Strength of Desire (Vesperwood Academy: Incubus #2)

19. Cory

“ No!” I yelled, bursting into the clearing. I was moving before I was even aware of it. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Killing her,” the man said, turning to look at me. Curiosity painted his features. “And now you, too, I suppose. Can’t have you running around now that you’ve seen me.”

“Who are you?” I demanded.

As the man opened his mouth to speak, I took advantage of his split attention and rushed in to grab Erika’s arm. I tugged, pulling her back, away from the gun. But the man recovered quickly. He stepped forward and hooked an arm around her torso, pulling in the other direction.

He was strong. I was surprised at how long I was able to hold on, to fight. I must have been learning something in Combat after all. But in the end, it was no real contest.

The man ripped Erika’s arm from my grasp and hugged her tightly to himself, her back pressed against his chest. One arm encircled her waist, pinning her in place. His free hand brought the gun up to her head and pressed it to her temple.

I lunged forward again, but he made a show of clicking the safety off, tutting at me.

“Uh-uh. I’d stay right there, unless you want her to die.”

“You’ve already said you’re going to kill her.” Rage and frustration welled inside me. Why couldn’t I do more to help her? Why was I so useless?

“I did,” the man said, his voice perfectly calm. “But you asked who I was and what I was doing. Wouldn’t you like to have that—”

The words died on his lips mid-sentence. His eyes narrowed, and he cocked his head to the side, looking at me closely.

“You,” he said, and the word was equal parts surprised and delighted.

“Me what?” I demanded.

“Could it really be that easy?” he said. He sounded like he was talking to himself, not me. “I thought I’d have to search for days, maybe weeks. Did you really deliver yourself to me, just like that?”

A new wave of fear rushed to fill my chest. It was hard to get a breath in. There was no room for my lungs to expand.

“What are you talking about?” My voice managed not to shake. I was proud of that.

“You’ll see soon enough,” the man said. His eyes flicked back to Erika, her head tucked under his chin, the gun at her temple. “But first—”

I dove right at them. Time slowed down, the instant I spent in the air lasting a lifetime before I crashed into the two of them. I didn’t even know what I was trying to do. Push the man away? Pull Erika free? It was dangerous, and might end in my death. But I knew Erika was going to die if I didn’t do something. I had to try.

All three of us fell to the ground, and a gunshot rang out, shattering the stillness of the night. I landed on top of Erika, and when I looked down at her, her eyes were focused again. She looked utterly lost.

“Cory?” she said, her voice full of fear. “Cory, what’s happening?”

I scrambled off her, realizing I was crushing her chest. “Are you okay?” I asked, scanning her face, her body, for any sign that the shot I’d heard had hit her. Her left hand was still bleeding, but other than that, she looked unscathed.

“Y-yeah,” she said, shaking her head, panic plain on her face.

“Not for long,” said the man in the overcoat. He pointed the gun down at Erika.

I looked up to see him looming over us. Fear made a fist around my heart, squeezing tight. I’d actually forgotten about him for a second, in my relief about Erika. Stupid, stupid me.

The man shifted his stance, and I swung my legs out, tangling them with his and knocking him over. As he fell, a second shot rang out, and the gun flew from his hand.

I scrambled on all fours in the direction it had gone. I was dimly aware of him doing the same thing, but I couldn’t let myself think of that. I just had to get to it first.

I didn’t like guns. My dad had kept three in the trailer at all times, loaded. A Glock, a Derringer, and a Smith -)

And now…how about a hot college AU for Cory and Noah?

I usually write a bonus epilogue for each of my books, but with Strength of Desire I was inspired to do something a little different. I wrote Into It, an explicit, standalone short story featuring Cory and Noah in a different world—as students at non-magical college to be exact!

It’s got all the same intensity, but it ends with a little semi-public sex in a dorm common room.