The Ruby Blade Read online

  She stared at me and didn’t answer.

  “How long?”

  “A year and a half,” she replied.

  I rocked back on my feet a bit. I hadn’t realized it was that long. I did my best to forget about the engagement ring he’d told me he’d had for decades and powered on. “A year and a half. And did you mate?”

  “No.”

  “I guess we know who captured his heart and who captured his passing fancy.” I was being cruel, but I didn’t care. “And lastly, Isaac is not dead. We are mated. Do you know what that means? I can feel him when he’s not blocking me, and right now he’s in too much pain to block me. The link is weak because he’s on a different plane, but I can feel him in my head. He is alive, and I will rescue him. So, before you criticize me and the way I’m handling my grief at losing my mate, the man who sacrificed himself to save you, you need to remember I feel his pain every second and right now, I’m not sure his sacrifice was worth it.”

  I walked out of the cabin, and it took every ounce of self-control I had not to slam the door behind me.

  Florence was glaring at me as I approached the car. I needed to figure out a way to mitigate the irritation Emma was causing before I irreparably damaged my friendship with Florence. I caught a glimpse of the blonde werewolf coming out of the cabin, under the weight of all her bags, but before I could do more than wonder when and where she’d had a chance to pick up luggage and possessions, Raj and Florence rushed to help her.

  “She’s a werewolf,” I said—albeit very, very quietly. “She could carry twice that without breaking a sweat.” Raj pulled up short, laughed ruefully, and then took a couple bags from her anyway because that’s who he was. Florence, who for all that she was a mage, still did not possess superhuman strength, took everything else. Raj then took the bags from Florence, leaving both women empty-handed.

  I turned my back before I said anything regrettable and got into the warmed-up car. Raj slid into the seat beside me after stowing Emma’s luggage—seriously, where had she gotten luggage?—and the other two got in the back.

  “I went shopping for her last night.” Raj’s voice slipped into my mind. “I broke into a local mall and brought her suitcases and clothing. And it wasn’t enough, so I had to make a second trip.”

  I had been about to pull out onto the main road when he made that confession and I stomped on the brake a little too hard.

  “You what?”

  “Inside voice, please,” he said telepathically.

  I moved my attention back to my driving and my conversation back to my mind. “You went shopping for her? Like an errand boy? You—the second most powerful vampire in the world—”

  “On this continent.”

  I waved his correction away. “Whatever. You’re the most powerful vampire in my world. My point is that you’re not somebody’s personal shopper.”

  “She looked so sad. She totally played me, just like she did now with the luggage.”

  “I need new clothes,” I said, looking down at my worn and tattered outfit.

  “Oh, I picked up something for you, too.” The image he sent made me blush.

  “Stop it!” I said that out loud for emphasis.

  “Are they always this annoying?” Emma asked from the back seat.

  “It’s only recently that Raj has been traveling with us like this,” Florence replied. “But they’ve always carried on their conversations like that if that’s what you’re asking. When Isaac was here, the three of them were nothing but trouble.”

  “But very, very good-looking trouble,” Raj said.

  I smiled over the pang of heartache that hearing Isaac’s name caused.

  “We have some time today, and we have some things to talk about,” I said. “Emma, how much has Florence filled you in on what we’re doing?”

  “Not much,” Emma said, and I could tell she was pouting.

  “It is your story to tell,” Florence said.

  I quickly sketched out the events thus far. “The magical barriers between the Fae plane and this one were weakening, and the power came to me, as a Fae-born child raised here, last midsummer. In order to break the barriers and restore traffic and balance between the two planes, I need to use that power to open eight gates, each on one of the old pagan holy days.

  “Each time I open a gate on this plane, there are a few moments when they are functional—as you saw—but then they close again, although not so tight as before. They also release a magical burst of energy that is devastating to the electrical grids and computery things. When I opened the first gate, we didn’t know, and many people died when the magical pulse took out the onboard navigational systems of the nearby aircraft.

  “Now, most of the country is without electricity, and modern cars, which are chock-full of computer systems, do not run. That’s why we’re driving this old thing. And why Isaac should’ve just listened to me from the beginning and let me take the Vantage.”

  “Oh, he still has that?” Emma said. “The first time we made love was in that car.”

  “She’s lying,” Raj said.

  Emma gasped.

  “Sweetheart,” I said, “Just because you can tell a lie doesn’t mean you should. Especially when you’re traveling with psychics.”

  “Also,” Raj interjected, “And I mean this in the spirit of friendly advice, you should think twice about pissing off Eleanor. I don’t understand your motivations there, but she is driving, and she gets hot when she’s angry. I do not want to be trapped in the car with a fireball. I’m more flammable than the average person.”

  “He’s right, Emma,” Florence said. “Making Eleanor angry is dangerous.”

  “So, anyway,” I said, trying to get my recap back on task. “I opened the first gate in Portland in August.”

  “Killing a lot of people,” Emma interrupted.

  I flexed my fingers on the steering wheel and tried to remain calm. The one benefit to talking to Emma seemed to be that I was feeling the cold a lot less. Of course, if I got any hotter, I might start smoking, and then I’d have to open the window. I tried to remember the breathing exercises Finn had taught me when I was learning to meditate to center my power. “After Portland, Finn, Isaac, and I traveled to the Black Hills in South Dakota and opened the second gate. That’s where we met Florence and where Raj tried to have me eliminated.”

  “Kidnapped, my sweet. Neutralized. Not killed.”

  I smiled at him. “You were going to put me in a dungeon.”

  “But alive!”

  “Florence joined us, but Finn left us, due to having shown his true colors as a major asshat, and then Isaac, Florence and I took a roundabout trip, ending up in St. Louis. Raj joined us permanently halfway there when I called him after killing an old Russian vampire. Isaac and I went through the mating ceremony, and then I opened the third gate. All four of us traveled to Savannah, although Raj didn’t travel with us, just met us there. I opened the fourth gate, Isaac sacrificed himself because he is too noble for his own good, and here we are, headed to Pennsylvania to find some magical musical rocks.”

  “Pennsylvania. Good, more information.”

  “It’s so weird how it slips out like that,” I said. “Why can’t I just know things?”

  Raj pulled out our road atlas and was studying Pennsylvania. “I don’t see any mention of mystical musical rocks on here,” he said. “We’ll need to pick up a tourist guide once we get to Pennsylvania.”

  “The real question,” I said, “Is what we’re going to do with you, Emma.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked.

  “Well, you’ve been saved from the evil vampire, but she isn’t the forgive and forget type of gal. From what I’ve heard, she doesn’t let go easily. It’s possible she’ll want you back, although I can’t imagine why. She certainly tried to arrange things to keep you and Isaac. And the first place she’d look for you would be with us. In order to keep you safe, we should probably distance ourselves from you.”

/>   “You promised to keep her safe,” Florence said.

  “That’s what I was suggesting,” I said.

  “Do you really believe that dropping her off in Hershey, Pennsylvania would be the safest place for her?” Florence asked. I narrowed my eyes. I knew what she was trying to do.

  “I wasn’t proposing that we just drop her off at the side of the road like an unwanted puppy. I thought we could find the nearest Pack and petition them for her protection.”

  “She’d be safer with us,” Florence said.

  “She’d be an easier target with us,” I countered.

  “But safer, because we are better equipped to meet the threat. If Finn goes after her...”

  I bowed my head and conceded defeat. “Fine. She can stay with us, but she has to contribute in some useful way.”

  “She just got out of fifty years of Fae prison,” Florence yelled. I was shocked. I don’t think I’d ever heard her raise her voice, or be anything but calm.

  “It only felt like six to her,” I pointed out. Weather patterns were developing in the car. The backseat was taking on a decidedly frosty appearance, and the front seat was getting a bit smoky. “We need to calm the fuck down,” I said.

  “You need to stop arguing about me like I’m an idiot child that needs to be protected,” Emma said. “How about asking me what I want to do?”

  She had a point. A really, really good point.

  “That is an excellent point,” I conceded. “My dislike for you clouded my judgment. It is my opinion, and apparently Florence’s, that you would be better protected with us because we are familiar with the douchenozzle elf. However, you are an adult, and certainly not without resources of your own, and can do whatever you’d like.”

  “Isaac is still alive?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  “And you are planning on rescuing him?”

  “After the gates are all opened, yes.”

  “The gates are more important to you?”

  “The gates are on a pretty strict timetable,” I said. I took a deep breath, held it for a ten count, and then let it out. “If I don’t open the gates when they need to be opened, it’s possible that either they or I will explode. Neither of those scenarios will be good for Isaac.”

  “I will stay with you until you rescue Isaac. I owe him my life.”

  “You may stay with us for now. When it is time to rescue Isaac, we can talk. I am not agreeing to take you with me on that mission.”

  “You will agree to that now, or I’ll leave.”

  “You don’t have the upper hand here. I might think it’s better for you if you stay, but I don’t want you to, so that’s a worthless threat. If you want to stay, you can, but you can’t compel me to do anything I don’t want to do.”

  “Fine.”

  “And a couple rules, since you’re going to be our new traveling friend. One—you make yourself useful. You practice driving until you feel comfortable with it. Two—don’t downplay your own strength and abilities. We’re not your servants or your assistants. Three—you start self-defense training. You might be a werewolf, but it’s been a while since you’ve fought, I’m guessing. I want you to be able to defend yourself and us when we’re attacked. And four—you stop making jabs about my relationship with Isaac.”

  She looked like she wanted to say something, but stopped and merely nodded. The backseat looked warmer now, and I’d stopped smoking.

  “Florence, are you okay?”

  “Fine. Sorry for losing my temper.”

  “No problem. Restores my faith in humanity. You’re still my BFF.” She laughed and everything was okay. I turned my attention back to the eerily empty freeway and kept on driving.

  We stopped for the night in Hershey, and I tried to quash my disappointment that the chocolate factory was not open for tours. I’d maybe indulged in a Willie Wonka-esque daydream or two, although my fantasies were less “innocent children’s film” and more “sexy Oompa Loompas give relaxing massages in a chocolate lake.” What? I never said I was normal.

  The pull of the gate was stronger now. I was uncomfortable and would be until we located the gate, and I stood in the nexus. We were so close, yet we still had over a month until the next gate could be opened. It would only take a couple of days to zero in on the location. Less if I could convince my dragon self to go for a flight in this cold. A full body shiver caught up with me as I rushed into the motel we’d picked out for the night, and I decided there wouldn’t be any flying anytime soon.

  By the time I’d crossed the parking lot and gotten into my room, my teeth were chattering so hard I was afraid I’d lose my tongue if it got in the way. I dove into the bed and wrapped all the blankets around myself in an attempt to get warm. I managed to raise my core temperature enough to stop the violent shivers and calm the tongue-decapitating—delinguatating?—chatters, but I was still frigid. Now would be an excellent time for Emma to show up and start talking.

  “You should work on raising your core temperature without anger,” Raj said. “If anger truly warms you, and doesn’t just cause you to ignore the cold, then there must be a way to do it without being angry.”

  “That thought had occurred to me,” I said, not even attempting to temper my snark.

  Raj grinned. “That’s why I’m along. To think the big thoughts.”

  I carefully untwined an arm from my blanket nest and extricated it long enough to shoot him the bird.

  “We need to find a gym, or large indoor area, so we can work out,” I said. “It’s been a while since we’ve sparred and I don’t want to lose my edge. Heh, sword pun.” I paused so Raj could chuckle appreciatively at my clever joke, and glared at him when he didn’t.

  “Anyway, we also need to assess where Emma’s at, combat-wise, and make sure she can, at the very least, effectively defend herself against all comers.”

  “Don’t worry about me, Fae,” Emma said. I’d heard her come in, of course. There wasn’t a lot of sneaking around possible in a group of supernaturals. “It’s you who are the weak link now, curled up in your blankets. What would you do if someone came in and attacked? Ask them to please wait while you managed to remove the layers and layers of clothing you have on so you can move freely?”

  I felt my temperature start to rise and concentrated, trying to figure out what was happening so I could consciously duplicate it.

  “Florence? Can you drop your body temperature on purpose?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “Can you raise it?”

  “Not as easily, but yes.”

  “How do you do it?”

  “Excuse me,” Emma said. “I was talking.”

  “Keep doing that,” I said, eyes closed. “It’s definitely working.”

  “I can tell you how I change body temperatures, but our magic is different enough that I’m not sure it will apply. My power flows from the earth and yours from the elements. When I want to raise or lower my body temperature, I must tap into the part of me that is connected to the earth. It helps if I’m physically touching the earth, but as long as I haven’t been out of contact for a long time, I usually have enough reserves. Then I take the power and create a false sensory input for the hypothalamus, either heat or cold, depending on which way I want my internal temperature to adjust.”

  I stared at her. “Oh. I’ll think about that, then.”

  My anger died down when Emma stopped talking, and I was getting cold again. I tried to recreate the feeling but didn’t have any luck. I gave up and decided to try a different method. I turned my head towards Emma. “You were saying?”

  Fifteen minutes later, I was warm enough to come out of my blanket cocoon. Florence was torn between irritation at my methods and her protective instinct towards Emma and didn’t even crack a smile once. Raj leaned back against a wall. He was an excellent leaner.

  “I’m keeping an eye—figuratively, of course—on things,” he said. “I’ll know if anyone or anything approaches.”

&n
bsp; “Are we expecting to be attacked?” Emma asked.

  “Almost constantly,” I said.

  “It’s not surprising, really. Who wouldn’t want to kill you?”

  “Excellent point. And now that you’re here, anyone who was content to let me pass by without an assassination attempt won’t be able to resist taking a pot shot at you, I’m sure.”

  “Enough,” Florence interrupted. “Emma, would you like to come with me to see if we can find some hot food? It’ll be a good time for you to get some driving practice in.”

  “We’re so close to the gate,” I said. “We should be able to set up a more permanent base of operations tomorrow.”

  “Can we start doing things at normal times then?” Emma asked. “I’m sick of all this driving in the dark. Why do we have to have a vampire anyway?”

  I ignored her question and decided that Florence could address any ongoing concerns while they were out on their driving lesson slash food run. When the door closed behind them, I let out a sigh and felt my shoulders relax. I sat down on the bed and pulled the blankets onto my lap. Raj sat behind me and placed his hands on my shoulders.

  “You’re very tense,” he whispered in my ear. He rubbed my shoulders, finding tiny knots, and working at them until they dissipated.

  “She’s irritating.”

  “She’s young.”

  “I think she’s even older than Florence,” I said.

  “Her birth date might be before Florence’s, but she is younger than all of you. She must have been in her early twenties when Michelle snatched her, and she was only imprisoned for six years. She’s twenty-eight or twenty-nine, a product of the 1950’s, and she’s just found out she lost fifty years. Oh, and that her boyfriend mated with a Fae, one of the people responsible for her imprisonment.”

  I sighed. “When you put it that way, I almost feel sorry for her.”

  “I’m sure you’ll lose sight of all that next time she makes a snide comment. She’s putting you down to make herself feel better. What she really needs is some therapy, a professional who can help her learn to talk about her trauma and start to heal from it. Instead, she’s using you as her therapeutic punching bag because you’re an easy target.”