When not only her sisters, but also the entire guard stopped mid-motion as if they had no intention whatsoever to leave her alone with the incubus, Tia waved them on. “Go on, I’ll catch up. I’m sure this won’t take long.” She gave the incubus a pointed look as she said the last, telegraphing as plainly as possible it had better not.
When just himself and Tialanna stood alone in the corridor, Lucian released the breath he had been holding before explaining as quickly as possible what he had come to tell his Queen. “There are more than a few things you do not know of my people, and no, I do not mean demons in their entirety, but the Incubi class specifically. We may indeed be Ares’ and Hades’ best-kept secret.”
“We don’t have time for you to sit here and explain your long and sordid history. Or whatever sad story lead you into my realm.”
“I agree with you one thousand percent. I’m as anxious to get my son back as you are your daughter. While wars may not have been won or lost due to my sect, we had our hand in beginning more than a few. I know you’ve heard of Helen of Troy and Cleopatra; neither of them were human. They were Succubi with the power to bring men to their knees; even women, even witches.” Lucian gave that last a second to set in before continuing. “We were never summoned; we were only sent. Sex may indeed be one of the deadliest and most dangerous of weapons, but it’s most certainly not the only weapon in our arsenal. There is no magical barrier we cannot cross, no magick that can be used against us, and no one who we cannot use our magick against. But only at our full strength, and only at our full maturity, which my son is not.”
“So you’re saying that…”
With a sensual and deadly smirk, Lucian answered the Queen’s unasked question. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
After more debate, Tia had agreed to let Lucian leave right then and there to feed so he would be at his full strength, or as close to it as possible. She had given him an earpiece, so they could remain in contact with him.
With everyone sorted and all plans made, there was nothing left to do but to carry those plans out.
“Well, you know what they say, hope for the worst, prepare for the best.”
“Elyssia!” Tia and Anya shouted as one.
“What?” After thinking about it for a second, she answered her own question. “I said that wrong, didn’t I?”
Before she could say anything even more insane, Tialanna gave the order for everyone to head out, and off they went. Only what they walked into wasn’t what any of them had quite imagined.
Deelah noticed Genie’s chair had not only stopped its incessant turning, but her jaw was well on its way to become up close and very personal with the floor, and Genie’s eyes wider than Deelah had ever seen them. She pulled herself closer to her friend, but as she was about to tap her shoulder, Deelah’s line of sight followed the direction of what had Genie so spooked. Which was just in time to see the techs’ images form in two separate screens, right before they plopped down into the awaiting stools and shook like leaves. They looked even more spooked than either Deelah or Genie felt.
The techs had each literally stepped out from the monitors in the back of the blacked-out van they had all traveled together in. One moment the monitors sat there completely blank, and then there was a whole lot of static with no sound while Deelah sat back filing at her claws that never seemed to retract, mumbling under her breath about being stuck watching a couple of twats, and Genie twirled around on a stool while studiously ignoring her dear friend. Genie stopped mid-twirl when she saw an image of the tech mages they had come with on two opposite monitors, images that appeared to be coming closer to her.
“Damnit!” The outburst flew from Deelah’s mouth a lot louder than she had intended while Genie sat silently stunned. Had she been human, Deelah would be afraid the girl was going into shock. “You guys can’t use a fucking door?” she added from between clenched teeth while trying to contain her wolf.
“You didn’t see what we saw.” The brother and sister duo, Nate and Nataly, spoke in unison and continued to do so. “We had to get out of there as fast as we could. We were going to warn you, but…”
There was an exception given to the no-magick rule, and that extended to the tech mages since they already had equipment with their magick flowing through it; them using more shouldn’t draw any undue attention. That didn’t stop them from being scared shitless when doing what they had been sent to do.
They were shaking as if they were freezing yet were sweating so profusely the white T-shirts they wore clung to them. Sitting across from Deelah and Genie, they looked drastically underdressed in their white tees, cutoff jeans, and large, black-rimmed glasses. At the last minute, Tialanna had changed her mind and gone ahead and allowed the girls to wear guard uniforms. Though while Genie kept hers intact, zipped all the way to her neck, Deelah’s wolf had been at the forefront and used her claws to make a few moderations; slash marks on both legs on the back and front, the sleeves were gone, and the zipper was jammed so it would no longer go up past her ample cleavage. The only thing she hadn’t changed were the shit-kicker boots.
“But what? And Genie, baby, please shut your mouth before you either start drooling or more than a few flies take up residence in there.” When Genie finally blinked and closed her mouth and continued to stare at their charges, Deelah spoke to the two tech mages.
