by Carver Pike
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 – Simple Simon
Chapter 2 – Kevin
Chapter 3 – Simple Simon
Chapter 4 – Kevin
Chapter 5 – Simple Simon
Chapter 6 – Kevin
Chapter 7 – Simple Simon
Chapter 8 – Kevin
Chapter 9 – Simple Simon
Chapter 10 – Kevin
Chapter 11 – Simple Simon
Chapter 12 – Kevin
Chapter 13 – Simple Simon
Chapter 14 – Kevin
Chapter 15 – Simple Simon
Chapter 16 – Kevin
Chapter 17 – Simple Simon
Chapter 18 – Kevin
Chapter 19 – Simple Simon
Chapter 20 – Kevin
Chapter 21 – Simple Simon
Chapter 22 - Kevin
Chapter 23 – Simple Simon
Chapter 24 – Kevin
Quills and Daggers 2
We All Fall Down
A Collective Novel
By: Carver Pike
Quills and Daggers 2, We All Fall Down: A Collective Novella
1st Edition
Copyright © 2017 by Carver Pike
Published by Erotic Mayberry Publishing
Written by Carver Pike
Cover created by Riley Edwards
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
http://www.eroticmayberry.com
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The Collective is here…
We’ve set the stage, created the characters, and fashioned a world full of twists and turns. Now it’s your turn to sit back and immerse yourself in this incredible series. Each episode weaves the characters and storylines of five standalone novels together to give you an epic crossover series. We’ve left you breadcrumbs, tidbits of information intertwined throughout our stories. Can you find them? Can you collect the clues we’ve left and become part of The Collective and solve the case?
Featured authors in order of appearance-
International bestselling author -Riley Edwards http://www.rileyedwardsromance.com
International bestselling author - Erin Trejo – http://www.authorerintrejo.weebly.com/
Best Selling author - Ellie Masters – http://www.elliemasters.com
Award winning author - Elias Raven – http://www.eliasraven.com
Award winning author - Chris Genovese – http://www.eroticmayberry.com
Best Selling author - Carver Pike – www.carverpike.com
Season One, all available now:
Riley Edwards - Unbroken (part one) http://amzn.to/2m4q79L
Erin Trejo - Iron Claw MC (part one) http://amzn.to/2mnB3C2
Ellie Masters - Learning to Breathe http://amzn.to/2mnxbRy
Elias Raven - Shadow & Flame http://amzn.to/2nfHeVr
Chris Genovese - Quills and Daggers http://amzn.to/2m4mEIa
Riley Edwards Unbroken (part two) https://books2read.com/u/mgKQzD
Erin Trejo – Iron Claw (part two) - https://books2read.com/u/bQZrJD
Ellie Masters - Becoming His (Learning to Breathe part two)- https://books2read.com/u/bOrBJA
Elias Raven -Shadow & Flame (part two) https://books2read.com/u/bMrGj7
Carver Pike – We All Fall Down ( Quills and Daggers part two)
Connect with The Collective at:
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Table of Contents
Dedication/Acknowledgements
Chapter 1 – Simple Simon
Chapter 2 – Kevin
Chapter 3 – Simple Simon
Chapter 4 – Kevin
Chapter 5 – Simple Simon
Chapter 6 – Kevin
Chapter 7 – Simple Simon
Chapter 8 – Kevin
Chapter 9 – Simple Simon
Chapter 10 – Kevin
Chapter 11 – Simple Simon
Chapter 12 – Kevin
Chapter 13 – Simple Simon
Chapter 14 – Kevin
Chapter 15 – Simple Simon
Chapter 16 – Kevin
Chapter 17 – Simple Simon
Chapter 18 – Kevin
Chapter 19 – Simple Simon
Chapter 20 – Kevin
Chapter 21 – Simple Simon
Chapter 22 – Kevin
Chapter 23 – Simple Simon
Chapter 24 – Kevin
Dedication/Acknowledgements
I’m going to keep this one short. This book is dedicated to my wife, my kids, and all the fans who’ve stood by me from the beginning. I’m slowly growing the Carver Pike name (and my other pen name, Chris Genovese). It’s a work in progress and it’s work I love to do, especially when I know I have such amazing people reading my words. Thanks for giving me a chance to entertain you.
I’d like to say thank you to everyone who selflessly shares my work and my name on social media and other networks. It means a lot to me that people take time out of their day and time away from their family and friends to help people find my work.
Thanks to Riley Edwards, Erin Trejo, Ellie Masters, and Elias Raven for allowing me to join you on this ride through season one of the Collective. You guys rock! As always, thank you to my amazing PA, Kendall, for everything you do, every single day! And thank you to the beta readers who put their own lives on hold to stress out along with the rest of us as we played beat the clock in order to get this second round of books done on time. Thank you.
Love you all.
Carver Pike
*This is a fictional story with graphic sex. Of course I know the importance of using protection. If it is not mentioned in the story it is only to prevent the slowing down of the story or interruption to the fantasy element. Have fun and be safe!*
Chapter 1 – Simple Simon
All careers have ups and downs. All relationships have trials and errors. It’s the same with killers and their victims. Mistakes will be made. The craft will be perfected. This is the story of a killer. You’re entering the mind of a madman, one who has had to learn to adapt to his surroundings, who has had to grow with each kill, and who has had to build upon a foundation created with lies and deceit and pain.
Writing this down will make the story so much easier to tell. Without my speech impediment getting in the way, I can explain things clearly, and make sure my story comes across the way it should, without any misconceptions or sympathy from you. I’m a monster. I won’t deny that. It started with the voices.
The voices always bothered me. Strange whispers from what doctors called imaginary friends. Friends is a strong word though, one that might make more sense if reserved for those who hand out pleasantries and kind words. It should be kept for those people who play nice and wish well for others.
No, these aren’t my friends. They weren’t then and they aren’t now. They were tormentors of the worst kind. They still are. The only thing that seems to satiate their lust for pain and suffering is the deliverance of blood. They want so much blood. Especially Samuel.
It’s hard for me to remember a time when I slept peacefully, without the constant taunts and curses of demons. I know
now that’s what they are. They’re demons and they surround me at night. They’ve chosen me as a vessel of destruction, a link to the living world, where sacrifices fall easily beneath my blade.
It all started the way you’d expect, not much different from what you see in scary movies. It started with a game, a stupid one really that was meant to be a childish scare tactic. I only wanted to freak out the kids at Mrs. Rebecca’s house. I introduced them to the Midnight Man, a game one of the neighbor boys told me about. Of course, I didn’t write down the details so I remembered what I could and brought that hodgepodge of ideas home with me. Perhaps if we’d played the game correctly, it would have been nothing more than a chillingly good time. Or maybe that wouldn’t have made a difference at all.
A certain amount of respect should be paid to the dead. I know that now. I didn’t back then. So, with us all seated in a circle, I showed Nikki my handwritten notes. James was probably the best reader in the bunch but Nikki’s voice was so much more soothing. It could make even the darkest days less gloomy.
“Midnight Man,” she read aloud. “All players sit in a circle on the floor. The leader of the group writes his name on a piece of paper. Then pricks their finger and drips one drop of blood on top of their name. Put the paper at the center of the circle next to a candle. Light the candle. Then, just before midnight, knock twenty-two times on the front door of the house, making sure the twenty second knock comes right at midnight. Then open the front door and wait.”
Nikki looked at me and threw the note into my lap.
“I’m not doing that,” she said.
James snatched up the paper and took over where she’d left off.
“You’ll know the Midnight Man has entered the house when the flame on the candle dances.”
James stopped reading and looked at the rest of us.
“Or you’ll know a breeze blew in through the open fucking door,” he joked.
I shot him a warning glance that told him his sarcasm wasn’t appreciated. He knew me well enough to cut it out. This was a serious matter. I would have read the rules myself if I didn’t hate speaking for long periods of time in front of groups of people. There were six of us there that night, all young teenagers spending quality time at Mrs. Rebecca’s house. This was Halloween and as much as I loved candy, I couldn’t let the night pass with nothing but a bag of treats in front of me. No, the night called for something truly terrifying.
“Alright,” James said as he continued to read. “The Midnight Man was used in Pagan rituals and isn’t to be taken lightly. Read the following rules and abide by them. You are to avoid the Midnight Man by moving the candle around the house. Again, you’ll know he is near if the flame on the candle moves or if you hear him whisper in your ears. Don’t let the candle blow out. If you do, you have only ten seconds to re-light it. Don’t be surprised if he grabs you during that time. Do your best to ignore him and light the candle. If you can’t light it in time, quickly pour salt onto the floor in a circle around your group. Stay in that circle until 3:33am and the game will be over. Don’t ever turn on the lights before the game ends.”
“Why would we ever play this?” Nikki asked.
“Why not?” I asked, always using the least amount of words possible so nobody would make fun of the way I talked.
“I don’t even do Bloody Mary,” Nikki said. “Or the Ouija board. So why would I invite some dark stranger into the house that I need to avoid for three and a half hours?”
“It’ll be fun,” James said, and I loved him for it.
He always stuck up for me.
“So we avoid this dude till 3:33am or stay inside a circle of salt until then I guess?” he asked.
A few of the others in the room protested but not strongly. So I lied to everyone and told them if you’re able to make it until the game is over, you’ll have the luckiest year imaginable. These were all desperate children staying in a foster home. Luck wasn’t something any of them had ever experienced. I think it was that lie that made me what I am today. At the time it didn’t seem like a big deal. It got them to play along.
Maybe my demons were born out of the crushed hopes and dreams of desperate teenagers.
We were alone since Mrs. Rebecca was in her bedroom with one of the boys. She always took somebody into bed with her for the night and I hated it. What I hated or loved was of no importance to her. I found it best to ignore the things I couldn’t change. So we had the living room to ourselves.
In the end, after all discussion finally ceased, and the twelve o’clock hour grew near, I set everything up on the floor. I lit the candle, wrote my own name on a piece of paper, and used a safety pin to open the skin on my palm. Everyone in the room was quiet as I pushed down on my palm with a thumb and forced enough blood to seep out. Then I dripped it over my name and placed the paper on a plate alongside the candle.
With a lighter I’d borrowed from the same neighbor who’d told me about the game, I flicked it, brought up a small flame, and lit the candle.
“Get on with it,” James joked. “Enough of the drama.”
The candle wick caught and the flame danced in front of my face where I grinned what I hoped looked like an eerie smile. I wanted them all to be afraid. It was important to the game. I set the candle back down on the floor at the center of the kids and walked over to the living room door.
“Let me know when it’s thirty seconds to twelve,” I told James.
He nodded and stared down at his watch. Finally, he looked up at me and nodded.
“Go,” he said.
He counted down and I knocked along to his count once he got to twenty.
“20…19…18…17…” he counted.
I knocked and knocked and knocked.
“8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1…”
My knuckles rapped on the door one final time at exactly midnight. I turned the knob, pulled, and as it swung open, I dashed to the circle to be with the others. I was terrified. The thought that a dark man with evil coursing through his veins might come stepping through the door scared the shit out of me, more than I thought it would when I’d suggested the game.
“Nothing’s happening,” Nikki said.
As her words escaped her mouth, the candle flame shot up into the air.
“The wind,” James said.
“I don’t feel any wind,” Nikki argued.
I shook my head letting her know I didn’t either. The flame nearly blew out with no draft to hold responsible. James tried to shield it with his hands but it blew out anyway.
The room went dark.
The front door slammed shut.
Nikki screamed.
So did the others.
“Shh,” I said.
The tap of shoes on the hardwood entryway floor sent ice water through my bones. I couldn’t move. I could only listen.
“Who’s here?” James asked aloud.
He was far braver than the rest of us. But there was no answer.
“Light the candle,” Nikki said. “We only had ten seconds.”
“The salt,” James said and it sounded like he was already pouring it in a circle around our huddled up group on the floor.
I’d already reached eight seconds in my head and still Nikki wasn’t able to light the candle. Hands grabbed both of my shoulders. Large, heavy hands with a strong grip. I screamed, no longer ashamed of my fear. Something was holding onto me and it hurt, like nails digging into my shoulders.
“There,” James said. “Stay inside the salt.”
The hands let go. Fifteen seconds had gone by before Nikki was able to light the candle. James laughed.
“There’s nothing here,” he said. “Man, we’re just a bunch of pussies.”
I shook my head. We weren’t pussies. Something was in the house. It had grabbed me. For a moment I wondered if it had been James, but I knew it wasn’t. He could be an asshole sometimes but he’d never do anything that mean, not without claiming responsibility for his joke right away. No, som
ething was definitely in the house.
The younger kids whined and whimpered and begged for the game to be over. For a whole minute, at least, no one said a word. I only heard my own heavy breathing.
“Stay inside the circle until 3:33,” Nikki broke the silence as she reminded everyone.
“But there’s nothing here,” James said. “Come on.”
“You heard the footsteps,” Nikki said.
“It could’ve been anything,” he argued.
“Don’t be an asshole,” she said.
James clearly didn’t believe we were in any real danger, but he stayed inside the circle. Either he was playing it safe or he didn’t want Nikki to be pissed at him. He’d been infatuated with her since the first day she stepped foot in our house. We all had been. I think even Mrs. Rebecca might have had a mini-crush on her. She was that captivating.
None of us was eager to find out whether or not the game was real. Imagining that it was seemed to be the safest bet. So we sat. We sat inside the circle and waited. It was sometime after two that one of the other kids in the house, a boy named Julian, fell asleep. I hadn’t noticed that he was that drowsy until suddenly his head pitched backward and he fell against me. I grabbed his shirt and fought to stay inside the circle, but I’d already fallen back too far, and soon my head and upper body lay on the floor beyond the trail of salt.
“Get in the circle!” Nikki yelled.
“Come on,” James said, holding out his hand to me.
I’d risen up to my elbows and was nearly satisfied that there wasn’t any real danger when two hands grabbed my shirt, right at the shoulders, and yanked me the rest of the way out of the circle and into the darkness of the kitchen. I yelled for help. I screamed. Nails dug into my flesh, pressing against bone but never breaking through my shirt or my skin.
“Stop fucking around!” James yelled.
“This isn’t funny!” Nikki said. “Get back in the circle.”
The others yelled. James shouted. Nikki screamed. Yet, nobody came for me. No one. Mrs. Rebecca should have heard me, but she must have been too busy in the bedroom because she never came out to help me.
