Three Burning Red Runaway Brides

by Kevin James Breaux

  Amber sneered.

  Dunyasha’s eyebrow raised. “There, yes—finally, your true feelings.”

  Amber felt aggravated—something about this place made her want to fight. Made her want to scream. Made her want to kill.

  “Look. I’m no longer hiding my true hatred under fabricated hatred. Looking like this…”—she motioned to her face and body—“things are fucking muddy enough. You want truth, Duny? I’ll tell you the truth. First up, I’m not just some pissed-off-for-no-reason fairy. I’m fucking royalty. Real royalty. I’m the god-damned princess of the Fire Kingdom,” she spit. “Well, at least one of them. Or I was one of them: the youngest one.”

  “Destined to watch as another rules,” Dunyasha said. “Your ruse upon ruse—was it all for selfish gain?”

  “I don’t know. All I know is that I’ll never become Queen of the Fire Kingdom. Even after my father dies, I have three sisters before me. Like you said, I’m destined to watch, I never would’ve ruled, no matter how badly I wanted to—how badly I deserved it.”

  “Your father—” Dunyasha began.

  “Exiled me.”

  She began again. “Your father—"

  “Forged a weapon not a daughter. He’d had enough daughters, enough princesses. He needed something else. So that is what I became…something else.”

  Dunyasha laughed heartily, and it creeped Amber out. “I inadvertently set your plan into motion.”

  “It’s fate.”

  “It is fate.”

  “So, yeah, when my father sold my services to Sabrina, I realized something. If I can’t rule the Fire Kingdom—”

  “You can rule the Water one.”

  “All I need to do is kill Sabrina London.”

  Dunyasha moved to Amber’s side unexpectedly, and the pace of her words matched in expedience. “Can you?”

  Amber drew a deep breath and then snapped her fingers. “Not a problem.”

  “You fairies—pretty on the outside yet black-hearted on the inside.”

  “I just want what I deserve.”

  Dunyasha placed her icy hand on Amber’s shoulder. “Me too.”

  “So how do we help each other?”

  “First, you must officially take Sabrina’s place, her throne. Then, I suppose, we must get rid of the threat of the Filth King. Then you must destroy the source of the Water Kingdom’s power.”

  “The Golden Fleece?”

  Dunyasha nodded.

  “Fuck. I was going to do all that anyway.”

  “There’s one other thing.”

  “Name it.”

  “Kill Sabrina’s child.”

  Amber was stunned. She did not know how to react, yet she did not want to show weakness. Killing came easily for Amber, but to murder a child—that was a low she had not stepped to. At least…

  “You are conflicted. Is there a problem, copycat? You have burned down buildings before—buildings with mothers and babies inside.”

  “My elementals did.”

  “Yes, your elementals did. If ending the bloodline of the Water Kingdom is a problem for you—”

  Amber interrupted. “No. No, it’s not a problem. I’ll do it.” Then it dawned on her. “There’s something I will need. Some help from you. You see, there’s someone who will no doubt try and stop me. Or, at the very least, seek revenge once this…this thing…is all done. You might need to kill that person for me, Duny.”

  A sour look formed on the elder vampire’s face. “You wish me to kill my own childe? You wish me to kill Cade?”

  “I think that’s only fair. Right?”

  Dunyasha turned and walked away. “I planned to kill his childe. Blame the act on the Tainted. Throw the vampire clans into war. This…this will do the same but at a larger cost.”

  “A cost you’ll pay?”

  “Yes. A cost I will pay, fairy.”

  “Good. Let’s get home.”

  Lessons Learned

  Something bothered Sabrina so much she could not sleep. Her gut twisted and turned. She paced the palace and its grounds for hours and, by sunrise, had ended up at the cove where the mermaids lived.

  Few fairies went there; the mermaids were not officially a part of the Water Kingdom. They had only been given sanctuary there years ago by Sabrina’s father.

  Deemed a lesser race of otherworldlies, like pixies and gnomes, mermaids were beggars and thieves and generally thought of as untrustworthy. But first and foremost, they were a reminder to all of fairy-kind, who often saw themselves as the most beautiful of the otherworldlies, that there was something far more alluring than them.

  At one of the old broken piers on the east side, Sabrina dipped her toes in the water and stared up at the early morning sky. She had concluded late last night that she could not stay here on the island much longer. She needed an escape, if only briefly, to clear her mind. The thought of her old freedom seemed to be the only thing that could settle her nerves.

  “You know, most sharks hunt at dusk or dawn,” a sweet voice sung from the water below her.

  Sabrina instantly recognized it. It was one of the mermaids she had befriended long ago. “Good thing you’re not a shark, Zella.”

  Zella ran her fingers between Sabrina’s toes, making Sabrina shiver and sit up. “You should come swim with me.”

  Sabrina smiled as she looked down at the captivating fish-girl. “Rule number one on this island: don’t swim with the mermaids.”

  “Aww.”

  Her every word—every syllable—was a perfect tone. Sabrina always thought Zella’s voice was the most amazing one she had ever heard, and when she was young, on her rare visits, she’d begged her father to let her sing with Zella.

  “You look sad, my queen. Or shall I just call you Sabrina today?”

  “I am sad.”

  “Give me that shell over there, the one behind you. Give it to me and I will sing you a song,” Zella said with urgency, as she pointed. “Or we could sing one together, if you’d prefer? I only want to give you what you desire most.”

  “I’d like that.”

  Sabrina stood up and fetched the shell Zella wanted. She also picked up her half-empty bottle of wine and the sandals she wore.

  “Can I have those too?” Zella sung out.

  Sabrina knew she would want them. “Of course.”

  Sabrina pitched the shell to Zella, then the sandals. She sat down on the edge of the pier and dipped her feet back in the water. She popped the cork out of the wine and took a drink. “Come up here, Zella.”

  “Up?”

  Sabrina patted her lap.

  Zella place her webbed hands on the pier and started to pull herself up. As she did, Sabrina stared lustfully at her body. Is this what I want? she wondered.

  In no time Zella was up, between Sabrina’s legs. The lower portion of her body rested against the edge of the pier, while her long scale-covered tail remained in the water.

  Sabrina leaned forward and took another drink of wine. “It’s good. Do you want some?”

  “You know I do.”

  Sabrina took another drink, a sizable one, and reached behind Zella’s neck, to where her long, shell-decorated, blond hair hung slick and wet. Once Sabrina had a handful of hair, she pulled it, tilting Zella’s head back so she could slowly spit the wine out of her mouth and into the mermaid’s.

  Zella giggled at first but accepted the wine, and when she drank it all, she looked Sabrina in the eyes. “You like to swim with sharks?”

  “No other way to swim.”

  Zella smiled again, her eyes touched with a diamond-like glitter.

  She’s a vision…straight out of the old mythology books. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was the very image of Aphrodite. Sabrina returned the mermaid’s gaze and then tipped the wine bottle to her.

  “I want that. Please give it to me.”

  “You want this?”

  “Please. I need that.”

  “Here…”

  Sabrina held the bot
tle up to Zella’s lips and poured some wine into her mouth, slowly at first, but then she titled the bottle, so it came out faster than the mermaid could drink. The red wine poured down Zella’s chin to her chest where it coated her breasts and raced down to her stomach.

  Sabrina reached out, cupped Zella’s bare breast, and gave it a squeeze. She massaged it until her index and thumb reached the nipple.

  Zella moaned. “Mmmm. You want to fuck me?”

  “Maybe I want you to fuck me, Zella.”

  Zella smiled again, this time with her teeth, her sharp, jagged, sharklike teeth. Up until that moment, Sabrina had forgotten about them.

  This is how they kill men, she reminded herself. Snapping out of it, she pinched the mermaid’s nipple and then tossed the wine bottle several feet behind her.

  Zella yelped before she dropped back into the water and submerged herself.

  Sabrina watched Zella’s tail cut trails in the water as she swam to the where the wine bottle landed, retrieved it, and swam back.

  “I like your game, my queen.”

  “I’m not playing, Zella.”

  “So, you don’t want to fuck?”

  Sabrina had to think about it a second and clear her head before she answered. “No.”

  Zella pouted. Sabrina imagined this was how it was to talk to her when she wanted something too.

  “I just want to talk, Zella.”

  “You’re depressed. You wish you could leave here. Am I right?”

  Sabrina nodded. “Your empathic abilities are very good.”

  “Oh, it’s not that.” Zella pointed to the open sea. “That is the direction of your homelands. The New World. America. When you New World fairies get homesick, you always come to this side of the island.”

  “Makes sense.”

  “Your father would come here too.”

  Sabrina looked down at Zella who licked her lips. “I don’t want to know.”

  “Fine,” Zella said, laughing, and grandly motioned at the sea. “So, go.”

  “Go?”

  “Home.”

  Sabrina sneered. “I can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “The helicopter is gone and—”

  “Helicopter? You think you need those modern mechanical death traps to travel?”

  “Um…yeah…”

  “You don’t know.”

  “Know what?”

  “Full of secrets, your father.” Zella shook her head. “So full of secrets.”

  “What, Zella? Tell me.”

  “You, your bloodline, you can travel with the water, in the water, as the water.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Zella dunked herself and whipped her hair back. She looked at Sabrina intently as she traced her lips with her index finger. “What can you give me? I want something new. Something I don’t have.”

  “I don’t know.” Sabrina sighed. “Just tell me, okay?”

  “No, I need something new.”

  Sabrina remembered she had a picture of a morganite necklace she planned to buy on her phone, so she thumbed to it and showed Zella. “How about I get you one of these? I was going to order one for myself, but I could order two.”

  “What is that?”

  “What?”

  Zella pointed. “That thing in your hand.”

  “My phone?” Sabrina smirked. “You’ve never seen one?”

  “I see you fairies and your toys and trinkets but never have I been shown one.” Zella treaded closer. “It’s magical.”

  “I guess it can be. But it can also be a curse.”

  “I want one.”

  “Then I’ll get you one—one that’s waterproof,” Sabrina lied. There was no way she would give something like that to one of the mermaids; it was too dangerous.

  “I want yours.”

  “No.”

  “Yes. I need yours. Give it to me.”

  “No, Zella.”

  “Then, I’ll leave.”

  “If you leave, I’ll tell my people they no longer need to dump the leftovers and wasted foodstuff here. Maybe we’ll just burn it with the rest of the trash.”

  “No!”

  “No?” Sabrina answered. “Then we have a deal?”

  “You will get me one of your magical phone mirrors?”

  “Yes.” Sabrina lied. “You’ve known me since I was a child. You know you can trust me.”

  “I want a lip plumper too.”

  Sabrina laughed. “Now how do you know about those?”

  Zella shrugged shyly.

  “Fine. Done. Now, tell me what you know.”

  Zella swam excitedly side to side and then rested into a treading motion about twenty feet from the end of the pier.

  “Can I assume you have created elementals?”

  “No,” Sabrina said as she shook her head. “The palace, this island, there are so damn many already. At times, it feels like an infestation. I don’t need to create any.”

  “But you know how to summon them nonetheless, correct? You know how to control them, make them change shape or combine?”

  “A little…yes,” Sabrina answered as she stood up. “Anyway, I have little use for any of that. I mean, I know if there is water around I can use it to create an elemental if needed.”

  “Well…imagine if one of your elemental guards were here. Imagine if they jumped into the ocean right where your feet just dipped in. Can you do that, my queen?”

  “Okay.”

  “Look down at the ocean. Now tell me, where would that elemental be right now? Point to the spot.”

  Sabrina sighed and pointed directly down.

  “Are you sure?” Zella asked. “Why there?”

  “Because that’s where he jumped in.”

  “That may be true, but I ask you this: Once in the water, merged, blended with a like element, how can you be sure exactly where your guard went? Wouldn’t he be where all water is?”

  Sabrina rubbed her temples and then her eyes. “What are you trying to ask me?”

  “I am asking you this,” Zella said. “Where does one drop of water end and another begin? The sea…is it one large entity or billions of little ones? How do you perceive it? Water? Do you perceive it the same way you do air or earth?”

  Sabrina had never thought of it before now. “I guess I think of the ocean as all one big thing. It may be divided into different parts, but those parts all touch. What makes the Atlantic Ocean different than the Pacific? Nothing really.”

  “Exactly. Nothing. Seven Seas…silly human nonsense.”

  Sabrina started to feel smart.

  “So, yeah, a lake is confined to a small space with easily defined borders.” She pointed. “This ocean…the ocean is all one big thing. One piece.”

  “One piece,” Zella repeated. “One must understand the sea to become one with it.”

  “I think I understand.”

  Zella shook her head. “No thinking. No guessing.”

  Sabrina nodded. “The air I breathe here is the same air you breathe there, which is the same air someone breathes—”

  “On the other side of the ocean.” Zella smiled. “Your father used to say that all the time. You do understand.”

  “I think…yes, I do understand.”

  “Good.” Zella swam around in several circles. “Do you trust me?”

  “No.” Sabrina smirked as she crossed her arms.

  Zella titled her head to the side. “Why not?”

  “I may believe the words that come out of your mouth, Zella, but I know that is the same mouth that has killed…how many men would you say now?”

  Zella shrugged. “A few.”

  “A few hundred.”

  “I have lived a long life.”

  “And I intend to live one too.”

  Sabrina and Zella stared at each other a moment until Zella laughed.

  “Just like your father…”

  “I’m not afraid.”

  Zella nodded. “Then release your win
gs.”

  Sabrina did not hold back. She released her wings and allowed them to grow to full size. When the shadow of her energy-based wings eclipsed Zella, the mermaid trembled.

  No longer feeling the safety of being the predator, are you Zella?

  “So big…”

  “Thanks.”

  “Much larger than your father’s.”

  “Of course, they are.”

  Zella stared a moment.

  “What’s next?”

  “You land creatures, you bathe in tubs. Have you ever controlled that much water?”

  “Yes.” Sabrina groaned. “I understand how to control water, Zella.”

  “Good. There’s no difference here.” Zella opened her arms and motioned around her. “Just more—much, much more.”

  “So what do I do?”

  Zella cocked her head. “Your father used to do this all the time. He really never showed you, never told you?”

  “He always said he traveled by boat and helicopter and—”

  “He lied to you.”

  Sabrina huffed. “I know.”

  “Have your read his journals?” Zella asked. “Perhaps they can—”

  “Fucking journals. No. I don’t want—I don’t care about his fucking journals.”

  “Okay. Well…your father used to tell us mermaids stories. Beautiful tales about how the ancient fairy-kind could all fly. He-he could only hover; you—you can do much more.”

  “I can.”

  “I have seen you fly around the island, over the surf and high into the sky, my queen.” Zella pointed. “You flap your wings and go.”

  “Well, it’s more than that. My wings help me manipulate the wind and air currents. I fly atop them.”

  “Yes,” Zella said. “And so shall you ride the currents of the water, but instead of above, from within, and much, much faster.”

  “I don’t see how.”

  “All you need to do is reach out and touch it. Focus on how the seas are all one. Just reach down, focus, and do it,” Zella explained. “Like your wings, these powers must be used to make them stronger.”

  “Those are my dad’s words; he said them to me whenever he wanted me to train.”

  Zella nodded and bowed at the waist.