Follow the Ashes: Book 1 of the Executioner Trilogy Read online

  Chapter 8: A First Embrace

  As Gordon and I were sifting through piles of books and websites, Beth went to her sacred space in the house to divine. Divination was a tool we used often in these types of situations where the information was much harder to find than anticipated. Her method was to use a bowl of water tinged with ink. She thought the crystal ball was too cliché and overused. To be honest, I agreed one hundred percent.

  She had a specific room set aside in the house for her own use in the art of witchcraft. She was very good at it, I had to admit. There was no telling how long it would take her to get the answers we so desperately needed using her usual method. Sometimes it would take minutes, and sometimes days. We were hoping for it to take less than a day at least. We weren’t exactly sure how much time we had to wait for answers so we all felt a little rushed.

  Yes, that evil creature was burned beyond recognition thanks to me. At the same time, it didn’t take me very long to heal at all, and she was a lot more powerful than I was. Or would ever be. So there’s no telling how long it would take her. Since I was practically healed already, I was willing to bet she had been just fine hours before I made my full recovery.

  While we waited, we also helped search for answers as best we could. It was all just a race to see who would get them first at that point. It had gotten to the point where I couldn’t sit any longer. I felt like I was waiting for her to come pick us off one by one. My legs were restless, and my mind was swimming. My Hewlett Packard and Google weren’t giving me answers fast enough. I had to go out and hunt. I had to do something. There was still evil that needed to be taken care of while we tried to solve this mystery. I was going to be the one to take it out. Well, as much as I could, anyway. My ribs no longer hurt and all bruises had faded to a very light yellow. The bite marks on my neck were only slight pin pricks now, and the bruising on my neck was almost gone.

  I looked up at Gordon and concentrated on his face. He was hovered over a book just like I was, concentration locked on his features. I guess he could sense I was staring at him because he looked up at me and smiled. Oh, that smile.

  “What?” he asked. The smile was infectious. I shook my head and looked back at the book. Frustration quickly took over as I began to read again.

  I closed the book in my lap with a light snap, and set it on the desk next to my computer with a thump that almost seemed to echo through the room. Gordon then looked over at me with a questioning look twisting his features. He was clearly confused and as frustrated as I was. I could feel it just like that tension was my own.

  That’s when I said, “I have to get out of here. I’m going to hunt. There’s still plenty of evil out there that needs to be killed. Not just this one woman.” I don’t know why I felt the need to announce to Gordon my need to leave.

  I stood abruptly and grabbed my dark green zip-up hoody and my leather jacket. I slipped the leather jacket over the hoody and made sure the hood wasn’t stuck down inside the jacket. That would’ve annoyed me more than anything at that point. That completed my look for the night. Nothing got on my nerves more than my hood being stuck down inside both jackets. Well, maybe besides the toothpaste being left open, or crumbs all over the kitchen counter.

  Gordon grasped my arm, a look of warning in his eyes. I had to admit I didn’t see or hear him make a single move. He didn’t want me to leave - that I was certain of - but I couldn’t sit there any longer. His hand was warm as it gripped me, and slightly clammy, like this first contact while I was conscious made him nervous. I couldn’t help but wonder why.

  “Gordon, if I don’t, who will?” After I asked this question his look softened to one of understanding mixed with concern. He knew as well as I did that just because we had such a formidable enemy, I couldn’t stop being the Executioner. I had to continue on with the mission no matter what else was trying to get in my way. Not even an evil blonde with a taste for blood. More specifically, my blood.

  “You’re right.” He dropped my arm and sighed in defeat. Disappointment and anguish were clear on his face. To be honest, I didn’t want him to let go of me. The electricity flowing from him and into me was addictive. His hands were soft and warm to touch. It felt too right. He was welcome to hold onto me for as long as he wanted and as tight as he wanted, but I let that go unsaid. I had a feeling he already knew that on some level anyway. It wasn’t exactly like I was trying to hide it. He didn’t know it, but he had me from the time we first saw each other when we were surrounded by grinding and sweating bodies.

  “I’ll be back soon.” I started to walk away when he grabbed my arm with a grasp that was soft and firm all at the same time. It made me gasp as that same electricity began to flow between us once again. As he pulled me to him, I could see the hunger in his beautifully dark eyes and I was instantly drawn in. His embrace was surprisingly gentle and loving despite the hardness of his body. As he pressed his lips to mine, they were soft and amazingly tender. My knees almost buckled, they had become so weak. It was like every nerve ending in my body was on fire as we were there in that perfect moment.

  That was where I wanted to be–in that moment, and every moment after that. Every cell in my body needed to be there, and was yelling at me not to go, no matter how much I needed to. I didn’t want to leave this perfection, but the innocent were counting on me to protect them. I couldn’t shirk on my duties just because I had finally had a moment like I’ve never had before. After this I knew I definitely wanted to make it back home. I was going to experience this again. Nothing was going to keep me from coming back.

  He was the one to break the contact first. I was almost disappointed. I would have been even more if it weren’t for the euphoria I was feeling. He looked into my eyes and stroked my hair, putting some of it behind my ear. That hunger was still there, and I hoped that, when I got back, it would still be there. On some level though, I knew his angel-like perfection would be waiting for me. I decided I would welcome it with open arms and an open heart.

  As he looked down at me I didn’t want to pull away, but I let my hand slide out of his as I made my way to the door. As I walked out into the cool and unrelenting night I felt even more empowered than ever before knowing he would be there when I made my way home

  Chapter 9: Recognition

  As I walked down the middle of another empty street I couldn’t help but think that I wasn’t going to be seeing any action tonight. Not even one vampire. That was too bad since I had so much nervous energy in me that needed to be used. Violence was a good way to do just that. Of course, they were all probably worshipping her, wherever she was, until their knees bled and blistered. I was okay with that as long as the sunlight could somehow make its way to them.

  The farther I walked from home, the more I knew I was running the risk of making contact with the devilish woman again even though her children weren’t walking the night to slay any innocents. Evil and destruction ran through every part of her, down to every cell, into her atoms. I was scared about confronting her again, and if it happened I knew I was in a lot of trouble. Not only was I unaware of what she was, I had no idea what kind of power she had. There was no way I could fight her without that kind of information on my side. Well, I could fight her. I just wouldn’t make it out alive. That, I knew.

  Looking down the road I saw something lying in the plump circle of light made by a lonely street lamp. It was a plant of some kind, but I couldn’t tell what. Curiosity got the best of me, even though I really didn’t want to end up like that curious cat everyone kept talking about. I couldn’t help myself. I mean, who leaves something like this in the middle of the road unless they didn’t like it or lost it? As I neared the circle of light, I could see it was a flower. Unsure of what type it was, I lifted it from the ground with a cautious hand. A poppy?

  An oriental poppy at that. I thought for a second and looked intensely at its orange coloring. I spun its stem between my fingers, and felt it roll gently between them. The inner circle was a royal pur
ple along with the round patch of the stamen where pollen is kept, waiting for the bees to come and pollenate it and I was awed by its beauty. The orange surrounding it was as brilliant as the flames I generated.

  Then there was a flash of an image in my head. It was just one singular flash that was suddenly there, and just as swiftly gone. I couldn’t tell what it was till I started having more of them, one after the other. Like a slideshow. I saw past Executioners. They were men and women being slain by something with immense power. I felt a stab of recognition at the power I felt within the vision. It was her. I heard their screams as she cut them down, and I felt all of their pain. She had even tortured a few to try to bend them to her will, but they refused. They also didn’t go down without a fight. That was for sure.

  The ghastly visions brought me to my knees in an instant, and I lost my grasp on the poppy. It dropped to the ground with a silent solidity that felt so final to me. Like it was a sign of what was to come. Some were tortured with the very flames they could make themselves and some were blood-let while her vampire children fed from the pots surrounding them which collected the dripping blood.

  The pain she inflicted on those Executioners was more than I could bear all by myself. I thought the beating she had given me was bad, but I learned my lesson about assuming. This was more pain than anyone could ever experience and expect to live through. I was wondering why I was still even breathing. Those men and women continued to flash through my mind in two-second snippets. Some visions showed Executioners playing out the final moments when their lives ended. I was wondering how many more of them at this moment she had made any kind of contact with besides me.

  I wanted to run away from it. I didn’t want this knowledge. I didn’t want to see the pain and deaths of Executioners past. It let me know what I had in store if I continued to fight her. Then I saw myself. I knew it was a past incarnation of me. I knew, as an Executioner, our souls were recycled as soon as we met our deaths.

  I could see my face, clear as day in my mind. I was face to face with this creature that had me terrified. I knew I had just been beaten, and there was no way to turn the tide in my favor. We were both cast in shadows thrown by the firelight of ancient Egypt, and my own blood was all over me. It was oozing from open wounds from the beating and torture that had just ended, the punishment I was sure would continue.

  At this point in those frightening visions I was on all fours, like I was trying to crawl away from them. There was no reprieve, and no one there to rescue me. I saw her come down to my level and look me directly in the eyes. I realized there was no looking away from those red demonic eyes. My eyes were locked on hers and I knew without question that those eyes held something in them that no one could fathom. The horrific torture I was suffering was about to end. I knew there was no escaping it. No way to get away from it. This was it.

  She then reached out to me and grabbed both sides of my head like a vice, and then she started to squeeze. Slowly and not as harsh at first, but as she kept going, she pressed harder. The pressure was becoming too great, and in my ears I could hear my own screams. She was going to squash my head like a water balloon.

  I could no longer hold in the screams, and they escaped from my throat with a force of their own. I couldn’t help it. I knew the screams would tear from my lungs until this horrific thing was over. There was no one there to crawl to for comfort, and I knew no one would come to my aid. That was one of the things about living in a big city with a high crime rate. There was no one there to help you when you screamed. These screams were surely going to draw something towards me that I wasn’t prepared for. I would most likely draw vampires, even though they didn’t seem to be out. They were drawn to a woman’s screams like a moth to a flame. At that point I didn’t care. I could fight them off when it came to it. At least, I hoped I could.

  If they had any common sense they’d do their best to take me out while I was down, instead of waiting for my recovery. The pressure and agony were becoming too much to bear at that point. I knew I was definitely starting to attract some attention as I felt the energy from two or three vampires coming towards me. I could sense them in the way you knew a spirit was present.

  In my mind I saw blood pouring from my nose and eyes as the pressure increased. My vision was starting to black out in two-second intervals. I could even feel the blood running from my eyes in rivers. I felt some dribble into my mouth, and the metallic taste of it made me gag almost to the point of vomiting all over the cemented ground.

  I could hear the vampires laugh as I tried really hard not to vomit. The taste of a mixture of bile and blood made the sensation even worse. I really had to work hard to keep myself from giving into it. That’s when it finally ended with an extreme pain and pressure, and what I could best describe as a bursting feeling in the whole of my head. I was very happy I didn’t see this because I think I would have vomited all the contents of my stomach onto the pavement. Then it was all gone, and a complete feeling of peacefulness that was devastating took over. I almost felt like I ceased to exist.

  My entire body shook with exhaustion as I held myself up on all fours, all so I wouldn’t fall to the ground face first. A few drops of blood from the small streams coming from my eyes fell to the pavement in small splashes. As I watched them land, I could hear the taunts of the vampires surrounding me like a pack of wolves surrounds its prey. I was going to have to take them out fast if I wanted to be able to make it back home. These visions told me exactly who my enemy was. I knew it with absolute certainty. I had to get home right away and warn Beth and Gordon before it was too late to do anything about it.

  I slowly stood, legs shaking like this was my first time walking. I reached into the sheath that held a small silver dagger at the small of my back. The kill would be sloppy, but I was going to be lucky enough to manage to kill them at all at this point since my body was being uncooperative.

  I took a disordered step forward. I was sure I looked like Bambi learning to walk. The vampire in my line of sight took a step back from me, which was wise. I now had my dagger’s handle in the palm of hand. My vision blurred than went black for a moment as I slid the dagger from behind my back with a metallic hiss.

  The sickly look I was sporting was going to be my advantage in this fight. Luckily for me, there were only three of them waiting to tear me apart. They were going to be very disappointed, and very soon. It almost made me not want to crush their dreams of taking me down.

  The first of the three was only about two feet away so he wouldn’t be hard to kill at all. I easily cleared those two feet with some very convincing stumbling and clung to his jacket like I needed it to be able to stand. This made my performance even more convincing. As soon as I knew he thought I was going to be an easy slaughter, I shoved my dagger right under his ribcage and pierced his heart with the cold silver. It took almost all the strength I had left to do this. I was questioning my accuracy until a small trickle of blood flowed from his mouth, and his body started to evaporate into smoldering ash. The look of shock on his face almost made a grin cross my face.

  Yes, I was very weak, but they didn’t have to know that. So I would try to act as strong as humanly possible. With my normal strength I could’ve torn him apart with my bear hands, but the quicker I got home, the better. The faster I could tell Beth and Gordon I knew exactly who we were up against, and the sooner I could rest without interruption - maybe.

  I made quick work of the other two vampires. The first I was able to take down with a roundhouse kick that hit him in the side of the face and knocked him to the ground. The other was going to jump me from behind, so I sent a blast of fire his way that drained me even more. I then had to push with all my weight on my dagger to stab the last of the three in the heart. The final vampire was all ash, beginning to float away with the slight breeze when I collapsed. I ended up burning my hands on the hot ash to keep myself from hitting the ground face first. My vision began to blur again, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to walk
home. Not like this. But I had to at least try to walk, if not run, as fast as I could before I collapsed.

  I sat up as well as I could and just managed to keep my balance. I had to use whatever reserve energy I had left to get back home, I just had to. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in while trying to tally up any reserves I had left. The second instance in so little time where I ended up on my back side with no energy left. This woman had to go down, and as fast as humanly possible.

  Another slow and deep breath, in through the nose and out through the mouth. That was a little better. I could feel some of my strength returning. I decided this would be the best time to get up, and try to make it as far as I could as fast as I could.

  “Get up,” I told myself with so much determination I surprised myself. “Get up!”

  As soon as I was up on wobbly legs I took off running like my life depended on it. It kind of did at that point. No sense to waste time and walk when running would be so much quicker. As I ran through the streets it didn’t take long before I was pulling in ragged breaths and my legs could barely hold me up. My vision was going back and forth between slightly blurry and completely clear. I felt like I could faint at any moment, and the nausea I had experienced before was still very present.

  It seemed like hours before I got to our front steps, but it had only been minutes. The stairs were the hardest thing I’ve ever had to climb, and as I blasted through the door it felt so heavy. The door knob felt like it had rusted to the point of not turning. I burst into our living room where I found Beth and Gordon sitting next to a fire lit in the fireplace. They were both reading. They each turned to look at me, stunned. Of course, if I saw me right at that moment I’d be stunned too.