by Alicia Ryan
Ash gave her a pained smile. “Yes,” he said, “it does give one hope.”
She studied him for a moment before the question dawned. “What about your soul?” she asked. “You said you can see souls in humans, but what about vampires?”
He frowned. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I don’t see them, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there.”
Ariana wondered if that wasn’t just wishful thinking.
“No more than you were wishful thinking just a moment ago, sitting there assuming you had a soul,” he argued without waiting for her to make her point out loud.
Perhaps. “But you were supposed to be specially chosen by God when you were Samson,” she pointed out. “Do you still think you have a soul?”
He sighed. “You always did know how to turn the knife, Del,” he said, running a hand through his hair and taking another long pull on his drink.
Ariana felt a flicker of fear. “If you want to finish what Toria started,” she said, “you might as well get it over with.”
Ash smiled at her, and her heart did a reluctant flip flop. “Maybe you have a point,” he said, seeming to ponder it. “I do still have half a mind to burn your eyes out with a hot poker.” His glass landed on the desk with a plunk, and then he was standing in front of her. “And then strangle you.” A wicked glint crept into his eyes as he looked down at her. “After all,” he said, “I can always apologize profusely in your next life.”
“You’d be wiser to stop looking for me,” she said, hoping his smile meant his words were all in jest. “You’ll get no apology from me and no forgiveness either.” She hoped she hadn’t misjudged his anger, but reminded herself that she had come here to tell him the truth. All of it.
“Ariana,” Ash began, with no hint of a joke this time, “you can’t know how sorry I was about what happened to your sister. I only knew her for a short while, of course, but she was sweet and kind. She was everything I thought I needed. When she sided with her family against me, I was hurt.” He put up his hands to forestall her protest. “I know I overreacted.”
That was the understatement of the millennia. “I didn’t mean about that,” she said. “I was talking about what you did to James.”
“Ariana,” he said, dropping to kneel in front of her, “I told you, I didn’t set out to do anything but help James.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think I’d call making him a soulless murderer a big help, Ash.”
His face had grown hard while she spoke.
“And even if it were,” she continued, “you should never have left him alone. He was new, you said it yourself, and now he’s dead, because you were too busy chasing after me to protect him.”
For a long moment, Ash said nothing, but then his arms shot out and he stood, hauling her off the small sofa.
“I’m not perfect, Ariana,” he said, “especially not where you’re concerned. But if we’re going to start throwing stones, you don’t look so perfect yourself.”
She put her hands on his chest to push herself away, but his grip was like iron.
“What are you talking about?” she asked.
“You slept with Luc,” he replied, his mouth twisting into something that came very close to a pout.
She opened her eyes wide and began to laugh. “Of all my sins,” she asked when she had caught her breath, “That’s the worst you could come up with?”
His gaze darkened. “No,” he said, removing his hands from her arms and unbuttoning his shirt.
When she would have stepped away, he pulled her back, forcing her to touch the now bare skin of his chest. It was cool under her fingers. Cool and hard and smooth.
“I’m not sure how,” he said, “but it seems you turned me into this.” He bared his fangs and glared down at her. “If we’re casting blame,” he growled, “why don’t you tell me how you thought I deserved this?”
CHAPTER 63
Ariana’s eyes widened in surprise. “It was an accident,” she said. “I swear I never planned to turn you into a vampire. I didn’t even know it was possible.”
“Oh, so you only wanted to kill me and just happened to feed me a little demon blood?” Ash’s voice was hard, but his fangs retracted.
She looked at him, and in that instant, it was so clear he wasn’t human, she wondered how she’d ever thought otherwise. “I was desperate,” she explained. “You had taken everything from me, yet no one would hold you accountable. I asked Lilith to bring you to Sorek, so I could see justice done myself.”
His jaw hardened. “I never knew you at all, did I?” he asked. “All that hate you bore me and I never suspected.” His eyes bored into her.
She noticed her fingers were nervously working themselves against the skin of his bare chest, but she couldn’t seem to stop them. They moved to reacquainting themselves with the strange, familiar territory. She sucked in her breath, and his dark eyes began to glitter.
“Did you really feel nothing for me?” he whispered, his voice again the low rumble that threatened to liquefy her insides. “Not in all the time we were together?”
“Ash,” she said, hesitating and bringing her hands up to caress the sharp planes of his face, “I don’t know what to tell you.”
“Just tell me that you don’t hate me.”
The naked need in that simple request almost did Ariana in. She wasn’t ready for this man, for what they could be together. “How is it that you can read random thoughts,” she asked, lighthearted, “but you can’t tell whether I hate you or not?”
“It’s complicated,” he said. “I’ve never been good at emotions, especially with people I know. It’s too hard to tell which are theirs and which are mine.”
“Oh.” She paused to think for a minute. “No,” she said finally, after waiting longer than was truly necessary. “I don’t hate you, Ash.”
His look begged for more reassurance.
“I remember hating you,” she said. “I remember hating a man I didn’t know very well. The memory is there, but the actual hate seems to have burned away. And you’ve changed.” She paused, struck by the obvious. “Heck, Ash,” she said, “you’re not even a man anymore.”
He smiled wryly, and Ariana watched the smooth movement across his rugged features. Really, when he was calm, except for the fact that his skin was a little too perfect, he appeared more or less normal.
“Yes,” he said, “contrary to popular belief, the older we get, the harder it becomes to distinguish us from humans.”
Suddenly a thought struck her. “The other night at dinner, you spoke of your wife. Were you talking about my sister?” she asked.
“Of course,” Ash replied. “She’s still the only wife I’ve ever had.”
Ariana’s eyes got misty. “You’re the only person I’ve ever truly hated, you know.”
Ash’s mouth dropped open. He started to speak but she continued. “So many lives, so many loves, but you were the only one that made me burn with hate.”
She held onto his shoulder when he would have stepped away. “No, you don’t understand,” she whispered. “You’re the only one who ever made me burn at all. Everything about me burned brighter with you.” She drew in a breath. “Only with you.”
“And I’ve spent a hundred lifetimes pretending to hate you,” he said. “For some of that time, it might even have been real.” His gaze warmed as he looked down into her upturned face. “The real question is where that leaves us now.”
She couldn’t speak. She didn’t know what was in her heart for this man. Her feelings were all jumbled up. So she just went with her gut and wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close, this man who’d tried to kill her, this man who’d given her more knowledge in an hour than she could have learned in a lifetime, this man who was not even any longer a man. When she put her head on his bare chest, he finally ringed his arms around her.
“Ash, you’re the strongest man I know,” she said, her voice filled with longing, “but I won’t break.”
His lips were on hers the moment he understood her meaning, and the fire she remembered flared between them. She couldn’t fight it, even if she’d wanted to. Whatever ghosts separated them, the passion that bound them was a force of nature. She sighed and gave in to the tiny waves of pleasure that his lips and hands had already begun to stir.
Ash deepened the kiss and groaned when she welcomed him farther into her mouth, but he wasn’t content with a kiss. In an instant, she was in his arms and he was carrying her to the door.
“Not here,” he explained, seeing the confusion in her eyes.
Moments later, he had mounted a narrow staircase, kicked open the door to his bedroom, and was closing it behind them, all without relinquishing his hold on her. Finally, he lowered one arm and allowed her to slide down his body until her feet met the floor.
The friction made her breathless. She turned and the lovely burgundy carpet seemed to rush up to meet her. She staggered and put out a hand to steady herself.
Ash grabbed it. “Ariana, are you all right?” he asked. His eyes, unguarded for a moment, told her how much of his soul was in that question.
“I’m fine,” she said, shaking her head. “Just a little tired. I guess I haven’t recovered from Toria’s butchery as well as I thought.”
He led her to the edge of the bed, but didn’t join her. Instead he crossed the room and pressed a button on the wall.
Only a moment later, Nancy opened the door.
“That was fast,” he remarked. “Can you bring up some food for Ariana? She hasn’t been well and needs to get her strength back.”
Nancy nodded. “Yes, of course,” she said. She looked from Ash to Ariana and back again, seeming to Ariana’s eyes unusually hesitant. “I came to tell you there’s a car out front for you, sir,” Nancy revealed finally.
“I didn’t call for a car,” Ash said, frowning in confusion.
“The driver says he was sent by someone named Benson. Luc Benson, I believe. Do you know the name?”
“What’s going on, Ash?” Ariana asked.
He shook his head. “A little unfinished business, I’m afraid.” He turned to Nancy. “Tell the driver I’ll be right down,” he said.
Nancy scurried back the way she had come and Ash crossed over to where Ariana sat on the edge of the bed. He leaned down, put both his hands into her thick hair, and inhaled deeply of its scent. “I can’t believe I’m leaving you here,” he said. “In my bed.”
Ariana looked up at him. “Will you be long?”
Ash stood and pulled her against him for another kiss. “Say it again,” he said raggedly when he’d lifted his head.
“What?” she asked, still a little foggy from the lovely ministrations of his lips.
“Tell me again that you are here because of me,” he said, his voice a silken command. “That this has nothing to do with James or Luc or anything else. That you are here with me because you’re mine.”
She opened her mouth, but had no answer to give.
He waited a moment, and then took advantage of her opened lips to kiss her again. Her mouth melded to his, answering in a way she could not. He raised his head and raked her bottom lip with his teeth. “Say you’re mine, Delilah,” he whispered.
She gave a half-whimper as her body bid her acquiesce to him, but some more central part of her refused to comply. “Don’t call me that,” she said, not knowing where she got the strength. “If you’re here with me,” she ran her hands across his broad chest, “then be here with me. I’m not Delilah anymore.”
“Ariana,” he said, sucking in a breath. He smiled down at her. “I think I can get used to that.”
He stepped back, took a breath she knew he didn’t need, and kissed the top of her head. “I have to go,” he said. “We’ll finish this when I get back.” He looked down at her and frowned slightly. “And you’re feeling better.”
Ariana watched him go and then sank back onto the bed.
CHAPTER 64
The car Luc sent whisked Ash downtown, but not as far as he’d expected. When it slowed to a stop near a club called Vamp, he began to wonder if this was Luc’s idea of a joke.
Ash saw him standing at the corner, and he reluctantly got out and closed the car door.
“You found Memnon?” he asked as Luc approached.
“I think so,” Luc answered. “I haven’t seen him, but I think he’ll be in the ring tonight.”
“What ring?”
Luc nodded. “This place has an underground tournament going. I don’t know exactly how it works, but they’re all gaga over some new warrior.”
Ash turned toward the door. He knew how it worked. “Let’s go check it out then, shall we?”
Luc led the way, greeting Willie and Derek at the door.
“Who’s your friend?” Willie asked.
Luc looked at Ash, but got no signal. “Ash Samson,” he replied.
Willie’s gaze flew back to study Ash anew. “You don’t say?”
“I don’t care who he is, you both have to wait your turn in line like everybody else,” Derek said. “We’re expecting a packed house tonight.”
Willie turned to his friend with a look of disbelief. “Are you crazy, man? Do you know who this is? If he wants to come watch the tournament, he gets to come watch the tournament.”
“Who said anything about watching?” Ash responded as he and Luc passed through the door Willie was now holding open.
“All the way to the back,” Willie called out. “Then down to the lower level.”
Following Willie’s instructions, they pushed their way through the throng of people surrounding the dance floor. Ash wondered what promotion they’d run to fill the place to the rafters on a weeknight. No doubt they needed the noise up here to cover the noise from down below.
Ash led them to a staircase at the back of the room. Down they went, two flights, then three. There the stairs ended.
“What the hell?” Luc asked.
Ash looked over the railing. There was a landing about two stories below. He motioned for Luc to take a look.
“I think it’s a type of self-selection,” Ash explained. “If you can survive the jump, you’re obviously in the right place.”
Luc slapped one hand onto the metal rail and vaulted over. Ash followed, landing softly on the concrete floor below.
“Show-off,” Luc muttered.
Ash smiled. “Just getting warmed up,” he said.
“Do you really plan to get into the ring with him?” Luc asked.
Ash turned a surprised look to him. “Isn’t that what you intended?”
Luc shrugged. “I don’t know what I intended. I was leaning toward letting him fight himself silly and then you taking him out when it was all over.”
Ash frowned. “That’s not the way a warrior fights, Lucas.”
“Well, he’s not a warrior,” Luc retorted. “He’s a murdering bastard.”
Ash started forward down the dark corridor. “Aren’t we all?”
***
Luc followed in silence. He could smell blood already.
As they entered the arena, Luc noted that an early match was already underway. Not that he could see anything through the crowd, but the cheers, grunts, and cries from farther up told him all he needed to know.
Some of the vampires back near the entrance strained to see the action, but most were engaged in low discussion or casting curious looks at Ash. Whoever was fighting up front, it wasn’t Memnon yet. He would have held their attention.
Ash found a spot near the edge of the room. Since he was a head taller than most, he could see the action in the ring fine from there. Luc was left staring at the back of someone’s head.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” he asked Ash.
Ash smiled. Luc wasn’t sure why this bothered him, but it did.
“I’m not sure of anything,” the first vampire answered, “but it’s the only idea I’ve got at the moment.” He looked down at Luc. “Unless you
’ve come up with something better?”
Luc still liked the idea of an ambush, but apparently that was beneath the great Samson. “Well,” he said finally, “no, and I can’t see a damn thing from here, so I’m going to try to get closer to the ring.”
Ash nodded, and Luc began his slow progress toward the center of the room. In many ways, this arena resembled the one at Council House, he realized. It was three stories tall, with a square roped off in the center for the fighters. The ring itself was much smaller, though, looking like it was only built for individual matches.
Nor were there any balconies for spectators. Luc wished there were. As it was, he was making enemies literally right and left, but he did finally manage to get just a few rows from the ring, slightly off to one side.
The ring was elevated a couple of feet off the floor of the arena and demarcated by four poles connected by a single piece of rope. On each of the poles was a large bowl partially filled with warm blood. Warm blood also filled a trough that ran around the base of the ring. Luc supposed it was so the fighters could refresh themselves, but the smell of it suffused the entire room, serving the dual purpose of working the crowd into a frenzy.
The rest of the room was just poured concrete. A few pipes hung from the ceiling far above. The only weapons Luc could see were a few long wooden spears on the floor, leaning against the platform.
Several rounds went by while Luc watched, but none of them were death matches. Finally, a couple of Vamp employees came out to clean up the blood on the floor of the ring. As they finished, the crowd jammed in tighter, and conversations quieted to a minimum. Apparently the real entertainment was about to start. Luc was startled when Aleksander Solotnik entered the ring.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” his deep voice boomed out over the crowd, “we have three excellent fighters scheduled for this evening’s elimination rounds.” Cheers went up from the crowd. Obviously the fighters’ reputations preceded them, Luc thought.
“As your host, I promise you a night you won’t soon forget and all the cocktails you can wash it down with. And don’t forget,” Solotnik continued, “tonight there is a wild card slot—available at the end of the last round to anyone who will dare to challenge the winner.”
