Playing With Monsters

by Amelia Hutchins

  “Don’t fight it,” he whispered softly as his thumb traced my cheek and then my full bottom lip. “My men want you dead for what you saw tonight. I think you can be saved from that; what do you think?” he asked and smiled as I once again moved my lips as fear spread through me. It felt wrong, his magic, what he could do. I had no willpower, nothing. Words eluded me, and that scared the shit out of me.

  What the hell kind of monster was he? I couldn’t talk, and my mind was turning to fried mush. I tried to speak again, but only air escaped from my lips. Had I just moaned? Or was it my imagination? It was at least a freaking noise.

  “You saw me tonight, but you were mistaken,” he whispered hoarsely as he lowered his mouth to my collarbone and kissed it. My body responded, even though I begged it silently to ignore his wicked lips.

  “I was mistaken,” I parroted softly, and blinked at my own words. That hadn’t been what I’d intended to say at all.

  “Yes,” he said as he lifted his hands from mine, releasing them. “That’s a good girl, Lena,” he muttered as his mouth touched the pulse that raced along the length of my neck. “You were mistaken; you saw me burying a dog in the back of my property, one who’d been struck by a car on the highway.”

  “I saw you burying a dog,” I whispered breathlessly as he sucked on my neck. I could feel his smile curve against my flesh as he heard my heated moan in response to his mouth against my skin. His hand brushed the stray hairs that had been freed from my ponytail away from my face, his mouth pressed against my forehead, and a tear slipped from my eye.

  How the hell was he holding me here? I couldn’t move. He’d freed me physically, but something had replaced his hold and I was helpless to do anything but lay on the bed as he hovered above me, placing soft kisses against my flesh.

  “I came to you after the others left, and you let me in to talk,” he continued.

  My chest heaved as I tried to force the right words out of my mouth, and yet I repeated his words verbatim. His eyes lowered to where my nipples had hardened as his mouth seduced my body, and my mind. One hand slid over the flesh that was exposed, and his fingers found and leisurely traced the outline of one nipple and then the other.

  “Tell me to fuck you,” he urged.

  “Fuck me,” I uttered to my own horrified amazement. I’d totally intended to tell him to get fucked elsewhere, by anyone but me. “No,” I hissed somehow, forming the word my brain was screaming.

  His eyes lifted to mine. “You want me buried inside of you, Lena. Invite me to fuck you. Part your legs for me, now,” he growled as his tone intensified. “Show me how wet you are.”

  “Fuck me…” I whispered breathlessly as I stretched my legs open further than they already were. It was painful, embarrassing, and angry tears rushed to my eyes. I refused to let this monster see me cry.

  “Good girl,” he replied as he sat back on his knees and looked over my body that was spread open for him. At least I was dressed, barely, but it was something between him and my lady parts. “See, sweet girl, you see how easy it is for me? I have full control of you. I can make you do anything at any time. I can steal any memory from you and you’d not even miss it. The only thing I cannot make you do is respond to my touch as you are right now.”

  I trembled as his words echoed through my brain. My eyes took in his disheveled suit and noted the runes that glowed and pulsed just beneath the collar of his dress shirt. Death runes? Impossible. It was a dead language. No one knew how to use them, let alone control them enough to place them upon skin. I tried to focus on them, but unbidden, my eyes moved to meet his.

  “You won’t get in my business again,” he whispered with a strange tone and cadence to his words as he lowered his mouth and nipped at my bottom lip. Pain shot through my body, and I moaned as he released my lip, only to capture it again and apply even more pressure. Pain mixed with pleasure, and I felt my body melting for more. “You like that, don’t you, sweet girl?” he asked as he pulled away and looked my body over slowly. “You make it really fucking hard to walk away when you respond to me so sweetly,” he rumbled angrily and I blinked in confusion.

  As if I wanted this? I couldn’t seem to control my body around him, and he had me at a huge disadvantage.

  “What are you doing to me?” I whispered in a broken whimper as the emotions I had been holding back threatened to come out all at once.

  “You’ll stay out of my way, because killing you would be a waste of what I presume will be a worthwhile fuck. I won’t take chances, not even for you, Lena. My men want you dead and they’re not convinced you can be swayed to stay out of our way. You’re too fragile in this state, too breakable. Do you understand what I am telling you?” he asked as his eyes lifted to meet mine. I inhaled a shuddering breath as I took them in. They were no longer inky black, but a striking shade of blue mixed with green hues. I blinked and they were back to normal, and I wondered if I had imagined it?

  “I’m fragile, I need to stay out of your way,” I replied through anger and disbelief. I was not fragile!

  “I wish you weren’t so fragile,” he whispered ruefully as his fingers trailed between my thighs. “I’m not accustomed to waiting for what I want, and it’s only going to be harder on you when I finally get it.”

  I narrowed my eyes on his and forced words out through my useless lips. “I didn’t see a dog.”

  His eyes snapped to mine and narrowed. His body instantly pressed hard against mine and his hands captured my face and held it immobile between his large hands. His kiss was hard, punishingly so. I moaned and tried to remember why I needed to fight him.

  “I came by the house to explain what happened tonight,” he said insistently as he pulled his mouth away. “You let me inside. We talked for a while, and I told you about the dog. The one I discovered on the highway. It’s what you saw me burying tonight. There was no body, just a dog. You thought it was a human, but it was an honest mistake. I left when you became tired, and you slept peacefully afterwards.”

  My lips moved, telling him exactly what he wanted to hear. After the words had left my mouth, I kissed him to shut him up. His words were ricocheting through my head, and it hurt. Bad. It was like compulsion, but I knew it couldn’t be. Witches of our coven were protected from it, and yet whatever he was doing, I wanted to believe in what he was saying.

  “You’ll come to my club tomorrow. Your sister will bring you at the coven’s bidding. You’ll come to my office alone. I’ll see you there, sweet witch.”

  I blinked and looked around the room. I sat up and looked at the floor where the salt was still in place around the bed. My eyes moved to the warding runes on the walls that had been carved there when the house was first built, and then I looked out the single window at the fading form of the man who I was pretty sure wasn’t a warlock, because we couldn’t do those kinds of tricks.

  Chapter Seven

  I pulled the teapot from the stove and filled a large mug to the rim with burning water. The earthy aroma of Earl Grey made my nose dance a little as I added the sugar and stirred the mixture together. I set it down briefly to pull on the knee-length weaved sweater, and headed to the porch.

  I placed the mug on the white oak carved coffee table my grandfather had made so many years ago, and seated myself on the small porch swing. I’d missed home, and even though I’d enjoyed living outside of this place, I felt the call to come back the entire time. I’d actually had to force myself to remain where I was and on the path I’d chosen for myself.

  My eyes traveled to the garden and I paused. The wind blew the overgrown herbs, sending wisps of the flowering plants into the rows around them. My mother had never let it become this overgrown, not even when Joshua died. I’d been pissed that instead of screaming and crying, she’d gone to the garden.

  I hadn’t understood it at the time, but now I did. It gave her pu
rpose, and was soothing, familiar. My hands itched to pull the herbs from the soil, to feel the familiar dirt beneath my nails. Normally the plants would be harvested and stored for winter. Some would already be in the drying hut, where they would be cured naturally for potency.

  We used the herbs from this garden to do spells, ceremonies and, most importantly, to fill the shelves of our store and be shipped out to other covens. Yet it was in disarray, overgrown, and neglected.

  The sound of boots hitting wood along with the associated sounds of creaking from the front porch of the main house pulled my attention from the garden, to where Kendra was moving towards me. Her shoulders were back, her hair up in a messy bun, and she had dark circles under her eyes that told me she hadn’t slept much at all.

  I squared myself for what was to come, and knew that it was better to get it out of the way than let it build. We were alike in that way; usually neither one of us could sleep if we’d had a fight with each other, but I’d been able to sleep just fine last night, why? Memories of flashing midnight blue eyes mixed with a soft hint of green came rushing back and I sighed. More nightmares I couldn’t remember? Probably.

  I remembered him being here, but it seemed off. As if it wasn’t my memory but something else. I was catching flashes of other things, such as his hands against my throat, his lips touching mine. Nothing so simple as a nice little visit which was what my mind kept telling me it had been. My brain itched, and those flash backs kept happening the moment I stopped trying to remember. It also tended to make my brain fuzzy, as if something was preventing the memories from coming. Or maybe I was just wishing something more had happened, which meant I seriously needed to stop thinking about Lucian in a kinky-I-want-him kinda way.

  “We need to talk,” she said softly as she moved across the porch and sat beside me on the swing. Her hand slipped into mine and I continued staring out over the sprawling estate. I felt her eyes on me and after a few minutes of pulling up enough strength from the elements, I turned and looked at her.

  “I need to get this out, and I need for you to just listen to me,” she started.

  I groaned inwardly and kept my eyes fixed on hers. Her jewel-like eyes sparkled with unshed tears as she shook her heart shaped face and sighed heavily. Or maybe I’d been the one to sigh. Her honeyed complexion was ashen today, probably because of the severity of where this was leading to. She pushed a stray lock of caramel colored hair away from her face and bit her lip in thought, as I often did. We were identical in looks, and still so very different from each other even in our similar mannerisms.

  “Groan all you want, but I need to tell you. I need you to understand why I would do this, especially after what he did to you,” she continued.

  “I don’t care why you did it,” I whispered. Actually, I did. I cared because she was supposed to have my back. We were identical twins, and we had an unshakable bond. It was just weird that he’d go to her, when he’d had me. I didn’t understand it at all.

  “You were gone, and neither of us understood why you went through with it,” she replied. “First he started coming around asking about you; what school you went to. I sent him away at first, but he kept coming back. We started talking, and we had something in common: You,” she said with guilt buried in her feelings and tone.

  Great, my sister, and my best friend, bonded with my cheating ex-fiancé over me? How sweet.

  “Stop that,” she said picking up on my inward sarcasm without me needing to say it out loud. Sometimes being as close as we were really sucked. “I didn’t want it to happen, but I missed you so much. We missed you so much. Everyone else? They didn’t notice. I mean, they did, but it was like you were a ghost around here. Your name wasn’t spoken out loud; it was as if you’d died with Josh in Afghanistan. Do you have any idea what that was like for me? I couldn’t bring you up, my other fucking half, and I couldn’t talk about you. It made people uncomfortable; everyone except Todd. He wanted to talk about you, and it felt good. I had someone I could talk to about missing you. I couldn’t even feel you! I was out of my head going crazy, and you didn’t even call. Not even to return my calls. We’d never been apart, Lena, and then you were just gone from my life as if you’d cut me out like a cancer.”

  “I needed to get away, Kendra. I needed to figure out what was next, because being here was smothering me. I get that it was selfish, but if I’d tried to say goodbye, you’d have begged me to stay. I couldn’t. I was a mess, and there were other things going on. I just needed to know I would be okay by myself, I guess. I needed to know that there was life outside of this town.”

  “You could have sent me a letter,” she whispered as she turned her eyes away. “As I was saying, we got close and things just happened. I love him. I think maybe I always have, and that makes me suck big time, because you’re my sister and my best friend. I know that if he’d remained yours, nothing would have ever happened.”

  “I sent you flowers, and I know you knew they were from me.” I inwardly tensed.

  She rolled her eyes in response and shook her head. “That’s not the same and you know it.” Her chest heaved as she expelled a deep sigh.

  “I know you wouldn’t have done this if I was still with him. I don’t hate for you being with him,” I sighed heavily. “I do think it’s a little twisted that you and I are identical, and a piece of me wonders if he isn’t using you as a backup.” Based on his words and behavior last night, the scenario made perfect sense to me.

  “I considered that, but he loves me, even though I broke up with him. He said we should play it out, let you think he hasn’t been with anyone since, well, you know. I slept with him, though, and you coming back home hasn’t changed how I feel about him. I guess I needed to be here for you, and I wanted to be the one who explained it. I didn’t get a lot of time with you last night, which is probably my fault.”

  “Probably partly mine too,” I said sheepishly. “I was too busy kissing Lucian before I accused him of clinging to a dead body.”

  “Shut the front door, you didn’t,” she laughed. “And then all this mess, shit, Lena. You’re so wicked,” she said as she leaned back and closed her eyes before she sat back up, smiling.

  “Twice, and almost gave him a lot more,” I admitted. “The guy can seriously work some magic with his lips.”

  “Speaking of Lucian, the coven has called you in to answer for what you did last night. Cassidy’s mom isn’t going to let it go. I can come with you.”

  I curled my fingers around hers and shook my head. “It was a dog,” I whispered, even though something inside of me wanted to scream that it wasn’t. Weird.

  “Get dressed; I’ll meet you out front in twenty minutes.”

  “Sounds good,” I said, still puzzled by my reaction to the words. Why didn’t I believe myself? I looked up as she paused.

  “I’m really sorry you had to find out like you did. Unless the ancestors do a bit of intervening, I won’t be with him for the Harvest; Mom says that after what happened with you, that it showed poor character and he might be one of the few that the ancestors don’t bless during their first Awakening. I’m not sure what he feels for you, but I know he regrets what he did.”

  “I don’t love him,” I blurted, and smiled as she expelled a shuddering sigh. “I don’t know for sure if I ever truly did. I think we were just moving onto the next step without any real understanding of what it would mean. We were kids, and it might sound crazy because only a few years have passed, but I guess I feel relieved that I didn’t end up his wife. I might actually have to thank Cassidy for being a bitch, and sleeping with my fiancé. That really fucking sucks.”

  She laughed, and it pulled a reaction from me. I laughed and shook my head. “Why did you go through with it? I thought, or assumed it was because he cheated on you and you were heartbroken. I felt pain, I know it hurt you.”

  “It hurt
me pretty bad, but I just thought we were cursed, or that I was. Every man I loved left me, all of them, Kendra, and in such a short amount of time too. Dad, Grandpa, Joshua, and Todd. All fairly close to one another and I thought it was me. That maybe I was cursed, and if I could get away, you’d have a chance. At least when I was convincing myself to go it’s what played through my head. Do you remember Grandmother telling us about the curse? That every man we loved would leave us, or die?” I whispered softly, as if someone would over hear us.

  “I don’t believe it. Joshua was killed by a bomb, Grandpa died of natural causes, and Dad left us all. Todd fucked up, he was an idiot. Dad, by the way, is back. He’s with Helen. Turns out Cassidy is his, seems that even though Dad was paired with Mom for the Harvest, he was also sneaking off with Helen during the same time. He found out Cassidy was his, and left us. He made it look like he left town, because they needed time to figure out what to say. Like we wouldn’t see right through what he wanted. Helen has a lot more money than Mom does and her standing in the coven is higher, even if she isn’t one of the original bloodlines.”

  I felt my heart twist and closed my eyes. “That explains why Cassidy hates us.”

  “Not us, just you. I’ve spent some time with her.”

  “Thanks,” I replied on a laugh. “Anything else I should know?”

  “I was sneaking into the Guild, learning about our history. I’m a badass now,” she snickered proudly as my stomach dropped.

  My blood ran ice cold. “You did what?” It felt as if the floor had been knocked out from beneath me. No one was that crazy, surely not Kendra. Not my sister.

  “Chill out, I was safe. They’re not as bad as we’ve heard, either. Shady, but who isn’t? I met Guild witches, and Enforcers outside the Guild. Even went on a date with one. They’re not like us, but they are serious about their jobs, big time. Brainwashed to the mother-loving core,” she said with an emphatic nod and a wide, naughty grin.