Page 59 of Incubus with Benefits
One of the other witches, Tamsyn, I think, cleared her throat. “The asshole wasn’t lying, though. We can’t use our magic in here. We’ve tried. Even together, nothing gets through.”
“Let’s see if precast wizardry works,” I said, stepping closer. I dug around in my bra while the others watched, eyebrows raised. “Don’t judge me,” I muttered, pulling out a folded piece of paper.
I ripped it.
A flash of magic burst in the air, and then silence.
“That’s supposed to alert them that I found you,” I said. “We don’t need our magic to get out because I didn’t come alone. Now we wait.”
Hope flittered across their faces.
As we waited, we traded names. Marissa, Tamsyn, and Nora told me the crazies outside thought that if they collected enough witches who’d been part of the containment spell, they’d be able to use the magic to reverse it and reopen the portal.
Minutes passed. Just when doubt started to creep in, we heard a commotion outside.
“Something’s happening.”
We all froze, trying to hear the hushed words being exchanged outside the door, until sirens burst through the silence.
The door slammed open. The middle-aged man from before stepped inside, eyes sweeping the room until they landed on me.
“You,” he said, voice sharp. “You’re the last one in here. You must be the one with wizard magic.”
Before I could respond, the guy who’d taken the gold bracelet stormed over. He grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked me forward, dragging me out of the room.
Chapter 27
Julian
Iscannedtheposton my screen again, making sure I hadn’t missed anything. According to this particular dark web message board I’d been lurking on, there was a way to trick the ankle monitor. The cursed thing didn’t care which demon it was attached to. It just needed to be attached to one. Anyone.
It was possible to transfer it to someone else and walk away free. All they had to do was make their leg or limb immaterial, overlap it with yours, and then the original prisoner could phaseout while the substitute phased in. Everything had to be timed correctly but according to the author, they’d tested it on several of these devices, and it had worked on every last one.
The problem was obvious. Who the hell would volunteer for that? And even if someone did, I couldn’t imagine asking. I wouldn’t wish this existence on anyone, especially not someone I cared about.
I was still staring at the screen when Gina appeared in the middle of the dining room without warning. Her usually perfectly bouncy hair was a mess. Her blouse had been formed on her body sideways. The normally perfect siren of a succubus looked thoroughly rattled.
“They messed up,” she said, breathless, even though we didn’t actually need to breathe. “Their plan went sideways. They found the other women and they arrested most of them, but two of them got away. And they—"
“Slow down, Gina. What are you talking about? What plan?”
She ran a hand through her hair and blew out a breath. I’d never seen her like this before.
“The plan,” she repeated. “The one I couldn’t hear before.”
“You said she met with the researcher and Nathan.” I’d tried asking Nathan about it yesterday but he brushed me off.
“Yeah, that. I knew they were up to something, so I followed them. I didn’t even realize their plan until it was already unfolding”
“What plan?” All this back and forth tested my patience.
“The plan to use Lily as bait to find the other women and prove that you’re innocent,” Gina huffed, clearly still upset herself.
“What? No!” I stood. “That’s too dangerous.” The thought of my snarky Vixen in danger because she was trying to help me, had me reeling. What if it went wrong? What if I lost her? What if that one reckless act had cost me the only person who ever made me feel whole? “We have to stop them.”
“Yeah, and that was probably why they wouldn’t let me in on it. Because I’d tellyouand you’d say just that. But it’s too late to stop anything. I didn’t realize it was happening until they set the trap. And it worked. Mostly anyway. They found the missing women and arrested most of the bastards, but two of them got away, and they have Lily.”
It took a few seconds for the last few words to register.They have Lily.
