Ash (19 page)

He stepped closer to me,
eyes fierce, jaw set. “You’re her best friend, so I know it’s your job to worry
about her, and I will take whatever you dish out. But I want her and I will
fight for her.”

Well shit. Maybe I was
letting some of my frustration over the whole Ryder thing bleed across to Tessa
and Blake. Sure, I was annoyed that she was with a vampire, but that
declaration was pretty damn perfect. Even Jayden had tears in his eyes.

I sighed. “You better
look after her, Blake, or I am going to cut your dick off and feed it to you.”
He blanched at my threat. I meant every word of it too. “I must be the only one
in this hive that’s single. Can a girl get some action?” I told the room.

Blake, already recovered,
was back to wearing his cocky grin. “I’m sure you would be getting action if Ryder
hadn’t told every guy in the Hive to stay away from you.”

My heart jackhammered in
my chest. “Wha ... wait, what? He said that? To who? Why? When?”

I will kill that asshole
.
He couldn’t just reject me and still make a declaration like that. Who did he
think he was? Jayden had walked closer and was hanging on Blake’s every word.

Blake shrugged. “I’m not
sure if it came from Ryder or the Quorum. Apparently they don’t know if you’re
fertile.”

And just like that my
dreams went up in flames. I was seriously pathetic, thinking Ryder told every
guy to stay away from me so he could have me. Jesus. Jayden squeezed my hand in
BFF solidarity.

I changed the subject. “So
… what’s the word from Lucas?”

Blake ran a hand through
his perfect curls. “Lucas said to stay put for now, and that if stuff heats up
any more there will be an exit plan in place. He said you would know what that
meant.”

Shit. So if the Quorum
wanted to kill me, Lucas would be helping me run away from the Hive. I sighed.

“Yep. I understand.
Thanks.”

Blake gave me a long
glance. “Tessa misses you and she has asked me to get permission from the
Quorum to change her into a vampire. I’m considering it.” Then he turned on his
heels and left.

As the door slammed, I
was knocked out of my shock. Okay, now I was back to hating him again. Tessa
would be turned over my dead body. Seriously, what else could go wrong today?

Jayden’s comforting arm
around my shoulders did very little to ease my pain. He gave me a tight
squeeze, and I realized silent laughter was shaking him.

“Oh my God, when he said
Ryder told all the guys to leave you alone, you should have seen your face. You
were like an orphaned puppy that finally found a family.”

What? I totally had not –
okay, I must have looked a bit pathetic. I tried my best to glare at him, but
his amused expression was ridiculous. Asshole. Finally I busted out laughing
too, until tears ran down my face and my stomach ached. It was a nice stress
reliever, that was for sure.

Seven hours, three games of Scrabble,
thirteen magazines, a thousand YouTube videos, and fifty-seven emails to Tessa
later, there was a knock at the door. I bolted upright from my position
sprawled on the couch, my head darting to the side to meet Jayden’s gaze. Was
this the results? Early?

I pulled myself up,
brushing off the crumbs from my many snacks, before crossing the room
confidently. When I was a foot from the door, I smelled the familiar spicy
scent. Ryder.

Opening the door, he was
alone. My eyes ran over his tan smooth neck and the memory of biting him
floated into my mind. I pushed that aside.

“Hey, come in.” I stepped
aside and Ryder entered the apartment. I turned to see Jayden had gone into his
room. Sigh. If only there was a reason for him to leave us in private.

“The Quorum sent me.” He
was less relaxed than usual, his posture stiff and his features cold.

I planted my feet, hands
on hips. “If you’re going to give me news from the Quorum, I would rather hear
it from a friend, not the military enforcer ash you’re pulling right now.”

The words slipped out
before I could censor them and I regretted them immediately. Why was I all of
sudden taking my sexual frustrations out on him?

Still, something I said
worked. His face softened just a little, and concern lined his eyes. His hand
shifted at his side, as if he were reaching out for me, but then thought
differently, stuffing it back in his pocket. “You’re right, I’m sorry. Are you
okay?”

Guys were so dense
sometimes. I really wanted to smack him upside the head, or kiss him. Maybe
both.

“Just tell me.” I was the
cold one now, pushing off his concern. Ryder and I were never going to sort our
shit out. The timing just never seemed right.

He must have sensed my
mood, and decided to just get to the point. “Your blood work showed that you do
not have the DNA of an ash or a vampire. That has them in a total scientific
mind-freak. But the blood was diluted and mixed, so you look to be about as
close as I am to an Original. Nothing to kill over.” He smiled.

I returned the smile.
“Did you just say ‘scientific mind-freak.’ Oh my God, have I ever heard you
cuss?”

Ryder stared at me.
“Believe it or not, I’m a gentleman. I don’t like cussing.”

My mouth dropped open;
laughter bubbled up inside of me and I grabbed his arm. “Oh my God, delicious
Ryder, token ash, killer and enforcer, doesn’t say ‘fuck?’”

He looked at my lips briefly
before resting on my eyes. “Delicious?”

I decided hard-to-get was
a good play right about now. “Jayden’s words, not mine.”

Ryder nodded. “I figured.
You’re free to leave your apartment and go anywhere within the Hive grounds.”

He turned to leave. What,
just within the grounds? Damn, that meant no more human field trips, no more
Tessa.

“Ryder…” I reached out
and grabbed his hand, pulling him back around to face me. His body was inches
from mine.

I was going to take a
risk. If one of us didn’t, we would always exist in this in-between place. I
felt something between us, and sometimes I thought he did too.

“Why are you helping me?”

He was quiet so long I
was afraid he wouldn’t answer. His jaw clenched as he seemed to be battling
something I couldn’t see. Just when I was going to speak again, he muttered, “Many
reasons, Charlie, so many. But for now, let’s just say that it’s my job.”

Then he turned and strode
away from me. Okay, that was it. I had given this guy too many opportunities to
stake a claim. Time to move on. I slammed the door harder than I should have
for someone at my maturity level. Whatever. I turned to go sulk in my bedroom
when he knocked again. Oh yeah, asshole, come say sorry after that? I don’t
think so.

I opened the door. “Screw
off!”

Shit! Lucas was standing
there, dressed in his whites. Luckily my verbal attack didn’t faze him.

“Having a rough day, Charlene?”

I chuckled. “You could
say that.” I waved him inside.

He entered the apartment,
exuding that air of sophistication he always wore. I couldn’t hook up with a
vampire, could I? I scanned Lucas and decided no, he gave off too many dad-vibes.
But I wouldn’t tell him that, because I was pretty sure the only reason he was
helping me was that I reminded him of his late wife.

“I’m in the clear. Ryder
just told me.”

Lucas nodded. “Yes, I
would have been here much earlier if that had not been the case. I have some
other news from my own private blood results.”

Oh. I sat down. Something
told me this wouldn’t be good and I wanted my butt firmly planted for any more
news today.

Lucas sat across from me.
“I’m not very good with this type of information.”

“Just tell me.” I was in
full freak-out mode now. Was I a new race? Holy gods … was I dying?

“You can’t have children,”
he stated in a sympathetic tone. His eyes were a swirl of emotions and I
wondered if he was thinking about his own long lost children right then.

I blinked a few times. At
no point had I expected him to say that. “Okay, well … shit. Is that the big
news? I thought I had vampire cancer.”

A smile replaced his
sympathetic frown. “No, I just wanted to tell you that you’re infertile like
the male ash and the female vampires, in case that is something you would like
to know for future relationships.”

I was still confused
about why they were even checking my fertility? I supposed it was just because
I was an unknown ash, and reproducing for our kind was against the law. Lucas
gracefully changed the subject. “There’s more. My lab technician also thought
she saw some sort of immune response to the virus in your blood. This is not
her expertise of course, but still, worth us looking into for the future.”

I recoiled, confused. “An
immune response? What does that even mean?”

Lucas’s expression was
all serious. “Like you were fighting it.”

My mouth dropped open.
“Okay.” I put both hands up. “Enough crazy for today. I have reached my limit.
Maybe tomorrow.” I stood and Lucas followed my action. The serious look never
left his face. “Charlie, if this gets out…”

“Lucas.” My voice was
clipped. “I literally can’t take one more damned thing. I’m done.”

I had the strongest urge
to hurt him, to unleash this pent up anger I had at the Hive. I was being
pushed backed into a corner and I had an instinct that said
Fight your way
out
.

Lucas nodded
understandingly. “You know where to find me,” he said, and left.

I shut the door and let
my head rest against it. Hot tears rolled down my cheeks. I wanted my mom. I
had been doing way too much adulting in the past month. I didn’t ask for this
life. I would give it back in a heartbeat. But it appeared I was stuck with
these freaks.

Sometimes, when life gets really shitty,
your best bet is to live in denial. That’s exactly what I had been doing for
the past week. I didn’t even think about my special unicorn blood, I ignored
the glances Ryder sent my way, and pushed off Jayden’s comments asking if I was
okay. Denial. It was better than reality.

Sitting at my computer
desk in the comms room, I was ready to fall asleep if something didn’t happen
soon.

When the phone rang, I
was actually excited to talk to someone, even if it was usually a panicking
human thinking their dog had somehow gotten the vamp virus and was about to
slaughter their entire family.

“Hive hotline, this is
Charlie.”

At first all I heard was
screaming in the background. Then: “My son – he’s not well. I think … he’s an ash.”

I sat bolt upright. I
hadn’t had one of these calls yet – a newly turned ash. I looked around and saw
that I was alone. Shit! Usually one of the enforcers was lingering around, but
today they seemed to be MIA.

What was I supposed to
do? We weren’t taking in any more ash. We were referring them to the Seattle
Hive? No, they’d pulled Seattle too, they were full. Was it the one in Denver?
Shit.

There were screams in the
background, although they sounded a little closer. “Okay, ma’am, give me your
address and I will send someone over.”

The woman rattled off an
address and I scribbled it down.

“I’m thirsty!” a male
voice screamed, and then the phone went dead. Shit!  

I bolted out of the room
holding my piece of paper and burst into the enforcer dressing room. Generally
one of them was in here.

Kyle was standing there
half naked, looking at me like a deer in headlights. I took a second to admire
his ripped chest and arms, not to mention his tousled dirty-blond mane. What?
Don’t judge me, I was only human … well, sort of.

“Where’s Ryder?” I burst
out. “I got a call. A newly turned ash just attacked his mom, I think.”

Kyle swore and pulled on
his clothes, lightning quick. He grabbed some weapons from a locker and shoved
a gun in my hand.

“Ryder is gone for the
day. The rest of the boys are on the roof track running. The human will be
drained dry be the time I get them. Let’s go! You’re coming with me.”

I didn’t have time to
register this breach in protocol. Leave the Hive? Carry a gun? Hells to the
yeah. This was what I needed right now, some action and time out of this place.
Kyle was on his walkie-talkie as we left the locker room, letting the other
sexy six know what was up. They’d be right behind us. Following him, I ran
faster than I ever had before and practically flew into the black van’s
passenger seat. Kyle moved at ash speed, peeling out of the garage and down the
gated side street.

“The address is only a
few miles away, over by the airport!” I yelled, holding on as he took a corner
at a super speed. It felt like we went up on two wheels.

He must have called
ahead, because the Hive gate was open, and we flew through no problem. Kyle’s
grip was tight on the wheel, but he remained in complete control as I started
to give him directions to the house.

“What happens if she’s
dead?” I blurted out.

Kyle swallowed. “The
humans can press charges against the ash. They will fine the Hive a shit-ton of
money, and the ash that killed her will never forgive himself.”

Shit. Suddenly I thought
of Ryder. He hadn’t forgiven himself yet, had he? Now wasn’t the time to ask
and I was sure best friend code kept Kyle from telling me.

The van screeched around
another corner and turned onto Monroe Street. We were at the right street now.
This was where the woman lived.

As we ground to a halt in
front of a sprawling, ranch-style house, Kyle swung around to face me. “You
haven’t been trained, so let me take the lead. Newly turned ash are jacked up
from the change and are super strong. They also have an unquenchable thirst. If
he bites me, kill him. He will not hesitate to kill me, and then he will move
on to you.”

Holy shit balls. I felt
my palms sweating, and was suddenly a tiny bit grateful for the culling. At
least I had some experience fighting.

“Was I that strong?” I
asked.

“You were the strongest
call Ryder and I have ever taken.”

Well, damn. Kyle opened
his door and hit the ground running. I did the same, following him right up to
the door. Two hard kicks and it was down. One day I was totes going to learn
how to kick down a door.

“Ash enforcers! Lay down
with your hands behind your head,” Kyle yelled, and I finally noticed that he
had two bottles of blood in his hand, and what looked like a couple more in his
pockets. When the hell had he grabbed those?

I stepped out from behind
Kyle’s broad shoulders and saw a young man with dark hair leaning over a limp,
pale woman. The male stopped feeding on her; his face shot up and he started to
growl. Kyle pulled his weapon and I followed suit, figuring he had a much
better chance of knowing what the hell to do.

Kyle flicked open one of
the bottle lids. “Want some nice blood?” He slowly bent and set the bottle on
the ground, about three feet from the ash.

The young man’s chest was
heaving, eyes black as night, with the slightest silver ring. He ignored Kyle’s
offer and leaned back down to bite his mother. The second he clamped down, I
saw her fingers twitch. No! She was still alive. I acted on instinct, firing a
shot into the guy’s back. He snapped his head up and looked at me.

“Shit, Charlie,” Kyle
said calmly. “Don’t poke the lion while he’s feeding.”

My eyes widened as I got
what he was saying. Too late. The guy stood, dropping his limp mother and
lurching up, smashing aside furniture to get to me.

“
Don’t
kill him!” I shouted at Kyle. Something inside of me felt bad for him. It
wasn’t his fault. This was me a few months ago. He came at me like a zombie,
arms out, fangs distended.

I jumped up and did a
roundhouse kick to his temple, but he caught my leg midair, and an instant later
I heard a loud snap.

Son of a bitch…

I let out a strangled
scream and shot him again, this time in the gut, mostly to stop him from
ripping my leg off. The guy folded over on himself, clutching his stomach, and
I used this opportunity to bring the butt of the gun down on the back of his
head. Kyle was right there to pin him down and wrestle reinforced steel zip
ties onto his hands. Which was great because I was in a world of pain, and
about to be completely useless. I favored my good leg while waiting for Kyle to
finish securing the ash. All the while I was trying not to cry.

Kyle stood then, and I
could see the new ash was out cold. The enforcer appraised me. “I’m kind of
impressed, although Ryder is going to kill my ass for letting you get injured.”

I tried to smile. It felt
more like a grimace. “What do we do now?” I asked, hoping like hell we were
heading back to the Hive. I needed blood, and rest, and more blood. And
possibly a good hour with Jayden to cry about how people kept breaking me.

“The others are almost
here.”

When he said others I
knew it was members of the sexy six. This core group of enforcers were the
badasses of the ash and vampire world. They stepped in when no one else would
take the job. And since Ryder trusted all of them, I was also starting to think
of them as part of my people.  

Kyle left me then to
attend to the boy’s mother. She was very still and pale, and I wondered if we
were too late. Kyle’s dirty blond hair shone in the half light as he leaned
over her, feeling for a pulse and shifting her into a better position. “She’s
still alive, her pulse is steady,” he said, lifting his head so I could see the
very dark of his eyes. “The human doctors will take care of her. She’s going to
be fine – just a little blood loss.”

I sank against the wall, which
was currently holding me up. “That’s great!” From the first moment I heard
those screams on the phone, I’d feared we were going to be too late. Seems we’d
made it just on time.

Noise drew my attention
then, starting low and increasing as more than one set of heavy boots clomped
outside the single-story house. The front door Kyle had slammed into when we’d
first entered had been leaning into the doorframe, and now slid to the side to
reveal Markus, Jared, Sam, and Oliver. As usual when they were all together,
the room shrank in from all the tall, beautiful, and deadly they were throwing
around. Oliver noticed me first and broke ranks to come and assess my leg.

I winced as he tried flex
my ankle. “Ow!”

He shook his head. “What
happened? Ryder will want a full report when he gets back from paying his
respects.”

I frowned. Paying his
respects? What was he talking about?

Kyle glared at Oliver. “She
took a call. It was an emergency and I needed backup. I didn’t think she would
roundhouse kick a newly-turned ash in the face.”

The other four guys
whistled low and appraised me with pride. Markus’ deep brogue drifted across
the room. “No shit? Our unicorn is kind of a badass.”

Great, unicorn had
officially stuck as a nickname. Sirens could be heard coming down the street.

Kyle looked me in the
eyes, both respect and a glint of something extra there. Like acceptance. “What
do you expect from someone trained by Ryder?”

Since the humans were on
their way, we needed to bail. Oliver scooped me up into his arms, which I
didn’t love, but walking was out of the question. Kyle and silent Sam lifted
the newly-turned ash by the armpits. He was groaning and just beginning to
wake.

“Come on, you know the
drill. We need to leave so the human medics can help the mom.” Kyle ushered us
all outside and we loaded into the two Hive vans just as the paramedics pulled
up. There was an awkward moment as our two groups crossed paths, the human
medics glaring us down. Really? We just saved her life. Well … we wouldn’t have
had to if one of our monsters hadn’t bitten her. Okay, point taken. Humans
hated us, and rightfully so.

The new ash was taken
with some of the enforcers back to the Hive to await a transfer to another city,
whichever one was still taking ash, or had a culling coming up. Poor guy, he
had no clue the shit storm that was about to be his life.
Good luck in the
killing – I mean culling – buddy.

Oliver and Kyle let me
stretch out on the back seat, resting my leg for the trip home. Truth be told, my
leg hurt like hell, but that was the most fun I’d had all week. Screw answering
phones, I wanted to be an enforcer.

Later that day, as I was hobbling around
the enforcer locker room, I heard the distinct clip of shit-kicker boots. I had
a moment to wonder which of the males it was, then Ryder strode in. He did a
double-take as our eyes met. The silver around his iris started to glow and
swirl, and the air between us thickened. I watched his breathing grow deeper. He
seemed to be working on controlling himself. Did he already know what had
happened? Had he heard about the call out?

I managed to blink a few
times when he wrenched his gaze from mine and strode back out of the room. Not
one word had been spoken, but the air felt heavier now. The tension was
palpable. Within minutes, I heard steps again, and Kyle, Oliver, Markus, Sam,
and Jared followed the hard-as-stone lead enforcer into the locker room. As
they stood there in a line like that, I realized how different each of them
truly looked from one another, and yet the way they moved … it was fluid, like
a team that had been together for a long time. There was history there. True
family style.

Still, that didn’t stop
Ryder from losing his shit.

“Someone better explain
to me right the fuck now why Charlie is not only injured, but rumor has it she
was out on a call today?”

Uh oh, the lead enforcer
rarely raised his voice, and he never swore. He seemed to be able to command a
room with no more than a few tersely spoken words, but today his cool was
missing.

I did find it kind of hot
to hear him say fuck.

Kyle, who was all
casually leaning back against one of the gray metal cabinets, met his best
friend’s eyes. “I had no choice. This was an emergency call – a new ash
attacked a human, his mother. We both know that a second’s hesitation could
mean the difference between life and death.”

Ryder’s jaw clenched.
“You brought an untrained ash to a dangerous situation? It could have been life
and death for her. And you thought it was an even better idea to give her a
gun? What the hell, Kyle?”

A slight pink flooded
across the tips of Kyle’s cheeks, and his eyes darkened even further. “I was
thinking I took an oath! I was thinking of my best friend visiting his fiancée’s
grave today and how I didn’t want this new ash to live with killing his mother,
like you live with killing Molly!”

Holy Shit. That was so
not what I’d expected Kyle to say. The enforcer’s dirty-blond hair hung forward
as he dropped his head. I could tell he was already regretting using such harsh
words with his friend. But still, that was freakin’ deep. Ryder sort of looked
like he’d been punched in the gut. More than one of us in the room were staring
at our feet now – except for Sam, who was staring at the far wall like he
wanted to put his fist through it. I struggled to hold back my tears. That’s
where he had been, paying his respects to the fiancée he killed years ago?