Chapter Twenty Three

“There aren’t any magical signatures inside so the guards should be human.” I said, letting my power coil back into me.

Dimitrius nodded, stepping forward. “Good, then this shall be easy.”

The confidence in his tone pulled a smile from me as I gestured for him to do his thing. Ever since he’d started feeding regularly, his power grew by leaps and bounds. An unplanned bonus to our relationship, but I wouldn’t complain, especially considering he’d been pulling energy from our ‘explorations’ lately instead of a kiss.

I’d thought it was intense just from the kiss, but feeling the bond while we were in the throes of passion? A shiver worked down my spine. It was an entirely new playing field.

Again, thoughts of later clouded my mind, the familiar double pulse starting between my thighs even as I shoved it down. Now was not the time, though if he wanted to we had hours on the plane ride ahead of us…

Putting that to the side for now, I focused. Just because there were no magical signatures didn’t mean there were no incubi or succubi guards.

I’d prefer to think no one would put their own kind through what those kids lived, but darkness lived in all mortal beings hearts. Species didn’t matter, as long as they were people at their core, they were corruptible.

The bite of my leather sheathed knives yanked me to the present as Dimitrius raised his arms, power fanning out to grab all the humans inside the building. Just as I’d seen before, one by one they came marching out, matching glazed looks on their faces.

Well, he obviously had things covered here, no reason to sit and gawk at him. Besides, I wanted to get on that airplane and discuss that whole ‘later’ thing.

Moving toward the modest one story house, I threw over my shoulder. “I’m going to check it out and make sure there were no guards hidden. Catch up with me after you’ve got them secured.”

He nodded, all his focus centered on the humans before him as he pulled out zip ties from the pack around his waist.

Breezing through the house, I paused briefly to wonder at the painfully perfect surroundings. Everything was straight out of a decorating magazine and it burned my eyes. I’d always hated the ‘museum’ vibe to houses like this and now was definitely not an exception.

Shaking that to the side, I carefully moved through each of the rooms, clearing them, before finally coming to a small pantry like closet shoved into the corner of the kitchen. A lock sat on the outside, telling me exactly what I’d find.

I paused before heading in, calling over my shoulder. “I found where the children are being held.”

Hardly a second later, Dimitrius came around the corner, eyes riveted on the door as he nodded. “Then let us rescue them. Our plane is set to leave in half an hour and my staff is ready outside to transport the children back to the house.”

I hummed, facing the door. Flipping the lock, I eased inside while bracing for whatever waited. Thankfully it wasn’t nearly as horrifying as the last base.

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There were only a handful of children and all but one was watching me warily. The last huddled in the corner, obviously frozen still with terror. Taking in the other heads of blonde hair, I shot back to Dimitrius’s worry over this being one incubus.

He’d mentioned that children of his blood always inherited the physical traits of the ‘demon’ parent, and now that I thought about it, had all the kids so far been blonde?

Glancing to the corner where a single girl cowered, I noted the brown hair with relief. Okay, maybe we were over reaching and blonde was just a common hair color among incubi.

Letting that relief sit for a minute, I turned back to Dimitrius while gesturing to the girl in the corner. “I’ll worry about the others if you can get her?”

He didn’t say a word, already moving for the corner as I faced the others. Crouching to their height, I soothed. “Hi, I know things are scary but we’re here to save you.”

Instead of breaking down in tears of relief or flinging themselves at me–both common reactions thus far–guilt painted their expressions. One of the girls stepped forward, tears running down her cheeks as she spoke lowly through sniffles and fear.

“They said you would be…”

Ice dropped into my gut like a punch, alarms screaming through my mind as my previous wariness came roaring back. Before I could ask just what in the fuck she meant, a spike of magic strong enough to make my hair stand to attention as if I’d been electrocuted knifed through the air.

Shit, there had been a magical here! For me not to notice them they must have sensed us coming and cloaked their power.

Whirling around, I tried to pinpoint the source–an illusion maybe?–only for soul sucking dread to hit in the next instant when I found it. The last girl.

Dimitrius was trying to soothe her, eyes on her face and completely unaware of her hands and their gesturing. When the girl landed on the last symbol in the sequence, realization dawned and terror flooded my veins with adrenaline.

Lurching into action, I cursed my naivety as I blurred across the room. This had been a trap and I’d walked right into it! I couldn’t let Dimitrius pay for my lapse in judgement.

Not again.

Barely making it in time before the mage disguised as a child attached the spell to Dimitrius, I fisted my hand in his outer leather and ripped him back. His choked noise of surprise echoed in my ears, relief hitting like a wave when the mage’s hand met air.

Only to immediately dissolve when the ‘child’ turned cold eyes on me, lips pursuing in an entirely different spell as her magic shifted, changing course.

Ripping a spelled gem from my pack, I surged magic into it and snapped. “Corrumpebant!” The mage flinched back, realizing a second too late what I was doing as the gem attached to her chest.

The cloud of magic around the mage began dissipating, the gem working immediately, and I sighed in relief. Too close.

Before I could turn to check on Dimitrius, the mage sneered, the half formed and fading on her fingers flinging my way as a last ditch attempt at retaliation. Too close to dodge, I braced as the Taint spell slammed full force into me. The effects were immediate.

The room spun dangerously as if the world was turning right off its axis, my stomach joining the ride as it threatened to heave up its contents. The temperature of the room dropped, shivers wracking my frame and I vaguely felt the collision of something hard against my side.

I couldn’t focus enough to identify it though, every last drop of my focus was on the weight now settling over me like a blanket.

A far off part of my mind screamed in alarm, screamed that I needed to cast a cleansing spell, but my magic slid between my fingers like sand, refusing to come to my call. After another attempt, I shuddered, the illness doing rounds over me only increasing as exhaustion slammed over my head like a brick.

Dear Lord, I was tired. Surely a nap wouldn’t hurt before I got back on that cleansing spell?

Just before darkness swallowed me, a voice drenched in terror called out, breaking through the haze.

“Julian, open your eyes!”

I tried, hating the fear oozing off his words, but cement poured over the lids. Not even a twitch no matter how hard I tried. The more I struggled, the worse the exhaustion got until my energy drained away like sand in an hourglass.

Distantly, I felt someone lift me, shaking my shoulders as the panicked voice came closer. This time I couldn’t make anything out but white noise and the spell working through me pulsed again, slamming the lid on my coffin of my consciousness as everything faded away.