Page 47 of Filthy Fae

It wasn’t the kind of life I’d ever led, the kind of life where you passed out by a crackling fire after a full day of swimming and barbequing by the shore. I didn’t take vacations, but I found myself imagining Scarlet and my brothers laughing while pushing each other off the docks, wrestling in the water, and sunbathing by the lake. Even though I didn’t mean for it to happen, Mack was in the scene, too.

Relaxation wasn’t something I ever considered offering to Scarlet, but I found it very appealing in my mind.

“How much does a place like one of these cost?” I asked as I took the pastry bag from the man and set it on one of the coffee trays.

The young human’s gaze dipped to my collar of tattoos, and his Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed. His voice came out high and reedy. “Like, a million, maybe.”

I nodded, picked up my trays, and headed out to the van.

By the time Jane and I walked back into the vacation rental, everyone was downstairs at the table. There was a mad grab for the coffees, and when Scarlet and Aaron scarfed down their fifth pastry each, my anger resurfaced. No matter how light their banter, their ravenous hunger gave away what a grueling night they’d been through.

I settled into a seat and threaded my fingers together, waiting for the group to finish their breakfast.

“Let’s go over what we’ve seen in the past few days, and maybe we’ll be able to get a better picture of what we’re dealing with,” Jane said, sitting down on the edge of the living room couch and resting her clipboard on the coffee table.

The story they wove for us, about Zeezee and Zane’s fuck swap and the queen being warned off from attending the party was nothing like I was expecting, and then they explained the queen’s hunt.

Both Darrel and my eyes glowed with our wolves by the time the story was over. My claws dug into the side of my chair as boiling anger surged through me. Everything in me wanted to take off and rip out the fae queen’s throat. She called a hunt on my mate and my brother. The bitch was going to die.

Jane sat up straight, seeming to wake into the room. Her gaze tracked from Darrel to me, probably wondering why we were keeping Darrel’s discovery silent.

“You do it,” I growled, nodding to Scarlet.

As Jane explained about the incubus, Scarlet slipped off her chair and moved between Darrel and me, her hands reaching out to both of us.

“Necro-Nancy, again?” Scarlet whispered. “So, she’s a demonologist, and she was at the scene of the crime? It lends credence to the theory that the incubus was at the party. Did you try calling this Necro-Nancy person?”

“It didn’t lead to anything,” Jane said, holding up her phone. “No business, no voicemail. It just makes a beep and hangs up. I’ve been attempting to find information through other avenues.”

“She could be the one who raised the incubus,” Aaron said, stating the obvious as he bit into his sixth croissant.

Scarlet slipped her hand around mine and squeezed, picking up on what my wolf needed when I had no idea. “So,” she said, as she leaned into my side, “We have a missing necromancer from the Mage Union, a demonologist at the scene, an incubus on the loose who seems to be chasing my sister—”

“Or you,” Darrel growled. “It’s gone after you twice now, and it made a point to lick me. It could try to impersonate me.”

“Or me,” Aaron said before he nodded to Mack. “Or him, or any number of fae at the feast.”

“He’ll impersonate someone that his target wants to have sex with,” Jane said as she continued to write. “If the incubus is after Scarlet, it’s going to impersonate one of you four.”

A tense silence held us all captive until Scarlet said, “Regardless of who the incubus is chasing, my sister is missing. When I called my father this morning, both he and I confirmed that her phone is now off. Zane is most likely innocent and covering for the fact that Zeezee was there, but I don’t know for sure. All he did was lie to us. But he gets out in two days, and the queen plans to kill him. At some point, this incubus is going to transform into whoever it was raised to go after. ”

Jane jotted down a note on her clipboard. “It’s likely that it will kill that person through an energy feeding.”

“What we don’t know is who summoned it and who they raised it to go after.” Scarlet squeezed my hand. “The only person who seems like they might be able to help us is the demonologist who was at the crime scene.”

“Fuck,” Aaron whispered, before stuffing the rest of his croissant in his mouth. “She fled the scene when Oxonos showed up. Doesn’t seem like someone eager to chat. And the necromancer who’s giving the Mage Union the slip doesn’t, either.”

“There’s one more person,” Mack added. “Whoever warned my mother not to go to the party.”

“Yeah, forgot about that one,” Scarlet said. “All we have are questions and a bunch of missing people. Fuck.”

Fuck was right. Fuck just about summed it up.

“You said there was salt everywhere?” I asked, rubbing my furrowed brow. “At the crime scene?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Among other things.”

“Salt is used to banish demons. It’s a common usage.” I leaned back into Scarlet and turned slightly to face her. “It makes me think that the queen must know about the incubus.”