Serpent's Touch: A Reverse Harem Urban Fantasy (The Last Serpent Book 1)

by Tansey Morgan

  I turned on my heel and ran, not caring where I placed my feet or paying any mind to the number of trees I was catching my shoulders on. Branches whipped and lashed across my face, taking small bites out of my skin. My heart was pumping, my breath was coming hard, and my legs were working, but this thing, whatever it was, was gaining on me. I felt it with every fiber of my being—death itself was approaching.

  I noticed a thick mess of trees immediately to my right and went for it, though the diversion took me away from the mansion. Chest heaving, legs pushing, I reached the trees and squeezed myself into a gap, shoulder first, but my arm caught a protruding branch on the way in, forcing me to pause and readjust my stance if I wanted a chance at getting in.

  The pause was all it took for something, or someone, way stronger than me to grab hold of my arm and bite it! I screamed and wrenched myself free, causing more damage to myself, but it was either that or be pulled back out into the open. At least here, the trees were thick and densely packed. I had just about managed to fit, but the thing out there probably wouldn’t.

  Probably.

  My heart was a runaway train, beating a mile a minute. My breaths were ragged, short, and painful from the cold. One of my arms was on fire, and the other was numb. I backed away from the small opening, getting as deep as I could into this natural cage of trees. The shape on the other side tried to reach in, claws gleaming in the darkness, but it fell short of my chest by a few feet. I arched my face away from those sharp, groping talons, but then the thing trying to attack me pulled out of the cage.

  A bright, orange flash of light and heat filled the forest, casting almost as much shadow as it did light. I heard a scream, a struggle, and muffled voices as my mind began to lose its hold on consciousness. Darkness closed around my field of vision, cold and numbness overtaking me before finally taking me under to the place where people go to dream…and to die.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Aiden

  When I opened my eyes again, I wasn’t in the woods anymore. Though my body was cold, it was an inner cold like the hand of death caressing my heart, chilling my core. A fire popped and crackled nearby, filling the room with warm light and dancing shadows. I tried to move, tried to sit up, but agony shot through me, and I cried out. That was when someone came to my side.

  My entire body shuddered at the sound, thinking the thing that had attacked me was coming back, had come back, and was about to finish the job. But it was a man who had come to my side when I awoke, a man I had never seen before in my life. Maybe, had I been more conscious, I would’ve been able to pick out his features, but in my bleary eyed, semi-aware state, all I knew about him were his eyes.

  They were black holes filled with the gray light of dead stars.

  “Don’t move,” he said, pressing a hand against my chest, “You’ll hurt yourself.”

  I tried to reach for his arm, but my own arm screamed with pain. I cried out, gritting my teeth to swallow the pain. “Ow, fuck! That hurts.”

  “Just stay calm. You’re in bad shape.”

  I remembered, then, what had happened to me, but not with clarity. In my mind, a thing had torn my arm off with its teeth, and somehow this guy had stitched it back together. Had that really happened? I didn’t think so, but there was a bandage wrapped around my bicep and forearm, white streaked with red lines.

  “Is it… will I be able to use it?” I asked.

  He presented a glass to me with one hand, and two white pills with the other. “Take these,” he said, “for the pain.”

  I hesitated, but took the pills and swallowed them with a gulp of water, followed by several more gulps. Before I knew it, I had emptied the cup. “Thank you,” I said. “What’s your name?”

  He set the cup down on the table next to the sofa I was laying on, then turned to look at me again. Now, in the sobered light of wakefulness, I was able to see him fully. He had a strong jaw, full lips, and almond eyes which weren’t black anymore, but almost gray in this light. He had short, dark hair, a cleanly shaven face, and a tattoo of what I thought was a type of caterpillar crawling up and along his neckline. His knuckles were also tattooed, one letter on every finger; on his right hand were the letters ‘REDEM’, and on his left hand were the letters ‘PTION’.

  Redemption.

  “I’m Aiden,” he said, “You’re Lilith.”

  “You… know about me?”

  He nodded. “I know what goes on around here.”

  “But you don’t live in the mansion with the others.”

  He shrugged, then shook his head. “I still hear about the important stuff. New blood is important, especially when it’s a female.”

  I looked at my arm again, slung across my abdomen and wrapped in bandages. “Did you… save my life?”

  “What was left of you. That thing came within an inch of killing you. I thought you had died once, as I brought you back here. You’ve lost a lot of blood.”

  “So that’s why I feel so light.”

  “You’re going to have to take it easy, rest, eat and drink plenty. I think you’ll recover.”

  “Are you a doctor?”

  He shook his head, causing his hair to sway. “No, but I used to be an EMT.”

  “And you’re… American.”

  “I am. Surprised?”

  “A little, yeah. I thought we were in Germany?”

  Aiden smiled, and when he did, it was as if the full moon had broken through on an overcast night, illuminating everything it touched with soft, mysterious, silvery light. My heart swelled, not just because he had, in fact, saved my life. The memories were coming back, and I could almost see him coming out of the darkness, could still feel the heat of the moment as he attacked whatever had been about to eat me.

  I tried to sit up, but the effort proved too great for my beaten body. My head started to float, darkness closed around my vision, but I shut my eyes, clenched my jaw, and brought myself back. My body had tried to move blood around and, not having enough, I had almost passed out. That was a first. I swallowed, then went to reach for the cup again without realizing it was empty.

  Aiden went to pour me another cup. While he was gone, it was as if he had taken the warmth in the room with him. I started to shiver, despite the fire. But when he returned with the cup and sat down beside me again, the warmth came back, too, and I realized the warmth was coming from him; the fire was just helping.

  “Here,” he said.

  I took the glass and drank, emptying it again without pausing. The water was cool, blissfully so, but it tasted strange. “Thank you,” I said.

  “Mountain water,” he said, “Fresh, clean, and full of minerals. That’s what you’re tasting. Took me a while to get used to it, too.”

  I let my head fall back on the pillow, accepting the idea that he wasn’t here to kill me, or hurt me, and that he genuinely wanted to help me feel better. If he had wanted to do anything other than that, he would have already tried. Hell, considering how long I’d been out, he would’ve had more than enough time to do it then, but he hadn’t.

  He had saved my life and patched me up.

  “We should get you back to the mansion,” he said.

  “Back… oh, right.”

  “Unless you… want to stay here?”

  “I didn’t know that was a choice.”

  “It isn’t, the others will wonder where you are. But I want you to be comfortable.”

  Holy shit… who is this guy? “I feel like I’m going to have the world’s biggest hangover in the morning, so maybe… being in my own bed might not be the worst of ideas.”

  “Makes sense. Can you move?”

  “I don’t think so, but I need to sit up.”

  Aiden held one of my hands and slipped his arm beneath my back. Together, we were able to get me up and sitting without me passing out, but boy was I hurt. It wasn’t only my cut-up arm that was in pain; my back, my shoulders, my chest, each of these injuries began to cry out now as I sat myself up. The cacophony w
as almost loud enough to pull me under again, back into unconsciousness, but Aiden reached for my face and held it between his hands.

  “Woah,” he said, holding me up, “Are you okay?”

  I took one of his hands, and for a moment wanted to push further against him, wanted to feel more of that warmth his body seemed to radiate, but it took everything I had to just stay awake, to stay conscious.

  “Wow,” I said, “That was a bad idea.”

  His full lips tugged into a smile. “C’mon,” he said, “Let’s get you to your bed.”

  Aiden helped me to stand, and when I did I was better able to get a good look at the place he lived in. It was an old house, small but cozy, decorated in a similar manner to the mansion itself—cream walls with interlacing green patterns on them. There were a couple of doors leading to other rooms, but the they were closed. An open archway led into a small, adjoining kitchen where half a jug of water sat on the counter next to a microwave.

  There was also a desk in the far corner of the room. I couldn’t see what was on the desk, the light from the fireplace didn’t reach that far, but the objects on it caught the light and glistened slightly, making me think of the little bottles of ink at a tattoo place. I let my mind disconnect from trying to figure this small house out and allowed Aiden to walk me to the door.

  The cold air outside was a sobering hit, one that woke me up and gave me the strength to be able to almost walk on my own. Aiden insisted he help, but I felt it necessary to prove—not to him, but to me—that I could make the walk from the groundskeeper’s cottage to my room without having to be carried.

  Crickets chirped, the wind pushed wet leaves along the grass, and my heart rate began to climb as thoughts of what had happened to me earlier started coming back, but I pushed the feelings down. I wasn’t in danger anymore. I knew that in my heart. I was on the grounds, I was with someone else, and I was safe.

  Not all of the mansion’s lights were on anymore, only some scattered windows here and there, which made me wonder what time it was. As I stared, one light came on in a room somewhere on the first floor, then winked out. At dinner, Liam had said the mansion had ghosts, and I wondered now if it had been one among the dead or the living responsible for that.

  The latter was probably true.

  Aiden accompanied me to the main doors, opened them, and then followed me inside, hesitating only for an instant. “Why is it you don’t live in the house?” I asked, walking along the dark foyer. Moonlight was the only source of illumination, and having been to my room only once, I wasn’t sure I could find it again. Luckily, Aiden seemed to know where he was going, so I hung back and followed him.

  “Personal choice,” he said.

  “Personal?”

  “I like having my own space.”

  “This place is huge… I bet you could have plenty.”

  “It’s more than that.”

  “Do you want to tell me what that means?”

  Aiden glanced over his shoulder as he ascended the stairs. “I can tell you’re feeling better.”

  “I think the painkillers are starting to kick in.”

  A smiled crossed his face. “Good. It’ll hurt like a bitch in the morning, so be sure to keep these on you.”

  He passed me a small box of painkillers. I took them and stuck them in my pocket. “I’ll do that. These things work great.”

  By the time we reached the upstairs landing, it was clear to me he had very carefully avoided talking about the reason why he didn’t live in the mansion, and I decided not to press the issue. I realized I was prodding, and I didn’t know this guy. It wasn’t fair of me to throw questions at him that may have made him uncomfortable, especially considering he had just saved my life.

  He stopped at the door to my room, then stepped aside.

  “How do you know this is my room?” I asked, “I don’t remember you being here when I was being shown around.”

  “Call it a lucky hunch.”

  “I don’t think hunches have anything to do with it,” I said as I walked past him and opened my bedroom door. Morticia was there at my feet, poking her nose at the door and trying to get out. I shut the door to keep her inside, but I didn’t shut it all the way and made sure to keep my hand on the handle.

  “Thank you,” I said, “I mean it. You saved my ass tonight.”

  “You sure you’re going to be okay?”

  “I think so. I’ve lived in plenty of shit neighborhoods. This isn’t my first injury.”

  “No?”

  I shook my head. “Some asshole stabbed me in the thigh with a knife once. Almost got the vein.”

  “Ouch…”

  “Yeah… maybe I’ll… show you the scar sometime.”

  A faint smile appeared on Aiden’s face, and I let a smile cross my face, too.

  “Look, I have to let Dante know what’s happened; about the thing that attacked you. He’ll be pissed if I wait until tomorrow to tell him.”

  “Okay… that’s probably a good idea.”

  “What should I tell him when he asks me how you managed to find yourself out there to begin with?”

  “The truth… I blacked out, and woke up there.”

  Aiden nodded. “Alright. Goodnight.”

  “Goodnight…”

  Aiden left, and I turned and headed into my room, shutting the door before my heart had the chance to pulse hard and fast enough for Aiden to hear it.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Allure

  From the moment I walked into the dining hall for breakfast, all anyone could talk about was what the hell happened to me last night. I had bruises and scrapes all over, my arm was busted, and I looked like I hadn’t slept a wink. Vik, who had a little first aid training, offered to replace the bandage, and I wasn’t in a position to decline.

  “There,” Vik said, as he tightened and clipped the fresh bandage to my arm, “Now, how about you tell us what happened last night. Can you remember anything?”

  I had chosen not to say much until the bandage was changed. I figured the pain would be distracting, and it was. “It was dark,” I said, “I didn’t see the thing coming at me until it was right in my face. But I think… it may have had claws.”

  “The damage is consistent with some kind of animal bite.”

  “Animal or vampire?” Liam put in.

  “Right,” Raphael said, “It could have been either. Can you tell us anything more?” He was standing nearby, arms folded, his face dark with concern. Liam, too, was nearby, only he wasn’t looking directly at me. He seemed to be staring deeply out one of the dining hall windows.

  I shook my head. “No, one minute I was in bed, lying down, and the next minute I was in the forest. This all started maybe ten minutes after dinner last night.”

  “And you just appeared in the forest.”

  I nodded.

  “Teleportation?” Raphael asked Vik.

  “No. I don’t think so,” Vik said. “Magic leaves residue on whatever it touches, and she hasn’t been touched by magic. At least, not that I can see.”

  “But that doesn’t mean I wasn’t touched by magic, right?” I asked, “Just because you can’t see it…”

  “That’s true, but if that were the case, then whoever did this to you is far more powerful than any of us.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because the mansion and grounds are protected by powerful, ancient spells cast by mages long dead. This place was designed to be impenetrable and difficult to detect. I’m more inclined to believe this was an inside job than entertain the idea that a mage powerful enough to break through the mansion’s wards thought to teleport you out into the woods, then attacked you.”

  “It wasn’t teleportation,” Liam said, seeming to break out of his trance. He looked over at me. “You walked out of here.”

  “Walked?” I asked. “No, I laid down, and then I was in the woods.”

  “I’m telling you, you walked. Maybe you don’t remember, but you got up and out
of your room, then walked out of the mansion and into the woods. You were seen.”

  “Seen? By—oh…” Realization dawned on me. Liam had information I didn’t have, information passed to him, possibly by a ghost. The thought gave me a chill.

  “That… changes things,” Vik said.

  “How?” Raphael asked. “I admit, I don’t fully understand how the mansion’s defenses work. I simply know that they do. But there’s a big difference between a teleportation spell and some kind of mind-control spell, or even a mind-influencing spell. The energy and components required to cast each is vastly different, as are their frequencies and resonance.”

  “English, please,” I said, “I don’t get this.”

  “I’m sorry,” Vik said, “What I mean is, if a mind-control spell is a whisper, a teleportation spell is a scream. I would have heard it.”

  Liam came over to where I was sitting and joined me. “How are you feeling?”

  “I’m in pain, but I can manage,” I said, “Mostly I’m just worried about not being able to give enough information. It happened quickly. A lot of it is a blur, and then I woke up in Aiden’s place. He patched me up and brought me here.”

  Someone else walked into the room then, adjusting the cuffs of his blood-red shirt he wore beneath a black suit. He stopped by the door and stared at me from across the dining hall, his eyes narrow, his jaw clenched tightly. I hadn’t expected to see him. The last time we had talked was yesterday when he dropped me off at the mansion before disappearing again.

  “Lilith, are you alright?” he asked as he advanced to join the others.

  “Dante,” I said, genuinely surprised to see him. I hadn’t spoken to him since we arrived; hadn’t seen him at all.

  “How did we let this happen?” he asked, skipping the pleasantries.

  “I don’t know,” Vik said, “We’re still figuring it out.”

  “She’s here less than a day, and already something has happened. We need to tighten our security.”