Becoming Forever (Waking Forever Series) (37 page)

“You seem depressed
, Em.” Coleen took a drink of her Glenlivet Exotic, the scent of chocolate and orange zest wafting over Emma.

“Coleen
, please.” Emma was annoyed and resigned to finish her scotch and leave.

Coleen frowned. “What did I say?”

Emma nearly rolled her eyes at her friend. “I appreciate the necessity to address the Lara situation, and I don’t disagree with you about the predicament I’m in with Ash, but I won’t have you playing the innocent as to why my mood is cross.”

Coleen took E
mma’s hand in hers. “Let’s not fight.” The woman practically batted her lashes at Emma. “What did you find out about Lara?”

Relieved Coleen opted to discuss the
shifter instead of Ash, Emma put her glass down. “Dorsey was expecting a payment of blood from Ela in exchange for being her enforcer. Sounds like she was performing the more dastardly deeds in an abandoned plant of some sort north of town.”

Before Coleen could respond, a man’s voice broke into their conversation. “Hey, I know you.” Emma looked up to s
ee Alan, dressed in a two-button charcoal colored, Ralph Lauren suit, with a blood red tie.

“Alan.” Emma stood, and briefly hugged the man. She looked over his shoulder to see if Ash was with him, a momentary panic setting in that she might have to navigate that situation with Coleen’s interjections. “How are you?”

“Splendid, and how are you two beautiful ladies doing?” Alan sipped from the martini glass he had in his right hand.

“You can’t be here alone?” Coleen smiled.

Alan winked. “You know me too well.” The man nodded in the direction of a thin, blond man sitting at the bar. He was wearing a pair of skinny jeans, and a teal colored knit Polo shirt with the collar popped. “He’s yummy.”

Emma couldn’t help but smile. She had liked Alan immediately. He was wonderfully clever and funny, and to add to his appeal, it was clear he cared very much for Ash. “Nice tie. Love the color.” Coleen smirked.

Alan raised his glass. “Gracias.” He turned his attention to Emma. “Speaking of yummy, have you seen our favorite detective lately?”

Emma chewed nervously on the inside of her cheek. She didn’t want to go into the complexities of her and Ash’s relationship, especially when there were entire segments of the story she couldn’t reveal to Alan. In addition, she hoped Coleen didn’t take this opening as an opportunity to discuss Ash. “We’ve talked a couple times on the phone, but I haven’t seen her in three day
s. Since the funeral.”

Alan frowned. “Why not?”

God, he’s going there. Between him and Coleen, there’s no hope for privacy.
“We’ve been busy. Work and whatnot.”

“I can’t imagine the whatnot, but you should make a point to see her.” Alan’s date at the bar had turned and waved him back over. “Hate to tell you how to
live your life and run, but yummy awaits.” He grinned, bowed his head slightly, and hurried off.

“You haven’t ended it with the human yet?” Coleen asked suspiciously.

“No, and to be clear, I never said I was going to.” Emma finished the last of her scotch, and reached in her purse for her wallet. “Just because it’s what you want to hear, and what you want to have happen, doesn’t mean either is true, Coleen.”

She laid two twenty dollar bills on the table. “I’m leaving. I need to be alone, and I can tell by your tone you’re ramping up for something akin to a lecture.” Emma stood. “And I’m not in the mood. Goodnight.” She didn’t wait for Coleen to respond, but suspected
, based on the amused expression on the woman’s face, Coleen wasn’t the least bit deterred.

***

Ash was sitting on her sofa in a pair of gray workout shorts and a blue t-shirt. It was a little after six in the evening, and she had two days left until she was scheduled back at work. The time was ticking away at a snail’s pace. She could think of a hundred things to do, but the truth was she didn’t want to do anything. Sitting on her couch and feeling sorry for herself was about all she could muster. Self-pity wasn’t an emotion she indulged in very often, but given the events of the last few weeks, she thought now was as good a time as any.

It was ironic that every one of Ash’s cases were solved, but would never be closed. Ela was responsible for Paul Garrett’s death, and was herself dead by Rachel and Sara’s hand. Richard Dorsey had murdered Cris and f
our other officers, and had met an equally gruesome death. Taking stock of the carnage made her stomach cramp.

Ash looked at her phone that lay next to her on the sofa. With the exception of a few awkward text exchanges, she and Emma hadn’t spoken in four days. In spite of everything else, this left Ash feeling the worst. She knew she
should let the possibility of being with Emma go. That in fact it was the more practical thing to do, but whenever she tried to imagine not seeing Emma, or worse, seeing her at work and having to pretend she didn’t care for her, Ash knew that wasn’t the answer.

She picked up the phone, and before she could think better of it
, sent Emma a text.
I have six Golden Girls episodes waiting to be watched. Interested?
Ash put the phone down, and took a deep breath. She told herself she had cleared her side of the street, and whatever Emma did was on her.

After what was possibly the longest three minutes of Ash’s life, her phone buzzed.
Should I bring beer?

Ash smiled, relief washing over her. It wasn’t everything, but it was a start.
If you insist.

A minute later Emma responded.
I insist. See you in about thirty minutes.

Ash got up and walked to her bedroom, she took her shorts and t-shirt off. Tying her hair up in a loose bun, she took a quick shower, and put a pair of jeans and a clean t-shirt on. There was a knock at the front door. Ash glanced at the clock on her nightstand. Emma was nearly fifteen minutes early.

Walking down the hall, Ash pulled the clip from her hair, allowing it to cascade down her back. Smiling, she opened the door. “You’re ea-”

Lara stood in front of her, a mischievous grin on her face. “Miss me?” Before Ash could slam the door shut, Lara lunged at her. The force of the impact sent Ash flying backward into her living room.
Lara turned and shut the door. Flipping the deadbolt, she crouched next to Ash, who was struggling to catch her breath. “I love that I can still take your breath away.”

Lara grabbed Ash by the hair, and pulled her toward the back of the apartment. Ash
gripped the woman’s forearm and dug her nails into the warm flesh. Undeterred, Lara continued dragging Ash into the bedroom. “It’s one of the many perks of being a shifter. We bleed like anyone else, but our pain threshold is through the roof, and we heal so quickly it’s hardly worth your effort.” She glanced down at the bloody scratch marks. “Feels like a paper cut.”

The
shifter pulled Ash to her feet, and punched her straight in the stomach. Ash doubled over, a wave of nausea causing the room to spin. Dropping to her knees, Ash looked up at Lara. She noticed for the first time the dark circles under her eyes, and dullness of her hair and skin. She was aging at an accelerated rate, and it was beginning to show. “Lara, you don’t have to do this.”

The woman laughed. “That’s about as cliché as it gets
, detective.” Lara drew her right arm back, and bringing it forward, slapped Ash across the left cheek, sending her crumpling to the ground. “I absolutely have to do this. That bitch vampire of yours has proven more difficult to flush out than I had thought.” Crouching next to Ash, Lara took her chin in her hand, and turned the woman’s head. “But you’re just the bait I need to spring the snare.”

Ash clenched her fist, and landed a left hook directly on Lara’s right jaw. Rolling under the
shifter, Ash knocked her legs out from under her, causing her to fall backward. With lightning quick speed, Lara righted herself, and brought her knee down on Ash’s chest, pinning her to the floor. “I appreciate the effort, but it’s really in vain. I’m stronger and more agile than you can imagine. So, for your sake, go with it.”

Ash had n
o intention of going quietly. She lifted her hips off the floor, and fully extending her long legs, kicked up and back between Lara’s shoulder blades. Falling forward, Lara caught herself with both her hands outstretched. Ash took the opportunity to roll out from underneath the woman, and get to her knees. She reached into her closet. Knowing she didn’t have time to get to her gun in the locked safe, she pulled a softball bat from just inside the door, and holding it in both hands like a sword, stood up.

With
speed reminiscent of Emma, Lara pushed up from the floor with her hands, and in a single movement was standing upright in front of Ash. She tore at her blouse and pants, and was undressed in short order. Her eyes were wide and any trace of color had disappeared from the irises, leaving a thin black band outlining them.

A sudden surge of blood rushed through
Lara, and her olive skin turned a bright red. The woman hunched over, there was a series of loud cracking sounds as her shoulders and hips dislocated. A mild electrical charge filled the space, and Lara was gone.

Ash
blinked several times, not believing what she was seeing. Where Dorsey shifting had taken several minutes, Lara had shifted into a large black leopard in only seconds. Ash took several steps back, the wall of her bedroom stopping her from retreating any further. A sensation of vertigo began to overtake her. Shaking her head, Ash was pulled back into the present when the leopard lunged at her.

Swinging the bat, Ash caught the large cat in the right shoulder. The animal hissed, and then a split second later, was on top of Ash. Pinned to the floor, Ash’s arms were trapped under the weight of the cat, rendering the bat useless.
The animal’s eyes were a deep emerald green as it stared at her, fangs exposed. A hot stabbing pain tore through Ash’s shoulder and shot down her arm. The leopard jerked its head back, Ash’s blood and skin hanging from its mouth.

When Ash had been a young girl, her father and brothers had taken her deer hunting
in west Texas for the first time. While hiking through the hills, she had fallen into a bed of cactus, and the pain of the piercing quills had spread across her back and brought her to tears. The burning of Lara’s bite was a thousand times more intense, and Ash cried out in pain. Her shoulder and neck were on fire, and the heat was spreading quickly across her chest, causing her to feel as if she were being suffocated.

The weight of the giant cat was gone, and Ash looked through her tear filled eyes trying to see where the woman had gone. The sound of shattering glass drew Ash’s attention to the bedroom window in time to see a long black tail disappear over the ledge. Ash tried to sit up, and her head throbbed as if it might explode. Collapsing back onto the floor, she was having difficulty breathing
as her heart raced furiously in her chest.

The numbness began in her left arm, and rapidly spread throughout her entire body. She realized the bite had done more damage than the gash left in her shoul
der. Something like venom was coursing through her body, and she could feel her lungs and heart beginning to fail.

***

Emma walked from the parking garage of Ash’s apartment complex, across the short pedestrian bridge and up the flight of stairs leading to Ash’s unit. She carried a six pack of 90 Dogfish IPA as she neared Ash’s door.

She had resi
gned herself to not having Ash in her life. The danger the relationship poised to Ash, and the inevitable pain awaiting Emma when Ash died had seemed like valid reasons to minimize their interactions. The reality was far less simple. Emma had been miserable the past few days without Ash. Her feelings for the woman hadn’t diminished. If anything, the absence had only intensified them.

Emma stopped ten feet from Ash’s front door. The
scent of burnt leaves mixed with an earthy smell washed over her. She recognized it from when she had met Lara at the hospital. Emma listened carefully. Hearing a violent struggle coming from inside the apartment, she immediately dropped the beer, and charged through the door.

Arriving in Ash’s bedroom, E
mma was met with a horrific sight. Ash lay bleeding on the floor, the white of her collarbone pushing through shredded muscle. Her body was rigid. Kneeling down next to the injured woman, Emma leaned over and smelled the massive, gaping wound in Ash’s shoulder. Recoiling, she gasped at the stench of the bite. The notoriously poisonous venom had already begun to eat away at the underlying muscle in Ash’s shoulder. The neurotoxins were coursing through Ash’s body, and Emma knew the woman’s heart could stop at any second.

Ash’s eyes were frozen in a blank stare, tears running down the side of her face, her body contorted as her muscles spasmed. Her lips had already begun to turn a light grayish-blue from the lack of oxygen. A strangled, wet sound emanated from her chest as she struggle
d to breathe.

The consequences of what needed to be done settled into Emma’s mind, turning her stomach. Left unchecked, the venom would kill Ash in minutes. If Emma interceded and gave Ash her blood, the woman she loved would live, but would become a
shifter. She could allow her to bleed out, and turn her. The choices branched out in front of Emma, each covered in jagged thorns tapering to fine points.