Page 17 of A Spark in the Ash

Philomena and Renwick have been gone for hours. I haven't seen the other darklings since mid-day. Nisha looks slightly annoyed as she heads out for the night. I think she could be perfectly comfortable living down here in a dark tunnel for the rest of her immortal life. Ascelin checks all his security cameras, making sure everything is secure and observed. He hasn't left his post in a long, long time. But there are no immediate signs of threat, so he sets everything on autopilot, give me one glance before he shifts and climbs out of the tunnel.

I haven't seen Davorian all day. He's been assisting all of the other darklings in getting settled into their new lives here in Nevada. He doesn't come back.

So, by eleven o'clock at night, it's entirely silent in the compound.

I step out of my room and head down the passageway.

I stop in front of the vault, peering in through the glass.

Jaxon stands there in the middle of the vault. I can see heat rising from his skin. But I can also see the look of absolute determination on his face. As he walks across the vault, closer to the glass, I see the heat begin to diminish as he reigns in self-control.

"They all leave?" he asks.

I nod my head. "I think we need to wait a little bit to make sure nobody comes back. A darkling birthday party like this… Well, I wouldn't expect anyone back until daybreak. So…" My eyes rise to meet his. "We should have the entire night to figure this out."

He doesn't hide it one bit. The hunger is in his eyes, in his expression, and in every bit of Jaxon's body language. "It's been a long three weeks in here, but the next thirty minutes, I have a feeling, are going to be the longest."

I chuckle, because I absolutely agree. "We need the time though," I say. "Ascelin has cameras set up throughout this entire place. I don't want anything setting them off, alerting him. I need to freeze them, and it might take me that much time to figure out how to do it."

"Something tells me you won't have too hard of a time figuring out how to disable them," he says with a smirk.

It's just one more thing I love about this man. He accepts the dark side of me. The side of me that has done things others wouldn't necessarily callokay. It's because he's done more, and worse. We accept each other for who we are.

It's just one of the things that makes us work.

"Be right back," I say as I press a kiss to my fingers and then place them on the glass. I really like the look in his eyes as I walk away.

I've been in Ascelin's office plenty of times before. So if he catches this footage of me walking inside, it shouldn't be cause for too much concern for him.

But I need to be quick when it comes to messing with his computer.

He doesn't have security on it. For someone whose main jobissecurity, you'd think he'd have some kind of insane password or something. But Ascelin’s strong suit is literal, physical security. It's fighting and fists, and shifting into a terrifying shadow monster to protect those he cares about. Sure, his title has evolved to include technology. But it's definitely not the essence of his job.

I log onto his computer without one ounce of difficulty.

It's just as easy to find the system that controls all of his security cameras.

I browse through the options and the controls, looking for anything that will pause the recording of the cameras. The system is more complex than I expected. I'm not surprised. We've stayed safe in the compound for a century and a half for a reason. But after ten minutes of browsing, I find what looks to be the right option. I press the button and click over to the screen that displays the feed from every camera.

I don't see anything move, but it's also only me and Jaxon here.

I look up at the camera that covers Ascelin's office. I raise my hand and wave in its direction, and look back at the computer screen.

I see an image of me, but I'm still frozen, looking at the computer screen.

I wave my hand again, but my image on the screen doesn't move. It just looks like I'm working on something very intently.

A smile curls on my lips, and I rise from his desk.

I’m nervous. There’s no doubt about it. I don’t have a clue what I should expect.

But I’m ready. So damn ready.

I walk across the command center. And I step in view of the glass.

Jaxon paces inside the cell but stops instantly when he sees me. I watch as the resolve builds in his eyes. I see it as his hand curls into a fist.

But I’m not scared of him. I’m not scared for him.

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