Falling For Them: A New Adult Reverse Harem Collection

by C. L. Stone

  6

  Their faces. They look like the men from my dream this morning, the almost-sex dream I had with Kiefer. Thomas’s words hit me, and the words escape my throat. “I’m sorry, did you say the seven deadly sins?” He nods. “I had the exact same reaction my first day on the job, too. And yes, I did say the seven deadly sins.” “It’s good to see you again, love. I told you we would meet again soon.” The Native American sex god who spoke to me this morning stands at the centre of the circular wall. My entire body flushes with heat from his stare, his pink eyes having an effect on my core. I shake my head. This is impossible. How can people from my dream be here in real life? Thomas frowns. “You’ve met them already?” I give a yes/no swivel of my head. “I had a dream about them this morning, but I didn’t think it was real. I wasn’t introduced to any of them.” Thomas takes the cane hanging from his arm and uses it to lean on. “Yeah. New recruits for this level always have dreams the night before. At least, I did.” My skin tingles under their gaze, I glance around all of them staring me now. Heat floods my cheeks as the memory of my dream comes to the front of my mind at full force.

  Thomas clears his throat. “We’ll start at this end.” He points to the left side of the room, before making his way over there with the help of his cane. I follow him. All the while my heart thunders in my chest. How can this be real? How can any of this be real? It was supposed to just be a dream. Now, the men from that dream stand before me as personified versions of the seven deadly sins on the left. We stop before the last cell on the left. A punching bag hangs from the centre of the ceiling just in front of a queen-size bed, other workout equipment takes up the rest of the large room. This is a prison cell? It looks more like a hotel suite. Music thumps from behind the glass. Tear You Apart by She Wants Revenge swoons over the angrier parts of my soul. I love that song; it’s been a long time since I’ve heard it. A man stands to the left of the punching bag. Red and black tattoos intricately dance along the caramel skin of his arms and collarbone coming together as one solid design. I can’t look away even though he doesn’t have a shirt on. The words Mi venganza duele. Mi poder es grande swirl together over his chest. I was never very good at Spanish in school, will I ever know what it says? He flicks his limp mohawk, also stained with red, to the other side of his head. He fidgets with one of the large gauges in his ears as his light-brown eyes stare into mine. Thomas motions to the man. “Hope, this is Wrath, or anger, or rage. I just call him Wrath. I nod. “Hello.” He grins at me before lifting his hand to grab the remote and turn his music up louder, filling the entire room with the fast beats of the song. The tip of his tongue travels across his lips when the singer says the word fuck. My gaze travels to the floor; I need to get out more. Thomas sighs. “Really, Wrath, do you think the rest of us want to listen to your music? Because I don’t. Not everyone likes crap music like that.” Long veins travel up his forearm as he makes a fist and punches the beanbag. It swings back and forth from the force and he glares at it before he turns his gaze onto Thomas and grins. “Well, she likes it, and that’s all that matters to me. So as long as she is on the night shift, I don’t give a fuck what you say.” Thomas sighs louder and shuffles on to the next cell. I follow, not sure how I should’ve responded to his words. Why would he care if I liked the music or not? The next cell stands on the other side of Wrath’s. Instead of exercise equipment a massive bed overtakes the room, pillows of all kind thrown about. Several TVs line the ceiling. A young man with skin several shades darker than mine lies in the center of the bed. Baggy sweats and a simple white tank top make up his outfit. His hair shines different hues of blue. I can’t see his eyes, but I remember them from last night for the most brilliant of blue I have ever seen. In his right hand he holds a large remote, I guess it goes to the TVs. His finger barely moves as he switches through the channels. “This is Sloth, and this is what he does every day all day. Before we got the TVs in all he would do was sleep, so this is actually an improved version of him. I call him Sloth 2.0. He’ll be a challenge for you. He doesn’t always eat, and surprisingly, they all need to eat, even though they are older than most of the written gods.” I frown. “If they are older than most written gods, wouldn’t they be immortal? So, you know, they wouldn’t have to eat in order to stay alive?” Thomas laughs. “You would think so, but they aren’t immortal, at least not the way Hollywood depicts immortal.” I shake my head. “I don’t understand.” Sloth sits up and stares at me those intense eyes. “We never age past a certain point, and as far as I can tell we can’t die from aging. However, we can die from wounds, starvation, and sickness. If any of this happen, we’re sent back here to start life over. At least it doesn’t take us long to return to our adult forms.” I swallow hard. What a dreary existence they must have. “That sounds like it sucks. Essentially you’re all boys and bubbles.” His eyes close as he falls back onto the bed. “Pretty much.” Thomas clears his throat. “Moving on.” He points with his cane to the next cell, and shuffles more.“Thomas!” A Korean man steps up to the glass, his long, black hair tied into a loose bun. Black eye-liner defines both of his deep green eyes, making them appear more cat-like. Thomas rolls his watery eyes. “Yes, Envy?” The man presses a book against the glass, IT by Stephen King. “This is the book you were reading last night, right? You own it?” “Yes. That’s the book I read last night, and no, I borrowed it from the prison’s library.”A grin spreads across his face. “Well, I own it. First edition, and autographed. That tops you three times over!”“I don’t think this one needs much of an introduction anymore.” I stare at the book. I’d kill to own it. I’ve read IT at least a hundred times, if not more. If I owned a signed copy of any of his books, it would go in a glass case and only come out if I had gloves on.Envy stares at the book in his hand and shrugs. “Well, now since I’ve bested you again, Thomas, I don’t need this anymore.” He tosses it over his shoulder and it lands in a trash basket next to the large bed in the room.I gasp. “Why did you do that?” My hand goes over my heart. I wish I could save it from the iron confines it was so crudely tossed into. Envy shrugs again. “I don’t want it anymore; he doesn’t seem interested in it.” His eyes narrow. “But you do.” He steps over to the wastebasket and picks up the fallen book. I watch as he raises it into the air toward the glass. “Do you want it?” I side glance at Thomas, he doesn’t seem to care if I answer him. “I do, but I don’t have anywhere nice to keep it. Things like that shouldn’t be carelessly thrown away.” He places it on his bed. “Well, I’ll keep it safe for you until you have a safe place to keep it.” Thomas eyes widen. “Envy, did you just do something out of kindness for someone else?” He sits down on the bed, a loose tendril of black hair falls into his face, and he brushes it away. “I don’t care what you think.” Thomas stares at me. “This is an interesting development.”The frown deepens on my face. Did I do something wrong? With a grunt, he gets his legs moving again as we come the next cell.An ornate rug of gold and purples covers the floor. A rounded bed, with red satin sheets, hangs from the ceiling by chain. Mirrors fill the wall, with a single armchair in front of it all. A man sits with his back to us, the same man who said I would heighten his beauty if I sat on his cock. I force my hands to stay at my side, as they want to raise and hide my face from embarrassment.He runs a comb through his short, brown hair and stares at our reflections in the mirror beside his. The purple polish on his fingers sparkles in the light spotlight he has focused on his face. “Hello, darling. I’m Pride, or Vanity. I go by many names.” His sand-colored skin looks so warm and inviting. He grins at me as he reaches into the inner pocket of his forest-green suit and pulls out a smart phone.With a practiced elegance, he takes a selfie. “My one thousand Snappy followers are going to love this one.” His amber eyes turn on my reflection again. “Norms are good for their technology. I can’t get over how we can take pictures now for thousands to see. I love it!” Thomas places a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t say anything. Let’s keep moving. If you let him, he’ll talk yo
ur ear off, and ninety-nine percent of it will be about himself.” The musky scent of sandalwood drifts into my nose as we come to stand in front of the Native American’s cell. Reds and whites make up the color scheme, with a large bed and many pillows resting directly on the floor. Candles flicker all around, resting on several bookshelves and an end table; their wax frozen in mid-drip over the edges. He stands in front of his bed, his tailored suit form-fitted to his body. A violin rests under his chin—he opens his pink eyes—every inch of my body warms while my clit tingles. It’s been so long since I felt like this, and now it’s happened twice in one day.Placing the bow over the strings he pulls it back, creating a deep vibrato before pushing it forward to send the note skyward. An almost sorrowful melody forms out of the notes as they drift into each other, and yet, there's something oddly seductive about it all. His eyes never waver from mine. All too soon he ends on a deep note and lowers the violin to hold it at his side. “Welcome to your new job, love. I hope you will find it welcoming here. You deserve it."

  A smile pulls at the corners of my lips. I wish I could reach through the glass to kiss him and feel his muscles under my fingertips. "Yes, that was a lovely song you played, Lust, as always. And it appears I'll need to give Hope a nullification bracelet, because even the wards on the glass can't keep your powers from tempting her. " Thomas pats me on my shoulder, bringing me out of my fantasy of throwing the man he called Lust down on the bed to ravage him until we see stars.

  Lust smirks. “You can try, Thomas, but I doubt it will have much of an effect on her." I shiver as he winks at me. "Go visit with the other two. We have a long time to get to know each other, love." Thomas nudges me in the direction of the next cage. As soon as I step away the undying longing fades to a small ache. I can function now. A small bed rests in the corner while a table over takes the rest of the small room. Plate upon plate of food covers the wooden surface. From lobster and steak, to chocolate cake and ice cream. My stomach rumbles. A simple sandwich and fountain drink have been the only things to save off hunger for me today. Silverware clinks together as a tall, lean man devours a baked potato. His strawberry-blond curls bounce with his movements, almost falling into his eyes. He peers up at me as he takes the final bite and sets the fork and knife down. His dark-brown eyes stand stark against his pale complexion. He swallows the bite of food and moves the plate over to a stack of scraped clean ones. "Hello." With nimble fingers, he picks up a pack of cigarettes and lights one. His chest puffs out as he takes in one long drag, nearly finishing the cigarette off in one breath. "This one is Gluttony. I'm still not sure how he stays so thin." Thomas shakes his head and pats the bit of pudge his has underneath his uniform. I cock my head to the side. "But Gluttony is always depicted as morbidly obese?"

  Gluttony shrugs. "I guess I just got lucky in the genetics department." He pulls a plate of lobster toward him and bowl of melted butter. "Are you sure this is a prison?" I follow Thomas to the last cell. Three bookshelves cover the back wall, overflowing with books. Like Lust, a bed lies on the floor, multiple black and gold pillows cover the puffed-up futon-like mattress. Into the corners stand stacks of money bundled together in hundreds. This cell has an overabundance of everything. The inmate sits in the middle of it all his legs folded like a pretzel. He grins at me. “We meet again, H.” I suppress a shiver. I can still feel the touch of his rough fingers on my nipples. Thomas huffs. “And if you can’t tell, this is Greed.” I nod. “Hello.” He stands and comes close to the glass. “Maybe now I can finish what I started?” I glance away and bite at my lower lip. A part of me, if I wasn’t working, might say yes. I’ve never been with anyone but Kiefer though. Thomas taps his cane on the ground, breaking the moment. “Well, that’s all of them. Now we can get to what your duties are. It’s not that hard, trust me. Follow me.” He walks to the other side of the room to a different door and opens it with his ring. I gasp as we enter the room, but I guess I can’t call it that, it’s a fucking warehouse. It goes on further than I can see; six-foot shelves stand close together one row after another, each one holding hundreds of things. My eyes widen. “H-how is this possible? The top of the prison didn’t look big enough to hold something like this.” Thomas glances at me with a raised eyebrow. “It’s extension magic. Of course you can’t see it from the outside; that would defeat the purpose of having created magic. Magic 101, after all.” I rub my cheek. It’s time that I start to study up on this world. I don’t think I can handle seeming like an idiot in front of everyone for much longer. “I’m sort of new to all of this.” “This?” I lift my arms and then put them back down at my sides. “This, as in this world, the supernatural stuff, finding out I’m a Fae.”

  He shakes his head. “There’s more and more of you every year, I swear. When I was a kid supernaturals always knew what they came from.” With a shrug he motions around the room. “This warehouse holds everything you could ever need to please the Sins, and what it doesn’t have can be ordered. It was started centuries ago. The prison was first built for them.” I frown. “This prison was built specifically for them?” He goes to one of the shelves and pulls down a jar of peaches. “That’s how the story’s been told for the last couple decades, at least since I’ve been here. No one really knows for sure. They say the prison was built to house them, so that their chaos couldn’t be unleashed onto the world, but if you ask me, I think they had the prison built to keep their chaos from the world.” He hands the jar of peaches to me. I stare at it. “So you’re saying they voluntarily imprisoned themselves for the greater good?” He shrugs. “Why would they get all of this star treatments, if it was the other way around? You can have that. Here there are some of the best peaches I’ve ever tasted in my life and there’s thousands of them throughout this place. Consider it a welcome gift to your new job.” “So, I basically just wait on them hand and foot? At least that’s what I’ve gathered so far.” “Yes. They don’t sleep much and Gluttony gets fed every four hours. I just did a round before the boss called me down to meet you.” A frown spread over his lips.“Are you really okay with me taking your night shift?” He leans more onto his cane. “At first, I was upset. I thought he was replacing me because I’m getting old. To be honest, I’m kinda relieved not to have to do the night shift and day shift. My body just can’t do the random spurts of sleep anymore.”“Why haven’t they always had two people to do this job?” He shrugs. “The Sins are picky about who they want working the job. It hasn’t always been just me. I used to have a co-worker until he retired two years ago. The Sins never sent anyone to replace him, so it was just me taking care of them, until now. “ I move the jar to my other hand. “The Sins never sent anyone?” He nods. “Yeah, they pick everyone they want to work for them, even before the person thinks about the job. Let’s go get you a nullifying bracelet, you’ll need it for when we work with Lust tonight, I can tell. Don’t worry, over time your magic will become immune to their influences.” I nod. “Well, I hope it works, I’m going to need it.” We laugh.I just hope I can do this job, and not get fired in the first night.