Courts and Cabals by G.S. D'Moore (best e reader for academics txt) 📕

I don’t have the ability to heal you?” Lilith stated as she stepped into my personal space. Despite the pain, my dick responded accordingly. It gave an extra twinge when she inhaled deeply. “Something smells . . . different,” she concluded.

I didn’t know what the hell she was talking about, but if she wanted to rub her nipples against my chest and smell me all night long, I was fine with that.

“That’s why . . .?” she stopped midsentence, and grabbed me by the wrist.

It was my uninjured arm, but it still hurt like a motherfucker when she yanked me across the gym. She stormed out of the fieldhouse and into the late fall air. It was more than a little nippy, and that killed the half-chub I had going. When I saw our destination, I groaned.

“Why are we heading to the library?” I asked.

It was a place I made a habit of avoiding, which might be why my GPA had dropped slightly below 3.0. A Fae trying to mount my head like a trophy kill was another part, but in all my time at St. Vincent’s, I’d never been a fan of the large gothic building.

“We’re going to ask one of the few people here that can figure out what the hell is going on,” Lilith replied, as she pulled the glass door open and shoved me inside.

***

The library had a warm and cozy feel to it. A large oak desk ran along the length of the building, where library staff were busy doing whatever they do. Tables capable of seating a full study group were dispersed in sections throughout the rows of books on the main floor. A surprisingly rich carpet gave way under their feet, as Lilith led the way up to the second story.

Up here, there were more private spaces for individuals or smaller groups. There was also a legit vault where high-priced magical texts were stored. St. Vincent’s had one of the top ten magical libraries in the northeast. It wasn’t much compared to the thousands upon thousands of scrolls and manuscripts purchased by major universities after the Revelation, but the academy had a nice little collection. It saw researchers from all over willing to pay good money to take a look at some of the rarer grimoires.

Unlike the first floor, which had constant activity, this floor was mostly empty. A couple students were clustered around the large spiral staircase, but the farther Lilith led them toward the rear of the floor, the emptier it got. That wasn’t all. I felt the hairs on my arm stand up as we rounded the last of the bookshelves and came into view of the large metal door. It looked like it belonged at the heart of a bank, not a library. It was shut tight, and I wasn’t sure if Lilith had the power to get in there without permission.

Fortunately, that wasn’t Lilith’s goal. Her target was the woman sitting at a desk next to the vault wearing noise-canceling headphones. Despite the ability to block out sound, she looked up as we approached. I instinctually stopped as the rest of the supernaturals continued forward.

“Hey, Amanda,” Lilith began conversationally.

Amanda was a Junior, a year behind everyone in the group. She was small, maybe 5’4”, with a mousey face and tangled brown hair. She wore a pair of stylish glasses, and had pretty amber eyes, but everything else about her seemed purposefully concealed. She wore baggy sweatpants, a baggy hoodie, and had a ratty backpack sitting on the desk. They weren’t Gucci, Prada, or any other expensive name brands I could think of. These looked like off-the-shelf from Target, and it paired well with the older-model laptop the headphones were jacked in to. She looked like a normal bookworm; completely nonthreatening, but I knew better.

Amanda Springfield was one of the two Anima mages at St. Vincent’s, and I didn’t want her anywhere near my mind.

“Lilith,” she cocked her head and studied us, but her eyes focused on me. I was ten feet away, and wanted nothing more than to turn and run. I had secrets, and this was the woman who could see them all.

Our eyes locked for a second, which seemed to last for an eternity, before she turned back to the succubus. “You have a problem,” it was a statement, not a question.

It took me a second, but I pieced together why she was all alone in the far corner of the library. She was security for the vault. The school probably paid her tuition to watch over their most precious possessions. Despite their advertising, that wasn’t the students. An Anima mage was perfect for the job. They could tell if someone meant them, or the treasures, harm, and could take school-sanctioned defensive action. Amanda wouldn’t even have to get out of her seat. Gary and Butch would just show up to find a thief in the fetal position, uttering complete nonsense, and drooling all over themselves. Such was the power of the most feared elemental mages.

“I do have a problem,” Lilith answered matter-of-factly. The rumor was you couldn’t lie to an Anima mage, so it was best to just get to the point. “This is Cameron Dupree. He’s human, but he’s seeing ghostly phantoms with his mind. They’re affecting his physical actions, and there is a possibility he has some minor healing ability.”

Amanda put down her headphones and closed the laptop they were connected to. She looked interested. “Five hundred bucks,” she stated.

I couldn’t help but grin a little at the mage’s balls. Asking for that big a price to answer a question, from a succubus no less, took some guts. Amanda might have frightening mental powers, but those powers had a range limit to them, and Lilith could probably shoot her in the head from an ungodly distance with her enhanced reflexes and training. I