Praise for Shadow Play,
Book 1 of The Fae Games Duet
“A riveting urban fantasy with strong suspense; fast-paced, and featuring well-imagined and skillfully developed characters.” –Reader’s Favorite
“What makes Ramsower’s novel different is that it combines mystery with history, myths, legends, and fantasy. It all results in an interesting page-turner.” –The BookLife Prize
“Such a great first novel for fans of fantasy, romance, adventure, and everything in between.” –Rae’s Reading Lounge
“The blurb is already intriguing, and the book doesn’t disappoint.” –Heavens Fiction Reviews
“The author is a creative storyteller whose writing style is both flowing and descriptive…You will quickly find yourself invested in the characters and plot, anxiously wanting to find out what will happen next.” –Amazon Reviewer
Books by Jill Ramsower
The Fae Games Duet
Shadow Play
Twilight Siege
Twilight Siege is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2018 Jill Ramsower
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
ISBN: 978-0-692-16935-3
Edited by Susan Strecker
Proofing Services by Art Bedrosian
Cover by The Cover Quill
Contents
Part 1
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Part 2
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
A Note to the Reader
About the Author
To the amazing man I’m lucky enough to call my husband. You talked me down off the ledge, cheered on all my milestones, brainstormed with me at all hours of the day, and in a myriad of other ways made the creative process manageable. Thank you.
Twilight Siege
Part 1
1
“I told you, if you ran from me, I’d catch you.” Lochlan held my arms snuggly above my head in one of his strong hands, my chest arching toward him, hungry for his touch. He towered over me, his commanding blue eyes bore into me as my own eyes strayed down his rippling chest.
“I didn’t run, I just didn’t tell you where I was going. You don’t own me.” My words ended up too breathy to be as firm as I had intended.
“Maybe we should fix that.” He ducked his head and kissed down the column of my neck, continuing down my chest and nipping at my breast. His free hand yanked down my shirt and bra to expose my peaked nipple and I inhaled in anticipation. Diving down, his rough tongue was heaven as it worked tirelessly at my sensitive peak and I arched into his mouth.
“Yes, God that feels so good. No, don’t stop!”
When I looked to see why the delicious torture had ceased, it was no longer Lochlan above me.
“Ronan! Get off me.” I wrestled and wriggled in an attempt to free myself but he held me down firmly, leering down at me while I struggled. The demented grin that spread across his face brought out his twin dimples, and I had a compelling urge to spit in his face.
“What’s wrong, Rebecca? I thought you were enjoying this,” he cooed mockingly.
I thrashed in his arms and began to scream. Jolting up in my bed, I slashed at the invisible demons that haunted my nightmares—that was all it had been, a nightmare. More appropriately, a night terror derived from the events of the night before, which had been all too real. My messy room was dark and quiet, everything looked the same as it had since the attack hours earlier. I fell back onto my pillow on an exhale. Fucking Faeries. Too bad I was becoming one of them.
When I had come home the night before, I found Lochlan waiting for me inside my apartment. Weeks of explosive chemistry sizzling between us finally ignited in tangling limbs and frenzied kisses. Only after I lay sated in my bed did Ronan drop the glamor he wore and unveil that it had been him the whole time.
The whole mess started for me back when I was only three years old and a Fae man by the name of Merlin gifted me a necklace imbued with powers. I had only uncovered its powers a few weeks before Ronan’s attack, and after all I had learned in that short time, I became overwhelmed. In a moment of fear and desperation, I took off my necklace and unknowingly rendered myself vulnerable. I had hoped I could reverse my transition to becoming Fae and all its associated implications—I could find my way back to being Rebecca Peterson. Back to focusing on friends and hobbies instead of learning magic and fighting for my life.
Turned out there was no running from Fate when she’s got her mind made up. She’s like a cheetah, that bitch Fate. She’s fast and sneaky, and just when you think you’re home free, she comes at you from your blind-spot and takes your ass down.
Ronan took advantage of my vulnerability without the powers of my necklace to help me. A tiny Faery called a brownie, whom I had befriended in the days before the attack, had brought me my necklace. As soon as I took hold of it, power surged inside me and I was able to intimidate Ronan into leaving. I hated knowing that he was still out there somewhere, but I swore to myself that next time we crossed paths, I would be ready for him.
Not wanting to dwell on what had happened any further, I forced myself from the warm cocoon of my bed and noted a dull ache between my legs. What should have been a delicious reminder of a night with Lochlan, instead served as fuel for my burning rage at Ronan.
Scrubbing myself until my skin was red and raw, I couldn’t rid my mind of what had happened, but I did my best to cleanse his touch from my skin. I channeled my hatred into a single-minded determination while I showered and readied for the day. Pulling my hair back into a sleek, no-nonsense ponytail, I dressed in a black blouse and pencil skirt.
When I paused to examine my reflection, I realized that the girl who had taken selfies in a purple gown just days earlier felt foreign to me. What had I been thinking watching movies and going to pubs, as if the world was sunshine and rainbows?
Scared. That girl had been scared and had clung to her old life, refusing to face the reality that deadly Fae walked the streets. Not only walked the streets but were threatening a massive invasion that would alter life as we knew it on Earth. The Unseelie were violent and thrived on chaos and there was the potential that thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands, would be set free on Earth to kill and destroy everything around them.
We didn’t know why someone was helping these creatures over from Faery, but we needed to figure it out and stop them before it was too late. I had moved to Ireland thinking I was there to take on my dream job working in a museum. Little did I know that I had been magically compelled to move to Ireland and every day since had been a fight for my li
fe.
I had been given an experimental combination of powers, and what had frightened me the most was the dark magic that loomed in my veins. Now, I realized that the malevolent power inside of me was also the power that kept me safe. I wasn’t scared of the darkness any longer. I would embrace it, own it, control it. Black eyes, black necklace, black clothes, black heart—black may have been just a color, but what it represented was my power. My power to take control of my circumstances and to deny fear the chance to rule over me. Lochlan had said not to fear the transition to being Fae, and I wouldn’t. I would wrap myself in the change, revel in my metamorphosis, and emerge stronger and more ferocious than ever.
“I need you to come over this evening and ward my house against intruders. Can you do that?” I asked my co-worker and friend, Cat, upon entering the museum where we both worked. Her eyebrows shot up and she looked around the room for the presence of others.
“I’m not supposed to share our knowledge, Rebecca, you know that. My mum would skin me alive if she found out,” she responded in a harsh whisper, hand anxiously twisting at one of her red curls.
“I know how important secrecy is to you and your family, trust me. I’m not asking you to tell me how you see the Fae or why you all are so deathly afraid of them. But this is my life we’re talking about here—someone got in my apartment last night and I was attacked. Please, Cat, will you help me?”
Her lips pursed and she let out a grunt. “I’m so dead if they figure out I agreed to this, but if the spells aren’t used to help people, then what’s the point? When do you want me to come by?”
“Thank you, Cat! I need all the help I can get. I’ve got somewhere to be just after work, could you come by around eight or is that too late?”
“I’m twenty, Becca, not twelve—I can be there at eight.”
I scrunched up my nose and stuck out my tongue in response to her teasing. “You were the one who said your mom was strict, I was just being considerate.”
“Yeah, well it’s not that bad … yet.” She paused and her face grew more somber. “I’m glad you’re all right, after the attack. Was it Fae?”
“Yes, but it wasn’t exactly your standard attack.”
“Will you tell me what happened? You don’t have to if it makes you uncomfortable,” she quickly added before chewing on her fingernails.
“It’s complicated, but essentially I let Ronan in my house and it turns out he’s not a good guy. I need to know that no one is getting into my house that intends me any harm.”
“Are you truly okay?” she whispered, her hand reaching for mine.
“I am, I promise. It was nothing I can’t get over but I don’t want anything like that to happen again if I can help it.”
She was polite enough not to press for more details, even though she had to be curious. I gave her my address before heading up to my office with the intent of burying myself in work to keep my mind occupied. I was willing to accept that I was becoming Fae and that I had a part to play in keeping dark Fae from ravaging Earth, but that didn’t mean I wanted to spend time dwelling on the catalytic event that spurred on my change of attitude.
I was also actively avoiding thoughts of the visit that I would make to Lochlan after work. He and his merry band of men, which used to include Ronan, ran a nightclub called the Huntsman. They were all members of the Wild Hunt, the self-appointed Fae police. Our intense chemistry made my skin buzz with awareness whenever I was near Lochlan, but his brutish personality and my propensity to be short tempered usually had us arguing within minutes.
Lochlan had no idea that I thought I had slept with him and there was no way in hell I was going to tell him. I knew what Ronan did hadn’t been my fault and that I shouldn’t feel shame or guilt over his actions, but sometimes what we should feel and reality don’t align. The conversation would be wrought with awkward tension.
I only slept with Ronan because I thought it was you.
You thought you slept with me?
Um, yeah?
I showed up at your house and you had sex with me, but it wasn’t me?
Oh God, there was no way I ever wanted him to know. What if Lochlan saw me as a joke once he knew what I had done? I needed his help and that wouldn’t happen if he thought I was pathetic. Fortunately, he shouldn’t know anything about what happened, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t be first and foremost in my mind when we talked.
The conversation was going to be awkward for me and working myself up wasn’t going to help so I tried to calm my nerves. I had matters to discuss with him, and new and improved Rebecca wasn’t going to avoid a situation just because it was difficult. Avoidance only led to much more challenging and painful situations further down the road, lesson learned.
2
Drawing out my inevitable talk with Lochlan, I threw on some sneakers and set out to walk to the Huntsman instead of taking a cab. Work had been slow all afternoon and my efforts to distract myself had been futile so my nerves were wound tighter than the lid of a pickle jar. The crisp evening air did wonders to clear my head and within a couple of blocks I was already feeling much more relaxed.
The ‘Do Not Walk’ sign was displayed at the first of the two major intersections I had to cross so I stood at the corner along with several other commuting pedestrians, my eyes drifting from person to person. There was little that was more entertaining than people watching, which had been one of my favorite pastimes in New York City. I had heard that Las Vegas boasted the pinnacle of people watching, but the Big Apple had to be a close second. Granted, you had to make certain not to make eye contact with any of them, but once you mastered the peripheral scan, the entertainment value was priceless.
My eyes dropped down to the car stopped next to me at the front of the line at the intersection. Inside the white base model Toyota Corolla sat an older Hispanic woman, both hands on the steering wheel, eyes diligently focused on the red light. What caught my attention was the gruesome Unseelie creature sitting in the passenger seat.
He was the size of a small adult human and had brown skin with very large pointed ears—what I might would have thought Faery ears looked like before moving to Ireland. His bulging yellow eyes peered over at me as he grinned mischievously next to the woman. She glanced over at her companion’s gaze and smiled at the creature, no doubt seeing a much less frightening glamour the creature was projecting.
Before I could make a move the light turned green and the car passed in front of me. The other walkers began to cross the street, but I stood rooted to the ground watching the white vehicle speed faster and faster down the busy city street. Without warning, the car side swiped the vehicle next to it causing a chain reaction accident that resulted in one car on its side and a dozen other wrecks.
Witnesses shrieked and rushed over to the aid the motorists and within seconds sirens sounded in the background. I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding frozen in my burning lungs and hesitantly stepped toward the chaos.
I walked past car after steaming car of confused, upset people as I neared the cause of the catastrophe. The Hispanic woman sat on the curb sobbing as she explained to another woman that the wheel of the car had yanked itself to the side and she had no idea what had happened. I wasn’t sure if the creature had messed with her mind and caused her to swerve and traced himself to safety or if he had physically pulled the wheel himself, either way I had no question that he was responsible.
Not far behind her, huddled beside a postal drop box were not one but two of the Unseelie creatures cackling with delight. They both glanced my way before darting down a nearby alley, no doubt to cause more trouble.
Why were these creatures being unleashed on Earth? What would happen if they infiltrated our cities on a massive scale as Merlin predicted? One of them alone could cause tremendous damage but hordes of them—the Hunt wouldn’t be able to stop them in time before they devastated city after city. Governments would unite in all-out warfare, but against a race of magic being
s, it might take years to get the upper hand. As much as I wanted to focus my efforts on my personal vendetta against Ronan, stopping whoever was opening the portals was of critical importance. There was somebody inside Faery who was enabling these dangerous creatures to cross over, and we had to stop them before it was too late.
The emergency crews were showing up on-site so I dropped my eyes to the sidewalk and continued on my way toward the Huntsman. Although my head was held high and there was confidence in my stride, my stomach clenched with nerves when I approached the building. It was a Thursday, so the place would be packed later that night, but at six-thirty in the evening, it was empty and the echoing clacks from my heels resounded in the otherwise silent lobby.
Lochlan and two other guys stood talking in the main club. He had several inches on each of them and his powerful broad frame set him apart. He wore his standard suit slacks with a tailored white dress shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows. I waited at a distance for them to finish their conversation, and when he was ready, Lochlan gave a nod in my direction and turned to walk toward his office.
I had just started to follow Lochlan when one of the two men he had been speaking to called after me. “If it isn’t the enchanting Rebecca, wherever she goes, trouble follows. What do you want with Lochlan?”
“I don’t think that’s any of your business.”
“Oh, but it is. You see, when the Erlking’s away, Lochlan’s our leader.”
The second man cut in with narrowed eyes. “And he doesn’t need a little tart complicating matters.”
“Well that’s too bad because this little tart isn’t going anywhere. Instead of standing around you might want to be out doing your job as hunters. I just watched some creature cause a twelve-car pileup a few blocks over. No telling what he and his friend are up to now.”
Twilight Siege: A Dark Fantasy Novel (The Fae Games Book 2) Page 1