Pile of Ash

The back of Allen's hand met my cheek, and I fell to the floor with a soft whimper. Tears were streaming down my cheeks from my pale blue eyes when I turned to look up at the blond man. His own eyes were narrowed and angry, filling me with sadness more than fear or dread.

"I just wanted to make you happy," I whispered to him. Getting to my knees, I cried, "That's all I wanted to do! That's all I ever want to do!"

Allen eyed my tears with distaste, then turned and began to walk toward the door that led out of his large, dimly lit study. "And you call yourself a vampire." He opened the door and strode out, saying casually, "What a weakling."

I watched him go, my eyes wide and my cheek hurting. Once that door closed, however, my innocent, pleading look turned into one of disgust.

"Damn it," I mumbled to myself, wiping my tears away with a snow white hand. "He's right. Why does this always happen to me?"

I got to my feet with a soft growl, recalling that Allen called me a weakling almost every time I saw him. It was a lie, though. Well...almost. Physically, I wasn't weak. Not in the slightest. I was one of the strongest vampires the world had left. Emotionally, I was weak, but only when it came to that one vampire, Allen...

I had been madly in love with the bitter man for almost a century now. I had dedicated my life to pleasing him. I wanted to make him smile, laugh, return my love...

But this was all I ever got. A glare, a slap, and a cold dismissal.

Other women could make him smile and laugh. Other women could bring out his kind, caring side. Other women could make him love them. But never me.

Never, ever me.

And I was the one who truly loved him.

With a sigh, I ran a hand through my wavy, waist-length brown hair, so dark it was nearly black, and left the study. My thick-soled black boots made absolutely no sound as I walked up one of the mansion's dark, carpeted hallways, then down a flight of even darker, carpeted stairs.

I opened the front door and shivered when the cold wind hit me. I smiled out at the downpour, watching raindrops create ripples in a puddle on the sidewalk outside. I glanced down at myself to make sure I wasn't wearing anything too much water would ruin. Black jeans, black boots, black tank top...

"Nothing of importance," I said to myself before walking out into the chilly, rainy night. I headed toward the street slowly, pretty much hugging myself as I went. I was almost to the puddle-covered road when I heard it...That scream...

I sprinted in the direction of the sound and found myself going right back into Allen's house. Up a flight of stairs, down a hallway, into a bedroom...

I stopped dead the moment I threw the bedroom door open, going wide-eyed at what I saw.

A blonde girl, a vampire by the name of May, was sprawled on her fancy bed, her blue eyes wide as she watched a simple butcher knife head toward her pale throat. I looked away when her head was separated from her body, leaving her corpse to turn into a pile of ash on the pale pink of her sheets. May was one of Allen's many whores, and I was jealous of how close she was to him, but I was already starting to feel bad about being unable to save her.

I looked back up when I heard her killer shift, growling when the unfamiliar woman lunged at me. The scent of the blood oozing from a single cut on the brunette's arm told me that she was a werewolf. I gazed into the woman's cold, almost empty gray eyes as I dodged a swing of her knife.

A Were? Why would a Were be here? And why the hell would she want to kill May? I wondered, slowly stepping back as I continued to evade the werewolf's wild, yet oddly precise-seeming attacks.

Something in the woman's scent shifted suddenly, and her speed increased dramatically. She lunged forward with an incredible quickness that was equivalent to my extreme vampire speed, and I caught a glint of gold from her recently changed eyes as she darted past me. I let out a soft hiss when I felt her knife slice through my bare upper arm. I spun to watch her sprint down the hallway, snarling when she kept her golden eyes with their slitted black pupils focused on the carpeted path ahead. She didn't bother glancing at me, telling me that she didn't even think I qualified as a tiny threat.

"Biiig mistake, bitch," I snarled, immediately going after her and easily matching her speed.

I reached out to grab her arm, but she darted through a doorway suddenly. I slid to a stop and looked at the door, immediately going wide-eyed once more.

"Fuck..."

It was Allen's room. That stupid werewolf bitch had gone after my Allen. He must have been her real target. He never had been very kind to the Weres...

A thump accompanied by the sound of shattering glass snapped me out of my thoughts, and I rushed into the room.

"Why the hell did you let this wretched creature into my room?" Allen asked calmly as he gazed down at the unconscious werewolf with uncompassionate blue eyes. She was laying facedown amidst the sharp shards of glass from the broken bathroom mirror, bleeding from where the glass had cut her. "The whole place is going to smell like Were for days now."

"Sorry, Allen," I whispered, looking at the floor. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Were woman stir, and my body moved before I even had the chance to tell it to.

Suddenly, I was standing protectively in front of Allen, my hand grasping the werewolf's knife. Blood oozed from the deep gash the weapon was making in my palm, and I felt Allen nod approvingly.

"I see you're not completely useless, after all. At least something good is coming from this."

"I'm glad I was able to please you," I said softly, feeling insanely happy despite the fact that my hand hurt like a mother. Allen had just half complimented me...It might have been half insulting as well, but it was still a bit complimentary, too.

My happiness vanished when the werewolf before me jerked the knife out of my grasp and leapt back, dropping it. I hissed as the blade sliced through my hand, but instantly moved to go after her. I stopped dead when she pulled out a gun.

Naturally, regular bullets wouldn't kill vampires since...well...we're already dead. They hurt like hell, but they couldn't kill us. These, however, were not normal bullets. I knew that as soon as I sniffed the air around the weapon.

UV bullets. Sunlight in a little glass shell...

Oddly enough, the gun wasn't pointed at my chest, but Allen's. Apparently, she really wanted to off her target, even if it meant getting killed by a pissed off vampire bitch afterward.

I growled, but Allen merely laughed.

"Before you kill me," he began, smiling, "would you mind telling me who you are and why you want me dead?"

The woman didn't speak. Instead, she reached into one of the front pockets of her black jeans, pulling something out quickly. She dropped a white envelope on the floor at Allen's feet.

Shock showed on the beautiful vampire's pale face. "The letter I wrote to Gabriel..." he all but breathed. His wide-eyed gaze slowly moved from the envelope to the Were woman's emotionless face. "He hired you to kill me because I pose a threat to his species..."

Of course, I thought, silently watching the two beings. Gabriel...His Were buddies on the south side of town...Allen's already begun killing them off...That letter was how Gabriel found out that Allen was the killer...He admitted to it... My eyes narrowed slightly at Allen. He did that stupid thing where he gives himself away in order to make the situation more challenging and dangerous and...fun.

Allen smirked suddenly. "Good luck trying to take me out, though. I'm not an easy target."

He vanished, then he was suddenly behind the woman. Her gold eyes remained empty even as she sidestepped the kick the vampire had aimed at her back. She whipped around swiftly, her sharp claws heading for Allen's pale throat. She moved so quickly that even he, one of the most powerful vampires left in the world, barely managed to jump back in time to dodge the deadly attack.

This was not good.

"Allen!" a pretty redhead, clad in a rather slutty black dress, cried from the doorway, her expressive brown eyes wide.

I glanced at her and growled. Clarissa. She was another on of Allen's whores, and easily the one I hated the most.

Where I was strong, she was weak. My body was healthy and fit and durable. Hers was merely skinny and pleasant to look at. Compared to me, she was dumb. She was a stupid, weak, powerless slut...So why did she get to have Allen and I didn't?

I couldn't help but smirk when the Were woman separated Clarissa's head from her body with one quick, easy swipe of her claws. My smirk faded when I realized something.

She wasn't attacking me. I had gotten in her way twice, but all I had gotten was a couple of nasty cuts. Clarissa and May hadn't even done anything to her, yet she had killed them mercilessly.

I watched without seeing as the redhead's body fell to the ground and turned to ash along with her pretty little head.

Then my eyes suddenly closed, a shudder rippling through me when I figured out why I was still alive.

She was saving me for last.

I opened my eyes and found her staring at me with those cold gold eyes of hers. We just stared at each other for a moment, only stopping when Allen lunged at the werewolf again. She dodged a barrage of swift punches with ease, then let her hand fly out to deliver a blow of her own. Her expression didn't change when she found her fist colliding with my bloody hand instead of Allen's face.

"Sorry, miss," I said sweetly, smirking as my hand closed around hers, "but you won't be touching Allen again any time soon." I yanked her toward me, then grabbed her other hand and spun, flinging her into the wall.

Like hell I'd let myself become her last victim. Or her victim at all, actually...

She flipped in midair, landing on her feet just before she reached the wall. I could see her nose working as she sniffed at the air, taking in my changing scent. My light blue eyes slowly turned crimson while my barely noticeable fangs became longer and far more pronounced.

It seemed the cold-hearted werewolf was just finding out that she wasn't the only one who could change to make herself faster and stronger.

All vampires could do this. How long one could remain this way, however, depended on the individual. I knew from experience that my change could only last for about two minutes. And that was on a good day. On a bad day, I'd been known to turn back after less than thirty seconds. Thirty seconds was usually enough for me, but having two full minutes reeeally wouldn't hurt in a battle with this scary bitch.

I heard Allen laughing behind me, clapping as he watched my subtle transformation. "This is turning out to be far more interesting than I first thought it would be," he said happily, smiling at me and my opponent.

I growled, finding his joy rather annoying, although I simply turned to face the werewolf again without a word. She studied me with those golden eyes for a moment, then she charged at me silently, her gun nowhere to be found.

Predictably, she swerved around me at the last moment and went for the male behind me. And just as predictably, I threw myself in front of her target. Unpredictably, her claws ripped through the flesh of my stomach instead of my throat.

I staggered back with a growl, too pissed off to feel any happiness even when Allen gently grabbed my arms to steady me.

The bitch could have just killed me. Why the hell hadn't she done it?! One quick swipe at my neck and-

I felt Allen breathing deeply through his nose, taking in the scent of my freshly-spilled blood, and I relaxed against him.

"You're stronger than I give you credit for. I can smell it," he whispered in my ear, gently rubbing my arms where he had grasped them. "But judging by the scent, you only have sixty or so seconds left. If you're going to kill her, do it now." And with that, he released my arms and stepped back, leaving me to stand alone.

The werewolf was watching us curiously from across the room, her gun in her hand once more as she waited for us to get ready to fight again. I merely stared at her for a few seconds before lunging at her, my newfound quickness making me no more than a black and white blur.

A shot was fired at Allen, although he easily dodged it, and I reached for the gun. Just as my fingers began to close around the expensive weapon, the werewolf used her wicked speed to pretty much vanish from her place in front of me. I spun just in time to watch her reappear behind Allen, her gun pointed directly at the back of his head.

"No!" I screamed, heading toward them as quickly as I could.

A second shot was fired, but Allen remained unharmed. I had barely managed to get my arm in the UV bullet's path, saving the man's life and pretty much ending my own.

Allen turned and watched as the pale flesh of my outstretched arm cracked and grew even more pale. Much to my surprise, he actually looked alarmed and a bit...concerned.

"Elizabeth..."

The first time he'd said my name in over a decade...

The cracks spread up my arm, my skin virtually turning into fragile porcelain.

I offered the male a weak smile as the cracks reached my fingers and shoulders, my hand slowly turning to ash and falling to the floor. "I guess I should kill her now, huh?" My arm from my elbow down turned to dust, and I lunged at the Were woman without hesitation.

I somehow managed to knock the gun out of her hand with my only remaining arm, forcing myself to ignore the pain in my slowly shattering body. The woman immediately rushed around me, heading toward Allen once more.

If I'm going to kill her, I growled mentally, I should hurry up and do it now.

I jumped onto the Were's back, catching her by surprise and knocking her to the ground. My fangs immediately found her neck, and I wildly tore through her flesh. The cracks were moving up my neck now, so I didn't have much time left.

She shoved me back after a moment and quickly got on top of me. Before she could go for my throat, I shot up and sank my teeth into the front of hers, beginning another savage attack on her flesh. Her blood tasted disgusting, just like all Were blood did, but I ignored the horrible, dusky flavor, rolled over so I was pinning her to the floor, and kept mauling her neck.

The woman struggled violently, trying to push me away. My shoulder turned to dust as the deadly cracks crawled up to my jaw.

No! No! No! I screamed mentally, my motions becoming more frantic. I can't go yet! I can't!

Then, much to my relief, the woman went limp beneath me. Hesitantly, I moved away from her neck, slowly sitting up.

Everything was still and silent for a moment. I stared down at my victim's empty eyes, gray now that she had gone back to normal. The scent of her blood all over me and the surrounding floor made me slightly nauseous, but I didn't let it show. My eyes and fangs slowly went back to normal, and still, I just sat there.

The silence was broken by the soft sound of my cheek beginning to crack, seeming loud in the quiet atmosphere. Allen was suddenly on his knees beside me, grabbing my arm and pulling me off of the Were's bloody corpse. I fell against him, resting there until he lifted my chin and kissed me gently.

"I'm sorry I didn't do that sooner," he whispered after pulling away, now carefully holding me in his arms.

I closed my eyes and smiled softly. "I love you, Allen."

"I know."

"You could say that you love me, too, ya know," I told him, still smiling.

He paused for a moment, just holding me, then, as my chin began to crumble, he tightened his grip on me and murmured, "I love you, too."

"Sucks that it took you so long to realize it, though, huh?" My neck started to fall away, and I opened my eyes so I could get one last look at Allen. "Goodbye, Allen."

"Goodbye, Elizabeth," he said softly, watching my slow, painful death with solemn blue eyes. "I'll miss you."

I offered the vampire another small smile, then my neck completely collapsed, the rest of my body turning to ash only a few seconds later.

"Allen...?" a young blonde girl said hesitantly from the doorway behind the man.

"Call Caleb and my other brothers," Allen ordered in his usual icy tone, not looking away from the pile of ash on the floor as he got to his feet. After a moment, he turned and sent the werewolf's corpse a chilly glare. "This means war."

The girl's dark brown eyes widened as she said softly, "Gabriel...?"

"He and any other werewolf that dares to stand in my way," Allen said calmly, now looking at that pile of ash again. "Just make the calls."

"Y-yes, sir."

The moment the girl left him alone, his expression grew solemn once more.

"God damn it...Elizabeth..."

He stared at my remains for a moment, then strode calmly out the door, leaving me alone in his room...

Just a pile of ash on the floor...