Wings

by Sandra R Neeley

  “There was not!”

  “I’m telling you there is!”

  Ty stood there, realizing his entire existence was a lie. He was all the things Ruby had accused him of being, but he was not stupid. And everything he’d been raised to believe was a lie. His brother had been raised alone, thinking their parents deserted him. And he’d been raised the same way. Neither had had their parents. They’d intentionally been raised to resent one another, hate one another, thinking the other had what neither did.

  “My grandfather did this,” he said, looking off into nowhere.

  “Ty?” Ruby said again.

  He flicked his eyes to hers.

  “Take me home. Take me back to Jaime. Let him tell you the rest of the prophecy he knows and together you can figure this out.”

  “But I feel you!” he shouted. His frustration at thinking he’d found his mate, then realizing she wasn’t the one, rising to the surface and roiling with all the other frustrations and unanswered questions in his life.

  “We don’t fit. You said that yourself. Take me home, Ty. Please.” Then her tears started, slowly at first until they were leaving trails across her cheeks as they fell.

  He didn’t speak. He reached out, took her hand and stalked out into the hallway, dragging her behind him. Instead of going to his left which was the obvious way out of this particular corridor, he went to the right, toward the dead end of it. When he got to the end of the corridor, he turned sharply into the corner to his right, then immediately to his left and then his right again, making a zigzag sort of path through the rock. Through the rock!

  “Ty!” she gasped, struggling to keep up and not stumble while eying the walls of the path cleverly cut into the rock.

  “Not all is as it appears, Ruby. Not all solid walls are solid.” He gave no more explanation, nor did he look back at her, he just kept walking. A few feet more and she felt the cool night air blowing across her skin. Suddenly he came to a stop. Ruby raised her face to the ceiling to see what he was looking at, only there was no ceiling. She was looking at the night sky. And all around the opening and in the nooks and crannies where the walls met the roof, then sloped upward in the spire, small winged bats roosted.

  “There are so many!” she exclaimed.

  “They help keep us hidden. It’s believed the spire houses only these small creatures. They are protected, so no one can venture into the spire disrupting their natural habitat.”

  “They're amazing!” Ruby whispered, stopping to watch them roosting in familial units, grooming one another.

  “Come, Ruby. It is time I met my brother properly.”

  “But I want to watch the bats,” she objected.

  “Perhaps you can watch them another day.”

  “Really?” Ruby asked hopefully.

  “This night shall tell. Let us get you back to Jamisey.”

  Ruby stepped into his arms, he held her tightly and lifted his huge leathery wings. He took them straight up out of the opening in the top of the caverns, then toward town. Once they entered the town, he took her directly to her room behind the diner. He stood back, allowing her to rush into her room to see if Jaime was there, waiting for her. He wasn’t.

  She hurried past him and headed to the diner itself.

  “Where are you going?” he demanded, reaching out and taking her by the arm on her way past.

  “I’m going inside the diner to see if he’s in there with your aunt.”

  “My aunt?” he asked, in a whisper.

  “Yes, your father’s sister. She nursed Jaime back to health after he was found in the desert then raised him. This is her place.”

  “I have family other than Jamisey? Other than Grandfather?” he muttered.

  “You do! And she’ll love you, too. I know she will.”

  Tyrisey looked down at himself, then at Ruby. “Look at me,” he said simply, holding his arms out from his sides to indicate his differences.

  Ruby smiled, laid a hand against his cheek. “I have. You’re spectacular. You just have to learn to see it yourself. And you can fly, dude!” she ended on a laugh. “Come on. Trust me.”

  She took Ty’s hand in her own and walked backwards, watching him as he slowly followed her toward the back door of the diner.

  “Will there be others?” he asked, stopping in his tracks.

  “I don’t think so, it’s so late.”

  “They will hate me. They’ve always hated me.”

  “No, they won’t. Especially when they find out you were raised with the same beliefs that Jaime was. You two need to talk, you need to work this out. Mildred will love you, just as she does Jaime. You’re her nephew, too.”

  Ty allowed her to pull him into the back door of the diner. He stood there in the shadows, watching her run ahead of him, calling out for Jaime.

  An older woman, a human, rushed out of the kitchen area at hearing Ruby’s voice. “Ruby! Ruby, honey, they’re all out looking for you! Where have you been?”

  “I was with Ty. But he’s brought me back.”

  “Ty?” Mildred asked.

  “Tyrisey. But he didn’t take me, his grandfather did. Then Tyrisey brought me back.”

  “We have to call Jaime. He’s out searching for you. If he didn’t find you near your Jeep, he was going to look for the hidden caverns.” Mildred picked up her phone and dialed. She waited a few moments then Jaime answered.

  “She’s here! She’s here, Jaime!” Mildred practically screamed into the phone. “She’s safe and she’s home now. Come on back.”

  “I know, but stop. You don’t need to find it anymore. She’s here.” She paused a moment before speaking again. “I know. It’s just a good thing you didn’t happen to locate it. Would have been unnecessary bloodshed. She’s here now. Says Tyrisey brought her home.”

  Mildred looked up to see Ruby standing right in front of her. “You hurt? Did he hurt you at all?”

  “No, he didn’t.”

  “She says he didn’t hurt her. Just hurry on back.” Mildred ended the call and surprised Ruby by embracing her and hugging her tight. “Girl, you liked to give us a heart attack. You have any idea what would have happened to my boy if he’d lost you? He was out there, searching for the entrance to the hidden caves. Said he was close to it, too. We called him just in time.”

  “I’m sorry. I’d have come sooner, but it took a while to convince Ty that I wasn’t his.” When she said this, she waved her hand toward the back of the diner. Mildred followed the direction Ruby’s hand had flicked toward, and she looked back at Ruby, questioningly.

  “He’s here?” Mildred asked.

  Ruby nodded. “Yes, he has lots of questions. Wait ‘til you meet him, he’s so much like Jaime. I mean other than the obvious, but they are so much alike.”

  Mildred was staring off toward the back of her diner, toward the shadows there, straining to see.

  “He didn’t know he had an aunt.”

  Mildred looked back at Ruby.

  Ruby smiled at her. “He was raised believing that his parents abandoned him and were living here happily with Jaime. They were both lied to.”

  Mildred’s face registered shock as she looked to the back of her diner.

  “Only Ty had it much worse. At least Jaime had you to love him,” Ruby explained.

  Mildred took a step toward the back of the diner, then another. “Tyrisey?” she called his name.

  There was a shuffling sound, then, from the shadows stepped a man much like Jaime in stature, only this one was a little more slender and he had huge wings cloaked around himself. He stepped just enough into the light that Mildred could see him, then stopped, waiting to see what her response would be.

  Slowly Mildred approached him, and he held perfectly still, poised to bolt at any given moment. Several times his eyes met Ruby’s, a question there.

  Each time, Ruby would nod encouragingly and smile at him.

  “My goodness, Tyrisey,” Mildred said, once she finally made it all the way
back to him. “What a fine, handsome young male you’ve grown into. You look so much like your mother. Almost too pretty to be a male!”

  Tyrisey’s eyes rounded, his mouth opened in surprise, and then in shock as Mildred pulled him into a fierce hug.

  “I haven’t seen you since you were just a few weeks old,” Mildred said.

  “You saw me?” Tyrisey asked, still stunned.

  “Saw you? Hell, I changed your diapers more times than I care to remember,” Mildred laughed.

  The door burst open and Jaime came at Ruby at a dead run. And she ran at him just as eagerly. He gathered her into his arms and held her to him so tightly that she wondered if she’d have bruises.

  “Damn it, woman! Do you know what could have happened to you? Do you?!” he shouted, between kissing her cheeks, her lips, her hair. Then he set her on her feet, still touching her face and lips, his eyes wandering across her over and over again.

  “Are you hurt?”

  “No. I’m fine.”

  “What the hell happened, Ruby?” Jaime asked. “How did you end up with Tyrisey? Where the fuck is he, I’m going after him soon as I make sure you're okay. I told him you were mine! I told him I’d kill him if he touched you!”

  “Ty didn’t do anything wrong. Your grandfather attacked me. When I woke up I was in some kind of cell in their caverns. Ty found me there and took me back to his rooms. We talked, he realized I’m not his, and here I am.”

  “I’ll kill the motherfucker.” Jaime said.

  “He didn’t hurt me. Actually, he protected me.”

  “Not him, my grandfather — our Most High Prime,” he said sarcastically. “I’m gonna kill him. I’ll kill him for touching you!” Jaime had found the bruises on Ruby’s neck and was gently running his fingers over the marks the male had left there.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” Jaime asked, pressing his lips to Ruby’s.

  “Promise. I had a bad headache from your grandfather making me pass out when he kidnapped me, but Ty gave me something to drink for it and it’s all better now.”

  Jaime pulled her into his arms and held her tightly against him, his adrenalin was finally beginning to drop from his fear of her being lost.

  “See? All better now,” Ruby said, holding him tightly and running her hands over his back.

  “It’s not that simple,” he said with a slight smile, squeezing her to him again.

  “Yes, it is that simple.”

  Jaime sighed, refusing to let go of Ruby. He’d been afraid he’d be too late and Tyrisey would have tried to claim her himself, or killed her when she fought him. He knew his Ruby, and if she didn’t want something, she was not going to have it. Which had him thinking of Tyrisey. “Where is Tyrisey? He just leave you here and run?”

  “No, he didn’t run. And stop being such an ass.”

  Jaime lowered his head and kissed her hair again. “I’m not being an ass. I gotta bathe you, Ruby. Damn! You smell like Tyrisey and it’s really not a scent I appreciate on my woman.”

  Jaime heard a snicker off to his right near the back of the diner, but didn’t want to let go of Ruby to check it out.

  “I’m sure I don’t smell that much like Tyrisey. He really only touched me when he helped me walk down the corridor to his room and when he flew me home.”

  Jaime’s brows came down over his eyes as he thought about her words. “You were in his room?”

  “Yes. We talked a lot, and realized there’s a lot you have in common.”

  “What could we possibly have in common? Jaime asked.

  “You’re so much like him, Jaime. And he is so much like you. Your mannerisms, your attitude, the way you look at things. It’s part of the reason I didn’t fear him. He reminds me so much of you.”

  Jaime was stunned. “How can that be? Other than being aware of one another, we’ve never spent any time together. We have nothing in common.”

  “We have more in common than I’m sure either of us could have guessed. We’ve both been pawns in a much larger game than we ever imagined, brother,” Tyrisey said from the shadows. “And I’m not particularly thrilled with your scent either.”

  Jaime’s head whipped around at the sound of Tyrisey’s voice. He shoved Ruby behind him and faced Tyrisey squaring his shoulders, planting his feet, preparing to fight.

  Ruby merely ducked around him and waved a hand in Ty’s direction. “Baby, meet your brother, Ty. Ty, meet your brother, Jaime. You two have a lot to figure out, and no reason to hate each other at all.”

  Jaime’s chest rumbled. Ruby went up on her tip toes and kissed his cheek. “He brought me back to you — unharmed. He even let me rest in his bed and gave me some medicine for my headache.”

  Jaime’s eyes flashed to Ruby’s. “In his bed?” he growled.

  “Yes, but I was alone.”

  Jaime looked back at Ty, who inclined his head before smiling evilly.

  Ty released the tight hold he always kept on his wings, letting them float lazily at his back, crossed his hands at his lower back before speaking. “I did kiss her, though. Three times.”

  “You kissed my woman?!” Jaime demanded, his face turning red.

  “Had to be sure she wasn’t mine.”

  “She’s mine!” Jaime shouted. “I already told you that!” He grabbed Ruby and pulled her in for a deep, passionate kiss. When he was done he looked up at Ty, expecting him to be watching them. But he wasn’t.

  Ty was staring at the door to the diner where Clarence had just come in. And behind him, was an exact replica of Ruby. Only this one had brightly colored tattoos on her skin, dark black makeup around her eyes. Black polish on her nails, and she wore bits of tiny silver chains for jewelry around her neck and wrists. Even a length of it around her ankle. She had a piercing through her right eyebrow with a tiny silver hoop through it. And this version of Ruby, this one — she was truly his.

  Chapter 17

  “Pearl!” Ruby squealed, and ran straight for her sister.

  “Ruby! Where the hell you been? We been out tracking you in the dark! Do you know there are scorpions out there? It’s so cool!”

  Tyrisey started for Pearl, totally oblivious now to the others in the room.

  Jaime hurried to step between Tyrisey and Ruby who was hugging Pearl, which had both Jaime and Tyrisey snarling at each other.

  “Mine,” Jaime said, low and deadly.

  “Mine,” Tyrisey responded.

  “Damnit, boys. Stop it. This is ridiculous. You two ain’t even looking at the same sister,” Clarence grumbled at them.

  Jaime looked a little closer and realized that Tyrisey was indeed, focused on Pearl.

  He started to try to warn Tyrisey, then remembered Pearl flipping him on his ass when he’d tried to stop her from tagging along to look for Ruby. So he just moved close enough to Ruby to pull her to him if he needed to, then stood back and waited.

  Ruby had her back to Ty. She and Pearl were hugging and squealing as sisters will when having been separated for a while.

  Ty moved right up behind Ruby and waited until they stopped hugging, squealing and hopping in place. Pearl was smiling and happy to see her sister. Then she noticed someone — a tall someone — was standing there watching her, without moving. She raised her eyes to the man and realized he wasn’t a man.

  “Holy hell!” she said on a hiss. Slowly without breaking her eye lock with Ty, she broke Ruby’s hold on her and moved Ruby around behind her.

  Ruby allowed herself to be moved behind Pearl, then realized what was happening.

  “Pearl,” Ruby said.

  “Shh. I got this,” Pearl said, shushing Ruby.

  “Pearl,” Ruby said again, more insistently.

  “Shh!” Pearl answered, louder this time. Then, she glared intently at Tyrisey. “Buddy, I don’t know what you are, or who you are. But you need to back the fuck off my sister or I’m gonna have to whip your ass.”

  Tyrisey cocked his head to the side, then a slow grin spread across h
is face.

  “Last chance, buddy. Back off!” Pearl said, taking a step forward, preparing to fight.

  “He’s a friend,” Ruby leaned forward and whispered.

  Pearl was just pulling her fist back. She froze, mid-motion. “He what?”

  “He’s a friend. Family actually. He’s Jaime’s brother. They really just formally met tonight.” Ruby looked back and forth between Jaime and Ty. “Well, they’re meeting, for the first time tonight.”

  Pearl dropped her fist. “Then why’s he all up in your business? And what is he?”

  “He’s not in my business — at least not anymore. I think he’s all up in yours. And remember those giant human-sized bats I was gonna do a paper on?” Ruby asked.

  “Nooooo, he’s not!” Pearl exclaimed.

  “Yes! Can you believe it? O. M. G! I was so freaked when I first saw him! Then I realized that he looked like Jaime and I thought this must be his brother he told me about. Then I thought, ‘I’m going to be faaaamous!’”

  “Well, jah! I mean, human bat dude!”

  “Exactly! Then I thought, ‘Maybe I should get him to take me home to Jaime, though. And how the hell did I get here anyway?’ Then I thought, ‘The old scary bat bastard must have kidnapped me, and where is the scary, mean old bastard anyway? And why the hell am I chained to the damn wall?’”

  Pearl and Jaime both shouted at the same time. “You were chained to a wall?!”

  Ruby paused in her conversation with Pearl to glance at Jaime, then back at Pearl. “Well, yeah. But Ty freed me.”

  Jaime snarled and started toward Ty again. Who naturally snarled back and started toward Jaime.

  Ruby stepped to her left and slapped one hand on Jaime’s chest, putting herself between them. “I said he freed me! I didn’t say he chained me up! Stop being an ass!”

  Jaime stopped advancing on Ty long enough to glare at Ruby.

  Ty snorted and laughed at Ruby calling Jaime an ass. That was until she turned on him.

  “You stop being an ass, too! You need each other.”

  “He started it!” Ty snapped.

  “You started it! You fucking had my mate!” Jaime yelled at him.