Ash (25 page)

O-negative, not tainted
by alcohol. My fangs had descended and the bottle was already in my mouth when
I wrenched open the front door. I was not in the mood for visitors today. The
second I saw who it was, I instantly regretted not at least brushing my hair,
or my teeth for that matter.

Ryder’s eyes were light,
the black swirling with silver as he stared. “Rough night?” he finally asked,
his lips curling up as if he was fighting a smile. I narrowed my eyes and
pulled the bottle of blood from my lips before sticking out my tongue and
slamming the door in his face. I was totes not in the mood for Ryder. I sank
back against the door, my body sagging as I fought the urge to tear the barrier
open and throw myself at him.
Don’t be pathetic, Charlie.
Not even for
the hottest man that ever lived. I finished my blood before throwing the bottle
into the trash.

“Charlie, open the door.”
His low words penetrated through to me, and I had to squeeze my eyes tightly
shut, my nails cutting into my palms as if the pain would somehow make me
stronger. “Charlie … please.”

My knees pretty much
collapsed under me as he uttered those words. I had never heard that tone from
him before, that level of low anguish and need. I bit my lip as tears rimmed my
eyes. The pressure in my chest was sharp and biting as the force of my emotions
slammed into me. I couldn’t ignore him when he spoke like that, I needed to
know what he was here for. This Ryder seemed different.

I wrenched the door open
again. Ryder was still in the same position, his eyes almost purely silver now.
We stared for a few long moments, and he didn’t speak as the energy stretched
between us. Finally, he held out a hand, asking me to take it, and jerked his
head to the hallway, asking me to trust him, to follow him.

I swallowed roughly,
before nodding in a jerky moment. “Just give me a second.”

I dashed away from him
into the bathroom, where I brushed my teeth in record time. I managed to tame
the rat’s nest hair I had going on, and even threw on a clean shirt. Mine had a
few blood wine stains on it.

When I stepped back into
the living area, Ryder was still in the same spot, just standing there waiting
for me, as if he had not even moved an inch while I was gone. I couldn’t stop
my feet from crossing to him. My hand slipped into his like it had been made to
fit. He led me from the room, silent, his body heat and spicy scent enveloping
me as we walked side by side.

I had a lot of things to
say and so many things to ask, but for now I was content to just be by his side,
holding his hand. Ryder ended up leading me to the elevator, and we descended
to the ground level. Stepping through the rubble of the entrance hall, most of
the damage from our “car crash distraction” had been repaired, but not all of
it. Once we were outside I recognized the place he was taking me. It was that
same green area Jayden and I had sat long ago, before the culling, where the
ash had attacked us. Ryder and his men had stepped in.

“I never thanked you
properly for that day,” I said, breaking the silence. We were outside, standing
together in the sun, the thick forest surrounding us. I loved the feel of the
warmth on my face, the breeze as it ruffled my hair.

Ryder shifted his head to
stare into my eyes, and then he graced me with a full-on grin. My heart sort of
stopped, or stuttered at least. Ryder so rarely smiled like that, a true smile.
It was all kinds of sexy and beautiful. Who was this new Ryder and could I keep
him?

“That first night I saw
you in the club, I knew you were trouble.” He turned away again to stare off
into the trees. “The days before the culling only cemented my view.”

I barely heard his words
over the sound of my heart pounding in my ears.

“You were so stubborn and
willful, fighting me every step of the way. Resisting training, resisting
killing, even though it was to save your own life. Like I said to you before,
watching you fight was torture. Every single second. Knowing you could be culled
before I had a chance to discover more of the hidden fire that fills you.
Charlie, I have been emotionally dead for a lot of years, doing my duty,
fighting the pain of who I am, of what I did. Not allowing anyone in. Well, I’m
done fighting it. I can’t with you.”

My breath hitched at his
admission.

He reached out, gently
tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “You came along out of nowhere and you completely
disarmed me. You made me feel. And now I don’t know what the hell to do about
it. I don’t know what I’m ready for…”

I leaned into him, our
bodies melting together. His honesty took me completely off guard. “We don’t
have to make any rules now, Ryder. You have to find peace about what happened
to Molly. Otherwise that is a cloud which will live over us forever.”

I got all brave then,
raising up on my tiptoes to press my lips to the corner of his mouth, his delicious
scent and taste drawing me in. “This is enough for me, for now,” I whispered
against him, and with a groan he yanked me closer, our bodies slamming into
each other.

“Never enough with you,
Charlie.”

Then he was kissing me,
like the night in the karaoke club, but this time tinged with so much more
desperation. We had been through a lot since then. That night in the Hive with
the Sanctum had cemented the ties between us. Ryder had protected me and I
would never forget it. There was a hunger in the way he kissed me, like he
would never get enough.

“Is this why you were
trying to keep me from coming back to save Jayden?” I asked as we pulled back
for air.

His swirling eyes locked
in on mine. One of his hands ran up and down my back, as if he just wanted to
be touching me. “I was angry with the situation, but also with myself. I knew I
should not bring you back to the Hive, but I couldn’t say no to you when you
needed me to say yes. I don’t like that sort of weakness. I should always be
able to do the right thing, even if it is the hard thing to do. I should be
able to protect you and my team without giving in to you just because you flash
those gorgeous silver-black eyes at me.”

I smiled, dropping to my
feet, my heart still rapid as I tried to adjust to this sudden change in Ryder.
He was so open. So free with his words. I wanted more of this. I wanted all of
it. But I also understood what he was trying to say.

“You did the right thing,
Ryder. Any relationship works two ways. You have to trust I’m strong enough to
handle the bad as well as the good. I would rather walk into battle by your
side than cower in the car while my best friend is killed.”

He smiled again. “I’m
starting to see that, and having you by my side feels right.”

A shadowy figure stepped
out of the trees then, and Ryder tensed for a moment before he realized it was a
friend, not foe.

“Hey, bro, unicorn, I’ve
been looking for you guys.” Kyle loped across to us, all happy and casual-like.
He was out of enforcer black, wearing dark blue slacks and a button shirt. It
was the most formal I’d seen from Kyle. Even his unruly dirty-blond hair was
brushed back, emphasizing the defined cheeks and broad features in his handsome
face. “Everyone is gathering in the stadium. It’s time to say farewell to our
fallen soldiers.”

Ryder didn’t say anything
more, but as we turned and followed Kyle, things felt right between us. We
still had a long way to go. I had no idea what Ryder wanted in the long term
from us, but this felt like a positive step in the right direction.

The Quorum were dressed in their finest attire.
It seemed nearly all of the Hive was assembled. The stadium that held the
culling was now completely transformed into a clean and peaceful ceremonial
hall. White and blue silk draped the walls. The bloodstained fighting mats that
had covered the ground had been pulled up to reveal polished wood floors. A
large chandelier hung in the middle of the room, giving an elegant ambiance
that had been missing from my days in this room. Before us all lay ten gold
urns. Odd that the place these men fought for their lives would also become the
place they were laid to rest. A podium with a microphone stood empty, and Ryder
squeezed my hand before approaching it. I stayed behind, leaning against the
wall, next to Kyle and the other enforcers. My eyes remained locked on Ryder as
he sidled through and around the masses of gathered Hive members. He never even
glanced at the beautiful faces of our people around him. His focus was solely
on the enforcers he had lost. When he reached the podium, he stood very still
for a few long moments. No one made noises or spoke. The silence felt both
respectful and heavy. People had lost friends, and loved ones. After this time
of silence, Ryder cleared his throat and all eyes were on him.

“For centuries the ash
have laid down their lives to protect the Hive, to protect the vampires and the
Quorum that govern it. These ten men died doing their jobs … protecting all of
you. They will be remembered! They will be honored!” His voice grew strong and
loud toward the end. These words were met with applause. This Hive hierarchy
really confused me. They made us kill ourselves for the opportunity to live
with them. Then, even though the vampires were physically stronger, they made
us fight to protect them. But we outnumbered them ten to one.

“These enforcers are mine
to protect!” Ryder was all deadly now, his long arm pointing to all of us
leaning against the wall. “And I will protect what is mine.”

There was no mistaking
that threat. Whomever the mole was should be shaking in their boots right now.
I held a little hope, too, that since he so readily grouped me in with them, it
was time to mention that I really wanted to be an enforcer. Maybe he’d actually
consider it at this point. Please, God, don’t make me answer phones for the
rest of my life.

A group of enforcers
walked out military-style in a perfect line. They picked up the vases, and as
they turned to march from the stadium, golden urns cradled in their hands, they
stopped only once to salute Ryder. The heaviness broke then and Ryder indicated
that people could leave. The Quorum disbanded, and a few members trailed over
to talk to the lead enforcer.

Kyle and I strolled
within earshot, stopping in the pretense of waiting, but we were really
listening in. I knew of most of the Quorum members now, but except for that
lovely day where they forced me to go with them to the medical wing, I had not
really met them.

The leader of the second
house was a willowy female. She had dark blond curls that fell around her face.
She was a lot taller than my five feet seven and looked extra cheerleader cute,
even though she was most probably deadlier than cancer.

She was scolding Ryder.
“You have one of my vampires in the pit who has had an unnecessarily long
sentence. A month for biting an ash?” Her tone indicated that this was barely
even a crime at all.

Ryder stood taller, his
height giving him domination advantage over her. “A month for attacking and
feeding off of a female ash.”

The Quorum members looked
at me quickly before turning away again. 

“Let him go, he has
served enough time,” said the dour and jowly male leader of the third house,
before turning with cheer-vamp and leaving. 

As he watched their
retreating backs, Ryder’s face indicated that he wanted to beat the Quorum into
submission, but instead he just walked over to Kyle and me.

“Well, duty calls,” Ryder
said.

Kyle grabbed my hand.
“Wanna see the pit?”

Ryder shot him a glare,
but before he could protest I nodded. I totally wanted to know what this
infamous pit was.

Ryder shook his head,
looking resigned. “It’s not going to be pretty, and starved vampires are pretty
deadly. But if you want to come along…”

Even with our talk
outside, I knew it was going to take him some time to stop treating me like a delicate
flower and realize I was just as tough as most of the ash. Sure, I had boobs,
but that only increased my power.  

We all walked to the line
of elevators. I paused, expecting we would take them down into the crater of
hell or something. I mean, where else would the pit be? So I was a little
surprised when instead of going to the normal silver elevators, we went around
the corner, and there, resting in a small alcove, was an elevator with a red
door. I had never seen it before in all my time at the Hive. It was perfectly
hidden away. Ryder and Kyle put their thumbs on a keypad and the elevator
beeped and flared to life. Whoa, legit super-secret. My stomach knotted in anxiety
and excitement.

The doors opened and we
stepped inside. One button on the panel, labeled “pit.” Ryder hit it and the
elevator made its way down.

“So,” I asked, “the pit
is what exactly?”

Ryder looked at me,
seemingly thinking about his answer. “It’s the Hive’s version of jail.”

Kyle snorted. “More like
a mixture of, jail, solitary confinement, and torture.”

Ryder and Kyle exchanged
a grin. I felt a moment of queasiness at the mental images those words
provoked. I must have paled, because Ryder stepped a little closer to me, his
heat warming my cool limbs.