Page 34 of Ashvale: The Vampire's Kiss

“For now,” I agreed and Emerson breathed a sigh of relief. “You know, I’m surprised Hayes isn’t?—”

The door flew open and a silver wolf barged inside, answering my thought about the pain he must have felt through our bond.

“I’m fine,” I said before he could even finish changing back into a man. “It’s nothing.”

Hayes covered the distance between us in a blink and ran a gentle finger over the bloodied rip in the fabric covering my chest. “Who?”

“Adrian.” I gripped his wrist before he could leave and shook my head. “It’s not worth it. Not until you’ve got what you need from him.”

“Nora, he?—”

I stood slowly, testing for any residual soreness and finding none before I stroked his furrowed brows with one hand. “I’m not saying not ever, just not now. Okay? Once you have what you’re looking for, you have my blessing to rip out his heart. Hell, I’ll even take care of his head. Okay?”

There was a storm in his blue eyes but he nodded, so I pressed a soft kiss to the hard line of his mouth.

“You two say the sweetest things to each other,” Novalie said dryly and I rolled my eyes.

“So,” I said, eager to lift the heaviness that had fallen over us and distract myself from the desire for revenge as I dropped back into one of the chairs opposite the hearth. “Any special powers yet?”

They all looked at me like I was insane but what else could I do? Adrian had nearly killed me once, we needed to lay low for a little while.

Novalie sighed and imitated me, sitting down and swinging her legs over the arm of her chair, letting them dangle in the air as she bit her lip. It didn’t escape my notice that Emerson watched attentively. Clearly there was something going on between them, but I wasn’t sure if it was my place to ask or if I should wait for them to tell me.

“Fuck all. It’s not fair—you two got all the cool stuff.”

“Strange, uncontrollable visions aren’t what I’d call cool,” Emerson said as she finally moved closer and sat down next to Novalie and I laughed.

“You can see the future,” Novalie protested. “Even if it’s kind of inconvenient, that’s still cool. And, y’know, sort of saved my life. Or un-life. You know what I mean.”

Hayes looked between the three of us and threw his arms up in the air before marching towards the door. “Don’t forget to feed.”

I ignored him and shrugged at Novalie, not keen to relive the memory of her fading in my arms. “Well, I’m only so juiced up because of…” I mouthed Cal’s name, untrusting of the room’s security.

Emerson stood and crossed the room, grabbing a pair of thick socks from her suitcase. I raised an eyebrow and she shrugged. “Force of habit.” Right. Because it’s not like she could get cold anymore. “Do you really think he’s the only reason you’re strong, though?”

“What?” I blinked slowly, trying to keep up with where the topic had shifted.

“Well, it’s just, you can share power with your fledglings and house.” Emerson nodded to Novalie while she gestured at herself too. “Do you not think it’s possible that Hayes’ power and lineage is boosting you too?”

Lately, I had been more dominant than usual, my vampiric instincts pushing me to assert and protect more frequently, often landing me in trouble—just as my recent encounter with Adrian proved. I had just assumed it was because I was at court, surrounded by vampires who probably wanted to kill us so my senses were on overdrive. But maybe Emerson was right—like it or not, Hayes did have some kind of sway here and vampires were very keen on hierarchy. Were my senses just responding accordingly?

“I’ll talk to Cal,” I murmured, my brain still spinning with the possibilities. “In the meantime, I guess we just have to keep our heads down. No more killing off parents or public prophecies.”

Novalie gave a mocking salute and I sighed. Yeah, it was easier said than done.

“So Ashvale, are you coming back there when we’re done here?” Emerson asked suddenly and I nodded without giving it much thought.

“I don’t see why not. It’s not like I have anything else to do or anywhere else to go, and if we don’t need to hide out somewhere then there’s no need to stay with Cal…”

“Where did you go? When you left, I mean.” Maybe it was because it was Em asking, or maybe I was feeling sorry for myself, but I decided to answer honestly,

“Bars, mostly. I poked around in my human life a little and saw that guy who’d recognised me outside of Cal’s? But…”

“But?” Novalie prompted, swinging her legs down so she could brace herself on her knees while studying me.

“But I couldn’t talk to them. I remember snippets, small things, but that’s it. They think they know me, but I don’t know if the person I am now is the same as who I was before—when I thought I was human. I’m not sure I even want to know.”

“I’m sure they would have liked to see you,” Emerson said softly, the sweetness of her scent soothing me as she got up and perched on the arm of my chair.

---