Chapter Eleven

“Sitting around, waiting to get kidnapped. This is a new one, even for me. Seraphina will give me the lecture of the century when she learns I’m openly inviting trouble…Let’s not tell her about this.”

Dimitrius sent an amused but chiding glance my way. “Hush, if we wish for this to work we must act like children.” That being said, he kicked his legs cutely as we swung back and forth on our swings. Not commenting further, I sent my magic out, pretending to be fascinated by a butterfly moving past.

The plan was finally in action, now we just had to wait for the enemy to fall into it. Dimitrius’s aura wrapped around me, the warmth acting like a non-physical hug as we pretended to chatter about our favorite animals.

I’d never been more grateful for my immunity to his powers. If I didn’t have it then I’d be too far into a lust craze to enjoy how serene this was. After the past few months of constantly being around him, and acting as his guard whenever he chose to feed, his aura had little to no effect on me anymore.

Though my infatuation caused its own share of arousal flare-ups. I’d managed to keep that under wraps as well, barely at times, but still. All that mattered was that Dimitrius wasn’t aware of my crush.

Before I could sink into treacherous thoughts, a pulse through my magic snapped me back to the present. Someone dangerous had just entered the park.

One advantage to being an Auxilio mage? I could stretch my magic out, sensing the intentions of those around me, and whoever just stepped foot near us was out for trouble.

Good, so were we.

It only took a minute before the one I sensed approached us. For all intents and purposes, he looked like the average man. Boring brown hair matched his eyes with jeans and a t-shirt hanging loosely off his frame. But when he didn’t drop into a drooling lust haze, I knew he was anything but average. Either he’d been around lust demons enough to not be fazed, he was a mage, or he was an incubus.

Most importantly, he was smiling at us with a hideous twist to his lips that made my hair stand on end. Without a doubt, we’d just found our enemy. Or, at least a peon of them.

Stopping my swing, I clutched to Dimitrius as if scared as the man cooed. “Where are your parents, little ones?”

The downright gleeful tone made me want to growl, before I pushed it back. Acting, I reminded myself. We were putting on a show here and biting the creep would definitely break character.

Dimitrius huffed, cutting off my internal battle. “Gone and we’re not supposed to talk to strangers.”

Under other circumstances I would applaud his use of a contraction–the first and likely last time I’d ever hear it–before the stranger gave us what was supposed to be a comforting look. “Oh, but you two appear lost. Why don’t you come with me? I’ll bring you back to your parents, they must be worried about you.”

Ugh, if he could be any more obvious I’d puke, but that would also break character, right along with biting, so instead I nodded eagerly. “Could you, mister?”

He nodded, gesturing for us to follow him to the van on the edge of the property. Sharing a glance with Dimitrius, I prepared myself. It was go time.

When he slammed the door behind us I didn’t have to fake my jolt of surprise. I hated sudden, loud noises and as an ominous air clogged the interior of the van, I wailed. “Wait, how do you know where we live?”

His only response was a chuckle before the van took off. Now we just had to sell it, lest he grow a brain cell and figure out what we were doing. Sniffing, I curled into Dimitrius and cried. “Where are you taking us?”

Dimitrius blinked, surprised by my acting as he raised a hand as if to comfort me, before our ‘captor’ spoke with glee. “To somewhere with more children like you. You’ll all play together, just sit tight and behave or I’ll be forced to punish you.”

Giving a whimper of agreement, I reached for my infinity bag stuffed under my shirt. The counter potions were ready, when we got to wherever we were going, we could drink them and finally see who all was behind this mess.

Or so I hoped.

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Thankfully it didn’t take long before we pulled to a stop. The brunette opened the door for us, nudging us along into a massive house. Dimitrius’s castle was bigger, but from our new–considerably shorter–vantage point, the two story house was huge.

The man didn’t waste any time either, all but throwing us into the basement where half a dozen children waited, eyes full of despair. Taking in their condition, disgust and anger churned hotly in my stomach. Some if not all of them sported abrasions that, if the putrid smell was any indication, were infected.

On top of that, each of the kids were in scraps of clothing, the filth clinging to them and the torn cloth painting a picture I didn’t want to imagine.

Apparently these guards either weren’t immune to the kids’ auras or just didn’t care, because they were covered in a very familiar substance. Seeing it on kids made an unearthly rage howl in my chest, shaking the bars of the cage I held it in.

Glancing around, I counted how many were here before deciding. Every single person who had a hand in this would be dead. I would get Frenwere from somewhere, get all the necessary information, and then I’d ensure none survived. After what they’d done, it was the least I could do for these kids. Aside from getting them home safely.

Dimitrius’s grip on my hand tightened, pulling me away from bloodthirsty thoughts. Glancing over, I caught his glare, the reminder of why we were here cementing me back to the present. Right, the counter potion.

Digging them out, I offered him one before chugging my own. A flash of pain, then my limbs stretched out, back to their natural state as bones cracked loudly through the room. Standing to my normal height, the kids around us gasping, I quickly moved to shush them.

“It’s alright, we’re here to get you out of this place and to arrest the bad men. Can you all be good and not tell them we’re here?” I asked, waiting for each of their nods. The desolation eased back, hope taking its place for possibly the first time since they’d been taken captive.

Good.

Taking my clothes out of the bag, I got dressed while Dimitrius shifted back. The fabric hugged my frame like a second skin as I absentmindedly patted down the pockets, ensuring nothing fell out into my infinity bag.

It was only when I finished checking that it registered. Someone was watching me. The gaze all but burned into the back of my head, making ignoring it impossible even if I’d wanted to. Covertly glancing around, I tensed, expecting an enemy lingering around the corner. The truth was far more surprising and welcome.

Mid sweep of the room, I met scalding honey eyes. Dimitrius mirrored me, eyes wide and throat bobbing as he was caught in the act. He’d watched me dress and if the molten lava burning in those orbs was any indication, he’d liked what he’d seen.

I almost–almost–commented on that. The teasing flirtation was on the tip of my tongue to the point I could already see the flush working across his cheeks in my mind’s eyes, but I bit it back. We came here for a reason, I could tease him for eye humping me later.

Though that didn’t mean I had to completely behave myself.

Locking eyes with him, I smoothed down my shirt, making sure to tug it tight across my chest. His eyes flicked down, following the movement, before shooting back to my face. He flushed, the ruby smattering over his cheeks every ounce as lovely as I’d imagined it to be, before looking away.

Too late, I’d seen that and there was no way I wouldn’t be teasing him for it later. I wasn’t stupid, I knew how people–men and women alike–stared at me. But having it be Dimitrius doing the looking? For it to be his eyes lighting up as if he wanted nothing more than to strip me and memorize every inch of my flesh?

A thrill shot down my spine, settling as a dull buzz in my gut.

He could stare anytime he wanted, I certainly wouldn’t complain.

Giving him a wink when I caught his gaze again, I said nothing and handed over his clothes. He hesitated, eyeing the offered hand warily before taking the bundle. I kept my eyes resolutely locked on his, the urge to trail down the visual feast on display nearly too much to resist. If it weren’t for the nerves all but pouring off Dimitrius–and his history–I’d let myself indulge. But there was the issue of it, his past.

He’d caught more than a fair glimpse of me, but I didn’t mind him seeing. Even an idiot would know he wasn’t comfortable with the reversal. If I ever got to stare at him in all his naked splendor, it would be with his full permission beforehand. I wouldn’t let anything else be an option.

I caught his look of surprise before I turned, offering him privacy to change, but I didn’t comment on it. Neither did he.

Tense silence crackled between us as the shuffle of clothes came, before his hand landed on my shoulder. Taking that as my signal, I turned.

Gratitude glowed in his eyes, alongside the sheepishness from before, but before he could say anything about the exchange, as he looked ready to, I glanced at the door and cut him off.

“There’s no way of knowing how many guards there are so we’ll have to take this one room at a time. Before we do that though.” Turning to the kids, I smiled. “Alright, I’m going to cast some magic, there’s going to be a barrier here and none of you can pass through it. It will protect you from the bad people, but don’t leave it.”

When each of them gave their agreement, I closed my eyes and focused. Like bubbling water in a hot spring, my power shuddered to the surface. Opening my eyes, I visualized what I wanted and whispered. “Clypeus.”

A brilliant blue light glimmered into existence, the barrier surrounding the kids as they watched in amazement. Once done, I turned to Dimitrius and nodded to the door.

“Shall we, darling?” I asked.

His jaw jumped, a flash of something heating his eyes, before it disappeared. Stiffening to granite, his expression turning grim, he nodded. “Yes, and remember. Leave them alive.”

Snorting, I led the way while muttering. “Are you talking to me or yourself?” To my surprise, he responded to the mostly rhetorical question.

“Both.”

My lips twitched in amusement, before all traces of humor dropped. It was time to finally start what we’d planned weeks ago. These kids would be the first of hopefully many we’d save. We just had to take out a few guards to get them to safety. Piece of cake.