Page 57 of Incubus with Benefits
The first step was to make sure those looking for me knew exactly where I was and that I was unprotected. I wasn’t, of course. I had several charms and tracking spells woven directly into my clothes and my body, courtesy of Alfonzo, Penny, and Gigi. The nerdy researcher couldn’t cast spells on his own, but he had an arsenal of pre-made ones at his disposal. And I didn’t mean the dime store single-use beautify spell types. I meant complex ones that had taken some powerful sorceress-level magic to create.
I even had a special note tucked into my bra that had a simple SOS written on it. If I found the missing women, or I was in a life-threatening pinch, all I had to do was rip it up and reinforcements would arrive faster than gossip at a church potluck.
I sat in the park outside the generic chain coffee shop down the street from The Breach site building. Clipboard in hand, flower logo cap front and center, I looked every bit the underpaid surveyor. The sun was high and beating down on me with a ferocity that made me regret coming out without sunscreen.
A little past noon, Krista showed up, moseying toward one of the park benches, lunch bag in hand. She didn’t notice me at first, so I decided to go over and say hi.
“Hey, it’s you again,” I said with a wave.
I turned on my magical charm, gently bombarding her with feelings of trust and openness. Nothing to hide here. Just a girl doing her job.
“Thanks for helping me last time,” I said, flashing a warm smile. “They sent me back to survey this little patch here so we can do a comparison. I hope my stepping around the building last time didn’t get you in trouble.”
Krista blinked, surprised for a moment, then gathered herself.
“You’re welcome,” she said. “I’m glad I could help.”
“It’s Krista, right?” I asked, giving her a hopeful look. “I hope I’m remembering correctly.”
“Yes,” she said, smiling now.
Good. She didn’t suspect anything.
I went back to taking notes and scouting out the plant life around the tiny parcel. She brought out her phone and tapped away on it as I pretended to work. With any luck, she was calling in her friends to tail me now.
After a few more minutes, I wished her a nice day and stepped into the coffee shop to grab myself a tea—I’d learned better than to actually drink the coffee here.
I started feeling eyes on me as I doodled in my notebook. And if that wasn’t enough, the charmed bracelet on my wrist was starting to feel heavy. The bracelet might not have saved Marissa, but it was sure doing an excellent job warning me.Or perhaps it was still trying to protect its original owner in a roundabout way by getting me to her. Magic was complex like that.
Movement outside alerted me that Krista was getting up to leave. I waited a little longer, finishing my tea and making sure that I still felt watched. I left the coffee shop and started heading down the street following the predetermined route we’d picked.
The route went through several alleyways and other sparsely populated areas. If something was about to get me, it would give them plenty of opportunity to make their move. But more importantly, my route took me through Officer Cooley and Hayes’ regular patrol, which meant if anything happened, they’d be the ones on scene, and not the difficult cops I’d dealt with last time.
I moved slowly to give those watching me, friend and foe, time to get into position.
Despite trying to get kidnapped on purpose, and knowing that there were other people watching out for me, my heart still beat erratically my chest. My grip on the clipboard tightened, and sweat gathered at the base of my neck. But I tried to keep my expression neutral.
The charm bracelet pulsed against my wrist, reminding me that danger was nearby, but I wasn’t alone.
It started when I made a shortcut through the cemetery. The shadowy figures weren’t obvious at first, hovering in my peripheral vision and disappearing every single time I looked atthem. But then they became bolder, floating out like they didn’t need their legs and reaching for me with their crooked limbs.
When one got a little too close, a beam of energy came out of the bracelet jangling on my wrist and zapped the sucker into oblivion. More came to take his place.
My initial reaction was to run. But I slowed, knowing that they were trying to usher me toward the van that had just pulled in on the far side of the cemetery. That van wasn’t one of ours, so it must be one of theirs.
I moved toward it, pretending I didn’t notice it at all, my eyes starting from one shadowy figure following me to another. As long as I continued heading toward that van, they didn’t attack. I wanted to say that the fear and panic were all faked, but they weren’t. It was hard to stay calm, even though this was exactly how we’d planned it.
A rustling in one of the taller trees had me looking up to see a hawk peering down at me. That must be Prax, watching in bird form. Liam was somewhere here too, though Seth was still out of town. And Declan, Marcus’s best friend, was in his honey badger form somewhere.
I continued toward the far side of the cemetery, and Prax took to the sky, circling overhead like he was watching for prey.
The moment I stepped out of the cemetery, my heart pounding despite having purposefully taken it slow to conserve my energy , I was confronted by two guys dressed head to toe in black. Very original. Without a word, one of them grabbed me, covering my mouth with a palm.
I put up a good fight, making it look realistic. I was stuffed into the back of the van, and we were on our way.
Whentheblindfoldfinallylifted, I found myself in the back of a warehouse. The walls were lined with metal shelves, most of them empty except for a few scattered tools and boxes that looked like they hadn’t been touched in years. Overhead, the industrial lights flickered, casting shadows across the cracked concrete floor. The air was stale and laden with dust.
A middle-aged man stood in front of me, his posture straight, but his frame was gaunt and his skin was loose, like he’d lost a lot of weight too fast. Behind him were several figures, college-aged by the younger faces. There were three men, two women, and I picked out Krista amongst them immediately.
