Page 45 of Bitten By Desire

“And this one?” I stepped to the one that lay on the cracked table. I pulled back the sheet and found a woman, shredded the same way, but her eyes were open and completely black.

“I don’t think so,” Lorraine whispered, looking away.

“Demon,” I said.

Julian tapped at his phone and held it out. The man and woman smiled at the camera with normal dark eyes and handsome clothing. “Carter and Loeb,” he confirmed.

“Two board members at once,” I said.

“Someone’s coming,” Lorraine lifted her head like a dog scenting the air.

“I do hear footsteps,” Julian confirmed, stepping in front of both of us and tugging his jacket straight.

We all turned toward the doorway and waited. A man appeared moments later with slick dark hair parted at the side and a smirk that felt…wrong.

“Who are you?” I asked him, putting power behind the words.

“Hector Clayton,” he answered.

“The former witch sect liaison?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said, spreading his hands wide. “And you are Dr. Charlotte Devaux. I have friends that have been looking for you.”

Two tall, slender, and ethereal women stepped up behind him on either side. Fae.

My pulse stuttered as one reached over and yanked Hector’s head from his body, a bloody mess exploding out of the gaping hole as the rest of him fell to its knees and disintegrated into ash.

“What the actual fuck?” I said as the head held between her long, manicured fingers also disintegrated. The strong scent of lavender filled the room, sickening me to the point I thought I might vomit.

“Come with us, Doctor,” the woman who’d done it said, her voice lilting.

“No thanks,” I squeaked, taking a step backward.

“Do not attempt to use mind bending on us,” the other said in an identical voice. “We are charmed to resist.”

They stepped forward in unison, and Julian flew into action, a whirlwind of color and motion as he fought both.

I searched around us for an escape route, finding nothing but a room decimated and an impossible drop out of a broken window. The only door was blocked by the fight. I couldn’t throw anything with telekinesis without risking hitting Julian. What the hell was I supposed to do?

“What was he?” Lorraine asked, stare fixed on the pile of ash between us and the battling supes.

“I’m guessing a changeling,” I said, remembering the theory the others had come up with. But why hadn’t he told the truth when I’d used mind-bending? He’d still claimed to be the ex witch liaison. Did he have a charm as well? It was possible.

One of the fairies escaped the fray and leaped lightly to the wall, running around the room sideways in defiance of gravity as the other two slowed and stopped, Julian’s hands tightened around its throat, its talons ripping through his jacket and sleeves as it clawed at him. If it was poisonous, as I feared, what if he couldn’t heal like normal because of the silver?

I grabbed a shard of glass from the window with my mind and sent it through the back of the fairy’s head. Julian released his hold, dropping the body to the floor. Then his eyes rounded.

“Charlotte!”

Spinning to find the other fairy’s face millimeters from mine, claws extended, I screamed. But it didn’t move. Instead, it fell to the table on top of the demon woman’s body, dazed. Lorraine removed the sharp splintered leg of a chair from the fairy’s back shoulder, spurting putrid, black blood over the remnants of the conference table.

Then Julian was lifting the thing, arms clamped to its sides as it writhed and hissed.

“Question it,” Julian said.

With one quick look at Lorraine, breathing hard and holding the makeshift weapon, I focused on the squirming beast in his arms.

“Stop struggling,” I said. It smiled, pausing for a moment, then continued. Right. Charm.

---