Dance of Ashes and Smoke (Age of Monsters Book 1) (18 page)

D
reams of cartoon bullets flying at my face and men melting in acid plagued me as I fought my way from sleep. I forced open my eyes to bright lights in chorus with the loud noises roaring in my ears. A tug in my arm brought my gaze down. Something grew from it and a loud fast beeping noise cut through the other unidentifiable sounds. Faster and faster it beeped. My chest hurt and I struggled to draw breath. Was I running? I was pretty sure I was lying down. A face swam before my eyes. One fuzzy, but familiar. It calmed me. A voice, soothing and dear, called my name.

“Monet, you have to calm down. You are okay. We are all okay. You were bitten and lost a lot of blood, but you are going to be fine. It’s me, Jax. Monet, please. You must calm down.”

Jackson. He was here. He was alive. He said everyone was okay. I took several breaths to compose myself. It seemed to work. I licked my lips and tried to produce saliva so I could speak.

After a couple tries, I was able to. “Where are we? What happened?”

He bit his lip and stared down at his hands clenched together in his lap. “You and Liv were attacked. The Uprising came to the rescue. We’re in the Georgia mountains. You’re safe. Adele’s safe. Liv’s alive.”

The memories of the fight crashed down around me. The memory of Jackson’s secrets and lies. My chest roared with pain and I wouldn’t be able to hold back my fury or tears for long. “Get out.”

“Monet, let me explain.”

“No. I don’t want to hear it. Get out.”

Tears shone bright in his eyes as he slumped and stood. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

I turned my head away, setting my jaw. Once the door closed behind him, I ripped the IVs from my arm with a hiss and threw off the weight of the blankets. Thankfully, I wasn’t in one of those awful hospital gowns, but I wasn’t in my own clothes either. I was in a dress. A long, cotton candy pink dress.

What the hell?

Were they some sort of creepy cult?

I had fresh clothes in my pack. Where was my pack? I searched the room, but there wasn’t much in there. The walls and the floors of the small room were wood. Two windows showed trees and piles of snow outside. A bed and medical equipment and the chair Jackson had been sitting in were the only furniture. No closet or dresser or shelf.

Heart thudding, I walked over to the door, praying I wasn’t locked in. It opened, and I almost swooned with relief. The place was empty, equipped with a living room, kitchen, bathroom, and another bedroom in a loft overlooking the main room of the cabin. It was a sort of cabin.

My pack sat the couch, and I ran to it, rustling through and counting my weapons. Everything was there. I grabbed a set of clean clothes, then tossed Jackson’s shirt into the trashcan, no interest in it anymore. I changed in the bathroom, arming myself in jeans and leather jacket and boots, feeling much better.

Until I looked into the mirror.

My hair was stiff with blood and tears and my face had a fresh bandage on it to match the new one on my neck. There was still a hair tie in my jacket pocket, so I did the best I could to get my hair in order without bothering with a brush. I needed to find Liv and Adele.

Summer waited for me in the living room when I emerged. “You look much better.”

Uninterested in small talk, I ignored her. “Where are Olivia and Adele? What is this place?”

“Adele is with Jackson. Olivia is in another cabin and is still unconscious. She lost a lot of blood, but she’s stable. We’re on Blood Mountain. There’s a string of cabins and a General Store. We’ve set up a temporary HQ here.”

“That’s lovely. Can you please take me to my friends?”

“Of course.” She smirked as I grabbed my weapons before following her outside.

The bright white from the sun glaring off the snow blinded me. I stood, blinking for a moment before I took in my surroundings. A sign outside claimed the cabin I’d woken up in was Mountain Lion Cabin. I snorted and shook my head. Blood Mountain? Cabins named after wild animals? The irony would’ve delighted me under other conditions.

At the end of the trail, Summer pointed out the store. “It’s where we hand out rations and ammo and gather for meetings.”

We turned right and walked a little way down the road until we came to another cabin built onto the side of the mountain. “That’s Wolf Cabin. It’s our medical cabin because of the ramps and it’s one of the biggest.”

I followed her along the wooden ramp. “Why wasn’t I brought here as well?”

She turned her head to look at me over her shoulder. “So you could both have privacy and because she was much worse off than you.”

Considering how weak and shaky I still felt, I was terrified what shape I’d find Liv in.

“If you want, I can have the rest of your things brought here and you can stay until she’s well enough to move.”

“Thanks. Adele too?”

“Yes.” She held open the door, gesturing for me to enter first.

I took a deep breath, nerves fluttering through my veins. Please be okay. Inside was similar to the Mountain Lion Cabin. Even the furnishings were pretty much the same.

Summer stayed in the living room while I went into the bedroom. A huge guy around Summer’s age sat beside Liv’s bed. He slipped out without a word, and left me to stare at my best friend, my last piece of my family, of my life before.

Sobs built up inside and tears blinded me, but her appearance was forever seared into my brain. She looked broken. Pale and frail with purple shadows under her eyes and hollows under her cheekbones.

When had she gotten so small?

I sat in the chair next to the bed, drawing tendrils of hope with each beep from the machine she was hooked up to. “Oh, Liv, I am so sorry. This is all my fault. You were right. We should have hunkered down for the winter. We weren’t ready. I shouldn’t have brought you along on this revenge quest of mine.” I took her hand in mine. “Please wake up. I can’t lose you too. I can’t live in this world without you.”

Burying my head into the edge of her bed, I released everything into the mattress. Every bit of fear and pain and grief and heartache expelled from me, washing me clean, rinsing out the poison I’d been suffering from. I wept for my dead parents, for my brother, for Olivia’s parents, for Adele’s childhood cut short. I wept for the love I could have had if Jackson was human.

My tears dried up once I could no longer breathe. I mopped up my face with the inside of my tee, sighing because it was my last clean one. “Please, Liv. Please.”

She didn’t respond.

I
stayed by her side for over an hour with no change. A knock came at the door and I hauled myself to my feet and went into the main area of the cabin. A tiny body launched at me and my arms wrapped around Adele and squeezed tight. She smelled like soap and snow. I breathed her in, glad she was safe.

Over her shoulder I saw Jackson watch us with sorrow turning his eyes almost black. Too bad. I spun her so he wasn’t in my line of sight and flopped on the couch with her on my lap. She snuggled into me, the figurine I gave her clutched in her hand.

Summer took a seat across from me on one of the chairs. “I assume you have a lot of questions.”

I wanted to tell her to kick Jackson out, but I didn’t want to upset Adele or sound like a brat, so instead, I pretended he didn’t exist. Still bratty, but better than a tantrum.

“I don’t know where to start.”

“I guess I’ll start at the beginning and you can ask when something occurs to you.”

I nodded and adjusted my position on the couch to lessen the uncomfortable wrench in my spine. “Sounds good.”

Summer folded her legs underneath her. “I’m from a long line of monster hunters. All the women in my family are trained from childhood in weapons and a mixture of hand to hand combat. When we reach our sixteenth birthday, we’re sent out on our first solo mission.”

“So, your family has always known about the monsters?”

“Yes. And for obvious reasons we never told anyone. We had no idea this whole mess was brewing.”

“So, basically you’re Buffy?”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m sick of that joke. My mom showed me the show when I was a child to explain everything. And no, not really. I don’t have super strength or anything like that. It isn’t a calling, it’s a family tradition.”

“Gender flipped Winchesters?”

Jackson snickered from somewhere behind me, so I snapped my mouth closed on the smart remarks.

“That’s a little closer, yeah. Anyway. When everything happened, I started to gather forces of monsters and soldiers I was friendly with to start a resistance force and we went into hiding, staying in places monsters hate. In areas where larger Uprising cells formed, we sent in one or two of ours to help.”

“You’re building an army? And you send, what? Undercover agents like what the British did with France during World War Two?”

“Exactly.”

“And what else are you doing? I assume not just holing up in the mountains while the rest of the world burns.”

“No. We smuggle weapons and send out squads to take out monsters. We monitor the boards and send help where we can. But yes, in a way, we hole up across the country giving people a safe place while we also gather intel and supplies. We’ve had our eye on the sorceress you’re after for a while. She’s caused a lot of trouble for us, killed a lot of our people. And she has a lot of friends she puts between us and her.”

“I’ve noticed.”

“Based on the skills you and your friend have shown, we would love it if you’d join us. And I would give you my word, we’d help you take out the sorceress. With our resources and your knowledge, we’d finally have a chance. Jax told us about the research you did. And you’re the only people to have faced her and survived a fight.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure about that. And speaking of Jackson, why the hell did he insinuate himself in my life and pretend to be human?”

Summer looked down at her fists clenched between her legs. “Those were my orders. His mission was to come to your town and assist with the Uprising there. He contacted me after your brother was killed and I told him to go with you and Olivia since you were after the sorceress. To keep his identity as a shifter secret and to assist you. I’ve followed your adventures with great interest. When he told me about the dragons in Savannah, we mobilized to come serve as backup in case you needed it. It felt like a trap. The sorceress doesn’t stay in one place very long.”

“Why couldn’t he tell us what he is?”

“Because I assumed it would cause you to distrust him.”

“It would have. I have no interest in working with monsters.”

Jackson sucked in a hissing breath, but I ignored the sound.

Summer shook her head. “Not all supernatural beings wish harm to humans. In fact, over half feel that way. They’re glad to be out in the open instead of banished to fairy tales and shadows, but they completely disapprove of the way the real monsters have ruined the world. Our goal is peace between the races, no eradication.”

I scoffed. “Peace? How will that work? Vamps taking the night shift at McDonalds? Shifters on Wall Street? Witches and wizards teaching our kids?”

Summer scowled. “Not in our lifetime. Look, this isn’t going to be a simple endeavor and it will probably fail, but there isn’t really another option. There’s no way we can kill them all. There’s no way we can send them back into fairy tales. It’s peace or the human race will end. You could go after the sorceress on your own and if you survive, try to find a safe place to hole up, but eventually either starvation or one of them will kill you.”

Her words made complete sense, but I refused to believe it was the only option. We could keep fighting. Humans always fought. To survive, to be top of the food chain. There was no way we could live side by side with monsters. Even if there were some decent ones who weren’t quite as monstrous as the rest, it didn’t mean we’d be safe.

They were too strong and had too many powers and abilities.

“Look, I’m really grateful for your help with the vampires. And for the medical attention and a place to heal. But I can’t make any decisions right now. Especially without talking to Liv first.”

“I understand. And you’re welcome to stay as long as you like. Jax brought your stuff from the other cabin and we’ll leave you to get some rest. Malek is going to stay. He was a doctor and will monitor your friend.”

“Is he...?”

“Yes. Will that be a problem?”

I blew out a loud breath, my lips vibrated from the force of it. “No.”

“Good.”

She stood, but I stayed where I was, Adele passed out against me. Jackson stayed behind after she left. “Please let me explain.”

“I think I heard all I need to. You were following orders. There’s nothing left to discuss.”

“Yes, there is. I didn’t tell you everything, but I didn’t lie. Not about my distaste for violence and more importantly, not about my feelings for you.”

I swallowed hard as I shoved away the memories of his lips on mine, the terror and heartbreak when I thought he was dead, how glorious it felt being wrapped in his arms. “Whatever there was between us is over. I need someone I can trust, someone who’d break orders for me. And more importantly, I need someone human.”

He flinched at my venomous words. “I see. I’ll leave you alone then.”

“Good.”

His lips twisted and he shook his head as he headed for the door.

I bit my lip as nerves jolted through me. “Jackson, wait!”

He turned, hand still on the doorknob, but a tendril of hope in his eyes. “Yes?”

“Where are our motorcycles and supplies?”

He talked to the door. “They’re down at the store. Most of the food has been inventoried, but if you decide to leave, we’ll give it back.”

“No. Let them keep it if we leave. We’ll make do.”

“I’ll let them know.” The door slammed behind him.

I shuddered and hid my face in Adele’s hair, trying to shove away the ache and guilt churning my stomach. I had nothing to be guilty over. He was a liar and a monster. Even if he was a so-called good monster on our side.

The same big guy from earlier slipped into the room. “Hey. If you want to get some sleep, I’ll come get you if there’s any change.”

Exhausted, I nodded and stood carefully, carrying Adele upstairs to the loft bedroom. Not a lot of privacy, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to sleep and not have to think about the piles of information dumped on me for a few hours.

I curled up with Adele on the bed, passing out before even taking off my boots.