Being Ruby

by Brandi Bell

  “Ok, lass, let’s get going. It’s a drive back to the house,” he said.

  “Ok,” I giggled.

  We got into his amazing yellow car and drove off. I felt invincible so I opened the sunroof and stood up sticking my head out the top.

  “Woohoo,” I yelled at the top of my lungs.

  I felt a tug on my leg. “Get back in here and sit down, Ruby,” Seamus scolded me.

  I plopped back in the seat and crossed my arms over my chest, “You’re no fun, Mr. Grumpy Pants,” I told him.

  He chuckled but said nothing. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the sensation of the car moving. Suddenly the car stopped, I opened my eyes and we were back at the house.

  I jumped out of the car to run to the door and I made it four steps before I was tugged back on my ass.

  “What the fuck was that?” I asked, confused.

  “I haven’t taken off the spell that made you stay with me, lass,” Seamus replied with a chuckle. He chanted under his breath. “There you go, you can run around now.”

  “Yay!” I squealed.

  I ran into the ballroom and started spinning in circles. I had never felt this alive. There was a little stage on the side of the ballroom. I got up on it and pretended like I was performing with my band, belting out song after song.

  I left the stage and started dancing to the music in my head. Seamus came into the ballroom and messed with something in the corner, then there was music in the room. I danced until my legs were weak.

  “It’s getting close to dawn, lass,” Seamus pointed out.

  “Fine, my legs are tired anyways,” I said, then headed upstairs.

  I went in the closet and stripped down, found some comfy clothes and laid down on the bed as dawn broke.

  I woke up on the bed with a Kindle in my hand, I put it down, hopped in the shower, and got dressed for the night. When I was done I went downstairs, Seamus was nowhere to be found. I went down to the basement and used the gym. It felt good to push my muscles with the weights.

  When I was exhausted, I went upstairs to find Seamus waiting with a man that looked similar to the fae from the night before.

  “Ruby, let me introduce you to Leander,” he said.

  “Hi?” I said, confused as to why he's introducing me to this guy.

  “Leander has agreed to feed you tonight,” Seamus explained.

  “Ah, awesome,” I replied.

  Leander sat down on a stool by the kitchen counter and bared his neck. I walked up to him and licked his neck, he wasn’t as sweet as the last guy, but still better than anyone else I’d had. I sank my teeth in his neck and moaned when his blood hit my tongue. It was even better than the night before. I drank until I was full, then licked his neck to close the wound.

  I was just as giddy as the night before. I ran out the door to the garden, the colors were more vibrant. I didn’t know why the blood affected me this way, but it was fun.

  It was getting close to dawn, and I was coming back down to reality. I thought about writing Jade a note, so I went searching for paper, a pen, and tape.

  I found what I needed in a drawer in Seamus’s office. I grabbed them, then ran upstairs to write Jade a note before we switched. I chewed her out for not trying harder to get out of here, then taped it to my forehead so she wouldn’t be able to miss it. I laid down, then the sun came up.

  Chapter 16

  I was sitting at the desk in the bedroom when I came to. I looked down and Jade had written me a letter back, so I read it.

  Ruby,

  So much has happened. So Jake kidnapped you and tried to make me love him. Seamus was helping him with the cage, the collar, and the ability to go invisible. If you haven’t figured it out yet, Seamus is an Incubus. Let’s see. I convinced Jake he could trust me, so he took me to the mall. I noticed a security guard and went running to him, but it was Seamus. That’s how we ended up in this gilded cage.

  Seamus has been nice to me, but I have woken in places that showed that the same wasn’t true for you, and for that I am sorry. He is obsessed with table manners.

  He took me to some Incubi/Succubi gathering the other night, and Mom’s friend Fiona was there. Turns out she is Seamus’s sister. She slipped me a note and is working on getting us out of here. Seamus has let me talk to Mom on the phone too, so she has a vague idea of where we are.

  Fiona came yesterday to try to talk Seamus into letting us go easily, I guess she told their mom and she is coming today to talk to him. He looked really worried and told me to stay out of sight.

  Um, that is all I can think of right now. Hopefully it won’t be long and we will be back home.

  Love,

  Jade

  Interesting, Jade was playing a different game to get out of here, I thought. I got dressed and went downstairs, I wanted to meet Seamus’s mom.

  They were in the sitting room when I arrived on the first floor.

  “Is this the girl Fiona told me about?” she questioned Seamus.

  “Yes, Mother,” he answered.

  “Come here girl,” she demanded.

  I walked into the sitting room to see how this was going to play out. I got a good look at Seamus’s mom for the first time. She was beautiful, and looked young enough to be his sister. She had long black hair with hazel eyes. Aunt Fiona looked a lot like her.

  “What do you want,” I asked.

  “Ah yes, you must be the vampire. Ruby, that’s it. Tell me, Ruby, are you happy here?” she asked.

  “Fuck no, I’m not happy here. I want to go home to my life and my band,” I replied.

  “Oh, I like you,” she said to me, then turned to Seamus, “She’s not scared of me, this is a first. Get her a meal, and me a drink.”

  “Yes, Mother,” he said then left the room.

  “So, Ruby, you must call me Aileen. What should we do tonight,” she said with an ornery look in her eyes.

  “Whatever you want,” I said with a grin. I was down for anything that made Seamus miserable.

  Seamus came back in with a drink for his mom. “Your food will be here in 20 minutes, I ordered another fae,” he said, then sat next to his mom.

  “OH this will be fun!” Aileen exclaimed.

  “What have I gotten into?” Seamus muttered under his breath.

  Aileen regaled me with stories of Seamus as a child, pulling out the most embarrassing moments she could think of. His face turned several shades of red, then the doorbell rang and he was able to excuse himself.

  He returned with a tiny, gorgeous girl. Pixie was the name that came to mind looking at her.

  “Let’s move to the dining room, I would hate to get blood on the carpet,” Seamus said.

  “Whatever,” I replied rolling my eyes.

  I followed Seamus and the pixie girl to the dining room. She sat down and bared her neck without saying a word. My mouth was watering thinking of how awesome the last two fae had tasted. I bit her neck and she wasn’t nearly as sweet as the last guy, but was tasty in her own way. I drank deeply, then closed her wound when I was done. She jumped up and ran out of the house without saying a word.

  I was feeling really good. I left the dining room, and went to the ballroom and started dancing. I felt like nothing could keep me down.

  “Seamus, put some music on for the girl, you insisted on making her high,” Aileen demanded.

  She finished her drink in one swig, and joined me on the dance floor. She was a fantastic dancer. The next song that came on the radio was one of Mz. Hyde’s. A sense of longing so strong overcame me, it forced me to drop to my knees. Seamus changed the song quickly, and I soon forgot that I was sad.

  As I came down from the fae blood I followed Seamus and Aileen to the sitting room.

  “Now, explain why you are drugging Ruby here with fae blood,” Aileen questioned Seamus.

  “She ordered it at the vampire place and liked it, so I kept ordering it for her,” he answered.

  “That is not a good reason boy and you know it,”
she said while glaring at him.

  “She’s easier to deal with happy?” he said as a question.

  “Stop it, she could become addicted,” she said and glared at him again.

  “Oh,” he replied.

  “I expect you to take that to heart. Now I am going to go speak with Fiona, then I will decided which of you is correct,” she said, “It was nice to meet you, Ruby, we must party together someday.”

  “That would be epic,” I replied with a grin.

  “Now walk me to the car, Seamus, be a good boy,” she ordered him.

  They walked out of the house and I glanced at the clock. We had danced a lot longer than I had realized. I ran up the stairs and wrote a note to Jade about Seamus’s mom, changed clothes, and laid down with the note taped to my forehead.

  Chapter 17

  I woke up in a car that was moving, my eyes adjusted so I looked around and I was sitting next to Mom.

  “Mommy, is that really you?” I asked.

  “Yes, Ruby, I’m here,” she said grabbing me up in a hug.

  I felt a piece of paper in my hand, so I opened it up and read it.

  Ruby,

  Surprise! Seamus is letting us go. It’s close to dusk and I’m writing this in his car on the way to meet Fiona. We are finally going home!

  Love,

  Jade

  I rolled my eyes, leave it to Jade to point out the obvious. I couldn’t even get mad, I was so excited that I was going home and I would get to see my guys soon.

  “We’re on the way to the hotel for a couple of nights, then we'll head home,” Mom explained.

  “Ok, I was hoping we were going home now,” I said disappointed.

  “There’s a surprise at the hotel for you, dear,” Mom said with a knowing grin on her face.

  We rode the rest of the way in silence. I was thinking about my band, even though I was glad my mom was with me. We pulled up to a nice hotel, and Fiona gave the keys to the valet to park. I got out and walked into the lobby, and I was wrapped up in a hug by Grady.

  “I’m so glad you’re safe,” he said, then put me down and walked off.

  “That was unusual,” I said out loud, I barely got the words past my lips and I was surrounded by bodies.

  “Oh, Gem, we have been so worried,” Elias said.

  “We haven’t quit looking since you disappeared,” Liam said.

  “You’re never going to the bathroom alone again,” Felix stated.

  “I missed you guys so much,” I said with tears streaming down my eyes.

  “Are you crying, Gem?” Elias asked.

  “No, water is just coming out of my eyes,” I replied.

  “Baby, it’s ok to cry,” Liam said as he kissed my forehead.

  “Let’s go upstairs,” Felix suggested.

  The guys finally let go of me, and we went to the elevator. Elias pushed the button for the floor they were on. When the doors opened they led me to a room, opened the door, and I noticed my stuff on the bed.

  “I really just need to feel you close to me, to know you are real. Can we cuddle and do movie time?” Liam asked.

  “I need to touch her too,” Felix added.

  “Don’t forget me,” Elias growled.

  I laughed, so relieved to be back with them all. We went to the couch and I ended up sitting on Elias’s lap, in the middle of Liam and Felix. I’m not sure what movie played in the background, I was too focused on just being with my guys again.

  Liam selected a second movie, and they shuffled around, I sat on Liam now, in between the other two. This time I recognized the movie as a comedy that the guys had played before on the bus.

  When that movie ended Felix stood up and announced, “Harry Potter!”

  I started laughing, but he gave me a dirty look, which meant he was serious.

  “That’s the crap Jade and Grady are into,” I whined.

  “You can watch it once for me,” he said.

  “Ok, for you I will,” I replied.

  He put on the movie and I sat on his lap. I hate to admit it, but I was drawn into the movie from the beginning. It was better than I had imagined it would be.

  When it ended I asked Felix, “What made you choose this movie?”

  “Grady made us watch the first one while you were gone and Felix loved it,” Elias answered.

  “He’s been waiting to show it to you before we watched the rest,” Liam said.

  “Awww, schnookums,” I said jokingly, then turned around and kissed him.

  We ended up on the bed in a big puppy pile. It was awesome just to be with my guys again, even if we weren’t having sex.

  It was close to dawn, I asked Elias to have Grady wait outside the door, then I wrote a note to Jade. I gave her shit for pointing out the obvious, and told her to open the door.

  The sun came up and it was Jade’s turn.

  I felt myself plop on the bed when I became coherent. Jade must have been in mid sit when we changed. I took a shower and got dressed and ready to go out. I wanted to find a club, dance, and get a bite to eat. It felt like life was getting back to normal.

  I heard a knock at the door, when I answered it all three of my guys where there. I had a goofy smile on my face when I looked at them.

  “Are you broken?” Felix asked me.

  “No, why?” I asked.

  “You have this weird expression on your face, very un-Ruby like,” he teased.

  I smacked him on the arm, still grinning. “Can we go out, and have some fun?”

  “Sure, Gem,” Elias answered, pulling me into a kiss.

  I was then pulled to Felix and Liam in turn for equally hot kisses before we left the room. Elias had found a club that boasted the best nightlife in town, so we grabbed a cab and went to check it out.

  When we arrived, there was a long line to get in. I looked at the bouncer and wondered if we were famous enough to bypass the line.

  “Let’s see if we can skip the line,” I told the guys.

  “Ok, worth a shot,” Liam answered.

  We walked up to the bouncer and I said, “Hi, do you know who we are?”

  He grinned the said, “Everyone should know who Ruby Stone is, she was all over the news. Glad to see you’re safe. Go on in.” He unhooked the rope and allowed us to walk in.

  “That was awesome,” Liam said.

  “Yeah, there are some perks to being well known,” I replied with a grin.

  We hit the bar for drinks, and then hit the dance floor. My phone started buzzing in my pocket. I walked off the floor to check it, it was Mom calling me. I went to the back where the music wasn’t as loud, and the guys followed.

  “Hey, Mom,” I answered.

  “Ruby, you guys need to come back to the hotel, we need to go home now,” she said frantically.

  “Why what’s up?” I asked.

  “I’ll tell you later, there’s not time right now. We have to hurry,” she replied, then hung up.

  “Mom says we need to go home now, she was freaking out,” I explained to the guys.

  “Ok, I’ll get a cab,” Elias said, “Felix get a bite before we leave.”

  Liam stayed with me, while the other two broke off to get things done.

  Felix joined us at the same time I noticed Elias coming towards us.

  “Come on, the bouncer is holding the cab,” he said in a rush.

  We got in the cab and back to the hotel. Mom was standing in the lobby wringing her hands, Fiona trying to calm her down.

  “Go get your stuff, we are leaving as soon as you get back down here,” Mom said.

  “What’s going on, Mom?” I asked.

  “I’ll explain later, go!” she barked at me.

  We hurried up to our rooms and packed our bags quickly then came back down to the lobby. We loaded up in a van the hotel provided, then were on the way to the airport.

  We made it through airport security and to a private plane that Fiona’s mom loaned us. We were settled into the plane, I sat between Grady a
nd Elias. This was my first time on a plane so I held Elias’s hand during take off, but once we were in the air it wasn’t bad.

  I turned to Mom and asked, “Do you mind telling us what the rush is?”

  The sun came up before she answered.

  Epilogue

  I woke up laying on the bed in my apartment. It felt good to be home. There was a piece of paper taped to my forehead.

  Ruby,

  Mom said she didn’t get a chance to let you know what’s going on. Someone cursed Dad, and now he can’t wake up. Mom called it an endless sleep. We have to put our lives on hold to help her solve this before the next full moon, or there will be no waking him up. I hope we can do this.

  Love,

  Jade

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you Zoe Parker, for putting up with me while I tried to juggle different hats. I love you lady!!

  Sara Louise, I’m so glad we shared a release day and now we can talk books.

  Kelly and Amy, you ladies are wonderful and I would be lost without you both.

  Pike, thank you for managing my schedule, you are awesome!

  Nikki, thank you for all the pretties!

  Mila, thank you for all of your help!

  Life would be much sadder without all of you beautiful women in my life.

  About Brandi Bell

  Brandi Bell lives with her husband, teenage son, two Great Danes, and an antisocial cat. She’s from Kansas, and has seen a tornado. She enjoys reading everyone else’s books, cooking, and adult coloring books when she’s not locked in her writing cave.

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