Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust by Jessica Dalton (7 ebook reader txt) 📖

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..”


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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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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