Dying Forever (Waking Forever Book 3) (39 page)

Alison put her hand on the redhead’s shoulder. “Is she right?”

Turning her back so she stood between Alison and Ash, Bryce took the blonde’s hand in hers. “It’ll be fine.”

“Don’t bullshit her.” Ash interrupted.

Something akin to a growl escaped Bryce, but she refused to face the shifter. “I’m not.”

Alison could see from the stiffness in the vampire’s shoulders, and the length of her incisors, she wasn’t being honest. Looking past Bryce to Ash, Alison smiled. “Ash, can you give us a minute please?”

Reluctantly the woman walked several yards away, leaving Alison looking
closely at Bryce. “What’s this about?” She entwined her fingers with the vampire’s long tapered ones.

Bryce shrugged. “I - I just won’t.”

“Is Ash right? Would it make things easier?”

Not looking up, the redhead shrugged. “Maybe.”

Alison placed her finger under the woman’s chin, and slowly tilted her head up. “It will, right?”

After several seconds Bryce nodded. “I haven’t fed on anyone
besides you in a decade, and I’m not sure - especially a shifter, if I can stop.”

Pulling the woman to her, Alison spoke quietly, her lips pressed to Bryce’s ear. “You will, because you have to, and you’re strong enough.”

Burying her face in the side of Alison’s neck, Bryce took a rare breath and marveled at how incredible Alison smelled. The scent of lavender mixed with sweat, along with the heat that radiated off her body elicited a low moan from Bryce.

Taking an abrupt step back, the vampire nodded. “Fine. Let’s get it over with, before I think better of it.”

“Right.” Alison walked toward Ash, who had her back to the pair. “She’s ready.”

Ash turned, the incredible definition and curves of her naked body still taking Alison’s breath away. “Well, that’s something.” Walking past Alison, Ash stood in front of Bryce, and took several deep breaths. “I have no way of stopping you if - if you can’t stop yourself.”

Bryce nodded. “I understand. It won’t come to that.”

Lifting her arm, the shifter looked at her wrist. “Take it from the arm.” The intimacy of having Bryce bite her neck was more than Ash could
bear. She knew this was the only way to ensure they at least had a fighting chance, but it still turned her stomach.

Bryce and Alison’s eyes locked
, Without a word, and to Bryce’s relief, the blonde turned her back. Taking Ash’s hand, Bryce was surprised by how warm the woman was. She was at least five degrees hotter than a human, and looking at the pulsating vein in her wrist, the woman’s rapid heartbeat became a low, enticing hum in the Bryce’s ears.

Bryce hesitantly opened her mouth, her incisors fully extended. The anticipation of blood triggered a burning in
her throat and stomach, thirst and craving running through her as she fought not to drown in it. Sinking her teeth into Ash’s forearm, a gush of hot, minerally blood tasting of licorice, salt and earth poured into her mouth and down her throat.

Unlike human blood, the shifter’s sent an immediate surge of energy and strength through the vampire. Her nerve endings stood on end, and she felt waves of euphoria pulse through her repeatedly. Her head spun, she caught herself just before she plunged over the edge, and pulled her mouth away.

Wiping her lips, Bryce turned her back to Ash, and tensed when she felt Alison’s warm hand on her shoulder. The nearness triggered too many sensations of need and want for the vampire to manage. “Please, give me a minute.” She stepped away, and focused her mind on the task ahead of them.

The two puncture wounds were already healing, leaving two small welts on Ash’s arm as she gently rubbed the area. “
We need to move.”

Bryce was in awe of how strong she felt, and knew regardless of her apprehensions, Ash
had been right. “I’ll go in first. Because of their numbers, and the fact we need to move quickly, I’ll weaken them. You’ll need to follow behind and – clean up.”

Alison was torn between being horrified at what was about to happen and
exhilarated from the raw surge of adrenaline. The three had already determined she would stay behind while the exterior of the house was cleared, and then she would enter the house with Ash and Bryce. A gun was clearly of more use against just two witches and a handful of lycan.

“It seems odd saying this to you, but be safe.” Alison hugged Bryce, and the two women held each other for several seconds before Alison reluctantly released the redhead.

“I love you.” Bryce leaned in and kissed Alison, committing to memory the warmth and softness of her lips.

A surge of affection and tenderness wel
led up in Alison, and she wiped at an unexpected tear as it cascaded down her cheek. “Love you.”

Turning toward Ash, Alison cleared her throat. “You won’t get killed
, right?”

Ash
grinned. “Wouldn’t think of it.” The two women smiled at each other, their years together lending themselves to an unspoken understanding of how important each was to the other.

The shifter took a step back, and in a matter of seconds, the tall, elegant woman
disappeared, replaced with a lycan. Ash stood tall on two hind legs, elongated with oversized paws and stretched black claws. Her arms were disproportionally long in comparison to her torso, and her head resembled a large wolf’s head. Her entire body was covered in coarse black hair.

“If you can’t beat them, join them.” Bryce mused before taking
a deep breath in through her nose. The smell of lycan blanketed her as she leapt over the ten foot stone wall that surrounded Coleen’s house.

Bryce
could hear the low, rapid murmur of lycan heartbeats from both her left and right. All apprehension and doubt vanished, the anticipation of the hunt that awaited her left her feeling exhilarated. The vampire crouched, surveying the perimeter of the yard. The xeriscape landscaping provided very little in the way of cover, so Bryce quickly lunged toward the side of the house, staying close to the ground.

She launched herself up, and
landed on the tile roof without making a sound. Sprinting along the rooftop, Bryce hurled herself through the air, and landed squarely on the back of a large male lycan. The impact was jarring as the animal’s massive frame absorbed most of the shock.

Balling up her fist, the redhead punched the base of the lycan’s head near
where the skull and neck met. The animal’s skull shattered as Bryce ripped the top two vertebrae of its spine out. A moment later, the lycan crumbled to the ground, its arms and legs spasming.

Three lycans rounded the corner of the house, and charged Bryce.
The last lycan in the barrage was tackled by Ash, who leapt from the top of the wall, planting her hind legs squarely in the animal’s chest. Pinning the animal to the ground, she tore and ripped at the lycan’s throat. A series of loud cracking sounds came from the dying animal.

Bryce managed to square her shoulders, and
braced herself a split second before the remaining two lycan slammed into her. The putrid smell of rotting meat mixed with animal musk soured the vampire’s stomach as the larger of the two lycan bit and snapped at her neck.

Her skin and bone were
unyielding, which gave Bryce the opportunity to strike the animal across the face, knocking the lycan to the ground. Ash pounced on the stunned animal, and pulling her long, tapered claw back, punched through the lycan’s back. She then crushed the animal’s hammering heart in her hand before extricating the organ from the lycan and throwing it to the side.

What felt like a
sledgehammer slammed into the back of Ash’s head, followed by a stabbing pain in her right shoulder. She was face down on the ground as another lycan bit into her. A loud growl escaped the shifter as she struggled to regain her footing, the weight of the animal bearing down on her. Unable to turn over, Ash tried to push herself up onto all fours. The lycan’s jaws were clamped down, its jagged teeth buried deep in her shoulder.

A high pitch yelp echoed through the night, and the lycan was
suddenly off Ash’s back. Looking up, she saw Bryce had snapped the neck of one lycan, and was now severing the head of the lycan that had attacked Ash. Trying to push herself up, Ash fell back to the ground. Rolling over on her back, she realized the tendons in her right shoulder were severed, temporarily rendering her arm useless.

Confident the wound would heal, Ash managed to get to
her feet, the injured arm hanging limp at her side. Bryce was crouched low to the ground, her head tilted up as she took deep breaths in through her nose. A spider web of blue veins spread across her jaw and neck, her eyes glowing green as she scanned the yard.

In a single, swift leap
, Bryce flew over Ash and tackled two lycans that had been charging the shifter from behind. One lycan clamped its powerful jaws around Bryce’s forearm while Bryce held the other one by the throat.

Thrashing its head back and forth furiously, the animal attempted to rip Bryce’s arm off. The vampire flung herself toward the stone wall, and repeatedly slammed the animal against it. The fourth blow
finally dislodged the lycan.  Shards of masonry and rock showering the lycan as it slid down the wall, landing with a loud thud on the ground.

F
ree, Bryce quickly wrapped both hands around the remaining lycan’s throat and slammed it to the ground. Straddling the stunned animal’s chest, she plunged her thumbs into either of the lycan’s eyes, and plucked them free of their sockets. Shrill shrieks filled the night as the disorientated animal flailed about under Bryce. Not wasting a second, the vampire snapped the lycan’s neck, and then ripped its head free of the body.

The last lycan still lay stunned on the ground, its head propped up on the wall. Bryce grabbed the animal’s ankle, and pulled it along the ground for several feet before snapping the
bone. Down on all fours, the vampire slowly crawled up the length of the large wolf. Perched on the animal’s stomach, she cocked her head to the right, the lycan’s rapid heartbeat pounding in her head.

She remembered a time when she would have savored this moment. The vanquishing of a foe had always been a convenient excuse to prolong the enemy’s suffering, and ensure her own enjoyment in the process.

Now, looking at the helpless animal under her, Bryce
did
feel the twinges of sadism in her gut. Stronger though, was the overpowering feeling of compassion. She would kill this lycan, but quickly and without fanfare. She would show what kindness she could, and choose a better future for herself in the process.

Chapter 1
6

“
Why’s it so quiet?” Alison knelt between Bryce and Ash. The three women were crouched in the shadows ten yards from the back of Coleen’s house.

“They won’t come out at this point.”
Ash cringed as she spoke. The flesh and soft tissue wound the lycan had inflicted was healed, but the shoulder itself had been dislocated, leaving her to force the appendage back into place. Clamping her jaw shut, she stifled a scream as a sharp stab of pain shot across her chest and back.

Alison instinctively reached for the woman, and rubbed her back. Ash was naked and covered in dirt, sweat and blood. She was a horrific sight, and Alison wished there was something she could do for her friend.

“We’ve lost the element of surprise; so we may as well walk right in.” Bryce’s suggestion sounded ridiculous, but considering the inevitable noise her and Ash’s altercations with the lycans had caused, Alison knew she was right.

“Okay.” Ash took several breaths through clenched teeth
, still obviously in pain. “But let me get my clothes first. I do actually have
some
modesty.” The shifter sprinted toward the stone wall, and in a series of lunges, was up and over it.

Alison studied Bryce’s profile.
“Are you okay?” The woman had been relatively quiet since the three had regrouped.

“I’m good.” The redhead continued to study the exterior of the house.
Without looking at Alison, she continued. “That’s a lie.”

Alison
’s brow arched. “You’re hurt?”

Shaking her head, Bryce turned toward Alison. “No. I just want this over with.”

Smiling, Alison took Bryce’s cool hand in hers. “Me too.”

“You don’t understand.” The redhead squeezed Alison’s hand. “I want to get on with our lives together.” Looking down at the ground, Bryce absently drew a circle in the dirt as she spoke. “I’ve been wrapped up in this sort of thing most of my life, and I just want to be normal with you.”

Alison had never thought much of
normal
, but she understood what Bryce was saying. The tumultuousness of the past few weeks had left her feeling tired, uncertain and vulnerable. She struggled not to give into the hate and anger that stirred in her.

Cupping Bryce’s cheek with
her hand, Alison looked past the dried blood around her mouth, and the caked on dirt that covered her face, neck and clothes. “Let’s get our friends, and then go home.”

A broad smile spread across Bryce’s lips. “Can I take a shower first?”