Page 66 of The Succubi's Choice

“In fairness, I didn’t answer his text, apparently,” Miri says, and gets another flicker of a wry smile from the Archdemon. “So the next step was breaking and entering.”

“Is it breaking and entering if I just teleported?” Not-Thomas says, finally sitting down on the couch instead of the strange looming. “The report made it look like she could have died.”

And that throws a bucket of water all over the tentative cheer they had just developed. Miri glances down at her aching arm, at the black veins stretching up to her elbow and the angry red marks around them.

“Died?” She asks, and her voice is smaller than she would have liked, smaller than she ever wants to be. “They were just...”

The Archdemon turns to Gabriel instead. “They injected copper and a poison into her veins to make her charm act unpredictably,” he says, like discussing the weather. “If they kept it up, it could have gone to her heart.” His hands move, against the pattern of the fabric of the couch, just like they did on the night in the bar. “They likely knew that.”

That sits in the middle of the room like a weight, and no one meets anyone’s eyes.

Idly, with just a test, just to see, she holds up her hand to the air, summoning her charm, and it sparks, small, a little flicker of gold, even without someone she’s touching or someone for her to spell with it. Which is, all evidence in front of her to the contrary, technically impossible for her.

Her arm aches, at each little flicker, like the charm is being pulled specifically from those veins, instead of some nebulous core of her.

Both men watch her, and Gabriel sighs, explosive, at the sight.

“Yeah that’s not supposed to do that.” He takes a long drag of his coffee like it’s a beer. “So in accusing you of being super powered...they made you super powered.”

“I’m not super powered, it’s just visible,” she says.

“You might be a little super powered, be careful of asking people to hold the doors for you,” the Archdemon says, and his voice just sounds amused. Like this entire thing is funny, like it’s some sort of droll experiment he’s seeing, like an idle curiosity turning out better than he had hoped. “And imagine what it’s going to be when you’re not on an empty stomach.” He settles back on the couch, his eyes heavy on her. “Let me take you hunting tonight,” he says, like it's an invitation for coffee instead of something that will get her in so much trouble. “Let’s see what you can do.”

It’s like a bell has been rung within her, and it’s not a great feeling. Yes, she’d get in such amazing trouble, and so many things would be taken away but…

But she went with them last night, she did everything she could to do everything correctly, and all she’s left with is an aching arm and the knowledge that Lundy would throw her under the bus.

And that Katya is under even more attention than she probably thinks, and that people are keeping her away from things even more than she knows. And that Katya apparently stayed the entire night with her, and Gabriel cancelled classes, and someone cared enough to send the information to the Archdemon and…

“I’m not important enough for that,” Miri says, finally, because if she can’t say something flippant she goes for painfully honest. “I’m just...someone small. I’m normal.”

She doesn’t miss the glance between the two men at that, the knowing glance of two people, the ‘can you believe this shit’ of looks.

“I mean...”

“I’m willing to lie to Lundy if you are,” Gabriel says, pouring more coffee, like he needs it for whatever he’s about to say. “That guy can rot.”

For a moment, she desperately wants to ask what went down when she was unconscious, what the hell Lundy said to both Gabe and Katya, and what the hell she ended up saying while they had that needle in her arm, and...

“What the fuck do you have planned?” She asks, sudden, turning to the Archdemon and scowling. “I want actual plans and none of your creepy friends.”

“What about different people and an orgy?” He says, not fast enough to be flippant. “Would that do it?”

She stares at him, then blinks.

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