Falling to Ash (28 page)

And what does this mean for Caitlín? He might have protected her, but I can’t see any sign of my little sister. I’m wearing the jacket which still carries her scent, meaning that I can’t trace her that way. She’s all around me
.

Not that I can smell anything much besides blood
.

I see the stake shoved through Theo’s chest, close to his heart but not quite all the way there. Not quite enough to end him. I wonder whether Kyle missed, or did he leave our Master ‘alive’ for a reason
.

I grab the blood-stained stake and yank as hard as I can. The broken length of wood slides free, and blood gushes hot and dark – so dark it looks black. I drop the stake, only vaguely aware of the wet sound it makes as it hits the floor
.

Theo stirs under my touch, his many other wounds already beginning to heal. His eyes flutter open and then widen. He opens his mouth to speak – to warn me – but it is too late
.

I’m too focused on helping him to notice somebody moving silently behind me
.

Something cold and hard strikes the back of my head hard enough to split my skull, and I go down and down into darkness
 . . .

* * *

Silence. The world came back in a rush and I blinked. Suddenly there was a bed beneath me.

I was no longer alone. Jace was standing at the foot of the bed, looking down at me.

‘How did
you
get here?’ I said, watching him blearily. My brain felt like a wad of chewed gum.

‘Dad told me where to come. He was getting ready, but I wouldn’t wait. Oh, and the front door’s wide open.’

‘Oh.’ Had I left it like that, or was it Kyle? Or Murdoch? I tried to sit up. ‘I need to get out of here. I have to find Theo—’

‘Don’t be stupid, you’re bleeding all over the place.’ Jace passed me a glass of water. I drank and drank, making myself feel sick. ‘Slow down,’ he said. ‘Easy.’

Water sloshed onto my hand and memory clawed at me with sharp fingers.

I look at Theo over the glass of water, try to read his mind just by watching his beautiful face. ‘How did you die?
’

He strokes my hair, hums gently under his breath. Something Gaelic. It makes me smile, but I notice that he doesn’t answer me
.

‘What was it like?’ I ask him. ‘Who held you, when you came back? Who brought you water and took care of you?’

He doesn’t reply. Just kisses my cheek and lays me back down on the bed, covers me with a blanket and walks out.
I
don’t know if he has somewhere he needs to be, or if he is angry at my questions
.

I curl up under the covers and wait for him to come back. I don’t have anything else to do
.

Jace was watching me like he thought I might collapse at any moment.

‘Someone hit me,’ I said.
Way to state the obvious, Moth
. ‘Theo . . .’ I continued. Agitation forced my limbs into action. I tried to push against Jace. ‘Where’s Theo?’

‘Your Maker? On the roof,’ Jace replied. His tone was flat, all expression leached from it.

I tried to focus on what he was saying. If I could just stop feeling
sick
, that would help. A lot. ‘
Where’s Caitlín?
’ I tried to
move
, using all my speed to propel myself up and out. Only my legs weren’t working right and I stayed exactly where I was. ‘My sister—’

‘I didn’t see her, I’m sorry. Now stop struggling and take a minute to rest. You’re no good to her in this state.’ Jace handed me one of Theo’s towels. It was black, of course. At least it won’t show the bloodstains, I thought, as I dabbed at the back of my head. I felt crazy – light-headed. I shouldn’t feel this bad, should I? What happened to my vampire super-fast healing? I probably needed to drink some blood.

As soon as that thought crossed my mind, I became
aware
of Jace sitting close to me on the bed. Hyper-aware.

I kept seeing everything in shades of red. It felt like when I’d first been turned.

‘I need—’

‘This?’ Jace was holding a familiar-looking bag filled with hospital blood.

I bit my lip, my stomach contracting with hunger at the sight of the glowing ruby liquid, but at the same time filled with disgust that Jace should see me like this. ‘No, I think I’m OK,’ I said.

‘Don’t be stupid. You need it.’ He thrust the clear plastic container at me, pushing it into my hand and making me take it from him before it fell onto the bed. ‘Come on, drink it up like a good—’

‘Jace,’ I growled, ‘I’m fine.’

‘I’m not leaving you alone till I know you’re really all right. That bastard tried to bash your skull in with a silver candlestick. Some tall, skinny blond dude. Sort of ratty-looking.’

Kyle
. Not that I was surprised. I tried to focus but still couldn’t think straight, and I was just so
hungry
.

I tried my best to fight off the gnawing need, but I was beyond tired and it was all I could do to keep from tearing into the blood bag right now. ‘What happened to him? The blond vamp?’

‘Ran out when I shot a crossbow bolt into his shoulder.’

I screwed up my face. ‘His
shoulder
? Even with silver bolts, you should really be aiming for the heart.’

Jace scowled. ‘I missed.’

‘Oh.’

‘And then your Maker . . .
Theo
 . . . just got up and followed him. Looks like he heals fast from a stake through the chest.’

‘It wasn’t in the heart. I pulled it out.’

He nodded. ‘Right. So he told me to check on you and went up to the roof.’

Theo was OK
. Relief blazed all the way through me.

Trying to piece events together was getting easier, but I was still pretty groggy. I remembered Byron.
Poor Byron
 . . . ‘What happened to Byron? Was he really dead?’

Jace’s mouth tightened and I saw something hard in his eyes. ‘He is now.’ He turned away. ‘But Dad’s coming, you know. To kill your Maker.’

But the pain in my head was beating a rhythm in time to the sound of Jace’s heart; hunger combined with weakness made it increasingly difficult to keep control. Jace was so warm – and sitting so close to me that I could almost taste his pulse on my tongue. I flashed back to our kiss under the van.

‘It’s OK, I don’t mind if you drink it here,’ Jace said. He shrugged and gestured at the blood bag again.

Moaning softly, I pulled up my knees and buried my face against them. ‘Jace, please . . . you don’t get it.’

I didn’t want the stupid bagged blood. I had to get away from him. Away from
his
blood. I pushed him away and ran across the room. My eyes wouldn’t focus properly, but I knew the door must be here somewhere. If I could just get away I wouldn’t hurt him.

But, oh Jesus, the smell of him and the beating of his heart in his warm chest while he’d sat by me on the bed
.

‘Moth! What’s the matter with you?’ Jace was striding toward me. He had the bag in his hand again, but I wasn’t focused on that. No, I was looking at the gash I’d only just noticed in his arm, and how blood oozed out of the wound and trickled down the muscle of his bicep. I remembered the taste of his blood; that tiny taste six months ago. It had only been a single drop, but it was enough to remind me that not all human blood tasted like crap.

Luckily for Jace it seemed as though he was wising up to the situation. Finally.
Maybe it’s not too late
, I thought.

He was taking slow steps backward, his brown eyes wide as he stared at me. The dawning realization on his face would’ve been funny if only I weren’t so
hungry
.

I was growling under my breath; softly in the back of my throat, more like a purr than anything. I hoped he couldn’t hear it, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t stop. I was exhausted, scared and stressed out – it was no wonder I was losing control.

I tried to fight the craving, told myself it would pass.
Heard
Theo’s voice in my head, from another time and place:
Hold on. Calm. Be calm
.

The air was so brittle I felt like it might crack. The twisted feeling in my gut got worse. Calm was beyond me. Holding on was no longer an option.

I sprang at Jace, and he was lucky that he already had his hands out or he wouldn’t have had a hope of stopping my fangs latching directly onto his throat. We crashed against the far wall, my momentum carrying us both the length of the room. Jace was back-pedaling like crazy, trying to stay on his feet but losing the battle when his shoulders struck the wall.

We went down, me on top of him, and all I could do was see him through a haze of the deepest crimson. I was strong, far stronger than him. Even injured, the bloodlust gave me a new burst of strength. My legs clamped around his hips and I held him in place, pressing myself against him. My mouth watered. God, I wanted . . . what? What did I want?
Him?
Or his blood . . .

‘Moth!’ He had his hands on either side of my face, but his fingers were anything but tender. His white-knuckle grip would’ve left bruises on anyone human.

But I wasn’t human.

I was so close to his flesh now, I could almost taste the blood pulsing through the taut arteries of his neck. I tried to dig my nails into his eyes but he shook his head violently from side to side. He was trying to flip us over,
but
my knees were locked in place on either side of his waist as I clung to him like the deadliest ivy.

The door crashed open and a familiar scent washed over me. My hesitation was all Jace needed and he managed to get his forearm across my throat, pushing me back until I thought my neck might break.

Theo strode across the room and plucked me off my prey as easily as if he were picking fruit. He had me by the scruff of the neck and shook me, then threw me onto the huge bed.

‘Get a hold of yourself, Marie!’

Why did he have to do that? I hated it when he called me Marie. I shivered on the expensive bedding I hadn’t noticed when I’d first come to in Jace’s arms.

Of course
, I thought,
Theo
would
have black silk sheets
. It was almost a relief to hear my familiar snarky voice peeking through the inferno of need that raged through me.

Jace was struggling to his feet, and I couldn’t help noticing the flash of silver as he pulled the dagger from its hidden sheath.
Huh
. So he’d gotten it back.

Theo held me down with one hand and, without even looking, flung his other arm out behind him to block the young hunter’s attack.

‘Let her go,’ Jace replied. He sounded almost as calm as the Master vampire, a pretty good trick to pull off under the circumstances.

Theo still had me pinned to the bed, but twisted to face what he no doubt considered a young upstart. ‘If I release her, she’ll only go for your throat again.’

I tried to dislodge my Maker’s hand. ‘I’m fine, Theo. See? All back to normal. Just hungry.’ I ducked my head as hot shame filled the emptiness in my chest.

He laughed. ‘I don’t think you’re
fine
at all, my little Moth.’ He raised his left wrist to his lips and tore into the veins with wicked sharp canines. A single deep slash marred the newly healed perfection of his pale skin, and he held the dripping blood to my mouth.

I struggled against him, trying desperately to be free of the dark temptation he held just out of reach of my lips. ‘No, you’re too weak to give me blood.’

Theo climbed onto the bed with me and pulled me into his arms so quickly I didn’t have time to realize he’d released me for a couple of precious seconds. He cradled me against his chest and I craned my neck to see his face. He was still watching Jace with that hawkish expression I knew so well.

Jace took a furious step forward. Spots of color blazed high on his beautiful cheekbones. ‘What are you doing to her?’

‘What does it look like? I am feeding her. If you’d prefer to donate your own blood, be my guest.’ He laughed softly. ‘I was under the impression that you were trying to escape doing that very thing.’

I wriggled so that I could see Jace over Theo’s insistent arm. ‘Just get out while you still can, Jace.’

Theo stiffened against me. ‘Jace? I wonder if that’s the same “Jace” the hunter mentioned while he was begging me for his life . . .’ He let his voice trail off.

‘
What?
’ Jace had retrieved the knife from the ground and was gripping it so tightly I could see the white of his knuckles. ‘What did you just say?’

Theo smiled – I could hear it in his voice even if I couldn’t see it. ‘Thomas Murdoch, the man who took it upon himself to
end
several vampires under my protection.’

‘That’s his job,’ Jace said, his voice trembling with an emotion I couldn’t name.

‘A job that involved slaughtering innocents.’

Now it was Jace’s turn to laugh. The sound came out ugly and strained. ‘
Innocents
 . . . I don’t think so.’

‘You know nothing, boy,’ Theo said in a quiet voice. ‘But this one was right.’ Here he nudged me. ‘If you value your pathetic human life, leave now and I won’t send anyone after you. Maybe you have helped my Moth these past few days, and for that you get to live. For now.’