20 Without Fear

After Ruby went to bed, Ash thought about his revenge the way he did every night. Even with weeks to think about it he had yet to come to a conclusion.

He was one vampire against the largest and undeniably strongest coven in North America. The Cromwells had at least sixty vampires in their ranks so they had been able to slaughter his comrades easily.

He wasn't terribly gifted at blood magic either. He couldn't make others do his bidding by controlling their blood and his barriers were never complete domes.

The one aspect of magic Ash was good at involved detecting whether or not there was something wrong with someone else's blood. Before the days of blood pills, he had been talented at sniffing out weak prey that would go down easily.

That was completely useless to him now. That skill only ever worked on humans anyway and they were no longer treated as prey but beings to be feared and respected.

Undeniably one of the most powerful and dangerous subspecies of fae, the vampires had resisted going under human rule the longest. It was why to this day they never fully integrated the way other races did.

And he was probably the weakest one of the lot. It was horribly ironic that he of all the people in his coven had ended up with everyone's lives in his hands. All because his last name was Mayhew.

Ash sighed and drummed his fingers against the cool stone of a bench in the garden. He had wanted to exact his revenge alone but there was no way he would be able to pull that off within the next thousand years.

He—and more importantly, his fallen brethren—couldn't wait that long for vengeance. Unfortunately, he would need allies. Ruby seemed like a good place to start given her strange ability to make money appear practically out of thin air.

But everything he had seen of her so far indicated she was a free spirit who would be tied down by nothing and no one. He had nothing that could persuade her to stay.

Maybe if he watched her carefully over the next few days he might figure out what would seem like a fair deal to her. Ash didn't have much to offer but there had to be something. He didn't want to have to resort to blackmail. An unwilling ally could easily become an enemy.

===

Ruby proved herself to be resourceful the next several days. Ash noticed that the pile of glass in the dungeon was slowly working its way into holes where the broken windows had been. She actually created windows!

The kitchen and one of the empty rooms not far from the only functioning bedroom became full of useful items she had brought from human society. The furniture was completely ordered but would take a few weeks to all get here.

If she wasn't working on her window project she was out in the garden pruning or planting all the dark flowers she had told him about. Progress was fairly slow but she was doing everything by herself and the garden was huge.

Ruby kept her guard up, not saying a word about her powers or dropping her glamour at all, but she did chat with him pleasantly about a variety of topics when they were both awake. They spent a lot of time comparing things between their races and talking about human advancement since Ash was so behind the times.

If he wanted to get his revenge, he would need to know more about the world they lived in. He had a sinking suspicion the Cromwells' money was coming from the humans.

The more Ash talked to her, the less he knew. He couldn't think of a single thing that would bring her over to his side until his revenge was complete.

As he watched her work and occasionally handed her gardening tools under the setting sun one day about a week after she arrived, he dared to bring up a question that had been plaguing him. "Ruby…what is your biggest goal in life?"

She was so startled she snipped a bit too much off of a shrub she was pruning and turned to face him with furrowed brows. "Why do you ask?"

"Vague curiosity," Ash said innocently.

He handed her a bottle of water to distract her. Thankfully it worked. Ruby took several long swigs before answering. "I want to be able to do whatever I want, whenever I want without fear."

What a strange answer. He had already figured she was a free spirit but what was that about fear? What did she have to be afraid of aside from an arranged marriage she didn't want?

Ash had a suspicion it had something to do with the secrets she kept. He didn't know what about her sand/glass power could make her so afraid of people finding it out or why she refused to show her true form but it couldn't be a coincidence.

Maybe he would be able to use that. Fearful people need protection, don't they? He could agree to be her protector in exchange for her help bankrolling his revenge.

But that was a stupid idea; what protection could he possibly offer? He wasn't even that great at being a vampire. He wouldn't be able to protect her unless he mastered the full dome barrier spell. Nothing could get through that without the caster's permission.

Ruby wasn't aware of this but the only reason she could bring other people inside the barrier was because she had a blood seal on her. He had secretly cast it while he was repairing her wing.

He felt bad that she couldn't fly and knew if she was going to be able to come and go without her wings going over the partial barrier that she would need a blood seal. Without one, people couldn't even tell the castle was there. Their perception made them walk right around it.

It didn't affect her at all aside from there being a tiny, blood red spell symbol on the back of her neck. She would never be able to see it without a bunch of angled mirrors.

The blood seal was an extension of the barrier spell so whoever had one was considered part of the will of the caster. That was why Ruby was able to bring other people into the castle.

It was also why one of his fellow coven members had been able to bring Cromwell vampires inside their barrier after being captured while out gathering intelligence. The blood seal was a double-edged sword so he was hesitant to use it at all but felt that he had no choice.

If Ruby could trust him with her wings, Ash could trust her with his location. Trust was a two-way street after all.