Water, p.1
Water, page 1
Water: Elemental Reverse Harem Quartet
Elemental Reverse Harem Quartet, Volume 2
Helen J Perry
Published by H J Perry, 2019.
Water © 2019 Helen J Perry
This edition revised and reedited 2022
All rights reserved.
Cover by ReddHott Covers
Editing by Pair of Nines
All rights reserved.
No part of this story may be used, reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the copyright holder, except in the case of brief quotations embodied within critical reviews and articles.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Written in British English with mostly American spelling.
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Author's website: HelenJPerry.com
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
EXTRACT: Fire (book3)
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CHAPTER ONE
Knocked out of sleep
Beck Colborn
THE FRANTIC BASHING started up again. My body tensed. My eyes cracked open to darkness.
Only bad things accompany ominous banging in the dead of night.
When the din roused me to consciousness, it was a relief to find myself in my own bed. At least our magic would protect us there.
My heartbeat raced nevertheless.
The hammering had been going on for a while. It had permeated my already forgotten dream, giving rise to a sense of urgency and danger in my sleep. My conscious self was no less alarmed by it.
The darkness outside and the clock both confirmed it was too early to be woken, which might explain why the tired figure beside me slept on, undisturbed by the racket.
No point in laying in bed wondering who is banging until we are both awake.
When I opened the door, a dark, agitated whirlwind rushed past me.
“Close it,” Chet said on his way into the main room, at which point he turned a full three-hundred-and-sixty degrees, looking for god-only knew what. “Is Haydn here?” he asked before chewing his bottom lip.
“You are aware of the time, right?” I decided not to waste any further words of sarcasm, so I turned around. “I’ll get him.”
Overhead, the floorboards creaked under Haydn’s heavy footsteps. He hadn’t slept through the racket after all. “Chet’s here to see you,” I called up. “I’ll get coffee.”
I wasn’t about to wait for a reply, but Haydn appeared on the landing. Unlike me, he’d stopped to pull on clothes, the same ones that he had dumped on the bedroom floor the night before—black jogging bottoms and a crumpled T-shirt.
Not that I was naked; even I wouldn’t open up the house in the altogether. I wore boxer shorts to bed, and they were good enough to hang around at home. Anyone who barged in unexpectedly and in the middle of the night had to accept me as they found me.
Standing at the foot of the stairs, I paused to watch the broad giant of a man descending.
Bedraggled and sleepy, and in need of a brush dragging through his hair, he looked like he’d just fallen out of bed—that good. To me, Haydn’s rugged and wild appearance was as attractive as any attempts he ever made to smarten himself up. Even though we’d lived together for several years, the attraction between us still buzzed as much as it did when we first met.
In bed or out of it, Haydn was powerful, domineering, and dangerous. That was how I liked my men; I could say the same of Varu, after all. I fell in love with them both. They were two very different men but similar in some ways.
Since we first met, I’ve longed for Haydn in a way that I’d only experienced with Varu.
At first, it was pure physical attraction—you should see him.
Haydn is gigantic, tall, broad, and built. He’s got a wild look about him, which reflects his fiery, passionate nature. You can see it in the way that every movement he makes is purposeful and oozes sex appeal.
He’s the guy you’d expect to take charge in every situation. And he does.
I always felt proud to be alongside him, sharing his home and his bed.
The relationships flourished naturally with each man, the witch and the vampire; I was lucky enough to have both of them in my life, and they accepted each other.
I swallowed down that thought with a gulp.
They tolerated each other by mostly ignoring the existence of the other.
I loved them both. I’d found it best to avoid mentioning either one to the other when possible. Not that we were in a love triangle. They both understood what was going on, and none of it was a secret. Neither one of them wanted an exclusive relationship, and I was happy with that. I didn’t want to have to choose between the two of them.
I hadn’t experienced a pull of desire and need like that for anyone else. Ever.
Until now.
Malka had entered Summer House Road and instantly seduced me, which was a complete surprise.
I’d expected to hate her and for that feeling to be mutual: we had good reasons.
She was the witch who held Haydn’s heart. She had the power to rip my life apart, tear him away, and banish me from her coven. The mere mention of her name always had me fearing the worst.
After meeting Malka, my fears had subsided but not disappeared altogether. She was different than I had imagined, but she still had control over my future.
When I’d fallen asleep, I had not yet had time to analyze my positive feelings toward the new witch on the street; I’d only had time to confirm my impulsive desire for Haydn remained unchanged.
Until then, two people had shared my heart. I’d never expected to meet a third person who might also make the ‘earth move’ for me in quite that way. Excuse the pun.
“You want coffee, Chet?” I asked when I re-entered the living room with Haydn on my heel.
“Nah, I should avoid caffeine. I need to go to bed soon. I’ve been up all night.” He didn’t look tired. He looked hyper-alert, like someone who’d been up all night on energy drinks. Or an elemental who had been channeling magic continuously over many hours.
Some air elementals have the gift of great hearing, far superior even to vampires. When the atmosphere was just right, they heard sounds and conversations from a few miles away. Air witches were efficient spies, which was the most likely magical enterprise that had kept him up through the night.
“Juice will be good though, or water if you’re out of juice.”
“Sure.” While the other two elementals made for the sofas, I marched over to the kitchen. I opened the fridge, knowing we had juice in there. Carton. Glass. Drink poured.
This floor of the house had been knocked through to create one big open plan living space with a comfy seating area at the front and the kitchen and dining table toward the rear, so I stayed in on the conversation even as I navigated the kitchen.
“Take a seat, Chet. What’s up?” Haydn asked as he plopped down on the widest sofa.
Haydn’s seat of choice was most often the armchair, so it surprised me he didn’t sit there while I got us drinks. Usually, whenever he opted for the sofa, I’d take it as a sign he wanted me next to him.
When alone, we’d often cuddle on that massive sofa, and we’d more than merely cuddle. I was glad he wanted me close to him. Things had been tense between us since we received news that Malka was returning to London, and we’d been bickering over trivial matters.
“We’ve been up all night listening, and I’ve come to inform you of trouble brewing.” Chet sat back in an armchair.
“Tell me something I don’t know,” Haydn grunted. I wasn’t sure if he remained grumpy from the previous night when his meeting with Malka didn’t go well or whether this was a fresh bout of miserableness due to the abrupt early awakening.
After the alert that Malka was on her way home, the witches of Hackney took to the streets of Stoke Newington and Dalston to watch out for her. We didn’t want to scare her by exposing her to magic, vampires, or demons before she arrived home, so everyone tried to keep a low profile.
The original plan was for Haydn and me to wait at home for Malka to arrive, leaving other witches to monitor her while she made her way to Summer House Road. Except impatient Haydn didn’t stick to the script. He went out and found himself in the right place to save her from trouble.
Haydn discovered a gathering of vampires near our home and headed her away from the danger, at which point Varu joined him. There was a standoff when a mob of vampires caught up with them at an entrance to Abney Park, which w
“I had a run-in with vampires in Abney Park. Cut a couple of them down when they advanced on us.”
“We heard about that. The air is buzzing with the story. Some of the witnesses say armed for trouble, others say it was a fire elemental. You let your shield slip for a second and some claim they saw a flash of sparks and fire come from your blade. One of them has died, and there’s uproar among our nocturnal enemies.” Chet took the glass of juice from my hand. “Cheers, mate.”
“After you told us about saving Malka from the hell hounds, I had to go check on her in person. I couldn’t just wait at home for her to arrive.” Haydn clenched his fists as he explained. “There was a load of vampire activity on the streets yesterday. And they were barely concealing themselves from mortals. There was some bloke at Dalston yelling about vengeance against the vampires who killed his daughter. Meanwhile, as it got darker outside, a pack of them gathered on Church Street. I was just protecting Malka as she almost walked into the middle of them.”
I retreated to the coffee machine. I didn’t want to make eye contact with Haydn as he recounted the details of his evening yet again. Although every word traveled to the kitchen, I didn’t want to be drawn into a discussion about Malka, not when my feelings about her were entirely jumbled up and confused.
“We know. We were out there too, and we would have handled it.” Chet placed a large hand across his jaw, and through his fingers he modestly said, “For the past few years, we just did what we had to every time she was in trouble. And we would have stepped in last night too.”
CHAPTER TWO
The damsel in distress
Beck Colborn
“WELL, FRANKLY, IT’S just as well I went,” Haydn continued without acknowledging that the three air witches have looked after her for five years without his help. “Malka kept heading toward trouble. First, there was the angry bunch of mundane vampire hunters. They had a lead on a bloodsucker, from what I could tell, and they were out to decapitate. But it was already dark, which is no time for a human holding a cleaver to come face to face with a vampire. I managed to steer Malka away from that crowd and from the gang of monsters congregated in Church Street. But they followed us. We were in the wrong place at the wrong time. She got close enough to the monsters, and her blood called out to them.”
Chet nodded understandingly. “The vampires are furious that an armed witch was out on the streets last night and killed one of them. As far as they can tell, that was your intention all along because why else go out carrying silver weapons?”
He sighed. “I had to be ready for anything. There are many witches on the streets watching out for Malka, but most of them aren’t experienced fighters. They aren’t all able to handle demons.”
“So, then what happened?” Chet asked.
“The Vampire, Vasile, turned up at the entrance to Abney Park just as we were about to cut through that way.”
Chet narrowed his eyes. “Is that a part of his territory?”
“Yes.” Haydn nodded. “When they saw him, the other monsters got bolder, they came up close and made threats. They wanted her. They knew she was a witch, or an elemental, or a virgin or something.”
I watched Chet’s face; his eyes darted all over the place like he didn’t know where to look. Finally, he settled on downwards. Surely the V-word didn’t embarrass him.
Haydn had guessed at what particular attraction might draw vampires to Malka’s blood. I didn’t interrupt to tell him he was wrong about one of those. Malka wasn’t a virgin, she’d told me, but I didn’t want to explain how her virginity status had come up in conversation.
I would tell Haydn about that in private, not in front of Chet. And I needed to clear my head before I told Haydn all about what happened when I met Malka. We didn’t have secrets between us, so I intended to tell him everything, eventually.
“I suppose she acted all damsel in distress and appreciated you saving her from the vampires?”
I choked back my laughter.
Have you met her? You were supposed to be watching her on her travels.
Malka didn’t strike me as the damsel in distress type, and I’d already heard Haydn’s opinion. She wasn’t what he’d expected.
All these years I’d lived with Haydn, I’d worried about her turning up because of what that would mean for me, but it meant significant changes for Haydn too. She’d take his place as top dog around Hackney, pushing him down a rung on the local witch hierarchy. Whatever he’d expected of her, the real Malka was nothing like it.
When the vampires asked Haydn to hand her over, he’d assumed it was because she hadn’t yet mastered hiding her true blood from vampires. The blood of young witches is irresistible to vampires, and even more so if the witches are elementals, or virgins, or both. Vampires can sense these things when they get close to us, even though witches can’t. Whereas, when on full alert, Haydn can conceal his elemental aura perfectly well.
As soon as we met, years ago, Haydn taught me to shield my aura from vampires for my self-preservation. He warned that vampires would swamp me if ever I left our magically protected safe-haven in the dark if I couldn’t hide my true self. That was why Varu introduced me to Haydn in the first place—as an old vampire, he understood the danger I faced even when I did not.
Haydn continued with the story.
Varu led Malka to safety in Abney Park, and she surprised them by using elemental earth magic. She escaped by slipping through the ground.
Haydn mentioned nothing to Chet about how he’d always hoped he’d meet Malka before she discovered magic. He’d pictured himself as her impressive mentor in the same way he’d been mine. He’d wanted to explain, show, and teach her everything about witches and magic from scratch as her impressive mentor. He’d wanted to cement the bond between them positively. It didn’t happen that way; they got off on the wrong foot.
Pleased to occupy myself while Haydn gave his brief recap of the previous night, I made sure the hot beverage-making took as long as it needed to.
When Haydn finished recounting his version of events, I carried our two cups of steaming coffee over to the lounging area, placed Haydn’s in his hand, and sat down on the sofa next to him
“You say he led her safely through Abney Park? Did you think he was helping you get her to safety or just taking her to his lair?” Chet asked.
“It’s impossible to tell. It all happened too fast, but I’d never trust a vampire.” Haydn glanced at me briefly. “But I have no reason to suspect Vasile had bad intentions. We do have a truce on this road.”
Chet leaned forward. “We’d gathered much of that story from listening into the vampire’s conversations. They say you attacked and killed one of them; therefore, they will demand the maximum penalty, which won’t surprise you. They want your life as vengeance for taking one of theirs.”
“Let them try.” Haydn raised his drink to his lips and blew on the liquid. A small wisp of steam floated toward our guest. “We’re at war, after all. Vampires versus witches. I didn’t miss any announcement that it’s all over, did I?”
There was no love lost between Haydn and vampires, but with his skills and our combined magical power in Stoke Newington, threats from vampires were empty words, which didn’t concern him. Vampires didn’t alarm him.
Haydn gulped down the coffee and rested his free hand on my thigh, reassuring me that we were still in this together. He still loved me. I welcomed this small display of affection after the icy distance that had recently formed between us because of Malka.
“The war isn’t over. But we do have the Hackney truce, and they say your action broke it.” Chet absentmindedly swiveled his half-empty glass. “But we picked up so much more than your story. At first, her blood attracted vampires. She doesn’t know how to shield her aura. Hey, what about that—she’s so young she shouldn’t have a big aura. But they didn’t know she was an earth elemental until she used magic. They didn’t need to see it because they felt it. It turns out earth magic is something that vampires can sense; I guess because they are close to dirt themselves.” He glanced at me. “No offense, Beck. I hear you have bloodsucking friends.” His face screwed up in disgust, and he shuddered. “You understand?”
