Dying Forever (Waking Forever Book 3) (19 page)

“I’m doing this against my better judgment.” Ash frowned as she pulled her car keys from the small
gray handbag she was carrying.

“I appreciate you deferring to mine.” Emma reluctantly let her arms drop from around Ash’s shoulders. “Drive safe.”

Emma walked back into the house to find Bryce standing in front of the bookshelves scanning the myriad of titles. “What do you like to read?” The doctor sat back down on the sofa and took a drink of her scotch.

Bryce glanced back at the woman, amazed at how beautiful she was. “Everything really. I’ve not spent a lot of time with humans since I was turned
, so books help me remember - and learn - what to do.” The redhead pulled a copy of
One Hundred Years of Solitude
from the shelf and began thumbing through it. “Time was not passing, it was turning in a circle.”

Emma smiled. “That’s one of my favorites.”

The two women looked at each other for a long while, neither feeling the need to speak. Bryce finally turned and put the book back on the shelf. “Do you hate me? Are you stomaching this interaction to avoid a scene?”

Emma looked earnestly at the woman in front of her. The symmetrical
planes of her face, the flawless, porcelain like skin, the thick mane of auburn hair cascading down her back. She was perfect in every way until you looked into her eyes. The piercing, vivid green was muddied by centuries of violence, fear, and rage. Emma, of all people, knew everyone was capable of doing a great wrong, a seemingly unforgivable evil, and not themselves being inherently
evil.

“I haven’t thought of you much over the years. Lewis is truly my maker,
and I love him for the life he gave me.” Emma stood up and walked across the room so she was standing in front of Bryce. “I don’t know anything about you really, except for the brief moment our lives intersected.” The blonde took Bryce’s hand in hers. “Please know, whatever you think you took from me that night, I’ve found tenfold since.”

Looking down at their joined hands, Bryce felt immeasurable gratitude
toward the woman in front of her. She was amazed Emma could give her the one thing she struggled to give herself - forgiveness. “Thank you.”

A warm smile spread across Emma’s lips as she wrapped her arms around Bryce. “You’re welcome.”

Ash entered the code into the keypad on the front door and heard the melodic tones of Emma’s laughter coming from the kitchen near the back of the house. Putting her purse down on the table near the door, Ash made her way through the house.

Emma had texted her a little over an hour ago to let her know she would not make Alfred’s dinner, and that she and Bryce were at the house talking. Rounding the corner and walking into the kitchen, Ash was struck by the casualness of the scene in front of her. The two vampires sat on stools at the granite-top island in the middle of the kitchen, each woman with a tumbler of Glenlivet in her hand.

“
Hi.” Ash hesitated at the doorway.

Emma
looked up and smiled warmly. “You’re home.” The blonde got up and walked across the kitchen toward Ash. Wrapping her arms around her waist, Emma kissed Ash on her full lips. “I missed you.”

Simultaneously
relieved to see the love of her life was unharmed, but confused by the sorority sister vibe the two women were exuding, Ash managed a weak smile. “Glad to be home. How’s everything going with you two?”

Emma stepped back and turned toward Bryce. “We’ve been having a very productive talk. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Bryce nodded and took a drink of her scotch. “Absolutely. You’ve both been wonderful to me considering the circumstances.”

Ash walked to the stainless steel refrigerator and took a bottle of Dogfish 90 IPA from the door.
“What are the circumstances exactly?” She looked directly at Bryce as she opened the bottle of beer. She was willing to defer to Emma on most of this, but the cop in her wouldn’t let her follow along blindly. She had questions.

Bryce looked nervously at Emma, and then back at Ash. “
Well, it’s a great relief to me that Emma doesn’t hate me.”

Ash grinned. There were many things she loved about the doctor
; her warmth and compassion were chief among them. The fact Emma sincerely had no animosity toward a woman who had, for all intents and purposes, savagely killed her didn’t surprise Ash in the least.

“I understand struggling with actions driven less by the substance of your character and more by the necessity of your biology.” Emma spoke quietly as she sat back down next to Bryce.

“My character hasn’t always been stellar either.” Bryce emptied the glass of scotch.

Ash frowned. “What does that mean?” She wasn’t altogether convinced of Bryce’s intentions, and her suspicions made her feel on edge around the woman.

Bryce looked down at her empty glass and took a deep breath. “A few days ago I was kidnapped by a witch and her coven.”

Ash and Emma’s eyes widened in unison, but it was Emma who managed to speak. “A witch? Why would she do that?”

Ash looked back and forth from a shocked Emma to a nervous Bryce. “Wait - what? Didn’t you forget the more pertinent question, honey? Like - what the hell do you mean a figment of a fairytale kidnapped you?”

Emma reached for Ash’s hand and squeezed it gently. “
They’re real. Very real.” She looked reassuringly at Ash. “It hadn’t occurred to me to tell you about them since I personally have never encountered one.” Emma looked at Bryce. “I thought the bloodlines had all but dried up?”

Bryce reached for the bottle of Glenlivet and poured herself another glass. “The witch I’ve managed to piss off is over three hundred years old.” Taking a long drink, Bryce glanced up at Ash and Emma. Both women were staring intently at the redhead.

“Pissed off may be an understatement.” Bryce wished she could disappear and avoid what was about to take an already strained conversation to an entirely worse level.

Ash sat on the stool across from Bryce. In spite of her age and power, the vampire was verging on timid
; but that wasn’t going to deter Ash from interrogating the woman. “How do you know her?”

Bryce grimaced at the harshness of Ash’s tone, but knew she had this coming. “We met when I was still human and living
in Boston.” Taking a deep breath, Bryce looked up and seeing the suspicious look on Ash’s face, the vampire swallowed. “We were lovers.”

Ash leaned back on the stool and crossed her arms. Glancing to her right
, she saw Emma standing perfectly still as Bryce continued. “I was turned, and then we were enemies.”

Shaking her head, Ash pursed her lips. “Bullshit.” Emma looked at her lover and frowned. “I’m sorry
, Em, but she needs to be honest with us.”

Bryce cleared her throat. “She’s right. I’m sorry. In spite of decades
of trying to be a better - ah, person, old habits die hard, and there’s
nothing
I’m proud of in this story.”

Emma looked at Bryce for several seconds before sitting on the stool next to her. “
I’ve never found much use for being comforted by a lie.” She made eye contact with Ash and smiled, remembering how her own dishonesty had nearly cost her the love of her life. “The truth is best.”

Bryce kept her eyes averted as she spoke. “I killed her
son after I was turned, to avenge her killing my maker. This and the inherently bad blood between our kind is why she wants me dead.”

Feeling the guilt and shame of admitting to the murder building in her chest, Bryce got up and began to pace. “She and two others restrained me with silver and threw me in a remote lake north of the city. They had already drained me. That, along with being weighted down, ensured I would live out eternity at the bottom of a bog.”

Bryce remembered her first conversation with Alison about the bog bodies, and the many reasons someone would be relegated to that fate. Humiliation washed over her, knowing her transgressions - both past and present - warranted the witch’s revenge.

Emma got up and gently turned Bryce around. Their eyes met and Emma saw in Bryce’s the same self-loathing and hate she had once had. “Less than four hours after I was turned, I murdered my ten year old half-sister.”

“Emma!” Ash’s startled voice filled the kitchen. “You don’t have to tell -”

Emma smiled and held her hand up toward Ash. “I do. She needs to know we’re all
sinners.” Looking back at Bryce, Emma placed her hand on the woman’s cheek. “In a manner of speaking.” Her tone was low and reassuring as she spoke. “You have to be able to look at your mistakes, face them - and ultimately accept they exist. Then you can move forward.”

Bryce’s eyes filled with tears as she placed her hand over Emma’s. “Thank you - again.”

Ash looked at the two vampires. In that moment, everything that bound her to Emma - love, respect, pride, trust - filled her heart until she felt it might burst. Then a frown replaced the smile on her face as a nagging thought bounced around her mind. “Bryce, how did you get out of the lake?”

Taking a step back from Emma, Bryce looked at Ash for several seconds. She willed herself past the impulse to lie and into
an honest space where she could own her actions. “A woman I’ve befriended - a human - she dove in and saved me.”

“What woman? Did you feed on her?” Ash resented having to prod Bryce for information when the woman claimed she wanted to tell the truth.

“I did, but only for a moment, and then I drove her off.” Bryce cringed at the memory of a terrified Alison running off into the darkness.

“So now she knows about y
ou? Or had you already told her?” Emma asked the next obvious questions.

“She didn’t know. I had no intention of telling her, but now -” Bryce sat back down, her shoulders slumped. “I - I care for her very much, and I can’t bear the thought -”

“How do you know her?” Ash’s mind raced as she was now more concerned with who Bryce’s friend might tell and how it may compromise Emma and her.

“I’m taking classes at the University of the Incarnate Word. She’s one of my professors.” Bryce stated matter-of-factly. “I’ve told Coleen, and she -”

“What class? What’s the woman’s name?” Ash stood perfectly straight, her fists clenched at her sides.

Bryce was confused at Ash’s sudden interest in the details of her relationship with Alison and looked back and forth between her and Emma. “I - ah, her name
is Alison Bailey, she teaches -”

In a blink of an eye, Ash lunged at Bryce. Clearing the island in a single bound, she tackled the vampire to the floor. Her jaw had instantly extended as her head took on the characteristics of a large black wolf. Her hands had morphed into talons with long black nails protruding from each of the eight claws.

Bryce held the woman off as razor sharp teeth and claws snapped and scratched at her face and neck. As quickly as the attack had begun, it was over. Emma grabbed Ash by the scruff of the neck and pulled her off of Bryce. Wrapping her arms around the shifter’s shoulders, the stronger vampire restrained her girlfriend.

In a single motion, Bryce pushed herself off the floor and stood in front of Ash and Emma. Her teeth were fully extended as her
iridescent green eyes glared at the two women.

“Enough!” Emma’s voice was a low, menacing growl. “Ash, stop!”

“What? What did I say?” Bryce was seething and pouring all of her self-restraint into not attacking the shifter.

A moment later, Ash’s head and hands
reemerged. The kitchen filled with the scent of burning leaves and damp earth. Both vampires stopped breathing to avoid the inevitable allure of the shifter’s scent. “I know Alison. We were together once, and I swear to god if you’ve hurt her I’ll put you back in that lake myself!”

In spite of the look of utter embarrassment and guilt that consumed Bryce’s face, Ash
still wanted to punch the woman in the throat. The image of Alison scared and hurt in the dark sent a rush of rage through the detective.

“Ash, let Bryce explain.” Emma’s voice was low and soothing just behind Ash’s ear.

Her girlfriend’s voice pulled Ash back from the brink, and she pushed the anger down until she felt some semblance of control returning. “Fine. Explain.”

Emma continued to hold Ash as Bryce took a tentative step toward her. “My blood loss was massive. I only have a foggy memory of what happened, but once I realized I was feeding on her, I stopped.” Bryce’s eyes pleaded with Emma.

“Ash, she stopped. Alison is fine.” Emma looked at Bryce. “Right?”

Bryce nodded quickly. “Yes. The bite was to her forearm, and she ran away
on her own.”

“But now she’s in the middle of your crap.” Ash relaxed enough that Emma thought it safe to release her. “She didn’t ask for that.”

Bryce looked down, her brow furrowed. “You’re right. I never should have talked to her. Or become friends with her.” Chewing nervously on the inside of her lower lip, the redhead closed her eyes. “I can’t do this right, no matter how much I want to.”

Emma shook her head as she stepped around Ash. “Enough with the self-pity. You mentioned Coleen. She knows about all this?”