Page 32 of Incubus with Benefits
Lily:Can’t tonight. Busy.
What, or who, was she busy with? It was a weeknight, and she didn’t have work.
I cut the ridiculous and jealous thoughts off before I could focus too much on them. Lily wasn’t mine. We were just friends with benefits.
Me:How about tomorrow?
She didn’t reply.
Movement at the front of the jewelry store caught my attention. A car with aSpeed Demon Cabssticker on the side had stopped there, and Nathan was climbing into it. He was leaving work early, and the other guy must be his replacement. I disappeared into the nearest alleyway. Once out of sight of prying eyes, I transformed myself into a large hawk, picked my phone and wallet up in my talons, and took to the sky.
It was much easier to track the cab from the air. Instead of heading toward Molly’s school, the cab dropped him off a block away from The Breach site. As in the wizard eating portal site.
It used to be a busy intersection. Now it was a roundabout with a squat little building in the center, barely more than a shack, and not the kind of place you’d expect a high-ranking EA rep from Rome to be working in. But until headquarters coughed up themoney to build something better, the Darlington branch insisted this was all they could afford.
The representatives they’d sent had rubbed everyone who was anyone the wrong way. And from what I knew, the experts here didn’t want anyone researching the portal at all, but argued that it should’ve been closed immediately. But when the head of the EA insisted on something, it got done.
Nathan didn’t go inside. He sat on a bench at the bus stop and made a call, shaking his knees nervously. Shortly after he put away his phone, the EA researcher, the pale, skinny nerdy one from Rome with the glasses that kept sliding down his nose, scurried out of the containment building. Behind him walked a young woman wearing a Darlington University hoodie and carrying a backpack, who looked rather put out. She left, heading down the street even as the researcher joined Nathan on the bench.
Landing on an adjacent roof, I tried to send in a limb to have a listen. That part of my body lost substance, my soulstuff thinning to a whisper as I drifted toward them.
Until I hit a wall. And fuck! Did it burn! I snatched my limb back, hissing as silently as I could. When I peered over the edge, I saw the EA rep looking around to find who had intruded on his ward. I was glad the apartment building I was on was a good eight stories tall, because he was searching around ground level.
Fuck.
Just because he was a researcher didn’t mean he was without magic. Especially someone sent by EA headquarters. He probably used canned spells. I was an idiot.
I grabbed my belongings, found the door to the stairwell, and made my way down like a normal person, all the while nursing my burned soul. But by the time I stepped out of the building, the bench was empty. The two of them were gone.
But guess who was standing behind an unmarked van, orange traffic cone in hand? You got it. Our friendly neighborhood stalker with the neon safety vest. He looked around, disappointment at losing them plain on his face.
You and me both, buddy. You and me both.
I hurried over to the spot where the two had been. This time, I looked like a teenager skipping school, skateboard in hand. But no matter what I did, I couldn’t find a trail. They were completely gone and there was magic involved.
I might not be able to follow Nathan, but I did get a good look at the traffic cone guy. And boy, did he look familiar.
It didn’t take too long searching through Delerium’s security footage to find him. He’d been hanging out around the club. I took a screenshot and sent it to Gina first, and then to Nathan like I hadn’t been following him around all day.
Gina replied first.
Gina:That’s the guy the witch’s family has watching the club.
Me:The one you were distracting on Sat?
Gina:Yup, that’s him.
Me:Thanks.
It wasn’t long before I got a reply back from Nathan as well, confirming what Gina had already told me. One mystery down, but now I had even more questions. Like what the hell was Nathan doing at The Breach site?
I didn’t like secrets. And I liked them least when a certain little witch might get hurt because of them.
The thought of Lily had me checking my phone again. She still hadn’t replied. My fingers itched to message her once more, but that sounded desperate even to me. That wasn’t who I was. What the hell was happening to me?
I shoved my phone into my pocket and started upstairs to my place. Maybe several rounds with my punching bag would fix things.
Chapter 16
