Chapter Thirty-six
~Katarina~
“And I’m telling you, Ms. Whitler, that you can’t fast track these things.
” the secretary for the department of family services scowled harder and harder the more she bickered with Sera.
Katarina stood behind her legal council and rottweiler best friend, sipping her coffee and doing her best not to worry.
Sera called her before dawn to let her know that Ellie suggested they whip up the custody paperwork, and they worked on it while they sobered up.
After going over it, they showed up at the council building the second the doors opened.
While normally Katarina did not hold up drunken paperwork in court, so to speak, Sera was one she would allow to give sermon on any law while plastered.
“And I’m telling you that you absolutely can when it comes to the wellbeing of the child or in fear for the mother’s life!” Sera jabbed a finger at the desk.
“But neither the—”
“Are you being serious right now? Gillian Hurley was arrested for domestic abuse, destruction of property, and striking an Enforcer. How does that not fill in either of those instances?” Sera situated herself on the stool she used to be eye to eye with the secretary, tossing her hair over her shoulder.
“You want me to go see the Lord Commander? He was the one to give her an express divorce on those grounds. Are you calling Lord Blightwood a fool? Should I go tell him that?”
“No! No.” Rena, the poor victim of Sera’s, was flustered.
Sera was as feral as a werewolf when let loose in the woods, she could smell blood for miles and her bite was nasty.
Katarina avoided eye contact with Rena who flapped her hands about to try and defuse the situation.
Unfortunately for her, she wouldn’t extinguish that flame without agreeing to fast track Katarina’s custody case.
While keeping her gaze and angry wasp nest of a brain busy, she scanned the Council building.
Everyone was familiar with the bright, glistening gold foyer.
The gaudy two story room full of pillars representing the main departments, the crystal ceiling, the fountain formed around the founders.
While the Council building was meant to represent the structure of King’s Fall, it was hard not to see it as the oppressive reminder that some people did just live a better life.
The air in the building was crystal clear, the floors glossy, and all who worked there wore their pride like a silk scarf.
Constantly tossed around their neck, into the face behind them, rubbing their status in the lower classes nose.
She did try to believe in the good of the people who worked there, as the city did not run without governing forces.
Without a department of education, there was no funding for schools to allow people free access.
Without a departmart of agriculture, the farms that most of their food was sourced from would never be able to protect themselves from the evils outside the forcefield.
But…after living with Jessie, being with Nik, and generally opening her eyes, she could see the corruption just as much as the good.
One such corruption waltzed by her so brazenly, it left her gobsmacked. Like he’d slapped her across the cheeks with a wet fish. She blinked rapidly before tossing her coffee into a nearby trashcan. “Hey!”
“Oh, hello—it’s you.” Pinstripes narrowed his eyes on her as he pivoted on his heel.
His back was to the entrance into the department of commerce.
Arms folded over his chest, he was in a fresh pinstripe suit, a cape fluttering behind him.
His angular face was polished like he’d done this a thousand times.
Lip lightly curled in a snarl, a slight pop to his hip, he stared down at her.
“Could they truly not muster the courage to face me, themselves, that they had to send you in?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Katarina sneered, stepping closer to him. “What did you ask Nik to do?”
“Nothing that need concern you. Do you not have a small child to watch over?”
Katarina’s eyebrows shot up on her face. “Did you just threaten my child?”
“No,” he rebuffed sharply. It left her stomach rolling uncomfortably. He continued in the same monotone that left her skin prickled and uncomfortable. “I would never. But who knows what could happen to an unattended child at a bake sale or at school. We both know—”
But Katarina was done. She was done playing nice. She was done being the punching bag. She was done with the idle threats of men.
Her tail snapped out of its own accord and stabbed him deep in the meat of his thigh. Bjorn, or Pinstripe, whatever his actual name was, gasped.
There’s one thing they never warn people: it’s the venom of a succubi tail.
Arch-fiends, like the succubus or the incubus, have a special paralytic and aphrodisiac venom hidden in the tip of their tail.
Pinstripes dropped to his knees, eyes rolling back in his head, mouth open, head lulled back.
She watched his veins light up with a ruby red, like she’d injected him with glow in the dark paint.
It raced through his veins till it reached his eyes.
When his eyes rolled forward once more, his irises were heart shaped.
Now lets see who likes being played with? Katarina tsked, taking him by the chin and moving his face around slowly. He sighed dreamily, leaning into the touch. “You’re so warm.”
“I know,” she purred. “Be a good boy and stand up for me.”
Pinstripes climbed to his feet steadily, making sure to keep his chin in her hand. His eyes were backlit with a soft pink hue as he stared at her. She smiled back at him, letting go of his face. He gasped, “Wait, no—”
“You want me to touch you?” She arched a singular brow. Pinstripes nodded vigorously. “Be a good boy and take me back to your office. Every time you do what I want, I’ll touch you.”
He inhaled sharply through his nose. She saw the crimson haze that made up her aura float up around her, slithering deep into his nose and down into his lungs.
The more he breathed her in, the better the effects would be.
He bowed to her before leading the way. Let’s see what you’re really up to, Mr. Executive.
The walk through the commerce department was full of little desks in cubicles lacking life.
The air was so dry and depressing, she almost regretted her decision.
Everyone who worked back in that department walked around with hollow eyes.
Pinstripes led her through a winding maze of filing cabinets till she got to a corner office.
It was two walls of crystal panes and the rest filing cabinets. No wonder you’re a miserable jackass.
She spotted his name tag on the desk. Executive Councilman, Bjorn Lawman.
Trailing her eyes up to him, Katarina watched him slowly turn back to her.
He dropped back to his knees, hands behind his back like the eager little puppy he was.
She wanted to scowl. Scratch his eyes out and gut him with her claws, but then she’d be a murderer and he’d be innocent.
She scraped her fingernails through his hair and tugged it back by the base of her head. He hissed happily, body sagging to give her more room. But she stopped and held him dipped backward. “Tell me, Bjorn, where is the real thing? Where’s the real bomb?”
He giggled sweetly, like a little kid with a cookie dangled in front of him. She snapped her fingers, forcing those heart eyes back open.
“Where’s the bomb, Bjorn.”
“It’s not a bomb,” he laughed more, swaying left and right in her grip. “It’s a magical disruptor.”
“Where’s the magical disruptor?” she sneered with so much spite she’d thought she actually spit in his mouth.
“I improved it,” he moaned, his veins lighting up with more ruby red.
Her aura was sinking into his skin. She felt a pulse come off his body and her fangs protruded.
Just a bite. She could suck him dry with a single sniff.
He’d be a husk on the floor with the happiest look on his face.
It ached in her jaw. Just a little bite.
Katarina shook it off. No, we’re a well-fed Succubus, we don’t have to stoop to feeding on this asshole.
We’ve got a minotaur in heat and a bugbear willing to fill that belly at any point.
She bent a little lower, breathing closer to his face.
“How?”
“Amplified it.” He leaned toward her lips like he might get a taste. Then she ripped her fingers away and shoved him to the floor. The sadistic, delighted groan that came from him only made her hair stand on end. She stomped around him toward the desk.
“Where is it?”
“Plugged it in. Readied it. As soon as that mechanic shows up with the prototype, boom! Poof! No more shield!” Pinstripes crawled across the floor, scraping his belly across the glossy marble.
“What!” she barked, ripping back around to glare at him. “Why would you want that?”
He wheezed, flopping down onto his back. A dog with its belly out, waiting for a scratch, he begged her with his puppy dog eyes. “They won’t know what to do! I can fix it. Make a better one. They’ll have to ask me to help.”
“That’s what you want?” Katarina snarled, crouching down to grab him by the hair again.
He squealed with happiness as she dragged him to lay at her feet.
“You’re so pathetic and bored that you need to destroy the one thing protecting this city just to give you something to do? Some fucking purpose?”
Bjorn beamed brighter. “Who needs magic?”
Katarina dropped his head, letting it smack against the floor as she returned to his desk. “Where is it, Bjorn? Where did you hide it?”
“Shhhh,” he giggled, pushing a punch drunk finger to his lips. “Can’t tell you. It’s a secret!”