A Kiss of Ashen Twilight (Ashen Twilight Series #1)

by Lori, Rae

  Ariya felt the rush of adrenaline race through her body, forcing her toward the edge of the forest. She didn’t look back. She couldn’t. For if she did, her biggest fears would come true.

  Her parent’s screams filled the air behind her and her legs slowed to a halt. A rippling form flowed around the flaming palace like a bird in flight. In its grasp, she saw her parent’s dark forms slowly disappear into the entity. Words escaped her as she finally laid eyes on the creature. It was like the wind itself, almost disappearing into the air with only a ripple of a force field revealing it’s movement. It had no form, no identifiable characteristics of anything she had ever seen or heard of, even in this realm. Still she felt it as if it were a person standing right next to her. A male with a familiar connection she knew from somewhere. Whatever it was, it wasn’t the Asiman lore she had known throughout her life. She had to do something to help them before it was too late.

  “My lady.” Ariya almost didn’t hear her maiden guard’s calm voice behind her. Cidra’s dark eyes focused on her, forcing her to concentrate. “You must escape before the end is near.”

  “My parents—” The last of her family and all she had left to keep her going throughout these distressing days were slowly slipping away from her.

  “They are distracting the creature while you escape. It is you it’s after.”

  It is you it’s after. Even hearing the words with her own ears, she still couldn’t believe it. The elemental-like creature was here to take her life and power just it did her sisters. Ariya knew she couldn’t just leave her parents there to fight the creature.

  Cidra’s hand clamped around her chin and lifted her gaze. Her mystical eyes exuded an urgency that rose above her soft voice. “There is no time.”

  A gesture she employed whenever Ariya needed extra security. If ever there was a time she needed it, she suspected it was now.

  “Go!”

  Cidra pushed her toward the edge of the forest with the sounds of destruction spreading across their township. Ariya knew Cidra would lead the Aziza Amazon guards in a battle to divert the creature’s attention and distract it just in time for her escape. The monster’s high pitched screech invaded her ears. She couldn’t resist looking.

  Ariya turned to look over her shoulder. There under the swirling cloud of air, Cidra lead the band of female Aziza Amazon guards into battle alongside her parents. One by one they were thrown about; their magic blocked and boomeranged back to them. Some had their power and lifeforce drained despite their efforts yet, unlike her sisters, their blood remained. Suddenly it dawned on her. It was as if the creature knew the extent of their powers and was drawn to it, honing in as if to power itself from their lifeforce. Ariya forced herself to look away and she ran, feeling her blood burning. She was a coward for running, but there had to be a reason everyone was so set on her leaving to the mortal realm.

  As she ran, Ariya tried with all her might to bore the recent images of death out of her mind’s eye. She hoped Mawu-Lisa would usher her parents into a peaceful passage from this world onto the next.

  * * * *

  Why had the creature come after so long? Why now?

  After finding the emptied corpses of her sisters, Ariya finally saw it with her own eyes and she still couldn’t believe it. It was as if the air was moving into a stream of what appeared like water amidst the sky. Were the Amazon guards able to destroy it?

  They couldn’t have. Not after they tried to fend it off so long ago. Nothing seemed to stop it from attacking and absorbing the life out of anything in its path.

  Ariya opened her eyes and exhaled. She surveyed her surroundings. Dark, cracked concrete lay under her instead of the green grass she had grown to love back home. Where was this place? The warm dusk of the Aziza lands had faded away as she made the jump into the human lands.

  The creature—whatever it was—would surely follow her across all the lands of the Aziza until it eliminated her just like her sisters, Shya and Rhea, and finally her parents. Perhaps it was safe after all to come into these lands, if it didn’t sense her here. She would dare not risk finding out.

  Where did it come from anyway? She wondered. And why was it trying to eliminate her entire family?

  With these questions in her mind, Ariya pushed herself off the ground and proceeded to the street. Looking around, she tried to assess the area she landed in. A long dark alleyway aligned a long stretch of concrete. Cars passed back and forth nearby in the distance, otherwise the street remained empty. The moon sat high above the sky, disappearing into the dark atmosphere from an azure hue. Night loomed in the distance.

  Looking around, she wasn’t sure where she was. She continued along the near empty street. Small, quaint one-story houses created a suburban residence. Some yards had bright green lawns growing out front, while others had lawns filled with dirt, gravel and—cacti?

  This must be somewhere in the Southwest, she gathered. A cold shiver snaked throughout her body and down to her wings. Loneliness crept up inside her just then. Thankful for the soft lavender wrap dress she wore, Ariya couldn’t figure out whether the chill came from the cold or the realization itself. Either way, it was a good thing she decided to wear the dress that evening. She liked to go to bed wearing as little as possible; although she kept a robe nearby whenever she left her room. Most humans had a strange way with covering themselves up all the time. Thank goodness for the Earth dwellers that lived among the forests and out of the big industrial cities. No matter. If she kept moving, she had a chance to evade the elemental creature that tracked her. She just had to keep moving.

  A distant howl froze her steps. Could be coyotes, she surmised. They were typical for these desert land areas, after all. Probably somewhere off in the distance anyway.

  She continued walking, repeating this mantra in her head.

  Another howl, this one closer, sent more shivers throughout her body.

  Ariya quickened her pace as a third howl broke into the air, closer than the last two. Her heart pounded rapidly within her chest. She looked around. She wasn’t sure where she was headed, yet she knew she had to find safety soon.

  * * * *

  Jace Archane dug his fingernails into the pillow beneath the woman under him. He braced his body to slam violently from the oncoming orgasm rising from his feet and slithering up his legs. The girl moaned with excitement and writhed under his hard body. He reveled in the feel of himself throbbing inside of her as he filled her with all the essence he could muster. At the same time, his teeth dug deeper into her neck, his mouth opening wider to receive the warm liquid trickling into his throat from her neck. She was young, nubile and warm. And on this particular night, he needed to drink until he was knocked out silly. His Uncle Julian called him in earlier, but he couldn’t go in for business just yet. The old man would be all over his case for missing the meeting tonight.

  He didn’t care.

  No matter what the blood lines said, he wasn’t ready to be patriarch of the house just yet. He was already getting used to settling into his duties as regent despite having the title for centuries. He was still a young, strapping man of 600 years of age and this was the perfect time for their kind to roam freely under mortal eyes. Representations of vampires served as entertainment for the mortals and hot, heaving women with a weakness for bad boys. They weren’t hunted down and tortured like in the old days of the witch hunt. Now they were revered and worshipped in mortal books, television, movies and radio. If it ever got out that there were immortals living amongst them, it’d be chaos right in their very own backyard. It was better to leave these mortals with their imaginations rather than having them face the truth right before their very own eyes.

  Jace cleared his mind and focused. Tonight was the perfect setting for a beautifully satisfying meal.

  The thought sent him over the edge. His torso lurched. His hips slammed into her with one last thrust. A deep primal groan emitted from the back of his throat into the quiet candlelit bedroom. He close
d his eyes allowing the calm waves of pleasure to wash over him.

  Then he remembered the silence.

  Jace looked down at his lover and saw her deep blue eyes icily staring ahead forever. He waited too long once again. Her thin, pale body already grew cold as he gently closed her eyes. He ran his hand over the thin, blond tresses splayed across his five thousand count Egyptian cotton pillows. With one gentle kiss upon her forehead, he reached for the cordless phone and dialed a number.

  He let out a deep sigh, rubbing his hand over his face as the phone rang on the other end. His body slowly descended from the high while he still warmed up from the feed. He already missed the blissful elevation, but more pressing matters waited for him than his unquenchable thirst.

  “Polidori here.”

  “Hey Angel. It’s Jace.”

  He felt her smiling across the line as she spoke her next words. “Well, well, well your highness. What could I do for a big important guy like you?”

  Jace chuckled. “I’m not any of that high royalty right now. Just an heir moonlighting as a foot soldier for Julian.”

  “Not just any heir, handsome,” she said with a chuckle. “Julian would have your head if you forgot how important you really are.”

  “He doesn’t give me enough time to forget. That’s not why I called though. I got another accidental necro on my hands.”

  “Got a little happy in the sex feed again, huh?”

  Jace stared down at the still girl underneath him. “Apparently so.”

  “Well,” Angel sighed. “Hang tight and I’ll be over in ten.”

  “Ah, I can’t stay.” Jace pushed off the girl and moved to the cold area of the bed next to the girl. “Got an emergency meeting tonight with Julian. Okay if I leave her outside my door?”

  Angel scoffed. “All right, but you’ll be risking nosy human neighbors sniffing around.”

  “I’ll risk it.”

  * * * *

  After making a quick rest stop, Jace stepped was out on the street, feeling the cold night air on his equally cold skin. He loved the sounds of the city around him and of all the cities he’s been to, downtown Phoenix had to be the lowest key.

  Summer was near. The air flirted with the cold one day and teased with a warm caress of heat the next. City nightlife sprang to life with car horns, bright lights and unsuspecting humans walking the streets to and fro.

  He breathed in deeply, sensing the flurry of people, their thoughts and emotions along the busy street. Even though his body felt full from the recent feed, his nostrils tickled with the smell of blood. His mouthed watered to taste the sweet liquid. The city dwellers smiled, laughed and conversed among themselves. So unaware of what the world held beneath their radar for so many centuries.

  Jace tightened the loose leather jacket around his torso. He waited until his driver opened the back door to the waiting limo before sliding in.

  The Archane house was located downtown amidst the art scene. A massive green lawn and large foliage obscured the structure, nearly hiding it from the patrons who walked by. The ancient gothic European architecture was a vast contrast from the normal southwestern ranch homes in the area. Although it scared the crap out of the older residents of the town, it was a scream during Halloween time.

  The limo rounded the circular driveway to the front of the house and stopped. As Jace stepped out, he spotted the three main sport cars parked out front. The black Lincoln town car belonged to his Uncle Julian, Patriarch over the House of Blood; the hunter green 1956 Jaguar Roadster belonged to Michael Hammond, Patriarch over the House of Lycans; and finally the dark green Corvette was Daoine Oberon’s, Patriarch over the House of Shifter Elves. Julian planned to pass down the Lincoln when the time came. As much as Jace admired the beauty of that car, he wasn’t ready to take the House of Blood throne or give up his BMW Volga Roadster. Sooner or later his uncle would have to understand that.

  Jace ran up the steps to the front doors that opened automatically. He stepped inside and absent-mindedly ran his hands over his wavy shoulder length hair. A small gathering of the houses took place out in the foyer. He immediately recognized Brenden, the tall, bald, dark vampire in black sunglasses serving as head of security. Next to him Gael Almadovar spoke in small gestures. Gael took his office as regent to the House of Shifter Elves seriously. Although one wouldn’t know it from his calm demeanor. Gael’s milk chocolate complexion, piercing green eyes and strong Moorish features made him an easy weakness for the ladies.

  “Not at the Torch tonight, Gael? I thought we were meeting there with Rich.”

  “We are,” a hint of the Spanish accent lingered on his tongue. “I had to see Daoine before going in. There’s a big meeting going on tonight. I’d proceed cautiously, if I were you.”

  Jace saluted with a grin. “They usually are in a meeting. See you in a few hours.”

  Gael laughed, showing off his dimpled cheeks and shook his head.

  The soft muffle of voices stretched all the way into the East wing of the hall. To any mortal it would be a low hum, slightly indecipherable. Jace heard the voices yet still couldn’t make out what they were talking about as he stepped onto the floor and headed for the door. Usually he tried not to interfere on the conversation, but there was no way he could willingly cut down on his keen hearing ability. Not that he’d want to, anyway.

  “Here we go,” he said with a sigh.

  The three patriarchs turned in his direction. Jace straightened his posture and held his head high.

  “My dear Uncle,” he said, holding his arms out with a smile. “I came as soon as you called.”

  His Uncle Julian stood around six feet with the looks of a smooth handsome man in his late thirties. Baby blue eyes complemented a mane of wavy brown hair tied back in a short ponytail. Jace could easily pass as his son and since losing his father so long ago, Jace did consider him a close father figure. After all, he was the next in line for the patriarch as heir to the House of Blood.

  The older vampire stepped out from behind his desk to join Michael and Daoine in the middle of the room. He kept his gaze on Jace as he placed his hands on his friends’ shoulders and spoke.

  “Gentleman, I do believe this meeting is adjourned.” Julian’s voice was tight, completing the tense gaze he threw Jace.

  “Did I miss something?” Jace said with a smirk as he peered at each of the patriarchs.

  “Elder business, we were just finishing up.” Julian’s voice remained unabashedly polite.

  This was heavy. That was all right, though. Jace knew how to handle his Uncle after so many years. Just another kink in the land of cogs working on the bigger machinery. Nothing he couldn’t handle.

  “Until next time, Julian,” Michael’s gruff voice was deep, spreading throughout the room. His strong gaze and intimidating disposition would send signals off in any mortal unaware of his true nature. A sly smile crossed the Lycan’s lips and his head gently dipped in a slight nod.

  “Jace,” Michael said in a hoarse, farewell tone.

  Daoine was another story. Tall, lithe and mystical, he was enchanting and stunned any human in his vicinity with his beauty alone. No one knew his true age, but the eternal magnificence of youth forever imprinted itself in his face and body. His thin, angular face and slightly sunken cheeks accented his regal look.

  The Shifter Elf’s lips pressed together as he nodded on his way toward the door.

  “Jace,” Daoine said in a voice reminiscent of soft choir bells.

  “Gentleman.” The soft footsteps descended down the hall. Jace flung his arm forward, slamming the door close. Finally Jace turned to his Uncle with a wide smile on his face. He liked being in the company of such great leaders. At times it did feel daunting and frankly tiring. Of course he wouldn’t vocalize this nor think it in his Uncle’s presence, but sometimes a good mortal filled the empty space just nicely.

  Jace couldn’t help smiling wider when he noticed the vein popping out from Julian’s forehead.

&nbs
p; “Uncle Julian, I can’t say how happy—”

  Julian’s hand whipped across Jace’s face like lightning, smacking him hard.

  “You insolent little—!” Julian’s smooth voice turned raspy, a warning to alert he was pissed off to the edge. His jaw flexed as he exhaled to calm himself enough to continue. “You show some respect when you deal with your elders and that includes being on time when I ask you here.”

  Jace straightened out his jacket, trying to maintain his composure. The right side of his face burned like fire while his mind raced to comprehend that he was actually hit like a little child. While he felt a little of his pride broken beneath his skin, he shook it off and widened the distance between him and Julian.

  “I had a little detour on the way here.”

  “Your appetite could have waited until afterward. And judging by your call to the Necro Cerberus, I’m thinking you would have done better to wait and take your time.”

  Jace tried hard not to chuckle. Angel must’ve mentioned his call to Julian once they hung up. Either that or his phone was tapped by the blood brigade.

  “Priorities, Uncle,” Jace said calmly.

  “Of which you have yet to recognize. I won’t have the future patriarch over the House of Blood being sloppy and destroying our entire legacy.”

  Jace sneered. “Thanks for having such great confidence in me, Unc.”

  “Don’t you dare turn this around on me, Jacinus. You waltz around here acting like the eternal party boy with no care in the world for what’s important.”

  “Oh yeah? And what’s that?”

  “Responsibility.”

  The word hovered in the air like a thick mist. Jace tried to shake it off with a laugh.

  “Right.” He walked over to the large cushioned brown leather seats and sat down, stretching out his long limbs. “Is this why you called me here tonight, Unc?”

  “Not necessarily.” Julian walked back to this desk and reached for the single folder on top. He pulled out the top sheet of paper and flipped it around so Jace could read it right side up.