“The usual desperate pricks looking to be admitted into the Lords,” he says. “I decided shit’s getting dull. So, the girls have helpfully brought in some fresh meat. They think they’re just here for the party. They have no idea what’s about to happen to them.”
What have these arseholes done now? Fecking human trafficking?
“That’s brilliant!” Richard crowed. “They’re in for one hell of a night.”
My gaze zeroes in on a lass I don’t recognize. Shite, she must be one of the innocents Brittany and her harpy crew dragged in. She’s beautiful, with silver-blonde hair cascading over her shoulders and glittering in the moonlight. She’s little, but as the Bard says, she is fierce. She’s helping a waitress out of the pool while glaring at Eddie, who’d shoved the poor woman in. I know better than to ask who she is. Deacon has a hard-on for going after every woman he thinks I have the slightest interest in.
“See anything you like?” Deacon asks with a sly grin.
Shrugging, I say, “They’re meat. Just meat.”
The camera scans over some other little clumps of partygoers, I recognize most of them. “I can already tell the men are useless, though the burly guy looks like his muscles are used for something other than flexing at the gym,” I muse. “He might have some promise.”
I only see two new girls, and my gut twists as I hear the others laughing loudly as they speculate on who they plan to run to earth tonight. This changes everything, I must get them out of the way before these dumb fecks mow them down.
“Who is that big bastard?” Trent points at the muscled guy I’d mentioned earlier.
Richard leans closer, eyes narrowed. “That’s Colton Brennan, comes from Big Pharma in the States. I don’t know why he’s willing to go through this bullshit to get into the Lords, but I’m perfectly happy to test him out.”
The others laugh, picking up their various implements of destruction. Deacon’s favorite is a six-foot-long bullwhip, and I have vivid memories of what happened to the last man he used it on. He’s wearing his studded red leather mask tonight. I’m dying to tell him he looks like a male submissive, fresh out of hiscage, but we dinna have time to beat the shite out of each other tonight.
His brother Richard is fond of a stout woodenbokken,it can break bones and shatter joints with a single swing. He’s always rattling on about his “samurai training” in Japan. He’s wearing aNamahagemask, with vicious, blocky teeth distorting the mouth of the mask.
Reaching behind me, I pull off my shirt, stretch, and spin my bat. “Let’s do this.”
I get a small moment of satisfaction when I slam my bat against the metal pot, watching the crowd around the pool yelp and cover their ears.
“Pay attention, fuckheads! The Dark Games are about to begin!”
There’s something ugly in the energy swirling through the Lords tonight. Deacon and Richard look like they’re out for blood, and Enzo’s a fucking lunatic who’d just as soon kill as catch.
“We’re going to play a game tonight,” I say, my voice rasping through my mask.
“Finders, Keepers,” Marcus shouts.
Our people slowly back away from the lambs they’ve lured in for tonight. The new girls are looking around, wide-eyed, and the two men stupid enough to try to gain admission into the Lords attempt to look tough. The wee blonde I’d watched earlier is frowning, stepping closer to her friend. She’s already noticed that Brittany and Canary have joined the others on the stone steps.
She’s taking in the new energy around the pool, the barely contained eagerness, the terrified anticipation.
Smart lass.
Our hangers-on are always ready to see some blood spilled.
“The rules for Finders, Keepers are simple,” Enzo shouts, wearing a demon mask and a huge grin. “You run. We chase you. If you can make it back to the dock before you’re caught, you are ourhonoredguests.” His gaze shifts to Colton and the other guy, who’s currently questioning his life choices. “If we catch you…” He chuckles. “Tonight’s going to go in an entirely different direction.”
I can still see the wee blonde out of the corner of my eye. She’s shaking her head decisively.
She just realized she’s on the menu tonight. My head tips back and I groan silently. I have to get them out of this chase and hide them somewhere until I can get them off the island tomorrow.
Feck the rest of these lambs. They signed up for this. These two girls dinna know what they got lured into.
Taking the hand of the other newcomer, the little blonde starts edging to the side. She’s probably trying to skirt around the mansion to the front, which is a straight shot to the docks. Clever lass. Eddie steps in front of them. He prefers a cricket bat, taped to add more strength and flexibility. He taps it against her leg in warning, chuckling when she angrily pushes it away.
Richard’s still talking; he loves the sound of his voice. He talks more than the other six of us together. “Almost midnight. Count it down, people.”
Our crew starts counting gleefully, everyone excited, waiting for the havoc to begin.
“Five!”
