Incubus (Mystic Guardians #6)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Ivor

The warp to the small town of Canon Beach, Oregon left Ivor Bellerose so disoriented and breathless he dropped his satchel and fell to his knees, his jeans landing in a puddle of mud.

Salt from the ocean air was sharp on his tongue, and he focused on that rather than on the way the trees were spinning whenever he opened his eyes.

“Well, shit,” he muttered as he wobbled to his feet then bent at the waist to try and get his breath back. His jeans were toast, partially wet and covered in mud. Some of the mud had splattered on his favorite beige cable knit sweater, as well.

This was going to make a good first impression.

He scowled up at his laughing best friend Emory, who was mud free and looking none the worse for wear in his black slacks and gray sweater.

The angel’s overnight bag was still on his shoulder next to his white wings.

His wavy blond hair danced in the sea breeze as he threw his head back and cackled.

Emory absolutely loved instantaneous travel.

“You’re a freak,” Ivor muttered.

“It’s a wild ride, and I adore it.” Emory took a shaky step. “Still leaves my legs feeling weird. Doesn’t last long, though.”

Lake, the warper wizard who had brought them to Oregon, took a few moments to recover, made sure they were okay, then disappeared back to Seattle.

With the world thankfully back in place now, Ivor picked up his bag and looked around the tree-lined road.

They’d arrived out of sight of the home, but according to the map, it wasn’t far down the lane.

Glancing at his muddy pants again, he frowned. He hated showing up to a place dirty.

“So just what do we plan to say to this family?” Emory asked as he stepped onto the paved road next to them and started walking. “It’s not like we can just stroll up there and say a draugr is on the loose.” He chuckled. “Nor can we claim to be traveling bodyguards, though that idea is humorous.”

“Maybe stay back and watch the house? Kind of at a loss myself.” They’d come here because the draugr—basically an animated corpse—could be after stolen treasure, and that put this family in danger.

The house came into view. A large, two-story red brick home that obviously had a private path to the beach behind it.

Ivor whistled. “Bet this property is worth a pretty penny.”

Emory stopped and raised one eyebrow. “What is it with you and property values lately?”

Ivor shrugged and blew out a breath. “I’m looking into buying a place of my own. I’m tired of renting apartments.”

“Ahh, the urge to settle down happening? Only took you four hundred and some years.”

He scowled at his friend. “Hey now, I’ve owned houses before. It’s just that I feel settled where we are now, and with Dax making Seattle more permanent, I don’t want to leave. You don’t plan to leave, do you?”

“No plans for that right now. I love this job. And I love Seattle. Besides, for two hundred years, the three of us have been tight. I don’t see that changing, and if you’re both permanently settling there, then that’s where I want to be as well.

Ivor couldn’t help but smile. He, Emory and Dax had been close for a very long time.

The two were his best friends—his family.

Dax had recently discovered his soulmate and was planning to move into Everett’s place.

Ivor was so damned happy for Dax, who had always been the sort to cherish relationships over Emory’s preferred variety.

Ivor, too, enjoyed a variety of lovers, though his were more out of necessity than choice. As an incubus, his magic fed on sex, so he needed a lot of it to remain sharp.

They had all recently learned that humans could be soulmates, and this had given Ivor a little hope because he longed for one for himself.

But the truth was, he could never just feed off sex with one human.

It wouldn’t be enough. When he fed, he drained energy, and tapping a lot of partners kept him from overfeeding on one person.

Not that it was a problem now—not without a soulmate.

His thoughts abruptly broke off when a loud scream sounded from inside the house.

He looked at Emory, who met his gaze with a fierce frown. “It’s here,” Emory said.

Ivor usually kept his daggers strapped to his back but hadn’t wanted to scare these people, so he knelt to rummage in his satchel for them. Then they both took off running toward the house.

They hurried up the stairs leading to the porch and front door, and Ivor tried the knob to find the house unlocked. Another scream came from inside, so they didn’t bother to announce themselves, running inside.

“That way,” Emory pointed to the right.

They ran through a living area to a room that could have been part of a museum.

Display cases filled the large room, but it wasn’t the cases that captured his attention.

Three humans were there—two women with red hair and freckles, who cowered in another doorway, and an older man who was being held up against a wall by the draugr.

Seemed they’d arrived just in time.

The draugr looked like a ragged zombie from someone’s worst nightmare.

Tattered clothes barely hung from a bone frame that still had bits of dry, leathery skin.

Its head was mostly skull, though there were still a bit of leathery scalp and a few tufts of white hair.

The worst was the smell. Like garbage that had been left to rot on the hottest summer day.

The man against the wall was turning purple as he struggled for air with the draugr’s hand around his throat. He was kicking, strangled gasping noises escaping his mouth.

Ivor hefted his daggers and ran toward the draugr while Emory shot around to attack it from the other side. They’d fought many times together over the years, their movements like dance partners seamlessly following each other’s lead.

The draugr turned eyeless sockets Ivor’s way as he reached it and slashed out with one dagger, the metal hitting the exposed bone of its back. It let go of the man, who slumped to the floor, gasping in air.

Emory leaped high and sent his foot into the side of its head, and it swung around to face him just as Ivor sank both blades into its sides.

The draugr misted.

It reappeared behind Ivor, and he spun around and jumped, aiming a kick at its chest. It flew back into one of the display cases, crashing through the glass. But it misted again, and this time when it solidified, it grabbed one of the women—the younger one.

She screamed, but it was cut off into a ragged choke when the draugr snapped her arm with an audible crack.

Ivor and Emory ran at them from opposite directions, making the draugr’s head turn right and left. It had no eyes, but Ivor knew it somehow sensed them. It dropped the woman and lashed out at Emory with bony fingers curled like claws.

Emory dodged to the right before he leaped again with another of his deadly kicks.

Ivor had seen the angel fight many times, and it always left him in awe.

Emory might not be able to fly long distances anymore, and inside the house he couldn’t get a lot of height, but he could still perform amazing fight moves in the air, using his wings to suspend himself enough for powerful kicks.

This time, he sent the draugr Ivor’s way. Gripping both daggers, Ivor knelt and slashed at its legs, his blades slicing through the leathery skin. The draugr screeched as it staggered, but the fucking thing just disappeared again.

When it solidified, it was across the room in front of one of the display cases. It smashed through the glass and grabbed a necklace.

Then it misted and disappeared.

Ivor ran to the window, but it was long gone.

“Is it gone?” the older woman yelled as she knelt next to the younger woman, who was sobbing on the floor. The two women resembled each other so much, it was obvious they were mother and daughter.

“Yes, it got what it was really here for,” Ivor answered her. He kept watching outside, though he knew it wasn’t coming back.

“What the fuck was that creature?”

Ivor turned to the man, who was now rubbing his blood-red throat. His face was unnaturally pale, which made the flush of his throat all the more stark.

“That was a draugr,” Ivor replied as he stepped over broken glass and walked up to the man.

“I don’t understand,” the man said. “It was like something out of a horror movie. And you two! How did you get in here, and why are you in here?”

“We were coming to warn you about the draugr when we heard screams. It’s lucky we arrived when we did because that thing wouldn’t have hesitated to kill you all.”

“It was after my necklace?” the older woman asked as she patted her daughter’s shoulder.

“Where did you get the necklace?” Emory asked.

“I had it made about twenty years ago.”

“Did you melt something down to have it made?”

She shook her head. “No. The amber stone is a family heirloom, and I had it set into the piece.”

“It was after the amber.”

“Buy why?” She waved her hand toward the other cases. “There is far more expensive jewelry on display in here.” She looked toward the broken window. “How was it moving? It looked like a corpse!”

“It basically is a corpse,” Ivor explained as he walked to the younger woman, who had tears streaking her face as she cradled her arm. “You should get to a hospital and have that set.”

She just nodded and cried harder.

The man spoke again. “You said you were coming here to warn us about that thing. How did you know it was coming here?”

“Because that amber was stolen from a treasure the draugr guarded, so now it’s bound to retrieve all the parts of that treasure. We work for a company called Protective Solutions out of Seattle. We came to offer our services as bodyguards—we just got here a little too late.”

“We can hire our own bodyguards,” the man said snidely. “But I doubt that’s necessary since that was the only piece we still have from the original arm ring the amber was on.”

“It was on an arm ring?” Ivor asked. “Were there other jewels on it?”

The wife started to answer, but the man shot her a fierce glare. “We don’t know these people, so it’s none of their business.”

Her features tightened and her hands closed into fists.

“I say it is their business, so yes, there were two other jewels that were long ago given away as gifts. I’ll write down the names of those people and where they live—but my son has the silver arm ring the jewels were on.

His father” —she gave her husband another angry glance—“disowned him, so I doubt he’s willing to hire a bodyguard for my Rowan. ”

“Where is Rowan now?” Ivor asked.

The man snorted. Ivor really did not like this man.

“He works at a restaurant in town,” the woman said. “I’ll write down the address for you. Please, go to him.”

She scurried from the room. Both Ivor and Emory stayed silent. Ivor, because it was obvious this man didn’t care if the draugr went after his son, and this horrified him.

When the woman returned, she gave them a piece of paper with four addresses, including one for a restaurant. “Please,” she whispered. “He’ll be at the restaurant.”

“We’ll go to him,” Ivor assured her.

His phone rang after they left the house, and Ivor quickly pulled it out to see his boss, Xavier, was calling. Xavier didn’t even bother with a hello, just jumped right into the reason for his call.

“I’ve narrowed down the treasure.”

“To an arm ring, right?”

“You know this already? I take it the draugr showed?”

“It did. We kept it from hurting the family outside of a broken arm, but it took a piece with an amber setting, and we were told there were two other jewels in addition to the arm ring. We have the addresses of the people who have the jewels.”

“It’s too late for them, Ivor. Word came down that two entire families were slaughtered by a draugr.

I have some suspicions about this whole treasure, so I’m digging harder into translating the journal.

I’ll fill you in as soon as I know more, but you have to get to whoever has that arm ring because they are in danger. ”

“We’re on our way now.”