Fate's Domain: Nights : Janelle: Fate's Domain

By Lambert Kane

Luke had a bad day today. 

This morning, during a walk, he watched as a giant translucent-blue ghost woman walked opposite him in the street. Not paying attention he walked directly into an anachronistic samurai, who insisted that Luke become his trainee hunter. Now, he can't seem to avoid these freak events, the ghost woman showing up attached to his online date, the samurai lurking around every corner, waiting to 'teach him.' 

There isn't any time to waste, Luke is pulled into adventure, but he can't wait to go back to normal. Unfortunately, everyone is saying that he can't go back, that Fate has called him to fight evil. Even the Geist stalking corporate downtown agrees Luke has the potential to go far as a hunter. 

Fate's domain is a Romance/Fantasy series containing mild heat. (Everything fades to black.) Fate's Domain: Nights will have the spice. Key aspects to this story, (Not fully triggers) HEA, mild spice, violent action, body dysmorphia, body transformation, polyamory (flirting MFF), BDSM flirting (Virtual), Alcohol use, Violence in public space (No civilian harm). 

FYI This series will contain Polyamory-relationships, same-sex relationships, enemies-to-lovers, MM, MF, MFF, MMF, MMFF dynamics. It's not in this one, but its going to happen. I can't lie to you. 

 

Nights Series is the Spicy Version of Fate's Domain: Janelle. This version is meant to be read by adults and contains scenes of an adult nature, instead of just leaving them to your imagination. With over Eight-thousand extra words of spicy content, there isn't any extra plot-centric information. The information is self-contained and is intended to make for a deeper connection between characters, not furthering the plot. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lambert Kane
• Release date: Feb 23, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201420857

Lambert Kane

I just want

Book preview

Fate’s Domain : Nights 1

by Lambert Kane

Chapter 1

Introduction

This is a work of fiction , based on tropes and combinations of personality traits. Any similarities to characters living and dead is coincidental.

I also don’t want to come across as offensive. Any opinions or values held by characters isn’t a reflection of my own values. However, I know my experience isn’t everyone’s experience. I know that all of the characters in this book are a reflection of my perceptions and anxieties. I know this, and I am not above correcting information when presented to me. I know I can’t be everything to everyone, but I can work to be better if I need to be. I am not above making changes to become more inclusive. 

Chapter 2

Asking for a Friend

The day I went insane , I stood in the street with my mouth wide open. Literally wide open. I’m not one to gawk, but I cartoonishly stood staring. I didn’t know what I was looking at, nor did I know how important the ghost would became to me. 

A translucent shimmering blue Ghost woman, seven-and-a-half feet tall and covered in shining Valkyrie armor, walked in time with a smaller, more mundane version of herself, but puppet’d by the ghost. 

I’m going insane. 

I sensed her walking opposite me, a black hole pulling me into her center. The transparent giant felt like a rock in a world of insubstantial fluid. Insane as it felt, crowds swirled around us, the only people in the world. I completely overlooked the mundane shadow the ghost giant followed. But hey, what could I do? I hate to repeat myself, but there was a literal giant ghost walking the streets of downtown. 

The woman and the ghost giant mirrored each other, but the armored ghost woman had a sense of weight and mass. The giant was the true self, and not the reflection. Transparent polish steel gleamed in the sunlight, despite being a cloudy day in autumn. Blue silks danced around her from above the crowd, without wind to propel them. This blue hallucination made the world swirled in an abstract paint. 

The giant walked with grace, but anchored by the smaller, mundane version of herself. People in the street didn’t bother the giant, but I could see the crowd push and shove against her real-life counterpart. Usually this city was uncomfortably polite, but people shoved this woman side to side. No one stared or gawked at the giant lady. 

That is the moment I felt truly crazy.

I didn’t know the giant’s story, but I felt connected with her. Her face haunted me for the next few days. I obsessed over my hallucination woman. I knew her and didn’t remember meeting. She had embedded herself into my brain in one instant. From here I could see her high cheekbones and sad eyes. She looked at her mundane self, the giant just on the verge of tears. She pushed against the waves of people, and I wanted to help her. 

There was no way this was happening. Life hadn’t been going great for me, and losing my mind was just the cherry on top of the pile of shit. This was a stress reaction. I walk this route to help me straighten my thoughts out and get a break, but the universe threw a giant ghost woman in my path I took this walk to recover my will to go out searching for work and romance again after a major failure, and the universe sent me this message. 

The universe was out to get me. 

I both broke up with my girlfriend and quit my job within two weeks of each other. I quit both relationships, because I felt I couldn’t keep pushing anymore. Both relationships sabotaged by my lack of interest and enthusiasm. Both drained me of energy, and I had to stop these things doing wearing me into dust. It had happened before in my life. I didn’t know what pushed me to this point, but I wouldn’t even leave my bed to get food. Everything had lost color for me, and I stayed stuck in this gray, flavorless world until the ghostly-glam-giant brought her glowing blue aura into my life. 

As I stood on the sidewalk, thinking I was losing my mind and re-gaining interest in living, the man who ruined everything shoved me to the ground. My face smashed into the sidewalk and felt it scrape against my skin. I didn’t break any bones, but there was pain; stinging, shooting, pain. I pulled my stinging face up to see a man in black robes. 

Watch where you are going, you dick! Yeah, you better run! 

The man in black robes paused and turned back to me. 

The sounds of battle drew me into this strange fantasy world; swords and amour clashing in the distance. My mind was completing the hallucination. The man in black robes turned me, and I focused on the six foot long Katana on his back. I am sure the man had other features. The blade stood out is what I am saying.

Interesting! 

The man slammed his Katana into the concrete directly between my legs. I slid back, away from the blade, thrust feet-deep into the concrete inches from my crotch. His eyes meeting mine, my eyes unable to hold their intensity. 

Okay, Okay, I am sorry I got in your way. I groveled Don’t kill me, please!

Oh, I won’t kill you! I tested you to see if you could see me! the samurai said. I got an eyeful of him now, as his blade split my vision. Rough face, rough hair, and rough hands, but this man stood a foot taller than me, and only wore half of his robes, letting his huge muscles bulge out the other side. 

I’ll be back after I finish... But I found you first, and that means I have to teach you. Your first lesson is... the rough samurai floundered; snapping his fingers before remembering his lesson to me. Patience. Stay here until I come back!

The long black hair of the large samurai swished as he spun around and ran towards his original destination. He dashed around the corner, literally becoming a shimmering trail of shadow, a blade of darkness ripping along the afternoon sidewalk. Pain on my face reminded me what had happened, and I stood up to check my reflection in the shop windows. 

My bloody and wrecked faced looked back at me, blood streaming from a fresh cut on my forehead, trash stuck to my face, and gravel imbedded in my skin. Great. I needed to go home and fix my face before it got infected.

Staring at my reflection, I wondered how things had gotten to this point. 

I smashed my face onto the concrete because I didn’t rush home and lock myself in my room. The ghost girl and Samurai hallucinations were only the beginning. I put myself under too much stress, and the universe smashed my face against the ground. I got the message. 

Go home. Get your ass back to work. Get your head out of the gutter, and I won’t put you there anymore. 

As I mentally prepared to have people stare at my face during the walk home, I spun; trying to find the ghost girl, but she walked out of my life. Well, no hallucinations anymore, charming or not. 

I wasn’t sure how I had felt. On one had, I got the message. Get your shit, get it together, put your shit in a bag, and get back to the real world. But I wanted to know her. A real woman in the street walked with the ghost woman. I could get to know her and see what the universe told me. I had sought relationships on shakier ground. I didn’t want to know her because of the ghost woman. I wanted to know her perseverance. She pushed against the crowd, must have been pushing before the crowd, and pushed after the samurai knocked me flat. She kept pushing. 

I could use a mentor in perseverance right now. I wanted to give up and stay in bed. Low levels of depression came and went with me. I knew I never could afford therapy, but I stayed the course with self-help techniques. I stayed strong, but it might be nice to have someone to talk to who cared. 

I wanted to ask the woman how she kept pushing.

Nope. I projected my struggles onto her, making her appear to have something in common. I needed to get home and rest. 

Besides, it didn’t matter. She had gone from the street, and so had the ghost. I would never see them again. 

No one batted an eye at my wrecked visage as I walked home. People walked by me, not seeing what they didn’t want to see, I guess. I should have known the strangeness had started. People in this city normally stare at the unusual. They won’t talk to you unless you are being annoying, but people here stare. Politely and respectfully, they stare. 

I wasn’t looking forward to cleaning up my face, but I couldn’t wait to forget it. My insurance lapsed after I quit my job, but I couldn’t afford to go to a doctor even when I had insurance. My budget allowed for disinfectant and antiseptic, not co-pays. I ended up with small scars on my chin to remind me I went crazy. 

I sure as shit wasn’t staying out here any longer. I picked up my pace and ran home, hoping to leave the ghost girl giant, the battle, and the rough samurai behind me in that street. Step by step, I ran back to my apartment, back to my real life, thinking I placed this nonsense behind me forever.

The Board wasn’t having any of this. 

I, Ifero, tried to reason with them, but they kept trying to bottom-line my ideas.

We just can’t put all of our risk into this venture. Simone said, her nails clicking on the hardwood of the boardroom table. 

Your plan is ridiculous. There is no reason to build there. You want to spend billions of dollars to buy this land, not to mention the bribes, advertising, and public swaying we will have to do. You want to purchase the city park. I mean, we have to buy a few local officials just to attempt this plan, but I don’t see the profit to justify the attempt. Jack cut Simone off to agree with her. The group of executives drove Ifero insane. He had pushed this company to new market control percentages and higher revenue. 

The potential and opportunities of owning a town are simple and clear. If we play the game right, we can do whatever we want without interference. Hell, the people we exploit will fight for us. Give us our money back to stay and keep their town relevant. Look how towns react to losing coal mines. They beg to keep low-paying back-breaking work that literally kills them. This wasn’t unusual business practice for the company, but in this plan we operated outside of the city, and without a path to profit. Ifero didn’t have documents outlining the natural resources to exploit. All Ifero had was a list of objectives as they invaded the town. 

The rest of the board of directors went on about margins. Ifero stared at his banner. Project Amity, the banner read, with a backdrop of the town itself. Ifero imagined the views from the skyscraper built there, plains for miles. Literal amber waves of grain. The steps outlined in his plan for wind-power harvesting outlined the map for millions of dollars with the building alone. Instead of accumulating operations feels like the building they were in now, this building made money instead. Ifero imagined the people walking below him on the street. 

Ants. 

The board-members didn’t hear the clashing of bodies over the sound of their ‘debate.’ These fools spent the day arguing over a decision already decided. They vote against Project Amity because of the back-door deals they made with each other. They didn’t know I would decide the project during the interim of me installing my board of directors. This terrorist hunted me across the city, and sadly, the board a victim of her attack.

Miss, you can’t just walk in there! my secretary said. She took long enough getting here. 

A leather-clad woman straight out of the comics walked into the meeting room and paused when she the board members. Obviously, she wasn’t expecting anyone else to be here when she came to hunt. 

Excuse me, what are you doing here? Mr. Salvatore whined. He rubbed his greasy-ass bald head and drooled at the thought of him dead. Watching these people die would truly be worth the work I did to bring the hunter here. 

The woman waved her hand, testing the air to see if her powers had activated. They wouldn’t. I prepped my lair, the boardroom, so that hunters couldn’t use their isolation and speed magics. If they wanted to hunt me, then I would make sure hunters caused as much collateral damage as possible.

Oh, that will not work. I said. We were just discussing very nefarious plans, and we have a schedule to keep.

Ifero. the hero said. I didn’t remember her name. She had been following me for weeks, and I just couldn’t bother learning someone’s name after they disappeared like this hunter would. I have been following you, watching your schemes. What are you planning?

Do you know this woman? Jack asked.

I don’t know who this woman is, I said. But she has been stalking me for weeks. I want to say, Daniella? 

Hunter reveled in their separation from the ‘real-world’ and I just loved bringing them back into the deep end. This lovely lady didn’t realize that the moment she ran from the scene of the slaughter, the police on her trail. Normally, authorities don’t much around with hunter business, but I had made their involvement unavoidable. I had to push back public announcement of Project Amity an hour since the hunter took her time this morning. The board had to die in front of the press. Only a matter of time after that before the authorities caught her, tired and alone, huddled in a hovel. I loved screwing over hunters; bringing consequences crashing in on them..

Hunters are very predictable. I said. I planned for this and rigged the board room for this eventuality. I am so sorry, Simone, Jack, rest of you fucks, but this young woman broke in here to kill us all.

I only come for you, Ifero. the huntress said. 

I threw Jack a look. ‘What can you do?’

I reached over and smashed Jack’s designer face into the independently sourced boardroom table; a real juxtaposition with the blood deepening the stained wood. 

What are you doing? Simone screeched. 

I’m not doing anything. I said. A terrorist broke in here. 

No one will believe you. The huntress said. 

No one will be alive to contradict me. 

I lept over the boardroom table, faster than any human, but only propelled by physical speed. I closed off access to all magic in the room; mine included. I made like I meant to speed through the door. 

The huntress fell for the trap. 

She dashed, hoping to cut off my exit, and smashed her saber through the door handles. 

No use trying to escape, Ifero. the huntress said. 

I do like the use of my name repeatedly, I said. It really adds atmosphere to our fight. But you just can’t see what is happening, can you? 

You aren’t going anywhere. She scowled at me and swung her curved blade at me. 

I ducked. She didn’t want me escaping, but she didn’t realize I didn’t want to go anywhere. All this huntress wanted was me dead, but I wanted her to slash Simone’s throats. Simone had the same idea I appeared to have, and had run behind me. The blade sung over my head and into that bitch’s neck. Soon, I’d give my prepared speech to the media as the sole survivor of the massacre. 

Why are you doing this? The huntress asked. Aren’t these people part of your plan? 

Yes, I planned for them to die. 

Why? 

Because they irritated me. 

I didn’t need to unbind myself of this form. Everything happened as I had planned.