Playing with Monsters

Playing with Monsters

by

Amelia Hutchins

Playing with Monsters

Amazon Edition

Copyright © June 28, 2016 by Amelia Hutchins

ISBN: 978-0-9970055-2-3

This book is a work of fiction.  Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.  Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.

This book both in its entirety and in portions is the sole property of

Amelia Hutchins

Playing With Monsters
Copyright ©
2016
by Amelia Hutchins. 

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.  No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical without the express written permission of the author. The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law.  Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.  If you’re selling this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to company from which it was obtained from and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

The unauthorized reproduction of or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright, infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in Federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

Authored by: Amelia Hutchins

Cover Art Design:Vera Digital Art and Photography

Copy Editor: Gina Tobin

Edited & Formatted by: E & F Indie Services

Published by: Amelia Hutchins

Published in (United States of America)

!!STOP!!

Read the warning below before purchasing this book.

TRIGGER WARNING:
This book includes scenes of graphic violence and sex does have scenes that might affect sensitive readers. Rape isn’t a joke, nor is it used for titillation in this book. If you know someone or have been a victim of rape yourself, get help. Don’t let this asshole get away with it because chances are, your attacker will do it to someone else. You’re not alone in this. Thousands of people are raped daily; there are hundreds of people who go free after attacking their victim because the victim is afraid to report or discuss the crime for a variety of reasons. No means no. If you or someone you know has been a victim of rape, get help.
RAINN
is available in many countries, and is a free confidential hotline. It is free to call and available 24/7 call

1-800-656-HOPE

Warning

This book is
dark
. It’s
sexy
, hot, and
intense
. The author is human, as you are as well. Is the book perfect? It’s as perfect as I could make it. Are there mistakes? Probably, then again, even
New York Times top published
books have minimal mistakes because like me, they have
human editors
. There are words in this book that won’t be found in the standard dictionary, because they were created to set the stage for a paranormal-urban fantasy world. Words such as ‘sift’, ‘glamoured’, and ‘apparate’ are common in paranormal books and give better description to the action in the story than can be found in standard dictionaries. They are intentional and not mistakes.

About the hero:
chances are you may
not
fall instantly in
love
with him, that’s because
I don’t write men you instantly love
; you grow to love them. I don’t believe in
instant-love
. I write flawed, raw, caveman-like
assholes
that eventually let you see their redeeming qualities. They are
aggressive
,
assholes
, one step above a caveman when we meet them. You may
not
even like him by the time you finish this book, but I promise you will
love
him by the end of this
series
.

About the heroine:
There is a chance, that you might think she’s a bit naïve, or weak, but then again who starts out as a badass? Badasses are a product of growth and I am going to put her through
hell
, and you get to watch
her
come up
swinging
every time I knock her on her ass. That’s just how I do things. How she reacts to the set of circumstances she is put through, may not be how you as the reader, or I as the author would react to that same situation. Everyone reacts differently to circumstances and how Magdalena responds to her challenges, is how I see her as a character and as a person.

I don’t write love stories
: I write fast paced, knock you on your ass, make you sit on the edge of your seat wondering what happens next books. If you’re looking for cookie cutter romance, this isn’t for you. If you can’t handle the ride,
un-buckle your seatbelt and get out of the roller-coaster car now
.
If not, you’ve been warned.
If nothing outlined above bothers you, carry on and
enjoy the ride!

Dedication

To my fans:
Thank you for understanding that life happens and isn’t scripted. Thank you all for understanding that it takes time to write, and sickness doesn’t care what you have planned, or what is going on in your world, it just happens.

To Gina:
Seven books. That should say it all. Thank you for sticking it out with me no matter how crazy I get, because that’s what friends do. We’ve been through a lot together, so here’s to more shenanigans, and characters bickering!

To my team:
To my street team who rock my world, pimp my books, and keep the word going while I write, I couldn’t do this without you. To the roleplaying group, who keep the team entertained while I write, thank you. To the beta group, who stays up late to make sure I get the feedback back on time. To my editors, Mari, Gina, and Terri, thank you for understanding that I have no perception of time when I pick a release date. David and Chelsea, thank you for the amazing covers you two put out, and do for me. Thank you to everyone for keeping up with me while I run for the finish line.

To my friends, and family:
You all may be batshit crazy, but even if I got to choose, I’d still choose to be with you. Life is fragile, and tomorrow is never a sure thing, so thanks for sharing your lives with me. To my husband, I still love you the most, always and forever.
To my daughter, if you ever date anyone like the men I write, I will kick your ass up between your ears and you will walk sideways for a month, but I’ll still love you.

Also by Amelia Hutchins

The Fae Chronicles

Fighting Destiny

Taunting Destiny

Escaping Destiny

Seducing Destiny

The Elite Guards

A Demon’s Dark Embrace

A Guardian’s Diary

Darkest Before Dawn

Monsters Series

Playing with Monsters

There’s an exclusive sneak peek at the end of this book!

S.L. Jennings has added the first chapter of her highly anticipated Paranormal Romance from the book
Born Sinner
of the
Se7eN
SinnerS
Series at the end of this book!

Make sure to read it and add that bad boy to your Goodreads! It’s coming this summer! Are you ready to lose your religion?

I am.

Chapter One

I’ve been told that I am a survivor, tough, beautiful, and quirky, but the truth is, it’s my disguise; my shield. I’m mostly broken and I’ve tried to hide what I feel, but failure has been all I’ve known on that accord. I’ve experienced death, love, and now life. I don’t know where I went wrong, or how I allowed the darkness inside of me to grow. I know only that instead of fighting it as I should have, I poked it, prodded it, tried to see what it was made of…And now it’s slipped beneath my skin and I can’t seem to eradicate it from my soul.
Can’t eradicate self
, is what it whispers to me in the silence of the night.

Is the darkness a part of me? Have I allowed myself to become the darkness? Why does it whisper such things, so seductive and exhilarating? Why do I listen to it? Maybe I am beyond redemption or saving. But if I am; from what I’ve been taught, that would be the end conclusion. If someone like me can’t be saved after what I’ve endured, then maybe we are all beyond redemption. Maybe none of us deserve to be saved. 

Whatever it is, I’ll face it head-on. He says he can save me, but what if I don’t want to be saved? What if instead of saving me, I want him beside me? I don’t need him to save me, if that is even possible; I have to save myself. I just need to know that when I do, it won’t cost me my soul.

I don’t know if he’s my savior, my enemy, or the reason I’ve embraced this darkness, but I do know I can’t live without him. He brings out memories that don’t feel right, memories that might be stolen from someone else. I’m not what he thinks I am, and he’s not what he portrays himself to be. I can feel his darkness feeding from mine and it scares me. There’s something inside of me that screams to be set free. If I fall for him, I fear that the monster that sleeps within me will awaken, and I’m scared that if it does, I won’t recognize myself anymore.

I’m in control for now, and I will do everything I can to remain that way. With the past coming back in patches and glimpses, it’s easy for now. What scares me is I know that I could be the same woman whose life is unfolding in my dreams…or, more to the point, nightmares.

Can’t eviscerate true self, but what if you could? What if you could erase the past and take control of the future? Oh, but what
if
.   

* ~*~*~*

~Magdalena

I awoke from the nightmare covered in a cold sweat. My hair clung to my neck and I couldn’t shake the remnants of the dream. I knew that they’d been getting a lot more frequent and vivid lately, and although I couldn’t remember much about the details of the dreams, I did know that in each one of them, I died. It wasn’t supposed to happen in dreams; you just didn’t die. You woke up before you did. Everyone knew that. So why did I get screwed? Not only had I died in every dream I’d had recently, but the other consistent thing I remembered was that I’d allowed the monster in my dreams to seduce me right before he’d snuffed the life out of me, literally!

Tonight’s dream felt so real, to the point I’d woken up wet in more places than I wanted to admit. I showered and sat down to recall the details in the journal I’d kept since my senior year in high school. I wasn’t sure I wanted to write this one down because I knew it was worse than the others had been.

He’d been with me, and the next moment I’d been running through the forest holding some kind of large trinket box covered in strange writing—one I’d accidentally opened. I’d awoken on the floor in his estate, and the events and reason leading to my arrival at the estate were spotty at best. It had seemed a blur, but I’d felt it, as if it had been me inside the dream; but that was impossible.

I’d gone to his house on behalf of the coven, with their warnings ringing in my ears, but the actual details seemed to escape me. It was foggy, and I was pretty sure I’d gone there to kill him. I’d felt fear, mixed with the knowledge that I was supposed to do something bad to protect the coven, to keep them away from the monster who had infiltrated our tightknit group with his story of being an outcast warlock.

He’d been so much more, and I’d fallen in love with him. He’d been everything I was looking for, and now I knew he hadn’t felt what I did. He hadn’t loved me. Instead, he’d used me to get to the others; to try and harness and use our powers for his own. I swallowed past the bile that rose in my throat as I stumbled through the forest. I knew I had to abandon the plan and get away from his house before he came back, yet whatever had been inside the box was making it impossible to even focus on what I was doing.

I took off at a run, only to fall and hit the ground with a deafening thump. My dress caught on a bush, tearing it as I rose. I looked for the box, but my vision doubled and his voice screamed my name from the direction of the manor house.

I turned and made my way through the thick, winding forest, escaping the monster.
What had I done?
I kept whispering it, as if I could find the answer within me. I fell again, and again, my legs too weak to support my flight. The earth rose to meet my fall, and eventually I could run no more. I hid behind an ancient oak tree, whispering prayers to the Gods to aid me in my escape.

I heard a branch snap beneath his weight and I refused to open my eyes to meet his angry stare. “What did I do, what did I do,” I repeated over and over again numbly.

“You know what you did,” he whispered as his hand touched my cheek. His palm cupped my chin and I felt the tears that fell for what I had done. I was in love with this man, this monster who had fooled us all.

My body trembled from the simple touch; anticipation from what we’d both denied each other was there in my mind. I knew now why he didn’t come to my father with a marriage proposal. This man was wicked, and his seduction was part of his play; another stepping stone to his endgame.

“What did I do,” I whispered brokenly.

I hadn’t expected to be pulled into his arms, or for his mouth to crush against mine with his sinful kisses, but both of those things happened, and before I could protest, he’d taken us both to the ground. I could feel the proof of his arousal, and the sound of fabric as it was ripped apart should have scared me.

“You forced my hand, remember that,” he whispered barely above a breath. His mouth left mine and heat sailed through my body as his mouth clamped onto one nipple and then the other. I was voiceless, and only simple moans and whimpers would leave my lips. “You shouldn’t have been the one to come; it wasn’t supposed to be you,” he said as he lifted his mouth from my breasts and gave me a prodding stare. Those eyes, as beautiful as the wild dark ocean, could see through me.

“I loved you,” I whispered brokenly as I tried to remember who I was with. He kissed me, and this time it wrecked me. I didn’t care that he was my enemy, or that he was the purest form of evil. In this moment, he was the man I’d fallen in love with.

I felt his hands as they lifted the skirt and petticoats of the dress I wore, and his long fingers entered my slick flesh. A scream ripped from my throat as they plunged through my flesh into my heat, and the noise of anguish that sounded from his throat brought fresh tears to my eyes.

“Don’t do this,” I pleaded, rocking my hips, enjoying the feel of his body connected to mine intimately.

“This is mine, just as you will always be, sweet girl,” he murmured as I rocked my hips clumsily while he used his fingers wickedly. “What you opened wasn’t meant for you, but it can’t be allowed to grow,” he whispered as his mouth rained kisses over my jawline down where my pulse beat wildly. “You won’t believe me, but I did love you, until you betrayed me.”

He pulled away from the kisses, and his fingers left the warmth of my body. I cried out with regret at losing the drug-like state and wept. “
You
betrayed
me
,” I choked out. “You lied about everything, even what you were. I trusted you, so you’re my demon to slay!” I screamed as he pushed his fingers back inside of me, stretching me.  The knife he produced with his other hand came up and sliced through my palm, taking my blood. “No,” I whispered, shocked as his eyes began to glow and his smile turned cruel. “I curse you on this night. Before the first light of dawn you shall be returned to the fires of hell from which you came. My brothers and sister will finish what I have started, and you will be sent back to where you belong!”

His features twisted angrily. “Hell cannot hold me, witch. I will return to complete what I have started, and you will die knowing that nothing you or your coven does will prevent me from succeeding.”

“I will be reborn, and I
will
remember you,” I whispered with enough force that his smile faded.

“You’re a fool if you think you can stop me, Katarina. You set forth your own doom, along with those who follow you. You will all be cursed to relive your failures, over and over again. From this day forth, any rebirth you have will be drawn to me. I will allow you to fall in love with me every fucking time. Your coven will watch it happen and they will be unable to help you. The evil you consumed will follow you as well, because of what you’ve done. Not even I have the power to undo what you’ve unleashed. So with every new life, you’ll be cursed to relive the past in your dreams—only, when you awaken, the dreams will become elusive. At the first sign of dawn, you will only remember fragments and never see my face until I allow it; but by then, it will be too late,” he finished.

“Isn’t it enough that you plan to kill me once?” I questioned even as my traitorous body lifted for his touch.

“One lifetime with you would never be enough,” he said with remorse in his eyes. “I was sent here follow a specific course, one set long ago; you were not supposed to be in my way. You were as much of a surprise to me as I was to you. That’s how you fooled me, though, wasn’t it? You used my need for you against me, and I promise you this, my little witch. It will never happen again,” he whispered as he sat up on his knees and looked down at me from above. “I really wish you hadn’t opened that box.”

His hand cradled my face as I watched his eyes. He was eerily beautiful, and yet I could sense the power that oozed from within him. I was so lost in his beauty that I didn’t realize he’d still held the dagger until it was lodged in my heart.

Shock registered and I grew cold and, thankfully, numb as he whispered his goodbyes.

“I will kill you for this,” I whispered as blood filled my lungs. A smile formed on my lips as blood escaped and slid down my chin. “I won’t let you win.” 

I’d awoken from the dream, and he’d been there. He’d been on top of me, watching me as if he’d been flesh and blood. He’d smiled coldly and whispered the words that had turned my blood to ice.
The game’s in play, sweet witch.

Needless to say, sleep eluded me after that. I remained awake and as the dawn broke, I watched as the words disappeared from the journal and my mind.