Page 14 of Bitten By Chaos

“We’ll move the machine down to my basement. My territory is magically reinforced no matter the condition of the structure above. I can protect her there,” Daphne said. “Since I can’t leave this dimension to fight anyway.”

Swallowing hard, I prevented myself from blurting out the wrong thing by questioning her abilities. Daphne was fierce, but that hadn’t stopped her from being captured and replaced with a changeling.

It was only fae royalty able to overpower Daphne, Julian murmured in my mind, understanding my train of thought. She is powerful, capable, and highly trained in combat, he reminded me.

I relaxed a bit. There was little danger in staying with Daphne since the queen already had my obesciance. “Fine. So Tabitha gives the all clear, then what?”

“Then Zoe steps through to us, and we enter, knowing where to go,” Lydia finished, wiping her hands like it was a done deal.

“So…we go to the demon dimension to hit the remaining board members where they least expect it and assassinate two people?” It wasn’t that they didn’t deserve to die for all they’d done and wanted to still do. It was just such a…villain move.

The room grew silent at my words, but the determination on most of the faces told me all I needed to know.

“What about the sword?” I asked suddenly.

“What sword?” Zoe hugged herself, searching my face for answers.

“Soul Eater. I heard the name from my guide, Pythia,” I revealed. “The demon—Grival— has it. It returned to him after Daph— I mean the changeling used it. And aside from obviously enhancing magic, from what I saw energetically, that thing might actually do what it’s named for.”

Sam’s muscles rippled beneath his shirt, showing he was fighting the wolf that wanted to rise within him. Lydia’s palm on his back seemed to calm it back down. Still, the tendons in his neck strained against his skin.

“You should steal the sword when he can’t take it back,” Em said from the floor where she sat with a surgical mask strapped to her head like a headband. “That’s what I see as the best choice. Don’t go try to kill them, or it goes badly.”

A chill swept down my spine. Multiple times, she’d demonstrated that she knew the outcome of things. Perhaps that’s why I hadn’t seen her manifest either mind-bending or telekinesis—few psychics possessed more than one special ability. Em could read future pathways. The implications of that were both enticing and frightening.

“If we replace it with a fake, he won’t call it back because he won’t realize it’s missing,” Zoe said.

“But if we take it, why not kill them while we’re there?” Sam argued.

“Two people will die if you try.” Em wagged a small finger at him.

“Yes, the demons,” Lydia said, hand on hip.

“Nope.” Em shook her head and turned her attention back to the boxes of supplies she’d pulled down at some point. “You’ll have to wait for the horse to steal it, though.”

Mouths dropped open all around as we gaped at the child in silence. She continued playing with lab supplies, oblivious to our shock. With Em’s ability, despite the strangeness of her words, it would be foolish to ignore them.

“We should listen to her,” Tabitha said out loud what I’d been thinking. “The kid’s the real deal, though I have no idea what she means by wait for the horse.”

We all stared at Em for a good few seconds, but it was clear she’d gone back to playing and was done offering insights.

“Okay, so we go for Soul Eater when a horse shows up,” I say. “The only problem is, last I saw Grival use Soul Eater, he pulled it out of nowhere. So finding and replacing it might be a challenge.”

Chapter 5

Special Delivery

The frustration of waiting for either a mystery horse or a shoe to drop had more than myself on edge. Julian may have been good at masking his emotions to everyone else, but I knew all his tells. The way his spine remained rigid, even when he smiled, and the way he brooded over whatever he scrolled through on his phone let me know he, too, felt the tension in the air.

Sex served as a pleasant distraction for both of us, and on the upside, I’d learned to control my strength a bit better during the act. As far as feeding went, I’d graduated to finding pledges in the mansion and asking permission without needing anyone there to stop me, which helped boost my confidence.

“You aren’t telling me something,” I said, watching Julian pace the room as I lay on the bed watching him. “You’re more agitated than usual.”

“I am used to doing something when there is a problem,” he admitted, coming to a stop and bending over the mattress to smile at me. “I have been thinking about checking with some of my contacts, and…” he paused, clearly having trouble putting it into words.

“You mean you’re used to being a SHADE officer.” I climbed onto my knees and walked myself toward him to hook my arms around his neck and set my forehead to his.

“Yes.” He breathed the word like releasing a burden.

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