A Kiss of Ashen Twilight (Ashen Twilight Series #1) (51 page)

Jace turned on his heels and rushed to his bedroom to dress quickly. After making sure he was fully decent, he rushed back into the hall and stopped a kid running on his way toward the exit to join the large group.

“What’s going on out there?” Jace asked.

The little boy’s eyes widened as he retold the tale with heightened excitement. “Eclipse. It was full on sunlight one minute then totally dark the next. They say it’s the end of the world. Pretty wicked, huh?”

Jace looked toward the door feeling a sense of dread overcoming him. “Yeah, wicked.”

“They won’t let us leave though. They say the entire city is in a blackout and the police are blocking areas off.” The boy looked up at him once again. “How long do you think it’ll last?”

“Believe me, I’m hoping it won’t be too long.” Jace ruffled over the boy’s close cut dark curls and smiled. “Not too long.”

Pushing the front exit out of his list of options, Jace turned and ran back into his apartment. He rushed over to his window and opened the curtains to reveal the desert city. The blue sky had given way to darkness and a large spherical black orb sat high. Miles away, Jace spotted the large Victorian house suspended in the air. Flashes of light like electricity covered it and kept it balanced as it slowly continued to rise hundreds of feet into the air. As Jace opened his door and stepped out onto the terrace, he couldn’t help noticing all of his neighbors’ eyes looking and pointing at the spectacle before them. One person he could’ve handled and easily cleared their thoughts. A whole city’s worth, the Patriarchs would have to come up with something to excuse what the mortals saw that day.

He had to get to the Ashen Twilight House, but at this rate there was no way he could reach it that high in the sky. He tried to open a connection with Ariya but something strong and preternatural obstructed his senses. It was as if with the eclipse, something—or someone—else otherworldly had entered the realm.

Ariya, where are you?

* * * *

Ariya felt the hot, high powered energy blast slam her body against the walls before she could process it. She landed on her hands and knees, her adrenaline still high. She looked up at Raine, a slimy smile on his ragged face. He held out his hands and leaned toward her.

“Try again, little Fairy whore.” He chuckled.

All around her was a visual feast of a battle. The Nightwalkers in the house awoke just in time to back up the Lycans in battle against the Rens in captivity and the ones that Blakedon brought with him. If they all made it out alive— Ariya cursed herself before she finished the thought. Way to think positive after everything that’s happened. When they made it out alive, they would have to find another place to hide out because the whole city of
Phoenix
surely new about his house now.

“Come on!” Raine yelled, pulling her out of her thoughts. He ascended into the air as if an invisible force was lifting him toward the ceiling.

Ariya’s wings fluttered to life and she rushed toward him. She lifted her hands and sent a ball of energy toward him. In a blink of an eye, he was a large crow. He swooped down toward her, his large beak ready to attack. She folded her wings to freefall and grab him once he swooped over her head. She held onto his sleek, dark coat but before she could turn around, his body gave way to a large wolf.

Ariya fluttered her wings as fast as she could before she fell toward the ground. Raine turned around in her hold and barked loudly, baring his lips in a vicious growl. He lunged toward her, his mouth open and ready to dig his fangs right into her neck.

She thought fast, if she really had Jace’s blood flowing through her, this next act had better work. Feeling Raine’s muscles beneath his thick coat as he prepared to lung again, Ariya extended her fingernails in giant claws, impaling Raine within her grip. His yellow eyes widened as his back bowed with a yelp on his lips. She landed on the ground and dropped him in front of her. Ariya wiped Raine’s blood on her skirt as she watched his body jolt then fall still. Slowly he shifted back to his ragged human form. Turning away she was ready to rush past the fight and run upstairs toward Julian’s room when out of the corner of her eye, she felt Raine’s large form rising from the ground. Ariya turned, her body frozen and eyes open wide. How? What? Her mind couldn’t form a single thought but one word; survive. Her body froze as he bared his teeth and claws, preparing to lunge. Suddenly a large paw with sharp talons swooped by her and embedded into Raine’s neck. The Ren’s body immediately fell limp on the claws and his head fell forward.

Ariya looked up into familiar yellow eyes and right away she recognized the tall Lycan hovering over her. Vex. He exhaled a thick low growl and nodded.

“Thanks, Vex,” she said with a smile. She rushed past him and dodged out of the way of the battle in the foyer. She checked Julian’s room but there was no sign of anyone there.

A loud crash from the conference told her exactly where they were. When she arrived, she saw Blakedon holding Julian over his head. Michael and Daoine watched on the floor, their eyes focused and ready to attack during the right time.
Why weren’t they doing anything?
    

Blakedon’s thick hand gripped Julian’s neck, digging deep into his neck enough to draw blood on his fingers. Ariya opened her mouth and rushed forward but something grabbed her and pulled her back like invisible hands on her arm.

This is Julian’s fight, Ariya,
Daoine’s voice rang loud and clear in her head.

“No!” Another voice yelled before she could make a sound. Avery emerged out of the corner of her eye and approached Blakedon. His skin was fully regenerated with no sign of any of the abrasions that covered his face just yesterday. “Don’t hurt him, Father.”

Blakedon looked down at Avery with wide eyes. “You do not shed an ounce of feeling for this man.”

“You don’t have to deny it. I felt it the moment he and his nephew were near.” Avery slowly shook his head. “I’m an Archane.”

“You are a Blakedon! Julian abandoned you and your mother and I loved you like you were my own. It’s time to stop prolonging this and end it now.”

Blakedon tightened his grip on Julian’s whose expression cringed in pain. Ariya felt every bit of Julian’s pain, like sharp claws crushing her neck.

“You
used
me to empower you and to create your own monarchy.”

“It was for us, son.”

“I’m not your son!” the Nightwalker yelled.

“Avery, I did this for us. Julian didn’t deserve you after he left. I taught you everything because I cared for you and your mother. I was doing this to give you the throne you so rightly deserve among the immortals.”

Avery looked up at Blakedon with fire in his eyes. “And for that I am grateful. For awhile I did have a father who seemed to care for me. But ever since you met that Romanian suit, all you cared about was destroying the houses. I did this because you said they were wrong and deserved their downfall. Conveniently leaving out how you were doing the same thing!” He shook his head. “I’m done using my blood to sustain your immortality.” His fingernails extending into sharp, elongated claws. He opened his mouth to reveal his canines as sharp fangs. “I won’t accept it any longer.” He hissed loudly before lunging onto Blakedon, covering him with his body. Avery bit down into his neck and drank viciously like a hungry animal while he dug his claws into Blakedon’s sides.

Julian fell to the ground, grabbing his neck.

“Now Julian! His power is down!” Daoine yelled over the commotion.

Julian, Daoine and Michael raised their hands toward Avery and Blakedon. A shock of light blue energy rippled through the air like that of the elemental and attacked Blakedon’s body. As Avery continued to drink from him before letting out an ear piercing cry. With each second that passed, Blakedon aged until he became a crumbled mess of bones and skin, then eventually dust. The bright energy slowly dissipated until there was nothing left.

Ariya rushed over to the window and looked up. The eclipse was still cloaked in the sky yet lights were shining sparsely across the city. A crowd was already gathering around the ground where the house once stood.

“We can’t land it back on the ground,” Ariya said over her shoulder. “We’ve already been seen.”

“To the desert then,” Michael said. He was now back in his human form, stepping into his black pants. “From there we can at least figure out where to go without being seen.”

We can’t hold the eclipse any longer.
Cidra’s voice rang loud and clear in her mind.

Ariya looked up toward the sky, seeing her trusted guard leading the other Amazon Aziza guards who swirled under the eclipse in a speckle of bright lights. It had been them to push Blakedon back into the mortal realm and thankfully they had agreed to Ariya’s plan in joining her and the houses to end this skirmish once and for all.

Ariya turned away from the window. “The Aziza can’t hold the eclipse,” she said joining the Patriarchs. “Either way we’re going to have to make a move.”

Michael reached down to help Julian to his feet. The Nightwalker turned to Avery who remained on the ground, looking away.

“The desert,” Julian said softly. “We’ll take it there just to be safe.”

It was then Ariya realized the true power the Patriarchs had absorbed from the elemental. She had to hold onto the walls as the house lurched forward and headed toward the open desert landscape in Avondale.

* * * *

“You’re going to stay, aren’t you?”

Ariya stared ahead at the wide open green landscape from the palace terrace. Cidra stood behind her at attention. She couldn’t help noticing the forlorn expression in the Amazon’s large, dark eyes. The years she stood by as Ariya grew up and the close relationship she had with her parents was tangible in the air between them.

“I won’t be far, Cidra,” she said taking her hand. “I am and always will be an Aziza. I just have two homes now.”

“When will you return?”

“I should be arriving home in a few days time before we settle. I plan to be there for awhile once I get there.” Ariya reached over and shared a hug with her. “In the meantime, please stay and watch my family’s home? Thank you again for helping us. I don’t know if we would have made it without you.”

Cidra smiled at her once the hug broke. “Your friends are very…interesting. Do you trust them?”

Not too long ago the question would have stumped her. Now the word had already exited her mind before she could think about it. “I do. Definitely. And I know if we have any trouble they’ll be ready and willing to help out just like you did them.”

Cidra squeezed her hand and smiled.

Ariya turned and headed for the door when she heard the voice behind her. “What was that?”

“I asked if he was worth it? All of it that happened in the past few days. Your life and death.”

Ariya smiled. “Every moment, Cidra. Every moment.”

* * * *

Jace’s ears perked up at the sound of distant bells chiming. He pushed away from the window and slowly walked toward his room. All through the late afternoon and into the night, his nerves were on edge with all the commotion outside his door in the hallway. From what he could gather, news reports were rampant with the sudden eclipse that showered the Earth in darkness and the city of Phoenix was especially trying to figure out the phantom flying house that landed somewhere in the Avondale desert. He would have run across the city if he had to. Thankfully he waited and wasn’t caught up in the sun’s rays once the eclipse gave way. He had tried to get into contact with Julian and the rest of the Patriarchs to figure out what happened. Unfortunately, all their cell phones had been cut off.

Most of all, he was worried about Ariya As he inhaled her scent in the room that very moment he felt her closing in on him just as she stepped out of his bedroom. Her thin, translucent wings fluttered behind her as she ran to him and he welcomed her in his open arms. He felt her heart beating within her chest and the sound of it was enough to replace his own heart that had stopped centuries ago.