Amber made two fists as she concentrated. The flames from her butterfly-shaped wings spread out and down her arms. As they coated her hands, she tightened her fists until her knuckles cracked.
“Show these water sprites what it means to be fire born,” Dunyasha said flatly.
“Fire born…” Amber repeated.
Once more, she faced the Golden Fleece. This time, she could see the scorch marks on the wall behind the treasure. She had burned the stone, the floor and ceiling, but the treasure remained.
Amber drew more heat from her wings to her hands as she slowly pressed them into the fleece. At first, there was nothing, no reaction at all, but as she held them there, she began to see tiny white vapors appear.
“Ha!” she cheered. “I got you now!”
The vapors grew thicker, and soon the Golden Fleece ignited.
“Fuck yeah!” Amber shouted. “Look, Duny, it’s burning!”
Amber looked back and was shocked to see Dunyasha crumpled on the floor.
“Duny? Dunyasha?”
“It’s working…”
Amber suddenly felt stone against her palms. She faced the wall and smiled; the fleece burned red hot, its ash floating around her like falling snow.
Amber took a step back to marvel at her work. I did it. I’ve crippled the Water Kingdom.
The throne room doors suddenly burst open. The royal guards, five water elementals who stood outside, rushed to the fleece. Amber stepped to the side, withdrew her wings, and held her breath.
One by one, the water elementals burst, no longer able to hold their shapes. The last to go, one she recognized by name, tried to dive onto the smoldering remains of the Golden Fleece but fell short; his valiant attempt did no more than wet the floor.
“Shit, Duny. I think I killed them. They—”
“Those made will be unmade.”
Dunyasha’s voice sounded much different, much deeper—so much so that it resonated like the beat of drums through Amber’s chest and stomach.
“Duny?”
Amber looked across the room at the her. She appeared to be bowed in prayer, her head pressed to the floor. It was not a position she’d imagined finding Dunyasha in.
“Duny? Are you okay?”
Dunyasha flickered in and out of view. It felt like each time Amber blinked, the woman was gone and back, having moved only inches in space.
“Is the curse lifted?”
No sooner did she speak than Dunyasha vanished and reappeared, but not alone. Now, sitting on her heels beside the one that was bowed down was another copy of the woman, as best as Amber could figure.
Shit…this can’t be right.
The flickers continued until suddenly there was a third and fourth woman as well.
“What the fuck…?”
One of the copies of Dunyasha stood, she was dressed in a beautiful white formal dress. Amber guessed it must have been easily two hundred years old; she had seen something similar in one of the painfully slow movies Sabrina had made her watch; the films only saving grace was that it had the super-fast guy from the second Avengers movie. Amber thought he was handsome, especially in the movie Savages.
“Lydia! Alexander! Moi dragotsennyye deti…moi prekrasnyye tantsory[17],” she cried.
The vampire herself looked younger, fresher, but on her face was a pain unlike Amber had ever seen.
“What? What’s wrong?”
One of the other copies moved suddenly. It was one that looked older, if that was even possible. The more Amber looked, the more she realized this version was damaged—she had scars on her face and was missing fingers from her one hand.
“No, this is too soon,” the eldest Dunyasha copy said. “Too soon. Too soon. This should not, cannot happen now!”
Another one of the copies stood, leaving the original Dunyasha still bowed down and motionless.
“Duny?” When Amber looked into this one’s soulless eyes, she recognized her. “No!” Amber pointed. “Not you. Stay back!”
“Do not fight it! Do not fight it!”
She covered her throat and shouted. “Fuck you!”
Amber prepared to pulse her wings. I’ll kill them all if I must.
“Stop.” The bowed Dunyasha spoke.
The others turned and looked at her. Amber could read the shock in each of their eyes—or was it disbelief? Maybe it was both.
“Stop,” she said again.
Then a flash of purple light, like that of the vampire’s portals, lit up the room and washed them all away. When Amber’s eyes refocused, they were all gone.
“Duny?”
Amber held her breath. She expected them all to return, or at least one of them. But when seconds turned to minutes, she breathed a sigh of relief.
I’m not sure if I helped or hurt you, Duny. And there’s no time to speculate. I have to get topside and deal with what just happened. There’s gonna be a lot of scared little water fairies running around. Now’s my time to take over.
“Thank you, Dunyasha—thank you, War.”
Fortify the Lie
Amber made her way topside. As she expected, the few fairies who were in the palace when the water spirits popped had already rushed to the top and started a panic.
Their collective fear made Amber feel like she walked through knee-deep mud.
Their words, their actions, but most of all the looks of dread on their weak, polished faces—it makes me sick.
“Relax! Everyone, relax!” she shouted, waving her hands. “Quiet. Please.”
The mob grew before her eyes. Fairies from both sides of the island were massed outside the sunken ruins. The news had spread faster than a forest fire. She was, in a way, impressed.
Had Sabrina—had I been able to mobilize them this fast to fight, maybe none of this would have needed to happen.
Amber released her wings and lifted herself ten feet off the ground into a steady hover.
“Water Kingdom. My kingdom. We must speak.”
The crowd quieted almost instantly.
“Today…today we suffer a great betrayal.”
“Was it the vampire?” someone shouted from the crowd.
“No, not the vampire. It was my own student, my body double, the Fire Kingdom fairy by the name of Amber.”
There were as many gasps as there were people asking who. She knew Sabrina had not told them all and it worked to her advantage.
“As you all know, the Tainted murdered my mother and father. I asked the Otherworldly Assembly for help. Their answer was, well, totally unexpected. They told me—ordered me to kill the ones responsible for the death of my parents.”
More gasps. Apparently, Sabrina told them very little.
“A plan was put into motion, and the brave Fire Kingdom offered to help. A girl was sent to help me…help us. She was meant to be the Water Kingdom’s—our best weapon against the Tainted king. She was reshaped to look like me. Trained to walk and talk like me. But she was not me.” Amber did not know what else to say, so she choked out words she expected the Water Fairy wanted to hear. “She—she was a coward. She was a—”
“Slut!”
“Whore!”
“Bitch!”
“Fire crotch!”
Amber heard their insults and tried to block them out, but they still stung. Is this what they really think of me? Rumors, all they would have heard were rumors, and still they vilify me? Fucking prisses. What I’m doing now will benefit this kingdom—benefit all kingdoms.
“She was a traitor. She waited until the moment before our move against the Tainted and…” Amber acted as if her emotions had gotten the best of her. “She…she burned our treasure. She burned the Golden Fleece.”
“No!”
“She couldn’t have!”
“I’ve seen it, our water spirits…all unmade, nothing more than puddles now.”
“What do we do?”
“What do we do, Queen Sabrina?”
Queen—it sounds good. But it will sou
nd better once I’ve killed Lord Raion and claimed his crown too.
“We prepare ourselves. The traitor might try to return. She has cut her hair short and dyed it black. But remember—only your true queen wears this bangle.” Amber pointed to Sabrina’s favorite one, just given to her. “It remains on the arm of your queen. Always.”
“We’ll kill her if she returns!”
“Thank you.”
“We must find a new treasure!”
“Before that, before anything else, I need to face the leader of the Tainted. I need to kill him and make sure those filthy lesserlings are no longer a threat to us or the other elemental kingdoms. I need to go to Los Angeles. While I am gone, I want you all to pray—pray and prepare for battle.”
“Who will you leave in charge? Not the vampire, I hope,” an advisor called out.
“No, she is—”
Before Amber could finish, a loud murmur swept through the depths of the crowd. The mass of fairies made a path for whoever—whatever—approached.
“Who’s there? Who interrupts me now—now, when my people need me!”
Amber finally spotted what the crowd was recoiling from—an oversized red horse and its dark rider.
“Dunyasha?”
“No longer.”
The rider’s voice boomed, and its resonance made Amber shiver. “Are you—”
“I am.”
Amber could hardly accept it. Dunyasha was gone and replaced by a being of legend. The Four Horsemen are real.
Her heart began to race. As War drew close enough to see, Amber took an uncontrollable step back. She looked nothing like Dunyasha; not vampire—not even human.
Dunyasha’s skin glistened from the humidity on the island, but as War, her skin was as black as onyx and swallowed the abundant sunlight. Gone was the elder vampire’s beautiful, long, flowing dark hair. It had been replaced with something new, thick and spiked like barbed wire but fluid like black smoke.
“We’re under attack!” a voice shouted from the crowd.
“The Tainted are here!”
“Tainted?” War said. “They are meaningless. I am—”
Amber boldly interjected. “She’s here to help me, help me fight the Tainted.”
“I am?”
“Please, everyone, go. Leave.” Amber waved her hands; she hoped everyone would leave immediately. “I-I must go. It’s time for me to fight for you. Wish me luck.”
The crowd dispersed slowly at first. However, as War rode closer to Amber, the people began to move faster to get away.
Amber held her hover; she felt safer up there. “What happened to you?” she asked quietly.
“You mean to ask me what happened to Dunyasha?” War said. “She’s gone. I am freed. I am whole. Thanks to you, fire sprite.”
War looked Amber in the eyes. They did not look soulless as the vampire’s had; they were filled with lust and rage.
Amber lost control of her hover and dropped to the ground. Chills ran down her spine and left a cold feeling in the pit of her stomach. Amber had never felt such a strong sense of anxiety before, something she could only describe as end-of-the-world dread, but before she could react—speak or even flinch—War reached out and grasped her shoulder.
“Your time is now. I’ll take you to the battle. But you’ll fight it alone.”
In Service of Death
Moselle’s memory had improved through her close connection with Rehuerdjersen, another of her kind, but only enough to remember the last three locations her parents had called home, not which one they currently dwelled in.
It took a few trips—through portals she had to fuel with more death energy, but Moselle had finally found her parents and killed them.
As she sat poolside at her parent’s New York estate, she stared up at the sun and reflected on her actions.
It had not been murder; her parents had already been dead. Destruction was a better word but still did not properly fit. She had ended their existence, sacrificed them for the betterment of her cause: Death’s revival.
In her human youth, she would have wondered what kind of monster would do such a thing. But Moselle was death, would be death, is death. She was no longer human. And hadn’t been for many, many years.
Moselle preferred this existence to that. As a human, she had been weak, always in danger. Now she was strong—stronger than ever. She had drained her parents of their life force just as she had the otherworldlies in Rue’s community. But their energy did not feed her, empower, or make her younger; it made her more complete.
She gazed down from the sun at Rehuerdjersen as he swam laps. She knew she would have to do the same to him in the end, but she needed his help until then. He was well-studied and knew the history of her kind and the ancient Egyptians much better than she did. Not only that, but with him at her side, she could think more clearly, she could act more efficiently, and she could kill more effortlessly.
She was sure he knew his time was limited; he had held the staff too. She guessed it showed him the same visions it had showed her. But he did not seem to care. Perhaps, he has accepted his fate, she thought. Or perhaps he owns no ambition. Perhaps he is too overcome by me, my beauty, the taste of my lips, the touch of my skin, the chance to fill my…
She regripped her staff—Death’s staff.
My staff. You did not always look as such. She remembered it now—it had been a scythe once, long before the fairy kings took it upon themselves to change the world.
My memories return. Each day, I remember more and more, she thought. The fire king—he bent time. He broke me—broke us into a dozen pieces. Made us a dozen living corpses. But one did not stay buried. One rose while the others slept. One turned into a parasite while the others rotted in the earth.
I used to think my life held no meaning. The passing of time was all I had to live for. Now…it took losing everything to gain everything.
Moselle tightened her grip.
I will reunite us through Death. I will become Death. But first, I must find him. The original. The first of the Four. The parasite.
“Moselle,” Rue called from the water. “You said you were going to join me, yes?”
She smiled. “I would like that.”
“You needed a moment to reflect. It is understandable,” Rue said. “We have time, no rush.”
Moselle looked up at the sun again. “Time is all we have had. While I no longer wish to waste such a valuable commodity, I do wish to make love under the bright American sun one last time.”
“The cool water will soothe your hot body.”
Moselle laughed. “You sound like one of them.”
“I-I meant no disrespect,” he chuckled, and bowed his head. “I have lived here amongst the humans too long, perhaps.”
Moselle stood and dropped the robe that partially covered her body. Underneath, she wore nothing at all. She stood, tall and strong, full of pride. Rue’s eager eyes upon her only fed her swollen ego.
“I only wish to worship you as you have worshiped the sun, my beautiful bride.”
“All these years.” Moselle cast her eyes up again. “All these years of thinking myself a child of Ra. All these years of worship, all to the wrong god.”
“We were all tricked, Moselle. But that does not mean the life you lived was only a story. Your lifetime as a human was real. You were a child of Ra, a child of Egypt. The fairies, they did not steal your life.”
“No, they stole my death.”
Before Moselle could step into the water, a chill ran down her spine and behind her, the staff fell to the ground. It’s chime against the stone sounded to her like a clarion call.
Moselle drew a deep breath. “Did you feel that, Rue?”
“I did.”
“She’s free. War has returned.”
“Our time is now,” he said. “There can be no doubt.”
“I had none.”
She stepped down the stone stairs into the pool, and the cool water slowly swallowed up he
r sun-warmed skin. The sensation felt as good as a lover’s embrace, but all sensations were greater now. Moselle could not wait to find out how much stronger, how much better, she could feel.
As her body brushed against his, she considered what her next action should be. I could destroy Rehuerdjersen right now, take my third step toward completion, the dozen becoming the one. How many steps have you taken, parasite?
Yet when his engorged manhood pressed against her leg her, mind was shifted back to the pleasures of the flesh.
Will Death still desire such pleasures, or will Death only desire one thing? There’s only one sure thing. I need to make memories now that I can call upon later when I am her, and she is whole.
“Are you well, Moselle?”
Moselle looked into Rue’s eyes as she gripped his cock. “I am.”
“Is there anything you desire?”
“All that is within my grasp is what I desire.”
As Moselle rested comfortably in the arms of her new husband, her mind returned to the task at hand.
“Tell me again about the man who resurrected you, Rue.”
“He told me that he was the first. And he said there were others…but he told me—warned me never to seek them out.”
“Why?”
“He said to do so would only lead to their destruction.”
Moselle ran her fingers through the ends of her hair. “You know better now.”
“I understand better. We are only parts of a whole. We must come together.”
“Do you think that was his plan, to raise us and then keep us like cattle?” Moselle asked. “All these years, he has probably followed all our movements. We are at a disadvantage, Rue; he could strike at any moment.”
“Not while you wield that, I would think.” Rue pointed to the staff. “That evens the field. You will be the one who ascends, not him.”
“We need to find him, regardless, and I would feel better if it was before he finds us.”
Rue chuckled. “I understand, my bride.”
“Perhaps War will aid us. She has returned and no doubt will welcome her sister Death. War and Death—they have always worked in unison.”
“I thought that too, but I remembered something I read. In fact, it was something I studied for some time. This was years ago, while Cade and his woman Leeanne lived in my complex. Vampires intrigued me, I should say. I’ve kept notes.”
Three Burning Red Runaway Brides Page 19