by Danica Avet
She’d tried brushing her fingers against Lucian a few times, but she got no readings from him, so maybe his theory about being her destined mate was true, not that it mattered now.
She had a purpose in the world, Ruby thought in satisfaction. The Eturi might be clamoring for her capture, but she wasn’t without her own skills. You couldn’t go twenty-some odd years trapping in the swamps without being stealthy. Ruby didn’t fool herself into thinking she would avoid detection completely, but her freedom was at stake, and she wasn’t about to let it be curtailed because of some drop-dead gorgeous vampire.
The decision made, she stood and took a deep breath to steady her nerves. With her back against the wall opposite her gate to freedom, she ran at full speed. She launched herself at the windows, feeling the wards Lucian had on them snap at the same time the alarms went off.
She broke through the glass, shredding her skin but not caring. She had a duty to her line to get away, even if it was away from the man she’d unsuspectingly bound herself to. Ruby flew through the air, landing on her side with a grunt. Her shoulder popped and a few of her ribs snapped. She couldn’t stop though.
Ruby got to her feet as fast as she could and began running, holding her ribs. She could hear the councilors shouting back and forth, trying to figure out which way she’d gone.
Lucian wouldn’t be out because he was confined by the sunlight, but the others would be after her in full force. Ruby darted through the tangled oak trees. The Instinct spurred her body onward once more. She loped through the sugarcane field beyond Lucian’s house, heading for the thick woods and swamp. She peered behind her only once and it was to see three distinct movements in the field. She was glad she was as tall as she was because it enabled her to keep one step ahead of them.
Reaching the woods, her bare feet found every sharp stick and sticker plant, but she kept going. She needed to put a lot of distance between her and the group before nightfall. More importantly, before Lucian could come after her. She felt the bond stretch between them like an invisible rope and in her heart she wanted nothing more than to return to the shelter of his arms. She couldn’t do it though. She wouldn’t do it.
Ruby paused, listening intently. Someone was catching up with her, moving with great stealth, heading straight for her. She looked around. She was in the middle of a clearing of very old cypress and oak trees. She tucked herself into the trunk of an oak, waiting for her pursuer.
She forced herself to calm, forced her breathing to slow. When she heard the snap of a stick to her left, she held her breath. Ruby had never purposely set a trap for anyone, but she was desperate to get away.
It was the blonde. Tawny, she thought. The woman was walking with her eyes focused on the ground in front of her, her nostrils quivering. She was just as pretty in person as she’d looked in her photo, but that was the last thing Ruby wanted to think about. Just as Tawny lifted her head as though sensing danger, Ruby was on the smaller woman, putting her in a chokehold.
How Ruby knew it was a chokehold, she wasn’t entirely sure. She just knew the woman struggled hard, her tiny hands beating at Ruby, but Ruby was relentless. Within twenty seconds, the woman was out and Ruby put her on the ground.
She needed to keep the tracker from coming after her, Ruby thought frantically. The woman had a set of handcuffs on her belt, which made Ruby growl. They’d been planning to restrain her? The irony of using Tawny’s own handcuffs on her was too much for Ruby to resist.
She dragged the smaller woman to a slender pine tree, looping her arms around it, handcuffing them together. Taking the key out of the woman’s belt, Ruby threw it several yards away. She found a wad of cash in Tawny’s jeans and a pocketknife. Ruby felt some guilt about stealing from her, but this was war, and she had to be tough.
The woman’s head lolled to the side, her hair sliding away from her face. “Cool,” Ruby said, noticing that Tawny’s ears were just slightly pointed at the tip. “My first elf.” Crashes in the woods caused her to jump. Unable to be completely mean, Ruby pushed the woman’s head forward so it rested on the trunk of the tree. “You shouldn’t get a crick in your neck that way,” she whispered before taking off again.
Ruby wasn’t sure how long she ran. Daylight laced the ground as she sped through the swampy woods. Sometimes she ran on dry land, but sometimes she splashed through water so murky she didn’t want to think about what was in it. Her feet had started bleeding hours ago, but she sucked it up. She was running and she wasn’t winded.
The experience was so foreign and exhilarating, Ruby didn’t want to stop. She just charged ahead, startling birds, deer, and other animals as she seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
Ruby paused in a small clearing, her ears attuned to the sounds of the swamp. Her face, arms, and hands were streaked with blood, but the cuts from the glass had long healed. Peering through the canopy, she figured it was close to dusk. She’d have less than an hour before Lucian was able to come after her. Not fooling herself for a minute into thinking he’d let this go or the Council didn’t already have people on her trail, Ruby tried to decide the best route to take.
Not having a clear destination in mind wasn’t exactly helpful, but she decided heading southwest was for the best. If she cut directly across the swamps and managed not to be eaten by an alligator or cougar, she’d be closer to her own neck of the woods. With that thought in mind, she moved out, jogging this time so she could keep her ears open for any unexpected sounds.
It was nearly dark when she heard muffled footsteps twenty yards to her left. They sounded very human and in very much a rush. Instinctively ducking, Ruby wasn’t surprised when a woman flew out of the brush and landed in a crouch in beside her.
At that same moment, crashes sounded from the opposite direction before four large manlike beings burst through the trees. Ruby staggered back in surprise, moving closer to the other woman.
They were massive. The shortest of the bunch was still a foot taller than Ruby. Scarlet-skinned and bulging with muscle, they each had horns sprouting from the sides of their heads. Demons. They had to be demons of some kind. They were speaking to each other as they edged closer to Ruby and the stranger.
“You take the two on the left, I’ll get the right,” the other woman said as she launched herself at two of the demons.
Flabbergasted and unsure of what she was supposed to do, Ruby watched in stunned disbelief as the other woman fought them. Her distraction allowed the other two demons to flank her, flipping the switch on her Chieftain defenses.
Forgetting about the other woman for the moment, Ruby swung out at the demon closest to her with a powerful right hook. His head whipped to the side, but she didn’t pause to enjoy the shock on his face. She was already moving to the other demon, sweeping his legs out from under him, sending him crashing to the swamp floor with a loud thud.
The first demon recovered, coming at her with claws bared.
“No! The mistress wants her alive!” the fallen demon grunted as he tried to get back to his feet.
Not caring what they wanted or why, Ruby flung herself at the first demon, taking him by surprise yet again. He hadn’t expected a front attack, so Ruby was able to get several licks in before he reacted.
When he attacked, though, he did so with a vengeance. Using his massive arms, he wrapped Ruby in a bear hug, making her vertebrae crack. Spots danced before her eyes as he squeezed the air out of her lungs.
In a last ditch effort to save herself, Ruby slammed her head into his face with a satisfying crunch. She was dropped like a sack of potatoes as the demon grabbed his bloody, mangled nose. Rolling to her feet in one smooth motion, Ruby spun her leg in a roundhouse kick that connected with the demon’s temple, knocking him out and nicking her foot on the prong of his horn.
A rustle to her left sent Ruby ducking, just missing a giant fist aimed at her head. The other demon had put his entire weight behind the punch, so when he missed, his momentum caused him to lose his balance. Ruby used
that to her advantage, aiming a vicious kick at his knee. The sickening snap of bone and the demon’s bloodcurdling scream pierced the clearing as he fell to the ground.
Winded, but not about to let her defenses down, Ruby whirled around to see that the other woman had taken care of her two demons and was sitting on a log cleaning her fingernails. She raised an arrogant eyebrow when she saw Ruby looking at her.
“You’re not going to finish them?” she asked indicating the two fallen demons with a jerk of her chin.
“Kill them?” Ruby asked shocked at the idea. “No!”
The woman sighed, getting to her feet with lethal grace. “You’re gonna need lots of work,” she said in a deep, authoritative voice as she walked over to the demons. Before Ruby could blink, the woman had jerked a knife from the sheath at her side and stabbed both demons in the heart. She flicked her heavy braid back over her shoulder. “Your mama wouldn’t have let that other demon get the drop on her.”
Terrified and disgusted, Ruby took a step back. “Who are you?”
Now that she wasn’t being attacked, Ruby could get a better look at her homicidal assistant. Dark brown hair pulled into a simple ponytail. A face that looked eerily familiar but for the wicked scar that wound down her cheek from her hairline.
“You know who I am, Lost Child,” the woman said as she stood up, sauntering over to Ruby with confidence. She offered her hand. “Touch my hand.”
The authority in that voice spoke to something in Ruby and she reached out without thinking, gripping the other woman’s hand. Her sight spiraled down to the life of the woman before her. Bretina. Her grandmother.
Ruby saw a child running around the encampment. A little girl who greatly resembled the school pictures her father had plastered all over the walls of their home. The girl darted between other women until she reached an older woman seated on a throne.
“Ma-maw! Tell Tante ‘Breda I don’t have to take a bath!” the little girl cried as she threw herself at her grandmother.
The woman laughed and stroked back the thick brown hair so similar to her own. “Now, Ruby. You know you must listen to your aunts no matter what. They only want what’s best for you.” She placed a kiss on the child’s forehead. “Besides, you smell like a little boy!”
The child gasped in outrage, much to the hilarity of the other women. “I do not, Ma-maw!” the little girl giggled, placing a smacking kiss on her grandmother’s cheek. “But I’ll take a bath anyway.”
The girl’s beleaguered aunt finally showed up, panting a little. “The little monster runs fast!”
“She’s going to be faster than her mother one day,” an old woman said from the corner.
Murmurs of agreement came from the others. “Mama was the fastest, wasn’t she?” the child asked her grandmother.
A pained smile entered her grandmother’s face. “Yes, little gem, your mother was the fastest there was, and you will be even faster.”
“Great!” the child said with enthusiasm and extracted herself from her grandmother’s lap. “C’mon, Tante ‘Breda! I’ll race you to the river!”
Albreda groaned as the little girl darted away again, making the women laugh.
Less than an hour later, Albreda ran to the camp, her face pale and strained. “Mother! Ruby’s gone!”
Screeches and yelps followed the announcement as the Blood Maiden camp rallied around their queen in search of the child. There was no trace of the little princess. No trail to follow. Only a small indention of the child’s hand on the river bank remained of the queen’s granddaughter.
The scene switched, flipping backwards even further and faster than before.
Ruby saw a montage of women of all shapes and colors who lived together, raised their children together, and fought off invaders. Bretina had been the oldest daughter of the tribe queen. Everyone had known she would be the next leader, for none surpassed her in combative and strategic prowess.
Ruby saw Bretina lead a war party from their camp, hidden somewhere in a steeply wooded area, to a beach. Longboats pulled ashore and massive men disembarked, armed to the teeth. The women swarmed the beach, and their war shrieks intermingled with grunts of pain and the surprised chatter of the invaders.
Once the battled died down, the beach was strewn with heavily muscled bodies and a few smaller shapes of Bretina’s warriors. A group of men had been captured and were rounded up and returned to camp. As tribal leader, Bretina was given first choice of men. Knowing as well as the other women that they needed children desperately, Bretina chose the most bloody of the men.
His name had been Ingvar, and he and his brethren who’d been spared on that day remained with the tribe, fathering a new generation of warrior women. After the first hundred years of barrenness, Ingvar finally gave Bretina four daughters in a short amount of time, the youngest of which was Zoe. During a raid against the tribe, Ingvar was killed while protecting his daughters, leaving Bretina to raise them.
The pride and joy of the entire tribe was young Zoe, who was more fierce and larger than all of her sisters and cousins. She was just as skilled at tracking and war strategy as her mother and made no secret of her hate of all men. It was well-known Zoe was destined to be the next leader of the tribe as her mother had been. Several years after she reached maturity, Zoe disappeared for her spirit journey. She returned after five years, speaking of a man she’d married whom she was going to live with.
Bretina’s hurt and disbelief were expressed in the many battles she pitched after Zoe’s departure. Battling with a ferociousness never before seen by a single tribe in the history of their people, many feared they would have to physically remove her from the throne.
When Zoe arrived back at camp with a very young daughter, Bretina knew no greater happiness. Her beloved daughter was back, and she now had a granddaughter to teach and love. Her life was full again.
The happiness lasted two years before Zoe died in battle and shortly after, young Ruby disappeared. They’d all believed she had been swept down river and drowned. With the death of her youngest daughter and her only grandchild weighing on her, Bretina lost her heart for battle and leading the tribe, stepping aside to let a new queen take the throne.
Ruby let Bretina go, staggering back, her eyes not seeing anything. This was her grandmother. She’d been able to piece the pictures Bretina had of Zoe with the images of her mom, and they were one and the same.
“My father never wanted to talk about mama’s family,” Ruby murmured, her vision blurry. “I thought I was all alone.” She snapped out of her trance, focusing her eyes on Bretina hating the wave of suspicion she felt. “How did you find me?”
“We knew you were alive. We felt your transition start when you were a teenager and again when you inherited your Chieftain powers. We had no idea you were so close until last week,” she continued, her eyes travelling the scrolling tattoo on Ruby’s face and the band around her throat. “Did you kill that boy?”
“What?” Ruby asked, startled out of her stupor. “How did you know?”
Bretina’s eyes skimmed over Ruby calculatingly. “You don’t seem to understand me, girl,” she shot back. “Because you didn’t know who and what you are, you were a danger to everyone around you, especially men. If you didn’t kill the boy who took your virginity, you were lucky. Your father robbed you of your true heritage!” Bretina roared the last, pain dripping from every word.
Stunned, Ruby stared at Bretina, weighing her words. She had almost killed Dan and her father hadn’t been surprised so much as resigned. He hadn’t wanted Ruby mingling with society because he had known what Ruby was and feared for her safety. All this time she thought she was a freak because she hadn’t known who─what she was.
She blinked. Julius had said it, but she’d thought he was crazy at the time. Now she knew, she just needed confirmation.
“Vikings?” she asked in stunned voice.
Bretina visibly calmed, her face melting into a cocky grin. “Not quite. Ingvar was a
Berserker. He was a good fighter,” she shrugged with a smile. “Just not as good as me.”
“How old are you?”
“Hmm. I am four hundred and fifty-two years old.”
“Holy crap.” A pause. “How did you know about what happened when I lost my virginity? What are you? What am I?” The words shot out like rapid gunfire.
Bretina leaned forward and whispered back. “Losing your virginity was the first step in your transition, the Chieftain power transference was the last. You─we’re Amazons.”
* * * *
She knew it when her minions lost the battle against the Chieftain. The plan had been thrown together at the last minute, perhaps too hastily thrown together. The Chieftain was proving to be more trouble than she’d originally thought.
She sneered at the Veilerians organizing search parties. She knew she’d have just one more chance to take care of the Chieftain. Her associate was getting restless, not liking the direction her vision was taking them. But he wasn’t her only ally in the war they fought.
Her lips curled as she thought of the other Eturian generals. They were men and women who were weary of being hidden from the humans. As much as she wanted Malachi to believe she was the founder of their force, she answered only to her leader. Her master sat behind the scenes, moving them into place like chess pieces and never letting sentiment cloud his judgment. He’d wanted Malachi in on the fun, but recently he’d let it be known that her most precious recruit was skating too close to the edge of honor for further use. The order to kill would come from him eventually, but for now she was given the chance to handle Malachi herself.