Lottery king, p.1
Lottery King, page 1
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Cast of Characters
Hey Readers,
This series has a lot of characters introduced in book 1. I’ll have this Character Appendix at the start and the end of the book for your reference. If you like this kind of stuff, let me know in the reviews. I don’t believe I get Kindle Unlimited page read credit if you end the book at the front, so please make sure to close and return the book at the end appendix so I’ll get paid.
Abby: Human Samantha Ayer’s partner. Brown hair. Brown Eyes. Runs a dance school for kids.
Amy Ayers: Human Michael’s mother. Brown hair. Hazel eyes. Dentist.
Artemis: High faeConvenience store clerk. Neon green hair. Vine tattoos. No wings.
Birch: High fae Valet triplet. Bright green hair. Brown eyes. Dragonfly wings.
Cove: High fae Advisor to the king. Long, light-blue hair. No wings.
Emily Williams: Human Michael’s second-oldest sister. Black hair. Bright blue eyes. Calculus professor at UCLA.
Ena: Shadow Nymph Royal guard.
Finch: High fae Poppy’s father. Dark blue hair. Purple eyes. Bumblebee wings.
Firo: Dragon-folkHead of royal security. Orange-and-blue streaked hair. Slitted eyes. Seven feet tall.
Garrett: Werewolf Royal chauffer and body guard. Thick brown hair. Elongated canines.
Gerald: Gnome Head chef of the king. Light-brown hair with a man bun. Four feet tall. Possesses the power to taste lies.
Goddess Raeva: Celestial Creator of all paranormal beings. Source of all magic in the world. Conducts the royal lottery.
Iris: High fae Poppy’s mother. Dark teal hair. Bright green eyes. Iridescent Tinkerbell wings.
Isla: Witch Head housekeeper of the king. Gray hair. Short and round.
Jake Roberts: Human Katie’s husband. Sandy hair. Brown eyes. Works in IT.
Jessica Price: Human Michael’s oldest sister. Dark brown hair. Blue eyes. Runs a clothing company where Michael used to work.
Jet: Shadow Nymph Royal guard.
John Ayers: Human Michael’s father. Salt-and-pepper hair. Blue eyes. Professor of microbiology at UCF (retired).
Kage: Shadow Nymph Royal guard.
Katie Roberts: Human Michael’s closest-in-age sister. Medium brown hair. Hazel eyes. Kindergarten teacher.
King Roman: Dryad Former King of the Eternal Realm.
King Vairn: Vampire Former King of the Eternal Realm before Michael’s reign.
Kol: Witch Royal finance manager. Gray comb-over. Steely gray eyes.
Lady Berra: Harpy Representative of the South Asian harpies. Auburn hair. Charcoal gray eyes. Ashy gray-feathered wings.
Lady Ellia: Celestial Ears, eyes, and voice of the Goddess. Golden-blonde hair. Soft blue eyes. Glows with sunlight.
Lady Helena: Harpy Representative of the Grecian harpies. Chocolate-brown hair. Caramel eyes. Tawny-feathered wings.
Lady Shay: Gnome Representative of the New England gnomes. Thick auburn hair. Golden-brown eyes. Three feet tall.
Lady Taylee: Dryad Representative of the North Carolina dryads. Green leaves. Brown eyes. White and pink magnolia blossoms.
Lady Vivianne: Vampire Representative of the South United States vampires. Obsidian-black hair. Dark gray eyes.
Lady Windy: Cyclops Representative of the Canadian cyclopes. Short, dark brown hair. One blue eye. Almost seven feet tall.
Lord Alan: Werewolf Representative of the Southeast United States werewolves. Curly, dark brown hair. Blue eyes. Elongated canines.
Lord Finn: Merfolk Representative of the Atlantic Ocean merfolk. Shoulder length, ice-blue hair. Deep blue eyes.
Lord River: High fae Representative of the European fae. Silver hair. Green eyes. No wings.
Lord Virgil: Dryad Representative of the Canadian dryads. Dark green, mossy hair. Light-brown eyes. Thick and broad like a redwood.
Margot & Shannon: Human Friends of Michael’s sister Katie.
Matis: High fae Valet triplet. Bright pink hair. Silver eyes. Dragonfly wings.
Michael Ayers: Human King of the Eternal Realm. Short black hair. Bright blue eyes.
Nymerial: Fawn-fae Kitchen maid. Deer ears, tail, and nose. Brown hair. Wide brown eyes.
Nyxx: Shadow Nymph Commander in the Royal Guard.
Ophelia: Siren Owner of The Odyssey Club.
Pansy: Sprite Garden worker. Bright peacock-blue hair, feathers, and eyes. Three inches tall. Hummingbird wings.
Poppy: High fae Advisor to the king. Teal hair. Purple eyes. Iridescent Tinkerbell wings. Possesses the power to create protective shields and mind enchantments.
Robin Fletcher: Human Michael’s best friend. Digital artist for video games. Shaggy brown hair. Gray-blue eyes.
Rune: High fae Advisor to the king. Thick golden hair. Teal eyes. Bumblebee wings.
Samantha Ayers: Human Michael’s third-oldest sister. Short, dark brown hair. Blue eyes. Accountant.
Sunny: High fae Valet triplet. Sunflower-yellow hair. Green eyes. Dragonfly wings.
Thistle: Dryad Royal gardener. Green leaves with orange blossoms. Brown eyes. Green skin.
Tristan: Cyclops Royal butler. Bald. One brown eye. Seven feet tall.
Chapter 1
“Mr. Ayers!” one of my employees dashed up to me with a clipboard clutched in her hands. “I need you to sign this purchase agreement before you leave, please!”
“Sure thing.” I was just about to head out at the end of the day, and I scribbled my signature across the bottom of the light-blue paper. “And I’ve told you before, you can call me Mike. Mr. Ayers sounds so formal.
“I know.” The middle-aged woman smiled. “It just feels weird to me, you’re still my boss, even if I’m old enough to be your mom.”
“I doubt that,” I laughed as I handed the clipboard back to her. “There ya go, Becky.”
“Thank you.” Becky smiled again at me before she turned away and went back to whatever order she was in the middle of completing. Then she turned over her shoulder and called back to me. “Have a good night, Mike!”
“You, too. Have a good night, everyone,” I said to the dozen employees I was in charge of. They all nodded and waved, and then I grabbed my messenger-style briefcase and keys as I headed out to the back parking lot.
The back lot of the small clothing company was filled with the cars of employees who I supervised as a way to make a living. It was a decent job, I was able to put my business management degree to use while paying my bills and even saving a bit, but it didn’t exactly bring me much joy or fulfillment.
I walked around the building and onto the sidewalk out front.
It was a pleasant May evening in Orlando, and the temperature was mild enough that I knew I wouldn’t sweat through my blue polo and khaki pants before I got home. I dreaded this two-block walk back to my apartment in the dead of summer, but it just didn’t seem worth it to drive when it was this close. Besides, I had a bit more saving to do before I could buy a nicer car outright, and that hunk of junk in my parking space was on its last legs. I didn’t want to risk it shitting out on me before I reached my goal.
The clunker had been good to me since my senior year of high school, and I was determined to be a proper adult and get myself a good car that would last me another decade or more. With the amount I’d saved so far, I could have put a down payment on a brand-new WRX, but I wanted to be more frugal than that, even if the newest turbo Subaru called to me like a slice of double-chocolate fudge cake calls to a fat kid.
I lived relatively debt-free in life, and I wanted to keep it that way.
“Ugh,” I groaned to myself and wondered for the millionth time if I’d made the right decision in settling for a business management degree.
I’d bounced around from one major to the next my first three years of college, which had started to burn a real hole in my dad’s pockets. I finally decided to stick with majoring in business because it was a pretty versatile area, and I knew I could use it in a bunch of different industries.
After graduation I’d gotten a mediocre managerial position at a telecommunication company. It was a shit job, and it hadn’t lasted more than a month before the company heads decided to downsize. Which really just meant they sent a bunch of jobs overseas to employees they could pay less than half of what they’d been paying us. No employees meant no need for a manager, so I’d been laid off.
Then I spent the next two years hopping from one shitty position to the next because the job market was so fucking awful. Some of them refused to even schedule me past thirty-five hours a week so they could get out of giving me full-time benefits. None of them felt worth my time, but living isn’t free unfortunately. After the last company I’d worked for filed for bankruptcy, my oldest sister, Jessica, had hired me because she needed someone to manage the business while she started up a second spot on the other side of the city. Jess was always looking out for me and our three other sisters, and as the youngest, and only boy, she always wanted to make sure I was taken care of.
I was grateful for the stability the position had given me the l ast two years, but I knew I could do more with my life. I didn’t want to stay at this job forever.
It definitely felt like I was living in her shadow.
I sighed heavily, and I kicked a pebble down the sidewalk as I thought about the listings on Indeed that I’d been getting emails about. I was qualified for them, but I didn’t think any of the positions would’ve made me happier than the freedom and leniency I got from working for my sister. Plus, the place was so conveniently located near my apartment, and I was not willing to move just for a crappy job I wasn’t going to love.
“Damn,” I cursed under my breath as I felt my mood slipping lower and lower.
I needed a little pick-me-up, so I turned a corner at the next intersection and started toward my preferred convenience store. A couple of good scratcher lottery tickets usually gave me the boost I was looking for. I knew the math was bad, and I’d never won big, but I’d been really lucky in the last year or so of playing and managed to add several hundred dollars into my down payment fund with the guilty pleasure. I also knew better than to play my winnings back into another ticket. That’s how the big lottery runners got you.
I glanced down the street and saw the Quik Mart I usually stopped at, but then a neon sign on the other side of the street caught my attention. It flashed the word “Lottery” in bright, rainbow-colored capital letters.
“That’s new,” I murmured as I paused on the sidewalk to check out the small shop.
The place was barely even a hole in the wall, and the whole store looked like it was smaller than my bedroom in my thousand-square-foot apartment. That neon Lottery sign was the only sign in the window, and it just kept calling to me with those bright and welcoming hues.
“Eh, why the fuck not?” I checked for traffic before I jogged across the street.
The place looked like any other convenience store I’d ever been into through the window, and there was even a little bell that jingled happily as I pushed open the glass door. The place was neat, and the small wire shelves were loaded up with all the usual items. There were rows of individual-sized chip bags, another shelf filled with candy bars, some cheap plastic sunglasses on a round display, and a small section with a few paper atlases of Florida and Georgia. Further in the back corner there were three refrigerated cases that had Snapples, Red Bulls, Arizona Iced Teas, and a wide selection of different bottled waters, and to my left was the counter where two dozen different lottery tickets were available for purchase. The Florida Lottery logo with the big pink flamingo was on a sign right next to the Florida Mega Millions sign, and a small computer screen that showed yesterday’s winning numbers was bolted above the counter.
But it was the scratcher tickets I was after.
Ever since I’d been given my first scratch-off ticket in my Christmas stocking when I was twelve years old, I’d loved the little silver shavings and the pixelated printed numbers underneath. I got a scratcher a few times a week, but it was almost always the ones that only cost a dollar. Every once in a while I’d indulge in one of the bigger games, and today felt like one of those days.
“Hello, friend!” The cashier behind the counter grinned at me with bright teeth and even brighter hair.
The guy looked to be a bit younger than me, but it was hard to tell through the neon-green shade of his chaotically-tossed hair and the bright vine tattoos that wound up his arms from his fingers. He was wearing gold eyeliner under bright blue eyes, and I had to admit he managed to pull it off without looking too wild, at least for this part of Florida. He wore a t-shirt in the brightest shade of yellow I’d ever seen on a piece of clothing, and I wondered if he would glow in the dark.
“Uh, hi,” I said, and I walked up to the counter.
There was a display of Chapsticks, Bic lighters with fun prints, and a few rows of last-minute electronics like USB car adapters, charging cables, and cheap-as-shit earbuds. Taped to the counter was one of those yellow signs that declared the shop required ID verification for tobacco and lottery purchases.
“What can I do for you today?” the guy asked, and I saw that his name tag said Artemis.
“I was going to get a few scratch-off tickets,” I said, and I gave the small store another glance. “Is this place new? I come by this way pretty often after work, and I’ve never noticed it before.”
“Yep,” Artemis said with a bit of a pop at the end of his word. He leaned his elbows on the counter as he looked at me with curious eyes. “Brand-new, we just opened for business.”
“Cool, you’ve got a really good location here,” I said, and I found there was something open about Artemis that made me feel like chatting. “There’s a lot of foot traffic along this street, and some apartment complexes on the next block over.”
The vine-tattooed guy grinned at me, and I shook my head. He probably knew about the neighborhood already, so why was I explaining it to him? He must have been the kind of person who naturally invited conversation, so he was in the right kind of job.
“What kind of scratch ticket would you like?” Artemis asked, and he propped his chin in one palm as he waved at them with the other. “We’ve got all the most popular games.”
“Uh… I’m not sure.” I ran my fingers through my short black hair and pushed the little bit of length off my forehead. “I’m not super picky or anything, I like them all.”
“Well…” Artemis straightened up and started to point out the different games. “We’ve got the dollar tickets, two dollars, five dollars, and one of the ten dollar games. We also have the regular lottery games, too. Mega Millions, PowerBall, you know…”
I looked over the tickets for a moment as I felt his gold-rimmed eyes on my face, and I struggled to make a choice. Usually I picked one at random, but something about this guy or this store made it hard to decide.
“I got a good feeling about you,” Artemis said suddenly. “I think it might be your lucky night.”
“Yeah,” I chuckled. “Probably not. I’ve never won more than fifty bucks on one of these things.”
“Hey, that’s nothing to sneeze at,” Artemis murmured with a sly smile. “Besides, you know what they say…”
But he didn’t continue, and my brain felt like someone had turned the Wi-Fi off.
“What do they say?” I asked as the moment stretched on.
“You know, ‘you can’t win if you don’t play’ right?” the guy laughed, and it was a strange noise that had the quality of tinkling bells to it.
A small part in the back of my brain knew there was something weird about this guy, and I wondered if I should be more cautious of him. But he seemed nice enough, and I wasn’t exactly giving up any height or weight to the gangly dude, so I just smiled at his strangeness instead.
“Will you please give me two of the Pot O’Gold tickets, one of the two-dollar Treasure Chest, and…” I shrugged as an idea suddenly popped into my head. “How about you pick one for me, too? Anything five dollars or less.”
“Really?” Artemis asked as he tore off the scratchers I’d picked, and his blue eyes went wide as he rubbed his fingers together with excited anticipation. “Alright, let’s see which one calls to you, shall we?”
“Uh, yeah, whatever,” I said. The guy was odd, and I was about ready to head home, so I started tapping my fingers on the counter while I waited for him to pick a ticket for me.
Artemis laid my picks on the counter, and he danced his index and middle fingers over the rows of perforated scratcher tickets as he clicked his tongue. I thought I heard the sound of a metal barbell against his teeth, and for a split second I thought I saw the vine tattoos all along his arm shift. I shook my head and told myself it had to be a trick of the fluorescent lights over my head, or maybe I just really needed a good meal.
“Hmmm,” the guy hummed and shook his head at every ticket. Then he jammed one finger into the air and gasped. “Ah-ha! I know.”
I watched with renewed curiosity as Artemis disappeared behind the counter. There was a bit of shuffling and the slide of a cabinet door, and then he stood back up with a glittery gold ticket the size of a playing card between his fingers.
“This one.” Artemis held the ticket out to me with a satisfied grin on his lips. “I definitely think you’ll find your luck with this ticket.”
I couldn’t take my eyes off of his neon-green framed face as I reached out and took the ticket, and then I dragged my gaze down to look at the little card.
