Tribulation Road: A Red Hot Treats Story (5 page)

H
orror filled her
chest. There were so many good people already on the ground. The vampires had
caught them unawares, guided in by one of their own. She scanned the area for
the turncoat, as if they’d be wearing a scarlet letter. She lifted her bow,
took aim, and fired. One of the many swarming bodies fell. The sound of clanking
swords, cries of agony, and the thwack of flesh being cut into would haunt her
nightmares for the rest of her life. She spotted her father in the center of
the fray, neck and neck with a dark-haired man who exuded power.

The
man’s eyes flashed amber, announcing his Omega status.

Distracted,
she found herself in the air. She landed on the concrete, scraping a layer of the
epidermis from her arm and her hand. She rolled onto her back to face her
attacker. The suck-face hissed and bared his teeth. She shoved her hand into
her pocket, cursing the cold that seeped in through the wet material and the
tight fit. “Come get some…
fangs
,” she whispered.

He
rushed forward, blurring as he used supernatural speed. She popped the tab on
her bottles and flicked her wrist. He screamed. His skin smoked while she
rolled over and gained her feet…not above running to give herself time. She
darted toward an opening in the crowd. Her fingers were stiff from the cold and
she fumbled as she pulled a new arrow from the quill on her back. She wrestled
with the arrow. She got it into place and spun, facing her enemy.

“Time’s
up.”

“Not
today.” She fired, hitting him square in the heart. Tossing down her bow, she
removed her machete and took his head. She grabbed her bow, crouched beside the
tree that sheltered her slightly from the battle, and reloaded it as she sought
out Jaegar. True to his word, he fought two vamps a few football field lengths
away.

“They
should protect their precious items better,” a cultured voice with a British
accent said, too close to her for comfort.

She
stood and pressed her back against the tree to avoid an ambush from behind. She
glanced up to see her newest attacker—a gaunt man with milky blue eyes, an
angular face, and stern mouth, with a shock of white hair that tumbled down his
back.

She’d
never laid eyes on him before, but she knew he was ancient.

“Our
kind has done this dance for eons. But now I have the upper hand.” He smiled.
“It would be a waste to rid the world of such beauty. I think it only fitting
that I welcome you to my family.”

“You’d
better kill me here and now or, one day, I’ll be the one to take your head.”

“Oh,
so fiery. I do like my women with fight.”

“I
always liked my men with a pulse. I don’t think we were made for one another.”

“You’re
proud now, but I’ll break you. Once the blood cravings start, there’ll be
nothing you won’t do for relief.”

She
let him run his lips as she waited for an opening. She couldn’t match him speed
for speed. So, she had to distract him before she made her move. A black-handled
dagger flew between them.

The
man hissed. Smoke rose. A thin slash appeared on his cheek and dark red blood
oozed down his pale face.

“She’s
taken, sucker.”

Jaeger’s
voice never sounded do beautiful.

“The
prodigal son returns to his ruined kingdom.” The vamp wiped away the blood and
licked it off his fingers. Water droplets flew through the air and the vamp
dodged
Matrix
-style. He cried out when her arrow pierced his side, then
he flitted away.

Cockiness
will always get you slayed.

“Even
the fucking monsters want you, Bri.”

“Shut
it,” she snapped at Jaegar, jogging back into the fray with him at her side.
She held her machete in her hand, relishing the weight and the wicked curve as
she sliced foes down at the waist. Blood was a precious commodity to vamps. You
got them flowing and they would flee like a puppy with their tail between their
legs.

She
looked around to spot her father again, and he appeared to be weakening. Sweat
dotted his brow. His chest heaved and his sword moves were slower.

Brigh
struggled against the bodies like a salmon swimming upstream. Her father cried
out. She glanced up and her heart died. A fist-sized red spot marred the back
of her father’s t-shirt and spread rapidly. Her mind struggled to accept the
reality presented in front of her. The vamp had his hand in her father’s chest.
Her stomach rolled as bile rushed up into the back of her throat and she choked
it down. She let out a bellow and the other members of Noble took up the cry. Blood
splattered her face and her body as she fought to arrive at her father’s side.

The
vamps retreated.

She
ran forward and propped her father’s head up on her legs. “Daddy?”

He
sputtered. Flecks of blood flew from his mouth and ran down his face, staining
it red. Her heart ached. His face wavered in front of her. She took a deep
breath and held back the tears.
Mom should be here right now.
A thought
that made no sense since her mother had been long gone now. She wanted to scan
the crowd for anyone who could make his inevitable demise stop, but feared
missing a second of the time her father had left.

“Up
to you now,” he garbled.

“No.
This is your Clan to run.”

“No
more. Pick well.” His breath rattled in his chest.

“Stay
with me, Dad.”

“Madeline…”
he whispered. The light faded from his eyes and his chest stilled with her
mother’s name on his lips.

Brigh
knew, in that moment, she’d become an orphan. As they’d lived together, they
had died together. She bowed her head and closed his eyes. The king of Noble
had fallen. She balled her fists, channeling her grief to rage.

They
will all pay
.

She
lay her father’s head down on the ground carefully and rose. “We will avenge
them all! Build up our numbers and beat the darkness back until the light
shines brightly once more. My father named me, and I’ll be damned if I don’t do
him justice. There are wolves amongst us, and I plan on finding them tonight.
Gather the bodies into two piles, one for our people and another for the
vampires. After we send them on their way, we’ll deal with our in-house
issues.” She locked her grief away in a steel box. The best way to honor her
father would be to keep his legacy alive. He’d expect nothing less from her.
I
will do you proud, father.

“Bri?”
Jaegar whispered.

She
tilted her head back and looked into his worry-filled hazel-colored eyes. “There
is no one else I want to do this with. Tell me you’re all in and fully
committed this time and I’ll believe you.” She held her breath as she waited
for his response. Anyone else would pale in comparison. All their issues aside,
the man held her heart in his hands. She could never truly love another and, in
the end, she believed he was the one destined to rule at her side.

Jaegar
knelt and took her hand. “I swear on everything I am and my family name I will
never leave this Clan or you again.” He turned his gaze out to the crowd that
had gone silent. “I beg the clan for forgiveness. My heart was no longer in
what we do and I had to leave to discover my place in the world. I know now
it’s here, and if you’ll have me again, I’ll spend the rest of my life making
up for my mistakes.”

“What
say you, Clan?” Brigh asked. The words felt wrong coming out of her mouth.
Dad
should be here asking them this.

“Let
him come back, we need every man we can get.”

Similar
phrases were tossed their way.

“The
Clan has spoken. Welcome back, Jaegar Sutton. “

Cheers
rose up and, for a moment, there was something to celebrate. They’d lost more
people than they could afford. It was a problem she didn’t know how to fix.

Jaegar
released her hand and pulled out the necklace from inside of her shirt that
held his ring. “You kept this because deep down…you knew I’d come back for
you.”

“Maybe
I did, Jag.”

“Tonight,
when we wash away the dirt of battle and set aside our grief, we will celebrate
life and I’ll place that ring back on your finger where it belongs.”

She
barked a broken laugh to keep from crying. It would be a reward for staying
sane.

~*  
*   *   *~

This
was hell. There was no other way to describe it. They’d burned their dead,
paying homage to them like the Vikings of old, and that wasn’t even the most
difficult part.

“You
okay?” Jaegar asked, glancing down at her as she stirred the potion it’d taken
her hours to perfect.

“I
don’t think I’m ever truly going to be okay again, Jag.” She swallowed.

“What
exactly is that?” Jaegar asked, gesturing toward the green liquid that had a
layer of smoke coming out of it.

“It’s
a truth potion. It renders them unable to lie. We’ll take it to the town
meeting tonight. A Dixie cup full will be plenty for each person.” She stepped
back from the metal cauldron. “It’s ready and so am I. Nothing can begin to
heal until I have the betrayer’s heads on the chopping block. No matter who
they are.”

He
came up behind her and wrapped an arm around her waist, offering silent
comfort. There was nothing he could say to make this easier. He’d just stepped
back into things and it ate him up from the inside out. She’d been living among
them all along.

“I
just don’t understand how we couldn’t see this coming or why. If you want to
leave, leave. Why bring our home down around our ears?” She shook her head.
“Let’s get this out. I want to raise new blood wards before the vamps have a
chance to regroup.”

“They’ll
want the claiming soon,” he whispered. Leaders were chosen in pairs. The Noble
believed they needed the balance of male and female to guide them successfully.
The woman was the heart and the man the head. They worked together to provide
the best care they could to their clansmen. The council helped them make large
decisions, but the final say always came back to them.

“We’ll
do it on Samhain, like my father wanted.”

The
sentence was sobering. It meant she was to marry someone else. He’d been damn
close to losing her forever. “Alright.”

“Good,
now grab a towel and help me carry this down.”

They
worked in silence and he soaked up her presence, grateful for a second chance.
Brigh was life. How had he walked away from her? A childish part of him had
wanted to see what she would choose—Noble or him. He wanted to know she loved
him without the trappings of their clan. That it was more than a made match. “Why
did you choose me?”

She
glanced up from ladling. “Did I make a mistake? Are you having cold feet?”

“No,
Bri.” He shook his head. “I just want to know why.”

“Because
I love you. That never went away. My emotions aren’t run by a set of breakers I
can flip on and off. Why would you even ask me that?”

“I
used to worry that what we had wasn’t real. That it was a relationship forced
on us and hyped up until we believed it. It was the first truth I learned. The
hardest one.” He owed her this before they committed to not just one another,
but their clan, for a lifetime. “There were times when not being able to hear
your voice, smell your scent, or feel your body beside mine damn near drove me
insane. “

“Then
why didn’t you come home, Jag? Why wait two years?”

“The
first year, I wasn’t ready. I had too many things to work through and learn
about myself and what I thought life could be away from Noble. After that,
pride, stubbornness, and embarrassment. I know I fucked up doing things the way
I did.”

“It
turned everything you said to me into a lie. If you could leave me so easily,
how could you love me? Why didn’t I see that you were in trouble?”

“We
make a living out of lying, Bri.”

“Not
to one another, never to one another.”

“I
couldn’t tell you what I was in denial about. It was a slow trickle that turned
into a busted dam.” He stilled her hand and cupped her face. “Why do you think
I asked you to go with me? You were the one thing I was certain about.”

She
closed her eyes. “It didn’t feel that way.”

“It
was…it is. Please look at me, Bri.” She opened her eyes. “It’s always been you.
It will always be you.”

She
took a shaky breath and nodded, blinking rapidly.

He
kissed her forehead and breathed in her fresh scent. They’d scrubbed until the
hot water ran out and he still felt covered in the grime and blood from the
battle. She rested her head against his shoulder and he cherished the contact
she’d initiated.

“Later,”
she whispered.

He
kissed her forehead again and pulled back. “Later.”

~*  
*   *   *~