White Lies: (The Uruwashi Series #4) (11 page)

Sacha frowned as he thought about it. Yukihime actually looked worried.

“No. It’s cool. I mean, I kind of like it.” His eyes darted to Ash’s and then away again when his face flushed red. “It feels pretty good.”

Ash nodded, accepting his decision.

“What’s your game?” Yukihime demanded as she stomped up to Ash, walking on top of the snow rather than through.

Ash shook her head at the Master, refusing to look her in the face. She just couldn’t see the old vampire the same anymore, not after all she’d been through.

“I never cared for games, Yukihime, that was Malik.
You
of anyone understands that.” She put her back to the other vampire. “Did I ever know about you and my Master?”

“No.”

Ash shook her head. “That you managed to hide that from me so thoroughly, how can I ever trust you?”

Yukihime bit back angrily, “And you’ve not secrets of your own? For claiming to love him so much, you still lie to Tristan. He doesn’t know about Nastasia, does he?”

Ash spun, anger making her face hot. “How dare you? You’ve no idea what it’s like to make your own—No. You have less than zero right to judge me.” She started to stomp away. “Why I tolerated you all this time is beyond me!”

“Asta!” Yukihime sounded panicked and Ash took petty pride in being the cause of such an emotion. “What happened in Greece? Who hurt you?”

Ash stopped short, damp strands of her hair falling into her face. Her chest rose and fell quickly in her anger and, now, confusion. Was she asking because she truly didn’t know or was she trying anything to get Ash to talk?

Refusing to turn and face the other vampire, Ash said, “Nothing that hasn’t happened before, by those who always seek to hurt me.”

Yukihime was silent and Ash turned to find her looking at her with a mix of pain and confusion.

“You truly don’t know what happened, do you?”

Yukihime look put off for a moment before straightening her back and lifting her chin. “No.”

Ash sighed. What did she owe this woman, this child vampire? Her life? Certainly. But did that give her entitlement into Ash’s heart? With a reluctant sigh, Ash relaxed her stiff shoulders and gave Yukihime a cliff notes version of Greece, leaving out the important details, like Mamoru’s identity and Innokentiy’s involvement. The man wished to remain dead, Ash respected that. She also thought that the sex wasn’t any of Yukihime’s business either. She wished it were hers again though, and soon.

Damn, she needed that book. This day was not going how she had hoped it might.

“Oh, my dear…” Yukihime had moved closer to Ash during her retelling and now stood within reach. She lifted her hand as if she meant to put it on Ash’s shoulder, but stopped at the last moment. “If I knew Genoveva had been following you…”

“Yes, I know,” Ash whispered. Yukihime may have been unstable herself, but she really did care for Ash, in her own way. And of anyone in Ash’s past, Genoveva would be the one that Yukihime might tear apart with her bare hands on Ash’s behalf. “She was convinced that I was something more than I am.”

The other vampire shook her head. “Something more?”

Ash looked up, watching the snow. She never really thought much of snow, other than the obvious correlation to the vampire before her, but now, she thought, it was kind of pretty. “Was I really a pythia?”

“What?” Yukihime laughed. “Why ask me?”

“Because you were there. Because you loved Malik and you watched from the shadows as he seduced and then murdered everything in my life, including me. Because every vampire I’ve met since then seems intrigued by the fact that I am—
was
a twin to a pythia. Because… because you took the knowledge of the heikō from me. That has to account for something significant.”

“Tha—that was an accident! The heikō thing was an accident!” She always sounded like such an impudent child when she yelled.

“I don’t believe you.” Though she so desperately wanted to.

Frustrated, Yukihime huffed. “I did watch you and Evangeline die from the shadows. But I had no choice.”

Ash scoffed, spinning to face away. “And I’m to believe you had nothing to do with Nastasia either? Lies, Yukihime, everything you say and do is nothing but lies.”

“I’m n—”

The silence was so long and deafening that Ash turned to face Yukihime again. The old vampire was standing stone-still, just staring. “What?” Ash sighed. “What now?”

Yukihime held out her hand, moving with the detached sense of self many of the older kind fell into. They just forgot how to be human and therefore no longer moved that way. It disturbed Ash more than she’d ever let show. She hoped that she’d never be like.

“Come with me.”

“What?” Ash took a step back, unsure. Bear, feeling its master’s emotions, growled and ambled away from where it’d been idling about to stand at Ash’s back. Mindlessly, searching for comfort, Ash turned enough to run her fingers through the matted fur.

Yukihime didn’t even bat an eye at the half rotted jikininki. “Please. This was all just—I have something I want you to see. Something that…” Her attention finally went to the bear and her jaw hardened. “No more lies. Only truth. Everything will make sense if you just come.”

Yukihime held out her hand. Ash only blinked at it. “
Please
,” she pleaded.

Ash surprised herself by taking the ancient vampire’s hand.

TRISTAN sighed, slumping. He was tired of this evening already. He still couldn’t believe he ended up with this chicken-shit job to begin with. “The hell?”

Wren raised his brow in question.

“Why’d you go and do that?”

Wren burst into laughter. “I think I’m starting to like you.”

“I wasn’t joking, asshole.”

The vampire shook his head. “It’s not like they die, is it?”

Tristan pushed the wet hair back from his face and sighed. “No, I guess not. Still, it hurts though.” And resets their hierarchy, which super pisses them off because the oldest is the richest. Stupid, greedy-ass kitsune.

Wren cocked his head at Tristan.

“What?”

“Most people, even other shinwa think they do
die
… You’ve been rather well educated on the ways of the shinwa, haven’t you? Who taught you?”

“Ash,” he answered a little too quickly. At least his mind was blocked so that Wren didn’t hear the real answer.

“Now that, I believe, is the first lie you’ve told me.”

The guy was right, but Tristan wasn’t about to admit it. Let the guy think what he wanted. “I don’t trust you.”

“Yes, that may be true, but I think I would like to trust you.”

“Ah, what?”

“I believe I was wrong about you and Akane was right. You can help me after all.”

“What do you mean, Akane was right? Are you in on this together?”

Wren smiled and Tristan sighed. He’d been duped after all—big fucking surprise. Christ, it wasn’t even funny anymore. Not much was these days.

“Don’t feel bad. It was Akane’s idea to hire you and bring you here, but the lies were for your benefit.”

“Ahuh,” Tristan muttered, eyeing the vampire.

“Ah, I see it so clearly now. You answer to Yukihime; I should have guessed—”

“Excuse me?” Tristan challenged, taking a step forward. “Yuki does not own me. She’s the one who bothers me, not the other way around. I don’t have any allegiance to her.”

Wren smiled crookedly. “Akane knew the only way to find you was through Yukihime but the kitsune don’t trust her.”

Tristan snorted. “Who does?”

“Exactly so. The lie was to keep Yukihime out of the know.”

Okay, Tristan got that. “So why not just come to me directly then?”

Wren shrugged lightly. “Perhaps Akane didn’t know where you resided? Perhaps she has some other plans for the Snow Princess. Whatever the reason, it was what she thought best, apparently.”

“I thought you said not to trust the kitsune, even—how did you put it? The noble Akane?”

Wren lifted his chin. “I don’t deny my friendship with the fox leader, but she is after all a fox.”

Tristan huffed in aggravation. “Look—”

“I am a vanilla. I don’t have a drop of seikonō, I can’t be the one killing those people—and you know that. But I know who is. And if you promise to kill her, I’ll pay you. Whatever you want.”

“Excuse me?” Tristan asked, taken aback. This was the first time anyone’d actually offered to pay him to do his job and in such blunt terms. He wasn’t hurting for money, not with his inheritance and Ash’s (presumably ill-gotten) dowry. “How do I know you aren’t in on it with this
her
?”

Wren looked bored as he let his attention stray to their surroundings. “You don’t.”

Tristan rubbed his forehead, annoyed, and then swept his hair back, sighing. He really didn’t want to do this, especially since the guy asking was someone he was ready to attack, even kill, just minutes before.

A dark look crossed Wren’s face and Tristan tensed, fingers twitching for his gun. “What?”

“Will you help me or not?”

“Just tell me where to find her and I’ll take care of it.”

“Absolutely not,” Wren answered with some force.

Tristan almost reacted to the intensity of Wren’s tone, the motonō energy he pushed into his words. Tristan guessed the guy hadn’t even meant to. “Look, you want my help or not, pal?”

“You can’t do it on your own. You need me.”

Tristan scoffed, pulling his gun and not caring how aggressive it made him look. “No, I really don’t.” He really meant to vet this vampire and, if necessary, stop it. He didn’t know Wren and wasn’t about to trust him, even if he did have a past with Ash. And Jesus fucking Christ, he was Desmond’s fucking scion. Seriously, that was still a shock he’d yet to fully acknowledge.

Without warning, Wren lunged. The smaller man took Tristan right in the solar plexus and off his feet. All the air left Tristan’s lungs in a surprised cry before he was slammed down on his back hard enough to blink out his vision.

He swung out blindly, raising the gun to fire at anything. A cold, hard hand clamped down on his wrist and squeezed until he lost the feeling in his fingers two seconds later. The gun made a soft but distinctive thud as it fell into the snow.

Tristan tried a second time to swing with his free hand but it hurt from the cut and that too was caught and then he was wrestled over, face forced into the freezing snow. Wren’s weight pressed down on his back, a knee digging between his shoulder blades in a sharp pain as his wrists were crossed behind his neck by that hard hand.

“Wren,” he said sounding taken aback. “What are you—” He gasped for a breath when the knee in his back stabbed too deeply and took in a mouthful of snow that felt sharp and filled his lungs with cold fire. He coughed to clear his airways and would have cursed Wren if the back of his head hadn’t burst into pain.

TRISTAN was aware of the soft male voice singing in Japanese. The words were gentle and full of sorrow that touched Tristan’s soul and made him want to weep. Of course, Wren might not have meant to make Tristan feel his words so deeply, but he was just a vanilla and couldn’t control his motonō as well as a transmute or Master.

“The level of rudeness you exude is simply astonishing,” Wren said suddenly, breaking from his song. “Has anyone told you that?”

Tristan took in a deep breath and then groaned when the pain behind his eyes spiked. “You’re the one who fucking hit me.” He peeked an eye open and saw that they were driving through a city he didn’t recognize where, in a car he didn’t know. “Where are we?”

“Almost to my room.”

Feeling a little more coherent, Tristan stretched in the warm leather seat with a sigh. The fact that his hands were tied together where they rested on his lap didn’t go past his notice. And the ache in his arm and the dampness told him the cut might have been too deep to heal on its own. He was going to need more stiches.

“Told you, my dance card is full. One vampire’s more than enough for me.”

Wren made a noise that might have been an annoyed sigh, but it was so soft Tristan wasn’t sure he heard it at all. “I didn’t want it to be like this, you know.” The vampire glanced at Tristan and frowned. “It was a very dishonorable thing to do but time is forever an enemy, even for vampire.”

Indeed. The sun would be up soon if that dash clock was right. “So you kidnap me?”

Wren glanced over again, studying Tristan’s face. Whatever he read there, Tristan couldn’t tell. This sort of thing though, it was such everyday bullshit for Tristan that he didn’t get all worked up over it anymore. Kidnapped? Eh, whatever. Shit, just a few months ago he almost died, for real died. Everything else was just dust to sweep under the carpet compared to that.

“I really didn’t want to hurt you. But I need your help. Neither of us can stop her alone. But together I think we will do… okay.”

Tristan grunted. “Just okay? Not super encouraging, dude.”

“She is very powerful. I would have preferred to have Mast—
Desmond.
Accompany me, but I fear he’s still angry with me… after all of this time.”

It was Tristan’s turn to study his companion. “What did you do to make Desmond shun you?” Not that Tristan imagined it was much. The dude was a petty son of a bitch. “I’m guessing he’s the one who messed up your face.”

Wren flinched so hard the car slipped in the snow at his carless jerk. The vampire gasped and straightened the car. He lowered his head, only just keeping his eyes on the road in a dark glare as he muttered under his breath.

“What was that?” Tristan asked.

“I said,” Wren snapped, an accent popping up out of nowhere with his obvious distress. “I left. Not that it’s any of your business.”

Tristan snorted and tried to cross an ankle across his knee but then gave up, realizing he was too tall, even for the luxury car. “Whatever.”

Wren pulled into a hidden drive that looked like the back driveway of a small grouping of buildings, the kind that were usually a shop on the main level and living space above. “I own the room we’re about to go into, so I’ll thank you now not to make a mess.”

Tristan looked at the vampire until Wren huffed, put the car in park and turned in his seat to give him his full attention. He smirked at the annoyance on the vampire’s face—well, half face. “No promises.”

Wren sighed in dismay.

Tristan’s smile broadened even more. Sure, he was trapped with a strange vampire, but that didn’t mean he had to go all damsel in distress on the guy. Hell, he wasn’t sure Wren even meant to hurt him. That meant he could fuck with the guy all he wanted. If he was going to be kidnapped, why not have a little fun with it?

“You’re a man of your word?”

“Absolutely I am.”

“Wonderful,” Wren muttered sounding like he really meant just the opposite and climbed out of the car.

Tristan behaved himself as he let Wren open the door for him, even complimented the vampire on what a gentleman he was.

Wren rolled his eyes and guided Tristan to the back door of the building. Inside was too dark to see anything but it smelled musty like old paper, and damp wood. His eyes didn’t have a chance to adjust before he was being shoved up a narrow flight of stairs. The air was fresher and with a hint of jasmine on the second floor. A light was already on in the small genkan where Wren politely asked Tristan to take off his shoes. He did this too without complaint, just biding his time. It was almost daylight out, Tristan’s domain, and there was nothing Wren could do to keep him here.

“You think so?” Wren asked with a crooked brow as he moved deeper into the second floor.

Tristan shrugged at the vampire who he’d intentionally let hear his thoughts. “Prove me otherwise.” He followed the vampire into what he thought might have been a living room, but there wasn’t much of anything. A single kotatsu table complete with heater and blanket, a few pillows of various sizes and a small sofa. No pictures or nick-knacks. “Kinda Spartan, huh? Funny, I didn’t take you for the bachelor type.”

“Do you always antagonize your captors? It’s very annoying.”

He smiled and parked his ass right down on one of the cushions surrounding the table. “Can’t help but be me. If you don’t like it, you can just let me go.”

The vampire harrumphed at him as he reached back and gathered all of his long black hair into his hand. Tristan was surprised when he got a good look at the mask the hair hid and the scars that showed around it, dipping down deep into his collar.

“Jesus,” Tristan whispered. “Did Desmond really do all that? I mean, I know he’s a big fucking stupid jackass, I just never took him for the violent type.”

Wren’s jaw tightened for a second before he forced himself to relax again and dropped his hair back into place. “If I were to tell you that I would unbind you if you promise to remain here until I awaken, would you agree?”

Tristan didn’t even have to think about it. “Nope.”

“
Zannen da
,” the vampire muttered and turned his back on him, moving towards the genkan again. “A shame indeed.”

Something in the vampire’s tone set Tristan’s instincts off and he wasn’t about to see what the man had in mind and sprung to his feet. Even with his vampiric instincts, Wren was taken off guard and grunted when Tristan body checked him right into the wall. He raised his achy and bound arms to scoop up the smaller man and catch him by the throat, but the vampire was faster and managed to rotate under Tristan so that they were holding each other like lovers rather than fighters.

“What the—” Tristan blinked at him in surprise for a second before gathering his wits again. He planted a foot against the wall at Wren’s side and kicked out, dragging the vampire back with him. When his back slammed on the floor, he caught Wren in the stomach with his other foot and flung him over his head. But the vampire’s forward momentum came to a sudden and sickening halt when Tristan’s bound wrists caught the vampire under the chin. The inside of his lip split open against his teeth when Wren’s forehead smacked him in the face.

“Ow,” Tristan groaned and shoved the unmoving body off him. He took a second to touch his lip and frowned at the deep gash. Well, there went kissing Ash for the next week. “Ow, ow, ow—fuck.” He shifted a little, noticing his left arm was hot. He was bleeding again.

“Uh… hey.” He poked at Wren’s shoulder. “You uh, you alive?”