“Of course.”
“Good. Meet me in the throne room after that’s been done.”
Sabrina strolled down the hallways until she reached the room Dunyasha stayed in. It was not far from Amber’s spot. In a quiet end of the sunken palace, Dunyasha’s room was the next to flood if the water rose.
Sabrina tapped on the door three times. It never took more than one knock—Dunyasha moved so quick and would have the door open before Sabrina’s knuckles could connect a second time. Which meant that, by the third knock, Sabrina was sure she was gone.
They must’ve left to find Cade. I guess I’ll have to wait until they return.
Sabrina passed by Amber’s door, which was open. She peeked her head in and found the tiny space empty, as expected. Sabrina had not meant for Amber to spend her entire stay in the ruins inside a room that was formerly used for storage; it had just worked out that way.
“Guard?” Sabrina called out, though there were no water spirits in sight. Almost instantly, the gutters that ran through the hall surged with water and one of her guards formed up.
“Oh, Culligan, I wasn’t expecting you. I was kinda expecting Crystal or maybe Voss.”
“My queen, you are needed in the throne room.”
“I’m sure, but—” Sabrina began.
“There was an accident last night.”
“I heard.” Sabrina shook her head. “Why are you here? Where’s Crystal?”
“He’s in the throne room.”
“So, you didn’t just respond to my call?”
“No. I heard your call, and it helped me locate you, but no, I was not responding to it.”
Sabrina looked up and down the hallway. It was quiet—in some ways, quieter than normal. “Where is everyone?”
“Topside and the throne room.”
Sabrina sighed. This morning was not going to turn out the way she’d expected. “Fine. Let’s go then.”
“My queen,” Culligan paused. “Your state of dress, it’s…”
Sabrina looked down at herself. She could almost see her nipples through the gown, but today, she was fine with that. “What of it? I’m comfortable and I was planning on eating breakfast on the beach.”
“I could go to your room, find you a formal dress, if you’d like?”
“No, Culligan. I’m fine. I can speak to everyone in the throne room dressed like this. You know…” She thought back to something Alexander Kintner said to her while she was captured by him. “We fairy used to be smaller, and we never wore clothes. When did we get so uptight? When did my nipples become a problem for other fairy-kind?”
“When you became queen.”
“Yeah, no. I would assume it was way before that, Culligan. Way before.”
The walk to the throne room was not long. Sabrina barely had time to think, her mind still preoccupied with last night’s pleasures.
From outside the doors, the throne room was alive with the sound of many of her advisors’ voices, but when she opened the doors and stepped in the place went dead silent.
“Thank you,” she said as she walked to her throne, sat and crossed her legs. “I was hoping for a quieter day today.”
Sabrina looked around the room. The older advisors looked scared. It was when she laid eyes on one of the guards who normally stood watch in a specific location—and only there, never anywhere else—did she begin to panic.
“What’s Perrier doing here? Perrier, what are you doing here?” Sabrina’s voice rose. “Who has your post?”
“My queen, there was an accident last night,” Perrier said.
“People keep saying that to me. What happened?”
“Rose Sterling was found dead this morning.”
Sabrina stood, and when she did, her wings flashed at her back. “What? Is she okay?”
“She is fine.”
“What happened to Rose?” Sabrina asked.
“It looks as if she fell down the stairs,” Perrier explained.
“Where?”
“In the back of the palace.”
“An accident?” Sabrina said. “It was an accident? Are you sure, Perrier?”
“Yes, my queen.”
“So then, why are you all here, making such noise?”
Many of the advisors in the crowd replied at once, and she silenced them all.
“If everyone is so sure this is an accident, then treat it so. Don’t be running in circles like we’re under attack.” Sabrina withdrew her wings and sat down. “Everyone’s dismissed. Everyone except Culligan and Perrier.”
One of the elder advisors spoke up. “My queen, there are several other topics to address. Such as…have you started reading your father’s journals yet?”
Sabrina hated being asked that question; it seemed like one of the older advisors inquired about the journals almost daily. She wanted to speak her mind, to tell these old men she had no desire to read the books. She wanted to stand up and pitch them into the fire and watch them burn in front of everyone. She wanted to tell everyone who bowed to her father during his rule that she did not need to read her father’s spiteful, hateful words of disappointment, that not a day went by that she did not hear them in her head. But she did not.
“Not today.” Sabrina put up her hand. “Today’s my day off.”
“My queen, those journals carry vital information for your reign. The words inside are passed down from ruler to ruler. You need to—”
“No. I don’t. Dismissed.”
She waited a moment for the room to clear, and once it was, she stood again.
“Culligan, have we been infiltrated?”
The water spirit surged forward from where he stood at the door, what little face he had showing no emotion. “I don’t think so.”
“Don’t think so?”
“Form up, both of you.”
There was a rule—one made long ago by a ruler Sabrina knew nothing of, not even his name—that stated water spirits were barred from taking human form while in the royal palace and were only allowed to on the island grounds when granted special favor by a member of the royal family.
Sabrina disagreed with that rule and this was not the first time she had ordered a spirit to form up.
“Yes, my queen.”
Culligan took shape first, with Perrier soon to follow.
Once formed, the two looked like tall, muscular, nude men. It did not faze Sabrina; she had seen it all before.
“Thank you.” She nodded. “Now, Culligan…Perrier, you know I cannot read your faces when you’re in your natural shape. I can’t tell if what you’re saying to me is true or not.”
“I have never lied to you, my queen.”
“I know, Culligan… Please humor me, okay?”
Both elementals nodded.
“Okay. So, Perrier, when did this accident occur?”
“Late last night.”
“And when did you see Rose last?”
“When she dismissed me from duty last night.”
“She did what?”
“She dismissed me and my partner.”
“Why would she do that?”
“She only dismisses us, for a short time, when you come to visit. I only imagined—”
“No.” Sabrina shook her head. “I wasn’t there. I’m bound by the rules of separation.”
“Then I have no clue why she dismissed us.”
Sabrina turned her attention to Culligan again. “You’re sure that no members of the Tainted have infiltrated our island?”
“The living oil, slimes, and fungus cannot reach us. They would all die. Smog spirts, even concentrated, would be torn apart by ocean winds. They cannot make the trip either.”
“And those creepy-ass irradiated earth things?”
“They do not move like normal earth spirts, melding with and flowing through clean dirt. They are slow and need to be near other forms of pollution to stay alive.”
Pollution. Sabrina shivered with the thought of it. She did not like to even h
ear that name.
“And what of Pollution? He—it could get here. It goes wherever it wants.”
“Doubtful. As your advisors have suggested—”
“Suggested, theorized, guessed,” Sabrina said. “Where are the facts?”
“The fact is Pollution has never come here before. We all believe the ocean would kill it. It could not reach us here, my queen, not even if it tunneled under the earth. Too many obstacles remain.”
“Yes, too much risk,” Perrier added.
“Skipper and Dunyasha. They were at the site of a Tainted attack…” Sabrina thought back to what Jackson had told her months ago, how the Tainted had covered his car and shoes and found their way into Mosselle’s home that way. “A slime or living oil could have snuck into our home, on Skipper maybe, through Dunyasha’s portal.”
“It’s possible but highly doubtful, my queen,” Culligan replied, and then squirmed a bit in place. “I-I saw Skipper when she returned that night, and she…she…”
“What?”
“She was barely dressed. In fact, she might as well have been nude, my queen. I cannot imagine where a slime would have hidden.”
Sabrina thought about that. He was probably right, but something still felt off.
“Look, I’m still not convinced. The way I see it, we have two options. We sit here and do nothing and wait to see if another person shows up suddenly, oddly, dead. Or, we raise the alert. We search the island and check it top to bottom for intruders, just to be safe.”
Perrier and Culligan both agreed.
“Good. Culligan, rally the royal guards and sweep the palace. If you have any doubts, let me know. As much as I hate the idea, I can always flood these ruins.”
“Yes, my queen.”
“Perrier, I need you to protect my child at all costs. If this was an attempt on her life…” Sabrina had a hard time finishing her thought. “Just… It cannot happen again, okay?”
“Yes, my queen. No one will reach her.”
“Good. Go.”
Perrier stepped toward the door, and before he reached it he popped like a balloon, spilling to the ground in a giant puddle of water as he retook his natural shape.
Culligan swayed nervously as he waited for Perrier to leave. Once gone, he spoke. “What will you do, my queen?”
“I’m going topside to have breakfast with Chelsea. I’ll inform her that we need her people to search from above.”
“Yes, my queen.”
“And one last thing. I want you to practice taking form. Your flesh tones need improvement and you all need to learn how to mimic hair better.”
“Yes, my queen.”
“And, Culligan.” Sabrina smirked. “It’s past time you practice as women.”
“Yes, my queen.”
“Dismissed.”
Impatience is a Virtue
Amber paced. The sun was bright, and the air was dry. This place was much different than the island she had called home for the past few months. She gazed up at the mountain ridge and then out into the seemingly endless desert. Quiet and seemingly lifeless. Here, in a spot so difficult to survive, hid a family of vampires who only knew survival.
She bent over and took a pinch of sand. “At least there’s no water here.”
A male voice came from within the dark cave in front of her. “Well, well, well. Look at what we got here. Here indeed. Here in need.”
Amber took a step back and made sure there was, as Dunyasha said, a good fifty feet or more of bright sunlight between her and the shadows of the cave.
“Who are you?” Amber called out. “Wait, don’t tell me. I know this one. You’re just a bloke.”
“Bloke,” he laughed. “A bloke like me could have a lass like you for supper if he wanted.”
“A bloke like you could try,” she said, carefully considering if she should pop her wings or not.
“My eyes, ain’t never seen the likes of ye. Barely see you now. But I know ye. I know ye well, Sabrina London fairy falling down. Falling down. Falling down.”
Although she knew he mocked her, Amber smiled. She could cross another name off Sabrina’s list. She had fooled another one.
“God save the queen, huh?”
“God save the king,” he said. “Ain’t no more rulers once yer dead. None save for Dunyasha. But you know that. She’s taken a liking to you.”
Amber watched as the hooded man stepped closer to the mouth of the cave. She could see him now, and her eyes focused on his scars.
“You’ve been burned.”
“Haven’t we all?”
Amber smiled. “True, but you-you know the true touch of the flames. Don’t you, bloke?”
He groaned and then shouted. “Shut yer bleeding gob[3], whore.”
There was a sudden burst of motion, and in the blink of an eye, Dunyasha stood between them, covered in bright sunlight.
The guy cowered at first, then shuffled forward and whispered to his master.
“I woke after Cade and Nico left…and left a note, they did. Said they’d return soon. They should’ve been back a day ago.”
“I feel them here,” Dunyasha said. “And I feel them there.”
“How’s that possible, mistress?”
Dunyasha answered him with a glare. “I smell death…ancient…familiar…”
“Note says he and Nico were helping out some bird called Moselle.”
Dunyasha’s head tilted. “The abomination…”
“Moselle?” Amber called out. “Here? Why? What the hell does she want?”
The bloke stepped closer to the sunlight. “I should kill ye. I want to kill ye.”
“Edmund. Stop.”
“Edmund?” Amber chuckled. “Your name is Edmund?”
“Silence yourself, doppelganger.” Dunyasha turned to Amber. “Were I not here, he would tear you asunder.”
“Eat your parts. All your parts.”
“Who else wakes?” Dunyasha asked.
“No one. The Slumber has them tight. Snug as bugs.”
“When we find Cade, you will do what you must.” She moved suddenly and now stood inches away from Amber. “After, I will return him here and we will finish this.”
“Sounds good to me,” Amber said as she felt her nerves spike. “I want this finished too, you know.”
Dunyasha pointed at Amber. “Stay.”
Dunyasha guided the other vampire back into the cave. She desired a moment to speak with her kin alone, far away from the fairy’s abundant curiosity.
Once deep enough, the elder vampire made two fists. She wanted to punch something—someone—but knew doing so would not solve her problems and would only destroy whatever she touched. Still, as her knuckles cracked, she imagined pounding away at the cave’s wall until the entire mountain side crumbled.
“I feel your exasperation. Mistress, are you well?”
“I am past. I am present. I am future,” Dunyasha spoke to him with her mind when she closed her eyes. “I am me. I am her. She is me. She is I.”
“Which are you now?”
She opened her eyes and answered, “I am present.”
“Present, present, present.”
Dunyasha could feel Edmund’s fear, Amber’s ambition, even her other childe[4], Natalia’s lust as she slept. Dunyasha remembered a time, long ago, when she was aware of the emotions of others but did not feel them so powerfully. This curse—this punishment—it grows ever more intolerable.
“Tell me,” she said, prompting her childe to speak.
“I-I seen her again. I s-seen you, Dunyasha,” Edmund said as he started to tremble. “I’m knackered. Don’t know if I’m awake or asleep. Is it the Slumber, do all vampires have such visions? Such nightmares?”
“What did you learn this time?”
“She’s trapped. Time has no meaning to her anymore. She exists now and then, then and now. She bounces back and forth. Nowhere and everywhere, but no time. Never any time.”
“Calm…”
; He slowed and placed his head in his hands. “One for each kingdom. One for each king.”
“I’m close. Did you tell her such?”
“Aye, I tried. It was a flash…a blink. Did I wake up? Or did I fall asleep? She—she only said one thing.” He looked pained as he retold it. “She said, ‘Death is here…collecting. Gathering.’”
Dunyasha’s eyes went wide as she understood. “I should have known.”
“What?”
“It sounds like my sister has discovered a way to undo her curse.” She gave her childe a gentle push toward the others. “It’s time to wake up. Rally your children, Edmund. Make sure they all know the Tainted are to blame.”
“Aye, will do.”
Massacre City
Dunyasha’s portal opened on a quiet cul-du-sac. It was early in the evening and the sky was clear. Amber thought it was a beautiful night but wondered where everyone was. The street seemed empty.
“Where are we now, Duny?”
“Sabrina once called it Cade’s love nest.” She stepped forward, the breeze setting her gown aflutter. “This town is called Long Beach, California. It is the site of the Los Angeles Air Raid of 1942. I remember 1942. I remember World War II.”
“You remember that old war?”
“I remember all old wars.”
“So, this…” Amber pointed to the four two-story buildings. “This is Cade’s home away from cave-home?”
“It is.” Dunyasha pointed. “That one to be precise.”
“Perfect. Much cozier than that hole in the ground, and you know, if I’m gonna seduce the guy, it might as well be somewhere with a comfy bed and not a pile of rocks to—”
“Stop talking.”
“Gah…I know. I even hate myself for saying that. I mean, fuck, I sound like her, I look like her, and now I’m even thinking like her. Cozier? Who the fuck says cozier? And who the fuck needs a cozy place to—”
“Silence!”
Amber shut her mouth and held still. Dunyasha had scared her—her tone, her sudden surge forward five feet. Amber’s intuition said she should release her wings, that this was an attack. But she could not sense anything out of the ordinary, and when she focused, she discovered the presence of only one otherworldly: a vampire. That was what she expected. That was why she was here.
Three Burning Red Runaway Brides Page 8