First Blood

“Did you see where Taylor went?” Mya walked up beside Sam and looked around. “She said she was coming over to speak to you, but then I lost her in the crowd.” It was a week later, they’d just buried Jane, and paid tribute to her wolf. Her heart was still raw but since they’d started grieving and being together, she and Taylor had found a little bit of solace in each other.

“No, she never came past here,” Sam said. She looked at Amber who nodded.

“She didn’t come to us.” Amber agreed. “Maybe she needed a few minutes alone.”

“Maybe.” Mya agreed. But she didn’t like being away from Taylor too long. “I’ll go find her.”

“Give her a second,” Amber said gently. “How are you doing?”

“I’m fine,” Mya said automatically. Then she sighed. “It’s hard. Every day is hard.” She rubbed a hand over her face. “But it feels a little easier, dealing with it, with Tay.”

“Sam?!” A voice shouted from the cover of trees that shaded her mother’s coffee house. “Sam?!” The voice shouted again.

“Who?” Sam tried to look through the crowd and saw Hunter and Gem rushing toward them. Sam started to smile. Their old friends were all there. It was crap circumstances, but it was good to see everyone. “What’s wrong?” She asked the worry and frowns they wore set her body on high alert.

“We have a problem,” Hunter said quietly.

“I have to find Taylor,” Mya said and started to move away. Hunter grabbed her arm.

“She’s the problem,” Hunter said. “Come.” She spun on her heel and didn’t wait to see if they followed.

“Hunter, what do you mean she’s the problem?” Mya asked. “What happened? Is she okay?” Fear made her voice sound thin and hoarse.

“We ran into her while we were walking around. She said she was on her way to see Sam and Amber. Then she sort of uh, zoned out.” Gem said.

“Zoned out? What does that mean?” Sam asked.

“See for yourself,” Hunter said. She pointed to where Taylor stood. Her arms hanging loose at her sides, her face blank and her eyes vacant. “She said, get Sam, and then she just stood like that. We called her name, shook her. But she won’t budge.” Hunter added.

“Tay, baby, what’s wrong?” Mya walked closer slowly. Her hand held out in front of her. “Baby, you’re scaring me a little here.” Mya felt her heart constrict. She would not lose another lover!

“Ah, you’re all here,” Taylor spoke, but it wasn’t her voice. “Don’t worry, she’s only in a little pain. I don’t need to cause her pain, but I like it. Anyway. Back to me. Hello Mya.”

“Who are you?” Mya snapped. She wanted to grab Taylor’s shoulders and shake the intruder from her body. “What do you want?”

“Oh, come on, you know who I am, the Ruffian, you’ve been looking for. It’s time to play.” She chuckled. “I’m sorry for your loss. I’d hoped that my messenger would get her, but Diego had to steal the show. Oh, well, doesn’t matter, the result was the same.”

Mya snarled, reached for Taylor’s arms. Sam grabbed her from behind and held her back. “What do you want?” Sam snapped.

“I want to have some fun.” The voice said. “I am sorry it had to be you, Mya.” She chuckled again. “No, I’m not. You know I was going to make you choose between them. Jane or Taylor. But when the opportunity came to take her out, I couldn’t resist. The pain in your scream was delicious. The pain radiating through this compound, it’s feeding my soul.” Taylor’s body shuddered. The pleasure in the vacant eyes made Mya nauseous. “Anyway, I just wanted to pop in, say, hi, let you know, more pain is coming. And ultimately, you’ll be the one I come for.” She pointed to Mya. “We’ll have so much fun before I kill you.” She ran her hands down Taylor’s body. “And this one.”

“Keep your hands off her!” Mya shouted. “Where are you? I’ll come to you!”

“Too easy, lover. I like the game. I have a few stops along the way. But I will tell you this. I’m not that far away. Actually, way closer than you think.” She smiled at them. “Now go and enjoy the rest of your day. I know I will.” She blew Mya a kiss and then Taylor sagged.

Mya lunged forward and caught her. “I’ve got you,” Mya whispered.

“What… Mya?”

“Right here, baby.” Mya kissed her brow. “I’m right here.” She looked up and met Sam’s eyes. “When the time comes to kill her, I want the lead.”

“Mya…” Sam began.

“She’s mine, Sam.” Mya insisted. “If it was Amber, you’d want the same.”

“Okay. Yes, fine. She’s yours.” Sam nodded. “But first, we need to find her.”

“The only other witch we’ve dealt with that can do that, was Ava.” Gem said. “Do you think this is coming from her?”

“No, I think she found her happy place, wherever that is, with Gina,” Sam said.

“I have a feeling we’re going to need her help with this,” Hunter said.

“Even if I did agree, we’d have to find them first. Since they disappeared, there’s been no sighting.” Sam said. “I don’t know if I want to turn that rock and end up with two fronts to fight.”

“We don’t really have a choice,” Amber said. “Gem’s right, she’s the only one that we know of that could do that. She may know how to trace whoever that was.”

“As I said, we would have to find her first. They’ve gone under. How do we find them now when we couldn’t do it for years now?” Sam threw her hands up.

“I might be able to help with that.” Alex and Morgan walked up to them. Alex had a wry smile. “I found her two weeks ago. Total accident, and I don’t even know if they realize it. But I stumbled into their paradise, and paradise is what I mean.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Sam growled. Amber placed a hand on her arm.

“Let’s get today over. We can discuss this in the morning.” Amber smiled over her shoulder at Mya. “Take Taylor, get something to drink and eat. She’ll need food and drink now. We’ll meet tomorrow morning at seven.” She looked back to Hunter and Gem. “You two going to stay?”

“Hell yes,” Hunter said. “I’m sure Michelle and Ash will want to stay too,” Hunter added. “Besides, it’s been a while since our last adventure.”

“Yes, well at least this time we’re all on dry land.” Amber shook her head. “Fine, let them know about the meeting, we’ll talk more then.”

“Amber we should do it now,” Mya said. “The sooner we can get a track on her, the sooner I can kill her.”

“We’ll do it in the morning,” Amber said firmly. “Take care of Taylor now.”

Mya looked down and saw the pain in Taylor’s eyes. “What did she do to you?”

“I don’t know. But my skin feels like it’s on fire.”

“Take her to mom, Diane will know what to do,” Sam said.

“We’ll see you in the morning then.” Mya agreed and lifted Taylor into her arms.

Hunter watched them walk away. “This Ruffian, she’s one of the torturers that we heard about as children?”

“Yes.” Amber nodded. “The first one in centuries. Or that we know of. Why she’s fixated on Mya, we don’t know.”

“I don’t think they ever needed a reason,” Morgan said. “Honey, please join me on a walk,” Morgan said to Hunter. “I’ve not seen you in a while, I want to catch up.”

Hunter nodded to her mother and kissed Gem. “I’ll see you a bit later.”

“Keep your eyes open.” Gem said.

“Come on, let’s all get something to eat,” Amber said after Hunter and Morgan left them. “This day just gets better.” She mumbled as she fell into step beside Sam.

“I actually think this is a good thing,” Alex said. “If we can convince Ava to actually help us and not kill us, we can track this Ruffian.”

“Mm, if she doesn’t use it to get back to her revenge plan,” Sam mumbled. She hated that a former enemy would have to become an ally. But if she wanted to keep Mya and Taylor safe, she’d have to accept it. However hard it was going to be.