Page 40 of Queen of Spades

“Your flare for the dramatic never ceases to disappoint me.” My father sighed. The screams made sense now, they had been real. Grace was somewhere in this house, hurting and alone, thanks to the sick fuck I shared blood with. “The deal still holds, with new conditions. I get my grandchild, and Douglas keeps his sister. It was mutually beneficial and made the most logical sense.”

I glanced at Levy, who was vibrating with rage as he flickered in and out of view, and my lip curled back in a caustic scowl. “I will never give you what you want,” I announced coldly. “Grace will never have my child, I will make sure of that.” The room started to sway as I fought another wave of exhaustion, but I willed my body to hold out just a little whilelonger. “The curse of this fucking bloodline dies with me. Do you understand? I refuse to carry on your legacy.”

“Once again, you are letting your supposed morals cloud your judgment. This is not just my legacy, this is yours as well. A child that’s half Harding, half Howell would be powerful beyond measure! A new era of humanity where they are a god amongst mortals. Don’t let your narrow-sighted view of-” A bang cut him off, and my ears rang as something warm sprayed across my face. I stared at the bloodstain forming on the front of my father’s suit jacket, stemming from the hole in his chest.

I blinked, my mouth opening and closing as I watched him sink to his knees in front of me, a look of surprise on his face. His mouth opened, but no sound came out, and he collapsed next to me, unmoving. “That’s enough, Doug,” I muttered, willing myself to wake up. If he thought watching my father die was a nightmare he had sorely misread our family dynamics. I reached out with my weak powers, and I felt my fathers blood ebbing out of the wound in his chest, pooling on the floor underneath him. “Oh.”

“He sure talked a lot.” Douglas sighed, tucking the hand gun back under his suit jacket. “He is right though, your DNA is just what we need.” He grinned at me, leaning back against the wall as I knelt frozen next to the corpse of my father.

“What… the fuck did you just do?” I rasped, trying to put the pieces together in my hazy mind.

“Just taking care of a loose end. You see, while my lovely Gracie is the golden goose, I couldn’t have your father stealing any of my golden eggs. I know a buyer for powered children, and ones with two powered parents will fetch me ten million apiece.” He smirked at me like this was a totallyreasonable thing to do, selling babies to a fucking company that was using them for god-knows-what.

My stomach dropped out in horror, and I realized the implications of his words. Specials weren’t easy to come by, so for him to knock up Grace with a special, it would be us… or it would be…Oh my god, he was truly a sick fuck. That’s why he’d been there, with those men at the club. The possessive behavior, the inappropriate touches… bile rose up in my throat.

I spat at his feet, and he laughed, pushing himself up off the wall. “Listen, Howell, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. I don’t give a shit which you choose, but you might want to consider that the hard way will be a lot harder on your wife.” He smirked at me as he walked out, shutting the door behind him.

“Fuck!” I stood up slowly, inching as close to my fathers body as I could reach, trying to avoid the puddle of blood congealing next to him. I dug through his pockets, trying to find anything that might be useful. A phone, a pocketknife, hell I’d settle for a toothpick at this point, anything that might help me do something in here other than wait for that fucking prick to come back. My search came back empt; the fucker must’ve left his phone in the car.Useless, even in death.I kicked the corpse once, and stalked away from it, putting as much space between myself and it as possible.

“This isn’t happening,” I muttered, shaking my head. Maybe it was all a nightmare, and Douglas was fucking with me some more. Or maybe I’d finally snapped and lost my mind.

“We gotta get Grace outta here,” Levy mumbled, and I met his deep blue eyes across the room before he faded away again. I nodded sadly. We had to, even if it meant dyingourselves. Douglas would use her up until there was nothing left, and I refused to let that happen.

“Where the fuck are Erik and Jesse?” I muttered, rubbing my face. Maybe they were already dead—it would explain how my father had managed to bring Grace here. We needed luck right now, and it appeared that we were fresh out.

Chapter twenty-five

Levy

Iwas trying so hard not to close my eyes, but I was so fucking tired, they kept sliding closed against my will. Footsteps jolted me awake, and I glanced at Anders, who was watching the door warily. He turned and met my eye, and whispered one word, “Paraphilia.”

I blinked in confusion, and he just nodded at me before turning back to the door. That didn’t make sense.Had he finally snapped?He looked back at me and pried one of his eyes open exaggeratedly, and I finally clued in. I was awake, this was real. I nodded just as the door opened, and I jumped to my feet as Grace stepped inside the room.

Her eyes went wide and she stepped toward me, but Douglas grabbed her by her hair and yanked her back against his chest. I snarled, my hands clenched into fists as I glared at him, his hand snaking around her chest and holding her tightly against him. “Not so fast Gracie,” he murmured, smirking at us. Anders was tense as he watched them, his eyes narrowing when he noticed the bloody bandage on Grace’s arm.

“Here’s the deal, boys. You each get a turn with Gracie, once a day, until she’s nice and knocked up. If you fight me, I will hurt Gracie.” He grabbed her bandaged arm and squeezed it until she cried out, tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Enough!” Anders snapped, and Douglas glared at him, cocking an eyebrow.

“And you, Howell. Give me any grief at all, and I will end you. I don’t need you living to get some of your DNA,” he snapped, and shoved Grace toward Anders. Anders caught her as she stumbled, his arms wrapping around her as he shot daggers at Douglas with his eyes. “Now get to it, I don’t have all day,” he announced, leaning against the door.

“What? You plan to stand there and watch while I fuck your sister?” Anders demanded, pulling Grace into his lap. I knew Douglas was sick but that took the cake.

“Can’t get it up with an audience?” Douglas replied with a nasty sneer. “I have pills that’ll take care of that for you.”

“It’s okay,” Grace murmured, touching Anders cheek. “It’s okay, really. Just pretend it’s us here, okay?” I faded out of view and moved as close to them as I could, wishing I could get between them and Douglas, to block them from his sight.

“Grace, no,” Anders replied, and she shifted in his lap to straddle him, murmuring in his ear. I couldn’t tell what she was saying to him, but his hands tightened around her waist, his eyes flashing as he glanced toward my side of the room. He whispered something back to her, and her body trembled.

“Let me relax you,” she said, loud enough for all of us to hear. I felt her power the moment it hit me, the muscles in my body relaxing as the coil of anxiety in my chest lifted. I heard Douglas groan and refused to look at him, knowing it would make me sick.

“Mmm, good girl,” Anders murmured, his hands sliding up her shirt. “You know that’s what I like.”

What the fuck?I’ve never seen him react well to her powers before. He slipped his hand out of her shirt, stroking herthigh as she shifted in his lap, grinding against him. Grace started to moan as Anders kissed down her neck, and I felt myself getting flustered as I watched them together. Surreptitiously, I shot a glance at Douglas, and he was watching with altogether too much interest for my taste, a noticeable tightness in the front of his pants.

“Anders,” Grace moaned, and I saw Doug’s brow furrow, his lips twisting into a scowl. Well, well, the pervert didn’t like another man’s name on her lips it seemed.

“Alright, let’s move it along,” Douglas bit out, and Anders shot him an incredulous look over Grace’s shoulder. “Fill her up so we can move on already.”

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