Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust

Chapter 1


“Nixy, please don‘t walk away from me like this, just explain why you are going. I need to understand.”

I looked at my mum as she pleaded with me. Tears silently rolled down her cheeks. My dad who sat next to her holding her hand looked at me while holding back tears of his own. Angry tears. My dad loved me and my three brothers but my mum was his true love and it was clear that my leaving home so suddenly was hurting her. Therefore in my dads eyes I was not the daughter he thought I was.

I felt my heart breaking for the second time this week. I hated making my mum feel so sad and helpless. She would have tried everything in her power to help me, to make me feel better. But there was nothing she could do and as soon as I told her that it hurt her. Especially the fact that I felt as though I needed to get away from home to feel better.

I had to be strong. Just strong enough to get out the front door, down the drive and into my old beat up VW bug. I loved my little bug I even named her - Tallula. Then I could cry, then I would let the gut wrenching sobs escape my lips - but not before.

“Nix!” I heard my brother Michael call from the hallway. He was heading my way. And sure enough his tall frame stood in the living room doorway seconds later. “John just called and told me what was happening. I left Mary with the twins and got here as soon as I could.”

Michael was my big brother - the eldest in the family at twenty- six. John was the second eldest at twenty - three and Kevin was the third and youngest boy in the family at twenty - one and I was the youngest and only girl at twenty.

Kevin was in my Dads study right now with his best friend Declan. Kevin refused to say goodbye - instead he had opted for the easier option of helping himself to Dads bar and drinking all the whiskey. And of course Declan being the good friend he is decided it was his duty to help drink the bar dry. I felt a smile curl the corners of my lips as I thought of my favourite brother and his best friend. I caught Johns eye who was standing silently in the corner of the room. He shook his head slightly and I sighed. Of course he was right, now was really not the time for smiling.

“mum,” I sighed, trying to not look her in the eye as I explained for what seemed like the hundredth time why I was leaving my home in Ireland and moving to Canada. “since the funeral I can‘t stand being here anymore, in this country, in this county, in this town, even this house holds far too many memories of Jaz. I just miss her so much and it hurts- you know? to see her everywhere and not see her at the same time.”
I took a deep breath which I nearly chocked on as I felt a dry sob try to escape through my lips.

“but Nixy, it will be worse if you run from your grief - you‘ll just have to face it when you come back anyway.” my mum tried to reason with me.

I blinked back tears and silently looked at my mother. Taking in every detail of her beautifully aged face.

As I watched her I saw when she finally realised the truth.

“you’re not coming back are you?” she gasped. Her small shoulders shook and my dad pulled her into his broad chest - rocking her and comforting her. For a moment I felt like telling them I had changed my mind and asking my dad if he would please hold me and comfort me until I felt all better. But the moment passed very quickly.

“she was my best friend mum, she was as good as a sister to me and you know that. And when she died she took some of me with her. Heaven forbid if Kevin had died I would be just as bad as I am now. I need to go. I will see you all again one day, but right now I need to leave.”

Tallula was already packed with all of my bags, I was getting a Ferry over to England and then from there I was taking the Queen Mary from Southampton to New York and then I would drive across the border to Toronto. From there I would decided where to go.

Jaz and I had got our visas at the beginning of the year, we had planned on travelling to Canada next month anyway - we just hadn’t planned the car accident that had killed her.

I picked up my handbag that I had left at my feet as a distraction from the tears that threatened to roll down my cheeks

“mum,” I chocked out. “I‘ll phone every day and write every week. I promise.”

“you don‘t know anyone over there. How will you survive?” she wailed.

I had to stiffle a laugh. “mum, I have a job already secured - me and Jaz organised everything months ago, I phoned up my new employers and just asked them if I could start earlier. They agreed as soon as I explained about Jaz and the same goes for our accommodation. I‘m staying in Toronto for the time being, after that - well who knows.”

I fiddled with the strap of my bag. “I‘ll be fine mum I promise.”

There was an awkward silence then, I needed to leave or I would suffocate and break down at the same time. The only problem was that I didn’t know how to say goodbye. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to. I knew I should have slipped out silently in the middle of the night - leaving a note to explain.

It was Michael and John who saved me, they both came over to me and formed a Nix sandwich.

“goodbye squirt.” Michael mumbled into my hair affectionately. He then lent down and whispered into my ear - “are you sure your not leaving because of that Eoghan guy, you had a crush on? Because if it is because of him then I would be happy to beat the crap out of him for turning you down.”

I shook my head as me and John and Michael laughed silently.

I squeezed out of their embrace as they kissed my forehead and stepped back. Walking over to mum and dad I knelt in front of them and took mums hands in mine.

“I love you so much mum, but I need to do this. I‘ll miss you.” I told her as I pulled her into a hug and kissed her cheeks and forehead.

There was no way I could release her yet so I pulled Dad into our embrace as well.

“love you dad.” I told him. “I‘m sorry.”

“I love you too kiddo.” he told me with a small smile.

It was finally too much and I had to disentangle myself from mums iron grip.

As I reached the door I looked over my shoulder at mum.

“bye mum,” I called just as I stepped outside I heard her loud heart wrenching sobs. I walked quickly over to Tallula before my own sobs joined hers.

I was just wishing that Kevin had said goodbye when I heard him calling me and two sets of footsteps stumbling towards me.

“hey, Ashes!” Kevin called, he came to a stumbling stop in front of me, followed closely by Declan.

“by Nix. Have fun in Canada.” Declan told me drunkenly. He was awarded with a elbow shoved in his gut for his statement.

“shut up you idiot, Ashes isn‘t going to Canada for fun - she‘s going to mourn Jaz.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at the two eejjits standing in front of me. It even amazed me that they were still able to make me laugh after the week I’d had.

“I‘m going to miss you two.” I told them. “especially you Kev.”

“Then stay.” he told me bluntly. “please don‘t go Ashes. I would help you get through it. I promise.”

“you know why I can’t stay Kev. But I‘ll call you when I can okay. I love you.” I told him as I pulled him into a hug.

“I love you too Ashes.”

I smiled at my nick name only he used. Nobody else had ever called me Ashes but for some reason Kev always had, even before he knew the meaning of my name.

As soon as I got into Tallula I slipped the travel CD Jaz and I had put together for the road trip we were supposed to take. Although Tallula is and old dear I have had the best mechanics that money could buy work on her and she can do anything any brand new car can do - especially with her brand new engine in her.

My dad was a rich man and since I was a kid I had saved up all my money, when I was sixteen me and Jaz had gotten jobs to add to our pocket money and as a result I had a very tidy amount in my savings account. I am slightly ashamed to admit that as of my twentieth birthday I became even richer when my trust fund was given to me so all together - I really wouldn’t need a job once I got to Canada, but I had always worked - I wasn’t going to change that now.

As the old country roads turned into main roads and the main roads turned into dual carriage ways and the dual carriage ways turned into motor ways, I felt my heart easing up ever so slightly with every mile I took towards my new life.

I looked into the rear view mirror and caught a look at myself. Michael had been right when he said that my crush Eoghan had turned me down. Eoghan was a bar man in my local, there’s nothing wrong with that, he was gorgeous and very clever for someone who dropped out of school at the age of 16 - we had gone to school together since nursery and I had been in love with him since the first day we met - pathetic I know but now that my life had been turned upside down, it felt silly ever being upset at being turned down by him. My reflection looked back at me with scrutiny all over her face. I had always been a plain looking girl, my dark hair hung lank against my cheeks, my chocolate colour eyes were lifeless and sad looking and although my complexion had been described by a lot of people as perfect my skin was beyond pale. If my chest wasn’t moving up and down then even I would think I looked like a corpse.

There was nothing special about me, I never felt the need to dress up to make myself look better either and I had never seen the point in wearing make up - if people said the only good part of looks was my complexion then why cover it up with make up? And my eyelashes were long and dark enough without mascara.

Right now I was wearing comfortable jeans, low boots and a t-shirt. - I was five foot nine - I also didn’t feel the need to wear high heels and my legs were slim so the height would do nothing for them.

Shake Your Pom Pom’s by Missy Elliott came through the speakers and I laughed and turned up the volume as I half danced in my seat, shaking my head from side to side causing my long hair to whip from side to side.

Tears slid down my cheeks to replace the laughter as the song came to an end. It would take a long time to except the fact that I would never see Jaz again and to feel okay about it, but I was determined to feel okay again one day, for Jaz’s sake. She had always been full of life and happy and optimistic about everything. I let the tears and the sobbing take over as ‘Sex on Fire’ by the Kings of Leon rocked out of my speakers and I tried to concentrate on driving. Jaz would kick my ass if I turned up in heaven less than a week after her because of a car accident no less. Yeah that wouldn’t go down too well.

Little did I know that I would be getting up close and personal with death and things much much worse than death from then on.

One month later.

“excuse me young lady I was wondering if I could ask you something?”

“sure.” I said as I squeezed off the last of the bulletts in my Berretta PX4. I hit the button on the wall beside my head and waited for the target sheet to come up to me.

Every single one of my shots had hit the chest, I swapped my Berretta for my Smith and Wesson hand gun and lined up for my next target. I always did this at the end of shift at the shooting range. Practice makes perfect. I had always worked in shooting ranges since I was sixteen - Jaz’s dad had owned one in our town and he had given us the jobs as soon as we asked for them. Hence the fact that I am an excellent shot.

I wasn’t ignoring the old man beside me I was just concentrating on what I was doing. As soon as I hit the button to bring forward my target sheet I put the safety’s back on my guns and reloaded them.

“what can I do for you?” I asked him as I watched the sheet come toward me.

“I was wondering how someone as young as you were such a good shot.“ the old dude said. His voice sounded young but the way he spoke and the fact that he had called me ‘young lady’ kinda’ indicates that he is old.

“My best friends dad owned a shooting range back home in Ireland - we both worked there since we were 16 and as a bonus her dad taught us how to shoot.” I told him as I finally turned around to face him.

The room was dark not too dark but the man was standing in the shadows so I couldn’t see his face. He was surprisingly tall, for some reason I had expected a small, stooped man.

“well your shot is perfect, graceful even. I haven‘t seen anyone shoot that well in many, many years.”

It was true, I had been the best shot out of everyone who had frequented Joe O’Boyles shooting range back home and everybody at this shooting range as well.

I didn’t know what to say in response so instead I said “is there anything I can get you? I‘m finished work now but if you need anything? Some shooting lessons……?” I asked.

The old guys laugh echoed through the range. It was then that I noticed that we were all alone.

“you could not teach me anything young lady - it would be I who would be teaching you if that were the case. No I would like your help in different matters.”

I frowned at the man in front of me. He had just told me that I was an excellent shot but that he was better than me - well that would be interesting, for an old guy he must have brilliant eye sight and steady hands.

“well unless the help you need is work related then I don‘t see what I can do for you.” I told him.

“I want you to let me train you. Not with guns - you can already do that - but in martial arts I could teach you how to out run the fastest moving target, I could teach you how to disarm someone who is across the room from you in seconds flat. would you help me by letting me teach you these things?” he asked me.

I wanted to ask him why he would want to teach me, some stranger to do these things but when I opened my mouth to ask only laughter came out. Gut wrenching laughter. I had to hold my stomach and bend over I was laughing so much.

“what are you laughing at?” he asked in a confused voice.

I controlled my giggles, stood up straight and wiped the tears from my eyes.

“you are going to teach me all of that? An old man is going to teach me martial arts and how to move nearly as fast as a bullet?” I had to swallow my laughs this time so that I wouldn’t offend the senile old man any further. I would have to ring the Canadian police before I left work and ask if they were missing any old senile war veterans.

“what old man? I said I would teach you.” he said as he stepped closer to me and into the light.

I gasped and instinctively took two quick steps back and banged into the wall behind me. I grabbed one of my guns - by the feel and weight of it it was my Berretta. I let it hang losely in my hands. I didn’t feel threatened enough to point it at him. He had just surprised me was all.

The man in front of me was not old at all, he was maybe mid to late twenties and he was the most handsomest man I had ever laid eyes on. My legs felt week just looking at him. But it was his eyes that had made me reach for my gun. They were dangerously beautiful looking. The color of liquid gold. I had never seen anything so beautiful in my life.

A slow smile formed on his perfect lips as he took in my reaction. He nodded in approval at the gun in my hand.

“that was a good idea. Already I can tell that you are going to be brilliant at your new job. You‘re sense for my kind will keep you alive my dear girl and that is another reason why I chose you.”

“chose me? Who are you and what do you mean your kind?”

“my name is Dimitri and I am a Vampire.”

I felt the air whoosh out of my lungs. I had never believed in Vampires but for some reason as soon as he told me he was one I believed him. It was his eyes and the predatory look he gave me that had me thinking he wasn’t human as soon as he walked into the light. It was the reason why I had reached for my gun.

“what is your name?” he asked me as he locked eyes with me.

I felt compelled to tell him everything about myself in that one look. But I managed to just spit out my name.

“Phoenix.”

“well Phoenix welcome to the world of Night.”

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Vote and comment please JJJ

© jamessica stories; 2010.
All rights Reserved.
Reproduction of this story or taking of ideas in any way is prohibited; and illegal


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Chapter 2

“Phoenix?” I heard my name being called as though from a distance. I looked up to see Dimitri searching my face. His eyes were so mesmerising.

“hmmm?” was my only coherent response.

“we‘ve arrived at your apartment.” he told me as he nodded behind me.

I spun around to look out the passenger window, and sure enough we were parked in front of my apartment. I blinked a few times before turning back to look at Dimitri who wasn’t in the car anymore, I blinked once more and he was standing next to me opening my door and helping me out of his Bentley Continental GT Black Bisson - hey I know my cars, and even though I love Tallula dearly - I stood by the saying - looking isn’t cheating.

It had been less than an hour ago that I had met my first vampire but it felt as though weeks had passed since Dimitri had walked into my life and had told me what he wanted my help with. Suddenly I felt a near hysterical urge to laugh and cry at the same time.

Right now I was standing in the lift on my way up to my apartment with a vampire - who could do what ever he wanted with me and I could do nothing to protect myself. My hand instantly went to my Berretta that was sitting comfortably next to my breast in my shoulder holster. My Smith and Wesson was safely locked up in my locker at the shooting range.

“if I wanted you dead Phoenix. You would be dead.” Dimitri was suddenly very close to me, his lips skimming my ear as he spoke in a dangerously low voice. Reaching around me he pushed my hand off the butt of my gun. “You’re not quick enough yet for that gun to help you if I had suddenly decided I was hungry.”

A shiver ran through my body, it had nothing to do with the close proximity of our bodies, or the way we were standing in a sort of embrace in a small space, no the shiver was caused by pure fear. He was right, I could feel the power radiating off him, he screamed danger and yet here I was trusting him with my life. Did I even have a choice?

“yes, Phoenix, you do have a choice - I won‘t do anything to you if you decide not to help me.”

I stepped out of his embrace only to back myself into a corner. Even if I was able to use my gun - I wouldn’t be able to now, seeing as I had no room to move to pull my gun free of its holster.

“can you read minds?” I asked breathlessly.

A magical laugh erupted out of Dimitris perfect lips. “that my dear girl is something that Hollywood fabricated for their movies. However, if someone is experiencing strong emotions such as fear, then I can feel them as well. I have also been alive for a very long time - in that time I have acquired a very useful skill of reading body language.” he finished with a deep laugh, that seemed to shake my body.

At that moment the lift doors opened, Dimitri motioned for me to go first and then he followed me down the corridor to my front door.

My hand was shaking as I tried to put the key in the hole. I stopped trying to force the key in and focused on stilling my hand. This wasn’t me - granted not everyday did I learn that the world was not as it seemed - but I had always been the cool collected type. I was strong minded and stubborn when I wanted to be. I would swallow my fear and get on with life. I would even contemplate taking on the hard training that Demitri was offering me. My hand stilled and the key slipped into the keyhole easily and I smiled as I walked over the threshold, thinking about what Dimitri had asked me to do for him. It was comical really.

As soon as he had told me he was a vampire, he had continued to tell me that he had been looking for someone to work for him for years. He needed an Enforcer. I had asked him what an Enforcer was with only mild interest, I was still trying to get my head around the whole vampire revelation.

“an Enforcer is someone who keeps all of the vampires in line. The Enforcer kills any vampire who breaks our Laws. Only a human can be the Enforcer.”

It took me mere seconds to realise that he was talking about me. He wanted me to be this Enforcer. He had to be crazy.

“whoa there buddy, you can not mean me.”

“actually Phoenix you are perfect for the job. You‘re body is perfectly proportioned and with a lot of work we could have you in shape in no time. We‘ve never had a female Enforcer before but I think we could make that work to our advantage. There hasn‘t been a need of an enforcer in over a hundred years. It has only been in the last five years that we have had rogue vampires wondering the streets. Humans have been going missing and then found days later, dead and drained of blood. The humans are threatening to take matters into their own hands. But I can‘t let that happen. It would be a total disaster, they wouldn‘t know the difference between rogues and law abiding civilian vampires.”

“what laws do you have?” I had asked, this was all so serial. Was I dreaming?

A low laugh had erupted from Dimitri, “I‘ll explain everything when we get to your apartment.”

“my apartment? Why are we going to my apartment?”

“to talk, there is less chance that someone will over hear us there. Come now. My car is parked outside.”

I had frowned as I had followed Dimitri out of the shooting range - my apartment was only five blocks away - and I had been looking forward to stretching my legs.


(back to present time: apartment.)

I turned on all the lights as I walked through my apartment and into the living room. Dropping my house keys on the coffee table I turned around to focus on Dimitri as I took off my long winter coat, hat and scarf - I had thought that Ireland was cold at winter time, but Canada was one hundred times worse and it was still only Autumn here - I found my self watching Dimitri as he looked around my living room. It amazed me that this strong gorgeous man- sorry vampire- was standing in my apartment asking me to help him save….his? people from being mistakenly killed by my? people.

I shook my head slightly to clear it so I could focus on more important things such as asking questions. I unbuckled my shoulder holster and took my gun out of it as I slipped the straps off my shoulders, as I walked over the safe where I kept my guns I looked over my shoulder at Dimitri.

“umm….would you like something to eat or drink?” I asked him, my mum had always told me to be hospitable to anyone who came into my house - no matter who they were.

Dimitri, who had been studying a picture of me, Jaz, Kevin and Declan, turned around slowly to look at me.

“be careful what you offer a vampire Phoenix. they are not all as gentlemanly as me and would have taken you up on your offer without a second thought.”

I frowned at him, thinking over what I had asked him and then thinking about his response. “what do you…”

Before I could finish speaking he had crossed the room and was standing in front of me. Man! He could move fast. I felt his cool breath on the bare skin of my neck and then I felt a sharp graze along the delicate flesh there. Before he pulled away from my neck, Dimitri brushed his soft lips against the place where he had just grazed. It felt sort of like a caress. My legs felt slightly weak and I had to use all of my will power to lock my knees in place and not to swoon. God I was so pathetic - I hadn’t had a boyfriend in over a year so here I was now unable to keep my hormones in check.

Something flashed in Dimitri’s eyes and then he smiled, a smile that showed a lot of teeth, including two very pointy fangs. Right now, Dimitri was absolutely terrifying looking. I realised he would have read my emotions, damn my stupid hormones. Dimitri would have felt what I was feeling as his lips had touched my delicate skin, and then he would have felt my frustration with myself for behaving like a teenager.

“Don‘t worry Phoenix.” Dimitri laughed as he watched my expression. “it’s a vampire thing. When the vampire feels blood lust - the human will immediately feel just pure lust towards the vampire in front of them. It makes us the perfect predators and the humans the perfect prey. I must say though, I am happily surprised at how quickly you were able to pull yourself out of it. It means that your new job will be easier for you. I knew you were perfect for the job as soon as I saw you.”

“about that. How did you find me?” I asked him.

“oh, nobody enters the city without the King knowing about it. There’s something about you though that sparked my interest. And I am glad I found you. We will have to start your training straight away. I will give you tonight to pack up all of your belongings and then I will come with some of my men over here tomorrow night to pick you and your things up. I must say that it does help that you haven’t settled into this apartment yet…”

“whoa! Hold up and rewind.” I told him as I held up two hands as though they would stop my life from tipping upside down. “I haven‘t agreed to becoming your… your Enforcer yet and even if I did why do I need to move out?”

“you will agree, if you weren‘t going to then you would have told me already. As for moving out, well you can‘t live here while I train you, it would just be inconvenient and unnecessary - besides once your training is finished and you are out on the streets enforcing the law, it would be too dangerous for you to live here, alone, unprotected.”

“so where am I going to live?” I asked, trying to hide a wince. I had a bad feeling I knew what he was going to say.

“with me of course.” yep. I knew it.

I nodded my head, I had a strange feeling that fate had just caught up to me. I felt as though everything that I had ever done or had ever experienced had lead me to this point. So what I said next did not surprise me at all, even though it would have done yesterday.

“so tell me about your law. If I am going to Enforce it I think I should know all about it.”

Dimitri smiled at me. “it is simple really, firstly, it is against our law to kill a human. Secondly you can only bite a human who has given you permission to bite them, unless it is an emergency and the vampire doesn‘t have a choice, but then the vampire would have to clear the humans mind of the encounter - biting a human without their permission is the vampire equivalent of rape. Thirdly it is against the law to turn a human into a vampire without the Kings permission. Otherwise the world would be teaming with vampires and no humans for blood. These are the three main laws and the most important ones. Anyone who breaks the law is a rogue and is therefore sentenced to Death. That is where your job comes in. You will have to go out, find them and kill them before they kill anymore innocent defenceless humans.”

I knew I had grown pale. I liked his laws, I thought they were a really good idea, but Dimitri had just said that I had to kill vampires. Dimitri was a vampire and I couldn’t even comprehend the thought of ending his life. Could I really be cold enough to kill a living - well undead person?

As though reading my thoughts Dimitri said.” last week the police found a women a bit older than yourself drained of blood in her apartment. When they had found her she was on her stomach so they had had to roll her over to put her onto the gurney to take to the morgue. Beneath her was her three month old daughter, also dead and drained of blood.”

My face felt as though it had turned into stone as Dimitri told me about the young mother and her baby. I felt a hot liquid form in the pit of my stomach and then it slowly started to boil, my hands were shaking and I knew when Dimitri nodded in approval that my eyes had flashed to anger, pure and utter anger. I wanted to kill them, I wanted to kill them all. I would let Dimitri train me, I would do everything he told me to do, I would push myself until I was the most perfect Enforcer there had ever been and I would make sure that all rogues knew to fear my name. The image of a poor defenceless baby being killed so brutally made me burn all over.

“what you are feeling right now my dear, is bloodlust, and you are going to use that bloodlust to your advantage. Channel it into your training and then use it whenever you have second thoughts about what you are doing.”

I could only nod my head. If Dimitri thought I was good enough to be his Enforcer - if he believed that I was the one for the job then so be it. I couldn’t explain it I just somehow knew that trusting Dimitri and excepting this job as Enforcer was the right thing to do.

Dimitri turned back to the picture on the wall. He looked at it for a while before taking it down and bringing it over to me.

“when was this picture taken?” he asked me.

“umm about two months ago. Why?”

“you have changed enormously since then.” he murmured while starring at the picture of me.

“what do you mean?” I asked not being able to keep the crack in my voice.

Dimitri’s head shot up and looked me in the eye. Looking at me with interest before saying almost distractedly, “in this picture you look alive and vibrant. Glowing even. But from the first moment I met you I noticed the pain in your eyes and a slight emptiness in your presence. It was one of the reasons why I chose you as the Enforcer. What happened?” he asked curiously.

I turned my back to him and looked out my living room window. I could see all the lights of the city of Toronto winking back at me. As I took in the view I concentrated on holding back the stupid tears that threatened to spill onto my cheeks.

“I‘m sorry for making you sad Phoenix, but one of these days you are going to tell me why.”

Crap. I turned back to him, my tear ducks momentarily dry. I had forgotten about his little talent of reading emotions. “I would rather you didn‘t read my emotions all the time if we are going to be working closely together.” I hadn’t meant for it to come out so harsh but I was trying to hide my embarrassment and pain.

“I didn‘t read your emotions. Trust me, I hardly ever do that unless it is necessary or the feeling is so strong it practically shouts at me. I could tell by the way you turned away from me, the way you stiffened, how your shoulders bunched together and the grinding of your teeth, all of those things would indicate either anger or someone trying to hold back tears. When a human is angry their heart starts to beat faster and the blood is pumped around the body twice as fast. I would have noticed that. So the only other answer was that you were trying to hold back tears and….”

“okay, okay already. I get it. Jeez working with you is going to be fun isn‘t it?”

Dimitri raised an eyebrow at me. “fun is the last thing us working together is going to be. The training is going to be hard and intense and most days you are going to beg me to let you have a break, but that isn‘t going to happen. Your whole body is going to be screaming in protest and I am only going to push you even further.”

I thought about the gruelling time ahead of me. Would I really be able to handle all the hard work that it entailed? Yes I could and I would.

“I was being sarcastic about the fun part, but you made your point. I accept the job as the Enforcer.”

Dimitri locked his gaze on mine. A chill ran up my spine and I felt the need to take a step back, but I held my ground and didn’t move a muscle. He shook his head and took a step towards me. Taking a knife out of a hidden holster under his long black trench coat, he brought his wrist up to the sharp edge of the blade, with only a hairs breath between them, he spoke. “if you are to be my Enforcer there is something we have to do first and you have to agree to it.”

I gulped and looked from the knife to his bare wrist and then back up to his eyes. “what do we have to do?”

“we have to exchange blood.”

“what?” I gasped in disbelief and only mild disgust.

“I will need to have full contact with you at all times - the blood exchange will give us a telepathic connection that only we will share. The blood exchange is also vital because it gives you some extra abilities, such as, inhuman speed and strength, all your senses will be heightened and you will have perfect night vision. We will have to repeat the process once a month for a year. By then your body will be so used to the vampire blood that we will not need to exchange blood again - unless there is an emergency.”

An emergency? I thought. Ah, as in I’m going to die and I need some supernatural blood to save me. Great my life was turning into a freak show.

“but this blood exchange, will it not turn me into a vampire?” I asked.

“No it won‘t. Again that theory is another of Hollywood‘s fabrications. You will stay completely human - except for your enhanced abilities - unless you die, in which case you will turn into a vampire.”

“so will you permit me to drink your blood, and then drink my blood Phoenix?”

I looked into his eyes as I thought over his question. Why did I trust this stranger, this vampire so much? I asked myself. I knew the answer I would give him. As soon as he had finished explaining what the blood exchange was.

“yes I will let you drink my blood.” I told him.

Dimitri’s eyes flashed red for a split second before turning back to their golden liquid colour.

“thank you.” he said as he slightly bowed his head and then proceeded to take off his jacket. Putting the knife back into its holster on his hip, he grabbed the edge of his sweater and pulled it over his head revealing a white wife beater against muscled arms and plastered against washboard abs.

“what are you doing?” I asked him as I tore my eyes away from his body and back up to his face.

“I am going to slit my wrist so you can drink from it. I need to get extra clothing out of the way. You need to do the same.” he told me as he walked out of the living room.

I followed him trying to work out what he meant. I found him standing in the hall way. He looked at the three doors leading off and picked one - my bedroom. He peered inside, looked pleased and then shot me a glance behind him.

“come on.” he said as he held his hand out for me. Without hesitating I calmly took it and allowed him to lead me over to my bed.

“why do I need to take my top off ?” I asked him as he sat on my bed and scooted back so that he was leaning against the headboard. He pulled me onto the bed and positioned me so that I was sitting between his legs with my back against his chest.

“because,” he said against my ear. “I need to drink from your neck and your top is in the way.”

I shivered slightly as his cool breath washed over the side of my face and danced across the corner of my lips. I felt him fiddle with something and then suddenly he had brought both hands around my waist so that I was in the middle of his strong arms that encircled my body without touching me and I could see that the knife was in one of his hands. I gulped again, thinking about what I was about to do - I was about to drink blood.

Without thinking too much more about it. I took a hold of the edge of my t-shirt and pulled it over my head so that I was now sitting in the embrace of a vampire with only my lacy black bra and jeans on.

“which side?” I asked Dimitri.

“Right.” he told me, immediately knowing what I had meant.

I reached up and gathered all of my hair in my hand, I swept it over my left shoulder and tilted my head so that more of the right side of my neck was exposed.

“once I bite you,” Dimitri told me. “you will see flashes of my life, and I will see flashes of yours. You will feel the sort of pleasure you have never felt before and you will be overwhelmed with the new powers and gifts that will pour into you. As a result your body will do the only thing it can to deal with this overload and you will fall into a deep sleep - only to awaken sometime tomorrow evening. I will sense when you have woken up and I will come over here with my men to help you pack up and move into my home - your new home. You will be safe. As soon as the blood exchange is completed I will clean your neck wound, tuck you into bed, leave and lock up behind me.”

I nodded my head in understanding.

“now lean back into me.” Dimitri told me.

I leant back into him. Resting my head against his left shoulder.

“are you ready?” he asked me.

I could only nod my head. Dimitri brought his arms up so that his left wrist was closer to my mouth. Before I could think anymore about what I was going to do, Dimitri had slit his wrist and had it pressed to my mouth. Instinctively I opened my mouth and let my tongue trail along the line of blood that was now starting to flow from his wrist.

Behind me I could feel Dimitri shiver and then I heard him sigh. He dropped the knife onto my bedside cabinet and then trailed his hand lightly up my side and then up my arm. Stopping at the top of my arm he let his fingers trace an imaginary line across my chest, his fingers lightly dancing over the lace of my bra, I felt his low chuckle when he heard me taking a shaky breath - causing me to breath in more of his blood. It was delicious. I had never tasted anything like it before. It was like a sweet elixir, and I couldn’t get enough of it.

Dimitri’s hand came to a stop on my left arm, his arm was now resting on my breasts so that it seemed as though he was hugging me from behind. His hold tightened slightly and I realised that he wasn’t hugging me, he was holding me in place.

I was right, I felt his lips caress the skin covering my jugular, his kiss made my toes curl and my eyes to flutter shut. Then he sucked some of the skin there into his mouth as his fangs pierced my flesh. I gasped as he started to suck my blood. My left hand was gripping the wrist I was drinking from but my right hand gripped the nearest thing to it, which just happened to be Dimitris thigh. At that moment I couldn’t have cared less. The feelings that were now coursing through my body were better than anything I had ever felt, the pleasure I felt was so much better than sex that I found myself wondering for a moment whether I could ever had sex again and feel satisfied.

Suddenly visions like still pictures flickered through my mind. In every single one was Dimitri. Dressed in the clothing of each era. There was men - vampires - kneeling before him, guards standing around him - there where pictures of Dimitri sitting on a throne pointing at a vampire who was being held still by two guards. As well as pictures flickering through my mind I felt feelings that could only be Dimitri’s.

I sucked harder on Dimitri’s wrist, drawing even more blood down my throat, I greedily gulped it down. The light pull on my neck continued as Dimitri’s grip on my arm tightened even more.

The feelings I was feeling now - Dimitri’s feelings - were overwhelming. I felt pure power course through my vains, power and leadership.

Just before I passed out I realised I was in the arms of the Vampire King.

……………………………….........................

Vote and comment please JJJ

© jamessica stories; 2010.
All rights Reserved.
Reproduction of this story or taking of ideas in any way is prohibited; and illegal

………………………………..................................................

Chapter 3

As I sluggishly became conscious I found it difficult to open my eyes. Instead I lay still on my bed taking inventory on how I felt. Dimitri really had tucked me into bed, I could feel the stiffness of my jeans against my thighs and the bareness of my shoulders, so I knew that he had been gentlemanly enough not to try and make me any more comfortable than necessary.

I continued my inventory on my body with my eyes still shut tight. I moved my legs slightly and felt strength course through my muscles. Normally when I woke up I had to stretch and flex my muscles for a good minute before I could even attempt sitting up straight. But I knew that if I attempted to move right now I could run a mile without breaking a sweat. My mouth was completely dry though and I could feel the coppery taste of Dimitri’s blood lingering on my tongue. As I licked my dry lips I realised that I wouldn’t mind drinking some more of his sweet blood, not letting myself think to much more about his blood I attempted opening my eyes again. They slowly opened only to shut tight again. The evening light that was coming through my window stung my sensitive eyes.

Don’t worry about the light, your eyes will become accustomed to it in a couple of minutes. This time turn away from your window before opening your eyes.

The sound of Dimitri’s voice in my mind was like an intimate whisper of a caress. When he had told me last night that we would be able to communicate telepathically I had thought it would hurt like a headache at first or I would feel violated of my privacy. But all that I felt was content and glad that I was not alone in my head as I woke up to experience new and strange abilities that I now had.

I had only thought of sitting up and facing the dark corner of my bedroom and suddenly that was exactly what I had done, I blinked my eyes open and was relieved to find that I could keep them open.

Thanks, I sent the thought out to him, I don’t know how I knew how to, but it seemed to just come naturally as though he was sitting right next to me and we were having this conversation out loud instead of in our heads. but why did the light affect my eyes so much?

That would because of the night vision you now have, but from now on your eyes should be fine.

Good. I thought. I stood up and walked out of my bedroom and into my kitchen. Grabbing a bottle out of the fridge I lent against the kitchen counter, looking into space as I chugged down the water I sent out another thought to Dimitri. where are you right now?

In bed, it is still light out, therefore I am confined to the thick walls of my windowless bedroom.

Suddenly I could sense his pressence in a dark room, I could smell pine wood and other scents that were all male. I smiled as I realised that I was smelling Dimitri’s scent. I could feel the satin sheets that he was lying on as though I was lying on them as well. Then I realised what Dimitri had said.

Oh! I didn’t even think about asking about the no sunlight thing. So you can only come out at night? Huh! That can’t be fun, not being able to move freely during the day. Especially for a King. I added the last bit with a little bit more emphasis.

His mental laugh was just as musical as his vocal one. Ah Ashes, I see you got more images from my life than I thought you would have done.

You weren’t going to tell me? I asked him incredulously.

I would have done today - well you would have found out anyway when you move in tonight. I suppose that is just one less thing we have to talk about now.

So when does the sun set?

In half an hour, I will come to you then - and I will send for my men once I arrive.

So what happens tonight? Do I get to settle into my new home or are you going to start our training tonight?

Which would you prefer?

I would rather we started our training straight away. The sooner we get started the sooner I can be out on the streets actually working. I think I…….

My train of thought trailed off as my gaze slid to the kitchen window. I could see straight into the apartment next door and apparently they could see me as well. I yelped and dove for the floor and uselessly wrapped my arms around my chest in an attempt to cover my lace clad breasts.

Dimitri’s laughter rang through my head.

It’s not funny! Those two guys were starring at me like I was something to eat - maybe they are vampires as well…

No they are not, I would have known last night if there were any vampires living near you and besides it’s still day time. They were probably just admiring your body. He calmly told me, I could feel him shrugging his shoulder, causing the sheet beneath him to crinkle, as though it was no big deal. well it isn’t a big deal, I mean they are never going to see you again, so you don’t need to be embarrassed do you Ashes? he told me after clearly having listened to my thoughts. Then something he said clicked.

What did you call me? I asked him.

What do you mean?

Just now. What did you call me?

Ashes?

Why did you call me that Dimitri?

I don’t really know why. All I know is that while I drank your blood last night I saw images of you and one of them was of you talking to your brother Kevin. He called you Ashes and suddenly even more of your memories came flooding into my head as though that name was a key to your very soul. Ashes just seems to be your true name.

I slumped my shoulders and let the tears silently roll down my cheeks as I thought of my brother, I hadn’t let myself think too much about him since I moved to Canada but now that I did I realised I missed him nearly as much as I missed Jaz. The only difference was that my pain from missing Kevin was self inflicted and I could go and see him whenever I wanted to.

I could still feel Dimitri in my head silently waiting for me finish having my moment.

I will always be present in your head Ashes, as will you be always in my head. But we will both have to build a mental wall each to protect our minds. It will mean that if we want to talk telepathically all we will have to do is knock on each others mental walls, then we can lower our shield and talk - I’ll explain it better as I teach you how to do it later on. If we don’t do this then our minds will be over worked and there will be a danger that you will start to literally lose your mind.

I silently nodded my head, knowing that he would be able to both sense the nod and read my understanding in my thoughts. I shook myself slightly to stop my self pitying thoughts from consuming me and crawled from my kitchen into the hallway. Again I felt Dimitri’s laughter as he sensed what I was doing. I couldn’t help but laugh with him.

Hey, I wasn’t going to flash those guys again, they got more than enough of a peep show! I laughed.

I felt Dimitri sit up in bed, the sheets pooling around his waist. you could have made a run for it, with your new speed all they would have seen was a blur, which they would not have paid any attention to.

I felt Dimitri speed across his bedroom only to stop in front of a huge wardrobe. When he opened it he chuckled at my mental gasp of shock. The dude owned more clothes than I did, there was probably more clothes in his walk in wardrobe than there were clothes in a department store.

You really love your clothes don’t you? Are you sure your not gay?

Not this century. he told me. right now I have plenty of females to keep me company. he added in a tone that was meant to imply that he was getting more than enough female attention - sexually.

What do you mean? I asked him in confusion.

I am almost two thousand years old, he told me. Sex gets boring if you do the same thing over and over again. There is nothing I haven’t tried out before. Including men. Sometimes it is easier to have a relationship with a man than a women. There is less drama.

Your almost two thousand years old? I mentally gasped. I thought you told me you weren’t an old man! I mentally laughed.

I don’t look old do I? Therefore I do not think of myself as an old man. Right now you are not thinking of me as an old man are you. You think I look handsome and physically fit, that is defiantly not the definition of an old man.

I mentally shrugged my shoulders as I walked into my bathroom and turned on the shower. True. So if you have tried everything then have you ever had sex with a human before? I asked as I stripped out of my jeans and slipped off my bra and panties before stepping under the hot spray of the shower.

I had a feeling that if we were having this conversation face to face then Dimitri would have cleared his throat and looked anywhere but at me. This made me smile.

No. I have never been with a human, it would be too dangerous, fatal even to a human felmale…

Or a male. I added for him

His dark chuckle rang through my head.

Yes, or a male.

I had a feeling that he had been about to say something else but stopped the thought before I could hear it, I did get the tail end of the thought though, so I knew it was something about me. I shrugged it off.

Dimitri had chosen a dark pair of Hugo Boss Jeans and a black Armani long sleeved tight fitting top. The whole ensemble was gorgeous against Dimitri’s pale skin and short dark head of hair.

Thank you, Dimitri told me as he listened to my thoughts. You don’t look too bad yourself. Dimitri chuckled

Hey!!

I’m joking as soon as I realised you were undressing I mentally looked the other way and I still am so calm down. Besides you haven’t got anything I haven’t seen before

I am a human remember - and you have never been with a human before. You have only seen naked female vampires…

I felt Dimitri moving very fast. Only to stop minutes later. He was no longer in his room. I looked through his eyes and realised he was in my bedroom, sitting comfortably on my bed.

Okay, okay I get the point. I won’t be looking at you while you dress, undress or shower. he promised in a sincere mental voice.

I turned off the shower and wrapped a towel around my body as I stepped onto the cold tiles of the bathroom floor. I picked up my clothes and put them in the clothes hamper before opening the door and walking across the hallway into my bedroom.

“thank you.” I said aloud, as I made my way over to my chest of drawers and pulled out a matching bra and panties. I turned around and faced Dimitri who was now lying across my bed looking up at the ceiling.

“what! I‘m not looking!” he exclaimed innocently.

“I don‘t care go and sit in the living room and wait for me there.”

Dimitri sighed over dramatically and I couldn’t help but laugh as he shot me a smile before blurring out of my room.

It took only seconds for me to get ready. Minutes later I was in the kitchen making coffee. It seemed as though night time was going to be my new daytime now that I lived in the world of Night.

“coffee?” I asked Dimitri with a raised eyebrow.

“please.” he said as he came over and got two mugs out my cupboard for us.

I must have looked at him strangely because he laughed when he turned to look at me.

“what?” he chuckled. “I can eat and drink human food if I want - I don‘t need to but I like the taste of coffee, red wine and some specific foods.” he told me with a shrug.

“cool. So how are we going to move all of my stuff to your place?” I asked him.

“well you‘ll only need your personal effects. - photos, toiletries and only some clothes that you think you may need. We will have to go shopping and buy you a new wardrobe though.” he told me.

“why?!” I exclaimed as I looked down at my clothes I was wearing. Dark jeans and a navy long sleeved top. “what’s wrong with my clothes?”

Dimitri chuckled, but swallowed his laughter when I shot him a glare. “you can‘t enforce my law dressed like that!”

“why not, I‘m not going to be killing rogues with my fashion sense so what does it matter what I wear?”

“for one thing, jeans are far too stiff to wear while fighting, try and kick me right now.” he told me.

I didn’t need telling twice, he had pissed me off. I swung my leg out and he caught it easily, I could feel my jeans pinch my thigh and I started to hop around in his grip while he just stared at me.

“okay, okay. I get the point, I need a new wardrobe yada yada yada.” I said while rolling my eyes. “can you let go of my leg now?” I asked as the coffee machine finished.

Once both of my feet were safely on the ground I poured our coffee and headed for the living room.

“so what will this new wardrobe consist of?” I asked him as we sat on the sofa.

“soft black leather pants and jackets, dark tank tops.” I shot him an oh-no-you-don’t glare, which he rolled his golden eyes at - “you won‘t feel the cold anymore Ashes, the vampire blood will keep you warm. Anyway as I was saying, dark tank tops and black shit kickers. Then for accessorises we will go to my armoury, I think you‘ll enjoy that.” he smiled.

I could just imagine the treasure of weapons he had hauled up somewhere and I could feel my excitement build. For some strange reason I had always been extremely interested in weapons, guns were my favourite though, but fencing and fighting with knives were a close second. I had taken extra curricular courses the whole way through school, which all consisted of me training with weapons I had even taken a three month course in Archery and had gotten really good at it, before the course had finished.

I was very lucky to have a rich father who would pay for all of my lessons.

“what memories of mine did you see?” I asked Dimitri without looking at him.

“A vampires brain works much faster than a humans, so in the short time that we were exchanging blood I saw almost all of your memories. The most important and memorable memories anyway.”

I exhaled a shaky breath. so you know why I left Ireland?

Yes I do. Most of your memories included Jaz and your brother Kevin. From your memories I could tell that she was a female of worth.

I hadn’t talked about Jaz since I left Ireland, so I had expected to cry at the first mention of her. Instead I found myself turning to face Dimitri with a huge smile on my face.

Yes, she really was a female of worth. I told him with sparkling eyes and a lighter heart than I had had in a very long time.

We sat there and smiled at each other until there was a knock at my apartment door, I broke away from his gaze and stared at the door with a frown.

Who…..? I started to ask but before I could finish my question Dimitri was opening my door and ushering in two men who wore all black - I could tell by the bulges under their clothes that they were packing heavily.

I stood up and walked to the door of my living room and peered at the men who were walking down my hallway, toward me. The two strange men stopped in front of me and nodded their heads at me in greeting. I stepped back into the living room and motioned for them to come in. The room seemed to shrink as the three huge men stepped in.

“Phoenix,” Dimitri said aloud for the benefit of my overly handsome house guests. “this is Quinn,” Dimitri pointed to the tall, broad man with black hair and piercing blue eyes, “and this is Ari.” Ari had sandy brown hair and dark brown eyes, it was a weird contrast, especially against eerily pale looks. His name really suited the way he looked.

“Ari, Quinn, this is Phoenix.” Dimitri laughed as he read my thoughts, and I couldn’t help but laugh with him.

Quinn and Ari gave us both strange looks. Especially towards Dimitri. I got the impression that they rarely got to hear him laugh, which was strange because he seemed to have done nothing but laugh since I had met him.

I felt the need to explain why we were laughing though.

“Sorry guys,” I smiled and looked at Ari. “its just that I was thinking that your name really suited you. I know from taking religion in school that Ari means ‘lion’ in Hebrew. Its really cute actually.”

Ari looked at me in shock with only a mild bit of distaste at my ’cute’ remark. He was about to say something but was interrupted by Quinn’s bellowing laugh.

“Ah jesus! I love this girl already! Where did you find her Dimitri?” Quinn asked in a mild Irish lilt.

“from the same place they got you I‘d expect from that accent of yours.” I said with a cheeky smile.

“damn, why‘d you have to be human, I could take you home with me right now, your so feisty!”

I laughed but stopped abruptly and raised an eyebrow at Dimitri when I heard his voice in my head.

You could have a relationship with a vampire now that you have drank my blood you know, there would be no danger in one of us hurting or breaking you.

“really?” I asked out loud. I thought about it for a minute before reverting to talking in our heads. Quinn was only joking, so it doesn’t really matter but that is good to know.

He wasn’t joking Ashes. I can feel his arousal right now, its actually making me quite uncomfortable. You are exactly Quinn’s type, beautiful, sassy and feisty.

Whoa, hold up there vampire. Beautiful, sassy and feisty? I am defiantly none of those things. And most definitely not beautiful. You have my memories - even you know how many times Eoghan turned me down.

Ah but that was before you had drank my blood, vampire blood enhances everything abut you, triply so when you drink the blood of the Vampire King.

While we stood there silently looking at each other I tried to think over the last couple of hours since I had woken up to see if I had looked in a mirror today yet.

“you haven‘t looked in a mirror yet today. Have you?” Dimitri asked out loud.

“nope.” I replied while biting my lower lip.

Dimitri rolled his eyes, took my hand and pulled me into my bedroom. As we passed Ari and Quinn I noticed they were looking at me and Dimitri weirdly again. I stifled a giggle as I realised what me and Dimitri must have looked like to the two vampires, just standing there looking at each other, occasionally continuing the conversation out loud.

In front of me I saw Dimitri’s shoulders shake and a whisper of his laughter dance through my head as he read my mind.

Quinn and Ari followed us into my bedroom and sat down on the end of my bed to watch what we were up to.

Dimitri positioned me in front of my full length mirrior and then stepped back so that I could get a better look at myelf.

“see?” Dimitri asked as I gasped in shock at the women who looked back at me. She was absolutely stunning looking.

The long dark hair that normally hung lank and stringy around my face was glowing and bouncy - it framed my face perfectly now. My normally drab chocolate eyes, had more life in them - which was ironic, seeing as it was due to an undead mans blood - my eyes were now a more shiny chocolate liquid colour. My normally pasty cheeks had tinges of pink in them now and I was instantly reminded of strawberries and cream and my lips were now a blood red colour and were defiantly more pouty. I would never need to wear lipstick again.

I did a slow twirl to take a look at the rest of my body and was pleasantly surprised to find that my once narrow hips were now more curvy and my boobs seemed to have gone up two cup sizes. Now that I thought about it my boobs did feel a bit squashed in my bra. My boobs weren’t even that small before the blood exchange. Now they seemed huge even to me, but not ridiculously so, I had to admit that they suited me though.

As I turned around to face the three vampires in my bedroom I caught Dimitri’s amused look. I could hear him chuckling in my head, at how pleased I was with my breasts.

I could only roll my eyes at him.

“why are we checking out Phoenix?” Quinn asked. “and what is it with you two and your long knowing looks?”

I looked at Dimitri to see what he was going to tell them would he tell them the truth or make something…..

“Phoenix is my new Enforcer.” Dimitri told the two vamps in a very serious voice that I had only ever heard him use in his memories when he was behaving as the king he was.

“but my lord! A female?” Ari asked in shock as he looked me up and down.

“wow Dimitri! At last! I have been waiting for you to find an Enforcer for years!” Quinn laughed. “finally I can have a break from tracking down the rogues. It looks likes its up to you now Phoenix.” Quinn told me with a wink.

I could only laugh at the little exchange between the three vampires. Quinn was definatly the most laid back and comfortable one out of him and Ari. The fact that Ari called Dimitri ’my lord’ made me want to curtsey, even though Dimitri wasn’t my king

“there will be no questioning me Ari. My word is law and you will abide by it.” Dimitri said in a bellowing voice laced with power. I saw Ari’s frame shrink back, as though he was a scared animal trying to get out of the line of a more dangerous animal. At the same time I felt Dimitri push power onto Ari.

“Right! Dimitri were you not going to help me pack up my things so I could move into your place tonight?” I said while starring daggers at him and sending ‘leave him alone’ thoughts his way.

I felt the power shimmer away and Ari collapsed onto my bed out of breath.

“this gets better and better.” Quinn said with a chuckle. He didn’t seem too worried about his friend. “you‘re coming to live with us.”

“us?” I asked slightly wary.

I read the answer in Dimitri’s head.

“hell no!” I said before Quinn could answer. “you live with ten other male vampires?”

I asked Dimitri.

He shrugged his shoulders. “yeah so?” he asked.

He read the answer in my head this time. And laughed, he actually laughed. I did not find it funny at all. I was right to be wary of moving in with eleven powerfully strong vampire’s, at least eight of whom were strangers to me.

“there is nothing for you to worry about Ashes.” he told me. “you are my Enforcer and therefore under the kings protection from any harm that comes in the form of anything other than rogue vampires. The rogues however will be your speciality.” Dimitri’s eyes sparkled mischievously suddenly as he looked at Quinn and Ari. “although, you can always take any of my men with you when you go hunting. In my absence you will have complete control over them.”

“you can have complete control over me any day you want poppet.” Quinn told me in a mock flirtatious voice.

“please don‘t call me poppet ever again, its kinda creepy.” I told him while scrunching up my nose.

Quinn laughed at my reaction. “what shall I call you then?” he asked.

“you can call me what all my friends and family call me, Nix or Nixy. You can choose which one.”

“Nixy it is then.” he told me straight away.

“right lets get to work.” Dimitri said, interrupting me and Quinn’s fun.

“what do you need us to do?” Ari asked, finally coming back into the conversation.

“you two brought the boxes didn‘t you?” Dimitri asked.

“yep, they are sitting out in the hallway.” Quinn told him.

“good, go and get them and then start filling them up with all the personal effects you see around the apartment. Me and Phoenix will focus on her bedroom.”

Once the two vamps had gone, me and Dimitri worked fast on my room. I packed all my clothes that I wanted to take with me into the suitcases I had brought from Ireland. I was just folding the last of my clothing into my bag when Quinn and Ari came back into my room.

“we have everything packed into the boxes and everything is in the van downstairs. Are you guys finished in here?” Quinn asked.

I looked around my now bare bedroom. “yeah we‘re finished.”

“allow me to take your bags to the van for you Nix.” Ari said as he came up behind me.

I smiled at him gratefully and handed him the last of my bags.

*************
An hour later.

I looked around myself in amazement. Dimitri lived in a Mansion. It was almost a cross between a castle and a palace. Everywhere I looked there was beautiful art work and sculptors of greek gods and men and women eating feasts in roman togas, as I followed Dimitri down a long hallway I realised that all the art wok around me was created millenniums ago.

What you see around you is passed from king to king, the paintings and sculptures travel with the king to wherever he decides to live. Art has always been a love of mine and all of the kings of the past seemed to have felt the same way. Dimitri told me.

They are exquisite. I whispered in my head.

Here is your room, mine is right next door. If you ever need anything I will be here straight away. You just have to think my name. Okay?

Okay.

Quinn and Ari have left your belongings inside. In the wardrobe you will find clothes you can wear will we are training. Meet me out here in five minutes. For our fist session.

Sure.

I walked into my new room only to stop dead in my tracks. It was beautiful. There was a four poster bed in the middle of the room with white drapes falling to the white carpeted floor. There were two other sets of double doors other than the ones I had just come through.

I walked over to one of them and opened the doors. I felt along the wall until I found the light switch. As white light flooded the room I saw the most breathtaking bathroom I had ever seen. The whole room was made of black marble. Black marble floor, black marble Jacuzzi, black marble shower stall, black marble counter and sink and even a black marble toilet. The whole effect was striking and I couldn’t wait to take a relaxing Jacuzzi, I knew I would need it after my training tonight.

I walked out of the bathroom and entered the other double doors. It was my own version of Dimitri’s walk in wardrobe. The only difference was that my wardrobe was empty except for the training clothes and trainers that Dimitri had told me would be here.

I sighed as I looked at what I would have to wear. Ah well, I thought, at least I had the body to wear the sports bra and three - quarter length tight fitting workout trousers now.

I noticed that Dimitri was purposefully humming very loudly in our heads and was mentally squeezing his eyes shut as I changed.

I couldn’t help but laugh at his attempts to give me my privacy.

Don’t distract me Ashes, not unless you want me to be in your head while dress and undress.

Its okay I am decent, well as decent as I can be in these work out clothes. I amended.

“you look fine.” Dimitri told me as we met outside my bedroom. “shall we?” he asked me and motioned for me to walk with him down the stairs.

It was going to take a while to get used to his old fashioned ways.

“don‘t worry we will have more than enough time to get used to each other.” he told me as we came to the bottom of the stairs.

I started to follow Dimitri across the foyer of the mansion only to nearly run into him when he suddenly stopped. I sensed his frustration so I curiously looked up to see what he was looking at.

And I nearly took a step back at what was facing me. Only the memory of a documentary on the discovery channel stopped me. It had been about the animal food chain. Apparently when faced with an animal further up the food chain, an animal should always freeze, and not show any signs of weakness. Right now I was the prey and the odds were against me.

The other eight vampires I was going to be living with were standing across from me and they were all looking me up and down, sizing me up. The sight of that many strong powerful vampires actually scared me to death. I was going to have to get used to scarier vamps than them though if I was going to be hunting down rogue vamps who would actually kill me without a seconds thought.

I took a deep breath. I guess Quinn and Ari had told them about the new Enforcer. Me.

*************************************************************

Vote and comment please.

© jamessica stories; 2010.
All rights Reserved.
Reproduction of this story or taking of ideas in any way is prohibited; and illegal


………………………………....................................................................................

Chapter 4

I thought I was going to explode from the tension in the room when suddenly a door to my right opened and out came Quinn.

“Ah there you are Nixy, I wanted to catch you before you went to training. I wanted to know if I could watch. I could maybe even help.”

Quinn stopped right in front of me, completely ignoring the other vampires in the room.

Slowly, looking me up and down, a lazy smile appeared on his face.

“well don‘t you look absolutely edible Nixy.” he said in a low husky voice.

“I think that may be the problem.” Dimitri murmured.

I nervously looked over Quinn’s shoulder at the other vamps. They were all leering at me hungrily.

Suddenly, Dimitri and Quinn stood in front of me.

“Way to go guys, make me look weak in front of them why don‘t you.” I half whispered half hissed before stepping around them and facing the other vamps in the room.

I crossed my arms under my chest and jutted a hip forward to make myself look more confident.

“so your Dimitri‘s men.” I stated. “I‘m Phoenix. The Enforcer. Once I have finished my training I would be glad to have any one of you at my back in a fight. If Dimitri trusts you than so do I.”

There was silence. The vamps just stared at me. Nobody moved, not even Dimitri or Quinn. So I nodded my head and did the only other thing to show that I trusted them all and that I didn’t fear them. I turned my back to them.

“are you two coming?” I asked Quinn and Dimitri as I walked towards the door that we had been heading to before we were cut off by the vampire barricade.

“Sure.” Quinn said, obviously happy that I had apparently invited him along to training.

I looked over my shoulder to find Quinn and Dimitri walking right behind me, Quinn on the left and Dimitri on the right.

We were nearly at the door when I heard movement right behind me. Something deep inside me, told me to go on the defensive. Before I knew what I was doing I had spun around, to face what was coming towards me.

It was one of the eight Vampires but as soon as he was in touching distance he scooted to a stop raising his hands in the universal gesture for surrender.

For a minute I was confused but then when I watched his eyes move down to my hands I realised I was holding something heavy, it weighed about the same as my Smith and Wesson. I quickly looked down and saw that that was exactly what was in my hands and I had it pointed right at the vamps chest.

What the hell? I hadn’t had a gun on me when I came down the stairs.

“Don‘t move.” I pointlessly told the already still vampire. “or I will shoot you.”

“Phoenix…” Dimitri sighed. “what are you doing?” he asked.

Once again the room was silent and all eyes were on me. Most of the vamps were staring at the gun in my hand with wide eyes, and with my new extra sensitive hearing I could hear a few murmurs of….’how did she do that?’ and…..’did you see that’

I felt Dimitri search my mind for the answer.

“oh. I see.” was all Dimitri said in a tight voice as soon as he found the answer he was looking for.

“what’s your name vampire?” I bit out.

“Svlen.” was his short reply.

“well Svlen, what was it exactly that you had planned to do as soon as you had reached me?”

Behind me Quinn shuffled from foot to foot uncomfortably.

Again, silence filled the room as Svlen refused to answer my question.

“Dimitri?” I called to him.

“yes Phoenix?” Dimitri’s voice was cold and hard but I didn’t even flinch, I knew my voice was the same.

“what was Svlen feeling when he came towards me and what is he feeling right now?” I asked.

Dimitir didn’t even pause before he answered me. “when he was coming towards you he was running on pure adrenaline and he was gathering power as he approached but right now he is feeling slightly guilty bust mostly afraid.”

“that’s what I thought.” without lowering the gun or looking away from Svlen I asked. “is he one of your men?”

“not anymore he isn‘t.” I would be deeply afraid right now if I were Svlen as well. Dimitri sounded absolutely furious. “he has only worked for me for two months. He was recommended by Julius.”

“who‘s Julius?” I asked.

“I am.” Someone in the group in front of me said.

“step forward, slowly.” I demanded.

A tall thin vamp now stood between the group and Svlen.

Dimitri, I called inside our heads. Will you ask one of the other vamps, that you know you can defiantly trust, to restrain Svlen and Julius, so we can question them and find out what the hell is going on.

“of course, Phoenix.” Dimitri answered out loud. “Baldric and Alric,” Dimitri called, two huge Vampires stepped forward. They were unmistakably twins brothers. But it was obvious that they had both been Viking warriors once upon a time.

“Yes my lord.” one of them said as they both bowed there heads at Dimitri.

“could you take Svlen and Julius and restrain them in one of the cells down bellow until me and Phoenix can come and question them?”

“straight away my lord.” the other twin answered.

I had only blinked and Svlen and Julius were being restrained by Baldric and Alric. I didn’t know which was which yet but they seemed like extremely strong vampires.
I looked over my shoulder to see Quinn starring back at me and Dimitri looking at the other vampires in the room with a hard glare.

“anyone else who dares to go against me will be executed immediately.” he said in a voice of steel.

I almost blanched at the word ’execute.’

Blinking slightly I looked from one man to the other and then back at the gun in my hand.

“who er….” I started to say.

“that would be mine.”

I looked up to see Dimiri holding a hand out for the gun.

Quinn was looking at me in amazement and shock while Dimitri’s lips quirked into an amused smile as I numbly slipped the Wesson into his hand.

“I didn‘t mean to disarm you Dimitri…“ I tried to explain to him but instead he looked away from me and addressed his men.

“And that, my loyal friends is only part of the reason why I chose Phoenix as my new Enforcer.”

**********************

The training room was huge, I would never have guessed something like this would be inside a house - well under a house, because that was where we were. Under Dimitri’s mansion/castle. This one room must have taken up at least half the size of the house above us.

As I slowly turned looking around the room Dimitri and Quinn went into a side room next to the door that we had just come through.

The whole room was outlined by a huge running track, four people wide, leaving room in the centre for a weight lifting gym, an area covered in flat mats - it reminded me of when I did self defence classes when I was in my teens - an area that had just been left carpeted, a basketball court and an area right in the middle of the room which was inside a clear glass room. I could see three columns inside, three stalls and a huge locker by the entrance to the room that was the only thing in the room that wasn’t see through, walking quickly over to that room I entered and went straight for the locker, knowing exactly what I would find inside.

Opening the unlocked doors I let out a sigh of happiness as I took in what was in front of me. I felt like I was home, after a very long time away - even though it had only been a day since I had last been at work, but if seemed as though years had passed since I had first met Dimitri - I had changed so much in such a short period of time.

“the glass is bullet-proof.” Dimitri said from right behind me. “when I designed the training room I decided that I wanted everything to be open plan, no obstruction in the way of my view, hence the see through glass in here.”

I just nodded, as I stroked the butts of the guns in front of me.

“come on Ashes. You can play with the guns when you have finished your training for the day.”

I turned to look at him to see his eyes dancing in amusement at my forlorn expression.

“that is,” he continued. “if you have the energy once I‘m finished with you.”

“okay okay, I‘m coming.” I grumbled following him out to see that in the short period of time that my attention had been taken up by the shooting range, Quinn and Dimitri had transformed the plain carpeted area into a archery shooting range and right beside the bulls eye for the archery was another bulls eye with antique looking knives protruding from the centre of it.

I followed Dimitri over to Quinn who was now taking the knives off the bulls eye. I stroked the very modern looking bow and arrow that was resting on a stand. I picked it up, inspecting its mechanism. I had never used a bow and arrow so advanced before - back home in Ireland we just used the good old fashioned wooden bow and arrow.

“so how does this thing work?” I asked the two men in front of me.

I looked up from examining the weapon to find them both looking at me in amusement.

“what?” I asked.

“first you have to warm up, then we‘ll get to the fun stuff.” Dimitri said.

“okay…. So what do I need to do?”

“you‘ll have to work out with me first, weight lifting, fighting, that sort of thing, but before any of that you have to do ten laps of the track.” he told me and then promptly turned back to Quinn to finish their conversation.

“what?” I winced when I heard the shrill note in my own voice. “you know I hate running.” I whined at Dimitri.

He laughed as we both remembered my previous experience of running track at school. I was a disaster. I would collapse after the first lap.

“you can go slow for the first two laps but then I want you to sprint the last eight.”

“what! Shouldn‘t it be the other way around?” I asked. “take it easy the first eight laps and then sprint the last two?”

“not in my training room its not. Besides you are the Enforcer now, your blood has changed and so have you. Trust me, you can do far more than the ten I‘m telling you to do, in fact you will do more. You can run twelve laps and if you whine or complain anymore than you can do fifteen.”

I silently huffed and childishly stuck out my tongue at the back of Dimitri’s head as I turned towards the starting line. Quinns laughter following me all the way.

I quickly stretched, took a couple of deep breaths and then took off running, the power running through me was amazing, I soon realised that all I really had to do was concentrate on where I was going and then I was already half way through my second lap, I had run my first lap in just over 30 seconds - which my brain was telling me was utterly impossible as I thought of the size of the race track.

As I got used to my own speed, I realised that I could go even faster without breaking a sweat. I was halfway through my eighth lap when I heard Dimitri in my head.

Now sprint the last four laps. He told me.

I concentrated on pushing myself even harder. I was almost finished my tenth lap when I felt the first signs that my legs and muscles where going to try and protest the amount of work I was putting them through. It was my own fault though. I could have been finished already if only I had kept my mouth shut.

Exactly. Dimitri said in my head. I hope you have learnt a lesson, now speed up, I want you to really push yourself.

Yes, Daddy. I sarcastically replied in my head.

He only chuckled in response as I pushed myself even harder to go faster. As I past the finish line I turned my sprint into a run and then into a jog until I was finally walking towards Dimitri and Quinn who were standing were I had left them.

I was holding my side, where I had a huge stitch and I was breathing hard. My whole body was covered in a shiny layer of sweat and my chest was straining against the confines of my sports bra as it heaved up and down trying to accommodate my wildly beating heart.

“wow,” Quinn said as he looked me up and down. “and I thought you were edible before you had your run. Now I think I actually need to leave the room.”

“what?” I breathed.

“I think I need to leave the room.” Quinn repeated.

“why?” I laughed

“Dimitri can tell you why.” Quinn said as he flitted from the room.

I turned to Dimitri who was also now starring at me. Standing oddly still.

“what? What did I do?” I asked.

Dimitri blinked a couple of times and then he viably relaxed.

“I thought for a minute there that I would have to leave the room as well.” he told me.

“whats going on?” I asked not even thinking to look into his head for the answers.

“you are a female and you‘re mostly human, at the moment you are wearing a minimal of clothing…”

“but you told me….”

“…let me finish - you are wearing a minimal of clothing that I told you to wear, that’s not the problem, you add the fact that right now you are covered in sweat, your heart is beating rapidly, so your blood is being pumped around your body faster, you have color in your cheeks, - basically right now you are every vampires fantasy. And Quinn seems to be attracted to you already so it was harder for him to resist you then it was for me to resist you. ”

“So Quinn left the room because he’s attracted to me, not because I smell terribly of sweat?” I asked trying to lighten the mood.

“both, except you don’t smell terribly of sweat you smell mouth watering”

“and are you okay to finish with my training without trying to bite my head off?” I asked him

“of course I am.” he told me. “remember what I told you in the elevator yesterday?” he asked

“yep, if you wanted me dead, I‘d be dead.”

“that still applies. Now for the weights, I‘ll spot you as we find out what you can take in the weights department.”


With Dimitir spotting for me we realised I could lift the dumb bells with a weight of over 200kg over my head and keep it there for a minute before Dimitri had to take it off me.

“you‘ll be able to lift more than that and for longer than that with each passing day as your body gets used to the new blood in your body and then you will be able to do even more that that after each blood exchange that we have.”

I could only nod my head as I lay on the weight bench my chest moving up and down rapidly - trying to catch up with my heart.

“now you can try to bench press that same weight.”

I stiffed a groan and the complaint that was ready to spill from my lips when I remembered what had happened last time I had complained.

“I see you‘ve learnt your lesson.” Dimitri said as he tried to swallow his own laugher.

I was able to do twenty bench presses, but I could feel the strain in my arms after ten, the sweat was pouring off me and my heart was ready to explode from my chest.

“come on you can do it Ashes just keep going. Think past the pain and concentrate on pushing yourself past what your head is telling you.”

“does that mean I can ignore you as well, when you‘re in my head?” I bit out between puffs of breaths.

Before Dimitri could answer though, there was a huge roar of laughter, as in a lot of people laughing at once.

Dimitri grabbed the dumb bell off me and set it in the stand and turned toward the sound just as I did. Surprising my self at how fast I could move even though I was ready to collapse in exhaustion.

“it’s the adrenaline.” Dimitri told me after hearing my thoughts.

When I looked in the direction where the laughter was coming from I was slightly shocked to see all the Vamps in the house - except for the two in the cells- leaning against the wall starring right back at me and Dimitri.

“I didn‘t hear you guys come in,” Dimitri admitted. “what are you all doing here and how long have you been standing there.”

I looked at all the vamps and saw the amusement dancing across each of there faces. Even Quinn was back and Ari was standing right beside him, also looking entertained.

But it was someone’s whose name I didn’t know yet who answered Dimitri.

“well you wouldn‘t hear us come in would you? Especially not when you are standing right beside Phoenix.” he said trying to conceal the huge grin on his face. “that answers your other question as well, we could hear her from everywhere in the house, we decided we might as well come down here and watch the training. And we have been standing here since shortly after Quinn left you guys.”

“okay whats going on? What does that dude mean Dimitri?” I turned to look at Dimitri but he looked as though he was biting the inside of his mouth, you know the way you do when you try not to laugh
“What?!” I asked now clearly annoyed. And tired. And hungry.

“its your heart.” Dimitri said finally letting the smile spread across his face. “they can hear it beating all over the house.”

“so? my heart was beating when I first came into the house as well you know.”

“yes,” Dimitri said patiently. “but now its beating very fast and very loudly, just like when Quinn had to leave the room.”

I looked at Quinn who mearly shrugged. “so how come you can stand in the room with me now?” I asked him huffily.

“I had a snack before I came back, we all did. So we aren‘t tempted to ravage you.”

I took a step back and bumped right into Dimirti’s chest. Right then I didn’t care that they might think I was weak or not. I didn’t want to think of the kind of snack they were talking about.

I felt Dimitri’s body shake as he let out a chuckle.

“Don’t worry I wouldn‘t let them touch you if they tried.” he told me as he put a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

I knew my heart was still beating rapidly from lifting the weights and my body was once again covered in sweat but it wasn’t until Dimitri’s hand started to move from my shoulder and down my arm and then back up again, and I felt myself relaxing and letting my back fully rest against his chest did I remember that Dimitri was also a vamp, a vamp who hadn’t been able to have a snack like the others because he had been here the whole time with me.

I jumped away and turned to face him. His eyes were dancing with amusement again.

“sorry,” I said. “I forgot you‘d be feeling the same way as the others. If you want to go and get a snack before we continue then I won‘t mind waiting for you.”

“nice try Ashes, but you are not getting a break that easily. Besides,” he said with a low chuckle, “I think I can handle you my dear.” he told me in a low voice.

I gulped and watched as he laughed at my reaction to his words.

I felt my cheeks flame and I ducked my head and cleared my mind of all thoughts, especially the fact that I loved the way he had just touched me, and the way I had reacted to his touch, I even cleared my head of the image of his mesmerising eyes before he could look into my head and see and hear it all for himself.

Instead I strated to count in my head, to help me to think of nothing in particular.

“why are you counting?” he asked me as he led me over to the flat matted area.
“I‘m trying to concentrate on steadying my heart rate.” I only partly lied.

“don‘t bother.” he smiled, “it’s only going to get worse.”

“haven‘t we finished with the physical training yet?” I asked, trying to hide the whine in my voice.

Dimitri’s lips twitched as he noticed this.

“no we haven‘t.” he positioned me in the centre of all the mats. And stood opposite me leaving a couple of paces between us. “now we fight.”

“Dimitri, you know everything about me, including the fact that apart from a couple of self defence classes I have never been in a fight before. Should you not teach me some…..”

But before I could finish my sentence he had already threw the first punch, which came flying towards me with such speed that I was surprised that I saw the whir of his fist. I was even more surprised to find that I had dodged it and was now standing behind him, kicking the back of one of his knee’s causing him to buckle and fall towards the mats. But before I could even blink he was up on his feet again and had me spun around so that now I was once again standing with my back against his chest, one of his arms resting on my sweat clad breasts, holding me against him while his other hand griped my chin tightly and had my head tilted back, exposing my neck.

Knowing that he was going to try and get his lips on my exposed flesh there to prove that he could really kill me if he wanted me dead, I decided I would get out of his grip in the few seconds before he could do that.

I had hardly had the thought and I was stepping hard on his foot, elbowing him hard in the side and once his grip on me had slightly loosened I used my free hands to pull his restraining arms off me, spinning around to face him i used the force I had used to follow through by sweeping my leg around the back of his and pulling them out from below him causing him to go crashing down to the floor. This time I wouldn’t let him jump straight back up because I followed him down to the floor and I flung one leg over his waist so that I was straddling him. I lent over him and wrapped one hand around his large throat and the other hand I rested on the matt beside his head to hold my self up.

A large grin spread across Dimitris face, but I knew better than to relax, and I was right because no sooner had he smiled at me I saw his arm move and all of a sudden he was knocking away the hand I was using to hold myself up. So that I was now practically lying on top of him our noses almost touching. And then I had hardly got my breath back and I was suddenly lying flat on my back. Our roles had reversed and it was now Dimitri who was lying on top of me. He had me pinned at the waist, where he was sitting, and he had me pinned by my arms where he was holding me down.

There was no way out of this one. No matter how much I struggled beneath him I couldn’t get him off me, he was just too heavy and too strong for me. He lent over me, my chest moving up and down in overdrive as my heart pounded twice as fast as it had been doing all day. I gave one last feeble attempt to escape just as his lips found the exposed flesh on my neck and planted a small kiss there. And then he nipped me ever so slightly before kissing it again.

There was a round of applause from beside us and I saw all the vamps still standing there with huge smiles across there faces.

“can I have a go now, that looked like fun.” the guy who had spoken before said as he looked at me and Dimitri who were still in a tangle of limbs lying on the floor.

I noticed all the other vamps taking a good look at the view in front of them and for some un known reason I was now feeling very self conscious.

I looked back up at Dimitri who was still hovering over me. He was looking right into my eyes.

You did really well. He told me in our heads. I have to admit I was surprised at how well you defended yourself.

Yeah I did so well I lost. I told him.

His mental laugh echoed through both of our heads.

You couldn’t beat me Ashes. Especially not straight away, maybe not even one day. He told me.

Is that a challenge? I asked him.

Maybe. He laughed.

“hey you two? Earth to Dimitri and Phoenix. Stop staring into each others eyes and answer the question.”

“no you can‘t have a go Rowan. We haven‘t finished training yet.”

Once again I suppressed the urge to complain.

“does your training consist of you two lying there all night, staring into each others eyes?” Rowan asked, slightly huffily.

I looked over at Rowan, the only vampire who had really talked since they all came into the room, he seemed the second most friendly, Quinn being the first and excluding Dimitri.

I felt Dimitri lossen his hold on me as he got ready to get up, so I winked at Rowan caught him grinning back at me and I flipped Dimitri over my head using my legs to push him over. He landed with a loud smack and then we both jumped up and faced one another.
We circled for a while trying to guess who would make the first move, but before I could make my own move Dimitri had me pinned back on the mats and was mercilessly tickling me.

And let me tell you, I am extremely ticklish. I half screamed half laughed and tried to squirm away, but it was impossible.

“oh god!” I gasped out between shrieks of laughter. “mercy, I call mercy!”

Dimitri rolled off me and we both lay side by side laughing as I tried to get my breath back.

I rolled onto my side and smiled at Dimitri. As he had been tickling me I had seen what he was thinking and I couldn’t help the huge grin spread across my face.

When I was down and it seemed useless to try and cheer me up my brothers had always - since we were kids- tickled me until I was laughing and would only let up once I called for mercy. Having access to my memories Dimitri knew that and had decided to do the same. I hadn’t even realised that I was feeling low until he had started tickling me and I was laughing.

I haven’t laughed like that since before Jaz died. I told Dimitri in our heads.

I know.

I smiled at him again and lent over and kissed him on the cheek.

“thank you.” I said this time out loud.

Ignoring all of the confused looks that the other vamps were shooting our way I pulled Dimitri to his feet and we headed for the two bulls eye’s for the archery and knife throwing training.

****************************************

“you‘re a really fast learner.” Dimitri said as him and Quinn walked with me towards the shooting range.

I had just finished with my first day of training and apparently I was a natural with both a bow and arrow and knives.

“how long are all the other vamps going to be watching me train?” I asked Dimitri and Quinn as I looked over my shoulder to see the vamps still standing against the far wall.

“until you stop surprising them or until something more interesting comes along. One or the other.”

I just nodded and felt the tension in my shoulders shift and my muscles relax as I entered the shooting range. I walked straight over to the locker and took out my two favourite weapons of choice. The Berretta PX4 and the Smith and Wesson and picked up the appropriate bullets for each.

I stood at the first stall and loaded each gun, putting the safety on the Wesson as I cradled the Berretta. I looked behind me to see both Quinn and Dimitri loading Wessons.

“why do you need two guns?” Quinn asked nodding his head at the guns in front of me.

“they‘re my favourite, if I needed a gun I would have to take both of them with me.”

“which would you pull first?” he asked.

“the Berretta.” I said without even thinking about it.

“Why?”

“because it was my first gun, I trained with it for over a year before my dad bought me the Wesson.”

Before Quinn could ask me anymore questions I aimed my gun at the target and began shooting until my gun was empty. Then I hit the button beside my head to bring the target sheet up to me so that I could switch it for a new sheet.

There was a large hole right on the centre target where all my bullets had punched through the paper.

I changed the paper hit the button to send it back to the end of the aisle and picked up my Wesson taking the safety off I began shooting the target paper when it was still only halfway down the aisle. And as soon as it had hit the back wall I hit the button beside my head to bring it forward again as I emptied the Wesson while the target was still moving.

When it reached me there was a perfect whole in the centre of the page.

I unclipped it and looked over at Dimitri and Quinn to see how they were getting on. But neither of them had begun because Dimitri was watching me with a lazy smile and Quinn was starring at me with a slack jaw and wide eyes. And right behind them, standing nearer to us now were the other vamps, all with the same expression as Quinn.

“what?!” I asked irritably.

“I have never seen anyone do that before.” Quinn told me. “I mean the last target you shot. That was paper you were shooting, its flimsy, it moves and sways as the shuttle transports it from the front to the back of the aisle. Especially when your hitting it with bullet after bullet. How did you do it?” he asked.
“I have worked in Shooting ranges since I was sixteen, and I used all my spare time to practice after work. Its kind of like a hobby of mine.”

“still, you‘re very good.” he told me

“thanks.”

**********************************

We stayed in the shooting range for an hour before even I couldn’t last without a shower, some food and then some sleep.

I left Dimitri at my door and walked into my room kicking off my trainers as I went, bending down I pulled off my socks, and then pulled off my trousers. I went into my bathroom and turned on my shower. Getting the temperature right I stripped off my knickers and then my sports bra.

I let out a moan of pleasure as I felt the hot water hit my sore muscles.

I heard the Dimitri’s soft chuckle inside my head and I knew istantly that he was in his shower as well.

We both turned a blind eye and as a way to give him privacy I started to sing. I had never sang in the shower before but it was actually quite fun. Dimitri joined in and I couldn’t help but laugh as we sang.

When we finally got downstairs to the kitchen all the other vamps where sitting around an extra long table eating.

“Did you two have fun singing?” one of the vamps that I didn’t know yet asked.

“we were singing in the shower Ryder. So yes it was fun.” Dimitri told him as I burst out laughing.

“you two were in the shower?” Rowan asked.

“yes, well I had been really sweaty from training and I suppose Dimitri just felt like showering after rolling around on the floor with me and all my sweat rubbing off on him.”

“but you two showered together?” Rowan asked and all the other vamps looked up to see what me and Dimitri would say.

I looked over at Dimitri and tried not to laugh.

“we were trying very hard not to have a shower together guys.” Dimitri told the vamps in the room, while we both bit back our smiles.

“what?” Ryder asked in confusion.
“we were singing so that we could avoid having a shower together. You know distracting ourselves from the fact that we were both in the shower.”

“I still don’t get it.” Ari said.

I rolled my eyes and looked back at Dimitri. “they‘re your men, you explain it to them.” I told him as I pushed myself onto the work top and caught the apple that Quinn threw my way.

“what do you want to eat and I will make it for you.” Quinn asked me as he left the table and walked over to the huge refrigerator.

“anything, just put food in front of me and I will eat it. I am absolutely starving!”

Quinn chuckled. “it’s a good thing Dimitri sent me and Ari shopping yesterday then, we don‘t eat human food so we only ever use the fridge for our emergency supplies of bagged blood.”

I suppressed a shudder and focused on the other vamps in the room. Dimitri had sat at the head of the table and motioned me to come and sit next to him.

I heaved myself off the work top and then limped over to him, my muscles now protesting against any movement. I collapsed into the seat next to Dimitri and instantly rested my head on his shoulder and focused on keeping my eyes open.

“you look wrecked.” Rowan told me.

“thank you Rowan. You really know how to make a girl feel good about themselves don‘t you?” my voice sleepily leaking sarcasm.

The vibration of Dimitri’s chuckle slightly shook my body and I had to reposition my head against his shoulder to get comfortable.

“you‘d better make Ashes dinner something quick and easy, or she will be asleep before you‘re finished serving it up.”

Quinn looked over his shoulder at me and Dimitri. “okay, I‘ll just make you an omelette then, there is plenty of protein in that to keep up your energy.”

“so explain Dimitri, about the shower, I‘m still confused.”

“well as you all know Phoenix is your Enforcer and I am your King and to make Phoenix your Enforcer we had to exchange blood. So now we are connected, we know almost everything about each other. And we are constantly in each other‘s heads, we can communicate with out talking. So when me and Phoenix showered separately tonight we weren’t really separate because we were in each others heads and so in an attempt to give me some privacy, Phoenix started to sing ’I love rock and roll’ the Joan Jett and the Blackhearts version and so I joined in to give her some privacy as well and it was actually really good fun.”

“yeah we could hear you both laughing.” Quinn said as he placed a plate with a huge omelette on it in front of me. “we haven’t heard Dimitri laugh like that in many years, and I mean many many many many yr…. ”

“alright alright Quinn, Phoenix gets the picture.” Dimitri said.

I lent forward and picked up the knife and fork that Quinn had given me.

“thanks Quinn this looks really good.” I smiled at him and then I practically enhaled the whole thing.

“”jeeze girl, you really were hungry, do you want another one? Quinn laughed.

“no thanks that was enough. I might fall asleep in the next one.” I told him as I rested my head back against Dimitri’s shoulder. “I would like some water though.”

“no problem coming right up.”

“so you two are totally connected right now?” Ryder asked.

“yep.” me and Dimitri answered at the same time as Quinn handed me a bottle of water and I guzzled it down.

“hmmm, no wonder you two seem so close and comfortable around one another. I mean I have never understood the bound the king has with the Enforcer but now I know, I can understand why you act as though you have known each other your whole lives.”

I looked up at Ryder and smiled. “well in a way we have known each other our whole lives, Dimitri has every single one of my memories and even though Dimitri has been alive a lot longer than me I have quite a lot of his memories as well.” I told him with a yawn and looked up at the kitchen cock to see the time. It was already 4 o’clock in the morning and I was ready for my bed.

I’m tried. I whined to Dimitri in our heads. And I can’t move, my muscles have given up on me. I told him as I looked up at his face. My eyes lids heavy as I fight to keep them open.

Dimitri’s mouth transforms into a huge smile as he looks down at me.

And what do you want me to do about it? He asks in a teasing voice.

Take me to bed please. I slightly beg while jutting out my lower lip and pouting.

Okay okay, you twisted my arm. I’ll take you to bed. Dimitri says while chuckling both out loud and in our heads.

“wow that is just weird watching that and knowing what you two are doing.” I hear one of the two guys who I haven’t met say. “sorry we haven’t been introduced properly yet, my name is Hunter and this is Blake.” he tells me as he indicates the other vamp.

I look at him and then at the vamp sitting next to him, they both are very handsome looking just like all the other vamps in the room. But none of them are as good looking as Dimitri, I sleepily think, maybe its all that royal blood he has that makes him so gorgeous.

Reading my thoughts Dimitri laughs out loud and then says. “it has nothing to do with my royal blood.” he chuckles and we both ignore all the weird stares we are getting. “come on sleeping beauty lets get you to bed.”

No sooner has he finished speaking but I am up in his arms and he is walking across the kitchen. With my arms wrapped around his neck and my head wresting on his shoulder still, I peer at the other vamps. “goodnight.” I tell them around a yawn and then snuggle even further into Dimitri’s arms.

I was asleep before Dimitri even got halfway across the foyer.


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Vote and comment please JJJ

© jamessica stories; 2010.
All rights Reserved.
Reproduction of this story or taking of ideas in any way is prohibited; and illegal


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Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust

Chapter 5


Fear spreads through me chasing out any happy thoughts I may have ever had. I’m running, but not nearly fast enough. Trees turn into a blur of murky brown as I dodge tree trunks and jump over fallen branches.

Faster, Faster. I chant to myself, willing my legs to move like they have done before. I chance a look over my shoulder only to wish I hadn’t. They’re still behind me, getting closer.

There is not nearly enough vampire blood running through my veins to compete with the well fed male rogues chasing me.

Gasping for air I narrowly miss a tree and trip over the roots that are covered by fallen leaves. I flip onto my back and try to pull myself upright but before I can get my hair out of my eyes I am dragged to my feet, by rough callous hands that grip my arms.

I’m assaulted with the smell of dried blood, earth and another scent I can’t name. The rasping breath of my three captors flows over my face, making me gag. I struggle and kick and squirm to no avail. Its hopeless, my beating heart betrays me as it pumps my blood in overdrive, luring the three vamps in.

More grubby hands pull at me ripping my top, exposing more skin. Sweat pours off me as I try with all my strength to get free. Sobs erupt from my lips as I shake and quiver.

“please, let me go. Please!” I beg in a small voice.

The three vamps look at me and sneer and grunt in disgust before one of them hits me across the face with such force that it feels as though a truck has hit me. I feel my eyes roll back as I start to fall into a dark abyss of nothingness, only to be pulled out by the excruciating pain coming from my arms and chest. I force myself to look down only to find three knives being dragged through me, then the rogues pull them out to replace the knives with their mouths as I scream in pain and shock.

“Ashes!” someone is shaking me, calling my name. “Ashes! Wake up damn it! Wake up!”

Someone is screaming. Someone is in danger, I snap my eyes open to find my room crowded with men. They are looking at me with worry etched into their beautiful faces.

“Ashes!” Dimitri yells, why is he yelling at me. He shakes me again as he leans over where I lie. “its okay, it was only a dream. Snap out of it.” he tells me as his hand comes forward and slaps me across the face.

The screaming finally stops and I realise with horror that it was me who was screaming and that I’m still shaking as sweat pours off me and drenches my bedclothes and the white shirt that I appear to be wearing, part of my brain wonders why I am wearing one of Dimitri’s Yves Saint Laurent shirts to bed.

The hand that has just slapped me now caress my face as Dimitri holds my gaze.

“it was only a dream Ashes, your safe. Nothing can hurt you here.” his reassuring voice makes me angry with myself. I am supposed to be the Enforcer, strong and brave enough to kill the very things that were killing me in my dream. Instead, the King has to comfort me! While his loyal friends look on with increasing worry and no wonder they are worried, they have just witnessed there new Enforcer acting terrified from a dream.

Shame and embarrassment cause me to look away from the attention I am getting, staring at the wall opposite my bed, I clear my throat.

“I‘m fine, you can…” but all that came out is a hoarse murmur and I start to cough as my throat close’s up. How long had I been screaming for exactly?

Tell them to leave. I told Dimitri in our heads.

Dimitri dismisses his men with a flick of his wrist. Once we are alone Dimitri settles himself more comfortably on the bed beside me.

He pulls me to his side and I bury my head in his chest as he strokes my hair.

It was only a dream, it was only a dream, it was only a dream, it was only a dream, it was only……..

I continue to chant this over and over in my head like a mantra, until my breathing slows and the shaking is more like small shivers.

“Ashes….” Dimitri starts to say.

You picked the wrong girl for the job Dimitri. I tell him.

There is a whoosh and my head falls onto the mattress where Dimitri had been lying only a second before.

What…
I blink and all of a sudden I’m lying on my back with Dimitri straddling me. His face inches from mine. There is nothing romantic about this moment at all. Dimitri is livid with me.

I try to push my self even further into the soft mattress, making myself as small as possible. His rage is unbelievable.

“I am the King of Vampyre! I rule all Vampires and have done so for more than two thousand years. I do not make mistakes and I have never been wrong about an Enforcer yet. You are different than the others but then you are the first female Enforcer there has ever been. Do not ever doubt me again.” and with that he threw me off the bed so quickly that I didn’t even see it coming in his mind.

As I fly through the air toward the far wall with such force and speed that an aeroplane would be jealous, I spin and fall to the ground in a cat like crouch before I can take out the wall to my bathroom. A low dangerous growl erupts from deep down in my chest as I look back over my shoulder at Dimitri and launch myself at him.

Landing on his chest I feel the bed beneath us quiver with the force I put into the punch that I land square on his jaw. I jump back off the bed just as he is about to knock me off his chest. Suddenly he is in front of me and we are circling one another. I notice his hand coming up so I dance out of his way quick enough that his fist only brushes the material covering my shoulder. I jump back again as he kicks his leg out so that his foot only skims my bare thigh.

Getting tired of avoiding his attacks I run at him pushing him to the floor at the foot of the bed. I land on top of him only to be thrown off again. This time I can’t avoid colliding with anything. My back hits my head board and I grunt in pain as I slide down onto my pillows.

Consumed by anger and rage, I look at Dimitri who is standing at the foot of my bed, waiting for my next move. Even while wearing only jeans he glows with power, I wonder why it took as long as it did to realise that he was the King.

“are you finished?” I ask Dimitri in a raspy voice.

“Are you?” he throws back at me.

Slowly I nod and let out a long sigh. I am still exhausted, it is as though I didn’t get any sleep.

“good, now shower and get dressed, I‘ll meet you in the hallway, we need to talk.” he says.

His eyes move over me, his eyes flash a deeper gold colour and I pull the sheets over my legs as I self concisely realise I am only wearing a shirt.

Dimiti brings his gaze back to mine and holds it there before flitting out of my room.

It’s only when I’m getting in the shower that I realise that I was unable to read his thoughts.

********

I was sitting in Dimitri’s study, waiting for him to get off the phone,

“….I don‘t want to hear excuses Slone I want answers, find out what happened and fix it!”

Slammig the phone down with a grunt, Dimitri turns his golden eyes on me.

‘whats wrong?’ I asked with a frown.

‘Rogues.’ growled Dimitri. ‘the rogues in the city are growing in numbers. At this rate I am going to have a full out war outside my door before we know it.’

‘who‘s Slone?’ I asked nodding my head towards the phone he had just slammed back into its cradle.

‘He’s one of my vampires. He is also a detective for the Ontario Provenance Police.’ Dimitri explained. ‘he lets me know when there has been a rogue murder and he makes sure that anyone who even starts to guess the truth can never guess it again.’

“he kills them?” even to my ears my voice sounds shrill and shocked.

Dimitri rolls his eyes at me, yes he actually just rolled his eyes.

“No Ashes he doesn‘t kill them. Slone has the pleasure of having a special gift that he seems to have inherited from his sire - he is one of the rare vampires who can read anyone‘s mind, take control of the mind and wipe memories away.”

“ahhh,” was my smart reply. “so what did you want to talk to me about your majesty?” I ask with a smirk.

While Dimitri rolls his eyes again I let my eyes roam around, taking in my surroundings. Dimitri is sitting at an old antique looking desk, it’s a dark mahogany wood with images carved into the wood of the legs. Taking a closer look I realise that at the bottom of each table leg, just below the other carvings is a huge dragon breathing fire.

The rest of the room was done in similar antique furniture, the walls were painted a deep red. I looked up at the ceiling only to loose my breath. It was beautiful, better than anything Michelangelo could have ever done.

The painting was of the sun rising up over the horizon, sun beams licked ripples of the ocean that reached like fingers towards a Caravel sailing ship which sat in the a part of the ocean that the sun had not reached yet. The most beautiful thing about the picture was that the painter was able to capture the moment brilliantly. Half the ocean was sitting in the daylight and the other half was still in the night.

On the deck of the ship stood dark figures, their faces showed pure fascination and awe. One of the faces caught my attention, it was Dimitri.

As my gaze took in the picture I saw a huge dragon hovering just behind the ship. It was rearing back as though the sight of the beautiful sun rise horrified it.

I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the painting, not even when Dimitri spoke.

“it‘s exquisite is it not?” he asked.

“beyond words.” was all I could say.

Finally I looked back at him only to see that he was staring at the sun rise.

“what is with the dragons?” I asked referring to the carved Dragon on his desk and the one in the painting.

A slow smile stretched Dimitri’s lips. “this painting is of one morning in the 15th century. We stood on that deck for as long as we dared before flitting below to our coffins at the very last moment.”

“coffins?” I asked, trying to disguise the horror in my voice.

“yes coffins - they were the only way to travel in those days. Some people still travel that way in case they get caught in the daylight if their plane is delayed or something.” the wistful smile reappeared on Dimitri’s face.

“that was the first and only time I have ever seen the sun. That was the best moment of my very very long life.”

“what about the dragons?” I prompted.

“oh yes, well at the time I was very good friends with a human male called Mircea Dracul. He was an honourable man and was Prince of Wallachia, Romania, but they were forever at war. Mircea‘s father - Vlad Dracul II - had to leave the kingdom for the Ottoman Court in 1442 and left Mircea as ruler. His fathers alliance with the Ottoman Empire made him an enemy of the Hungarian hero John Hunyadi and in 1443 he launched an attack on Wallachia. Hunyadi defeated both the Ottoman forces and those who were loyal to Mircea’s father. Which forced Vlad II to negotiate with the Ottoman court for support and caused Mircea to flee Wallachia. Mircea had always supported his father and as any eldest son should but he did not support Vlad’s alliance with the Ottomans. In return for the Ottomans help Vlad Dracul signed a treaty to say that he would pay the usual annual tribute as well as handing over his two other sons, Vlad Tepes and Radu the Handsome, to be held as captives.

“It was around this time that I met Mircea, after what his father had done he was determined to find his brothers and free them, but he still had to lead his people and the armies as they were still at war. Mircea‘s father believed that by doing everything the Ottomans said would keep his sons safe, but Mircea knew that his brothers must have been going through hell and couldn‘t stand to let their torture continue.

“I had been helping him find his brothers when he found out what I was, there was no way he could not have known, he had grown up in Romania and the gypsies were known to tell of the stories of the cursed monsters who would drink human blood and lived in the shadows because they were scared of the sun. He was not ignorant therefore I could not hide it from him. He was not afraid of me however, but he did ask me to turn him, I thought about it for a few weeks and he waited patiently for my answer. As I said before, he was a honourable man, who new how to lead his people and was very brave and had a heart that showed love which was very rare in Romania in those days, especially within the monarch.”

“a month after he had asked me to change him we were out searching for his brothers. We still didn’t know where the Ottomans had taken them, it could have been to any one of their prisons, or to one of their many dungeons that they used to torture and interrogate their prisoners of war. Or they could have easily have been held in one of the Ottomans great houses. We were in a dungeon that was full of prisoners, I had managed to get myself and Mircea in unseen, but I had foolishly gone without feeding for a while and was struck by the smell of blood in the dungeons. It was because of this that I didn’t hear the guard come up behind me, he had a torch and was about to strike me with it when Mircea spun around and killed him first. Mircea had known that if even a small flame of fire touched my skin or hair then I would go up in flames and die straight away. He had saved my life and so that night I had exchanged blood with him and then every night for a week but as you know, Mircea would have to die before the transition from homo-sapien to vampire was complete.

“a month later we still hadn’t found Radu or Vlad. I was called away on vampire business but I promised to come back straight away to help Mircea once again. I had had to travel to America, it was before it was discovered by Europe but as you know I am very old and in the 15th century there wasn’t anywhere on earth that I hadn’t yet seen. It was six months before I was able to return. I went to Wallachia to meet with Mircea only to find that both Mircea and his father had been killed and that the Ottoman had placed Mircea’s youngest brother Vlad III on the throne. After all that time that myself and Mircea had been searching for Vlad and Radu and there he was sitting on the throne like he owned it. Radu however was nowhere to be seen.”

I sat in avid silence listening to Dimitri tell me the story of a kingdom and of men who had ruled hundreds of years ago. I was fascinated.

“I asked to have an audience with King Vlad III.” Dimitri continued, “I was made to wait two weeks before a messenger was sent for me, I was to meet with the King straight away. Vlad was the complete opposite of Mircea, he was hard and cold and arrogant. He was also very much insane. His time as a prisoner of the Ottoman had broken him and then made him into something completely different. I asked Vlad for the details of Mircea‘s death and was only granted my request after I had told him that myself and Mircea had been searching for him and Radu since they were taken.

“Vlad told me how Hunyadi had launched yet another attack on Wallachia and this time had defeated all the forces protecting it including the forces of the Ottoman. Mircea‘s father fled but Mircea stayed and fought along with his people, they lost and Mircea was captured by boyars from Tirgoviste, they blinded him by piercing each eye with a burning hot poker and then they buried him alive. Not long after, they found his father and killed him as well.

“I couldn‘t tell Vlad III that his brother was probably walking around and no longer in his shallow grave because he was now a vampire so I gave the Cold King my condolences and left him to find Mircea. Thankfully Mircea had been in hiding and had heard I had returned to Wallachia so he found me. His eyes had mended themselves as soon as he had finished his transformation. We continued our search for Radu and when we finally found him a year later we found that his title had saved his life for Radu the Handsome really had been handsome and so his captors had realised that after six months of torturing him that he would be of much more worth to them as a servant.” Dimitri said as he gave me a meaningful look.

I nodded my head my head to show that I had understood.

“we managed to free Radu and escape with him but like his brother Vlad he had gone insane, not as badly as Vlad and not nearly as dangerous as him either but he wasn‘t the brother that Mircea had once known, although he still loved him and in an attempt to get the chance to make Radu sane again, Mircea changed him into a vampire.”

“Did it work? Is Radu now sane?”

Dimitri let out a genuine laugh. “As sane as any eccentric gay vampire can be.” he told me happily. “however it did take a few hundred years for him to get over the torture and the slavery, but Mircea made sure he had everything he needed and that he was always safe.”

“and what about the other brother - Vlad?” I asked with interest.

“ah Vlad.” Dimitri said with amusement dancing in his eyes. “Vlad Tepes became famous world wide. Even today people tell stories of him, movies have been made about him, even you know of him Ashes.”

“you mean he was Vlad Dracul as in Dracula?” I asked incredulously.

“The one and the same. It’s ironic though isn’t it, Bram Stroker was a great historian as well as a writer. The word Dracul is derived from the Latin word Draco meaning dragon, and in modern Romanian Dracul means Devil. Vlad Tepes is the Romanian name given to King Vlad while he was the reigning monarch in Wallachia - in English we translate Vlad Tepes as Vlad the Impaler because of the way he killed every single one of his victims. Bram Stroker wrote that Vlad was a vampire because he also drank the blood of his victims - which is actually true - what is also the truth is that Vlad died a human death in 1476 and he never rose again.

“so the real Dracula‘s are Mircea and Radu and they are perfect gentlemen even to this day.” he looked back up at the painting of the sun rise. “the two vampires standing beside me in the painting are Mircea and Radu, that was us leaving Romania to travel over here. The ocean is such a magical place, the fact that we were able to watch the sun rise from the safety of the night is a very rare opportunity but we were there at the right time in the right place. As a thank you to me for helping him and turning him into a vampire, Mircea had one of his vampires - Raph paint this for me a hundred years later once I had settled in and decided that I wanted to stay in this house.”

“this is not a house.” I told him gently as though he was very confused. “it’s a mansion on steroids.”

Dimitri laughed again. “I suppose it is, I think I may just be used to it by now. ”

“where are they? Do they live with you here? I haven‘t met them have I?” I asked excitedly I mean when do you get to meet a real Dracula even if he isn’t the one you read about.

Dimitri laughed. “No they don‘t live here. Mircea is my second in command, his experience and loyalty to me are hard to come by, I may have my guards loyalty but they don‘t know how to rule or how to handle the vampires. Mircea has always been very good at being a leader and as my best friend he was made my Second in Command very easily. He keeps an eye on things in North and South America for me and I live here in Canada and frequently travel to Europe with Mircea to check on things there.”

“so I will get to meet him then?” I asked

“Of course you will my dear. Anyway I had the desk carved for me around the same time the ceiling was done. What you see on the legs is Mircea‘s family coat of arms as well as my own, the Dragon being Mircea‘s is at the bottom of the leg and is guarding my family coat of arms which is the Phoenix.”

I had been looking at the ceiling once again as he talked but I whipped my head back to him when he told me this little revelation.

“huh, a phoenix you say?” I asked trying to keep my voice deadpan and face clear of emotion.

Dimitri rolled his eyes again - it was really fascinating to watch his beautiful eyes roll like…

“I can hear your thoughts remember Ashes.”

My face immediately turned scarlet and I tried furiously to convince my face to go back to its normal pale colour.

“I have already told you that I never make mistakes, I have made you the Enforcer and that is the way it should be, your namesake has nothing to do with it.” he told me after reading the doubt that was once again torturing me.

“I suppose,” I said grudgingly remembering the fact that he had to ask me my name the first time we ever met.

“I was actually a bit shocked when you told me your name, I do believe in fate don‘t you Ashes?”

My eyes met his and it took me a while to realise that neither one of us had spoken in a while and we were still starring at one another. It took the time for me to look away from me to remember that I hadn’t been able to read his thoughts this morning and I still couldn’t now.

“Dimitri… ” I started to say.

“I know. I can only read your thoughts when I really try and I can only do that because I am powerful. We will have to exchange blood again this night before we retire for the day.”

“okay.” I nod my head.

“but right now you and I are going to have to go shopping for your new clothes.” he said as he stood and strode towards the door. He was walking at a humans pace for my benefit.

Quinn and Ari were waiting in the foyer for us, as soon as they saw us Ari disappeared and we made our way outside.

I raised an eyebrow at Ari’s quick departure which Quinn noticed.

“he‘s gone to get the car for us.”

Car.

“oh my god Tallulah!” I exclaimed looking around myself stupidly as though I might have managed to put her in my pocket and not have forgotten all about her. Shame flooded through me.

“who‘s Tallulah?” Quinn asked in confusion as he watched me freak out.

“Tallulah is my car” I explained to him as Dimitri was too busy to because he was laughing at me.

Quinn doesn’t seem to know what is more fascinating, me thinking I can fit my car in my pocket or his King laughing uncontrollably.

“Yes my car! She‘s a Classic VW Bug and I can‘t believe I forgot all about her.”

“oh the Bug, don‘t worry Dimitri had Ari bring it over last night while you were training.”

I was so happy I turned around and jumped on Dimitri and hugged him.

“thank you!” I happily laughed as I shocked him out of his own laughter and planted a wet one on his cheek.

“we really need to exchange blood again soon.” he mumbled.

I happily jumped into the black Escalade that Ari was driving and settled in for the long drive into the city. It wasn’t till we were entering the city that I realised the time - it was almost nine o’clock at night and all the shops would be closed. I said as much to Dimitri but he just looked at me as though he was trying really hard to not roll his eyes.

“I‘m the king Ashes. The shops are always open for me.”

“but this is the human world Dimitri not the vampire world.”

“which makes me even more important here wouldn‘t you say Ashes?”

I thought about it and he was right. He was even more powerful from the eyes of a human. Dimitri totally ruled I thought, followed by rolling my own eyes at myself for being so sad.

Instead of pulling up outside a shop we drove through the city until we got to the industrial area. I leaned forward and looked between the front seats so that I could see out the windshield, up ahead of us was a warehouse with all the lights still on.

“we‘re going in there?” I asked as we stopped outside.

“yep.” answered Quinn as we all got out.

Quinn, Dimitri and I walked towards the door, I looked behind us to see that Ari was leaning against the car with a cigarette propped between his lips. It looked like he got the job of look out.

The warehouse was open plan with clothes everywhere. There was a whirling sound coming from above us. I followed Dimitri and Quinn to the back of the warehouse and then up a flight of stairs.

We were met at the top of the starirs by a very flustered looking vampire. The reason why I know he is a vampire - well the amount of fawning and bowing the dude was doing over Dimitri kind of gave it away , he also wouldn’t quite calling him ‘your majesty’ every other second.

“I thought you said we were going shopping?” I asked Dimitri accusingly.

“we don‘t need to when Cassius is the best leather tailor I have ever met.”

I raised my eyebrow at Dimitri. “wow, he must be really really good, I mean you‘re really old so Cassius must be amazing.” I said totally dead pan

“Blasphemy!” exclaimed Cassius.

“wha,t you don‘t think your that good?” I asked him seriously.

The poor guy didn’t know what to do with himself. He spluttered and then looked from me to Dimitri as I tried to hold in my laughter.

Whatever Cassius said now would insult Dimitri.

“don‘t worry Cassius, Nixy here his just trying to wind you up.” Quinn told him.

Cassius’s shoulders visibly relaxed but he still looked at Dimitri for reassurance.

Dimitri nodded his head in confirmation. “don’t worry, she has this effect on a lot of people.”

“it’s a gift.” I tell them flippantly.

“Cassius, the Enforcer needs leathers for fighting, so make her the same clothes you make the Guards.”

“yes of course, of course. Whatever the Enforcer needs.” he said now bowing to me and looking paler than before.

The poor guy, if he was a human he would have had a heart attack by now, what with all his emotions running all over the place. I decided I would be nicer to him.

“so were do you want me?” I asked him.

He looked at me blankly.

“to take my measurements.” I helped him out.

Cassius scoffed. “I have already taken your measurements madam.”

I raised an eyebrow at the madam remark but decided to let it slide.

I looked over at Dimitri and Quinn who were looking back at me. I could see Dimitri’s eyes dancing with the laughter he was holding in.

“did he do it that quickly that I didn‘t notice?” I whispered pointlessly, everyone in the room had super hearing.

“no, he‘s just that good, he was able to size you up the moment you walked in the door.”

“oh. Okay.”

Cassius was mumbling to himself as he walked through a door and then another machine started up and Dimitri motioned for me sit with him and on the sofa while we waited for Cassius to come back.

Quinn stood by the stairs on guard duty.

What are we going to do with our prisoners? I asked Dimitri in our heads. I didn’t want Cassius to know what we were talking about.

Thankfully Dimitri was tuned into my thoughts.

“we‘ll talk to them when we get back to the house.” I suppose I was just going to have to get used to Dimitri calling his fortress a house.

“no training tonight then?” I asked.

“of course there will be training tonight Ashes. There will be training ever night. Once we are finished here, we will go back train for a couple of hours and then we will have a little chat with the boys before we attend to business of our own.” he said referring to the blood exchange we have to do, to top up our blood bond.

“good.”

Dimitri’s eyes swivel around to meet mine. With one eyebrow raised in question.

“what?” I ask defensively. “after that dream I had I feel as though I need intense training for the rest of my life.”

“not quite.” Dimitri says with a small smile just as Cassius reappears with a pile of clothes in his hands, he sets them on the coffee table in front of me and Dimitri and then scurries back into his workshop before returning with three pairs of Shitkickers, amazingly all in my size. After three more trips back and forth he finally stands still enough to demand that I stand up.

I stand up and while still looking at all the items on the table in front of me, there is a pile of black leather trousers, black tank tops, (I guess he can work with more than just leather), black leather jackets, there is also leather gun holsters, and knife holsters.

I look back at Cassius and smile “you really are very good.”

He inclines his head in thanks for my praise. “Strip.” he commands me.

My smile disappears immediately and instead I scowl at him while Quinn chokes back a laugh.

Before I can through a whole lot of foul language at the little tailor, Dimitri stands up beside me and puts a hand on my arm.

“Cassius, where are your manners. The Enforcer needs privacy. If you would point her in the direction of a dressing room we would be very much obliged.” Dimitri says in a gentle voice. Always the diplomat.

“yes, yes of course your majesty. This way Enforcer.” Cassius gathers up some of the clothes and leads me toward a door beside his workshop, I pick up a pile of clothes as well as does Dimitri as he follows me.
When Cassius turns around to indicate the room where he has left the clothes, he again becomes flustered at the sight of Dimitri carrying clothes. I roll my eyes and push past Cassius as Dimitri waves off his rambling apologies.

The room is actually quite big, with a full length mirror on one wall, a bench a long another and an antique screen at the end of the room where I could get changed behind.

The door clicked shut behind Cassius as he left. I grabbed some pants, a top, a jacket, the holsters and the Shitkickers and then went behind the screen to change.

“how did he make these so quickly?” I asked Dimitri as I pulled my clothes off and inspected the quality of my new threads.

“he‘s a vampire Ashes. We‘re fast at everything we do.”

I popped my head over the screen to look at Dimitri. “oh yeah. I keep forgetting that.”

Not surprisingly the clothes fit me like a glove. After I had adjusted the leather holsters to my thigh’s waist and shoulders I laced up my Shitkickers and walked around the screen.

“what do you think?” I asked him while running my hands over the leather pants. I loved the feel of them. Like I said the clothes fit like a glove. The pants we low slung and tight, the vest top was also tight and figure hugging. I had a feeling they were tight more for easy access to weapons rather than being fashionable or sexy. But to be honest I felt extremely sexy right then.

“kick me.” Dimitri said.

Without hesitation I did.

“wow, you were right. Leather pants are so much easier to kick in than jeans.” Dimitri nodded as he circled around me and looking me over, when he stood in front of me again he looked me up and down and then gave me an approving look.

Suddenly I felt self conscience as I followed his eyes down my body and then back up again.

I brought my hands up to my chest and then turned to look in the mirror.

“Ah shit, it’s a bit low cut don‘t you think?” I asked him as I looked at my chest from different angles.

“not at all.” Dimitri said with a smirk. “jump and down till we see what happens.”

I narrowed my eyes at him through the reflection of the mirror.

“what the heck.” I shrugged and then jumped up and down. Both me and Dimitri watched my chest.

“perfect.” Dimitri said as I spun around to face him in horror.

“perfect??!” I almost screeched. “They seem to have a mind of there own!” I said pointing accusingly at my breasts.

“Exactly.” was Dimitri’s calm reply.

“what do you mean ‘exactly.’”

“they are subtly on show, there is nothing sluty about the way you‘re dressed. However, the male rogues will defiantly be distracted by you and that my dear is going to be an advantage for you, if they are gay or female however, you will have to rely solely on your fighting skills instead. Speaking of which we should get going so we can train.”

Without speaking I turned around and picked up the clothes I had just taken off, put them beside my new ones and then strode out, leaving Dimitri to gather up and bring my clothes to the car.

I walked past a stunned looking Quinn and down the stairs and out the door where I found Ari smoking yet another cigarette.

“Nix.” he greeted me as he opened the back door and I slid in.

Less than a minute later Dimitri and Quinn and my new clothes were all in the car and we were heading out of the industrial estate.

Up front Quinn cleared his voice ant then turned in his seat to look at me.

“you look really good Nixy.” his eyes roamed over me and I tried not to squirm. “I mean really good.”

Dimitri, sensing my discomfort at the attention and compliments spoke up. “that’s enough Quinn, turn around and leave Ashes alone.”

Thank god for Dimitri, I silently thought. Quinn had to obey his king no matter what.

Hearing my thoughts Dimitri squeezed my hand and then let it go so that I could have my space.

I really needed to get used to the attention that was no doubt going to be coming my way from now on.

*********************************

I loved the showers in my new bathroom. The power jet of the shower acted like a massage as it pounded into my sore, tight muscles from my training session with Dimitri.

Unfortunately I couldn’t stay in the shower all night though, so I grudgingly left and changed into my leathers.

I slid my guns into my new shoulder holster and then I sheathed my new knives that Dimitri had given to me after today’s training session into my new knife holsters on my thighs and waist.

Walking into the kitchen I ignored all the stares the men were giving me. Instead I opened the fridge and started to pull a lot of food.

Quinn came up beside me and silently started to take some of the food over to the oven where he proceeded to make me spaghetti bolognaise.

“thank you.” I said to him.

He looked over his shoulder at me with a smile. “no problem, I love to cook, I just haven‘t had the opportunity to for a quite a while.”

My stomach rumbled so I grabbed an apple and a bottle of water and then went over to the table and sat next to Dimitri.

Finally I lifted my gaze and looked at all the men sitting around the table. They were still staring.

“what?!” I asked in exasperation

“nothing..”

“umm.”

“ah.. Sorry…”

Were the only coherent replies I got.

“what?” I asked Dimitri instead when I realised the other vamps weren’t going to answer me.

“did you know that when you’re tired you are really grouchy?” Dimitri asked me.

“yes I did know that!” I snapped and then mellowed a little when I realised I was just being bad tempered now. “sorry Dimitri, I shouldn‘t have snapped at you.” I said with a sigh.

“no worries.” he said while trying to hide a smile.

“but seriously guys, what is with the starring?” I asked the table in general.

“Ashes, remember what I told you in the dressing room?”

“yes.”

“well that doesn’t just apply to male rogues. I think it will work on just about any male.”

“oh,” I said my face slowly heating up, “well you‘re a male and you didn‘t react.” I snapped at him again.

Dimitri turned his eyes on me and locked them on mine he didn’t say anything. He just sat there in silence for a while. The men probably thought that we were talking mind to mind, but both Dimitri and I knew that we couldn’t do that anymore, not until we had exchanged blood again.

I was starting to feel naked as his eyes bored into my own when finally he broke the eye contact and took a sip of his coffee.

I let out the breath I hadn’t known I was holding and I felt my whole body relax. Well that was strange was all I thought.

My dinner was lovely. Quinn was an excellent cook, and he seemed delighted with my praise as he watched me eat two helpings and drink three bottles of water. I was very tempted to lick my plate.

Dimitri and I excused ourselves from the table and left the men to their discussions on how many rogues they had killed that week as we made our way down to the basement where our prisoners were being held.

Alric and Baldric were standing guard of a cell door each.

With a nod from Dimitri Alric took out a key and unlocked the cell door he was standing guard over as we made our way into a room that was clearly an interrogation room. Dimitri sat at the table and I stood behind him.

Alric came in dragging a very reluctant Svlen. It made sense that we questioned him first. He was the main offender, we needed to know his story first before we could even talk to Julius.

As soon as Svlen had been put in the chair opposite Dimitri, Dimitri gave a slight flick of his wrist and dismissed Alric.

I stood to attention as soon as Alric left. Not liking Svlen being that close to Dimitri I walked around the table so that I was standing behind Svlen.

“So Svlen, explain to me why you tried to kill the Enforcer.”

There was silence as Svlen refused to answer. I really wished me and Dimitri had our mind connection right now.

“who are you working for Svlen.” I asked

“His Majesty, King Dimitri.” came the short reply.

“not anymore you don‘t and I meant who gave you the orders to kill me?”

Again there was silence.

“if you don‘t answer the questions,” Dimitri’s voice was almost casual as he spoke the next few words. “then I will keep you alive just long enough for you to wish you were truly dead and when you are begging me to kill you, you will finally give me the answers I want anyway.”

Svlen flinched.

“it would be foolish,” continued Dimitri, “to be more afraid of whoever your master is than your King. I can guarantee you that anything your master will do to you for betraying him will be like heaven compared to what I will do to you if you don‘t answer my questions. And remember Svlen your master isn‘t here now and even if he were he wouldn‘t last long enough to punish you, so you see,” Dimitri happily concluded. “you‘re fucked anyway.”

The sweat was visibly pouring off Svlen. I could just imagine what was going through his mind.

“you‘re going to kill me even if I do answer your questions!” spat Svlen

“yes I am.” Dimitri nodded his head while a slow, cruel smile spread across his face. “it really was a mistake to try and kill my Enforcer, Svlen. It really was. Normally I would leave the torturing to one of my gaurds,” Svlen flinched at the mention of torture. “but I am sure you have heard of how much I used to love torturing information out of rogues and anyone disloyal to me or my people.”

Svlen turned an interesting shade of green as he clearly remembered, and Dimitri rubbed his hands together as he relished the thought of torturing Svlen.

I didn’t know what I thought of this side of Dimitri. I understood why he would have to torture vamps including Svlen, I just wasn’t used to the word torture being thrown around in a conversation as though we were talking about the weather or what was for dinner. I had to shake off the chill that seemed to be creeping under my skin. I had to get used to this.

I unsheathed a knife from my waist holster and moved closer to Svlen.

I ran my free hand through his thick hair and then getting a good grip of it I jerked his head to the side, so that the side of his face was exposed to me.

I brought the tip of the knife to Svlen’s eye. A shudder ran the length of his body and then he seemed to freeze, he didn’t want to move in case the slightest movement caused the knife to slice through him.

I started to move the knife almost lovingly up and down the side of his face the tip of the knife only ripping the top layer of his skin.

“do you like my knife Svlen?” I asked him conversationly as a slow stream of blood ran down his face and started to soak his black t-shirt. “it‘s brand new, Dimitri just gave it to me, so you’re the first vamp I‘ve used it on. I would really like to have a vamp to try in out on properly. You know practise makes perfect and all that. What do you think?”

Svlen’s didn’t say anything but his eyes had gone wide and they were darting all around the room as though he was looking for someone to help him. He seemed to be more afraid of me than of Dimitri at the moment.

I laughed at him and he flinched at the sound that not even I recognised. The knife sank deeper into his flesh though as he flinched and he swore colourfully in pain.

“I personally hope you don‘t answer our questions Svlen. I would love to watch Dimitri work you over, I could probably learn a few things from him, what do you think Dimitri?” I asked as I looked up at him, “we could add torturing Svlen to my training schedule, I could do my laps, then my weight training, then fighting, then target practise and then to finish up the session we could jog over here and you could teach me the art of torture.”

I was surprised at how calm my voice was, wow it really didn’t take me too long to get into the swing of things did it?

“I think that is a brilliant idea Ashes.” Dimitri said as we smiled at each other. I had moved my knife away from Svlen so he was able to look at both me and Dimitri.

“you two are crazy, do you know that.” he spat.

“well why thank you, Svlen, that really means a lot coming form the vampire who tried to kill me yesterday.” I said as I brought the knife back to his face this time drawing blood from one ear down and across his throat and up to his other ear. It was a shallow cut, and would only sting Svlen. But I marvelled at the sharpness of the knife all the same.

“I must say Dimitri,” I said as I admired my knife work, “I really like your choice in knives.”

“thank you Ashes, what do you say we go up stairs and have a drink before bed. We can continue this tomorrow.”

“sounds good.” I said as I wipe the blood from the knife onto Svlen’s t-shirt and then re-sheath it.

As though Alric knew we were finished he suddenly opened the door and lead a very willing Svlen back towards his cell.

“that was fun!” I told Dimitri as we entered the drawing room upstairs. I collapsed onto one of the sofa’s as Dimitri went over to the wet bar and poured us a whiskey each.

“I‘m glad you think so.”

He sat next to me as I downed mine in one and then jumped up for the bottle, bringing it back to the sofa with me I settled in and put my legs over Dimitri’s lap.

He raised an eyebrow at me as I poured my third shot of whiskey and offered to top his first glass up.

“I shouldn‘t even be giving you whiskey, your only twenty.” he said.

“I’ll be twenty - one in…..” I thought about it and then I realised what the date was, “I‘ll be twenty one on Tuesday.” I told him triumphantly - I couldn’t believe I had forgotten. “besides I‘m Irish so I have been legally drinking for three years already and illegally drinking for five years.”

“really?” Dimitri asked sitting up straighter. Obviously my little slip of the tongue on when my birthday was, wasn’t going to go unnoticed. “we‘ll have to do something for your birthday then.”

“hmmm, do we have to?”

“yes we do.” he told me very seriously.

Then taking the bottle off me he pulled me to my feet.

“come on we need to exchange blood again.” he told me as he led me up the stairs.

The house seemed empty we didn’t meet anyone as we made our way to my room.

Once inside, Dimitri pulled his top over his head. This time he had nothing on underneath.

I watched him get comfortable on my bed and then I looked down at what I was wearing and then back at him.

Dimitri raised an eyebrow in question.

“Give me a minute,” I told him as I headed into my walk- in wardrobe. I had unpacked my clothes earlier that day and had hung them along with my new leathers.

I found my pyjamas in a draw at the back of my wardrobe. After hanging up my clothes I pulled on my shorts and vest top and after a moment of deliberation I decided to keep on my bra. Much safer that way.

I didn’t look at Dimitri as I came out of the wardrobe and headed for the bathroom. After I had finished I re-entered the bedroom and climbed onto the bed.

“same as before?” I asked Dimitri.

“yep.”

I finally looked up at him and he caught my eyes with his own. Damn it, I am going to have to avoid looking at him from now on if he is going to catch me off guard like this all the time.

It took a lot of effort but I managed to break eye contact with him for the first time.

I climbed in between his legs and leaned back against his chest with my head resting on his left shoulder and then I exposed the right side of my neck to him.

Before I could even blink, Dimitri had slit his wrist and had it to my mouth. I immediately latched my mouth onto his open wound.

Moaning deeply I drank him in. He really did taste delicious. I had only taken two pulls on his wrist when Dimitri’s hand slid up over my thigh, over my hip, up my side and my arm and then over my chest - just like the last time we exchanged blood. I couldn’t repress the shiver that went through me as he got a hold of my and then his lips trailed a line of kisses over the skin on my neck before his fangs sank into my flesh.

It was Dimitri’s turn to moan as he started to drink form me. The sensations running through me from Dimitri feeding from me as I fed from him, caused me to moan again and then my toes were curling and I was arching my back, my spine curving, pushing my chest further into the hold Dimitri had on me.

My free hand found Dimitri’s thigh and I dug my nails in, I happily heard Dimitri’s answering moan as we began to drink more deeply from one another.

This time I didn’t even notice all of Dimitri’s memories flashing into my mind. I was too overwhelmed by the feel of his mouth on my neck, the pull on my blood as it flowed out of me and into him, and of his blood running over my tongue and down my throat.

I lasted longer this time, maybe within time I would be able to stay conscious for the whole blood exchange, but soon I found myself fighting to stay awake.

Sleep Ashes. I will look after you.

Dimitri’s mental voice drifted through my mind.

I relaxed in his embrace and soon I was drifting off……….


***************************************************************


Vote and comment please JJJ

© jamessica stories; 2010.
All rights Reserved.
Reproduction of this story or taking of ideas in any way is prohibited; and illegal


***************************************************


Chapter 6

I woke up that night to the sound of metal sliding on metal. My hand immediately reached for my gun that was hanging from its holster from my bedpost.

I snapped my eyes open only to see that it was the metal shutter’s over the windows opening up for the night. Letting out a slow breath I relaxed the grip I had on my Wesson and lowered it.

“were you really going to shoot my window for waking you up Ashes?” an amused Dimitri asked.

My head whipped around until my eyes landed on the dark figure sitting on the beautiful chaise lounge in the corner of my room.

“did you sit there all night?” I asked him incredulously.

“it was quite comfortable, I assure you.” Dimitri politely replied.

I was comforted by the thought of Dimitri watching over me while I slept, but I squashed that feeling as soon as I had it. I didn’t need to be babysat while I slept. I was a grown women with a whole lot of power and a hell of a lot to prove to every single vampire out there in the big bad world.

“are you quite finished berating yourself for being human Ashes? Or would you like another minute or two? I would be quite happy to sit here and watch you all night.”

An involuntary shiver spread through me as though his words were a caress.

Knowing that he could read my thoughts, I didn’t bother with the pretence that he didn’t affect me. I met Dimitri’s stare with a bravery that I didn‘t actually feel.

I was slightly distracted from starring into his eyes by a very slight humming sound coming through our mind connection. It was only when I concentrated on the humming that I realised I still couldn’t read his mind.

“it didn‘t work.” were the horrified words that slipped past my lips.

“Oh I can assure you Ashes, the blood exchange did indeed re-establish our mental connection - ”

I felt all my blood rush to my face as he implied that he could read every thought I had including the thoughts I was having of how beautiful and safe he was to me. My bravery disappeared, for some reason my crazed brain had decided that it was okay for Dimitri to read my mind because I was able to read his. Tit for Tat and all that.

“ - however,” he continued, politely ignoring my train of thought, ah, always the gentleman. “I spent the night building my mental wall. It took some time but I managed it, I had to study every part of your mind and entwine it completely with my own so that our minds will recognise each other as twins on a metaphysical level. This way it will be a whole lot easier for you to build your mental wall. Right now you should be able to sense my mind but you won‘t be able to access it.”

Ah, so that was what the humming sound was.

I nodded, pointlessly. He could read my mind and therefore he already knew that I could sense his mind - it was almost like a black hole niggling at my own mind.

Needing something to do, I turned on my bedside light and then I jumped out of bed and stretched.

“Argh, that feels good.” a lazy smile settling on my lips. Once again I felt re-energised and strong.

I could feel Dimitri’s eyes on me as I checked the time, it was half 5, which would mean that it would be half 10 at night in Ireland.

I flipped open my mobile as I flopped back down on the bed and faced Dimitri as I sped dialled home. I hadn’t spoken to mum in a while and she would be worried if my old landlord or boss had told her that they hadn’t seen me in days.

“well if it isn‘t the wee sister.” answered a lazy voice.

“heya Declan, whats the craic?”

“nothing much Nixy, I‘ve been working for Jim Mc Callion for the past few weeks on his construction site, it’s only up the road from here so I‘ve been coming to your mams for my tea every night after work. But you know your mam, she isn‘t happy until I‘m bursting at the seams from all the food I‘ve eaten.”

I laughed, that was an understatement. Mam fed all my brothers and Declan as though in fear that the famine was going to come back to Ireland, so just in case she made sure the boys never went hungry.

“Is mammy there at all Dec?”

“Aye, but your Kevin is bouncing around behind me making weird hand motions, I think there might be something wrong with him Nixy. Give me a sec, I think he might be having a fit,” there was a shuffle and then I could hear Declan again. “Are you alright Kev, did you want something, only I‘m trying to a having a conversation here and your mighty distracting with all that jumping around you‘re doing.”

I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped me as I imagined what was happening on the other side of the line. I gave a chuckle when I heard a thud then a huff as Dec and Kev were undoubtedly fighting over the phone.

Finally someone won because the phone was picked up again.

“Ashes.” Kev said my name as a sigh of pure happiness. “I‘ve missed you so much. I’ve had to put up with this ejjit all by myself since you left. When are you going to wise up and come home.”

I met Dimitri’s eyes from across the room, with the light now on I noticed that he had showered and changed sometime during the night while I slept. As I held his stare I realised that this was my home now, I would never be moving home to Ireland again. I was only slightly saddened at the thought that I would never be able to live near my family again, but I almost chocked on the grief I felt when I realised that I had unwittingly left Kevin and Declan when I took my first drop of Dimitri’s blood.

Dimitri gave me a sad smile and came and sat next to me on my bed. He pulled me into his embrace and I felt better immediately.

Thanks. I said in my head. In response Dimitri stroked my back while I tried to think of what I was going to say to Kevin.

I had to clear my throat twice before I could speak, “I‘ve actually become quite attached to Toronto Kev,” I swallowed hard before I continued. “I‘ve met a lot of really good people,” I smiled up at Dimitri as I said this, “and I have a good job.”

I’d had to quit my job at the shooting range since I was now a night person, I would have to dip into my trust fund, which I hadn’t had to do before.

“yeah I know, at the shooting range.” I could here the silent ‘duh’ he was holding back but I laughed as I imagined him rolling his eyes.

“stop rolling your eyes Kev, I can practically here them all the way over here.” we both laughed.

“Dec says he got a job with Mc Callion construction,” I said to try and keep the heat off myself, “how did he manage that, I thought old Jim swore blind that he would never employ Dec after he broke his sweet innocent daughters heart?” I didn’t even try to disguise the sarcasm in my voice as Kev laughed.

“hey I did not break her heart Nixy! That wee girl has no heart!” I heard Dec raise his voice so I could hear him. They had obviously put me on loud speaker.

“what about all the other hearts that you left in your wake, Declan O’Reily” I jokingly scolded.

“hey at least I left you and Jaz alone! So you can‘t really complain!” was Dec thoughtless reply. But not thoughtless because he mentioned Jaz but because of what came next.

There was a loud curse as Kev punched Dec, “you wouldn‘t have lived long enough if you had gone near the girls. Dickhead!”

I could hear Dec’s laughter come down the line. “I know, Nixy and Jaz would have killed me!”

I smiled as there was only silence on the other side. And then Kev’s laughter rang through the room- with my sensitive hearing I had to hold the phone away from my ear as I grinned up at Dimitri.

He smiled at me, trying to swallow his own laughter.

You would get on really well with Kev and Dec you know. I told him.

Dimitri nodded his head in agreement and I waited for the guys to stop laughing.

“hey Kev, is mammy still awake?” I asked as I looked at the clock, it would be nearing eleven now in Ireland.

“aye, she‘s in the living room, with Theresa Donnelly, apparently there‘s some scandal about one of the lady‘s from chapel having an affair with a younger man. I‘m surprised you can‘t hear their squealing all the way over there in Canada. Ma tells me it’s the ’in thing’ to do now, having a toyboy. Da thinks the whole thing is hilarious! Can you believe it Ashes - the whole house has gone crazy since you left. Please come home!”

“John still lives at home Kev. He‘s completely sane.” I reasoned hoping Kev didn’t bring up me coming home again.

“Exactly, he‘s boring Ashes, he keeps looking at me as though he wants to straighten my tie - and I don’t even wear a tie!”

“hey! John is loads of fun, he was always easy going with me!”

“yes Ashes,” Kev says patiently. “but you are his baby sister, I‘m just his wee brother who plays with computers all day!”

“now come on Kev, your job is really important, and I know its really hard because I‘ve seen you at work. I wouldn‘t know where to start, yet you‘re a whiz at what you do. Besides, John knows you‘re a genius and he‘s probably just jealous that he had to work really hard in school and he‘s still not nearly as clever as you are.”

“oh, that’s where my ego booster went. Canada. I might have to come over there and drag it home soon at this rate.”

“Ah, feck off and get yourself a women,” I laughed. “then you can have a wee ego booster on stand-by twenty-four/seven.”

“pog mo thoin wee sister, pog mo thoin!”

“kiss your own ass, big brother!” I laughed.

“love you too!”

“love you too.” I told him back.

“here‘s mammy now. Hey mammy! Ashes is on the phone.”

There was a slight rustle as Kev passed the phone over to my mum.

“Phoenix! How are you, are you eating enough? Are you looking after yourself, did you buy that pepper spray I told you to get? I was reading an article in one of those magazines the other day and it says that every women should have a rape whistle. A rape whistle! Can you believe it! There are some great inventions these days aren’t there. Have you made any new friends yet pet? You know you can’t live in fear of getting too close to people because of what happened to Jaz. You still have to have fun you…..”

I put the phone on loud speaker and sat it on my bedside table, I held up a finger to Dimitri, but he already knew what I was going to do. I could tell by the amusement dancing in his eyes.

I got up, leaving him on my bed and went into my bathroom, I quickly stripped and jumped into the shower. A quick wash and I was out again. I wrapped a towel around myself and brushed my teeth. I headed straight for my wardrobe. I was dressed in my training clothes and I was sitting back next to Dimitri minutes later. I had to admit it, I loved my new strength and speed.

“…..registered with a GP yet? You really need to do that Phoenix, oh and I suppose those Americans all need health insurance so you‘ll need that…”

“Canadians Mammy, I‘m in Canada.” I told her patiently.

“yes of course you are pet, now where was I Phoenix… ” there was only silence coming down the line for a few seconds.

“oh yes, health insurance, now pet, if you need any money you just call daddy and he‘ll sort everything out for you. We can’t have you living over there with nothing but that small wage you‘re getting. I mean, really Phoenix, I really think there has been enough of this malarkey, Kevin really misses you and so do I… ” her voice trailed off, but I could tell that she was trying to hold back a sob.

“Now ma, you know emotional blackmail only works on John and Michael. Thankfully Kev and I inherited da’s immunity gene.”

“well aren‘t you the joker today wee cudie.”

(N/A - cudie is an Irish term of endearment used in Donegal where Ashes is from, its like saying - wee girl - wee boy- wee one - wee child - it’s mostly used on someone you’re close to like a daughter/son, a relation, friend etc.)

“ah i try me best ya‘ know.” I can’t help the huge smile that spreads through me to hear my mam teasing me again.

“Are you happy pet?”

“you now what mammy, right now I‘m happier than I have been in a long time.”

“I‘m really glad to hear that darlin‘, I really am.”

“hey ma, I‘d better letter you go, its way past your bedtime, ”

“hush your mouth child and respect your elders.” she jokes

“love you ma, I‘ll talk to you soon, god bless.”

“love you too and god bless me wee darlin. I‘ll talk to you on Tuesday.”

I closed the phone and looked up at Dimitri.

“wow you look really happy.”

“that’s because I am. I didn‘t realise it until Dec answered the phone, but I’ve been really nervous about talking to the family since everything has changed. I don‘t know, I think I must have thought they would be able to sense that I was different now by just listening to my voice.”

“I‘m glad you consider my home your home now Ashes.” Dimitri said, obviously remembering my thoughts while I was on the phone. “we will be your family from now on, and family‘s take care of each other, so even when you have our backs, my guards and I will back you up.”

“woow, slow down there buddy, but I think having you as my back up would be far too distracting.”

“oh really?” Dimitri asked, his voice full of amusement and innuendo.

“yes really!” I said as I elbow him in the side, “having the king to protect as well as fighting rogues would be mighty distracting!”

“oh but my dear, I really do not need protection. Tonight will be your first time out in the field, and I will be coming with you, in fact I will be coming with you until I feel you can handle it all on your own.”

I gulped and tried to swallow my nervousness. But of course I could never hide anything from Dimitri.

He grabbed the tops of my arms and forced me to face him.

“look at me.” he demanded in his king voice. My eyes immediately snapped to his.

“I would not let you out the front door if I had any doubt that you could do this job, but the fact that I am never wrong about an enforcer makes that unnecessary any way. I will be with you, besides I want to prove to you that your dream was just that, a dream and dreams aren‘t real!”

Nodding my head I straightened my back and felt Dimitri’s confidence leak into me.

“come on lets get some breakfast and then we can train.” I told him as we left my bedroom.

“you know,” Dimitri said as we made our way down the long hallway, “myself and Mircea have business in Ireland as well you know, the next time we go, we can always drop in on your family for a couple of days……”

**************************************************

PLEASE READ!!! ::: I’m going to start putting ***these stars around Dimitri and Nixy’s mental convo’s ok**** cus’ watt pad doesn’t show the italics kay’?
You know what I mean.. anyway enjoy my lovely fans!! Love you all and I really love all your comments JJJJJ


Vote and comment please JJJ

© jamessica stories; 2010.
All rights Reserved.
Reproduction of this story or taking of ideas in any way is prohibited; and illegal

************************************************************

Chapter 7

“yo! Nixy, wait up!”

I had been on my way to Dimitri’s study when Quinn called out to me.

“heya Quinn what‘s the craic?”

“nothing much, just wanted to tell you how impressed I was with your mad fighting skills today at training. You whooped Dimitri‘s ass.” Quinn laughed.

“I‘m a fast learner.” I said with a shrug.

“listen Nixy I was wondering if you would like to team up tonight for your first night out on the streets.”

I stopped and looked at Quinn, he seemed awfully nervous about asking me to team up with him. With a sinking feeling I realised that that was because he was asking me more that just to team up for the night. It was as though he was asking me out on a date.

Fuck! The first guy to take an interest in me and it had to be someone I only saw as a friend. I had hoped we could be good friends, but this could really screw everything up.

For the first time all day the slight humming in my head stopped and I had instant access to Dimitri’s head.

***So you heard?*** I asked him.

***Yep. Tell him the truth, that you just want to be friends… oh and remind him I am taking you out on parole tonight.***

***Okay… wait a minute, he already knew that I was going out tonight with you? Why is he asking me to go with him then?***

***Because my dear, he is, as the Irish would say, trying his luck.***

***Yeah well he must think he is real lucky if he thinks I’m going to go with him on my first night and not you.***

***I’m flattered.***

Dimitri’s chuckle rang through my head.

***Yeah yeah, you know what I mean, I trust you with my life, I know you and bedside’s you are the one who has been training me.***

***Tell Quinn that then.***

I plastered a pleasant smile on my face and focused on Quinn.

“sorry Quinn, but I‘m teaming up with Dimitri tonight and every night for the next week or two.”

***You won’t need me for that long.*** Dimitri interrupted,

***Shut-up.***

“oh well then if you need anything just let me know.” Quinn said as his eyes searched my face.

“yeah, I will thanks, you‘re a great friend Quinn.” I told him as I gave him a friendly punch to his shoulder and then spun around and headed into Dimitri’s study, leaving Quinn standing where I had left him.

***That was well played Ashes.*** Dimitri said impressed.

“yeah well it’s a complication I could do with out, you know how much everything has changed in my life in a short amount of time. It seems as though everything started with Jaz’s death.” I said, switching to speaking out loud as I walked into Dimitri’s study.

“not necessarily, you were coming to Canada anyway whether or not Jaz died remember. Fate is fate, and if you try to dodge it, it will always catch up with you in the end.”

Dimitri was right, I just needed to be distracted and more than anything I wanted to learn how to block him from my mind.

Dimitri chuckled at my sense of urgency to get him out of my head.

“Sit.” he said.

I sat and focused on our mind connection.

“can you feel what I‘m doing?” Dimitri asked.

I concentrated harder I couldn’t feel anything….. There is was. It was like I was losing Dimitri in the fog, his mind was slowly fading away. I panicked but then common sense took over my brain and I relaxed.

“now try and copy what I am doing Ashes.”

I watched the fog of Dimitri’s mind and imagined fog in my own mind, surrounding it and protecting it. I pulled all of my thoughts close to me and then I imagined a barrier between mine and Dimitir’s minds. An endless steel wall rose from the fog of my mind, it was as long and as tall as the expanse of my mind, I imagined it click into place and then sat back in my chair opposite Dimitri and smiled.

“well, well, well. Very good Ashes, you mastered that very quickly. I can‘t penetrate your mind no matter how hard I try. Can you feel mine?” he asked.

I had to try really hard at first but then it was easy. I could still access his mind but he couldn’t get into mine.

“I can hear the humming of your mind. I‘m going to ‘knock‘ on your shields, tell me what you feel.” he said.

I waited and then I felt it. It was weird and at fist I just sat in my seat frozen, but I got over the shock pretty quickly. I could feel his hand brushing against my steel wall. Then he actually knocked.

“now you will always recognise my touch when I ask for you to drop your shields. Don‘t drop them yet though ok.”

I nodded my head.

“good, now I‘m going to put up my own shields and I want you to try and knock on my shields….ok they‘re up, can you feel them?”

I concentrated on Dimitri’s mind, I couldn’t access it but I could now feel the humming that comes with the silence. I did as he asked and I tried to knock.. I decided to go with the method I had used in building my mental wall. This time instead of imaging a wall I conjured a hand and let it travel toward the sound of the humming, it was weird and I didn’t know if it would actually work, but after a couple of seconds my conjured hand collided with Dimitri’s wall. I made the hand into a fist and I knocked lightly.

Opening my eyes I looked across the table to Dimitri. He was smiling at me.

“did I do it?” I asked.

“you certainly did. Now we can practice controlling our shields.”

“what do you mean?”

“well I think that if we practice we can still talk to each other through our mental link while keeping our thoughts to ourselves.”

“okay that could come in handy, lets give it a go.” I said as I eagerly sat forward and focused completely on mine and Dimitri’s mind’s.


---TWO HOURS LATER---

I was in my leathers, my holsters where full of weapons and I was sitting in the passenger seat of Dimitri’s car as he drove us into the city.

***now that we have mastered our mind connection we can focus on our rogue hunting mission.*** Dimitri said, I could hear a note of excitement in his voice.

***you really like hunting down the rogues don‘t you old man?*** I teased.

***old man!*** tsked Dimitri. ***I‘ll give you old man, little girl. I‘ll have you know this old man could show you a thing or two that any human male your age would be envious of.***

I thanked my lucky stars that I had complete control of my mental shield as I mind talked with Dimitri, because the amount of sexual innuendo laced into his last statement had put some un - holy mental images into my head and let me just say the stars of the show in my mind were me and Dimitri.

I blinked quickly, dislodging the really really wrong image in my mind and scolded myself. I would never ever let myself think like that again, Dimitri was the King of all Vampyre, and I was his enforcer, I couldn’t allow myself to complicate my life further with a silly romantic crush on my supernatural ‘boss’.

***so where can we find ourselves some bloodthirsty rogues to kill? *** I asked to distract myself and to get my head back into the game.

***we‘ll go to Crobar tonight and then maybe if we don‘t get any action we will go across to Raven and see whats happening over there.***

***Crobar and Raven?*** I asked completely confused.

***yes, they’re night clubs. A night club to a rogue is like a childs playground. Easy pickings you see.***

***Dimitri! I‘m not dressed for going to a night club!*** I complained as I looked down at my tight leathers, and shit kickers. At least my leather jacket concealed my weapons, well except for the knives strapped to my thighs, but then again it was all black on black, hopefully they would all blend in together.

Dimitri let his eyes roam over me, I stilled under his gaze. Think of starving puppies, think of starving puppies, think of starving….

Thankfully Dimitri returned his attention to driving, he was now pulling into a parking space in an alleyway in the centre of the city.


***oh trust me you will fit right in.*** Dimitri didn’t elaborate only hopped out of the car and before I could even get my mind into gear he was opening my door for me.

***follow me.*** he instructed.

I kept close to Dimitri as we strode through a maze of back ally ways until we got to a black, heavy duty service door.

***this is the back entrance to Crobar.***

***whats wrong with going through the front door? Did you get barred our something?*** I joked as I laughed and projected to him an image of him being thrown out by bouncers, it was ridiculous.

****very funny Ashes, we are avoiding the hassle of explaining away the excessive amount of weaponry we have between us.*** I could hear the laughter behind his thoughts though as he took in the image I had sent him.

***gotcha*** I saluted him, I may have been acting light hearted but my head was fully in the game, since we had left the car my mind had been taking in every dark corner, every roof top, every dark doorway, even now as Dimitri forced the door open my eyes darted everywhere, scanning my surroundings for any danger.

Thankfully there wasn’t any so I followed Dimitri into the dimly lit hallway that was evidently only used for employees and for tossing out trouble makers.

The first thing that hit me was the smell, it was rancid and I had to hope that my gag reflex could tolerate the stench because if it couldn’t then I would be in serious trouble. I realised the smell was coming from the old carpet under our feet, over the years, urine, blood, sweet, other body fluids that I didn’t want to even think about and a cocktail of different liquors and beers had drenched the carpet. Yeah my new supernatural powers had perks but then at times like these I could really do without the heightened sense of smell and the music, well lets just say I was glad that I could talk to Dimitri through our connection because my sensitive ears were already ringing and I was finding it hard to concentrate.

***how can you stand it?*** I asked Dimitri knowing that it had to be ten times worse for him.

Dimitri looked over at me and winced.

***sorry Ashes I forgot you wouldn‘t be used to this, I can stand it because I‘ve had years of having to put up with it, you should be able to handle into in a few minutes. We‘ll wait here until you adjust.***

As I waited for my heightened senses to adjust I listened to the music, a grin spread across my face as I looked up at Dimitri.

***it’s a goth club.*** I said.

***exactly, we‘ll fit right in. Rogues love Goth clubs, because the blend right in as well, they also have easy pickings when it comes to lurring the opposite sex out the door and into a dark ally way.***

I could hear ‘The Diary of Jane’ by Breaking Benjamin playing past the double doors at the end of the hallway. I got my bearings and let Dimitri know that I was ready to go in.

As we slipped through the doors and into the club the music changed and I took in my surroundings, before me was a sea of black, and some dark reds and purples. There was a lot of leather and lace out there as well.

(listen to the music link)

***wow, so what do we do now?*** I asked Dimitri as I watched the gyrating bodies on the dance floor.

***we watch, you‘ll know what we are looking for when you see it.***

***Gee, thanks that was helpful.***

Dimitri only shrugged in response.

We watched the crowd for over an hour before anything happened. I noticed the change in the air straight away, it was like my senses had picked up on the danger that was now in the middle of the crowd in front of us.

***did you get that?*** I asked Dimitri.

***no, what did you get?***

***two male rogues just walked out onto the dance floor, there they are over there, dancing with the females. How come you didn‘t sense them?***

***that’s why you‘re the Enforcer, only you have the special ability to sense rogues.***

***lucky me.*** I responded dryly as myself and Dimitri made our way back towards the door we had come through, while keeping an eye in the rogues who were luring the two females that way. We hung back and let them have a two second head start so that we didn’t all collide at the door.

Two seconds was enough though because as we followed the rogues into the hallway they were already out the back door and in the ally way.

Me and Dimitri flitted down the hallway and out into the night.

My senses had me following the rogues without having to use my eyes, hearing or listening for sound. It was as though I had been given a new sense that was solely for hunting rogues. If they were any where near me then I could track them down within seconds.

I could feel Dimitri right on my heels as I flitted through the ally ways.

It only took a matter of seconds for us to catch up to the rogues, thankfully they hadn’t harmed the females yet, they had only tormented them and possibly scarred them for life. Without thinking I let my instincts take over me and the next thing I knew I was right up in the face of the two rogues, I threw them both away from the females.

I gave my attention solely to the rogues.

“come on boys, lets play.” I smirked as they ran right at me with arrogant looks on the their faces.

When they were almost on top of me I took one of my knives from my thigh holster and threw it at the rogue on the right, it landed right in his chest like I knew it would, I then collided with the rogue on my left and took him to the ground, he was strong and managed to get a huge hand around my throat. I used my arm to smash down on the one arm that was choking me and then I hit him across the face with my fist. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and his momentary lapse of control over his limbs gave me the perfect opportunity to free my other knife and slide it home through his heart. I had to use a lot of strength though to get the knife through his ribcage and the muscle that protected his heart but I managed it.

I jumped off him and stood over the two dead rogues, I grinned as I looked at my handy work.

***are you having fun there Ashes?***

“that was exhilarating.” I said aloud to Dimitri.

“glad you thought so, Slone is on his way to wipe the two females memories, but right now we have to deal with the five rogues that just turned up and want in on the fun.”

I rolled my shoulders and then cracked my knuckles, my grin still in place I looked at Dimitri who looked back at me amused.

“bring it, I‘m just getting warmed up.” I told him just as the five rogues, four males and one female, sauntered round the corner and came to a dead stop, -no pun intended- I watched their eyes and let out a low chuckle, I could practicly hear their thoughts.

….”five of us and only one vamp, and three human females.”

This should be fun.

***Dimitri, let me deal with this, get the females and stand behind me.***

Dimitri did as I asked without arguing.

I took out my Wesson, Blaze had customized it with a built in silencer. I then casually reached down and took the knife out of the last rogue I had killed, I wiped the blade on his clothing before twirling it around in my hand.

The rogues had come closer now, mistaking the real threat in the group. They had seen me with my weapons but to them I was only a human girl. Big mistake on their part. Ah well, it was their funeral.

I raised my gun and shot all four male rogues straight through the heart one after the other. They all collapsed to the floor. The female looked at me stunned.

“come on girly, it‘s just me and you now. Do you wanna play or not?” I grinned.

“Bitch!” she shrieked.

“Ah did I kill your little friends? Don‘t worry you‘ll be joining them pretty soon.” I told her as I put my gun back in its holster and loosened my grip on my knife.

I watched her come at me, she was really fast and I could see the rage plainly on her face as I calmly side stepped her and punched her in the side of the head. The force of my punch sent her toppling over but I grabbed her by the hair before she could fall and I stabbed her through the heart and then pulled my knife out before letting her fall to the ground.

I looked over to the first rogue I had killed. There was now only ash where he had once lain and my knife lying in the middle of all of it.

I picked up the knife shook as much ash off as I could and then re-strapped both my knives to my thighs.

I took a minute to see if I could sense any more rogues, there weren’t any so I turned my attention back to Dimitri.

“well how was that?” I asked out loud.

“that was amazing.” Dimitri said his eyes shining with laughter. “you just killed seven rogues all by yourself in one minute forty-seven seconds.”

“really? Wow, I didn‘t know I was that quick. That was a lot of fun though I want to do it again.” I said jumping up and down like a little girl.

Dimitri laughed just as a handsome vampire walked up to us.

“wow, I‘ve never heard you laugh before my lord, what‘s so funny?” asked the vamp who I can only presume is Slone, he must have flitted over here after Dimitri had called him.

“I‘m laughing at my Enforcer who just killed seven vamps in under two minutes and now is looking for more.”

“Enforcer eh?” Slone asked looking around.

***what a sexist pig!*** I said to Dimitri.

Dimitri cleared his throat.

“Slone, this is my new Enforcer, Phoenix,” Dimitri said with his hand on my shoulder, “Phoenix, this is Detective Slone.”

“pleased to me meet you.” I said politely, he may me be a sexist pig, but my mother brainwashed me with good manners as I grew up.

“you did all of this?” he asked in shock.

“yep, now can you wipe these ladies minds so that I can get back to work.”

“yes, yes of course.” he hurriedly stepped around me and Dimitri to get to the females.

It only took Slone a couple of seconds before he was finished and he had sent the ladies on their way.

“I‘ll leave you two to your hunting.” Slone said as he made his way back down the ally way.

“I want that progress report on my desk my seven tomorrow night.” Dimitri called after him.

“I‘ll email you my Lord.”

“Good good.” and with that Slone disappeared.

I leant into Dimitri with a huge grin on my face.

“what now?” I asked him excitedly.

“now you understand why I like hunting so much.” he said with a deep chuckle. “lets check out Raven.”

We made our way through the maze of ally ways and towards more fun.

I could really get used to the adrenaline that was pumping through my veins right now. It was a real high.

As we walked out into the busy side walk of the city I realised that I was going to love my job and that fate had been right, so far I am very good at being the Enforcer.

**************************************************

Authors note:: if you see these ***around words it means that Phoenix and Dimitri are talking to each other in their heads.***
***************
Vote and comment please JJJ

© jamessica stories; 2010.
All rights Reserved.
Reproduction of this story or taking of ideas in any way is prohibited; and illegal

***************
Chapter 8

“okay, someone has got to take over from me and Baldric, we are missing all the fun in the city, I am bored out of my mind babysitting those traitorous scoundrel’s, it‘s time someone took over from us and let us back in on all the action we’ve been missing.” Alric’s voice boomed throughout the mansion as Dimitri and I walked through the front door.

“I don‘t mind standing guard of the prisoners. King Dimitri asked me to do him a service and I am honoured to oblige him.” Baldric spoke up.

“do you hear the Alric? Where is your sense of duty? You could learn a thing or two from your brother.” Quinn’s Irish accent drifted over to us as we entered the Kitchen where it seemed as though everybody was sitting with a metal flask in front of them

***Blood.*** Dimitri told me.

***right, gotcha.****

Everyone stopped talking and looked at Dimitri as we walked in.

“My Lord…” Alric started to say but Dimitri held up a hand to stop him from talking.

“it is quite all right Alric, I understand your frustration. I myself had been left in this house for the past fifty years while my guards got all the fun until recently. But that does remind me that I have something to say to you all. Where is Hunter? ” Dimitri asked as he cocked his head as though listening for something.

I did the same and almost immediately heard Hunters reply which seemed to come from the cellars below us.

“I‘m with the prisoners my lord.”

“good, you can listen from down there then.”

“won‘t the prisoners hear us as well?” I asked.

Dimitri looked at me with amusement in his eyes. “they are in a five foot deep cell lined with silver, they can not hear a word we are saying.”

“oh, right of course.” I mumbled, “so what do you have to tell us?” I asked a little more brightly.

With one last smile at me, Dimitri turned to everyone else in the kitchen.

“As you know Phoenix has only been out on patrol for three days now. What you don’t know yet is just how many rogues she has killed while I have stood by and watched without interference.”

“get your money out boys I have a feeling I am about to come into some cash.”

As I watched, all the vamps around the table started to take wads of money out of their wallets. And set them in a pile in the middle of the table.

“whats going on guys?” I asked them.

“oh we just had a little bet on how many rogues you killed in three days. We each put in three hundred dollars and guessed the numbers of kills you got.”

I looked at all of them, I guess I couldn’t blame them, me, Jaz, Kev and Dec made bets all the time to pass the time.

I smirked as a I formed a plan. Reaching to the back pocket of my leather trousers I pulled out my wallet and took out four hundred dollars and threw it on top of the pile of money.

“I bet you four hundred that I have killed more than any of you have guessed so far.”

“Done.” Blake grinned.

“tomorrow is Phoenix‘s twenty-first birthday.” Dimitri continued, while hiding a small smile from the vamps at the table.

“wow, really?”

“you‘re only twenty-one?”

“And I am sure you will all agree with me that for someone so young, Phoenix has achieved a great feat in killing the amount of rogues that she has in the last couple of days.”

“So how many has she killed then?” Quinn asked.

“Phoenix has killed twenty-seven rogues.”

“wow that is a lot of rogues! I didn‘t even know we had that many in the city.” Baldric cursed.

The other vamps around the table looked at me in stunned silence. Quinn was the first to smile at me as he pushed the money across the table to where I was sitting.

I rolled the notes as I watched the others break out of their daze.

“that is very impressive Nixy, but you will understand if we are also very shocked at the amount of rogues you were able to find, we hadn‘t known there was that many out there before now.” Hunters comment floated up to me from the cellars below. But I did understand his uneasiness, Dimitri had explained to me already what the rise in the number of rogues could only mean.

“I have requested for Mircea to come here immediately, I think it is time for my second in-command to finally meet his new boss.” Dimitri said as he turned to look at me.

I blinked at him for a few seconds before I realised what he was saying.

“you can‘t be serious Dimitri! I can not tell the head of security what to do! He has far more experience than me and is much older than me- I can‘t tell him what to do!”

Dimitri’s laugh echoed through the kitchen. The vamps at the table were obviously still not used to Dimitri laughing though because all there heads swivelled towards Dimitri to stare at him. Which he ignored in favour for looking at me.

His stare was intense, and I had a feeling I was never going to get used to it.

“Do not forget Ashes, Mircea is younger than me. Are you once again calling me old?”

I could literally feel everyone’s stares moving focus from Dimitri to me but all I could do was roll my eyes at him.

“you know what I mean Dimitri. You can not expect a vampire with as much experience as Mircea to take orders from a mere human who compared to him will most certainly appear to be no more than a child.”

Even I could hear the desperation in my voice. I really did not want to be put in this position. Ever since Dimitri had told me the story of how he had met Mircea I have had a feeling that Mircea’s very essence screamed power and authority. I knew though that if he was a friend of Dimitri’s that he would be a good person, but I did not want to appear as though I had just walked into Mircea’s life and taken over.

I let my guard down slightly and knocked on Dimitri’s mental barrier. He let down his shields instantly. I let him feel what I was feeling and then I put my own shields back up. We stared at each other while Dimitri seemed to be thinking. I couldn’t help but squirm in my chair as his intense stare became a little too much.

“fine, you will work together then. But you must understand that Mircea has always excepted my Enforcers to be his boss before. But if you insist that I can not force you.”

“I insist.” I told him sternly.

Again Dimitri looked at me with the intensity to send fire flaring through my veins. This time his eyes took in all of me as though he was consuming me with just his golden eyes.
I tried to control my breathing by taking deep breaths. I so did not want the others to witness the effect Dimitri had on me.

“and I can assure you of this Ashes, Mircea will most certainly not mistake you for a child.” Dimitri said as he pushed back his chair and headed for the door.

I let out a small shaky breath and straightened slightly in my chair while I tried to convince my cheeks to go back to their normal pale pallor.

“get something to eat and then head to bed Ashes, we have a big night ahead of us.” Dimitri’s voice drifted back to me as I heard his shit-kickers skim over the stairs. “Mircea will be here by six tonight.”

I sat in my chair as my mind raced and I tried to get my thoughts in order. The others at the table instantly began to discuss what the rise in numbers of rogues could mean and whether or not Mircea would bring the Balaur with him.

I looked around the table and when I heard this.

“Who are the Balaur?” I asked them.

“well you see..”


*************************************

Vote and comment please JJJ

© jamessica stories; 2010.
All rights Reserved.
Reproduction of this story or taking of ideas in any way is prohibited; and illegal


**********************

Chapter 9

“They are the elite guard.” Blake interrupted him. His eyes were sparkling and his mouth had formed a huge grin.

“but I thought you guys were the elite guard. I mean you are the Kings personal guard aren‘t you?” I asked with a frown.

“nice of you to notice Nix, I was starting to think that you had forgotten that our master is the King. You should show some respect, you must only address him as Lord Dimitri, you think yourself to….”

“hold your whist you Amadan!” Quinn shot at Alric. “take no notice of him Nixy. The Balaur are the vampire equivalent to the police, torturers, executioners and the CIA, all rolled into one and they were founded by Mircea, trained by him and answer only to him which is why they are called the Balaur. It’s the Romanian word for Dragon, and seeing as Mircea’s father was called Vlad Dracul which when translated into English means Vlad the Dragon, you can understand why Mircea’s called his vampires the Balaur.”

“wow they sound really bad ass.” I said faintly trying to picture the Balaur.

“yeah they are.” Ryder grinned. “and they would have been yours to control completely if you hadn‘t insisted on treating Mircea as an equal.” Ryder’s voice was wistful.

“oh come on Ryder you can‘t tell me that if you were Mircea that you wouldn‘t feel insulted that an Enforcer had to be found to do your job for you and on top of that, said Enforcer was going to take over the Balaur, a Vampire guard that you created and worked hard to train. Because I can tell you now, if I was in Mircea‘s shoes I would be extremely pissed off.” I took a deep breath and looked at everyone around the table. They all looked back at me with a similar expression, an expression that suspiciously looked like awe and respect.

“I can just as easily do the same job while working along side Mircea without taking his pride as well, besides he is the King’s - ” I put emphasis o the word king while looking Ari dead in the eye, from upstairs I could hear Dimitri chuckle. I rolled my eyes and continued, “ - best friend. Why would I want to take his pride and joy away from him?”

“pride and joy?” asked Blake with a smirk, his crystal blue eyes sparkling with mirth as he dragged a hand through his jet black hair.

It was the first time that I had seen Blake smile at me, normally his face was completely clear of any emotion, a true soldier I thought to my self as I mentally rolled my eyes.

“yeah - his pride and joy, I have three and a half brothers, I know what you boys are like when it comes to showing off. ”

“three and a half brothers?” Quinn asked.

“yeah, Michael is my oldest brother, John is the second eldest then,” I said as a smile broke across my face. “Kevin, he‘s my favourite there is just eleven months between us, we were in the same class in school so my best friend Jaz, and his best friend Declan made up our group of four, we had been inseparable since we were four years old.”

As I finished explaining my smile had disappeared and I remembered the phone call I had gotten from Jaz’s mum Cleona two months ago. I had to blink back the tears that were threatening to spill when I realised that Quinn was speaking again.

“had? What happened.”

“Jaz died in a car accident two months ago and I left Ireland not long after.” I looked Quinn straight in the eye, I swallowed my sorrow and refused to let any of the vamps in front of me now to see it. “anyway, Declan is the half. We grew up together, and even mammy and daddy treat him as one of there own.”

“So that would have made Jaz your half sister?” Quinn asked with a small smile.

Rowan who was sitting beside Quinn elbowed him in the stomach. “can‘t you tell that the girl doesn‘t want to talk about Jaz?” Rowan growled suddenly reminding me of my grandfather, he was always ready to give a good scolding to anyone who deserved it. I felt weird comparing my old granda to a young good looking centuries old vampire.

I had to laugh, my heart warming towards Rowan. “thanks Row but I don‘t mind too much, I can‘t just start to pretend that Jaz never existed.” I looked at Quinn who seemed to be slightly embarrassed to have been scolded by someone, who could easily be centuries younger than him, as though he was a naughty school boy. “to answer your question Quinn, yes she was, mammy never had any other girls but if she did I would like to think that she would have been just like Jaz.” I said as I stiffled a yawn.

“you‘d better get to bed Nixy, the king isn‘t here tonight to be carrying you to bed if your too tired to move yourself.” Ari’s snide comment had me looking at the clock just over his shoulder.

Ignoring Ari, I stood. “crap I didn‘t realise how early it is. G‘night everyone.” I said as I waved weakly over my shoulder and stumbled out of the room.

“night Nixy.”

“sweet dreams.”

Was the chorus of replies that followed me up the stairs and into my room.

***************

I woke to the sound of my alarm. Four pm. Only eight hours till I turn twenty one. I blindly made my way to the shower. Tonight was going to be busy, as I stripped I made a mental list of all the things I would be doing tonight. Shower first, then dinner, by that time Mircea should have arrived, I’ll have to meet him and the Balaur, then hopefully I would have time to do some patrolling with Dimitri, but then again he might want to spend some time with his best friend, maybe I could just patrol on my own….

My mind was working on over time as I let the water fall onto my face.

*** Ashes would you stop over thinking everything. I will patrol with you tonight and every night until you are more comfortable going out on your own.***

***Dimitri!*** I shrieked. ***get out of my head! I’m in the shower! Naked!*** I added just in case he didn’t grasp the seriousness of the situation.

***oh I know.*** he chuckled darkly.

***get out!*** I shrieked again.

The only reply I got was another chuckle and then silence.

***************

I was down stairs, dressed in my leathers, weapons strapped on, my dark wavy hair falling down my back arguing with Dimitri when Mircea arrived.

“you could have told me that I needed to guard my mind better when I first wake up Dimitri!” I accused.

“yes I could have.” Dimitri’s eyes were dancing and his lips were twitching.

I couldn’t help the small smile tugging at my own lips.

“if you were so keen to see me in the shower again, you could have just asked.” I said slyly.

Dimitri barked out a laugh and I let my own lips form the smile that had been aching to be released.

I pushed past him playfully and headed for the fridge.

“now that sounded as though it would have been an interesting conversation, the end of it certainly was intriguing.” An unfamiliar voice announced from the front door.

I was past Dimitri, out of the kitchen, down the hallway and standing in front of the male vampire with my gun in one hand and a dagger in the other, before anyone else in the house was able to react or comprehend what was going on.

Jeeze, I was fast!

The man in front of me blinked his big dark eyes slowly as me. I tried not to be distracted by his pure and utter beauty.

“who are you?” I demanded as I casually but expertly spun the dagger around in my hand a couple of times, while keeping complete eye contact with the vampire.

“I am Mircea Dracul.” he said and for the first time I noticed the beautiful robes he wore which were a stunning red and adorned with different kinds of dragons.

“you‘re early.” I shrugged while re-sheathing both weapons. Then I stuck out my hand.

“I’m Phoenix. It‘s a pleasure to finally meet you Mircea.”

Mircea looked highly amused as he looked down at my outstretched hand, but when he took my hand he didn’t shake it as I thought he would have. Instead he gently brought my hand to his lips and slowly kissed my knuckles, keeping eye contact the whole time.

I raised an eyebrow at him but didn’t comment.

“ah Mircea my old friend, I see you have met my new Enforcer, Phoenix.” Dimitri said as he walked up to us.

Without breaking eye contact and with his lips still brushing my knuckles Mircea replied.

“I most certainly have. And isn‘t she a sight to behold.”

My whole body stilled as I watched Mircea’s eyes hold mine. They were so intense and dark, and they seemed to flame red just before he gently released my hand and turned to his King and best friend.


********************************

Vote and comment please JJJ

© jamessica stories; 2010.
All rights Reserved.
Reproduction of this story or taking of ideas in any way is prohibited; and illegal

******************************

*******************
If you see these *** around speech then that means that Dimitri and Phoenix are talking mind to mind***
*******************


Chapter 10

It was weird to be sitting in Dimitri’s office with both Dimitri and Mircea while sitting beneath the magnificent work of art that depicted them both so perfectly. If I were to tilt my head at an angle it seemed as though I was seeing double.

“- and the Balaur will arrive shortly to meet their new leader.”

I shook myself and tried to focus better on what was actually being said, that was when I realised that both Mircea and Dimitri were looking at me.

“oh sorry I was just slightly distracted there for a moment.” damn I sound so ditsy! Focus Phoenix for goodness sake. “Did Dimitri not tell you Mircea, I don‘t want complete control over the Balaur, they are your vampires, I don’t think it would be very courteous of me if I were to just appear in your life and take your army away from you. ”

A surprised grin transformed Mircea’s face. “now that is very courteous of you Phoenix, but you said you ‘don‘t want complete control over the Balaur’. Does that mean then that we will be working alongside one another for the foreseeable future?” Mircea asked with a raised eyebrow.

There it was again the fire in his eyes. I suddenly wanted to lie to him and tell him that he was to have complete control over the Balaur, that I didn’t want any, but I was pretty sure both vampires in the room would hear the lie in my voice and it would be just my luck for every other vamp in the house to hear the lie as well. Dimitri must have noticed my hesitation because when I looked over towards him for… I don’t know what, he raised an eyebrow at me and was wearing a slight frown.

So I put on a bright smile and looked Mircea right in the eye, “it sure does Mircea.” now that was so not a good idea, I should have gone with the lie, even if they would have heard it. At least then I might have got out of spending what could only turn into an uncomfortable amount of time with the man sitting right beside me. For some reason I felt like flinging myself over the table and into the safety of Dimitri’s arms.

The thought that Dimitri was safer than Mircea made me mentally shake myself and realise someone was messing with my head. I looked from Mircea and then to Dimitri. Dimitri looked at me as though he could tell that something was wrong but didn’t know what it was, but Mircea looked back at me a little too knowingly and it was making me feel very uncomfortable and unsafe. I didn’t know what he was doing or why but I didn’t like it and I knew it couldn’t be anything good.

Before I knew it I was standing in front of Mircea with my gun drawn and the barrel pointing directly at his heart, my hand steady I gave myself a few seconds for my head to catch up with my body. I had propelled myself out of my seat as soon as I realised that it was Mircea who was doing something to mess with my head. It had all happened so quickly that not even one second had passed since I was last sitting in my chair.

I allowed my mental walls to collapse when I realised that although Dimitri was still seated calmly behind his desk, he was knocking rather loudly on our wall to find out what I was doing.

Mircea’s eye’s had dulled as he stared at me, the knowing look had vanished from his eyes and the unsafe feeling had dulled.

***what are you doing Ashes?*** Dimitri’s mental voice was strained.

***he was doing something to me Dimitri, I could feel it, every time he would look me in the eye his eyes would flame red and I felt completely vulnerable and unsafe.*** and then a little reluctantly I added, ***I felt a huge compulsion to leap into your arms because I felt as though that I would only ever feel safe again with you. He was doing something to me.*** I stated again with more emphasis this time hoping that my cheeks hadn’t flamed red with embarrassment, but of course Dimitri would be able to feel my embarrassment himself through our connection, him being the gentleman though he ignored it.

***then by all means continue Ashes.***

***thank you Dimitri.***

“well Mircea, have you quite finished? ”

He just looked at me in astonishment, I could see his jaw clenching and his eyes boring into mine. I stared boldly back even though my natural instincts were telling me to look away, to look anywhere but his eyes.

Suddenly Mircea blinked and his eyes and face softened until he was grinning at me and I felt myself relax.

“Don‘t even think about messing with my head again Vampire.” I growled flopping back into my chair beside him.

***Better?*** Dimitri asked.

***much, but I won‘t be letting my guard down around him ever again, you can be sure of that.***

***good.***

Dimitri’s reply confused me, I frowned at him, willing him to explain but he only smiled an extremely happy smile.

***you are so going to explain that grin to me later.*** I warned him not being able to hide my own huge grin.

“I do apologise Phoenix,” Mircea said to me sounding almost contrite. Almost. “it is hard to break a habit of a very long lifetime.”

“you do that to every female you meet?” I asked in horror.

“what can I say, female blood has always been more alluring to me than males. And remember I have more than one hunger, I can‘t help myself when I am in the presence of a beautiful women, I just have to indulge myself.”

I looked at him in horror and he barked a highly amused laugh. My cheeks had flooded with blood, I don’t think I had ever blushed so hard before in my entire life.

***oh Dimitri! I really don’t want to ever be alone with him. He scares the shit out of me and not just because he is a vampire! I can handle myself when it comes down to a fight but what if next time I don‘t notice his mind tricks or I can‘t resist them.*** my mental voice was desperate and scared, even as I made my face blank and schooled my cheeks back to their normal pale pallor.

Dimitri didn’t reply but I did feel what he was feeling just before he acted. Pure and utter fury.

Dimitri stood so fast that his chair rocked so hard back I thought it would smash against the wall behind where he sat. I was sure that everyone in the house and possibly for miles around heard what happened next.

Dimitri’s fists came down on his beautiful desk with such force that the boom was almost as deafening as the vibration to the floor and up my legs was jarring.

I stared at the desk in wonder. It still stood perfectly in one piece not even a dent in the wood.

Mircea I noticed was frozen in his seat as he stared up at Dimitri in complete and utter shock.

“you will never ever, try to influence my Enforcer again, do you understand what I am saying to you old friend, doing so is treason and you know perfectly well what the punishment for that is. ” Dimitri bellowed, even I knew not to be naive enough to not be scared of Dimitri’s wrath.

“yes King Dimitri,” Mircea’s voice was laced with such fear that it shook as he bowed his head in reverence. “I will never disappoint you again my liege. ”

Dimitri turned to me his face still full of fury. ***he will never again try to influence you in any way Ashes. I will never allow anyone to make you feel unsafe again. You are under my protection.***

***silly me, I thought it was the other way around.*** I smiled at him and his face softened.

***it is true Ashes that you are my Enforcer but you will always be under my protection, for instance I would never have let you go on patrol if I didn‘t truly believe you were ready.***

***and even then you came with me*** I snorted.

***exactly. Never forget Ashes that I am more than capable of enforcing my own law, it is, after all my blood giving you the strength that you now have. It would be un-proper however if the Vampire King was to run around enforcing his own law when he should be in his rightful place - ruling from the throne.***

I felt a chill run through me as I heard only truth in Dimitri’s voice. I nodded my head and then looked beside me at Mircea, he was still frozen in place. All of a sudden I felt really guilty.

***I am really grateful to you for speaking up for me but I hate to come between best friends.***

“nonsense Ashes,” Dimitri said allowed and I almost cringed, “Mircea knows that we will be fine so long as he heeds my warning.”

Mircea immediately unfroze and he turned to look at me. “My Liege is correct as ever Phoenix, I overstepped the line and I was extremely rude and arrogant. I will never again behave so badly towards you.” he smiled at me.

“I would appreciate that Mircea, thank you. Now I think we can get back to business.” I said looking at the clock in the corner of Dimitri’s study. Just two hours now till my 21st birthday.

“yes of course, of course.” Mircea said when he realised that both Dimitri and I were looking expectantly at him.

“firstly, congratulations Phoenix, word has spread through the Vampire community throughout the whole of the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Europe of your ruthless reputation. Rogues now quake in their boots and the mere mention of the Kings new Enforcer.”

“really? I have only been the Enforcer a month.” I asked in wonder.

“yes but you have killed so many rogues that even my Balaur are impressed.”

I felt so proud of myself that I found myself smiling widely at both Mircea and Dimitri.

“Secondly,” Mircea continued after smiling back at me, “word of your presence in the city has caused most of the rogues to flee from Canada and into New York and further south. You will need to start hunting them there soon.”

I looked at Dimitri and nodded. It would mean I may have to leave him for a while, it could take months though to kill them all and even then the rogues that were bound to escape would travel even further south and I would have to chase them.

I felt so much sadness wash over me as I continued to look at Dimitri. I realised I didn’t want to leave him.

***I‘ll finally be able to see how far this mind to mind thing goes, do you think we‘ll still be able to talk mentally when you’re here and I am in New York? *** I asked him lightly with a smile on my face.

***I can assure you Ashes, you can‘t get rid of me that easily. We‘ll be talking all the time.***

I barked out a laugh and rolled my eyes.

“of course I won‘t be able to get rid of you that easily.” I said out loud. “you‘ll be sitting on your throne here while I‘m traipsing the roads of New York and you‘ll still be telling me what to do.”

“its what I do best Ashes, how can you fault me for that?” Dimitri’s eyes were dancing. And I was grinning at him.

“thirdly we are having problems in Inishowen it seems we have an organised group of rogues, we will have to go there soon if we are to control the situation.”

“Inishowen?” I squeaked. “As in Ireland? As in Co Donegal? That Inishowen?”

Dimitri spoke at the same time that I did. “organised Rogues that is unheard….” but he trailed off as he caught my eye and undoubtedly saw the panic in them. I saw it when he realised what I was so worked up about.

Mircea was staring at me in puzzlement as he spoke. “Yes Inishowen in Co. Donegal.”

I stood up abruptly and started to pace, “what is the situation there. I need all the details.”

“but surely New York is more in need of your attentions right now.”

“Give. Me. The. Details. Now. Mircea.” my voice shaking with anger.

Mircea frowned at me but nodded his head anyway. “very well. Reports have come back that at the moment there is a Rogue in Inishowen who is leading other rogues, instructing them, giving them orders, they call him Lord Morrighan, and in return he allows them to kill as many Humans as they like and he will cover up the deaths so as not to draw attention to themselves.”

“how does he cover the deaths up?” I asked.

“car accidents, diving and surfing accidents, those seem the most popular….”

“we leave tomorrow afternoon for Ireland.” I said while looking at Dimitri. He nodded.

***I‘m coming with you Ashes. I was going to have to go in the next week or so with Mircea, but this is personal to both you and me. Its your home and a rogue has given himself the title of Lord, a title I did not give to him.***

“Fine by me Dimitri.”

All of a sudden there were was a lot of noise coming from the front entrance.

“that will be the Balaur” Mircea said as I heard the sound of a lot of vampires climbed the stairs towards us.

I stood as the door opened and about fifty or more Vampires filed into the room, as soon as the door closed behind them the black clad vamps knelt before us with their heads bowed and as one spoke.

“Our Liege, we are here to serve you.” I felt the fine hair on my arms stand to attention.

They all stood as one when Dimitri spoke. “welcome my loyal servants.”

Again as one they turned to me and bowed there heads. “Master we are here to do your biding.”

Before Mircea of Dimitri could speak I took a step towards the Balaur who freaked me out by just acting like robots.

“you will leave for New York tomorrow night and start to rid the city of rogues. I will join you when I have finished in Ireland.”

Again they all reacted as one and nodded . “yes Master.” I flinched at being called me Master but other wise ignored it. “now though you will go into the city and patrol. Make sure you don‘t leave any rogues behind.” I then turned to Dimitri and smiled. “you and I my dear King are going out clubbing while the Balaur so kindly patrol for us.”

“but…” Mircea started to say with a deep frown as he looked from me to Dimitri.

Dimitri smiled at me as I made my way through the Balaur and towards the door.

“be ready to leave in half an hour Dimitri.” I called over my shoulder to him.

***I‘ll race you*** Dimitri chuckled.

***your on!***

I ran all the way to my room and straight to my wardrobe to find something to wear. I paused when I saw from the corner of my eye that there was a parcel on my bed, not a parcel, two parcels. I danced over to my bed and sat down. I lifted the biggest parcel, it had a redirected stamp on it. Someone had collected my post for me at the post office today. I smiled as I recognised the two different sets of handwriting on the two parcels and the amount of envelopes that were under the parcels.

The largest parcel was from Declan and the other parcel was from Kevin. I opened Declan’s parcel first deciding to open my brothers parcel second. A huge grin spread across my face as I pulled the beautiful material out of the box. A note fell onto my lap, it had Declan’s untidy writing all over it.

Happy 21st Phoenix!!!
I hope you wear your present on your birthday!
Go out clubbing!!
And drive all the men crazy with your endless legs!
I am proud to say that I chose this dress myself and might I add you will look divine in it!!
All my Love
your good friend
Declan.
xxx

I pulled the dress out fully and caught my breath as the material fell into place. The colour was so dark blue that it almost looked black, the material was so fine and soft that I could tell straight away that it was designer. I quickly stripped out of my clothes and stepped into the dress. It fit like a glove. I looked at myself in the full length mirror, and once again caught my breath. The neckline scooped so low that I wouldn’t have been able to wear a bra even if I had left one on. The dress showed my cleavage to their full advantage and then the skits just fell a couple of inches above my knees. The dress was backless with the rest of the material just sitting on the top of my bum. Feeling a bit nervous and the amount of skin on show I moved around a bit to make sure that I was decent. The dress never once moved. Definitely designer. I smiled. My pale skin seemed to glow and I looked even more like a vampire with the dark material sitting against my skin.
I quickly pinned my curls up and only let a couple fall free around my face. Then I grabbed my make-up bag and contemplated what to do with my face. My completion was already perfect so I wouldn’t put anything on my face. I decided on just mascara, eye liner, eye shadow and lipstick. I rimmed my eyes with a dark brown eyeliner, already making my eyes pop even more, then I used dark greys and silvers to give my eyes the smoky effect then decided to leave the mascara off, my eye lashes were already long, thick and dark enough. Then I added a deep red lipstick and I was done.

I looked back at the bed and saw the parcel from Kevin. Of course I knew what would be in there. And as soon as I opened the parcel I knew I was right. Shoes. Beautiful I thought with a smile I slipped them on and marvelled and how well they went with my dress. Who would have guessed that Declan and Kevin could be so fashionable.

Again a note was inside the box this time with my brothers neat handwriting leaving me a message.

My Dearest Ashes,
I missed you at my birthday last week.
I miss you every day but I am glad you are happy over there in Canada
Make sure you dance until you drop in these fab heels on your birthday!
I will never forgive you if you just sit in on your 21st!!
Love you with all my heart
Your favourite brother
Kevin
xxx

The shoes had a three inch silver heel, but were the same colour as the dress and were made of satin.

I looked at myself in the mirror and froze in shock when I saw the beautiful women looking back, this women could not be me could it? She was just so stunning and mysterious looking, even I would mistake myself for a vampire.

I shook myself and looked at my bedside clock, I had five minutes to get to the front door.

I grabbed a thigh holster and inserted a knife into it and then I grabbed my leather jacked and slipped my Wesson into the secure inside pocket made for it. Putting my wallet into the other inside pocket I made my way down the stairs with only minutes to spare.

**************************************

Vote and comment please 

© jamessica stories; 2010.
All rights Reserved.
Reproduction of this story or taking of ideas in any way is prohibited; and illegal

**********************************

*******************
If you see these *** around speech then that means that Dimitri and Phoenix are talking mind to mind***
*******************

Chapter 11

As I walked down the stairs I could hear a female voice, it was coming from the front parlour, and then I could hear the low murmurs of Dimitri’s voice answering the female. Quickly I made sure my mental wall was closed up tight as I listened to what was being said.

“But Dimka, I really missed you.” A high pitched, whiny female voice complained.

“Anika,” Dimitri’s voice seemed tired as though he was about to repeat himself for the hundredth time. “I have already told you, I have a prior engagement to attend to tonight. An engagement I can not cancel.”

“Did you not miss me Dimka?” The whiny voice asked, I was surprised to find my hand sliding my dress up so that I could hold my knife. I shook myself and released the weapon, I had to flex my fist so as not to be tempted to reach for it again. Who knew such an annoying voice could bring out my lethal side. Dimka my ass. Dimitri was defiantly not a Dimka, who the hell is this woman I thought

“yes of course I have, but Anika I haven‘t seen or heard from you in years. You really shouldn‘t just turn up like this.”

I was so glad that I had made sure that my mental wall was sealed shut, because right then I felt so much Jealousy that I was left shocked. I left my leather jacket by the front door and quickly schooled my face to look nonchalant as I walked into the front parlour.

Dimitri was sitting in the huge armchair by the fire looking quite bored which pleased me more than it should have done. He was dressed in leather pants and a midnight blue shirt, our outfits almost matched. He looked gorgeous. I didn’t like his choice in accessorises though, because draped across his lap and around his neck was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, well from what I could see of her anyway. Her white blond hair was straight and fell past her waist, her hips narrow and her legs seemed almost as endless as my own. She was wearing a white full length gown, like something out of ancient Rome, except she was definitely not Roman, because when she turned to look at me her eyes were ice blue. Definitely Scandinavian and defiantly a vampire.

I suddenly felt small and insignificant, I didn’t feel as beautiful as I had done only seconds ago. I wished I hadn’t walked in here.

My mother had taught me from an early age that a lady always behaves with modesty and humility, at that moment I felt more love and gratefulness for my mammy than I ever thought possible. I put a pleasant smile on my face straightened my back and looked Dimitri straight in the eye.

“of course Dimitri you must entertain your guest. I will be fine with the guys.” I then looked over at the female vampire and looked her dead in the eye as well. “I‘m Phoenix by the way, and you are….?”

Anika looked me up and down with a look of displeasure on her face, “I am Anoushka Mia Karita Ola Rosencrantz.” she said with some amount of pride in her voice as well as a slight accent that hadn’t been there when I had overheard her talking to Dimitri only seconds ago. “My good friends call me Anika, but you can call me Anoushka.”

I stifled a smirk at her snobbery “of course Anoushka.” I looked back at Dimitri who hadn’t taken his eyes off me since I entered the room. A look of regret passed quickly across his face. My eyes danced with laughter, I deserved a clap on the back for my ladylike behaviour that Anoushka didn’t seem to possess I thought to myself.

I was so glad that I looked so good right then, if I had to go through with the torture of meeting Anoushka, at least I looked like a million dollars.

The guys had heard the conversation like I knew they would. So they entered the parlour and swarmed around me with more cat calls than necessary.

“wow beautiful.”
“sexy”
“yum.”

I rolled my eyes at Baldric, Alirc, Rowan, Ryder, Hunter and Blake as they circled me. Ari stood outside the door with his back to us, Quinn was leaning against the wall beside me with a small smile, his eyes boring into the side of my face. I ignored him after I fist acknowledging him, I didn’t need to encourage his infatuation anymore than I had already.

As though from out of no where, Mircea was beside me and had taken my hand in his.

“I remember the promise I made to my King and friend and tonight I shall show him how loyal I really am by my restraint to keep that promise. But please Phoenix allow me be your escort tonight as Dimitri is busy.”

I ignored the low growl that seemed to come from Dimitri and kept my attention on Mircea.

“Mircea how are you?” Anoushka gushed as she straightened into a sitting position on top of Dimitri.

“I am fine Anoushka.” Mircea answered, his eyes never left mine as he waited for my answer. I was astonished at his dismissal of her.


I looked quickly as Anoushka to see the rage in her face. Mircea had obviously just snubbed her in front of everyone in the room. And he had opted to call her Anoushka instead of Anika which she seemed to not have expected.

I looked back at Mircea, “of course Mircea, I think that we could be really good friends so long a you keep your thoughts, hands and fangs to yourself.” I grinned at him and he smiled back at me as a few of the guys sniggered.

I took my hand out of Mircea’s and returned my gaze to Dimitri. His eyes were now half molten gold, half black. “As I am taking your guards clubbing with me Dimitri, I will leave two of the Balaur to guard you.”

Before I had finished speaking two of the Balaur were standing on either side of the chair that Dimitri and Anoushka were sitting on. I had to cover my laugh with a cough when Anoushka squealed in fright at the sight of the Balaur standing so close to her. Her head turned to me in shock.

“what gives you the right to order vampires around human.” she sneered at me. Dimitri can explain it to her, I thought to myself.

I ignored her and turned to the two Balaur speaking before Dimitri could. “you don‘t need to stand so close guys, they may appreciate some privacy. Just make sure the King is protected at all time.” unwillingly I had put emphasis on the word ‘protected’. I looked at Dimitri, he looked back at me his eyes dancing with the laughter. He had definitely caught on to my double meaning and was now silently laughing at me.

“yes master.” the Balaur said, taking me out of my daydream, I quickly looked away from Dimitri and his silent laughter. “and may we wish you a very happy 21st.” they said together, seeming to shock the whole room including myself.

“thank you.” I smiled at them.

“21? Really your no more than a….” Anoushka began in a dismissive voice The word ‘child’ hanging in the air.

“yes?” I asked pleasantly, daring her to continue.

“wouldn‘t we all love to be as young as Nixy again Anoushka.” Ryder said before she could answer me. “you even more than the rest of us.”

Ryder had just insulted her twice in as many seconds. Hiding my smile I turned to the rest of the vamps around me, “lets go guys, I have a promise I have to keep.” I said thinking of the notes that both Declan and Kevin had given me.

“Ashes!” Dimitri called out.

“Yes Dimitri?” I turned to face him and smiled pleasantly. Again.

Dimitri was silent for a while and we just stared at each other, while I waited for him to speak Dimitri seemed to be searching my face.

“Happy Birthday.” was all he said when he finally spoke.

“thanks.” and with that I left with my head held high and my dignity still in tact. Just because I was feeling so much jealousy that I felt that I might explode didn’t mean I had to let everyone else know it as well.

I would have to think about what my feelings meant later on when I was alone. Right now I was going to have some fun with my new friends.

I grabbed my leather jacket and my gun holster that I had left by the door the night before. I folded the gun holster into my coat pocket and then led the way to the huge garage.

“so where do you wanna go Nixy?” Blake asked as he settled in to the drivers seat of one of the SUV’s we were taking. In the SUV that Blake and I were in was also, Mircea, Ari - who was very sombre looking - and then there was Hunter who had a huge grin on his face. Quinn, Baldric, Alric, Ryder and Rowan were in the SUV that was following us.

“I don‘t mind just so long as we don‘t go to one of the clubs we normally patrol.” I said with a shrug, I was excited about having the night off and getting the chance to actually dance at a club instead of watching everyone else have fun. But I still couldn’t completely shake the feeling of jealously and I was sick of it already. I also had to deal with the fact that there was a dangerous group of rogues close to my family home and I kept getting a nagging feeling that I had missed something when Mircea gave me the details last night…..

“we‘ll go to D‘s then.” Hunter said interrupting my thought. His grin even wider than before.

“what’s D‘s? and why are you so excited Hunter? You‘re like a kid on Christmas morning.” I asked while a grin of my own took over my face, just looking at his smile was contagious.

“it’s a vampire night club. Named in honour of our King. None of us have been in years and Dimitri hasn’t been since the opening night thirty years ago. He is going to be so bummed that he missed tonight.” I couldn’t agree with Hunter, if I were to guess I would say that Dimitri was anything but bummed right now. Hunter was now almost bouncing off his seat in his excitement and I had to laugh.

“how come you haven‘t been to D‘s in years?”

“well we’ve been a bit busy with all the rogues in the city as well as protecting our king, we haven‘t had the time to go clubbing let alone get a night off. You really are the best thing that has happened to us in hundreds of years. Dimitri is much more at ease when you are around and he actually laughs! I don’t think I have ever heard him laugh before you turned up. Not even Anastasia,” Hunter almost spat her name and I couldn’t help but laugh, “has ever made him laugh or relax as he does when he is around you.”

I turned sombre then and looked Hunter in the eye. “I suppose he is just glad he has an Enforcer now to help him out, now that he has me he doesn’t have to stress so much about everything, I can deal with a lot of his worries.” I was conscious that my voice was taking on a sad note. I had actually started to believe that he was so happy around me because we had made a connection other than our blood or our minds. Hunter looked like he was about to argue with me so I quickly continued. “I don‘t understand why he didn‘t just get an enforcer long before he did.” I admitted.

It was Mircea who spoke. “not just anyone can be an enforcer Phoenix. An Enforcer isn’t just made they are born.” Mircea studied my face hesitantly before continuing. “realistically an Enforcer should live as long as a vampire, so obviously Enforcers aren‘t born all the time, only every couple a hundred years. You are very unique Phoenix. Even more so though, I do beg your pardon but especially as you are a women.”

I turned away from Mircea and looked straight ahead as my thoughts ran wild. Had Dimitri told me that I could very possibly live forever? I tried to think back to the night we first met and had exchanged blood. All I could remember of that night was how I felt as we exchanged blood, my heart seemed to start to race just by the memory and I quickly changed my train of thought before anyone could hear my heart.

Everyone in the car was silent for a while and then Blake let out a woop and laughed.

“I can’t wait to see all the ladies tonight.. It has been so long since I have been able to socialise with a beautiful female without the thought that I may possibly have to kill her before the night is done if she turns out to be a rogue.” Blake seemed to be daydreaming for a while as he drove but then quickly looked at me. “not that you aren‘t beautiful Nixy, because you are but you know how it is, you‘re off limits.”

I frowned at him for a while wondering what he meant. “why am I off limits?”

“because you are Dimi…”

“ah… here we are.” Ari called out from the back, speaking for the first time.

I looked out the window and instantly forgot what we had all been talking about. We were in the city, driving down a dark alleyway. All the buildings on either side of us were in darkness.

“um.. We are?” I asked in confusion as I looked more closely at the buildings. All of a sudden we stopped and everyone opened the doors. Behind us Quinn stopped the SUV he was driving and everyone jumped out. Before I could ask what was going on two vampires had appeared out of no where and were climbing into a SUV each and drove away.

“okay that was weird.” I muttered and Mircea laughed beside me.

“don‘t worry Phoenix stick with me and you‘ll be fine, unlike our friends here,” he said as he indicated the guys, “I come to D‘s every time I am in town which is about twice a year. That makes me a regular at D‘s in vampire terms.”

I smiled at him as we all made our way to a non- descript black door which opened before we had even reached it. The vamp who opened the door looked startled at who stood looking at him. I suppose all of the Kings personal guard, the Kings best fiend and head of security as well as a young human girl was quite a lot to take in for one vampire.

When the vamps eyes landed on me he narrowed his eyes at me. “no humans allowed.”

“take a closer look doorkeeper,” Mircea said using the ancient word instead of bouncer, “she isn‘t human.”

I wanted to look at Mircea and ask him what the hell he was talking about, but thought better of it.

Suddenly the doorkeeper looked very pale as he looked at me. “I am so sorry Enforcer, it was an honest mistake.”

I hid my shock well as I realised that the doorkeeper was able to tell that I was the Enforcer by just looking closer at me. I suppose it shouldn’t have come as such a shock that I was not classed as human anymore, I mean I could live for ever if I was careful not to get myself killed.

The doorkeeper quickly made way for us and let us into a dark hallway, my eyes adjusted to the darkness quickly and I could see stairs that seemed to lead down into a club downstairs.

I followed behind Ryder as we made our decent. I was surrounded by the guards. Mircea had taken the lead. We came out onto a metal balcony over looking the dance floor, to our left was more stairs that led to the bar and dance floor and to our right was an elevated glass room which was empty except for a barman. There was lounges and low tables and another smaller dance floor. It was definitely a VIP room. I wasn’t surprised when Mircea lead us into the room.

The music would have been deafening if indeed I still had had human hearing. But it was just right for my knew heightened senses. Lights flashed and bodies grinded below us.

I was aware as I walked into the glass VIP room that anyone below us would only have to look straight up and have a brilliant view of my ass. I really did not like that idea.

I looked below and already I could see male vamps starring up, nudging each other to do the same. It would appear, I thought to myself, that it was a rare thing for a lady to enter the VIP room. I fidgeted, but before I could move another inch, as one, Mircea, Quinn, Blake, Baldric, Hunter, Alric, Ari, Ryder and Rowan growled and bared there teeth at everyone below us. Nobody dared to look up again.

“if I had fangs to bare I would have done you know.” I told all the men and they all laughed.

“we know you would have done, but let us take care of you just for tonight. It is your birthday after all.” Quinn grinned at me.

“I suppose so.” I said playfully.

Of course the barman heard Quinn say it was my birthday, because out of the corner of my eye I saw him reach for the phone. I may be knew in the vamp world but every club is the same. I was behind the bar with my hand over his within the second.

He looked at me with wide eyes.

“don‘t,” I said with menace in my voice. “don‘t announce to the DJ that it is my birthday. I don‘t want everyone to know.”

“how did you know that I was going to call Ivan?”

I rolled my eyes and looked at him, “it‘s what every bar person I know does when they here its someone‘s birthday. Especially where I come from, people love to play tricks on you if they know its your birthday, and it won‘t turn out very well for anyone who plays any tricks on me, there immortal life would end very quickly.”

The bar man gulped and nodded his head. “I‘m Mike by the way.”

“Phoenix.”

“that’s a really nice name.” Mike said, my gaydar had been going wild ever since I started to talk to him and I smiled at him. He seemed like a nice kind of vamp.

“thanks, now I am really thirsty.” I said and reached for a glass helping myself to a double Jameson. I downed it in one and licked my lips slowly before putting another double in the glass and jumping back over the bar to sit next to the guys who had watched my little exchange with Mike with amusement.

Nine Inch Nails - The Hand that Feeds came on as I finished my third drink. I took off my leather jacket, being careful of were I put it because my gun was still in it.

“Come on guys, you have to dance, you’re no fun if you’re just going to sit around all night.” I said as I got up pulling Hunter and Blake up with me.

Rowan and Ryder followed us onto the dance floor, and then the rest followed nearly grudgingly. I laughed and spun around with my head back as I swayed to the music. I loved to dance, me and Jaz used to go dancing all the time and we never left the dance floor, it felt so good to be dancing again even if Jaz couldn’t enjoy it with me anymore.

The guys didn’t seem to mind that I was the only female dancing with them, they were all pretty good dancers themselves. I danced with all of them, even Mircea, who behaved himself wonderfully.

We ordered some drinks and sat down after dancing to Timberland, Tiesto and some David Guetta. The vamps were all drinking shots of blood laced with Jameson. They all decided to drink it in honour of my birthday and heritage.

“are you having fun Phoenix?” Mike asked form behind me as he brought over another round of drinks.

“yes I am thank you. I haven‘t relaxed like this in months.” I grinned up at him. I was grateful that the vampire blood running through my head was making it harder for me to get drunk otherwise I would have been on my arse long before now. Even I couldn’t drink this much whiskey without knocking myself out normally. I did feel tipsy though.

“so what did you get so far for your birthday Nixy?” Baldric asked.

“well my friend Declan sent me this dress, and my brother Kevin sent me these shoes. But that’s all the presents I have opened, I didn‘t bother opening anything else after I got these.” I said while I slid my hand over the material over my thigh. It was amusing to see everyone of there eyes follow my hand as it travelled up and down my thigh.

“you must very good friends with this Declan..” Mircea stated.

“he is almost like another brother to me. He has been best friends with Kevin since they were two years old and when I met Jaz when I was three years old, the four of us were inseparable until Jaz died two months ago in a car accident. Now it is just the three of us, well two of them since I left them in Ireland.”

“she died in a car accident?” Mircea asked.

“yeah,” I didn’t want to talk about this anymore, and just like a happy coincidence, Beenie Man - King of the Dance Hall came on.

(copy and paste this::: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84R1-9_2YPI
)


“oooh I love this song!! Come on guys!” I said as I jumped up and started dancing without waiting for them to join me. They all laughed and followed. Below us on the dance floor everyone was grinding against each other.


I had to remind my body to slow to a humans pace as my hips moved to the beat. The guys all suddenly looked behind me at the door. I turned just in time to see Dimitri come up behind me and start dancing with me. The others all moved back to sit on the lounges as they gave us the dance floor.

I laughed as we moved, King of the Dancehall indeed. The song was just right as me and the King of the Vampires danced and swayed our bodies together. My back resting against Dimitri’s back, my ass pushed against him as we got into the music. Dimitri’s hand was on my bare thigh and it rose until it met my thigh holster and then the knife in the holster.

I could feel him smile into my hair he bent his head to my ear, his breath tickling my bare neck. My mind instantly went back to when we exchanged blood and my heart raced before I could stop the thought, I quickly thought of something else. But Dimitri, of course had realised where my mind had gone to and chuckled.

“of course you are armed. You do realise that every vampire in this room is armed except for Michael behind the bar. You didn’t need to come armed, it’s your night off Ashes.” Dimitri murmured into my ear sending shivers right through me. He still hadn’t moved his hand I was conscience of the fact that the guys were all watching us and had all noticed that Dimitri had his hand up my skirt.

“what’s the problem?” I asked as soon as he finished talking. There was definitely something wrong.

“there are about fifteen rogues down stairs on the dance floor.” he murmured so that nobody else could hear him.

“how did they get in?” I asked keeping my own voice low as the song changed to O.M.G by Usher and Dimitri spun me around so we were facing each other as we danced, his hand never once left my knife. So as he had spun me my skirt had lifted higher and all the men sitting had seen exactly where his hand was. Which was a relief, now they could stop letting their imaginations run wild . Dimitri moved his other hand so it was sitting just above my ass, he pulled me closer to him as we moved and grinded to the music. His hand cool against my bare back.

“these rogues are older than the doorkeeper. They easily disguised themselves to get in.”

“but why would they want to come in here there are no humans? And how did you know they were here?” I asked him tilting my head slightly so I could look into his eyes. I regretted looking up at him the moment I did, I was suddenly all too aware of how intimately close we were.

But before I could pull away, Dimitri tightened his hold on me and whispered. “because I saw them as soon as I walked into the club, every man was looking up, and I couldn‘t understand why, but before I looked over to see who held there attention I noticed the rogues, who were also looking up.” he smiled down at me. “of course they were all looking at you.”

“where‘s Anoushka?” I asked and his face suddenly went still. I frowned up at him. “what’s the matter?”

“you shouldn‘t have told me to stay with her, I was trying to politely tell her to get lost, and in you come and tell me that its okay if I miss your birthday. She was only there because she heard there was a female living in my house.” he sighed. “she wouldn‘t be persuaded to leave, fifty years without seeing or hearing from her and as soon as she hears you have moved into the house she fly‘s all the way from France to try and worm her way back into my life.”

I tried not to laugh as I looked at the pained look on his face. “you are far too polite for your own good Dimitri, how did you end up getting rid of her?” I asked intrigued.

“I told her the truth. That you were the new Enforcer. I don‘t think I had ever seen her move so fast in my life. I don‘t think we‘ll ever be seeing her again.”

Now I couldn’t help but laugh at the image of Anoushka running like a scared little vampire. Scared of me who was merely a human a month ago.

“Blake throw me my coat, and be careful about it.” I yelled over my shoulder. He did so immediately. I pulled my gun holster out of the pocket and pulled it on. I adjusted the straps so that they fitted snugly on either side of my breasts and then put my gun in the holster.

The men had all risen while they watched me.

“whats going on?” Mircea asked.

“why don‘t you boys sit back and enjoy the show. We‘ve got this under control.” I said as me and Dimitri made our way over to the door.

I noticed that Mike hadn’t moved since Dimitri had entered the room. We stopped beside him and his face was almost comical as he stared from me to Dimitri.

Mike quickly went down on one knee before Dimitri, “my King.” he said breathlessly. “how did you know my name?” he asked

“I know every single one of my vampires Michael, it is my duty to know you all.”

Mike kept his head bowed as we left the VIP room.

“this is going to be interesting, most of those vamps down their aren‘t going to know whether to kneel before you or run.” I grinned at him and had a skip in my step as I felt all the adrenaline pump through my veins.

Dimitri grinned back down at me, “did you know that your whole face lights up just before you take on Rogues. You look so beautiful. You definitely were born to be my Enforcer.”

“yeah yeah, Mircea already told me all about it, but he did leave out the whole beautiful bit, Blake covered that.” I joked even though, I was beaming inside, he thinks I am beautiful. Concentrate Phoenix.

We came to the centre of the balcony and looked down at the vamps just a the song changed again. Rage Against the Machine - Killing in the Name came on and I spotted twenty-seven Rogues instantly, either more had come in while Dimitri and I were dancing or Dimitri had missed more than a few.

“we should open our mind link Ashes.” Dimitri said and I winced. Ah well I would have had to have let him in sooner or later anyway.

I let the wall down instantly and I could feel Dimitri’s mind straight away. He was still annoyed that I had left him alone with Anoushka.

***hey!! how was I supposed to know you didn‘t want some alone time with the Scandinavian vampire goddess?***

***you really are a good actress Ashes.*** Dimitri said with a hint of relief in his mental voice, letting me know he could see my jealously as clear as day now that he was in my head.

***oh shut up*** I playfully pushed his arm, ***lets go play.*** I said with a grin.

He grinned back at me and as one we launched our selves over the metal railing of the balcony and landed in the middle of hundreds of started vampires. I had already un-sheathed my knife and had unclipped my gun so that it could be easily pulled out of the holster.

***ready when you are Ashes.***

***come on then old man, lets see if you can keep up***

The music changed again this time it was House music.

(click on the you tube connection, or copy and paste this::: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ikn__DkwcA0&p=6C677A503DD82E2E&index=30&shuffle=184&playnext=5
)

My cheeks were flushed and I had a huge smile on my face as I whirled around the dance floor stabbing rogues in the chest, before they even knew what was happening. The strobe lights and the heavy bass of the music distracted them easily, especially as most of them were drunk on too much human blood.

***I‘ve got five so far, how many have you got Dimka?*** I asked in a teasing voice.

***seven and don‘t ever call me that again!*** I heard the disgust in Dimitri’s mental voice.

I laughed out loud and in our heads as I killed another rogue.

***sure thing your majesty*** I said and mock curtsied before him as we came face to face on the dance floor.

The other vamps had finally copped onto what we were doing and that we were the King and the Enforcer. They all stayed out of our way as much as possible and DJ Ivan put on some more House music, while giving us both a thumbs up.

When we were finished there were twenty-seven rotten corpses on the ground. I danced my way over to Dimitri who was just putting his knife through the twenty-eighth rogue.

***did one more come in while we were busy or did we just miss one when we were counting?*** I asked.

***we just missed one, he was in the far corner making out with a bar girl.***

***poor girl.**** I said sympathetically. But I couldn’t hide the grin on my face. ***that was so much fun! But I thought Mircea had said that all the rogues had left the city.***

***well if they hadn‘t already they will now after they hear about this massacre.*** Dimitri said.

The vamps all around us clapped all of a sudden and I was suddenly conscience of the fact that me and Dimitri had been just starring at each silently, when really we had been talking mind to mind.

“can we get a holler for King Dimitri and our knew Enforcer.” DJ Ivan bellowed over the music.

All around us vampires hollered and whooped.

***okay this bit I do not like*** I admitted.

***me neither, will we leave?***

***definitely*** I smiled at him and then we both flitted up the stairs.

I noticed that the VIP room was empty as we ran passed it. Outside, the two SUVS were waiting and all the men were waiting inside me and Dimitri jumped into the back of one of them and Blake floored it even before we had the door closed.

“what‘s the rush Blake?” I asked

“we don‘t want your cheering fans to follow us back to the house.” he said jokingly, but we all knew there was some truth behind his worries. We were all silent the rest of the journey home.

***home? Do you finally think of the house as home Ashes?***

***it is a lovely home, full of people I love and care about.*** I smiled up at him and stifled a yawn. ***I can‘t believe how easily I made friends with everyone here.*** I added as we drove into the garage.

***it is because you are part of the family now, you were always meant to be part of our family Ashes, fate and destiny can not be meddled with and I am pleased with the results.*** Dimitri smiled back at me as we got out of the car and made our way into the house.

At the bottom of the stairs everyone stood and talked.

“do you know how freaky it is watching you both talk to each other in your heads? You both look so mischievous and you always have us on edge wandering what you will do next.” Quinn stated.

“”it is truly amazing the way you both fight together. And the laughter. It amazes me the amount of laughing and grinning you both do as you kill rogues.” Mircea added.


“you would be laughing and grinning too if you were listening to Ashes joke and tease you as you fight. She makes the whole charade a competition and a game.” Dimitri admitted.

“well I am glad I could be so entertaining for you all.” I smiled, this time not being able to hide my yawn. “I had a brilliant birthday guys, but right now I am going up to bed.”

I smiled at them all as they each said good night and then flittered upstairs to my room. Once inside I kicked off my shoes and then pulled all my envelopes and parcels off my bed and decided to store them in the wardrobe to be opened the next night, when I phoned home to talk to the family.

I was just coming out of the wardrobe when there was a knock at my door, curiously I opened the door to find Dimitri standing there with a present in his hand.

“Mind if I come in?” The question seemed to be an innocent one but I wasn’t a fool and I knew that if I said yes, I wouldn’t just be saying yes to him coming in for a few minutes. It would definitely mean something else and I wasn’t sure if I was ready to say yes or not.

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© jamessica stories; 2010.
All rights Reserved.
Reproduction of this story or taking of ideas in any way is prohibited; and illegal

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Texte: © jamessica stories; 2010. All rights Reserved. Reproduction of this story or taking of ideas in any way is prohibited; and illegal
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 19.03.2010

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