Amber- Shadow Witch Read online

  I grinned and crawled onto the bed and lowered my head between her legs. It was time for a wake up call…

  Chapter 9

  After a satisfying meal, followed by breakfast, I took a portal home and jumped in the shower. I was in my closet grabbing a dark red long skirt, white blouse, and some red two inch heels when I felt a portal open in my kitchen.

  Cassie’s strained voice reached me, “Sorry to just drop in sis, I need your help. It’s driving me crazy.”

  I lifted an eyebrow despite her being in the other room, Cass needed my help?

  I said loudly enough to be heard, “Make us a coffee, I’ll be right out.”

  I walked out and Cassie looked perfectly put together, but I could tell she was feeling strained by the look in her eyes.

  The coffee I’d requested was sitting on the table, the smell was heavenly and it was steaming. I sat across from her and sipped my coffee.

  “Now sis, what’s the trouble?”

  Cassie frowned, “I’ve got the new enchantments done, most of it was easy, I’m just having a hell of a time with targeting. It’s already Tuesday morning, I thought I’d be done with this by now.”

  I raised a brow, so she continued to explain, “Well, when a gate opens and sends out a wave, the enchanted object picks it up, and sends a pulse back. The problem is that even in a simple linear model the gate pulse hits like a wave, it’s almost impossible to get a perfect vector from it, only a general idea what side was hit.

  “Think of it like GPS, you need multiple satellites to triangulate your position. So I’ve been working on a similar thing, the pulse hits a series of the enchantments, then the magic figures out where it is exactly and the closest object sends out a pulse. The problem is it adds time, almost half a second, and that’s assuming three or more enchanted objects are close.”

  Ugh. Sometimes she’s too smart for her own good.

  “It think I see the problem, you’re trying to make it as efficient as possible, so you’re overcomplicating it.”

  She frowned, “So what would you do?”

  I shrugged, “I’d take the shotgun approach instead of the sniper. It will cost more magic to close down each portal, but it will still be relatively low in terms of magic cost since it’s only activated once per portal. So if a gate opens and the wave hits the bottom left, blast out a cone of graviton waves to the bottom left. I know that sounds horribly wasteful to you, but it will still be more efficient magic wise than what we have now.”

  She nodded and made a face.

  “That does tweak my inner perfectionist, but I’m pretty sure it will work better than my approach. I’ll test that today, if it works I should be ready to put them in position sometime tomorrow. So how are things going, is work tense?”

  We gossiped for a while, I filled her in on work, or at least as much of it as I could. I also told her about Lia and Terry. She teased me a bit about actually letting people into my life, but she meant it in a good way. She did have advice about one of my concerns there.

  “Oh Am, they just don’t want to share you yet. Wait until the shiny wears off a little, if things work out and they become dedicated lovers it will just be a matter of time until the three of you muss the sheets together. I know you haven’t had the best of luck because you can’t talk about work stuff, but this is different. Terry is CIA too, and Lia is one of us.”

  I felt a bit better as I took a portal to work, although the optimistic view my sister had painted scared the shit out of me, my inner pessimist just didn’t believe it. I wanted to though, and my fear wouldn’t stop me from trying, even if I did wind up hurting in the end.

  I was almost all the way to my desk when I noticed Bill at his office door, staring at me. When he saw me looking he crooked his finger then turned into his office. I could just make out the other suits in his office. I was kind of expecting something like this, I was actually surprised the NSA waited a day. That probably meant lots of meetings and arguments about what to do with me from the top people.

  I blew out a breath and made my way up to his office. Terry looked worried, Susan had a half smirk on her face, and Dennis… well Dennis just stared at my ass as I walked up to the elevated office.

  “Close the door,” Bill said in a neutral voice when I walked in.

  The two suits studied me like they were trying to figure me out. They were sitting in the two office chairs in front of Bill’s desk, half facing the couch in his office, so I took a seat.

  “This is agent Tom Jones and Gary Smith from the NSA,” he actually said that with a straight face.

  I on the other hand might have twitched my lips as I suppressed the giggle. No way were those their real names. I managed a professional nod at both of them.

  “Gentleman, this is agent Amber Price.”

  There was a moment of silence but it wasn’t as tense as I’d expected.

  “Miss Price, can you tell me what steps your family is taking against this threat?”

  I nodded, “Right now we’re focused on blocking them out of our dimension, world, realm, or whatever you want to label it as. Our current defenses only prevent portals from opening on the ground. Barring any complications, my sister should have that done by tomorrow night.”

  Jones asked, “And how far will they extend?”

  I shrugged, “For fast response closure, just past the moon’s orbit. Farther out time becomes an issue. Still, we don’t think they have the ability to come in at say… Mars and fly here, it’s just too far.”

  Smith frowned, “And what if they do?”

  I nodded, expecting this level of paranoia. Of course, I wasn’t all that far behind and couldn’t afford to throw stones. After all, I’d put a lot of thought into it already.

  “Well, we will have warning of any gates opened up much farther than that, so we would at least know their coming. At that point we could prepare, or even with technology stop them before they hit atmosphere.”

  I avoided saying nuke, but Smith nodded as if I’d screamed it. That kind of disturbed me a little, we were obviously on the same wavelength.

  Jones nodded, “I think we can agree to that, the director was clear the President wanted us to support you in that endeavor. However once the blocks are up, we would like to contact one of the remaining scouts and if he becomes violent, capture him. The President is uncomfortable with the idea of hunting them down merely to kill them.”

  Damn, I knew this was going to happen. I was also sure it was more a greed thing about studying them and maybe learning secrets than any moral outrage on his part. There was a long silence as I gathered my thoughts.

  I tried to sound reasonable, “I’m not sure that’s possible. It takes a tremendous amount of damaging power to get through their shields. In essence the only way to do what you’re suggesting is to beat down the shields, and drain them of magic. Assume we could gage it correctly and not kill them with that same force that breaks through. We would have to then somehow capture a creature that is the size of a plane, has claws the size of a car, and a muzzle that could easily swallow people whole. Not to mention their breath weapons, fire, ice, poison, and lightning.

  “Add to that a dragon doesn’t believe in surrender, when they fight they fight to the death, always. They couldn’t surrender no more than a mama bear could when defending her cubs and lair.

  “I’m willing to go along with the first part, try to talk to one before attacking. It is in fact what I was doing when you guys caught the satellite feed, but attempting to capture one borders on insane. A lot of people will get killed. Once the dragon attacks, there is only two outcomes, death or victory.”

  Smith replied urbanely, “I’ll pass on your opinion, but our scientists believe much like the angels and demons they still share much of our DNA and are simply another offshoot of humanity. They believe a nerve agent will knock one out long enough to get it to a containment area.”

  I shook my head, “Maybe, if their magic doesn’t protect them from it. S
till, I’d advise you to work from the assumption it won’t be effective and plan an overwhelmingly lethal attack if it doesn’t. I can participate if you want, but I won’t try and capture it, if the gas fails I’ll do my best to kill it as quickly as possible.”

  Jones replied, “We’ll let you know if we need anything, although we will be contacting you on Thursday morning to verify the new shield is active.”

  It wasn’t a shield, not really, but it wasn’t worth correcting him. I stayed on the couch until they left.

  Bill said, “I got a bad feeling about this.”

  “Why’s that sir?”

  He snorted, “Because I trust your judgment, and today when he mentioned capturing a dragon was the first time I’ve ever seen fear in your eyes. Now get out of here and get some work done.”

  I grinned and left the office. It was gratifying to see the look of disappointment on Susan’s face as I walked back to my desk. Hey, I never claimed I didn’t have a petty side…

  After work I sent the memories, updating my family on the brilliant plans of the United States government. Cassie sent back that my idea worked, she just needed to start enchanting. So things were in line to have the block up and running tomorrow. Dawn didn’t get any of the updates, and after talking with her I discovered she was still hoping for peace. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that option flew the first time Rafe came through a portal.

  The only real question, was once they were blocked out should we wash our hands of them? It was a moral dilemma, though it wasn’t Dawn’s fault, she had given the dragons an edge over the magic humans. One thing at a time though.

  Tonight should have been Terry’s turn to host me, but he was working on an Op and that meant we couldn’t be together tonight. I called Lia, but she wasn’t expecting me back until tomorrow, she had something scheduled for tonight. There was a conservation group that volunteered to come out and clear away what was left of the destroyed trees and plant new ones and she needed to supervise the work. Why that was happing at night was beyond me, maybe they were all volunteers with real jobs during the day.

  So I found myself at loose ends for the first time in four nights. It was funny, because I felt a little lost, it hadn’t taken me long to get used to having regular lovers. I supposed I could just go hit a bar and let myself be picked up, but that idea was even more unappealing than usual. If I had to, I would. It was who I was, what I needed to survive, as common as mealtime for any normal human.

  Sure, I could skip a few meals without dying, but it would be uncomfortable. And like missing normal food I would be weaker, magically instead of physically but it was a real thing. Still, I had an idea. It was a terrible idea of course, but I thought of Bryce Dunhurst.

  He’d been an incredibly generous and attentive lover. Our chemistry was also pretty high, I’d liked him. Alarms were going off in my mind, this was a bad idea. I’d been on a job for Cat to get at his father, hadn’t looked like myself, and he had no idea who or even what I was. Despite all that I found myself Facebook stalking his page.

  It was the typical stuff on his page, until I scrolled a few days back that is. He posted about me on the page. Nothing sexual, just asking if anyone knew the redhead he’d spent time with at the party. He was looking for me, or at least, he had been.

  I scolded myself as I walked toward the bathroom, I needed to shower and get ready tonight. I told myself this was idiocy, and I was twenty three, I was too old to be doing something this stupid. But when I glanced at the mirror as I slipped into the shower stall, my hair was curly and strawberry blonde, and my breasts were much larger, although still standing proudly without sag. Apparently my magic knew me better than I did…

  Chapter 10

  I was dressed and ready to go, but I was sitting at the table with my mind spinning. I’d met guys before, that were one night stands, and that were good in bed. Hell, I was succubus, it wasn’t hard to find good sex, and it also wasn’t a stretch to have good chemistry with a temporary partner. So why was I stuck on him? I didn’t love him, but he was on my mind more than he should be.

  I embraced my magic and found my center, trying to relax and work it out. Going there would be stupid, for all the reasons I’d thought of earlier. Brandi didn’t exactly have a diverse background setup, and continuing to lie to him didn’t sit right with me.

  That was the problem, guilt. He was a good guy, I had a good time, but the door was closed. I’ll never know if it could have been more. I briefly toyed with the idea of going as me, and meeting him all over again. But that didn’t appeal to me at all, which just proved it was a strange mixture of guilt and regret pushing me in his direction. Maybe now that I understood it, I could let go of it.

  I went back to the bedroom, changed back into my normal self, and put on different clothes. I never did get to wear that tight red dress from Friday night, so I slipped into it and some four inch heels. I used a little magic to fix my hair and redden my lips a touch, I was ready.

  A short time later I was at a club in NYC. I didn’t like to hunt in the same places all the time, and even quite often jumped cities. There were the supernatural haters, and then there were the succubus groupies, the ones that came looking for us in the hopes of being drained, especially past partners. It really does take all kinds. Plus, it was fun to meet new people.

  I was dancing out on the floor when I was bracketed by two men. I could feel their lust as I moved and brushed against both of them. It had been a while since I’d pleasured two men at once, but to my disappointment they just left the dance floor when the song was over. They’d never know the crazy night they had just missed out on.

  The next couple, a man and woman that I started to dance with were braver than the two lads, and bold enough to ask if I’d join them at their table. We chatted and shared some drinks, and I took the time to read the girlfriend well, I didn’t like to be the cause of breakups, not when there were so many guilt free opportunities out there to enjoy. Regardless, she had no hang-ups and I quickly realized it was her idea.

  She acted outwardly like she was doing him a favor, but she was obviously the one that craved the bi-sexual activity. When I took a portal home that night from their bathroom, I was leaving behind a very satisfied, but energy drained couple snoozing on their bed.

  I had to admit I felt good about it, and them. Lia and Terry would come first if they were available, but that was as dedicated as I could be. I stripped down feeling pleasantly sore and fully sated as I lay down on my bed. Not to mention all my crystals and I were brimming full of life energy and magic. I was completely out seconds after my head hit the pillow…

  As I came awake there was this annoying beeping sound. It was my phone. I looked at the time and it was just after five am. I’d gotten maybe two hours sleep, that couple had a lot of stamina. I rolled toward the night stand and grabbed my phone, my eyes squinting at the bright light of the screen.

  “Get into the office as fast as you can – Bill”

  I frowned. The number didn’t look familiar, and my boss would never sign his first name, his real first name, to a text message. I jumped up and ran to the bathroom, turning on the shower. Shit. I turned off the shower and used a cleansing spell instead, I liked showers better but I didn’t have time. The spell felt like I’d been scrubbed with sand, but I did feel fresh and clean including my mouth.

  I put on a pink blouse and light gray dress pants, and I pulled on a pair of two inch heels. I ran and grabbed my cell phone then opened a portal and jumped through right outside the doors. I jogged inside, stopping just long enough to swipe my card and get a nod from security. I made my way to the boss’s office, and he was the only one here in our division.

  I didn’t bother knocking, just opened the door and went in.

  He looked relieved, “That was fast. Sit down.”

  “Sir?” I asked in a confused voice as I sat.

  He sighed, “Susan and Terry went to England for a joint operation with MI6. After the actio
n we were going to share the information. Their target was a robotics company that has offices in the U.S., England, France, and Italy. We found out someone in the company was selling information to our enemies out of England, they agreed to make it joint since...

  He stopped for a second, “You get the idea. The company was screwing both our countries.”

  I raised my eyebrows, what the hell happened?

  He answered my thoughts, “I don’t know exactly what happened, but apparently the MI6 substation Terry was working out of while Susan and her English counterpart were on the mission was compromised.”

  “Compromised?” I asked calmly. Mostly calm.

  He sighed, “It was attacked, Terry and an MI6 agent were taken. The strange thing is we’re not sure if it was related to the mission. Susan and her counterpart successfully infiltrated and pulled the information from their computers, exactly what we needed to shut them down. It really… doesn’t make sense.”

  “I see sir, is there a rescue team?”

  He shook his head, “England said they would handle it and find their agent and ours. They’re a close ally of America, so under no circumstances are you to go off on a hair brained mission to rescue them, is that clear?”

  I nodded slowly, “Yes sir.”

  He grunted, “Good. Now, I understand you and Terry are good friends, and you haven’t had much time off lately. Why don’t you take a few days off, relax, and before you know it he’ll be back in the office.”

  I tried not to roll my eyes, he was laying it on a bit thick. I got what he wanted from his last statement.

  “Yes sir, I could use some time off.”