AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She felt a quickening down both sides of her back and instinctively knew she felt what would one day be her wing-locks, although Kerrick had assured her she probably wouldn’t be able to mount wings for at least a year.
A moment more and three death vamps, all in full-mount glossy black wings, blurred into the long-empty barracks.
Alison folded to a distant corner of the ceiling. She couldn’t fly yet, but she could levitate.
At first the pretty-boys were confused, but when they saw her location, they launched as one. She was unsure of her ability to fight them all, so without dwelling on the why of it too much she folded directly to the Cave, straight into the middle of the room. Fortunately, three of the warriors were present—Luken, Medichi, and Santiago.
She called out, “Death vamps,” in a loud voice. She took up her position, assuming the warrior’s stance, legs apart, hands together on the leather-wrapped grip, sword upright.
Surprise registered first, then a quick gathering of wits and weapons.
A few seconds later, as the death vamps followed her trace, she simply moved out of the way and let the men get down to business.
The battle lasted only a matter of seconds. Three seasoned powerful warriors against three pretty-boys gave the death vampires odds of about a million-to-one they’d live.
They didn’t.
Medichi called Central for cleanup.
Alison stood nearby, shaking. She was officially AWOL, and though she should return and even prepared to fold, Medichi caught her arm and shook his head. “Stay, ascender Wells. Tell us what happened. My guess is you’ll be in danger if you return.”
She nodded because she suspected he was right. Who knew what waited for her back at the barracks? She had been assured that once she ascended the attacks would end. Both Kerrick and Endelle had been wrong.
She related that she’d stayed behind to be alone for a while. She touched her stomach absently. “Then I got that feeling, that creepy sensation that a spider was on my neck.”
All three warriors grumbled their understanding.
“The next thing I knew, there they were.”
“In the barracks?” Medichi cried. “Armed?”
“And in full-mount. I knew I couldn’t fight them myself and I didn’t know what else to do so I folded here. I was afraid if I led them anywhere else on the base I’d be putting a lot of women in jeopardy. I’m so sorry.”
“Goddammit, don’t apologize,” Medichi cried. “You did the right thing, but shit this is so f**ked up. Death vamps hunting down an ascender at a training facility…”
Alison frowned. “So I’m right in that they shouldn’t have been attacking me at the barracks—that this isn’t normal.”
“Not even a little. You’re an ascender now, and this attack is highly illegal. Endelle can take this to COPASS and the Committee will be forced to act against Greaves. The bastard doesn’t own all of them yet.” He started pacing then muttered, “Although it doesn’t mean you won’t be attacked again. Shit, we’ve gotta get Kerrick in on this, and Thorne. Hell, all the brothers should be here. Let’s give Jean-Pierre and Zach a shout as well.”
Kerrick. Oh, no. “Are you sure this is necessary? Do you really need to bring Kerrick here?” Oh, God, how much she wanted to see him.
If her heart was pounding before, now it slammed around in her chest.
Medichi drew close, his eyes full of compassion. “I’m sorry, Alison, but he’d have our balls if we didn’t. So take pity on the three of us.”
She glanced from Medichi to Luken to Santiago. She nodded. She released her sword back to Kerrick’s guest room. The memories from her time in his house flowed over her in sudden painful waves. Her throat tightened.
She waited, her heart hammering away. She smoothed back her still-damp hair. She had no idea what she looked like. What would she do if she saw him again? More importantly, if she had more courage, like Helena, could she have a life with him? Would her daughter then be able to really know her father?
Change comes,
But only when the heart has been shaped by suffering.
—Collected Proverbs, Beatrice of Fourth
Chapter 23
Kerrick hadn’t seen Alison in two long f**king weeks and he swore he felt like he’d had his heart ripped out of his chest. Instead of getting easier, staying away from her had become an exercise in masochism. He knew where she was—the training camps. He received reports from her CO daily. He’d insisted on at least that much. She was carrying his child. He needed to be sure she was safe despite the fact they could not be together.
So why did he feel like a bastard, like he’d let her down?
He sat in his library, a tumbler of Maker’s in his hand. He stared at nothing in particular. He had a couple of hours before the night’s fighting took up his time—and thank God for the fighting. He would have gone insane otherwise.
Two weeks had passed since he had last seen her and he just couldn’t seem to find his feet. He recalled the last time he’d sat in this chair, reading that pretentious book about the history of ascension in hopes of finding some way to withstand the onslaught of the breh-hedden.
His phone buzzed. He reached out with his senses—Medichi. The brothers were at the Cave, and he’d already refused to join them there. He’d be at the Blood and Bite for the usual, but right now he needed to be alone.
Since returning from the hospital, he’d moved out of the basement, using it only to do his daily workout. For reasons he didn’t understand, he’d been sleeping in the master bedroom. He still wasn’t sure why he’d made that leap. After all, nothing had changed materially in his world.
Except Alison.
But she wasn’t in his world anymore, was she?
And his baby grew inside her.
But what did that matter? They’d both decided they couldn’t be together, a joint decision.
Fine.
His phone buzzed again. Once more—Medichi.
Once more, he didn’t respond.
But when the phone buzzed a third time, he felt Thorne’s summons. He stood up and answered. The few brief sentences that struck his ear sent blood rushing to his head, his heart thumping. “Fold me there now.”
He felt the vibration then landed hard, two bare feet on the Cave floor. He ignored all six warriors, spinning around until he found the only person right now who mattered.
“Alison! What the hell happened?”
She stared at him and her lips parted but she couldn’t seem to speak. Then a wave of lavender hit him full in the chest and he took a step back. Oh, shit. He squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed a hand down his face, holding back his body’s quick response as much as he could. He barked, “Tell me what happened.”
