"the robot golem that attacked me and shelton seemed pretty smart."

"it was merely given a spark with specific attributes. my spark is more flexible, adaptive." his gray eyes scanned the hallway ahead. "i took the liberty of retrieving pertinent parts of the golem and studied them, thinking perhaps they were built by my creator."

i stopped and considered the hallway before us, unsure which way to go. "do you know how to get out of here and back to the transports?"

"of course." cinder led me at a brisk walk until we were outside the huge castle.

it occurred to me i hadn't heard anything from shelton. in fact, between my encounters with ivy and bigglesworth, i'd completely forgotten to see if he was okay. i pulled out my phone and texted him. are you still alive?

"hold on, cinder." i said, stopping.

he turned, hands out at the ready to grasp something.

"that's another idiom," i said before he asked me. "it means wait."

he lowered his hands and nodded. "i will file it away for future reference. i have found the students here use a number of idioms which do not logically correlate to the meanings behind them. one referred to another student's freeze spell as 'sick' even though the spell did not induce sickness."

i held up a hand. "one problem at a time, please." shelton still hadn't replied, and i felt a cold weight lodge in my gut. something felt wrong. i remembered the linkup shelton had performed with my phone earlier and opened the tracking app. the blip indicating shelton's position wasn't anywhere in the castle. it appeared to be in the forest behind the school.

i ran toward the direction, but my legs didn't want to cooperate with super speed, instead limiting me to a strictly non-supernatural pace. even though healer hutchins's pill made me feel better, it hadn't done anything to feed my incubus tummy. oddly, i wasn't starving like i should have been, and i wondered if her pill also muted the clawing agony of starvation.

shelton still hadn't responded. for all i knew, he lay dead in the forest. jeremiah conroy could have killed him and dumped the body. or he might be dying and running out of time. i cursed.

"w-w-will you go to the dance with me, belinda?" a nearby student stammered.

i looked at the source of the voice. a short, plump student with thick spectacles was literally quaking in his boots as he looked hopefully at an attractive blonde girl flanked by her two pretty friends. he reminded me a lot of my pre-incubus self, though i had to admit he had bigger nuggets than i'd had back then to ask out such a daunting target.

a tall, good-looking guy stood next to the nerd, nudging him with an elbow.

the girl sniffed. "oh, please." she looked at the handsome guy. "is this your idea of a joke, kevin?"

the tall guy burst into laughter. the sad nerd drooped.

i glanced at shelton's blip again and gritted my teeth.

"what is the matter, justin?" cinder asked.

"shelton might be in big trouble." shelton's blip moved in an erratic pattern. i had to get to him fast, but an empty incubus tank wasn't going to do the trick. i looked at the students again and groaned. i needed fueling fast. doing so might incite unpleasant side effects in my victim. i flicked on my incubus senses, and the glowing auras of the females flared to life.

"you are a hopeless, creepy nerd," belinda said to her crushed suitor. her friends burst into laughter.

i suddenly didn't care what my feeding did to these people. three tendrils of essence shot from me, each one latching into the halo of a female. the girls stiffened in shock as i opened myself completely to them. their eyes locked onto mine, desire and lust burning within. i extended the tendrils from them into the hapless nerd. their attentions flicked from me to him. before he could say "twenty-three skidoo" the girls lunged at him, smothering him in kisses.

"oh, godwin!" belinda cried out as she ran kisses up his earlobe.

kevin's jaw dropped, and i could've sworn i saw a blood vessel pop in his head.

energy flooded into me as the nerd steadily lost the fight to keep his clothes on. my skin flushed with heat. i wasn't sure how full i was, but had no more time to waste. withdrawing from my targets as carefully as possible so as not to damage their psyches, i released them.

by now, the nerd lay on the ground beneath a heap of panting girls. kevin-the handsome bastard-looked nauseated, his face a sickly shade of green.

i gripped cinder's arm. "let's jet." figuring he'd get the gist of my words, i blurred away toward the forest.

chapter 21

cinder and i plunged through thick trees. underbrush snagged at my clothes, tearing my fashionably charred shirt, slowing my pace. the dense canopy dimmed the surroundings to a creepy twilight. stopping to consult my phone for shelton's location, i saw he shouldn't be too far-

a brilliant bolt of blue energy splintered a tree some twenty yards away.

"get your ass out here, you lying bastard!" a very angry man shouted.

i spotted shelton crouching behind a tree just to the left of the splintered one. a shadow moved a few yards behind him. another dark figure moved to his left and another in front of him.

"come out, little mousy," said someone in a mocking voice. "we'll make this nice and quick."

i pulled cinder into a crouch. "take out the man behind shelton. i'll nab the one in front of him. hopefully shelton can handle the third guy."

cinder nodded.

"go," i whispered and blurred through the trees toward my target.

he stood about shelton's height and wore a gray cloak which blended with the dim light in the forest. unfortunately, the price of speed was a lot of noise. my target's head jerked toward me. i'd hoped to close the space faster, but the choking underbrush pulled at my clothes. the man cursed, aimed a staff at me, and a shaft of blue energy speared inches from my shoulder.

i dodged, nearly slamming into a thick oak as i did. the energy blew a smoking hole through the trunk of another thick tree. i felt a flare of heat, and the blast sent me stumbling sideways. i hit a tree full on and bounced off it, slamming onto my back.

"acworth, get your ass out here!" my target yelled. "he's got friends!"

as i lay stunned in the underbrush, hopefully hidden from another attack, i heard a deep growl soon joined by another and the crack of leaves and twigs accompanied by sniffing. another rumbling growl sounded, much closer this time, and i crouched, ready to dodge whatever made the sound. two saplings bent away from each other, and glowing eyes filled the dark space between. a large furry muzzle poked through followed by a ginormous wolf. another wolf-undoubtedly a lycan-joined the first. the monstrous werewolf let out a blood-chilling howl.

"hear that, shelton?" my target shouted. "doesn't matter how much help you have, you're mine."

i braced myself for an assault and shouted, "can't we settle this peacefully?"

the man laughed. "peacefully? peacefully? you must be kidding me. he took my girlfriend!"

i mentally face-palmed. shelton had stolen a guy's girlfriend? "look, i know it's bad to steal someone's girlfriend, but killing is a bit much."

"stole her? ha! he only wishes." the night lit with another brilliant blue lance. "he turned her in for a bounty!"

"she was a criminal, you moron!" shelton yelled.

apparently, diplomacy was off the table.

acworth, the giant wolf, i presumed, lunged at me. my hands gripped his muzzle inches from my face. his weight and power strained at my muscles, making it very obvious i was nowhere near full strength. otherwise, i might have been able to shove him off. i growled with effort.

his teeth pressed closer to my face. saliva drooled onto my cheek. i shifted into my incubus senses. aether hung like a heavy mist in the forest, light and dark swirls painting the air. but drawing in the ethereal substance was like trying to drink water through a bent straw. i tensed, pulling at the elusive energy with all my might. out of the corner of my eye i saw the other lycan draw closer, its tongue lolling as it watched its mutant buddy try to eat me. and then i saw the bright sensual aura drifting around the smaller wolf. it was a female. lashing out with my essence, i caught the female's halo and let her have the full brunt of my sexual super powers.

her bright blue eyes caught mine. lifting her head to sky, she howled. struggling to keep acworth from biting my head off, i gritted my teeth and extended my essence from the female to him. her attention shifted. she howled again. acworth's ears twitched, and he gave her a sideways glance even as he pressed harder against my hands.

the sound of someone tromping through the underbrush neared me, and the gray-cloaked form of shelton's accuser appeared, aiming his staff at my head.

he glanced around, eyes bright with anger. "we've got your friend, shelton. give yourself up, and we'll let him go."

silence.

the man chuckled. "yeah. i didn't think so." he leaned over me. "harry shelton doesn't have friends. he's a user. he's filth. i'm not going to kill you, but i'm gonna give you a reminder about how important it is for you to choose your friends wisely."

the female wolf howled again, the sound followed by popping bones and shifting muscle. the arcane's brow wrinkled as he noticed the naked woman panting and staring lustfully at the big wolf looming over me. acworth made a whimpering sound that almost sounded like a surprised human saying, "huh?"

strength coursed into me from the bond with the woman. "go play with your chew toys, bitch." i clamped the huge wolf's muzzle shut with both hands, planted my feet on his belly, and kicked. acworth flew back several feet, slamming into a tree with a yelp. i amplified the connection between him and the female. lust flared in the stunned wolf's eyes. he began shifting back to human. the arcane shouted at acworth. he aimed his staff at my head, and blue energy coalesced around it.

i rolled away as a pulse of heat baked a mud pie in the earth where my head had been. he fired again, and i wasn't quite fast enough to avoid a searing wave of heat across my infected leg. intense cold raced through my calf, my thigh, and crawled into my groin. anger surged through me like a shockwave. i felt my skin ripple, muscles bulge, and bones creak. a guttural roar burst from my throat as a gray-clad figure burst through the trees. shelton appeared right behind him, his staff rippling with energy.