Soulbound

16. Ashe

She was supposed to be checking up on the Seventh Precinct a few hours away as she made her quarterly diplomatic appearance around the Fourth Ward. She was not scheduled to come back for at least another day or two. Dammit, I was supposed to have more time to figure this all out!

But yet here she was, standing in my—well, technically her—apartment. And she was furious.

“Why is that human from the coffee shop sitting on my couch?”

“A-are you a demon, too?” Dani asks, and I cringe as Catalina's fierce glare pierces mine from across the room.

“And she knows about demons. How unfortunate.”

“Cat, I—”

Catalina cuts me off with a wave of her hand. She always did love taking charge of a conversation. “We had an understanding, Ashe. No fucking around while I'm in town.”

“You weren't—”

“It was thoughtful of you to bring me a snack, love,” she continues, unperturbed. “But foolish to tell her all our secrets.” Her gaze sweeps back to Dani and a devilish smirk spreads across the vampire's lips as a hunger permeates off her, assaulting my senses. It makes my skin crawl. “I suppose none of that matters, though. We can still have a little fun tonight, and my trip has left me famished.”

In the blink of an eye Catalina moves from the front door to the living room, her fangs bared and bloodlust swirling in her chocolate eyes.

The imminent threat to Dani's life stands my hairs on end as a powerful force beckons my legs to move. I hear Dani shriek a millisecond before I'm standing between them, one arm pushing Dani back down on the couch and the other pressed against Catalina's chest.

“That's not what this is, Cat!” I snap. I can feel the Reaper's mark tingling against my skin, eager to be released as my reflexes anticipate a fight, and I pray that I would not have to use it tonight. I'm not really sure if I could, but the ring would leave me no choice if Catalina made good on her threats.

The vampire looks between me and the human curled up on the couch. “If you aren't going to bed her, Ashe, then I'm going to drain the life from her. She's a liability. She can't be permitted to live beyond tonight. You've seen to that by bringing her here!”

“I can't let you do that.”

Dani shifts behind me and I feel her fingers wrap around my arm as her body tenses. My stomach tightens and my eyes widen a fraction at the contact of her skin against mine; I hope Catalina did not notice.

She flicks her blood-red eyes down to Dani's hand and a primal hiss rattles in her throat. Her brow narrows as she slowly turns her attention once more to me. “Now that was a very stupid thing to do.”

Of course Catalina would notice the ring. What was I expecting? Did I really think I could hide that from her now?

“You know what this means, though.” I cautiously lower my arm, lifting my chin against her stare despite the seething anger that crashed into me like a tidal wave. I had to de-escalate this and quickly. Catalina's fury could be almost as unforgiving as her hunger. “I don't like it any more than you do, Cat, but it happened and—”

“How? How could you let this happen again?”

I grit my teeth and impulsively glance back at Dani. The barista's eyes meet mine but for the life of me I cannot sense whatever she was feeling. Given our current predicament, maybe that was for the best.