“Seriously? Well, can I just run to the bathroom and change?”
At this point another valet, a man in his thirties wearing gold chains around his neck approached. “Is there a problem here?”
“Yes.”
“No. Look, I just want to change and get something to drink.”
The two valets looked at each other, and then the younger one walked away to get a car for a senior couple that had been waiting patiently. When he was gone, the older valet stepped up to Sabrina.
“Look, honey, I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry?”
“Yeah, I wish I could bend the rules for you kids, but I can’t. We have a dress code and a real fancy crowd inside tonight. Can’t have your rolling in looking like…like that.”
She shook her backpack at the valet. “I’ll change.”
“Sweetie,” he said as he put his hand on her shoulder. “You don’t have to change, you just gotta go down the street—find another spot to eat, drink, whatever it is you wanna do.”
Sabrina brushed the man’s hand off her and pointed her finger in his face. “Do you know who I am? I’m the motherfucking—”
“Best there is at what you do, right?” he interrupted with a chuckle. “Look, I’m sure the rich guys love you. I mean, I’m buying what your selling, honey. I am. But not here. Not now.”
Sabrina wanted to release her wings and show him who she truly was. “You bastard…”
“No reason to get all fired up. I got you. Look, if you promise to leave, I’ll go grab you a burger and pop. You’d like that, right?”
Sabrina did not know whether to scream or cry. “Fuck off.”
“Fine,” he said, then lowered his voice. “You get the fuck off this property.”
Sabrina used her charm to get one of the male patrons, who left the restaurant soon after she did, to call her an Uber. He even paid for it. He didn’t have to. Sabrina had money, but she enjoyed the gesture, especially after the rejection she’d faced from the valets.
She told the Uber driver she wanted to go to three places, starting with her old storage facility. He had informed her that the area was condemned, but she told him she wanted to see it regardless.
Sabrina changed out of her clothes in the backseat. It wasn’t her first time doing this, but she was used to a little more space inside a limo…and a privacy screen. Regardless, she was out of her wet clothes and into her dry ones so quickly the driver did not notice.
“Hey, it’s up ahead. Can’t get much closer. The roads are still closed.” He put the car in park and then looked back at Sabrina. “Like I said earlier, this whole area was hit hard during that earthquake. The city had to come in and demolish some of the nearby buildings and businesses because they were no longer stable. My stepbrother worked one of those crews. Said it was a real mess.”
Sabrina leaned forward in her seat and looked out the front. The place was nearly unrecognizable. She had to look to the side, at the street signs, just to confirm she was really in the right spot.
When she looked again, memories of the drugstore across from the storage facility, the one she had gone to beg a few dollars, entered her mind. She fondly recalled it—the time she bought a few sodas for Lonzo, the thirsty ghoul who lived across from her storage locker. But even the drugstore had also been reduced to rubble.
It’s all gone. She thought. Lonzo…
Sabrina felt tears sting her eyes. She had not thought about the ghoul in some time. Not since that night. She had not meant to forget about him—there was just so much happening, and it all seemed to happen right after Jackson had told her he saw the rotting vampire attacked by the Tainted.
Poor, poor Lonzo. You were my favorite ghoul.
She sniffled and said, “Damn.”
“Yeah. Lots of people lost their jobs. A bunch of people died. Could have been worse, I guess, like that high-rise that crumbled a few days before this spot was hit.”
Sabrina blinked slowly. She had thought about that moment thousands of times since it happened. “Yeah, that’s where we’re going next.”
“Seriously?” the Uber driver sounded shocked. “The high-rise?”
“Yes.”
He turned and asked. “For real?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, I mean, I thought that address looked familiar,” he said, pointing to his GPS. “Don’t tell me we’re going to the hospital that collapsed too?”
“No.” Sabrina knew the one he referenced. She had been there too. “No, our last stop is out of town a bit, to my friend’s old house.”
“Okay, good. Was starting to think you were one of those freaky doom-and-gloom types. No offense. Just been getting lots of them lately. People wanting tours of all the destruction… They more than kinda freak me out, you know?”
“Vamps.” Sabrina sighed.
“I wouldn’t go that far, just moody-angsty types. Goths.”
Sabrina laughed. “Same difference.”
Sabrina stood just outside Moselle’s gated property. It was dark and quiet. The yellow police line tape remained hung across the entrance; its stillness made her sad.
Forgotten. This place, the life Moselle had here—it’s all been forgotten.
Sabrina would have thought she was at the site of a ghost town or long-abandoned ruin had she not known better—if she had not been responsible for it.
“Hey, miss, I don’t think your friend lives here anymore,” the driver called out from inside his car.
“No.” Sabrina fought off tears. “No, she doesn’t.”
“Then why are we here?”
“I—I just needed to see it all again,” she said and then whispered to herself. “I needed to feel it all again.”
“Are you telling me you were here when it came down?”
“I was.”
“Are you shitting me? “
“No, Barry, I am not shitting you.”
Sabrina shook her head and sent another text message to Jackson. She was about to give up, and get back in the car, when her phone lit up with a reply.
“No way,” she said to herself and then shouted, “No fucking way!”
“What?” the driver called out.
“He replied!”
“Yeah? So, where do you wanna go now?”
Sabrina looked at her phone and frowned. “He wants to meet up tomorrow.”
“Oh?”
Sabrina sat in the backseat of the car and fixed her hair. “Looks like I’ll be needing a place to crash tonight.”
“So…where to?”
“It’s been a long night. Back to L.A., please,” Sabrina said as she typed away on her phone. “I guess I have a big decision ahead of me. Do I drink myself asleep or party myself awake?”
“Well, it is still early enough to cause some trouble.”
“It always is.”
Dawn of War
Amber dreamed of warmth.
She dreamed of hot honey poured onto her skin. The sensation of it as it glided slowly down her stomach and dripped to her hips. She wanted it everywhere, all over her face and breasts—even inside her.
Just as the warmth of the liquid was about to envelop her, she felt something cold tear away her comfort.
This was no longer a dream. She was no longer asleep, this was reality.
With a sudden yank, Amber was pulled out of bed by her throat and lifted at least a foot from the covers. She frantically clawed at the hand that wrapped like a vise around her neck, but she could not free herself. She tried to shout, but only a squeak of noise passed her lips.
Her eyes could not focus in the dark of the royal chambers. There was no light—not even a candle burned. She blinked them clear and finally realized who had her—Dunyasha.
“Duny, it’s me,” she wheezed. “It’s Amber. Skipper.” She coughed and kicked her legs.
The elder vampire stared at her blankly.
Amber gasped. She would asphyxiate soon if she did not convince Dunyasha to let go. “Duny…it’s me.
Copycat. Mimic. Faker.” She coughed and gasped. “Not Sabrina.”
“Do not fight it.”
“Duny. I’m not her.”
“Do not fight it.”
Amber’s limbs felt weak, and she no longer had the will to try and pull Dunyasha’s hands off her.
“You’re…gonna kill me…”
“Do not fight it.”
Amber’s eyes rolled into the back of her head, her body crashing onto the bed. She gasped and coughed. Where is she? she wondered, as she slid down to the floor and sat. Where did she go?
Amber kicked the side table, knocking a tall glass of water off it. The shatter alerted the guards, who opened the door and flowed in.
“My queen, what’s wrong?”
Amber tried to speak, but her throat hurt too much, and in that moment, she realized something. I can’t tell them even if I want to.
“Nothing,” she whispered. “Bad dream.”
One water spirit surged across the room, while the other stood ready at the door. He checked the bathroom and closet then returned to his partner to report.
“Everything looks fine, my queen. If you need us—”
“Go.” Amber stayed on the floor.
Her heart had not slowed; she wanted to scream and cry. She had gone to sleep that night tucked cozily in Sabrina’s bed inside the royal chambers. She had not slept so soundly for weeks, so she had expected to awake refreshed, powerful, happy—like a new woman. Not under attack.
“Fuck me.”
For several hours, Amber sat and listened to her advisors address the daily topics. This was not what she’d been thinking about when she thought of seizing the throne. She wanted to rule—rule like a Fire Kingdom ruler.
In the Fire Kingdom, there were no discussions. The ruler’s word was law. Hours were not spent each day listening to old men speak; hours were spent watching young men fight. Combat was a way of life in her home.
They had a saying—The day you don’t prove yourself fit to survive is the day you’re not fit to survive.
In the Fire Kingdom, you gained respect through your actions, not your words. If someone wanted to be heard, they had to show themselves worthy of being heard through something grand. And if they wanted audience with the king (or queen), well, that required sacrifice.
Amber knew her actions—having seized control of the Water Kingdom—would elevate her in her father’s eyes. He’ll see me now; he’ll hear me now. They all will.
All she had to so was kill the Tainted leader and Sabrina. Then she would be the most powerful fairy in the Otherworldly Assembly. Even more powerful than her father.
As the hours passed, she placated her advisors. She let them do most of the talking, not only because her throat hurt, but also because she did not want to fully engage with them. Regardless, she did not understand all of what they were going on about. Without Dunyasha there to help guide her, she was a bit lost.
In some ways, she wished the elder vampire were there; in other ways she never wanted to see her again.
Amber touched her throat again as a portal opened and Dunyasha stepped through.
“Be gone.”
“Listen here, vampire. You may act as aid to our queen but—” one of Sabrina’s old advisors said.
“You heard her,” Amber said, interrupting him. “You’re dismissed. All of you.”
“My queen?”
“Until this nasty business with the Tainted is over, Dunyasha is allied with us and should be obeyed. How many times must I say this?”
“Yes, my queen.” The advisor looked at Dunyasha. “Until then.”
“My queen?” another advisor, the oldest in the group called out before he left.
“Yes?”
“Remember, you promised to read some of your father’s journal tonight,” he said.
Amber kicked the book with her foot. “I have it right here. Skimmed a few pages already.”
“Good. Good.”
Dunyasha paid the advisors no mind and approached the throne. Amber stood. She wanted to unleash her wings, to ignite them, but the last of the advisors had to fully exit the room first.
“What took you so long? Where is Raion?”
“Raion will not come here. He feels to come here would be walking into a trap.”
“So what does he want?”
“He wants you to go to him.”
Amber crossed her arms. “And walk into his trap.”
“Exactly what I said to him, but he will not budge.”
“Where?”
“Los Angeles.”
Amber shook her head and frowned. “Fucking Los Angeles. I was so hoping to get through this entire thing without having to go there. I mean really? L.A.?”
“That is where he waits.”
“Fuck him,” Amber grumbled. “Seriously.”
“He expects you soon.”
“Fine. I’ll go, but you’re going to have to take me.” Amber unfolded and refolded her arms. “If you’re willing.”
“Of course,” Dunyasha said as she cocked her head. “Why are you looking at me that way, copycat?”
“Well, after what you did this morning…”
Dunyasha took several steps back and turned around. With her back to Amber, she asked, “Was I here this morning?”
“Um…yeah.”
“And what did I say?”
“Before or after you lifted me out of bed by my throat and nearly choked me to death?”
Dunyasha turned back around, and in a blink, she stood directly in front of Amber. “She—I hurt you?”
“Nearly killed me, Duny. Why the hell would you do that?”
“What did I look like?”
“Fucking scary.”
Dunyasha gripped Amber’s shoulders. “Did I look younger or older? Did I have a scar on my face?”
“You looked the same as you do now, but wearing an older style dress, I guess…”
Dunyasha sighed as she stepped away and moved to the center of the room. She paced a bit before she spoke again.
“You are well aware that I am time fractured. What you saw today was me, but not this me. A past or perhaps a future me.”
“What the fuck are you saying?”
“When I move, you perceive me as blinking in and out of your vision, moving superfast, correct?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, during those blinks, I am not here, I exist in another time. It is the curse you—those water fairies put on me and it’s getting worse.”
“Are you for real?”
“I am telling the truth, if that is what you ask.”
“You are flickering through time?”
“Time and space, yes.”
“So that was you this morning, but not this you?”
Dunyasha sighed again. “Tell me, what did she—I say to you?”
“Well, you were choking me and—”
Dunyasha blinked in and out of Amber’s view and her voice rose. “What? What did I say?”
“‘Don’t fight it.’” Amber sat down with a huff. “I figured you thought I was Sabrina and you were trying to kill her—me, and you were telling me not to fight it.”
“It’s getting worse…”
“What can I do?”
“You are queen now. You can lift this dreadful curse.”
“And I will.” Amber crossed her arms again. “First, we need to trick and kill the Tainted leader.”
“You might have to do it alone…”
“No.”
Amber did not want to do it alone; she wanted Dunyasha’s help. From the beginning, Dunyasha had acted as her backup; Amber did not like the thought of having to continue without her.
“Fine, I’ll lift the curse.”
Dunyasha looked up at Amber. Amber had made eye contact with the elder vampire before but never had it felt so intense—Amber could feel herself becoming the object of all of the woman’s desires.
“You would do that for me?”
�
��I need you, Duny,” Amber said. “What do I do? How do I lift it?”
Dunyasha pointed at the Golden Fleece. “It all starts and ends with that.”
“That thing again?”
Dunyasha ran her hands down the front of her pale blue dress. “If only I could control this curse and travel back to the time of Jason and the Argonauts.”
“Jason?”
“The hero who found that dreaded thing. I wish I could go back to his time. I’d drink him and rip him into tiny parts in front of his shipmates.”
“So, I have to destroy it? That’s what you said before.”
“You must destroy it. And fortunately, the only thing that will destroy this treasure is—”
“Fire.”
Dunyasha nodded. “Fire.”
Amber faced the Golden Fleece and snapped her fingers. “Then let it burn.” She launched a spark at the fleece, which seemingly reflected the tiny flame to the humidity-moist stone floor.
Amber sneered. “Flame retardant, huh?”
“You’ll have to do better.”
Amber stepped to the wall the fleece hung on and unleashed her true wings. She shivered—the sensation was incredible. Her wings were larger than ever, and the heat that emanated from them felt more intense.
“You better back up some, maybe all the way.” Amber looked over her shoulder and watched Dunyasha only take a few steps back. “Wouldn’t want to kill you while trying to save you.”
“Ponyal.[16]”
Dunyasha flashed and blinked through Amber’s vision to the back of the room.
I wonder where she just went, past or future. I hope this fixes your problem, Duny, so I can go fix mine.
Amber faced the Golden Fleece again, and for the briefest second, she questioned her actions. However, the heat from her wings had begun to entice her. It had been too long since she’d felt this warm, this content. It made her want to return to her volcano home, but that was not an option yet—she knew this.
She bent her wings forward and flicked the fleece with the tips. When the thing did not ignite, she cocked her head and hmphed.
“Incredible. That could’ve melted steel.”
“I believe in you…Amber.”
She looked back at Dunyasha, who was nearly pressed to the back wall. She’s never called me by my real name. I didn’t know she even knew it.
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