Ash (Hive Trilogy Book 1)

by Leia Stone

  Familiar landmarks zoomed past; we were almost at our stop. Tessa and I moved closer to the door and waited for the train to come to a halt. There were plenty of students from PSU with the same plan as us tonight, so when the doors opened we just flowed along with the crowd.

  It was after 11pm by the time we walked the three blocks. Music washed across the streets, heavy with a strong bass.

  “Holy shit, looks like Stag is pumping tonight,” Tessa said, practically shrieking my ear off as she dragged me through.

  I followed, comforting myself with the fact that at least no ash should be here now. Vampires and ash were not allowed out in public places unless by special permission, such as college classes. Vampires couldn’t handle the sun, so the humans were given a curfew of 1am. After that, the night in Portland, and many other major American cities, was ruled by the Hive, and it wasn’t in a human’s best interest to be caught out after curfew. Unless you were a blood whore. Of course, Tessa never cared for these rules. I’d had to drag her home more than once after lock-out.

  The bouncers checked us off the list and then we were inside. Lights strobed across the industrial styled club, bouncing off polished cement floors, steel, and bronze décor.

  “Drinks first?” Tessa bopped along as we pushed through the already crowded space. The distinct smell of pot wafted in from the balcony and I chuckled. All of Portland was out tonight.

  I caught a glimpse of Valarie’s peroxide hair up in the VIP section and realized she’d slightly exaggerated how much of the club she had exclusive for tonight. Still, even though it was small, the elevated zone was a wicked area. She’d love lording it over the rest of the people stuck down here on the main floor. If I pointed her out, I knew Tessa would want to head straight up there. So of course I steered her in the opposite direction.

  “Yep,” I said, “let’s hit the main bar.” I desperately needed something wet and preferably ninety percent alcohol.

  Tessa immediately put her skills into play and started shoving her way through the crowd. She was small enough to fit into some questionable gaps, her blond curls smacking into the people around her. I wasn’t huge myself, but at five feet seven I was half a head taller than my bestie. Which meant I couldn’t always follow her path. I lost sight of her for a second, but we caught up again at the bar.

  “Four tequila shooters and two strawberry daiquiris,” she was saying as I sidled in beside her.

  The tired, not-particularly-happy-to-be-alive female bartender scurried off to fill the drinks.

  “Four shots?” I snickered. “Girl, we’re going to be hammered before we even leave this damn bar.”

  I wasn’t a huge drinker. Mostly I liked a few glasses of wine with dinner. But generally it was impossible to hit a club with Tessa and not leave shitfaced. Looked like tonight was going to be no exception.

  “I don’t know what you’re worried about,” Tessa said, grinning as she swayed to the dance music. Her black dress was riding very high on her thigh, and more than one group of dudes had noticed. “You could out-drink me every night of the week and twice on Sunday.”

  Right. I’d forgotten about my newfound super ability to down a bottle of wine and only get a light buzz. “Maybe tonight we should test this theory,” I said. I had to shout a little when the beat changed to something much heavier.

  “Hells to the yeah,” she shouted, before turning to stare along the long metal bench. “Hey, can you make that eight tequilas…”

  Thirty minutes later, Tessa and I were still at the bar. I was currently in a drinking contest with two head-shaven, muscle-bound beefcakes who had been pretty sure they could take my hundred and twenty pounds.

  They were wrong.

  Shot glasses littered the bench in front of me and I could tell that the bar-chick was hoping we’d move this shit along soon. Beefy #1 and #2 were glassy-eyed as they tried to share the last of their bottle. They didn’t make it though, slumping down and passing out before they managed to finish.

  “I win!” I shouted, swaying a little.

  Tessa grabbed my arm. “Come on, babe. Time for us to go and find Valarie.”

  The nice pleasant fuzz in my head dissipated almost immediately. “Do we have to? I might actually kill myself if I have to spend more than ten minutes in her company.”

  Apparently all the booze had done was loosen my tongue.

  “She’s texted me eight times,” Tessa said, almost falling off her heels as she tried to drag me away from the bar. “You’ve already drank a week’s worth of shots. Let’s go find our friends and dance.”

  I reluctantly let her lead me from the main floor. I knew if Tessa wasn’t so sloshed herself, she’d be questioning how I managed to finish an entire bottle of tequila and still walk and talk. I was sort of questioning it myself. The alcohol couldn’t be weak or watered down, those guys had crashed out trying to finish a bottle between the two of them.

  My metabolism was on fire at the moment. Must be all the jogging.

  “Tess!” Valarie was all over my best friend, completely ignoring me. I left the pair of them discussing whatever shit drunk chicks talked about, and wandered over to crash onto one of the huge sofas. Tessa was used to me doing this. She’d find me soon and drag me out to dance.

  As I settled back, I liked that the shots had my mind all nice and mellow. I felt like I could finally relax and not think about all the scars and shit that littered my life. Still, as the multitude of couples started to surround me, I couldn’t fight the pangs of loneliness. I hadn’t had a relationship since that night, not even of the casual kind. I just couldn’t let my walls down long enough to trust, but I was starting to improve. I was out tonight, I was drinking. There had to be some healing going on.

  I shifted to slouch further into the couch. The VIP area wasn’t as packed as the main dance floor, so I had the entire thing to myself. Valarie couldn’t even pay for enough friends to fill the space. I snagged two glasses of champagne off a waiter as he strolled by, and settled back to enjoy my free bubbly.

  After finishing the first, I was sipping at the second when a tingly sensation trickled up my spine. I lifted myself, legs straightening, leather boots shining in the lights as I twisted myself to see the entire area. Tessa was on the dance floor, grinding up against some tall blond guy with cool-nerd glasses. Valarie and the rest of her goons were close by, but none of them were paying attention to me.

  But I could swear I was being watched. I tried to tamp down the paranoid feeling, knowing that it was probably just my overactive imagination. Still … the feeling persisted.

  Tessa distracted me then by hauling her butt off the dance floor and running – as fast as she could in her hooker heels – over to me, screaming the entire way.

  “Shit, Charlie, you’ll never believe it.” Her eyes were wide and full of excitement.

  I pulled myself up, dropping the half-full glass of bubbles onto the table.

  “What,” I said, laughing as she grabbed my arm and bounced agitatedly.

  “They’re here – holy fuck, they actually came out before curfew and are downstairs right now.”

  My breath caught in my throat. I tried to swallow down the flash of nausea assaulting me. I wanted to believe she was talking about One Direction or the Biebs, but since there wasn’t actually a rule about them being out after curfew, I knew it was not any humans that had her panties in a twist. It was the ash.

  I dropped my eyes to my wrist. My slender gold watch was telling me that it was far too early for those creepers to be out. So what the hell? Even though I wasn’t hammered, I was regretting the heavy alcohol choice by now. I wanted a clear head if I was going to be around the ash. They got the drop on me once.

  Never again.

  I realized I was clenching my fists, so I relaxed them and let Tessa drag me across to the dance floor to get a closer view. Sure as shit, there they stood, two tall, gorgeous men. One had dark hair and gave off a creepy vibe; the other was a yellow blond and looked li
ke a bad guy’s sidekick. The women surged closer to them, some practically dry humping their legs. I shook my head. Suddenly, Tessa ripped her hand from my grip and bee-lined it in their direction. Oh hell no! She must be hammered. She wasn’t that stupid was she? Completely sober now, I pushed my way through the gaggle of girls until I reached the front.

  I arrived in time to hear: “Tessa! With a T,” my best friend slurred.

  Then I realized that she was sitting on dark-haired creeper’s lap. Anger flooded my chest. It was before curfew and she was drunk – this was so wrong.

  “Tessa!” I said in my best mom voice, gripping her arm and yanking her off his lap.

  Now that I was closer, my nose was assaulted with scents of copper and musk. Bad boy glared at me with those goddamn black and silver eyes. The eyes that haunted my nightmares.

  “Hey, relax, honey, we’re just having some fun. Right, Jessa?” His voice was all smooth and low.

  “It’s Tessa,” I ground out. “And fun’s over.” I held Tessa against me. She felt like a dead weight and I wondered if the alcohol was getting the better of her.

  As I went to turn around, his arm snaked out and grabbed my wrist, holding tight enough to cut my watch into my skin.

  What the actual fuck? Twice in one day.

  My vision went a little red then, thoughts flashing across my mind in rapid succession. You know how you kind of wonder if you’re capable of murder? Everyone has the wild thought on occasion. I had definitely wondered before.

  Well, this moment gave me my answer.

  I pushed Tessa behind me with my free arm, thankful that she managed to stay on her feet long enough to stumble away. I turned back to the owner of the hand gripping my arm.

  “Let. Go!” The sound of my own voice scared me. It was raw and animalistic.

  His eyes started to pulse then, like with the ash in class, and he licked his lips as he looked me up and down. He did not let me go; he started to yank me closer.

  Wrong answer.

  My free hand flew out, my palm straight, and smashed into his nose. I felt the crack of cartilage, and almost immediately blood covered my palm. His grip loosened and I wrenched myself from his hold, before doing a quick pivot, prepared to grab Tessa and flee. A hard grip landed on my shoulder, dashing those plans. Fear was taking hold of me, saturating my movements and sending my thoughts into a tizzy. I tried to focus, forcing my defense instructor’s words through the fear. Deep breaths, don’t panic. In one swift movement I spun, prepared to kick the guy who was holding me right where it counted. Ash or not, a knee to the nuts hurt every man alive.

  I did not hesitate, going straight for the shot, but of course no human stood a chance against an ash. He moved quicker than my eye could track. Somehow he managed to step outside my range but still fill the space with his presence. Sucking in a ragged breath, I halted my attack, watching him with caution. It was a new ash standing before me, not the creeper or his sidekick. Somehow I knew immediately that this one was not like the other two. They had been annoying d-bags, but just normal run-of-the-mill ash. This new ash was different. Everything about him screamed dangerous. Pure and simple.

  The longer I stared, the more I felt compelled to examine him. Every single one of these creeps were beautiful, designed as first class chick magnets and killing machines. But I had been right the first time; this ash was so much more.

  Holy gods of everything sexy, what have you created here?

  If I was completely honest with myself, at one point in my life – around my mid-teens – I had found ash and vampires fascinating. I’d never been in Tessa’s league of obsession, but I’d acknowledged their beauty. Never since that night though … but this stranger was doing all sorts of things to my body and blood. Something about the way he wore a caged lethalness like a second coat, his movements so smooth and contained. He was scary – scariest male I’d ever seen, and yet he created a sense of calm and security inside me. And he was drop dead gorgeous.

  “Are you okay?” His strong baritone voice cut through my hormones. A scuffle behind him drew my attention before I could answer. There were two black-clad ash behind him. They had the pair of original ash d-bags laid out on the ground, hands zip-tied behind their backs.

  Unable to help myself, my eyes slid back to the lethal male. He was at least 6’2 and all muscle. His unruly chestnut hair hung in loose waves across his forehead. He wore black military fatigues, and everything about him screamed danger. It might have been the glint in his black eyes, or the way the silver seemed to be larger and more distinct than other ash, but he was definitely not a man to be fucked with.

  I needed to pull myself together. I didn’t bother to answer his question. I started moving away from them, grabbing Tessa, who must have at some point passed out on the floor. The tequila was finally kicking in for her. As I sidled close by the hardass ash in the fatigues, the silver of his eyes started to swirl and his features hardened even further as he looked me up and down.

  I put my hands up. “Don’t get any ideas. This blood is your buddy’s.”

  What was with their eyes? Did the swirl of colors mean it was feeding time? I didn’t want to stay and find out.

  The ash didn’t stop me, but his gaze never left my face. There was something hidden there in those black depths. Something calculating. He was assessing me and I was not okay with that.

  “Ryder! We got another call,” one of the other ash said. The ash – Ryder – flicked his eyes away for a moment, his clenched hands loosening enough to reach up and hook onto the comm device on his belt.

  I took the opportunity while I could. I needed to escape the presence of these dominating males. Reaching down, I practically yanked Tessa into my arms, barely even feeling her weight as I booked it out of the club. The entire time one word was running through my head – the scary-ass gorgeous ash’s name: Ryder. I sighed.

  Perfect. Why couldn’t I meet a normal guy?

  Chapter 3

  It took me forever to get home, mainly because Tessa was a dead weight. I ended up catching a cab and putting it on her credit card. She might only be from a one parent family too, but unlike mine, hers had lots of old money. Tessa had a fat trust fund and she wouldn’t mind me charging the cab to her card.

  After managing to finagle her shoes off, I dropped her onto her bed. And then, finally, I got to wash that creeper’s blood from my hands, and then remove my makeup before getting into bed myself. Stretching out, I tried my best not to think about all the strange shit that was happening to me lately. Including but not limited to the pull I’d felt to that ash tonight. Ryder. I had no explanation. Maybe, if I’d been a dude, I’d be worried that mom had done the down and dirty with a vampire. I certainly had some of the “poster” symptoms. But there was no such thing as a female ash, and my father had been a human soldier, killed in the line of duty.

  Maybe I was just going through a hormone imbalance or some crap. I should probably get to the campus clinic and have my blood work run. Just to be safe.

  I drifted off, and for the first part of the night slept like the dead. It must have been in the early hours that a vivid dream engulfed me.

  The world was washed in blood. I swam in rivers of crimson, swept downstream as I struggled to quench the insatiable thirst inside of me. No matter how much I drank, it was never enough. I thrashed around, trying to free myself from the nightmare, but I couldn’t wake. Hands grabbed me and I was yanked from the river. The thick, tacky blood coated my body and I swear I could even taste the metallic tang on my tongue. The copper scent assaulted my nose. It was odd … but so good. I was carried, and the world started to cry, and it felt as if my soul were crying with it. I lifted my face to feel the drops, only to realize they were blood also. The world wasn’t crying, it was bleeding.

  I startled awake, my chest rising as I gasped, trying to fill my heavy lungs with air. Dream. Holy shit, that dream had felt so real. And so goddamn creepy. A splash of wetness landed on my face, and almost
in slow motion I raised my hand and touched my cheek. My heart rate slowed a little when I realized that it was really rain this time, not blood. A second drop landed, and within a blink of an eye I was up off the ground and on my feet. Rain?

  Off the ground? My head swiveled rapidly, eyes darting left and right as I tried to figure out what the crap was going on. Was I still dreaming? How the hell did I get outside during my sleep? I knew I had been safely in my dorm room, and now I seemed to be … my eyes alighted on a series of warning signs which were scattered around a tall chain-link fence. Sweet love of the gods, I was halfway across town, outside the gated compound surrounding the Hive.

  I blinked more than once, trying to wrap my head around what had happened. I looked down at myself to see I was still clothed. I was either losing my mind or something really serious was wrong. I used to sleepwalk when I was younger, but never got further than the living room. One thing I did know was that I needed to haul ass immediately. I could not be caught after curfew in this area. I’d pretty much be signing my own death warrant. I looked up at the moon high in the sky, and hugged my arms across my chest against the bite of the cold. September seemed to be up and down lately with cold. Tonight, with the rain, I could feel the iciness of winter around the corner.

  I didn’t think, I just ran, my bare feet smashing against the gravel road, not even caring that they were getting all cut up. I was still in my sleep shirt, but that didn’t seem to be the most pressing issue right now. Somehow, despite my shock, my body knew what to do. I had never run so swiftly, but within moments I was out of the danger zone and back in familiar territory. I hadn’t consciously made the decision to head this way, but something drove me toward my family home. Toward my mom. Sometimes a girl just needs her mom, especially if she might possibly be losing her mind.