“Ryder! We got another call,” one of the other ash said. The ash –Ryder – flicked his eyes away for a moment, his clenched handsloosening enough to reach up and hook onto the comm device on his belt.
Itook the opportunity while I could. I needed to escape the presence of thesedominating males. Reaching down, I practically yanked Tessa into my arms,barely even feeling her weight as I booked it out of the club. The entire timeone word was running through my head – the scary-assgorgeous ash’s name: Ryder. I sighed.
Perfect.Why couldn’t I meet anormal guy?
Chapter 3
It took me forever to gethome, mainly because Tessa was a dead weight. I ended up catching a cab and puttingit on her credit card. She might only be from a one parent family too, butunlike mine, hers had lots of old money. Tessa had a fat trust fund and shewouldn’t mind me charging the cab to her card.
Aftermanaging to finagle her shoes off, I dropped her onto her bed. And then, finally,I got to wash that creeper’s blood from my hands, and then remove my makeupbefore getting into bed myself. Stretching out, I tried my best not to thinkabout all the strange shit that was happening to me lately. Including but notlimited to the pull I’d felt to that ash tonight. Ryder. I had no explanation.Maybe, if I’d been a dude, I’d be worried that mom had done the down and dirtywith a vampire. I certainly had some of the “poster” symptoms. But there was nosuch thing as a female ash, and my father had been a human soldier, killed inthe line of duty.
MaybeI was just going through a hormone imbalance or some crap. I should probablyget to the campus clinic and have my blood work run. Just to be safe.
Idrifted off, and for the first part of the night slept like the dead. It musthave been in the early hours thata vivid dreamengulfed me.
Theworld was washed in blood. I swam in rivers of crimson, swept downstream as Istruggled to quench the insatiable thirst inside of me. No matter how much Idrank, it was never enough. I thrashed around, trying to free myself from thenightmare, but I couldn’t wake. Hands grabbed me and I was yanked from theriver. The thick, tacky blood coated my body and I swear I could even taste themetallic tang on my tongue.The copper scent assaultedmy nose. It was odd … but so good. I was carried, and the world started to cry,and it felt as if my soul were crying with it. I lifted my face to feel thedrops, only to realize they were blood also. The world wasn’t crying, it wasbleeding.
Istartled awake, my chest rising as I gasped, trying to fill my heavy lungs withair.Dream.Holy shit, that dream had felt so real. And so goddamncreepy. A splash of wetness landed on my face, and almost in slow motion Iraised my hand and touched my cheek. My heart rate slowed a little when Irealized that it was really rain this time, not blood. A second drop landed,and within a blink of an eye I was up off the ground and on my feet.Rain?
Offthe ground?My head swiveled rapidly, eyes dartingleft and right as I tried to figure out what the crap was going on. Was I stilldreaming? How the hell did I get outside during my sleep? I knew I had beensafely in my dorm room, and now I seemed to be … my eyes alighted on a seriesof warning signs which were scattered around a tall chain-link fence. Sweetlove of the gods, I was halfway across town, outside the gated compound surroundingtheHive.
Iblinked more than once, trying to wrap my head around what had happened. Ilooked down at myself to see I was still clothed. I was either losing my mindor something really serious was wrong.I used tosleepwalk when I was younger, but never got further than the living room. Onething I did know was that I needed to haul ass immediately. I could not becaught after curfew in this area. I’d pretty much be signing my own deathwarrant. I looked up at the moon high in the sky, and hugged my arms across mychest against the bite of the cold. September seemed to be up and down latelywith cold. Tonight, with the rain, I could feel the iciness of winter aroundthe corner.
Ididn’t think,I just ran, my bare feetsmashing against the gravel road, not even caring that they were getting allcut up. I was still in my sleep shirt, but that didn’t seem to be the mostpressing issue right now. Somehow, despite my shock, my body knew what to do. Ihad never run so swiftly, but within moments I was out of the danger zone andback in familiar territory. I hadn’t consciously made the decision to head thisway, but something drove me toward my family home. Toward my mom. Sometimes agirl just needs her mom, especially if she mightpossibly be losing her mind.
Iturned onto my street, large trees lining it. I hadn’t grown up in the bestneighborhood, but it was perfect, middle class suburbia, and I needed some normalcy.As I dashed up the steps to my front porch, I didn’t bother to contemplate onthe fact that I’d just sprinted across town in under ten minutes. The tripshould have taken me thirty at a brisk pace.I ran ashaky hand through my long, tangled hair, and tried to calm my franticthoughts. My feet stung from my barefooted haul-ass run, and I saw smudges ofbloody footprints dotting the porch.
Mymom was a surgical nurse and worked a lot of shift hours. My muddled braincouldn’t quite remember what shift she was on right now, so instead ofdisturbing her I reached down and scrambled beneath the potted plant to findthe hidden key. It clicked quietly in the lock and I let myself into the cool,familiar front hall and locked the door behind me.
Paddingthrough the parlor, I ended up at the kitchen. Instinct drove me forward. I wasso, so, thirsty. Opening up the single door fridge, I knew Mom would haveplenty of goodness inside. She was the best cook around. But as I stared at thecontents, not even the peach and pecan pie tempted me.
Igrabbed a sports drink, wondering if I needed a kick of electrolytes. Flippingit open, I took a large gulp, but before I could swallow it I found myselfspitting it all back out. It was disgusting. Tasted like chemicals and salt. I readthe label in the dull light of the open fridge. Date was fine, so what the hellwas wrong with it?
Isensed a presence just seconds before she spoke: “Charlie baby, what are youdoing here?”
Spinningaround, drink still clutched in my hands, I held back a sob and threw myselfinto my mom’s arms. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
Wordspoured from me. I was all out of whack. My thoughts seemed to be going amillion miles an hour, and yet I was barely comprehending the simplest ofthings.
Ipulled back a little to stare at my mom. She was still young and beautiful,despite the fact she’d done double duty and raised me by herself. Truth was, Icouldn’t have asked for a better parent. And I needed her calm mom words morethan anything.
“Whathappened? Did you run here in your nightgown?Barefoot?”Her gaze roamed over me, the dim lighting enough for me to see concern in herdark brown eyes. We shared the same eye color and general build, but my mom wasvery blond and I had quite dark hair. Same as my father. Who I only knew fromthe two or three scattered photos of him around the place.
“Shit, I’m probably bleeding all over your kitchen floor.” Ilifted my feet to inspect the cuts. My stomach dropped.No!They were prettymuch healed. Just slight pink lines remained.
I couldn’t say anymore; the nausea and dizziness was starting tocrowd in on me. Darkness pressed at the edge of my consciousness and weaknessinvaded my limbs.
“I’m so thirsty, Mom.” Those were not the words I intended to say.I was going to tell her that I’d had a dream and sleepwalked. But the thirstwas driving me crazy. If I was so thirsty, why the hell did everything tastelike shit?
“Charlie!” Her exclamation was muffled. She sounded like she wasmiles away from me. I shook my head a few times, fighting back the darkness,but eventually I couldn’t any longer. I slumped forward, knowing at least tonightmy mom would be there to catch me when I fell. My last thought was about theplump vein throbbing on her neck.
Loud voices broke throughthe fuzzy static in my head. I groaned, trying to remember what had happenedlast night. Images filtered through slowly. I’d gone out with Tessa, and …drank a lot. Was that why I had this craptastic static in my head?
“Charlie,can you hear me, sweetheart?”
Thatvoice was familiar. What was Mom doing in my dorm? I tried to pry open my eyes.It took more than one attempt for me to crack them a sliver.
“Mom…”I croaked out. “What’s going on?”
