Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Credits & Copyright
Alpha Reader/Editor:
Danielle Romo
Beta Reader/Editors:
Benjamin Phillips
Witch Slap
Vamp Tales Book Four
Copyright © 2017 Melony Paradise
www.melonyparadise.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author.
Be sure to check out my other series,
Discordant Earth
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Table of Contents
Credits & Copyright
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
The Discordant Earth Series
Other Books by Melony Paradise
Connect with the Author
Chapter One
Rain pattered against the loose shingles of the cabin roof. Big fat drops fell from the leaves of the surrounding trees with a plunk. Slow trickles splashed into bowls, buckets, and bins scattered about the top floor of the cabin.
I huddled under an afghan, scowling at my grumpy sire, Kat Price. She sat in an armchair by the window, staring out at the smaller cabins below. Beside me on the ratty loveseat, my new friend, Tabitha “Tabi” Prewett, played a noisy game on her phone.
“You don’t need a blanket, Mercy,” Kat barked at me. “Vampires don’t feel cold. You look like a damn child.”
“I don’t care,” I grumbled. “I’m comfortable, and I’m not bothering anyone.”
Kat glared at me, her fingers tapping against the chair’s arm. The sound of her nails hitting the soft fabric seemed amplified to my agitated mind, hearing that over the pinging raindrops as if Kat’s nails tapped against my eardrums.
Letting out a throaty growl, I threw off the blanket and shot to my feet.
“Mercy?” Tabi peered at me with a mixture of concern and amusement in her aquamarine eyes.
“I’ve had it!” Before anyone could stop me, I ran to the stairs with all my vampire speed. Kat’s sighing and parting comment faded as I descended the stairwell.
“Let her go. She can’t make it any worse…”
The stairwell split the enormous cabin in half, reversing direction at the second-floor landing. One side of the cabin held the bedrooms, bathrooms, and private sitting rooms for each floor while the other side had the common room with vaulted ceilings. On the opposite end was a kitchen and utility room.
The witches had taken over the bottom floor, turning the common room into a ritual space where they maintained the wards and shielding that kept us off the hunter’s radar. Thirteen witches stood in a circle holding hands and muttering in a strange language. In the center of their circle, a tall staff hovered a few inches off the floor, topped with a sun ornament with wavy rays. On the other side of them, a mixture of vampires, werewolves, and witches had crowded into a makeshift meeting area made up of sofas and chairs crammed together around a coffee table.
As I landed on the bottom stair, I heard raised voices filtering around the witch’s circle. Benjamin had explained to me, one night when I snuck down the stairs to peek, that the circle created a soundproof barrier around the witches, kind of like a glass column that reached up to the top of the dome shielding the campgrounds. The witches needed the barrier to keep out any sound or emotional interference so they could concentrate all their witchy energy on the magic.
“It has been over a week, Cassandra.” Edgar stood just outside the perimeter of seating with his hands clasped behind his back. He appeared calm, but his anger and impatience flowed faintly along the connection we shared with Kat created by our blood bond. “We’ve brought many Kin to these campgrounds. You cannot say we don’t have enough for a vote.”
“I can, and we don’t.” Cassandra, the head witch bitch, glared at Edgar, her red hair floating around her head like Medusa’s snakes. “The camp is only half full. That is not enough Kin to decide for the entire northwestern region.”
Edgar waved his hand at the people seated before him. “We have enough representatives here. I believe the council will honor any decision we make.”
I moved to huddle in the dim light between the back of a sofa and the front door. A couple of heads turned to get a look at me, but Edgar ignored my presence. At least he isn’t sending me away…
Chima guarded the door near me and Isabel was stationed at the back door. I noticed Elena watching me from the bottom of the stairs. Nick winked as he sauntered toward me, but a gesture from Chima sent him veering away to stand guard in the open door to the kitchen.
No matter how fast I ran, there was no escaping my guards. With all the people already down here, plus the witch’s guards, my own guards didn’t even have to chase me since they knew I wouldn’t make it far. Not that I really want to get away from sexy Nick or Elena.
My heart skipped a beat, and I blinked hard. Is the blood bond finally letting me feel something for someone besides Kat? My emotions had gone haywire when Kat turned me into a vampire, hijacking them. I had bits and pieces of what seemed like attraction to Nick, and maybe with Elena too, but I couldn’t be sure since Kat dominated my brain most of the time.
I wanted to feel something for Nick. He said there was a connection between us, something to do with his werewolf self sensing me as a possible mate, but I couldn’t be sure of anything and didn’t want to make him any promises.
“The council is made up of mostly vampires.” Cassandra’s sharp tone pulled me from my inner musings. “The Otherkin need more representation. We deserve a chance to elect one of our own as queen.”
“And, I assume, you believe yourself to be a viable candidate?” Edgar’s energy snapped with unseen sparks.
“Well, why not?” She peered around at the faces staring at her, hazel eyes burning with fiery confidence. “Why should the queen always be a vampire?”
“It is tradition!” David Lyons, head of the Lyons clan, barked at Cassandra, his energy hitting her and blowing her hair back. “Vampires have the benefit of wisdom, knowledge, and experience from our long lives. We can rule with level-headedness, diplomacy, and impartiality. Otherkin are ruled by their emotions—”
“That’s bullshit.” Cassandra looked at Bull where he stood like a bouncer at a bar. Not unusual since he had run a bar for Kin until the hunters ran us all out of Seattle. “Otherkin are capable of ruling. Bull does quite well with his pack. He’s provided support to Nightkin for many years, and even though he doesn’t want the position, he would make a great king. So would your Chima. He’s wise, level-headed, and
experienced at leading.”
Chima cleared his throat. “My role as pack leader and head of the Martis guard is all the responsibility I want. I struggle to maintain control of my duality, just as any were-creature does. The animal spirit inside me constantly fights for dominance, and I would not rule the supernatural community with this constant internal struggle, nor would I wish to be ruled by anyone who cannot set aside their own desires for the good of our people. The Kin needs a firm, steady hand to maintain order.”
Cassandra’s eyes narrowed and her lips pinched as her hands gripped the arms of her chair, her body vibrating. “We won’t just let the vampires rule us forever. Otherkin deserves a say in what happens to us.”
“We have the council for that.” Edgar gave her a haughty look. “They, along with the queen, make the decisions for all Kin while the queen ensures the council’s decisions are made without bias.”
Edgar and Cassandra glared at each other for several seconds. The tension in the room built to a choking smolder. The shifters and the witches glared at the vampires who stared back with stony faces.
My chest ached as I held my breath. The tension snapped like a wire pulled too tight. I gasped, choking on the cloud of angry energy emanating from the group. Cassandra jumped to her stiletto-heeled feet, her sequined blouse glinting in the candlelight. The rest of the seated crowd followed suit and the swarm of voices arguing pierced my sensitive ears.
On Chima’s cue, the guards waded into the argument, arms up, preventing the jabbing of angry fingers from making contact with their targets. I scanned the mob, then the rest of the room. Everyone, besides the witches in the circle, was caught up in the argument, including Nick and Elena.
With all the noise, no one heard me slip out the front door.
Chapter Two
As fast as possible, I jumped into the shadows, tiptoeing down the stairs. At the corner of the cabin, I watched a guard pacing along the outer wall. When he disappeared around the opposite corner, I ran fast and silent, dodging exterior lights and patrolling guards. Thankfully, none of the guards caught my scent as I beelined for the trees past the driveway.
Putting a good bit of distance between me and the nearest night patrol, I slowed to a human walking pace. Faint light filtered through the trees behind me from camp, fading as I walked farther away. I glanced around, hoping the wolves weren’t patrolling the woods, and pulled my burner phone from my back pocket.
With my hand cupped around the screen, I opened the contacts list. Everyone in our clan and guard had been listed by code: V for vampire, W for werewolf, and C for cat. Lame but effective, I guess. Nobody asked me for input, so I kept my mouth shut and accepted my code as V-5, the lowest on the vamp totem pole. Sigh.
Swiping through the list, I shook my head and rolled my eyes. Duh! She isn’t in the list, dumbass. Your brain is mush from all the boring sitting around and staring at all the young, beautiful faces of supernatural beings, some of them hundreds of years old. After a while, those perfect faces start to look the same, sometimes even a little ugly when the personality behind it is bitchy…
There was a time, early in my previous marriage, that I had so many numbers memorized. Phone numbers, social security numbers, bank numbers. But now, with cell phones to remember everything for us, there’s no need to remember all those numbers. One advantage of being an anti-social introvert—only having one friend to call.
Dredging my brain for the number that my old phone would display when I hit the speed dial, I bit my lower lip, straining for the memory. I pulled up the dial screen and tapped the numbers as I recalled them, praying I got it right. This might be my only chance. Don’t fuck it up, Mercedes Reyes!
The sound of my name ringing through my head sounded so much like my mother, I had to stop for a second to stave off a welling of emotion. Shaking my head, I touched the last two numbers and pressed ‘send.’
“Come on,” I muttered as I paced around a tree. “Please be the right number. Please pick up.”
“Hello?” A woman’s meek voice said. She sounds so tired.
“Mandy, it’s me.”
“Mercy?”
Mandy’s tone perked up a bit.
“Yeah, listen. I don’t have a lot of time to—”
“Mercy Reyes, where the hell have you been?” The ire in her tone made me grin, but the coughing that followed pinched my heart. My chest ached to hear her continue with a hoarse voice. “I’ve called you a hundred times! Why are you avoiding me?”
“Mandy, stop for a second! I haven’t been avoiding you.” I tucked my hand under my elbow and turned my face up to the small patch of night sky peeking through the forest canopy. “Something’s happened…”
“Are you in trouble? How can you get in trouble if you never leave your house?” Mandy’s matter-of-fact tone made me chuckle under my breath. This girl never pulls her punches.
“I’m, uh, well… I don’t know how to explain it. Something happened that changed my entire life. It’s bad and good, I think.” My lips pinched between my teeth as I searched for the words to put her at ease.
“Why don’t you come over and tell me about it?”
A lump formed in my throat and a tear rolled down my cheek as I wished with all my soul that I could just hop in my car and go to my best friend’s house. We would sit around her dinner table and talk for hours, me with a glass of soda and her with an ever-present glass of ice water. She always said the cold water helped calm her coughing fits.
“I really wish I could, Mandy, but it’s not possible right now.”
“Why the hell not?”
A picture of Mandy popped into my head of her standing with her arms crossed over a flowery sundress that hung off her emaciated body. Disease prevented her from putting any weight on her petite form, but she never let it hold her back. I often felt a little jealous of Mandy’s zest for life, especially when anxiety hung like a black cloud around me. Maybe I can learn to enjoy my life now that I know all my old fears can’t kill me. That is, if the hunters don’t end my new immortality.
“I can’t explain, and I doubt you would believe me without seeing for yourself. As soon as I can, I will come see you, but it might be a while. I just wanted to check in and let you know I’m okay.”
“Mercy, you’re scaring me. What’ve you gotten yourself into? Did you hook up with some creep online from one of your vampire lover dating sites or something?”
I bit back a laugh. “No, it’s not like that, exactly…”
“Just tell me what’s going—”
A twig snapped nearby.
I yanked the phone from my ear and stuffed it under my arm to hide the light. My eyes narrowed, searching for movement. Not finding any, I slowly put the phone back up to my ear.
“Mandy, I have to go now.” My head swiveled as I started walking farther down the mountain.
“Wait! Does this have anything to do with those militant guys?”
My body went stiff. “Huh? What?”
“Some men came here the other day,” she whispered. “They were asking me all sorts of questions about you. They wanted to know if you or anyone else had been by here at night. Why were they asking something like that? Did you join a vampire cult?”
“No! No, nothing like that.” Not really. “If those men come back, Mandy, don’t let them in. They’re dangerous. Just tell them you’re contagious or something. You look and sound sick enough that they’ll believe it.”
“Okay, I guess.”
“And, just take care of yourself, please. Call your mom to come stay with you until I can get back.”
“I’m not calling her. I’ll be fine. Stan stays with me most nights after he closes the bar.”
A low growl escaped my throat before I could stop it. “I don’t trust him, Mandy. He’s—”
The crackle of crunching leaves echoed through the trees followed by rustling that seemed to be moving closer. “I have to go now. Take care, girl. I’ll come see you as soon as I can.”
“Wait, Mercy…”
I hit the off button and stuffed the phone back in my pocket, peering around the dark forest. The shadows seemed to undulate, but I couldn’t tell if something was moving or my eyes were playing tricks on me.
Squinting, I searched the black between the trees, wondering if Nick had sent guards after me. Determined to have a few more free moments, I spun around and pushed off to race along the mountainside. I made it fifty feet before smacking into the chest of a towering man in camouflage. My gaze followed the zipper of his jacket up to his jutting chin and toothy grin. His long nose led to snide, laughing brown eyes.
I opened my mouth to offer an apology before I raced away, but only a grunt made it past my lips. A freight train crashed into the side of my head. My eyes rolled back, and I dropped to my knees as the inky night flooded my mind. I was out before my body hit the ground.
Chapter Three
As my hazy mind struggled for consciousness, I felt as if I were crawling up a hole in the ground with roots or hands grasping onto my clothes, trying to pull me back down. My arm twitched involuntarily, twisting my wrist slightly. Scratchy rope dug into my skin and I knew something was wrong.
The air was still and smelled of mildew, but on top of that, I caught the scent of stale sweat and body odor. The side of my head throbbed. How can my head hurt this much? I’m a vampire, for fuck’s sake.
Light shined through my eyelids, but my body wasn’t ready to wake up yet. I stayed limp, taking stock of my senses and surroundings.
I’m tied to a chair with the world’s scratchiest rope. I’m inside somewhere. There’s a fan blowing in another room, maybe the bathroom. I can hear four heartbeats, and the smell of unwashed men is atrocious! There’s very little movement, so I’m probably the main attraction in this backwoods nightmare.
Witch Slap Page 1
