A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor (Tempting Monsters Book 1)

by Kathryn Moon

  Auguste stiffened as we reached them, the others climbing the steps up until only my men and I remained underground.

  "We'll all stay here together," I said as Auguste set me on my feet.

  "No," all the men said at once.

  "I'll stay with Auguste," Ezra and Mr. Tanner both said.

  "Where's that knife? You're all insane if you think I'm going anywhere without—"

  "Enough!" Amon barked. "We are all walking out of here together. Now. Auguste, do you trust me to keep you safe?"

  "From sunlight?!" Auguste cried, eyes widening.

  "Yes."

  Auguste blinked at Amon, the two of them staring at one another. Auguste turned to me briefly and then back to Amon, expression going smooth.

  "I…I do."

  I opened my mouth about to object and then stopped, staring at Amon. I trusted him too. If the question had been whether I trusted Amon with my own safety, my answer would've been an immediate yes. Did I trust him with the others? I needed to if we were really all going to be able to carry on the way we were.

  I glanced at Mr. Tanner, whose eyes were narrowed, but he reached for my hand and didn't stop Auguste from stepping slowly forward with Amon.

  "I can tug him back if it goes awry, little one," Mr. Tanner murmured, drawing me up into his arms to press a kiss to the top of my head.

  Amon's wings appeared with a soft rustle and a growing shadow, blocking the light of the lantern as they spread to fill the last hall of the tunnel, covering Auguste from view as they walked slowly up the steps together.

  It was on the tip of my tongue to cry out for them to stop, to beg for us all to wait down here in the dark together for the day, regardless of Birsha or anything else.

  I trust Amon. Auguste will be safe. We're all going back to the house. I chanted it to myself as we walked in pairs up the stairs, the tips of Amon's wings running over the steps like dark broom bristles, kicking up ash and then dusting it away into nothing.

  "You're—" Auguste's steps stumbled to a stop at the very top of the stairs. "You're sure."

  "My friend, I only wish I had offered sooner. Made you a resting place with us. Esther needs you. And you deserve to walk in the sun again. We step out together and no harm will come to you, by my vow."

  I swallowed hard as they moved out of the staircase, into the grand old entry room of Rooksgrave, following close on their heels. The windows were broken, the doors burned away, and outside, the sky was only just pink on the horizon, but Auguste winced at the sight, eyes blinking heavily.

  "Quickly, before the dayrest draws you," Amon said, taking Auguste's arm, my vampire following reluctantly to the door.

  We walked out onto the drive together, Amon's wings unfurling to a long stretch, covering and curling around Auguste like an embrace.

  The sun rose slowly, Mr. Tanner, Booker, Ezra, and I moving to face Amon and Auguste. Auguste looked small under the cover of Amon's wing, and a little terrified, his eyes still fully black, and when the first golden light of dawn reached through the valley to glitter through Amon's black and bronze feathers, Auguste flinched. Minute by minute, he relaxed, staring down at his own feet as his shadow stretched over the gravel, as sunlight warmed Amon's wings enough to make Auguste glow. Little particles of ash and soot glittered, crowding around the pair, brushing against Auguste's pale cheeks, into his dark hair.

  Amon lifted Auguste's hand, stretching it under the cover of the wing, stopping just short of guiding it out into the light. I pressed a hand over my mouth, and we waited breathlessly, watching. Auguste's fingertips flicked, catching morning on one, and then another, scant little measurements at a time until he slowly reached his entire hand out.

  Amon was drawing his wing back as Auguste gaped at his own skin, and I let out a bright giggle as the first rays of morning struck Auguste on the cheek, his whole body jumping with the shock.

  "Mon dieu," Auguste breathed, eyes widening as his face turned, pupils shrinking to pinpoints, chin lifting and eyelids fluttering shut. He let out a soft moan, brow furrowing, and his shoulders dropped with relief.

  "How long will it last?"

  I jumped, finding Jonathon wrapped around me instead of Mr. Tanner. I'd been so absorbed by Auguste's first moments of sunlight, I hadn't even noticed them shift.

  "It is my gift to him. It can't be taken away," Amon said solemnly, his wings folding again.

  Auguste let out a choked laugh, eyes opening wide again. "A gift," he breathed, laughing. "A gift is… This is rebirth, Amon."

  Amon's head ducked and I rushed, throwing myself at him and taking a deep kiss. "Thank you."

  "I should've done it—"

  "Amon, hush. Thank you."

  Amon sighed and returned my kiss softly. "My pleasure, little star."

  "The dayrest?" Auguste gasped. "It's not… I'm not—"

  "You are free," Amon said, both of us turning to see Auguste turning slowly in the light like a child. "You still need blood—"

  Auguste let out another delirious laugh, his cheeks so wide with his smile, it made me equally giddy. And for some reason, the happiness made me hurt too, a vision of Auguste pinned to the tree, of Birsha's lost face snarling above me. I tried to stifle the sob, but it was too quick, too determined.

  "Oh, mon coeur," Auguste murmured. In a moment, I was surrounded by them all, Auguste shrouded in our shadows again, my face lifted to accept the kisses being dropped from every angle. "No more partings now, oui?"

  "No more partings, please," I whispered, nodding fervently, catching kisses on my brow, my lips, my chin, my cheeks.

  "No," Amon agreed. "And now we need to return to the house. You will have plenty of time for sunbathing, vampire."

  Auguste snorted, but he clapped a friendly hand onto Amon's shoulder as the five of them herded me into the carriage, bundling me up in their arms.

  Steady breaths surrounded me, although Auguste was still and quiet in front of me, mine and Jonathon's arms crossed over his bare chest. The curtains of the bedroom were open, and there was sunlight painted over Auguste's pale skin until it was almost translucent.

  Upon arriving back at the new house, Amon and Jonathon had hurried to speak with Magdalena, Khepri, and the staff. The rest of us were ushered upstairs to be washed, and for Ezra's wounds treated with an ointment to soothe the burns. The reunion was soft and quiet, weary even, and by the time we'd all returned to the bed, the adrenaline was burning away under the warmth of the sun.

  "Auguste?" I whispered, suddenly afraid that Auguste's stillness was more than sleep.

  "Mmm?"

  I sighed, tucking my face into his shoulder, Jonathon's hand sliding up to cover mine.

  "I'm here, mon coeur," Auguste said, twisting to bump his forehead against mine.

  "I don't—I don't know what I would've done if…" My voice dried up in my throat, a watery sigh replacing it, and Auguste lifted a hand to stroke and comb into my hair. Behind me, Ezra snuggled in closer, and Amon and Booker began to shift on the bed, the six of us returning to our nested circle we'd shared once.

  "I love you," I breathed, and Auguste stiffened. I turned my hand over to press my palm to Jonathon's. "I love you all, I—"

  Auguste groaned and then rolled, circling me with his arms and legs, tea sweet lips folding between mine and kissing me, his tongue stroking in. "Je t'aime, ma petite. I love you."

  "We love you, little girl," Jonathon growled out with a hint of my Mr. Tanner in his voice.

  "My sweet little puisín, mo grá."

  "My star, my love."

  "My Esther."

  I giggled at Booker's final claiming, and Auguste's mouth moved down to my throat, never needing to break his kiss for breath. Amon had shifted to the head of the bed, and he bent and caught my mouth before anyone else could, Ezra and Auguste licking and nipping and feasting on my throat and shoulders, down to my breasts, and then back up again.

  It was sexual, but simpler too, pure comfort and union. The room around
us was warm and bright. Safe. Their hands passed over me, grounding me to the bed, to the moment with them.

  "Say it again," Auguste whispered, kisses slowing.

  I grinned, craning my neck to look at each of them. "I love you."

  "Mmm, not quite sure I've earned my luck with you, puisín," Ezra said, snuggling up again, nosing at the back of my ear and then kissing there.

  "You have now," Amon said solemnly before I even got the chance. "You may be a scoundrel, but you are loyal. And protective. I admire that, MacKenna."

  "He's taking a shine to me," Ezra whispered in my ear.

  Amon huffed and I snorted, reaching one arm back to link fingers with my sphinx. My legs parted and Booker made room for himself there, his head carefully pillowed on my thigh.

  "What do we do now?" I asked, frowning up at the bright ceiling.

  The others were quiet for a long moment before Ezra finally spoke up. "Booker and I go where you go, you are our tie."

  "While you were in the bath, I arranged for Auguste's home as well as my house and practice to be sealed up and protected," Jonathon said immediately.

  Auguste and Ezra had to tighten their hold on me to keep me from scrambling upright with surprise. "What?! But—"

  "Birsha only knew Mr. Tanner, but if he wanted to, he could certainly discover my identity. And now, after everything…" Jonathon propped himself up on his side and shrugged. "I think it's time for me to move on from treating any female hysteria but yours." He grinned at my glare and chuckled.

  "You're blocking my sun," Auguste said to him.

  "It won't run out," Jonathon answered with a roll of his eyes, but he shifted enough for the sun to hit Auguste's chest again.

  "And your house?" I asked Auguste.

  "It's just a house. I have—"

  "You have others. I remember," I said, grimacing, but Auguste just laughed.

  "Ma petite, I am…a daywalker now. We can go anywhere. We can be together at any moment—"

  "Every moment," I whispered, eyes narrowing greedily, but no one seemed to mind my demand.

  "It's just a house," Auguste repeated. "Cork is safe. Brownies are resourceful, even against the likes of Birsha."

  "What the hell are the likes of that arsehole anyway?" Ezra asked. "He's more than a man. Is that from…you know. Eating vampire's organs?"

  Auguste blinked at that. "You know…I was so—I haven't—Jon?"

  Jonathon stood up suddenly from the bed, and despite the tense situation, it was a little amusing to watch him pacing in front of the window, cock hanging and bobbing with his marching.

  "That's a fascinating hypothesis actually, Ezra. What would be the effect of eating the organs of our kind?"

  "Who would dare try?" Amon asked, frowning.

  "A monster," I whispered, the others all turning to me. "A real one, I mean. He is."

  "Very little is known of him. Did he change before being put to death? Was he put to death at all? And most of what might've been known is already lost," Auguste said softly.

  "I wouldn't even know how to approach an experiment to test this," Jonathon muttered to himself, hands on his hips.

  "Lost might only be hidden, not gone," Amon said slowly, and my head had to whip between them each as they bounced the conversation around our circle.

  "You prophesizing?" Ezra asked Amon.

  We were all shifting on the bed, moving slowly to sitting as the ideas stirred between us. Amon's eyes brightened as they met mine.

  "It would be best and safest for us all if we were to quit Birsha's territory," Amon said slowly. "Magdalena is certainly safe with Khepri."

  "But now that I've escaped him three times, staying here puts a much more serious target on the others," I said, nodding slowly, leaning back as Booker crowded in, drawing me onto his lap and fashioning himself into a throne for me.

  "Ah, I see your scheme now," Auguste said to Amon, smirking a little.

  "I still don't," Ezra muttered.

  "Something must be done about Birsha. To protect Esther. Ourselves. Others he might seek to trouble in the future," Amon said with a wave of his hand. "Birsha has survived due to his secrecy. He likes to have others do his dirty work. He's made himself impossible to remember."

  "Amon," I said gently, arching an eyebrow. "Spit it out."

  Amon scowled briefly and then squared his shoulders and lifted his chin. "Birsha has no territory in the Middle East, where his origins lie. Perhaps it doesn't interest him, or perhaps he avoids it for a reason."

  "He wants us to go to Egypt. It's not far from where Gomorrah was before it was destroyed," Jonathon said drily, coming to sit on the bed.

  "I was leading up to this," Amon snapped.

  "You were showboating," Ezra said, vanishing as Amon growled and reached out an arm to swat at him.

  "Egypt," I breathed, recalling the heat of my vision, the sand.

  "In my territory, we would be thoroughly protected. Out of Birsha's reach and in the land of his history, we might discover valuable secrets. Unearth a weakness we could use against him," Amon said.

  It was not quite the charming peace and delight I'd imagined for when I was ready to leave Rooksgrave. We might still be in danger. There would be work to be done. But it sounded like the kind of adventure one might read in a story, with twists and turns and danger.

  "Will there be secret passageways?" I asked, smiling and thinking of the staircase Jonathon and I had traveled down to find Auguste's hiding spot.

  Amon frowned at me, head tilting. "I have a half a dozen on my estate at least."

  "And maybe…a map to treasure?" I added, grinning.

  Ezra reappeared suddenly, eyes gleeful. "Oh, please let there be a treasure map!"

  Amon's expression went flat, but I could've sworn his lips twitched.

  "I should imagine we might have to wear a disguise at some point," Auguste mused, fighting his own smile. "I might like a mustache."

  My nose wrinkled at that and Jonathon sighed and nodded. "I'll have to cause at least one explosion as a diversion."

  Amon let out a heavy sigh, and I twisted to glance at Booker, who stared blankly back at all of us. I was afraid our teasing was going over his head until, at last, he spoke.

  "I would like to rescue the damsel."

  "Oh, you'll have to arm wrestle for it, mate," Ezra answered him, and I laughed and clapped.

  "I take it you agree then," Amon said, still pretending he found us all ridiculous. Maybe he did. He liked us too, so what did it matter.

  "Oh, yes," I said, crawling off Booker's lap, my chin lifted and lips tipped to Amon in offering. "Yes, let's go to Egypt."

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Farewell

  Magdalena sat at the foot of the enormous bed, watching me fold one of the airy dresses the brownies had whipped up for me and then tuck it into the small case in front of me. I had little to pack, less than I'd brought with me to Rooksgrave, but I'd overheard Amon and Auguste whispering my dress sizes to one another, and Ezra said they had ordered a trunk for me to meet us at the ship leaving Portsmouth in two days.

  "Sometimes, I feel like I brought trouble to Rooksgrave's door," I said softly, focusing on the tidy folds of the sleeves, rather than meeting my friend's gaze as I spoke.

  "Don't be ridiculous. If you hadn't been at Rooksgrave, and Mr. MacKenna hadn't been so determined to get back to you, some other girl might've been…lost," she finished lamely.

  Some other girl had been lost. Cassie. Cassie, and the vampires George and Enrique, who had both been resting below Rooksgrave.

  "You're not to blame," Magdalena said more firmly.

  I nodded, because she was right, even if it didn't always feel like it. "Neither are you," I said, glancing at her.

  Her smile was weak, but she nodded too. "I am lucky Amon called for Khepri. And lucky that so many girls and clients aren't ready to give up on the house. We'll recover, perhaps even diversify. I think the rigid structure of gentleman and lady has
gone on long enough."

  I smiled at the thought of Rooksgrave being full of all manner of monsters and humans coupling happily together. Or grouping, I thought slyly, remembering my evenings in the lounges.

  "And we will do our best to find everything we can to help find anything useful against Birsha," I said, chin lifting. "We may not be ready to retaliate, but we can at least try to prepare."

  Magdalena lifted her hand to her lips, rubbing her fingertips back and forth in thought. "I wonder if others want to be ready for this fight."

  "You don't think so?" I asked. "He's horrible. Surely we can't be the only ones who realize it."

  "Sometimes excuses are made for cruelty. Monsters experience suspicion, the disgust, especially when they risk opening themselves up to scrutiny. I had Mary under my roof for years," she murmured, scowling. "I hate to think what she might've driven some to. I was trying to protect her, but I failed my clients. Sometimes, a lifetime of alienation turns a creature against those who rejected them and toward a man like Birsha."

  "Trust me, I’ve had enough interactions with Birsha now to say that sooner or later, he's going to piss off the wrong monsters," I said, shuddering and thinking of the bleeding heart on Birsha's plate. "And when they're ready to strike, we'll be there to help them."

  Magdalena's lips quirked. "You're right. And perhaps he already has."

  I hummed in answer, ignoring the implication. I had just survived a battle with Birsha, and I wasn't sure how eagerly I was looking forward to a second one. Maybe it was cowardly, but the idea of us packing up and moving safely out of Birsha's reach was a comforting one. I was ready for an adventure, but hopefully, one that was a bit less of a juggle between life and death for myself and my men.

  "I'm going to miss you, Esther Reed," Magdalena said softly, one elegant finger flicking under her eye.

  I gasped and jumped up from the floor and my half-empty case, launching myself toward Magdalena, nearly bowling her over as I wrapped my arms around her.

  "Oh! I'll miss you too!" I cried. I had gotten to know a little of the girls, but of everyone at Rooksgrave, Magdalena and Booker had been my real companions. "I'm sure if we suggested to Amon that everyone should come with us, he could arrange it!"