Chapter 10
NOX
The front porch is the farthest I can go. Then something in my head keeps me planted. It’s a voiceless command. A feeling. It started around the same time that Mia began acting strangely. So I stand watch for them, my clawed fingers resting atop the iron railing.
The flaked rust dusts my skin like chipped paint. I make a mental note to move the porch repairs higher on our list. Harker Mansion is old and has been neglected for far too long. There is much to do, but lately, other matters have taken precedence.
She doesn’t think I know what she’s doing with Aries in the guest house.
That she’s self-medicating with copious amounts of poison.
I’ve never been one to tell her what to do.
She’s a grown woman. But she’s also reckless.
Like last year, when she set the baneberry fields on fire and almost died.
I was furious with her for taking such risks with her own life.
But I’m not her keeper. Not anymore and certainly not in the way I used to be. I’m no longer inside her dreams. I live and breathe and exist the same as they do. This… untethering… it has made it far more difficult for me to know what she’s going to do and impossible to know what she’s thinking.
But tonight I sensed something for the first time.
And it wasn’t Mia. I feel the pull of the willowy branches of the Wishing Tree, its dark embrace, beckoning to me.
Calling me home. For I am made of whatever it is made of.
And judging by the amount of recreational poison she’s been consuming and the darkened shadows under Draven’s eyes, I can only assume they’ve felt the pull as well.
The glint of the sun off chrome rims casts a spark in my vision. The monstrous exhaust roars through the thick iron gates of Harker Mansion, leaving a trail of thick smoke in its wake. Oh, how Bones loves his shiny, loud things.
They are all so different from each other and yet they’re cut from the same luxurious cloth.
While Aries is flashy, even gaudy at times.
He’s big, demonstrative, oozing with charm and decadence like a sultry Melancholia evening.
Then there’s Draven with his dark elegance like smooth gin, vanilla smoke, and polished leather; a storm that is always brewing but doesn’t quite develop.
But not Bones. He is blood and sweat and motor oil, salt and stone, and pure primal energy. I’ve seen him be gentle only with his siblings. And with Mia.
I can only imagine what they think of me, with my slithering tail and black horns.
I see how their eyes flicker when I lick my lips, revealing, as if for the first time, my forked tongue.
And on the carnal nights, or the aching mornings, when they discover my cocks again, their hearts hammering as they feast their gazes upon my hard ridges and black veins.
The way they salivate for me anew. And I for them.
It has been exquisite. But I fear the fun may be coming to an end. At least for a little while.
My heart swells when I can finally see for myself that my Mia is in one piece. Unharmed at first glance, but her eyes tell a different story. She hops out of Bones’s car on a mission.
“Mi amor, wait, let me carry you to the porch.” Bones darts around the car, but he’s too late. She’s already on the move, beelining toward me and the gargantuan house that glares at my back.
“It’s fine. I’m perfectly capable of walking a few feet in the dirt without shoes,” she huffs out.
A patch of her leg is visible between Bones’s gym shorts and the socks that she is swimming in. The last traces of shadows are almost gone, but I can see beneath the flesh a bit. They are simmering below. The same goes for her pale arms. She wears his marks like invisible tattoos.
I grab her elbow as she tries to barrel past me. “Wait. Come here.”
She grunts when I jerk her back and wrap my tail around her waist, holding her firmly to me.
I ignore my immediate erections and try to get a good look at her.
Burying my two thick cocks inside her would help both of us feel better, and we certainly will be doing that soon, but I need to know she’s all right first.
Her eyes go glassy as she cranes her neck to look at me. “I need to shower… to wash it off me.”
I nod but don’t let go. I cradle her face between my palms. “Was it a Skelker?”
She gasps, her eyes wide and pupils dilated. “Shhh. He’ll hear you. Don’t call him back. Not tonight. I’m so tired, Nox.”
I release a deep sigh.
“What the fuck is a Skelker?” Bones demands. I was so focused on Mia, I’d forgotten he was lingering behind her, watching us.
“Please!” Mia shrieks. “Don’t say his name.”
I tighten my grip around her waist in an attempt to make her feel safe. “That is not his name. That is what he is. Saying it out loud doesn’t summon him, love. Once one has marked their prey, they are always there. He chooses when he wants to come out and play.”
“What does he want from her?” Bones wipes his sweaty hands on his wrinkled muscle tee. The edges are stained with grease and sweat.
“A soul for a soul,” she murmurs as she stares past me. Her body quivers in remembrance of his touch.
“We made a deal with the devil. I’m free because of it. And now this is how he wants to collect. There’s no getting out of it. He won’t stop until he has what he wants. We just need to figure out what that is.” I let her wriggle out of my grasp.
“Great. I’m going upstairs to shower. Please send Aries up when he gets here. He has something for me.” She won’t look me in the eye as she wrangles that last sentence out of her mouth.
I simply nod and wait for her to go inside before addressing it.
Bones gives me a look, his brow furrowed. “What in the fuck is going on with her and you and… everything?”
“She’s being hunted. It’s a game the Skelker like to play. I believe this has been going on for a few months now. We need to have a word with Aries before he goes upstairs. And Draven. Our little lamb has a not-so-little poison addiction.”
“Fuck.” Bones rubs his palm over his newly buzzed head. “Wait, why can’t you leave the house?”
A cold chill skates up the backs of my arms, prickling like needles. “I don’t know, but I’m almost positive it has something to do with this.”
As we head inside, the crunch of tires on gravel echoes in the distance. Aries and Draven are here. Bones and I head straight for the bar in the parlor. I line up five bucket glasses before Bones fills four with whiskey and one with Blackwell gin.
An unfamiliar knot forms in my belly. Everything is off-kilter. Unfavorable. And like a bad omen of what’s to come, one of the thick brass hands inside the grandfather clock snaps off with such force, it breaks the glass and clatters to the floor.
“What happened?” It’s odd to see a man of such fashion and luxury with a broom in his hand. Draven sweeps up the last shards of glass while Bones holds the dustpan steady for him.
Aries is already on his second whiskey, his lips firmly pressed to the glass while his gaze keeps flitting up toward the second level.
“It’s an old house,” I reply. That antique was definitely on its last chime.
“I don’t give a shit about the clock, Nox. I meant Mia,” Draven huffs.
“Well, maybe we should start by asking Ries. Anything you care to share with the rest of us?” I implore him, using his nickname even though it feels strange in my mouth. But he insisted, and whenever my cock is buried deliciously deep inside this man, I tend to promise him whatever he wishes.
“Him first.” He nods toward Bones. “Sounds like that might be more pressing.”
Bones leans against the back of the couch, his weight causing it to creak.
With his wrinkled shirt and pants, he is beyond unkempt.
Bones is violent and brutal, but he’s not a slob.
His upper-class breeding and ties to Melancholia’s finest aristocracy wouldn’t allow him to be anything but elegant even in the throes of vulgarity.
But right now, he is positively ruffled.
Which is an odd juxtaposition for me because I think it makes him more attractive.
“I told Mia to meet me at the garage. We had plans to have dinner and drinks before coming back here. I got tied up a bit with Lettie, so by the time I got there, Mia was… Fuck.” He pours another whiskey and downs it like a shot.
A swell of dark energy radiates off Draven. He grips his glass so hard it almost shatters. “I’m going to kill someone. Just tell me who.”
Bones shakes his head. “There was no one there. Just Mia. She was naked, and there were these black marks all over her. Like ink or paint. And she was catatonic. Like in a fucking trance or something. I tried calling all of you, but Nox is the only one who picked up.”
Draven curses and throws his glass, splintering the thick crystal into a thousand shards. “I should’ve been there.”
Aries’s gaze flits to the wet, sopping mess on the floor as he steps around it. “You almost ruined my shoes, Dray. Fuck. These are my favorites.”
Draven glares at him. “Don’t push me right now.”
I come around to his side and gently place a hand on his back.
He releases a breath instantly, his stiff muscles trembling under the heat of my palm.
He has been the hardest to read. The most challenging to break.
But his love is immaculate. It’s the most powerful drug one could ever partake in.
He is worth every scowl and every verbal lashing.
“Nox said she needed a bath and a poison I’ve never heard of. Bloodroot,” Bones continues. “And he was right. I put the petals into her mouth, and it brought her back.”
Aries snickers. “So that’s why I got a text alert from my apothecary. I’m impressed that you remembered the code to get in. And that you found the bloodroot. It’s a rare strain that I keep tucked away in the back.”
Draven tilts his neck as he loosens his tie. “What is so rare about it? I need to know everything. Details, history, location. Everything.”