Falling to Ash by Karen Mahoney Page A

That wasn’t long, especially considering Jace had told me about his dad’s recent disappearing act.
    ‘And if I fail?’
    Nicole glared at him. ‘You know the answer to that already.’
    Theo bared his teeth. ‘I am speaking with my own Elder, Nicole.’
    Once again, I couldn’t help speculating about their relationship.
    Solomon shook his head, as though chiding two bickering children. ‘Enough. Theo, step forward.’
    My Maker did so, ignoring Nicole, who pouted in a dramatic fashion behind him.
    ‘The penalty is simple: the source of your weakness will be destroyed,’ Solomon said. He reached out and lifted my chin with surprisingly warm fingers. His hands were huge. He could swat me like the insect he probably thought I was.
    ‘If you fail, this one will die – taking a piece of your soul with her.’

Chapter Nine
     
    DAWN WAS APPROACHING . Another hour or so, but we could all feel it.
    Almost as soon as the last vampire had ventured out into the cold, Theo and I faced each other across his ridiculously huge bedroom. He’d dragged me in here once the other vamps had slipped quietly away, heading to the basement at Subterranean to sleep out the day before making their journeys to wherever they belonged. Subterranean had opened more than five years ago and was a popular hangout for the young and beautiful. It was frequented by Goth/wannabe vampires, and was also a front for Theo’s business interests. He operated all kinds of businesses from the lower levels, and in the sub-basement there was a giant crypt filled with coffins where the city’s older vampires – and any visitors – could sleep in perfect safety during the day.
    I tried to clamp down on a sense of rising panic. What should I do? I had to tell Theo everything that had happened now, surely? About Rick and what he’d become. More importantly, I needed to tell him I was in contact with Murdoch’s son. I couldn’t let a brief connection with Jace get in the way of my Maker’s task – a task that both our lives could depend on.
    And yet . . .
    I tried to think clearly, but still found myself hesitating, making excuses. Like: surely I didn’t have to tell about Jace, not when his father had already been missing for weeks, anyway.
Skipped town
, he’d said, hadn’t he?
    ‘What’s done is done,’ Theo said, pacing back and forth in an uncharacteristic show of tension. ‘I will find Murdoch and I will
kill
him. Nothing has to change.’
    ‘Just let me go,’ I said. ‘If you let me leave, forever, they can’t use me to get at you.’
    Theo’s beautiful pirate’s face was impassive. ‘You can never leave me.’
    I continued as though he hadn’t spoken. ‘I’ll run away and hide – far away. Nobody will find me. I swear!’ I swallowed. ‘I’ll even promise never to contact my . . . my true family.’
    ‘That will make no difference to what I did – or to the challenge I’ve been set.’
    ‘I’ll be just like a ghost,’ I said. ‘
Theo
.’
    He moved so fast that he blurred across the room. His hands gripped my shoulders and he turned me to face him. ‘Stop asking for what cannot be. Ever.’
    I shook myself free of his grasp, knowing, even as I did so, that I could only manage it because he let me. My voice was thick with unshed tears as I replied. ‘Why? Because it’s “forbidden”? Why can’t you fight the system, Theo? I thought you wanted to join the Elders. Don’t they
make
these stupid rules?’
    ‘I am not an Elder yet.’
    I ignored him. ‘You could start fighting them now. Start over me.’
    ‘You don’t know what you’re asking.’
    ‘No, it’s just that
you
don’t give a
shit
about me. You never have.’ I gritted my teeth to stop my jaw from wobbling.
    His hand shot out, so fast even I didn’t see it. He gripped the front of my dress and lifted me straight up. My feet dangled inches above the ground and I felt the collar begin to tear.
    I tried to kick him, but he just held me out to one