Fearless
Authors: Christine Rains
| Fearless |
| Christine Rains |
| CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (2012) |
Abby White was seven years old when she killed the monster under her bed. Now she slays creatures spawned by the fertile imaginations of children, and the number of these nightmares are on the rise. Neither she nor her guide - a stuffed hippo named Tawa - know why. When she rescues Demetrius from an iron prison, he pledges his life to protect hers until he can return the favor. She doesn't want the help. And how can she concentrate on her job when the gorgeous wild fae throws himself in front of her during every fight? No matter how tempting, she can't take the time to lose herself to him. To save the children and all she loves, Abby must be truly Fearless.
Christine Rains is a writer, blogger, and geek mom. She has four degrees which help nothing with motherhood, but make her a great Jeopardy player. FEARLESS is her first novella. She also has sixteen short stories published and three forthcoming. Please visit her website at http://christinerains.net/
FEARLESS
By
Christine Rains
Fearless
By
Christine Rains
Copyright
2012
Cover
illustration by Christine Rains and Aubrie Dionne 2012
Kindle
Edition
All rights reserved. No part of
this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without written
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of our many distributors.
This book is a work of fiction and
any resemblance to any person, living or dead, any place, events or
occurrences, is purely coincidental. The characters and story lines are created
from the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Dedication
To
all those awesome folks who said,
“Publish
the dang thing!”
Table of Contents
Abby White was seven years old when
she killed the monster under her bed.
At first, the monster only made weird noises. It coughed and
wheezed. Abby’s mother told her that she was hearing her father’s snoring from
down the hall.
Then the monster began to talk. Dark and silly rhymes and
rude things about her mother. Abby’s mother told her she was having bad dreams.
The next week, the monster tugged at Abby’s blankets and
pulled her hair. It told her it was going to eat her toes first. Her parents
ignored her screams and pleas. When she tried to sneak out to sleep in the
living room, she was locked in her bedroom. Clutching her stuffed hippo Tawa,
she hid under her blankets and stayed up until the morning sun rose.
Abby wore her father’s steel toed boots to bed the next
night. The monster growled it was going to eat her fingers first instead. It
was another night without sleep.
Abby put on the boots and her mother’s mesh gardening gloves
the night after. The monster snarled and said it would just eat her head. It
yanked the blankets off her and wiggled out from under her bed.
She was exhausted and terrified. More so, she was furious.
No one had believed her. She had fallen asleep at her desk at school and the
teacher yelled at her. Her friends laughed when she missed the ball she
intended to kick and fell on her rear in gym. Her parents looked at her as if
she were sick like her Aunt Hilde who lived in that special hospital. It was
all the monster’s fault.
Screaming as she leapt off the bed, Abby threw herself onto
its thick and hairy body. She kicked at it with the too big boots. No way was
it going to eat her toes. She threw off the awkward gloves before pounding on
it with her little fists. Not her fingers either!
Her hands glowed. Soft and blue.
The monster’s tentacle wound around her middle, and it
laughed at her attempts until it noticed the luminance. Both stared at her
hands as they grew brighter. A shining blade slowly emerged from each of her
palms. Abby barely had time to grasp the ornate hilts when the monster’s grip
tightened and she rammed the swords into its neck.
An inhuman screech left her ears ringing, and the thing
threw her onto her bed. The monster crumpled into a black heap on her floor.
The blades disappeared into her hands and the glow winked
out. Just in time for her parents to throw open her door.
“What’s going on in here?” her mother demanded.
“Just a nightmare, Mom.” Abby gathered her blankets and
hugged Tawa. Neither of her parents turned on the light or entered the room to
come hug her, and thus they didn’t notice the dead monster. Her throat
tightened and a small sad sound escaped her.
“All right then.” Her mother nodded and shooed Abby’s father
away before closing the door.
Abby buried her face against the softness of her hippo’s big
head and cried.
Get all the tears out, girl
.
You’re safe now
.
Tawa said without moving her mouth. She made a few comforting noises, and when
Abby stopped crying, Tawa added,
It’s about time you killed that bloody
monster
.
Listening to it trying to spin a good limerick was pure torture
.
Another coming behind you
!
Tawa shrieked.
And it’s a big one
!
“A little busy with the two in front.” Abby ducked under a
massive set of claws as they raked through the fetid attic air. Still crouched,
she spun to hamstring the first monster with one glowing sword and thrust the
second blade into the gut of the other beast. The blood, hot and black,
splattered over her, making her stomach churn.
What did you want me to do
?
Stare him down my
unblinking button eyes
? Tawa snorted.
Abby twisted around to slash the injured monster’s bulbous
eyes and face the third ugly thing behind her. Its large size suggested it was
the original monster in the attic. Stepping over the twitching bodies of its
pack, she circled around it. Its gigantic fish eyes followed her every move.
“Big eyes all the better to see me with and big claws all
the better to tear me apart. These guys are fast and wary. Any suggestions,
boss?” Abby was panting. She’d taken five down already and didn’t think they
were dead. If she didn’t take out this huge fellow swiftly, the others might
rise and she’d be their next meal.
Take off its head
.
It’s the only way
.
This
one’s powerful
. The stuffed hippo’s tone was tense and Abby grunted for
want of more info.
Get behind it
.
It can’t get you with either the
claws or fangs that way
.
“Yeah, so easy. It’s totally going to let me do that.” Abby’s
skin prickled. If she didn’t make her move very soon, the monster would come at
her. She wouldn’t win that fight. How to behead this monster in one smooth
move?
With the tips of her blades, she cut the straps to the
carrier that held Tawa on her back. Having an unassuming second pair of eyes
had saved her life several times. As the hippo slipped, Abby caught her with
the flat edges of her swords and threw Tawa at the monster.
Tawa shrieked and the beast’s first instinct was to catch
her. As it did so, Abby leapt to one side and somersaulted to stand behind it.
She rammed her swords into its neck and yanked them outwards. The monster’s
garbled wail rattled the single window, but she didn’t hesitate in slicing one
blade through the top of its spinal column and severing the behemoth’s head
from its body. The head hit the floor with a meaty thud.
Abby made sure each of the monsters no longer had heads
before she retrieved her grumbling hippo. Her swords had retreated into her
palms. Since they didn’t glow any longer, she knew the danger had passed.
That beast could have torn me to pieces
. Tawa huffed
as Abby hooked her onto her belt.
Now I’m covered in blood
.
Again
.
How many times in the past week has that happened
?
“I’ll run you through the washer. Now be quiet a moment.”
Abby cocked her head, listening. The house creaked and an owl hooted from
outside.
The washer
?
You’re a cruel woman, Abigail Grace
.
You know the washer makes me sick
.
“Shush. I need to find the children.” Once the hippo
quieted, Abby’s acute senses picked up the ragged sounds of breathing. Poor
things were so scared, and rightly so. There were three steamer trunks against
the far wall. She opened the lid of the first to find the two boys. The
littlest one cried out and curled against his brother.
“It’s all right now. The monsters are dead.” Abby liked to
think she was good at being comforting, but only time would help erase this
nightmare from their memories. And eventually for most kids, it was forgotten
or at least passed off as an imagined event from their childhood.
The boys didn’t move at first. The eldest peeked over the
edge of the trunk and saw the black heaps. He silently urged his brother to
stand with him. The littlest boy clutched a book to his chest.
“Don’t worry. They can’t hurt you now. Go back to your room.”
Abby didn’t bother with a smile, but stood back to give them space. The eldest
boy glanced at Tawa on her hip and stood a bit straighter. With his arms
protectively around his little brother, they went to the attic stairs and
started down. He then paused.
“Hey, are you Mark’s math tutor?”
“Yes, but let’s not mention tonight to anyone.” Abby put a
finger to her lips. “Yet if you hear of any other kids having problems like
yours, give Mark a note to pass on to me.”
“Okay.” The boy urged his brother to go down the stairs and
then pointed to the other two trunks. “They caught the man who tried to help
us. I don’t think they ate him yet.”
Nodding, he disappeared downstairs.
A man
? Tawa piped up.
That’s not possible
.
“Could be someone like me.” Abby argued and opened the
second trunk. She dropped the lid, and it thumped closed. Her face scrunched
up. “Ugh. Dead rats.”
The third trunk was the largest and heaviest. “Damn iron
monstrosity. How did people ever travel with these things?”
The only people like you are woman
.
Men aren’t fit
for such gifts
. Tawa sniffed.
Is anyone really in there
?
I can’t
see
.
Moonlight streamed through the single window and onto the
unmoving occupant of the trunk. Being a very tall man, he was curled up
awkwardly. His dark hair covered his face, but it moved with his breaths. He
was well-muscled and shirtless.
“Oh yeah, there’s a man.” Abby couldn’t stop staring. He was
bruised and scratched up, but otherwise intact. There was a bit of blood
dotting his chest and neck, but his exotic whorled tattoos drew her eyes over
his bare skin.
You’re gaping
.
I can tell you’re gaping
.
Let
me see
.
Abby turned Tawa to face the trunk and directed her stuffed
head down.
Close the trunk and leave now
.
Leave now
. Tawa’s
voice rose as if trying to push Abby with it.