Falling to Ash (5 page)

I turned in a slow circle and sniffed the stale air, focusing my eyes on the dim light that was coming from the far corner of the storeroom.

Did ghosts use cell phones? OK, it was a crazy thought, especially considering that I’d never actually encountered a ghost, but still . . . There was a lot of freaky shit in the world. My existence alone led me to believe that vampires couldn’t possibly be all there is to it.

The light disappeared with a tiny click. I only heard it because of my freakishly good hearing, but there was something about the noise that made me think someone was over there, trying to be silent – and failing. I backed
up
half a step as a dark shape rose behind a stack of plastic crates and flat-packed boxes.

The figure stood to human height – a
tall
human male, by the looks of things – and I suddenly realized where I recognized that scent from.

‘Crap,’ I muttered.

A single, naked bulb flicked on overhead, flooding the space with an eerie yellow glow that danced off shadows thrown by boxes and other packaging.

‘You!’ exclaimed Jason Murdoch, vampire hunter-in-training. ‘Moth! What the hell are
you
doing here?’

Chapter Four

I CURSED AS
Jace looked me up and down. How could I be this unlucky? There’s no way this could be a coincidence. I refused to believe that Jason Murdoch hadn’t been following me, despite the logical part of my brain reminding me that
he was here first, so how could he have followed you
?

The wannabe hunter glared at me. ‘I said, what are you doing here?’

Jason Murdoch . . . I’d hardly given the guy a thought these past few months, what with trying to get to grips with my new life and all. But six months ago, after Theo had sent me over to Jason’s father’s apartment, a real test for a fledgling young vampire, we’d fought. Jace had tried to kill me, and I’d repaid him with a busted leg and a kiss I still remember to this day.

Jace was the son of a hunter who’d been a thorn in Theo’s side some months back. Thomas Murdoch had killed a number of vampires – including Maxim, a powerful master vamp who just happened to be a friend of Theo’s. More recently however, Murdoch Senior had gone pretty quiet. Too quiet. And it didn’t seem to have anything to do with the Family’s attempts to shut down his operation. (‘I’m going to rip his throat out,’ were Theo’s actual words, I seemed to recall.) No, the hunter had just dropped off the radar, and Theo seemed genuinely surprised by his disappearance.

But how had the hunter’s son ended up
here
?

I took another step back and tried to slip the toe of my boot under the edge of the trapdoor. Last time I’d come up against Jace Murdoch I’d almost gotten killed.

I attempted a sunny smile, but it wasn’t an easy trick to pull off when you were half terrified. ‘Wow, fancy seeing you here.’

I made a big show of shaking my head as though it really was just a funny old world when you can run into the guy who might one day become your arch-nemesis. But only if this was a freaking comic book.

Much as I didn’t want to admit it, Jace would make a damn good comic book hero. He was tall, with broad shoulders that had filled out even more since we’d last tangled.
Someone’s been working out
, I thought wickedly. I could tell these things, despite the dark sweater and an
army
jacket. I mean, not that I was an expert. Theo had been my only real relationship, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t have an opinion on this stuff. Murdoch’s waist tapered down to slim hips, and long legs clad in blue jeans and Chuck Taylors that had seen better days. His blond hair caught the light; it was shorter than I remembered, though still cute and spiky and—

Oh my God, what am I thinking?
I wanted to beat the crap out of myself for even allowing that sly little thought any space in my severely screwed up psyche.

I was one sick puppy. And Jace Murdoch was not cute. No way. Not even slightly.

The voice of the object of my non-admiration vibrated with shock and anger. ‘Don’t tell me this is a goddamn coincidence, freak. Have you been following me?’

Wow, he really isn’t happy to see me
. He took another step forward. ‘Answer me!’

I scowled. ‘What makes you think
I’d
be following
you
? What is it with men and their egos? You’re the only freak standing in this room.’ I liked the anger that burned in my gut, making me feel ten feet tall. It helped to cover up my nerves as he took another careful step over scattered debris. Maybe if I kept him talking I’d think of a way out of this. ‘And how would I know you’d be here, anyway? And wait a minute – why would I even care?
Duh
.’

Clearly unimpressed, Jace pulled a huge hunting knife
out
of a scabbard hidden beneath the well-worn army jacket.

‘Nice knife,’ I said, trying to keep my tone light. ‘You planning on dry-shaving with it? Maybe show me how manly you’ve grown?’

‘Shut up, freak.’

‘Oh, but I can see you don’t really
have
any stubble yet. Wow, how many nineteen-year-olds do
you
know who haven’t even started to grow their first beard?’ I shrugged. ‘Not that it bothers me – I still think you’re super-sexy, even if you’re not quite there yet. And you’re a little too . . .
alive
, for me.’

All the while I was doing the fast-talking thing, I was still trying to get my toe under the edge of the trapdoor – but it wasn’t working because of my stupid boots.

Jace came toward me brandishing the knife, the murderous look on his face still visible in the weird glow of the gently swinging bulb. Wavering yellow light spilled down in sickly waves, turning his brown eyes into pools of shadow.

But there was no mistaking the grim set of his mouth. I remembered those slightly-too-thin lips (
Oh, how I remembered them
), but back then they’d been mostly grimacing in pain after I’d broken his leg. He seemed to have made a full recovery, more’s the pity. I should have kicked him harder. All I wanted was to get a look at Rick’s body, and here I was having to deal with Van Helsing Junior.

I gave up any pretence at subtlety and made a dive for the trapdoor, jamming my small fingers into the even smaller gap and prising the creaking wood upward. But despite my unnatural speed, Jace was like an unstoppable force of nature. He lunged at me and I only just deflected the knife’s progress in time, grabbing his wrist as we both went down beyond the trapdoor.

‘Get
off
me!’ I was half crushed, as six feet of furious young hunter tried to force the knife against my throat. If it was edged with silver, I was seriously screwed. The way the light caught the blade didn’t fill me with much optimism, but maybe it was just really shiny.

The ‘really shiny’ knife nicked my throat and,
Oh shit, that burns
, I thought. My body spasmed as it processed the fact that a tiny piece of silver had entered my bloodstream. I was easily stronger than Jace, but the knife was taking up all of my attention, making it impossible to get a good hold on him. And now my freaking neck felt like it was on fire. I decided to try reasoning with him instead. My mom had always been all about the ‘Make love not war’ thing.

‘Jace, let’s stop this and talk. Maybe we can help each other?’

I gasped as the wickedly sharp silver edged close to my face and our arms waved wildly back and forth, wrestling for control. There was no way I should be having this much trouble subduing him – sure, he looked like he’d
been
working out, but this was crazy. Vampires had much more strength than humans. Was I weak from not having fed recently? I wished now I’d taken Holly up on her offer of blood before heading out here.

Murdoch Junior held my legs clamped between his, and I tried to remember which leg I’d injured six months ago. Maybe I could use that to my advantage. But with his full weight on me and the knife wavering close to my face, it was tough to get the leverage I needed to push him off.

Jace was panting with effort, both hands on the hilt now and his handsome face twisted with something dark and mean. ‘Not so tough this time, are you?’

I stopped struggling and met his eyes with mine. For a moment I was distracted by the glint of a tiny silver ring in his left eyebrow; but then I focused, pushing all of my will onto his as I struggled to capture his gaze in mine. Vampires could do all kinds of impossible things, and those abilities increased the older they got. I was way too young to be able to do something as complex as mould another’s will completely to mine, but if I could manage it for a few seconds – distract him . . .

I locked eyes with him, just for a moment, and it was enough. He froze and I grabbed his shoulders and rolled him over, pushing his body until we exchanged positions. I lay on top of him, not even caring when I heard the jarring clatter as the knife fell from Jace’s limp fingers and
hit
the ground. He smelled fresh, like the city streets after hard rain.

I licked my lips, fighting the rising hunger in my gut, trying to stop the primal urge to bite into the soft skin of his throat as it lay exposed beneath me. My silver eyes glowed so brightly I could see their shining reflection in the brown depths of his. I was right there, reflected in his eyes; inside of him, gaining a precious foothold on his will and personality. His life and dreams and hopes and fears laid bare before me. This was better than I’d ever managed before.

Jace fell
in
.

His face went slack, empty. All that earlier rage just slipped away like drops of water sliding down glass.

The weight of his mind cradled within mine was too much for me, I wouldn’t be able to hold it. How could I, when there was so
much
? I couldn’t make sense of this mass of complicated pain and beauty that was Jason Murdoch. I couldn’t . . .

A much younger Jace walks toward the door. It’s a regular painted wooden door like in any suburban home. No glass, all solid. No way to see through it. But whatever’s on the other side is scaring the crap out of him. He is so afraid, and as he reaches with shaking fingers and grasps the handle and turns it he knows what he will see
.

‘
Say goodbye to her, son,’ says a tall man, a man who
looks
like an older version of the boy. His father. ‘There’s not long left
.’

The room beyond is plain and simply furnished. Utilitarian, just the way the boy’s father likes it. The bed in the corner holds a woman who might’ve once been beautiful, long before the approach of implacable Death. She is so pale, like bleached bones and the perfect moon in the sky outside the tiny window. Although she is slender, petite in build, her stomach is swollen beneath the covers and her white-knuckled hands clutch over the second life dying inside her
.

The boy kneels by the bed and straightens the blanket, smooths back his mother’s sweat-soaked hair. Tries not to meet her strange, shimmering eyes. The room reeks of something twisted and . . . wrong – sickness, death, mortality on the brink of slipping away. Slipping away like
 . . .

 . . . like drops of water sliding down glass.

‘What the
fuck
?!’ Jace was choking, curled into a ball on his side, coughing and trying to catch his breath.

Somehow I was halfway across the room, as far away from the trapdoor as it was possible to get. I slowly pulled up into a sitting position. It was as though I’d been flung – presumably by Jace – with such force I’d landed in a crumpled heap against a pile of crates. They hadn’t moved on impact; must be something heavy stored in them, because my back hurt like someone had stomped
on
it while wearing my best steel-toe-capped boots. The ones I save for special occasions.

Well, if that little
mind meld
had achieved anything, at least I was free.

Unfortunately, Jace was now between me and the hatch.

Everything seemed to slow down as we both rose to our feet, tentatively, like new-born colts testing their legs for the first time. My head felt full of splintered glass.

I was light-headed and yet strangely
energized
. Apart from the pain in my back, I was sort of OK. Jace didn’t look like he’d fared as well from whatever had just happened. He stood facing me, empty-handed.

‘You were in my mind. You bitch, you were in my
head
.’ His voice was hoarse, almost too quiet to hear.

‘I . . . I didn’t mean to do that.’ And I really hadn’t. Not like that; not as deep or as
intrusive
. I shivered.

Jace rubbed his hand across his mouth, as though trying to wipe away a stain or the memory of something.

I shook my head, angry for losing control of an ability I still didn’t understand.

He rolled his neck from side to side, breathing deeply and avoiding eye contact. I wouldn’t catch him again, not like that. He was too smart. At least the rage seemed to have passed. Surely now I could talk some sense into him—

Jace grabbed a crossbow from behind some tumbled crates. A wickedly sharp silver-tipped bolt was already
locked
and loaded and he pointed it at me. The stock rested firmly against his shoulder, one eye squinting as he got me firmly in his sights. Literally.