The Star-Chamber: An Historical Romance, Volume 2 by William Harrison Ainsworth (freda ebook reader .txt) 📕

it tracked Lilith warily. It had on blue jeans that were torn along the quads and calves, and it was sporting a twelve-gauge shotgun, which was comically small in its massive hands.

What I thought was an albino was in fact a powerful shifter from an extinct species of sabretooth tigers. “I mean you no harm, shifter,” Lilith replied calmly. “He was attacked by a water nymph. I threw her through the wall, but suspect she is long gone. If you want to help, check and see that the coast is clear. I mean Cam no harm. You have my word on that.”

The tiger judged Lilith for a moment before nodding. It walked past them, ducked through the hole, and scouted for his new prey.

“Wait, that’s Joe!” I cried after he’d left. “I’ve got to find out where he is working out.”

“Hush,” she put her finger on my lips, and must have channeled some type of magic because my face went numb. That, or it was the blood loss talking. She’d switched out the tampons already, and the bright red blood on the discarded rag would have me worried if not for the shock.

“She’s gone,” Joe returned, his shotgun gone, but still in his massive shifted form.

I thought it would be hard to talk with two massive teeth sticking out of his mouth, but the old pizza joint owner sounded the same as when he was human. Lilith waved him over as she changed out another tampon.

“Should we call an ambulance?” Joe asked.

Hamilton County was one of the largest in New York, despite being one of the least populated. It was easily an hour to the county medical center. Vincent’s Hollow didn’t have anything but a small clinic. The next best option was the school.

“No, I’ll take him back with me. I’ll be able to help once I get him somewhere safe. I need to stabilize the wound and stop the bleeding as much as possible. Do you have any bandages, towels, or even spare cloth?” she asked.

The shifter left and returned a moment later with a first aid kit, and an arm full of towels. I was just about out of it when she hit the wound with disinfectant. The burning made me cry, but neither supernatural held it against me. She put a large bandage over the wound, and then started tying two towels together and wrapping them diagonally across my chest, over one shoulder, and under the other armpit.

“This will hurt,” was the only warning I got before she cinched down the improvised dressing.

“Shit balls motherfucker,” I gasped as stars danced in front of my eyes.

I think I blacked out for a second. When I came to, Lilith was on her feet talking with Joe while the dressing provided the pressure to stop the bleeding. Something about Lilith’s first aid skills told me she’d done this before.

“Are you sure a hospital isn’t a better idea?” Joe asked again as she effortlessly scooped me into her arms.

“Yes,” now that she knew Joe wasn’t a threat, she was more forceful with the old shifter. “My sources in the academy’s bureaucracy informed me there is an ongoing law enforcement investigation with a UN agent attached. The last thing we want is the UN poking its nose into this. It would be bad enough for Cam, but this blood feud with Aveena will get even worse if higher authorities are brought into it.”

Joe had been around long enough to have dealt with those authorities, so he nodded in agreement. “May I make a suggestion?”

“Of course, ancient one,” she showed him a degree of respect due his age.

“Put some pants on him,” Joe cocked his head down at my bottom half. “If you’re trying to be inconspicuous, you’re failing.”

Lilith managed to blush, which was the cutest thing I’d ever seen. She looked like a groom about to carry his bride across the threshold. If the bride was a dude, with no pants, and having a completely normal reaction to the shrinkage of cold air hitting his junk. My ego and dignity had checked out for the evening, so I was glad Joe was paying attention.

“I’ll grab his pants,” she nodded. “Can you check your dining area for anything the bitch left behind? The more I know about her, the more I can plan. I doubt this will be her last attempt.”

Joe left to do that, and she gently laid me down on the floor to do exactly what a succubus wasn’t supposed to do: get me in my pants. Joe returned a second later with a purse, and finished helping her.

“Thank you,” she bowed to the shifter. “I will compensate you for the damage.”

I was so far gone, the last thing I thought about were the repair costs. I never heard Joe’s reply. I drifted off and woke up to Lilith sprinting up the hill to the school. I turned my head enough to see she was sprinting toward the wall. I tensed, which sent a jolt of pain down my injured chest, but then we were airborne; soaring over the fence that separated the town and school. She landed effortlessly on the opposite side, and didn’t even break her stride.

She ran all the way back to her dorm, and crawled up the drainpipe with one arm. She eased us both through her open window with the skill of an acrobat. People tended to only think of a succubus’s skills in the bedroom, but tonight, I’d seen a lot more that Lilith had to offer.

“Lilith!” their sudden appearance made her roommate jump. “For the love of the gods, you can’t just bring naked guys . . .”

“Shut your fucking cock-sucking mouth, Dani,” Lilith snapped, and the dwarf’s jaw snapped shut so hard I heard the clack.

“Is he bleeding?” the dwarf drew closer, but all I saw