The Ruby (The Hidden Gems Book 1)

by R. Getsee

  He smiled as he met my eyes. “I can’t?”

  “How is this possible?” I asked, my eyes bugging out of my head.

  “Ah, this is the question I promised to answer. Alright, then.”

  I stared at him, dumbfounded, as he grinned. I was a little unnerved by his good humor, it kind of felt like he was making fun of me.

  “Sweet child, I can see and hear you fine, although when you’re looking into events that have already come to pass, I cannot.”

  “So why can you see me now?” I was thoroughly confused by this point, and I couldn’t remember how I had arrived here in the first place.

  “Well,” he said, “this is not a vision of the past, nor is it the future. I have been watching over you since you were born.”

  “Who are you?” I asked him. “Why do I feel such a connection to you?”

  “Because,” he smiled, “I am the Ancient, Lucian, the first vampire in existence and the original vessel for the power of the Ruby.”

  I let out a small gasp. I’d already put that much together but to see him, to talk to the Original, was a little mind-bending. “So you had my power? What happened to you? What’s going to happen to me?”

  Now that I stood in front of someone with the ability to answer my questions who didn’t want to kill me, I couldn’t get myself to shut up as my tongue tripped over itself in my eagerness.

  “Patience, child,” he said, “time is short, and regretfully, I cannot answer all of your questions yet. Some things you will have to find out on your own, while other things I can only answer when the time comes. You already saw what happened to me and the others. There are two other races; one girl from each of them will have powers similar, yet different to yours, which you must locate before the Jet breaks free of his chains. There are twenty chains that hold him in the plane he created, and he has already broken three.”

  I looked down mournfully as memories of how I got here flew through my mind. “I know, but he won’t need much more time. He has amassed followers who have found a way to free him quicker—by killing me—and I think they may have already succeeded in that.”

  “I am aware of the event leading up to this meeting but worry not, it will not work. Killing any of the gems will not free him, though the power finally being let free did start the process,” he said sadly.

  “So it is my fault?” Tears pricked my eyes, and I cursed internally. Here I was meeting one of the most powerful entities ever made and I was blubbering like a little girl. “I let the power out and now I’ve doomed everyone because I couldn’t even stop a couple of his creepy little minions.”

  “No, child, it is not your fault,” Lucian had an emotion in his eyes that I had never seen. “The power cannot be suppressed when it has been awoken, and you have not yet been defeated.”

  “But I have been. The prophecy says there have to be three of us to defeat him. I’m lying on a rooftop with a ten-inch knife in my gut. I lost. I’m about to die and I failed everyone.” I batted the tears that fell away angrily as I looked to him.

  “Alas, your final question, perhaps the hardest one of all, what will happen to you?” he said. “Well, no one can answer that but you. You must decide now, whether you want to give up and let go. You will die on the roof surrounded by your friends, or you can keep fighting, use the power within you, and survive. Fight till the final battle and defeat the Jet like it is your destiny to do.”

  “How can I do it?” I asked. “Tell me and I will. I need to see this through to the end.”

  Lucian smiled. “Just close your eyes, feel the power, and breathe. You will know what to do.”

  I nodded and did what he said. I listened to the breeze in the clearing as I searched for my power, until I heard more sounds carried on the wind. I heard Emi screaming my name, my friends and family telling me to wake up, and the sounds of fighting going on around me.

  I quickly opened my eyes, wanting him to answer one more thing. “Before I go, why are our eyes the same?”

  Lucian let out a belting laugh that vibrated in my bones and filled me with unexplainable joy. “I lived on Earth for centuries as an immortal creature. I took many lovers and had many children. Every vampire is loosely descended from me, but there was one human, the first I loved deeply, the first to bear a child with me, Lyanna. We had the most beautiful daughter, she was even more special than the others. She could control how fast she aged, living for millennia, before she fell in love and decided to start to age with her family. My most precious daughter, Nyssa.”

  I gasped. “My mom? Does that mean…?” I trailed off, unable to believe it.

  “Yes, Alex, you are my granddaughter—a direct, pure descendant from the first vampire born on Earth. That is why we look so alike, although your mother did look more like Lyanna.”

  I felt a rush of joy and confusion. Why did Mom never tell us? “Will I ever see you again?”

  My grandfather smiled. “Count on it.”

  With that, I closed my eyes and grabbed on once again to the chords of energy nearest my core of power. I felt a pulling sensation as the sharp, burning pain in my abdomen flared up once more as I opened my eyes. My friends were still fighting the Elementals, and the shadow monster controlling Athena was crouched over me, surprise lighting her face.

  “Well,” she said, seeing me try to stand, “you’re tougher to kill than I would have thought.”

  “You have no idea,” I said as I grabbed the hilt of the blade.

  I gritted my teeth against the pain, grunting as I pulled, sliding the blade free inch by painful inch, trying not to pass out as I felt the ache of the cold metal slice through more of my flesh. Finally, it slid out, and I panted, sweat dripping from my brow, as I concentrated on the wound that was now pooling with my blood.

  Cupping my hand over it, I poured power into it, speeding my healing along until my flesh knitted together. Only a red welt marred my skin when I finished. My shoulder still ached, but there was nothing I could do about that now. I didn’t think I would be allowed the chance to pop it back into place like they did in the movies, if that even worked anyway.

  “That’s impossible,” Athena said in shock. Everyone had stopped fighting and stared at me, looking mystified at what I was doing as I stood up. I took a second to look over at Emi, Jared, and Roman, all sporting identical looks of shocked relief on their tear-stained faces. They all cried for me?

  “All of you,” I spoke, turning my attention back to the crowd in front of me. My power echoed like a second voice behind my own. Pure energy pumped through my veins, making my hair undulate and creating a soft red glow around me—a ruby glow.

  “You are the shadows of the Jet, nothing more than an echo of his power. I am the direct descendant of Lucian, the first vampire in creation and the leader of the Ancients. You will not win tonight. Flee now, and you will not be harmed until the final battle.”

  The shadow monster wearing Athena lunged at me once again, and I ducked the right hook that she aimed at my face. I landed a punch to her stomach that caused her to stumble back. She hissed, baring her teeth in a grimace and her skin rippled, as if the shadowy entity was moving around inside of her. She lifted a hand, and I noticed that an inky darkness leaked out of it.

  A dagger about eight inches long formed out of the coiling darkness and she once again threw herself toward me, swiping the blade in front of her. I laughed as I avoided each of her attempts to cut me, raining blows down on her. Feeling the now-familiar sensation of my blood heating up, I channeled my fire through my hands, the flames pouring out and circling her, trapping her in their depths.

  The other shadows possessing the Elementals fighting my friends looked at me with fearful expression on their faces as they considered my warning. They begrudgingly departed in terror, their hosts collapsing without their power to hold them up, leaving only the entity possessing Athena and professor Carlisle to face me.

  “Cowards!” Athena shouted, trying to advance on me once again b
efore she was pushed back by the fire. “You are nothing compared to my master’s power, nothing! You will exhaust your energy soon, and when you do, I will be there to take you down.”

  I let a stream of power flow straight at her. It let out a blood-curdling scream before being forcefully expelled from its hosts, leaving Mr. Carlisle and Athena to slumped on the ground, unconscious.

  There was a beat of silence, then everyone crowded around me. Emi grabbed me up into a tight hug, sobbing. Jared was next, enveloping us both in his long arms, while Roman stayed a little distance away.

  I nodded my thanks. I was coming down from a large power release, and I really did not need him to remind me of my confused feelings toward him in the aftermath of what just happened. I definitely needed time and space from that. And about a month in my warm, soft bed to relax.

  “You did it, Alex,” Emi screamed in excitement.

  “That was freaking awesome,” Aiden chorused.

  “You saved us.” Rhea looked incredibly guilty, staring at me with a mixture of shocked awe and respect.

  Jared was speechless.

  I just basked in that moment of victory, slowly sinking down to rest on my knees, exhausted and feeling somewhat hollow, as if the well of power I’d gotten used to had been almost emptied, relishing in the fact that I had won. It may have only been a small battle in the face of the oncoming war, but it still gave me hope that maybe I wouldn’t lose after all.

  Mr. Aldridge just gawked at the carnage on the roof in disbelief. Scorch marks littered the ground and water, dirt, and uprooted flowers were scattered around from our battle with the Elementals.

  After a few moments of celebration of our victory, my friends had pulled me out of my stupor and peppered me with questions. With Roman’s help, I struggled to give a brief explanation to the group about what had been going on, omitting the details about the Jet, the prophecy, and the shadow demons, before some of the teachers had finally shown up.

  We explained that a bunch of Elementals had decided to crash homecoming in the hopes of recruiting the promising students that Professor Carlisle, who had been an undercover Elemental, suggested. When we did not agree, they decided to take care of us rather than having Athena and Carlisle’s cover blown.

  Rhea and Torah were both pretty shaken. I was pleased to see that Rhea was sitting by Sean, while Torah was just staring blankly at the shell of her best friend, in a daze that most of their relationship had been a trick so the shadows could get information out of her about me.

  Emi and I stood a little off from the group while I told her what really happened before they had arrived and while I was unconscious.

  “I can’t believe you went through all that and I wasn’t there for you,” Emi said mournfully, shooting a glare at Roman. I was pretty sure she was no longer on Team Ralex after finding out he could have been giving us much-needed information, plus trying to make a claim on me while playing tonsil tennis with my sister.

  “It's alright, you couldn’t have known. Please, don’t blame yourself.” I still held the knife in my hand; I couldn’t put it down, because when I did, everything would be real, and I would have to process what had happened.

  “When I saw you lying on the ground…” Emi had tears in her big blue eyes. “Alex, it was the most terrifying thing I have ever been through. I thought I lost you.”

  “Not going to happen. I’m super vamp, remember? Nothing can keep me down for long.”

  We both laughed quietly, embracing each other.

  I did not see Torah quietly rise from the ground beside Athena.

  I heard a crunch of gravel and a rush of footsteps behind me before I caught the glint of silver reflected in Emi’s horrified eyes before my friend twisted me around, blocking me from the attack. Emi’s eyes widened as she gasped in pain, slumping forward against me suddenly.

  I struggled to stop my knees from buckling, stumbling under the sudden surge of dead weight, and saw my sister standing behind Emi. Her eyes were filled with hatred, her hand wrapped around the hilt of a silver blade matching the one clutched in my hand. The matching blade now hilt-deep in Emi’s back.

  26

  Alex

  The room has never looked so big, I thought, looking around my bedroom, trying to decide what I should bring with me. As I grabbed spare changes of clothes and underwear from my drawers and threw them onto the bed, I thought back to the aftermath of the fight.

  Torah wasn’t making any sense as Mr. Aldridge grabbed her, trying to hold her back as she screamed about how I had to die. She’s yanked the knife from Emi’s back and slashed it around in the air, trying to take a piece me with her.

  I shuddered at the memory of the knife and how the sharp blade had glistened dark crimson in the dim moonlight as it dripped with Emi’s blood. I remembered the numb feeling, dropping down to my knees beside my best friend’s limp form while Jared shouted as he frantically searched for a pulse.

  All I heard was the sharp ringing in my ears as I looked at Emi’s pale face. It took Jared shaking me so hard it felt as if my bones rattled for me to even look up, and even longer for what he was saying to sink in.

  “She’s alive; I can feel her pulse. It’s weak, but she’s alive. Alex!” In desperation, he grabbed my face, tearing my gaze away from Emi. “Listen to me; we have to get her help. She’s alive.”

  Jared gathered her up in his arms and ran; Roman grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet. “I know you don’t want me around right now, but for Emi, you have to trust me.” His deep blue eyes were so full of concern, so much like my friends, that I allowed him to pull me along like a rag doll.

  I was still numb with shock as we rushed to the hospital. As we pulled into the underground parking lot, Roman’s voice drifted toward me, but when I turned to look at him, he was speaking quickly into his cell phone. I was finding it hard to focus on what he was saying, my eyes continued to drift toward the backseat where Jared was clutching Emi tightly, tears silently tracking down his cheeks as he talked to her, trying to keep her awake as she drifted in-and-out of consciousness.

  Two paramedics met us at the entrance, lit up by the flashing lights of surrounding ambulances and the bright florescent lights spilling out from the automatic doors, a gurney for Emi between them. As soon as she was strapped to the brightly colored board, they hurriedly wheeled her inside, and we followed along until they passed through large double-doors that we were unable to go past.

  A pretty female vampire met us by the restricted doors, shouting orders at the two paramedics while a nurse took my uninjured arm and guided us into the waiting room before she checked my bloodied shoulder for damage.

  After they had wheeled Emi into surgery, I shakily grabbed my cellphone and dialed my mom’s number.

  She answered on the first ring. “Honey, are you okay?”

  “Mom,” I sobbed, choking out incoherent words. “Elementals… Torah… Emi…”

  “I know, sweetheart, the council has already been notified, your father’s meeting with the elders and I’m on my way to the hospital. I just can’t believe Torah could do something like this.” A fresh wave of tears pooled in my eyes at the heartbreak in my mom’s voice; I could tell she was crying on the other end of the line.

  As much as I hated my sister right now, I couldn’t stand hearing the pain in my mother’s voice. “No one thought any of them would ever turn, Mom, you can’t blame yourself.”

  We exchanged a few more words before I hung up, sitting back down on the uncomfortable plastic chairs. We waited for hours to hear any news. All through it, Jared just sat there with his face in his hands while Roman paced back and forth through the halls until he decided we all needed coffee.

  As soon as he disappeared down the hall, the doctor we’d met when we first arrived came out to talk to us.

  “Erin’s out of surgery,” she started, but there was a grave look on her face that twisted my stomach into acidic knots. “She is stable now, but I’m afraid her injuries were
extensive. She’s still unconscious, and I can’t tell you when she’ll wake up. I’m sorry.”

  The doctor looked at me, her blue eyes shining with sadness. “I can’t tell you how much I regret that this happened to you. I know Roman will blame himself.”

  I looked up at her in shock, crashing out of the haze that was slowly drowning me. “You know Roman?” I asked in surprise.

  Staring into the shocking blue of the vamp’s eyes, I felt a strange sense of familiarity.

  “Yes,” she replied, her voice soft. “I’m Elena, his mother.”

  I could only blink in response, my words failing as Elena took my hand and squeezed it gently. “I’m sorry, but I have to go. Roman told me everything, and I know you’re mad at him right now, but he cares for you. Please try to forgive him, eventually.”

  I stared after her as Elena turned and walked back through the doors she came from.

  I sat heavily on my bed, the springs creaking softly as tears finally spilled out. I felt like with every battle I won, there was a war that I was about to lose. I absentmindedly folded the clothes I had pulled out. I looked around my bedroom, trying to think of anything else that I would need to bring with me as I finally felt the aftermath of the events.

  I ransacked the dresser drawers for a bag to hold my stuff, eventually straightening and walking to my closet and rooting around until I came across a soft canvas bag that had been stuffed in the back corner. I picked up the bag and headed back to the bed, throwing my stuff in haphazardly as I blinked through tears.

  Cursing, I dropped down, trying to pick up a shirt that had fallen. As I crouched down, I noticed the corner of something sticking out from underneath my bed. Taking a closer look, I saw a scroll that must have rolled underneath the day I had dropped everything on the floor, so long ago, while Emi and I had been searching for the truth, before all the horror had happened.