Ash(10)

My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth, making the words garbled. Ryder moved then, in that preternatural way which suggested speed far greater than a human. He grabbed a small mirror off a side table and approached me slowly.

“Charlie, I need you to stay calm. Your mom phoned the hotline number when you passed out. She saw your eyes, and knew that … well, it’s damned impossible … but we think you’re an ash.”

My mouth dropped open. What did he just say? Before I could verbally react, he was holding the mirror out and shoving it in front of my face.

I froze as my reflection shimmered back at me.

“No!”

I howled. It was low and animalistic. My eyes…

Gone was the dark brown so like my mother’s. In its place was a black iris with a ring around it. The ring was a silvery green, dancing like it contained bolts of lightning. I wanted to tear my gaze from those alien eyes. But I couldn’t stop looking.

Holy fuck! I had ash eyes.

Even in my distressed state, I noticed that something about my eyes seemed a little different from the male ash eyes I had seen. But there was no mistaking the fact that I had the very distinct eyes of a human vampire hybrid. My mother’s words floated back to me. She had been trying to tell me something, to prepare me for this moment. My chest heaved as I fought back the panic that was coming. Ryder held the mirror in place, as if he was trying to force me to stare longer, to acknowledge all of the things I had conveniently ignored over the last few months. It wasn’t just the eyes. There was no denying how flawless my skin was; it had a light glow, and my hair shone like in a Pantene commercial. Not to mention I could run like an Olympic athlete and was thirsty for something no liquid I drank could quench. But still, even with all of that, the eyes were the worst.

I was a freak. How had this happened?

As Ryder lowered the mirror, the dry burning need in my throat and mouth roared to life. Everything was starting to make sense now. If I was an ash, I needed…

Ryder produced a small bag of blood.

No! Not blood. I couldn’t be like them. I wouldn’t.

The moment I had that thought, he pricked the plastic bag, and as the metallic tang filtered into the air, some sort of instinct knocked into me. I jerked hard against the chains and was relieved to hear them snap. There was the slightest burn in my gums, near the canine areas, and I could actually feel the lengthening of my fangs.

But I was too far gone in the blood haze to care about that.

I popped up on two feet and stood on the bed looking down at Ryder. He looked only mildly surprised by my rapid movement as he tossed me the bag. He then reached for a long stick which had been resting near the end of my bed, with some type of metal electrodes at the end.

The blood bag was cool to touch, and as my eyes zeroed in on the dark red within, my stomach churned. This was gross. I was not doing this. No, no, no…

Before I could stop myself, the thirst within roared harder and I lifted the pouch, bringing it to my mouth. The fangs, over which I had no control, slid out again and punctured the plastic. I began sucking the glorious blood into my mouth and down my throat. Pleasure exploded on my tongue and I moaned. I had a fleeting thought of Tessa. I would have to tell her that touching an ash had not done shit, but drinking blood was most definitely a mini orgasm. Even though my head was still saying gross, the rest of me was in heaven. For the first time in forever, my thirst was contained. Vitality poured into my body. My heart pounded in my ears and my muscles tightened. All too soon the bag was empty.

“More,” I growled at Ryder.

He slowly pulled a walkie-talkie from his belt clip. “We need to put the south ward on lockdown.”

What the fuck? He wasn’t producing the blood I wanted fast enough, so I leapt down from the bed, ready to rip his pockets open in search of more of that liquid orgasm. But before I could get within two feet of him, his arm snaked out, grabbing me by the neck and slamming me back down on the bed.

I froze as both shock and arousal poured through my newly sensitized body. He leaned down close to my ear and I could smell him – cedarwood and other spices, not to mention that something decidedly male and enticing. Of course he would smell yummy too. I could not catch a break. His breath tickled my ear.

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

My thoughts of Ryder were distracted by a heady scent of metallic deliciousness wafting toward me. That smell – someone had more blood nearby. My leg kicked out hard, launching Ryder off of me. I got two steps to the door when I felt a massive surge of electricity rock my body and I fell backward.

Strong arms wrapped around me just as the blackness took me.



It felt as if the jolt knocked me out for only seconds, but it must have been longer. I awoke in a different room, and even though I should have had the mother of all headaches after taking that much electrical pulse, I felt amazing. My senses seemed to be on overdrive, and it took me only moments to catalogue the area. I had expected to be chained to the bed again, but in this room there were no chains. A tugging sensation had me focusing on the IV in my arm. I followed the cord to find a large bag of blood slowly dripping into my vein. I ran my tongue over my teeth. The canines were short again, and for the first time in days my mouth felt wet and hydrated.