Midnight Ash (A Blushing Death Novel) (24 page)

I stood in the center of Damsel’s dance floor in a long, billowy, blood red gown. The bodice was tight, and I could hardly breathe. The corset clinging to me was tight, too tight, digging into my body at odd angles. The skirt was full at my hips with yards and yards of chiffon flowing around me like a red mist on the moors. My hair was incredibly long and heavy, pinned up on top of my head as loose curls dangled down my neck and over my shoulders, tickling my bare skin. I hadn’t had so much hair since grade school.

I’m dreaming. Oh shit! I’m dreaming
.

All of the lights in the club were on, filling the dance floor with fluorescent light. I didn’t see anyone, however the hair on the back of my neck stood on end, nonetheless. I wasn’t alone. I could taste whoever it was on the air.

I took a step forward and jerked against the shackle fixed around my ankle. A heavy chain clanked on the floor as I moved, making my leg heavy and my muscles burned with the effort. My heart sped, pumping my blood furiously through my veins. Trapped.

I scanned the room for something to free myself. Every instinct in me was screaming for me to get the hell out of there, to run but I couldn’t. She growled inside my mind and the image of me gnawing my leg off flashed through my brain.

NO!
I screamed at her through my mind.
I just need to wake up
.
Wake up, God Damn you, WAKE UP!

I forced her away from the forefront of my mind so I could think. The danger was there on the breeze as I turned to face the door. The smell of rotting Gardenias filled my nostrils and made me sick to my stomach. Bile rose in my gorge as panic pushed adrenaline through me. Midnight Ash’s irritating, high-pitched cackle filled the empty club like shattering glass.

“I smell your fear,” she called.

“I smell your rotting flesh, what’s your point?” I snapped.

A brush of wind and the overpowering smell of her decay encased me. She appeared out of nowhere, only feet from me and too quick for me to even flinch. My heart tried to beat its way out of my chest but the corset was too tight. She scared the shit out of me and she knew it.

Midnight Ash smiled up at me with the most disturbing childlike grin on her face, making the darkness of her eyes deeper and much more dangerous.

“You will pay for what you did today,” Midnight Ash hissed as she came within inches of my face, rising on tiptoes to reach me. Terror filled me but I laughed hysterically instead. I refused to cry and laughing was the only option left. This woman would not make me cower.

She struck me with the back of her hand, hard. Her rock-solid hand and the supernatural strength of the undead crashed into my face like a wrecking ball. Blood filled my mouth. The smile disappeared from my lips as pain shot through me. I ran my tongue along my teeth, to make sure they were all still there, and tasted my own blood. I’d gotten to her. I couldn’t hide the devious grin that turned up the corners of my mouth.

“I will kill them all as you watch before I repay you personally for what you took from me today,” she snarled.

This time I didn’t smile. I realized as I met her angry, homicidal stare she was stronger, quicker, and deadly but she was emotional. I just had to be smarter and much more heartless. She’d make a mistake. She wanted her revenge too much.

“He thanked me,” I said with a vindictive tone and a cocky smile lighting me from the inside.

She backhanded me again, harder this time. I stumbled back but was caught by the shackle around my ankle. I fought to keep my balance and remain standing. I had a hard time refocusing my eyes as the force of her blow clouded my mind and nausea swept over me, churning my stomach.

“Byron begged me to put him out of his misery,” I continued, pushing her just that much farther into madness. “He couldn’t take you anymore. He wanted to be free of you.”

She struck me again across the face, forcing me to my knees, cushioned only by the gown’s yards of blood-red fabric. I was pretty sure she’d broken my jaw. I’d heard a crack.

I spit out the blood that quickly filled my mouth, dribbling it down the front of me, staining my pale skin with its rich crimson color. The blood made a slow trek down my chin and my chest to my cleavage, pooling between my breasts.

Midnight Ash leaned over me. I took one deep breath after another as I tried to regain my equilibrium. I concentrated hard on anything but the crushing pain in my jaw and the vampire hovering above me, smelling my blood as it oozed from my mouth. I turned determined eyes up to her.

She laughed.

BITCH!

“I will never believe you,” she said, leaning over me with a menacing grin. “He was mine in every way.” The question in her tone suggested that for the first time, she wasn’t so sure. “They will not save you, your vampire, and your wolf. They will be dead long before I am done with you. I promise you that,” she hissed, kicking me in the stomach.

I spat out a spray of blood and collapsed onto the floor in a crumpled heap. I rose to my hands and knees and coughed up more blood, then spit it out, letting it pool on the floor beneath me.

I glared back up at her again to go another round. She wasn’t going to beat me even if it took my last breath to defy her. I had to get up.

Then I heard him. He growled behind me in a low, threatening rumble. The sound of that growl got closer as I met Midnight Ash’s glare. I recognized the heat of his power as the werewolf came up behind me, steady and strong. His power had a singular feel to it, like fire in a glass. Familiar, but I just couldn’t place it. I couldn’t think. My head was pounding. The werewolf shoved his power out in a show of dominance, consuming the room in scorching heat, making the air ripple with it.

“You will not save her, either,” Midnight Ash hissed at him.

He threw his power out again, consuming the whole room with the heat of his magic.

Midnight Ash stumbled back a half step and met his gaze, surprised. I turned my head to see those same Caribbean blue eyes staring up at Midnight Ash, his teeth bared and his jowls rippled with a continuous growl low in his belly.

She jumped up onto the bar in a blur of motion and wagged her finger at us. “You have killed my kitty cat,” she snarled with anger finally filling her voice. “I will kill all of your puppies,” she hissed.

The werewolf leapt at her in a long graceful surge of muscle and strength. Before he reached her, Midnight Ash was gone in a puff of blue smoke.

The air was clean again. The scent of rotting gardenias had vanished. I was left bleeding and hunched on the floor trying not to throw up. I peered up at the werewolf as he stood over me.

“Thank you,” I said even though the pain in my jaw was unbearable as the endorphins finally left my blood stream.

He licked a long line up my face, nudging my shoulder with his muzzle, and trotted back into the shadows.

Awesome, I was covered in my own blood and werewolf spit. I was ready for this dream to be over.

My eyes fluttered open. Patrick’s arms tightened around me as I moved. I was safe in my own bed but the distinctive taste of sweet copper filled my mouth. I could move my jaw, which meant it wasn’t broken but it hurt like hell. If this is what it felt like in a dream, I definitely didn’t want to experience the real thing.

Dawn approached, flooding the window with the soft gray light as the sun crested the horizon. My body tingled as the darkness that filled my bedroom grew lighter. I sashayed to the window, pulled the blackout shades down, and closed the heavy curtains over them. I’d bought them especially for Patrick. I didn’t want him to catch fire in my bed. That would suck.

I watched him for a long moment, letting the lightness of dawn fill my being. I was in love with Patrick but I loved Danny, too. Each for different reasons and in very different ways. Patrick tugged at my very soul. It was unnerving how much I needed him. On the other hand, Danny was spontaneous, energetic, and he wanted to protect me. He was life in the face of so much death. But Patrick was the one in my bed, who had been there when I needed him. He understood me.

I brushed my fingers across my cheek and winced as the throbbing pulsed through my jaw. I couldn’t let her hurt them. I wouldn’t let Midnight Ash hurt any of them. If I could find her daytime resting place, I could put an end to Midnight Ash once and for all.

Darshan,
she growled through my mind.

I agreed. Darshan needed dealing with before any of this mess would end. It was Patrick’s preference to deal with Darshan diplomatically but my gut said that wasn’t an option. He wanted us dead. He wanted our territory and our people for himself. He wasn’t going to go away, no matter what agreement he and Patrick made.

I sighed in the darkness as Patrick slept. He rolled over, stretching his arm over the empty, warm bed and noticed that I wasn’t there. He opened his dark eyes and found me staring down at him. I was still nude. I hadn’t noticed until his eyes fell on me, grazing over me from head to toe, reminding me, and making my entire body tingle with just a look.

He stood and stretched. He’d taken his suit off at some point and stood lean and nude before me. He circled around the bed to me, resting his hands on my bare shoulders and stroked his fingers across my neck. His touch grazed over my swollen jaw line and I winced.

Pain screamed through my jaw from his feather light touch. “Bad dream,” I admitted.

“She found you.”

I nodded and took another deep shuddering breath filled with relief. He brushed his full lips, gentle and soft, across my forehead before smoothing a strand of hair from my face.

He pressed his lips against mine in a chaste kiss, careful not to put too much pressure on my still throbbing jaw. My entire body tingled with his touch and my lips curled into a wicked smile that I knew lit my eyes with need.

“That little smile is one of the reasons I love you,” he hummed next to my ear. His breath was cool as it caressed the skin along my neck. My heart thundered in my ears at his words.

“I-I love you, too,” I said. My voice quaked with the words. I’d waited so long to hear him say them and know that he meant them. He did. I could feel it in my gut as my chest ached with it.

He smiled at me, a devilish grin that made me weak in the knees.

“Thank you for pulling the shades.” His husky voice vibrated over my skin, making my pulse race, my body tense and my sex warm with desire. “Come back to bed,” he ordered, leading me back to the warmth of the covers as he intertwined his fingers with my own. “You need your rest.”

He slid into the bed facing me. We laid there for a long while just staring at each other. I wanted to sleep but I was afraid of what would happen if I did. Patrick stroked my hair, down my arm, and over my hip in repetitive, comforting strokes. “I will not let her harm you again,” he said. “Go back to sleep.”

I nodded, finally feeling safe enough to drift off. He would stay awake and watch over me, even if it took his last breath of energy to stay awake during the daylight hours.

After three hours and 17 garages, we finally found a matching parking stub. I hadn’t realized there were that many parking garages downtown. Our jackpot garage belonged to the Westin, an upscale hotel with an underground parking structure. We left my Grand Am with the valet and hit the lobby.

The building was an old art deco brick structure with a lobby that was reminiscent of a grand hotel from the 1920s. An oversized round, red velvet couch sat prominently in the center of the lobby with a gigantic crystal chandelier overhead. The floor was a cold white marble tile that shone in the early afternoon light from the tinted windows lining the street. The entire lobby was filled with a soft warm glow. An immaculately carved piece of mahogany with images of fields of wheat and the rising sun etched into the front stood the length of the lobby as the reception desk. Every sound echoed against the high ceiling and made the room seem twice its actual size.

Jade and I stepped up to the reception desk. The woman behind the desk sneered at me like she knew she wasn’t going to like my question.

“Hello,” I said holding my smile in place until my cheeks hurt. I knew the smile didn’t reach my eyes but it didn’t matter. I just wasn’t a people person.

“Good . . .” She glanced down at her watch. “Afternoon. What can I do for you today?” she asked with the same fake smile that was spread across my face.

“I’m looking for Simon Tacoma. Could you tell me what room he’s in?” I asked. She glared at me like I’d asked her to donate a kidney.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t give out information regarding a guest,” she replied with a little hint of
get the hell out of my hotel
.

“I completely understand,” I said. “Thank you for your help.” I turned and tugged on Jade’s arm for her to follow me out.

She stared at me in surprise with her mouth gaping open. “Who are you and what have you done with Dahlia?”

“Come on, there’s a stationery store just up the street,” I said, still pulling her behind me.

“What?” She tugged on my grip and jerked me to a stop in the middle of the sidewalk.

“She just admitted that he’s there. I have a plan,” I said with a smile that felt devious even to me.

“I hate that look,” Jade whispered to herself as she fell in step beside me. “It usually means trouble’s just around the corner.”

“It does not,” I countered, knowing full well that she was right.

We roamed around the stationery store for about five minutes. I was looking for something that would stand out. I stumbled upon a hard cardstock in a vibrant, electric blue with a matching envelope. I purchased them, and a silver paint pen. The paper was too dark for regular ink so I bought something that could be seen easily on the page. I could have bought a lighter paper but I thought the blue was pretty.

I wrote,
I see you
, and folded the card stock in half before sealing the envelope. I scribbled Simon Tacoma’s name on the envelope and handed it to Jade. She shot me a puzzled expression as she took it from my hand, cautiously.

“Take this to the reception desk and tell them that you’d like to leave this for Mr. Simon Tacoma. I’ll follow you in and take a position out of the receptionist’s sight,” I explained as we walked back out into the brisk sunshine.

“Ohhh,” Jade said, moving quicker to catch up with me as my plan finally sank in. “We’re going to wait him out.”

“You got it.” I stopped outside of the Westin’s lobby doors. “Once you deliver the message, get the car and park it some place that’ll be accessible in a hurry and where you can see the door.”

She saluted with her perfect manicure and went through the doors like a trooper with a light step that I would never have. She handed the note to the receptionist with the smile that made complete strangers do her bidding. The receptionist didn’t even seem put out. Jade got a genuine smile from the receptionist, too. That just pissed me off. Jade could charm the pants off a politician.

I slipped through the revolving door and moved off to the right.

Along the wall sat a set of plush red chairs with a stack of magazines fanned out on a small table in between. The clank of glasses and the hum of low-level easy-listening flowed from the empty bar three steps to my right as the bartender cleaned glasses and hung them in the slips above his head. He was the only one there. He gave me a quick smile and a wink before he turned back to his glasses.

I picked up a magazine and started flipping through it, getting ready for a long wait.

With every
ping
of the elevator or gush of fresh air from the front doors, my eyes peeked up over the top of the magazine. At some point, I’d started counting the tiles on the floor and the glasses hanging over the bar. One hundred and six glasses dangled above the bartender’s head. I know. I counted them. Twice.

I sat in that chair for four hours. I used frustration to keep me awake instead of nodding off, like I wanted. If I fell asleep or walked away for a moment, I knew I’d miss him and my only chance to get Midnight Ash. So I stayed, no matter how much I had to pee.

The dull ping of the elevator echoed through the empty lobby. The busy check in time had come and gone. It was after 4 p.m. and not much time before full dark. I glanced up to find a tall man with chestnut-colored hair and dark blue eyes standing at the reception desk.

The receptionists had changed shifts and now there was a slight black man with elaborate braids criss-crossing his head standing behind the desk. The receptionist handed the tall man with chestnut-colored hair the envelope Jade had left hours ago. My heart thumped hard in my chest.
Gotcha!

He opened the envelope. He raised his head with a confused expression as his eyes darted about the lobby, searching. I slipped out of sight and into the bar as his glare roamed over the lobby and the street outside.

Mr. Simon Tacoma stormed through the lobby and out the front revolving doors with a purpose. I followed in a quick step behind him, pushing my coat aside and reaching in to grab my gun in its shoulder holster under my arm. I slipped my sunglasses on before I walked out onto the sidewalk where Mr. Tacoma stood on the curb with his back to me, waiting for the doorman to get him a cab.

Jade was parked across the street. She watched the front doors like a hawk and her eyes lit up with recognition when she saw me come through the doors. I motioned with a quick wave of my hand for her to pull up. I stepped up behind Simon Tacoma and shoved the barrel of my Smith and Wesson into his back with more force than was necessary, jamming the gun into his spine. I wanted him to feel it, to hurt just a little. I smiled to myself as fear-filled tension stiffened his body.

“I don’t believe we’ve met,” I growled against his ear, standing so close behind him that my body pressed against his back. We were the same height and I gripped his shoulder, bending him back as I dug the gun in. “But I’m sure you know who I am.”

“Ms. Sabin,” he answered, too cool for school as he cast a glance over his shoulder at me.

Jade made a U-turn, which was illegal in Ohio, and drove up alongside the curb. We were only a stone’s throw from the municipal building with half a dozen police cars out front.

Talk about drawing attention to yourself. Jesus.

I shook my head and grabbed the back passenger door around Mr. Tacoma’s slim frame as she came to a stop. I yanked the door open and shoved Simon Tacoma in, hard. I settled in the back with him, my gun aimed square at his chest.

“You are making a grave mistake,” he said with a slight grin.

“At this point, aren’t those the only kind?” I asked with a level of sarcasm that I’m not sure he was accustomed to.

He gawked back at me with a puzzled expression.

“You have a point, Ms. Sabin.”

He was calm. Too calm.

“Where to?” Jade asked as she stared in the rearview mirror at the two of us.

“Damsel.”

He glared at me with disgust and hatred clear on his face. He was only human, after all. If he wanted to scare me, he had to try a whole lot harder than that.

It was a quick drive. Before we had the chance to get comfortable, Jade parked next to Damsel’s back door. I handed the building keys to her and waited as she unlocked the staff entrance. I smiled at Simon Tacoma. It was the smile that unsettled men much bigger and much meaner than he could ever be.

“We’re going to get out of this car and you’re going to be nice or I’ll just kill you here.” My voice was cold, my expression even colder.

He nodded his understanding in a quick, sharp tilt of his head but didn’t flinch.

I backed out of the car while the gun remained aimed at his chest. My arm ached from holding the gun so tight. There was no relief for me until Simon Tacoma was safely restrained, so I held firm.

My father had always told me never to point a gun at someone unless I was willing to pull the trigger. I met Simon Tacoma’s eyes and knew that I would pull the trigger, human or not.

We entered Damsel as a group. Jade scurried ahead of us, five feet ahead and out of grabbing distance, turning on lights and opening doors as we went.
Good girl
.

The heavy steel door behind us clamped shut. The sound echoed in the silence of the empty building, sending chills up my spine.

“Walk,” I ordered.

He moved slowly through the back hall ahead of me. His head darted from side-to-side as he scanned for something, anything to slow our progression.

“Don’t try it,” I bit out, ramming the gun into his back and forcing him forward at a more aggressive pace. He stumbled a step or two but kept his feet and continued.

We passed through the stock room, the dance floor, the coat check, and up the stairs without incident. The club was empty for another hour or two. Once we got up to Patrick’s office, Jade had a chair and handcuffs waiting.

I gave her a questioning glare.
Where the hell had she gotten handcuffs?
She shrugged, an innocent expression twinkling in her eye, and unlocked the cuffs. I knocked Simon Tacoma down into the chair then held the gun on him until Jade had him secured. She placed one of the handcuffs on his right wrist and then fed it through the spokes on the back of the metal chair before fastening his left wrist into the other cuff.

I lowered my gun, giving my arms a rest, and sat on the edge of the desk rubbing my shoulder and my aching arm.

Simon Tacoma faced me as he sat in the center of the room. He glanced down into the empty space below him and cringed. It was only a moment but I saw it before he got himself together and raised defiant eyes to me. I was glad that the floor bothered other people besides me. He looked like he was going to be sick.

“How do you sit in here?” he asked.

“I don’t look down.”

“What do you plan to do with me?”

“That’s entirely up to you,” I almost cooed.

“Oh?”

“Where is Midnight Ash’s daytime resting place?”

The defiance in his eyes was clear and the stiff line of his jaw clenched as he shifted in the chair, trying to get comfortable with his hands bound tight, probably painfully behind his back.

By the determined look on his face, Simon Tacoma wouldn’t easily give up Midnight Ash. I wouldn’t give up Patrick for anything. I was pretty sure he wasn’t going to talk but everyone had a threshold. I just had to find his.

“Well, we all want something. Don’t we?”

I hopped off the desk and took the few steps to close the distance between us. I stood just in front of him, my knees almost touching his. With my gun still in my hand, I struck him hard across the face. The gun crunched into his jaw with all the force I put behind it. Blood spilled from inside his mouth like I’d turned on a faucet as it dripped down his chin. He spit out a tooth along with a mouthful of blood and stared back at me with raw determination and hatred in his gaze.

“Where is Midnight Ash?” I asked again in a controlled and composed tone as I brushed a spot of blood from the barrel of my gun. He was human so I knew he felt pain. The question was how much pain would it take to make him talk?

He didn’t answer.

I stared down at him and let him see
my
monster.

He flinched.

“Do you think I won’t kill you?” I leaned back on the desk with my hands propping me up, the gun still comfortably in my grip.

His eyes narrowed on me in wonder for a few seconds before he answered, “I think you might.”

“Don’t doubt it.” I picked up Patrick’s office phone and dialed my house.

“Hello,” Patrick answered. His smooth voice carried over the phone like velvet and the unease I’d been feeling in my gut was gone.

“Hi. Sorry to wake you,” I said. “I have a lead.”

“Oh?” Patrick said with a pleased lilt to his voice.

“Yes,” I almost purred. “He’s sitting in your Damsel office right now.”

“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” he said. I’d heard that tone before. He was thinking, strategizing. “I’ll call Dean. He’ll get there before I can. Please don’t do anything rash,” Patrick begged. He never begged. I’d just kidnapped a man. Me . . . rash? Nah.

“It’s too late for that,” I said.

“We’ll be there as soon as we can.” The line went dead.

Dean and Danny were the first to arrive with Kurt in tow. Fifteen minutes before full dark.

Danny kissed me on my good cheek in greeting. It was a light peck with a question in his hazel gray eyes. Tension riddled his body and his expression was uncomfortable and hesitant as if he didn’t want to be anywhere near me.

“What happened?” Dean asked, pointing to my bruised cheek.

“Bad dream.”

Jade had been quiet as she watched me work. I didn’t want her to witness anything more than she already had. I wanted her to be able to sleep at night.

Dean eyed me with a scrutiny that made my pulse race. Danny circled Simon Tacoma like he was sizing up his prey. Jade and Kurt were talking in the corner in soft whispers that I was sure Danny and Dean could hear. I couldn’t. I didn’t want to know. Some things should stay private.