Dark of Night: Beautiful Monsters: Ashwood Red

by Lane, Jex

  She froze. Between the mindless rages, and wanting to kill her, did the creature really remember who she was? Did he remember himself?

  Mont ran his spindly fingers through her dad’s hair. “My child seems to still be attached to you. Unusual, but not unheard of. I’ll end you for him and spare him the pain.”

  “That’s nice of you, but I won’t go down so easy.”

  The vampire smiled wide this time, his fangs catching the moonlight. He moved, appearing inches away from her, knocking the stake from her hand and grabbing her throat. “A novice hunter poses no threat to me.”

  “Sire, please,” her dad said.

  Mont looked back at his sired son. “I must. I am suppressing your urge to kill her, but eventually, even I cannot hold you back. Either I do this now, or you will eventually.”

  Kat, who had given up on trying to breathe, kicked at Mont, her heavy boot connecting solidly against his ribs. His body felt like stone, and he didn’t even flinch at the contact.

  Her dad touched Mont’s arm, a pained expression on his face. “She’s my daughter.”

  Mont opened his mouth to say something but never got the chance.

  Darius—in his full incubus form—dove from the sky slamming into the vampire lord. The two became a mass of skin and wings and claws. Darius thrust his sword through Mont’s chest, driving it in deep.

  If the weapon hurt Mont at all, there was no evidence of it. The vampire ignored the blade and continued to attack. He landed a blow to Darius’ side; ribs broke. Darius clawed the creature, scratching it across its face. If he had been fighting anything but a vampire lord, Darius might have actually injured it, but Mont healed back each wound almost as quickly as he got them.

  With incredible strength, Mont ended up on top. He grabbed Darius’ horn and pulled the incubus’ head back, exposing his neck. The vampire pierced Darius’s skin with both an upper and lower set of fangs and began to pull in mouthfuls of blood.

  Darius struggled; punching, kicking, and kneeing at Mont, but the parasite didn’t budge. Needing to save him, Kat ran at Mont, raising her stake. As she took aim at the monster’s heart, a cold hand wrapped around her wrist; clawed fingertips pierced her skin.

  Dad.

  Whatever Mont had done to keep Dad’s rage at bay no longer had any effect.

  Kat teleported a few feet away, and Dad swiped the empty air with his claws. He growled, leaping after her.

  Darius cried out. Kat looked in his direction and saw Mont sinking claws into his torso. Using the distraction, her dad came at her. Five sharp claws sliced her left shoulder open like butter.

  Pain flared across Kat’s body as muscle and bone split apart.

  She stabbed at him with her stake, missing his heart by inches. Before she could try again his fist connected to her stomach and she went flying, slamming into a tree. She bounced on the frozen leaves and dirt.

  She tried to activate the strength rune. It turned on for a moment then sputtered out, the pain overwhelming her.

  An icy chill ran through her veins as she realized they had no hope. Always the fighter, she refused to give up but that didn’t change reality. A vampire lord could easily kill a social incubus and a novice vampire hunter. Both her and Darius were going to die.

  Her dad—with the stake still in his chest—came at her again.

  Blood poured from her shoulder; she stood and drew a dagger with her working hand.

  She dodged, and sharp claws missed her face by inches. Her dad came at her again but before his claws could connect, a silver chain corkscrewed passed Kat’s head and wrapped around the vampire’s arm, causing him to scream in agony as the silver burned his skin.

  “How is it”—Necrus yanked his arm back, throwing her dad off balance, and in a single smooth motion brandished his chain like a whip, striking across the vampire’s face—“that I have the worst runes on this fucking team, and I’m always the first to show up?”

  “Maybe”—Javi teleported behind Kat’s dad and drove a stake into the creature’s heart through the back; her dad fell to the ground—“you’re secretly powering your runes by sarcasm and have been hiding it from us.”

  “Unlikely,” Brick said as he appeared beside Mont, bashing his silver, flanged mace into the vampire’s head with a wet thwak.

  The cavalry had arrived.

  24

  Kat

  Kat watched as Mont ripped free from Darius and rose to his full height, his head wound already healing. Brick swung again, only to be stopped as Mont grabbed his wrist and snapped it. Brick’s weapon tumbled to the ground.

  Dawn appeared beside Mont and took a swing at his neck. Before she could slice off his head, Mont released Brick and backhanded Dawn across her chest, sending her flying. Dawn teleported midair and Kat lost track of where she went. Javi appeared behind the vampire and drove a dagger into his lower back. Blood poured out of the creature’s pierced blood pouch.

  Kat scrambled for the second bottle of vampire blood on her belt and downed the liquid. Almost right away her shoulder wound began to stitch together.

  Mont pulled the sword Darius had impaled him with from his torso and stabbed it into Javi’s upper thigh. Javi teleported away and reappeared in the forest, kneeling over in pain, but no more than a grunt escaped him.

  “He’s going after Javi,” Necrus said.

  Brick, who held his hand close to his chest but otherwise didn’t seem too concerned about his broken wrist, appeared in the creature’s way. Mont grabbed the hunter’s pauldron and should have been able to toss him aside with ease given his strength, but Brick didn’t budge.

  Chase appeared behind Mont and sliced him across his back with an intricately decorated short sword then disappeared.

  Mont turned into bats, swarming past Brick and reforming but Chase reappeared and sliced at him again, this time across the lord’s arm. The hunter teleported quicker than Kat expected; appearing, attacking, disappearing.

  Dawn rejoined the fight and started doing the same. Mont was equally as fast, avoiding most of their attacks and countering with his own: clawing, punching, or kicking them.

  Brick ran interference, keeping Javi safe while he downed some vamp blood, then Brick downed some himself and recovered his weapon. Necrus fired bolts periodically, giving them cover.

  Kat wanted to join the fight but wasn’t sure how without getting in their way. That is until she saw an opening. Activating both her reflex and teleport runes, she appeared before Mont, stabbed him in the belly and teleported away. She wasn’t sure if she hit his second blood pouch, but she hoped so.

  Chase gave the team hand signals that were too fast for her to decipher. He must have noticed her struggling to keep up because he broke off. Appearing beside her, he said, “Stay with the fledgling. Kill it if Mont gets close. We can’t handle two vamps right now.”

  She wanted nothing more than to go to Darius, who was sitting against a tree with his hand pressed to his neck, or to attack Mont…but she followed orders, waiting by her dad. And as she waited, she began to listen to the rhythm of the battle. Chase’s commands; Brick’s eyes as they darted to the next place he planned to teleport; how Necrus waited to fire a shot until he was sure he’d hit his target; Dawn and Javi’s movements as they flanked the sides.

  Without a doubt, Ashwood Red moved as a single entity. One she was more than ever determined to be a part of.

  But they were a team of cadets facing a vampire lord. And they began to slow; their wounds piled up. A cut there, a bruise here. Mont wore them down and showed no signs of stopping, shifting to bats and back to avoid attacks. Javi stabbed one of the bats. It turned to blood and fell but didn’t seem to slow Mont.

  How the heck could they possibly beat him? He seemed invincible. For every blow Ashwood Red got in, he dished out three.

  Mont reformed in the center of the clearing. “As entertaining as this is, I have other plans for tonight.”

  Chase appeared before him. “Call and cancel. W
e’ll wait.”

  Oh sure. Chase had a stick up his butt all the time, except when facing off against a vampire lord…

  Mont smiled and was on Chase in the blink of an eye. He sliced Chase’s chest, cutting through the leather with ease, slashing the hunter’s runes and disabling the ones he cut through. One had to be Chase’s teleport rune since he didn’t disappear when Mont wrapped a claw around his neck.

  Brick appeared beside them but before he could swing his mace, Mont, with his free hand, grabbed a dagger from Chase’s belt and drove it into Brick’s neck then plucked up three throwing daggers, hurling them at Darius.

  “No!” Kat teleported in front of Darius, except Javi got there first. His protection rune activated, blocking two but he must have been spent because the third sunk into his chest. He grunted and went crashing to the ground.

  Chase grabbed an object that looked like a grenade from his belt and pulled the pin. He closed his eyes as he tossed it up. It exploded and silver dust filled the air.

  Mont didn’t seem as affected by silver as other vampires Kat had seen but it still burned his skin turning it red. He loosened his grip on Chase’s neck, and Chase gasped for air.

  Necrus shot a chain at Mont, who grabbed it midair and yanked, pulling the hunter to the ground. Necrus went down hard and slammed into a tree, the force knocking him out. Dawn appeared behind Mont and staked him.

  Nothing happened.

  The stake didn’t stop Mont at all. Didn’t even slow him.

  Dawn teleported beside Kat. “Shit, how old is this guy?”

  Kat had no idea, other than ‘old’. She hadn’t known that stakes wouldn’t work on him.

  Having disabled most of the team, Mont turned and locked his red eyes onto Darius.

  “I remember you,” he said to Darius. “You taste like your mother.” Darius balled his fists, but he said nothing. “Tell me. Do you love her?”

  It took Kat a moment to realize Mont’s question was about her, not Darius’ mom. Darius’ eyes flicked to Kat, and in them, desperation.

  “After I kill her,” Mont continued, “I’ll leave you alive so you can feel the pain of what your people have taken from me.”

  “Run, Kat. Go,” Darius said, pleading. Wearing pain deeper than she’d ever seen. “Get out of here. Both of you.”

  “Like hell we run,” Dawn said and raised her sword.

  “Please.” The word a whisper from his mouth. Kat knew he couldn’t lose anyone else. Not to Mont.

  She nodded.

  Her heart shattered.

  And she teleported away.

  25

  Darius

  Darius’ neck bled profusely. The vampire not only bit him but ripped away a chunk of flesh when Brick had smashed its head.

  He knew he could handle a fledgling vampire if he had to face one, but a vampire lord like Mont was beyond his skill level.

  It didn’t matter though, the moment he’d seen Mont grab Kat he could think of nothing but getting her back. He had taken to the sky before Dawn could try to stop him.

  And now, he was about to watch the poor hunter die along with the rest of her team. Ashwood Red was moving, trying to overcome their wounds, but they had no hope here. Mont was playing with them and they probably didn’t even know it.

  Dawn gripped her sword tighter and readied herself.

  Darius wished she’d run. He couldn’t fly fast enough to get away from a vampire, but she could teleport.

  At least Kat was safe. Do you love her? The question turned his blood to ice because he knew why Mont had asked it: to torture him. He thanked the goddess that Kat would live this night. Seeing her die would have been too much. He knew she’d feel guilty but hoped she’d one day forgive herself. Maybe even find someone else. Find happiness again.

  Mont approached. He didn’t bother moving fast. He didn’t need to.

  Dawn attacked.

  He dodged her first swing. And the next, stepping out of the way with elegant, fluid movements. She pulled two throwing knives from her belt and tossed them at him. He knocked one away with ease and caught the other, flinging it back to her. It hit her leg. He used the opening to close the gap between them and drive his fist into her face.

  She reeled back but he stayed on her, and as he moved in for his next attack a voice cried out, “Stop!”

  Darius felt as if the entire world froze.

  Kat stood above her unconscious dad. The silver blade of her sword was in his neck.

  From her ripped cadet uniform, Darius could see her reflex rune glowing bright. That rune took a lot of magic to activate, and most hunters could only keep it going for a few seconds—enough to give them an upper hand against a vampire, but not enough to keep up with one.

  Yet, hers stayed active.

  Mont started to move, and Kat pushed the sword deeper into her dad’s neck. “I only need to flex my hand, and his spinal cord is severed,” she said. “Leave. I’ll drag his ass back to the prison, and he’ll be there. Alive. Or stay, and I cut off his head.”

  The vampire’s upper lip lifted.

  “You have five seconds to decide,” she said. “Four…”

  Mont hissed. “You won’t kill your own father.”

  Kat twitched her hand a few millimeters. “No. You already did that. I have no problems ending this creature. Three…two…”

  “I will return for my son.”

  “I’ll be waiting.”

  Mont broke apart into bats and took off into the night sky.

  Kat’s rune powered off, and she staggered forward. Darius pushed away his own pain. He sprung to his hooves and rushed to her, catching her in his arms. “You’re okay,” he said.

  “What’s happening…?”

  “It’s called a source drop. When hunters push themselves too far. You’ll be okay, rest.”

  “You owe me one more honest answer,” she muttered, hardly able to keep her eyes open. “Mont’s question…”

  “Shhh. Sleep.”

  She nodded and drifted off to sleep. Darius returned to his human form and sat on the forest floor, cradling her in his lap.

  “Make sure he doesn’t circle back,” a strained male voice said. The order came from Holden—or rather Chase—and Dawn carried it out.

  Around Darius, Ashwood Red was recovering. He didn’t pay much attention except to note that none had died. A few needed more vampire blood than they carried with them—Brick’s wound was particularly deep—but they’d live.

  Darius watched Kat sleeping in his lap until Necrus came over to check his injuries.

  “You need to heal that, but I’m a zero,” Necrus said. “Brick’s a nine. He’s not in the best shape right now—”

  “I’m fine,” Brick said.

  “—but if you stick to kissing it should be okay.”

  “Am I at death’s door?” Darius asked.

  “Not quite. But you should feed.”

  “I’ll wait.” Darius pulled Kat closer.

  Do you love her?

  He’d never been in love before. Could someone fall this fast?

  Every part of his being wanted her. Needed her. He’d even die for her. Almost had.

  Having Kat in his arms felt so right, and he could no longer picture a future that didn’t have her as a part of it. Together, they could go to the season’s biggest galas, explore cities, learn the foods she enjoyed, the movies she liked…even figuring out a work/life balance sounded like an exciting challenge to him.

  Do you love her?

  “Yes.”

  His injuries caught up to him, and he joined her in sleep.

  * * *

  Darius woke with his dick inside of a warm mouth.

  He pressed his head back into the pillow and moaned, hoping the feeling would never end.

  Blood returned to his brain and confusion set in. He tried to push himself up only to be pinned back in place by an extremely strong arm.

  Kat’s mouth made a shlick sound when she pulled off his cock. �
��Relax, you idiot,” she said.

  “Idiot?”

  “You could have died. Why didn’t you feed?”

  Darius looked around. They were in the private medical rooms in Ashwood Estate. The plush accommodations were reserved for only the highest-ranking incubi. An IV dripping a red liquid—he guessed vamp blood—was hooked up to his arm.

  He felt his neck and found a bandage there.

  “We had a deal,” he said. “Why did you hold back in the fight? Why didn’t you take the chance to attack Mont?”

  “You think you’re being clever, incubus, but I see what you’re doing. Since you’re injured, I’ll humor you…we had a deal.” She gripped his cock and with one unhurried stroke traveled the length of it.

  “Stop that. I’m trying to hold a conversation—”

  A flirty smile crossed her face. “Are you?”

  “Gods, please ride me.”

  Kat, wearing clean civilian clothes, stood and removed her leggings but left her oversized shirt on.

  It took all of Darius’ control not to shift into his incubus form as he watched her crawl onto the medical bed and straddle him.

  She grabbed his rod and lined it up to her already wet entrance, then she sank onto him, her body surrounding him. He clenched his jaw to stop from moaning too loud, but even that didn’t prevent the sound from escaping.

  Kat smirked, and began to move.

  In that moment, Darius knew what the goddess’ realm must have been like: love and pleasure on a level he’d never experienced before. Kat took him there, shaking his world and turning it upside-down.

  Unable to hold back, he gripped her hips and began to piston into her, feeding deep and healing. His balls pulled up as his impending climax approached. He waited until she got close, her golden light growing brighter and brighter.

  With a little nudging, they came together, his hot seed filling her insides.

  She collapsed on him, and he wrapped his arms around her.

  “I feel drained,” she murmured against his skin.