“If you do this, we can be together forever. You won’t have to worry about growing old without me. We’ll watch the decades go by without the shadow of death looming over us. It’ll be like a fairy tale. Just you and me, and as much time in the world as we want.”
Ashe took the leap.
CHAPTER 5
Peter’s blood was cold as ice, and sweeter than anything Ashe had ever tasted. It filled her with his essence, his memories, and as she drank deeper she felt herself sinking into the depths of Peter’s very mind. She saw lace curtains hanging over the top of a bassinet, and the youthful face of Peter’s mother peering down at her. She saw the sunny days of Peter’s childhood dotted with the blood of the animals he had hunted so cruelly without knowing any better. She watched as Peter and his family left Europe for America, the age of vampires slowly drawing to a close. In the midst of all this, she also saw wars, death, and whole periods of human history go past as if in the blink of an eye. Carriages made way for automobiles and the skyline filled with the smokestacks of factories. The very pace of life seemed to quicken. The reel of Peter’s memories sped up too, with longer gaps and blank spaces as if the film had been damaged in the speed of its recording. Peter’s life became disjointed, conflicted, as he struggled with the morality of killing versus the nature of his condition. The one thing that remained constant was the good in his heart, and the desire to do right by humans as well as his own clan. There was a loneliness too that followed Peter like a cloud through the long span of his life.
When Ashe finally came into the picture, everything changed. The loneliness fled and every moment became precious. Even the bad memories, like killing Landon and casting out Penelope from his clan, held gravity in Peter’s mind. They had been acts done to protect Ashe, and so were to be cherished even if they hurt to remember.
Ashe became vaguely aware of a tugging on her shoulder and Peter calling her name. She released his arm from her grip and let his memories flow out of her mind. When they were gone, Ashe felt a coldness deep inside where they had been. She longed for them back, but knew she would never see them again.
Ashe watched with awe as the blood from Peter’s arm trickled to a stop. The skin was already stitching itself together as if it had never been marred. Inside she felt like her soul was stitching itself together as well, the broken human part of her making way for her new self. It was this new self that had brought her even closer to Peter and saved her from the edge of death.
“Ashe,” Peter called.
Ashe ran her tongue across her teeth. Her canines had formed into sharp points.
“Are you okay?”
She flexed the muscles in her arms. They felt taut like a spring, and incredibly powerful. Her vision too, seemed sharper than before even though the sun had set and the house was nearly dark.
Peter asked, “Are you still there?”
She wasn’t alive, but she definitely wasn’t dead. Her heart sat like a rock in her chest, unmoving, but her being was crackling with new energy. “I’m here,” Ashe replied.
Peter looked deeply into Ashe’s eyes and she recalled all she had seen of his past, the hurt, the loneliness, and was overcome with the desire to be close to him. She needed that physical connection that had been denied her for so long. She pressed her body against his, pulling his arms around her.
“I need to be with you,” she breathed, and let her desire take over.
It was like swimming, a little. Awkward at first until they got into the rhythm of it, and then it became like nothing Ashe had ever experienced before. Peter was gentle and caring as he knew it was her first time, and Ashe feared nothing as she lost herself to him. She could feel her vampire blood awakening even further as Peter held her close, the full potential of her abilities surging through her. She felt powerful, and though she let Peter take the lead she knew she was his physical match and that he could not hurt her through the act of their lovemaking. Even when his nibbles turned to bites and his breaths into growls, Ashe was not afraid. She relished the sensations, her closeness to Peter, and the feeling that nothing could take him away from her now. They were bonded to each other in blood and in body. Ashe couldn’t wish for anything more.
Ashe lay curled up in her usual sleeping position at Peter’s side, only this time there was no barrier between Peter and Ashe’s soft skin. All of this was as new to Peter as it was to Ashe. He knew little of love, only that the woman by his side meant more to him than anything else in this world. She was his, now and forever, and nothing could take her from him. Not even time. Now that Ashe was a vampire, Peter wouldn’t have to watch her grow old. He wouldn’t have to sit by as the years of Ashe’s life ticked away, Peter himself untouched by wrinkles and young as the day they had met. There was now little keeping each other from an eternity together. Once they left Morris, that was. Time may have been defeated, but vampire hunters still very much existed. Now that Ashe was a vampire, she too was vulnerable to their stakes and silver bullets.
Peter shifted slightly and Ashe woke. She looked much better than before, her strength returned tenfold by the transformation and subsequent sleep. However, her body was now cold against his, with none of the human warmth Peter had often marveled at before. Her chest did not rise and fall as it used to, and her heartbeat was silenced.
Peter couldn’t help but feel a pang of loss in the midst of his happiness. Part of what Peter had loved about Ashe had been her humanity. It had radiated out from her like a brilliant sun, bringing light and warmth into Peter’s life at a time when he had thought such things impossible. Now she was, like him, a shadow. She would have to start learning how to hide her true nature from those around her, always looking over her shoulder for those who might hurt her if they knew what she was. Peter knew he had changed in the time since they had met, becoming less of the carefree student he once was and darker, more serious. He hoped the same change would not affect Ashe. He had fought so hard for that first dimpled smile of hers back on campus so many ages ago and did not want to lose it again. Ashe had spent so much of her life closed from the world; she deserved to be free, to be happy.
“You awake?” Ashe asked, propping herself up on one elbow.
“Mhmm,” Peter replied. The room was dark but the moon shone brightly through the window, making Ashe’s light eyes glitter the surface of a pond. Peter gazed at her. She was beautiful, that much hadn’t changed.
“How do you feel?” he asked.
Ashe smiled. Better than I ever have, she thought. Her words filled Peter’s mind like a sonic boom. He winced.
“Easy there,” he said. “You have to remember that you’re a lot stronger than before.”
How’s this?
Ashe’s words this time were like a whisper in his ear. Their intimacy tickled his brain and made him burn with fresh desire, his body responding in kind. He could have made love to Ashe right then but held himself back. There would be plenty of time to have their fill of one another once they were out of Morris. Still, it was hard for Peter to keep his hands off her.
Then something clicked.
“What you did just now, have you done it before?” Peter asked.
Ashe sat up. The bed sheet slipped but she caught before it had slipped below her breasts. Still modest after all they had done together, Peter thought with amusement.
She looked at him, confused. “We’ve always talked telepathically.”
“No,” Peter shook his head. “The, uh… Other thing. What you did just now with your mind to make me...” He glanced down with a bashful smile to where his arousal was slightly visible under the bed sheets.
“I don’t think so,” Ashe replied. But Peter knew that she wouldn’t have been aware she was doing it before, like her telepathy which they had both ascribed to Peter.
Peter said, “I know Will tried to kiss you. I saw it in your memories.”
Ashe looked embarrassed, and a little hurt. “Why bring it up now?” she asked.
Peter explained. “I
don’t think it was his fault, or yours. Vampires have certain talents for attracting the opposite sex. You didn’t know you had these powers, and like the telepathy, you couldn't control it. I think Will was under your spell when he tried to kiss you.”
Ashe’s brow furrowed as she considered what Peter was telling her. “I’ll try to be more careful,” she finally said.
Peter shook his head. “It’s fine. The bigger problem is what’s going to happen if we don’t get out of this town soon.”
Ashe’s expression turned serious. “Will promised he would wait the weekend before coming after you, to give me time to say goodbye, but I’m not so sure about the others in the town. Your buddy Jerry seemed to be the most eager to stick a stake through your heart.”
“He must have seen my missing reflection in the mirror at the theater,” Peter said. He tried to think back to other occasions that might have given him away. He had shaken Jerry’s hand on that first day they had met. Had Jerry been wearing work gloves? Peter couldn’t remember. Even so, cold hands wouldn’t have been a dead giveaway. But the town’s people were trained hunters. The smallest signs wouldn’t have gone unnoticed.
“I think we should stick to our plan to leave tonight,” Ashe said.
Their bags were already packed and the car was full of gas. There was nothing keeping them in Morris any longer. Peter agreed and got up from the bed. He started pulling on his clothes that had been strewn about the room. Ashe did the same, turning demurely away as she slid on her underpants and fastened her bra. Peter snuck a glance or two her way, still feeling the effects of her spell on him.
Once they were dressed, they gathered their moving boxes by the door and prepared to leave the house they had briefly shared. Peter reminded him that this was only the start, and starts were often rocky. They would find a new place, a new home. Ashe would adjust to being a vampire in time and things would go back to relative normal.
“Ready to go?” he asked Ashe.
“Yeah,” she replied though her eyes were moist with tears.
Peter put his hand on the doorknob and opened it for the last time. But there was someone waiting for him on the other side.
It wasn’t Will as Ashe had feared, or Jerry, or any of the other people from the meeting that Ashe knew were coming for Peter sooner or later. The person standing on their front porch was barely even a person. His cheeks were sunken-in hollows and his dark hair hang limply over one eye, not quite hiding the fact that the socket was empty. He smiled and his teeth were like the teeth of a saw, all jagged edges and razor points. Ashe screamed.
Peter tried to slam the door but it didn’t budge. The figure in the doorway was laughing hideously and Ashe recognized him at once by the tone of malice in his amusement. It was Landon back from the dead. It wasn’t possible, but there he was.
Finally, the door slammed and Peter braced himself against it. Ashe could tell he was using all of his mental effort to keep the door closed.
“How is Landon here?” Ashe demanded. “I thought you killed him.”
The door rattled in its frame but held fast. “I did,” Peter replied grunting.
“Why don’t you come out?” Landon called through the door.
Ashe peeked out the front window. Landon was still standing on the doorstep with his arms folded across his chest and a bored look on his face. Behind him on the street were more shadows, though these looked even more misshapen than Landon himself. As Ashe’s vampire eyes adjusted to the dark she could make out their desiccated features. They were all women, and they were far older and more decrepit than any vampires she had seen before. She didn’t even know vampires could become like that. The state of them made her shiver.
“There’s a whole army of them,” Ashe said looking back to Peter.
His expression was dark. “We won’t be able to escape. They’ll probably have the house surrounded.”
“You know we can come in there and get you if we want to,” Landon shouted. He seemed to be losing his patience.
“What do we do?” Ashe asked. She was used to Peter having the answers, of knowing what to do when they were in danger. But she wasn’t his to protect anymore. She was a part of this now. She had her own power and her own responsibility. She was a vampire.
“Ten, nine...” Landon was counting. Ashe didn’t want to know what would happen when he got to zero. Peter grunted as the door shook behind him.
“Okay,” she said, taking another glance out the window. “I’m going to try something to get us out of this.”
She closed her eyes and focused her mind on the message she wanted to send. She had to make sure she could get it to him.
“What are you doing?” Peter asked.
Ashe replied, “I’m trying to get Will and the others to come here. They’re vampire hunters, right? They can help us fight Landon.”
“What happens when the fight’s over? Do you think they’ll just let us go?”
“We’ll deal with that afterwards,” Ashe said turning away from him. One problem at a time. Though she didn’t have any hope that the people of Morris would find it in their hearts to spare Peter or herself, she knew that without their help there was no way to defeat Landon. Two against a whole army were impossible odds, no matter how decrepit the army was.
Will, I need your help, Ashe tried to project. She had never used her telepathy on anyone besides Peter. It felt almost wrong to try and reach out to Will in this way, but there was no alternative. She didn’t have his personal number, and the library would be long abandoned by now. She couldn’t contact him any other way.
Will, I need your help! she repeated more desperately. Landon’s count was slowing as it approached zero, but he would be there soon enough. The door was shaking violently now and Ashe could hear it starting to crack.
Please help us!
A—Ashe?
She heard his voice stutter into her head. It was hard to hear over the banging of the door.
Will, it’s me. Can you hear me?
How are you talking to me?
There’s no time to explain. Vampires are at our house. They’re trying to get in. You have to get everyone over here to fight them.
Are you...?
A vampire, yes. I’m sorry. But you have to hurry. We don’t have much time.
Okay, we’ll be there. Hold on.
Ashe cut the connection, glad to be out of Will’s head. It felt intrusive to communicate with anyone besides Peter in that manner. She didn’t think she would be using it much in the future. But Will and the others were on their way, and that was what mattered. Peter and her would just have to manage on their own until then.
“One,” Landon shouted. The door split through, showering the floor with shards of wood. Ashe could see Landon peering in through the wide crack in the middle of the door. He smiled.
“Now can I come in?” he asked.
The fractured halves of the door fell inward and Ashe had to jump out of the way not to get hit. Landon strode in, his steps smooth though his body seemed to groan with each movement.
“Ashe, you’re looking as delicious as ever,” Landon sneered. “Though I have to say you smell different. More dead, perhaps. I guess Peter just couldn't keep his teeth off you after all.”
He advanced towards her and Peter held his arm out. “Step back,” he growled.
Landon trotted backwards, chuckling. “I see you haven’t changed.”
“But you have,” Peter replied. His face was drawn into a deadly scowl. He looked as if he could tear Landon apart with his bare hands.
“No thanks to you,” Landon said. “When you stuck that stake through me, I thought I was done for. Luckily, I had woken enough of my clan by then. They helped bring me back from the brink of a second death.”
Ashe recalled Peter telling her about the female members of Landon’s clan lying dormant in a sort of hibernation in the woods around his hideout. Landon had hoped to resurrect them with enough human blood and raise an army. It loo
ked like he had done so, but only barely. He had also managed somehow to resurrect himself.
“You didn’t,” Peter said.
“I did,” Landon smiled. “I used the blood of my clan to reconstitute my body.”
“How many did you have to use?” Peter asked. He sounded worried, almost afraid. It made Ashe uneasy.
“Who’s to say,” Landon replied with a dismissive wave of his hand.
Peter took a step back. “You shouldn’t have done that. Consuming another vampire’s blood is dangerous. You’re unstable. All of their powers contained inside of you, you can’t control them for long.”
Landon’s smile flagged for a brief second. When it came back, it was much less convincing. Peter must have been telling the truth. Ashe wondered if what was happening to Landon was similar to Ashe’s transformation with the earrings. All of that power was sapping Landon’s strength.
Landon said, “I don’t need long. I don’t care about immortality. I only wanted to come back long enough to get rid of you and your pet human. It won’t be as much fun now that she’s not human anymore, but I’ll find a way to make her hurt just the same.”
Ashe could see something snap inside of Peter. He used his telekinesis to fling Landon backwards out onto the front porch. Landon landed with a sickening thud. Peter advanced on him.
“You’re not touching her,” he growled.
Landon tried to get up but he was held down by an invisible force. Peter loomed over him. Behind them, Landon’s army was inching closer though they seemed hesitant to make a move without the command of their leader.
A shot rang out, then another and the street was soon full of the sound of gunfire. Landon’s clan was dropping like flies, and it took a moment for Ashe to spot Will and a group of men barreling down the street in the back of a truck. The vampires seemed to catch sight of them at the same moment and they sprang towards them with an inhuman speed. Ashe reached out to Will one last time before the fighting broke out in earnest.
Love of A Dragon (Exalted Dragons Book 1) Page 44
