Playing With Monsters

by Amelia Hutchins

  I stepped from the shower and screamed as I ran smack into Lucian’s chest. “What the hell?” I demanded angrily, before I remembered a woman soaring through the air. Yeah, best not to piss him off.

  “You snuck out of my house,” he said smoothly, his eyes slowly trailing over my wet, naked body.

  “I didn’t want to wake you, and I needed clean clothes.”

  “I purchased clothing for you and your family,” he countered. I blinked at his words, and faltered for a moment. How did he even know our sizes, let alone accomplish it so quickly?

  “I need a towel,” I whispered, painfully aware that I was naked, and he wasn’t. I felt exposed and vulnerable in front of him like this. I had covered my breasts with my arms, but it did little to hide anything from the heat in his midnight eyes.

  “I have those too,” he said with a soft smile.

  I glared up at him. “You’re in my space; you really need to learn about personal boundaries. Now, get out while I get dressed, please?”

  He smiled again, but this one said he didn’t care much about personal boundaries, and before I could push him out, he captured my hands. “Something changed in you, little witch. You’re cold today.”

  “Because I’m standing here naked?” I growled.

  He dropped my hands and turned on his heel, leaving me watching his back as he left the bathroom. I didn’t breathe until I heard the front door slam behind him. The entire cottage shook with his departure, or maybe just me. I quickly pulled on panties, a long sleeved shirt, and some black sneakers I’d found in the closet, along with a pair of overalls, and gloves.

  I moved out of the bathroom, only to find myself staring at Benjamin, who looked at me cautiously, but with relief, before his smile took on a hard edge of coldness.

  My already erratic heart thundered as I looked at him. I wanted to rush to him, throw my arms around him and pretend he was Josh. I wanted to gush over the house catching fire, cry in his strong arms about what I’d gone through; instead, I slowly moved out of the bedroom, and gave him my back as I pulled my hair into a tight ponytail.

  “Can I help you?” I whispered as I met his eyes in the reflection of the small mirror. “Perhaps you came to burn down the cottage too?”

  “I didn’t set the fire, Lenny; when I heard about it, I came to check on you.”

  “Sure, and you didn’t set off the bomb either,” I snapped angrily; he had the same ‘tell’ that Joshua had when he lied: He’d chew his bottom lip after he’d fed me the line of utter shit and then waited to see if I’d believe it.

  “Knowing how much you meant to him, I would never hurt you,” he said carefully, his arms crossing in a defensive pose as his eyes watched me.

  “You mean Joshua, how much I meant to him? I mean nothing to you. You’re a stranger.” My voice was cold as I turned to look at him. “You made it clear that you didn’t come here for us. So why are you here? Or tell me this, why does shit start blowing up the moment you show up? Or explain why we end up burned in a fire that was set to the manor and then suddenly I find you here, in my house?”

  “You were burned?” he asked, his eyes filled with worry as he looked me over. If he had set the fire, he hadn’t meant to hurt us in it.

  “I was; I almost died, as well as Kendra, and our mother, too. If you cast the spell, you did a piss-poor job if murder wasn’t your intention, brother.”

  “I didn’t have a fucking teacher like you did. I didn’t have a mother who loved me enough to keep me!” he snapped, and it hurt. I felt it bone-deep.

  “So what was your plan or reason for setting the fire? Why did you want inside the house, and do a shit poor job on the spell? I am pretty sure it takes more than one witch to cast something as powerful as that spell was, asshole. Is there something specific you came here for?”

  “I didn’t set the fucking fire.” He scowled and wagged his finger at me. “You’re not sweet and innocent, he lied,” he mused angrily. “You also have the darkness inside of you,” he growled as he moved closer slowly, his eyes narrowed on me knowingly.

  I held my ground, watching him as he stalked around me. “Is that what you think?” I asked carefully. “That I’m like you?”

  “You are like me. Darkness can sense others with the same taint. You have it; you stink of it, sis.”

  It was meant to be a slap in the face and we both knew it. “It’s nothing, brother mine. I got this shit handled, unlike you. I’ve never used it. No matter how much it tried to make me, I resisted it.”

  “No one can fight off the darkness alone, not when it sinks its teeth in. You know that. That’s why I was thrown away like the garbage. So why keep you, when she didn’t even try to save me?”

  I smiled sadly at him. “You broke her, Benjamin, believe it or not. She didn’t just send you away and move on. She’s always been a bit broken and we never knew why. When Joshua died, it was devastating for her, because she didn’t just lose him, she lost what little bit she had left of you that day too. It took everything she had just to get the hell out of bed in the morning. You think it was an easy choice for her to send you away? It wasn’t. Sad part is, it’s what the coven’s done since forever; it’s what we do when a child is born wrong. It isn’t your fault, and it isn’t hers. It sure as hell isn’t mine. You want a pity party, look elsewhere.”

  “I could kill you,” he snarled.

  “Easily, I’m sure. You didn’t come here to kill me, though. I don’t think you’re as bad as you want everyone to think, either. If you were, Joshua wouldn’t have told you dick about us. He would have protected us from you and he didn’t. I think he saw in you what I do, a lost kid who got a raw deal in life, one who is of our bloodline and family. You may have been raised badly. You, however, you are not full darkness. You accepted it in, sure, but you figured a way to control it.”

  “What makes you say that?” he asked carefully, a guarded look in his eyes.

  “Because if darkness had taken complete control of you, I’d already be dead, and I’m not. I’m not the best at math, but even I can take an educated guess on that one.”

  “You’re playing with fire, witch.”

  “Why does everyone call me that? My name is Magdalena! Lena, or Lenny to you; yes, I caught that you used the nickname only Joshua called me. So I know you knew him; what I want to know, the only thing I want to know, is what you meant by it should’ve been you instead of him.”

  “Got to run, sis,” he said with a guarded smile and a haunted look in his eyes. He moved in his creepy way, stopped abruptly in front of me and placed three chaste kisses on my forehead, temple, and cheek before he vanished into thin air.

  I threw my hands up at the same moment Lucian threw the door open, burst into the room, and looked around. “You weren’t alone.”

  “I wasn’t,” I stuttered. “Luna’s here with me.”

  He took in my outfit and lifted a dark brow in question. “Gardening?”

  “I was going to work on the main house.”

  “I already called someone in to clean it up for your mother, someone who is more qualified.”

  “Did we ask you to?” I snapped, and then caught myself. “I’m sorry. I’m tired, my mom’s house is covered in ash, soot, and debris, and it needs to be fixed so we can move home. I don’t like you being so close to my bedroom.” I threw in the last to make sure he knew that I knew he’d placed me right next to him on purpose.

  I couldn’t sleep at all last night. But then again, who could sleep after watching a woman get thrown out of a window? I’d walked by the spot where I had seen her land this morning on my way home, only to discover no glass from the window, and no body. The yard yielded nothing as well, no disturbed dirt from a body being buried. I know what I saw and heard last night and he had thrown her from the window. Somehow he’d covered it up without
even breaking a sweat. It wasn’t an easy task to manage without something being left behind, right?

  His eyes watched me as I marched past him. As quick as a snake, he grabbed my arm and pulled me close to him.

  “Who was here?” he asked coldly; his jaw tensed, revealing a muscle that hammered with his growing anger.

  “Who I allow inside my house isn’t your business. I’m a grown woman, not a little kid who needs to report to you.”

  “You should watch that mouth, it might just get in you into trouble,” he growled as he licked his own lips.

  “Wouldn’t be the first time; doubt it’s going to be the last.”

  “Maybe it needs a purpose, someone to show it what it can do, and how to use it properly,” he mused and before I could think better of it, I licked my own lips and peeked at the python hiding in his pants.

  “Let me guess. You’re going to offer to teach me? Pass. Now, if you’re done I have to get started on the house.”

  “Last night, you wanted me to fuck you, witch,” he stated, and he was right. Not that I would admit it. “Now you’re cold, what changed?”

  “Nothing,” I whispered carefully, my eyes rising to lock with his.

  It was a mistake. His eyes searched mine, and I felt a gentle push against my mind, as if he was reading my memories. I felt him hit the walls I’d erected and I smiled, his eyes narrowing at me as I added extra layers around the walls, and felt him pull away.

  “Trying to hide something, little witch?” he asked, and I smirked as I glared at him, but kept my mouth closed. I wasn’t suicidal, or stupid. I could however, play stupid really well.

  “I’m not an architect, and I don’t work in construction. I need to get past you, so that I can go work on my mom’s house. I don’t want to impose on your generosity for any longer than we have to,” I replied with just the right amount of saucy sarcasm.

  “The coven has forbidden anyone from entering the manor house. It’s not been cleared of the spell that caused the damage. Let me be crystal clear about this, because I’m only to say it once: It’s not safe for you. Get changed; I have a few things for you to do. Your punishment from the coven isn’t over, and I find myself in need of your help,” he growled low. His self-assured grin made me want to slap it off his beautiful face.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Club Chaos looked completely different in the morning light. Lucian must have had some of the best damn contractors on the planet. The damage from the explosion the evening before seemed like it had magically been erased. It looked like it had never happened, as if I’d imagined it.

  Lucian had given me a list of duties and explained how each duty was to be performed. He also gave me a cart that held a trash can and various cleaners, plastic gloves, and a keycard that only opened certain rooms that he wanted me to clean. I was also given a strict admonition to follow his instructions to the letter. I wasn’t a freaking maid, but this chore did fall under the coven’s idea of punishment.

  I descended to the lower level and found the rooms on my list, then got to work. The rooms were an odd thing to find under a club and looked as if they were used for overnight stays. Each one was set up a little differently as far as adult toys and kinky-as-shit equipment; some things I had to look up on my phone to actually figure out what the hell they were used for. However, each room had a bag of brand-new bedding rather than the freshly laundered bedding as hotels had. With each room I entered, a camera in the corner blinked and followed me as I cleaned.

  It wasn’t until I entered a room marked ‘Boss’ that I paused and really looked around. This room was larger than the others, yet this one had a bed, with a length of chain attached to each post. On the table in the middle of the room were a thin, springy rattan cane and a set of black Kegel beads. According to my phone internet search, these Kegel balls evidently had a phone app that went with them, which controlled the vibration level via Bluetooth. I backed away from it, moved to the glass mirrors that made up the walls of the room, and started cleaning them with only a few curious looks back at the beads and the cane.

  What the hell was this place? I removed a glove when it ripped against my fingernail and tossed it in the garbage can on the cart before resuming washing the glass. The moment my flesh touched the mirrored surface, it turned into clear glass, and the room beyond it was revealed.

  Soft grey couches were situated against the walls of the room, which had a raised stage in the center of it. A wicked looking X was affixed to one of the walls and had chains similar to the ones attached to the bed in the room I stood in. These ones dangled from each point of the cross. I swallowed as my mind ran wild; a torture room? Oh my God, he was hosting some kind of mutilation club here!

  I spun around and was about to run from the room, when I found him leaning against the door. His smile was soft as his eyes moved from me to the table and then to the room beyond the glass.

  “You’re sick,” I snapped without thinking.

  He lifted a brow but said nothing. The door behind him closed and clicked as he slowly moved closer, forcing me to back up until I was flush with the glass. “You’re a sadist, aren’t you? Some kind of freak who gets off on torturing people,” I whispered shakily.

  “Is that what you think this place is?” he laughed, the sound cold and merciless.

  “I have eyes,” I snapped.

  “It’s a sex club, Lena. Not to say that there isn’t a bit of torture that happens here, but those who receive it do so willingly. You’ve been sheltered more than I thought. The sex industry is a lucrative business, one of the highest grossing industries in the world.”

  “You run a sex club here?” I whispered, horrified. “Does the coven know about it?”

  “The elders do. They get a portion of the club’s revenue to help maintain the town. I’m not hiding it, if that’s what you think.”

  I took another step back as he moved closer. “I can show you a few things, if you’re still curious.”

  “I’m fine,” I swallowed hard, my eyes watching his as a smile flittered across his mouth, as if it was a joke. As if he’d set me up, which he probably had.

  “There’s that word again.”

  “I should go,” I whispered as I tried to move past him, only for him to block my path. I ran straight into his chest with a dull thud that rattled my brains. “Stop doing that!”

  “Doing what?” he asked as he picked me up even though I struggled against him. He moved me to the bed and held me against the mattress.

  “This! Stop it,” I gritted out as I fought against him to get back to my feet. I was just about to shout at him that I’d had enough of him when someone laughed close to us. I turned my head looking around him, intending to tell whoever it was that this wasn’t what it looked like.

  I stopped cold as I watched the woman I’d seen being thrown from Lucian’s window last night laugh as she pulled three men with her into the room on the other side of the mirror. Now that I could see her face, I realized she was the lovesick woman in Lucian’s office the second time I was there. I felt Lucian tense and rise from the bed to move to the glass. He touched it briefly before he stepped back.

  She was in one piece, not buried in some patch of land, as I had assumed she was. At the moment, she was naked as the day she was born, and the men were as well. I watched silently as she went down on her knees and began sucking one off.

  “Oh wow,” I whispered, horrified that I was witness to it. Lucian was stiff, his back to me as he watched the woman with the men. I now knew what the glass was for. It was some sort of two-way glass; they couldn’t see us watching them. The man she was working on grunted as he gripped her hair and pulled her mouth away from his engorged cock before shoving her up onto the stage painfully.

  I heard Lucian grumble, but he didn’t look away from her beautiful body. She w
as petite, with slender hips and a swelling bosom curved perfectly, even though her breasts were overlarge for her small frame. Her midnight hair was down and free of the sparkling pins this time, and her green eyes reminded me of a cat. Her skin was porcelain; not a single bruise or blemish marred it. She was too perfect.

  I moved closer without realizing it, covering my mouth as one man approached her wielding a wicked looking cane. I heard a sharp crack and watched as it found its mark. On her skin. She cried out and smiled. She fucking smiled! I could see the angry red welt where it had touched her and marked her beautiful skin.

  Another crack sounded and another welt rose on her skin, this one from a whip, and she purred as if she enjoyed the pain. I couldn’t grasp what I was seeing, or what it actually was. One man with dark hair moved behind her, gripping her hips as he pushed his heavy cock inside of her until he was buried in her heat.

  I fought to control my breathing, as well as my body. I was growing flushed at what was happening in the room beyond the glass. I felt Lucian’s eyes turn to me, and yet I couldn’t look away from the show. The blonde man who used the cane a few moments ago was in her mouth, as the third stalked predatorily around the trio with a whip that he would flick out intermittently with a sharp snap and leave another welt on her back. Although most of their sounds were muffled, her noises were loud, even with the cock buried in her throat—and it had to be buried, because it was huge and I couldn’t see it, any of it!

  I felt my hands as they balled into tight fists as I tried to process the scene, but failed. Lucian moved to me; his hand touching my cheek made me jump out of my skin.

  “No!” I cried with wide eyes at the thought of him taking me in there increased the overwhelming fear I was beginning to choke on. “No. Not me, I can’t. I won’t do that, ever. I’ve got to go!”

  “Lena, stop,” his voice cracked in the room, loudly. Ignoring him, I sprinted for the door and tugged on the handle. “You weren’t supposed to see that; it was meant for me,” he replied angrily.