Sever the Crown: Vampire Reverse Harem Complete Series

by Mysti Parker

  How many had died here? How close had it been for Wren? A deep shiver crawled up my back. We knew this could happen, which was why we came to prevent it. Keyword: prevent. Where did it go wrong?

  Yoga tossed me the keys, stuffed Vivian into the back seat, and then we were off, speeding back toward the cabin. That seemed the most likely place Wren would go.

  I now had a signal on my cell, so I dialed both Wren and Ashe. No answer. Shit.

  “Okay,” I said, trying to calm myself.. I glanced back in the rearview where Vivian lay across the seat and Yoga sat next to her, ripping open a bandage with his teeth from a first aid kit he’d swiped from somewhere. “Start talking.”

  “This area was clear,” he started and placed the bandage on one of Vivian’s head gashes. “Cleared by bomb-sniffing dogs and bomb squads with experts from both humans and vampires alike.”

  “Then how did it go to shit so fast?” I asked, keeping an eye out for Birdie or anyone who might be following us. “The arena was crawling with security, right?”

  When Yoga nicked his wrist on one of Vivian’s fangs, the smell of his blood filled the cab. I growled low, the hunger in my stomach growing sharper.

  He held his arm to her lips. “There was a huge, deadly bomb found at an art museum around twelve miles from here. It was disarmed before it detonated, mostly because it was sitting right out in the open.”

  “A distraction.”

  “More like a trigger. As soon as it was disarmed, a five-second timer started, and the bombs at the arena went off.”

  I shot him a disbelieving glare over my shoulder. “Curious thing to happen when the arena was given the all-clear.”

  He sagged against the back seat, no doubt feeling the effects of blood loss with his wrist draining into Vivian’s mouth. She was conscious enough to latch on now, sucking and swallowing loudly enough to prod my hunger into a gnawing stomach cramp. “That’s because they walked right through the front door of the arena, through security and metal detectors with no issue.”

  They… He’d said they. I swallowed hard. “Vampires. Vampires were the bombs.”

  He nodded. “When the art museum bomb was disarmed and the five-second timer lapsed, something inside it triggered the detonator inside the vampires’ abdominal cavities to go off, which exploded the plastic explosives that were also suspected to be in various vampire cavities. The police already found them—what was left of them—afterward.”

  What the hell? This was some fucked-up shit. “You’re saying someone shoved plastics—”

  “Not shoved. Surgically inserted.”

  “That makes it even worse.” I sat back in my seat, amazed at the lengths people would go to ruin lives. This coming from me, the kidnapping, womanizing liar and thief. But still. There was a huge difference. I’d killed before, but not like this.

  “And not just plastics, but the detonator, too,” Yoga continued. “All undetectable with a simple pat-down and metal detector.”

  “And something like that… I mean, I guess I have my answer, but can that really be powerful enough to take down part of an arena? It doesn’t seem possible.”

  “Sadly, it doesn’t take much to make a powerful bomb.” He pulled his wrist away from Vivian, who still hadn’t woken up, and put another bandage over his wound. “And I have a feeling whoever they were—political or cultist zealots, probably—were paid well. Or their families were since there’s not much left of them.”

  I caught his eye in the rearview mirror and nodded. “There’s only one person I know who has that kind of wealth and would ask something so terrible of someone to do…that.”

  “It’s enough to make you sick,” he gritted out.

  “Yeah.” That, we could agree on. I was pretty much done with this whole night. “What do you want to do with the pop star there?”

  “Take her with us.” He leaned his head against the window and sighed. “I didn’t get a chance to ask her what she knows.”

  Nodding, I smashed my foot even harder to the gas. We made it to the cabin in record time, fast enough to have beaten Birdie and Wren, which did not make me thrilled. Where the hell was she? Had something else happened? This feeling of not knowing for sure was fucking terrible.

  When we pulled up in front of the dark cabin, I knew right away something was wrong. I just didn’t know what yet. I cut the lights and shut off the car, homing in on the darkness and silence all at once.

  Yoga stayed quiet in the back seat, likely feeling the same thing I did even with his shitty human senses.

  A sigh of movement through the trees nearby. The moonlight rippling on the lake. Nothing else. Nothing out of the ordinary.

  “Yoga,” I whispered and leaned over to check the glove box for a gun. I found one, with a box of bullets next to it. “I’m leaving the keys in the ignition.”

  He didn’t say a word, but I knew he got the meaning—haul balls and get Vivian to safety in case things went south.

  As silent as I could—which sounded like a fucking gunshot in the still night—I slipped out of the car but didn’t close the door all the way.

  I still wasn’t sure if I’d seen something that didn’t belong, or if it was just this feeling buzzing up and down my neck. This feeling that we weren’t alone. In a slow circle, I scanned the woods, the dirt road we’d just come from, everywhere a car might’ve been parked and camouflaged by shadows. But of course I would’ve seen that right away, thinking it was Birdie, and this didn’t feel like Wren.

  It felt…wrong.

  The crunch of gravel sounded, not from footsteps, but tires, coming up behind us. Wren. It had to be because my tattoo tingled and warmed. A brief spark of relief caught in my chest and then faded out, because Wren was driving straight toward this wrongness.

  Time to go. I spun back around to the car, my hand already reaching for the door handle, when I spotted the front door swinging slowly open, its hinges screaming, into a cabin filled with darkness.

  A cabin that we’d locked on our way out. And only the four of us knew where Ashe had hidden the key.

  The tires behind us crunched closer.

  A voice floated out from the front door, beautiful and perfect. “Charles?”

  Dread filled what was left of my soul. I whirled toward the oncoming car. No headlights. There should’ve been headlights by now.

  “Back inside. Now,” I hissed toward the cabin and wrenched open the car door to see Yoga twisting his head to the front door and then to the road behind him. “Yoga. Get Vivian inside.”

  “Is that Wren in the cabin?” he demanded.

  “Inside,” I answered and peered through the back windshield.

  A car appeared—definitely not Birdie—and stopped at the curve in the road about twenty yards away. Just stopped, and waited. I might’ve thought it was Ashe in a different car, unsure who we were, if Ashe had cloned himself three times. Three people occupied that car, faceless shadows, and none of whom were named Ashe, I’d bet.

  I hadn’t been followed. I’d made sure. Which meant these three people knew about this cabin. Innocents, maybe, but innocents typically used headlights.

  Still standing outside the car, I ducked low behind the front seat and started to load my gun. Yoga was already scooping up Vivian, still passed out cold.

  I glanced at the front door of the cabin, now closed. “I’ll cover you, but I can’t help drag the dead weight up the steps.”

  He shot me a warning look as he positioned his elbow on the handle. “Give me a little credit.”

  I gripped the gun tightly. “On the count of three.”

  The four in the car shifted as if sensing what we were about to do.

  “One.”

  A crash came from the cabin’s second-story window. A body hurled from it and landed in front of the car with a loud thud. I stared. Not a body I recognized.

  Inside. Someone was already inside with Wren.

  “Three!”

  We barreled out of the car.


  Chapter Fifteen

  Wren

  About five minutes earlier…

  I thought it would be a good idea to park off the road in a hidden cove behind some shrubs and walk the rest of the way to the cabin in case someone had found it. Ashe wanted to keep driving and hide out in another shitty hotel. I refused. Ashe tried texting Charles and Zac, but neither of them answered. This was the first place they’d come looking for us, if they were still alive.

  We stopped at the edge of the bushes surrounding the property and crouched down to have a better look. The door was wide open. No vehicles in sight.

  “Think it’s them?” Ashe whispered.

  “No.” Something felt way off about this. It was too quiet. Even the cicadas and crickets were keeping it down to a murmur. “Let’s go see.”

  “We don’t know who it is. We can’t just waltz in there.”

  “Of course not. I’ll run.” I took off, dodging Ashe’s hand trying to grab me, and blurred through the bushes and onto the porch. Flattening myself against the wall, I smiled as Ashe joined me a millisecond later, mirroring my position, though he seemed a little stiff and awkward. He hadn’t spent years learning to be virtually invisible, after all.

  I peeked around the corner of the open door. Nothing stirred. No heat signatures either. Sniffing the air, I detected something I didn’t expect.

  “Cookies?” Ashe whispered.

  “Smells like it.”

  “You’re saying someone broke in and baked cookies?”

  “That would be nice of them, but no. It’s different.” A rustling sound came from upstairs. “Come on.”

  We crept inside. No cookies in the oven, much to our dismay.

  I started up the stairs, but Ashe intercepted me. “Me first. Just in case.”

  It wouldn’t do any good to argue. We were already wasting time. I motioned him to go ahead. As he stepped onto the landing, the cookie aroma intensified.

  Ashe stiffened, holding his arm back as though to ward me off. “Who are you?” he demanded.

  A female’s voice echoed from one of the bedrooms. “I’m not here to hurt you. I’m here to speak with the queen.”

  “Not until you tell me who you are.”

  Wheels crunched on the gravel outside. Headlights flashed through the open door. Either we were getting more unwelcome company, or Zac and Charles had returned. The buzzing sensation and glow from Charles’s part of my tattoo grew a little stronger. I hoped that was a good sign. But I had to resist the urge to run to him. We had a trespasser to deal with.

  The trespasser sure sounded sincere. “Please, I need to speak with Queen Wren alone.”

  “The queen speaks to no one without her mates present.”

  I really wanted to step in and demand that this chick shit or get off the pot already, but I didn’t want Ashe to feel like I didn’t trust him to handle things. Plus, I was trying out this new thing called Wait Five Minutes Before Killing Anyone since Ashe tended to frown about that.

  “I’m sorry, but it’s urgent.”

  A flash of light like a small comet hit Ashe squarely in the chest. He flew backwards into the wall and slumped to the floor.

  “Ashe!” I zoomed to the top of the stairs. Sparks like mini streaks of lightning encompassed him. He groaned and shook all over as though he were being electrocuted.

  “Queen Wren, please,” the stranger pleaded as she stepped out of the shadows. She had blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail and wore what looked like army green combat fatigues. Sparks orbited her hands. “I need you to come with me. I’m not here to hurt you.”

  “Your actions would prove otherwise,” I hissed.

  She opened her mouth to speak again, but I didn’t give her a chance. So much for waiting five minutes. I flew at her as fast as the lightning blast she’d hurled at Ashe.. With the heel of my hand, I hit her right in the sternum. She went flying backward, through my bedroom, and straight through the window. Glass shattered. A thump soon followed. I might have killed her. I really didn’t care.

  Running back to Ashe, I hit my knees and skidded to a stop at his side. He was no longer covered in sparks but lay there limp.

  I shook him gently, guilt tugging at me from every corner. “Ashe, can you hear me?”

  His eyes fluttered open. He groaned and finally met my gaze. “Are you okay?” he whispered, voice strained through his gritted teeth.

  Of course he’d ask me that when he was the one who’d been hit. “I’m fine. We have to get out of here. Obviously, it’s not safe anymore.”

  Footsteps thundered up the stairs. I shot to my feet, ready to kick ass and take names later. But to my relief, it was Zac, holding an unconscious blonde lady. I thought for a moment it was the chick I’d thrown out the window. Then I saw the beauty mark and sequins and realized it was Vivian.

  “Are you going to make a habit of bringing unconscious women in here?” I asked but couldn’t hide my smile at knowing Zac was okay. Bloody, dirty, and bruised, but still standing.

  “Only if necessary. Are you okay? Is he?” He glanced down at Ashe, who was slowly getting to his feet.

  “Yeah, we’re fine. Where’s Charles?”

  Downstairs, the voice I needed to hear rang out. “Wren! Where are you?”

  “Up here!”

  Zac stepped out of the way and carried Vivian into his room just down the hall. I ran downstairs, where Charles slammed the front door shut and locked it. He kept his body pressed against it but opened his arms to catch me as I melted into him.

  “Wren, shit, I’m so glad you’re okay,” he said, his voice rough, and squeezed me tighter.

  “Ditto. I’m sorry I left you there.”

  He gave me a firm, but quick kiss and shook his head. “Don’t worry about that. We have company.”

  “I know. I just knocked her out of the window.”

  “No, not that one. Three more in a car.”

  Limping somewhat, Ashe joined us just as a thud came from upstairs. Then another.

  Charles whispered, “They’re in the house.”

  “What? Did they fucking fly up there?” Ashe said. “You have any more darts?”

  “In Birdie’s trunk,” Charles grumbled. He and Ashe both positioned themselves in front of me.

  “Figures.” I gently pushed them both aside. “I may be a vampire princess, but I’m no damsel in distress. Maybe it’s just Zac moving around.”

  “I don’t think so,” Ashe said as three dark male figures appeared at the top of the stairs, all of them covered head to toe in combat fatigues, with sparks orbiting their hands just like the woman.

  “Come with us,” they all said in unison like some cheap-ass knockoff of The Shining.

  “Door,” Charles whispered, but I was already sliding open the locks behind my back. Their heat signatures were warm like humans, though they were obviously something else.

  “Now,” I whispered. Whipping myself around, I flung open the door, ready to make a run for it.

  Instead, I came face to face with the chick I’d knocked out earlier.

  “I’m sorry,” she said as sparks flew from her fingers.

  Every muscle in my body seized. I fell to the porch and could see the same thing had happened to poor Ashe and Charles. The lady stood over us, the sparks on her hands morphing into hypnotizing swirls of color. My eyes followed the spinning lights until they turned wavy like water.

  The woman’s face came close—it wavered as though it were underwater too.

  “Sleep now. You’ll be safe.”

  ****

  I woke in an annoyingly familiar state—lying on my side, groggy, aching all over, except my hands were bound in front of me with iron shackles. That was new. And stupid. I’d be out of those in about a millisecond.

  But they sparked and burned my skin when I struggled to break them. “Damn it.”

  Wedging my back against the wall, I sat up and looked around. At least I wasn’t alone. Zac, Ashe, Charles, and even Vivian were al
l here, too, shackled just like I was. They were all still unconscious. Vivian drooled on the floor, smacked her lips, and settled back into sleep.

  The room rocked, then shook, and I realized we were in a truck of some sort. The entire compartment had solid walls covered with what looked like rich red velvet upholstery you’d find on fancy furniture. I scooted around, drew back my foot, and kicked the shit out of the wall. What felt like an electric current shot up my leg and gave me a serious Charlie horse.

  “Damn it to hell and back.” My life had become a cycle of getting caught and released. “Like a goddamn bass,” I muttered.

  “Fish sounds good,” Zac groaned, pushing himself up to sit.

  “Leave it to you to think about food at a time like this.”

  He grinned then stared down at his shackles. They sparked just like mine did when he tried to get out of them. “This makes no sense. How can they be electrified? There aren’t any wires.”

  Charles growled himself awake and sat up. “They’re not electrified. They’re magicfied.”

  “Magicfied?” Zac arched an eyebrow.

  “Yeah. With magic. A warding spell. Pretty much unbreakable.” He stared at the walls, his gaze flicking side to side as though recalling some distant memory.

  “Fuck me,” Zac whispered, shaking his shackles in frustration.

  “No, thanks, I don’t roll that way.” Charles winked at me.

  Zac rolled his eyes.

  Vivian was the next to wake up, which she did with a start, bolting straight up to her feet. She backed into a corner, her eyes wild. She stared in disbelief at her shackled hands and cringed. Then she screamed like an actress in this bad horror movie we’d found ourselves in.

  The sound hurt my ears and blurred my vision until I saw someone else entirely sitting in that corner, hunkered up against the wall.

  Crying, so much crying. A tiny hand wiped tears from a cool, wet cheek.

  Don’t cry, Mama.

  A man sat close by, holding a young boy tightly in his arms. So much hopelessness on the man’s face. And guilt. The boy turned his head, and I looked into his eyes. They were a warm amber color, with flecks of brown, and shined with more fear than I’d ever seen before…