Chapter 9
The Mosiers’ Home, Enfield, New York, Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Well past midnight, Ash sat alone on the couch, flipping through the channels while the rest of her family slept. She’d tried to call Luca, but he’d been tied up in meetings and wouldn’t be free to talk for a while. She sighed, wishing someone else was awake.
Vampires could sleep, but even with Eiko’s sun protection rings, she went through what Dani called her “daily deadness” during daylight hours. The tiny witch’s promise of a permanent solution that would put her on the same living schedule as everyone she loved gave her hope. What she was wouldn’t isolate her forever.
Her mother had made pizza for dinner. It was one of Ash’s favorites, and the smell lingered in the air, increasing her agitation. She’d tried a piece of pepperoni to see how her body tolerated solid food, but it had been awful. It hadn’t tasted rancid, but it was wrong. Bland and tasteless, she’d spat it out and fought tears at yet another reminder of how different she now was.
Needing a break from the scent, Ash went out to the back porch and Harley followed a few moments later. Uuka was patrolling the backyard.
“Everything okay?” he asked quietly from across the large yard.
She heard him perfectly. “Yes. Just needed some air.”
Uuka joined her on the porch, relaxing in a seat and watching her. Harley sat next to him and laid her head on his knee so he would scratch her ears. The dog had no issues with the panthers. “Are you sure you’re all right? You seem restless.”
Ash opened her mouth to tell him she was fine but didn’t want to lie. “I… No, not really. It’s a lot to handle in a very short time. It’s a stupid human thing, but food tastes like soggy cardboard now, and the scents are intense. I thought I knew what I was giving up when I became a vampire, but I didn’t.”
Uuka smiled. His teeth were white in his dark face, and he had a knowing expression in his eyes. “It is difficult when your world shifts on its axis and you must find a new baseline for normal.”
Ash laughed. “Normal? With vampires, dragons, witches, and all this shit?”
He nodded. “That is exactly what I mean. Diving into the hidden world must have been a shock. I can’t relate since I was born into it, but I can empathize with your experience. Change is rarely easy, especially on this scale, but you will adjust.”
Ash stood up and paced across the yard, unable to sit still. “I know that logically, but my life feels so out of control right now. I’m sorry for dumping this on you, but you’ve been in my head. It saves a lot of explaining.”
Uuka chuckled. “I am happy to be of service, Your Majesty.”
Ash froze in her tracks. “Why did you call me that?”
Uuka grinned. “Because you are the high king’s mate. All that’s left is the paperwork. I prefer to behave as if you are already my queen.”
She sighed. “Fine. I won’t argue that, but can we please drop the titles? I haven’t earned anything, and it feels weird. I’m just Ash.”
Uuka shook his head. “You are a queen. Consort to the high king of the Therians and the queen of a new race of vampires. The base magic is the same, but your core is light, where she was turned in the darkness.
“When you create children, they will not be as Nadya’s are. It is a wondrous thing to behold the creation of a new race. To see something that has been dark, twisted, and evil for so long morph into something else. I will drop the title because you request it, but I refuse to see you as anything other than a queen twice over since you will lead two races.”
Ash didn’t know what to say. That was not new information, but hearing him put it that way made it click in her mind, and she got another glimpse of the big picture.
She fought her rising insecurities and focused on the goal. She and Luca could end five thousand years of war and unite the supernatural world while it was exposed to humanity. Thinking about a world in which the hidden was no longer obscured and all peoples worked in harmony filled her with hope. There would always be evil, but they had a chance to eliminate a substantial source of it.
“Thank you, Uuka. That actually helps a lot. I know I’ve said it a couple of times since we arrived, but I don’t have words to express my gratitude to you for protecting our parents. Dani and I would be lost without them.”
Uuka smiled proudly. “It has been my great honor. My prowl was leery about venturing so far from home and into the human world at first, but they are all dedicated to the mission now and willing to sacrifice their lives to protect your parents. I think your mother’s baking has something to do with that.”
“Will you tell me about your homeland?” Ash asked.
“I would be happy to. My people come from Kenya. Our clan has an expansive village in the forest in an isolated part of the land that is nearly impossible for humans to reach. It is beautiful there, but it is not an easy place to live. The Therian clans there were not integrated with the humans, and watching the rampant poverty and suffering is soul-crushing. The king has promised us changes that will shift the paradigm and allow us to help humans in a way Therians haven’t for thousands of years.”
Ash nodded. “He wants you to be guardians, not gods.”
“We have technologies and magic to share that would relieve many problems, and with the eventual freedom to expose what we are, life on this planet will never be the same.”
“It’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better, but humans are adaptable, and they will adjust. Bringing massive benefits to the table won’t hurt,” Ash said. “We can either stand united or fall into pieces.”
An overwhelming desire for justice and peace washed over her, filling Ash with purpose and inspiring her to accept her multiple roles in this new world. She wanted to be part of making it happen.
Uuka smiled. “I believe you’re right, and the end result will be glorious.”
Ash sighed and sat on the picnic table in the middle of the yard. “It’s nice to think that the terrible shit will lead to people having much better lives.”
“You have been through many horrible experiences, but that allowed you to come through the change to vampire with your humanity intact. Those things were hard to endure, but they made you stronger, and I believe that strength will let you do great things.”
Ash smiled, comforted by Uuka’s kindness. “Thank you. That means a lot.”
He shrugged and gave her a mischievous grin. “I felt you could use the boost. Your mother shared some of that pizza. It was amazing.”
Ash chuckled. “You’re an ass.”
He nodded. “True.”
Ash opened her mouth to respond but caught a familiar scent that hadn’t been there a moment ago. She stiffened, and Uuka went on alert. “Do you smell that?”
He shook his head. “I don’t smell anything that wasn’t there five minutes ago.”
She took a deep breath and pointed in the direction the scent came from. “I don’t have any clue about distance, but they’re that way. Two dragons…and two vampires.”
He stood and extended his senses. “I can’t smell them, but I feel them at the edge of my senses.”
Uuka cupped his hands around his mouth and made a sound that was distinctly non-human. Within seconds, other members of his prowl appeared, ready for action.
“What’s going on?” his second in command and younger sister Chuki asked. Her athletic body was tense and her almond-shaped amber eyes were alert.
“Two vampires and two dragons are approaching. I can’t smell them due to either distance or magic, but Ash did,” Uuka reported.
Ash counted panthers. They were missing one, and her eyes narrowed as she turned to Uuka. “The scents are getting closer fast and heading straight for us. Tell me, how much do you trust me?”
Uuka’s face darkened. “Your tone hints at deception. Do you believe we are involved in this?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know, but something isn’t right. I trust the only people who knew we were here beyond a shadow of a doubt. I mean no offense to you or your people, Uuka, but enemies are coming here, and one of you is missing.”
As Uuka counted his warriors, Chuki noted, “Abuya is gone. You don’t think…”
Mouth agape, Uuka shook his head. “I-I don’t know. I would not have thought so, but…”
Feruzi, another panther, stepped forward. He looked devastated. “I think this is my fault. Abuya didn’t like that we are guarding the home of a vampire. He doesn’t trust Ash and thinks her evil magic has made Uuka believe she is what she claims. I tried to tell him that our king trusts and loves her, and we should too. I thought the talk went well. He seemed fine afterward, and calmer, but it appears I misread the situation.”
Uuka looked hurt and angry. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“We can sort this shit out later,” Ash interrupted. “They’re very close, and there are many innocent humans nearby, not just my parents.”
The look Uuka shot Feruzi as he turned to give everyone orders promised they would talk about the issue later. Ash ran inside and woke Dani. She wanted to let her family sleep through whatever was coming, but she couldn’t risk them hearing a commotion and coming outside to investigate.
“What’s happening?” Dani asked as she wiped the sleep from her eyes.
“We have possible unfriendlies approaching. Dragons and vampires. I need you to wake Mom and Dad and keep them inside. Promise me.”
Dani’s eyes widened, and she sat up straight. ”What’s going on?”
Ash groaned. “Seriously, there’s no time. I have to get back out there. Please. It’s way too easy to imagine Dad hearing something and running out there to fight cosmically powerful creatures with his shotgun.”
Dani nodded and jumped out of bed. “That tracks. Good call on the warning. I would have done the same. What are you and the panthers going to do? Fight?”
Ash shrugged. “I don’t see that we have a choice. It looks like Abuya turned traitor and reported us to Nadya, who apparently has a couple of dragons at her fucking disposal. Balls, this is a pickle.”
They heard a loud explosion outside, and the night was bathed in flames. “Shit!” Dani exclaimed. “You better get your ass out there.”
Ash dashed outside to see a hovering dragon raining fire on a house three doors down. A second dragon taunted the panthers as they tried to fight it from the ground.
“Oh, my God,” Ash gasped in horror as one of the dragons bathed the Addams’ roof in fire. Dragonfire burned hot enough to destroy the house and everything or everyone inside it within minutes. She and Dani used to babysit the Addams girls, and Ash knew that all the bedrooms were on the upper floor.
Before she could enter the burning house, Ash heard an unfamiliar voice behind her. “There you are, little newborn blood bitch.”
“We’re delighted you came out to play,” a second voice added.
Ash whirled to see a male vampire ten feet behind her and a female five beyond him. They bore a familial resemblance, and she wondered if they’d been related as humans.
“What do you want?” Ash asked, readying for a fight.
The female grinned. “Nadya sends her regards.”
“I guess the truce is over. How’d you get dragons to do your dirty work?”
The male answered. “Nikoli drove them to us. He burned the human mate of one, and the other fled the battle after you killed the king. He deemed us his best chance for revenge against the traitor prince.”
Ash shook her head. “That logic is so flawed I don’t even know where to begin picking it apart.” She heard the family inside the burning house screaming for help, so she was out of time. “Hold that thought. I’ll be right back.”
After pulling the shadows around her, Ash called the tendrils to bind the vampires. Black ropes rose, constricting their legs, then encasing them in cocoons of darkness.
“Stay there. I’ll deal with you later.” Ash sprinted toward the burning house. She kicked in the back door and ran inside, looking around in horror. Flames were everywhere, so saving the family would be difficult. Vampires were also flammable, which made dragonfire one of the best weapons to use against them.
Ash ran through the kitchen toward a hallway, but it was blocked on both ends by fire, so Ash punched through the closest wall. Forcing her body through the hole, Ash dashed through the living room toward the stairs.
“Megan! I’m coming. Get to the kids!” she shouted.
As firelight glowed around her, Ash flung whips of shadow through the hole toward the sink and tore out the plumbing, which sent water spraying into the room. It would help protect the structure long enough to get the family out. She also sent shadows through the walls to the pipes, tearing them out in the areas where she felt heat.
In the blink of an eye, she was up the stairs and running down the hall. She saw scorch marks on the ceiling and heard the joists crackling in the attic. The roof wouldn’t hold for much longer.
In the girls’ bedroom, she saw Megan Addams trying to wake her younger daughter Alyssa.
“Come on, baby,” Megan pleaded, coughing. “Please get up.”
Megan shook the motionless girl in her lap as smoke swirled through the room. Flames were licking up one wall, and Ash was surprised the mother and daughter hadn’t yet collapsed.
“We have to get out right now,” Ash insisted.
“I can’t wake Alyssa. She’s hurt,” Megan replied.
Severe burns covered nearly half the girl’s body, and the blankets on the bed were scorched. Alyssa barely had a heartbeat, and her shallow breathing was raspy. Without her help, she didn’t think the girl would make it outside. Ash willed her fangs to descend and bit her wrist. Forcing Alyssa’s lips apart, she thrust the wound against her mouth.
“What the hell are you doing?” Megan shouted, coughing violently as she tried to pull Ash away.
Ash caught the other woman with her gaze, and her eyes glowed crimson as she exerted her will over the human. “The blood will keep her alive and heal the wounds. Where are Jenna and Dale?”
As if she were in a dream, Megan answered. “Dale went to get Jenna. I haven’t seen them.”
Ash heard Alyssa’s heartbeat speed up and level out, but Megan’s was getting weaker. Grateful that the compulsion meant she didn’t have to waste time on explanations, she bit her wrist again to reopen the wound and pressed it against Megan’s mouth.
She held it there long enough for the woman to get a mouthful, then pulled back. As Alyssa stirred, thunderous sounds rattled the windows and shook the walls. Ash’s eyes widened in horror. “No, no, no!”
The battered house couldn’t take much more. The stressed joists whined, and the burning beams were breaking. Fear gripped her as she tried to decide how to get the family out before the house caved in.
Then Ash’s world shifted. Her vision faded to black. She couldn’t see anything, and the crackling of the fire, as well as the heat of the flames, faded. It was as if her body was unconscious while her mind remained alert.
“Ash?” a familiar voice asked.
Ash saw a friend emerge from the darkness, and confusion overwhelmed her. “Eiko? What the shit? I can’t be here! I’m in a burning building.”
The witch smiled. “I wouldn’t worry about that. This is a place outside of time, and it is of your creation, not mine.”
“I didn’t think vampires could link minds without eye contact.”
Eiko grinned. “They can’t, but witches can.”
Ash shook her head. “I’m not a witch.”
“Aren’t you?” Eiko asked, raising an eyebrow. “I suspected it when you told us about the visions, but I wasn’t certain. This confirms it.”
“I don’t have time to process this right now.”
Eiko nodded. “I can see beyond this place to the danger you face.”
“I thought I’d have enough time to get them outside, but the dragonfire is destroying the house much faster than I expected. It’s going to cave in at any moment. What do I do?”
Eiko was silent for what felt like an eternity. “You should create a portal.”
“I don’t know how to use magic, and you want me to make a damned portal?”
Eiko smiled patiently. “You’re upset, which I understand, but you must listen to me now, Ash. You have the power within you. It’s just been locked away. I see it growing each time we meet. We need to see each other soon since I’m on the verge of a breakthrough, but until then, just follow my lead.”
Ash nodded. “I have complete faith in you, and if you believe I can do this, I will. Tell me what to do.”
“You don’t have much time before the house collapses, and the lower floor is fully engulfed now. When I shove you back through the door you created, only a second will have passed. I can keep the link open, and I will guide you through the words and movements.”
“Got it. Let’s save these peo—” Before Ash could finish her sentence, Eiko thrust her back into the burning house.
In her dual vision, Ash saw Eiko as she opened a portal and mimicked the other woman’s words and movements without understanding. That would come later.
Ash’s body tingled as the unfamiliar magic suffused her. When she moved her right hand in a wide circle, green and black sparks flickered around her fingertips. Purple and blue streaks followed, and a swirling black spot emerged and grew to fill the boundaries, pulling the colors inward.
Megan gasped in astonishment, but Ash couldn’t spare a moment to address her confusion. When the beams gave way, sending embers raining down, Ash grabbed Megan and Alyssa and threw them through the portal, then followed. They tumbled onto the floor in the master bathroom. Dale and Jenna had huddled there in terror, covered with wet towels.
The floor shook as the structure caved in over the kitchen. Megan and Alyssa ran to the others, and Ash struggled to maintain her connection with Eiko and open another portal. Fear gripped her when there was an explosion at the front of the house. Tendrils of shadow burst from the portal to grab Ash and the others and yanked them into clean night air four feet above the ground and a hundred yards from the fire.
They hit the ground hard, and Ash jumped up to ensure that everyone was still alive. Dale and Jenna were unconscious but not in enough danger to need her blood. She scanned the yard but didn’t see the vampires she’d imprisoned earlier.
Damn it. They must have broken free.
Ignoring Ash, Megan gathered her family close and worked on rousing her husband and teenage daughter. Alyssa stood nearby in shock, barely flinching when the burning house collapsed with a deafening crash, sending smoke and embers into the sky.
Jenna woke up and screamed, “What the hell is that?” pointing at the dragon flying overhead.
Ash groaned. “Megan, take your family to my house. You’ll find help there. Don’t stop for anything.”
Megan helped Dale stand, and the four ran into the darkness. Ash turned back to the fight. Uuka’s panthers had taken out both vampires, but they were now targeted by the dragons.
“We need to take out their wings!” Ash shouted, skidding to a stop.
That’s no small task when we are confined to the ground. They’re too fast.
Ash smiled as confidence welled within her. This, she knew how to do. Thinking back to the battle with Nikoli, Ash called, “I’ll get them on the ground. Be ready.”
The panthers nodded as Ash went into the street. Shadows pooled everywhere, flickering in and out of existence as flames lit the night. She felt their presence around her, offering their power. Ash gathered it, reveling in the darkness and welcoming it like an old friend.
When the larger of the two dragons, a deadly-looking red-scaled beast, flew toward her allies, opening its mouth to bathe them in flames, Ash flung dozens of shadow tendrils into the air. The shadows eagerly wrapped around the dragon’s snout, cutting off the flames. The dragon made a tortured sound as it was forced to swallow its fire, and its throat started to glow.
She then sent out shadows to pull the dragon to the ground. “Now!” she cried, yanking her hands down.
The panthers launched their lithe bodies into the air and landed on the dragon’s back. They clawed and slashed at its wings to ensure that the creature couldn’t take to the sky again. Ash sent whips of magic to encircle the Therian, holding it captive.
Chuki, who had remained in human form and was fighting with a sword, jumped onto the beast’s head and ran her blade through its eye and the brain. The dragon died, but its fire continued to burn.
That was incredible,Uuka sent.
“Thanks. I’m not sure I can do it again, but I’m willing to try. Where is the other scaly bastard?” Ash asked.
Chuki grinned. “It flew off after you grabbed this one. I don’t think they were expecting you to be that powerful. It was an impressive performance.”
Ash looked around. The street was now quiet and calm. “Where is everyone? That was loud enough that the whole neighborhood should be out here gawking.”
My prowl has magic that helps us hide in plain sight. The others remained asleep through the commotion. We will help the family forget so they think it was merely an electrical fire or something similar.
“I sent the Addams to my parents.” She sighed, her shoulders slumping. “It’s my fault they lost everything.”
Chuki shook her head. “They didn’t lose their lives, thanks to you. We could not have saved that family. Between insurance and the reimbursement Luca will send, they’ll be fine. Let the blame rest where it belongs. That isn’t with you.”
Ash shrugged. “I’ll try. It’s hard when I know they only attacked to hurt me, but that will have to wait. What the hell are we going to do with the bodies?”