Three Burning Red Runaway Brides

by Kevin James Breaux

  “It does,” she answered. “What do you want me to do? What do you want to do?”

  Dunyasha flicked her finger out, and like a homing missile it stuck its target: Amber’s clitoris. Amber tried to keep composed but felt like she might come. The sensation had grown to a point of no return.

  “You would be so bold?” Dunyasha asked and then bared her fangs. “So bold to want his mouth on your most delicate and defenseless of spots?”

  Amber considered her answer. “Delicate…yes. Defenseless…no.”

  “You—”

  “I would be so bold. I am so bold.”

  Dunyasha stood up straight, and when she did, Amber stood as well and brushed her breasts against Dunyasha’s as she rose.

  The elder vampire looked surprised. “I may have use for you yet.”

  A tiny voice came from the hallway. “Excuse me, my queen?”

  “We’re closed. Come back later,” Amber said as she maintained eye contact with Dunyasha’s flicking eyes.

  “Funny, I’ve said the same thing.”

  Dunyasha smiled and then moved in a flash of speed back to the floor beneath the throne.

  “No,” Amber said as she took the woman in fully.

  “Yeah, it’s me.”

  Sabrina stood awash in the torchlight from the hall. Amber had not recognized Sabrina at first—it was the oddest feeling for someone who had spent the past few months doing all she could to look just like her.

  “You like?” Sabrina said as she stepped in and shut the double doors behind her. “I’ve never worn my hair so short before.”

  Sabrina’s trademark long platinum hair was gone and replaced by a short shiny black bob hairstyle. She looked like an angsty teenager adorned in bright-red lipstick, a Metallica “Kill’em all” shirt, and tattered blue jeans.

  “You…”

  “Look amazing…I know.” Sabrina sauntered in. “Hey, Duny.”

  Dunyasha nodded. “Sabrina.”

  “You look good up there on my throne, in my dress, with my hair clips and jewelry on. I was watching from outside.” Sabrina smiled. “You even drift off the same way I do.”

  As Sabrina drew closer to the throne, Amber retrieved a tiny coral knife she had hidden on her. She kept it palmed, as she peeked at Dunyasha for some sort of sign.

  Is now the time? Do I kill her now?

  Sabrina stepped right up and wrapped her arms around Amber in a big hug.

  “I’m glad you’re back,” Sabrina said with a big smile, and then whispered, “I kinda missed you, Amber.”

  “You did?”

  “Yeah.”

  Nearly nose to nose, the women looked at each other.

  Sabrina took Amber by her wrists and held on to her; she smirked and then winked. “You look good, but you need one more thing to look great.”

  Sabrina removed her bangle and handed it to Amber, who took it with her left hand, as her right still concealed the blade.

  “Your armband? Your favorite armband?”

  “I know I already gave you a few, but this is the one I’ve worn the most in my life. It’s the one I love, but you know that,” Sabrina said. “It’s time you take it. It and the throne…officially.”

  “Officially?”

  Amber could not believe Sabrina was relinquishing the crown so readily.

  “Afterwards, I was thinking we go someplace dark and quiet and…you know,” Sabrina said as she smiled.

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, I kinda can’t wait to do it again, I mean—”

  “Sabrina!” Dunyasha rose her voice and interrupted.

  Both women answered her call simultaneously. “What?”

  “No,” Sabrina said. “That’s you now. Not me.”

  “I guess.”

  “Both of you, listen to me,” Dunyasha said. “There’s no time for this nonsense.”

  Sabrina nodded. “Right, I’m sorry. I should’ve asked first, the moment I walked in. How did things go with Cade? Did you two…?”

  Amber took a deep breath—her head spun—she did not know how to answer that question. She felt her palm throb around the knife in her hand, as she tightened her fist.

  I could kill her. Right here. Right now. But maybe I don’t have to. Maybe it can wait until after—

  “Cade is gone, Sabrina.” Dunyasha said.

  Sabrina gasped. “Gone?”

  “I unmade him.”

  Glass Houses and the Stones Thrown

  Sabrina’s mind swirled, and she staggered when she turned around. This cannot be happening… Cade… Unmade… It sounded so unreal. She felt like she might pass out at any moment.

  “You unmade him?” she repeated.

  “Unmade?” Amber asked, clearly confused.

  “I followed the plan. The plan you and I created and set into motion.”

  “But Cade—” Sabrina began.

  “He did not believe the lie. And what did we agree, fairy queen?”

  Dunyasha used Sabrina’s own plan against her, and it did not sit well with her. It made her even more sick. “We agreed that anyone who did not believe the lie should be…removed.”

  “Killed,” Dunyasha corrected. “And whose idea was it to send your copycat to see Cade?”

  Sabrina swallowed hard. “Mine.”

  “Therefore, it is you who signed his death warrant, Sabrina. You are responsible. Not me,” Dunyasha said. “You owe me a childe. You owe me a champion.”

  Nothing about that sounded good. It scared her to hear Dunyasha say that.

  “Duny…I…”

  “Silence. The time has finally come.” Dunyasha pointed at Sabrina. “You, Sabrina—you need to hide.”

  Sabrina nodded as she tried to contain her concern.

  “You, Sabrina…” Dunyasha pointed at Amber. “You need to ready yourself. I will go see the Tainted’s leader and tell him you are ready.”

  Amber nodded.

  “Good. When I return, I expect everything settled.”

  “Dunyasha—” Sabrina began.

  “Did your guards see you leave your room looking like this?”

  “No, I dismissed them when I entered the room. No one saw me leave.”

  Dunyasha walked to Sabrina and ran her long fingers through her hair and then pinched the ends near her face. “And did you do this to yourself? Did you cut and dye your own hair?”

  “No.” Sabrina drew a deep breath and then finished. “One of my water spirits helped me.”

  A smile pulled at Dunyasha’s lips. “Tell me, what became of your helper?”

  Sabrina hated being pulled by her nose, being controlled like this. “I bottled him.”

  Dunyasha nodded as she walked away. “Good.”

  Sabrina felt heated. She wanted to tell Dunyasha to fuck off, but she was still afraid of her. So, she just stood there and held it in as the elder vampire left the room.

  “You bottled him?” Amber asked the moment Dunyasha was gone. “What the hell does that mean?”

  “It means he’s stuck in a barrel back in my room. He can’t get out, and he can’t merge with the other spirits. So, what he knows, what he’s seen—”

  “He can’t share.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Wow. I had no idea,” Amber said and then paused a moment. “Wait, have you bottled any of these guys before?”

  “Just one.”

  “Why?”

  It dawned on her why Dunyasha made her admit to what she had done. She wants me to see that I’m no different than her. But I am…I’m much different. “I’d rather not say.”

  “It’s fine.” Skipped nodded. “So, Sabrina, what exactly do we need to do, you know, to make it official?”

  Sabrina had been in a different headspace and did not understand what she was being asked. She could not take her mind off Cade—about Jackson, Peter, and Cade: all the men in her life.

  “What?”

  “Is there some sort of ceremony we need to perform to make me the official rul
er of the Water Kingdom?”

  “Oh. Yes and no. Since you’re not inheriting the throne like I did, all we need to do is go to the Golden Fleece.”

  Amber turned and looked at it where it hung behind the throne. “Yeah?”

  “Yeah,” Sabrina repeated as she walked to it. “All I have to do is gift the Golden Fleece to you. Then we go to bed, and when we wake up tomorrow, it will no longer be mine. You’ll own it and all the power and…” Sabrina opened her arms and waved them around. “All this…this place…this trouble.”

  “And when this is all over?” Amber asked.

  “You gift it back to me.” Sabrina laughed. “If I want it back.”

  “Sounds easy enough,” Amber said. “Is that how the mantle of power is handed over in all the elemental kingdoms?”

  “As far as I know.” Sabrina sighed. “Oh, right, almost forgot. Yes, you will be queen tomorrow, but your powers—your wings may not grow for a few weeks. When my parents died, I felt different, but it took a little while to really…I don’t know…embrace it?”

  Amber joined her at the Golden Fleece. “Interesting.”

  Sabrina reached out and touched it. Regardless of all that was and had just happened, she could not deny that to just look at the thing made her happy. To touch it—that seemed to take away her anxiety, if only for a measure of time.

  “You really like this…thing, don’t you, Sabrina?” Amber asked.

  “I do. I never understood the meaning of the word ‘treasure’ until it became mine. I mean, I had treasured things. My platinum record, for one.”

  “Overkill’s platinum record.”

  Sabrina smirked. “Yeah…”

  “Okay…”

  “Skipper, if there’s anything I can teach you, it’s this—somethings you just don’t truly appreciate until they’re yours.”

  “Don’t you mean until they’re gone?”

  “No, when they’re gone, you do more than just appreciate them—you mourn them.” She thought of Cade and Jackson and Peter again and wanted to cry. “You mourn them deeply.”

  Nut Up or Shut Up

  Sabrina rummaged through Amber’s belongings in the tiny storage room that was her bedroom. The space was poorly lit and tight; Sabrina could barely turn around without having to step on something or bump something with her butt.

  “Why did I make you stay in here?” Sabrina whispered to herself. The room made her feel incredibly claustrophobic. “Why am I so fucking cruel?”

  “I used to ask myself the same question, but I got used to it.”

  Amber’s voice, her real voice, startled Sabrina. When she turned suddenly, she knocked something—she had no idea what—to the floor.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “What are you doing here?”

  Sabrina felt like she had been caught stealing, but that wasn’t the truth—not entirely. “I need supplies—”

  “So you decided to raid my room?”

  “Not like I can raid mine.”

  “True…”

  “Anyway, most of this stuff is mine to begin with.” Sabrina held up a Victoria’s Secret Pink mini-backpack in one hand and a pair of lace thong panties in another. “These were mine.”

  Amber shook her head. “Hate those lace ones.”

  “So, they’re clean?”

  “Never wore them. If I wear panties, I wear the stretch cotton cheeky ones.”

  “Oh…those are nice.”

  Amber smiled. “Right?”

  “Any of them clean?”

  “Yeah, over there in that bag.”

  Sabrina grabbed the bag off the floor and quickly shoved its contents into the backpack.

  “Where are you going, Sabrina?”

  That’s the real question you’ve wanted to ask me, isn’t it, Skipper? Sabrina thought.

  “Other side of the island, far away from what is about to happen.”

  “The mermaid side?”

  “There’s a cove and some caves there. Perfect to hide out a few days.”

  “Good.”

  Sabrina didn’t want to continue the conversation, and she didn’t want to miss out on this opportunity either; her guilt was just too strong.

  “Skip—Amber, I wanted to take a moment to apologize.” Sabrina drew a deep breath. “For all of this, from the surgeries, to the missions, none of it was easy and I know I was total bitch at times.”

  Amber agreed.

  “I just want you to know that I appreciate all you’ve done for me and all you’re still doing and about to do. I really appreciate you.”

  “Thanks.”

  “I don’t have many friends. And even fewer people I trust. I just want you to know that you are my friend and…” Sabrina paused steady herself. “I love you, Amber.”

  Amber’s face went blank.

  She must not have expected to hear that, Sabrina thought. “Promise me something?”

  “Anything.”

  “Take care of my daughter until this is over. Only you can do that now.”

  “I will. I promise,” Amber answered. “Not like I—you…I can visit her. Never understood that weird rule.”

  “Me either. I suspect it’s because the elemental kingdoms have always been ruled by men.”

  “I hadn’t thought of that. You know, that makes you the first queen.”

  “Well, you’re the queen now. And you can change the rules of separation if you want.”

  “I’ll be the queen in the morning.”

  Sabrina smiled. “True enough.”

  She packed a few more things in the small backpack and then zipped it up and threw it over her shoulder. As she walked out the door to where Amber stood, she paused, turned, and placed a small kiss on Amber’s lips.

  “Put some Chapstick on, babe. Those lips of yours are dry.”

  “I will.”

  Sabrina looked over Amber’s shoulder and then took a peek behind her. There were no guards present, so she leaned in for another kiss, as her hand glided up and took Amber’s left breast in a tight squeeze.

  “I’m going to miss you, hot stuff.”

  “I-I’m gonna miss you too.”

  When Sabrina reached the side of the island the mermaids lived on, she was mentally ready to do what she needed to do. She had gone over her plans several times and practiced what she would say.

  She turned her cell phone on—not her normal everyday one, but one she’d owned prior to coming to the island and becoming queen of the Water Kingdom. This phone—it was special.

  Her guards kept it out of her reach, in the depths of the palace. Sabrina had her double steal it weeks ago and then replace it with an identical one, so no one would know it was gone. She did this for one reason and one reason alone. She wanted to read all the messages Jackson had sent her over the months they had been separated. She wanted to know if he felt the same way she did.

  As soon as she turned the cell on, Zella emerged from the darkness without a sound.

  “I need that. Is that mine?” she asked from the dark water.

  “I got one for you. Don’t worry.”

  “Oh, good. Thank you, my queen.” Zella bowed as she bobbed. “Have you come to make your trip?”

  “Not tonight…tomorrow afternoon.”

  “Does anyone know?”

  “No one…except you, Zella.”

  “I will not tell a soul.”

  “Good.” Sabrina nodded.

  “This man, you seek—is he a good lover?”

  She smirked. “I guess. Yes.”

  “Do you love him?”

  “I’m not sure. But I’d like to find out.”

  Zella nodded. Sabrina knew what it was like to be mimicked and why. Zella did it to ease people, to take their minds off how dangerous she was.

  Sabrina looked at the cell phone. There were over three hundred new messages on it. Some from Jackson, some from Moselle. Even a few from Cade.

  It had been months since she had spoken to any of them, and
she had not left any of them on good terms. None of them even knew where she was. It all made her suddenly sad.

  “What’s wrong, my queen?”

  “I just keep realizing how much of an asshole I am today.” Sabrina sighed. “I’ve treated so many people terribly.”

  “You are queen.”

  “That’s not a good excuse.”

  “If ever there was one…it is.”

  “Zella…”

  “I will never forget what you told me when you were just a child.”

  “Yeah? What?”

  “You told me to be myself,” Zella said.

  Sabrina remembered it. “I told you that if you are a beautiful mermaid to be a beautiful mermaid and not to let anyone else tell you otherwise.”

  “So, what are you, Sabrina?”

  Sabrina thought a moment and smiled. “I am Queen of the Water Kingdom and I am fabulous.”

  She positioned the camera up over her head and then aimed it down her shirt until the phone’s screen was full of cleavage. She clicked the button and the flash fired.

  “And I’m not as easy as I used to be Zella.”

  “Make your man earn it.”

  “I will.” Sabrina drew a deep breath. “I just hope…I just hope he forgives me. Forgives her…forgives us. Damn it.”

  “What?”

  Sabrina chuckled. “I should not be leaving the island. But I need to.”

  “You’ve always done what you need to.”

  “Exactly.” Sabrina waved her phone up near her head as she nodded. “I’ll send this later. I need to figure out a few things first.”

  Burn, Baby, Burn

  No matter how hard he tried, Jackson could not free himself of from the memories of the fire. PTSD gripped him tightly. Especially at night, he could not escape its terrible grasp.

  Jackson ignored the alarms; another fire drill he figured. These things are way too frequent. And poorly timed. Weston, where the fuck are you? Where is Sabrina?

  He paced the floor as he waited for Weston to return with Sabrina. Minutes passed and soon, he heard more than just alarms; he heard the panic-filled screams of his neighbors echo in the hallways. This was not a drill. This was real.

  Jackson opened the door and instantly smelled smoke.

  “Oh shit!”