Sever the Crown: Vampire Reverse Harem Complete Series

by Mysti Parker

  Talia squinted into the abyss. “No way. It smells like death down there.”

  “You’ll be fine. Just stick close to me,” Marlowe said.

  “Let me guess – another celestial bar?” I asked him.

  “Not exactly. There’s someone you need to meet, though. I made a couple calls while we waited by the gate. Although, I have to warn you, she’s a little rough around the edges.”

  “Compared to me, she must be pretty scary, then. Let’s go.”

  We trudged down the stairs two by two with Marlowe and Talia leading the way. Zac and I were next, followed by Hawk and Charles, Ashe and Vincent, and the Knights. My foot slipped on the damp stone, but Zac steadied me.

  I won’t ever let you fall, Wren, he’d said that night in the forest. As though he’d read my mind, he whispered, “Not ever.”

  I smiled, my entire chest warming.

  Once our whole vampire party plus one witch had cleared the opening, the concrete slab slid closed again. Tiny pebbles rained down on my hood as pitch darkness closed in on us. I was about to ask Zac if he needed some light when he paused and lowered his hood.

  A dull yellow light shone in his eyes. Night vision. I hoped he would adjust to it soon.

  “What do you see?” I asked him.

  “All of you are kind of glowing blue, except Talia.” A quiet growl rumbled in his throat.

  “Easy now.” I gripped his arm just in case. He hadn’t had time to fully control his thirst.

  A bright light soon lit up the corridor. Talia had surrounded herself with a magical shield. “Just in case,” she said, looking warily over her shoulder. “Try breaking through that, and you’ll get the shock of your undead life. Literally.”

  He tensed then shuddered as he nodded. “I’ve got this. I won’t hurt you.”

  “I know.” For a second, she looked haunted, likely at the memory of what Zac had done to Travis.

  Zac bowed his head, probably remembering the exact same thing.

  “What is this place?” Ashe asked. “Being trapped underground isn’t exactly safe for Wren or any of us.”

  “We’re not trapped,” Marlowe said. “This is actually one of many underground facilities built during Bronwen’s reign. The rest have either been destroyed or are under Ravana’s control now. This one is considered a neutral space between the Northern and Southern Clans.”

  Yet another little fact I had been clueless about. If we could ever get settled long enough to keep from running for our lives, I’d request some serious tutoring in vampire culture, geography, the whole nine yards.

  “And we’re meeting who?” I asked.

  “The queen of the Northern Clan.”

  “Uh…what?” I blinked at him. I hadn’t planned on meeting another monarch today or anytime soon. And I sure as hell wasn’t dressed for the occasion. I’d thrown on some yoga pants and my favorite orange Gators T-shirt before we’d teleported into the cemetery. No makeup. My hair was standing up wildly on one side where I’d been sleeping on Hawk’s chest when Vincent told us Zac had escaped. Now my eyes were red and puffy from crying like an idiot after I found him.

  “She’s willing to meet you and decide whether to be your ally or not. Sorry for the short notice. I’ve been trying to contact her ever since I knew you were the real deal. She only just responded when we arrived at the cemetery. It would be unwise to miss this opportunity.” Marlowe tipped my chin up and kissed me softly. “And don’t worry. You look fine. Even fresh out of bed.”

  Water dripped on our heads as we traversed down the seemingly endless corridor. It had been lined with stone, though roots had pushed their way through and wound along overhead in a tangled maze. But my mind was just as tangled with doubts. I knew nothing about the other queens and whether they were friends or foes.

  Charles cried out, and we all jumped.

  He smacked the back of his neck. “Sorry. Spider. I hate spiders.”

  “Don’t do that!” Hawk growled.

  “Sorry, I’ll be quiet.”

  “No, I meant stop smashing spiders. He was here first. You could have just brushed him off.”

  “Okay, okay. Sorry, Doctor Doolittle.”

  “Knock it off, you two,” I said as we rounded a corner and came face-to-face with a burly vampire standing guard in front of a closed stone door.

  “Lost?” His deep voice rumbled and prickled the hairs on the back of my neck.

  “We’re here to see Queen Eleanor.”

  “Password?”

  “Princess Wren.” Marlowe grinned over his shoulder at me.

  “You may enter,” the guard said as he pushed open the door and stood aside. He bowed as I passed. “Your Majesty.”

  I didn’t know whether to pat his head or hand him a tip. Was there even a protocol for such things?

  I settled on a simple, “Thanks.”

  Beyond this door lay another corridor, but this one was lined with several similar doors. Besides the underlying musty smell was that of wine, whiskey, oak, and cigars. One wide open doorway spilled light onto the slick stone floor. Dark stains wafted a coppery smell as we went along. Blood, no doubt. A mix of old and new. Jazz music played from a scratchy-sounding jukebox. Voices echoed from within the room. People cheered and laughed. Others screamed curses.

  “Her name sounds too elegant for this place,” I said.

  Marlowe chuckled. “Don’t count on that.”

  As soon as we entered the underground tavern, my eyes homed in on two human males. Naked, covered with oil, and wrestling on a tarp. In front of them on a mossy stone throne sat a beautiful vampire woman with curly, dark red hair and stunning chartreuse eyes. She had one leg thrown casually over an arm of the throne and propped herself on her elbow on the other arm.

  She spotted us and leisurely waved us over. Everyone at the tables – vampires from what I could tell – watched us warily. Some even got up and moved to different tables, looking disgusted. We still wore our white sunproof robes. They may have thought we were celestials or cultists.

  We wound our way around the tables, barely dodging the wrestlers as one of them knocked the other down right in front of me and trapped him in a headlock. They both went still and watched me while I approached the woman I assumed was Queen Eleanor. Knowing my aunt’s propensity to use doppelgangers, I couldn’t be sure. Was she just as depraved as Ravana? So far, the only questionable activity was a couple of naked wrestlers. No one was doing drugs or draining helpless humans or fucking on the tables. Of course, that could be happening behind the scenes. I wasn’t that naïve. If that was the case, I wanted nothing to do with her, but I trusted Marlowe knew who we were dealing with.

  “So you’re the little resurrected princess,” she said, slowly sitting upright.

  “It’s Wren. And you are?”

  She glared at Marlowe with one eyebrow arched. “Did you tell this kid nothing?”

  “I told her who you are,” he said.

  I flicked my gaze between them. “You really are Queen Eleanor?”

  “Who else would I be?” She grinned, showing some fang. “Oh, I get it. Your auntie and her stupid doubles. She’s such a coward. Heard she almost killed one of them at that concert.”

  Zac and I glanced at one another.

  “Well, don’t just stand there like you have corn for sale. Let’s have a seat and chat, shall we?”

  She unfolded her exceptionally long legs as she stood. The chick was even taller than Talia and dressed nothing like a queen. She wore skintight jeans with holes, knee-high brown suede boots, a black Grateful Dead T-shirt, and over that, a red plaid flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up.

  Eleanor led us to a large table on the far side of the tavern. She had a seat on one side. I sat opposite her with Zac beside me. His eyes were ringed with red and his fangs had dropped as soon as he saw the human wrestlers.

  The queen waved over a server. “Get this one a DBD, will you?” She glared at Zac while the server walked away. “New blood, h
uh?”

  “How can you tell?”

  “I can smell the human still in him. Which one of you turned him?”

  “I did,” I answered, keeping a firm hand on Zac’s thigh.

  “You know that’s illegal.”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m sure you had good reason, then.”

  “Yes,” I replied, uncertain how many details I should divulge to her, fellow monarch or not.

  “Funny how history repeats itself. Your mom turned your dad too.”

  “I know.”

  “Did you make him your fifth mate like she did with Albert?”

  “Yes, well, not yet actually. So, where are your mates?”

  She gave me a lopsided grin. “They’re around.”

  Okay, then. Was she afraid I might try to kill them and take her throne? I looked around the tavern. Any of these vampire men could be her mates. They all wore long sleeves so I couldn’t see any tattoos.

  The server returned with one of the human males who’d just been wrestling on the floor. He wore a pair of boxers this time, thankfully.

  “Hey, I’m Troy.” He did that head jerk thing guys like to do when they’re trying to act cool. “You like O neg?”

  “Uh, sure,” Zac said, but the growl in his voice worried me. I hoped I wouldn’t have to repeat the same process I had with Annie. That would be hella weird here in front of a queen and a bunch of strangers.

  Zac took my hand, holding it tightly as though he needed the contact.

  “You okay?” I whispered.

  “Yeah. I can do this. Just stay close, please.”

  “Of course.” I smoothed back his hair and kissed his cheek.

  Eleanor watched us with an amused grin as she sipped a frothy blood beer. “God, you two are as sickeningly sweet as your mom and Albert were. I’m surprised he’s not already your mate.”

  “How well did you know them?”

  “Well enough to know that she became a totally different queen after he came along.”

  I’d gleaned that much from the things I’d learned about my mom since this journey began. But there was still so much I didn’t know.

  “How so?” I asked, keeping a wary eye on Zac while he latched onto Troy’s wrist and slurped as he drank. His table manners weren’t quite refined yet.

  Troy closed his eyes and moaned with pleasure. Zac slid his gaze to me as though asking if that was normal. I nodded at him and squeezed his hand.

  Eleanor grimaced at the sight of Zac’s messy meal, one well-shaped eyebrow arched as she watched them. She turned her attention to me. “Well, let’s just say that Bronwen once made Ravana look tame.”

  “Really.” I blinked at her and swallowed hard, halfway scared to hear any more. “I find that hard to believe.”

  She continued with a shrug. “Believe it or not. No skin off my back. I mean, she learned it from her mother back in France before they came to America when the clans here were established. Your grandmother, Avriel, was known to be a great friend to Countess Elizabeth Bathory.”

  “Hang on – that Countess Bathory?” Hawk asked, glancing at me as though I might turn into a serial killer like her. “The one that bathed in young women’s blood?”

  “The one and the same,” Eleanor answered. “It was said that when the countess discovered Avriel was an immortal creature, she invited her over to feast on poor, unfortunate servant girls. Some say she tried to get your grandmother to turn her, but Avriel refused, which drove the countess insane. Some say perhaps she did turn her and that the countess never really died as was reported in history.”

  I sat speechless for a moment. “My mother never told me any of this.”

  Eleanor gave me a look that might have been construed as compassionate. “Figures. Bet you didn’t know that she and her sister were planning to scour the earth and repopulate it.”

  “Wait a minute – Ravana and my mother wanted to end the world?”

  “Yep. And up until the end of the Civil War, they still planned to do just that. Albert changed Bronwen’s mind. So I heard. He was quite the Christian fellow and supposedly converted her. Ravana didn’t take that too well.”

  “I’d say. But…” Everything I thought I knew about my mother seemed like a lie. How could she have been so well loved if she was once as depraved as the rest of her family?

  “Sucks, huh? Goes to show you never really know a person. My mom wasn’t a saint either. But that’s another story.”

  Zac finished up and wiped his mouth with a napkin from the table. He averted his eyes from Troy’s adoring gaze. “Uh, thanks.”

  “My pleasure. Call on me anytime.” He leaned in close to Zac’s ear. “I do mean any time.” Then he stood, bowed to Queen Eleanor, and joined his wrestling companion at the bar.

  “That was…uncomfortable,” Zac mumbled.

  “You’ll get used to it,” Charles said. “Just because a DBD gets turned on by you doesn’t mean you have to sleep with them. Save your energy for your queen.”

  Hawk winked at me and grinned. I couldn’t help but think of the DBD he and I had shared that night. In more ways than one.

  Zac raised his eyes to meet mine. A slow smile curved across his face. “I can do that.”

  Eleanor slapped her palms on the table. “Okay, so you two need to go fuck. And I’m due for a nice fuck myself. But before that, let’s get something straight.”

  “Go on.”

  “You’re about to gain your fifth mate. But what then? Ravana has a few centuries on you, as do some of her mates. She has a lot of support. How do you expect to take her down? I see you have a witch and a few Knights and some mates, but that’s not exactly an army.”

  “Honestly, I don’t know exactly how I’ll kill her just yet, but I’ve gotten this far. I won’t stop until it’s done.”

  “Persistent little bitch, huh?”

  “Hey!” Hawk yelled from his spot at the table. “That’s our queen you’re calling a –”

  Eleanor’s sharp glare silenced him. “When I say bitch, that’s a good thing, kid. Polite little ladies don’t make good queens. Watch yourself, and don’t interrupt me again.”

  “Sorry.” Hawk lowered his head, giving me an apologetic smile. He’d have to contain his fiery temper around powerful vampires who were potential allies.

  “Mm-hmm.” She turned her attention back to me. “So, I wanted to size you up and see if you might stand a chance against Ravana. I’d say you do, but if you try to launch a surprise attack, you’re going to fail. She’ll not hesitate to blow up half the Southern Clan just to kill you.”

  “Yeah,” I sighed. “She’s already tried.”

  “The only way for this to work is to call out Ravana for a showdown and insist on a fair fight.”

  Marlowe laughed. “You expect Ravana to fight fair?”

  “Hell no. She’ll pull every trick in the book under normal circumstances. But she likes the idea of tradition. And it’s an age-old tradition to have another monarch in attendance for a queen versus queen tournament as a referee. So that’s what I’ll do. And I’ll bring my army along to keep things in check.”

  “Seriously?” In the back of my mind, I briefly registered using Vivian’s favorite word. She’d rubbed off on me. “You’ve known me for like five minutes, and you’d offer me your army to help?”

  “Well, there’s one catch. If we do this, the rules are no one can intervene unless one side is cheating. If you’re getting your asses kicked fair and square, there’s nothing I can legally do. And she could very well walk away with her crown intact.”

  “It’s probably the best option we have right now,” Marlowe said.

  “I’ll have to discuss it with my mates.”

  “Of course,” Eleanor said with a somewhat patronizing nod. “But first, let’s get this guy a tattoo.”

  “You mean right here, in front of everyone?” Zac asked, looking around the crowded place.

  “Yeah, what’d you think I meant? I’ve never se
en it done, so I want to see it now.” Eleanor stood, rested her boot on the seat of her chair, and propped one elbow on her knee. “You have the scepter, right?”

  Marlowe stood and came over, scooting a chair up next to Zac and me. “Yeah, we have it. I’ll show you how to use it, Wren.” He rubbed my back. Such a simple gesture, but it was so reassuring.

  “Thanks.” I pulled the scepter from my cloak and held it out for him to see.

  He pointed to a row of rubies along its length. “Press them in this order – two, four, four, one, five.”

  “Okay…” I did as he said. The scepter vibrated like Archie when he purred. The big ruby on top lit up and flipped upside down. A golden symbol just like mine and the others glittered in the light. It turned red like superheated metal.

  Zac side-eyed the scepter. “That looks painful.”

  “It is,” Marlowe confirmed. “That’s why most of us get them as babies, so we forget the pain easily.”

  “Sounds great,” he deadpanned. It reminded me of how I knew him best – a gruff and grumpy detective.

  “Sounds like the night we met.” I ran my fingers down his jaw and pressed my thumb to his chin dimple. “You used a UV light to show me my tattoo. Remember?”

  “How could I ever forget?” He searched my eyes and took my hand in his, then quickly drew my thumb into his mouth and sucked it.

  “Zac…” My pussy clenched. Hot wetness pooled between my legs.

  Queen Eleanor cleared her throat. “It goes tattoo first, fuck later. I mean if you want to fuck out here on the table, be my guest, but once you’re officially mates, sex is on a whole new level.”

  “Do it,” Zac said and pulled up the sleeve of his robe, his gaze never leaving mine.

  I knew him better than to think he was jumping into this only for the great sex. The tattoo would mean something to him, to us both.

  Marlowe glanced around the table. “Okay, you just place it flat against the wrist and leave it until all of you – all of us – feel it.”