Hell, Meet Haunted

by Tee, Marian

  "Everything alright?" Hadrian seemed to have sensed my anxiety, his silvery gaze narrowed at me.

  "I'm good," I reassured him quickly. "I was just thinking about Kimberley," I improvised. "I still find it sad that she threw her life away just like that."

  "Don't waste your sympathies on her. I was able to get a look on her past lives, and even in the times that she hadn't been mentally sick, she still chose to be evil."

  The words had its intended effect, and I found myself wishing Kimberley had never been born so that Caleb and Edith could've enjoyed their lives a little longer.

  Our car sped past a town signage, and I turned to Hadrian with a suspicious frown. "Why are we going to Silver Mist?"

  "You don't want to?"

  "Today is my first day out," I reminded him archly, "and you promised to take me somewhere nice."

  "I haven't forgotten," he promised.

  If that were true, then why were we now driving inside the parking lot of a small-town bookstore? Books were more his thing, not mine, and my thoughts must have shown on my face with the way Hadrian's lips curved when he came around to open my door.

  "It's not what you think."

  "You're saying that's not a bookstore then?"

  "You'll see." Hadrian took my hand as we started walking. He opened the door for me, and I stepped inside...and well, it was just as he said. I did see, and what I saw was...breathtaking. This was indeed the furthest thing from a bookstore, and I felt myself trembling at the sheer wonder of it.

  A rugged outline of mountains surrounded us, and above it was a sky painted in the most wonderful blend of purples and blues, on which streaks of light, silvery bright like Hadrian's eyes, zoomed, swirled, and danced like an endless display of fireworks. It took a while for the truth to sink in, and when I realized I was looking at a sky full of shooting stars, I knew right away we had somehow entered another world.

  I turned to Hadrian and saw him watching me with veiled eyes. "Where are we?"

  "My home." His voice was soft, and despite the slight smile still playing over his lips, he also appeared absolutely serious.

  "You live here? For real?"

  "Like it?"

  My lips pursed. "That depends. Can I live here, too?"

  "If you want to."

  I closed the distance between us and smiled up at him. "Then I love it."

  His gaze gleamed. "Good." And then he took my hand in his, and we started walking down an unmarked road.

  "Where are we going?"

  "To see the rest of my home."

  A cave waited at the end of the road, and my brows furrowed when I felt hot air steaming out of its shadowy entrance.

  His grip tightened as we took a step inside the cave. "Ready?"

  "Ready for what?"

  "This." It was as if an invisible hand had swept the darkness out, and light had come swooshing into the cave...in the fiery shades of an inferno. The air was crackling hot, sparks of electricity literally bursting in random little pockets, and I had a feeling the only reason I wasn't dying of heat exposure was because I was already, well, dead.

  The walls of the cave were made up of glowing hot lava, and so was its domed ceiling. Even its floor was made of moving, molten rock, and my heart was already in my throat, waiting for that moment Hadrian and I would suddenly find ourselves falling into a whirlpool of brimstone. But we didn't.

  I turned to Hadrian, whose handsome face remained unreadable.

  "Where exactly are we?" I asked hoarsely. "And don't just say it's home."

  "Where do you think we are?"

  Hell, I thought right away. And if this place that looked like Hell was his home...

  "H-Hadrian..." I swallowed hard. "Please don't tell me..."

  He frowned. "What?"

  "Are you the Devil?"

  Hadrian appeared torn between disbelief and exasperation. "That's your conclusion?"

  "What else is there to think when this is Hell?" I wailed.

  Hadrian looked pained. "Underworld, Saoirse. We've already talked about this before. This is the Underworld."

  Oh.

  Right.

  A sigh of relief escaped me, and when I saw Hadrian roll his eyes, I said defensively, "I didn't grow up Greek, okay? 9 out of 10 people would take a look at this place and think the same thing."

  "Actually—-"

  Not in the mood to hear Hadrian use logic to prove me wrong, I quickly interrupted him with a change of subject. "Are you allowed to bring me here? Wouldn't your boss get mad?"

  "What boss?"

  "Hades."

  "Ah."

  And after that, he simply looked at me, and I found myself looking back at him while the craziest ideas started preying on my mind. If he was...then that meant...which was why...no, no, no.

  "Impossible," I said out loud.

  "That I'd be the Lord of the Underworld?"

  That meant he was. Wasn't he?

  "And that the reason why those ghosts had come to your help..."

  No way.

  "Is because just as the Lord of the Underworld is born to repel souls to keep his subjects in line, his Lady has the gift of drawing souls close..."

  No freaking way.

  "Just like you did."

  This time, I said it out loud. "Shit."

  But Hadrian only smirked. "Welcome home, milady."

  The End

  Author's Note

  26 MARCH 2020

  So for those who have read both Alice Bloome and Marian Tee but didn't know they were one and the same, umm...surprise?

  I thought long and hard about this one, since initially Alice Bloome was supposed to be a secret pen name of mine, and one I had only shared to my newsletter subscribers.

  But things have changed. I think we need more ways to stay positive, and honestly, it's why lately I've been writing stories that are just a little lighter and more fun than my usual angsty ones. And that's why I thought, maybe, I should publish this one book at least as both Alice Bloome and Marian Tee in hopes that more people will read it. I really enjoyed the world I've created as AB, and it's a world that I'm hoping my Marian Tee readers would take a chance on. It's a world that has made me smile countless times, and these days, it's important to remember that we still have reasons to smile.

  Some of the news we hear around us might not be as optimistic as we want it to be. Some of the people around us might not be as kind as we hoped them to be. It's just how life is, and we need to remember that the one thing we can control is our own actions. Let's make other people smile. Let's be the reason that will help others remember and believe that whatever's happening today, we will get through it, and we'll all come out of it better, stronger, and kinder.

  UNTIL OUR NEXT JOURNEY,

  Alice Bloome / Marian Tee

  P.S. IF YOU ENJOYED Hell, Meet Haunted, I would super, SUPER appreciate it if you could take the time to review this book. Short one-liners would do, but you can also use the review to let me know that you'd like more stories from Hadrian and Saoirse. Honestly, I'd enjoy writing more about them, too!

  P.P.S. I'VE INCLUDED excerpts of my other paranormal books, both as Marian Tee and Alice Bloome. Hope you can give them a try if you haven't yet!

  A Season of Gods and Witches

  by Alice Bloome

  THUNDER LIKE NO OTHER suddenly roared outside the diner, and I jerked involuntarily. My hand rattled, and coffee spilled on the opened pages of my textbook.

  Brooms and sticks!

  As I hurriedly pulled out a couple of tissue sheets from the holder, I missed the way Mr. Handsome frowned when he glanced at my book. By the time I turned around, Mr. Handsome had a charmingly polite smile on his face. “May I help?”

  His voice was deep but gentle. It was my first time to hear him speak, and it had me stammering like a ninny. “It’s f-fine. I c-can—-” My voice trailed off as Mr. Handsome pried the sheet of tissue from my hands and mopped the stain on my page.

  After, he ran
his fingers on the wet, dark spot, and when he lifted his fingers the page was completely dry and stain-free.

  I blinked. “Umm. Wow.” I was genuinely spellbound. I had seen other witches perform similar tricks, but never with the same ease and speed that Mr. Handsome had displayed.

  “It’s a fairly simple spell,” Mr. Handsome murmured. “I could teach it to you if you like.”

  Before I could even think of what I wanted to say, he had already reached for my hand, and the impact of his touch was, for lack of a better word, incredible.

  A thousand sensations bombarded my body – shock, thrill, excitement, fear, anticipation – I simply felt too, too much, and I kept feeling more as Mr. Handsome slowly guided my hand into repeating the necessary strokes for the spell.

  I did my best to memorize them, but it was impossible. Every second of having his fingers hold mine had secret parts of my body trembling in acute awareness; in the end, all I could do was focus on keeping myself from fainting.

  “Easy, right?” He let go of my hand, and I didn’t know whether I felt relieved or sad that he was no longer touching me. It still seemed so surreal, and my senses had yet to recover from the fact that Mr. Handsome’s hand had held mine in the first place.

  “With enough practice,” he told me, “it should be doable for a Level 1.”

  I started to nod and thank him when I realized what he had just said. My gaze flew to his, but he only smiled at my obvious surprise.

  “How did you know I’m a Level 1?” I questioned uncertainly.

  “Because your book says so?”

  My jaw dropped. I had suspected that might be it, but having him confirm my thoughts was still a different thing altogether. If he could get past an agency-executed spell, then did that mean he was also working for the government?

  His lips suddenly twitched. “You didn’t think I could read it, did you?”

  “I...I...” My shoulders lifted in a helpless shrug. “I have no idea what to think about you.” I hated how boring my answer was, but I was such a bad liar it was useless to even try.

  “If it’s any consolation,” he murmured, “I also think you’re a bit of an enigma yourself.”

  My Vampire Billionaire Boss

  by Marian Tee

  "HOW ARE YOU FEELING?" Her boss' tone was calm and cool, his voice the first thing to break the silence that had taken over ever since the E.R. doctor had left. It was just the two of them now inside the emergency room, and she had a feeling it would stay that way even if a natural disaster were to occur.

  Hirsche Enterprises owned the hospital after all, and so if the boss wanted privacy, he would have it...never mind if it put the actual patient in an awkward and unsettling disadvantage.

  Spencer lifted her chin. "How do you think I'm feeling?" Under normal circumstances, this would have Mr. H threatening to fire her if she persisted in disrespecting him.

  But he didn't.

  Instead, she saw his arms cross over his too broad chest, and she found herself wondering if, perhaps, like that other party, Etienne Hirsche would also have chest hair. It would be sexy if he did, she thought. She had never had a thing for chest hair, but she really liked it now and—-

  Oh my God, why am I thinking about that now of all times?

  Etienne observed the unusual play of expressions on Spencer's face. "You're still in shock."

  "I'm not," she denied automatically. Or at least not for what he was thinking. She was in shock, but more because her lust-love-whatever-feeling-it-was she had for him was still making her think of horny stuff despite the life-and-death gravity of their situation.

  You gotta focus, Spencer.

  Think with your brains and not with your pussy!

  And the reality was—-

  A single memory flashed in her mind: it was that split-second moment where she had locked gazes with one of the red-eyed creatures, its fangs glistening in the darkness.

  Cold sweat immediately broke over the skin, and she suddenly felt appallingly and mortifyingly weak.

  "I hate this," she muttered under her breath.

  "There's no point getting bothered by it." A part of him had feared she would go into hysterics, but he should've known better. As expected, the brat saw her shock as a sign of weakness rather than a temporary medical condition that would eventually fade.

  "Easy for you to say."

  "I suppose it is."

  Her teeth gnashed. "I don't like it when you're being this condescending—-"

  "I'm not." And because she had never known him to be a liar, she could only accept his words for the truth. "It is easy for me to say these things, but it doesn't make the words any less true." There was a second's pause, and then Mr. H. said gently, "You are not the first human to know about us."

  Oh. She could only stare at him, at a loss of what to say or what to even think about that. So how many knew about them then? And if he called her human like that, then it made him sound like he wasn't...that.

  "Are you a vampire?"