Game of Vampires: A Reverse Harem Serial (Part One)

by Rosette Bolter

  Breathless, Theresa turned back to the railing.

  Harland was still staring up at her.

  He looked away and disappeared into the mist.

  “Are you okay, my lady?” Lord Fane asked.

  Theresa nodded. “He’s gone.”

  Lord Fane nodded back. “Well, now it’s up to you. You’re free to come down and meet the Lords face to face. No pressure for you to commit to anything.” He turned his head around the room. “If anyone else has a problem behaving themselves, I’ll be out in the hall.”

  He stormed off the stage and out of sight.

  Theresa frowned. Concern took a bite of her gut and then remained there unwilling to let go.

  “Come down and say hello, Princess,” Harland’s voice called to her. “Don’t be shy.”

  There really didn’t seem to be another option. As alluring and suggestive as Moldark’s invitation had been, Theresa figured she was better testing her toes in the flames first before jumping headfirst into the fire.

  So she succumbed to the North Vampire’s call.

  She moved across to the other side of the landing and climbed down a flight of winding stairs, reaching the bottom a few feet away from where Harland was.

  “It is such a pleasure to finally meet you,” he said striding over.

  He took her hand and planted a kiss on them.

  “We’re not too worried about keeping things as formal as the Warlock wanted them to be,” Harland explained. “So I can walk you around the room if it makes you feel better. Or of course you can go on your own.”

  Theresa blinked. “Alright.”

  “Alright what?”

  “You may show me around.”

  Harland linked arms with her and then brought Theresa towards the bar where the twins Cyprian and Seraphine were seated, consuming their tonics. As they ventured closer, Theresa recognized the murky liquid bouncing around in their glasses. Sometimes it took a nurse an entire hour to squeeze just a drop of it.

  “Don’t worry,” Cyprian said eyeing her inspection. “We’re all vegetarians here.”

  “An eternity sustained by plant blood,” Seraphine remarked. “I’m not sure there’s a crueler sentence.”

  “Bartender,” Harland called over the bench. “Come and fetch some more stools for the Princess and I.”

  The harem’s servants quickly obeyed his command.

  They laid out a table with a single blood flower sitting in a glass vase in the centre for decoration. Upon seating, Harland picked up the vase, threw away the flower and drank the liquid therein.

  Theresa shifted awkwardly in her chair.

  The bar tender brought her an actual beverage which Theresa looked at but did not touch.

  Lady Seraphine pulled her stood up to the table and sat beside Theresa, shaking her hand.

  “So do you visit here often?” Seraphine asked.

  “You mean the harem?” Theresa replied.

  She nodded.

  “Uh, no,” Theresa said. “This is sort of a one-time occasion.”

  “Not for us,” Cyprian said from over by the bar. “Lord Fane is always trying to marry off one of his distinguished friends to us vampires. The thing is we don’t want to get married, do we Seraphine?”

  “Speak for yourself,” Seraphine fired back. “I’m sort of feeling vibe between me and the Princess. Don’t you agree?”

  She rubbed Theresa’s leg with her knee.

  Theresa shifted her chair away from her.

  “Let’s just play nice for now,” Harland said casually. “It’s not even eight o’clock yet. Plenty of time for the Princess to fall under our spell.”

  Theresa met his stare. She breathed in deeply.

  “Tell us about life on the orchard,” Cyprian said. “What it’s like to stand watch over a hundred people who hate you.”

  Theresa shook her head. “No one hates me.”

  “Sure they do,” Cyprian said. “You really can’t be that naive, can you?”

  Theresa hesitated. “My little life would probably be a boring subject of public conversation.”

  “That’s modest of you,” Harland said.

  Theresa flinched. “What I mean is –”

  “Oi!” Harland hollered. “Where do you think you’re going?”

  The vampire Lafayette had stepped out from his area in the mist and was heading out towards the archway.

  He stopped at the sound of Harland’s voice.

  “Are you going to join us?” Harland asked.

  “I refuse to take part in demeaning this occasion,” Lafayette said sternly. “If the Princess wishes to meet with me properly, I will leave my details with the proprietor. Otherwise, I bid you all goodnight.”

  He bowed his head, turned and exited.

  Harland leaned back in his chair. “He’s a sensitive one, isn’t he?”

  “You should go and see him,” Seraphine suggested.

  Theresa raised her eyebrows. “Why’s that?”

  “We all deserve an introduction. Even Moldark does.”

  “I agree,” Harland said. “Makes for healthier competition.”

  “We’ll all still be here, when you’re done with them,” Cyprian advised.

  “Run along,” Seraphine whispered in her ear.

  Theresa stood up. “It was lovely to meet you all. I hope uh … you feel the same way.”

  She backed away slowly before turning.

  “You’re a lot softer than I thought you’d be,” Harland said sharply behind her.

  Theresa stopped. Looked back. Smiled.

  “So are you,” she said.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Lafayette could be seen leaving at the end of the hallway as Theresa neared it. She opened her mouth to call out to him, but he was already gone.

  Behind her, Harland and Seraphine broke into a harmonious fit of laughter.

  Theresa winced a little and hurried away from them in Lafayette’s direction.

  The hall moved round to the left and eventually opened up at the harem’s entrance. There was no sign of the vampire, or Lord Fane. Theresa thought about going to find him for help, but she had to see whether Lafayette really was gone.

  She hurried outside the establishment and looked around in three hundred and sixty degrees.

  “Are you looking for the gentleman who just left here?” the carriage driver asked, stepping down from his post.

  “Oh yes, have you seen him?” Theresa said quickly.

  “Yes he’s staying across town,” the driver replied. “He gave me his address so I can take you to him.”

  A hand fell on Theresa’s shoulder.

  She turned to see Lord Fane moving beside her.

  “Where are you off to?” he asked quietly.

  “Lafayette has run off, wants me to chase him,” Theresa explained.

  “Alright, go with the driver then. I will follow after you. Okay…?”

  “What about the others?” Theresa asked, glancing back.

  “I’ll make sure the servants keep them busy. Just hurry along after him. And when you’re alone, proposition him about destroying the orchard. See what he says. If he agrees, then get away from him and I’ll sort him out.”

  “But what if he’s not the only one? What if the others –”

  “Just do what I say. Okay? It’s under control.”

  Lord Fane moved quickly back inside the harem.

  “What’s it going to be?” the carriage driver asked.

  Theresa nodded. “I’m coming.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  When the driver said Lafayette was on the other side of town, he really mean the other side of town. Gone were the shops and marketplaces and busy streets. These were the very outskirts of the western quarter surrounded by thick trees and grass. Eventually they came to a cottage with a garden and gates – torches burning all around, lighting the place up. Theresa left the carriage with the driver helping her down once more, looking back to see if the Warlock had followed b
ut seeing nothing.

  “What is this place?” she asked the driver.

  “Your friend, the gentleman, obviously made a deal with the owners so that he could stay here,” the driver said. “I’ll be waiting out here for your return.”

  “Thank you. I won’t be too long.”

  She moved by him, his eyes watching after her.

  “Good luck, Theresa.”

  “Oh,” she murmured, turning back. “Thank you.”

  The driver smiled to himself and turned away.

  Pulling herself together she hurried up to the gate, pulling it open and then walking along the pebbled pathway around the garden and towards the cottage. On her way she passed a fountain brimming with bubbling water. A couple of green statues standing beside it. As she neared the cottage, she saw the door was wide open.

  Theresa poked her head in. “Hello?”

  “Through here,” Lafayette called back.

  She walked through a small living area with a fireplace cooking wood, and along a narrow hallway to the main room where a large double bed was waiting in the centre.

  It wasn’t till she was deep into the room that Lafayette approached her from behind.

  “I can’t get away from you,” he said breathing a blast of icy air across her neck. He walked out in front of her and pulled out an armchair facing the bed. “Have a seat.”

  Theresa accepted the chair and sat across from him while he rested on the bed.

  “As flattered as I am that you would choose me first, I’m afraid I am now forced to disclose an ugly truth to you, Princess.”

  “What is that?” Theresa asked.

  “I may not know you very well, or at all – but in my heart I absolutely despise you.”

  Theresa blinked. “Come again?”

  “You are a wicked creature, resting your feet on the back of your hardworking slaves. Do not think I have been misinformed by your ill-deeds. The only reason I accepted Lord Fane’s invitation was so that I might get a look at you face to face to know what evil looks like.”

  Theresa shuddered. She didn’t know how she should respond.

  She thought about what Princess Emberlynn might say.

  “Without those so-called slaves, none of you would even exist,” Theresa argued. “You would be forced to revert into your role as the blood beast – devouring the souls of the innocent –”

  Lafayette snorted. He stood up from the bed.

  Theresa went to stand up.

  “Stay where you are,” Lafayette snapped.

  He went over to the dresser.

  Came back wielding a small green dagger.

  “I will make it quick then, shall I?” he asked.

  “No!” Theresa cried. She quickly fumbled about her handbag but Lafayette tore it away from her in lightning speed. She fell to her knees, looking up to him, tears in her eyes. “Don’t kill me.”

  “I’m sorry,” Lafayette said.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  “No, no, no!” Theresa pleaded. “Why are you doing this?”

  “I get it. I get what you are. Tell me I’m wrong.”

  “What?”

  “The Princess is dead, isn’t she?”

  “No!”

  He grabbed her by the throat, holding the blade against it. “Lie again and you die.”

  “She’s not dead. She was the one who sent me here. I’m just one of her servants. A stupid garden nurse. I had no choice…”

  Theresa collapsed at the vampire’s feet.

  It didn’t matter if he killed her now. She’d given the game away. How long before he sent word to the others? How long before they rose up against the Warlock and the Princess’s castle? The lives – the lives of the innocent, torn apart by her –

  “I don’t believe you,” Lafayette said.

  “It’s the truth, I swear it.”

  “Are you really a nurse?”

  “Yes.”

  “Alright.” He stepped away from her and went to the bed. He pulled something out from underneath it. “Come over here.”

  Theresa got to her feet. She went to where he was. A rectangular metal box sitting on the bed.

  He unlocked the lid and pulled it back, revealing a tiny blood flower growing dirt.

  “Show me,” he said. “Get the blood.”

  Theresa glanced at him. “Do you have a cup or something?”

  “Just use your hands.”

  Theresa sighed. She got down on her knees and put her hands into the soil. She ran her fingers up the stem of the plant, caressing its body. At the edge of the petals, she pressed her fingers in hard. She squeezed.

  Lafayette huddled over in amazement.

  Three red drops fell into her hands.

  “Here,” he said quickly.

  He scooped up her hand to his mouth and sucked the flower’s blood off it.

  “It’s real,” he whispered. “It’s really real. You are a nurse.”

  Theresa pulled her hand away. “I told you so.”

  “Stand up.”

  He helped her up from the floor.

  “What is your name?”

  “Theresa,” she answered.

  “How long were you working for the Princess?”

  “Four years. Since I was sixteen.”

  “I heard she starves her nurses. That she executes them for even the slightest mistake.”

  Theresa nodded.

  “And yet you’re just going on with her plan now? After all you’ve been through?”

  Theresa stepped away from him. “This isn’t about me.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “One of your vampire friends is going to destroy the orchard. I was sent here as bait to find out which one means the Princess harm.”

  “Well, I can assure you it isn’t me.”

  “Great. Um … How did you figure out I wasn’t the Princess?”

  “The Princess would not have needed to defend herself from the accusation that she was evil. She simply would have walked out.”

  “But you couldn’t know for sure –”

  Lafayette grinned. “The Princess has golden hair, doesn’t she?” He grabbed a handful of Theresa’s hair. “Not brown.”

  Theresa snatched her hair back. “Will you let me go now?”

  “I’m not finished with you.”

  He moved in closer.

  Theresa’s face scrunched up. “What?”

  He ran his fingernails across her cheek. “What if I said I wanted to help you?”

  “Help me with what?”

  “Complete your task.”

  “How would you do that?”

  “Well,” Lafayette said. “I know which of the vampires wants to destroy the orchard.”

  “Which one?”

  His face moved in close to hers.

  “I will tell you,” he said. “And I will also help you free your fellow nurses from the Princess’s captive.”

  “You don’t mean it.”

  “I do,” Lafayette insisted. “But I will only help you if you choose to devote yourself to me.”

  Theresa swallowed. “What does that entail?”

  “Kissing me, I think,” Lafayette said. “To start with.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Theresa couldn’t get her head around it. All Lafayette’s promises. He didn’t even know her. Why should he care about her or the other nurses? Was he really this sympathetic and virtuous? Or was she falling into a dark trap of sinister manipulation?

  “You can’t read my mind,” Lafayette said staring into her eyes. “I can’t read yours. That’s how it works. But we don’t need to know for sure about each other. We only need to trust. So will you trust me?”

  Theresa swallowed. “Okay.”

  He planted his lips on hers.

  Ice cold.

  So freezing it almost hurt.

  And it was strange. How the kiss developed. How he put his arms around her and his tongue just went at it. His cold against her skin. His frosted mouth over hers
.

  She felt comforted.

  Exhilarated.

  In truth, she didn’t quite trust him, but she wanted to.

  And that was enough.

  Lafayette suddenly pulled her off her feet and threw her on the bed.

  His strength unsettled her. She hadn’t seen it coming.

  He jumped off the floor and landed on top of her, pulling her head back, kissing the side of her face.

  Although it was pleasant in a way, Theresa decided it had to stop. It was too soon for them. If she was perhaps capable of falling for him, it would have to happen over time. She would have to be sure.

  Gently, but firmly, she put her hands on Lafayette’s arms and pried him away. She slunk over to the other side of the bed and then got up.

  Moved round to face him.

  “Don’t say anything,” she said, seeing he looked hurt. “Maybe there’s something here. Maybe there can be – but I can’t just go around fucking people I just met. You understand that, right?”

  He glared at her, obviously annoyed.

  “What will it take?” he asked.

  “For me to sleep with you?”

  “For your devotion.”

  “I don’t know,” Theresa shrugged. “You’re not devoted to me are you? I have like zero experience with this stuff, but surely this isn’t the first time you’ve been knocked back. You must know that there’s a right time and a wrong time. This is just the wrong time. Don’t take it personally.”

  “Fine, I won’t.” He straightened himself up.

  Theresa moved in front of him. “Which of them is the traitor?”

  Lafayette shook his head. “If I tell you, what are you going to do about it? Will you follow my instruction? Or will you just go and report to Lord Fane?”

  “Why is it important? We all want the same thing.”

  “Lord Fane is not to be trusted,” Lafayette said. “He might be involved in this uprising. I’m not sure yet, it just seems –”

  “Well, what do you think I should do then?”

  “I think you should listen to me. What I have to say. There’s no other way.”

  “Okay. So what do I do?”

  “Well, you have a few choices don’t you. Anyway. Since you asked, the traitor is Harland. He has been working this thing for a while. Trying to convince the rest of us. The rumors get out and of course everyone thinks it’s Moldark’s idea, but Moldark is actually opposed. Like I am. However he’s got Seraphine and Cyprian on board I think. I’m not a hundred percent.”