Midnight Ash (A Blushing Death Novel)

by Sabol, Suzanne M.

  She saluted with her perfect manicure and went through the doors like a trooper with a light step that I would never have. She handed the note to the receptionist with the smile that made complete strangers do her bidding. The receptionist didn’t even seem put out. Jade got a genuine smile from the receptionist, too. That just pissed me off. Jade could charm the pants off a politician.

  I slipped through the revolving door and moved off to the right.

  Along the wall sat a set of plush red chairs with a stack of magazines fanned out on a small table in between. The clank of glasses and the hum of low-level easy-listening flowed from the empty bar three steps to my right as the bartender cleaned glasses and hung them in the slips above his head. He was the only one there. He gave me a quick smile and a wink before he turned back to his glasses.

  I picked up a magazine and started flipping through it, getting ready for a long wait.

  With every ping of the elevator or gush of fresh air from the front doors, my eyes peeked up over the top of the magazine. At some point, I’d started counting the tiles on the floor and the glasses hanging over the bar. One hundred and six glasses dangled above the bartender’s head. I know. I counted them. Twice.

  I sat in that chair for four hours. I used frustration to keep me awake instead of nodding off, like I wanted. If I fell asleep or walked away for a moment, I knew I’d miss him and my only chance to get Midnight Ash. So I stayed, no matter how much I had to pee.

  The dull ping of the elevator echoed through the empty lobby. The busy check in time had come and gone. It was after 4 p.m. and not much time before full dark. I glanced up to find a tall man with chestnut-colored hair and dark blue eyes standing at the reception desk.

  The receptionists had changed shifts and now there was a slight black man with elaborate braids criss-crossing his head standing behind the desk. The receptionist handed the tall man with chestnut-colored hair the envelope Jade had left hours ago. My heart thumped hard in my chest. Gotcha!

  He opened the envelope. He raised his head with a confused expression as his eyes darted about the lobby, searching. I slipped out of sight and into the bar as his glare roamed over the lobby and the street outside.

  Mr. Simon Tacoma stormed through the lobby and out the front revolving doors with a purpose. I followed in a quick step behind him, pushing my coat aside and reaching in to grab my gun in its shoulder holster under my arm. I slipped my sunglasses on before I walked out onto the sidewalk where Mr. Tacoma stood on the curb with his back to me, waiting for the doorman to get him a cab.

  Jade was parked across the street. She watched the front doors like a hawk and her eyes lit up with recognition when she saw me come through the doors. I motioned with a quick wave of my hand for her to pull up. I stepped up behind Simon Tacoma and shoved the barrel of my Smith and Wesson into his back with more force than was necessary, jamming the gun into his spine. I wanted him to feel it, to hurt just a little. I smiled to myself as fear-filled tension stiffened his body.

  “I don’t believe we’ve met,” I growled against his ear, standing so close behind him that my body pressed against his back. We were the same height and I gripped his shoulder, bending him back as I dug the gun in. “But I’m sure you know who I am.”

  “Ms. Sabin,” he answered, too cool for school as he cast a glance over his shoulder at me.

  Jade made a U-turn, which was illegal in Ohio, and drove up alongside the curb. We were only a stone’s throw from the municipal building with half a dozen police cars out front.

  Talk about drawing attention to yourself. Jesus.

  I shook my head and grabbed the back passenger door around Mr. Tacoma’s slim frame as she came to a stop. I yanked the door open and shoved Simon Tacoma in, hard. I settled in the back with him, my gun aimed square at his chest.

  “You are making a grave mistake,” he said with a slight grin.

  “At this point, aren’t those the only kind?” I asked with a level of sarcasm that I’m not sure he was accustomed to.

  He gawked back at me with a puzzled expression.

  “You have a point, Ms. Sabin.”

  He was calm. Too calm.

  “Where to?” Jade asked as she stared in the rearview mirror at the two of us.

  “Damsel.”

  He glared at me with disgust and hatred clear on his face. He was only human, after all. If he wanted to scare me, he had to try a whole lot harder than that.

  It was a quick drive. Before we had the chance to get comfortable, Jade parked next to Damsel’s back door. I handed the building keys to her and waited as she unlocked the staff entrance. I smiled at Simon Tacoma. It was the smile that unsettled men much bigger and much meaner than he could ever be.

  “We’re going to get out of this car and you’re going to be nice or I’ll just kill you here.” My voice was cold, my expression even colder.

  He nodded his understanding in a quick, sharp tilt of his head but didn’t flinch.

  I backed out of the car while the gun remained aimed at his chest. My arm ached from holding the gun so tight. There was no relief for me until Simon Tacoma was safely restrained, so I held firm.

  My father had always told me never to point a gun at someone unless I was willing to pull the trigger. I met Simon Tacoma’s eyes and knew that I would pull the trigger, human or not.

  We entered Damsel as a group. Jade scurried ahead of us, five feet ahead and out of grabbing distance, turning on lights and opening doors as we went. Good girl.

  The heavy steel door behind us clamped shut. The sound echoed in the silence of the empty building, sending chills up my spine.

  “Walk,” I ordered.

  He moved slowly through the back hall ahead of me. His head darted from side-to-side as he scanned for something, anything to slow our progression.

  “Don’t try it,” I bit out, ramming the gun into his back and forcing him forward at a more aggressive pace. He stumbled a step or two but kept his feet and continued.

  We passed through the stock room, the dance floor, the coat check, and up the stairs without incident. The club was empty for another hour or two. Once we got up to Patrick’s office, Jade had a chair and handcuffs waiting.

  I gave her a questioning glare. Where the hell had she gotten handcuffs? She shrugged, an innocent expression twinkling in her eye, and unlocked the cuffs. I knocked Simon Tacoma down into the chair then held the gun on him until Jade had him secured. She placed one of the handcuffs on his right wrist and then fed it through the spokes on the back of the metal chair before fastening his left wrist into the other cuff.

  I lowered my gun, giving my arms a rest, and sat on the edge of the desk rubbing my shoulder and my aching arm.

  Simon Tacoma faced me as he sat in the center of the room. He glanced down into the empty space below him and cringed. It was only a moment but I saw it before he got himself together and raised defiant eyes to me. I was glad that the floor bothered other people besides me. He looked like he was going to be sick.

  “How do you sit in here?” he asked.

  “I don’t look down.”

  “What do you plan to do with me?”

  “That’s entirely up to you,” I almost cooed.

  “Oh?”

  “Where is Midnight Ash’s daytime resting place?”

  The defiance in his eyes was clear and the stiff line of his jaw clenched as he shifted in the chair, trying to get comfortable with his hands bound tight, probably painfully behind his back.

  By the determined look on his face, Simon Tacoma wouldn’t easily give up Midnight Ash. I wouldn’t give up Patrick for anything. I was pretty sure he wasn’t going to talk but everyone had a threshold. I just had to find his.

  “Well, we all want something. Don’t we?”

  I hopped off the desk an
d took the few steps to close the distance between us. I stood just in front of him, my knees almost touching his. With my gun still in my hand, I struck him hard across the face. The gun crunched into his jaw with all the force I put behind it. Blood spilled from inside his mouth like I’d turned on a faucet as it dripped down his chin. He spit out a tooth along with a mouthful of blood and stared back at me with raw determination and hatred in his gaze.

  “Where is Midnight Ash?” I asked again in a controlled and composed tone as I brushed a spot of blood from the barrel of my gun. He was human so I knew he felt pain. The question was how much pain would it take to make him talk?

  He didn’t answer.

  I stared down at him and let him see my monster.

  He flinched.

  “Do you think I won’t kill you?” I leaned back on the desk with my hands propping me up, the gun still comfortably in my grip.

  His eyes narrowed on me in wonder for a few seconds before he answered, “I think you might.”

  “Don’t doubt it.” I picked up Patrick’s office phone and dialed my house.

  “Hello,” Patrick answered. His smooth voice carried over the phone like velvet and the unease I’d been feeling in my gut was gone.

  “Hi. Sorry to wake you,” I said. “I have a lead.”

  “Oh?” Patrick said with a pleased lilt to his voice.

  “Yes,” I almost purred. “He’s sitting in your Damsel office right now.”

  “I’ll be there as soon as I can,” he said. I’d heard that tone before. He was thinking, strategizing. “I’ll call Dean. He’ll get there before I can. Please don’t do anything rash,” Patrick begged. He never begged. I’d just kidnapped a man. Me . . . rash? Nah.

  “It’s too late for that,” I said.

  “We’ll be there as soon as we can.” The line went dead.

  Dean and Danny were the first to arrive with Kurt in tow. Fifteen minutes before full dark.

  Danny kissed me on my good cheek in greeting. It was a light peck with a question in his hazel gray eyes. Tension riddled his body and his expression was uncomfortable and hesitant as if he didn’t want to be anywhere near me.

  “What happened?” Dean asked, pointing to my bruised cheek.

  “Bad dream.”

  Jade had been quiet as she watched me work. I didn’t want her to witness anything more than she already had. I wanted her to be able to sleep at night.

  Dean eyed me with a scrutiny that made my pulse race. Danny circled Simon Tacoma like he was sizing up his prey. Jade and Kurt were talking in the corner in soft whispers that I was sure Danny and Dean could hear. I couldn’t. I didn’t want to know. Some things should stay private.

  “Kurt, take Jade back to Dahlia’s and check the system,” Dean ordered.

  Kurt nodded and turned to Jade.

  My house was the safest place for her. Without my permission, no vampires could cross the threshold. Unless, of course, I was dead.

  “But . . .” Jade argued as Kurt tugged on her arm and escorted her from the room before she could protest too loudly.

  “Thank you,” I mouthed to Dean silently. He nodded without turning his gaze from mine. My entire body tingled in warm waves under his evaluating gaze and the scorching heat of his power. I knew that power. My mind raced, looking for recognition it couldn’t find.

  Patrick and Alex arrived, only moments apart from each other. Patrick sat behind his desk and glared at Simon Tacoma with a dissection that would have made me falter. Simon Tacoma, however, made no indication of unease.

  “Who are you?” Patrick asked as his eyes narrowed on the man. He folded his fingers in front of his face like a steeple and pressed his full lips against his index fingers. The intense look in his eyes and that pose of complete authority made things low in my body tighten.

  “Simon Tacoma,” he answered. A small smile crept across his lips. “Servant to Middonaitoshoo Asshu.”

  Patrick’s eyes widened in horror.

  Something was wrong.

  Patrick jumped up from his chair and grabbed me hard by the arm, yanking me up from the desk. Dean stepped forward and I could have sworn that I heard a soft growl fill his throat. Patrick pulled me to the far corner of the room and away from everyone else, dragging me behind him. Dean and Danny followed. Alex decided to wait and watch our captive.

  “What have you done?” Patrick hissed at me. “You’ve signed our death warrant.”

  I gawked at him in disbelief.

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” I snapped.

  “It’s forbidden under penalty of death to harm another vampire’s human servant,” he hissed, looking past me to Simon Tacoma, sitting patiently, still handcuffed to the chair. His jaw was pretty much broken and missing some teeth but he gave no indication that it bothered him.

  I ripped my arm from Patrick’s tight grasp. “What the hell is wrong with you? There’s already a death warrant out on my ass.” My face flushed and my voice dropped and octave or two. “I’m sorry if Mr. Tacoma’s being her servant has inconvenienced you but we’re fighting for our lives here, or have you forgotten that?” I growled through clenched teeth.

  Dean cleared his throat. “Pat, cut her some slack.”

  “I tried so hard to leave those old customs and rituals behind me. If one of those damned archaic laws comes back to bite me,” Patrick snapped and then glared at the rest of us, “I mean us in the ass, I swear I’ll . . .” Patrick shook his head.

  “You’ll what?” Simon Tacoma asked with goading sarcasm.

  “I’ll turn her loose,” Patrick snapped, pointing to me.

  “Pat,” Alex said, stepping up and placing her hand on Patrick’s shoulder, drawing his attention away from Simon Tacoma’s mocking tone. “You’ve made this city safe but we need the old ways and the new. Some will come that haven’t changed in centuries. Would you ignore them? No, you’re better than that. You’re more intelligent than that.”

  “What do we do with him?” Danny asked with a touch of naïveté that made my heart sink.

  I glanced from Danny to Dean and then to Patrick. Dean and Patrick both had the same look of dismay on their faces.

  “He dies,” I answered. “And so will Midnight Ash if I have anything to say about it.” A twinge in my gut and a prickling feeling along my skin made me shiver. Something wasn’t right. I stepped away from them. I needed to distinguish one power signature from the other.

  “What’s wrong?” Alex asked.

  I needed space to feel and separate their energies. Alex’s power was behind me like a sharp, cold knife grazing my skin. Patrick was a cool wind before a midnight storm. Danny was like a warm afternoon, whereas Dean was a fire engulfing me . . . familiar and safe. I knew his power.

  Something else was out there. Something that felt different from all the rest. Farther away but growing in intensity with each passing second. Cold, frigid, piercing, and jolting all at the same time, like jumping in the Arctic.

  I raised my eyes to the ceiling. “Something’s com—”

  The power crashed through the ceiling along with six vampires. They dropped through the building’s cement ceiling with the force of an explosion. Everything happened so fast that I couldn’t take it all in. My heart slammed to my throat.

  The cement blocks, as well as the six vampires and their power, hit the office floor with a boom that silenced everything else. A cinder block crashed into my arm just before the floor gave way. Everything and everyone fell. A second of free fall made me weightless and everything went silent except the beat of my heart in my ears. We tumbled to the dance floor in a shower of broken glass, cinder blocks, and support beams. I screamed in pain as I crashed the dance floor hard on my side and bounced once maybe twice . . . I don’t remember. The air rushed from my lungs, burning. I couldn�
��t breathe. My entire body ached as the world came back into focus.

  I hesitated for a moment as I tried to catch my breath and take in the room. My gun had been on the desk. It was somewhere in the rubble of the wood, glass, and metal on the other side of the dance floor now. I pushed myself up off the floor on trembling hands and arms. My body felt heavy like a car was strapped to my back.

  Alex was already up and circling a small man dressed in black from head to toe, his face hidden behind a mask of black fabric. They stalked a wide circle in tandem, evaluating each other, before he pulled a long curved sword from the sheath down his back. The steel of the katana glistened in the light from the room above us.

  Shit, we’re in trouble.

  Alex growled in a ferocious threat of violence. I’d never heard that sound come from her lips. The reverberation of her snarls sent shivers up my spine. The ninja seemed unimpressed. I lost Alex in the blur of black that passed before my eyes.

  I steadied myself and turned to face the vampire coming fast as lighting at me. He slammed into me, dead square in the chest and I lost all lung capacity. He knocked me off my feet. I grabbed his clothing and sank my heels into his stomach before I crashed into the floor again, flat on my back. I pushed him off of me in a smooth judo move that surprised even me. He didn’t go far but he went far enough for me to grab my bowie knife from my boot.

  The vampire leapt and was on me again before I could stand up or catch my breath. He forced my shoulders down, slamming me into the ground and debris as he clamped his iron jaw to my collarbone.

  The bits of cinderblock and glass dug into my back as his teeth sunk into my flesh. Every millimeter of fang burned as they sank deeper into me.

  I screamed in pain and frustration, unable to keep it all in as he tore my flesh away, snapping my clavicle like a twig under the pressure of his bite. I shivered as my body grew cold and the warm wash of my own blood covered my chest, coating my hair, my clothes, and the ground beneath me. I could actually feel my life start to slip away. An odd chilling sensation that resonated from the pit of my stomach all the way down to my toes overtook me. I refused to die like this. This stupid second-rate goon motherfucker was not going to kill me. Not here and not now.