Ash(81)

To keep this secret. To keep me safe. Because I was the motherfucking cure for vampirism.



The next few days passed in a blur of stress and panic. I basically hid in my room, expecting at any moment the Quorum were going to arrive and haul me off to my public execution. Of course, I probably should have trusted Ryder when he’d pulled me aside right after we left the pit area and promised that he would take care of it all. That him and Kyle would wrap everything up so that no one found out about the vampire I’d cured.

Because we all knew what would happen if the vamps figured out I could cure them. I was as a good as dead.

“You need to get that lovely ass out of bed and shower or something,” Jayden yelled through my door, about to leave for his shift in the feeder floor. I hadn’t been at my job for a few days, but since no one had smashed in my apartment looking for me, I guessed Ryder had that covered also.

I sighed into the silence. Jayden was right. I needed to get out of here. Staring at the walls was driving me insane, and it didn’t answer a single question I had. I just needed to stay busy until Ryder returned.

I dragged myself up, threw on some sweats and took the elevator up to the roof. A run was what I needed, some sun, some fresh air. Some time without vamps who maybe didn’t yet know there was a ticking time bomb under their roof. No wonder the Sanctum had been hired to find me. Someone knew there was something strange in my blood. Maybe they didn’t know exactly what it was yet, but how long before they figured it out? What would the humans do if they found out? Did my blood do anything to ash? Oh God, I was in deep shit.

My feet slapped against the track, my body falling into its old running patterns, my muscles enjoying the stretch and burn after so many days of inactivity. Just as I was rounding up for my tenth lap, a blur caught my attention. I spun to the left, paranoid as usual, but didn’t see anything. Turning back to the track, I gave a little shriek at the mountain of man standing right in my path.

As I skidded to a halt, I tripped over my feet and tumbled straight at him. He opened his arms and caught me with ease, and in that moment I felt a sense of peace which had been missing the past few days.

“Ryder,” I said, my voice low and muffled against his shirt. “Is everything okay?”

He pulled me closer, his strong arms lifting me further into his body. He lowered his head right next to my ear. “I promised you I would take care of it, at the moment no one knows of you being the cure, and I plan on keeping it that way for as long as possible.”

I pulled my head back so I could stare into his eyes. “So what do we do now? What do I do now?”

As the slight breeze tousled his dark hair, a rakish grin crossed his features, and I realized how badly I’d been missing him. Even when we fought our feelings, he’d still always been around.

“Have dinner with me, Charlie?”

It took me a moment to realize what he’d just said. Holy shit! Ryder had just asked me on a date. I blinked a few times, trying to conceal my excitement. Getting up on my tiptoes, I pressed my lips against his. The kiss was brief but electrifying. I loved that even with everything hanging over our heads – the Sanctum, my vampire cure blood – Ryder still wanted to take me on a date. He couldn’t have said a more perfect thing to me right then, and I knew we would deal with the rest when it came. I pulled back slightly, our eyes still locked on each other.

“Yes,” I said. “A thousand times yes, Ryder.”