Anarchy (Hive Trilogy Book 2) (9 page)

Today I was on the roof with Oliver and Kyle. I was never alone any longer after my “two guard assignment” started.

Ryder hadn’t been back in my bed yet, but somehow he was always part of the Charlie night watch shift. Four nights in a row now we had sat on my couch and watched movies, the sexual tension between us pretty much killing me. I wasn’t sure I could do it another night. Unfortunately, with two enforcers assigned to me at all times, having enough privacy for me to jump his bones was not readily available. I was also getting the gentleman vibe from him, like he was waiting for me to take the lead.

My dirty thoughts were cut off by a low voice.

“I think I’ve traced the entire network of his company and Deliverance.” As always when Sam spoke, we all paid attention. “I’m preparing the virus. We have our own set of numerous offshore accounts ready for the funds. The cash will land there before my program divides again. Then it’ll shoot between eighteen countries and multiple bank accounts, before wiring the cash to the charities we decided on. It would take them years and a supercomputer to follow the trail.”

We all grinned. Hells to the yeah. You shoot up my boyfriend, I take your Mercedes, your private jet, your fluffy dog, and whatever else your money buys.

I wasn’t sure what happened then, but all of a sudden Sam was staring at my eyes in an intense way. It was making me kind of nervous.

“What?” I asked, but he quickly shook his head.

My laptop screen beeped with an instant message from Jayden.

Tessa is here and she is hammered. I locked her in room 23, way in the back.

“Shit!” I popped to my feet and took off running. A quick glance back told me that Sam had remained seated, but Oliver and Kyle were already up and pounding across the track behind me.

“What’s wrong?” Oliver asked, sounding worried.

I flew through the double doors and down the hallway. “Tessa,” was all I said.

The sexy six knew enough about my current situation with her to know that she was a handful. What human wanted to be a bloodsucking, allergic-to-the-sun monster? Only my bestie.

I nearly slammed into a vamp exiting the feeding center while I was trying to enter. I managed to dodge the bloodsucker at the last minute, nodding at Jayden as I dashed past. He tossed me a key to the room. When we reached 23, I turned to my bodyguards.

“Give us a second, will ya? This chick needs some real talk and it’s not going to be pretty.”

They both nodded, and as I was about to turn the knob I heard her banging against the door.

“You can’t keep me in here, you blood-loving assholes! I want to see my best friend.” Her words were so slurred that I only understood them because of my years speaking drunk Tessa. I heard a crash, and with my heart in my throat I jerked open the door and she almost toppled onto me.

“Oh, Tess…” My hand flew to my mouth.

She swayed once, and then crumpled to the floor. Her normally pristine appearance was … that of a homeless lady—baggy sweatpants, a loose t-shirt, mismatched shoes, her hair in a ratted ball at the nape of her neck. She wasn’t wearing make-up and was superbly drunk.

Her eyes locked on mine. “You!” She pointed and tried to stand.

Her shirt lifted and I saw a peek of her abdomen. “Is that a tattoo!” I shrieked. “You hate tattoos. You said they were trashy.”

Tears rimmed Tessa’s hazel eyes. “They are trashy! This is what happens when your best friend becomes a hot immortal ash and your only friend options are Valarie! I’m a mess.”

She broke down.

Oh Tess. I knelt on the floor and tried not to wince at the reek of alcohol coming from my bestie. In moments like these, advanced ash senses were not good.

The second I opened my arms, she fell into them sobbing. No words needed to be said. I knew how abandoned by me she felt and I was feeling like the worst bitch of a friend. Not that it had been a party-time picnic for me, but I had met so many amazing people in here, and while I missed her like crazy, I should have known she would have a tougher time. Tessa’s father was the only good thing in her life. After he died when she was young, her mom didn’t pick up the slack. I was her family.

My chest tightened then. “I’m always here for you,” I choked. “Fuck the Hive and their rules. If you need me, then I’m there.”

I pulled her face from my chest and made her look at me. Her eyes burned a brilliant green, the brown tinge to her hazel almost completely faded away. Her lips quivered.

“Charlie, I don’t know who I am anymore,” she moaned. “You and Blake are the only things real to me.”

My body shook. Seeing someone I loved making such a desperate plea for help ripped open my insides. I pulled myself together, holding her firmly.

“You’re Tessa Grace McNair, my annoying best friend who generally wouldn’t be caught dead out in public like this.” I touched her hair and she laughed.

“I drank a bottle of tequila. Now the room is spinning.” She lay her head on my lap and I stroked her hair.

“How dare you get hammered without me.” I joked, and she laughed before promptly rolling over and vomiting. A blond curl bounced out of her ratty bun and I snagged it, pulling it back as she puked. Because what are friends for if not for times like these.

“Oh good,” I said, trying not to gag as I laughed. “The one thing your homeless look was missing was the smell of vomit.”

Despite the dry heaving, she laughed with me then. It warmed my heart to know that in a few days I would be stuck with my mom and this crazy chick for Thanksgiving. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I sat with her for longer than was usually allowed in feeding times, but eventually she had to leave the Hive. Jayden called my mom to pick her up and Oliver and Kyle helped me get her into the car.

My heart felt both overfilled and fractured at the sight of my beautiful mom. I used to see her at least once a week, and now we could go a month with nothing more than a few emails. It’s not as if I couldn’t arrange to meet up with her on rare, secret, occasions—like the upcoming Thanksgiving trip. Ryder would definitely figure out how to get around those rules. It’s just that it felt wrong to drag her into this dark world—people chasing me, trying to kill or kidnap my ass, knowing I was the cure and it was only going to get worse. How could I keep her close when she could easily become a possible victim or target in all of this?

I couldn’t. So distance was the key. But that didn’t make my heart ache any less.

Just before she left, my mom gave me a tight hug. “I can’t wait to see you for Thanksgiving. Remember to be there early so we can cook together.”

I nodded. We would have this day together, me, Mom, and Tessa. Just like old times, one last perfect holiday memory. It was so hard to release her; she smelled like home, like everything good and familiar, and I relished the close contact.

“Take care of Tessa, she’s just having a hard time adjusting to this.”

My mom nodded, and for the first time I noticed the strain in her face. “We all are, dear. I wish the rules were different. I wish the ash were allowed to come home. It’s not like you’re contagious.”

She kissed my cheek and got in her car, but what she said replayed in my head long after she drove off.

“Oliver, why don’t the humans let the ash live among them? Only the vampires risk spreading the virus, and surely many of the ash families would prefer they stayed with them rather than being killed off in the culling.”

Oliver gave me a side glance. “It wasn’t the humans that made that rule. I think the vampires like having us around to do all their dirty work. They declared that once the ash transformation took place, they were no longer classified as human and had to follow the rules of the vampire world. The humans were powerless to fight against it.”

My stomach threatened to bring up my lunch. WTAF! I thought there were no choices, that the humans wanted nothing to do with ash and that the culling was the best chance at survival. Were they seriously telling me it was the vampires keeping all ash from being with their families? From me possibly having my mom and Tessa permanently in my daily life, all so I could work for them, fight and kill for them? Oh
hell
no.

There’s only one word for the feelings that were rising up inside of me.
Anarchy
. Fuck the vampires and fuck the Hive. How many years had this been going on? Killing their offspring, using us as their foot soldiers? They kept us weak and scared, killing off most of us in the cullings and then making the survivors think they were lucky to be part of the Hive world. Mind-screwing bastards.

If the humans never rejected the ash, or relegated them to the Hives, then we should be joining forces with them, rising up to demand that the vampires stopped their barbaric practices. My head was aching with all of these thoughts and questions, the anger smashing inside until I felt like I was going to go crazy.

My two bodyguards remained with me while I watched my family drive off, back to the human part of Portland, back to normal, leaving me here in blood-soaked crazy town.

The next day was on the depressing side. Seeing Tessa like that and thinking about the sucktastic life for us ash … well, it had shaken me.

Seeking some sort of comfort, I found myself ditching my guards—they thought I was just ducking to the feeding room—so I could take a minute to myself outside in the garden. My new badge was all kinds of awesome, allowing me access to areas I had never been allowed to go alone before. I began wandering aimlessly, bypassing—avoiding—the many groups of ash scattered around. I couldn’t be bothered dealing with the males of the Hive today. I was still the unicorn ash, and the only thing which kept me from being harassed a lot was the fact that my wolf pack was a bunch of killer enforcers.

Knew those guys would come in handy for more than brooding and chiseled abs.

I traveled further than ever from the imposing Hive building. The grounds were quite extensive, and I knew from the “welcome” package, which was as dreary as the ones you probably got in prison, that there was about ten acres of land here. A large chunk was taken up by the enormous building, but still plenty of nature remained. The government had forbidden the vamps from building more housing or extending the Hive. They were trying to keep the numbers contained.

I found myself in a section of the forest which I’d never been before, the canopy thick and dense, and it was dark and cold on the ground level. Winter was so damn close I could feel the chill in the air, smell the fresh scent which usually meant ice or snow was around the corner. As I strolled further through the tightly-packed forest, I fought for a sense of … something. I was lost. On the other hand, things were actually okay in the Hive. I had Ryder and the guys, I was going to be an enforcer— which was a hell of a lot better than “hello, can I take your call”—but still, this feeling of unease remained.

As the trees thinned, I emerged out into a large open space. I could see the high, wired fences in the distance, and hear cars, so I was probably close to the front entrance. It took me about five seconds to recognize where I had ended up. Since arriving here I’d tried to avoid this particular spot, consciously and subconsciously. I really hadn’t wanted to deal with it. But of course, like all suppressed things, something eventually forces them to the surface.

Sucking in a deep breath, I squared my shoulders, got all brave and stomped across to the very spot where I had been dragged and almost raped. Everything looked a little different now. The ground was rough, the grass browning off and starting to die. The last time it had been dark, the shadows casting the entire world into something that seemed sinister and petrifying.

Crouching down, I dropped both of my hands into the grass, scraping across the hard dirt below. I had fought my attackers, but there were two of them and they were so much stronger than me. I knew at the time there was no way for me to escape, and that if I just lay there and accepted my fate, they might let me live.

But of course, I would have preferred death over letting those two animals think they had broken me. I was a fighter.

I had to squeeze my eyes tightly as images and emotions flashed through me. It was disorienting and overwhelming, mostly because I had refused to let myself dwell on it too much. After it happened I wouldn’t speak on it, only giving my mom and Tessa the very barest of information. I had gotten very good at suppressing that night, and instead had focused on becoming physically stronger. Emotional strength, as always, was a lot harder.

It took me a while, sitting there on that cold, hard ground, eyes closed, emotions a mess
, tears leaking from my eyes. Eventually the ache in my chest and stomach started to abate, until
I could finally open my eyes and see the world around me again.

On the rare occasions I allowed myself to remember that night, it was only to wonder who the male was who had saved me. At the time I’d been out of
it, overcome with fear, and the entire thing came back in flashes. But the Viking male, with his broad, strong and kind face
, was permanently imprinted on my mind. A vampire who was actually caring enough to stop a human female from being raped. Seemed as if Lucas wasn’t the only one I could trust, but Viking vamp had completely disappeared.

It kind of made me sad that I would never know his name.

My legs protested as I straightened. I wondered how long I’d been crouched there for. Probably long enough that someone in the Hive was looking for me. No doubt the enforcers had realized I was not with Jayden and were probably storming the place searching for me.

Shit!
I hadn’t meant to stay out this long. It was a real asshole move to make them worry about me. Stupid memories.

I spun around, preparing to sprint my butt back through the trees, knowing I was going to get majorly ass-kicked by Ryder, which I totally deserved. But before I could even take a step, the figure standing about three yards from me had me grinding to a halt. The enforcer looked kind of pissed off, and yet at the same time he didn’t.