He had his knife in his hand and it was glowing red, still. One of the spectral entities remained, floating near Eli, clearly under his control. Logan had a man by the throat and was about to break his jaw with a single punch. The young girl and the Hexer had reappeared exactly where they had been a moment ago—she must have been the Shade. There wasn’t a single sound to be heard except for the faint dripping of water.
“Enough,” Damon demanded, “We didn’t come here to shed blood.”
“But you did, didn’t you?” the man with the eccentric clothes said. He was about as tall as Damon and wearing a black waistcoat over a blood red shirt and black slacks. His sleeves were rolled up revealing two sleeves of tattoos, he had an assortment of bracelets around his wrists, and many rings on his fingers. His jawline and cheeks were well defined, a little stubble growing on them. His eyes were sharp, and incisive, lined with black eyeliner and shining with that ghostly, green light. I would have thought he was incredibly good looking, if the situation were different. “You came in here and you hurt us before trying to speak to us, so who are the bad guys?”
“You are,” Eli said, “You kidnapped these people.”
“I?” he asked, placing his hand against his heart, “I did no such thing. These people volunteered of their own free will to come here. You have no right to come in here with the hammer of justice; we have done nothing wrong, and yet you have wounded some of us. Explain yourselves.”
Damon didn’t look impressed with what this man was saying. “Cut the bullshit. We’ve been following your organization for months, and now we have you.”
“Following us? Gentlemen, I believe we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot.” He started taking steps toward Damon, hand stretched in friendship. “Allow me to introduce myself; my name is Brishan Roses, at your service.”
“Don’t take another step,” Eli warned.
“Or you’ll send your other pet my way for me to eat, Spirimancer? We know the same tricks, you and I; cut of the same cloth. Unlike you, I don’t mean anyone any harm.”
Lucia squirmed, and her moving around stole my attention away from what was happening. I tapped her face and helped her wake up. “Luce,” I whispered, “Oh my God, Luce…”
“Andi…” she said, bleary eyed and looking like she hadn’t slept in weeks, “Andi, I’m so sorry.”
“Sorry? For what?”
“Getting you into this… I didn’t mean to.”
“Me? What are you talking about?”
Lucia’s eyes seemed to sharpen, the cloud over her mind lifting. She tilted her head to the side. “Why are you wearing a mask?”
“I’ll explain later; we have to—”
A push of cold, dark energy moved through me then, a vibration I hadn’t felt before that caused my spine to stiffen. I turned my head and stared at the pit as the cold feeling of dread stretched inside of me. I swallowed hard and waited, then felt another push of dark energy emanate from the center of the pit.
Lucia started to stand, and around the opening I saw other people were sitting up too, though some weren’t moving at all.
“We have to go,” I said, but nobody could hear me over the sound of the pissing contest taking place between Brishan and Damon. “We have to leave!” I yelled, and my voice rang through the cavern, attracting the attention of at least Logan, and also the young girl on the other side of the pit. Logan dropped the man in his grip, took three steps toward me, and leapt over the pit, effortlessly clearing the distance and landing beside Lucia and I. Lucia, startled, staggered away from him to join a man who, having just woken up, was also starting to rise.
“What’s going on?” Logan asked.
“We just have to go. Something bad is about to happen.”
“Bad? How bad?”
I swallowed. “Real bad.”
Logan helped me up. I reached out to Lucia, but she and the man she was with stepped back as if my hand was covered in warts. “Luce?” I asked, but she didn’t answer—she just looked at me.
“Gentlemen please,” Brishan said, “What we have here is an opportunity to talk like the civilized culture that we are. Mages are all brothers and sisters in magic after all, are we not?”
“You and your crew have been abducting people from around this area for months,” Damon said, “Now you’re going to answer for that crime.”
“Again, I can assure you, no one has been abducted—they all came to us of their own free will.”
“Luce, is this true?” I asked.
“Andi, I…”
“Lucia?”
“… they reached out a few weeks ago. They promised me things; money, power, real things. I couldn’t say no! They told me they’d made a mistake, that they’d wanted you, but I was already in it. What would you have done?”
“What are you talking about?”
I felt that push of energy come racing out of the pit again, this time it was stronger, strong enough to send prickles racing up my arms and back. Brishan, must have sensed it too because he was in the middle of speaking when suddenly he stopped and turned to look at the pit, his eyes wide. He then turned his attention to me.
“You woke it up…”
Damon, Eli, Logan—everyone—was looking at me now, waiting for my answer. “I… think so.”
Brishan’s face darkened. “Then you’ve killed us all.”
The portable lamps that had been placed around the chamber began to flicker.
“Explain yourself,” Damon demanded, and Brishan gave him his attention as if he didn’t have a choice in the matter.
“Your Harlequin,” he said with contempt, “Has meddled in things she ought not meddle, has ruined decades of work and preparation, and has sentenced us all to death in so doing.”
“Sentenced us all to death?” Eli asked, “That sounds like bullshit from a conman—and I would know.”
“When it’s bell chimes, death is never far behind. If I were you, I would put as much distance between yourself and this place as possible, but even distance will probably not save you from its relentless appetite. Now that it’s awake, we will never be safe from the Death Jester, and we have her to thank.”
I hadn’t noticed until now, but the sleepers, those who were alive, had moved across from where we stood to join the Shade and the Hexer; all except Lucia, who had stopped at some point to look at me. I undid the strap of my mask, removed it, and looked over at her from where I stood.
“Luce…” I said, “What are you doing?”
The lights around the chamber continued to tremble and flicker. Eli, his spirit guardian now gone, moved to get closer to Damon, while Logan grabbed my arm and started pulling me away. I watched one of the men from the other group move towards Lucia and call out to her. She turned to look at her, then looked at me again.
“Andi, I’m sorry,” she said, “I’m so sorry…”
“Luce?” I yelled, but she turned around and continued walking toward Brishan’s group. “Luce!”
The lights then all went out, even the ones in the tunnel behind us. A pause, pregnant with tension, hung in the air, suspended, and then I heard it; the chime of bells, only this time, I wasn’t dreaming. This was all real.
There was a rushing sound accompanied by the constant jingle of bells. I heard Lucia scream, I knew it was her, and then the man that was with her screamed too, but the sound of his screaming trailed off into an awful, wet gargling sound I couldn’t bear to hear. I screamed for Lucia, but Logan had already picked me up and had started running despite the darkness.
Behind me, the sounds of chiming bells and screams became almost like a melody, a terrible tune of death—the song of the Death Jester.
CHAPTER TEN
I couldn’t remember getting out of the tunnels, couldn’t remember getting into the car, or driving away from the casino. It was almost as if I had blinked, and appeared in the Garden District, pulling up to Eli’s house. All I could do was replay what had happened in that chamber, that place of death.
Lucia… my entire body shuddered every time I thought of her, every time I imagined the way she had screamed in the dark. Though I couldn’t remember having gotten to Eli’s place from the casino, one thing was clear, I had been crying the whole way down.
Damon opened the door for me to step out of the car and helped me walk across the sidewalk, through the garden, and into the house itself. When we were all through, Eli shut the door and locked it. He then came up and, silently, wrapped his arms around me. Numb, I didn’t respond. Not even when Logan joined in the hug, squeezing me between both men did I feel, or do, or say anything.
I became faintly aware of the stupid, disconnected fact that I could hear both of these men’s hearts beating against my head. That thought then allowed me a chance to slip into the moment and appreciate the warmth, the closeness I was being offered. When Damon reached for my hand and took it, smoothing the skin just above my thumb with his own, I felt tingles race through me.
I had never felt as protected, as cared for, as I did in that moment, with those three strangers who had become more than strangers in less than twenty-four hours.
“I’m so, so sorry,” Eli said against my head. “So sorry, Andi.”
More tears, now. “I don’t know what to do,” I said.
“Nothing,” Logan said, “Not right now. You’re safe here.”
“Are we?”
“We are,” Damon said, “I know you don’t feel it right now, but we’re safe.”
I couldn’t tell if he was lying to me, though after what Brishan had said about the Death Jester’s relentlessness, he probably was. I didn’t care. It felt good to be in their company. I didn’t feel like anyone else would understand me, would understand this. They had been right when they’d said I wouldn’t want to go to the police after they’d explained to me everything they’d had to explain.
“What do we do now?” I asked, my voice low, and defeated.
“You sleep,” Damon said.
“I don’t think I can.”
“You’re going to, and you’re going to let me help you sleep.”
“You can’t put me to sleep with magic every time.”
“Sure he can,” Eli said, “And I’m going to insist that he does that. Logan and I are going to make sure the house is safe, meanwhile you sleep. It’ll be fine.”
I looked up at him. “You promise?”
“We both promise,” Logan said.
I nodded. It was the best I was going to get. Eli and Logan then pulled themselves away from me, leaving me holding Damon’s hand. “I’ll be back soon,” he said to the others who then parted ways, heading in different directions around the house.
Damon led me upstairs, to my bedroom, where he drew me to the bed and bid me to sit down.
“I’m dirty,” I said, “I’m going to mess the bed up.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll change the bed tomorrow. Sit down.”
I did as he said, walking over to the bed and sitting on the edge. Damon then knelt before me and started pulling my shoes off. He then lifted my knees and helped me settle down, fluffing my pillows for me and watching me lay down on them. When I looked comfortable enough, he took one of my hands, brought it to his mouth, and lightly kissed me on the knuckles.
Fire burned through me at the touch of his lips, fighting the numbness I had been feeling away. “This has all been very difficult,” he said, “I know it has.”
I nodded. “I should thank you all…”
“There’s no need for that. You just need to get some rest. I’m going to use my magic on you again and put you to sleep.”
“No—” I almost blurted the word out.
“No?”
“Don’t use magic…”
“I need you to sleep.”
“Yes… but, lay with me instead.”
I watched Damon’s Adam’s apple work, bobbing up and down. He then removed his jacket and shoes, and slipped into the bed beside me, forming a crook with his arm that I could rest against. I allowed myself to settle with him, and as soon as I did, I sighed the tension away and felt it leave my muscles. I wanted to fight sleep, wanted to stay awake—what if the Death Jester was waiting for me when I shut my eyes?—but Damon had started stroking my hair, and his touch was putting me to sleep.
Yesterday I had prepared myself for a long night, but that long night had turned into a clusterfuck of crazy I didn’t know I would be able to deal with. Luckily, I had these three men with me, men I never in a million years thought I would ever meet, let alone find myself bunking with. Right now, in the midst of this fucked up hurricane, they were the only thing tying me to the ground, they were my rocks. As long as I had them, I felt, I would be okay.
And that was enough for now, at least.
TO BE CONTINUED…
FOLLOW TANSEY
Sign up today to Tansey’s mailing list to keep in touch, receive updates, and occasionally take part in great contests and giveaways!
SIGN UP HERE!
You can also join Tansey’s Serpent Coven on Facebook, where you’ll be able to interact with me directly whenever you want! That’s also where I’ll be sharing early snippets, early cover reveals, and more contests!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tansey is an up and coming author of Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy novels with a REVERSE HAREM twist. If your kind of books have magic, danger, strong, powerful females, and more hot guys than you could sink your teeth into in one sitting, then you've come to the right place!
If you want to keep in touch with Tansey and find out when her new books are ready for release, join her mailing list here: http://subscribe.tanseymorgan.com/intro
Also by Tansey Morgan
The Last Serpent
Serpent’s Touch, #1
Serpent’s Desire, #2
Serpent’s Kiss, #3
Serpent’s Bite, #4
Serpent’s Hold, #5
Serpent’s Revenge, #6
The Last Serpent, #7
The Labyrinth Queen
The Labyrinth Queen, #1
The Harlequin’s Harem
Twisted Fate, #1
Harlequin Dreams, #2 (June, 2018)
TWISTED FATE
The Harlequin’s Harem
Book One
Copyright © 2018 by Tansey Morgan & LJ Sampere
Visit: www.tanseymorgan.com
***
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, events or locales is purely coincidental.
Reproduction in whole or in part of this publication without express written consent is strictly prohibited. I greatly appreciate you taking the time to read my work. Please consider leaving a review wherever you bought the book, or tell your friends about this serial to help spread the word!
Thank you for supporting my work.
Twisted Fate: A Reverse Harem Urban Fantasy (The Harlequin's Harem Book 1) Page 11
