Page 9 of Ashvale: The Vampire's Kiss

Faces, some familiar and some not, flashed past at speed, sitting at a familiar square table. Its corners were dark and sharp and the undead seated around its edges had hunger in their eyes as they looked to the figure at the head of the table. Adrian. Of course.

I opened my eyes, blowing out a long breath to settle my emotions and Cal busied himself tidying away the rapidly decaying head. The magick always sped up the decomposition process until nothing but ash remained, but this time I couldn’t even bring myself to be disgusted by it, too busy boiling with rage at the thought of those bastards, sitting around that table, plotting the end of my bloodline. Though, that was pure speculation at this point. I needed to know more.

“I’ll take that shower now,” I muttered and didn’t wait for a reply before stalking off in the direction of the shower. Cal’s house was as familiar to me as if it were my own. When I hadn’t been at Ashvale, this was where I’d found myself, and the mage had been taking care of me even before then. His brother had been with my family when they’d disappeared, we were all each other had left. Until Leonora.

I shucked off my clothes quickly, turning the heat of the walk-in shower up nearly as high as it would go. Steam billowed out and I stepped in, finally turning the heat down slightly as I propped my hands against the tiled wall, bowing my head under the heavy stream of water.

He’d risked a lot for me, Cal. When my family had disappeared, he’d been the one who had hidden me. I’d never had the magickal block implemented. Instead, I’d trained, knowing that one day I would be old enough, skilled enough, to find what remained of my family and his. Our bloodlines were forever intertwined, duty falling into loyalty, and so the last heir of my bloodline disappeared just as the others had. Until now.

The water had just started to run clear when her scent hit me, the blood and dirt on my body successfully masking it up until now. She was always on the edges of my mind, anyway. The fucking bond ensured that. But as much as we might have hated it at first, I didn’t think I could live without it now. Without her. And even if I could choose to… I wouldn’t.

The steam carried away the faint scent, remnants of her earlier visit, but my body was a live wire waiting for her touch, unable to discern fantasy from reality.

She was angry with me and that was okay. I understood it. I even deserved it. Plus, I smiled to myself as I grabbed a shower gel at random and lathered my body, wincing at the few as-yet-unhealed scrapes that had gone unnoticed until they stung with the soap, her anger was delicious.

My cock hardened as I remembered the warmth of her, the snarl on her face when I’d had her on that bar-top. I resisted for a moment and the bond constricted to almost painful measures until I gave in and pumped myself in one long stroke, sliding my thumb across the sensitive head and imagining it was her tongue.

I stayed in there until the water ran cold, needing the sharp edge to wash away the last of the desire spiking through my body. The bond warmed me like a reassurance, making me shiver as I stepped out of the shower and towelled off. A calmness had settled within me, easing the harshness of my anger. The vampire, Peter, had been fairly useless, it was true. But there would be others. That table had many sitting around it and that worked in my favour. It only took one vampire to tell me what I needed, to confirm what I’d long suspected. Then the court would run red.

Cal was banging around in the kitchen when I made my way back down the stairs, heading instinctively toward the sound, and grabbing a beer from the fridge on my way to the small dining table placed in the corner of the kitchen.

“Better?”

I nodded as I sipped and vegetables crackled with heat in the pan as he added several eggs and what smelled like coriander. “There enough for me too?” He set an empty plate in front of me in answer and I murmured my thanks. “So why was she here?”

His back tensed and I cocked my head. “She’s been summoned to court.”

Fuck. If they found out about her half-mage heritage… “You told her not to go, right?”

“She can’t refuse a summons, Hayes. You know that.” I did. But that didn’t mean I had to like it. “She’s taking Novalie and Emerson with her.”

The grin that spread across my face took me aback. “Good.” She needed them, the way she’d been cutting herself off the past two months wasn’t healthy.

Cal grunted his agreement and slid a vegetable omelette onto my plate before sitting across from me with his own. “I’m going with her.”

“You think that’s a good idea?” Cal had been keeping a low profile since he’d run off with me as a kid. It wasn’t unusual for mages or vampires to go off the grid every now and then, not with our lifespans, but we didn’t need any questions being raised right then. Nora didn’t need the added attention.

“You think I’d put my daughter in danger?” Cal looked up, eyes flashing and I was surprised, but pleased.

“Overprotective suits you.”

The mage rolled his eyes and went back to eating. “What about you?”

“I’m not going to court. Not yet.” I still had a few other vampires to squeeze information from before anything else could happen. “Have you had any luck with that?” I nodded to the amulet hanging from Cal’s neck, shaken loose when he’d leaned forward to eat. It was keyed to Elowen, wherever the fuck she’d run off to, I’d have liked to question her too but finding her was proving difficult and that kill wasn’t mine to claim anyway.

Familiar green eyes filled my mind and I swallowed hard.

No. Elowen’s heart belonged in someone else’s fist.

“Nothing yet.” Cal frowned down at it like it was his ex-wife herself rather than a talisman to find her and my stomach bottomed out when he followed up with, “And Rowan?”

“No change.” Things with Rowan were complicated. On the one hand, he was my friend and we’d once been much more than just that. On the other, I was angry enough with him that I wanted to kill him a second time. Until I was sure which emotion would win out, I’d been keeping my distance. “I’ll keep checking in, though.” Or, rather, I’d keep getting students at Ashvale to spy for me. “How was she? Nora.”

A wry smile flitted across Cal’s face. “She’s still Nora.”

A non-answer. I sighed but didn’t push the issue. “I’ll check in when I can. Keep an eye on her for me?”

Cal chuckled. “I don’t think having both eyes on her would be enough to keep her out of trouble.”

---