Grave New World

  GRAVE NEW WORLD

  Book 8 of the Dulcie O’Neil series

  HP Mallory

  Copyright ©2016 by HP Mallory

  Smashwords Edition

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. Please do not participate in or encourage the piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  ALSO BY HP MALLORY:

  THE JOLIE WILKINS SERIES:

  Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble

  Toil and Trouble

  Be Witched (Novella)

  Witchful Thinking

  The Witch Is Back

  Something Witchy This Way Comes

  THE DULCIE O’NEIL SERIES:

  To Kill A Warlock

  A Tale Of Two Goblins

  Great Hexpectations

  Wuthering Frights

  Malice In Wonderland

  For Whom The Spell Tolls

  Eleven Snipers Sniping (Short Story)

  A Midsummer Night’s Scream

  Grave New World

  THE LILY HARPER SERIES:

  Better Off Dead

  The Underground City

  To Hell And Back

  Persephone

  The Bladesmith (Novella)

  THE PEYTON CLARK SERIES:

  Ghouls Rush In

  Once Haunted, Twice Shy

  Big Easy Murder (Novella)

  THE BRYN AND SINJIN SERIES:

  Sinjin

  The Scent

  Blood Lust (Novella)

  Acknowledgements:

  To the apple of my eye, Finn: I love you more than words can ever say.

  To Len: This book would never have been as strong without your input. I love you, my moon and stars.

  To my editor, Teri, at www.editingfairy.com: Thank you for a job well done, as always.

  To Jessica Catalano: Thank you for your creativity in coming up with this title! I love it!

  TABLE OF CONTENTS:

  GRAVE NEW WORLD

  Friend the Dulcie Characters on Facebook!

  About H. P. Mallory

  CHAPTER ONE

  Bram

  I despise surprises.

  And may I add that it is not a common occurrence when I find myself surprised. After “living” century after century and experiencing all the history that I have, it can most assuredly be assumed that situations in which I have been genuinely shocked are few and far between. Truthfully, very little could evoke such a primitive response from me. Indeed, I have always prided myself on remaining one step ahead and planning for any possible outcomes. Yes, surprises are just as rare to me as eating food.

  At least, that was true until now.

  Most unfortunately for me, surprised I certainly was. As well as astonished. Flabbergasted. Dumbfounded. And stunned at being taken captive in my own home. To add insult to injury, I was taken prisoner by those who were once subservient to me and under my direct command. Most regrettably, however, I was not their only prisoner. My confidante, Dulcie O’Neil, was also subjugated to the undeserved authority of Jax, the same bastard who had, until very recently, served as my right-hand-man.

  “Is this necessary?” I asked incredulously. My vision was suddenly darkened when one of Jax’s brutes, a pathetic lad whose name escapes me, blindfolded me. Of course, I knew the reason for the precaution and fully expected it. As a centuries-old vampire, I am powerful. My powers have evolved highly enough that I could bewitch any one of them if they so much as glimpsed my eyes.

  “All this time, you’ve been allowed to believe that you were fooling us,” Jax answered, his voice gruff and angry. As a Loki, Jax possessed immense stature and strength. Up until now, I thought him ultimately inane and basically useless, except, of course, for his brawn. Physically, he is as tall as I am, which is well over six feet, but where I possess the sleek, chiseled physique of an Olympian swimmer, Jax is built like a lumbering ox. Large and dumb are usually the attributes of a valuable henchman, but apparently, not so in this case. My initial reaction of disbelief was already fading away and a new emotion emerging. Anger. Mostly with myself. I gravely underestimated Jax after having grown complacent in my own superiority and his obvious inferiority. How much I actually underestimated him, though, still remained to be seen.

  As if the blindfold weren’t insulting enough, I was also shackled from head to foot; my hands bound behind me with cuffs. Despite every endeavor, I could not budge them. They were most certainly forged from Netherworld iron. Ordinarily, I could snap through any earthly handcuffs or chains as if they were no more than brittle rubber bands. Not so, however, with the iron manacles crafted from the ore of the Netherworld. Consequently, my super enhanced strength, just like the power inherent in my eyes, was quite rudely confiscated from me. I was now rendered helpless. Not only to myself but also to Dulcie. The odd sensation of vulnerability was not one I was accustomed to and, as such, I felt strangely out of sorts. After all, it has been many lifetimes since I lived as a human and, thus, strangely peculiar for me to now feel anything similar to this.

  “What the hell is going on?” Dulcie demanded. She, too, was restrained by the same Netherworldly iron shackles. Likewise, she too was prevented from using the magic inherent to her own species. Such a pity! Dulcie is truly a bewitching sight to behold when she begins summoning her fae magic. Actually, she is quite bewitching and a sight to behold in general: a small yet very curvaceous body with long, blond hair and emerald eyes that have been known to spit fire. And the way she manages to fill out her police-issued trousers with that body of hers is enough to warm any cold-blooded creature …

  “You’d be a whole lot better off if you just kept your mouth shut,” Jax fired back at her.

  “Don’t you work for Bram?” Dulcie persisted, never one to back down from a challenge. “And doesn’t he work for you?” she repeated, addressing me. Clearly, Dulcie was confused, and judging by the tone of her voice, I would venture to guess she was also annoyed. I could not say I blamed her as the situation was becoming quite perplexing, even to a superior thinker like me.

  “The truth is,” Jax started, and his tone swiftly changed from brusque and heated to self-impressed and conversational. “Your vampire friend, here, has been playing all of us for fools. Or so he thought.” I could hear his footsteps coming closer. “But the tables have turned. Maybe now, it’s more fitting to say he’s the only fool in this room.”

  I had to admit I bristled at hearing I was playing the part of the uninformed idiot. I did not appreciate being referred to as such in the least. Most of the time, I am not a man who allows himself to be ridiculed. In fact, I fail to recall the last instance when anyone dared to meddle with me, much less behave as Jax was. Admitting I was ashamed was an understatement, to say the least.

  “Explain,” Dulcie commanded, still just as fiery and rebellious as ever, even though it was certainly obvious who now held the reins. Dulcie’s courage and fearlessness have always impressed me, and they are two of the characteristics I find most intriguing about her. A plethora of unending spirit contained in such a dainty and petite little nymph …

  “You know me,” Jax said with a gruff laugh. “I’m happy to explain anything to you! Just ’cause I like looking at you,” he finished as the other thugs in the room chuckled. My superior hearing alerted me to realize he had taken the few steps that separated him from Dulcie. That meant he was now only five or less inches away from her. Their close proximity bothered me even more than Jax’s self-impressed boasts. As far as Dulcie was concerned, I considered her still under my protection. It was my fault that she was now in this predicament,
and I fully intended to orchestrate her exit from it.

  “Back off,” Dulcie barked. “I could hear you fine right where you were standing.”

  Jax snickered, and I could suddenly sense the heat radiating off his body, suggesting that he was sexually attracted to Dulcie. This did not come as any surprise to me. I believe most, if not all, male creatures, human or otherwise, cannot help wondering and fantasizing over what it would be like to bed the little tempest. I, myself, have imagined that same situation so many times now, I have lost count.

  “You know it’s nearly impossible for any man to resist your pheromones,” Jax explained, his tone flirtatious and wrath inspiring. Dulcie is a fairy, which means males are irresistibly and immediately drawn to her sexually. This invariably occurs on the earthly plane but is heightened substantially whilst in the Netherworld. Sadly, I cannot count myself as a resistor of her charms either. It is quite a pity, and I can only imagine that our friendly liaison would be significantly improved and easier for both parties were I not so physically attracted to her.

  “I don’t give a shit,” she started. “You better back the fuck away from me now!”

  I could hear the hand of Jax rapidly moving through the air, so I closed my eyes to better attune my hearing with more precision. Jax touched her face, but he did not intend to slap her. No, it sounded as though he were gripping her harshly, probably squeezing her cheeks in his brutish attempt to force her to look him in the eyes.

  “Seeing as how you are my prisoner, it would behoove you to mind your manners and keep your mouth shut, sweet cheeks!” he warned her as I leaned in more closely. I imagined he must have been whispering in her ear.

  “Get back to your story,” she responded, her tone ice cold. Dulcie was the type of woman who never backed down, despite being shackled and clearly under the control of an enemy.

  “What’s the magic word?” Jax taunted.

  “Please,” Dulcie managed to grind out, but I could hear her jaw tightening. I also heard the rush of blood in her veins as it fed her growing anger.

  Jax chuckled again as if he enjoyed watching her play the part of a servile prisoner. “I’ve been working for Bram all this time, at least, that’s the way it appeared,” he started. “But all along, I’ve actually been taking orders from someone else. A different person entirely!” Judging by the sound of his voice, I imagined he must have turned to face me. “We,” he started.

  “Who’s we?” Dulcie interrupted.

  “We are all of the street gangs, collected together.”

  “So you’ve been in touch with the other factions?” Dulcie inquired, lacing her voice with genuine surprise.

  “Of course,” Jax laughed, suggesting she should have already figured it out for herself. “I’ve been the uniting force between all of the potions rings,” he bragged. “Collectively, we like to call ourselves the Rebellion.”

  “And does this Rebellion know that you’ve been following the orders of Bram the whole time?” Dulcie asked.

  “I’ve never answered to Bram,” Jax responded.

  “Well, on the face of it, maybe not …” she corrected herself. “Were the rest of the potions operations also aware that your reporting to Bram was just for show?”

  Sighing, because I did not like the words I heard coming from her mouth, I was disappointed. Dulcie had always looked up to me and respected me. Even though we existed on different sides of the tracks, so to speak, there was always an unspoken trust and mutual respect between the two of us. I hesitate to refer to her as my friend because a man like me makes it his business to avoid friendships, but if I believed in friends, she would be the closest to one.

  “And besides, we wanted Bram to believe we were weak and not worth bothering about when, in fact, we’re anything but,” Jax continued, his bravado growing increasingly boring by the minute.

  “So why the horse and pony show all this time?” Dulcie demanded.

  “All in the name of deception, sweet cheeks! It helped us give Bram the impression that we were just a bunch of morons who are incapable of doing anything on our own,” Jax snapped at her.

  “Why on earth would that help you?” she inquired.

  “Enough with the questions!” Jax railed angrily, his patience clearly at an end. He did have a short temper. I had conveniently forgotten this little tidbit up until now. “You’re forgetting your place.”

  “Fuck my place!” Dulcie yelled back at him. Stomping her feet, she strained against the shackles that held her immobilized.

  The sound of Jax’s palm when it made contact with Dulcie’s cheek grasped my attention. My hands instantly became fists as I fought to control my first impulse. Losing my temper was infrequent at most and would have only further aggravated the situation. Furthermore, Dulcie needed to remember her place. If she lost control of herself, she was no good to either of us.

  “Don’t you ever touch me again,” she seethed.

  “You’re my prisoner,” Jax stated proudly. “And I’ll do whatever the fuck I want to do to you!”

  The other men in the room snickered, and I could immediately detect the rushing of their blood into their loins. No doubt, they must have hoped that what Jax insisted upon was also fair game for them.

  “Dulcie, you must not act out of turn,” I warned her. She did not respond.

  “Listen to the old man over there,” Jax said. “’Cause for once, he’s right.”

  “You’re a loud-mouthed braggart, Jax,” Dulcie started, her outwardly calm voice masquerading the tempest inside of her. “I’m betting that the reason you didn’t want to answer my question is because you don’t know what the answer is.”

  “You don’t give up,” Jax chuckled. “The answer is that we duped the vampire! We deliberately let Bram think we were disorganized because it kept him away from the truth,” he audaciously admitted. “We intended for him to believe nothing was going on behind closed doors.”

  “Why was Bram’s alliance so important to you?” she continued.

  “Why?” Jax nearly roared with laughter as if the answer should have been obvious. “Bram controls Crossbones! It’s only one of the largest, if not the largest, of the potions circles.”

  “So what?”

  “So that was bad news for the Rebellion, because we needed Crossbones. We needed Bram’s numbers as well as his revenue.” I could hear him turning toward me. “At least now, the bastard’s no longer a problem.”

  “You discount me so easily,” I said with a laugh, even though I had to admit, at least to myself, that I had no tricks up my sleeves at the moment. Pity.

  I heard Jax stepping away from Dulcie and approaching me. I could quite easily envision that ugly sneer on his face, with which he usually greeted us. “We just acted the part of weaklings, letting you take up the role as our benefactor. But by playing things our way, we also enabled you to secure the portals for us.” He turned back to face Dulcie. “Portals that will soon prove very valuable to us in the struggle to come.”

  “Bram doesn’t secure the portals,” Dulcie interjected, a slight tinge of humor in her voice. “And if you thought he does, then you really are just as stupid as he originally assessed.”

  Jax chuckled and shook his head. The current in the air allowed me to hear as much. “No, Bram doesn’t secure the portals,” he agreed. “But he knows someone who does … you.”

  “I don’t secure anything,” Dulcie argued, shaking her head. “You’re banking on the wrong person.”

  “No. I’m banking on exactly the right person, the very one I should have,” he argued. “You’re the key. Finding you was the next step in our plan, and it was a huge hurdle! It just so happened that your friend here also wanted to control you, so our timing couldn’t have been better.” He took a deep breath. “And now that we’ve got you exactly where we want you, we can start phase two. That involves securing the other half of all the portals, those which we don’t already have control of.”

  “Good luck with that,�
� Dulcie mumbled, but the fear in her voice was audible.

  “Luck?” Jax repeated before shaking his head. “Luck has nothing to do with it.” He inhaled deeply as though we were again trying his patience. “You’re the factor that has all the significance. So tell me, Dulcie, how does it feel to be such a valuable asset to our cause?”

  “Valuable asset to your cause?” Dulcie snickered. “Why? Because you think I’ll willingly help you take over all the portals from Earth to the Netherworld? Those which are currently under the authority of the ANC?” Of course, it was a rhetorical question. “Because we both know there’s no way in hell that will ever happen.”

  The ANC was the abbreviation for the Association of Netherworld Creatures. It was ultimately a law enforcement agency that regulated the creatures from the Netherworld, both those in the Netherworld as well as those here on Earth. In order to defeat the ANC and take control of the Netherworld, it was imperative that control and ownership of all the portals be established first.

  At the time of this writing, a battle was raging between the ANC and the potions rings. Both organizations sought to take control of the Netherworld. Ever since Dulcie killed her father, a man who was once the head of the ANC, a struggle for power had ensued. You see, Dulcie’s father was also very much in cahoots with the illegal potions smugglers.

  As for my part, I had my hands in both pies. I was inextricably involved with the potions rings in as much as I commanded one of the largest, but I also supported the ANC’s attempts to enforce control, but only because I believe in the balance of power between all things. If the potions rings were allowed to take over, the result would be complete anarchy. Having lived three centuries, I was no supporter of anarchy. Not to mention that the US government would do everything in their power to ensure all the portals were completely cut off and obliterated. Even though Netherworld creatures were no longer in the closet but out in the open, we were still regarded by some with suspicion and contempt, especially by humans. The potions rings had to be prevented from taking control of the Netherworldly government or it would result in negative relations with humans in general.