Rayven struggled, her eyes still fixed on Ash who stood against the wall rubbing her bruised throat, the scratches on her shoulders and arms already healing. The vampire stopped breathing, and closed her eyes. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes, and looked at Coleen, her expression softening. “I’m sorry. I only meant to expel her.”
Coleen smiled, and slowly removed her hands from Rayven’s shoulders. “It’s okay. You’ve never been around them, you wouldn’t know.” She stood and extended her hand to help the other woman up. She gently stroked the anxious vampire’s cheek. “I’m not angry, but I think you should leave while she and I talk.”
Rayven nodded, and leaned in, placing a light kiss on Coleen’s lips. “Thank you.” A blink of an eye, and she was gone.
Coleen sighed, and turned to face Ash. “After all that, I suppose it would be rude to not invite you in.” The woman walked into the house without looking at Ash.
More determined than ever, Ash didn’t hesitate to follow Coleen into the house. The woman led them down a hall and into a large library. Looking around at the immense collection, Ash saw what she knew must be a near priceless first edition of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick open on a wooden podium. “Better to sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunk Christian.”
Coleen turned, the look on her face unreadable. “What did you say?”
Ash nodded toward the bookshelf. “Your copy of Moby Dick. That’s one of my favorite quotes.”
The corners of Coleen’s mouth turned up slightly as she suppressed a smile. “Sit.” Ash frowned, refusing to be ordered. “Please have a seat.”
Nodding, Ash sat in a leather Chesterfield chair nearest the door should she need to make a quick exit. Leaning back and crossing her legs, she watched Coleen closely as the woman sat in the chair opposite her. “Let’s not draw this out. What do you want?”
“Ash.” The shifter stated.
Coleen’s brow arched. “Excuse me.”
“My name is Ash, and at some point you didn’t completely despise me. In fact, if memory serves, you flirted with me a little at Blue Box.”
Coleen shifted in her chair and sneered. “I don’t think-”
Ash executed the most charming smile she could manage. “I kinda think you were flirting, Coleen.”
The woman considered Ash for several seconds. “Maybe.”
Ash suspected that in spite of Coleen’s crunchy exterior, she wasn’t a complete monster. Perhaps given the recent emotional outpouring with Emma, and their subsequent falling out, the vampire might soften a bit. It would be a win-win for Ash if she could find out what happened to Emma, and maybe start the reconciliation process between Emma and her dear friend.
Clearing her throat, Ash uncrossed her legs and leaned forward. She had learned after many interviews with suspects that being hostile rarely got you anywhere. Opening her mind and her posture would make the likelihood of success with Coleen greater. “I’m worried about Emma. She went hunting last night, and hasn’t returned. She isn’t answering her phone either.”
Coleen’s eyes narrowed. “And you think she’s here?”
Ash nodded. She had to be a little vulnerable with Coleen if she expected the woman to return the favor. “I did.”
Coleen smirked. “Why would she have come here after the exchange we had yesterday?”
Ash knew Coleen was trying to gain the upper hand in the conversation, and she was willing to concede some control to move forward. “She loves you, and regardless of what was said and why, I know she missed you before we got down the driveway.”
The stoic expression on Coleen’s face faltered, and the muscles in her jaw clenched. “Then let her say that.”
Ash smiled. “I’m sure she will, but the fact I haven’t heard from her, and neither have you, leads me to believe something has gone wrong for her.” She swallowed the lump in her throat that formed whenever she thought of something bad happening to Emma.
Coleen got up, and walked over to the large mahogany desk that sat near the center of the room. Her back was to Ash as she placed her hands on the desk, and looked down. “I hate that you know this about me.”
It took a second for Ash to realize what the woman was talking about. “There’s no shame in loving someone, Coleen.” She didn’t know what to say except what she personally believed. “I don’t really know anything about your life, but the fact Emma loves you means that - no matter how many millennium have passed - you haven’t lost your humanity.”
Lifting her head, Coleen faced Ash. “You should know, we’re never going to be friends.” She leaned against the desk. “Besides my absolute disdain for your kind, I could never abide anyone who challenges me for Emma’s affections.”
Ash didn’t like the direction the conversation was going, and forced herself to let Coleen finish. “But I don’t want to be without Emma, so if that means you and I have to find some peace with one another, then so be it.”
Ash’s shoulders relaxed, and she exhaled. “Thank you - I think.”
Coleen smiled, and walked back to the chair. “Now, where do we think my dearest friend, and - and your partner - has wandered off to?”
***
“I’m worried you’re not driving fast enough, Coleen.” Ash clutched the leather handle above the passenger door of the vampire’s metallic gray Mercedes CI65. Glancing at the speedometer, Ash cringed to see they were speeding up IH-10 at over a hundred miles an hour.
“Is that sarcasm?” Coleen was remarkably relaxed considering she was maneuvering the car in and out of traffic.
“Ah - yes.” Ash tugged on her seatbelt for the third time to ensure it was secure.
“Do you want to get there or not?” Coleen smirked, her hands gripping the metal and leather steering wheel.
“Yes, with the caveat of alive. Getting there alive.” Ash took slow breaths in and out.
Coleen laughed shortly as she veered off the highway and onto the bypass road. It was nearly midnight, and after stopping just north of San Antonio to search Emma’s usual hunting grounds, Coleen had caught the scent of lycans, and if there had been any doubt in her mind before, she was now completely convinced her friend was in danger.
“Do you know where you’re going?” Ash asked, as the lights of the city faded, and the terrain became increasingly rural and rocky.
“Emma mentioned an abandoned factory or plant north of the city that Ela was doing what you might call business with the lycans out of.” Coleen cut the wheel to steer the car around a bend in the road, and then onto a dirt road. The tires of the car spun as gravel peppered the vehicle’s undercarriage. “I’ve hunted in this area, and remember an abandoned quarry about three miles further. We can start there.”
Minutes later, Coleen slammed on the brakes, bringing the car to a sudden halt. Ash looked around. All she saw were trees and rocks. “Where is it?”
Coleen opened the door, and gracefully slid out of the car, and was standing in front of the vehicle in a second. Ash rolled her eyes as she got out of the car. Show off.
“The quarry is about a half mile up the road.” She looked Ash up and down. “Can you keep up?”
Ash wanted to say yes, but knew better. Even with the added speed and agility being a shifter afforded her, she was nowhere near as fast as a vampire. Coleen knew this too, and was making a point about her superior speed. “We won’t arrive at the same time - obviously - but before I make the effort, do you smell anything?”
Coleen grinned, and lifting her head, taking a deep breath in through her nose. “The place reeks of lycan, and-” She turned her head slightly. “Shifter.”
Coleen looked at Ash. “Anyone you know?” Shaking her head, Ash bent down and took her black Cole Haan heels off. “What are you doing?” Coleen asked.
Walking barefoot back to the passenger side of the Mercedes, Ash put her heels on the floor board of Coleen’s car. “I’m not traipsing through the countryside in four hundred dollar shoes.”
Coleen laughed,
and then quickly squelched the outburst. “I’ll jog, so you can keep up then?”
“Thanks.” Ash worked to control her naturally competitive nature since she knew there was no way she could outrun the woman. “Can I have a head start?”
“You can’t mean that.” Coleen bantered as she began running up the rocky hill leading into the quarry.
“Damnit.” Ash rolled her eyes as she began charging up the hill at a full run. The blood surged into her leg muscles, and her lungs took in large gulps of air to sustain her. She moved up the hill at a pace far faster than anything she could have run as a human, and still managed to arrive to a smug Coleen standing overlooking a massive quarry stretching out in front of them.
Ash put her hand up when the vampire opened her mouth to speak. “Don’t.”
Coleen grinned and turned toward the huge hole in the ground. Dug out in stages, the quarry was at least five hundred feet deep, and the yellowish limestone walls descended like giant stairs into the earth.
“There are at least three lycans near the central processing line adjacent to the conveyors and their support trusses.” The vampire turned to see Ash looking at her with an amused expression. “I have a lot of time to read.”
Ash nodded, the technical description reminding her of Emma. “Then we need to take care of them first, and then find Emma.”
Coleen shook her head. “No. The lycans will kill you.” The woman crouched down. “Your cousins are vicious, and would make short work of you.” Squinting, Coleen scanned the complex. “I’ll draw them out. While I dispense with them, you’ll need to wind your way through the trusses.” She pointed to the tall steel structure. “The shifter is somewhere in there, presumably with Emma.”
Considering the options, Ash agreed with Coleen’s plan, but remembering Emma and Dorsey’s altercation in her living room she had to ask the obvious question. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but are you going to be able to manage three - maybe more - lycan?”
The vampire stood up and looked at Ash with a faint smile on her face. “I’m two thousand, seven hundred, and thirty eight years old. And though we are incredibly strong in our first few decades, vampires over time, like Glenlivet’s 1940 Generations whiskey, mellow - and get stronger - with age.”
Ash’s eyes widened. Emma had alluded to Coleen’s age, but to hear the exact number was humbling. “I’m not much of a scotch drinker, but I get the analogy.”
Coleen’s eyes began to glow an intense blue as she tied her hair back in a loose knot. “Follow behind me, and wait until I’ve dispatched all but two of the lycan. Otherwise, you risk the chance one of them breaking away and following you to Emma.”
The realization of the fact she was going to be responsible for handling Lara, and ultimately freeing Emma, sunk in. Ash felt her heart begin to race and her palms start to sweat. Her mouth was going dry, and that familiar tickle started in the back of her throat.
“Hey!” Coleen’s voice rang in her years. “None of that.” She took Ash by the shoulders. “You need the element of surprise. If you go in there already shifted, Lara will be able to one-up you, and make short work of you.” The woman stared intently at Ash. “Got it?”
Swallowing hard, Ash nodded. “I’ll do my part.”
Coleen squeezed her shoulders reassuringly. Ash didn’t fool herself to think the consideration was for her. Rather, Coleen needed Ash if she was going to save Emma. From what Emma had said, Lara would be very well equipped to dispense with a vampire, even one as old as Coleen. Not only was it strategically practical that Ash face Lara, it was also a necessity.
Turning toward the quarry, Coleen stepped off the rocky ledge, and silently dropped the seventy feet to the shallowest level of the excavated site. Looking down the sheer wall, into the darkness, Ash chewed nervously at the inside of her cheek. Thinking of Emma, she mustered her courage, and took a step out into the void. Absorbing the impact of landing on the rock ledge below, Ash’s legs bent effortlessly, and then she immediately sprung into a standing position.
Her eyes had involuntarily closed, she slowly opened them, and looked around. Again, holy shit, that was cool.
She looked over the next ledge, and watched as Coleen easily navigated the last three drops until she came to rest on the floor of the quarry. Ash followed suit, stopping on the last ledge, and watching as Coleen advanced into the infrastructure of the complex.
Crouching behind an iron column, Coleen knew she had only a few seconds before the lycans caught her scent. Looking around the column, and then quickly taking cover again, the ancient vampire grinned, her incisors extended nearly an inch past her upper lip. Five. There are five of them. Excellent.
She stepped out from behind the column, and in a single lunge, covered the fifty feet between her and the nearest lycan. Scaling the creature’s back, she squeezed with her knees, effectively breaking the animal’s ribs. Grabbing the lycan’s top jaw, she pulled back. A loud sucking sound filled the space as the top half of the head was severed from the lower half.
Dropping to the ground in a crouched position, Coleen scanned the remaining four lycans as they charged toward her. Lowering her shoulder, she sprang forward, hitting the smallest of the four squarely in the stomach. The creature was thrown nearly twenty feet backward by the impact, and Coleen launched herself up into the air before landing in the center of the lycan’s chest.
Balling up her fist, she punched through the rock-like sternum of the animal, grabbed its pounding heart, and ripped it free of its chest. Crushing the organ in her hand, Coleen flung it to the side just as the three remaining lycan descended upon her.
The largest of the lycan, clamped its massive jaw down on Coleen’s forearm, its teeth vibrating in its head as the vampire’s steel like bone resisted breaking. While the animal attempted to rip through her arm, Coleen lifted the animal up off the ground with the very limb it was attempting to shred, and in three quick strikes, she slammed the creature repeatedly to the ground, effectively dislodging it from her arm.
Using the other two lycans as leverage, Coleen pushed off their shoulders and slid several feet back. Free of the cluster of mashing and snarling teeth, the vampire pushed up off the ground, and stood, shoulders squared, hands dripping with lycan blood. “You’re making this entirely too easy.” Her voice was a low, menacing growl, as she charged forward, reveling in the carnage she was inflicting.
Chapter 21
In awe of Coleen’s speed and strength, Ash crouched behind a steel beam, waiting for the moment she would wind her way through the large metal structure to where Lara and Emma were. Seeing Coleen kill the third lycan by severing its head, Ash took off in a sprint. Weaving in and out of the metal trusses that supported an elaborate conveyor belt system overhead, the shifter came to a full stop, her eyes wide with shock at what she was seeing.
Emma hung upside down from her ankles. They had been run through with a two inch thick silver rod, attached to the trusses by a long metal chain. Her hands were bound behind her back, and three silver cords wrapped around her waist and upper arms. Her hair hung loosely, nearly touching the ground. A silver hypodermic needle had been plunged into her neck just behind her right ear, and was attached to a long rubber tube that led to a large cylinder shaped clear plastic container. The container was nearly half full with Emma’s blood.
Emma’s usually pale skin had taken on a grayish hue, and looked as thin as tissue paper, the blue veins pushed towards the surface. With the exception of her blinking eyes, there were no signs of life in her body as she hung motionless. Ash forced back the bile that rose to the back of her throat. Seeing Emma in such a state sickened and enraged her.
Lara picked at her nails with the blood stained silver blade of a three inch long knife, as she turned to face Ash. “You and your vampire friend should work on the element of surprise.” She looked at Ash carefully, her eyes colorless. “I could hear you coming from a mile away, and that ruckus with the lycans - Jesus, you’ll wake the dead.” T
he woman sneered. “Pun intended.”
Ash looked from Lara to Emma, and back to the shifter. The luster in her hair had returned, and the dark circles under her eyes were gone. She had clearly already drunk Emma’s blood. The idea of the woman touching Emma, much less feeding on her, triggered a surge of possessiveness and anger Ash struggled to control. “This has gone far enough, Lara.” She managed to speak in a low, even tone.
Lara shook her head, and slid the knife into the back pocket of her jeans. “Hardly.” She looked up at the night sky and took a deep breath. “By the way, welcome to the family.” The shifter winked at Ash, causing the woman’s skin to crawl.
“We’re not family, Lara. You’re a crazy bitch who’s about to come to a sudden and violent end.” Ash managed to sound calm as she explained Lara’s fate to her.
Lara laughed. “Very convincing, detective, but considering what I’ve had to go through to put this little soiree together, I’m not going anywhere.” She pushed Emma’s leg, causing the vampire to begin swaying back and forth like a pendulum. “Once Ela was ended, I had to organize the lycans - no easy task when you’re dealing with a pack of idiots that think only of fucking and eating.” She sighed. “Then I had to find a vampire, and believe me, they don’t grow on trees.”
Ash slowly inched closer to the two women. “Did it occur to you there might be a vampire, like Ela, who is willing to - well, share?”
Lara grinned as she shook her head. “Do you know about me?” Ash cautiously shook her head. “I was born in a godforsaken village in Mexico, surrounded by ignorant, wretched, hateful people who under the guise of doing God’s will, shackled me in the cellar of a church for twelve years because, after much prayer, their God had told them I was the devil.” The woman’s nostrils flared as she spoke. “God is love, my ass!” The shifter’s voice filled the space, shrill and broken.
Ash took a step back, sensing the situation was spiraling downward quickly. “I can’t imagine what that was like.” She was surprised, that in spite of everything, she truly did feel sorry for Lara. Her entire life had been dictated by one circumstance or another, but never truly her own.
Becoming Forever (Waking Forever Series) Page 33
