Four Psychos (The Dark Side Book 1)

by Kristy Cunning

  “Tonight,” he goes on, still staring, “we have the final trial!”

  There goes the boom we’ve been dreading.

  Their jaws tense as they part, making room for the devil to pass between them. Lucifer grins like he’s delighted to have sprang this on them.

  “And since I designed the final course this year, you can be sure it’s going to be a very epic event,” he says, walking away from us as the crowd continues to clear a path and start following behind him like really bad sheep.

  We follow too, and my hand passes through Ezekiel’s shirt like I’m trying to draw some calm from him to keep from wolfing out. Or girling out. Or fleshing out?

  Anyway, I’m losing a little control right now.

  “This year, instead of one day in the course, it will be three,” Lucifer goes on as he steps onto a platform.

  The crowd erupts into hushed whispers and surprised gasps. This sounds really bad.

  “Three days?” Kai hisses.

  “This is a test designed specifically for us,” Gage states quietly. “Look at the other competitors.”

  My eyes flit around as I start noticing the other competitors losing their suits, and attaching weapons onto their bodies.

  “The invitation said black tie and no weapons. It didn’t say bring a change of clothes and a secret stash of killing devices,” I feel the need to point out.

  “He wants to see what we can do,” Ezekiel says as his jaw grinds.

  The devil steps high on the platform, and his grin only grows as the wall behind him starts to slide open. The thing about this mansion? I’ve never once seen a window.

  I’m guessing the view must suck.

  A glowing red light starts creeping in more and more as the wall continues to slide open.

  “This year’s course will take place in the belly of the beast,” Lucifer goes on. “Hell’s stomach.”

  More hushed whispers and some audible sounds of excitement comes from the restless crowd. I really don’t know if I want to do something that excites this bloodthirsty gathering.

  “I’m guessing they’re not talking about giving hell indigestion with all of us in its stomach,” I state wryly.

  Ezekiel steps closer to me, and I continue to try to draw a modicum of calm from him.

  “Hell’s stomach is literally the place where the throat sends the most vile monsters that are too vicious for purgatory. It’s never been used as a location for the trials because it’s the hardest spot to survive. In fact, I haven’t ever heard of any survivors,” Ezekiel says quietly.

  My eyes flick back to Lucifer as the wall opens the entire way.

  “We were so busy accusing Manella that we never thought to suspect the devil,” I say quietly.

  Gage bristles beside me, as does Ezekiel on my other side. Jude glances at me like he wants to agree, but has too much pride to take my side on anything.

  “And we bought into everything he was saying,” Kai goes on.

  “Number one rule in hell: Never trust anyone you’re not bonded to,” Jude states flatly.

  All the competitors are allowed to pass through, and I follow the guys to the edge, looking over to see an endless wasteland of savage creatures racing around far below.

  Lava runs far and wide, and now Lilith isn’t going to gift/curse us across it. Hellfire sprays up much like it did in hell’s throat, but it actually looks like acid reflux that would be in the actual stomach—I assume. You know, if the stomach had lava and monsters and stuff.

  Some areas look like deserts. Some look like ashy forests. It all stretches and mingles together, making it impossible to miss any one thing.

  “I’m afraid that other than the fact you have to survive all three days and cross the finish line, there are no rules,” Lucifer goes on. “It’s not like you can leave the boundaries unless you swim in the surrounding moat of hellfire and manage to survive,” he adds carelessly.

  “No rules? What about other competitors killing and all that?” I immediately ask, panic pulsing through me.

  Gage’s jaw grinds. “It’s another first,” he finally answers.

  This course is designed to kill. Not to test.

  He’s stripping the rules and making it a kill zone free-for-all amongst thieves, cheats, and murderers who have hellish powers and/or abilities.

  I heave out a breath.

  “Sounds like she just figured out how bad this is,” Jude drawls.

  “I’m going to be exhausted when I finish saving you for three days straight without an ounce of gratitude to show for it,” I deadpan.

  Kai snorts, and the other three just grin as I mimic the motions of running a hand through my hair the way they’ve all been doing. Even as I joke, I cast another apprehensive look toward the devil, wondering why the hell he wants them dead so badly.

  His eyes settle on their backs as they continue to stare out at the death course from hell’s belly.

  Lucifer’s calculated grin stays fixed on his lips as he says, “Let the games begin.”

  End of book 1

  Note from the author:

  Don’t worry! Book 2 is finished, and this is only a four book series.

  <3

  I started this series as a fun side project. Weird fact about me: I have to write daily, but I rarely have any say in what I write. I can’t force a book out. I just have to wait on it to flow.

  I probably have over eighty or more books that I’ve started. I quite possibly have twenty or so that are fully/mostly written and might never be published, because I don’t particularly love them. But since I had three out of four of these written, and happened to love them, I decided to start releasing.

  I stole some names from some of my other C.M. Owens series. Essentially, I took some of my favorite characters, changed how they looked, and wrote an alternate universe where things are very much different.

  As I said, I never intended to publish these, but the more I wrote, the more I fell in love. So now it’s likely going to happen.

  I picked a name to publish under, since it’d be confusing with all the recycled names from my regular pen. Not to mention, this is really different from my norm, and I didn’t want anyone shell-shocked or scared to trust me again.

  Anyway, I don’t have any social media set up for this pen because that gets confusing and messy. Is that weird? Probably. But then again, so am I. However, I genuinely worry about upsetting readers who weren’t prepared for me to do something quite so abrupt as writing a reverse harem, and the more you read, the more you’ll understand why I don’t unsuspecting people to accidentally download them.

  But if you want updates, you can follow me on any of my C.M. Owens social media. <3 I’ll keep updates there.

  Where to find me:

  My Facebook

  Private Book Club (Very adult group. No drama. No judgment. And no one outside of the group can see what you like, post, or comment on.)

  My Teaser/Book Group (Only I can post here, and it notifies you when I do as long as you have your settings set correctly.)

  My Instagram (@cmowensauthor)

  My Twitter (@cmowensauthor)

  www.cmowensbooks.com