Dark of Night: Beautiful Monsters: Ashwood Red

by Lane, Jex

  “You must be Kathleen—”

  “Kat.”

  “Doesn’t matter, you’ll be getting a new name soon.”

  She wasn’t okay with that. “No. My name is Kat.”

  The hunters in the area chuckled, but the one in front of her stayed serious. “I’m Commander Cullip. I lead the hunters of Ashwood, both the estate and—until we can find a new Headmistress—the academy. I’m the highest-ranking hunter here, which means you don’t talk back to me, and you will address me as ‘sir’. Do you understand?”

  “Er. Yes, sir?”

  “Good.”

  “Why do I have to change my name?”

  Cullip frowned at Kat, displeased.

  “Oh. Why do I have to change my name? Sir.”

  The small female hunter that had floored Darius laughed. “Lock never makes anything easy for you, huh?”

  He sighed. “Not really, no.”

  Tane didn’t seem to want to wait around anymore and began to walk away.

  “Where are you going, my lord?” Cullip asked.

  Tane didn’t stop. “I have plans.”

  Cullip pulled out a phone from one of the pouches on his hip and sent off a text. A moment later a ding came from Tane’s pocket, and he pulled out his own phone. He read the text on it then scowled at Cullip. Another hunter team of six—they were always six—teleported into the area.

  “My lord,” one of the new hunters said to Tane, “we’ve been assigned to patrol the south side the rest of tonight.”

  “My father will hear of this,” Tane growled at Cullip.

  A hint of amusement glinted in the hunter’s eyes. “He will—when I include it in my report. I’m certain the Lord General will be thrilled to hear you beat up Darius over a woman you’re not even going to feed on.”

  Tane growled once more and marched away, his team trailing after him.

  Kat had thought that Darius was full of himself, but he had nothing on Tane, who was a downright asshole.

  Cullip motioned his orders to the rest of the hunters in the area. “Ashwood Yellow, go make sure Darius returns to the estate safely. Wardens, go check on Matthew, make sure he’s behaving in his cage. Silva, stay.”

  Everyone teleported away, except the small woman, Silva, and the commander.

  With no headlights from the car lighting the area, the forest felt ominous in the dark. She was having trouble making out much beyond the two hunters who stood watching her.

  Silva crossed her arms and spoke. “We change our names so that vampires have a harder time finding and using our families against us.”

  “My family is dead.”

  Cullip said, “I’m not making an exception. Everyone changes their names.”

  “Not everyone, sir. Let her keep her name.” The woman left no room for argument, and he didn’t seem to want to fight her on it.

  “Alright. Fine. You can keep your name, Kat.” He looked at his phone and typed out another text.

  “What are you up to, sir?” Silva asked, trying to peek at the screen. Kat also wanted to know, but she didn’t move from her spot. She’d pissed her new boss off enough.

  A few moments later, a new hunter appeared. He couldn’t have been much older than her but the five o’clock shadow on his face aged him. A twisted grouping of healed scars ran down his face. They started under his right eye and cheekbone, running jagged across his cheek, and ending at the bottom of his chin. His lips were split where the scars crossed.

  There was something off about him. His dark eyes were cold. Soulless.

  Kat found herself comparing them to Darius’ eyes, which were just as dark in his human form but full of passion and life. Every time the incubus had glanced at her they sparked. Not so with this hunter, who sent a chill down Kat’s spine.

  He pressed his fist to his shoulder in a salute. “Commander. Lieutenant.”

  “Sir,” Silva said to Cullip, “you can’t be serious. She doesn’t even have her runes and they’re in their third year.”

  Cullip ignored her with a smile. “Cadet Chase, this is Kat. She’s the newest member of your team.”

  Chase looked between Kat and Cullip. “Sir—” A raised eyebrow stopped Chase’s forthcoming complaint in its tracks. “Yes, sir.”

  “Commander Lock seems to think she’ll be able to keep up if I place her in a more advanced team—”

  Silva shook her head. “I’d hardly call them an ‘advanced team’.”

  Chase stood up a little taller, his fingers flexing near the weapons on his belt as if he took offense, but otherwise made no other action.

  “Kat,” Cullip said, “I don’t have the time to hold your hand right now. Chase is your team leader and will evaluate you. He’ll report to me when he thinks you’re ready to get your runes.”

  Great. How long would that take?

  A thick, high-tech-looking bracelet on Cullip’s wrist beeped. “Be there in a moment,” he said into it. “Chase, her file is waiting for you.”

  With no further instructions, both Cullip and Silva teleported away, leaving Kat alone in the dark with Chase.

  He regarded her for a moment then raised his wrist to his mouth. “Dispatch, this is Chase, inform my team that their night off has been canceled and to meet me in Lincoln mess.”

  Chase turned and began walking away. Kat followed. A strange noise, a scream from some sort of animal out in the forest, broke up the eerie silence. She picked up her pace to be closer to the guy with all the weapons.

  “You ever face a vamp before?” Chase asked.

  “Yeah. I’ve killed five.”

  An unimpressed grunt of acknowledgement came from the hunter.

  “Why?” she asked. “How many have you killed?”

  “More than five.”

  Rounding the bend, the academy came into view. Five structures. The main building looked reminiscent of the estate, but it was only three stories instead of four. The other buildings were more modern and reminded her of college dorms, and in the back, rising above the others, loomed a massive dome structure that looked kind of like a covered football field.

  As they neared, green light caught her eye, and she spotted hunters practicing on dummies, running through obstacles, and even a few on horseback, riding and shooting crossbows at targets.

  “Come,” Chase said, moving towards the eastern-most building. Above the thick doors was a sign that read ‘Lincoln Hall’.

  Kat laughed.

  Chase tossed her a glance over his shoulder but kept walking, leading them inside. “What is it you find funny?”

  “Lincoln.”

  Chase turned to her. “Make yourself clear.”

  Whoa. He had one mode: serious. “Like…Abe Lincoln…vampire hunter…?”

  He frowned. “He wasn’t a vampire hunter. These dorms were not named for him.”

  “I don’t know, boss, that’s pretty funny,” someone said from behind her. She jumped, turning and raising her arms defensively. Before her stood a man wearing a mask that covered most of his face; only his nearly yellow eyes were visible. He pulled back his hood and pushed the mask down, revealing dark flowing hair and a square, stubbled jaw. “Who’s the girl? Is she why my night off was cut short?” He had a Mexican accent, thicker than the one some of her classmates in SoCal had.

  Kat held her hand out. “I’m Kat.”

  The hunter took it, his cloak opening slightly. Kat caught a flash of mean-looking weapons secured to his limber frame. “I like the name. Javi.”

  Javi had a firm handshake but not a posturing one, and she appreciated that he didn’t try to caress or kiss her.

  “She’s our rune-less, newbie teammate.” Chase pushed open the door to the mess and disappeared inside of it.

  Javi smiled at her, warm and friendly. “Don’t mind the boss. We’re all convinced he tried to stick a dildo up his ass one day and it got stuck there.”

  Kat burst up laughing. “Yeah? I believe it.”

  “But let’s not keep h
im waiting. He’s the one that can make us run laps and withhold food. And I like food.”

  Envy ran through her; if Javi enjoyed food, he must burn the calories quick with a body like his. Kat looked at food and it stuck to her hips…well, when she remembered to eat anyways. Spending her nights going after vampires meant many skipped dinners.

  Javi motioned to the door. “After you, my new friend.”

  Kat entered a spacious, nearly empty cafeteria with rows and rows of tables. Chase, with his impassive expression, waited a few feet away from two other men. One of them was huge, easily six-five, and had metal armor pieces over his hunter leathers. The other was scrawny, with striking blue eyes and floppy white-blond hair. The big guy’s skin was as dark as the small one’s was light.

  They looked comical standing together.

  “Where’s Dawn?” Chase asked.

  “Where do you think?” the smaller hunter said.

  Chase sighed.

  Javi put his hand on Kat’s shoulder to introduce her. “We finally got a new teammate. This is Kat. That big guy there is Brick—”

  Brick nodded to her.

  “And the little one—”

  “I’m not little.”

  “Is Necrus.”

  Strange names…at least they’d be easy for her to remember.

  “Brick is our front-liner in fights,” Javi said. “Meaning he’s usually the one taking the beating from the vamp while we circle around. And Necrus is our field medic and sniper, mostly because his runes fizz out half the time.”

  “They do not fizz out,” Necrus said. “I just happen to be the best aim on the team.”

  Kat noticed he had an oversized crossbow attached to his back. “Why a crossbow and not a gun?”

  Chase rubbed his forehead as if trying to relieve the pressure of a headache. Kat ignored him. Team leader or no, she was done dealing with assholes tonight.

  Javi smiled at her. “Bullets don’t do shit against vamps. The silver-coated ones slide right through them. Buckshot does okay, but we’re always worried about friendly fire. The incubi warriors that fight with us can shrug off a bolt easily enough, not so much a bullet. And there’s this—”

  Javi teleported away and reappeared a moment later, pistol in hand. He aimed it at Brick’s head and fired three times. The big guy didn’t even flinch as the bullets slammed into some sort of barrier that looked like water rippling inches away from his face. The impacted metal dropped harmlessly to the ground.

  “One of our runes auto activates when small objects come flying at us at a high velocity. Vamps know we have the rune, and because using it wears us out fast, they’ll position themselves in a way that makes firing guns more dangerous for us than them.”

  Necrus scooped down and retrieved the spent bullets. “When’s she getting her runes?”

  “When I say so,” Chase said, who looked more unhappy about the situation each time he looked at Kat.

  Taking aim, Necrus flicked each of the bullets into a trashcan across the room, hitting his target perfectly. “Then say so soon, we’ve been benched way too long.”

  “She gets them when she’s ready.”

  Kat scowled at Chase. “It won’t take me long to catch up.”

  “I hope not,” Chase said.

  Behind him, Brick—who had been standing nearly motionless the whole time—pulled out a chair.

  A green light lingered in the air for a split second, then a woman appeared. Unlike the others, she wasn’t wearing a leather uniform but rather tight pants, a loose metallic shirt, and tall heels. Her red-blonde hair was pulled back. Her lipstick slightly smeared. She looked as if she’d been out clubbing.

  “I hope this is important,” she said. “Because I was in the middle of an epic make out session with Lord Roa and Lady Ephni, and let me tell you, they—” Her eyes settled on Kat. “Oh.”

  “Dawn, this is Kat, your new roommate.”

  “Hi.” Dawn smiled and stumbled forward, clearly drunk. Brick caught her with one arm and in the other had a glass of water with seltzer bubbling in it. Kat hadn’t even noticed him get it. For such a big man, he moved awfully quiet.

  Brick ushered her into the chair he had pulled out.

  Noticing Javi’s yellow eyes again, Kat asked, “Are you guys all human?”

  “Yes, we’re human,” Chase said. “Why would you think otherwise?”

  “I wanted to be sure. I only knew about vampires until recently, and now there’s incubi…and gargoyles...and witches.”

  “Don’t worry, chica,” Javi said. “We’ll teach you all about shifters, and trolls, and fairies.”

  Brick’s face twisted with disgust, his accent—South African, maybe?—surprising her as he said, “I hate fairies…”

  “You’ll learn the best ways to kill vamps,” Javi continued, ignoring Brick.

  “…small and tiny…”

  “You’ll do just fine.”

  “…annoying insects…”

  “Welcome to our team.”

  “…pests.”

  “Welcome to Ashwood Red.”

  9

  Darius

  Darius stumbled against a wall, pressing into it for support. His whole body ached. Normally he’d begin healing right away, but he hadn’t fed tonight.

  Gods, he had been such a fool to attack Tane. Now he’d never have a chance with Kat. She clearly favored warriors; fighters.

  No matter how much you wish it to be true, you are not a warrior. You will never be able to defeat Tane in combat. This hostility between you two must cease. Your actions reflect poorly on my household, poorly on me. Do not risk your high standing over something so frivolous.

  Those were the Lord General’s words the last time they fought. And no doubt he’d be hearing something similar soon. That is if the general didn’t kick him from the house right away.

  Darius’ soavik cramped inside him and his cock throbbed with the desire to feed. He ignored it and pounded on one of the many doors that lined the otherwise empty hallway. No guards patrolled this particular area to give the illusion of discretion. Of course, the guards would be here in a fraction of a second if they were needed.

  The door crept open.

  A gaunt male incubus’ eyes widened when he saw Darius, and he fell to his left knee and bowed his head. “My lord, how may I serve you?”

  “Get up.” Darius stepped into the room, shutting the door behind him. “I need some curb.”

  The thin incubus said nothing for a moment, seemingly still shocked. Darius himself had never gone to the dealer before; he always sent a servant if a guest was in need of some drug.

  “I’m not sure what you think—”

  Darius’ eyes flared from brown to blue. “If you deny what you do here, I’ll have you tossed out of Ashwood and make sure no other house takes you in.”

  The dealer swallowed and nodded. “You need some vamp blood too? You look like…you should drink some, my lord.”

  “No.” Vamp blood would aid his healing, but Darius refused to touch anything that came from a vampire. Once he got some rest, he’d be strong enough to throw on a glamor and hide his wounds.

  The dealer went to a dresser and pulled out a locked box. Opening it, he grabbed three syringes and handed them to Darius, who pocketed the drugs and left without saying another word.

  When he got to his room, Darius sat on his bed. His body ached; Tane hadn’t held back delivering iron hard blows.

  Removing a single syringe from his suit pocket, he let it grow heavy in his hand. He always thought less of those who turned to drugs, but now here he was…

  This wasn’t quite the same though. Curb wouldn’t give him an unnatural high. It simply suppressed his desire to feed and prevented him from broadcasting his hunger. And it would let him think about someone besides Kat. He had to do something. Whenever he closed his eyes, he only saw her. When he took a breath in, her scent crossed his nose. When he heard a sound, he expected it to be her fiery voice and disappoi
ntment racked him when it wasn’t.

  This wasn’t normal. He had never felt such strong desire before.

  His hands shook as he rolled up his sleeve and plunged the needle into a vein.

  The drug hit faster than he expected, clearing his mind and taking away his insatiable hunger. The late hour and lost fight caught up to him, and his movements slowed. He barely yanked off his clothes before the overwhelming urge to sleep overcame him.

  * * *

  When Darius woke, his hunger had returned in force. He couldn’t afford it either, not with the dozens of tasks he had today. The general was hosting some sort of exhibition and Darius had to ensure each of the visiting incubi were taken care of. New artwork was set to be delivered and he had to inspect it, there were measurements to gather, a budget to approve…the list was endless. And yet he wanted nothing more than to skip the day and find Kat.

  Had they moved her over to the academy? Was she already training? Would she like her new team? What would she look like naked on his bed, moaning his name as he kissed and licked the soft flesh of her inner thigh?

  He couldn’t stand it. Leaning over, he dug through his discarded clothes, pulled out another syringe, and took the drug.

  Before he went about fulfilling his duties, he looked at himself in the mirror. Gods, he looked terrible. Even after a full night’s rest, deep purple bruises littered his skin, and there were black bags under his eyes. He forced his body to change, to glamor, hiding the imperfections behind flawless skin. It took some effort to keep it up all day, but he couldn’t risk anyone seeing him as anything less than perfect. He was, after all, the social face of House Tarrick.

  For the first time in his life, he resented the pressures of duty.

  The day dragged, and when Darius finally made it back to his room, he collapsed fully-clothed onto his bed.

  Despite the drug, his dreams were filled with the woman he desired, and when he woke the next day, he didn’t bother to open his eyes as he felt around his nightstand for the last dose of curb.

  But he never found it.

  “Miss’n’ something?”