Page 18 of Bitten By Desire

But then why start with Binx? I shook my head, almost laughing at my own question. Hang around the incubus long enough, and you’d probably do just about anything he suggested. I didn’t say it out loud, though, since I knew it was a touchy subject for him. He couldn’t help his nature and wanted to use it to help others, not influence them. If Mama had trusted him, so did I.

“Well, that was fun. Now what?” I asked, leading the way out of the bedroom.

“We check the office. Do you know where it is?” He looked to Binx.

“I got the full tour.” Binx grinned like the Cheshire cat and motioned for us to follow him back downstairs and opposite the sitting room to a closed set of double doors.

Before he touched the brass knobs, I grabbed his arm.

“Stop.” A shadow had fallen over the top of the entrance. “There’s a warning. Something bad is in there.”

“Then we ought to see what it is,” Julian said, stepping in front of me.

“No.” I reached for him, and he turned toward me.

“If we hope to solve this case and get closer to the board and your mother’s killer, we have to take every opportunity. I choose to believe whatever portent you experienced was a warning so that we’d be prepared.” He waited for my reaction.

Swallowing hard, I nodded. He was right. We had to do this for Mama.

Binx swung the door open and leaped inside, then he turned back and shrugged before tapping the light switch on the wall. “I don’t see anything.”

Julian motioned for me to stay back as he too stepped through the threshold and eyed the shelves of books and large mahogany desk that sprawled in front of heavily curtained windows. When nothing happened, I joined him at his side.

“I’ve never been wrong,” I said. It sounded egotistical, but I trusted my senses.

“Perhaps it had to do with Gerard’s murder?” Julian suggested, moving around the other side of the desk to peruse the contents.

“Maybe,” I agreed reluctantly. Squinting, I took in the entire room, searching for any other warning signs. I hummed softly as a book on the shelf over Binx’s shoulder glowed silver, almost like an aura, catching my eye.

“What do you see?” Binx asked, cocking his head.

“Not sure yet. There’s something about that book.” I strode forward as he stepped out of the way for me to examine the large leather volume.

I ran my finger along the spine as I inspected the gold foil letters. “Portal magic,” I read aloud.

Something deep inside called to me, and I pulled the book from its spot without thinking. The shelf shivered then slid back and to the side with a soft whirring noise, revealing a spiral staircase headed below ground.

Just as I lifted my foot to take the first step, Julian grabbed my shoulder, stopping me.

Remember the warning, he said in my mind.

Right. The warning. Had the major seen the glowing book when she’d come here? Was it a psychic thing? I’d never noticed auras on inanimate objects before. The closest I’d come was residual energy when I touched something where a major event had taken place, like the body of a murder victim.

We still need to go down and investigate, I told him, ignoring the drive to knock him out of the way so I could run down the stairs. What was happening to me?

“Me first,” Binx offered, stepping past us and starting the descent. I smiled up at Julian’s broody face and followed with him so close behind I could feel his body brush my back.

I nearly smacked into Binx’s backside when I took the last step. He’d frozen in place, and I could see why. At the bottom was a massive set of pillars with a pulsating blue portal between them. The portal hummed up close, and though it was likely the size of the ones that led off base, ringing the tarmac on Monster Island, in this relatively cramped and otherwise unremarkable space, despite the massive ceiling needed to accommodate it, it felt larger than life.

“Where do you suppose that goes?” I whispered.

“Only one way to find out,” Binx said, waggling his brows.

“Don’t,” Julian barked. He passed us both and narrowed his eyes at it, hissing.

“What?” I asked, joining him. The truth was I felt the need to get closer to the thing. If the others weren’t here, I’d have already dived in.

“It smells of sulfur,” Julian said. “I don’t like it.”

---