A Kiss of Ashen Twilight (Ashen Twilight Series #1) (7 page)

Who was this enticing stranger before her?

The pale figure smiled as if he knew exactly what she was thinking. “Are you okay?” he said. His voice was smooth, deep and held real concern for her. A slight hint of an accent lingered on his tongue. She couldn’t quite place it although she still found herself fascinated by the rhythmic speech pattern. He didn’t speak like the other ones. His voice held a familiar yet faint brogue.

Something else about him felt so familiar. Dark, yet mystical. His muscular body reminded her of those changing wolves and the mortals, but he was completely different. She couldn’t put a finger on what made him stand out in her mind and why she felt drawn to those deep pools of blue.

Slowly, Ariya nodded as her head grew light and her knees gave in.

“Whoa.” He caught her in his thick, steely arms and she winced, feeling his touch against her tender wounds where the wolfman’s claws broke into her skin.

Why couldn’t she heal herself?

Then the words came to her and she realized what language he was speaking. “I am well,” she said softly. “I just—I do not know where I am.”

Her cheek brushed against his, igniting a fire inside her body. She felt him angle his head to look at her wounds. “This looks pretty bad. Much more severe than just ‘well’. Come on, I’ll help you.”

He placed his arm around her torso to prop her up. Everything would be fine, she thought. The relief quickly disappeared as a loud, thick guttural snarl nearly sent her jumping two feet into the air.

Ariya felt a hard push and she fell away from him toward the ground. Something large sailed over her heads and she strained to see what it was. Before she could make sense of what was going on, her head collided against something stony and very hard. Hissing and growling filled the air as she slowly fell into unconsciousness with a hope that she would still live to see another day.

Chapter 2

 
“
T
he corner of thirty-second and Sweetwater.”

“You just left them there?” Angel Polidori’s voice hit a high pitch with the question.

“Yes, Angel. What was I supposed to do? Drag their dead bodies over my shoulders across the city?”

“Gee, could you?”

Jace sighed, running his hand over his face as he gripped the phone receiver tighter in his hand. “Come on, Angel.”

“I hope you at least hid them. What if the other Rens saw them, or worse, the mortals?”

He raised his hand in surrender as if she were standing in front of him.

Angel was always the voice of reason. Thanks to her and her crew, the house’s had little chance of a slip-up over the years. Personally, she kept him in check with everything he needed to do to stay hidden under mortal eyes. She was, after all, the Necro Cerberus, roughly translating into ‘Gatekeeper of the Dead’. Coming from a long line of families who prided themselves on keeping a lid on any and all evidence of the immortals’ existence. Right now she was making a little too much sense for him.

Jace tried to calm himself down with a sigh. “Yeah I know. I just—I just needed to do something quickly before someone caught us there. I didn’t have any preplanning time.”

“Well, while you’re exercising your brain muscles I’m going to have to clean up your mess—yet again.”

“Hey Ange—”

“What?”

He closed his eyes at the thick tension over the receiver. “Thanks. Don’t tell Julian, huh?”

“I don’t have a death wish.”

The line went dead. Jace clicked the ‘end’ button on his cordless phone and tossed it onto his brown leather couch. He took a peek over his shoulder hoping the noise didn’t awaken the girl. Less than an hour ago he brought her back to rest after he nursed her wounds; but she was resistant to let him remove her dress.

Fine with him as long as she was comfortable. He wandered into his bedroom where she still slept peacefully. For the first time that evening he got a good look at her in the light. Soft, dark brown skin peeked through the pale lavender dress that was like a cloud of satin ending above her bare feet

He leaned in to get a closer look at her beautiful, ethereal features.

A mass of curly, chestnut hair accented her attractive heart-shaped face. She appeared to be in her mid-twenties he guessed, but everything from her scent, to the way his body reacted to her screamed she was immortal. She could be hundreds of years old. Though she wasn’t a Shifter Elf, nor a Lycans, and definitely not a Nightwalker like himself, he couldn’t figure out what she was. The smell of her proved something more metaphysical and indescribably enticing. The power she displayed in the alley proved she was someone who had the ability to either help the houses or harm them.

Jace inhaled her enticing scent once more. He was tempted to lean in and kiss the full lips of this sleeping beauty yet he didn’t want to disturb her after the stressful night. She appeared peaceful in her rest, not even stirring as he brushed his knuckles against her soft, dark cheek.
Interesting
. Her warm body didn’t even react to his cold touch.

Jace had many lovers over his long lifetime. Most of which were beautiful, charming and very influential in their high societies. None of them, however, matched the woman sleeping before him. Why did this woman stand out to him?

Gently, he caressed her forehead as he focused on reaching the inner depths of her mind. Her smooth forehead furrowed in that instant and she gently stirred with a moan. Blurred images covered his mind and he felt like a brick wall pushed up against his brain.

Jace broke the telepathic connection and took a few deep breaths. The girl was obviously hiding something. He lifted his head to check the red digital clock on the end table next to his bed. 1:03 a.m. Dawn would be upon them soon. If he was to get one last feed in for the night, the time would have to be now.

He hoped the mysterious girl would remain asleep for most of the day. On the way to the kitchen, he left her to rest as the unanswered questions remained in his mind.

* * * *

Avery gently stroked his brethren’s matted fur, splattered red with blood. His own blood boiled and his skin was on fire as he looked across the corpses of their still bodies. He cursed Jace Archane for interfering on their turf, and their plans. The almighty elite of the Ashen Twilight House thought he had the right for this massacre. Now it was free reign for retaliation. If this ceremony worked as planned there would be no more Ashen Twilight House and the mortals would be a feast for their pleasure.

“Chase, Kason, Ralphie and Billy are down.”

Avery peered up at his assistant, Raine, who pushed away a strand of shaggy hair from his eyes. “Good thing they changed from human form or else we’d have a Shifter hunt on our hands,” Avery said.

“Humans wouldn’t know what they were anyway,” Raine mumbled. “Pathetic wastes of flesh and good blood. They still believe they’re on top of the food chain.”

“Can’t risk it either way.” Avery stood and began to collect the dead carcasses while Raine looked around

His lanky body looked like a wavy noodle as he leaned back to take in the scene. “She really did a number on them.”

“What makes you think it was just her and not Archane helping her out?”

“Blakedon said she had the most power, right? Unless she’s as dim as she is hot, I can see her wiping out the Shifters left and right, dude.”

“Yeah, well, you gonna comment on the aftermath or you gonna freakin’ help me already?”

Raine knocked his head back with a snarl. “Pssh. Whatever.”

They dragged the Shifter corpses like thick, heavy stones across the alleyway. Avery was surprised the predictably nosy neighbors didn’t peek their heads over the fences to see what was going on. Normally they couldn’t get enough of the sensationalism and violence in their community. Perhaps it worked to their advantage they decided to take the night off. He grabbed his cellphone from his pocket and flipped it open.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Raine yelled.

Avery snapped the phone shut and threw Raine a bitter glance. “Are we trying to alert the entire nation that we’re here? Keep your freakin’ voice down! I’m making a call to Blakedon to let him know to keep an eye out just in case Archane makes an appearance. Something tells me he’s probably hiding her out.”

From what he could remember in the fight, the Fairy girl struck her head when Archane pushed her out of the way. She didn’t move at all after that blow. In his sleepy haze after he was knocked out—no scratch that—after Archane got in a lucky hit, Avery watched him pick her up and leave the area. Luckily they wouldn’t be able to hide out for long if their creature can conform to any element. A thin smile crossed Avery’s face as he thought about the impending death of Jace Archane and the houses. He’ll be begging for mercy by the time the elements destroyed him.

“Blakedon here,” the deep voice said from the phone.

“Yeah, Dad, it’s me, Avery. I got some good news and bad news for you. Which one you ready to hear first?”

* * * *

Jace lost himself in the sounds of the nightly cityscape and the roaring engine beneath him as he pulled into the lot of the busy club. He figured the girl would be fine on her own while she slept as he sought some food for the night. The fight had taken a lot out of him energy wise and he could think of a lot of other ways to direct said energy than wasting it on testy Rens. He was relieved to see the sleek blue/black Kawasaki Ninja parked among the other motorcycles and various other vehicles. He stepped out of his Roadster and his gaze dipped down to the
Kawasaki
’s license plate;
WLFKING
. He chuckled.

“Just put it right out there, man,” Jace said in a low whisper.

“You know I love to flaunt my good fortune.” Rich Hammond held out his hands as he stepped away from the group. The two men met in a tight hug.

Jace looked and waved to the group outside the club. From here he could tell they were all kin, even if he didn’t know them by face alone. A mixture of Nightwalkers, Lycans and the Shifter Elves covered the parking lot of the club. They had a reputation as good-for-nothing troublemakers within the territory and the surrounding inhabitants knew to stay away. He supposed it was better than being known in their true nature. If it ever got out that their kind truly walked among the living, he predicted a bloodshed like that of no other, much worse than the days he when he grew up.

A familiar face caught Jace’s eye as he turned his head. Beautiful, smooth honey complexion, Dark silky hair that fell in soft waves over delicate shoulders. Shelly Harmon lifted her moist, delicately painted lips into a smile once she saw him. Right away he noticed the hulking Lycans holding her close. Vex Truman. Also known as Rich’s pack brother, fellow football coach, and a temperamental Lycan if he ever knew one—aside from Rich, of course. Despite her curvaceous form leaning into Vex, he couldn’t mistake Shelly’s thoughts she sent his way and what she wanted him to do to her body. Every aching detail sent his blood pumping faster. Alarm bells went off as every fiber in his being said she was hands off. Still, she and Vex hadn’t officially announced anything concrete in the same zip code as monogamy. Considering pack rules, she being a Nightwalker couldn’t be Vex’s betrothed by any means. Jace smiled. Free reign to do what they wanted.