Page 28 of Battle of Witches
“It’s all a ton of fun. Everyonewantsan invitation, but not everyone gets one. There are no plus ones at the speakeasy. No one gets in without an invitation. The students understand this. If you break the rules, you can’t get in again. Ripley and I both got invitations, and it was great.
“Scooter heard about the speakeasy and decided he was going to get in. None of the students would tell him where it was, so he started searching all the dorms. He was busting in on girls in their dorm rooms. All of his body hair was singed off, and his clothes were smoking from pissed-off witches before almost every witch, vampire, shifter, Fae, and pixie came together to make him leave. Instead oflisteningand getting his ass off campus, he shifted and was going to try to fight all of them. The ghosts decidednot today, Satan,and that was the third time in two weeks a tornado carried him off the grounds of one of these sacred buildings, and he lost the ability to find them again.”
“I thought Valentine was an entitled ball sack, but Scooter might have him beat. That sounds like someone who is just ripe for whatever Asfrid is up to. All she had to do was swoop in, tell him he was mommy’s special boy and promise a little power and he’d eat that shit up,” Loki said.
I had to say it because I knew where this was headed. Scooter came from nothing, and now that he had more money than he knew what to do with, it was like he was in this race with the old-money supernaturals. They all had magical antiques. Some had dangerous relics that had been in the families for ages.
Scooter was trying to one-up all of them. Toby had been trying to find a reason to get the Paranormal Investigation Bureau to raid his house and take all the volatile items there for the longest, but they hadn’t technically hurt anyone. Scooter was an intolerable asshole, and most people didn’t like him, but he hadn’t broken any laws until now.
Scooter had so many dangerous objects in his house that could be used against us. Loki might be immune to that shit, but the rest of us weren’t. Killian had already been cursed for an agonizing two months, and some of those objects were probably fatal. I wasn’t going to risk it. We also didn’t know how many followers were squatting with Asfrid.
“We have to call Kaine and bring the Bureau in on this.”
I expected every god and Viking in this room to protest. We knew where Asfrid was. Loki could appear, grab her, and disappear before anyone knew what was happening. That would just cause bigger problems with that viral post Asfrid just made and Scooter’s stupid podcast.
“Call the dragon,” Loki said. “She’s not getting away this time.”
Chapter22
Killian
Ivividly remembered how excited the twins were when the invitation to the speakeasy was slipped under their door. And the ghosts did itright,too. There was an invitation for each of them with different magic to unlock each invitation. Their quests were also different. They were so fucking proud when they got in. You couldn’t bringpeoplewho hadn’t received an invitation, but familiars could go, so Felix and I got to soak up the atmosphere.
It was magical in there. They had alcoholic potions, live music, and sometimes food. I got why people were curious about what went on there. Scooter was something else. I was with Ravyn when he applied for his library card. He treated the twins like a piece of meat and brought up the major twin no-no.
He asked for a twin sandwich, and if I’d had my body back then, I would have kicked his arse. Felix would have, too. The only reason the twins didn’t was because he said that right when his blood hit the bowl to apply for the library card, it became clear he was getting banned. He wasn’t much better at the museum later. Ravyn only tolerated it for about twenty minutes before she banned him. That was my girl.
For a hot minute, he kept popping up like magical herpes. That wasn’t like regular herpes. Magical herpes was a sexually transmitted hex, and people gave it to you on purpose. So, I wasn’t super shocked he was involved in this.
When Ravyn called Kaine, she had to wait ten minutes for him to stop ranting about that video Asfrid posted. She let him yell before dropping the bomb that we had her location, but he was ranting again as soon as Ravyn told him who she was with.
“It had to be that fucker. I can guess who told her to say that shit on her video. He’s been setting the scene for years that we were going to illegally raid that ugly-ass house of his on his podcast. He’s on lists. Ours and even the humans are watching him. He has minions, and now his minions are probably her minions.”
Yeah, but Ravyn and Ripley’s minions beat Asfrid’s. I wasn’t about to say that to Kaine. I just got my body back, and half the time, I don’t think he was joking about roasting us with dragon fire, and I didn’t have a kink about that like Loki did.
“Do we have a plan?” Loki asked, squeezing me. “I was surprised when I saw Asfrid again, and it got Killian cursed. I won’t make that mistake again, but there are too many variables. Asfrid is too smart for her own good, she’s roped in two idiot werewolves, and now there are minions and cursed objects. I’m not risking a damned thing.”
I had an idea. We all saw what Asfrid’s platform was now. We could turn that around on her. Reyson instantly went viral.
“She called you Daddy when you saw her again,” I said.
“I know, and that issonot my kink. I’m a fatheranda mother, and it’s an instant boner killer. It’s like changing a diaper when you get puked and shat on at the same time. Sheknowsthat.”
Yeah, I so wasn’t going there with that.
“So, be her daddy, but not in a sexual way. Embarrass the shit out of her like parents have been doing to their kids for ages. Asfrid is all over the internet making all these claims. The three of you were alive back then, and youmadeher. We know she can’t make hybrids because you told us. We also know Valentine isn’t just in jail for stealing the grimoire and her shifter necromancy spell requires a rare eclipse and murder. Consider it snitching for a good cause. That should lose Asfrid and Scooter some followers.”
Loki laughed and bit me. It was this massive love bite on my shoulder, and I wished we had time to explore that a bit more.
“You are a devious, little shit, and I love you.”
That was the first time we used the L-word with each other. I wasn’t sure if he meant it or was just happy I gave him an idea to fuck over Asfrid. Ravyn saw my brief existential crisis about it because, yeah, Ididlove Loki, too. She swooped in, so I didn’t say it back if he didn’t mean it or he sat there waiting for me to say it, and things just got hellaciously awkward.
“That’s because Killian is the best familiarever,and now I get to have sex with him too.”
“I swear to shit, if you all start fucking with me on the phone, I’m not calling you when we organize on that house.”
“We’re not,” Loki said. “I’m deadly serious about this. How can we help?”
