Total pages in book: 148
Estimated words: 140412 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 702(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 468(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140412 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 702(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 468(@300wpm)
Jonah grimaces in confirmation and exhales a long plume of smoke from his nostrils. “Yup. I mean, you could always consult another magician. But it looks like you two went to a lot of trouble to get here tonight. What with the costumes and all.”
Nathan turns to me. “You don’t have to do this.”
“You don’t, either,” I point out. “But right now, I think it’s our only option.”
With a sigh of resignation, Nathan tells Jonah, “All right. When do we do this?”
Jonah stubs his cigarette out directly on the glass tabletop. “Let’s go.”
CHAPTER 59
Jonah takes us to a back office that leads to another back office that opens up to a storage room with a very scary catwalk staircase up to the second floor. I’m pretty sure we’re about to be murdered when Jonah ushers us up it and through a beaded curtain, into a room lit up with black light.
The floor is painted black, with sigils and symbols in glowing phosphorescent colors. There are beanbag chairs scattered around the perimeter of the room, and an impressively tall hookah in one corner. Shelves hold jars of herbs and dirt and murky liquids I want nothing to do with.
“So, where do we…” I look around. Clearly the bean bags are one disgusting option, judging from the very unflattering smears and spatters the black lights are revealing.
Jonah’s teeth glow comically blue in the light. “Hey, that’s up to you. Just not on the worktable.”
He’s talking about the huge workbench tucked into an l-shaped corner. He opens a laptop and types something in.
“No spell books? Dusty scrolls?” Nathan quips.
“Magicians have been digitized since the nineties. Catch up, wolfman.” While Jonah types, he gestures to a mini fridge. “Okay, King, the magic potion is in there.”
“I’m sorry?” Nathan asks, unconvincing in his innocence.
Jonah chuckles humorlessly. “Yeah, you have no idea what I’m talking about. Dan doesn’t come here specifically to procure it for you.”
Nathan’s eyes cut guiltily toward me before he goes to the mini fridge and pulls out a glass vial that looks very much like the synthesized magic werewolf cum that Nathan had back at Aconitum Hall.
“So that’s where you got it,” I say with a smirk.
“No, it’s where he got a diluted form of it,” Daniel says. “That shit right there? Pure hormone. You’re gonna want to a grab a couple of those Red Bulls and throw two drops in apiece. Only two, I’m serious. Then chug them down.”
“And what’s going to happen?” I ask cautiously, moving to get the drinks from the refrigerator.
“Probably the best and most exhausting sex of your life,” Daniel says, pulling out what appear to be welding goggles. He fits them onto his head and the lenses glow with swirling purple light.
“That’s not an arcane GoPro, right?” I ask. I’m already uncomfortable with the situation. I don’t need to be recorded and I certainly don’t need the words “royal sex tape” linked to me.
Jonah adjusts the dials around the lenses. “They’re going to help me detect the signature of the magician or magicians who cast this.”
Nathan carefully doses both the energy drinks, two drops per can, and swirls them around.
“Don’t drink that yet,” Jonah warns. “It works fast, and I still need to get a few things set up.”
As Jonah putters, I hold the can without drinking it like an awkward teen at a party who doesn’t want to look uncool but doesn’t want to consume alcohol, either. “We’re really going to do this?”
“Do you have a better plan?” Nathan asks. He reaches out and rubs my upper arm in reassurance. “Maybe think of it this way: we get to do something weird and kinky and then never see this guy again.”
“If exhibitionism was my kink, I guess that would work for me,” I grumble.
“I’m not entirely psyched for this stranger to see my O-face either,” he admits. “It’s just a sacrifice we’re going to have to make.”
I nod grimly. “Let’s just hope the magic werewolf cum potion removes our inhibitions or something. Otherwise, I’m going to be dry as a desert with embarrassment.”
Nathan’s mouth quirks. “And I’m not likely to get it up.”
“Okay,’ Jonah says, clapping his hands. “We’re all set. Knock those back in one go, if you can. Don’t be shy about the burping.”
I glare at Nathan and tip the can to my mouth.
The aphrodisiac kicks in almost immediately. One moment, we’re just standing there, deeply uncomfortable from the carbonation. The next, we’re ripping off each other’s clothes—literally. There’s no button left on Nathan’s jeans by the time I’m done, which is an impressive feat one-handed, if I do say so myself. The dress is stretchy enough to shrug out of, but I don’t have to; Nathan grips the back of the neckline and tears it in half down to the waist. He jerks the front of my bra down and boosts me up to wrap my legs around him, sucking one of my nipples into his mouth as he drives me toward the wall.