Page 75 of The Incubus and the Bodyguard

Vlad frowned at the name. “Isn’t that the Seer in Chicago? Why would she—?” He froze, the pieces of the puzzle concerning Mae and Nikolai’s sudden disappearance finally slotting into place. “Wait,” he ground out. “Don’t tell me you guys going off grid had something to do with her?!”

“Kinda. We had a situation with the Italian coven, but Lily also told us to make ourselves scarce for a couple of days.” Mae scratched her cheek guiltily. “We would have come back if it looked like your plan wasn’t going to work. It was the only way to make sure you two—you know.” She waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

“We got together?” Delphine’s eyes had shrunk to slits.

“I was going to say became friends in the biblical sense, but that works too,” Mae said brightly.

Hellreaver quivered on her chest.

“My witch, my fiends are demanding a sacrifice,” the demonic weapon rumbled.

Delphine tensed.

“He means he wants meat,” Mae told the super soldier hastily as the weapon transformed. She narrowed her eyes at Hellreaver. “And you, how about you stop saying ambiguous things? It’s why we got in trouble with those Italians.”

Vlad curled a lip. “What’d he do?”

Nikolai shuddered. “You don’t wanna know. My leg still aches.”

Hellreaver zoomed out of the living room toward the kitchen, Tarang, Brimstone, and Alastair following in his wake.

“Don’t make a mess,” Mae warned.

“You people know this is my place, right?” Vlad said, incensed.

Nikolai grimaced. “Don’t be such a killjoy. Besides, we lived here for a while. Your apartment is practically our second home.”

Vlad scowled.

The front door opened. Cortes strode in, Popo on his shoulder. He slowed at the sight of Mae and Nikolai, surprise widening his eyes.

“When did you guys get in town?” he said while Mae greeted him with a kiss on the cheek.

“This morning.” Nikolai shook the sorcerer’s hand.

Vlad stared at the Colombian. “Since when did you have a key?”

“Since a while back,” Cortes said with a nonchalant shrug. He indicated Mae and Nikolai. “They made a copy and gave it to me. I rang the bell the other day because I was being polite.”

A headache throbbed at Vlad’s temples as he glared at the couple.

“We like it here,” Mae said shamelessly. “There’s free food, booze, and you have the best entertainment system in Manhattan.”

Delphine’s mouth twitched. She sobered when Vlad cut his eyes to her. “We should change the locks.”

A dirty smile curved Cortes’s mouth. “Oh. Are you guys moving in together?”

Popo leaned toward his sorcerer. “It looks like mating conditions were optimal last night, my Enrique,” he hissed in a conspiratorial tone.

“I’ve missed that bird,” Nikolai told Mae.

Vlad and Delphine exchanged a hesitant look.

“We haven’t broached the subject yet,” he said quietly.

Mae wrinkled her nose. “Yeah, you should start packing when you get to Washington,” she told Delphine.

Delphine stilled. Vlad lowered his brows suspiciously.

---