Chapter 4

 

I awoke to the smell of bacon and immediately began to salivate. As I rolled over, I froze as I remembered the last twenty-four hours. I realized, with more than a little disappointment, that Ryder was already gone. My eyes alighted on a note propped up on the pillow. I reached across and snagged it.

Thanks for taking care of me. You snore in your sleep. Ryder

My mouth dropped open. I totally did not snore! Right? Shit.

“Hey, Jayden!” I was a lazy bitch. Shouting from bed was one of my favorite things to do.

Come to me peasants, come to me.

I knew my roomie wouldn’t have left yet; the smell of bacon was the first giveaway. The second was that the clock on the wall said it was 6 a.m. Damn, that meant Ryder and I had been asleep for half the day and all night. I was starting to get a little too comfortable with that enforcer. There was a time a year ago when I could never have imagined trusting a dude enough to actually fall asleep with him. And look at me now.

Ryder was different. He made me feel safe, and that was a rare find.

“You hollered, bitch? You think I’m your dog now or something?” Jayden popped his fine ass in through my door, bounding across and slamming himself onto the end of my bed.

“Do I snore?”

His eyes widened, the silver ring barely visible—which was the way with most ash, except for Ryder and me.

“Of all the strange, freakish questions I hear from you, that’s what you’re spouting today? I expected: hey dude, did you know that Ryder shame-walked his ass out of my bed this morning. Or hey, dude, let’s work out some sort of sock-on-the-door system so that I don’t accidentally walk in on you and Ryder. Although…”

I punched him, right in the arm, which was way too muscled for knuckle comfort.

“Nothing happened. He was injured and we just slept together. As in sleep. As in no getting it on, no need for a sock on the door.”

Jayden actually looked disappointed. “I was just messing with you, girl. Oliver told me everything, and after I almost cried—which I totally didn’t because I’m badass—I waited up to make sure you were all okay. You must have missed me when you wheeled him in the room.”

So he’d been behind that closed door. It was nice to know he was nearby if I’d needed any help. Leaning across the bed, I threw my arms around him, pulling him in for a hug. I might have lost a lot by becoming an ash: Tessa, my life with my mom, college—oh, and my humanity—no biggie. But I had gained so much also. I was trying more and more to count my blessings.

As we pulled back, Jayden’s dark eyes twinkled. “Oh, and, Charlie, you totes snore, girlfriend. But it’s cute little kitten snores compared to Oliver. Sometimes I literally have to stuff his mouth full to shut him up.”

I cracked up then. Jayden was everything. Seriously, there was no way to feel all depressed with him around.

“I’m keeping you forever,” I told him.

He grinned. “Yep, you’re stuck with me, girlfriend.”

After our BAFF moment, I decided to shower and get decent looking. I squealed like a pig as a few pieces of glass fell out of my ponytail and my shower water was tinged with blood. Probably Ryder’s.

Not that long ago I used to wash glitter out of my hair after clubbing with Tessa. Damn, life had changed. I missed that chick.

After I was ready, I threw on my walkie and weapon and decided to find the other enforcers. I needed to talk about what the hell happened yesterday. Power-walking from my room, I slammed to a stop in the living room. Lucas was just casually sitting on my couch, wearing all white as usual, with a bottle of blood in his hand.

“Hey, Lucas,” I said, recovering quickly. This was another obvious “how times have changed” moment. Vamp on my couch, no problem. Blood for breakfast? Sign me up. I was turning into a regular old champion at all of this effed-up shit in my life.

“Charlie…” He nodded to me. Something in his voice gave me pause. He seemed extra stiff … mad even.

I found myself stepping closer, eyebrows raising as I tried to figure out what was wrong. “What’s up?” I finally asked, having no real clue.

Lucas took in a deep breath before letting it out slowly. “You haven’t been honest with me, have you?”

It’s amazing how quickly you can go from calm to full-on panic attack—heart racing, shallow breaths, weak legs. Shit. Did Lucas know I was the cure? Did I trust him? If he tried to take me, could I make it past him and to my boys?

“What do you mean?” I tried my best not to sound nervous, but dammit my voice shook.

Lucas tapped the couch and I reluctantly went to sit next to him. My gut said I could trust him. I always had this women’s intuition thing; it had never let me down before.

Lucas’s eyes pulsed silver for a moment as he inhaled my scent, but he had the grace to shake it off and continue: “Your father, the Original of the fourth house, is alive.”

I released the breath I had been holding. Okay, that. Well, I wasn’t keen on giving up the knowledge that he was still alive, but it was better than him knowing I was the cure. That shit needed to stay on lockdown.

“Oh really? I didn’t know that for sure actually. My mom told me she got some money in her account every year and assumed it was from him.” At least this was something which I could honestly answer him on.

Some of the stiffness left him then. “Yes, the Quorum acted against my wishes and tapped your mother’s bank account. They have traced the sums of money she gets every Christmas to an account in Switzerland. It was registered under a fake name. Which was enough to raise suspicion further, suspicion which started with your very strong levitation abilities in the culling. They took the last image of Carter, and using facial recognition, cross referenced all CCTV footage they could get their hands on.”

My heart was beating like crazy in my chest. What the fuck was the Quorum doing spying on my mother’s bank account? And more importantly…

“Did they find him?”

This guy was my dad and my mom loved him, so if he was alive and walking around I wanted to know what the hell he was up to.

Lucas took a sip of his blood. “We have footage of Carter Atwater boarding a private plane in Canada.”

“Holy shit!” I exclaimed. He was actually still alive.

Lucas’ normally flawless and gorgeous face was strained and wore the lines of stress. He reached over and placed a hand on mine as he leaned in to whisper in my ear.

“Even though they have not tied him to the money transfers, they now know that Carter is alive. And, well, I think the Quorum has put two and two together about his relationship to you. Despite what I’ve managed to fake in your blood work, I’m not sure how much longer I can protect you in here, Charlie. The Quorum has been meeting in secret without me, and it may only be a matter of time before they decide you’re too much of a risk to keep alive.”

My blood chilled at his declaration. He pulled back, resting easily against the couch, and patted my hand.

“Let’s take it one day at a time, okay?” he said, still whispering. “I just wanted to make sure you were aware, and if I know Ryder at all, he’s already taken steps to ensure a timely exit if it’s required.”

Lucas’s words reminded me that I needed to share this information with my enforcer team.

I nodded. “Okay, thanks for stopping by and letting me know.”

I wasn’t sure whether it was the events with Deliverance or this new threat to my existence, but something inside of me snapped. A fight-or-flight instinct was raging within me, demanding I either confront the vamp assholes or run so I never had to see them again.

I had no idea why the hell the Quorum feared the Originals so much. Why the fuck was I—one little ash female—even on their radar? It didn’t make sense, unless they knew something about Originals and the cure or some shit. If my father was alive, maybe it was in our best interest to try and find him also, get some answers before someone decided to try and kill or kidnap me again.

One thing was for sure—these weak-ass Quorum vampires clearly had no issues with killing off someone they perceived to be a threat. And I hated to admit it, but they could wipe me out no problem if they wanted to.

I missed my old life then, and Tessa especially. I ached for her smartass comments about what I was wearing and the way she always seemed to look on the bright side of every situation.

As Lucas stood to leave, things felt a little awkward between us. He politely excused himself, leaving in a silent visage of white.

In a daze I made my way to the enforcer locker room, although I managed a chuckle when I saw someone had drawn a dress over the stick figure man on the sign stuck to the door.

Trust the enforcers to brighten my day. The last twenty-four hours had sucked the big one and I needed some happy. Where was my mutha-effing happy?

As I walked in, I was really hoping to find Ryder glistening with droplets of water and half naked in a towel. Come on, I did just ask for some happy, and that was a step up to ecstatic. Instead, I saw the sexy five—minus one silent enforcer—hovering around a whiteboard Ryder was drawing on. At the top, he had the words SANCTUM and DELIVERANCE in bold and circled, with small lines branching out. On a chair in front of him was a huge fishbowl of water with tiny black microphones floating in it. Okay, WTF? The boys had finally lost their damn minds.

Noticing me, Ryder tipped his head, giving me a tight smile.

Kyle winked at me. “Come on in, Charlie. Ryder was just about to detail operation ‘Don’t fuck with the ash or we will kill you,’ aka: ‘Revenge.’”

Operation Revenge? Awesome.

My eyes shot down to the bowl again and Oliver answered this time. “Kyle scanned the room and found twelve bugs.”

Holy Shit. The enforcers’ instincts had been right; there was definitely a spy in our midst, more than one if that number of listening devices was any indication. I took a seat as Ryder drew the word mole underneath SANCTUM, before turning back to face us.

“First order of business … I’ve been trying for the past few weeks to politically deal with our response to the Sanctum attack. Finally, this morning, the Quorum ordered me not to retaliate against the group, and they denied my offer to sniff out who sent them to attack the Hive and steal Charlie. Not only does that make me a little angry, it makes me a lot suspicious.”

I nodded. Why the hell would the Quorum order us not to find out who had attacked their home and tried to kill me? Unless...

“The Quorum wants me dead,” I said in a resigned sort of manner. I really wasn’t even surprised at this point.

Ryder’s eyebrows furrowed and he and the rest of the enforcers turned to face me. I was startled to realize that it felt incomplete in here without Sam. These guys had quickly become friends and family to me, and now they were caught up in this bullshit because vamps were assholes.

The five were still staring at me, and I could see that they were waiting for me to expand on my previous statement. Without hesitation, I quickly caught them up on what Lucas had told me this morning. No one said anything during my story, but pissed-off-faces were being flashed all over the room. Once I finished with my speech, there was silence for like thirty seconds before the enforcers kind of exploded into action.

Ryder was the first to make himself heard: “We should just leave now. I don’t want Charlie hurt. I have plans in place, safe houses and cash stashed around. I haven’t figured out the blood thing yet, but I will.” It shocked me at how casual he was about giving up his entire life here, his job—everything really—for my safety.

Kyle interjected: “Look, none of us want to see Charlie hurt, bro, but hear me out. We have an opportunity here to find out the bigger picture, to gather intel on the Quorum and to not only find out who sent the Sanctum but also what Deliverance is up to. I don’t like not knowing what my enemies want, and I have a feeling this is bigger than just Charlie. If they knew one hundred percent what she is, she would be dead by now. I think we still have time.”

Markus nodded. “Besides, we can’t leave without Sam, and we need time to stash blood or figure out how we will survive. I say we stay friendly with the Quorum, and the second we catch wind of harm coming Charlie’s way, we’re out of here.”

None of this was sitting right with me. So much sacrifice for one stupid chick. Okay, I wasn’t a complete waste of space, but I always thought it was ridiculous in romance novels when all of these people just gave up their lives to save the damsel in distress. Now, in this situation, I see that this is what honorable males do to protect ones they care about. And while I would do the same for them, all of them, in a heartbeat, I still wanted to object.

“You guys, I feel bad about you having to leave because of me. Maybe we can just transfer to another hive. I’ve always loved Colorado.”

Jared put an arm around my shoulders. “You’re family now, we stick together. Plus, I reckon this fear of our beautiful unicorn goes deep and has spread to all Hives. That’s the word on the street anyhow.”

Even with his Australian accent prettying up that sentiment, it still wasn’t nice to hear. I groaned. What was wrong with being different? Oh yeah, I was the cure to the one thing that gave them power and strength. I would fear me too. But we still had no indication this was about my cure, no way to know if they had this knowledge yet. Shit, we hadn’t even known what I was when the Sanctum attacked.

Ryder touched his stomach then, those gorgeous silver eyes crinkling. I wondered if he was thinking about being shot up. “Okay, I think Kyle has a point. If we run, we would be completely in the dark, and knowledge is power. New plan is this: we lock down our intel, we have no more meetings unless we’re out in the open or have scanned for listening devices. We stay on Charlie’s ass—she’s to have two escorts at all times—and I will tell all of you individually the escape plans if shit goes down.” His eyes flashed to almost pure silver then. “And lastly, the Sanctum might be officially off our list to investigate, but the Quorum said nothing about Deliverance.” The gleam in his eye gave me chills. “You don’t try to kill me and my friends and get away with it. It’s time for Deliverance to learn a thing or two about ash.”

Kyle raised his hand. “Before you go Terminator on this one, I have a suggestion.”

Ryder glared at his best friend. “I want them to hurt. Charlie was there with us. A lot of ash died. They had one of us wired to a fucking cross.”

Uh oh, Ryder wasn’t much for cursing. I was genuinely scared.

Kyle’s relaxed features hardened right up, making him look less the fun-loving joker and more the scary-ass-sociopath. “Oh, don’t you worry, they will hurt, but do you think it’s a good idea to openly come at them? Last thing we need on top of our Quorum problems is the humans getting all pissy and freaking out on us.”

Good point. More enemies was not what any of us needed. As Kyle continued, some of the fun-loving was back on his face. Actually, he kind of looked like a kid in a candy shop. “Remember when Sam and I built that computer virus that took a couple cents out of a few thousand bank accounts to get us through that rough patch?”

Wait, what? How long had these guys been together? Damn. How many laws did they break? I wanted to tie Ryder up and make him tell me sexy-six stories for hours. Well, I wanted to tie Ryder up period. The stories would just be an awesome added bonus.

Ryder nodded. “But if you suggest stealing a few cents from Deliverance, I’m going to punch you. They nearly killed Markus. They did kill our ash brothers.”

Ummm, and they almost killed you! I wanted to shout, but I managed to hold it together.

Kyle’s smile was crazy big now. “Deliverance is backed by the richest church organization in the world. They have billions to fund their ash-vampire smear campaigns. I say we wipe them clean, make them hurt where they care the most.”

Ryder was smiling now too. “Bankrupt Deliverance? That’s the best thing you’ve said all day. They’ll go mental. So much of their power is in their money. It’s what allows them to develop weapons against us and recruit all of these braindead humans who are looking for some sort of purpose.”

Kyle shrugged. “It’s not going to be easy. I’m sure they have security like you wouldn’t believe, but we all know that there’s not a computer program made which Sam cannot hack.”

What, Sam was a genius hacker too? Geez, he was that kid I always hated in school, good at everything, hot as hell, and a complete enigma. Was I a little jealous? Hells yeah I was. I was the awkward girl who found most of my classes boring and had on occasion fallen asleep during math.

Markus shifted forward in his seat and I noticed he was moving gingerly, even though he looked completely healed. I guessed there was still some tenderness. “I like it. Where will we put the money?”

My hand shot up and I legit felt like I was in kindergarten. “We spread it out in even donations across the world’s ten neediest charities.”

Ryder’s eyes met mine and there was a moment—a “maybe he’s falling in love with me too” moment. I swallowed hard.

Kyle nudged me. “Aww, our little rookie unicorn is a Robin Hood.”

I rolled my eyes, but everyone nodded their agreement.

“We steal from the psycho ash murderers and give to people in need,” Ryder declared and we all did a fist bump.

“Maaaaate, Sam better get his arse back here, he’s missing all the fun,” Jared declared, drawling out the word mate, which sounded all kinds of hot in that accent. “Not to mention that we need him to double-check the virus before we send it out into the computer world.”

Ryder nodded. “He contacted me this morning. Somehow he heard about the Deliverance attack. Said he was having trouble catching fish anyway, so he’s coming back early.”

How long had he even been in Alaska? Forty-eight hours? I don’t know why, but this whole Sam thing was really on my mind. He was such a quiet guy and I felt like he was hiding something. Running off to fish in the winter … the things he said to me before he left—all of that stuff had every red flag going off in my mind. But he was part of the inner circle of the sexy six, which made me feel as if I had to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Only time would tell. For now I’d take Ryder’s lead on this.

 

The next few days sped by quickly, and it totally took me by surprise when Jayden mentioned it was only three days until Thanksgiving. Holy crap, I’d been in the Hive for a couple of months. It was pretty amazing how quickly one can adjust to a completely new world.

I guess we had been busy focusing on all of the people who hated me, and the list seemed to be growing. Thankfully, there had been no additional drama since our last locker-room meeting. We were laying low, doing our thing. I spent most of my time training and researching. Call-outs were at a minimum, which gave the enforcers and me plenty of time to try and search out our dirty-little-rodent mole, trace the paper trails of the Sanctum hit—behind the Quorum’s back—and also try and destroy the financial backing of Deliverance.

Sam had arrived back yesterday. Despite my constant barrage of questions, he was pretty much mute about his fishing trip. Yeah, I might have been trying to catch him out in a lie, but when a dude never says anything there’s no need for lies. Plus, I couldn’t badger him too much, he was being very helpful as he systematically catalogued the zillion and one bank accounts that Jermaine Winifred, the sneaky oil billionaire bastard leader of Deliverance, had funneled away everywhere. The guys wanted to make sure they hit all his accounts in one go. That way he had no time to stash any funds. No funds would make regrouping that much harder.

Nothing of investigative or revenge nature was done within Hive walls now. We’d taken to using encrypted computers up on the roof. Sunlight hated vamps, so it was our best weapon against the mole. For some reason we were all sure it was a vampire. Probably one on the Quorum, because they had the most money and power. More than enough to tempt Sanctum.

Today I was on the roof with Oliver and Kyle. I was never alone any longer after my “two guard assignment” started.

Ryder hadn’t been back in my bed yet, but somehow he was always part of the Charlie night watch shift. Four nights in a row now we had sat on my couch and watched movies, the sexual tension between us pretty much killing me. I wasn’t sure I could do it another night. Unfortunately, with two enforcers assigned to me at all times, having enough privacy for me to jump his bones was not readily available. I was also getting the gentleman vibe from him, like he was waiting for me to take the lead.

My dirty thoughts were cut off by a low voice.

“I think I’ve traced the entire network of his company and Deliverance.” As always when Sam spoke, we all paid attention. “I’m preparing the virus. We have our own set of numerous offshore accounts ready for the funds. The cash will land there before my program divides again. Then it’ll shoot between eighteen countries and multiple bank accounts, before wiring the cash to the charities we decided on. It would take them years and a supercomputer to follow the trail.”

We all grinned. Hells to the yeah. You shoot up my boyfriend, I take your Mercedes, your private jet, your fluffy dog, and whatever else your money buys.

I wasn’t sure what happened then, but all of a sudden Sam was staring at my eyes in an intense way. It was making me kind of nervous.

“What?” I asked, but he quickly shook his head.

My laptop screen beeped with an instant message from Jayden.

Tessa is here and she is hammered. I locked her in room 23, way in the back.

“Shit!” I popped to my feet and took off running. A quick glance back told me that Sam had remained seated, but Oliver and Kyle were already up and pounding across the track behind me.

“What’s wrong?” Oliver asked, sounding worried.

I flew through the double doors and down the hallway. “Tessa,” was all I said.

The sexy six knew enough about my current situation with her to know that she was a handful. What human wanted to be a bloodsucking, allergic-to-the-sun monster? Only my bestie.

I nearly slammed into a vamp exiting the feeding center while I was trying to enter. I managed to dodge the bloodsucker at the last minute, nodding at Jayden as I dashed past. He tossed me a key to the room. When we reached 23, I turned to my bodyguards.

“Give us a second, will ya? This chick needs some real talk and it’s not going to be pretty.”

They both nodded, and as I was about to turn the knob I heard her banging against the door.

“You can’t keep me in here, you blood-loving assholes! I want to see my best friend.” Her words were so slurred that I only understood them because of my years speaking drunk Tessa. I heard a crash, and with my heart in my throat I jerked open the door and she almost toppled onto me.

“Oh, Tess…” My hand flew to my mouth.

She swayed once, and then crumpled to the floor. Her normally pristine appearance was … that of a homeless lady—baggy sweatpants, a loose t-shirt, mismatched shoes, her hair in a ratted ball at the nape of her neck. She wasn’t wearing make-up and was superbly drunk.

Her eyes locked on mine. “You!” She pointed and tried to stand.

Her shirt lifted and I saw a peek of her abdomen. “Is that a tattoo!” I shrieked. “You hate tattoos. You said they were trashy.”

Tears rimmed Tessa’s hazel eyes. “They are trashy! This is what happens when your best friend becomes a hot immortal ash and your only friend options are Valarie! I’m a mess.”

She broke down.

Oh Tess. I knelt on the floor and tried not to wince at the reek of alcohol coming from my bestie. In moments like these, advanced ash senses were not good.

The second I opened my arms, she fell into them sobbing. No words needed to be said. I knew how abandoned by me she felt and I was feeling like the worst bitch of a friend. Not that it had been a party-time picnic for me, but I had met so many amazing people in here, and while I missed her like crazy, I should have known she would have a tougher time. Tessa’s father was the only good thing in her life. After he died when she was young, her mom didn’t pick up the slack. I was her family.

My chest tightened then. “I’m always here for you,” I choked. “Fuck the Hive and their rules. If you need me, then I’m there.”

I pulled her face from my chest and made her look at me. Her eyes burned a brilliant green, the brown tinge to her hazel almost completely faded away. Her lips quivered.

“Charlie, I don’t know who I am anymore,” she moaned. “You and Blake are the only things real to me.”

My body shook. Seeing someone I loved making such a desperate plea for help ripped open my insides. I pulled myself together, holding her firmly.

“You’re Tessa Grace McNair, my annoying best friend who generally wouldn’t be caught dead out in public like this.” I touched her hair and she laughed.

“I drank a bottle of tequila. Now the room is spinning.” She lay her head on my lap and I stroked her hair.

“How dare you get hammered without me.” I joked, and she laughed before promptly rolling over and vomiting. A blond curl bounced out of her ratty bun and I snagged it, pulling it back as she puked. Because what are friends for if not for times like these.

“Oh good,” I said, trying not to gag as I laughed. “The one thing your homeless look was missing was the smell of vomit.”

Despite the dry heaving, she laughed with me then. It warmed my heart to know that in a few days I would be stuck with my mom and this crazy chick for Thanksgiving. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I sat with her for longer than was usually allowed in feeding times, but eventually she had to leave the Hive. Jayden called my mom to pick her up and Oliver and Kyle helped me get her into the car.

My heart felt both overfilled and fractured at the sight of my beautiful mom. I used to see her at least once a week, and now we could go a month with nothing more than a few emails. It’s not as if I couldn’t arrange to meet up with her on rare, secret, occasions—like the upcoming Thanksgiving trip. Ryder would definitely figure out how to get around those rules. It’s just that it felt wrong to drag her into this dark world—people chasing me, trying to kill or kidnap my ass, knowing I was the cure and it was only going to get worse. How could I keep her close when she could easily become a possible victim or target in all of this?

I couldn’t. So distance was the key. But that didn’t make my heart ache any less.

Just before she left, my mom gave me a tight hug. “I can’t wait to see you for Thanksgiving. Remember to be there early so we can cook together.”

I nodded. We would have this day together, me, Mom, and Tessa. Just like old times, one last perfect holiday memory. It was so hard to release her; she smelled like home, like everything good and familiar, and I relished the close contact.

“Take care of Tessa, she’s just having a hard time adjusting to this.”

My mom nodded, and for the first time I noticed the strain in her face. “We all are, dear. I wish the rules were different. I wish the ash were allowed to come home. It’s not like you’re contagious.”

She kissed my cheek and got in her car, but what she said replayed in my head long after she drove off.

“Oliver, why don’t the humans let the ash live among them? Only the vampires risk spreading the virus, and surely many of the ash families would prefer they stayed with them rather than being killed off in the culling.”

Oliver gave me a side glance. “It wasn’t the humans that made that rule. I think the vampires like having us around to do all their dirty work. They declared that once the ash transformation took place, they were no longer classified as human and had to follow the rules of the vampire world. The humans were powerless to fight against it.”

My stomach threatened to bring up my lunch. WTAF! I thought there were no choices, that the humans wanted nothing to do with ash and that the culling was the best chance at survival. Were they seriously telling me it was the vampires keeping all ash from being with their families? From me possibly having my mom and Tessa permanently in my daily life, all so I could work for them, fight and kill for them? Oh hell no.

There’s only one word for the feelings that were rising up inside of me. Anarchy. Fuck the vampires and fuck the Hive. How many years had this been going on? Killing their offspring, using us as their foot soldiers? They kept us weak and scared, killing off most of us in the cullings and then making the survivors think they were lucky to be part of the Hive world. Mind-screwing bastards.

If the humans never rejected the ash, or relegated them to the Hives, then we should be joining forces with them, rising up to demand that the vampires stopped their barbaric practices. My head was aching with all of these thoughts and questions, the anger smashing inside until I felt like I was going to go crazy.

My two bodyguards remained with me while I watched my family drive off, back to the human part of Portland, back to normal, leaving me here in blood-soaked crazy town.