Page 43 of Signed in Incubus

I quickly scanned the area for cameras, and seeing none, decided it was time to let the coward know just what he was dealing with.

I let my face change first to that of the little old lady, then to my own. The man stared, and the acrid scent of his fear increased. He knew what I was now.

“What were you supposed to do when you found Penny?” I pulled him back over the edge and tossed him onto the sidewalk.

“Shit! Shit! Shit!” He crab-walked backward down the bridge as I slowly floated toward him.

When he didn’t answer, I stomped hard on his hand, and he howled. “I see you haven’t gone mute. Answer the question, or you’re going to find yourself missing every finger and every toe.”

“I…I was supposed to bring her back.”

“Was it you at the club?”

“What?” He shook his head, confused.

“At Delerium. Was it you who took the photo.”

“N-n-no. What photo?”

I picked him up again and held him by the throat, squeezing until his eyes looked ready to bug out of his head.

“You’d better not be lying to me.” I released him just enough for him to be able to speak.

“I’m not. I swear.” The coward was openly crying now, bawling his eyes out.

“I need you to tell whoever put you up to this that Penny is mine now, and that if they send anyone else, they are going to get a very up close and personal encounter with their worst nightmare.”

He nodded, his head moving up and down so violently that it looked ready to fly right off.

“Good. Now get out of my face, and don’t ever let me see you again.”

He scrambled back to the lot where he had parked his car. I watched until he had driven away, then returned to Penny.

I found her pacing the room.

“Prax!”

I drew her into my arms. “It’s okay. I don’t think he’s going to be back again.”

I didn’t give her the details. I didn’t think she’d appreciate me threatening her parents. But I knew how people like that worked and sometimes it was the only way to send a message.

“What did you do?”

“Don’t worry about it, sweetheart. But,” I continued, changing the subject, “I need to see all your electronics. He mentioned something about coordinates. Which means something is giving away your location.”

“Do we know what we’re looking for?”

“No,” I admitted.

“Okay, I’ll send a quick note to Griselda, then turn everything off and put my phone in my clutch. And I’ll remove the batteriesfrom my laptop and tablet for tonight. We’ll get Lily to have a look tomorrow. She’s a lot better than I am with technology.”

That sounded like a good compromise. We managed to shove both her phone and her tablet through the opening in the zippered clutch so they were back in her nightstand drawer. The only thing we had on us now was her laptop.

“Come on, let’s try to get some more sleep. You look exhausted.”

“I am. But I’m also wired. And worried.”

“Don’t be. I will keep watch, just in case.”

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