Fire and Ash (Immortal Touch) (47 page)

Tristan hesitated.

“
Where are they,
Kendall?”

“
On a piece of property Reid owns, about thirty miles from here. It was originally part of a farm, but the man who owned the land sold it in a hurry after one of his cows fell through the ground into a sinkhole. It’s…” He didn’t want to finish the rest. Didn’t want to see the look on the poor wretch’s face when he did. “He bought it specifically because of that. He…uses it as a dumping ground. For bodies.”

There was the look. A morbid combination of panic and dread and a heart on the verge of breaking. It was
sickening to witness.

“We have to hurry,” Julian whispered.

~*~*~*~

The tall grass
brushed Sami’s legs as they walked through the empty pasture, and she tried not to imagine that there might be snakes lurking within the overgrown weeds. Even with the flashlight Ash held, it was too dark to see anything they could be stepping on. She couldn’t have conceived a creepier setting if she’d tried. There were no houses anywhere nearby - not that she could have seen them if there were - and the huge decaying barn they were approaching looked like an ideal place for Leatherface to come popping out of any minute, chainsaw in hand.

There was no buzz of a saw though, only the
peaceful night sounds of crickets and frogs as Ash pushed open the wide barn door. Holding onto the sleeve of his shirt, she followed him inside. There was a movement of white in one far corner and she jumped nervously, clutching his arm. He laughed at her skittishness.

“Don’t worry - she
won’t bite. Unless you get too close.” He took a battery powered lantern down from a rickety wooden shelf and switched it on, illuminating the interior of the barn. Her eyes scanned the wooden beams and stalls and straw-covered ground in one swoop, but the thing that shocked her into speechlessness was the woman cowering on the ground in chains.

Barely a woman at all, she realized as she warily stepped closer. The girl couldn’t have been more than
nineteen or twenty. She was clad, strangely enough, in a white satin wedding gown. With her fiery red mane and flawless fair skin, she resembled an Irish bride doll that some little girl had left behind. The chains connected to the wall were clamped around her ankles, and her hands had been tied behind her back. Her mouth was gagged, and she gazed sleepily at them with green eyes halfway open.

“Jesus,” she breathed softly.

Ash set the lantern down and stooped to untie the gag. “Pretty little thing, isn’t she? Unfortunately this one has trouble following simple instructions. She’s an immortal gone rogue.”

Even with the gag removed, the girl didn’t attempt to speak.
She looked up at Sami with silent hopelessness in her unfocused eyes. Obviously she’d been drugged.

“What did she do?”

“She broke the law. Had herself a little killing spree. And now, according to procedure, she has to be destroyed.” Ash nudged his captive with a foot. “What do you say there, Red? You ready to sleep with the fishes?”

The girl closed her eyes and there was a slight hitch in her chest, as if she were trying to suppress a sob. No matter how hard Sami tried, she could
find nothing in the pitiful creature that appeared even remotely dangerous or threatening. She didn’t look like a bloodthirsty killer. She looked more like a frightened child. “Why is she wearing a wedding dress?”

“Isn’t it just poetic? I found it in her closet and brought it along for dramatic effect. I thought her fiancé should see her in it at least once.”

“Her…fiancé? Won’t he be…”

“Oh, I would imagine he’ll be making an appearance at some point. Don’t worry. If he does, I’ll take care of him.” Unconcerned, Ash walked off to the other end of the barn while Sami stood frozen, staring down at the girl at her feet. She felt a strong
compulsion to put her arms around her and hug her, comfort her to some degree. What would happen if she did? Would the female vampire attack her? It was hard to imagine violence from one who looked as helpless as a kitten.

Something else had just occurred to her, and an unpleasant
scenario began to play through her mind. “You…changed her clothes?”

“Mm-hm.”

Apprehension boiled up within her. “Ash, please tell me you didn’t…that you didn’t…”

“I don’t fuck the condemned prisoners.
My duty is to administer punishment - not provide them with pleasure.” He said it as if she should have known this all along.

It was the last thing in the world that should have concerned her at this point, and yet the relief she felt was absurdly overwhelming. The very thought of him performing such an intimate act with
someone else filled her with possessive resentment.

“Say something,” she urged softly.
For some reason she wanted to hear the girl’s voice, wanted to see if she could discern any evil in it.

The redhead’s cloudy eyes met hers for a brief moment, then widened as they shifted to Ash as he returned to stand beside Sami.
The cause of her fear was evident. In his hands he carried a long-handled scythe. The shining silver blade curved cruelly like the Grim Reaper’s smile.

“I
t’s nice and sharp.” Ash ran a finger lightly along the edge of the blade, then held it up so she could see the blood. And then the wound was gone - one minute the cut was there and the next minute it had faded into obscurity - and Sami found it difficult to catch her breath. “One good hard swing ought to do it.”

“What are you going to do!”
Surely not what her distorted mind was envisioning - no, it couldn’t be that, she didn’t want to see something like that…

He reached out to stroke her cheek with one hand. “I’m not going to do anything, Samara. This is it. This is your final test of loyalty. I want you to execute her.”

Her breath came so fast she was at risk of hyperventilating. He couldn’t seriously expect her to do something like that…this had to be a joke, just a ruse, like with the gun…

“Do this for me, and I’ll
give you the gift of immortality. Don’t you want to be mine forever?” he coaxed.

Oh
, God…this was not at all how she’d envisioned this night…

“It’ll be painless for her. She won’t feel a thing.”

Sami tentatively reached for the wooden handle. He would stop her at the last minute. He wouldn’t make her go through with this.
Denial isn’t just a river in Africa, my dear…

“You can do this, baby. She has to be eliminated. She’s vicious, a danger to society…”

“
YOU FUCKING LIAR!
”

The shout came from the open door, and even before
Sami could turn to look behind her Ash hoisted the scythe and swung it at the girl, abruptly stopping the blade within an inch of her neck. “Don’t come any closer.”

The source of the unfamiliar voice, a tall, slender man with flaxen hair, stopped in his tracks. He
was holding a knife in one hand, and beside him stood…

“Tristan?”

“You should’ve left when you had the chance, Sami. I tried to warn you.” He shook his head in sad resignation.

Asher’s blue eyes radiated cold fury. “
So. My oldest and dearest friend has turned his back on me.”

“Eva, love…” The blond took a step toward them.

Ash pressed the blade against the girl’s throat, and a single drop of blood made its way down her neck to stain the snowy white satin. “Stop where you are! I warn you…her system is full of nightshade. If I sever her head now, there will be no resurrection for her. She’ll be lost.”

“And I warn
you…
” the blond snarled. “…what I hold in my hand will be the end of you!
Let her go!
”

Asher’s eyes fell on the knife and he laughed incredulously. “Are you out of your fucking mind? You don’t seriously think
…”

“You better listen to him, Reid,” Tristan cut in. “He isn’t
lying when he says it will be the end of you. That isn’t some run-of-the-mill hunting knife. You
can
be destroyed with it.”

“You can, and you will,” the other man growled.

“It’s the Hundeprest dagger,” Tristan continued.

“Bullshit.”
Ash tossed his head. “That dagger doesn’t exist. It’s just a myth. Something passed down from ancient immortals who still believed in the old ways.”

“Asher, please listen to me! I’m trying to help you
...”

“Help me? By
betraying
me? You tried to turn her against me!”

“
Listen!
Why do you think I was unaware of Winter’s existence for thirty years? He was born of the dagger and therefore he isn’t like us!
He’s a different breed of vampire!
”

“Samara…” Ash spoke to her without taking his eyes
off his two adversaries. “Take the scythe, baby.”

She couldn’t believe it. Did he still expect her to go through with this? “Ash, maybe
we should…”

“Put your hands on the handle and take it from me.
Now.
”

Fearing the
malice in his voice, she obeyed. The tool was heavier than she’d expected, and her trembling hands gripped the wood tightly as she struggled to hold it steady against the redhead’s throat. And then the girl spoke.

“Please…don’t.”
It came out as a soft whimper.

Her fiancé moved forward. “Eva!”

“
Stop or I’ll do it!
” Sami shouted at him, desperately trying to buy more time. Torn between two worlds, confusion wracked her brain. The situation seemed hopeless. Ash had no intention of backing down.

“She’s done nothing to deserve this!” the
stranger pleaded with her. “Whatever he’s told you is a lie!”

Asher’s lips curved into a
diabolical smile. “Go ahead and do it, baby. Prove that you love me. Kill that bitch.”

“Sami, don’t!” Tristan
begged. “If she dies, he’ll die too!”

“Don’t listen to him.
He’s bluffing. Do it. Do it now!”

Sami’s eyes darted back and forth between Asher and Tristan. The scythe grew heavier in her hands.

His patience gone, Ash roared at her, “
Goddammit,
you worthless slut, I’m not telling you again! You do as I say or I’ll tear your useless heart out! Now
swing that fucking blade!
”

And s
o she did. She swung. With all of her might.

But not at the redhead.

There was eerie silence as the vampire’s head seemed to fly through the air in slow motion, falling with a soft thump on the barn floor and rolling to land at the feet of Tristan. The body - Asher’s beautiful body - dropped to its knees, blood flowing from the gaping neck. Finally, after what must have been seconds but felt like hours, it toppled sideways and moved no more.

And then someone was screaming and screaming and screaming and it was a long time before Samara understood that the heartbroken
cries were her own.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Unmarred by clouds, the sky was a flawless royal blue that Sami believed must surely have been stolen from Asher’s eyes.

The beautiful morning was a contradiction, a cruel mockery of the inner turmoil she felt. It didn’t seem possible that the sun could continue to rise, that the world
would dare to go on as if nothing had changed. But the fact that the four of them were headed out to sea on Misty was the grim proof. It was because of her own personal request. She knew he would have wanted to be put to rest in the ocean he loved so much.

While she
stood gazing hypnotically out into the horizon, Eva came over to offer her quiet support. Beside her, the girl’s auburn hair billowed in the wind like the flames of an uncontrolled wildfire. As gentle as she was beautiful, there was no remaining uncertainty that Ash had lied about her being a killer. She was nothing more than an innocent pawn in one of his twisted games. One who had very nearly become another casualty on his extensive list of victims.

Sami turned her head
slightly to see Julian seated beside Tristan at the helm, his eyes on the two of them as if he didn’t completely trust her. He seemed reluctant to let Eva out of his sight. Which, considering the circumstances, was understandable.

In a
voice barely loud enough to hear, she confessed, “I wanted what you have. Was that so much to ask for?”

Eva put a
sympathetic arm around her, resting her head against Sami’s shoulder. “Of course it wasn’t too much to want. But with him, it may have been too much to expect.”

“I never wanted to hurt him.”

“I know you didn’t.”

“He made me do it…”

“You can’t blame yourself. He gave you no choice.”