Malice in Wonderland

MALICE IN WONDERLAND

Book
5
of the
Dulcie
O’Neil series

HP Mallory

Also by
HP Mallory
:

THE JOLIE WILKINS SERIES:

Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble
Toil and Trouble
Be Witched (Novella
)
Witchful
Thinking
The Witch Is Back
Something Witchy This Way Comes

LOOK FOR THE JOLIE WILKINS SPINOFF SERIES COMING SOON!

THE DULCIE O’NEIL SERIES:

To Kill
A
Warlock
A Tale Of Two Goblins
Great
Hexpectations
Wuthering Frights

Malice
In
Wonderland

LOOK FOR THE BRAND NEW LILY HARPER SERIES COMING SOON!

MALICE IN WONDERLAND

by

H.P. Mallory

Copyright © 2012 by H.P. Mallory

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.  The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

For Finn

Acknowledgements:

To my mother: Thank you for everything.

To my editor, Teri, at
www.editingfairy.com
:
Thank you for always doing such a great job!

To my husband:
I love you.

To my son, Finn: I am so proud to be your mama.

To all my beta readers, thank you so much for all your help!

To the winner of my "
become a character
in my next book" contest,
Erica
Comacho
: Congratulations
and I hope you enjoy your character
!

To
Lacie
Soule:
Thank you so much for entering the contest to name this book and thank you so much for coming up with such a fantastic title!

ONE

There have been only a handful of moments in my life where I've been struck speechless.

And this was one of those moments. Why? Because Christina
Sabbiondo
, a woman who was involved in the illegal potions trade, had also just informed me that she was also the head of The Resistance. As you can probably deduce from the group's title, The Resistance existed to do just that—resist potion trafficking from The Netherworld and, more pointedly, resist the tyranny of the Head of the Netherworld.

Coincidentally, the Head of the Netherworld also happens to be my father.
Lucky me.

"What?" I managed to blurt out, shaking my head as I wondered if maybe I'd just hallucinated the last three hours of my life. I mean, in the past one hundred eighty minutes, I'd managed to foil my father's attempts to introduce an incredibly addictive and even more easily spread narcotic into my neighborhood, I'd nearly been raped by a Titan, only to watch my very recently ex-boyfriend put a bullet through said Titan's forehead. As romantic as that might sound, my ex-boyfriend then arrested me because I was working for my father; (I'm really not a bad person—I was forced into it); and after an exhaustive conversation where I tried to prove my innocence, and he tried to prove my guilt, I found myself behind bars. Then, just like that, Ms.
Sabbiondo
walked back into my life, professing my innocence, and now here I was.

Christina smiled broadly, her doe-like, brown eyes dancing with merriment—as if she'd been dying to tell me all along that she never really was one of the baddies—that she and I were playing on the same team. And I had to admit that somewhere inside myself, I was rejoicing. Why?
Because I always liked Christina.
Not only was she a fellow Jeep owner, but she was also one of a select number of fairies (just like me), so how could I not like her?

"
Dulcie
, I'm on your side," she said, the smile dropping from her lips as she took my hand and faced me earnestly.

"But," I started, still not understanding how that could be, my brain not functioning on all eight cylinders. "But how did you ... You worked for my father for six years!"

She nodded. "Yes I did, but that isn't to say that I was happy working for him. The Resistance has been a long time coming,
Dulcie
. It just took a while for people to realize we couldn't continue living under your father's iron rule. It took us five years to develop The Resistance, to organize ourselves and devise a way out of everything your father envisioned, as well as everything he stands for." She paused to take a deep breath and I was suddenly overcome with feelings of admiration for her. It couldn't have been easy to form The Resistance, and its success spoke of her own personal strength. "It's been a long and difficult five years,
Dulcie
, but we are stronger than ever before and fully ready to fight."

I gulped, wondering how long it was going to take me to process all of this. "And my father has no idea that you've been involved in The Resistance all along," I continued, amazed that she'd been able to keep her double life from my father, Melchior O'Neil, while working in such close proximity with him. If nothing else, my father was a shrewd businessman and careful, well, as far as I could tell anyway. Apparently he wasn't careful enough.

"I imagine he's got a pretty good idea about where my loyalty lies now," she said and that pretty smile returned to her lips. Yep, right about now Daddy Dearest had to be waking up to the fact that not only did his daughter thwart his nefarious plans to introduce the illegal potion
Draoidheil
onto the streets of Splendor, Moon, Haven, and Estuary, but was helped by his pet, Christina. Right about now my father had to be suffering a very rude awakening.

I heard the sound of someone clearing his throat and remembered that Knight was standing beside (well, more like towering over) Christina, a witness to everything that had just passed between us. Knightley Vander, aka very recently ex-boyfriend, was also part of The Resistance and as far as I could tell, he was now doing a damned good job of resisting the idea that I was anything but guilty of potions smuggling. His eyes were burning with ire, and the normal
ly beautiful blue of his irises
w
as
ablaze.

And that was when it hit me that Knight had been aware of who my father was from the moment he'd met me. In fact, Knight assumed I was working for my father all along. His sole purpose in coming to Splendor was to beat my father at his own game, with me as an expendable pawn. Somewhere along the way though, I managed to convince him I wasn't a soulless potions smuggler, (which was the Hades-honest truth!) and he subsequently fell in love with me. Likewise, I fell in love with him.

At
this precise moment, however,
feelings of love were not first and foremost in my mind. Instead, I was livid over the fact that Knight had always known who my father was and yet he'd kept it from me. Kni
ght had been concealing an
agenda from me all along and that was what hurt the most. Well, t
he fact that he was now
accusing
me of something of which I was completely innocent smarted almost as bad. But the biggest kicker of this whole screwed-up situation was that I'd basically sold my soul to the proverbial devil in order to keep Knight safe. I'd put myself on the line to protect him ... and for what?

I inhaled deeply, telling myself to ignore my anger, and let it simmer on the back burner because Knight wasn't my biggest concern at the moment. No, I had far bigger fish to fry.

I watched Christina as she faced Knight and shook her head, as if discouraging his foul mood and inability to believe I was anything but guilty.

"We're moving everyone to Compound Three," she said in a matter-of-fact tone. I assumed she meant the other two prisoners Knight had already taken into custody, Horatio and my ex-boss,
Quillan
. "We're going to move forward with Plan B," she finished, facing Knight squarely before adding: "You can drive her, or I can."

"I'll go with you," I interrupted, glancing at Christina as Knight continued to scrutinize me. Yep, I had way too many conflicting emotions regarding Knight to try to deal with him at the moment.

"Christina," Knight started, his baritone rich and velvety. I felt something catch in my throat, but swallowed it down as I reminded myself now was not the time to bemoan my ruined relationship. No, now I needed to focus on our next steps, on planning a strategy to defeat my father. I needed to learn everything I could about The Resistance.

Christina glanced at him and started for the door. Her lips were tight as she narrowed her eyes. "Call
Caressa
, and find out for yourself, will you?" Then she turned on her heel, and opening the door, walked into the early morning sunlight.

###

I'd never heard of Compound Three so wasn't sure where we were headed, but I also couldn't say I cared. Instead, I found my attention riveted outside as we drove down Highway One in a dark grey Chevy Suburban. Ordinarily Christina sported a black Jeep Wrangler, so I guessed this vehicle was courtesy of The Resistance and, as such, probably untraceable. The more I thought about it, the more I had to wonder if The Resistance had lots in common with the CIA.

Knight followed us in a black Yukon Denali, an SUV which had already left a lasting impression on me considering what Knight and I had done in it ... or, rather, on it. But that was another sore subject I wasn't ready to deal with yet.

At any rate, Knight was tasked with transporting Horatio and
Quillan
. Both would remain in custody due to their associations with my father. I could have given a rat's ass about Horatio
but
Quillan
was another story.

Quillan
Beaurigard
was originally the Head of the ANC (Association of Netherworld Creatures) Splendor branch, before Knight replaced him. I initially reported to Quill in my position as ANC Regulator (think law enforcement agent), and he and I became pretty tight. Learning that Quill was working for my father during our entire acquaintance was a hard pill to swallow.
Almost as hard as me working for my father.
But Quill's reasons for serving as my father's right-hand man were very different to mine. While Quill performed his role in quiet desperation, I never did. I never stopped planning my escape and I never, not even for one second, accepted my fate. Truth be told, I didn't do well with ultimatums.

The only reason I ever agreed to obey my father's bidding was because I was forced into it.
Yep, I’d been stuck between a rock and a hard place because m
y father held Knight's life for ransom, promising to kill him if I didn't do as he demanded. Thus, I managed to lead a double life for the last few weeks as both an illegal potions importer, and a Regulator for the ANC.

I felt a sigh escape my lips and focused on the rolling hills outside my window. The splotchy greens of the quilt-like hillsides peppered here and there by sheep or cows were mesmerizing. There was a slight chill in the air, but judging by the lack of clouds in the sky, I figured it would end up another warm California day.

"He'll come around," Christina said softly, offering me an understanding smile. Of course, she was referring to my destroyed relationship, but I remained steadfast in my decision not to think about the infuriatingly stubborn Loki, a creature forged from the fires of the Netherworld god, Hades, and created in
Hades's
own brawny, large, and stunningly gorgeous image.

"Maybe and maybe not," I responded, taking a deep breath. "But
w
e have lots of way more important stuff to discuss."

"You're right." Christina glanced over at me with a quick nod as we exited Highway One and took a right on Frontier Street, then an immediate left onto an unmarked dirt road. There was a fence and locked gate blocking our path, but Christina didn't seem fazed. Instead, she put the Suburban in park, hopped down and unlocked the padlock,
opening the gate wide. She nodded her head at Knigh
t, who pulled up just behind us. Then she
jumped back into the driver's seat,
put the car in drive and started
forward again.

"So all along, you were plotting against my father?" I asked in awe,
wanting
to understand how The Resistance started. I noticed she
hadn’t stopped
to lock the gate again so I figured Knight must have.

Christina's jaw was
tight as her fingers closed around
the steering wheel. "Yes. From the moment I was forced into working for him."

"Then that story you told me about him recruiting you as a college student," I started, remembering a conversation we
’d
had in which Christina said how she met my father in the first place.

"Was all true," she finished. "Well, except for the part about me being okay with it. I was never okay with it."

"So I guess we were both keeping our cards close to our chests," I said, remembering that neither of us trusted the other in the earliest days of our acquaintanceship.

She glanced at me and nodded before returning her attention to the empty road before us. "I wanted to believe you were innocent," she started and then shrugged. "I liked you right off the bat." Before I could respond, she shook her head and laughed as she added, "To this day, I have never met a Jeep owner I didn't like."

I laughed, amused that we really did think alike. But the laugh soon died on my lips as I returned to my line of questioning. "So my father bribed you into working for him and you started thinking of a way out. How did Knight figure into it?"

She was quiet for a few seconds. "I never really knew Knight well. I'd heard of him, of course. I mean, everyone in the ANC knows who Knightley Vander is—his reputation definitely precedes him." She smiled and shook her head, making it pretty clear that she was fond of Knight. I didn't think it was
in
a romantic sort of way though, more like he was her big brother or something. "When Knight had that altercation with your father and got deported to Splendor, I made it a point to get to know him. Knight was a tough one, though, because he knew who I was and, of course, whom I worked for."