Game of Vampires: A Reverse Harem Serial (Part Two) Read online

  Table of Contents

  GAME OF VAMPIRES

  ROSETTE BOLTER

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  WORKS BY ROSETTE BOLTER

  GAME OF VAMPIRES

  A Reverse Harem Serial

  Part Two

  ROSETTE BOLTER

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  CHAPTER ONE

  Two paths. Two paths for Nurse Chantley to take.

  One was to stay put. To remain on her knees on the grass opposite Lafayette, still reeling in the shock and horror of what had just happened.

  The second path was to accept Moldark’s offer. To join him on his saddle and ride away into the night knowing nothing of what would become of them. That was not a safe option. It was scary and dark, yet oddly tempting. She couldn’t put her finger on why.

  Theresa opened her eyes to the sound of Moldark’s grey stallion kicking into flight as a small horde advanced on the horizon. She and Lafayette stood up, the Warlock and his men gradually taking shape.

  Tearfully, Theresa looked back as Moldark’s horse galloped off into oblivion, leaving her behind. She couldn’t help but wonder, what could’ve been…

  “Where is she?” Lord Fane’s voice boomed.

  Theresa whirled around.

  Lafayette motioned towards the forest. Fane sneered at them, then sent a couple of his men after Moldark while the rest followed him into the forest.

  “What do we do now?” Theresa asked.

  “We just…” Lafayette began. “We…”

  “NOOOOO!!!” Lord Fane’s scream echoed from the forest.

  A shiver raced underneath Theresa’s skin. She grabbed hold of Lafayette’s arm for support.

  There was silence for a moment. Then a loud bang, and purple light flashed from between the trees.

  The remainder of Fane’s men came riding out.

  “What’s happening?” Theresa asked of them. They ignored her and continued riding towards the main district.

  The forest flashed pink and blue. Dark clouds blocked the moon. Distant thunder rumbled.

  “Should we wait for him?” Theresa asked her companion.

  Lafayette hadn’t taken his eyes off the forest. “The Warlock is powerful. Perhaps he knows a way to bring her back.”

  “From the dead?” Theresa questioned. “Like the afflicted?”

  Lafayette turned to her sharply. “I resent you using that word.”

  “Oh. I – I wasn’t trying to –”

  A loud burst of electricity shot out from the forest and into the sky. The trees filled with yellow and green light.

  “Maybe we can help,” Lafayette said softly.

  He stepped away from her, brushing aside Theresa’s hold of his arm.

  Theresa pressed her fists together, watching Lafayette edging towards the forest.

  Before she went to follow him, she looked once again back out into the darkened wasteland, searching for the man on his stallion, the man with flowing black hair and piercing red eyes.

  And just for a moment.

  One tiny, miniscule, fraction of time.

  She thought she saw him.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Yellow and green. The aura crossed over their clothes. Their arms and ankles. Their skin.

  The air felt like there was something in it. Like microscopic specs of glitter caressing every part of the outer core. Lafayette’s confidence was the only thing pulling Theresa forward. Her knowledge of magic practicers only went so far. As did her knowledge of snakes. But she could only imagine that even a bare basic human without powers, would be dangerous at this time…

  Small sticks and dead leaves blew across the ground as Theresa and Lafayette neared the clearing where the Warlock was situated. Theresa could hear him chanting softly. The yellow and green electricity forming a diamond shape around him. Lafayette made it to the edge, looking over to where the Warlock was on the ground kneeling. His head concealed by his hood.

  “Lord Fane,” Lafayette hissed.

  Lord Fane stopped chanting. He remained where he was.

  “Can we help?” Theresa offered.

  Fane peered over his shoulder at them. His face was white and rubbery. His eyes large and black like a serpent’s.

  “Her soul hasn’t departed yet,” Fane murmured. “She’s still here. Watching us.”

  “Is she alive?” Lafayette asked.

  “I tried to restore her body,” Fane said. “It’s too difficult. This is the best I can do for now.”

  “Are you keeping her here then?”

  “Yes,” Fane answered. “But she needs a necromancer.”

  He turned back to the Princess.

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Lafayette asked.

  “The Princess cannot die. Assuming Moldark has escaped, he will be sending word back to his House and the southern vampires will be advancing on the land. They’ll take the Princess’s castle. Destroy the orchard. And then we will be at war. All over again…”

  “I understand,” Lafayette said. “We shall seek out a necromancer then.”

  “It must be before morning,” Lord Fane insisted. “When daylight comes I don’t know if the barriers will keep.”

  “We’ll do our best.”

  Lafayette nodded to Theresa and then moved to go back the way they came.

  “Nurse Chantley,” the Warlock’s voice whispered without looking back.

  Theresa turned in his direction. “Yes?”

  “This is up to you now. Lafayette will only carry you so far. It is only you who can bring the necromancer back here. If you are to fail, remember what that means…”

  And it may have been the light or some other artificial energy radiating through the world around them. But Theresa’s body surged with determination and will.

  “I won’t fail,” Theresa said.

  CHAPTER THREE

  She’d gone into those woods a girl and come out a woman. All these silly fantasies and dreams about her future and what was in her heart – it all meant nothing. She hadn’t spent the last four years working herself to the bone just from fear of death. Her work in the blood garden was part of keeping the people of this land safe. The night walkers weren’t the evil beasts she’d always imagined them to be – now she had met them and seen them up close, they resembled lions and tigers and alligators and all the predators at the top of the animal kingdom. More than anything, they were human. And it was no secret how humans treated those lower than them in the food chain…

  “We have a walk ahead of us,” Lafayette said once they were out of the forest. “It will probably be half an hour before we reach the town.”

  “And what then?”

  “I will barter for a new stallion, and then we ride west.”

  “West?”

  “To my house and home.”

  Theresa blinked. “What about the necromancer?”

  “There’s not enough time to find
one,” Lafayette said. “But the Warlock is right about Moldark and his summoning of the southern vampires.”

  “I thought you said it was Harland that was out to betray the Princess. Do you remember? You wanted to send me off to Moldark’s camp so I could bunk up with him, and then turn him against Harland –”

  “That was Emberlynn’s idea. She’d already chosen me as her number one. It didn’t matter who the traitor was. The rulers of the other houses needed to be eliminated.”

  “And you both tried to use me like some pawn in your sick little game –”

  “You shouldn’t take that personally,” Lafayette said. “Emberlynn is mean to everyone. Look how willing she was to betray her own friend, Lord Fane.”

  “And what does that make you?”

  “I don’t expect you to understand,” Lafayette said. “You’ve lived so much of your life in servitude. In poverty. Your whole focus has been about where your next meal is going to come from. How you will stay warm at night. How to keep yourself from being executed. You don’t understand the life of the privileged. We get bored. We get lonely. These emotions, are painful. Can you even comprehend it? I could ride into my village and find a peasant woman who is even more kind and beautiful than you are, and I can make her worship me. Yet that means nothing. It doesn’t dull the pain. Only Emberlynn was good enough for me. At least, until you came along…”

  “Way to sweep me off my feet,” Theresa said rolling her eyes.

  “I wasn’t trying to do that. If I wanted to do that, I’d just talk about how you make me feel inside. How you make me question things. About my existence.”

  His face lowered as they walked, as if that was the right note to go out on.

  Theresa looked to and away from him several times. “Well?”

  “Well what?”

  “What about your existence?”

  “You are a true Princess at heart, Nurse Chantley,” Lafayette said. “Earlier tonight when you appeared in the harem, I couldn’t take my eyes off you. I knew you weren’t really a princess. I knew your blood was not royal. And yet in that moment, you were more of a princess than Emberlynn had ever been. I really don’t know what else to say. Sometimes, it just hits you. Only certain people can make you feel a certain way.”

  Theresa reflected on his words. “You know what? That’s bullshit.”

  “Bullshit?” Lafayette said.

  “You had me the whole time alone in that cottage of yours. And yeah, you threw yourself at me. But you were still trying to manipulate. Trying to deceive. Going along with Emberlynn’s plan of lies and betrayal.”

  “You really have no concept of loyalty, do you?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I’d already given my heart to one princess. What sort of person would I be if reached into my chest and produced a second heart, for a second princess? Would your opinion of me be less sour than it is now? Tell me, Theresa. I’m interested in what you have to say.”

  Theresa shook her head. “It’s a long walk like you said. Let’s take the time to think on things.”

  She swung back as though his hand had reached out to touch her shoulder.

  But she was mistaken.

  “As you wish,” Lafayette said.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  The town was only a few minutes away. They’d kept to themselves most of the walk. Theresa was aware of Lafayette’s interest in her. The blue in his eyes burned like a flame whenever he looked at her. And she knew there was something there, between them. But she didn’t know if that was more manipulation on his behalf.

  “Are you in agreeance with me then?” Lafayette asked. “You will ride west with me tonight?”

  Theresa shook her head. “I can’t turn my back on Lord Fane. This affects too many people.”

  “You’re not seriously going to try to find a necromancer, are you?”

  “He seemed to believe that was our only solution.”

  “Necromancy is an evil magic. It goes against the laws of nature. When someone dies they’re supposed to stay dead.”

  “You know, Lafayette, I thought you of all people would understand.”

  She walked on ahead of him.

  He caught up. “What should I understand? What do you know of my past? I wasn’t murdered and then brought back by the vampires. I was born this way. My parents were both of the ancient walk. They saw the beginnings and falls of generation after generation, century after century. Your kind may journey to become one of us, but make no mistake. Ours is the higher existence. The higher nature. Necromancy is the opposite of vampirism. It doesn’t give true life. It is a cruel reanimation of corpses.”

  “Are you saying they can’t bring Emberlynn back?”

  “Look, I… I don’t want to underestimate the Warlock’s magic,” Lafayette said. “But the pursuit of such an individual will only bring more destruction. Moldark may be waging war against your people, but he’s still capable of reason. Of mercy. The necromancer is not.”

  They were now at the town’s edge. Theresa used their vantage point to spy the Warlock’s keep. She then followed a path through the town’s buildings, and saw in the not too far away distance, the tall reaches of the harem…

  “Wait,” Lafayette said, grabbing her arm. “Where are you going?”

  “You say you won’t help me,” Theresa said. “Well, maybe the other vampire lords will.”

  “I will not permit it. You are to stay with me.”

  “Let go!”

  “No!”

  Theresa slapped him across the face, causing his grasp to release her. He stared back, bewildered.

  “You’ve had your introduction, Lafayette,” Theresa asserted. “I know where your House is. Perhaps I will seek you out again before the night is over. And perhaps I won’t.”

  She turned and walked away from him.

  “Theresa!” he called after her. “I’m sorry!”

  But his being sorry didn’t matter.

  This was her mission. Not his.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  The mist inside the harem had changed from red to blue. The lights were dimmer. The servant comprised orchestration was softer … yet more unpleasant. Standing in the entrance, the eyes of Lord Fane’s attendees, averting away from her, Theresa suddenly felt out of her depth, even more so than before. After all, Lord Fane was no longer here to protect her…

  No glamorous introductions were warranted this time. Theresa moved by the archway on her left and followed the corridor along till it broke off to the right. She continued along it towards the middle part of the harem – the centre where she had met everyone an hour or so ago. Though the mist was thick and it was hard to see, Theresa couldn’t make out a shape or shadow of anyone. She approached the table where she’d left Harland and the twins of the east, but there was little sign of them ever being there. Apart from their bloodflower stained glasses.

  “Tonight is a tale of many adventures,” a mischievous voice sounded over the music and atmosphere. “Life can go in four directions. Up or down. Left or right. You select a path and you go that way forever. But tonight, and only tonight – you can taste them all.”

  Theresa looked up and saw the blond-haired and green-eyed Harland leering over the railing above her. As she pondered a response, he placed his hands in the centre of the railing and jumped over it to land in front of her on both feet.

  “How was Lafayette?” Harland asked. “I assume he managed to penetrate you.”

  Theresa took a step backwards as he advanced.

  “No such luck, I’m afraid,” the reply escaped from her.

  “Well, he’s not for everyone I suppose.” He grinned. “Still, one must find a way to pass the time.”

  “I wasn’t gone that long,” Theresa stammered.

  “Now,” Harland scolded her. “Let’s not slander a man’s reputation.”

  Theresa frowned.

  Then got it.

  Harland grabbed a nearby chair and pulled it out for her, scraping acros
s the ground. “Sit with me, my Princess. We have much to discuss.”

  After some hesitation, Theresa accepted the chair and sat down.

  Harland moved swiftly over to the bar and summoned the servant to pour them drinks. He came back with two identical chalices. One containing bloodflower juice. The other red wine.

  “Test it first,” Harland advised her sitting opposite. “Make sure they didn’t get mixed up.”

  Theresa tasted it.

  Wine.

  Thankfully.

  “I want three sons,” Harland announced. “And two daughters. Five is a nice round number. I don’t care what order they come out, but that is the ideal distribution of gender. I’m led to believe you’re in adequate health to sustain the pregnancies. This is correct?”

  “I want a pair of boots that I can put on and levitate up to the clouds. Doesn’t mean it’s going to happen,” Theresa remarked.

  “Surely you must know an enchanter, or Lord Fane could –” Harland stopped himself. Studied her carefully. “Oh, I see. Do not worry. I know all the best medicine women. As long as you’re in good health there are potions you can take which will increase the chances of the chosen sex of the child. I know five children might be a lot to comprehend, especially one after the other, but even a princess must understand it is a bride’s sole purpose to bear children for her husband.”

  “Sole purpose? Are you for real?”

  “I just thought we should get the boring stuff out of the way first,” Harland said. “I’m sure you will have expectations of your future husband. Now is the time to lay them out to see if we’re compatible.”

  Theresa drank half the chalice and wiped her eyes. “I might prefer to adopt children.”

  “Why? Are you barren?”

  “What? No!”

  “I don’t understand. Who are these children you’re adopting?”

  Theresa shrugged. “I just want the option. Personally, this isn’t how I like to communicate with people up front. I don’t try and control other people. I don’t try to force-create life.”