Ashes (Book 2 The Kindred Series) (31 page)

The world went by in a swift blur as
they drove to the hospital. Upon arrival, Cassie found herself
moving through a thick fog as she followed the officers into the
lower level of the building.

She barely acknowledged Chris and Devon
following behind her as she made her way through the sterile, dimly
lit halls. “Wait here,” the woman said briskly, leaving Cassie
standing outside a set of double doors.

She stood stiffly, her hands fisted at
her sides as she stared at the thick steel doors. Devon and Chris
did not try to approach her again. They seemed to realize that she
did not want their touch. She couldn’t handle it right now. She
didn’t know how much time passed, for she had no concept of time in
this world of pain and suffering, but she didn’t think it was
much.

A young, dark haired man in a lab coat
stepped out of the double doors. His dark gaze darted swiftly over
the three of them before settling on Cassie. “Miss, I…”

“I want to see my grandmother,” she cut
in harshly, not wanting to listen to any more people trying to
dissuade her from her course.

His eyes widened slightly, he licked
his lips nervously before nodding slowly. “Ok miss, but I must warn
you that there is some damage to the body.”

Cassie shuddered, her eyes closed as a
small moan of anguish escaped her. The body? The body! Her mind
screamed against the word. The woman in there was not a body, she
was her grandmother! But even as the words shrieked through her
mind, she knew that they were not true. What was inside that room
was no longer her grandmother. What was in there was only the shell
of the person that had taken care of her, and raised her with so
much love and tenderness.

Inside that room was the only blood
family Cassie had ever known, the only family that had ever loved
her unconditionally. For a moment she wavered, uncertain if she
could do this. Then, anger snapped back through her, suffusing her
in its secure cocoon as it helped to shove aside her doubt. The
pain dwindled in the face of the thick haze of rage encompassing
her. If she stayed angry, then she didn’t have to face anything. If
she stayed angry, she could make it through this. If she did not
stay mad, she would turn into a blubbering mess on the floor. She
would turn into a person incapable of doing anything other than
crying.

She owed it to her grandmother not to
become that person. She owed it to her grandmother to learn the
truth, and to get justice for the cruelty that had been committed
last night. She owed it to her grandmother to see that her killer
was destroyed.

“I want to see,” Cassie managed to
choke out.

The man nodded, but his eyes darted
nervously to Chris and Devon. It was more than apparent that he
wanted them to step in and attempt to change her mind. “Cassie,”
Devon said softly, reaching out to gently touch her arm.

She jerked back, her eyes darting
wildly to him. Dismay and hurt filled his emerald eyes, worry and
love radiated from him. Again, Cassie felt herself wavering in the
face of that love. For a moment the fury melted as anguish blazed
forth. She opened her mouth to speak, her heart flipped wildly in
her chest. Devon could make this a little better, in his arms she
could find the shelter that she sought, the protection and love
that she so desperately needed right now.

In his arms, she would not hurt as
much.

She took a small step toward him before
fully recalling why she was here, what it was that she needed to
do. She could not continue to hide behind him, she had to face this
head on; she could not let this go unresolved. Her grandmother had
sacrificed so much for her, had kept her alive when many others had
been killed. Yet Cassie had been curled up in Devon’s arms last
night, hidden from the world, while her grandmother was being
terrorized and murdered.

Hatred swamped her, disgust and self
loathing consumed her. Her grandmother deserved far better than
what Cassie had given her. Tearing her arm away from Devon, she
glared fiercely at him, taking a shuddery breath as she tried to
get air past the intense pressure in her chest. “Don’t,” she
growled.

His hand fell away, pain blazed from
his eyes. He looked quickly to Chris, but Chris wisely chose not to
try and dissuade her. “I want to see my grandmother
now.”

The man’s dark eyes darted once more to
Chris and Devon, when they showed no signs of helping him, his
shoulders slumped in defeat. “Please follow me,” he said
softly.

Cassie followed stiffly behind him; the
stench of the astringent chemicals barely pierced the hard wall
encasing her. She was well aware of the fact that from this moment
on, her life would never be the same. Well aware of the fact that
she would never be the same again.

The man paused outside another door;
taking out a key card he slid it through the machine next to the
door. The doors opened with a soft whoosh. Fluorescent light
filtered on in the room, lighting the hard tile and cold floor.
Cassie’s eyes widened as she took in the sheet enshrouded table in
the middle. Her heart hammered with the painful certainty that her
grandmother lay under that sheet.

No, not her grandmother, the body lay
under that sheet.

Cassie shuddered, her fingers dug into
the flesh of her arms as she hugged herself tightly. A fierce
shaking took hold of her. The man moved forward, glancing briefly
back at Cassie before he pulled the sheet slowly back. Chris gasped
before turning slightly away. Cassie stood unmoving, her gaze
latched onto the side of her grandmothers face. She had been so
pretty, so full of life and cheer and love. Now, her delicate
features were marred by bruises, and a large bump had formed in the
center of her forehead. Scratches and cuts marred what had once
been smooth porcelain skin, but that skin was now tinted a bluish
gray color. Even her lips had been leached of color and were nearly
as white as the walls surrounding them.

It was only a body, Cassie told herself
repeatedly. Her grandmother was free now; her spirit was keeping
company with the ghosts that she had spoken to in life. Though
Cassie tried to convince herself of this, she found no comfort in
the words. No solace in the fact that her grandmother was free. She
was certain she would never find solace again in the cruel world
they resided in.

Though she didn’t want to go any closer
to the body, she knew that she must. Moving stiffly forward she
paused next to the metal table her grandmother lay upon. For a
moment Cassie expected her eyes to snap open, a bright smile to
spread across her face as she launched up and yelled surprise.
Though it would scare the hell out of her, Cassie found that she
wanted nothing more than exactly that to happen.

But as she stood there, staring down at
her grandmother’s prone form, she began to realize she would never
see her grandmother’s sky colored eyes again. For a brief moment,
pain blazed forth again, tears burned her eyes and the hard lump in
her throat made it difficult to breathe. With trembling fingers,
Cassie reached forward and lightly touched her grandmother’s cheek.
Her skin was cold, hard, unyielding. Cassie nearly buckled; nearly
fell to the floor as agony swamped her. It was sheer strength of
will that kept her standing, kept her breathing.

Ever so slowly, she brushed back her
grandmother’s strawberry blond hair. Two jagged tears marked her
grandmother’s neck, wounds that could easily be explained by the
accident. But Cassie was not fooled into thinking that was what had
caused them. No, she knew exactly what monster had put those marks
upon her grandmother.

Her hands clenched upon the table, fury
and horror suffused her. Rage encompassed her, boiling through her
with the force of molten lava, burning away everything that she
was, everything that she had ever been. The lava boiled and poured
through her, leaving only smoldering ashes in place of the person
she had once been.

CHAPTER
21

Devon stood helplessly by, wishing that
he could do something for her, but knowing that this was something
she had to do on her own. Something that she had to come to terms
with in her own way. Unfortunately, her way seemed to be the
hardest way possible, and there was nothing he could do to stop
it.

Cassie’s hands shook as she pushed
aside her grandmother’s hair, her pain and anguish beat against him
in rolling waves that made it difficult for him to think. Chris was
deathly pale; even his lips were white as he watched Cassie with
wide, pain filled eyes. Though Devon could sense Cassie’s pain,
Chris seemed to be swamped inside of it, unable to escape from the
emotions she emitted in waves. Her pain was so intense that Chris
could not turn his telepathic ability off against it.

Chris met Devon’s gaze briefly, his
sapphire eyes shimmered with unshed tears. He had also lost someone
that he loved deeply. He had lost the woman that had helped to
raise him, a woman that had loved him when his own mother couldn’t,
or wouldn’t. Devon turned slowly back to Cassie. She was standing
stiffly, her eyes locked on the condemning marks on her
grandmother’s neck.

Devon’s eyes widened, his skin came
alive with the tingling waves of fury and hatred that blasted from
her. Chris took an involuntary step back, his head bowed beneath
the force of the emotions battering against him. “Cassie,” Devon
said gently, frightened by the anger blazing from her.

This was Cassie, his Cassie. Sweet,
innocent, and so achingly lovely and loving. She didn’t know how to
hate. Or at least she hadn’t before this moment. But now he could
feel that hate blazing against him, feel the rage that suffused
her, leaving her shaken and shattered. Her head bent, her golden
hair cascaded forward as she inhaled shakily. Her slender back
heaved slightly with the force of her breaths.

Though she did not want his comfort, he
no longer cared. She was going to get it. He could not leave her
alone to face this, could not leave her broken and torn. Striding
purposely forward, he rested his hands on her shoulders, wanting
nothing more than to pull her close and help to ease the feelings
blasting from her.

She stood stiffly for a moment, the
small tremor in her body reaching him. Then, she turned suddenly,
pulling free of him as she spun wildly. “Don’t touch me!” she
snapped, her eyes narrowing furiously. Her hands fisted at her
sides as she glared at him with fierce loathing.

Devon stood stiffly, shock tearing
through him. Though her reaction stunned him, it was what he had
seen in her eyes that left him immobile and terrified. “Don’t you
ever touch me again! This… this is your fault!”

Dismay tore through him; instinctively
he took a step toward her. He wanted to console her, wanted to make
this even a small bit better if he could. He also needed to protect
her from what he was beginning to fear may lurk inside of her.
Something he had been trying to deny about her, but now realized
that it was very likely true.

Her eyes narrowed even more. “Stay away
from me.” Her voice broke, her body trembled fiercely. “You helped
create that monster. You brought him here. He’s here because of
you! Not us, but you! He killed her, and it’s your
fault!”

Devon felt as if he had been punched,
hard. Terror and anguish tore through him. She had forgiven him for
so many things, loved him through them all, but this…

Well this had been the final straw. She
had been broken; there was no more forgiveness in her. Her
beautiful azure, amethyst eyes were bright with anger, gleaming
with it. Her small hands were fisted at her sides, her shoulders
shook.

Though it no longer beat, he could feel
his heart shattering, could feel the darkness swamping up, trying
to consume him. Without her, he was nothing. Without her, his life
meant nothing. He could feel the monster inside of him turning,
twisting to break free, trying to use this as its opportunity to
take control once more and return to its killing, wanton ways.
Return to slaughtering innocents in its quest to satisfy its
unending thirst.

Devon shuddered, his eyes closed as he
struggled to maintain control of his own body. No matter what
Cassie felt for him now, he could not return to the thing he had
once been. If she no longer wanted him, then there was nothing that
he could do about it. But she did need him. She needed him to
protect her, and to keep her safe. Julian and Isla were still out
there, and they would use any opportunity they could to get at her,
to destroy her and her friends. If he lost control, she would be
vulnerable to them. No matter what happened, he knew that he could
not exist in a world that Cassie didn’t live in, even if she didn’t
want him in her life.

His gaze darted to the body in the
middle of the room. He should have seen this coming. He had been so
wrapped up in trying to keep Cassie, Chris, and Melissa safe that
he had not thought about Lily. But she had been a prime target
also. Despite her age, she was also a Hunter, and she was Cassie’s
grandmother.

Julian would want to break Cassie. He
would want to toy with her before killing her, and Lily was the
perfect way to do so. Julian had touched Cassie, he would know
about Lily, and how much Cassie cared for her. Julian’s touch would
have allowed him many insights into Cassie’s life, far more
insights than Devon was comfortable with.