“Why? Sunlight in your eyes?” Skipper did not mean to sound so cocky, but she did not mean not to either.
“Child.” Dunyasha shook her head. “I am ancient. Sunlight is little more than a nuisance for me.”
“Lucky you, all those powers and—”
“And, child, speak to me with such insolence again and I will tear your fake head from your fake body.”
Skipper smiled. “I have always liked you, Dunyasha. Let’s go home.”
Home Sweet Home
It took a little getting used to, but the Water Kingdom palace had begun to feel like home. Palace—she snickered whenever she thought of it that way, especially because Sabrina called it by its true description: ruins.
The Water Kingdom’s home was located on an atoll in the south Pacific. The land mass itself was small—2.2-square miles—and surrounded by a nearly two-thousand-foot-wide barrier reef. Ships steered away from it, which is why it was classified as a deserted island in the late 1800s; no one could easily reach it—no one human.
Skipper dreaded the place when she first saw it. For her, it was akin to a hangman’s noose. How would a fairy from the Fire Kingdom be expected to live surrounded by water? She thought this was her death sentence—but she had been wrong.
The interior of the island was largely a giant freshwater lagoon that also acted as an entrance to a system of underwater caves and a large, submerged fortress ruin.
The Water Kingdom Palace looked like nothing more than moss—and ivy-covered rock from above, since it had sunken almost ninety percent down into the lagoon.
Sabrina had often recounted ancient fairy records that were discovered within the ruins and that suggested it was built in the Late Roman Iron Age, during the height of fairy enslavement, long before it was thought that the first water fairies escaped the United Kingdom.
Skipper did not know how much of what Sabrina told her was true, but she knew one thing for sure—this island was part of a volcanic chain. Skipper could sense the magma as it churned deep beneath the surface, perhaps fathoms deep, in the ocean. The nearest volcano may have been currently dormant, but once upon a time, it had shaped this land and, she would have bet, was the true reason the “palace” had sunk.
Sabrina’s throne room was situated at the far west side of the palace, the only side of the structure not underwater. It was an enormous room with a large open skylight.
Skipper hated how the palace smelled wet and reeked of mold. She wondered how Sabrina could even stand it and often fantasized about setting the hallways ablaze just to burn away the stench.
Yeah, she thought, some fresh smoke and ash would make this place smell so much better.
Skipper leaned against the wall opposite the throne room’s large archway. Numerous guards prevented her from getting any closer. She couldn’t hear anything or even angle herself in such a way to see far enough in to spot the queen.
She’s already waited for at least an hour to update Sabrina on her mission. She was simply going to have to remain patient; unfortunately, patience was not one of her strong points.
She twirled her hair, lit embers only to extinguished them, and stared mindlessly at the water spirits coming and going through the water channels in the floor, counting them when they formed up to change guard.
The appearance the water elementals took while inside the palace was much less human than what they took outside. Outside, they could easily pass as human. In here, they looked monstrous, like tall, walking ocean waves, frozen in time at their crests.
Is this their natural form? she wondered. It makes sense.
Air spirits could take the shape of humans, but without fairy magic, they looked like nothing more than ghosts. The same fate befell earth elementals. With the help of a skilled artisan, they could look like the most idealistic Greek goddess statue, but being stiff and not having the ability to emote, were their biggest limitations.
Fire elementals were the least likely to be able to pass as human. They appeared just as the ancient Arabic fables suggested—like Efreeti,[1] large burning fires in the shape of a man’s torso with legs like fire whirls and two demonic black horns. Thankfully, they also had the shortest life spans.
Just thinking about those demons made Skipper shiver. She took no pleasure in having to create fire elementals to destroy Weston, but there had been no other choice, and now she had to face the repercussions.
“That ain’t the queen. Look at her,” a male water fairy said to his friend as they approached from down the hall.
Skipper looked up and shook her head, smirking at the two. Male water fairies might as well not exist, she thought, not an ounce of masculinity. And those wings, so small and transparent…pathetic. She considered unfurling her wings to show those two boys what a real pair looked like.
“Looks like this bint wants to play dress up, right, Richton?”
“She ain’t nothing more than decorated rubbish.”
“My todger says she’s aces, but underneath all that, I know she’s no better than Tainted trash.”
“What the fuck did you moths just say?” Skipper stepped up to them as they approached.
One of them was shocked by her insult. “Moths? Did you call us moths? "
“You Fire Fairy are no better than a bunch of common thieves, cutthroats, and crooks. All on the take,” the other guy said as he pointed at her. “How much we buy you for?”
“Yeah, how much? Way I see it, she’s already paid for, right? Owes me a favor, I see it. Imagine, me, telling the boys I shagged the queen’s cheap copy. Hell, I’d even add in a few for that-that, right, Ricton?”
“Just a few.”
Skipper had heard enough. This was not the first time some nearly androgynous water fairy had mouthed off to her, but today she’d decided it would be the last.
“You water fairies, you all think you know me. You think you know where I came from, why I’m here.”
“Don’t care where you came from, only where you’ll be going.” He adjusted himself. “Now be a good lass—”
“Such entitlement.” Skipper shook her head. “Every last one of you motherfuckers. See, I was not raised spoiled like you water fairy whores. I was not brought into this world untouchable and flighty like the airborne. Nor am I so easily trapped as the earth kind. I was forged by fire…hammered and tested over and over again until my edge was sharpest.” Skipper stepped within striking distance of the first man and looked him up and down. “I am not weak…like you. I could best you with my wings in and one arm behind my back. Still care to try me?”
“I—”
The water fairy did not get a chance to finish his response. Skipper had buried her fist so hard into his face that she had broken his nose and his orbital socket in one blow.
As the man recoiled, his friend moved in. His fists were raised, but Skipper had already planned for his attack and kicked him straight in the groin. When both men went down, three of the dozen water elementals that guarded the throne room entrance quickly restrained her.
“Let go of me. I’m just getting started,” she shouted.
Another water spirit formed from the water that rushed in the channel nearby, this one twice the size of the others. It moved into position between Skipper and the men and grumbled loudly.
“Go,” the water spirit said to the men. “Consider this beating your one and only warning. You do not belong in this part of the palace.”
“What the fuck is going on here?” Sabrina shouted from behind Skipper as she emerged from the throne room in her royal attire and crown of white coral.
“Yeah, what the fuck is going on here?” Skipper mimicked Sabrina’s voice, but it always sounded softer and more tired.
“Culligan, release her,” Sabrina said, ordering the towering water spirit.
Skipper smiled. “Yeah, Culligan.”
Sabrina glared at the two men as they rushed off. “Shut your mouth, Skipper.”
“My name is—”
; “I don’t care what you think your name is,” Sabrina said and then pointed upward. “Out there you’re Sabrina London. In here, you’re Skipper.”
“Fine.”
“Good.” Sabrina nodded at the guards who backed off and then merged back into the flowing water in the channel in the stone floor. “You could’ve been hurt. What the hell were you thinking?”
“Hurt? By two Water Kingdom moths? I seriously doubt it. Have you seen their wings? They can’t even fly!”
“What if one of them broke your nose?” Sabrina asked. “Our plans would’ve been ruined.”
“Well, they didn’t.”
“What if they had?” Sabrina asked again. “You are so fucking stubborn.”
Skipper frowned. “One of the main reasons you picked me was because I can fight. It’s been months… Those two were the first jerks I’ve had a chance to…to set straight.”
“I understand.”
“You don’t,” Skipper said. “I’m a Fire Fairy living in the Water Kingdom surrounded by water. My instincts are to fight for my survival.”
“But you know you are my guest, my most important asset in this coming conflict.”
“I know, but I still feel trapped sometimes.”
Sabrina sighed. “I’m sorry. No one likes being trapped.”
Skipper was surprised to hear her say that, and it instantly defused her. “No. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have hit those guys. I really shouldn’t have.” She sighed. “You know, I’ve probably ruined his career.”
“His career?” Sabrina sounded confused.
“Yeah, shooting commercials for hemorrhoid creams. He’ll never shoot another one looking like that.”
Sabrina laughed. “Come on in, Skipper. Tell me about your time with Jackson. I’m dying to hear how successful you were.”
Sabrina directed Skipper into her throne room, a place lavishly decorated with Sabrina’s father’s art and artifacts.
“Well, if you consider burning down his apartment building a success,” Skipper said under her breath.
“You did what?”
“I burned it down.”
“And where was Jackson?”
Skipper swallowed hard before she answered. “Inside.”
Of Two Minds
Sabrina sat on her ornate hand-carved throne. The pink pillows she’d had one of her retainers acquire for her at Pier One Imports months ago had molded into the shape of her bottom. It made the seat cozy, far more comfortable than it had been the first month she was there. But there were so many things back then that caused her discomfort it was hard to say if the throne was to blame.
After Skipper detailed her time with Jackson, she had excused her royal guards and advisors—all except Dunyasha. Regardless of how her presence irked most of fairy-kind and left many of the fairies inside the Water Kingdom feeling threatened, the truth was Sabrina could not do this without her. As odd as it may have sounded to her, the Otherworldly Assembly, and everyone else in her kingdom, Dunyasha had become Sabrina’s mentor and best…make that only friend.
The day Dunyasha had arrived was the very moment Sabrina had needed her most: the day before her coronation.
Ten days.
It had only been ten days. Ten days since she had flown away from one set of seemingly impossible problems and into another. Ten tremendously long days of strife and turmoil.
Trying to clear her head, Sabrina closed her eyes slowly. Her problems, however, were still there when she opened them.
The throne room was full of arguing men, their voices weak and scratchy from dry throats. Her father’s former planners, strategists and advisors, one and all, had red faces from screaming at each other. She wondered if their disagreements would ever end.
She sighed and shook her head. There’s no good solution in sight.
Sabrina sat upon the Water Kingdom throne. It was, in many ways, where she sat that had created the catalyst for these daily arguments. Although she was the undeniable heir to the Water Kingdom’s power, she was not an Elemental Queen. Not yet.
She shivered and felt sick to her stomach. Spiteful words showered over her. She hated this and had begun to hate them all, every man who her father had once trusted as a good leader or advisor.
Please stop.
She never wanted any of this. She never wanted to rule—and she was not prepared to. She had hardly had time to mourn her parents’ deaths.
Please stop, she thought again. But they did not. The group was split. Her father’s senior advisors held tight to tradition. They refused to acknowledge her as queen until she took part in the royal coronation, a time-honored ceremony that would include the rulers of the other Elemental Kingdoms as well as ranking members of the Otherworldly Assembly. Everyone would know.
Please. Please stop.
The younger strategists and planners, more recently removed from the human world, understood Sabrina’s concerns better. She wished to keep her ascension a secret—at least until she had time to hear out all her options, if she had any.
Neither the elders nor the younger advisors agreed with or approved of her actions ten days ago. She had made a promise, one that would protect the lives of tens of thousands of humans and otherworldlies alike. Upon ascension to the Water Kingdom throne, she had to marry the leader of the Tainted, a vile beast called Lord Raion.
A union with the Tainted would change the very shape of the Elemental Kingdoms. In fact, some of her younger advisors theorized that if the Otherworldly Assembly learned of her promise to Lord Raion, they might be tempted to send the wraiths to kill Sabrina just to prevent the Tainted from rising to such power.
Sabrina was living deeply wedged between a rock and a hard place. Her life, once again, felt over. But this time, she had too much to live for to just lie back and let it happen.
As she stared vacantly into the mass of arguing men, she spotted a green light, like the flicker off a gemstone.
Where is that coming from? she wondered as she watched it float.
As the light grew in intensity, Sabrina sensed an otherworldly presence, one of great power. Oh no…
“Guards!” Sabrina shouted only a second before a bright flash of purple light blinded her.
Her eyes shut tightly, her heart sunk as she realized all she could hear was a dull drone. Her wings, which had been tucked in, suddenly unfurled uncontrollably.
We’re—I’m under attack.
A gust of air, stale and hot, blew over her as she reopened her eyes. Standing stock-still in the middle of the room was the elder vampire who had sired Cade: Dunyasha.
The two guards who were positioned behind Sabrina moved in front of her. Coral tridents raised, they stood ready to defend her, but something felt wrong. Sabrina knew that, had the elder vampire wanted, she could have already killed every living being in the room. She was that quick.
“Wait,” she said as she stood.
Four of her largest water spirit guards rushed Dunyasha liked surging waves, but the vampire did not acknowledge their approach. She only cast her gaze forward, meeting Sabrina’s.
Why are you here, Dunyasha?
Their eyes locked, and Sabrina shivered. In Dunyasha’s eyes, she saw a bottomless void of darkness. A cold drop into oblivion. Sabrina felt pulled forward, as if the weight of her body had shifted and she were being drawn into the vampire’s blackness.
What…what is this?
Sabrina felt compelled to stand and move toward the elder vampire, but her wings fluttered, holding her in position. As she continued to stare deeply into the vampire’s eyes, she began to sense more than darkness. Inside them, insider her, was something else, something…
Are you the beginning…or are you the end?
WHOOSH!
Sabrina cringed as the first two water spirts slammed into Dunyasha with such force she expected the elder vampire to be broken in half. One guard struck high, the other low, but their attack was futile. If not for Dunyasha’s gown being torn off by the rushing wa
ters, it would have seemed as though the two spirits had hit a marble statue, not the flesh and blood of a living, albeit dead, woman.
“Stop!” Sabrina called out, but it was too late. Total chaos had erupted before her, and no one was listening.
The fairy-kind men, who had only moments ago thrown words like punches at one another, fled the throne room, gripped by total panic. Some fell, blubbering, and crawled toward exits. Others hid behind tables and chairs while they shouted to the guards for help.
Sabrina pitied them all. These men, they spoke with vigor but would die in their truest forms: feeble and ineffective.
Good luck to you, one and all. She did not know why, but she wished them quick and merciful deaths.
The next two water spirits combined their efforts, towering over Dunyasha in an attempted to hammer her to the ground with fists that looked like small cresting waves.
Sabrina stepped slightly forward in awe of the elder vampire. The water spirits’ efforts had only gotten her wet and scattered her hair. She was entirely unfazed.
“This is useless!” Sabrina shouted. “Stop! Stop this now!”
No one responded and Dunyasha continued to stare solely at Sabrina.
“Damn you all, listen to me!”
More water spirits flowed into the room and flooded it with almost two feet of water.
“Hold her!” one advisor shouted from the far corner of the room. “Do not let her move!”
“Get her feet!”
“Yes, hold her!”
“Drown her!”
One of the men who did not flee—too scared to move, Sabrina imagined—clutched his chest and fell face-first into the water.
“Georgio! Georgio! Someone help him!” One of the senior advisors yelled for his ailing colleague from behind a table.
Sabrina finally broke eye contact with Dunyasha, and in that split second, the vampire moved. With seemingly no effort, the elder being broke free of the three water spirits who had seized her, stepping forward directly through one of the guards who stood in front of her, bursting the elemental like a water balloon.
“Stand the fuck down!” Sabrina screamed as loud as she could, and the light from her wings intensified, shining brightly over her shoulders. “Enough!”
Three Burning Red Runaway Brides Page 3