Ashes

by Erica Stevens

  Chris eyed Devon wearily, his eyes dark and brooding as he joined Melissa. Stiffly he bent to hug Cassie, his gaze never leaving Devon’s. Devon bristled slightly when he touched Cassie; he hated the idea of another man touching her, even if it was Chris. His hand tightened around hers until Chris released her and stepped back.

  “What happened?” Chris asked his voice tight and confused.

  Cassie glanced briefly at Devon. Slowly, her hand clenching upon his as she spoke, she retold the awful events of the night. Anger slowly built within Devon, mounting to higher and higher levels as he sensed her rising distress. Though he had only tasted a few drops of her blood, they had been enough to forge a stronger connection between them. He could sense her emotions more clearly, and though he could not read her thoughts, he could almost feel them pounding against the edges of his mind. Stroking her delicate skin, he tried to soothe the anguish building within her. Her voice cracked slightly, her anguish was evident as she finished her retelling.

  They all turned toward him, their gazes fierce and inquisitive as they studied him intently. “I think we have a lot to discuss,” Luther finally broke the long silence.

  Devon nodded briskly. He supposed they had a lot of questions, as did he. “After Cassie is feeling well enough to go home, we can talk,” he assured him.

  “I feel fine now,” Cassie interjected forcefully.

  He scanned her beautiful face, noting the bright gleam in her inquisitive eyes. She had only been awake for a little bit, but her color had already returned. The severe blood loss had been traumatic, yet she appeared as if nothing had happened. Apparently Hunters rebounded quickly when they were injured.

  “You need to rest,” her grandmother said softly.

  “I’m fine grandma, really.” She turned back to Devon, smiling brightly. “I heal fast.”

  “Apparently,” he said softly, his thumb briefly stroked over her skin as he studied her. She looked as healthy as if nothing had happened to her. Her brief, intense sleep seemed to have completely repaired the injuries that she had sustained. It was amazing.

  “Cassie…”

  “I’m fine Luther, really. I feel much better; I just want to get out of here now. I don’t like hospitals.”

  “You’ve never been in one.”

  “And now it’s time to go.”

  Tossing aside her blankets, she swung out of the bed. Devon blinked in surprise, startled by the sudden, graceful movement and the speed in which she had done it. She stood before him for a moment before her legs began to wobble. He grabbed swiftly hold of her, swinging her easily up in his arms as if she weighed no more than a feather. He was once again reminded of how fragile she was as she stared up at him with wide, surprised eyes. The beast crawled through him, rippling just beneath the surface as the urge to make her immortal reared back to fierce life.

  Seeming to sense the tension and need within him, Cassie reached out and lightly stroked his cheek, soothing the monster within him once more. He cradled her closer, refusing to let go of her. “I want to go home,” she said softly.

  In that moment he realized that whatever she wanted, no matter how absurd or difficult, he would give it to her. Even if it went against his better judgment. “I’ll get the doctor.”

  Devon reluctantly placed her back on the bed; loathe to part with her at all. “Devon…”

  Luther’s voice broke off at the warning look that Devon shot him. Cassie was his now, and whatever she wanted, she would have. They just needed to realize that. Taking a small step to the side, Luther remained silent as Devon left the room in search of the doctor. There were still many things to learn, many obstacles to get through, but for now he was content to do whatever she wanted.

  The questions could be answered later, the obstacles handled with time. Nothing but Cassie’s health and happiness mattered now. Nothing mattered but the fact that she still cared for him, even though she knew that he was a monster. Nothing mattered except for the fact that he knew he would belong to her forever, and one day she would belong to him.

  For that was one thing he did know for certain, one day he would possess her completely. One day she would belong to him, for eternity.

  CHAPTER 3

  Cassie clung tightly to Devon’s hand, not wanting to release him, unable to part with him for even a moment. His hand was strong and calloused, slightly cool and secure around hers. She couldn’t stop herself from staring at him, reveling in the splendor of his hard, magnificent face. His strong jaw was clenched tight, the nostrils of his sculpted nose flared slightly as he faced the people surrounding him.

  Sensing her attention, he turned slowly toward her, his vivid emerald eyes warming as they met her fascinated gaze. His full lips twitched, the corners of them lifting slightly in a small smile. His black hair hung around the edges of his chiseled face, curling boyishly at the corner of his right eye.

  He was anything but boyish though with his hard, lean, svelte body, and immortal status. No, Devon was most certainly not a boy; he was not even a man. He was, in fact, her worst enemy. He was the one thing that she had hated for the past four years of her life. The one thing she had despised since she had discovered what she truly was. She had hated vampires ever since she’d learned that her parents, and Chris’s father, had not been killed in a car accident together. In fact, they had been murdered by a group of Elder vampires that had banded together with the sole purpose of destroying the Hunter line. A line that she, and everyone she cared about, was a member of.

  If it wasn’t for Chris’s mother Mary getting Cassie and Chris to safety, they also would have been slaughtered in the strike. As it was, Mary had barely escaped with them.

  Devon seemed to sense the dark turn that her thoughts had taken. His small smile faded as his hand tightened around hers. He took a step closer, the strength of his body burned against her, heating her suddenly chilled skin. Her heart thudded harder at the proximity of his body, her toes curled as she fought the desperate urge to pull him into her embrace. She held tight to him in the hopes of reburying the past, and blocking out the awful events of the night. Unfortunately there was still too much to deal with before she could allow herself to be lost in the warm comfort of him.

  Though she had already told them about the other vampire that had attacked her tonight, there was still much more to know. Especially from Devon. Luther shifted his stance, drawing Cassie’s attention back to the thin man. His eyebrows were raised slightly as his grey eyes studied Devon intently over the top of his John Lennon style glasses. His graying brown hair was uncharacteristically disheveled as he continued to run his fingers anxiously through it.

  “How old are you?”

  Cassie felt the loss of Devon’s gaze as he swung his attention back to Luther. Cassie stiffened slightly, not sure she wanted to know the answer to that question. She had dated an older boy once, for about a week, and he had only been a year and a half older than her. Being the girl with the boyfriend who could possibly be a couple hundred years older was something entirely different, and more than a little frightening.

  Devon let out a small sigh, his fingers entwined with hers. “I have been a vampire for seven hundred and fifty-two years. In total, I’m seven hundred and seventy-one.”

  Cassie’s breath exploded from her. Her eyes spun wildly to him as her hand clenched tightly upon his. “Crap,” Chris breathed. Cassie felt that was the understatement of the year.

  He was nearly a millennium older than her! Seven hundred and fifty four years to be exact! No wonder he seemed so much older than all of the students around him, even if he had been alive he would have been out of high school by now. It was far more of an age difference than she ever could have imagined, ever would have wanted to imagine! Nearly eight hundred years was a long time to have been alive. It was a very long time to have wandered the earth, living amongst humans and monsters. She didn’t even want to think about the number of women he had known over the years. She knew how the girls at school flock
ed to him, wanted him, and threw themselves at him. All women did. Over seven hundred years of women falling all over him was more than she could bear to consider at the moment.

  She found herself barely able to breathe through the tight knot of jealousy and disbelief that stuck in her throat. His gaze swung back to her, his emerald eyes piercing. They swirled with worry and a desperate need for her to understand, for her not to turn against him. It was that fervent need that finally allowed the air to filter back into her brutalized lungs.

  Jealousy had no place here. Nor did confusion and hurt. He needed her now, and no matter how frightened, lost, and envious she was, she could not turn against him. She had to live in the present; she had to stay grounded here. She would go crazy if she didn’t. His past was his past, and no matter how scared she was of it, she could not let it destroy their present. For no matter how many women he had known in his past, she knew she was his everything now.

  Biting nervously on her bottom lip, Cassie managed a small nod. His shoulders relaxed visibly, his eyes sparkled with love. Even though he had never told her that he loved her, she knew that he did. She knew it with absolute certainty. He would die for her; she felt that with every fiber of her being, with every cell that fired within her. They had been empty and incomplete without each other, but somehow destiny had brought them together. And they fit seamlessly with each other.

  “You must be very powerful,” Melissa said softly.

  Devon nodded, his eyes tenderly scanning Cassie once more. “Yes,” he said simply, flatly.

  “What can you do?” Melissa prodded when Devon didn’t say anymore.

  With a small sigh he focused on the other four people in the room. Melissa’s exotically slanted onyx eyes were intent upon Devon, narrowed with curiosity. Her hair, free from its customary French braid, fell around her shoulders in thick black waves that ended just beneath her shoulder blades. Her slender, graceful body was seemingly at ease as she leaned against the fireplace, but tension hummed just beneath her outwardly calm surface.

  Devon shrugged absently. “I am stronger and faster than a human.”

  “So aren’t all vampires. So aren’t we,” Chris retorted.

  Devon lifted an eyebrow at Chris, amusement crossed his magnificent face. “But I’m even stronger than most, far more in fact. My senses are keener than theirs. My hearing is better, my eyesight better. Most would not survive a fight with me.”

  Chris’s sapphire eyes narrowed doubtfully as he gazed fiercely at Devon. Hostility hummed through his large, football players build. Despite his size, Chris moved with a grace and agility that were surprising and impressive. That was one of the reasons he was the star on the football team. His sandy blond hair was a mess from tugging on it as he paced restlessly back and forth, only pausing once in awhile to pierce Devon with a fierce, accusatory glare.

  Chris was angry; it would not take much for him to attack Devon. That was something that Cassie could not let happen, for although she didn’t think Devon would hurt Chris, she knew that Chris would not take losing the fight well. Nor did she want to see a fight between two of the people she loved most in the world.

  “Except for the one you ran into last night,” Chris grumbled.

  Devon bristled, his shoulders stiffened angrily. “I can defeat Julian,” he growled.

  Chris took an angry step forward. “Then why didn’t you?”

  Devon glanced down at her, his emerald eyes darkening to a deep shade of jade. It was because of her that Devon had abandoned the fight. Because of her that he had not hunted Julian down and destroyed the monster that plagued their area, murdering innocents, and destroying lives. If she hadn’t been so distracted, and horrified to realize that her suspicions about Devon being a vampire were true, Julian never would have gotten hold of her. Julian never would have had the opportunity to nearly kill her.

  Cassie shuddered at the reminder of her near death experience. She had come close to losing her life tonight, had come close to losing everything, and everyone, that she loved. Closing her eyes, she tried to suppress the disgust and fear that the memory aroused. Luther was constantly lecturing her to pay attention at all times; she never listened to him. Because of that, it had almost ended her life far earlier than she would have liked.

  Sensing her distress, Devon lightly stroked his fingers over her cheek, easing the lingering torment in her. She opened her eyes, comforted by his reassuring presence and touch. “What else are you capable of?” Chris asked softly, apparently deciding to let the fight go.

  Devon sighed impatiently as he was once again pulled away from her. “I have the ability for mind control, and…”

  “Excuse me,” Cassie interrupted sharply, startled by his revelation. “Mind control?”

  “Yes. I am able to sort through people’s minds, I cannot read them, but I can pick out a certain mind amongst the crowd. Or I can pick out a few minds, even a crowd’s mind, if I need to. When I latch onto a mind, I can bend it to my will, inserting memories or altering time.” Cassie gaped at him, horror curdled through her belly. He could control her mind? “I have never done it to you, any of you,” he continued, seeming to sense her train of thought. “I would never do that to you Cassie, don’t fear that I would.”

  “That’s how you were able to get into the school,” Luther guessed, his eyes widening in surprise as realization dawned on him. “I’m assuming that you don’t have transcripts.”

  Devon grinned, his eyes twinkling with amusement. “No, I don’t.”

  Cassie couldn’t help but chuckle softly as she shook her head in disbelief. This was her life, as strange and odd and fantastic as it was. It was far more overwhelming than she had thought it would be at thirteen, but it was hers, and she still had it, and she wouldn’t trade it for anything. Just a few weeks ago there had been many things that she would have changed, but then Devon had walked into her world and completely turned it upside down. She wouldn’t even change the Hunter heritage that she had resented for the past four years. For to alter one thing might mean that she may never have met Devon, and that was a chance she was not willing to take.

  “I think they would be a little expired anyway,” Melissa said softly, her dark eyes twinkling with amusement.

  “No wonder you’re always so bored,” Cassie murmured. Devon flashed a beautiful, heart stopping grin that melted the last of her worry over his startling ability to control people’s minds. “What were you saying before I interrupted you? What else can you do?”

  His grin faded, his eyes became distant and hard once more. “I draw people to me, luring them with an inherent ability to attract them. It is especially strong with women.”

  Cassie’s eyebrows drew sharply together. The more he spoke of his abilities, the less she liked them. His looks were more than enough to draw any woman, and she was sure some men to him, never mind adding this to it. “Like a Venus flytrap,” Luther said softly.

  “Yes, very much so.”

  “Does anyone escape?” Chris asked sharply.

  Devon stiffened, anger radiated from him. “I haven’t tasted human blood in a hundred and thirty seven years,” he retorted fiercely. Then his eyes darted to her, lingering on the scratches that still marred her neck. Scratches that had been far deeper, and far more life threatening, earlier in the evening. Cassie felt her face redden as horror curdled through her. He had gone so long without tasting blood, until her foolishness had nearly gotten her killed. And if it hadn’t been for the healing agent in his saliva that closed her wounds, she would have bled to death. “Until tonight,” he mumbled softly.

  Hunger flared briefly through his eyes, heating them and turning them dark as he met her startled gaze. Need poured from him in waves that left her breathless and frozen. She could feel the fierce battle he waged with himself as he struggled to control his desire for blood. Her blood. Though she should be petrified by his obvious longing to drain her, she was amazed to discover that she was also oddly tantalized and fascinated by
it. She was terrified and excited to realize that she wanted him to taste her, that she wanted to know what it would feel like to have him do so. She wanted to be the one to ease his hunger, and his desire.

  Excitement tore through her at the thought, her toes curled as yearning flared hotly through her body. He was the only thing she saw; he became the only thing in the room as every cell in her being focused upon him. Eyes widening slightly, they darkened even more as he picked up on the longing tearing through her. His hand tightened around hers, his body went taut as he pinned her with his intense, loving gaze.

  Luther cleared his throat loudly, coughing forcefully. Heat flared through Cassie’s face as she was torn away from Devon, and back to the room, and reality. Chris and Melissa were studying the far wall, obviously trying to ignore the scene before them. Luther had pulled his glasses off, and was cleaning them gently with his shirt. Face burning, Cassie could not bring herself to look at her grandmother, she was sure she would burst into flames if she did.

  “What made you stop drinking human blood?” Luther inquired after a few more awkward seconds. He blinked at Devon as he slipped his glasses on, apparently happy to see that Devon was no longer looking at her.

  Devon shrugged, shifting slightly. “Things change.”

  Cassie frowned her eyes darting hesitantly back to him. She was also relieved, and slightly disappointed, to find his attention focused on Luther. Eyebrows drawing questioningly together, Cassie couldn’t help but wonder what had caused this change, and why Devon did not seem to want to elaborate upon it.

  “And before this change, were you a killer?” Chris demanded, his hands fisting at his sides.

  “Yes.” The simple word, and the cold tone of it, hung heavily in the air. Cassie’s heart thumped loudly as she bit on her bottom lip, trying hard not to judge him harshly. “I cannot change the past though; there is nothing that I can do about it. I have spent over a hundred years trying to atone for my sins.”