15. Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

Seb

I n the end, Nimeroni was able to get ten other elves to stand in as bait with her. Among them was the other elf that’d spoken directly to us, Rilitar, and nine others I was still learning the names of.

And now, here we were, close to the factory we’d found the elves in, waiting for the big bad to show up. It was dark out—just in case it was a vampire who wouldn’t be able to come out in the daylight—which was probably scaring the little elves even more.

This was it. We were locked in and ready to go.

I could only hope that we’d supplied the elves with enough shields and defensive magical items. There was an array of spells among them, but we’d made sure that each and every one of them had a shield spell, and a good one at that.

The eleven elves were standing around, eating a snack, trying to look natural but looking miserable and scared. Ailin and I were literally hiding behind a bush, although we had an invisibility shield over the top of us to help hide us. It wouldn’t hide our magical signatures, but we were hoping the perp wouldn’t notice until they were close and it was too late.

The other BCA agents, mainly our kids, were hiding in other spots around the elves. They were a little farther back since we were afraid the big baddie would be able to sense that many powerful people so close together, which meant Ailin and I were the elves first line of defense.

“My money’s on it being an incubus,” Ailin said to me through our link. We couldn’t speak out loud without risking being overheard, so we were strictly speaking to each other through our bond.

We each had a little earpiece to keep in touch with the rest of the team, but no one was speaking out loud right now.

“I’m going with vampire.”

“Why?”

“Because with it being an energy vampire or whatever, it’s the weirder of the two, and you’re involved.”

He glanced at me with a raised brow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You always wind up with the weird and wild cases.”

He went to respond, then ended up sighing and shoulder-bumping me. “Fair.”

It took everything in me to hold in my snort of amusement. Opal and Laneo hadn’t found any other possible creatures in our tomes at home, but they weren’t finished looking through everything yet.

I was going to continue teasing Ailin, but I felt something in the air change.

Ailin obviously felt it too because he stilled and hyper-focused on the elves and the space around them. A van pulled up in front of the building, and every single elf tensed, shrunk in on themselves, and looked even more terrified than they had a moment ago, if such a thing was possible.

A tall man with blond hair, tanned skin, and an objectively handsome face stepped out of the car. Instantly, I could tell he was an incubus from the way he looked… almost too perfect or something. That and the fact that when his magic rushed over me, I could sense it.

The second he was out of his van, Ailin threw a shield over the group of elves. Then he stood and put one over top of the incubus.

Ailin had tattooed a rune onto my chest a long time ago that kept me safe from an incubus’s thrall, so I wasn’t too worried about facing one. He could reach out with his magic all he wanted to try and make me do his bidding, but it wouldn’t work. Ailin had the same rune tattooed on his own chest, so he was safe.

Not to mention that the incubus was stuck under Ailin’s shield.

The guy yelled and banged on the shield, but all I did was stare at him.

After a few seconds, I frowned at the creature and held in a sigh.

“What?”

“I’m… oddly disappointed that it’s not something weird.”

Ailin snorted out loud, and the two of us moved from behind the bush. Ailin walked up to the yelling incubus, and I walked over to the elves to make sure they were okay.

My Fae’lee wasn’t nearly as good as Ailin’s, but I could get by. “ Are you all alright?”

Nimeroni nodded, then shook her head, confusing me.

“What’s wrong? Is someone hurt?” I would’ve asked if someone was scared, but the obvious answer to that was that all of them were.

When she spoke, her gaze was on the incubus, but I knew she was talking to me. “That… that’s not h—” Her voice cut off, and her face scrunched up in pain before she doubled over, grabbing her throat.

“Nimeroni!” I yelled before using my connection with Ailin to walk through his shield to get to her.

I knelt down and reached for her, but she was so tiny, I didn’t know how to help without hurting her. One of the other elves grabbed hold of Nimeroni’s shoulders and eased her back to standing after a few seconds.

She met my gaze, and I quietly asked, “Were you trying to tell me something about the compulsion?”

She made an aborted nodding motion, which was answer enough.

I thought about her words, trying to figure out what she’d been trying to say, but I didn’t know. “That’s not h—” That was all I’d gotten.

I glanced over at Ailin, who was looking pissed off and gorgeous as he tried to interrogate the incubus. Then I looked at Nimeroni again. At this point, we’d probably just have to wait until we were able to break the compulsion to find out what she wanted to tell us.

Nimeroni pointed at the incubus and shook her head for a second before that look of pain overtook her face again, and she bent over, grabbing her head. I went to help, but again, I didn’t know what to do.

Since her friend was taking care of her, I looked at the incubus. What was she trying so desperately to tell me? Shaking her head no at him and, “That’s not h—”

That’s not h… hungry? Harry? Human? High, hair, hill, him, holly. Wait. Him.

My eyes widened. That’s not him.

That’s… not… him.

Holy fucking shit. Was that right?

I looked at the incubus, then at Nimeroni, then back again.

That’s not him.

“That’s not him,” I whispered to myself. With a sudden jolt, I jumped to my feet and yelled to Ailin, “That’s not him!”

My viramore turned in my direction, but before we could make eye contact with each other, a huge blast erupted right next to Ailin’s feet and sent him flying through the air.

The pressure of the explosion tried to knock me off my feet, even through Ailin’s shield, but I planted my feet and did my best to ignore it as fear wrapped its way around my heart. I couldn’t take my eyes off my Ailin.

I reached out with my magic, trying to catch him, but the blast was too big and too quick. I couldn’t make it to him in time.

My viramore landed hard on his side and crashed into the van.

With my heart in my throat, I yelled, “Ailin!” and went running.

But my viramore didn’t answer.

He didn’t even move.

I was pretty sure he wasn’t breathing.