Ash(4)

“Like you want to become a blood whore,” I said with a shake of my head. She’d made me leave my hair down tonight. It curled across my shoulders and down my back in waves.

She laughed. “Good.”

I gave her a WTF look as she eyed my skintight jeans, black ass-kicking boots and tight red tank. I was showing all the goods, because Tessa wouldn’t have let me leave the house otherwise. She was always pissed I didn’t let her dress me like her own personal doll.

She gave an exaggerated sigh. “I have long given up on trying to give you better fashion sense.”

I flipped her off, which had her throwing up her hands. “Seriously, we’re supposed to be looking to get laid, not kicking someone’s ass.”

I grinned. My outfit was perfect. You never knew when some ass-kicking would be required. Especially on the streets of Portland. That’s what all my training was about now. And speaking of … my eyes fell onto the large, dramatically lettered, laminated poster that permanently marred the train walls.



Are you an Ash?

*Increased stamina

*Lack of appetite

*Anger outbursts

*Insatiable thirst

*Beauty & Strength

*Male

Call the hotline if these symptoms come on suddenly!



It went on to list the risks and dangers an ash posed to society, and urged them to call for free testing. I shook my head. What bullshit. One fine day you were walking along thinking life was awesome and you were a human and not a bloodsucking creep, and then bam, your body started to change and there was no way to stop the slow transition to an ash. All because twenty something years before, your mom couldn’t keep it in her pants and gave it up to some lusty vampire. It was illegal of course to procreate with vamps, but sometimes rules are broken. Repeatedly.

“Why do you think all ash are male?” I asked Tessa. She was obsessed enough with them, she should know.

A cheeky grin quirked up the corner of her lips. “Who cares? I don’t question a good thing. Besides, that means less competition for us.”

Okay, apparently she was obsessed and stupidly uneducated about ash. Great combo there. The vampires and ash were unnaturally beautiful, the exact sort of weapon which came in handy for the luring of stupid, horny women. There were vampire females of course – for the luring of stupid, horny men – but no female ash. For some reason the union     of male vampire and female human only ever resulted in male offspring. Male offspring who appeared to be completely human until their early twenties. The virus slept dormant inside their brain until the time their frontal lobe finished development. Then they slowly began to change, and soon figured out that their mama had had some fun with the undead. Some ash knew before their transformation, others were kept in the dark until the last moment.

Familiar landmarks zoomed past; we were almost at our stop. Tessa and I moved closer to the door and waited for the train to come to a halt. There were plenty of students from PSU with the same plan as us tonight, so when the doors opened we just flowed along with the crowd.

It was after 11pm by the time we walked the three blocks. Music washed across the streets, heavy with a strong bass.

“Holy shit, looks like Stag is pumping tonight,” Tessa said, practically shrieking my ear off as she dragged me through.

I followed, comforting myself with the fact that at least no ash should be here now. Vampires and ash were not allowed out in public places unless by special permission, such as college classes. Vampires couldn’t handle the sun, so the humans were given a curfew of 1am. After that, the night in Portland, and many other major American cities, was ruled by the Hive, and it wasn’t in a human’s best interest to be caught out after curfew. Unless you were a blood whore. Of course, Tessa never cared for these rules. I’d had to drag her home more than once after lock-out.

The bouncers checked us off the list and then we were inside. Lights strobed across the industrial styled club, bouncing off polished cement floors, steel, and bronze décor.

“Drinks first?” Tessa bopped along as we pushed through the already crowded space. The distinct smell of pot wafted in from the balcony and I chuckled. All of Portland was out tonight.

I caught a glimpse of Valarie’s peroxide hair up in the VIP section and realized she’d slightly exaggerated how much of the club she had exclusive for tonight. Still, even though it was small, the elevated zone was a wicked area. She’d love lording it over the rest of the people stuck down here on the main floor. If I pointed her out, I knew Tessa would want to head straight up there. So of course I steered her in the opposite direction.

“Yep,” I said, “let’s hit the main bar.” I desperately needed something wet and preferably ninety percent alcohol.