Azura Ice - Cowboy Rubies

Copyright

Published by

Dreamspinner Press

4760 Preston Road

Suite 244-149

Frisco, TX 75034

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Cowboy Rubies

Copyright 2011 by Azura Ice and Maria MoonStar Cover Art by Anne Cain annecain.art@gmail.com Cover Design by Mara McKennen

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 4760 Preston Road, Suite 244-149, Frisco, TX 75034

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/

ISBN: 978-1-61581-685-9

Printed in the United States of America

First Edition

April 2011

eBook edition available

eBook ISBN: 978-1-61581-686-6

The Legend

THE first Moon Wolf discovered the first Life Drinker wandering aimlessly along the moons deserts during its magical ruby phase. The Wolf wanted her, desired her, so he took her as his mate and copulated with her. The following year, when the moon once again transformed into a ruby and the alternate world opened, the Life Drinker gave birth to two children, a Wolf and a Drinker. The first Moon Wolf saw Earth and wanted the male offspring to rule it, but his mate insisted the female child should govern Earth instead.

Violent arguments ensued between the lovers, but in the throes of their final verbal battle, the first Moon Wolf grabbed the Life Drinker, hugging her to his body, and claimed, I cannot stand to be divided with you or from you, so let us be one.

Through the power of the Ruby Moon, their bodies melded, and the Ruby Moon God was born. He/she placed the two children on Earth and watched them grow and multiply, but they had inherited their parents argumentative and violent traits, and soon battles raged between the two races.

Distraught with their childrens descendants, the Ruby Moon God smashed a chunk of the red moon into pieces and gave the gems to the Wolves and Drinkers so they would remember their roots and peace would reign. However, he/she neglected to warn the two peoples of the rubies phenomenal magic and that the union of a werewolf and a vampire would resolve their differences forever.

As the centuries passed, a unique era of strange inventions and mechanical contraptions launched new ways of thinkingas well as a breed of Wolves and Drinkers who could spell doom for Earth.

KYLE VANDERBELT scanned the horizon but saw nothing except tumbleweeds and moon-kissed sand. He couldnt believe the Conclave had sent him here. What the bloody hell is there in this wasteland?

Irritated with his mission into this dry hell, he didnt understand why anyone would settle in such a region. Beyond a few tiny, nondescript mining towns, this area looks uninhabitable! Why, in the name of the Ruby Moon God, would that man flee out here?

All he wanted to do was return to Ruby City and go back to investigating and busting the slave traders. He took off his hat and looked up at the reddening moon. He had three days to find Scott Bashian, a fellow Conclave agent who had stolen and fled with the ancient rubies. If the Life Drinkers, Kyles clan, didnt get them back, the Elders feared the Moon Wolves would announce a full-fledged war against the Life Drinkers. As it stood, the tentative peace between the two moon races could be destroyed by anything smalland the theft of the rubies was no little thing.

Where the hell are you? I should be able to detect your vampire odor.

Kyle had been looking for tracks, but so far hed found nothing but smooth sand. Judging by the lunar orbs position, he had six hours before he would need to seek shelter from the daylight. Kyle could search during the day hours, but he still preferred the night, its peacefulness, and the absence of the wastelands hellish heat.

A cougar padded across a sandy hillock as Kyle clicked to his horse and headed that way. A breeze blew toward him, and he wrinkled his nose at the offensive odor of unwashed, undead bodies andhe sniffed, drawing the aroma deep into his lungslizard and snake blood. Retching, Kyle held his bile down. Somewhere nearby there were Life Drinkers who had been sustaining themselves on whatever they could catch in the desert, primarily reptiles. It wasnt Bashian.

Hed never lower himself to drinking reptile blood. But if not him, thenwho?

Bawdy voices reached him. Kyle reined in Denizen, whose ears flicked in the direction of the raucous laughter.

I hear it, too, girl. He stroked the horses neck. Lets find a place to wait and watch.

Denizen nickered softly as Kyle climbed down from the saddle.

He led his steed to a large dune, dropped the reins, and clambered up the sandy hillock. A few feet from the top, Kyle lowered himself onto his belly and eased up to the mounds summit. Peering over it, he picked out six Life Drinkers astride a fancy traveling contraption.

Although his vampire eyesight allowed him to see things humans couldnt, the gang of Life Drinkers was out too far for him to see them clearly. He tugged a pair of brass tube spectacles from around his neck, held them up, and focused them across the dark desert floor.

Tumbleweed and twisted scrub trees camouflaged the vamps, but he saw enough to know they sat upon a mechanical wagon. Steam puffed from the backside of it, and on the front seat, which rose higher than the rest, sat Jaburn the Drainer.

Unease slithered through Kyle. What is that abomination doing out here? he whispered. Memories of how hed felt when hed been told about the Silver Disaster train wreck shot pain through his chest.

He closed his eyes for a moment, forcing the discomfort away, and then opened them again. Maybe Ill get some justice after all, you bastard.

The wheeled apparatus belched an extra dense cloud of steam as Jaburn shifted it into a higher gear, and the group of Life Drinkers bounced and jostled out of sight.

Kyle slung the tube specs back over his shoulder and slid down the hill to where Denizen waited. He stood and brushed the sand and grit from his chaps and coarse-cloth pants. Damnation! What the hell are Life Drinkers doing out here in a mechanical wagon?

The horse nuzzled his chest in search of a sugar cube hidden in Kyles inside vest pocket.

Well, Denizenhe rubbed her velvety noseI guess we better backtrack their route, eh? If Jaburn the Drainer is leading that gang, theyve been up to no good and probably left their mess back there in the desert. He gathered the reins and swung up into the saddle, its leather creaking beneath his weight. I have a horrible feeling hes somehow tied to the missing rubies. Bear with me for a little longer tonight, and Ill give you three sugar cubes instead of just one.