An hour later of non-stop“five step program,” I heard the door creak open and glanced across to seeLucas. Vamp was still fully dressed in a suit and his white trench coat. He washot, but I was starting to think he was a pimp in his spare time, or a Vegascard shark.
“How’s our girl?” heasked, crossing toward us, smiling the entire time. I locked in on hisbeautiful face, appreciating the fallen angel look he was rocking. Hey, I wasfemale and he was hot, and thankfully not my dad.
“Eyes forward.” Ryder’svoice was cold again. What was this guy’s problem?
With a loud exhalation,just so he knew I was annoyed, I started up the sequence again. Ryder crossedthe mat to meet Lucas off to the side. They started to chat, but in a tone toolow for me to hear. Left jab, right hook, left leg kick, drop and sweep. It wasirritating me already. I couldn’t imagine three times a day for a week.
God, help me not die ofboredom.
Dinner for Jayden and I consisted of atrip to the feeding room during our scheduled time. I had told Tessa only tomeet me once a week, and we were still days away from that, so I didn’t checkwith the receptionist for any scheduled feedings. I grabbed a couple bottles ofO-negative and we left the feeding hall and made our way to the entertainmentsection. This was on a higher level of the Hive. Level forty-four. I followedJayden to a plush lounge. Live music filled the space, low and jazzy. Softgreen velvet couches circled the room; on a dais stood a baby grand piano. Asexy and voluptuous vampire with long golden brown hair was crooning out asultry song as a man played on the piano.
No one came near us. Thejumpsuits did their job of keeping the ash who had yet to survive the cullingseparate. We were nothing more than numbers.
We found a free loungeand sank into it. Jayden guzzled his blood, wincing as he banged his elbow onthe side of the chair.
“You healing okay?” Iasked him.
He’d been trainingseparate from me, with the other male ash, and it was already starting to getbrutal. Ryder had assured me that our training would continue to be differenttimes from the rest. That way none of them could ferret out my weaknessesbefore the fights. It was under two weeks until the culling and everyone wasfreaking out. I’d trained twice already today, not to mention weights, and allI could think about was that stupid five-step program. One thing was for sure,those movements were going to be stuck in my head for a long time to come.
“Yeah, I’m sore but okay,”Jayden answered, tilting his head back, the low lights shining across his perfect,dark skin. “Word got around that we were attacked and somehow survived. It’sraised the odds on us, moved us toward the end of the culling schedule. So ofcourse every ash and their dick have decided to take me out early.”
I sat a littlestraighter. “I should be training with you. You need me in your corner.” Aslittle use as I might be, I could watch his back. “Fucking Ryder has me doingsome stupid five step movement. I need weapons training. I need to know how torip an ash’s arm off and beat him to death with it. No five steps are going tohelp with that.”
Jayden’s dark eyesflashed as he opened his eyelids, and then he was laughing – throw-back-his-head-until-hisstomach-ached kind of laughing. “Girl, I could not have asked for a betterroomie.” It took him a few moments to compose himself. He even had me joiningin his laughter; it was contagious. He finally pulled it together. “You shouldbe grateful. Ryder is the shit. He is a scary mother and there is no one inhere who would take him on. Whatever he is teaching you, you learn it untilyour brain bleeds. It will most probably save your life.”
As if his words hadconjured up the man himself, I sensed a dark gaze on me, and as I twisted tothe side, my eyes clashed with a set which were looking quite silver at themoment. There was something between us, a spark. A moment happened then thatwas hard for me to describe, but all I knew was that I couldn’t tear my gazeaway from him. If he’d have beckoned me right then, I’d have gotten off mychair and hightailed it over to him. Which was not a feeling I had everexperienced before.
“Ever noticed that youand Ryder both have eyes which are a hell of a lot more vampire than ash?”Jayden was watching our exchange, and the boy was pretty much fanning himselfas he grinned.
Ryder broke the spell,turning to one of the sexy six, and I was finally able to catch my breath.Wait! What had Jayden said?
“Vampire eyes?” I asked,letting my confusion release. “I have ash eyes. Only a little more intense.”
Jayden nodded. “You do,even though your silver is a lot more defined than the others – and sometimeswhen your emotions are charged they get very silver, with this splash of green.It’s almost … alive.”
I was guessing right now theywere very silver, as he put it.
“I’ve seen the same thingwith Ryder. It’s almost as if the pair of you hold a little more of the virusin your DNA than the rest of us.”
Was that possible? Iwasn’t sure what Jayden was talking about. They had tested my blood and I wasan ash … right? I couldn’t actually remember if they had given me those resultsor if it was just assumed because, well, what the hell else could I be?
I took an extended sip ofmy blood, and almost against my will my eyes flicked back to where Ryder hadbeen. He was gone. Some of the other enforcers lingered around the wide, woodenbar, but no tall, dark, and broody to be seen.
I noticed that a group ofash, all wearing jumpsuits, had just walked into the room. A few of themexchanged looks before strolling across to where Jayden and I sat.
“Something tells me thereare a few alliances going on before the culling,” I murmured, sitting forwardin my seat, the bottle of blood forgotten as I prepared myself. Surely theywouldn’t start something here in a room filled with ash and vampires.
Jayden straightened also,and without saying a word both of us jumped to our feet. We would not be takensitting down. The three male ash, two brunettes and a rather scrawnydirty-blond, paused about eight feet from us. A sense of hesitation came acrossthem, and they exchanged another glance before turning and fading off into thecrowd.
“Hell yeah,” I said,“seems our reputation has gotten around.”
A hand landed on my shoulder,and I suddenly knew that it wasn’t our reputations which had sent those ashfleeing. I swung my head around, only to be visually assaulted by a verysharp-set of fangs. Lucas towered over me, his white trench glowing softlyunder the lights in this dim atmosphere.
“I need you to come withme, Charlie. Something has happened.”
My immediate panickedthought was of my mom, but I was pretty sure that no one in the Hive cared ormonitored the loved ones left out in the human world. It had to be something else.I’d just seen Ryder … so who else was there?
I took a step toward Lucas,before stopping and flicking my head back to Jayden. “Hey, are you going to beokay? I don’t want anyone to jump you while I’m gone.”
