Chapter 23

It hadn't slipped Ren's mind that Ashton was still seriously going through a heavy hunger. If it wasn't Ashton's red eyes or the unmistakable fangs peeking out from his top lip every so often, it was the rigidness in his shoulders and the stiff way he was walking. His graceful saunter was now replaced with a walk that looked like he had a finger up his ass.

Ren licked his own fangs, trying to get the sweet taste out of his mouth. It wasn't exactly working. While he swallowed over and over, he was still getting hints of Ashton's blood. His heart had settled some and so had his dick, but the lingering arousal still made his gums throb for what he could not have.

He furrowed his brows as he swiped his thumb over his bottom lip. He thought about how Ashton's mother had taken Ren's presence. Or how she hadn't taken it. Not well, anyway. He wondered if that had anything to do with Ashton not having eaten.

As if struck, he quickly searched his pockets. He thought he had a vial of blood on him—one that he might have been saving to sell—but he came up empty.

Then he remembered that he'd left his bag at school so that he wouldn't have to carry it around for the rest of the day. He couldn't remember if he'd left any there, but that didn't matter if he didn't have it now.

By the obvious signs of tension painted on Ashton's body, it was going to be sooner rather than later when he would burst. He'd almost been ready to rip out Darrien's throat and he'd been the only human around them. If Ashton got around a whole group of humans, he might not be able to hold himself back. Attacking in front of half the town was a sure way of getting them locked up.

He looked around.

They were alone.

He slowly turned to look behind him. There was nothing but miles of empty road. They were far away from the school. It looked like they were heading nowhere even though they were taking the long way around to the back of the city hall.

A thought came to him.

He'd tasted Ashton's blood. And Ashton needed to feed...

A shiver went through him. He couldn't distinguish whether that was because of disgust, hatred, or another feeling.

It was fair. In a way. And it would solve the really big problem they were facing right now.

That Ashton was facing anyway. It really didn't matter who was affected the most at the moment. The problem was that he needed to get some fucking blood in his system before he starting ripping people's heads off and slurping their blood down like a slushy.

He inhaled through his nose and looked up toward the sky. It was quiet. There was the rustle of the wind breezing through the trees and their feet making soft sounds on the gravel road. The sky was a clear gray—not a cloud in sight. The sun was gone as well.

It was like a painting. Like someone had smeared a thick coat of gray paint across the sky and hadn't bothered to do anything else with it.

The dark branches reached out over the gravel road, interlocking with the trees that were on the opposite side. Ren wished he could take a picture. Not because he wanted to remember this moment, but because he wanted to capture just this second of beauty and calmness.

Not a calmness before a storm per se. More like time had stopped existing and what came after the end of time didn't matter at all.

He wished that were true. He wished his entire life didn't matter. Making choices and worrying about the effects was too much for him to be responsible for.

He looked back down, staring at the back of Ashton's head. His hair was slightly curly today. More of a wave actually.

Ren was tempted to touch the slight curl that was on the collar of Ashton's coat. He would tuck it back in just after he felt how thick the strands were.

"Mantel?" Calling him Ashton felt too personal. They weren't on that kind of level even though he called him Ashton in his head.

Ashton turned around. Slowly, like he was expecting something else to happen. When their eyes locked, it wasn't like it had been before. The hunger was still there. This need to just take what he wanted from Ashton was lingering—hovering and urging him to sink his teeth into Ashton's neck.

What was going on between them now was something on a different level. It wasn't greater or more than the hunger. There was no simple way of comparing them. He didn't know how to describe it or if he would ever be able to.

He was walking toward Ashton though he couldn't remember actually setting the motion. He didn't remember getting so close. The feeling in his gut, the thing that made him want to tear everything to shreds, was pulling him to Ashton.

Though, it wanted something more evil and destructive from him. It wanted to open his body up and devour his flesh right off his bones. The bloodier the mess the better.

Ren swallowed as he tried to get the graphic violence out of his head.

He took a steady breath and then lifted his wrist.

It was easier than he thought it would be. It took nothing at all to hold his arm out toward Ashton. And there was no fear. He was an empty shell. The anger and the violence he wanted to inflict was far away in the distance.

"They'll kill us if you lose control," he said. His voice wasn't exactly a whisper, but it was far quieter than he'd wanted to be. He wanted to be stronger in this moment. He wanted to feel like he was making the right choice.

Ashton looked down at Ren's offered wrist and then up to Ren's eyes. His red eyes watched Ren, searching his face for something. Ren kept his face neutral.

This wasn't meant to be mean anything. This wasn't him trying to be friends with Ashton. He just didn't want the reason for them getting killed was because Ashton wasn't taking care of himself.

Ashton grabbed Ren's wrist. Ren stumbled forward, biting his tongue so that he wouldn't let out a sound.

Ashton wasted no time. He sunk his teeth deep into Ren's wrist. Ren flinched, almost letting out a hiss as the pain shot up his arm and to the center of his chest.

Shit. Fuck!

Was it really this painful? It was like he was being shot full of hot lava.

Ashton drank down Ren's blood like he hadn't eaten in days. He drank hurriedly without spilling a drop. His tongue pressed under the wound that his fangs had created, sucking so that he could draw the blood into his mouth.

His eyes were still locked onto Ren's. Ren wanted to look away. He didn't know if his own eyes were still grey as Ashton had said and if they were, he didn't want Ashton to see them. He already suspected something strange about Ren.

Though, did it matter?

He must taste the difference. If he'd ever had any kind of blood, he must taste the witch in Ren, right?

He soon forgot what he was even thinking about. The slight pain in his arm was turning into a rising heat that flushed his entire body. His mouth dropped open and he almost panted with how hot he was becoming. And even still, he couldn't look away from Ashton's eyes. They were no longer a bright red. They were fading, turning to more of a light pink.

Ren's eyelids drooped. His legs felt like jelly.

"Okay," he gasped, "That's enough."

He pushed as firmly as he could on Ashton's forehead. He was met with resistance. Ashton held firm, sinking his fangs in deeper.

Ren gasped. His cheeks flushed at the sound. It was needy, so unlike him, that he couldn't believe that it had come from him at all.

To his surprise, when he tried to push Ashton away again, Ashton let out a deep growl. He clutched on tight to Ren's arm, digging his nails in so hard that it stung just as bad as his fangs did.

Ren couldn't help it when he got hard again.

It was adrenaline. It was the feeling of fangs deep in his skin. Vampire biology made him this way, made him lust after exchanging blood with another vampire, but that wasn't who he was. That wasn't who he was going to be around Ashton.

The color in Ashton's eyes finally returned to normal. They were a warm brown that was illuminated for a second as he came down from the blood high. He detached from Ren's wrist with a wet noise that made Ren's gut twist. Ashton furrowed his brows at the small noise that Ren couldn't keep down, but he didn't say anything.

He licked his lips, dropping Ren's wrist, gently, but he quickly put on a face of annoyance.

"That was the worst thing I've ever tasted." He ran his tongue over his fangs, getting every last drop.

Ren brought his wrist to his chest.

"You're welcome," he bit out, trying so hard to not start another fight. He didn't want to go through this for another time.

He looked down to access the damage. It wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. Ashton had been careful to not bleed him too much. He'd avoided cutting too much of Ren's veins. It was considerate only because Ren didn't have the advantages of a full vampire. His body was slow at healing and if he lost too much blood, it would take him a while to recover.

Saliva—Ashton's saliva—shined around the two puncture marks.

He was lost in the image before him. Before he could even think about what he was doing, he brought his wrist up to his own mouth. He licked around the wound, swallowing the leftover blood, and cleaning away Ashton's saliva.

He jerked his hand away when he realized what he was doing. Cheeks aflame, he avoided Ashton's intense stare.

"Forget it."

For a moment, he thought Ashton wasn't going to follow him. They seemed like they'd been doing a lot of walking and weren't getting anywhere. He just wanted to get this over with. Whatever Ashton had planned, he just wanted to do it and never have to talk to the Mantel again.

He knew that wasn't going to happen. There was a long way to go before they could call it quits.

Finding a murderer was never going to be easy.

They continued walking and all the while Ren had to deal with his impending thoughts. He didn't want to think about all the secrets that his mom was hiding, everything that he hated about Mantel, or about how he couldn't keep hiding his own body's attraction to said Mantel.

The buzzing—the fire, the thing that wanted violence—inside of him wanted more of Ashton's blood. It wanted more of everything.

He clenched his hands. He didn't have to look down to know they were shaking again. The tremors felt like they were getting worse, but he didn't know if it was in his head or it was because he was just now noticing how bad it was to begin with.

The wind was cutting his exposed skin like ice now. It had grown even colder.

Minutes passed in silence until they finally made it to the short alleyway that lead to the block of the city hall. Since the city or town of Montis was so small, the city hall was placed in a strange spot between a grocery store and an antique mall. It looked more like a pawn shop than a government building.

Ren still wasn't thinking when he kept walking toward the space between the retail store and the city hall.

He was dragged back just as he caught sight of a fairly large group gathering on the street.

"Fucking hell," Ashton hissed.

It was right by Ren's ear. A shiver went down his entire side and he squirmed to getaway.

"Do you ever pay attention?"

Ren elbowed him, but he didn't let go. "I didn't see them. Jesus."

Their fight was quickly ended when a surge of loud chants filled the air. They were saying something that Ren couldn't make out. They were yelling so loud, but it was muffled by how far away they were.

And then the crowd's chants died. They went quiet.

A megaphone crackled.

"Welcome! To the official reinstatement of the Hunter Society!"