After talking with Tessa, I reluctantly pulled myself from her side and returned to being an ash. I got my bunk assignment from the receptionist. I was feeling all kinds of tired after this shit storm, and was pleased to find out that ashes still slept. At least I might have an escape from my newly discovered life during sleep. The receptionist had passed on a message from Jose, telling me how to find my room. Apparently I now had no escort. Which was fine with me. I found the right hallway no problem, level forty-four, room twelve. My card swiped open the door, and after seeing the room was empty, I collapsed into what was hopefully my bed and passed out.

A scratching, thud noise had my eyes flying open. Instinct pushed me to sit bolt upright, frantic.

Standing on the other side of the room was a gorgeous, tall, buff guy with dark espresso skin. We locked gazes for a few extended moments. I was awake enough then to hate on him a little for his ridiculously long eyelashes – wasted on a man, for sure – before deciding to speak and break the silence.

“Hi,” I squeaked. I should have realized I’d be sharing a room with a guy. There were no girl ashes.

He didn’t hesitate to cross the room and extend his hand. “I’m Jayden, hottest chocolate ash up in this bitch.” He did a flamboyant hand gesture for added measure and I cracked a smile. I had impeccable gaydar, which was definitely not required with Jayden. I instantly liked him and realized that those eyelashes were probably very much appreciated by this particular guy.

Shaking his hand, I introduced myself. “I’m Charlie.”

“Girl, you have the entire Hive in a frenzy. Female ash. Crazy stuff.”

I cleared my throat. I was thirsty and not for water. “Yeah, well, no one is more surprised than me.”

He stiffened then, his rippling muscles freezing in place. “Your eyes look a little hungry.”

Breaking his statue-like pose, he crossed the small room and opened a little refrigerator before tossing me a cold bottle of blood. “It takes a while to get the guts to feed from a human. I’m assuming you still like blood of the bottled variety.”

I caught the bottle midair and nodded, wasting no time popping my fangs into the lid. I was able to contain my excitement better. It wasn’t that the blood was less orgasmic – it was all kinds of amazing – but I was gaining a little control over my reactions.

“Thanks.”

He nodded and took a seat across from me on his bed. Our room was tiny. Like closet small.

“Wow, they really roll out the red carpet for us, huh?” I gestured to the room, which held two beds, the refrigerator, and a door to what I assumed was an adjoining bathroom.

Jayden smiled. “This is shitty temp housing for the newbies. If we survive the culling, we get proper cribs.”

My face went slack. Okay, yes, I had heard rumors, but here it was confirmed, the culling. Defined in the Webster’s dictionary as “Killing a bunch of motherfuckers off.”

Jayden noticed my shock. “Oh my God, honey. They didn’t tell you?”

They hadn’t told me shit, but I wasn’t going to tell him that yet. He moved and sat next to me, his warmth strangely comforting. I barely knew this guy, but for some reason I was getting legit and genuine vibes off him. There was a sense of nurturing about him, and that made me trust him.

“Tell me everything about this culling,” I said, letting my eyes fall on his pretty face.

His huge arms nearly ripped the seams of his shirt as he shifted back to lean on them. He cleared his throat. “Should have known those bastards would keep you in the dark. Look, I really don’t want to be the one to tell you this. Basically, vampire-human sexual relations are illegal, so we technically shouldn’t be allowed to live at all.”

That much I did know. And something told me the worst news was still to come. Come on, don’t draw it out. Hit me with it.

“But the vamps allow a small number of ash to integrate into the Hive each year. In two weeks there will be a culling … a series of fights to the death, all of which takes place over seven days. First we fight individually, and then when the initial weak are weeded out, it moves on to team fights. All of the new ash must fight, and if you survive, you get to become a member of the Hive. Yay.” He ended the last part with fake bravado.

I released the breath I had been holding. Well, I’ll be damned, the rumors were true.

Jayden went on: “There’re lots of rules and traditions that go along with it. There’re sponsors that pay for training, and a ranking system that says whether or not you fight first or last, and who you’ll team with if you make it that far. All of which can be the difference between life and death. You might be happy to know that rumor has it you caught the eye of Lucas. He’s on the Quorum. I haven’t figured out yet if…”

He trailed off and I was wondering more about who the hell this Lucas was. How many freakin’ vamps had I encountered in my bloodthirsty crazed days here?

My stomach growled. Odd. I didn’t feel thirsty, it was actual hunger that panged me. This felt much more like my old days of being a food whore.

Jayden’s smile quirked even higher. “Believe it or not, we still need to eat one human food meal a day, especially when healing.” He jumped up. “How you doing with this? Wanna curl up and die or are you ready to give this a try?” Those ash eyes sparkled at me. “The way I see it, you have two options right now: try to commit suicide, or come grab some food with me.” There was barely any silver in the black of his eyes. “I know which option I’d prefer. I’m not much for blood on my clothes, and I would hate to clean up your dead ass.”

I laughed, an actual real laugh. If I did need to be in this shithole and fight for my life, I might as well keep my spirits up.

“Food,” I said, and stood. “I’m not one for giving up. I’m the life and lemons sort. As long as there is tequila too.”

“Amen to that, sister.”

I hadn’t been kidding, I was not one to give up. I would push all the information down to my deep dark place and pull it up later when needed.

After taking a quick shower and slipping into a new jumpsuit – I had like ten #46 suits in my side of the box cupboard – we left our room and went down a long hallway. I memorized the route as we pushed through two double doors and into a huge cafeteria. As we stepped inside, the noise hit me first, followed closely by the multitude of scents. My senses were kicking into overdrive, and it actually took me several long moments to deal with the overwhelming stimulation to my body, filtering it all out, compartmentalizing so I didn’t start freaking out.

There must have been over a thousand ashes in there. And at some point after my entrance, the noise started filtering away, until every single one of them had stopped what they were doing and was staring at me.

Holy cracking ash babies. I was frozen in the doorway. Unable to move, but at least finally not drowning in the sea of sensations.

Jayden broke the tension by giving me a push forward. “Hurry, or all the good food will be gone.” His tone was all casual and relaxed, despite the fact there were still thousands of eyes locked on us. Jayden was one cool gay dude.

I took a tentative step into the room. My olfactory sense was smashing me with information, like it knew somehow how to catalogue the smells. I knew one thing for sure: they were all ashes. I scanned the crowd, trying not to linger too long on any one group. There were scary faces in here. But all beautiful. It’s like any human or offspring affected by the vampire virus were smoothed out or something. All flaws just kind of sculpted away. Don’t get me wrong, each still had completely individual features, all unique, but the flaws were non-existent.

I took a tentative step after Jayden, and it was then my eyes locked onto a familiar dark head. Ryder. He was sitting on the left side of the large cafeteria-style room with a group of big, badass-looking ashes. I noted that his table seemed a little different from the others. They were sat further apart than the rest of the tables; there were six of them, silently watching me; they all wore black clothing, army style, and all had identical cold and menacing expressions. They were the sort of ashes I would never want to find myself in a dark alley with. Ryder was no exception, except … there was just something else a little more about him. Or maybe I was actually developing some sort of weird Stockholm syndrome since he had saved my ass, twice.

Deciding there was no place in this room to act like a weak ash, especially since the newest culling participants would be looking for kinks in my armor, I just jutted my chin high, showing no fear. I thought I saw a flash of something in Ryder’s eyes, but all he did was give me the slightest of nods. I tore my eyes away and continued to follow Jayden into the room. Then, just like that, everyone went back to what they were doing.

The food was set up in a low row of serving trays. Jayden hurried along first, and I followed slower, grabbing a few bits before settling on a black bean burrito. Hurrying to catch up with my roommate, I noticed his plate and I arched an eyebrow at him.

“Christ, are you feeding the entire Hive?”

His plate was piled high with hummus, chocolate cake, nachos, bacon – everything was just on top of the other and smashed together in some disgusting concoction of flavors.

Jayden laughed, his black eyes twinkling. “I like you.” He hip bumped me.

We found our way to a section in the back that was marked off behind a velvet rope.

“What’s with the special seating?” I asked, sitting down.

Jayden glanced back at the main part of the room. A serious look came over his face. “No one wants to become friends with us until they know who is going to survive.”

Right. Awesome. I suddenly wasn’t hungry. Depression settled over me like a thick blanket.

“You don’t have anything to worry about,” he said. “The shit you pulled with Ryder, you’re probably a top pick.”

Ryder … was he talking about me breaking his ankle? How was that special? All new ash were strong, weren’t they?

“Top pick?” I mused aloud.

He popped a piece of bacon in his mouth and moaned. I gave him an odd look.

“Like I said in the room, the night before the culling starts we get ranked. The top picks fight less. They get to sit out a lot, and some of them only fight once or twice before the team event. The vamps like the weak to get killed off first.”

“Well, shit, that’s depressing.” I took a bite of my burrito. A flavor explosion played over my tongue and I moaned. He burst out laughing at my expression.

“Your taste buds are enhanced. Every meal is like sex in your mouth,” he told me.

Someone slammed down their tray across the table, glaring at us. “Quit acting like best friends,” the new guy spat. “You’re all going to be at each others’ throats in two weeks.”

Jayden threw a chip at him as my stomach sank. “Calm down, meathead,” he said.

Maybe this new guy was right, I shouldn’t be making friends. I glanced at Jayden and he smiled. Shit. Too late. I kinda already went and liked my roomie. I’d just have to worry about it if and when Jayden and I fought. For now, Jayden and I were on the same team.

I ate half of my burrito. The conversations had dried up in this section of the ash hall. Mostly everyone just stuck to themselves and threw around lots of glares. After thirty minutes of this, I dropped my plate onto the return tray and said goodbye to Jayden. I needed some alone time, and if I remembered robot Jose’s tour correctly, he had said the roof had a jogging track.

My room hadn’t had any jogging clothes, just the jumpsuits, so I decided to just head up and hope for the best. Luckily, as I made my way upstairs, there was a supply room just outside the gym and running area. A female vampire, who was not very friendly at all, hooked me up with some running shoes and clothes. Probably didn’t want to get attached to an ash who was most likely going to be killed in the first round of the culling. Or she was a bitch. Either one.

Fifteen minutes later I was running on top of the world. Sixty stories in the air, it was glorious. The freezing wind slid through my hair and my feet pounded on the track. I could see the whole city from up here! The Columbia River divided Oregon from Washington. I had officially found my new favorite place. If my entire world had to fall apart, then this was something in the glass half full part of my life now. I pushed harder into the run in awe of my new speed and strength. As I angled myself for the turn, someone whipped by me on my left.

“Number forty-six…” Ryder’s voice sailed by as he blurred past. He was doing the seamless graceful thing, his movements controlled and strong.

Asshole was still calling me number forty-six. I picked up my speed, my lungs increasing as my legs blurred underneath me. What can I say? I was competitive. As I caught up to him, I was assaulted by the beautiful network of muscles that made up his back. He was wearing a tank, but I still had plenty to perv on. Pushing myself harder, I grinned as I stepped in beside him, matching pace. Yes! I was an unicorn-ash-badass.

Ryder side-glanced at me.

“Getting slow, ash,” I said.

At first his expression didn’t change, but then, as he leaned forward a little and took off at some sort of super speed, I swear the slightest of smiles lifted his lips. Dammit! I was never going to catch him now, so I decided to slow my pace so I wouldn’t fall on my face. No reason to give him any more reason to think I was a clumsy idiot.

As we did another round of the track, I noticed a newcomer was standing next to one of bench chairs, far back under the cover, out of the light. It was a gorgeous vampire with bright blond hair and fair skin. He had not been on the track when I started, but there was no missing him now in his very white trench coat. He was watching me, gaze locked on with intensity, and I found my pace slowing as my curiosity was piqued. He was tall and well-built, his distinct silver vampire eyes swirling as they continued to track my movements. He was momentarily distracted when Ryder stopped in front of him and gave a military salute. Words were exchanged; their demeanor was friendlyish. Then the vampire pointed at me. Oh shit. I stopped about twenty yards away, cautious as the blond started to wave me over. Ryder spared me a quick glance before turning his back and taking off down the track again.

This guy looked about twenty-five and was watching me with an intensity that made me swallow hard.

I couldn’t exactly ignore him. The vamps ran this world, so even though I really didn’t need any new drama in my first real day in the Hive, I found myself slowly crossing the outer lanes, stopping an arm’s distance away.

“Hi,” I said.

The vampire gave me what seemed like a genuine smile. “Hello, Charlene. May I call you Charlene?”

Hell no, you’re not my mom. “Sure.” I needed to play nice. I had no friends here.

He extended his hand. “I’m Lucas Belcroft.”

Lucas. This was the dude Jayden had said was interested in me. Looks like I was about to find out why. He held out a hand for me shake. I hesitated briefly, but the sense of otherness which kind of freaked me out about vampires was not as strong with Lucas. I took his strong, firm hand, and instead of repulsion I was met with a light flutter in my stomach. I let go as soon as Lucas’s silver eyes began to swirl.

“I wanted to make your acquaintance for many reasons. And I am reaching out as a member of the Quorum, the vampire council. We are all very intrigued by you.”

Yeah, no shit. Female ash. Didn’t happen. Got the freakin’ memo loud and clear. “Yeah, I’m a little shocked myself.” I noticed Ryder was eyeing us while running.

Lucas’ eyes dropped to my chest for a fraction of a second, but then rested on my lips. Men, vamps or ash, were all the same. “We have been in discussions since you were … discovered. The rules and traditions stand for a reason, and there are no exceptions. You do have to participate in the culling, but I will do everything in my power to make sure you survive.”

There was a possessiveness in his voice. Homeboy wanted this ash-unicorn bad, for what I didn’t know. I was struck with an uncomfortable thought then, one which I really should have had earlier but there had been already quite a bit going on in my head.

My father was a vampire.

Not John, the soldier Mom spoke of, who had bravely saved his men from a landmine. Nope, I had been sired by a virus-infected bloodsucker. Crap! What if Lucas was my dad? That would be super weird, because he was really hot and I had been checking him out. Note to self: no more checking out vampires until I knew which one was my daddy-o.

Seemed I needed to have a chat with my mom. I wasn’t sure if that was allowed or not, but I was damn sure asking the first chance I got. I focused on Lucas again.

“And why would you want me to survive?”

He smiled again. Dude was quite cheery for the undead. “I’m your sponsor. We all want our initiates to survive.”

Okay, not exactly the detailed answer I was looking for, but it sounded like the sponsor thing was set. I wondered how it was decided. Did they just draw names out of a hat, or had this Lucas specifically requested me?

“Well … thanks.” What the hell else was I supposed to say? He wasn’t breathing or moving much and it was starting to freak me out.

“Well, I just wanted to introduce myself. Enjoy your run. Stay in shape, it will help with the training.” Then he left, white coat trailing behind him. It was sort of abrupt, his departure, but I was okay with that.

After this weirdness I didn’t feel much like running, unless it was back to my mom’s and away from the Hive. I took one last glance at the perfection that was Ryder and left to go back to my room. After showering and changing into a new jumpsuit – not a lot of options in here – I came out to find Jayden suited up and sitting on the bed lacing his sneakers.

“It’s training time. You should be paired with a trainer by now, right?” My roommate was nice. He was trying to help me through this, even knowing we might have to fight each other. The thought of having to kill him to survive made me sick.

“Right,” I lied. Lucas hadn’t mentioned a trainer.

Suddenly Jayden inhaled and his eyes did that weird little pulse thing. I froze. That freaky shit needed to stop.

Jayden swallowed. “Can I tell you something?” He was practically salivating.

Fear knotted my belly. I could only nod, my high ponytail bobbing up and down.

He paused. “There’s something about you. Your blood, your smell, it’s … irresistible.”

What the…? “That’s not normal?” I squeaked.

His eyes pulsed again and he shook his head. “No. Ashes don’t feed on other ashes, even ones like me that like boys.”

I laughed. “Well, maybe it’s because I’m the first female. The boys want my special blood.” I winked.

He swallowed hard. “No, it’s more than that. I just thought you should know. Watch your back. Anyone with less self-discipline is going to have a hard time restraining themselves.” He stood suddenly and crossed the room to the fridge, whipping out a bottle of blood and chugging it in one fast go.

Well, shit. Couldn’t a girl catch a break?

I followed Jayden through the barrage of halls and thoroughfares. The Hive was a lot like the way I pictured an anthill, tunnels zigzagging through the building and down into the ground. There were these huge industrial sized elevators at the end of each corridor which zoomed up and down the levels.

Training was on sublevel eight, which meant we were going underground.

There were five other ash in the elevator with us; they varied in size and shape. We all looked to be in our early twenties, the prime time for the ash gene to be triggered and the change to occur. No one spoke. Jayden nudged my arm in a comforting manner, but even he was quiet for once. When we were on the right level, it was a simple matter of traversing along the hall to reach the large double doors at the end.

My heart was pretty much lodged in my throat as I tried to imagine what the hell this training was going to entail. The males around me looked like they were being marched to the executioner or something.

I had so many unanswered questions. I had never much been interested in the Hive or any of its inhabitants, even before the attack. There were classes in school on the virus and the resulting vampires. It had been a long time since the very first case, and the human race was used to the bloodsuckers now; they were an integrated part of our history. But I purposely avoided those high school and college subjects. What did I care about the social structure of the Hive? Or the hierarchy of a race I was determined to avoid.

Fate, however, seemed to have a different plan for me, and now it was time to start information gathering. “Tell me about this Quorum,” I said to Jayden, startling him out of whatever eye-screw he was trying to do with a vampire who’d crossed paths with us. Flirt.

He turned those eyes with their sinfully long lashes on to me. “Girl, you are so fucked, and not in the fun way. You don’t know about the Quorum?”

I didn’t say anything, just kept my eyes locked on him and let my annoyance seep out. He held up both hands. “Got it, you’re a badass. Okay, so the Quorum is the council of vampires which lead the Hive and each Hive has their own Quorum. They are the strongest members of the ten houses.”

I did remember hearing about this. It had been a crazy time when the first strains of the virus emerged. Humans were falling ill, some dying and others becoming vampires. To save the population, the world leaders banded together, and went on a mass culling. They wiped out the infected animals and humans, but a small group of vampires managed to escape and hide away. They became the ten Originals. The founding lineage behind each clan, discretely turning humans and fathering ash.

“Are they still alive, the Originals?” I asked.

Jayden shook his head. “None of the Originals survived the first war with humans, but their lines live on. Each of the vampires, and ash, fall under one of the ten groups. A DNA test can tell which group you’re in, but they don’t waste money on that until you survive the culling. Each group has an elder vampire which leads, maintains order, and disciplines. These ten form the Quorum. Plus the token ash.”

“Token ash?” I was surprised about this.

Jayden’s shit-eating grin increased. “Are you telling me that the most delectable, scrumptious piece of ash you’ll ever lay your eyes on sat by your bedside for two days while you were all blood-crazed, and you didn’t even go so far as to find out a single thing about him?”

I let out a breath. He had to be talking about Ryder. “Ryder is the ash representative on the Quorum?”

“Technically he is. Ryder heads up the enforcers, and he is the scariest, sexiest, piece of—”

“I get the point,” I interrupted him. And I also seconded his point, but one couldn’t forget that he’d electrocuted, shoved, and dismissed me on more than one occasion. Ryder might be a badass, but he was also mainly just an ass.

“Right, well, he is as strong, fast, and lethal as a full-blooded vampire. Some say he might be a direct descendant of an Original, not a watered down mutt like us. He is feared and respected. He was an automatic vote for the ash Quorum seat. Although I heard he almost never bothers to go to meetings. Too busy keeping the streets safe from us crazy ashes.”

That’s what he’d been doing that night in the club, keeping humans safe. Kind of raised my opinion of him a little.

“Number forty-six…”

It took me a few moments to realize the high-pitched voice was calling my number. I swiveled to see a female vampire striding with our group along the hall and toward the training facility.

She had long, very dark red hair. It was dead straight and rested against the curve of her butt. Her eyes were silver of course, and she had them heavily lined in kohl, which only enhanced the elfin beauty of her fine features.

“Yes…” I said with caution. I wasn’t really keen on being separated out from Jayden right now.

“You have a visitor in the Quorum chambers. This is not normally allowed before the culling, but Lucas … he wanted an exception to be made for you today.” Her voice held a tinge of something … sort of a mix of anger and jealousy.

My eyes flicked across to Jayden, who shrugged as if to say “No idea, babe.” Was my mom here? Maybe Tessa? With a flick of her head, the vamp chick spun on her heels and started to stride the other way. She wasn’t tall, but she moved preternaturally fast, and I hurried to catch up. There was no small talk as we crossed the hall and took the elevator even deeper into the underground. Red wasn’t really clueing me in on where these Quorum chambers were, but I swear the dial read Sub20. We were deep underground, and I was going to have to work really hard to not think about the amount of rock which was above me.

Stepping off, the halls in this area were lit with fire lanterns up high in the smooth, rock walls.

“Stay close,” Red told me, before marching off again.

I was starting to get nervous. I should have stopped for a second and wondered if her words were truthful before just blindly following her down here. For all I knew, she was here to kill me and wanted to go somewhere a little less populated. Jayden hadn’t seemed nervous or worried by her, but he was new to the Hive too, and probably didn’t understand the politics that well.

I had just about convinced myself that she was leading me toward a fire-breathing dragon, or a pack of pissed-off vampires who would eat the flesh from my bones while I was alive, when she paused outside a large, ornate double door. There was an emblem engraved into the door, and words written beneath, but in no language I’d seen. Maybe some type of secret vamp language.

Red seemed to be waiting for something. Finally, she tapped out a weird pattern and the doors silently slid open.

“They’re waiting for you,” she cryptically said, before fading off into the dimly lit tunnel.

Great…

I placed my hand against the cool stone, and taking a few fortifying breaths, shoving the door back with a hard push. If I was going down, I wouldn’t cower out here, I’d march in with my head held high and confidence in my ash eyes. Never let them see your fear, right?

It took me a few seconds to adjust to the brighter room. More fire lanterns were scattered around. Maybe it was hard to get electricity to run down here. There was also a massive fireplace with a heavy mantel, which had a huge fire burning inside. The room was circular, and in the center stood a heavy wooden table. It looked to have been carved from the largest tree in existence, because it was a single piece spanning at least twenty feet in diameter.

The room appeared to be empty, no dragons or gang of crazy vampires, or so I thought until a familiar head of very blond hair came into view.

My feet were moving, stray tears rimming my eyelids as I dashed across the space.

“Mom!” I threw myself at her, forgetting for a moment that she was much more breakable than I was.

She held me tightly, no hesitation in her grip. It was the same as it had always been. Unconditional love.

She still smelled like lilac and spearmint, her favorite gum flavor, and despite the fact that I had to push down my urges when I was this close to her neck, I managed to control my desires and just enjoy having my mom here.

I pulled back, and we both sank into one of the large chairs. I rested against the heavy wooden back, which was intricately carved with an array of roses, that towered high into the air.

“How are you here?” I couldn’t tear my eyes from her, a little slice of normal in the last few crazy days of my life. I had no idea how much I needed this. Seeing Tessa was one thing, but my mom was everything.

“I needed to speak with you, sweetheart.” Her face was serious; I didn’t like it. “I have to explain why I never spoke to you of this. But I didn’t want you blindsided during the culling.” Her voice wavered a little on that, but she plowed ahead. “You never were very interested in this world, no matter how many times I tried to broach it with you. There are so many things you don’t know, but the first one is that I never married the man in the war photo, John. He was just a boyfriend, and for a long time I thought he was your true father because girl ash don’t exist.”

I leaned forward in my chair, wondering where this story was going.

“I don’t like to speak ill of the dead, but John was an alcoholic, and abusive.” She looked down timidly at her hands.

Oh hell no. With that one sentence, part of my world and soul came crashing down. That asshole in the photo that I had always adored and loved had hurt my mother.

She went on: “When he was deployed in the war I thought it was a good clean break-away for us. I would write him a letter and end things. We were intimate the night before he left, and afterwards he hit me again. This time there was no alcohol. This time his excuses fell on deaf ears. I was done with being a victim.”

Okay, TMI. But still, go mom.

“The next day he was deployed and it was the perfect time to make the break. I felt so free, so glad to be out of that destructive relationship. Of course, in an ironic twist of fate, it was that very night I almost lost my life and all sense of freedom with it.” Her brows drew together, a shine of tears at the memory glistened in her brown eyes. “On my way home from class I was attacked by a rogue vampire. Rogues were a little more common back then. The enforcers weren’t quite as concerned about public opinion.”

Even though all of this had happened a long time ago, my breath still caught in my throat. How was she still alive?

“What happened?”

Those brown eyes softened then, as if some wonderful memory had superseded the horror of her attack. “Carter happened. He came out of nowhere and saved me. He fought the vampire, and despite killing him, ended up quite injured himself.” She brushed back her mess of hair. “I couldn’t leave him like that, no matter what the rules said, so I took him home and patched him up.”

Mom was a nurse, and would never ignore the plea of an injured person. What was she talking about rules though?

“Carter was so different than any man I ever knew. He was gentle with me. Caring.”

Shit, I was starting to see where this was going.

She finished in her soft voice. “That night, passion was high, and, well, you know how these things go.”

TMI times two. Thanks, Mom.

“Carter and I were inseparable for the next few days, and I realized that for the first time I was in love. We’d already broken so many rules. What was one more?”

The pieces sort of came together for me then. What human could have fought off a vampire and just ended up injured? None. So that meant…

“Mom, are you saying…?”

She nodded. “Carter was a vampire.”

Holy shit. Holy, holy shit. Well, at least I knew my father wasn’t Lucas. ‘Cause that would have been whacked out.

I heard a sniffle and knew this story hadn’t been easy for my mom to share with me. But I was really glad she had. I reached for her hand.

“It’s okay. I’m so sorry you were with the Army asshole. I’m actually more grateful to know that my father is a vampire than an abusive drunk.”

Tears sparkled in her eyes.

“When I fell pregnant, I wasn’t sure whose it was. Carter wasn’t able to visit me often. He said some internal politics were shaking up the Hive and he might need to go into hiding. He was special in the vampire world but he never told me why. Then I found out it was a girl and I knew you were John’s daughter. I told Carter and he promised to be around either way, but then one day … I never heard from him again. Days after this, I got a letter from the Army saying John died in battle and, well … I knew that it was just going to be you and me.”

One of those tears slid down her cheek. Shit, this was heartbreaking. Carter was almost as big an asshole as Army dude. Who left a woman he loved, even if she was pregnant with another guy’s baby? It wasn’t like she cheated on him or anything.

“He’s probably dead,” I stated.

But my mother shook her head, her blond hair rippling in the firelights. “No.”

She said that with such surety. There was definitely something else she wasn’t telling me. Before I could press her harder, she reached forward and tucked a chunk of my hair behind my ear. For a second the closeness between us and the distinct and delicious smell of her blood distracted me. She pressed that same hand to my cheek, and I knew she was about to drop something else big on me.

“Carter is not dead. Every year on Christmas, since your birth, I get ten thousand dollars wired to my bank account.”

I blinked a few times, trying to remember if there had ever been any indication of these secrets that littered my mom’s life. How could you know and love a person so much, and yet not really know them at all?

“Forgive me for not telling you all of this,” she choked out.

“Mom, of course I forgive you. It’s okay.” Yeah, it wasn’t really okay, she’d kind of effed-up my world, but there was no point mentioning that now. The past couldn’t be changed and I would never stop loving her. We hugged for a long time before I finally pulled away. She looked into my eyes and chuckled.

“You have his eyes now. The crazy dancing green-silver.”

That was interesting. I was already curious about the difference in my eyes to the other ash, so much more silver. And she was right, this weird dancing green, like an arc of electricity, zagged through it.

My mom leaned in very close. “We could run away. I could give you blood. I don’t want you going through the culling.”

My heart pinched at her words, her so very tempting words. But I knew there was no way. I needed blood six times a day. Not to mention my crazy eyes. Humans would flip the hell out and my mom would die of blood loss. “Mom, that’s sweet, but I don’t think we would last very long on the run.”

I had already scoped the plump throbbing vein in her neck more than once. My mom sighed. “Well, this Lucas person seems to care about you. He sought me out and snuck me in here to see you.” She raised an eyebrow. “Maybe you could use your female gifts to make sure he takes care of you.”

Oh my God. She did not just said that. “Female gifts? Are you whoring me out?”

She laughed, and just like that some of the heavy emotional stuff lifted and we were back to making jokes. “I’m saying he’s in a place of power and you’re a good looking young lady.”

I plugged my ears. “La la la. Oh my God, Mom.”

She shrugged. “That’s all I got. Those were the only two plans I had.” Her voice shook.

I sat up straighter and grasped her hands in a strong grip. “Well, I have a plan.”

She looked hopeful.

“I’m going to get some big, buff, scary looking ash to teach me how to be a badass, murdering fighter, and I’m going to survive the culling with my own two hands.”

My mom smiled weakly as if she didn’t believe that was possible. Great. Team Charlie, party of one. A knock at the door jarred us from the moment. The stone barrier swung open. Red was back. Her graceful catlike poise had me instinctively leaning in front of my mother in a protective gesture. Home-girl looked ready to pounce at any moment.

“Number forty-six, your time is up. The human must leave the Hive now. No more visitors until after the culling, when you have earned the right, like everyone else.” She practically spat out the last words.

My mother and I shared a look. Bitch. And the next person to call me number forty-six was getting a fat lip.

I hugged my mom and took one last sniff of her lilac and spearmint scent. If I closed my eyes I could almost pretend for a moment I was back home. Then, with my heart heavy and my eyes aching, I stood and followed Red. I turned back to meet my mom’s eyes one more time, as another vampire appeared out of nowhere to escort her away.

I struggled to get my emotions under control the entire time I followed Red. Vamp-bitch dropped me back off at the double doors on level eight, the training room. The only sound in the space was her high heels clicking off back down the hallway. I took a moment to gather myself, to focus.

Training. Right. I was going to train to fight for my life. Everything about this felt wrong. One moment I was an upstanding human citizen and the next I was being booted to bloodsucker-ville to fend for my life. Effed up. Well, maybe I wasn’t exactly upstanding, but I wasn’t a complete drain on society. Now I felt discarded. Where the hell were the police? Couldn’t I call 911 and get bailed out of this? Hah! Yeah right. I was infected, no one wanted me.

“Are you going to stand out here all day or do you actually plan on learning something.”

I tried not to jump as Ryder’s deep voice broke through my thoughts. Dammit, he’d snuck up on me again. I turned to glare at him, startled to see he was with another ash, tall and pale with short, military-style dark blond hair. God these men were gorgeous. I wasn’t sure how long my hormones could be stemmed here and have no release. My fear and distrust used to keep the interest at bay, but I was slowly becoming desensitized to their freak ways and now only seemed to zero in on their hotness. Plus, I was starting to see that blaming an entire race for the actions of two assholes, was pretty darn unfair.

When I didn’t answer, Ryder introduced blondie. “This is Zeke, your trainer.”

I scanned Zeke up and down. He looked buff, like he might be a deadly weapon, but nothing like Ryder. “Hi, I’m number forty-six.” I shook his hand, giving Ryder a bright smile. Laced with venom of course.

The corners of Ryder’s lips curled slightly.

Zeke nodded as he released my hand. “Do you have any training at all?”

I stood taller. “Yes, women’s self-defense, shooting range, and I’m a runner.”

Zeke huffed as if that was nothing. “Well then, let’s see what you got.”

He opened the double doors and I was assaulted by the smell of leather, blood, and sweat. For the first time, the noises from within were audible. The room was soundproofed. There was a lot of grunting going on, especially as most of the ash were being slammed onto the mats that littered the open gym floor. Looking up, there were huge exposed rafters and a forty-foot ceiling. Surrounding the fight-zone were a few spectators sitting in bleachers suspended above the gym on some upper floor viewing area. Great, a crowd.

I followed Zeke to an open area. Ryder took a spot leaning against the wall to watch.

Zeke planted his big frame in front of me. “Okay, attack.”

“Like, for real?” I scratched my arm nervously. Damn, he wasted no time.

“Like, totally for real,” he said in a valley girl voice. Asshole. I put my hands in front of me in a boxer’s stance and heard Ryder and a few of the other trainers chuckle behind me. Bastards, all of them.

I decided to act like the airhead they clearly thought I was, stumbling forward and pretending I was going to clock Zeke in the face. He acted as I expected – his arms lifted to block my pathetic attempts at a swing. Then, instead of throwing the punch, I whipped my leg up and kneed him in the groin, connecting solidly. The air whooshed out of him. This was followed by a groan as he curled in on himself.

I forced myself not to smile, but that was perfect. And would hopefully teach him not to treat me like a Barbie doll. My celebration was short-lived though. He recovered quicker than I expected and threw himself forward, taking me down to the ground.

Shit. Being underneath your attacker was the worst possible position to be in. He straddled me, his bulk securing my limbs, and in seconds he had an elbow to my throat. I squirmed, trying to breathe. Ash needed to breathe or they died, right? I tried to pull both knees up, but he was too strong.

As I struggled, he continued to stare at me, those black eyes piercing and strangely empty. “You’re dead,” he said. “If this were the culling, you’d have been gone in five seconds.”

He released my neck and I rolled over gasping and coughing. I popped up quickly and placed my hands up again, sucking in huge lungfuls of air. Mothereffer was going down.

“Yes!” Zeke said. “Use anger, come on. Show me what you’ve got!”

Once I managed to breathe freely again, I was up and bouncing on the tips of my feet, trying to remember that I was an ash. I was stronger and faster than my human self. With a battle cry I ran at him, spinning and delivering a roundhouse kick to the side of his head. He fell backward, but used his long legs to snake out and trip me.

I landed on my right elbow, but was able to prop myself up before he could pounce on me again. He was too big and strong; I couldn’t allow him to take me to the ground. I kicked out and smashed him in the stomach with my heel. He winced as I jumped back up into standing position.

“She’s scrappy,” Ryder called out to Zeke. Damn straight. Scrappy Charlie. Bring it on, you beautiful bastard.

Zeke lifted a brow at Ryder. “She’d scrappy, but also slow and weak.”

Before I could track his movements, his arm snaked out lightning-quick and karate-chopped me in the throat. I bent over gasping as his knee came out of nowhere and cracked me in the skull. Then it was lights out.