Buried Beneath the Ashes

AYA

I found myself lost in thought, my gaze fixed on the chain hanging from the ceiling, the pool of blood on the floor, and the lifeless body. My clothes were ripped and drenched in blood—my blood. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the blood pool, the room still radiating a warning heat.

I knew I wasn’t safe yet, not by a long shot. And the Shahalias, they’d want revenge for their son’s death, whether he was an adopted slave or not. To them, a turned vampire meant nothing, even if she was engaged to a disgraced prince.

Sounds of humans outside reached my ears, but none seemed to know what had transpired in this room, and none dared to enter. I tapped my fingers on the cold marble floor, my attention drawn to the sliver of sunlight peeking from behind the nearest curtain.

As the sunlight began to darken into a deep gold, I heard voices growing closer. It was still too bright for my liking, but the humans seemed to have finally noticed one of their own was missing. Their restlessness, their worry, was palpable.

I found myself wondering how many of them were “adopted.” It must be hard, being a human among vampires. I barely survived as a human with Alexander—he killed me the night we met.

But growing up with them, feeling so powerless and insignificant, must be overwhelming. How much would the Shahalias have to offer them to make them feel valued when, in reality, the humans knew they were nothing more than cattle to their family?

I shifted against the wooden floor, my thoughts returning to Alexander, to our last conversation. Marriage.

The thought of marriage hadn’t crossed my mind in over a hundred years, not since my human days. Back then, my mother wanted me to marry, my uncle wanted me gone—an extra mouth to feed.

Not that he contributed to our sustenance—that was mostly my mother’s shop and my secret income. I was scared to marry back then, scared to leave my sisters, to belong to a man.

Instead, I fell into Alexander’s arms; he claimed me, made me his in every sense. But with him, those initial years of self-discovery weren’t frightening. I was happy. I was loved, cared for, and free.

But Alexander’s love came with a heavy price—enough to break us. First, his duties as the crown prince of the vampire world, and now, his exile.

It would make sense to want to distance myself from him again, to leave him to his fate. Marrying him would bind me to him forever—more than we already are.

Marrying him would put me in danger—from revenge-seeking clans or his own reckless mistakes. Still, I couldn’t envision a life without him. I couldn’t exist without him.

I despised him when I couldn’t love him. I’ve seen him at his worst—when hatred and violence consumed him—and I’ve known him at his best.

We’ve weathered the storm. We’ve reached the shore. For better or worse, he was my everything, and I’d rather risk eternity than live without him.

Even though I felt rejuvenated, strong, and healing, I also felt drained. The horror of my situation washed over me. The revulsion at what the human had intended for me, what he had planned for Alexander, choked me.

I knew I needed to learn to defend myself better, to fight, so I wouldn’t be a burden to Alexander. The humans outside were growing anxious; I could hear them calling out a name.

I assumed it was the name of the detestable dead man at my feet. Hearing them draw near, I quickly stood, grabbed the cord controlling the curtains, and climbed one of the columns.

I swiftly tied the cord in a knot, out of any human’s reach, and stayed perched at the top of the column, watching the door. The door was unlocked with a series of snaps and pushed open.

Thick, hot, golden sunlight flooded the hall. The heat intensified, irritating my skin. Two humans rushed in, their dark green suits and golden insignia on their right breasts revealing their loyalty.

“No!” the woman gasped, throwing herself onto the dead man’s body. “No, no, no. Please, no!” she wailed, cradling his head in her arms.

The other, a man, paced quickly, taking in the scene, a gun in his hand. Outside, a group of humans gasped in horror, and wailing ensued.

“Shut it!” he hissed, frantically scanning the hall.

A woman was sobbing over the lifeless body of a man, her cries echoing through the room as she kissed his cold face.

“Quiet!” a man barked, his voice filled with fear. “It’s still here!”

The room fell silent, the only sound the soft sniffles of the others as they cautiously entered, their eyes darting around in search of me.

“Look, it’s gone,” one of them said, pointing to the broken chains I’d left discarded on the floor.

“But it’s still daylight,” the man argued, his voice tense. “It’s still here.”

“It killed him!”

“He shouldn’t have come in alone!”

A woman’s voice cut through the tension. “They told us she was weak!” she spat. “They said she wouldn’t be a danger to us. That we should be wary of the male tonight.”

“Well, they were wrong,” the man retorted, his voice bitter. “It clearly got free.”

They moved cautiously through the hall, their guns scanning the room.

“Open the curtains,” someone suggested.

They fumbled for the cord, tracing it up the column until they found it.

I hissed, locking eyes with them.

“Shoot!”

I leapt from my perch, landing on a man and knocking him to the marble floor. His head hit the stone with a sickening crack, and the sweet smell of his blood made my throat ache.

I darted toward the room’s shadows, the setting sun’s golden light still potent enough to scorch my skin. Bullets whizzed past me, shattering against the marble and scattering across the floor.

I circled a column, snapping the neck of a man who tried to shoot me before retreating back into the shadows to avoid a hail of bullets. They ricocheted off the column, the sound echoing through the room.

A bullet grazed my arm, drawing blood. I winced. The bullet was laced with something that stung—badly.

“Everyone out!” a man yelled, and the humans scrambled toward the door. Others held the door open, effectively blocking me from following.

They threw themselves into the afternoon sunlight, firing blindly into the hall.

“He won’t be happy about this!” a man yelled.

“We have no choice!”

“He wanted her alive! His plan won’t work.”

“I don’t give a fuck!” a woman hissed. “She killed him!”

I was forced to stay in the shadows, crouching behind a column. The intoxicating scent of the man’s blood was overwhelming.

The humans were in a frenzy, raising the alarm. Three of them moved toward the doors, pushing them closed from the other side.

I slipped out from behind them, sticking to the shadows. The dark golden sunlight dwindled until it was just a thin line down the center of the hall.

The smell of smoke and gasoline hit me. Two humans were running toward the doors. I lunged forward, trying to stop them, but the sun seared my arms, and I recoiled, hissing in pain as my skin sizzled.

The humans doused the door with gasoline, throwing as much as they could through the small opening. I hated how much they knew about us, about our weaknesses.

I darted to the other side of the hall, back to where I’d been strung up to bleed out.

They tossed in their flaming torches, and the gasoline ignited instantly, exploding into a wall of fire. I could still hear the humans outside arguing. The heat was suffocating, the smoke already filling my lungs.

My heart pounded in my chest as my skin stung. I had to get out. But outside, I would burn. So I needed to go underground—to hide beneath the earth.

I moved to the back of the hall, kicking at the marble floor. It cracked but didn’t break. I pounded against it, my hands bleeding, my heart thundering in my chest.

I would not be burned alive!

A wave of heat seared my back, and I hissed in pain. The door had collapsed, sending a burst of flames into the hall. The curtains were already ablaze, burning quickly and revealing the open windows.

More sunlight poured in. The shadows I was hiding in were barely large enough.

I threw myself against the marble, cracking it just enough to wedge my fingers into the crevice and pull it up. Another layer of stone was beneath it, and I attacked it with all my strength.

It shattered more easily than the marble, and I dug into the dirt below. The chill of the earth was a welcome relief against my overheated skin.

I pushed aside chunks of marble and stone, digging with all my might. My bare hands, slick with blood, flung dirt behind me in a desperate frenzy.

Once the hole was large enough, I dove in. I hurriedly pulled the dirt and shattered stone over me, effectively burying myself alive.

I forced myself to be still. The layer of dirt above me was thin, offering little protection from the fire and sunlight. My breath came in ragged gasps, my heart pounding wildly in my chest.

I could still hear the human above me, could still feel the heat, the crash of the hall as it burned.

I curled into a tighter ball, trying to steady my breathing and slow my racing heart. My hands were healing slowly; the scent of my own blood was overpowering.

I squeezed my eyes shut, forcing my mind to focus on anything but my current situation. I thought of Alexander—his strong hands on me, the way he held me, the softness of his lips, the taste of his blood.

I thought of the words we’d exchanged, the deep sincerity, the certainty that I belonged to him and he to me. I would escape this hole, and I would find him.

The fire roared above me, the hall creaking and shattering under its wrath. The whoosh of flames. The heavy, suffocating smoke.

Stone rained down around me; the roof was collapsing, revealing the heavy stone floor.

A scream tore from my throat as a large piece landed on my leg, crushing my ankle. It exposed me to the light, and my arm seared with pain.

I screamed again, struggling to push the stone off, digging deeper. Thoughts of Alexander scattered as I frantically buried myself under the burning debris.

The heat seared my skin, and I whimpered. I could feel the heat cooking me from the inside out, my blood boiling within me.

I wouldn’t last much longer. I wouldn’t be able to heal from this.

The fire was so hot, so bright that I didn’t notice the last rays of the sun disappearing over the horizon. But I heard them.

The shouts, the rhythmic pounding of running feet, the metallic clang of swords in their scabbards. The Shahalia henchmen.

I could handle humans, but a small army of trained, older vampires—not so much.

I needed to run. If they could be out, then so could I.