Page 50 of Handcuffs and Hexes

Julian unhooked a velvet rope and let me into a VIP area. I recognized a few faces right away. The first was Prax. He was an incubus too, but he was happily mated and married. I bet Prax also thought he’d never settle down. He was one demon who never had a problem with Seth since Seth had been there when Tansy had freed him from thralldom. Penny, his wife and mate, was waving to me now.

Penny’s two best friends, Griselda and Lily, were there too. Griselda’s fiancé, a minotaur named Marcus was also there. The girls all looked like they were having the times of their lives, but Marcus looked a little stiff. I guess the gym owner wasn’t used to a place like this.

Julian sidled over to Lily, the single unattached soul in this entire group. Unlike me, Lily was a lot more receptive to his charms, and the two started bumping and grinding to the music.

“Where’s Seth?” Penny asked before Julian could make a cut-it-out motion at his neck.

Was it that obvious that something was up? I guess it was because no one ever saw me here on my own. In fact, Seth and I were usually joined at the hip when he wasn’t working.

“Oh.” Penny recovered quickly from the shock. “Come dance with us. Always room for one more.”

Coming from her, it had no sexual connotation at all, though if it had come from Prax, I wouldn’t be too sure. They were all dancing around a plush, semicircular couch with a low table in the middle. Prax, it seemed, had splurged on bottle service, and there were several types of mixers, as well as an ornate hookah perched on the overflowing table.

I joined them, moving my body to the music and letting the driving beat and strobe lights take my mind off of everything that had happened. They all took turns dancing with me to cheer me up. Again, all except for Marcus, though he did glare while Griselda danced with me, so I guess that counted. Realizing Lily wasn’t going to leave the group to join him in one of the private rooms, Julian left after a few songs to prowl his club for fresh meat.

It was the end of the night, and we were all at a table in a twenty-four-hour McDonald’s when I finally spilled the beans over a Big Mac. Except, I only told enough details to get the story across and I only referred to Hazel as... well, Hazel, since most people knew her as Officer Cooley or Sarah.

“So now, I’m pissed off at Seth for expecting too much and disappointed at her for not wanting enough,” I finished, glad to finally get it off my chest.

“Aw shucks, that sucks. I bet Seth is stubborn as fuck,” Griselda said, pushing an errant strand of her dark hair off her face.

I was still used to her being a redhead, but I guess she was planning to stay bottle-black for a little longer.

I nodded. “I love him for it most of the time. Hazel is similar.”

“Hazel. That sounds kind of familiar, but I can’t place it,” Griselda said.

I shrugged, not giving anything away.

“Well, I hope everything works out for you three,” Griselda said. “If it does, you have to bring her out one weekend, and soon, before Penny and I get knocked up and can’t party anymore.”

“Ha!” Penny laughed. “That’s not happening! I’m going to party forever!”

Prax just grinned.

Chapter 25

Seth

“Well,haveyoutriedblocking it off?” asked the head idiot the EA had sent from Rome.

We were all in the fanciest meeting room of Darlington’s EA headquarters. At the head of the table was Director Kwan. Then there was Sybil and me. We were here on behalf of Desmon, which meant I was in civilian clothing instead of a stuffy uniform. I was dressed extra punk gothy today since the spikes made me more emotionally stable than I felt.

Sybil had drawn on her eyeliner extra thick. And even though she didn’t have any spikes, we matched kind of well. Together, we looked like a couple of delinquents and not a dragon’s preferred personal magic users.

Across from us were Officer Koo and Newman, who represented the police. And finally, there were the two reps the EA had sent from head office since they seemed to think our local branch wasn’t doing enough to eliminate The Breach.

The first rep, Palivius, was the one who’d just asked the inane question, which had Eugene looking like he was going to have to stop Tommy from taking the guy’s head off. He looked a little older than me, though I couldn’t be sure because it was obvious he used magic to alter his image. He was wearing a suit. A suit! For a meeting at the EA office! Did I mention that Palivius insisted on being called a mage?

I was glad most of the monster and magic world worked on a first-name basis, or else I was sure he was the type to insist we address him by last name only out of respect. Nina’s opinion that he was a stuck up prick from their web meeting had hit the mark.

The second rep was a shifter, though I couldn’t place what type and he never offered. Alfonzo was also the nerdiest shifter I’d ever met. I mean, straight out of 80s movies, you-can’t-make-this-shit-up kind of nerdy. All he was missing was a pocket protector. Oh, wait. He had one. He didn’t talk much but scribbled madly into a notebook any time anyone spoke.

At least I was triple sure these were not WEC plants. They’d taken one look at me and brushed me off, which was all the sameto me. They could underestimate me all they wanted; that was how I liked it.

Director Kwan rubbed the bridge of her nose like she couldn’t believe head office actually thought we hadn’t tried something as simple as blocking off the area.

Officer Tommy Newman, on the other hand, looked like he was about to blow a gasket.

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