The Duke's Masked Wife

"I don't want to be added to anything," Peter slowly backed away from Simon. His eyes widened when Simon revealed four daggers in his hands. "You dislike Edgar. Why don't you go after him instead of a poor little priest? I have nothing to do with this."

"You seem quite friendly with him. I hope taking you upsets him. Running away from me will only get you killed and it increases the chance of another priest arriving to be killed. Come with me quietly and I will take care of you," Simon said, taking a step forward with each step Peter took back.

"This town is no longer fun. I shouldn't have married Kate. I should have just placed her with the others but I must admit, she was much better than all of them before she started to live with me. Perhaps I should have let her get comfortable in my home before I showed her my world. She has a mind like mine. We could have toyed with this town together. A shame," Simon said, picking out the first dagger to use.

'Why is my luck so bad with these nobles dammit,' Peter cursed. He didn't keep his eyes off Simon as he headed toward the entrance of the church.  He was not going to die right here at the hands of Simon.

"I don't care if I drag you out of here dead or alive. As long as I have your body to show to Edgar when I get him. Don't," Simon warned when Peter positioned himself to make a run to the open door. "I have quite the aim with my daggers. See," Simon lifted his hand and threw the first dagger, aiming it for Peter's head.

"You crazy bastard!" Peter yelled as he ducked. Luckily, he had been in worse situations because of his past.

"Crazy?" Simon sneered, irritated by the word. "I'm simply a man getting his fun after years of abuse."

Instead of running, Peter knew he had to fight or he would risk a dagger going to his head if he ran. He could try to get Simon to use out all of the daggers in his hands, but Peter did not want to risk one hitting him.

"I've had enough of you nobles," Peter said, charging toward Simon.

Simon smiled, enjoying the fact one of his targets was fighting him back like this. He tried to slash Peter with the remaining daggers in his hands.

Peter grabbed Simon's hand before his face could be struck. Simon had clearly underestimated him. "I am not dying tonight," he said, fighting to push Simon off his feet. 'Shit,' he cursed as Simon was far stronger than him and it had been a long time since he had to fight anyone like this.

"Boring," Simon said in a dry tone. He used his left hand that had gone behind him to grab a bench to stop himself from falling backwards, to punch Peter in his face and release his right hand.

Peter stumbled to the side, almost falling after his feet got tangled up when he stumbled. The right side of his face was in pain and from the force Simon used, he wouldn't be surprised if his jaw was messed up.

"Coward?" Simon looked at the daggers in his hands. The word had not left his mind since Edgar insulted him. He had never used daggers to get any of the women he took. He could always overpower them. "I don't need these for you," he dropped the daggers. Edgar was going to see that he was not a coward.

Peter could not believe Simon had dropped the daggers. He could now put up a good fight to overpower Simon or fight long enough for one of the other priests to arrive or make a run for it and hope Simon would not take up a dagger to throw.

"Come now," Simon rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. "I," he paused, picking up on footsteps entering the church. When Simon turned around, he wasn't surprised by who had entered the church. "Well well. This just proves my guess was correct. Edgar knows. I'm glad it was you tailing me and not your brother. I happen to like him."

Reed tapped his sword on his shoulder. If not for Edgar assigning them to watch Simon's home, he would have missed Simon trying to kill the priest. "Women, priests. You just can't seem to pick on someone else who would give you a good fight. Coward," he smiled, knowing hated the word.

"Mother is going to kill us if she finds out we are fighting in a church."

Simon looked behind him at another door where Caleb now stood.

"Peter, come here," Caleb called to the priest who stood far too close to Simon. "If you're going to be killed by anyone, it should only be Edgar."

'I don't want to be killed by him either!" Peter internally screamed. After this, he was packing his bags and getting far away from Lockwood. He already had a Duke constantly trying to kill him. His life could not take a crazy Marquess. 'I married those two bastards to their wives.'

"No Edgar? I am a little disappointed," Simon said, lunging at Peter and capturing him to be his way out of here. Simon took hold of Peter, pulling him against his body, and placed Peter in a chokehold. "Not so fast," Simon said, taking out another dagger and pointing it to Peter's neck.

"Peter," Caleb smacked his face. "Why the hell didn't you move faster?"

"I was lost in my thoughts and you're not supposed to say hell in church! Just save me," Peter whined as he felt the tip of the dagger at his throat.

"I haven't had this much fun for a long time. If only Edgar was here to make this all the more exciting. Don't tell me that he is at home with his wife leaving the two of you to end this game?" Simon asked, disliking how Edgar was ruining the fun.

"Release the priest, Simon. We're not letting you out of here with him as your hostage. Be a man and fight against us. We won't all attack at once," Reed said, removing his sword from his shoulder and placing it on the floor to drag as he walked. "Quite frankly, I don't care if you kill the priest."

'What!' Peter screamed inside. What was the point of them being here if not to save him?

Reed was not going to let Peter, who simply had to move away from Simon before, be the reason Simon get out of there. He would rather kill Simon now than have Edgar bother with this man any longer. If Simon died now, Reed could go home and sleep.  Hopefully.

"Is that so?" Simon replied, relaxing his hold around Peter's neck. "Then there is no point in me holding him."

Peter sighed in relief but it was short-lived as he felt something pierce into his side and Simon pushed him forward.

Simon pulled out the dagger from Peter's side as the man stumbled forward. He ignored the twins approaching him from both sides. "I am not getting out of here," he admitted as he could not fight against the two men who towered over him. "I have a new game for Edgar. See if he can find them without me," Simon chuckled as he stabbed himself in the chest with his own dagger.

He was ready to die the moment he realized Edgar was onto him. He wanted to end with a grand fight against Edgar, but Edgar once again ruined the game by not showing up. The game of searching for the young women he took would not end with his death. There was no way for anyone to find Kate and Bella after his death.

Now, he could move on to his next game. Finding his parents in hell and torturing them.

"Ah, what a time I had," Simon staggered to the floor as he tried to sit down.

Caleb was surprised to see that this was the way Simon was going to die. "Peter," Caleb rushed to the priest who was holding himself up against a bench and covering the wound Simon created. "We have to get you to a doctor now."

Reed went to stand in front of Simon instead. The man truly was a coward as Edgar said. He thought the priest would have been an easy target since priests were normally not violent people. He attacked women he could overpower, but the moment he had to fight the twins, he killed himself.  Simon wasn't worthy of a grand fight against Edgar.

"W-Why aren't you asking where the girls are? Aren't you curious about where Kate is? If only I could witness her mother seeing what happened to her," Simon smiled.

Reed didn't see the point in asking when Simon was not going to tell them. That was the point of him killing himself. He was taking the location of the women with him.

Simon disliked Reed's silence. "I truly hate you," he muttered.