52 Rather Conflicting (1/2)

”I think we might be stuck out here for the next two nights. Is that alright?”

Ash nodded. ”We can take turns guarding each other. We should probably go find a more secluded spot than the side of the highway though.”

”Alright then. Let's go look for a good place to hide!” she replied cheerfully.

They got back into the car and made partway up Mount Charleston before parking. He finally changed out of the dress back into his usual clothes before they ventured fairly far from the road to be able to hide away from humans. It was very late at this point and poor, emotionally drained Ruby kept nodding off.

Ash ended up carrying her yet again but he didn't mind. In fact, he savored the closeness. When they found a secluded grove of pine trees he found the softest patch of dirt and took his cloak off so it could function as a blanket before sitting down with his back against a trunk.

He moved Ruby so she was able to use his lap as a pillow and prepared himself for a long and boring night. He fiddled with her hair to keep himself occupied as his thoughts ran wild.

If someone had told him a few weeks ago that he would put his revenge plans on hold out of concern for someone else he would have told them they were crazy. Yet here he was, more worried about the future of the sleeping fairy on top of him than avenging his fallen comrades.

Vampires couldn't blush because that would require heat their bodies did not possess. But if Ash had been capable of it he would have been beet red when he kissed Ruby earlier.

He did need to hide his face but he could have done it by pretending to kiss her. The hat would have blocked anybody nearby from seeing whether or not their lips were actually touching.

Hindsight was a funny thing. In the moment Ash was too panicked to realize he would be able to fake it and slammed his lips against hers to get her uncle's attention off him. It was nothing more than a rather long peck but it did funny things to his insides.

He told himself he only liked it because he hadn't kissed anybody since his last lover died more than three hundred years ago but that was a lie. He liked kissing her because Ruby Gardner was special.

She made him feel something other than grief or rage. She was bright, witty, resourceful, and a delight to be around in general. And they never would have become friends if the worst thing that ever happened to him hadn't occurred when it did.

Ash was drowning in guilt for so much as thinking anything good could come out of that horrible tragedy. Of course he would rather still be apathetically plodding along in a job he never liked if it meant all his family and friends were alive.