A Kiss of Ashen Twilight (Ashen Twilight Series #1) (45 page)

“
Y
ou were thinking of your father.”

Jace opened his eyes and angled his head to see Daoine standing at the doorway. He was still the regal man of long ago that came upon his doorstep with the promise of a new life. Jace moaned slightly as he reminisced over what a life he had promised.

“I was.”

Daoine’s angular visage turned slightly. His eyes narrowed and he smiled. “I can tell by your expression. You look so much like him.”

“I wish he was here.” Jace breathed deeply, feeling his organs and skin tissue repairing itself by the minute. He took extensive damage that would take some time to heal. He hoped it was sooner rather than later because he couldn’t allow time for a restful retreat at the moment. More importantly, he had to get to Ariya as soon as possible. If only he knew where she was. He sighed, wondering how much would’ve changed if his father still lived. “He would be Patriarch, wouldn’t he?”

“Perhaps. Both him and your Uncle would be powerful leaders, that is certain.”

“Could you have made us Shifters? I mean, instead of Nightwalkers?”

Daoine chuckled deeply. “Are you regretting your blood origins, Jacinus?”

Jace shook his head. “No, not at all. I just wonder sometimes what it would be like to shift and have the powers that you have. All this time I’ve been wondering, but since Ariya came, so many things I’ve bottled up have been coming to the surface. I need answers.”

The tall Shifter Elf walked across the room as if he was gliding on air. He took a seat at the end of the bed and folded his hands on his lap. His blue grey eyes focused ahead as he descended into deep thought.

“So curious like the day you changed. Destiny was handed to us, Jacinus. In more ways than one. We have abilities that mortals only dream of. Yet we have a right to survive and life just as they do on this Earth. Together, all of us; Nightwalkers, Lycans and Shifters are most powerful working together.”

“And Fairy?”

Daoine smiled. “Young Ariya.”

“It’s not too late to save her. I can go—” He tried to sit up but felt a sharp pain shoot through his head, knocking him back down.

“Shh. Rest, Jacinus. We will find her.”

“I tried to turn her, Daoine. I saw her change right before my eyes but still she couldn’t contain my blood.”

“Is this why you wished to be a Shifter?”

Jace leaned back into the pillow. “Julian said the exchange of blood is a heightened form of intimacy. Still I wonder what it would be like to have that intimacy grow as a child inside the woman I love.”

“And so you can, but in another way.”

“Not like the Lycans or Shifters.”

Daoine gently shook his head, his long dark main flowing gently side to side. “No, not like them. But in another way.”

* * * *

Jace slipped his hand over Sophie’s mouth to silence her. He wrapped his other hand around her waist and held her tightly to his body as he kicked the door behind
him close.

Across the room, Julian slowly rose to his feet and slipped his hands on Jeanne’s cheeks, cradling her face. His eyes mesmerized her, Jace could tell from where he stood as she allowed Julian to whisper something in her ear.

Jace strained to read his Uncle’s lips but he couldn’t decipher the words. Jeanne turned toward the door and walked as if she were under a trance.

“What did you to her?” Gerard yelled. “Some form of black magic trickery!”

Daoine stepped forward to Sophie as he looked in her eyes and proceeded to cloud her mind. “He has fed upon her blood but she is left alive,” he said after he was done. “You will have this ability. We can teach you.”

Julian held out his arms and smiled. “My brathair.” He laughed heartily and patted Gerard’s shoulders. “It has been too long.”

“Is this really you, Julian?” Gerard asked with wide eyes.

“In the flesh, brother. Daoine has given me a gift of life. The air is magnified like life itself. I smell blood and the life that fuels this land. I feel empowered, as if nothing can stop my will t’live!”

Gerard’s eyes brightened. His mouth fell open. “And this power is due to his change?”

“Indeed,” Daoine said.

“Father!” Jace stepped forward, bewilderment in his eyes.

“We have nothing ta live for, Jace,” Gerard said crossing the room. “If we can stop a mass slaughter from a tyrant rather than wasting away here in a desolate land, then so be it!”

“And what of mother? Would she be so willing to let you evade death so easily while she watches you? Waits for you?” Jace
noticed his words struck a cord in his father’s eyes as he looked away. His heart beat fast within his chest so loud, he was sure the entire room could hear it.

Gerard finally spoke again. “Would she not wish for many lives to be saved afore tis’ too late
? Especially if we are able to stop it?”

“You can be spared, Jace, if it is your choice,” Daoine said. “And you can remain here.”

“Is that what you wish, Jace?” Julian asked. “Do you wish to stay here? I would like for you to come with us. A prince to our wonderful new brotherhood.”

Jace looked from his father to his Uncle and then to Daoine. He could stay here and inhabit the lands they built. He would be laird like his father over the
Castle
of
Twilight
and settle down to raise a family and teach his son to carry on the family name in their honor. And what of Julian and his father? Would his last memory of them be of these creatures rather than the noble men he was brought up to emulate?

“We can make you forget what you saw here, nephew,” Julian said placing his hand on Jace’s shoulders.

“You—You can read my thoughts?” Jace said looking from his father to his uncle.

Julian smiled. “Another gift of the Nightwalkers. ‘Tis your choice, nephew. I wish us to remain a strong family as we travel these lands. I can
na do this without my brathair and nephew. The battle lands need the strength of us all. Evil awaits us. Tis’ your duty to battle with me to halt it afore death claims these lands.”

Deep inside his heart, Jace knew he couldn’t turn away now. Family was one
thing his father stressed and he knew he couldn’t forget this so easily if he remained behind. After what he had seen he knew his heart would remember, despite what his mind had forgotten.

He nodded once and braced himself for his life to change forever.

Daoine approached him and placed his hands on his shoulders to pull him close. Like a child to its father, Jace leaned against the tall Shifter’s chest and hugged him close. He felt Daoine’s long dark mane caress the side of his face. A sharp pain shot through Jace’s neck and he braced himself, closing his eyes as he felt the life slowly drain from him.

Jace always wondered what it was like to die. The books he read philosophized over what the road would be like before and after. Now, he would find out. Slowly the world slipped away as he was drained and a new life blood filled him.

“Hold on to my voice, nephew,” Julian’s soft voice invaded his mind. “I won’t let you die.”

Darkness crossed over him and he fell into a deep sleep.

When Jace awakened, the moonlight hung high in the sky outside the window of the castle. A howl broke out into the night air and Jace had to wonder what kind of creature roamed these lands that carried the sound. He was glad when his Uncle made the answer verbal.

 
“
Lycans. Children of wolves. They will need our assistance soon as we will need theirs. You will learn much soon enough.”

Darkness claimed Jace once again. The next feeling he knew was the taste of rich, deep sweetness. A force he couldn’t put into words, but fueled him nonetheless. A heartbeat echoed somewhere in his mind. First slow then faster and faster. His lips curled around warm flesh and he drank hungrily, gripping the arm that fed him.

“That’s it, nephew.”

His body grew hot like fire and had fully replaced the blood in
his veins and quenched his endless hunger. He was no longer himself anymore, but he was alive and free like he never felt before.

“That’s it.”

Jace broke away, releasing a loud roar from deep within. He felt his body transforming, growing aged by the moment as if freezing itself in time.

His teeth remained extended into animal-like fangs and his hunger grew for something more than food could ever provide.

Nourishment, Julian said within his thoughts. The Blood of life will provide you nourishment. So drink
and then live forever.

Jace’s eyes shot open. His father was sitting with Jeanne standing over him. From the angle of his head, Jace watched him feed from her neck. His fingers gently teasing the hard buds of her nipples under her dress. Her body curved in ecstasy as the waves of pleasure contorted her face and claimed her body.

Julian stood over, offering to help him up. He gestured toward Sophie standing in front of Daoine. A knowing look crossed the Shifter Elf’s face as he nodded. He gripped the girl’s
shoulders and gently pushed her toward Jace.

“She is yours.”

Sophie’s dark eyes focused on him as she approached. His body ached to feel her near. As their bodies drew closer, he heard her heart thumping within her chest. The rapid breathing that escaped her full pink lips. The rush of blood within her veins.

Jace slowly licked his lips before diving at her neck to drink from her nectar. With a gasp, she moaned gently, crushing her body against his. His hand slipped into the soft tendrils of her dark, red hair, holding in her place. His other hand caressed the soft curves of her soft, full breasts, torso and her shapely thigh under her dress. He couldn’t get enough. He didn’t know if he would stop in time before it was too late.

“Yes,” she gasped softly. “More.”

He felt their eyes watching proudly as he drank. Their union now sealed as the leaders of the royal House of Blood.

“More—”

Her voice urged him to continue as a rise of pleasure forced its conception between his legs. He couldn’t stop and as he drank
from her warm, tender flesh he wasn’t sure if he wanted to stop.

* * * *

“My first drink as a Nightwalker. And my first kill.”

“You cannot blame yourself for it, Jacinus. Nor beat yourself up that it happened. It is what it is, a flaw of feeding.”

“I tried to figure out for so long why it happened to me. Even when I tried to hold back as you and Julian instructed and not take as much. It would always end in death. It was as if there was something in me that destroyed the blood of the living as I fed. It used to bother me sometimes that perhaps I would never know why. Ariya changed all of that. Once she lived, I thought anything was possible. I can’t lose her now.”