Playing With Monsters

by Amelia Hutchins

  Okay, so it was a little embarrassing to be taking orders when I should have been included with the ones who were drinking. I knew it was supposed to be, so I let the emotions flow through me and pushed them down as I smiled.

  “What can I get for you guys?” I asked.

  They looked uncomfortable but eventually they ordered.

  “Hey,” Kat said as I turned to head to the bar to fill the orders. “Can I talk to you, maybe later tonight?”

  “For?” I asked, wanting to know why she wanted to talk since she hadn’t returned any of my calls.

  “Look, I know we’ve been dodging you since you got back, and we want to make it up to you,” she said softly as she frowned, as if she thought I’d tell her where to stick it.

  Maybe I should have, but it wasn’t me. I wasn’t that kind of person and I hadn’t taken it personally, but I did deserve an explanation. I told her as much and headed back to the bar to get the drinks, feeling a little light on my feet as I did so. It almost felt normal to be back serving cocktails.

  Lucian was at the bar, his back to it, with a hooded look as he watched me make my way to him. He leveled those midnight eyes on me and my lady parts took notice, even though I urged them to behave. This guy wasn’t for me, never would be.

  Grandpa used simple logic when it came to dating. If the branch was too high, you didn’t jump for it. Either it bent, or you were stuck jumping in the air looking like an idiot while you tried to reach it. Lucian was that branch, and I wasn’t about to start jumping.

  “Pick up the pace,” he barked when I stopped in front of him and I turned my own heated gaze in his direction.

  “I’m doing fine,” I replied flippantly.

  “You took ten minutes to take an order.”

  “And you came down from your lofty observation post to tell me that?” I asked as I handed the order off to Vlad without missing his smirk.

  Lucian’s eyes moved over me, and I shivered from the heat banked in their inky depths. I looked right at him and smiled. “You could have just shouted it down; you do own the place.”

  “I don’t shout, Lena.”

  “Maybe you should. Let go, live a little,” I suggested with a soft smile, which only seemed to piss him off more. Something was up his ass, and it bothered me.

  I was about to comment on it when I felt Kendra, and my eyes moved to the crowd that was entering the club. Kendra was with her friends, and I had to remind myself that I’d been gone a while.

  She was graceful, unlike me. Her smile was second nature, where I had to remind myself to do it, and often. My sister exuded confidence; where I had it, she owned it. She controlled it and made it work for her, which drew men to her. Her hair was pulled back, sleek, not a single hair out of place; unlike my quick updo, she’d spent time taming hers. Her make-up was done perfectly, her skin soft and smooth without blemishes.

  There’d been no standing in front of the mirror for five minutes and slipping on just a little to highlight her features; she’d used make-up that made her eyes pop, and her lips matched the crimson dress that fit her like a second skin. It hugged her curves, defining them to every lustful eye that watched as she moved into the club.

  I turned to find Lucian studying me as I’d studied her. Unlike the others in the club, his eyes had remained on me. I smiled and looked over his shoulder to where Vlad had my drinks ready to go. I reached over the bar and grabbed the tray when the lights went out, and neon lights flooded the place.

  A hand curled around my arm and I turned and looked at Lucian, who continued to watch me, until a brighter light started up the wall, highlighting the runes that covered the clubs high ceiling. Lucian’s hand slipped and then he was moving away from me.

  I swallowed a smidge of regret at the loss as I watched him move in the direction of those who had just come in, including my sister. His men followed him as well. I blinked at the way they moved, as if time and space held no meaning. My eyes strained to follow them, and couldn’t.

  They disappeared right before they reached my sister and her friends. I was so busy blinking, waiting for my eyes to adjust, or do something, that I jumped when Vlad fingers gently tried to shut my mouth which was obviously hanging open.

  “Did you see that?” I asked in a hushed whisper of shock, mixed with what the hell was in that drink he gave me? Acid? I looked at him accusingly.

  “See what?” he asked as he watched me closely.

  “Lucian just disappeared, like vanished. Poof, he’s gone. Not there anymore…”

  “He’s right there,” he nodded to the left, and I turned my head and he was. Right in the spot he’d been in before, leaning all sexy as fuck against the bar.

  “What the hell was in that drink you gave me?” I whispered as my heart raced.

  “Nothing,” he said as his eyes moved to Lucian’s, and then back at me.

  I grabbed the tray and moved through the growing crowd, placing distance between myself and Lucian. I know what I’d just seen; all of his men just moved in an impossible way, which I’d just witnessed. Or I was pretty sure I had.

  I made it to the table where Kat and Dexter were sitting, and placed the drinks on the table. Something was off; I could feel it. The moment I saw Lucian move as he did, something inside of me poked its head out and screamed danger. As witches, we’re told to listen to that little voice inside, the one most people so stupidly ignored.

  I couldn’t hear a word Kat or Dexter said to me as my eyes continued to watch Lucian. As if he would move again, and I’d catch him. His eyes consumed, commanded, and made normally bright girls turn into idiots. Point in case, me.

  I moved to another table, so busy staring at Lucian that I bumped into Cassidy and the bitch squad from high school without meaning to.

  “Bitch,” Cassidy snapped as her drink spilled in her lap.

  My eyes went wide and I set the tray down as I reached for cocktail napkins to clean her silk dress. “I’m sorry,” I said absently.

  “You did it on purpose!” she screamed and picked up Natalie’s drink, and splashed in in my face. I wiped the fruity drink from my face and glared at her.

  “I didn’t do it on purpose. I said I’m sorry. Can I get you another, or do you plan to throw that in my face too?” I growled.

  “Why don’t you just leave town? Nobody wants you or your loser ass family here anyway,” she purred, venom dripping from every word. “Just run away like you always do, bitch.”

  “We were here first, Cassidy. I belong here. You want to move? No one is stopping you,” I retorted.

  “You think you’re so special, Magdalena, but you’re not. You’ll see,” she continued.

  “You really need some new lines, Cassidy. You’ve used them all before.”

  “You think you can just come back here and take whatever you want; you can’t. My mother will see to it that you’re given exactly who you deserve,” she snapped.

  “Who I deserve? Tell me, Cass, how can your mother manage that one? Money isn’t supposed to hold sway with the elders, let alone the ancestors. She can’t decide my fate either; she’s not that high up on the council. No one but the ancestors can decide who we end up with anyway; not you, not me.”

  “I’ve already proved I have the power to take from you,” she seethed.

  “Because you took Todd?” I asked pointedly, my heart thudding in my chest as anger seethed from my pores. “You probably saved me from making a huge mistake. Hate to say it, Cass, but I actually need to thank you for that one.”

  “And our dad?” she smiled icily.

  I paused, and blinked. Holy fucking shit balls. She was my sister…Oh hell no. Not accepting it. I took a deep breath and filed that one in the folder in my brain and labeled it ‘Oh to the fucking hell no she isn’t,’ and glared.

  “
He made a choice,” I snapped, hating that she was burrowing under my skin to piss me off.

  “Yes, he chose us,” she smiled.

  “He chose money,” I replied easily. “That’s not a win, and I know how you love to keep tally of who wins between us. Grow up, get a fucking life, Cassidy, and leave me alone. High school is over; we’re adults now.”

  I moved from the table before she could dig deeper, and pushed past Lucian who I hadn’t even realized had been behind me. I needed distance between myself and that vindictive bitch before I ended up doing something stupid. I felt my sister before I saw her, knowing she was sensing my emotions through the bond, and heading to the bar to intercept me.

  “Shit, double my pleasure, there’s two of you beauties,” Vlad laughed.

  “Kendra,” I said as my sister joined us.

  “What the hell just pissed you off?” she asked with a frown.

  “I’m fine,” I sighed as I looked her over. “You look stunning tonight.”

  “Shut it, and spill. I felt it, the overwhelming urge to club a baby seal? I almost slapped Todd it was so strong. Something or someone pissed you off.”

  “Cassidy was just explaining how I should get lost,” I mumbled and handed the next order to Vlad, who looked a little too interested in the conversation.

  “Don’t listen to her, she’s just bitter,” Kendra said softly as she placed her hand on my cheek.

  “She was just being her peachy self and tallying up her wins, ya know, being the sweet Cassidy we all love,” I growled and frowned at the sound of it.

  Okay, I was more pissed off about what she’d said than I realized. The fact that she thought she was better than us was surprising too. Still, after all this time and knowing she wasn’t part of the original coven, she and her mother fought tooth and nail to take it over because they thought they were above us.

  “She’s just jealous, you know that,” she replied with a worried frown. “She’s trying to get a rise out of you. Don’t let her win, Lena.”

  “That’s the problem, Kendra. It’s not a freaking game anymore. It’s like she’s still in high school.”

  “Cassidy never left high school. She’s still the self-absorbed pretty little rich girl she’s always been. You have what she can’t buy, though, and that feeds her anger and jealousy.”

  “I know that, but if you haven’t noticed, her mother is firmly planted in the elders’ circle. Since when does an outsider dish out punishments? Her mother’s been doing it since I was in high school. She may not have the bloodline, but she has power,” I mumbled.

  “She must have bought a seat on the council; our mother earned hers,” she retorted with a wicked smile.

  Lucian was at the end of the bar, watching me. Kat and Dexter moved in behind us. I gave them a small smile and looked around the club, which had filled up. The music was pumping out of the speakers, seductive and alluring with the slow tempo of the song that played.

  I knew I should be taking more drink orders, but I needed a moment. If it was even possible after my encounter with Cassidy, I needed to find my inner Zen place. I blamed her mother’s money. It had probably ruined any chance of her being remotely human.

  “Hey, this needs to go out to that table,” Vlad said, briefly motioning to a table before handing me a tray with a few drinks on it. I smiled politely and accepted the drink tray, turned around, and the music stopped. I moved forward a few steps, and stopped cold as a familiar voice sounded from the stage.

  “This one is dedicated to my sisters,” Joshua’s voice said, and I felt my stomach drop. The tray smashed to the floor, and all blood left my face.

  “No,” I whispered horrified by the familiar voice.

  “Joshua!” Kendra screamed and the entire club went silent as the witches around us paused, and finally caught on to what had just happened.

  “No, Kendra,” I warned as I swung around, dodging glass to get to her. I pushed her back as she moved forward. “He’s dead; Joshua is buried. That…whatever that is, isn’t our brother.” There wasn’t any way that could be Joshua. “I need you to keep her here,” I pleaded to Dexter and Kat, and watched for anyone heading away from the stage through the large crowd.

  She fought against the emotions; her overwhelming urge to run to Joshua pushed through me. I moved through the crowd.

  I paused as he turned to look at me. A perfect replica of my dead brother. Tears blinded me, but I knew better. I’d buried my brother. He started moving through the crowd towards the doors, and I ran to block his exit.

  “What are you?” I screamed when I got close enough to the imposter.

  “Lena,” he greeted genially, his ice blue eyes narrowing on me. “Don’t you know your own brother when you see him?”

  “I buried my brother,” I growled. Magic? It could be, but glamouring an image was beyond anything we could do. “You’re not my brother,” I continued, keeping it talking while I moved closer.

  “He said you’d be a hard one to convince,” he chided with a half-cocked smile. I fucking loved that smile. My brother did it often while he’d taught me how to work on his car. “And here I thought you’d be the easy one. What, with how much time you two spent together.”

  Tactics. He was using things I loved about my brother against me. I swallowed as I got closer to him. “You’re not my brother.”

  I wanted him to admit it.

  Needed whatever it was to show itself.

  Its true self.

  I went down, swiped out my booted foot in a roundhouse kick. Caught off guard, he went down to the floor. The entire room was watching us.

  “My brother taught me that; if you were him, you’d have been ready for it.”

  He jumped up fluidly; his eyes narrowed as he watched me closely. “Nice move,” he growled as he reached into his pocket and produced a knife. He flipped the blade open and held his arms wide. “I know a few too, sis,” he taunted with the same smile.

  “I’m not your sister.” I turned sideways as he sliced through the air. I repeated it, dodging his moves. I didn’t have a weapon, which wasn’t a good thing. Not that I would know what the hell to do with one anyway.

  I kicked his arm, not caring that I was showing the entire club that I was wearing thigh-highs with a sexy little garter. The knife went sailing through the air and the guy jumped at me. I turned just in time for him to bear hug me from behind. Stupid. I couldn’t elbow him, so I started to drop my weight, forcing him to loosen the hold he had on me; it gave me enough room to maneuver my arm around the back of his neck. I bent over, pulling his neck with me and using my balance to flip him over my back. The move caught him off guard, easily flipping him over until he landed on the floor in front of me. A defensive move Joshua had also taught me.

  “He taught me that too,” I growled as I moved to kick him, only for him to vanish before my foot could make contact. “Where did he go?” I demanded of the onlookers around me. Many of those were from our coven, and they’d just watched me fighting my dead brother.

  “You made him leave!” Kendra sobbed as she folded herself into Dexter’s arms. I felt each sob, knew the pain of the loss she felt. “I wish you’d never come back! He was here, and you made him leave!”

  Gut, punch, fuck. That one hurt.

  I moved to the doors slowly, and opened them; the moment I did, something erupted in the parking lot. I watched it, as if in slow motion. I was frozen, unable to do anything other than watch as it exploded.

  One minute I was in the doorway, watching shrapnel fly towards me, and the next I was on the floor, with Lucian covering me as I heard metal and other things hit the side of the building, as well as a few people inside the club.

  “Lena, breathe,” Lucian whispered against my ear.

  I didn’t want to. I wanted Joshua back; I wanted to be wi
th him. Kendra would be fine without me. I knew she hadn’t meant it; I’d felt it. Still hurt. Still felt like something was embedded in my chest.

  “Dammit, girl, breathe!” Lucian hissed and I gasped for air.

  Chapter Thirteen

  An hour later, we were sequestered inside Club Chaos. I didn’t know what to think, or how to feel. That thing had looked exactly like my brother. Its voice was an exact match to his as well. Kat held Kendra’s sobbing form wrapped in her arms and Dexter gently rubbed her back in a comforting motion.

  I was numb and unfeeling, mostly because I didn’t know what to feel. Those from our coven had been escorted by Lucian’s employees to a secure room, and, luckily, there was a small bar towards the back of the room. The other patrons and employees who didn’t belong to the coven had been sent to another room, which we hadn’t even known was there until a door opened up in the wall, and people were herded into it.

  My mind was racing; a bomb had gone off. Lucian had somehow saved me from the blast, and was being worked on less than a foot away from me. I had a few cuts and abrasions from the blast; however, Lucian had taken the worst of it. His back had small pieces of metal that had cut through his shirt and embedded in his skin. He’d gotten injured protecting me.

  I didn’t have time to respond; I’d thought I was dead. Lucian had somehow shielded me with his massive body and saved my life. How had he moved so quickly? It seemed impossible, unless he’d been closer than I thought while I’d been fighting against that thing.

  I was calling him a thing; that thing that looked so much like my brother. He’d even smelled like my Joshua. I hadn’t said a word since, because I knew if I did, I’d fall apart. I was keeping it together. Barely. It could have been a Bogey, or a Boggart, but why one of them would be here, impersonating my brother at this particular time was a mystery. A Fae could easily glamour on a Joshua suit, but again, why?

  It had known enough about Joshua to dress and smell like he had. His blue eyes had even sparkled with the same mischief that Joshua’s were often filled with. His ivory skin was the same creamy color that made those eyes more vibrant than they really were. Sharp cheekbones…it was all the same. He even had the same crook in his nose, which was from a break that happened when we were kids.