Ash (8 page)

I followed Zeke to an
open area. Ryder took a spot leaning against the wall to watch.

Zeke planted his big
frame in front of me. “Okay, attack.”

“Like, for real?” I
scratched my arm nervously. Damn, he wasted no time.

“Like, totally for real,”
he said in a valley girl voice. Asshole. I put my hands in front of me in a
boxer’s stance and heard Ryder and a few of the other trainers chuckle behind
me. Bastards, all of them.

I decided to act like the
airhead they clearly thought I was, stumbling forward and pretending I was
going to clock Zeke in the face. He acted as I expected – his arms lifted to
block my pathetic attempts at a swing. Then, instead of throwing the punch, I whipped
my leg up and kneed him in the groin, connecting solidly. The air whooshed out
of him. This was followed by a groan as he curled in on himself.  

I forced myself not to
smile, but that was perfect. And would hopefully teach him not to treat me like
a Barbie doll. My celebration was short-lived though. He recovered quicker than
I expected and threw himself forward, taking me down to the ground.

Shit. Being underneath
your attacker was the worst possible position to be in. He straddled me, his
bulk securing my limbs, and in seconds he had an elbow to my throat. I squirmed,
trying to breathe. Ash needed to breathe or they died, right? I tried to pull both
knees up, but he was too strong.

As I struggled, he
continued to stare at me, those black eyes piercing and strangely empty. “You’re
dead,” he said. “If this were the culling, you’d have been gone in five
seconds.”

He released my neck and I
rolled over gasping and coughing. I popped up quickly and placed my hands up
again, sucking in huge lungfuls of air. Mothereffer was going down.

“Yes!” Zeke said. “Use
anger, come on. Show me what you’ve got!”

Once I managed to breathe
freely again, I was up and bouncing on the tips of my feet, trying to remember
that I was an ash. I was stronger and faster than my human self. With a battle
cry I ran at him, spinning and delivering a roundhouse kick to the side of his
head. He fell backward, but used his long legs to snake out and trip me.

I landed on my right
elbow, but was able to prop myself up before he could pounce on me again. He
was too big and strong; I couldn’t allow him to take me to the ground. I kicked
out and smashed him in the stomach with my heel. He winced as I jumped back up
into standing position.

“She’s scrappy,” Ryder
called out to Zeke. Damn straight. Scrappy Charlie. Bring it on, you beautiful
bastard.

Zeke lifted a brow at
Ryder. “She’d scrappy, but also slow and weak.”

Before I could track his
movements, his arm snaked out lightning-quick and karate-chopped me in the
throat. I bent over gasping as his knee came out of nowhere and cracked me in
the skull. Then it was lights out.

I came to groaning; the throbbing in my
skull was awful. What the hell had happened to me now? It took a few seconds,
but the training hall and Zeke slowly started to come back to me. What the
freak? Where were my awesome ash healing powers?

I cracked open one eyelid
to see Jayden peering at me. His dark eyes flashed and he looked worried.

I sighed. “I feel like
shit.” My thirst knocked into me as Jayden handed me a bottle of blood from our
refrigerator. 

His full lips
straightened as he frowned at me. “Yeah, skull fractures take a while to heal.”

My eyes widened as I sat
and chugged the glorious blood, moaning a little. I couldn’t help it, blood was
so damn good now. But seriously … I had a skull fracture? I thought I was
supposed be training, not getting completely broken beyond repair.

After downing the bottle,
I looked at Jayden. “Did everyone see? Did all those assholes laugh?”

He chewed his bottom lip.
“Not really.”

I could already tell when
he was lying. His luscious lashes fluttered around like they were butterfly
wings trying to take flight.

“Liar,” I said, wanting
to roll my eyes, but figuring it would probably increase the ache in my head.

He leaned into me a
little more. “Well, they might have at first, but Ryder put a stop to that
fast. He threw one of the trainers across the room and into the stadium.”

Well, that was
interesting.

The blood started to work
its magic and I was already feeling a bit better. I sat up, ignoring the faint
throbbing in my skull.

“So I’m definitely a dead
person once the culling begins. Awesome.” I gave two thumbs up.

Jayden shot me a weak
smile. “I don’t think so. I heard that after seeing you get your ass kicked, and
throwing around a few members of the Hive, a certain scrumptious badass offered
to train you himself.”

I swallowed hard, my
heart picking up. “Ryder is going to train me?”

Jayden nodded.

I was sort of intrigued
about that. Why would Ryder offer to train me? And did I even want him to? I
was slowly starting to forget that electrocuting me thing he’d done. I was
falling victim to that chiseled jaw and those damn elusive dimples.

Jayden extended his hand.
“Come on. I have something to make you feel better.”

I took it and let him
help me up. The room spun for a minute. 

“A margarita?” I asked,
and he chuckled.

I followed him out of our
room and into the long hallway. We journeyed along the corridor and got into
the elevator. When he pressed the ground floor button, I had a burst of
insight, and excitement started to tingle in my blood. Were we going outside?
Please oh please, I missed the sun, trees, air…

He saw my face and
chuckled. “Just because the vamp bitches can’t handle sunlight doesn’t mean we
should stay cooped inside.” He was as flamboyant as ever.

“Yay!” I hung onto his
big bicep, giving him a side hug. I was so used to the outdoors. Oregon had so
many gorgeous lakes and rivers and trees, it was impossible to stay inside when
that beauty beckoned you. The Hive was nice, but there were no windows.
Everything was closed except at night. It made me feel stifled and I wanted
some freedom. Just for a while.

Jayden led me out of the
elevator near where another ash sat as receptionist. Guess vampires couldn’t be
this close to possible sun exposure. My roomie signed some type of log. I
leaned over his shoulder and saw that he had put our numbers, twenty-one and
forty-six, and the time and date.

The receptionist raised a
perfectly shaped eyebrow. “Be back in an hour,” he said.  

We nodded and I wondered
what happened if we weren’t back in an hour. The windows near the outside had
the roll-down shutters like the rest of the Hive, so when Jayden opened the
door and the sunlight hit me, I was temporarily blinded. Raising my arm up to
shield my eyes, I walked outside.

Within moments my eyes
adjusted and I almost cried. A large strip of forest lay before us, thick tall
trees with green moss growing up the trunks. Bushy green ferns and fallen logs
littered the forest floor. Even though it was cold, the scents were still
strong … the rich soil and earthy foliage. I sighed. Home.

Jayden began to walk and
I silently followed him. I noticed a few other ash sprinkled around. Glancing
over my shoulder, I was blindsided for a moment by the high wire fence that surrounded
the Hive, and on the other side a human guard station. No one came in or out of
the Hive without a record of it. Of course, the fence reminded me of that
night. I remembered gripping it as I was wrenched past the empty guard station.
No one had been around to hear me screa—

I cut those thoughts off
again. I would not live in the past any longer. Somehow I had this moment to
enjoy the feel of the life-giving sun on my skin, and I was taking it without
regret. Twigs and branches snapped under my feet as I followed Jayden. My
headache was gone. The sunlight and fresh air had finished up the healing which
the blood had started.

Jayden walked to a huge
fallen tree trunk and sat down as I took a seat next to him.

We sat in comfortable silence.
“Thank you,” I whispered. “This was just what I needed.” He rested a hand on my
knee and smiled, but didn’t say anything else. My heart swelled and also sank
at the same time. There was no way I could fight Jayden in the culling. Even to
save my own life. This whole culling situation was bullshit.

“Spit it out, girl.”
Jayden must have seen that I was wrestling with something.

I chuckled. “Why are you
being so nice to me?”

He nodded as if he understood.
“I had a really hard time in middle school when it was apparent that I was
different.”

God, middle school was
awful. I had braces, weird boobs, and a fascination for rap music. I couldn’t
imagine being gay on top of all that.

He winked at me. “Right,
so I guess I understand the position you’re in. You’re very different. It makes
me think of myself when I had no friends and no one to understand.”

My throat tightened with
emotion. I wasn’t prepared for Jayden’s honest reply. I squeezed his hand, but
before I could respond, a loud snap of a twig behind us caught my attention.
Just as we were spinning to see what was up, a steely voice cut through the
tranquility. “Well, well, if it isn’t the queen and the unicorn.”

Jayden and I jumped up.
Three large ash were stomping towards us. I scanned their jumpsuits, able to
make out the smaller numbers which were stitched into the upper right side of
their chests. Numbers eleven, three, and thirty-seven. Two had black hair, and
number three was a redhead.

Jayden turned to me. “Am
I the unicorn?”

I nodded. “Of course you
are, you have magical eyelashes. Besides, I’ve always thought I was a queen.”

One of the black-haired
boys bent and scooped up a thick, sharp branch. Straightening, he glared at us.
“You know it’s common practice to thin out the weak ash before the culling.”

I very much doubted that.
The vampires wouldn’t like to lose their special type of fight club
entertainment. Still, as they advanced on us, it didn’t seem like these ash
cared much. I swallowed hard, knowing that any hopes I had of us not getting
jumped had just went up in flames.

Jayden bent over and
pulled a knife from his boot. Damn son! 

“Who you calling weak,
bitch?” Jayden’s voice had lost all gayness and was pure deep hardass. I
decided he was my new BAFF. Best ash friend forever. 

Jayden positioned himself
in front of me as I grabbed a big a rock with a sharp point. I was more likely
to injure myself with it, but I had to have something.

The redhead scanned me
with droopy eyes and a sloppy grin. “Let’s kill him first and then have some
fun with her.”

Fear ran through me as my
grip on the rock tightened. I was feeling seriously pissed at my mom for
gallivanting around with Carter right about now. I should be with Tessa scoping
hotties at Starbucks, not this. Jayden lunged as two of the black-haired ash
went for him.

The redhead snaked around
him and came right for me. I was ready. I used the self-defense technique of
“never let them get their hands on you,” skirting quickly to avoid his grasp,
before managing to fling the rock straight at his forehead. It hit with a dull
thud, and my strength was more than I expected as the skin split across his
brow-line. His features hardened.

“Bitch!” he roared,
stumbling for me.

His hands grasped my
shoulders and he hauled me up and slammed me back against the tree. I cried out
as I felt a crack in my side. It felt a lot like a broken rib or two.

Number three’s eyes were
pulsing as he stared at me, his fangs lengthened. I remembered what Jayden said
about my blood being irresistible. I didn’t know what happened when an ash bit
another ash, and I didn’t want to find out.

Falling back on the best
defense women have had since the dawn of time, I kicked him in the balls, hard,
and he let me go briefly. I slid down to the ground, groans escaping as my
entire body protested. This was definitely too soon since my fractured skull. I
fought through the pain, knowing I had to get to my feet. This redhead dick
would be coming at me again. And sure enough, his snarling face was lunging
toward me when suddenly his body stopped and like … disappeared.
What the
hell?
My side and head screaming in pain, I dragged myself up and came face
to face with Ryder. Wearing a cold, menacing look, he pointed a sleek black gun
at the redhead’s face and pulled the trigger. The snapping of the bullet made
me jerk. Holy shit. Right between the eyes. Ryder had just killed someone like
it was no big deal. I averted my eyes from the body. I knew that red had just
tried to kill me, but still, his dead body was not something I wanted to see.

Holstering his gun, Ryder
stepped toward me, arms scooping me up to hoist against his body. I struggled
against him, wanting to walk on my own. I didn’t like to be carried around like
a damsel. Plus I would not look any weaker in front of the other ash. Ryder
stared down at me for a few extended beats, his breathing deep, eyes full
silver. Eventually he settled for looping an arm around my waist and letting me
use him as a very muscular crutch. My ribs and head continued to protest as we
stepped away from the tree. Once I was out in the open, I looked around for
Jayden. Fear for my friend was pushing down all other emotions.

“He’s fine,” Ryder said,
directing my gaze to where Jayden was holding his right arm. Blood seeped out
from under his fingers and I could see a long, shallow gash in his shoulder.

The pair of black-haired
ash were face down on the ground, hands zip-tied behind their backs, two of
Ryder’s teammates, dressed in black military fatigues, standing above them, each
resting a boot on their backs. Through Jayden’s constant chatter about the
delicious core group of enforcers, I knew them by sight now.

One was Markus. He was
Scottish, with thick red hair which he wore man-bun style, and a beard to
match. Dude was pretty suave. From the small amounts I’d heard of him, his
accent was quite delicious. The other was Oliver, who was Latino and hot as
hell. He had that dark and mysterious thing down, and I wasn’t surprised to see
my bestie Jayden giving him more than a single glance. The boy might be
injured, but he wasn’t dead. If you included Ryder, we were currently
surrounded by three members of the “sexy-six” – Jayden’s name for their group.

Ryder drew my attention –
not that I was ever not paying attention to him – when he quickly scanned up
and down my body. His expression was clinical, like he was looking for
injuries. But his eyes were still all silver.

My cheeks reddened and I
lowered my face a little. Together we crossed to the two ash on the ground,
Ryder’s arm and heat plastered firmly to my uninjured side. When we reached the
dicks on the ground, the enforcer’s hand tightened and he kept me close as he crouched
near their messed-up faces. Someone had beat on them badly.

His voice was chilling. “Let
this be a message to anyone else who wants to disobey the rules. You save the
fighting for the culling. Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” the ash
ground out, barely able to breathe with the other big boys standing on them.

“Okay, boss, what should
we do with them?” Markus asked in that rolling brogue. Noticing my stare, he
gave me a wink. 

Ryder readjusted my
position, taking more of my weight. How had he known I was starting to falter
again?

He threw Markus a slight
grin. “Throw them in the pit for a night. Let’s see how tough they really are.”

Markus and Oliver both
whistled low, before reaching down to hoist the boys up by the underarms. Ryder
turned to face me, his chestnut hair flickering with streaks of gold in the
sunlight. Behind him, the now silent and broken douchebuckets were being led
away to this mysterious “pit.”

Ryder leaned in closer. “From
now on, you’re my problem. Get a lot of blood and rest tonight, then tomorrow report
to the training gym first thing in the morning – and also right after lunch, and
after dinner. Understood?”