Ensnared: The Clockwork Siren Series, #0

By Katie Hayoz

WHAT IF YOU WERE MEANT TO BE SOMETHING ELSE?

Chicago is a muddy, monster-infested city, home to both the penniless and the filthy rich. Levi Cannon is among the latter, but he doesn't quite fit the mold of the upper class.

His reputation says it all—from unsuitable women to unseemly weapons to an inappropriate attitude toward the family business. Worse, he secretly wants to hunt monsters, an occupation for lowlifes, outlaws, and bums.

His brother, Amos, has always been the respectable one, and Levi's father won't let him forget it. It seems no matter what Levi does, he'll never win his father's favor.

When Amos is taken by sirens, Levi has reason to worry; these water creatures devour men's tongues to make their song sweet. Levi is suddenly thrust into the spotlight, giving him a chance to become the man his father wants him to be. The question is, will Levi do what is proper, or what is right?

 

Ensnared is a fun prequel romp to lead into the Clockwork Siren Series, to finish it off, or to read on its own. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Katie Hayoz
• Release date: Sep 4, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215184233

Book preview

Katie Hayoz

Ensnared

First published by Zoyah 2018

Copyright © 2018 by Katie Hayoz

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

First edition

Cover art by Ampersand Book Covers

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Contents

A Clockwork Siren Prequel

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Thank You for Reading Ensnared

About Katie

Books by Katie Hayoz

Sneak Peek: Immersed

A Clockwork Siren Prequel

Chapter 1

FIFTH MAN MISSING THIS WEEK! The seller shouted the headline of the Tribune, waving the paper in front of the crowds that passed. CITY ON TENTERHOOKS! WHO WILL BE NEXT?

It was early afternoon, a time when Chicago’s muddy streets were bustling with steam carriages and clockwork horses and sneaky pickpockets and red-faced drunkards. Levi Cannon touched Miss Agatha Barclay’s elbow, gently steering her towards the paperboy.

Any leads? Levi asked as he slipped a coin from his pocket and dropped it into the seller’s ink-stained hand.

Oh, they thought it was some crime scheme before, but now they’re talking monsters. The missing men were by the lake so they’re saying Rusalki, or Pontianak, or maybe even sirens! The paperboy sounded downright giddy. Well, news like that would sell papers, that’s for sure.

Poor saps. Levi shook his head. Curious, though, isn’t it?

Not curious, Mr. Cannon. It’s absolutely dreadful. Agatha fanned herself as if she were about to faint. Her chaperone, Mrs. Pinch, harrumphed her disapproval at the topic of conversation.

Levi took the hint and tucked the paper under his arm. The trio squeezed their way through ladies in colorful hats admiring the hairdresser’s new display of vapor tongs used to make sausage curls.

Oh! Mr. Cannon, one moment. Agatha stopped and put a hand to her own blonde locks. I do believe I need those tongs.

Uh…well. Levi pulled out his pocket watch, hoping Agatha would tell him to go on without her. I’m supposed to be—

Mrs. Pinch harrumphed once again, her steely eyes narrowing. He swallowed his impatience and smiled at Agatha. Of course. Anything, Miss Barclay.

She winked at him, her brown eyes dreamy, her smile flirtatious, and headed into the shop, Mrs. Pinch behind her. Sakes alive, Agatha was easy on the eyes. So why wasn’t he happier? Perhaps because she was not the least bit interested in anything beyond her elite circle. Yet perhaps all she needed was a bit of freedom. Society women lived in a well-sealed box.

Or perhaps this courtship was a disaster. How far would he go to please his father, anyway?

A loud crash came from inside the hairdresser’s shop. Several ladies ran out screaming.

What in the blazes? Levi’s heart raced. He hurried to the door, throwing it open so forcefully that it crashed against the wall. The inside of the shop was a circus. Agatha and Mrs. Pinch were in the far corner, huddled together, along with a handful of other women, all of them with their arms over their heads. In the middle of the room, the hairdresser was swearing and cowering as something the size of a bobcat hovered over him, tearing at his mane of curls. It took a moment, but Levi recognized the yellow-skinned body, the spindly wings, the rows upon rows of rounded teeth: a Hairbrained Corpse Imp.

Its back claws were firmly wrapped around the man’s hair, while the front ones twisted strands into dreadlocks as the imp gnawed on them like they were confectioner’s lollies. Corpse imps fed human hair to their young, regurgitating it like birds. Usually, the creatures picked the dead clean and hunted in graveyards and hospitals. But every once in a while, one got an urge for hair from something other than a corpse.

Levi took a step closer to the mayhem, reaching for the pistol under his waistcoat.

The monster narrowed its orange eyes at Levi, then ripped a clawful of hair from the hairdresser’s scalp. The man shrieked. Without even thinking, Levi lifted his pistol and shot the beast square in the forehead.

The bullet sunk into its flesh as if it were quicksand. The corpse imp shook its head and grinned, strands of hair stuck between its teeth.

Damn it all to pieces! That was another reason the monster was called a corpse imp—it was already dead. How did one kill the undead?

It was the kind of question for which Levi hadn’t the answer.

The hairdresser was now half bald and begging the Lord above to take him. The imp seemed to have had enough of him and flew towards the women. They screamed and held on to each other as if they were drowning. Agatha cried out, Levi! Help us!

Levi ran over to the beast and yanked on its tail. The imp screeched and twirled towards Levi. Levi backed away, but it was on him in a second, its razor-sharp back claws digging into his shoulders. Its wings beat hard enough to create a wind that knocked Levi’s hat from his head. The beast scraped its front talons over his scalp.

That was it. No one touched Levi Cannon’s hair. No one.

Levi dropped his pistol and pulled a dagger from a sheath round his chest. He roared and tore at the air around him, the blade catching the spongey skin of the beast. The imp did not even cry out.

If he could just slow down the monster long enough to restrain it…

He reached up and grabbed the imp’s wing with his left hand, wrenching it. Tarnation, the beast was strong! Somehow he forced the imp backward, leaving a sliver of space and plunged his dagger into the imp’s left eye.

The monster quivered and loosened its grip on Levi’s hair, using its claws to tug the blade from its eye and drop it to the ground. Before the imp could fly higher, Levi wrapped his arms around its lower body.

Thick, green mucus oozed from the creature’s wound onto Levi’s forehead and into his own eyes, but the imp didn’t weaken. The two of them wrestled, turning in circles until Levi’s vision was blurred and he didn’t know which way was which. The imp made a retching sound. With all his strength, Levi threw the beast towards what he thought was the closest wall, realizing, too late, that it was the one where the ladies were huddled. They screamed and scattered as the imp hurtled towards them, vomiting out pale mucus and matted globs of hair. The creature crashed into the shelves of hair tonics and ribbons and slid to the floor.

An odor of rotten cabbage filled the room.

Levi wiped his eyes. Before the imp could right itself, Levi knelt on its back. He grabbed a polka-dotted ribbon from the fallen supplies and bound the monster’s wings, then yanked his cravat from around his neck and tied it around the monster’s snout. His gloves came away covered in gelatinous bile. He tugged