by Erin R Flynn
Nora was smart and played along. “A lovely selection. You’re lucky to have such options.”
I snorted. “You should see what we have in the south. We’re a bit worried that once we clear all the corrupted, nothing will stop the wrong people from getting those weapons.”
“A worry it’s wise you prioritize,” Matilda praised as she went for a shotgun. “I haven’t been hunting in some years, but I think they kick you out of Britain if you don’t at least have some bird hunting experience.”
“I just refuse to do the cleaning,” I told them as I went for a rifle that loaded with clips, not single bullets. “Apparently that’s my line for now.”
Nora shrugged as she went for the same rifle. “No one can do everything. I’m not a fan of driving. The roads were always so narrow, and people whip around turns or cliffs too fast. I just don’t like it.”
And Jaxon or Sebastian probably mentioned something about my driving skills.
“Would you be open to help with your potential issue?” Hanna asked as she picked some handguns and found bullets. “Matilda said you’re rather generous in deals you’ve made with Nora, and you split what they raid as it’s in your backyard.”
“Yes, but they raid houses, whereas I get the stores they help us load up,” I clarified. “But I’ve sent some very nice gifts and fixed a lot of what is theirs as well.”
“You have?” Nora checked, smiling when I nodded. “Wonderful. I hoped I wasn’t being too pushy.”
“It’s understandable if someone is given the situation we’re all in, but you were willing to pay what it was worth.” I finished loading up as she told the others how we’d fixed all the solar panels, damaged circuits, and more along with what it cost.
“That is generous, as you can do what no one else can,” Hanna praised as we headed out.
I shrugged. “I’m not all about world domination so as long as people are nice to me, I’ll be nice back.” I noted what others picked; the three nobles geared up but the other princesses… Not so much. Most picked a revolver and I doubted all of them even loaded the guns. They were trying to hide the looks or their feelings how I was strapped and ready to go.
Whatever.
It seemed Kristof knew what I was plotting, because he brought us to Sacramento, from the sign I saw when we stopped.
At a hospital no less.
“My word, you have a lot of corrupted,” Matilda whispered, glancing around. “I thought all the major cities were bombed.”
“Mostly the top twenty but we lured them down here on the way to LA,” I explained. I let my fangs out and sliced my hand. “I’ll replace your clothes.” I rubbed a bit of my blood on her sweater, doing the same to each princess, but careful not to put it where it might absorb in their skin. I didn’t know if they could do something with it. “Stand by the windows. That will give you answers.”
The three of them looked like they were at their limit with the dancing, but put on smiles and did it. Others not being so accepting, but still moving by the huge entrance alcove that was gorgeous and all windows. And not facing the sun so it was shaded and pretty dark.
It wasn’t seconds before the first corrupted slammed into the glass, several people giving shocked noises.
“You want to know who I am?” I asked, smirking as I nodded at the glass corrupted raced to get to because the princesses had my blood on them. Several came at once and cracked the glass. “That’s who I am. That’s why I don’t give a flying fuck about your court ways or being a pretty princess who everyone bows before. This is what my life has been.
“They come for me. They always come for me, never stopping. The range they’ll come from is un-fucking-real, and they’re desperate trying to get me.” I raised my rifle when one was getting close to breaking through the glass and shooting it in the head, the princesses blurring out of the way. “I woke in a hotel in Australia with a passport with my picture saying it was my eighteenth birthday.
“That was all I knew. I didn’t remember my name.” I gestured to the corrupted. “This has been my life. I’ve had to survive, and I did it alone for almost five years across several continents. And with some asshole nobles chasing me because they knew I didn’t know anything, and they wanted to show a princess her place. Others as well since.
“So I’m the woman who doesn’t give a shit about the way things have been done or the right way to do this or that. I’m not looking down at nobles who resent us or this shit of shifters being second-class citizens. Don’t expect me to, or think you can play me. You can’t. And I don’t give a rat’s ass if Aether sent you here and now you think you deserve answers.
“You deserve the weapons I allowed you to grab knowing we were going to get in the shit. Other than that, you deserve a kick in the head if you think to demand anything of me.” I shot several more through a window and quickly changed clips. I smirked at the shocked group. “I would get ready. They won’t care it’s daylight to get at my blood. That’s on you.”
Sure enough, several broke through that huge window and rushed us. They were fully able to blur away and did.
“Chicken-shits,” I chuckled as I opened fire. I raced over to the side and jumped on a tree to swing myself up on a ledge across the way. “You always take me to fun places, Kristof.”
“You wanted to come here,” he threw back. I barely saw him and the other nobles fighting, but corrupted just on the ground without heads or taken out.
I was careful where I fired so I hopefully didn’t hit them. I was impressed when I saw Matilda and Nora darting in and out of the mix.
“Behind you,” someone called out and I had just enough time to turn to see a pack of corrupted had broken through the door to the veranda I was on. That part was in the light though. So, they stumbled and bumbled into each other so much that it would have been pretty amusing if I didn’t know the end goal was to chomp on me.
I dropped my rifle and pulled out my handguns, rolling to my feet as I started landing head shots.
“Inez, there are too many,” Kristof said as more and more poured out of the hospital. “It’s not just you, but your blood.”
“Yeah, they’re more frenzied than normal,” I admitted, shocked how they were seriously going at any window to break it, not just try and move closer.
“Fall back to the hotel,” Kristof yelled and suddenly I was in his arms again. I blinked and he set me on my feet outside the entrance of the Fairmont. “Your blood is more powerful. James, Cerdic, and I think the power makes it have more range, and they did follow your blood to where they were.”
“So the water was already chummed for the sharks if you forgive the analogy,” Nora said, blowing out a long breath. “That was some excitement I haven’t had in a while.” I almost laughed when several of the princesses gave her appalled looks. “So five years of that?”
“That’s during my period,” I admitted. “If I’m cut, yes, they come from wherever if they smell blood. If it’s still inside me, they’re not as crazed, but yes, they come.”
“The numbers were huge for Sacramento,” one of the nobles said. “You’ve been luring them there?”
“Let’s head inside and have James and I explain what we’ve been doing,” Kristof offered, smiling when I nodded. I got it; united front and all of that. He helped with my play, it was time for me to back his.
I still didn’t think we owed these people any answers. We didn’t have the best track record with that. Though I had to admit Nora had kept up her end of the deal and Jacob was seriously helpful.
I asked Nick if there was anything we could do to help with dinner during the meeting and he brought out carts full of apples to be sliced for pie, along with veggies for salad. Plus mandolins and everything else we would need to help. Again, I got lots of looks that I must be joking and I told them if they wanted to eat, they had to help.
Was that really such a hard fucking concept? It wasn’t like we were doing anything difficult and we were just sitting on our as
ses. Would they rather load bullets into clips?
I cut through cucumbers as I listened to James and Kristof explain how we had pulled corrupted out of large areas to the bridges and then, since we’d done damage to the bridges and roads, we changed to the farmland outside Prince George. Now we were being even smarter.
“So you’re saying you lured all the corrupted out of Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland down to LA that was decimated and have been taking out gobs of them with missiles?” Hanna recapped, smiling when they nodded. “Impressive, truly. You have the right lure, and leading them away from people and not ruining goods you could raid is the smartest way to handle it, especially since you can.”
“Plus luring them to the coast where you have the destroyer is much smarter than trying to fly where there might be idiots playing with what they shouldn’t, and shooting planes down because they can,” Nora added. “We made sure there will be none of that when you fly to us. We had two such groups and they suddenly are without their weapons.”
“You’ve laid down a wonderful blueprint for others to follow for sure,” one of the princesses I didn’t know praised. “Many thought they would eventually decay and die off on their own, even if undead, but they aren’t—and the havoc they create even if they don’t come for us is just too much to properly rebuild or move forward.”
“You do have a lot of balls you’re juggling, and you’re doing it quite well,” Nora said firmly. “Maintaining this for the long term plus building your coven must be exhausting. You’re powerful, no one can argue that, but even as princesses, we are only one person, and that is a lot to weight on you.”
And there it was. That was the goal she was working towards.
For it not to weigh all on me, to let someone else take over or step in, be in control of all of it on my behalf… But have control of it all.
I shrugged as I grabbed another cucumber. “There are now and long-term goals, and not everything will be handled immediately. We’re doing pretty damn good as we are.” I gestured around us. “If any ball has to be dropped, it will be helping others, as that’s been the most problematic so far.”
Jaxon and Cerdic were both suddenly coughing at my pointed comeback. Yeah, I wasn’t stupid.
“Of course, as your coven always has to come first,” Nora agreed, her eyes dancing with mirth. “But there are ways to manage and delegate to allies.”
“I’ll listen to ideas but I’d suggest no one go the Olivia route and try and pull shit. That didn’t end well and was just stupid. I’m also not known for my patience.”
“Princess, I have an update,” Branko interrupted. “Thomas and his clan planted the fields of wheat using Wolfe’s hybrid electric semi engine in the farm equipment instead of the diesel ones.”
“Nice, score one for the five engineers of the apocalypse.” I smiled brightly at him. “Thanks for checking on that.” I stood with the huge container of sliced cucumbers and glanced out at the others in the meeting. “And people should be very clear that we have what they want, not the other way around. Help is always great, but we have power. We have water. We have what we need, so remember that.”
I headed to the kitchen of the seafood restaurant and found there was more excitement there. I set down the container and followed the voices to find people where outdoor eating used to be.
And with a whole lot of fucking crabs.
“Good haul?” I asked Matias Perez who was the Perez clan leader and my knight now. He had a background in fishing along with maybe a sixth of his clan, so it made sense he would want an area where that was an option.
“An amazing haul,” he said, coming over to me and hugging me as he twirled us. “Their numbers have exploded instead of being worryingly low. I applaud your idea to recover abandoned pots, as they have to be everywhere. We laid a fraction of what the boat could hold, and every pot was full. Completely stuffed.”
“Awesome,” I chuckled, his excitement contagious. “Can I help?”
“Sure. We’re just rinsing them off better,” Nick told me. “The hose is hooked up out here so if you could handle that, it would help. We’re almost ready to start cooking, now that we found the huge seafood boilers and hooked them up. The ice machine is going as well, so we’ll stick the crabs in cold water baths when done.”
“Use me as long as I’m not dealing with the guts,” I offered.
So they did. It was a trip to squirt the live crabs that were crawling all over each other trying to get out of the huge totes with holes in the bottom for the water to run out of. I got really into it when someone handed me heavy-duty grilling tongs and then tossed them in the finished bin.
I thought about what we’d just discussed with the others as I worked. If they were smart, the princesses would want help with their covens. Great, that meant more help, but that also meant more people to watch. I didn’t know these other princesses. I didn’t have a reference besides Aether sent them the feeling to be here. That didn’t necessarily make them good.
Olivia was Cerdic’s sister and she was a bitch who had tried to trap me and take all I had. Even if these people were willing to make deals, they would always put their covens first, and focus on what they could get for them as top priority. Nora had been very, very clear on that, and so had the others.
I stopped when Nora and Matilda moved in my view, my brain still going in circles though.
“We checked the navigator and you have a plethora of stores a few blocks away,” Nora said. “Our rooms are ready and I would love a real, hot shower. With your permission, we’d like to go get a few changes of clothes and what we’d need to stay.”
I stared at her, glancing at the other princesses that had come out as well. “I promised to replace your clothes, sure. Do not abuse my hospitality. A clan has already taken over this area, and their head is my knight, so if anyone thinks to start shit this isn’t part of my coven or fair game—don’t.”
They thanked me, even the nobles dipping their heads to me, and headed out. The second they were gone, I told Nick I had to handle something and went to find Kristof and Cerdic. They were waiting for me, so I would guess they knew something was on my mind or I was plotting.
What I asked them for threw them though, so that was always fun. We got what we needed though to start and I was ready by dinner. Maybe.
Dinner sort of distracted me.
“I was so, so wrong about crab,” I moaned, dunking another leg in butter. “This isn’t even the same realm of the expired canned stuff. This is heaven.”
“Weren’t you going to bring up something for them to think about before we headed out to have fun?” Cerdic asked as he tried not to laugh.
“Shhh, not now,” I whispered, moaning as I ate another bite. “Oh fuck me dead this is so good.” I stuffed my face with several more legs, but then I couldn’t take all the eyes on me anymore, sighing as I got to my feet and headed to the map. Then I went back and grabbed my plate. “I can talk and eat fries.”
“Yes, of course you can,” Darius muttered, shaking his head.
“There’s a lot going on so I’ll be blunt,” I said to our guests. “You stayed, so clearly you want help. Anyone object to that statement?” I waited until I could see they wouldn’t. “Right, but I don’t trust any of you.” I shrugged when a few people snorted on their drink or their bite went down the wrong way. “Of course I don’t. I’m not an idiot. You all want as much for your covens as you can get.
“You want to outsmart me because I’m young and, of course, not as smart as you. Yeah, yeah, I know the shtick. Or you know I’m smart, but you still hope to maneuver me to ‘help’ me with this, not caring that it would look to others like you’re managing my coven or the next best thing to adopting me.” I very pointedly glanced at Nora, Matilda, and Hanna.
Who didn’t even try to deny it.
“Right, so that’s not going to happen. And I’m not going to give you areas like I have the clans who swear to me as that would spread us too thin. The fi
rst thing some of you would do is sneak the better stuff in your half or mislabel crates as furniture, but it’s all weapons or gold.” I rolled my eyes when several people flinched. “Yeah, no shit.”
“What are you proposing then? I assume the current deals are still in place?” Nora checked.
“Yes, what we’ve agreed to is a done deal in my mind,” I promised. “Sebastian’s managed everything perfectly, handled problems, and you guys have kept your end of the deal. This is going forward because even I’m confused as to what’s left, what’s currently going on, and how much is done we’ve all said.” I waved them off when they both opened their mouths. “My people know. I get it. Fine.
“But this is for today onward and I’ll give everyone here one shot to not fuck up. I’m not kidding. One shot. You screw this, get caught with your hand in the cookie jar, or try to fuck with me, and I’m so done, I won’t even trade with people who would trade with you. Anyone not believe me on that?” I shook my head when I saw a few who thought I was bluffing. “Then leave. There’s nothing more to say to you.”
“You cannot be serious,” one argued. “Aether brought us here to help you.”
“No, She didn’t, as not one of you could give me something another coven couldn’t,” I told her firmly. “We. Don’t. Need. You. We don’t. I’m fairly certain She brought you here so you could see first-hand what I can do, so you wouldn’t blow it off as rumors or be dismissive when you heard. Or tried to take me out. My coven doesn’t need any of you. Get that through your head now before you blow shit up.
“I won’t give you a second chance. I won’t. There are other covens and other people who would want help. I’m not so much as annoying my people if you’re jerks. I don’t care who your ally is or what sway your court has or blah, blah, and blah. That way of life is dead. This is now. Surviving and getting back what we can is what matters.”
“More than that, any breaking of agreements between courts is very clearly seen as an act of aggression, and we have a lot of fucking weapons and people who know how to use them,” Kristof added. “We have the capabilities to bomb your whole coven, and yet all she asks is people be fair with her and not try to cheat her coven. The fact she’s even entertaining helping should speak to her morals.”