From Blood And Ash Book Novels & Stories

The runes pulsed like a heartbeat. The shadow paused just beyond the circle. It had no clear form, but hints of a muzzle and claws flickered in and out of existence, as if it couldn’t quite decide what it was. When it opened its mouth, no sound came out — only a ripple of cold that raised gooseflesh on everyone’s skin. Jude whispered, “What the hell…” Lyra’s eyes hardened. “It’s a Hound of Ash,” she said. “He makes them from the wolves who fight him.”

I forced myself to let my mind wander over what she’d said, let it circle over in my head. If what she said were true, if dragons could have more than one mate, then maybe this disaster I found myself in wasn’t an accident at all. Maybe it was in my blood. But the other half of Ashleigh’s story, the half about fire consuming everything, settled like a stone in my stomach. She had been right. Restlessness leaked into magic. And mine was already too close to the edge.

Cold, black blood sprayed out, but I was already finished firing my gun which is in my left hand, to another monster before the first corpse fell. The field was thick with beasts, the air alive and hellish with their screams. A shadow darted behind me. I turned just in time to parry the slash of a cleaver. I barely registered my opponent-male, shirtless, whiter than snow and drenched in blood-before counterattacking. I nocked my gun on his head then pull the trigger. The monster fell to the ground with a wet smack. "In coming!" I yelled, but even though I screamed at the top of my lungs, I knew the others hadn't heard.

I tell him. Flavius nods in response and begins to pack his things. I fill my satchel with various clothing items and few books. "Why are you packing books?" Flavius asks curiously. "Since we are visiting another horde without sending a messenger ahead, I need to bring something that will serve as a gift. Those of the Horde of Fates are known knowledge seekers. I have many books in my private collection that have not been seen since The Fires. They should serve as a suitable present," I say.

On screen, I looked straight into the camera and said, “There’s just enough battery power left on my phone.” What they didn’t know was that I’d gotten that power by pretending to please those people, but it didn’t matter. They were going to die anyway. The camera eventually shifted to the ship’s cabin, where several disgusting clients were all over me, their hands roaming freely. Then, when they least expected it, I struck. With a sharpened piece of bamboo, I drove it straight into their throats. Blood poured out instantly as they collapsed. As I had always seemed weak, they never guarded against me. Soon, the second one fell, and then the third. One after another, they dropped dead.

I grabbed a match from the mantle and struck it. “What are you doing?” Silas roared, lunging for me. I dropped the match. The gilt-edged pages, soaked in the dry rot of twenty years, caught instantly. The secrets of the Ares empire—the murders, the bribes, the “Conditioning”—erupted into a wall of orange flame. “I’m clearing the site,” I said. Silas tackled me, the weight of him slamming me into the mahogany desk. We hit the floor, a tangle of limbs and fury. I felt the detonator fly from his hand, skidding across the floor toward the vault.

“And you are?” “You answer me first.” Asher demanded. “I cannot remember summoning you here, so why are you? Rest assured, I have not forgotten the hit you gave me, I shall come back to that later.” “Excuse you, you were sucking her blood!” “And you saw what it did.” He raised his now fleshed hand. “However, you stopped me. I have not fully recovered.” “Which means you still want her blood?” “Aye.” “Ha,” Asher scoffed. “Like hell I will let that happen. Listen, if you leave these woods, you would come upon human settlement, you can have as much blood as you want there.”

We had been searching for a while when Ashvin suddenly shot up from his chair. “I think I found something!” With a loud thud, I closed the book I was working on and rushed to his side. He pointed at the page, there it was, the very same symbol. I sighed and looked from it to him, desperate to understand what all of this meant. But instead of speaking, he shook his head and pointed toward the top of the book. I followed his finger. There, written above the faded writing, was a phrase. ‘The blood remembers what the crown erased.’

"The Bloodbound will rise again." The dagger's light flared once, as if answering him. And far above the ruins, in the night sky, a murder of crows took flight - screaming into the dark.

For no matter what the enemy could do, as long as they were not deserving, the elixir would never exist in front of them. HER BLOOD was pumping deep inside her as she pushed a slightly ajar door. The door swung and crashed against the wall, earning her a few terrified looks. "M—Miss Lily!" A group of statled nuns rushed to her, although were stopped by the eldest of them. "Miss Lily Alston," she greeted, wearing an amicable smile despite the creases on her brows. "May we help you with your troubles?" Lily Alston breathed heavily and frantically looked around. Seeing none of the familiar small figure she needed to see, she quickly pushed past the nuns and entered the convent's backyard.