Dance of Ashes and Smoke (Age of Monsters Book 1) (3 page)

M
arie canceled the next morning’s Uprising meeting, unwilling to chance us being seen together. We avoided each other, not wanting to give any evidence of anything other than our tedious lives. Liv and I went to our performance as usual, my wounds wrapped with a scarlet ribbon the same color as my dress.

On our walk home through the fresh, snow-covered streets, we stopped at the coffee shop to warm up with the rare treat of real coffee. Avoiding the eyes of the monsters there filling up on their strange love of caffeine, we grabbed a spot on a love seat in the corner, keeping our backs to the wall.

We couldn’t talk about anything real here—any stray word would kill us, but it was still nice to sit in the warm coziness of the corner and pretend for a moment we were two nineteen-year-old girls there for a break between classes.

“I think I need to practice that song more. I messed up a couple times tonight.”

I took a sip of coffee, starting as it burned off a few taste buds. “I didn’t notice anything.”

Liv preened. “I covered well of course, but it wasn’t Julliard quality.”

Her reminder sent us into a depressed silence. Julliard accepted us both, surprising because we came from the same town, and they accept so few across the country.

Our lives were supposed to be filled with music, culture, and exploring our favorite city. Then it had been snatched away just before our fingers reached it.

Sometimes, the reminder made it hard to breathe.

“I was actually thinking about a new song I’d like to add to our lineup.” I slipped my phone from the pocket of my jacket, scrolling through until I found the song and handed it to her.

She stuck the earbuds in and clicked play, her eyes closing as she listened to my new favorite song by Skylar Grey. Was the talented musician dead? Or had her wealth kept her safe, hidden in a bunker?

Music pumped from the buds and I pictured the choreography of the dance I wanted for the song. I already knew each step, each movement, each sweep of my arm.

And it was a beautiful dance, even performed for monsters.

Liv yanked out the buds and handed my phone back, eyes shining. “That’s beautiful and I definitely think I can play that. I’ll get with the drummer and we’ll work it out. Do you have a dance for it?”

I bounced in my seat. “I do. My best one yet, I think.”

She smiled. “Good. I’m bored of doing the same routines.”

I took another hesitant sip of my coffee, finally able to drink it without injury. “Me too.”

We were quiet for a few minutes as we searched for a safe topic of conversation. Unfortunately, she found one I wasn’t too interested in.

“Have you seen that guy since the other night?”

Not wanting to say his name here, I played it coy. “You mean the one who fancies himself some kind of doctor?”

She giggled. “Yep.”

“No. And I have no wish to.”

She giggled even harder. “That’s too bad because, well, he just walked in.”

I spun around to the side, eyes wide, and she was right. There he stood, in line for coffee. Or probably some sort of herbal tea.

I straightened, keeping my eyes averted and hissed at her. “Stop staring. The last thing we need is for him to come over here.” I also meant he could let something reckless slip. He hadn’t seemed too bright while he’d stood there holding a weapon and not using it in the park. I was nowhere near ready to forgive that.

Though I admitted, the work he’d done on my hands almost made up for it.

Before I could stop her, Olivia waved him over and he sauntered over with a familiar swagger and smirk. I groaned under my breath, but plastered a fake, welcoming smile onto my face to keep attention off of us.

He perched on the arm of my side of the love seat. “It’s lovely to see you two again. I’ve been hoping we’d run into each other somewhere.”

“And I’ve been hoping the opposite.” I laughed at Liv’s swat. “Oh, he knows I’m kidding.”

His eyes danced at me. “Of course.”

Olivia tried to smooth things over. “So, what have you been up to since we saw you last?”

He shrugged. “More of the same I guess.”

My eyes widened. “I sure hope not.”

“I meant the healing part. I work as a vet tech.”

I tried not to take offense to the vague reference to me being an animal he worked on. And the monsters still needed someone to take care of their non-human pets. They had a strange affection for cats and ferrets.

Freaking psychos.

Jackson squirmed in his seat, and the scent of smoky pine washed over me. It took everything for me not to close my eyes and lean closer to him.

I cleared my throat and drained my coffee. “Well, it was good to see you, but we should really be going. The sun’s almost up and we have new performances to practice.”

“Performances?”

Crap.

Liv ignored my eyes screaming at her to shut up. “We perform at the Cathedral Club every night.”

His brows shot up in surprise. “I’ll have to catch a show sometime.”

I snorted. “Good luck with that.” The only humans at our shows were bloodbags and hookers.

He grinned, eyes darkening to a deep emerald green. “Challenge accepted.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but Olivia dragged me away as I spluttered and hissed like a wet cat. “I do not like him.”

She laughed loud and long. “Whatever you say.”

“What?” I grabbed at Liv’s arm when her merriment caused her to slip on the slick ground.

She kept our arms linked as we walked down the sidewalk. “I’ve never seen you look at a guy like that before. Not even Tim Haskins and you were head over heels for him.”

“That was in seventh grade.” My voice raised in protest, echoing back at us through the empty street.

“I know. Anyway, Jackson’s gorgeous. Nothing wrong with having fun.” She waggled her eyebrows.

“I don’t think he’d be much fun. He’s annoying.” I ignored the dancing, green gaze still haunting me.

“Okay.”

I threw my nose high in the air. “Dude, I’m serious. Just because a guy has pretty eyes and a nice smile doesn’t mean he’s worth my time.”

“Of course not, but he has a little more going for him than that.”

“I don’t see it. Maybe you should have fun with him.”

“No way. We don’t have any sparks. You do.”

I scoffed. “Sparks? I didn’t realize angry tension was the way to true love.”

Liv replied with only a giggle and a shake of her head.

“What?” I demanded.

“Nothing.”

Uncomfortable, I changed the subject. “When do you want to try out the new song?”

“Send it to me and I’ll run through it when I wake up. You work on your dance and by the weekend we can try a dry run with what I come up with.”

“Sounds good.”

“It’s a really beautiful song. I hate to waste it...” She trailed off, always careful of her words in public.

“Yeah. Me too.” The monsters didn’t deserve this badass of a performance, but it writhed within me, and insisted on being set free. It had to be performed if only for my own soul.

We turned onto the last street before starting the long road to our apartment, senses on alert in case of attack. Not that we’d be able to do much with all our weapons hidden away.

I lifted my face up to the sky, the stars’ bright and friendly faces shining down on us for the first time in weeks. The air was clear and thin, giving us an unhindered view of the sparkling diamonds spilled over midnight blue velvet. I blew out a huge breath, enjoying the spirals of grey mist slipping from between my lips.

There was a lightness in me I hadn’t felt in a long time, an almost skip to my step. The beauty of the night made me forget for a moment of the never-ending nightmare we were trapped in.

And I reveled in it.

Screams shattered my peace.

L
iv clutched her precious cello to her chest, ripping her arm from mine. We scurried to get our weapons out of the case and she hid it in a bush.

We darted towards the noise coming from the park—the same park we’d taken down the wolves in.

What if it was a trap?

I slid my necklace out from under my dress and unhooked the knife from it, flicking it open. It wasn’t much, but made of silver and dipped in holy water, I prayed it’d be enough for whatever we had to deal with.

There were no more screams, but freaky giggles rattled through what little leaves remained on the trees. It was like something you’d hear from the windows of a haunted lunatic asylum.

Fear skittered up my spine as we searched the woods along the bike trail, trying to stay quiet on the soaked leaves and crunchy snow. The air was harsher in the trees, the cold sliced through the slight layers I had on, making me shudder and tremble.

The moon reflected against the snow, lighting up everything around us, giving us a perfect view before we reached the source of the screams and giggles.

A gnarled and bent man stood before a second, younger man who spun to an unheard music, the creepiest twisted smile frozen across his face. It was like he was a haunted marionette, his limbs jerky and tense as the invisible strings yanked him about.

I leaned over and breathed words into Liv’s ear. “He’s an enchanter.”

Damn.

Enchanters were common, but hard to kill with only a knife. It was better to kill them from a distance. I met Olivia’s gaze, and we exchanged silent signals, mapping out a plan. She picked up a stout stick from the ground, testing it in her hands.

I gripped the knife hard in my hand as we melted and darted like shadows to come up behind the enchanter. Olivia smashed him in the back of the head with the stick and as soon as he hit the ground, I straddled him and shoved my knife into his throat. Red liquid gurgled and bubbled, coating my hands, making them slick and warm and red. Black clotted blood spewed from his mouth and splattered into my face. I didn’t release him until he stilled beneath me, lifeless open eyes stared into mine in dead shock.

I stood and washed my hands, face, and blade in the snow. And pretended I didn’t shake from anything but the cold.

“You didn’t have a choice. If we’d given him a chance to speak, we’d be spinning in the snow along with that guy.” Olivia pointed to the man who stared at the dead enchanter in confusion, the haze of the spell taking a while to wear off.

“I know.” My voice was curt as I hung the knife back around my neck and forced my trembling hands to still. It had been so quick and brutal.

It was my first kill of something who looked human. But the sorceress who killed our parents and countless others looked human as well and killing her would look like this.

And I had to prepare myself. I had to be ready.

I focused on the survivor. “Let’s get him out of here.” I grabbed the man’s elbow, and we led him from the woods.

He babbled under his breath the entire way back to Liv’s cello and back to our home. He kept attempting to wander off, his eyes clouded with magic. When enchanters play with humans, they usually break the humans’ brains. They whispered into the minds of humans, warp and twist them, making their victims perform all sorts of acts until the humans wore out or broke or died.

Inside our house, we tied him to my bed, wincing away as he thrashed, screamed, fought the bonds.

“We can’t keep him here. Alcott is gonna lose it when he gets home from work. And when they find the monster’s body, it won’t take much for them to figure out this guy’s a victim.”

Liv rubbed her face and sank against the hallway wall. “And that we’re the ones who took out the monster. Again. It was us again.”

“I know.” I pulled out my phone and sent a text to Marie. “Hopefully Marie can find him a place he’s safe and not connected to any of us.”

“We could always take him to the vet.”

I rolled my eyes at her wink. “No thanks.”

We cringed at his continued screams, and I stared at my phone as I willed an answer to appear. If one didn’t, I would end up forced to contact Jackson.

At last my phone chirped and my fingers flew across the screen, relief slackened my face. “She’s sending someone to get him.”

“Is she mad?”

“She used some pretty colorful words.” I shrugged. “She’ll get over it. It’s not like we could leave him there. Not that we saved much.” I stared down at the blood dried in the cracks of my hands and under my fingernails.

The monsters were turning me into a monster too. And it bothered me how little I cared.