Beautiful Death

by Christina Moore

  “It was not meant to keep nightmares away... but The Nightmare...”

  Tristan frowned, understanding. “Malik.”

  Ash nodded. “My pythia contact in China made it. She is very good, however you must wear it for it to do its work in keeping vampires from your mind while they have their daytime slumber. You should have it on you every time you sleep.” Ash's jaw was stiff, her eyes filled with something close to worry.

  “To keep Malik out or you?” he asked with a grin. Ash’s cheeks actually flushed slightly and Tristan burst into laughter. “Knew it, you want me.”

  “To keep Malik out,” she said, looking like she was pouting.

  They stared at each other for a long time. Finally, he gently asked, “Are you okay?”

  She looked startled for a moment and then forced herself to relax. She may have been trying to pretend that nothing happened, but the reality was clear. Something bad happened behind those closed doors. Bloody, half naked, crying… Tristan could only come to the conclusion that the smug bastard had his way with Ash. That was assuming vampires could still have sex, being undead and all. Even if they couldn't, didn’t mean that smug asshole didn’t chew on Ash, bleed her. The blood on both vampires was proof of that.

  “You know… You probably think I'm a dick, and really I have been. But, man or woman, I don't dislike you and I’m worried about you.”

  Ash dropped her arms to her side. “I—Thank you, Tristan. I am fine.”

  “Fine people don’t cry in the middle of their bedroom floor, half naked and bloody.” The fact that the blood was magically all gone again didn’t go past his notice. He sighed. “Really, are you okay?”

  Ash blinked quickly, forcing red stained tears back. She sat up straight, hardening her back. The movement pushed her chest out. Tristan knew she was trying to look strong, but he couldn’t help but be distracted by the curves under her kimono. He still couldn't believe he missed those. But, then again, if she was mind fucking him with her vampire powers, he wasn’t supposed to. These are not the boobies you’re looking for.

  “Lucien is, well, he…. We were lovers once.”

  “Oh,” Tristan answered trying not to frown. Just didn’t seem like her type. Then again, guess he really didn’t know Ash at all considering she was a he not a few minutes ago.

  “His current Master sent him to ask favor of a meeting.”

  “You’re going out then?” It was almost too late to go out and be back before dawn.

  “Not tonight. However, I should warn you, it is not me she requested to see. Not truly.”

  “What, me?” he asked and Ash nodded. “Not sure I like the sound of that.”

  “As well you should not.”

  “This Master, I’m guessing she’s a vampire?”

  “She is.”

  “And she wants to see me.”

  “Yes,” she answered with a decisive nod.

  “I guess she’s not on the Malik wagon then and wants me dead?”

  Ash shrugged lightly. “If she were, you would be dead.” Despite having spoken with her the other night, Ash still wasn’t one-hundred percent sure. She had to hold on to some hope that this all wasn’t for nothing.

  “Great.” Tristan looked away wondering who this Master was that wanted to see him. Just what he needed, someone else out for him.

  He felt movement in front of him and looked up, startled to find Ash standing directly over him. “Jesus Christ,” he whispered. He was almost happy he didn't see her coming, thinking that it might have freaked him out even more.

  She grinned and extended a hand. He looked at her pale, long fingers, remembering the feel of them on his arm when she tried to comfort him in that burnt-out house. They were cold and his flesh tingled with something where they touched, even through his shirt.

  “I will not bite,” she said, slight laugh to her smooth voice.

  A vampire joke? Fucking hilarious. He sighed and flung his hand up. Ash smirked, wrapped her cool fingers around his, and pulled, lifting him off the ground. He made a small noise of amazement as he found his feet and blinked down to Ash. She was so petite, but it was as if he weighed nothing to her. Then again, she did lift him from his feet, dangled him from the floor like doll. Tristan took in a deep breath when her fingers slipped from his. They were only inches apart. If either took a deep enough breath, their bodies would touch. Tristan’s whole body warmed with sudden need. He wanted her the way a man wanted a woman. It was in that moment he realized just how dangerous she really was. Ash was smart for hiding what she was.

  “Are you okay?” he asked softly, looming over her.

  Her eyes were wide as she stared up at him. “I am.”

  “The blood’s all gone.”

  Hearing the rest of Tristan’s thoughts on the matter, Ash answered, “Our blood…” She sighed. “Outside of the body, vampire blood starts to break down rapidly, dissolving into… nothing.”

  He gave her a soft nod as he started to understand. He hadn’t realized he was leaning into her, trying to catch a whiff of her scent again, the one he remembered so vividly from their shared dream until she cleared her throat softly, reminding him that she could hear his thoughts. And that he was too close.

  “Sorry,” he whispered and took a few steps away, running fingers through his hair. “So, uh, what do we do now?”

  Ash raised an eyebrow. “You are going to leave my room so that I might read in bed before dawn… alone.”

  Tristan gave a start. Seemed like such a normal thing for a vampire to be doing.

  Ash caught the thought and gave him a look. “You mean human.”

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean—”

  “No, you are right. But just because we are creatures of death and destruction does not mean I do not enjoy the simple things in life.”

  Tristan nodded. He liked the idea that maybe they weren’t so different after all, man and monster. If he got out of this alive, he had himself a new friend. Maybe something more?

  Ash gave him a crooked little smile. “So you are not afraid of me, now that I have been exposed?” It was a cheeky little statement. While she meant the fact that she was a woman and a vampire were now to light, Tristan’s mind went straight to the image of her in her under garments when he first came into the room. It was an imagine he’d hold onto for a while…

  She laughed. “I see. Very well, good night.”

  He gave her one last look before bidding her a good night in return and wondered what other secrets this centuries old vampire held.

  11: Putting Holes in Happiness

  THERE was nowhere for a secret to hide tonight, not with what Ash had on anyway. The vampire was pacing an invisible line between the piano and Tristan. They’d been arguing. But if Ash had said anything important in the past few minutes Tristan hadn’t heard a single word of it. He was too busy being distracted by the not so subtle outfit she had chosen for herself this evening. She was wrapped neck to ankle in a skin tight black leather jumpsuit, hugging every curve she had. And she had plenty of those. A custom gun holster with two guns was strung through a wide leather belt that sat low on her narrow hips and over her small shoulders. Her beautifully decorated katana was tied on too. Tristan thought she was like a ninja Catwoman. Crazy sexy.

  Before the pair even got this point in their evening—him with the unhappy glare, Ash with the pacing—Ash had Haruka steal Tristan’s suitcase. He emerged from the shower to find only a pair of leather pants in his room. Yeah, he didn’t own leather pants. And the worst part, she didn’t even bother to leave him any boxers. He was so not putting on leather pants commando. So, he stormed, soaking wet, into the kitchen in nothing but a bath towel and asked Haruka for some real clothing. Meek Haruka never even batted an eye at his near nakedness. Instead, she quietly shuffled off, leaving him to drip cooling water onto the kitchen tile. Minutes later she returned with a straight cut, light cotton pair of pants and a matching waist length top, samue she called them. It wasn’t an outfit he w
ould have picked out for himself, but they were comfortable enough and easy to move in. And he got a pair of his own boxers back.

  Fifteen minutes later, here Ash and Tristan were, fully dressed and in a heated argument over their next course of action. Tristan wanted to go out and find Malik. But Ash insisted that it was too soon and that he needed to learn to fight. She also said she would not move against Malik until they’d gone to see this Yukihime person—vampire who wanted to meet with him. He wasn’t so keen on the idea of meeting another vampire. On top of that anxiety, he wondered if Ash was stalling for some reason. Maybe she didn’t even know why.

  “Why are you always so difficult?” Ash spit. Armed and angry, she turned to face him, fingering the hilt of her sword.

  “It’s my charm,” he snapped sarcastically, forcing himself to look at her face and not at the threat of bodily harm. Or the way she looked in her leather suit. “Look, I know how to fight. The longer we sit around here, the lower my life expectancy gets. Besides, I’m getting tired of waiting for him to come to me. I’d rather find him and end this now.”

  “End this?” she said sneering. “You mean kill him.”

  He was taken aback. He hadn’t thought about it like that. He would have to kill a living being. A man that was once, by all rights, human. Could he really—

  The space Ash was occupying was suddenly empty and Tristan found himself laid out on the floor. There was a weight on his stomach, a coldness against his temple. When his mind caught up, he realized it was Ash sitting on his stomach, a gun pressed to the side of his head. He gasped and blinked wide eyes up. He never saw her pull the gun or even move for that matter. She leaned close, expression twisted in annoyance. The sight of her deadly little fangs so close to his face sped up his pulse and tickled at the underside of his skin.

  “Any other vampire and you would be dead right now. Do you understand? You are no match for my kind.”

  He sneered back. “That doesn’t mean I’m going to give up, roll over and die.”

  “No? But you will die. You will die horribly if Malik has any say in it. I cannot always protect you. If and when we are outnumbered, I need to know that you can fend for yourself.”

  “What, worried about me?”

  She flinched back, shocked. “What, I—“” Ash shook her head. When she spoke again, she sounded confident. “It is either kill or be killed in my world.”

  Tristan sighed, relaxing under her weight. “I never asked to be part of your world.”

  Her eyes narrowed cynically. “No. Very little of us do. And yet, here you are. You will learn to defend yourself and yes, that means to kill or give up all together. Live or die. What is your choice?”

  He looked her straight in the eyes, unwavering when he answered, “You already know what my choice is.” He wasn’t sure if he could really kill to live, but he was not going to die. He had to live. He wasn’t sure what there was to live for anymore, but dammit he wanted the chance to find out.

  Ash searched his face for a moment and then sighed, withdrawing the gun. “Stubborn as always.”

  He smiled. “Damned right and don’t you forget it.”

  “Hardly,” she said as she sat upright, “when you are constantly acting upon it like some insolent child.”

  He grinned hard and then his features softened. “You smell really good,” he said softly and reached up to lift the vampire from his waist. His fingers had just made contact with the coolness of the leather when suddenly she wasn’t sitting on his stomach anymore. He drew in a sharp breath and sat up, searching the room for the quick vampire. He found her standing by a bookcase, alllll the way across the room, arms crossed over her stomach, hugging herself. She blinked at him, looking like a spooked horse on the end of its lead. Tristan pulled to his feet and took a few steps towards her slowly. No reason to scare the dangerous creature in the room and get his head bitten off. Literally.

  “Hey, you okay?” he asked, a hand out. He wasn’t trying anything, honest.

  She took in a deep breath and relaxed, dropping her arms to her sides. “Y—yes. I am fine. Sorry.”

  Fine? Sorry? What was that all about? He stopped just out of reach—well, his reach anyway.

  “Konbanwa, Master. Young master.”

  Tristan turned at hearing Haruka’s tiny voice and smiled. She was halfway across the room when she stopped and her pretty little face contorted into confusion. Great, now he had two freaked out women to figure out.

  “Haruka?” he asked.

  She blinked slowly, lifting her gaze to his. Her round face slowly cleared to her normal glassy expression and without a word, she proceeded forward, set out the drinks she was carrying and left again without a single noise.

  Tristan sighed, dropping his shoulders and turned to Ash. “Is she really okay?”

  Ash nodded solemnly. “She was confused at my appearance.”

  “What do you mean? It’s not like she didn’t know you were really a woman.” His gaze immediately went to Ash’s chest, unable to help himself.

  “Yes and no. I have raised and cared for her since she was twelve. She has seen me when I appear as a man. She has seen me totally nude without my aura. However, if you asked her what gender her Master was, she probably would not be able answer. Me being disguised as a man for the past few days has only added to her deep confusion.”

  “Shit,” Tristan sighed, “poor girl.”

  Ash nodded in agreement and walked over to the drink Haruka left, obviously, for her. It was a large wine glass, filled nearly to the brim.

  Curiosity finally got the better of Tristan. “Is that wine?”

  Ash turned slowly, glass in hand and took a small sip. “No.”

  He watched anxiously as she took another, heavier drink from the glass, spilling some of the dark liquid across her lips. She was going to make him ask.

  “It’s blood?”

  “I do require sustenance, Tristan. I am not a machine.”

  “Yeah, but…” He always figured she drank from people. Maybe even Haruka.

  “No, it is not blood.”

  “Thought vampires only drank blood.”

  Ash licked her lips carefully. “My pythia contact in China makes this for me. It’s a special blend meant to imitate the nutritional value human blood proves for my kind. My hunger is satisfied and no one is hurt.”

  That was a relief at least, knowing Ash didn’t like to kill to live. “Yeah, about this pythia…”

  “Mei-Fen, lovely child. Still very young and inexperienced, but she is growing nicely into her powers. She serves me well.”

  Tristan wondered what “young” meant when it came to Ash, but then she heard his thoughts and said, “She is one hundred and twelve.”

  His face fell. “Oh.”

  Ash cleared her throat softly. “The pythia, they intrigue you?”

  “Everything intrigues me right now. I just, there’s so much about the world I thought I knew that I don’t. Vampires, jikininki, pythia…”

  “Yes, there are many things even I still do not understand and I have lived longer than any one should.”

  Tristan frowned. While Ash had said it in a lighthearted tone, there was sorrow in her eyes, a weariness to her body language that said she’d seen too much in her time. That made Tristan sad.

  Purple eyes fixed on his, Ash took another drink. When she pulled the glass away, some spilled down her chin. She slowly licked her bottom lip, lapping at the escaped drink. Tristan’s pulse sped up from that one small, luscious gesture. Damn, was she trying to flirt?

  “If this bothers you, I can always feed from a person. Perhaps, you would like to volunteer...?”

  He tensed, realizing that behind her joke she was probably serious. “Think I’ll pass, thanks.”

  She offered a small smile and a shrug. “Suit yourself. Come, let us begin your training.”

  Tristan grumbled all the way, thinking he didn’t exactly agree to this. They moved outside for a wide-open place. The back
yard was nice—the grass hadn’t died out yet and even some of the flowers were still in bloom, giving the air a gentle fragrance. Shadows of the distant mountain hung at the edge of the landscape. In the far corner of the yard there was a water garden with a shishi odoshi. The soft tap of the bamboo reed dumping water into the pond marked the passage of time and was strangely calming. Tall torches illuminated the edge of the garden, giving the pair just enough workable light. It was real nice, in a sort of romantic way.

  Ash handed Tristan one of her Israeli made Baby Eagle .40 S&W. “Do you know anything about guns?”

  He suppressed a grin, doing his damnedest to think nothing, and answered, “Nope.”

  She sighed and went through a quick explanation of how to load, unload, how the safety worked and all of that. Tristan watched patiently, still grinning secretively to himself.

  “Now, try to hit that.” She pointed at a target at the other end of the lawn.

  “That?” He motioned, grinning big and Ash narrowed her eyes at him. “That, allll the way over there?”

  “Get on with it.”

  He pulled off two quick, clumsy shots that missed the target completely. Behind him Ash groaned and then she was pressing the line of her body against his back. Her fingers floated down his arms with a butterfly touch, breasts pressed into his back. His eyes shut and he took in a deep breath to stifle the shudder from her cold touch. Small hands encircled his and he opened his eyes again. Ash’s cheek pressed into his arm as she lifted their hands together.

  “Let out a breath and hold it before you squeeze.” Just as her hands pulled back from his, he let out a little sigh, held and released two more shots towards the target, hitting them both dead center. Ash stepped back and he turned to look at her, grinning like a fool. “You already know how to shoot.”

  Tristan laughed. “Grew up in South County.” Half of the homes in that part of Maryland had guns. It was “southern” for a reason. Ash frowned hard and he laughed again. “That means yes.”

  She scowled, but there was a grin hidden under the look. “Fine.” There was a soft click and then Ash’s sword was in her hands, pointed at him. She was grinning now, horribly pleased with herself over some little secret. “You do not know how to use a sword, I assume?”