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

by Lori, Rae

  “What did you to her?” Gerard yelled. “Some form of black magic trickery!”

  Daoine stepped forward to Sophie as he looked in her eyes and proceeded to cloud her mind. “He has fed upon her blood but she is left alive,” he said after he was done. “You will have this ability. We can teach you.”

  Julian held out his arms and smiled. “My brathair.” He laughed heartily and patted Gerard’s shoulders. “It has been too long.”

  “Is this really you, Julian?” Gerard asked with wide eyes.

  “In the flesh, brother. Daoine has given me a gift of life. The air is magnified like life itself. I smell blood and the life that fuels this land. I feel empowered, as if nothing can stop my will t’live!”

  Gerard’s eyes brightened. His mouth fell open. “And this power is due to his change?”

  “Indeed,” Daoine said.

  “Father!” Jace stepped forward, bewilderment in his eyes.

  “We have nothing ta live for, Jace,” Gerard said crossing the room. “If we can stop a mass slaughter from a tyrant rather than wasting away here in a desolate land, then so be it!”

  “And what of mother? Would she be so willing to let you evade death so easily while she watches you? Waits for you?” Jace noticed his words struck a cord in his father’s eyes as he looked away. His heart beat fast within his chest so loud, he was sure the entire room could hear it.

  Gerard finally spoke again. “Would she not wish for many lives to be saved afore tis’ too late ? Especially if we are able to stop it?”

  “You can be spared, Jace, if it is your choice,” Daoine said. “And you can remain here.”

  “Is that what you wish, Jace?” Julian asked. “Do you wish to stay here? I would like for you to come with us. A prince to our wonderful new brotherhood.”

  Jace looked from his father to his Uncle and then to Daoine. He could stay here and inhabit the lands they built. He would be laird like his father over the Castle of Twilight and settle down to raise a family and teach his son to carry on the family name in their honor. And what of Julian and his father? Would his last memory of them be of these creatures rather than the noble men he was brought up to emulate?

  “We can make you forget what you saw here, nephew,” Julian said placing his hand on Jace’s shoulders.

  “You—You can read my thoughts?” Jace said looking from his father to his uncle.

  Julian smiled. “Another gift of the Nightwalkers. ‘Tis your choice, nephew. I wish us to remain a strong family as we travel these lands. I can na do this without my brathair and nephew. The battle lands need the strength of us all. Evil awaits us. Tis’ your duty to battle with me to halt it afore death claims these lands.”

  Deep inside his heart, Jace knew he couldn’t turn away now. Family was one thing his father stressed and he knew he couldn’t forget this so easily if he remained behind. After what he had seen he knew his heart would remember, despite what his mind had forgotten.

  He nodded once and braced himself for his life to change forever.

  Daoine approached him and placed his hands on his shoulders to pull him close. Like a child to its father, Jace leaned against the tall Shifter’s chest and hugged him close. He felt Daoine’s long dark mane caress the side of his face. A sharp pain shot through Jace’s neck and he braced himself, closing his eyes as he felt the life slowly drain from him.

  Jace always wondered what it was like to die. The books he read philosophized over what the road would be like before and after. Now, he would find out. Slowly the world slipped away as he was drained and a new life blood filled him.

  “Hold on to my voice, nephew,” Julian’s soft voice invaded his mind. “I won’t let you die.”

  Darkness crossed over him and he fell into a deep sleep.

  When Jace awakened, the moonlight hung high in the sky outside the window of the castle. A howl broke out into the night air and Jace had to wonder what kind of creature roamed these lands that carried the sound. He was glad when his Uncle made the answer verbal.

  “Lycans. Children of wolves. They will need our assistance soon as we will need theirs. You will learn much soon enough.”

  Darkness claimed Jace once again. The next feeling he knew was the taste of rich, deep sweetness. A force he couldn’t put into words, but fueled him nonetheless. A heartbeat echoed somewhere in his mind. First slow then faster and faster. His lips curled around warm flesh and he drank hungrily, gripping the arm that fed him.

  “That’s it, nephew.”

  His body grew hot like fire and had fully replaced the blood in his veins and quenched his endless hunger. He was no longer himself anymore, but he was alive and free like he never felt before.

  “That’s it.”

  Jace broke away, releasing a loud roar from deep within. He felt his body transforming, growing aged by the moment as if freezing itself in time.

  His teeth remained extended into animal-like fangs and his hunger grew for something more than food could ever provide.

  Nourishment, Julian said within his thoughts. The Blood of life will provide you nourishment. So drink and then live forever.

  Jace’s eyes shot open. His father was sitting with Jeanne standing over him. From the angle of his head, Jace watched him feed from her neck. His fingers gently teasing the hard buds of her nipples under her dress. Her body curved in ecstasy as the waves of pleasure contorted her face and claimed her body.

  Julian stood over, offering to help him up. He gestured toward Sophie standing in front of Daoine. A knowing look crossed the Shifter Elf’s face as he nodded. He gripped the girl’s shoulders and gently pushed her toward Jace.

  “She is yours.”

  Sophie’s dark eyes focused on him as she approached. His body ached to feel her near. As their bodies drew closer, he heard her heart thumping within her chest. The rapid breathing that escaped her full pink lips. The rush of blood within her veins.

  Jace slowly licked his lips before diving at her neck to drink from her nectar. With a gasp, she moaned gently, crushing her body against his. His hand slipped into the soft tendrils of her dark, red hair, holding in her place. His other hand caressed the soft curves of her soft, full breasts, torso and her shapely thigh under her dress. He couldn’t get enough. He didn’t know if he would stop in time before it was too late.

  “Yes,” she gasped softly. “More.”

  He felt their eyes watching proudly as he drank. Their union now sealed as the leaders of the royal House of Blood.

  “More—”

  Her voice urged him to continue as a rise of pleasure forced its conception between his legs. He couldn’t stop and as he drank from her warm, tender flesh he wasn’t sure if he wanted to stop.

  * * * *

  “My first drink as a Nightwalker. And my first kill.”

  “You cannot blame yourself for it, Jacinus. Nor beat yourself up that it happened. It is what it is, a flaw of feeding.”

  “I tried to figure out for so long why it happened to me. Even when I tried to hold back as you and Julian instructed and not take as much. It would always end in death. It was as if there was something in me that destroyed the blood of the living as I fed. It used to bother me sometimes that perhaps I would never know why. Ariya changed all of that. Once she lived, I thought anything was possible. I can’t lose her now.”

  * * * *

  Ariya awoke in an enclosed warehouse. The stench of rotting pipes and wet cement was pungent. She tried to shake it off in her sleepy haze. She tried to lean forward only to feel the constraints of her wrists against the back of the chair. Her body jolted awake with the realization of her ankle and torso also tied against the chair. A slight movement sent a tear into her thin wings causing her to wince.

  “Don’t move too much, sweet Fairy,” the familiar voice that haunted her since she was kidnapped returned once again. “You may clip your wings.”

  Raine stepped out from the deep, dark shadows with a smirk upon his crater face and an extra step in
his lanky legs. Ariya tried to get a handle on her gag reflexes and hoped she didn’t lose the battle.

  “Why did you capture me?” she said boldly.

  “Every deal needs a bargaining tool, my dear.” Another voice invaded the area. This one all too familiar to her, but she couldn’t place it. It was no mistake she heard him somewhere deep within her memories, or her dreams—somewhere.

  Then the figure made himself known to her. He stood at medium height sporting a thin closely shaved beard, deep grey eyes and a large wide set jaw, shaping a strong, square face. His long hair was slicked and tied back into a short ponytail. He looked as sleek as a gangster from 1940s Chicago, as she recalled from her studies, but something about him harkened back to a time even long before then.

  He stepped closer into the light with a band of Rens surrounding him. All of them looked upon her as if she were their last meal. Ariya didn’t like the feeling one bit.

  “Oh come now, my dear,” the sleek leader said. “You have abilities that far outweigh our own. I’m sure you can recall how that will translate in transferring that power where it will be of better use.”

  The shorter young man next to him smirked and in that instant his look resembled one she had known all too clear.

  “At least tell me who I am speaking to that I may save pity for my captor on my last dying breath.”

  “Blakedon. You can call me Blakedon. And those restraints are there so you won’t try anything cute before the time comes.” He smiled widely.

  The younger man next to him approached her with a knife poised in his hand. Before she could speak another word he pulled back her hair and wrapped his arm around her neck. The cold, hard blade touched her skin, penetrating nearly to the point that it cut into her. “So soft,” he said. “I would hate to hurt such a pretty canvas.”

  “Come now, Avery. We need to take care of business first.” Blakedon walked to her with his hands behind his back. “I’m sure you have a telepathic connection to the Ashen Twilight House, hmm? Namely one Jace Archane?”

  Ariya tried to keep herself from shaking as she heard Jace’s name. Part of her was thankful for the one behind her named Avery holding her down. That way this Blakedon character wouldn’t see her squirm. As Avery leaned closer to her, his breath threatened to choke her further. She smelled his blood. It was an ability she didn’t have before, but now there was something dark and earthy his scent. He wasn’t a Shifter. He was—Archane—his blood was the same as Julian and Jace’s blood.

  Ariya was pulled from her thoughts when she felt Avery dip the blade deeper into her skin and yank her head back as Blakedon took a few steps toward her.

  “Answer me!”

  “Yes!” she said strongly, remembering why she was here. “I do have that ability.”

  “Then I suppose you can send a message to him, hmm?”

  She moved her head away from the weapon to nod slowly. Somehow she had to find a way out of this before it was too late.

  * * * *

  “And just where do you think you’re going?”

  Jace slipped into his jeans, carefully buttoning and zipping them up. “I’m going out there to find Ariya. I’m not leaving her in the hands of those animals.”

  Julian stepped in front of the doorway as Jace rushed toward him.

  “Out of my way, Julian!”

  “And what good will it do? Rushing in like a one man army with no plan and no idea of what kind of tricks they may have up their sleeve?”

  “I have a few tricks up mine and I’ll find out what they’re going to do to her.” He moved to pass Julian, but his Uncle slammed his hand against the doorway frame, blocking Jace even further.

  “Uncle, let me through!”

  “No! Not until you rest longer and you let us find out where she is!”

  “Uncle, please get out of—” Suddenly Jace’s body convulsed forward as he grabbed his head. “What’s going on?” He fell to his knees as a wave of pain struck his head. He tried to hold on to something, anything that would make the room stop spinning.

  “Jace—” Julian’s voice, although it was next to him, felt like a distant tune in his head, straining to be heard. It descended into the background of his mind as an image washed over him. Ariya, strapped to a metal chair as she sat in the middle of a room… No, a warehouse that was drenched in shadow with little light. She looked up into his eyes and, as he drew closer, a figure appeared with one arm holding her and the other with a knife at her throat.

  “Jace,” her soft voice called out to him. “Please help me. They’re holding me in an abandoned warehouse on 32nd and Cactus. Please hurry.”

  Just as quickly as the image came, it was gone again and the pressure within his mind lessened. He struggled to breathe against the hardwood floor. His chest heaved in and out rapidly as he fought to gain his strength back.

  “I know where she is.”

  “You can’t be sure, Jace,” Daoine’s voice came from the hall filled with worry and caution. “It could be a trap.”

  “Daoine’s right, Jace,” Julian said. “It could a way to lure us there.”

  Jace shook his head. “No, it was her. I felt her. I couldn’t mistake the scent of her blood running alongside mine.”

  “There still has to be a reason why she sent this message,” Julian shook his head. “The Shifter Rens aren’t idiots. If they have a plan, they will enforce it and the fact that they suddenly decide now to take action and contact you draws some serious red flags up.”

  “Then let it draw flags!” Jace growled as his head shot up toward the two. “I have a feeling they may have something to do with this elemental like Ariya suggested. And I’m going to find out.” Slowly he gripped the nearest wall and pulled himself to his feet. He felt Julian’s arms anchor his body up, but Jace pulled away. “With or without your help.”

  “Jace—”

  Jace moved toward the hall, brushing past Michael as he rushed to see the commotion.

  “Jace, it is not wise—”

  “Don’t tell me what is and isn’t wise, Julian,” Jace said whipping around to face his Uncle. “You are the one who told me you were tempted to let her die. You were reluctant to allow her into the house. Well, that won’t happen this time. Because I refuse to let her die. I won’t accept it. And if I have to go at it alone, then so be it.”

  He moved away from them with a renewed strength to dress quickly and get to Ariya as soon as possible. He hoped his phone was near so he can make a couple of calls to some very trusted friends.

  * * * *

  Ariya looked away from Blakedon now standing alone. He had whispered something to his men before they left. It was too low for her to hear, but she surmised it couldn’t be anything good from the satisfied smiles on their faces.

  Jace, I hope you’re coming—

  Avery still stood by with his blade in his grip as his hands folded in front of him. Despite the handsome family resemblance, she had to admit he still looked like a little punk, a gangster playing at being the bad boy.

  Blakedon stepped into her view and she peered up at him. His pulse was calm. His blood was stronger now that he came closer. Still there was something wrong. It wasn’t Shifter blood, nor Nightwalker, not even Lycans. It was human blood. A sly smirk cornered his face as if he read her thoughts.

  “I think it’s time for you to do your job now, Ariya,” he said.

  She looked from him to Avery who stood by, still and calm as he watched her. “I don’t understand.”

  “The elemental creature is yours. It’s a funny thing, you creatures are so bound to the Earth full of lightness and brightness and all that crap that when you finally create something beautiful in darkness, you don’t even realize it.”

  Ariya felt her body warm as she heard his words. “It was you who created the elemental wasn’t it, mortal?”

  Blakedon chuckled and nodded as if he had been praised for his inventiveness. “But of course. It was summoned and created by me, yes, but
it lives and is strengthened by Aziza Fairy blood. Ariya, I’ve been waiting centuries for this moment when your powers are at its peak. Just what I need to bring down Julian from his high throne of privilege. A throne that rightly belonged to me.”

  “You killed my people and my family! It was you!” She couldn’t contain it any longer. Through gritted teeth she tried to force her way out of her confines, but it was futile as they tightened around her body, indenting her skin.

  Avery chuckled behind Blakedon as if he were watching the show of the century. Blakedon nodded, slowly approaching her. “That’s it! That’s the spirit, Ariya. Let it roam free and call it. It is yours!”

  Ariya wished she could conjure a pulse of energy to her hands and send them to the confines of the fiery outer realm. She wanted to see them suffer just as she was sure her people and her family suffered before her escape. Most of all, she wanted out of this rope so that she could finally be free to really do some damage. As if feeling the anger turn into a tangible force around her, a swoosh in the air nearby alerted the three of them as they turned toward the sky. Somewhere in the distance, it was on his way. And Ariya knew soon there would be no way of stopping it.

  * * * *

  Jace cursed the car accident a thousand times over. Not only for the obvious reasons, but for the loss of his cell phone that was probably crushed or lost somewhere on the street. No matter, luckily he’d already memorized the two numbers for the only people who could help him now.

  “Gael, I need you and Rich to meet me at the warehouse on 32nd and Cactus now!”

  “Did you find Ariya?” Gael’s smooth accent filtered through the phone.

  “Not yet, but she told me she was there.”

  “She told you?” Gael sighed heavily. Jace could imagine the distraught look on his face. “Very well. I’ll contact Rich and make sure he meets us there. And Jace?”

  “Yeah?

  “You sure this isn’t a trap?”

  Jace thought about that the minute it happened. It wasn’t like him to go gangbusters into the mouth of the beast without checking his surroundings first and planning ahead. Still, something told him his time was running out every minute they stalled away from Ariya.