KING OF THE UNDERWORLD: Lucien and Scarlett (Earthbound Series Book 1)

by V L Peters

  ‘’I hear you’ve been causing trouble…... witch,’’ she spat the words out as if holding herself back from attacking me.

  I couldn’t help myself as I smiled sweetly as I meet the eyes of the female ‘’really is that the best insult you can come up with?’’ I turned my attention to the man standing in front of her, he was bigger than I remembered, but the tantalising smell coming from him was the same, the woodsy scent coming to me, tempting me, ‘’Do you normally let your lackeys talk for you?’’ I know, I shouldn’t have, but I couldn’t resist, it was like taunting a tiger. The witch in me loved it. It relished seeing the fire that glowed like a burning flame, flash, then die down in his black eyes causing my heart to beat faster.

  ‘’Why you……’’ she grated out at me, taking a step towards me her beautiful face twisted in anger. It altered her features to show the demon within. It wasn’t a pleasant sight to see, she was hideous in her other form. I tried not to show my shock. Her face was a blacken pit, it was as if her skin had at some point been burnt to a cinder. Parts of her flesh looked like melted wax, causing her features to become distorted. I shook my head trying to get the image out of my mind, it wasn’t one I’d be able to forget that easily.

  ‘’Watch your mouth, witch,’’ he replied, placing his arm in front of the woman, instantly stopping her from moving towards me. ‘’Aria isn’t my lackey,’’ he told me with menace in his voice, as he took a step into the room towards me, his dark eyes raking over my body, the same fire he’d had the other night burning deep in his eyes.

  This wasn’t the same man who had been all over me a few nights ago, he was someone completely different. I’m facing down a man who could end my life as easy as if he wanted to squash a fly. Do not show fear, do not show fear, I chanted to myself, the human part of me getting the better of myself. The witch was something else. ‘If he thought, he was going to intimidate me, he had another thing coming.’ I could hear her rating and raging, she was crawling to get out, making my skin itch. I resisted the urge to scratch, beating her down ever so slightly. I needed her there just under surface, but not close enough that she could come forth.

  I sat there staring at him, ‘’Fuck you, Demon,’’ the words flew out of my mouth I didn’t give a shit if he wanted a fight, I was all for it. He hadn’t kept his promise, his agreement and I was over the top pissed off. He’d also brought his little fuck buddy when she hadn’t been part of our deal. He could go and fuck himself. ‘’either you have information on my sister or you don’t,’’ I shout as I stood up facing him, my face going red, my temper getting the better of me ‘’and if you don’t then I’m leaving,’’ I glared at him, my green eyes flashing in warning.

  ‘’Leaving?’’ the skanky cow sniggered, ‘’you’re not going anywhere, witch,’’

  I laughed the minute the words left her mouth, as if she’d said something that was extremely amusing. Oh lady, you’re going the right way to push me that bit too far, I thought, as I swung my eyes over to her, you silly bitch ‘’Try to stop me,’’ I whispered, digging my nails into the palms of my hands, as I looked her straight in the eyes, meeting her head on. My witch egging me on. Wanting me to show them both just what we are made of. I fought the strength of my witch, I needed to keep in control. Did they think I was scared? If they did, they thought wrong.

  ‘’Oh please, ‘’ she scoffed, as she walked around Lucien, with a sway of her hips ‘’don’t even think you could hurt either of us,’’

  ‘’Who said I’d just hurt you,’’ I quipped back with a grin, rage beginning to burn within side me. At that moment it wouldn’t faze me if I happened to kill her.

  ‘Lucien, I really think we should put this little witch in her place,’’ she said, turning towards him ‘’ we could have a lot of fun with her before draining her of any power she might have, though looking at her, there isn’t much,’’ she said with a laugh, licking her lips as she ran her eyes over my body while running her fingers down his arm. Yuk, I thought, turning my nose up in disgust, she was disgusting she made my skin crawl. I could feel the Omega inside me shudder with revulsion. If this was the kind of female, he found attractive, they were welcome to each other. You would think he’d have more taste in women, she might be beautiful, but she was disgusting.

  I could feel Lucien’s heated calculated gaze on me, it was burning a hole through my head, as if he wanted to see what I was thinking. As if he was trying to see right through me. I knew I should never have trusted him; dreams and visions be buggered. I looked into his eyes briefly, letting him see the betrayal I felt. It was as if I were a spider that he was studying, waiting to see what I would do next. He’d have to wait a blinking long time.

  ‘’I suggest that you tell your whatever she is, to keep away from me, unless she wants to end up on her backside,’’ I warned him, flicking a hand towards her, staring him directly in his eyes, while at the same time trying to keep my eye on his nutcase of a girlfriend. I couldn’t stay here any longer if he had no information to give me ‘’Now you either have information about my sister or you don’t, which is it?’’ I demanded.

  I stood there impatiently waiting for his reply, I knew that crazy bitch was going to try to harm me in some way, I could feel it deep inside my bones and I had no intention of letting her. I wasn’t lying when I had warned him that if I had to protect myself, I would. Our deal had been between him and me, no other party had been included. I didn’t like her being here listening to what was being said. I didn’t trust her as far as I could throw her, Lucien might be a dangerous bastard, but I couldn’t see him backing out of our agreement, it wouldn’t look good for his line of business. If I was crossing him then all bets were out. He knew we were Witches; he just didn’t know just how powerful, I didn’t want our secret getting out.

  ‘’I have information on your sister,’’ he told me, his lips twisted into an expression, I suppose I could call a smile but not, it’s too self-assured and smug like he was amused at my expensive. ‘’it’s not as much as I was hoping for, but it brings you all closer to what happened to her,’’

  ‘’Sister?’’ the bitch standing next to him questions ‘’we’re doing deals with witches now, my love,’’ it wasn’t a question, but a statement.

  ‘’We?’’ I questioned her with a snort

  ‘’Of course,’’ she purred ‘’we are after all …’’ running her hand up towards his face cupping his neck, as she leaned in to lay her lips on his cheek, as if she was staking her claim, watching me reaction as she did so ‘’What you’d call husband and wife and we do absolutely everything together,’’

  I was waiting for him to speak, but he doesn’t. His inspection of me ends with his gaze meeting mine. I want to look away, but I find that I can’t. I let the disgust I was feeling reflect through my eyes.

  I felt myself cringle. I knew exactly what she was indicating, it was obvious. I felt sick to my stomach, if she even thought I’d let her lay one finger on me she was badly mistaken. What anyone did behind closed doors was fine in my book, but to bluntly advertise it, she was repulsive and if he liked sharing his lovers with her, or anyone else that was up to him.

  ‘’I do not give a damn whether you’re his wife, mate, girlfriend or his bit on the side. I didn’t make any deals with you,’’ I corrected her through clenched teeth, feeling my nails sink further into my skin ignoring her last statement ‘’any sort of agreement was made between me and Lucien. You are not even in the picture,’’ god what kind of mess had we landed ourselves in. There had never been anything about him being married not in the press or through the contacts we had used to get the little bit of information we had required about him. It was obvious we needed better hackers.

  It just didn’t make any sense. I hated this feeling of helplessness; my witch loved the challenge. She was dying for her to attack me. It would give her the right and me an excuse to strike back. I could feel her jumping around inside me with excitement. Though I was scared shit
less, there was also a hint of excitement, yes, I was that fucked up! My witch was raging to go, she was dying to come out and play. The omega was just bloody sitting there feeling relaxed, as if she hadn’t a care in the world. As if she was filing her fucking nails and waiting to see if she needed to get involved.

  ‘’The agreement was and still is between you and me,’’ I told Lucien, turning my attention his way indicating between the two of us. Glaring at him I tell him ‘’and there won’t be any kind of agreement between us if you don’t follow through,’’

  ‘’I have no intention of doing that,’’ he grated out between clenched teeth, his expression turning dark, as his eye flashed red, he was obviously pissed off, he didn’t like being questioned or talked back to ‘’I don’t go back on any deals I make. It’s not good for business,’’

  ‘’Lucien surely you can’t mean you’re going to listen to this witch.’’ She protested beside him, placing a hand on his forearm.

  ‘’I’m sorry my beloved, I’m not happy about it, but she’s right. Our agreement was made between just us. And no matter how much I’d like you to be involved, I’m not going to go against our agreement,’’ he told the woman standing beside him, his voice softening, laying his hand on her forearm as he laid a kiss upon her head trying to appease her.

  I couldn’t help rolling my eyes, please don’t make me throw up. I listened to the as she tried her hardest to convince him to change his mind. Thank god he wasn’t wavering; it’d be bad enough to handle him, let alone his crazy ass partner.

  I opened up my self slightly, not enough to draw attention to myself, I wanted to view her aura. Doing so could tell you a lot about somebody. Her colours were more intense, the colours were darker, which showed more negativity. It wasn’t a good sign. No wonder I had had an off feeling about her!!

  I was still getting over the shock that he had a partner, he was seen with different women regularly and was never seen with the same woman more than twice and it was only a few nights ago he’d been all over me. It was obvious they had some sort of open relationship, which they were both happy about. Each to their own, it wasn’t something I was into, I liked to know that the person I was with was thinking about me and me alone, not some other woman or man for that matter.

  ‘’If you two love birds have quite finished,’’ I interrupted them wanting to get this over

  and done with.

  ‘’Your sister was taken by a Soul Keeper …………...’’he informed her, his black eyes narrowed on my face, waiting to see my reaction.

  ‘’Soul keeper?’’ I interrupted, totally ignoring the woman and man in the room. He had my full attention. Shit. Soul keepers, of course I’d heard of them. They weren’t as bad as the Soul Eaters. If you saw one of them. Run. With the Soul Keepers, it was best to avoid them, they were like leaches, but instead of blood they sucked out your soul and held it for their own pleasure. You became their plaything, their toy. I’d heard that once they had taken your soul, your body tended to walk around as if in a trance, until, if you were lucky enough it was returned to you ‘’does that mean that this Soul Keeper has taken her soul?’’

  ‘’No, not as far as my Intel has told me. You’re lucky this one’s more like a bounty hunter,’’

  ‘’ How is that lucky?’’ I scoffed, part of me was relieved if she had her soul intact…

  ‘’Because it means that whoever wanted her, didn’t want her soul taken from her body. They wanted her whole, they wanted her alive,’’ he grinned with a half laugh ‘’and that makes it easier for me and my men to find her. Believe me, it could have been much worse. He hires himself to anyone who needs a job done at the right price. Whether it’s to take someone’s soul, kidnap them or kill them. Whoever wanted your sister, wanted her bad enough to pay to get her taken,’’

  ‘’Do you know who hired him? I mean where we find this Soul Keeper,’’ I ask him, hoping that he knows the answer I’m hoping to hear.

  ‘’That’s the problem, he’s disappeared. It’s like he’s just vanished. Like that’’ he informed me with a click of his fingers, a look of frustration written across his face.

  ‘’No one just vanishes. It’s just impossible,’’ I muttered to myself, trying to get my head around the idea. The feeling of hope, that maybe we would soon be getting Megan back home, was quickly disappearing as the seconds passed, disappearing like a handful of golden sand that was slowly trickling through our fingers.

  ‘’It is not impossible if you want it hard enough. Either he’s gotten spooked or he was made to disappear,’’ Lucien told me breaking me out of my thoughts.

  ‘’So, you think that he’s been killed, murdered? It that what you’re saying?’’

  ‘’I don’t know and until I do I can’t say,’’ he tells me, with a shrug ‘’but it doesn’t look good. It would have been easier if I could have gotten my hands on him to find out who wanted your sister that badly and why’’ he eyed me as he asked, tilting his head to one side as though trying to read my mind ‘’is there something you’re not telling me? Why someone would want your sister so badly?’’

  I shrugged I don’t see the point in lying, ‘’I’m not going to deny that we are witches. I do not see the point; you knew what I was the minute you saw me.’’ I sighed ‘all our family are witches. Some know we are here, others don’t,’’ I omitted the part of being an Omega and the combined powers we wield together.

  ‘’Witch,’’ came the screeched from the woman standing beside him, making me jump out of my skin. Pointing her bony finger at me ‘’we have a family of witches on our doorstep,’’ I wondered if she had a split personality, had she been hit on the head as a youngster? She just sounded completely crazy ‘’Lucien you can’t help these …… things. No matter the agreement you made with this one,’’ she told him, shaking the bony finger at me.

  Could things get any worse? I questioned myself, looking at the woman standing next to the man I wanted. Yes, even though it was fucking stupid and insane, I wanted him. How worse could it get? I expect at some point in the near future I’d find out.

  ‘’In case you’ve forgotten the agreement I have isn’t with you,’’ I reminded her, staring directly at Lucien with what I hoped was a, are you fucking kidding me look on my face, ‘’and we’ve been here for a hell of a long time,’’ I said the whole time starring at Lucien wanting to shock him. I needed to see some sort of emotion a reaction on his face, ‘’we just didn’t make ourselves known until now,’’ I admitted with a shrug of my shoulders ‘and have never caused you any problems.’

  ‘’Don’t you talk to me like that or look at him,’’ she screamed at me, her face started turning red with temper, did she see something I didn’t? Yes, I was attracted to him. He set my mind and body alight, and I hated that he made me feel as I did, but I had thought that I was hiding it! ‘’You. Are. Nothing,’’ she spat out, her whole body seemed to shake with uncontrollable anger ‘’Just remember who your talking to, I could kill you with just a flick of my finger,’’ she told me, clicking her fingers.

  Fuck, I knew that I kept getting an inkling that something didn’t sit right with her, now I had the feeling that …. Well to put it bluntly, she was mad as a hatter, I tried my best in ignoring her hoping that Lucien would be able to stop her if she tried to attack me. She just wasn’t worth my time or energy; it was becoming more obvious as time passed, that she was bat shit crazy and crazy meant dangerous. How he put up with her craziness, I didn’t know. Lucien needed to get her under control and soon. I’d have to watch my back and warn my family, I had no doubt that she would harm them in any way she could. The fact he knew that he had witches living practically on his doorstep for years, wouldn’t sit well with him. I would have to tell them that we could have a profoundly serious problem on our hands. It was true when I told him we had never caused any problems, we were peaceful. We liked to keep to ourselves and unlike the full-blooded witches that were still walking the earth, we could
now control the witch inside us.

  Not all our ancestors had been able to do the same. The witch inside them had been able to take over control so easily, that humans and naturals had turned against them. When the Pure blood witches had nearly been wiped out, one coven, ours, had decided that to be able to control the witches and to save ourselves, the only choice was to mate with humans and the supernatural’s. It had taken a few generations until it had worked to the point that the witch could be controlled. It had driven some to such madness that they had ended up killing themselves through it. That time had become to be known as ‘nightmarish,’ those days had been dark and wasn’t something that was talked about. Eventually we had been able to blend into the population.

  We came across as any normal human, unless we wanted to reveal ourselves, which wasn’t very often. In doing so was frowned upon. The elders were extremely strict about what was allowed and what wasn’t. Using our powers in front of humans, even in front of some supernatural’s wasn’t allowed. Witches were still hated and feared. Certain supernatural’s and some humans would kill us, in a heartbeat. Neither trying to find out if we were a threat first.

  Things had to change; Megan was missing. I couldn’t bear to think she wasn’t longer with us. I’d know that wouldn’t I? She was my sister after all. I needed to stop thinking down those lines, it wasn’t going me any good. I had to concentrate on what was happening in front of me.