Midnight Ash (A Blushing Death Novel)

by Sabol, Suzanne M.

  I peered up into Patrick’s eyes with gratitude and a soft smile as I pressed my palm flat on his chest over where his heart should’ve been beating.

  Patrick needed no other invitation. He leaned in and pressed his lips against my own, engulfing my face with his cupped hand. The towel fell from my body into a crumpled heap on the floor, leaving me chilled and naked. I shivered under Patrick’s cool fingertips as they caressed along the outline of my body. Down my neck. Over my shoulders. Caressing the skin along my rib cage and grazing the soft mounds of flesh of my breasts.

  Danny’s warm hands slowly skimmed down my spine, trailing fire down my back and over the top of my butt where his fingers dug deep into the flesh of my ass, squeezing, kneading. He breathed against the back of my neck in short hot fits and starts before he pressed a feather light kiss against my skin.

  It was like a jolt to my system as Patrick’s cold power sunk into me and Danny’s warm power cut through me. Energy surrounded me—us like a blanket, floating in the air and clinging to me like glitter. I felt whole for the very first time. Their power played with my energy, testing my limits, and teasing me. The power settled around me like it had always been there, was supposed to be there. I forgot everything but the bubble of our magic mixing together and the sensation of the physical touch of each man on my skin. My entire body tingled like I was covered in IcyHot. The energy engulfing me was warm, with a bite of a chill around the edges. I was happy.

  Danny jerked away and the power evaporated, leaving me feeling empty and disjointed.

  “I can’t,” he whispered.

  I turned in a rush of panic to stop him but he was already gone. A single tear escaped as my heart shattered in my chest.

  Patrick encircled me in a tight embrace, guiding me down onto the bed and onto his lap. He caressed my face with soft, gentle strokes. I gazed up at him and knew my eyes had to show the disappointment that rippled through me. I scrunched my eyes closed, trying to hold back my agony and wished that things could be different.

  We fell back on the bed and Patrick spooned behind me, wrapping me in his arms. His cool skin calmed my feverish pulse but couldn’t quiet the longing in my being for warmth . . . life.

  The scent that was undeniably Patrick, the sharp smell of blood, and the musty smell of old books filled my nose.

  Patrick covered us in a blanket from the bottom of the bed when I shivered. There was something wrong with me, something wrong with us, all of us. I felt it in my bones but I didn’t know what it was or how to fix it.

  “I’m sorry,” Patrick said, breaking the silence.

  “I’m sorry, too,” I said. “I pushed too hard, expected too much. I don’t even know why I’m so upset.”

  “Maybe because you saw a momentary glimpse of what we could be,” he breathed as he hugged me tighter against him.

  “What was that?”

  “I don’t know,” he whispered. “It was wonderful and terrifying all at the same time. The power had . . . possibilities.”

  Chapter 19

  I stood in the center of Damsel’s dance floor in a long, billowy, blood red gown. The bodice was tight, and I could hardly breathe. The corset clinging to me was tight, too tight, digging into my body at odd angles. The skirt was full at my hips with yards and yards of chiffon flowing around me like a red mist on the moors. My hair was incredibly long and heavy, pinned up on top of my head as loose curls dangled down my neck and over my shoulders, tickling my bare skin. I hadn’t had so much hair since grade school.

  I’m dreaming. Oh shit! I’m dreaming.

  All of the lights in the club were on, filling the dance floor with fluorescent light. I didn’t see anyone, however the hair on the back of my neck stood on end, nonetheless. I wasn’t alone. I could taste whoever it was on the air.

  I took a step forward and jerked against the shackle fixed around my ankle. A heavy chain clanked on the floor as I moved, making my leg heavy and my muscles burned with the effort. My heart sped, pumping my blood furiously through my veins. Trapped.

  I scanned the room for something to free myself. Every instinct in me was screaming for me to get the hell out of there, to run but I couldn’t. She growled inside my mind and the image of me gnawing my leg off flashed through my brain.

  NO! I screamed at her through my mind. I just need to wake up. Wake up, God Damn you, WAKE UP!

  I forced her away from the forefront of my mind so I could think. The danger was there on the breeze as I turned to face the door. The smell of rotting Gardenias filled my nostrils and made me sick to my stomach. Bile rose in my gorge as panic pushed adrenaline through me. Midnight Ash’s irritating, high-pitched cackle filled the empty club like shattering glass.

  “I smell your fear,” she called.

  “I smell your rotting flesh, what’s your point?” I snapped.

  A brush of wind and the overpowering smell of her decay encased me. She appeared out of nowhere, only feet from me and too quick for me to even flinch. My heart tried to beat its way out of my chest but the corset was too tight. She scared the shit out of me and she knew it.

  Midnight Ash smiled up at me with the most disturbing childlike grin on her face, making the darkness of her eyes deeper and much more dangerous.

  “You will pay for what you did today,” Midnight Ash hissed as she came within inches of my face, rising on tiptoes to reach me. Terror filled me but I laughed hysterically instead. I refused to cry and laughing was the only option left. This woman would not make me cower.

  She struck me with the back of her hand, hard. Her rock-solid hand and the supernatural strength of the undead crashed into my face like a wrecking ball. Blood filled my mouth. The smile disappeared from my lips as pain shot through me. I ran my tongue along my teeth, to make sure they were all still there, and tasted my own blood. I’d gotten to her. I couldn’t hide the devious grin that turned up the corners of my mouth.

  “I will kill them all as you watch before I repay you personally for what you took from me today,” she snarled.

  This time I didn’t smile. I realized as I met her angry, homicidal stare she was stronger, quicker, and deadly but she was emotional. I just had to be smarter and much more heartless. She’d make a mistake. She wanted her revenge too much.

  “He thanked me,” I said with a vindictive tone and a cocky smile lighting me from the inside.

  She backhanded me again, harder this time. I stumbled back but was caught by the shackle around my ankle. I fought to keep my balance and remain standing. I had a hard time refocusing my eyes as the force of her blow clouded my mind and nausea swept over me, churning my stomach.

  “Byron begged me to put him out of his misery,” I continued, pushing her just that much farther into madness. “He couldn’t take you anymore. He wanted to be free of you.”

  She struck me again across the face, forcing me to my knees, cushioned only by the gown’s yards of blood-red fabric. I was pretty sure she’d broken my jaw. I’d heard a crack.

  I spit out the blood that quickly filled my mouth, dribbling it down the front of me, staining my pale skin with its rich crimson color. The blood made a slow trek down my chin and my chest to my cleavage, pooling between my breasts.

  Midnight Ash leaned over me. I took one deep breath after another as I tried to regain my equilibrium. I concentrated hard on anything but the crushing pain in my jaw and the vampire hovering above me, smelling my blood as it oozed from my mouth. I turned determined eyes up to her.

  She laughed.

  BITCH!

  “I will never believe you,” she said, leaning over me with a menacing grin. “He was mine in every way.” The question in her tone suggested that for the first time, she wasn’t so sure. “They will not save you, your vampire, and your wolf. They will be dead long before I am done with you. I promise you that,” she hiss
ed, kicking me in the stomach.

  I spat out a spray of blood and collapsed onto the floor in a crumpled heap. I rose to my hands and knees and coughed up more blood, then spit it out, letting it pool on the floor beneath me.

  I glared back up at her again to go another round. She wasn’t going to beat me even if it took my last breath to defy her. I had to get up.

  Then I heard him. He growled behind me in a low, threatening rumble. The sound of that growl got closer as I met Midnight Ash’s glare. I recognized the heat of his power as the werewolf came up behind me, steady and strong. His power had a singular feel to it, like fire in a glass. Familiar, but I just couldn’t place it. I couldn’t think. My head was pounding. The werewolf shoved his power out in a show of dominance, consuming the room in scorching heat, making the air ripple with it.

  “You will not save her, either,” Midnight Ash hissed at him.

  He threw his power out again, consuming the whole room with the heat of his magic.

  Midnight Ash stumbled back a half step and met his gaze, surprised. I turned my head to see those same Caribbean blue eyes staring up at Midnight Ash, his teeth bared and his jowls rippled with a continuous growl low in his belly.

  She jumped up onto the bar in a blur of motion and wagged her finger at us. “You have killed my kitty cat,” she snarled with anger finally filling her voice. “I will kill all of your puppies,” she hissed.

  The werewolf leapt at her in a long graceful surge of muscle and strength. Before he reached her, Midnight Ash was gone in a puff of blue smoke.

  The air was clean again. The scent of rotting gardenias had vanished. I was left bleeding and hunched on the floor trying not to throw up. I peered up at the werewolf as he stood over me.

  “Thank you,” I said even though the pain in my jaw was unbearable as the endorphins finally left my blood stream.

  He licked a long line up my face, nudging my shoulder with his muzzle, and trotted back into the shadows.

  Awesome, I was covered in my own blood and werewolf spit. I was ready for this dream to be over.

  My eyes fluttered open. Patrick’s arms tightened around me as I moved. I was safe in my own bed but the distinctive taste of sweet copper filled my mouth. I could move my jaw, which meant it wasn’t broken but it hurt like hell. If this is what it felt like in a dream, I definitely didn’t want to experience the real thing.

  Dawn approached, flooding the window with the soft gray light as the sun crested the horizon. My body tingled as the darkness that filled my bedroom grew lighter. I sashayed to the window, pulled the blackout shades down, and closed the heavy curtains over them. I’d bought them especially for Patrick. I didn’t want him to catch fire in my bed. That would suck.

  I watched him for a long moment, letting the lightness of dawn fill my being. I was in love with Patrick but I loved Danny, too. Each for different reasons and in very different ways. Patrick tugged at my very soul. It was unnerving how much I needed him. On the other hand, Danny was spontaneous, energetic, and he wanted to protect me. He was life in the face of so much death. But Patrick was the one in my bed, who had been there when I needed him. He understood me.

  I brushed my fingers across my cheek and winced as the throbbing pulsed through my jaw. I couldn’t let her hurt them. I wouldn’t let Midnight Ash hurt any of them. If I could find her daytime resting place, I could put an end to Midnight Ash once and for all.

  Darshan, she growled through my mind.

  I agreed. Darshan needed dealing with before any of this mess would end. It was Patrick’s preference to deal with Darshan diplomatically but my gut said that wasn’t an option. He wanted us dead. He wanted our territory and our people for himself. He wasn’t going to go away, no matter what agreement he and Patrick made.

  I sighed in the darkness as Patrick slept. He rolled over, stretching his arm over the empty, warm bed and noticed that I wasn’t there. He opened his dark eyes and found me staring down at him. I was still nude. I hadn’t noticed until his eyes fell on me, grazing over me from head to toe, reminding me, and making my entire body tingle with just a look.

  He stood and stretched. He’d taken his suit off at some point and stood lean and nude before me. He circled around the bed to me, resting his hands on my bare shoulders and stroked his fingers across my neck. His touch grazed over my swollen jaw line and I winced.

  Pain screamed through my jaw from his feather light touch. “Bad dream,” I admitted.

  “She found you.”

  I nodded and took another deep shuddering breath filled with relief. He brushed his full lips, gentle and soft, across my forehead before smoothing a strand of hair from my face.

  He pressed his lips against mine in a chaste kiss, careful not to put too much pressure on my still throbbing jaw. My entire body tingled with his touch and my lips curled into a wicked smile that I knew lit my eyes with need.

  “That little smile is one of the reasons I love you,” he hummed next to my ear. His breath was cool as it caressed the skin along my neck. My heart thundered in my ears at his words.

  “I-I love you, too,” I said. My voice quaked with the words. I’d waited so long to hear him say them and know that he meant them. He did. I could feel it in my gut as my chest ached with it.

  He smiled at me, a devilish grin that made me weak in the knees.

  “Thank you for pulling the shades.” His husky voice vibrated over my skin, making my pulse race, my body tense and my sex warm with desire. “Come back to bed,” he ordered, leading me back to the warmth of the covers as he intertwined his fingers with my own. “You need your rest.”

  He slid into the bed facing me. We laid there for a long while just staring at each other. I wanted to sleep but I was afraid of what would happen if I did. Patrick stroked my hair, down my arm, and over my hip in repetitive, comforting strokes. “I will not let her harm you again,” he said. “Go back to sleep.”

  I nodded, finally feeling safe enough to drift off. He would stay awake and watch over me, even if it took his last breath of energy to stay awake during the daylight hours.

  Chapter 20

  After three hours and 17 garages, we finally found a matching parking stub. I hadn’t realized there were that many parking garages downtown. Our jackpot garage belonged to the Westin, an upscale hotel with an underground parking structure. We left my Grand Am with the valet and hit the lobby.

  The building was an old art deco brick structure with a lobby that was reminiscent of a grand hotel from the 1920s. An oversized round, red velvet couch sat prominently in the center of the lobby with a gigantic crystal chandelier overhead. The floor was a cold white marble tile that shone in the early afternoon light from the tinted windows lining the street. The entire lobby was filled with a soft warm glow. An immaculately carved piece of mahogany with images of fields of wheat and the rising sun etched into the front stood the length of the lobby as the reception desk. Every sound echoed against the high ceiling and made the room seem twice its actual size.

  Jade and I stepped up to the reception desk. The woman behind the desk sneered at me like she knew she wasn’t going to like my question.

  “Hello,” I said holding my smile in place until my cheeks hurt. I knew the smile didn’t reach my eyes but it didn’t matter. I just wasn’t a people person.

  “Good . . .” She glanced down at her watch. “Afternoon. What can I do for you today?” she asked with the same fake smile that was spread across my face.

  “I’m looking for Simon Tacoma. Could you tell me what room he’s in?” I asked. She glared at me like I’d asked her to donate a kidney.

  “I’m sorry, but I can’t give out information regarding a guest,” she replied with a little hint of get the hell out of my hotel.

  “I completely understand,” I said. “Thank you for your help.” I turned and
tugged on Jade’s arm for her to follow me out.

  She stared at me in surprise with her mouth gaping open. “Who are you and what have you done with Dahlia?”

  “Come on, there’s a stationery store just up the street,” I said, still pulling her behind me.

  “What?” She tugged on my grip and jerked me to a stop in the middle of the sidewalk.

  “She just admitted that he’s there. I have a plan,” I said with a smile that felt devious even to me.

  “I hate that look,” Jade whispered to herself as she fell in step beside me. “It usually means trouble’s just around the corner.”

  “It does not,” I countered, knowing full well that she was right.

  We roamed around the stationery store for about five minutes. I was looking for something that would stand out. I stumbled upon a hard cardstock in a vibrant, electric blue with a matching envelope. I purchased them, and a silver paint pen. The paper was too dark for regular ink so I bought something that could be seen easily on the page. I could have bought a lighter paper but I thought the blue was pretty.

  I wrote, I see you, and folded the card stock in half before sealing the envelope. I scribbled Simon Tacoma’s name on the envelope and handed it to Jade. She shot me a puzzled expression as she took it from my hand, cautiously.

  “Take this to the reception desk and tell them that you’d like to leave this for Mr. Simon Tacoma. I’ll follow you in and take a position out of the receptionist’s sight,” I explained as we walked back out into the brisk sunshine.

  “Ohhh,” Jade said, moving quicker to catch up with me as my plan finally sank in. “We’re going to wait him out.”

  “You got it.” I stopped outside of the Westin’s lobby doors. “Once you deliver the message, get the car and park it some place that’ll be accessible in a hurry and where you can see the door.”