by Nikki Dean
Everett shrugged. "Because he's a bastard like that."
"And why Bunny?" Alec mused. "She’s hot but no one there knows the extent of her magic. Why is he so desperate to get to her?"
They all looked at Matt.
"The original traffic video shows more than enough to catch Fitzam's interest, if he's the one directing Pohler. Hell, Pohler himself probably wants to know how she does it, and how much she can really do. My reports weren't fooling him for a second, which is probably why he's your new handler."
"So you think he set you up to go to the lab?" Mallory asked.
"If he knew about it. And let's face it, that shit is right up his alley."
"So what do we do with them?" Nico asked. "I can run them across the border and drop them in Bay Nation somewhere. It'd take me a day or so, though."
"And they'd just come right back," Mallory said. "We need to scare them. Explain that they either back off or bad things happen."
"It's too bad we can't give them back to Fitzam and tell him they're spies," Alec said. "He's probably in on it, though. There's too much money in the lab for him not to be."
"So you think Fitzam is hiding him?" Nico asked. "It makes sense."
"Let's just take these assholes' ID cards and tell them we know where they live. It'd be easy to find them and fuck something up if we need to," Mallory muttered. "Tell them we'll be watching them and that we'll know if they talk to Pohler again, so they better avoid him like the plague. Make up a story about how he's gone rogue or something and get out of here."
"Oh? You have better things to do right now?" Damon demanded. "More important than saving your own life, or Matt's?"
Alec snickered. Everett didn't move, but Mal would have sworn she felt his eyes boring holes into her skull.
"What else are we going to do?" she snapped. "We can't keep them here."
"Just don't worry about it," Damon replied. "Go home if you don't think you can be of any more use. We'll take it from here."
"Just one more question before you go, Mallory. I want to know what they think of when we ask if Pohler told them to bring anything else. Anything special," Everett said suddenly.
"That's it? Just tell you whatever pops into their heads?" she asked doubtfully. "Seems weird, but okay."
He looked at Damon, who nodded. They all resumed their positions around the room and Damon asked the question when she was ready.
At first they were confused. He prodded a little more, asking about any special books, magical items or anything else. Maybe information.
The first guy said something about the amaroq, which made Mallory roll her eyes. She felt similar reactions from around the room. Everyone wanted information on that thing, so it wasn't exactly a surprise. But the next answer was.
"Runes. He wanted to know if I found anything with a certain rune on it. I looked it up and it's supposed to keep something still."
Keep something still? Like a containment rune? Mallory wondered as she tried to see it. Thing One wasn't visualizing it very well and she had to hold back a sigh. There was nothing else in his head though, and the other burglar didn't even blink at the question. Apparently Pohler knew better than to use these two for his more subtle tasks. Which meant that he had some sense, after all.
"Describe it," Damon ordered. He grabbed some paper and sketched whatever the guy told him, only stopping when he said so.
"That's it. Pretty angular, but nothing I've seen before. He made me memorize it before he took the file back, though. It's carved into some kind of stone."
Why's this rune so important that Pohler wouldn't let them write it down, or keep a copy? Runes only have power if you imbue them with magic, so what's the harm in a copy, if you don’t know what it’s for? Mallory wondered.
They reconvened in the back of the room. Mallory shook her head at Everett, who glanced away in disappointment. She didn't bother asking what he'd been hoping for.
"You ready?" Nico asked quietly. "We should all go home soon, honestly. It's getting late."
She nodded. They were out of there before anyone else could say a word.
Back in her dorm room, Mallory leaned against Nico. They stood there in silence as she just breathed him in, dreading the moment he said he had to go back.
Because she already knew he would.
"What's going to happen to them?" she asked. "Do I want to know?"
He shrugged. "Not sure. We'll probably take their IDs, like you said, then turn them in to another department as spies. It'll keep them out of the way long enough to make sure Pohler can't use them against you again, and he'll have to find someone else. Now get your stuff together, you're not staying here."
"Um, what?" She jerked back to look up at him. Shook her head. "Nope. Absolutely not. That place is a wreck, Nico."
"And it's safer than here." His tone was resolute. "I can't stay right now, but Matt and I will be there later tonight."
"There's not even running water. Plus, it's haunted."
"It's not haunted," he replied with a little smile. "But you might have a point about the water. We can fix it for you tomorrow."
"Dice and I are staying here tonight, and we'll talk about the haunted shack tomorrow," she tried to compromise. "He'll keep me safe enough. No one would be expecting him."
Nico rolled his eyes. "That doesn't stop anyone from knowing where you are every second that you're here. It's not safe."
"Then hurry up and get your ass back here. Seriously, I'm surrounded by people here, and no one else has a key. Just me, and you. Everyone else on the floor would hear if Pohler tries to break in again."
"Fine. Just for tonight." He kissed her. "But tomorrow we're moving everything you'll need, or buying you new stuff to keep there. Matt and I will be back later."
"Okay. Maybe bring him back a little sooner," she muttered. "He did just wake up from a coma."
"I'll see what I can do."
* * *
Mallory lay in her bed a long time after that. She'd tried reading some of her history book, then studying chess strategies, but nothing was working. Finally she picked up her runes text book.
She already knew there wasn't anything in it that looked like the rune she'd seen in the crony's head. I really should call him something. Thing One just sounds ridiculous. I'll call him Bob. The other one will just be Dick. Bob said the rune he saw was carved into some kind of stone.
She opened the textbook to the appendix and tried to see if stone runes were covered. There were plenty of options for earth runes, and even turning something into stone, but nothing about using it as a medium. She wasn't surprised.
"You have to be pretty determined to carve a rune into a rock, right, Dice?" she asked aloud, rubbing his ears. He had stretched out beside her and kept butting his head against her knee. "I guess it'd be useful if you keep charging it. Somehow. My professor said that the magic goes in when you're drawing it, so I don't know."
Setting her book aside, she pulled out her phone and started searching. The first few results turned up the usual crap, using monuments as wards and imbuing runes with magic through other spells, but nothing close to anything Bob was talking about.
Until one website popped up.
It looked like a conspiracy theory page, talking about chemicals in the water to increase witch births and other nonsense, but one image made her pause. She squinted at it, trying to figure out why.
It was familiar.
Really familiar, in fact. Too familiar.
Setting her phone aside, she got up and went to her closet. "Where is it, where is it... don't tell me I lost it in one of the moves." Dice got up and wandered in as well, then sat to lick his paws as she dug through trash bags and plastic bins that she hadn't looked at since she arrived at the academy. "Ha! Here is it!"
Mallory pulled an old shoebox from the bottom of one of her suitcases. The corner was bent in and she could hear something rattling around inside. Popping off the lid, she dug through old photos, sentimen
tal shit from high school and a few random little things that her parents, or Paul, had given her over the years.
It took her a second, but she finally found what she was looking for when her hand closed over a small, hard, stone-like object.
She pulled it out and sat back on her heels, staring at it. Remembering how she'd gotten it.
It had been filthy. Covered in alleyway dirt and then blood, it was the little sigil that a raccoon had given her the night Paul was stabbed. She'd never gotten around to asking him about it, not that she thought he would know anything. It was magic, and Paul wasn't.
Unlike her.
Mallory got up and went back to her bed to compare it to the one on her phone. The pictures on the internet had different runes carved into the stone than the one she held, but their shape was the same. Same size, too, judging by the lined paper in the background.
"'Seven runes were carved into seven keys that can unlock the true power of each demon'," she read aloud. "'All you need to do is find the right key and use it to release the spirit.' Well, what the fuck does that mean? Spirit of what?"
She looked over at Dice, who had followed her back into the bedroom. "Why are witches so obsessed with demons, anyway? First the amaroq, now this?" She shook her head. "You'd think having to deal with our own magic would be bad enough. But no, some asshole always wants more and has to add fucking demons to the mix. Let's hope this is a fake and it's just a paperweight."
He flicked his ears, as if to say she should know better. Mallory was never that lucky.
"Fine. If it's a magic item, it should show up on my web, right? Maybe. I mean, the flags didn't but this might be different. I can't believe I'm talking to a cat right now."
Dice went back to licking himself.
Mallory sighed and crossed her legs on the bed, settling in with the sigil in her palms. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and focused.
Nothing was there. She could see herself, and Dice, but nothing else in the room. It was like they existed in limbo on her web. She focused harder, trying to see the individual strands of magic that made up her arms, her hands. It worked a little, and she followed them until she saw her palms.
Which were completely blank. No magic at all.
Mallory dropped the sigil in her lap in annoyance. "Maybe if I figure out how to recharge the rune on here, I can figure out what it's supposed to do?"
Dice sniffed it, then licked her hand. She shook him off.
"I know. It probably stinks. I did find it in an alley a couple years ago, and haven't messed with it since."
Shoving her books off of her bed, she lay down. Dice refused to move so she slung her legs over him, tucking him into the back of her knees. The rune was heavy in her hand, heavier than she expected as she held it up over her head and traced the carving with her fingertips. Dice's warmth seeped into her legs, relaxing her more and more until she finally went to sleep.
Chapter 13
There was a chainsaw buzzing in her ear.
More than one, actually.
Mallory cracked her eyes open the next morning to find Matt snoring away beside her, and Dice right where he'd been when she fell asleep. Nico was on Matt's other side, sprawled out on the extra bed that Matt had set up for them before he went away on his mission.
One particularly loud snore had her narrowing her eyes at Matt. "You know, I didn't save you just to suffocate you in your sleep a day later. Stop it. It's too early for this shit."
He did it again and she elbowed him, digging in until he grunted and rolled over. He slung one arm over her shoulders and pulled her down against him, a little smile on his lips.
Her heart warmed as he tucked her close, telling her this wasn't so bad. She could put up with a lot if it meant she got to wake up to cuddles like this every morning.
For about five seconds. Then he snored again and she was forced to take drastic measures.
Mallory licked her finger, then shoved it into Matt's ear. His whole body convulsed, his shoulders shooting up around his head as he was jolted awake. She pulled it out and flopped down onto the pillow, closing her eyes.
She could feel his scowl of bewildered annoyance. But it was a quiet scowl.
They lay there a few minutes, each one awake and pretty sure, but not positive, that the other knew it. It took a heroic amount of effort not to laugh, but she managed.
For a while.
Unable to resist temptation, Mal cracked one eye open to find Matt glaring down at her. Then giggles escaped and she couldn't stop herself from laughing wholeheartedly against his chest.
"What did you do to me?" he demanded, his voice still raspy with sleep.
"Nothing you didn't start," she replied.
"Oh, yeah? How's that?" Matt asked.
Nico's head popped up on the other side of his shoulder, blinking sleepily. For once, Matt was the one in the middle.
"You were snoring so loud that the whole floor could hear you. In fact, I'm pretty sure the search has been called off and Pohler is sitting right outside the door, waiting for you to come out."
Matt's eyes narrowed. Nico laughed.
"She has a point, you know," Nico said. "We've always told you that you were the worst one."
"You knew?" Mallory accused as she sat up in bed. Matt's arm fell from her shoulder to her waist. "And you didn't even warn me to invest in some earplugs. Nico, I trusted you." She shook her head at him.
Matt buried his face against her ribs with a growl, nipping at them playfully. His hand slid beneath her shirt and up her side, teasing the outer edges of her breast. Nico's eyes went dark as he watched.
Mallory had to hold back a shiver as Matt pushed her shirt up higher. Nico met her gaze and tilted his head, asking without words if it was okay.
She nodded.
He grabbed the back of her head and leaned across Matt to claim the first kiss of the morning. Their lips met and held for a moment before he demanded more, sweeping inside to dominate her. She kissed him back, rubbing against him until he gave a deep noise of appreciation.
Not one to be left out, Matt pulled her down for a kiss as soon as they were done. Nico climbed over them, forcing Mal to scoot closer and closer to Matt until he moved with her, putting her firmly in the middle.
Dice wasn't as thrilled and jumped off the bed with a disgruntled huff, padding through the bathroom to the other room to sleep in peace.
Matt kept inching her shirt up higher and higher, skimming his hands up over her back while Nico took the low road. Nico kissed the curve of her waist, then her hip, then the top of her thigh as he pushed her pajama pants down.
Mallory shivered between them, even though she wasn't the least bit cold. Still, each man leaned closer, Matt to her chest and Nico to her legs, enveloping her in their heat.
She closed her eyes and reached out to both of them on her web, allowing her mind to flit back and forth between their lights before she finally pulled them as close together as she could. They were nearly touching in her mind before she stopped, putting them in reach at the same time.
Pleasure rolled through her as they each flooded her with arousal. She felt an answering call between her legs, her core clenching in response to their aches.
Mallory gasped as Matt finally touched her, rubbing his thumb over her nipple as he squeezed one breast. She arched up, allowing him to whip her shirt over her head before he leaned down, kissing her tender flesh instead.
An image of her, her mouth open and cheeks flushed as Matt sucked her nipples, flashed through her mind and she knew it was from Nico. It was hot. Almost as hot as feeling it.
Not wanting him to be left out, she reached down and ran her hand over his smooth back. He wasn't wearing a shirt and she went for the things she loved most about his chest. His piercings.
He groaned as she played with them, rolling the bars beneath her fingers. She felt the echo through her web, teasing the breast that Matt wasn't currently licking.
Nico kissed the in
side of her wrist, then pushed her hand away. He tugged her hips upward, gaining just enough room to slip her pants down over her ass, leaving her bare beneath them. Nico groaned in appreciation.
"No panties, hmm?" he asked, kissing the dip behind one knee. He drew his nails up the back of her thigh and over the bottom of her ass, stopping just shy of touching her center.
"Guess not," she replied.
"You're never wearing panties again," Matt declared as he looked down at her. His tongue came out as he licked his lips and Mallory couldn't tear her eyes away from it.
Nico pushed her thighs open and kissed his way up, taking his time. Matt groaned as he gave in to temptation, stroking two fingers over her slick outer lips. They almost slid inside her and he pressed his forehead against her chest, breathing heavily at the implication.
"God, I want you so fucking much, Mallory," he breathed. He found her clit and rubbed it, making her hips jerk just before Nico's mouth closed over her.
Matt groaned and let go, allowing his friend to savor her on his own. He kissed her instead, driving his tongue into her mouth the same way Nico did below.
Mallory moaned at the double onslaught. Heat and pleasure overwhelmed her as Nico devoured her pussy, kissing and licking like he was starving and she was dessert. Her chest tightened as she couldn't stop her hips from lifting toward him, riding his mouth as he fucked her with it.
Matt pulled back and watched with a groan, grabbing his own cock over his pants. Mallory twitched when she felt it, calling out both their names.
Matt met Nico's eyes and grinned, his hand slipping down into his own pants. Nico nodded and slid one finger between her lips at the same time.
She had to lift her knuckles to her mouth and bite down to keep from crying out, it felt so damn good. He added another and quickened his pace, sliding them in and out of her wet heat as he vibrated his tongue against her clit. Matt watched, increasing the tempo on his own dick to keep up.
It was too much. Nico's magic mouth, combined with Matt's pleasure echoing through the web, did her in. She came hard beneath him, her thighs clenching around his head as she clutched Matt's shoulder. Nico went hard, grinding the heel of his palm against her center as he thrust his fingers deep inside her.