Ruby Callaway: The Complete Collection Read online

  Ruby Callaway: The Complete Collection

  D.N. Erikson

  Copyright © 2017 D.N. Erikson. All rights reserved.

  Published by Watchfire Press.

  This book is a work of fiction. Similarities to actual events, places, persons or

  other entities are coincidental.

  Watchfire Press

  www.watchfirepress.com

  www.dnerikson.com

  Cover illustration by Alberto Besi

  Color adjustment and typography by Kerry Hynds

  3D cover design by eBookLaunch

  Ruby Callaway: The Complete Collection/D.N. Erikson. – 1st ed.

  Contents

  Also by D.N. Erikson

  Get Storm Pale for Free

  Foreword

  Reading Order

  Lightning Blade

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Shadow Flare

  Book 1 Recap

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Blood River

  Book 2 Recap

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Epilogue

  Bone Realm (1812)

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Epilogue

  Silver Tempest (1993)

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Kentucky Clear (1959)

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Going Home (2006)

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Epilogue

  End Notes

  The Half-Demon Rogue Trilogy: An Excerpt

  Chapter 1

  Also by D.N. Erikson

  THE HALF-DEMON ROGUE TRILOGY

  Half-demon Kalos Aeon lives by a simple code. Don’t screw over people who don’t deserve it. Talk is cheaper than a fool’s gold. And always deliver what you promised.

  Demon Rogue (Book 1)

  Blood Frost (Book 2)

  Moon Burn (Book 3)

  The Half-Demon Rogue: The Complete Trilogy (Books 1, 2 & 3)

  THE RUBY CALLAWAY TRILOGY

  After twenty years in supernatural lockup, bounty hunter Ruby Callaway finds the world she once knew has changed. And this one’s not so friendly to magic...

  Lightning Blade (Book 1)

  Shadow Flare (Book 2)

  Blood River (Book 3)

  Ruby Callaway: The Complete Collection (Books 1, 2 & 3 and All 4 Side Stories)

  THE SUNSHINE & SCYTHES SERIES

  Con artist turned FBI consultant Eden Hunter has a little secret that could get her killed. Again. Maybe paradise isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

  Rain Dance (Book 1)

  Heat Wave (Book 2)

  Cold Spell (Book 3)<
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  To receive news on my latest novels, discounts, and subscriber-only free books, sign up for my free author newsletter at dnerikson.com/storm.

  You’ll also instantly receive the free, exclusive urban fantasy novella Storm Pale, featuring Ruby Callaway’s ally, the immortal half-demon Kalos Aeon, as he ventures across the frozen wilds in 1000 BCE with his loyal dog Argos in search of a woman who will forever change his destiny.

  Foreword

  Three novels. Four side stories. Almost a quarter million words. As an author, it’s a little strange to hold the bulk of a year’s output in a single hand, a cross between the cosmic this is all I did? and damn, I can’t believe this actually all came together!

  Ruby Callaway, like many of my characters, traveled a somewhat circuitous road to the collection you now hold. She began life as a side character when I was writing the final installment of The Half Demon Rogue Trilogy—titled Moon Burn—in the Fall/Winter of 2016. I was knocking around ideas for a spinoff to that trilogy, and wanted to see if Ruby had the chops, so to speak, to carry her own narrative. So, as I worked on that book, I also wrote a novella starring Ruby, aptly titled Bone Realm (you’ll understand once you read it).

  And it worked. By that point, I’d written enough characters that hadn’t to understand the difference. When you find this little heartbeat in all those words, you know you’re on to something. She clawed to survive. Didn’t take any crap. Avoided dumb situations, often with a bounty hunter’s extreme pragmatism. And had her own unique sense of morality, expressed as only she could.

  And I took it, and I ran. After that novella, I wrote a trilogy and three more side stories starring the supernatural bounty hunter. Most spinoffs are not particularly good; this one, however, surpassed its originator in every way—a good feeling, as a writer. No one wants to spend a year going backward.

  Which, I suppose, is why it’s appropriate that the unifying theme of Ruby’s character arc through this collection is time. Most long-lived characters don’t pause to reflect on the passing centuries too much. In fact, my own The Half-Demon Rogue Trilogy doesn’t ponder the weightiness of its protagonist’s 7,000-year life.

  For Ruby, however, time plays a big role: the passage of it, the manipulation of it, the past, how fighting to survive for two hundred years has shaped her approach to living. I’ve tried to bring that through in the variety of time periods presented in the stories, as well as within their varying structures. This theme is subtle, as an author’s first charge is, of course, to be entertaining. But, I hope its subtle presence shades in the corners of Ruby’s world, and makes her just a little more real.

  As a final note, readers from around the world have written reviews and messaged me to say how much they’ve enjoyed Ruby Callaway’s travels. All those who have supported this series over the past year have my warmest thanks. And if you’re about to experience Ruby’s adventures for the first time, I hope you, too, find this collection tremendously enjoyable to read.

  Because that’s the whole point, right?

  D.N. Erikson

  November 2017

  Reading Order

  A quick note on reading order, since I’ve fielded a question or two about it in the past.

  The main trilogy of novels—Lightning Blade, Shadow Flare, and Blood River—must be read in order. The four side stories, however, were written as standalones, meaning that they can be read in any order at any time. I’ve organized the volume so that the main trilogy is at the front, and the side stories are featured at the back. You can read them in this order with zero problems.

  If you aren’t a big reader of novellas or short stories, don’t worry: these side stories simply expand and fill in Ruby’s backstory.

  For those mainly interested in the core narrative, I’d suggest this order:

  Lightning Blade (Bone Realm before, or after, depending on preference—it’s not mandatory, but this novella serves as Ruby’s origin story)

  Shadow Flare

  Blood River

  You can skip Bone Realm if you’d like, and just read the three main novels. I assure you that everything will make sense.

  If you’d like to read the three additional side stories, too, you have multiple options, as they can be read before, during or after the main trilogy. However, each side story stars a side character featured in one of the main novels and shows how Ruby first met them.

  “Silver Tempest” reveals how Ruby met a character featured in Lightning Blade (Book 1).

  “Kentucky Clear” reveals how Ruby met a character featured in Shadow Flare (Book 2).

  Going Home reveals how Ruby met a character featured in Blood River (Book 3).

  Thus, if you want to read everything, and are looking for the “optimal” reading order (if such a thing exists), here’s what I would suggest:

  Bone Realm

  Lightning Blade (Book 1)

  “Silver Tempest”

  Shadow Flare (Book 2)

  “Kentucky Clear”

  Blood River (Book 3)

  Going Home

  Lightning Blade

  The Ruby Callaway Trilogy (Book 1)

  1

  Day 1

  June 7, 2039

  Tempe Supernatural Internment Camp

  I slashed the pen through the fourth name, red ink dripping from the dog-eared paper. It was difficult to tell where the ink on my fingertips ended and the blood began. I dug glass from my palm, barely feeling the sting.

  Twenty years in supernatural lockup will blunt your feelings like that. My shifter bunkmate stirred above me, groaning in response to a disturbance I couldn’t yet hear.

  I stiffened, listening to her soft, fox-like yips. Stevens was coming for me. It seemed the leaders of the Tempe camp had finally caught up to my plans.

  About time. I’d killed four people within these fences over the past twenty years, getting my revenge piece-by-painstaking-piece as the endless gray months had rolled into decades.

  But three names yet remained.

  Three names to strike from my dog-eared list before justice had been properly served.

  For what they did to me two decades ago.

  For what they did to Pearl.

  Footsteps pounded outside, marching across the dusty, grassless field. A small smirk of satisfaction rested on my lips. Being sent to the dark room was worth it to watch Dewitt bleed.

  Even if it made killing the next three harder.

  The door to our quarters crashed inward in a plume of hazy dust.

  “Get on your knees!” Even with the magical dampeners around the camp, I could feel the hatred and contempt slice through the dry summer air like a blade. A gun swung through the broken entrance. “I’ll shoot any goddamn freak that moves.”

  My awakened bunkmates wisely kept quiet and to themselves as the containment squad entered.

  I dropped slowly to the dirty ground, still staring at the worn paper pinned to the peeling corkboard. Rough hands shoved me face-first against the tile floor. Catching the hint of a black centipede moustache behind me, I tensed, bad memories flashing briefly past.