Serpent's Touch: A Reverse Harem Urban Fantasy (The Last Serpent Book 1)

by Tansey Morgan

  “I’ll stay with her today,” Liam said.

  “That’s not necessary.” I didn’t want a sitter all day.

  Liam looked at me. “I want to. If something else happens to you… I don’t want that. If I’m with you, I might be able to help. Or, at the very least, discourage whoever did this to you from trying it again.”

  “But… don’t you have lessons and stuff? I don’t want to get in the way of any of your learning. Besides, I have my own reading to do before I’m initiated, right? I have stuff to keep busy with.”

  “She wants her privacy, too, I imagine,” Vik said. “We should let her have it.”

  “Can you please not talk about me like I’m not here? It’s not about privacy, I just don’t want to get in the way.”

  “I understand,” Raphael said, “But you are our priority. We want to make sure you are safe.”

  I nodded. “Alright, I’ll… bring my stuff down here into the living room. I only need my laptop and some books.”

  “Fine,” Dante said, “I’m going to go find the Keeper. We’ll contact other centers, find out if this luring has ever happened to one of their students before.”

  “That’s the second time someone has said I was lured. Lured to where?” I asked.

  “To the forest,” Raphael said. “There’s a boundary within the forest, invisible, where the magic protecting the grounds begins to thin. Go further than that, and you are left completely unprotected. I think you broke whatever spell was on you before you reached that point, forcing someone to come in through the weak point in the shield and attack.”

  “How can you be sure of that?” Vik asked.

  “Because her mind is speaking to me.”

  “You’re reading my thoughts?” I asked.

  “No, but I know your mind is recovering from having expended a great amount of energy. That kind of thing only happens to someone resisting the effects… of a hex.”

  “A hex?” Vik asked, “You’re sure?”

  “Not entirely. I do not want to probe her mind too far. It is already fragile from last night. I would not have felt it had you not suggested it could have been mind control.”

  Dante nodded. “I think I’ve heard enough,” he said, “Let me find the Keeper and see if this is happening anywhere else.”

  He turned around and left as quickly and quietly as he had arrived.

  “We should get your things,” Liam said. “We’ll help you move them down and get you comfortable. How about a cup of English tea?”

  “Oh, I… I’ve never really had tea before.” Maybe that was a lie. I’d had tea before; green tea, herbal tea. Just never English tea.

  “Trust me to make one?”

  “Can’t be worse than some of the other things I’ve put in my body, can it?”

  A faint smile crossed his face. “It isn’t,” he said, and he headed for the kitchen. Vik and Raphael went upstairs, with my permission, and grabbed my backpack of my things, as well as my cat. I thought maybe, as I noticed the wait getting a little long, Morticia had escaped. I had this image in my mind of Vik and Raphael running around this massive mansion looking for my cat, but they both came in eventually. Vik carried my backpack, and Raphael had Morticia in his arms… licking his fingers.

  “Okay,” I said, “Where’s my cat and what did you do with her?”

  Raphael smiled and set Morticia down on the sofa next to me. “Nothing,” he said, “I think we just got off on the wrong foot yesterday. Now she understands I am a friend.”

  “Which is code for., I used magic on her,” Vik put in.

  “I did no such thing, sir!” Raphael said, feigning offense. “Raphael-Angel Fernandino Vazquez does not use his psychic abilities to get cats to like him. That kind of practice is beneath his notice.”

  Vik gave Raphael a stern look, his eyebrows raised.

  “Fine. I talked to the cat using my powers, but it is all for the greater good.”

  I shrugged. “As long as she’s happy.”

  “She is,” Raphael said, “A little skittish, and she doesn’t have an appetite, but she can see things we can’t, so it is to be expected.”

  “You can find out what cats are thinking…” I said, trailing off.

  “I can.”

  “Do you have any idea how attractive you are to just about the entire population of cat-owning women out there?”

  “No… how about you tell me?”

  Vik set my backpack down beside me and shook me loose from whatever it was Raphael had just done to me with the lowering of his voice and those eyes he had thrown at me. “Come now, Don Juan,” Vik said, smiling, “Let’s give Lilith some room. Let us know if you need anything, okay?”

  I nodded, and they left. It wasn’t until they were gone that the stupid smile on my face finally disappeared. What was it about these guys? I had never been in a situation like this before, trapped—for lack of a better word—in a mansion with five other guys who were just always so nice to me, and wanted to make sure I was okay. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought they were buttering me up for some grand finale, some final feast where I was the main course.

  Now, there’s a thought.

  I opened my backpack and pulled out my laptop, but I didn’t turn it on. Instead, I set the laptop aside and decided to dive into one of the books Vik had picked out for me. It wasn’t exactly entitled “What Are Supernaturals” but it may as well have been, because that seemed to be the gist of it. There were entries for mages, vampires, werewolves… even demons, sprites, ghosts, and more.

  A few days ago, I would have thought the book was little more than new age bullshit. Today, I treated every word I read as gospel.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Liam

  The vampire is an interesting creature, for the vampire—of all supernatural types—is the only breed that does not inherit the gene from the mother; a vampire is created. The methods of creation vary from culture to culture, some require blood, others require the night, others require living, human sacrifice, others, still, claim a true vampire can only be created by striking a deal with the devil; although the truth concerning deals with the devil is uncertain. That the devil exists, alone, is a matter of debate, however evidence of some powerful, dark force can be experienced throughout all of human history, and can be seen tonight upon gazing into the hungry eyes of a vampire just as they are about to drain their victims of their life energy—their blood.

  “It’s an intense read,” Liam’s voice came so suddenly, and he was standing so close, I jumped and almost snapped the old book shut. “Apologies, I didn’t mean to scare ya. I brought your cup of tea.”

  “No, it’s my fault,” I said, setting the book down. “Thank you for the tea. I think I just scared myself reading some of this stuff.”

  Liam had also made himself a cup, so he set both mugs down on coasters placed on the coffee table, then joined me on the sofa. “Read anything good?”

  “Just about vampires. There’s a lot to read, but I saw the word vampire and got curious.”

  “Vampire is where my eyes went the first time I read this book, too. I wanted to know.”

  I took a breath. “I’ve met one.”

  “You have? When?”

  “The night before I came here. I was attacked by two of them, I think. They looked like vampires, anyway.”

  “Wow. Did they hurt you?”

  “No. I don’t think so. I was glad Dante was with me, otherwise… you know what, that’s twice someone’s had to save my ass from some maniac. I’m getting kinda bored of it already.”

  Liam laughed. “Don’t worry about it. You’re still human. When you come into your powers, you’ll be able to protect yourself.”

  “I hope that happens soon.”

  “I wish I could tell you when it’s going to happen, but none of us have a way of knowing. It just… happens.”

  I reached for my mug of tea, held it between my hands, and took a sip. Having never tasted tea before,
not the English kind anyway, I didn’t know what to expect. It was a little plain, maybe. Still, it was sweet of Liam to have made it for me. I watched him take a sip, and I studied his face, watching the way his blond fringe fell over his eyes and finding myself almost mesmerized.

  He set the cup down, and I returned to my own mind. “So, I don’t know a lot about you,” I said, finding words so I wouldn’t look like a stalker that had been staring at him.

  “What is there to tell?”

  “Parents? That’s where people usually start, right?”

  He nodded. “I don’t have any.”

  “Oh… I’m sorry.”

  “No, it’s alright. They died when I was young. My mother was a necromancer. I didn’t know it until I became one, and I spoke to her spirit.”

  “No way.”

  Liam nodded and put his cup down. “Way. She had been with me the whole time, waiting for me to come into my heritage so she could speak to me.”

  I took a moment to process that, letting my head hang a little. “How long ago did she die?”

  “I was four. I only remember flashes of what she looked like in the flesh from when I was a child. I remember my fourth birthday, my granddad had bought me a big red car—the kind you could sit in and pedal with your feet. It was a race car. My ma was there. I remember her standing by the cake, lighting candles. It’s only a flash of memory, but it was all I needed to connect with her the first time.”

  “Wow… that’s incredible.”

  Liam smiled. “She’s gone now. She did what she had to do, taught me some very important lessons, made sure I was okay.”

  “I can’t even imagine what that’s like.”

  “It’s… calming. You know? I’m angry that she isn’t here. Angry that my da was taken at the same time, but I’m here, so I’m grateful.”

  “I’m so sorry,” I said, for the second time.

  “What about you? Parents?”

  I shook my head. “No,” I said, “I mean, yes, but I never knew my dad and my mom was a boozer and an addict who left me alone when I was fifteen. I survived by sleeping on people’s sofas until I was able to start paying my own rent.”

  “That’s awful… I can’t imagine what that’s like.”

  “It was tough, but you learn a lot of life lessons by growing up like that. You don’t take things for granted, not even the bed you sleep on. You grow a thick skin. Your senses sharpen.”

  “You also put more walls up.”

  “Maybe, but when you don’t have a home of your own, you’ll take whatever walls you can get.”

  “I think you’ll find what happened to us isn’t a coincidence,” Liam said.

  “What… do you mean?”

  “Vik, Raphael… they lost their parents when they were young too, taken at the same time in some form of accident.”

  “I don’t… I don’t get it.”

  “Dante hasn’t told you?”

  “Told me what?”

  He took a breath. “We are hunted,” he said, “All of us.”

  “By who?” I asked, “Dante tried to explain a few things, but we haven’t talked about it since the night he picked me up.”

  “It’s simple, but also complicated,” Liam said. “Every supernatural has the power to absorb the energy of another supernatural in some way. We don’t need to do it, none of us do, but if we did, we would become more powerful in our own abilities. I would become a better Necromancer, Vik would become a better mage… there are some people who have made it their mission to find as many supernaturals as they can and consume their energy, stealing it for themselves and becoming the powerful, dominant force on the planet.”

  “That’s… really fucked up.”

  Liam nodded. “Everyone can do it, but everyone suspects vampires because, of all of us, they’re the only ones created and not born, and creating a vampire requires a great deal of supernatural power. That makes them outsiders, outcasts, and perfect candidates.”

  “Do people hate vampires?”

  “They do. Not everyone, but most do. Vampires already need to drink the blood of humans to survive. Who wants to be friends with someone like that? I mean, I would, but you get the idea.”

  “I think I do.”

  “I don’t mean to overwhelm you, I’m just filling you in. I think what attacked you last night was a vampire, and it probably wasn’t acting alone. I’m just trying to figure out how they were able to lure you out of the mansion like that.”

  “Do you think they’ll try again?”

  “I wish I could tell you. Honestly, I don’t know. Maybe now that the first attempt was botched, they won’t.”

  I went to grab the mug of tea with my right arm and winced at the pain of trying to move it. It had been instinct to use it, so I picked it up instead with my left hand. This, I thought, looking at my bandaged arm, this is gonna be a problem if it comes for me again. I already wasn’t prepared for that. What powers did I have to defend myself against an attack? None, and now, only one good working arm.

  A thought struck me, then, and I asked while Liam took a sip of his tea.

  “I’m human right now, right?” I asked.

  Liam put his tea back down. “Yes and no. No, you’re not totally human. Yes, you’re a little human.”

  “That doesn’t make sense.”

  “Well, you’re human in every way that counts. No powers, no abilities. But you’re also part supernatural already, bursting with energy.”

  “So, how do they find me?”

  “They can smell you, and now is the right time to attack. Once you change, your energy changes; it hones in on your ancestral origin and becomes more difficult to take because it’ll be harder to take you down.”

  “Really?”

  “That’s what we believe. It’s what all of our stores of knowledge say.”

  “So, you’re saying, right now I’m… ripe?”

  “Like a peach, yeah.”

  “That’s not a comforting thought.”

  He stared at me from behind eyes as crisp and blue as a clear winter’s day. “Don’t worry about it, okay?” he said, “We’re here. We’ll protect you.”

  I let out a long, drawn out sigh. “Is it wrong that all I want to do is skip ahead and just figure out what I am? All of this needing protecting stuff is gonna get annoying real fast.”

  Liam’s lips pressed into a smile, and his eyes lit up. “Don’t worry about it. We know what we’ve signed up for.”

  “I was just thinking about what Dante said, about our security here. If someone’s trying to draw me out and… eat me… we should do something to try and catch them in the act, right? Like, use me as bait or something?”

  Liam shook his head. “No way. You’re too precious to us for that. Don’t think like that, alright?”

  Precious. The word sent warm tingles racing through me. No one had ever called me that before. I took another breath. “Okay.”

  “I know you’re worried, but you’re here now, and your initiation will happen soon. You just need to be patient and let us handle the hunters.”

  “I’ll try.”

  He stood and picked up his mostly empty cup of tea. “How was it?” he asked, nodding at mine. I’d only had a sip or two, so I picked it up and drank. “Still warm,” I said, “And it’s growing on me.”

  “I’ve got to get started with my work,” he said, getting up from the sofa. “Give me a ring if you want another one.”

  “Thanks, I will.”

  Liam headed out of the living room and went back into the kitchen, presumably to clean his mug and then do whatever necromancers did. Summon ghosts? Possibly. I picked the book up again and let myself relax into the sofa, flicking open the entry on vampires again. I kept reading for a while, trying to understand their history and origins. In the history of this school, a vampire had never been admitted. Not because none showed up, but because they weren’t allowed. I didn’t find this too strange, considering what Liam had just told me.
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  Alright, fine, so I’d only ever met two vampires before, maybe three, and they’d all tried to eat me. I flipped around the book, checking the entries on necromancers, on mages, and it occurred to me I had no idea what Aiden was. He hadn’t told me, and I couldn’t tell by what I had seen last night. Number one, I hadn’t seen much—everything had happened incredibly fast. Number two, I didn’t think I would have been able to recognize what he was even if I had seen something; unless he turned into a werewolf or something, and that hadn’t been the impression I got.

  Morticia suddenly perked up, stretched, looked at me with her back still arched, and did something I hadn’t seen her do before; she hissed.

  “Tish?” I asked, tentatively reaching for her.

  She hissed again, growled, and backed away from me.

  My heart started to race, my chest tightened, and the skin beneath my already injured arm began to throb and pulse with pain. Darkness fell across my eyes like a mantle, and I felt as though I had started to float, airy. The cold wind’s icy fingers were in my hair, tugging it this way and that, and someone was… calling for me; only, the voice was distant.

  When I opened my eyes, I didn’t see the quiet, warm living room I had been sitting in. There was no coffee table, no book, no cup of cooling tea, and no Morticia. There was only the sun in the sky—that crisp, bright winter sun—the glittering mountains in the distance, and the treetops of the forest at my feet. Instinct took over, and I looked down. I was hovering… off the mansion’s roof.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Falling

  Holy shit, holy shit! My mind was racing, heart rapidly pulsing along with it. The mansion’s green grounds were beneath me, four floors down to be exact. One of my feet, I could tell, was only barely touching one of the mansion’s gables, while the other was completely clear of it. I had no idea how I wasn’t falling, but my stomach squeezed and tightened, squeezed and tightened, expecting the inevitable plummet to happen at any moment. Everything was happening slowly, voices exploded around me like fireworks, but I couldn’t understand what they were saying except for when they called my name.