Tempted by Demons: A Reverse Harem Paranormal (Brides of the Sinistral Realms)

by Lidiya Foxglove

  But, you know…I probably could have stayed like this through an entire Smash Mouth album.

  Chapter Eight

  Van

  When Edie closed her eyes, I looked at Alister.

  This is serious, isn’t it?

  We had known each other since we were children. We could practically read each other’s thoughts.

  He nodded imperceptibly.

  I think we had all decided that we had played it safe long enough. Time was running out. If we left Edie broken, well…no one wanted that, but her memories could be erased. At some point, we could no longer be so careful.

  I whispered the words of a spell under my breath, using the song as my cover. The spell that would let her see magic, should the situation arise.

  Her eyes fluttered open again. “Is that Latin?” she said.

  Damn, I thought I was being pretty quiet.

  “Yes,” Alister said, keeping her distracted while I repeated the spell. “It’s…an old saying.”

  “What does it mean?”

  “It means, nineties music is terrible.”

  She snorted. “That’s low and also mostly untrue.” She looked at me and her eyes were a little dewy, like she’d been lost in a dream while we held her between us, but now she was waking up and realizing that something was up.

  I kissed her forehead, sealing the spell to her skin. The spot between her brows, the third eye…if she was lucky, she wouldn’t see anything that terrified her. We never had enough time.

  “It’s the house motto,” I said. “There is beauty in shadows, if you leave your eyes open long enough to see it.”

  She clutched her head, suddenly reeling away from both of us, and shut off the music. “I think…the wine’s giving me a delayed response. I should probably go to bed. It’s been a very long day with the flight and everything. That feels like days ago already.”

  “Yes, Edie,” Alister said. “Go to bed. Sleep well.”

  “Th—thanks. Thanks for a great night.”

  “I’ll take you around the island tomorrow,” I offered.

  “I’d like that.” For a minute, even through the confusion of the spell, a warm smile flashed on her face. Maybe I should feel guilty for corrupting her, but then…I was a demon after all.

  Alister snapped the CD case shut. “You look so innocent, Van…”

  “Yeah, I’m good at that.”

  “I’ve never seen you so quick to offer the Kiss of Sight.”

  “No…to tell you the truth, I haven’t wanted to share it with anyone else. I’d rather save it for someone special. Is it just me, or…there’s something about her?”

  Alister looked at the spot she had just vacated. The spot where we had both held her between us. As if she might have marked the rug. “It’s not just you.”

  “I don’t know what it is…”

  “It’s like…maybe she needs us as much as we need her,” Alister said. “Dante, of course, is being difficult.”

  “But he feels the same, doesn’t he?”

  For a moment, we both stood in silence. I wasn’t usually prone to nerves, but even I felt a slight tension in my stomach, wondering how Edie would react to what we would put her through.

  Chapter Nine

  Edie

  I slept straight through the night, which was crazy, especially for being in an unfamiliar bed in a creepy house. I felt like I’d had some very weird dreams. I opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling. Very gray light filtered in between all the cracks in the curtains. It was actually a little chilly. Hard to get out of bed. I reached for my phone—yeah, this habit was going to take a few days to break.

  I always said my phone was my coffee. It was the first thing I reached for, and seeing what was going on with social media always stimulated my brain enough that I could drag out of bed.

  I guess I was going to need actual coffee this morning. And first I had to actually look presentable for hot men, not just for my roommates.

  I lunged for my suitcases, dragging out a sweater and pulling it on, then I forced myself out from the warm covers.

  Alister met me on the second floor with a cup of coffee on a saucer in hand. He was looking way too sharp for morning, in a dress shirt and a pressed pair of black dress pants. “Looking for this?” he asked.

  “Yes! Thank you! Yum…”

  “I hope you don’t mind that it’s a latte.”

  “Are you kidding? I love a latte. I’m glad you have sophisticated food, even in a remote place. All a girl needs, really.”

  “Did you sleep well?”

  “Super well, I have to say.”

  He looked briefly surprised. “Good. Well, Van is going to take you on an island tour today, I believe, so we have a big breakfast planned.”

  As we came downstairs, Dante was just putting out food. Sausages, bacon, eggs, pancakes, some sort of corn cakes, fruit compotes…

  “How do you expect me to eat all this?”

  “We’ll take care of most of it,” Van said. He was already shoveling food on his plate. “But did you sleep all right?”

  “You guys keep asking that. Don’t worry. No ghosts yet.”

  Van was very focused on his food as a ripple of tension passed over all of them. I glanced back and forth in confusion. “What is going on here?” I asked. “This is the strangest vacation ever. Alister tells me you guys are in some semi-cult and not to look at some locked up books, you keep asking me about ghosts or ‘creatures’—“ I felt like I needed a third thing, but the third thing was like, And Van and Alister, you were both dancing with me last night, as if—

  “Some people have the Sight,” Dante said. “Like people who think they see fairies. There are all sorts of things out there. If you have it, you’ll see the ghosts. If not, you won’t.”

  “That did absolutely nothing to answer my question. In fact, it only made things worse.”

  Alister cleared his throat in such a way that everyone shut up. I mean, no one was actually talking, but it seemed to kill even the suggestion of talking. Suddenly, I saw something flash across his face—like he wasn’t human for a second. Like he was actually something darker and more dangerous. It sent a shiver all the way down my spine, and my mouth opened as if to protest and beg to go home, even if they had to take me on their own fishing boat.

  But no words came out.

  For a brief moment, a sense of calm came over me. Like I was meant to be here, and if these guys were going to murder me, then there was nothing I could do about it. I didn’t think they were going to murder me, of course, and if I actually did I might not be so calm. Still, it was a strange feeling of acceptance that I was here, in this moment, and I would just accept the secrets and ghosts.

  Van grinned. “Did you see that? She just got it.”

  “What?” I demanded.

  “That some things just don’t have a good explanation.”

  “That’s right,” Dante said. “I slaved over this meal, so enough about ghosts and more compliments for the chef.”

  “I don’t think the chef is supposed to ask for the compliments,” I said. “Then again…I always do end my food vlogs with ‘Tell me what you think!’ I guess compliments are the original up vote. These corn cakes or…corn pancakes, whatever you call them—they’re delicious with the blueberries. Everything’s great, actually. There’s something…almost smoky…no, not quite that…”

  “It’s from cooking on a wood-fired range,” Dante said.

  “Really? Isn’t that a ton of work? Doesn’t it get super hot?”

  “I’m used to it,” he said. “Still want those cooking lessons?”

  He said it like he knew I would balk, and he was right. I didn’t really want like, a serious lesson straight out of a pioneer reenactment village. I wanted someone to guide me through pan-searing a salmon steak and giving me some garnish to arrange. My original brand—yes I do so have a brand, damnit—after all, was to show what good food you could make when you only had fifteen minutes to sp
are, a tight budget, maybe even just a hot plate and a toaster oven.

  “Of course,” I said airily. Like an idiot.

  Damn it, you hate arrogant chefs. Hate them!

  “I can’t wait to show you around the island,” Van said. “We should get going pretty soon so we’ll be at the point by low tide.”

  “Be careful down there,” Alister said.

  “You know I would guard her with my life,” Van said.

  “Um, we don’t have to go to ‘the point’,” I said.

  “We don’t have to do anything,” Van said. “But that isn’t why you came here, is it?”

  Chapter Ten

  Edie

  So, confession: I was dreading the idea of taking walks around the island. Besides that I was in bad shape, I also found nature to be boring. Part of the reason I came here was because, sitting at home looking at the brochure, I could imagine this better version of myself who really wanted to actually learn things and experience the wonder of seeing a nesting…puffin? (Was that a thing in Maine? I should pay more attention to our own company brochures.)

  I worked with people who were just genuinely better people than me. People who spent their weekends tagging birds, cleaning habitats and surveying invasive species. People who got excited whenever they saw an endangered bird, even if it was just like…brown.

  I wanted to be like them. I really truly did. That’s why I was so happy to work for the charity. But in reality, though, a lot of nature was just the same stuff over again. Rocks here, trees there, brown birds, whatever. Deep down, real animals were just not as fun as the game I had on my phone where you raised unicorns. The main benefit usually was that I could look for stuff to Insta so I could make it all sound more interesting than it was. Now, I couldn’t even do that.

  Van led me out to the garden. The fog had mostly burned off and it was starting to warm up. “Wait here a sec, I’ll get the buckets.”

  “Buckets?”

  “For picking berries!”

  Oh, thank god, something to do, I thought.

  Van came back after a bit with two buckets. He was already using the corner of his shirt to wipe a little sweat off his face. I stared unabashedly at his delicious abs. I don’t think the house had a gym, but Van looked pretty built, so the guy had to be working all day. There was something so sexy about a guy who was strong from doing actual work. Hopefully that shirt was coming off before long.

  “Sorry to make you wait, Edie,” he said. “I thought I should have some gloves and several buckets.”

  “And what’s the shovel for?”

  “Well, in case I need to dig anything up. You never know.”

  I looked at him, ready to take this long walk with a stack of buckets in one hand and a full size shovel in the other. “Can I ask a super honest question?”

  “Of course.”

  “Are you going to murder me and bury me at the point?”

  His eyes widened and he put the shovel down. “I meant, dig up plants. Sorry. I didn’t think how that might look. I’m sure we’ll manage without it.”

  “Do you need help carrying all that?”

  “Nah.”

  “You know what? I’ll take the shovel,” I said. “That way we have it, but if anyone’s going to do the murdering, it’ll be me.”

  His teeth flashed in a broad grin. “I do like your initiative.”

  We started walking, away from the house, down a path that went slightly uphill (cue me panting) past a stand of evergreen trees. I was a little embarrassed at how quickly I got out of breath walking uphill. Van immediately slowed down to a more comfortable pace for me. “It’s okay, Edie,” he said. “Pace yourself. You’ll get stronger.”

  I liked how he always said my name, in this very protective way, like we’d known each other for a much longer time.

  I could hear the ocean and the wind in my ears, but the wall of evergreens broke up the sound, and it seemed profoundly quiet out here despite some birdsong. Van looked both ways as he walked, and was very alert to every sound, to the point where I wondered what he was expecting.

  “You really are isolated out here,” I said. “It must be so strange. You don’t really mind, though, do you?”

  “No,” he said. “I don’t think I’m missing much. There’s a lot of power in knowing just a few things well, rather than many things shallowly.”

  “Makes sense. Very philosophical.”

  “I’m often accused of that.”

  I smiled. “Is Marchcliff Manor ever all booked up?”

  “Not really. We’d rather devote our attentions to just a few guests.”

  “You mean a few things done well?”

  “Right.”

  “What about during winter? Do you go somewhere else? The boats must not operate.”

  “No, we have winter food stores. We stay. This is our home.”

  “Wow. That must be hardcore.”

  “It’s beautiful,” he said. “Sparkling frost and wild sea. Although I wouldn’t mind if the growing season was longer, I do have the greenhouse.”

  “I didn’t see that yet,” I said. “But what do you do with those long nights? Just the three of you?”

  “Dante keeps the kitchen warm, so we hang out there around the table. And talk about how we could use some female company.” He raised his eyebrows at me with a playful smile that had more than a hint of suggestion. I can’t say it was unwelcome. It was pretty heady to feel like three guys were into me, and I hated to admit that maybe part of it was that I was paying so much attention to them. I couldn’t look at my phone and check out mentally at the first sign of discomfort. I didn’t have anything to distract me or worry me. I felt like my real life was a million miles away.

  “And only in the most gentlemanly terms, I’m sure,” I teased.

  “Oh, yeah. Are you kidding? Three guys with no women around? We’re like, ‘I would like a woman with elegant hair and a keen mind.’”

  “That sounded like an Alister impression. I could almost believe you.”

  “Don’t be fooled by the lord of the manor act,” Van said. “I think he might have the dirtiest mind.”

  “Right. Gotta watch out for the brainy ones.”

  “You might have to watch out for the philosophical ones, too,” he said, sweeping his eyes over me. I was just wearing jeans and a sorta girly flannel shirt with my hiking boots and a ponytail, but he made me feel seductive, just the way he looked at me—the way his eyes seduced me and responded to my own cues. I could practically feel the air between us sparking.

  We were falling into an easy conversation and I was starting to feel very relaxed. Salt-scented air stirred my hair while the sun warmed the grass of meadows and blueberry bushes we passed by. Van said we’d pick the blueberries on the way back from the point: “Plenty more on the other side of the island.” He did, however, spot a few mushrooms and toss them in the smaller bucket, with assurances that they were very edible.

  The point was just the other tip of the island, which Van said was shaped sort of like a squat banana: Marchcliff Manor was perched at the higher end while the point was at the lower end. A path led down from a bluff to a flat beach that was entirely slick with sea water; it was obvious even at a glance that during high tide the entire area would be underwater, and as I followed him down the path, using the shovel for balance, I saw that under the bluff was the entrance to a rocky cave.

  I shivered a little. It seemed colder here. There was a palpable sense of energy and I realized I wasn’t actually cold. It was just that all my skin was lifting in goosebumps. I felt the strangeness of the place, like it was a sacred site. This is how I expected a place like Stonehenge to feel.

  “Ooh…” I was unnerved yet entranced. My boots sank a little into surprisingly smooth sand that had a deep gray tinge. I wanted to feel the sand shift under my toes and moved to take off my boots.

  Van held up a hand. “I wouldn’t. Just in case. There are some sea creatures you wouldn’t want to step on.
”

  “Why did you take me here again?”

  He walked up to me, facing me, the wind whipping his shirt against his body. “I don’t think you really need to ask that question, Edie.”

  I shut my eyes, briefly soaking in the atmosphere, the air that smelled of salt and wild places, the feeling of some great ancient spiritual force that was so palpable. It felt like magic. “Yeah…”

  “We don’t have to stay long if it’s too much. But I wanted you to see it.”

  I wasn’t ready to leave quite yet. I walked out to where the waves nipped at the shore, but I didn’t quite let them touch me because I could sense Van was a little nervous as I got close. There were a couple small rocky islands farther out with little black shapes all over them, and I realized they were birds with black backs and beaks, and white on the stomach.

  “Oh,” I said, squinting. “What are they? Penguins?”

  “No. Not penguins. Ah…razorbills…” He stared at them, lifting a hand to his eyes.

  As we were watching, one of the birds dipped its beak into the water and pulled up a really long white snake creature. It looked like an albino eel, from this distance. As soon as the other birds saw it, they all rushed to take the snake down. It turned into a feeding frenzy within seconds.

  I made a somewhat incoherent sound. “Uhhhhh…”

  Van put an arm around my shoulders. “All right, let’s go.”

  In that moment, a thing lunged out of the water toward us. One of the albino eel things. Up close, it was bigger than a boa constrictor, with smooth, slimy pale skin. As soon as it hit the shore, its skin started peeling back and little arms reached out of the skin and clawed toward us. It had a little face like a demon mermaid.

  I think I had some sort of out of body experience for a second when I saw it. Like I could not actually process this.

  Van shoved me toward the cave. “Hide in there,” he said. “Now! I can handle it, don’t worry!”

  Don’t worry?

  I tore into the cave without thinking twice. The mouth of the cave was easily tall and wide enough to run into, and I found myself in a cavernous room, almost like a hall, with a big round stone table or platform inside. Like this was the frickin’ hall of King Arthur. It was a single piece of stone, very smooth, big enough that I could have spread myself out on it, with a slight lip around the edge and a hole near the middle.