Ash was confused that Sara didn’t seem to be in the know. “You don’t know about this?”
Sara hesitated as she looked from Rachel to Ash. “I’ve been a vampire for less than a month. You don’t turn and suddenly acquire centuries’ worth of knowledge. You and I are going to learn this one together.” She gave Ash a genuine smile, and the detective could see the woman she had met several weeks ago was still clearly there in spite of her newly acquired appetites.
Rachel put her arm around Sara, and smiled. “I’ve never actually met a shifter, but what I know from Coleen – who forbids such couplings – the relationship with a vampire can be complicated. The shifter ages at a human rate. But if given vampire blood, a shifter’s aging stops, and they can live for as long as the blood doesn’t run out.”
Rachel shook her head. “The shifter’s blood is like a narcotic to vampires, but generally the shifter becomes more dependent on the vampire; so the relationship is very inequitable. And with the wrong vampire, very cruel.”
“Cruel how?” Ash was mesmerized as her world continued to grow larger by the second.
“Some vampires abuse the relationship, as I imagine Ela did, and will deny the shifter blood for periods of time so the shifter experiences the pain of accelerated aging.”
“God, Rach. That’s horrible.” Sara cringed.
Rachel nodded. “With Ela dead, Lara must be getting desperate.” Rachel took a deep breath. “Emma and Coleen both need to be careful. I’m sure her time with Ela provided Lara a tremendous amount of insight into our weaknesses.”
The tension at the back of Ash’s brain grew rapidly into a fire that spread down her neck and out to the tips of her fingers and toes. She barely managed a whisper when she spoke. “Emma?”
Sara realized her lover’s mistake first. “Oh, God. Ashley, we thought…”
Rachel frowned. “I assumed when you arrived here, that Emma had told you she was vampire.”
Ash felt the room spin. Her body was awash with prickling static, and sweat formed on her brow before she fell to the floor.
“Ashley?” A cool cloth was being gently wiped along Ash’s forehead and cheeks. “Can you hear me?” Sara’s voice was calm and soothing.
Ash felt sick to her stomach. Her pride dictated she should get up off these practical strangers’ floor, but she thought throwing up on that floor was a worse option. “Give me a minute, please.”
“Of course. Take your time.” Rachel was patting Ash’s hand reassuringly. The coolness of her hand reminded her of Emma, and the comfort she had given Ash last night. Then Ash remembered what she had learned moments ago. Emma was a vampire.
Ash slowly sat up, and Sara effortlessly lifted her and put her on the sofa. “We’re sorry you found out this way, Ashley.”
Rachel shook her head. “Why wouldn’t she just tell you if she told you everything else?”
Ash shifted so she was sitting up more than reclining. Her equilibrium was returning. “She hedged her bets. Maybe you wouldn’t say anything, if you did, she would deal with it.”
“Ashley, you have to know she faced an impossible choice.” Sara offered. “Try to focus on the feelings the two of you share, friendship or otherwise, when you consider your next steps.”
“I don’t know Emma very well, but what I do know is she probably got a slide rule out before she talked to Ashley, and calculated the odds.” Rachel brushed a loose strand of hair off Ash’s damp forehead.
“I need to go. Thank you for your time and candor.” Ash slowly put her feet over the edge of the sofa.
“Should you drive?” Sara asked, with concern on her face.
If Ash didn’t feel so crappy, she would find the exchange comical. Two vampires worried about the wellbeing of someone’s future dinner. She couldn’t stifle the chuckle. “Road kill.”
Rachel’s brow furrowed. “Sorry?”
Ash managed to stand. “You’re vampires. What do you care about whether I can drive?”
Sara gasped. “You’ve been misinformed, Ashley. Rachel and I don’t feed on humans. In fact, many vampires opt for a non-human diet.”
Ash realized she hadn’t really been informed at all. She had assumed. “Sorry. My mistake.”
“In fact, from what Coleen has told me, Emma is the most restrained of the lot.” Rachel walked Ash toward the front door.
“Why?” Ash was confused.
“Something that happened to her shortly after she was turned. Coleen was vague, as Coleen is wont to be.” Rachel held the door open. “Please be careful, and Ashley – this stays with you, yes?”
That was the million dollar question wasn’t it? Was Ash going to keep the revelations of the past few hours to herself, or was she going to blow the proverbial lid off the whole vampire, lycan, shifter and god knows what else, world? “Yes.” She didn’t lie exactly, but maybe didn’t seem like a very good answer either.
Chapter 13
Ash slipped the key in the front door of her apartment. The shock of what Rachel had told her, and the realization the world she had always understood was merely a fragment of a larger, darker place left her feeling restless and awake. She had been living a sheltered life. Her world was far more fragile than she had ever dared imagine.
Her already complicated feelings for Emma were further confused by the realization that she wasn’t what or who she had claimed to be. In spite of this, Ash could not stop her feelings for Emma, even if she didn’t want them.
Entering her apartment, she struggled to lift her trembling arm to turn on the light. Movement out of the corner of her eye brought her senses to full alert. The illumination she expected when flipping the light switch didn’t occur and the apartment remained cloaked in shadows.
“Who’s there?” Ash projected confidence when she spoke even though her heart was racing. Reaching down slowly, she unclipped her gun holster.
A deep baritone voice filled the space as two red orbs appeared in the corner. “You don’t fool me, detective. I can smell the fear.” Dorsey stepped out of the shadows, his eyes glowing red, and his jaw looked abnormally long.
Ash pulled her gun, and pointed it directly at the man. “Dorsey, you stop or I’ll shoot!” She bit the inside of her cheek, focusing on the pain instead of the fear coursing through her.
The room suddenly reeked of rancid meat and mildew. Ash nearly gagged as she used her free hand to cover her nose. Still focused on the large man in the corner, she watched in disbelief as he opened his mouth to reveal several rows of elongated, razor like teeth.
Dorsey’s neck was extended, and muscle and tendon began to expand and fold in on itself seemingly at the same time. The apartment filled with a series of loud cracks and pops as bones fractured and realigned.
Ash backed against the front door. “My God.” The man hunched his back forward and the outline of his spine became more pronounced against the t-shirt he wore. Reaching up with hands that now tapered to inch long nails, blackened at the beds, Dorsey ripped at the shirt, exposing his broadening chest that was rapidly becoming covered in long, coarse, black hair.
Ash aimed her gun, but before she could fire, the man lunged at her. His weight was immense, and the breath was knocked from Ash’s lungs as he landed on top of her. She fired the gun, the recoil sending a shock up her arm. The thing that had been Dorsey pulled back with a slight twitch. That was the only indication the bullet had struck it.
A noise came from behind her, and the weight of the monster was suddenly off Ash. Rolling to her stomach, she quickly got to her knees. Her brain was struggling to process what her eyes were seeing.
Emma, clad in a pair of jeans and a blue t-shirt, stood in the middle of Ash’s living room with her hands wrapped around the throat of the monster that had been Dorsey. The beast towered over Emma, lurching and biting at her with its wolf like mouth.
Emma, in a single motion, leapt up and over the monster, sliding between the wolf like head and the ceiling. Now with both arms firmly around the a
nimal’s throat, Emma pulled backward, bringing Dorsey to his knees. Reaching behind him, the monster grabbed Emma by her long blonde hair, and attempted to unsuccessfully dislodge her.
The vampire opened her mouth to the point Ash thought her jaw must have dislocated, revealing sharpened incisors that extended well beyond her upper lip. Emma’s eyes glowed an iridescent blue, illuminating the veins that branched out across her neck and jaw like a disjointed spider web.
In a series of quick lunges, Emma’s head moved back and forth around Dorsey’s neck, as she ripped pieces of the animal’s skin and muscle away. The beast yelped, and fell to its stomach. Emma lifted her head. Crouched on all fours over the dying wolflike thing, she stared at Ash. The animal’s blood dripped down her chin and onto Ash’s carpet.
Emma looked down at Dorsey, who lay beneath her whimpering. In a fraction of a second, she grabbed the animal’s neck and twisting up and over, severed the head from the neck.
Dropping the dismembered head to the floor, Emma backed away from Ash and began wiping furiously at her mouth and neck. Ash was still kneeling, but managed to push herself up to her feet. Her knees felt like rocks and she thought they might buckle from the shock of what she had just witnessed. One thing she knew for certain was she had to get to Emma, who was moving further away from her by the second.
“Stop.” Emma put her hand out. Her voice verged on a low growl, and Ash paused. “I need a minute.” Emma dropped to her knees, and tied her loose hair back in a knot. She bent over, stuck here middle finger down her throat, and gagged several times, a thin stream of blood running from her mouth.
“Are you okay?” Ash said the first thing that came to mind. Regardless of what their issues were, the woman had just saved her life.
Emma, whose eyes still glowed an eerie blue, cocked her head to the right, revealing a web of fine blue veins running along her jaw and down her neck. “The lycan blood is foul.”
Emma turned her head to the side. “It takes me a few minutes to get-” She hesitated, and shook her head. “It’s not important. I’ll get this cleaned up and leave.”
The misery in Emma’s voice caused a stab of pain in Ash’s chest. She didn’t want for her and Emma to be like this. She remembered what she had said that morning in her kitchen about vampires being things, and she knew that must have hurt Emma. Ash walked toward her, and knelt in front of her. Emma inched backwards like a scared animal. “I just need to know you’re okay.”
From her knees, Emma stood straight up in a quick motion. “I am. Thank you.”
Seeing Emma move more akin to her natural speed, was amazing to Ash. Barely able to take her eyes off of Emma, she finally looked down at the dead animal on her living room floor. “How did you know?”
“I didn’t. Rachel called and told me you knew about me; so I wanted to talk to you.” Emma pulled her shirt off, and used the cotton garment to wipe her face. Standing in her jeans and a rose colored bra, she nodded toward what was left of Dorsey. “I caught his scent, and the rest is – well, over.”
Ash steadied herself against the onslaught of desire that washed over her. She was shocked to find that Emma covered in blood, half naked, pale, eyes glowing and teeth still extended was incredibly erotic looking. “I can help.”
Emma shook her head. “I’ve caused you enough grief at this point. I don’t want you party to the disposal of a body.” She was still not making eye contact with Ash.
“Why won’t you look at me?” Ash asked. She could handle a lot of things, but Emma being unwilling or unable to look at her was not one of them.
After a few seconds, Emma cautiously looked at Ash. Her eyes were nearly back to their normal blue. “I’m ashamed.”
Hearing Emma say it, brought tears to Ash’s eyes. “Why?”
Emma exhaled. “I lied to you. By lying, I put you and people you care about at risk. As much as I want you, I don’t deserve you.”
This was one of those times when being right was absolutely no comfort to Ash. She knew she was right to be angry at Emma, she knew she should be cautious in giving too much of herself to a woman who’s life she couldn’t even imagine. But she felt this unexpected, unpredictable, uncontrollable surge of compassion building in her.
She knew for almost anyone else, it could not exist, but for Emma there was this wellspring Ash had not imagined herself capable of harboring.
“I don’t want us to not be in each other’s lives.” Ash took a deep breath, trying to clear the lump in her throat. “I’m not sure what that looks like, but I can’t hate you, and I don’t want you to hate me.”
Emma took a tentative step toward Ash. “I could never hate you.”
Ash frowned. “I haven’t been exactly mature the past eight hours. I called you a thing, Em, and when that wasn’t bad enough, I resorted to sarcasm and expletives.”
Emma bit her lower lip, her incisors having retracted. “I noticed that. But in your defense it was a lot to process.”
“I won’t lie, the whole vampire thing freaks me out.” Ash needed to be honest with Emma. “Grant you, I don’t know exactly what the whole vampire thing is, but I’m willing to learn.” Emma grinned.
“In the meantime, what do you want to do about this-” Ash almost said thing and thought better of it. “Ah?”
Emma looked closely at Ash for a second before speaking. “Lycan.”
Ash shook her head. “Sorry?”
“Dorsey was a lycan. Werewolf.” Emma nodded toward the corpse.
The absurdity of her day was catching up to her, and Ash couldn’t help but smile. “This is not what I thought you meant when you talked about lycans this morning. Is there some sort of primer, or a Cliffs Notes for the supernatural?”
Emma laughed. “He wasn’t done shifting; otherwise, he would look more like - the movies.” Emma pursed her lips, clearly not happy making the comparison. She scanned the apartment. “Do you think anyone has called the police? Either because of the gunshot or the noise?”
Ash wanted desperately to pull Emma to her, but there were still too many unknowns. The certainty of the night before had been eroded, and Ash was struggling to find her way back to the safety and intimacy she had experienced with Emma.
“First, I am the police. Second, the apartment below me is vacant and the shot was muffled.” Ash paused. “Third, you should have told me. That was a rotten trick you played on Rachel and Sara.” Ash didn’t know what else to do but continue to be as honest with Emma as possible.
Emma looked down, unable to make eye contact with Ash. “Eternity doesn’t necessarily give you courage.”
The pained expression on Emma’s face and the anguish in her voice tore at Ash’s heart. “Emma, you’re not a coward.” She remembered what Sara had said about impossible choices. “There weren’t really any good options.”
“I could have stayed away from you. I could have left you out of it.” Emma’s voice cracked.
It was then that Ash knew she would eventually forgive Emma. She didn’t know if she was going to be anything more than Emma’s friend, but thinking of her life without ever knowing her caused Ash’s stomach to turn and her mouth to go dry. “I don’t want that.”
Emma smiled. “Thank you for saying that.” Emma tilted her head. “I don’t hear any sirens.”
Ash laughed. “Well neither do I, but that doesn’t mean -” Ash hesitated as what Emma said sunk in. “Right, you can hear much better than I can.” Ash felt like an idiot.
Emma smiled, the blood around her mouth now drying and hardening. “It’s okay. Yes, I can hear at about a five mile radius in the city. Farther in the country, when I don’t have to work so hard at filtering out the peripheral noise.”
Emma tilted her head again. “No police, and based on the heart rates of your nearest neighbors, they’re still asleep.” Emma looked at Ash, her eyes having returned to their natural, intense blue. “May I use your shower, and borrow some clothes?”
Ash stood in amazement and awe of Emma.
She knew their relationship was going to be complicated, but she didn’t know what relationship wasn’t. They would just have to manage a more diverse range of issues. “Absolutely.” Ash looked down at what was left of Dorsey. “What about him? Is he the one that killed Cris?”
Emma chewed the inside of her lip nervously and looked around the apartment. “I think that’s a safe conclusion. He has the same foul odor I smelled at the motel.” Emma wrinkled her nose. “Do you have a large sheet or rug?”
Ash shook her head. “We have to find a way to report this, Emma. This animal killed six cops, including my partner.”
Emma looked at Ash and then back at Dorsey. “Of course.” The doctor crouched next to the corpse. “He will eventually shift back to his human form. It will take several hours, and not smell great while he does it.” Emma poked at the man’s shoulder. “The roughness of his skin is already lessening; so maybe three hours.”
Ash frowned. “What are you suggesting?”
Emma looked up at Ash. “The truth, or at least some semblance of the truth.” Emma stood up. “You came home, Dorsey was waiting for you, and you shot him.”
Ash grimaced. “Ah, Emma, I know a lot has happened in the past twenty-four hours and maybe you’re a little off your game, but how would I explain the severed head?”
Emma rubbed the back of her neck. “Good point.”
The two women stood staring at the dead man for several minutes, until finally Ash cleared her throat. “There’s really no way to do this, is there?”
Emma nodded. “I blame myself for ripping off his head, but it’s really the only way to make certain a lycan is dead.”
Ash nodded, finding this line of conversation surreal. “Because when you kill a lycan you want to do it right.”
Emma’s eyes shot up to Ash. “Still making fun of me, detective?”
Ash chuckled. “Yes.”
Emma shook her head. “The sheet or rug?”
“Let me check my spare bedroom closet.” Ash was conflicted. She was a police officer, and was effectively covering up the murder - albeit in self-defense - of another officer and mass murderer. There was no other way to do this, though, and not have the entire world turned on its head with the realization that all the fairy tales and horror stories are true.
Becoming Forever (Waking Forever Series) Page 19
