ash looked back at the faerie and smiled. “Sacha?”
The boy nodded, glancing at the half-decomposed bear with interest. He wanted to pet it, but was confused by its lack of hair.
“Your brother is Simon, yes?”
The boy scratched at his hair, still in its natural red state and a curly mess. “Yeah,” he drawled. “But… I don’t really get that. Brothers? What’s that even mean?”
She glanced at Yukihime, still yelling and now making small craters in the field. What a way to let off steam.
“Do you like staying with Yukihime?”
The boy shrugged, never making eye contact as he looked everywhere but Ash’s face. “I don’t dislike it.”
She nodded. “Would you like to continue staying with her, or would you come with me?”
Yukihime stopped mid-tantrum and turned to watch, waiting to hear the boy’s answer.
Sacha, twiddling his hair around his finger, didn’t notice as his attention fixed on the bear again. “I don’t know, I guess… My last Master, he wasn’t so nice. He didn’t let me eat what I wanted or play games.” He shrugged again. “She lets me do what I want, so I don’t mind staying with her.”
Yukihime looked smug at her servant’s answer.
“What if you were offered all of that, but you didn’t have to feed anyone your blood?” The fact that her mouth still tasted of his life, wasn’t forgotten. She was grateful for that gift and would see that he was rewarded.
Sacha frowned as he thought about it. Yukihime actually looked worried.
“No. It’s cool. I mean, I kind of like it.” His eyes darted to Ash’s and then away again when his face flushed red. “It feels pretty good.”
Ash nodded, accepting his decision.
“What’s your game?” Yukihime demanded as she stomped up to Ash, walking on top of the snow rather than through.
Ash shook her head at the Master, refusing to look her in the face. She just couldn’t see the old vampire the same anymore, not after all she’d been through.
“I never cared for games, Yukihime, that was Malik. You of anyone understands that.” She put her back to the other vampire. “Did I ever know about you and my Master?”
“No.”
Ash shook her head. “That you managed to hide that from me so thoroughly, how can I ever trust you?”
Yukihime bit back angrily, “And you’ve not secrets of your own? For claiming to love him so much, you still lie to Tristan. He doesn’t know about Nastasia, does he?”
Ash spun, anger making her face hot. “How dare you? You’ve no idea what it’s like to make your own—No. You have less than zero right to judge me.” She started to stomp away. “Why I tolerated you all this time is beyond me!”
“Asta!” Yukihime sounded panicked and Ash took petty pride in being the cause of such an emotion. “What happened in Greece? Who hurt you?”
Ash stopped short, damp strands of her hair falling into her face. Her chest rose and fell quickly in her anger and, now, confusion. Was she asking because she truly didn’t know or was she trying anything to get Ash to talk?
Refusing to turn and face the other vampire, Ash said, “Nothing that hasn’t happened before, by those who always seek to hurt me.”
Yukihime was silent and Ash turned to find her looking at her with a mix of pain and confusion.
“You truly don’t know what happened, do you?”
Yukihime look put off for a moment before straightening her back and lifting her chin. “No.”
Ash sighed. What did she owe this woman, this child vampire? Her life? Certainly. But did that give her entitlement into Ash’s heart? With a reluctant sigh, Ash relaxed her stiff shoulders and gave Yukihime a cliff notes version of Greece, leaving out the important details, like Mamoru’
s identity and Innokentiy’s involvement. The man wished to remain dead, Ash respected that. She also thought that the sex wasn’t any of Yukihime’s business either. She wished it were hers again though, and soon.
Damn, she needed that book. This day was not going how she had hoped it might.
“Oh, my dear…” Yukihime had moved closer to Ash during her retelling and now stood within reach. She lifted her hand as if she meant to put it on Ash’s shoulder, but stopped at the last moment. “If I knew Genoveva had been following you…”
“Yes, I know,” Ash whispered. Yukihime may have been unstable herself, but she really did care for Ash, in her own way. And of anyone in Ash’s past, Genoveva would be the one that Yukihime might tear apart with her bare hands on Ash’s behalf. “She was convinced that I was something more than I am.”
The other vampire shook her head. “Something more?”
Ash looked up, watching the snow. She never really thought much of snow, other than the obvious correlation to the vampire before her, but now, she thought, it was kind of pretty. “Was I really a pythia?”
“What?” Yukihime laughed. “Why ask me?”
“Because you were there. Because you loved Malik and you watched from the shadows as he seduced and then murdered everything in my life, including me. Because every vampire I’ve met since then seems intrigued by the fact that I am—was a twin to a pythia. Because… because you took the knowledge of the heikō from me. That has to account for something significant.”
“Tha—that was an accident! The heikō thing was an accident!” She always sounded like such an impudent child when she yelled.
“I don’t believe you.” Though she so desperately wanted to.
Frustrated, Yukihime huffed. “I did watch you and Evangeline die from the shadows. But I had no choice.”
Ash scoffed, spinning to face away. “And I’m to believe you had nothing to do with Nastasia either? Lies, Yukihime, everything you say and do is nothing but lies.”
“I’m n—”
The silence was so long and deafening that Ash turned to face Yukihime again. The old vampire was standing stone-still, just staring. “What?” Ash sighed. “What now?”
Yukihime held out her hand, moving with the detached sense of self many of the older kind fell into. They just forgot how to be human and therefore no longer moved that way. It disturbed Ash more than she’d ever let show. She hoped that she’d never be like.
“Come with me.”
“What?” Ash took a step back, unsure. Bear, feeling its master’s emotions, growled and ambled away from where it’d been idling about to stand at Ash’s back. Mindlessly, searching for comfort, Ash turned enough to run her fingers through the matted fur.
Yukihime didn’t even bat an eye at the half rotted jikininki. “Please. This was all just—I have something I want you to see. Something that…” Her attention finally went to the bear and her jaw hardened. “No more lies. Only truth. Everything will make sense if you just come.”
Yukihime held out her hand. Ash only blinked at it. “Please,” she pleaded.
Ash surprised herself by taking the ancient vampire’s hand.
11: Fugitive
TRISTAN sighed, slumping. He was tired of this evening already. He still couldn’t believe he ended up with this chicken-shit job to begin with. “The hell?”
Wren raised his brow in question.
“Why’d you go and do that?”
Wren burst into laughter. “I think I’m starting to like you.”
“I wasn’t joking, asshole.”
The vampire shook his head. “It’s not like they die, is it?”
Tristan pushed the wet hair back from his face and sighed. “No, I guess not. Still, it hurts though.” And resets their hierarchy, which super pisses them off because the oldest is the richest. Stupid, greedy-ass kitsune.
Wren cocked his head at Tristan.
“What?”
“Most people, even other shinwa think they do die… You’ve been rather well educated on the ways of the shinwa, haven’t you? Who taught you?”
“Ash,” he answered a little too quickly. At least his mind was blocked so that Wren didn’t hear the real answer.
“Now that, I believe, is the first lie you’ve told me.”
The guy was right, but Tristan wasn’t about to admit it. Let the guy think what he wanted. “I don’t trust you.”
“Yes, that may be true, but I think I would like to trust you.”
“Ah, what?”
“I believe I was wrong about you and Akane was right. You can help me after all.”
“What do you mean, Akane was right? Are you in on this together?”
Wren smiled and Tristan sighed. He’d been duped after all—big fucking surprise. Christ, it wasn’t even funny anymore. Not much was these days.
“Don’t feel bad. It was Akane’s idea to hire you and bring you here, but the lies were for your benefit.”
“Ahuh,” Tristan muttered, eyeing the vampire.
“Ah, I see it so clearly now. You answer to Yukihime; I should have guessed—”
“Excuse me?” Tristan challenged, taking a step forward. “Yuki does not own me. She’s the one who bothers me, not the other way around. I don’t have any allegiance to her.”
Wren smiled crookedly. “Akane knew the only way to find you was through Yukihime but the kitsune don’t trust her.”
Tristan snorted. “Who does?”
“Exactly so. The lie was to keep Yukihime out of the know.”
Okay, Tristan got that. “So why not just come to me directly then?”
Wren shrugged lightly. “Perhaps Akane didn’t know where you resided? Perhaps she has some other plans for the Snow Princess. Whatever the reason, it was what she thought best, apparently.”
“I thought you said not to trust the kitsune, even—how did you put it? The noble Akane?”
Wren lifted his chin. “I don’t deny my friendship with the fox leader, but she is after all a fox.”
Tristan huffed in aggravation. “Look—”
“I am a vanilla. I don’t have a drop of seikonō, I can’t be the one killing those people—and you know that. But I know who is. And if you promise to kill her, I’ll pay you. Whatever you want.”
“Excuse me?” Tristan asked, taken aback. This was the first time anyone’d actually offered to pay him to do his job and in such blunt terms. He wasn’t hurting for money, not with his inheritance and Ash’s (presumably ill-gotten) dowry. “How do I know you aren’t in on it with this her?”
Wren looked bored as he let his attention stray to their surroundings. “You don’t.”
Tristan rubbed his forehead, annoyed, and then swept his hair back, sighing. He really didn’t want to do this, especially since the guy asking was someone he was ready to attack, even kill, just minutes before.
A dark look crossed Wren’s face and Tristan tensed, fingers twitching for his gun. “What?”
“Will you help me or not?”
“Just tell me where to find her and I’ll take care of it.”
“Absolutely not,” Wren answered with some force.
Tristan almost reacted to the intensity of Wren’s tone, the motonō energy he pushed into his words. Tristan guessed the guy hadn’t even meant to. “Look, you want my help or not, pal?”
“You can’t do it on your own. You need me.”
Tristan scoffed, pulling his gun and not caring how aggressive it made him look. “No, I really don’t.” He really meant to vet this vampire and, if necessary, stop it. He didn’t know Wren and wasn’t about to trust him, even if he did have a past with Ash. And Jesus fucking Christ, he was Desmond’s fucking scion. Seriously, that was still a shock he’d yet to fully acknowledge.
Without warning, Wren lunged. The smaller man took Tristan right in the solar plexus and off his feet. All the air left Tristan’s lungs in a surprised cry before he was slammed down on his back hard enough to blink out his vision.
&nb
sp; He swung out blindly, raising the gun to fire at anything. A cold, hard hand clamped down on his wrist and squeezed until he lost the feeling in his fingers two seconds later. The gun made a soft but distinctive thud as it fell into the snow.
Tristan tried a second time to swing with his free hand but it hurt from the cut and that too was caught and then he was wrestled over, face forced into the freezing snow. Wren’s weight pressed down on his back, a knee digging between his shoulder blades in a sharp pain as his wrists were crossed behind his neck by that hard hand.
“Wren,” he said sounding taken aback. “What are you—” He gasped for a breath when the knee in his back stabbed too deeply and took in a mouthful of snow that felt sharp and filled his lungs with cold fire. He coughed to clear his airways and would have cursed Wren if the back of his head hadn’t burst into pain.
TRISTAN was aware of the soft male voice singing in Japanese. The words were gentle and full of sorrow that touched Tristan’s soul and made him want to weep. Of course, Wren might not have meant to make Tristan feel his words so deeply, but he was just a vanilla and couldn’t control his motonō as well as a transmute or Master.
“The level of rudeness you exude is simply astonishing,” Wren said suddenly, breaking from his song. “Has anyone told you that?”
Tristan took in a deep breath and then groaned when the pain behind his eyes spiked. “You’re the one who fucking hit me.” He peeked an eye open and saw that they were driving through a city he didn’t recognize where, in a car he didn’t know. “Where are we?”
“Almost to my room.”
Feeling a little more coherent, Tristan stretched in the warm leather seat with a sigh. The fact that his hands were tied together where they rested on his lap didn’t go past his notice. And the ache in his arm and the dampness told him the cut might have been too deep to heal on its own. He was going to need more stiches.
“Told you, my dance card is full. One vampire’s more than enough for me.”
White Lies: (The Uruwashi Series #4) Page 10