Ashes, Ashes
Page 1
Ashes, Ashes
Tales of the Enchanted Forest #0.5
by M. A. Bronson
Copyright © 2012 Mallory Farnham
All rights reserved.
Cover Design by T. L. Shreffler
www.runawaybooks.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
First Edition: February 2012
Second Edition: September 2012
Third Edition: May 2013
Dedication:
I would like to dedicate this to the girls who first read this story, back in eight grade, when it was just sixteen pages written in purple ink. Jay Jay is a unique combination of them and their own stories. May you each find your own adventure...and maybe a cute vampire along the way. ;)
Check out other works by M. A. Bronson
Tales of the Enchanted Forest:
Ashes, Ashes
Under a Bridge
The Watcher
The Wolf and the Raven (Coming July 2013!)
A Wave of Love (Coming September 2013!)
Slade (forthcoming)
Writing as Mabel Anna
The Love & Freedom Saga
Pirate Girl: Margarette's Story (Coming June 2013!)
Free Boy, Rebel Girl: The Story of Charley and Annabelle (Dec 2013)
Prologue
Monster
Silence filled the small town of Crosswood, broken only by the occasional sound of a dog barking or an air conditioning unit turning on. The August night air was thick and heavy with heat. The evening was drawing to a close as young children were being put to bed and older children were on the phone or in front of their televisions. A small breeze filtered through the streets, ruffling tree leaves and blowing the warm air around the abandoned roads.
However, if anyone had been outside walking that night they would have felt something most unnatural in the air. The presence of something...not human. But as it was the silence was not broken by footsteps until....
Deep in Crosswood, on the old road of Brandywine, a young woman and a child hurried through the darkness. The young woman was seventeen-year-old Leora Grayson, who held the child's hand tight as they turned down an alley. She suddenly stopped and looked nervously around, not behind her or in front, but above her. She let out a breath, seemingly satisfied and continued on.
They had not gone three more steps when a swirling graceful being in black dropped down in front of them. Leora's steps froze and her little sister stopped behind her.
“No...no....” she murmured like a madwoman. The figure straightened, the hood of a cloak hid any discernable features in shadow. Then a male voice, familiar to her spoke, “Where is the Seer, Leora?”
Leora began to shake, though whether it was from fear or anger she knew not. “I don't know,” she said insistently. She had never been very good at fibbing.
“You're lying. That is what your father also said,” said the male.
Leora shrunk from him in horror. “You didn't?” she asked, fearing the worst.
“I didn't. Others did. They're coming, Leora. You must tell me,” his voice rang almost kind.
She clutched her the charge tighter, causing the male to looked down at the small frail child. Leora noticed and blurted, “Don't hurt her!”
“I will not harm your kin,” he promised sincerely and...confused.
“You don't understand. They'll be coming for her. Please....” The rest of her words were lost as she slumped to the ground. The little girl stumbled back and cried out. He rushed forward, catching her thin body before she hit the ground. He knelt with her gently in his arms.
“Drink.” The word was weak and so quiet he almost couldn't hear it, but her eyes held his captured with determination.
He understood her meaning. He also knew that she was asking the unthinkable. He just couldn't do it. Not to her. An innocent fighting a war that wasn't even hers. “Leora, no, you will die.”
“I know,” she said, her voice quivering. “Drink my blood. Drain me, kill me. You'll find everything you need to know inside of me. It's what needs to happen.”
He tightened his grip of her person. “You ask the impossible.”
“I won't be the first human to die at your hands and I doubt I will be the last. You must do this. If the others find...” she paused for a moment, fear alive in her eyes. “If they were to find me, I would not last and the Seer is far too important to lose.”
Leora strained to tilt her head and reveal her neck. Her eyes were pleading him to taste. “Drink....”
And so the dye was cast.
Wincing briefly at what he was about to do, he swept her long blonde hair away from her neck and bared his fangs. With one last look at Leora, he watched a small relaxed smile spread across her face. Then he plunged his fangs into her soft neck. Mouthful after mouthful of her sweet blood found its way down his throat, though he was not conscious of swallowing. With her blood came her life, her memories...her secrets. Images flashed before him, her short life with its ups and downs. Mostly downs. And it was in her blood that he discovered who the Seer was.
He pulled back before her last breath, but only moments later Leora passed on. And fool that he was, he realized that he didn't even know her last name. He had the bizarre urge to laugh at that. But what did it matter she was dead. Like so many others in this war.
And so the vampyre was left there in the dark, with Leora's dead body and a crying human child.
He checked his face before turning to the little girl, worried that tears of blood might be falling down his face. But his pale skin was dry and undead. Just like always.
The satisfied feeling in his being disgusted him. As did the knowledge that leora's blood had tasted delicious on his tongue. Sometimes he truly hated what he was. Wiping his sleeve across his mouth he cleaned the blood off and rose to his feet.
One look at the child had his knees shaking. She was thin and frail, and looked as though she hadn't seen a decent meal or nights sleep in weeks. Her sobs had ceased and silent tears now made there way down her small face.
Damn Leora! Why did she do this to him? Why not just tell him? He could have protected her. Kept her and the child safe.
He would have...right? As he thought about it more he was forced to admit that he probably wouldn't have been able to guarantee her safety.
With his thoughts jumbled, the future uncertain him and his protective instincts leading him over to the child, he knelt beside her and swept the tears from her cheeks with his thumbs.
For a moment her brown eyes looked at him with an alarming amount of intelligence. “It's not over is it?”
With his heart breaking he shook his head. The little girl nodded twice before taking one last look at Leora's body and collapsing unconcious.
A wave of energy surged through the male and cradling the girl in his arms he stood up and took the first steps to the rest of his life.
Many of the players of this war would think it ended with the death of Leora. That reprieve would not last. More battles would arise when the identity of the Seer was discovered. Until then, he would do everything he could to ensure that Leora's death was not in vain.
He would protect the child, and with it, the future of the magical world.