Twice Bitten (Love, Lust & Magic #1)

Darcy

Upbeat pop music played from his laptop as completed a meticulous reorganization of his desk. With a quick look at his watch, he muttered something under his breath and made his way to the open double-door closet on his side of the dorm. Bending at the knees, he leaned forward and grabbed a large suitcase from inside.

“Here goes nothing,” he said as he placed the bag on his bed. paused before reaching for its zipper. “Okay, okay, okay.”

With a shaky hand, he grabbed the zipper chain and opened the bag. Just as he was about to pull back the suitcase’s top half, a knock at the door nearly sent him through the roof.

“ Shit! ” he cussed as he realized how worked up he was. “Must be my delivery guy.”

After answering the door, hurried back to the task at hand. Placing his bagged up food next to his laptop, he rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

“All right, let’s see what…”

This time, the steady vibration of his cell phone cut him off. Spinning around, spotted his smartphone quietly dancing back and forth on a nearby shelf. In two words, the screen told him who was calling: Witch Bitch .

“Ah, shit,” swore again as he grabbed up the smartphone and answered it.

“Is it happening?” came the whisper of a female on the other line.

leaned over to check his laptop, the screen of which illuminated with a map that showed the tracked coordinates of both his phone and another target identified on-screen only as GK .

“Uh, yes,” confirmed. “We’re on schedule.”

“Good,” replied the sultry, mysterious caller. “Then ready the runes.”

frowned, his eyes moving between the suitcase to the bag of fries and burgers on his desk. “Uh, if you don’t mind, could you possibly give me like twenty minutes? You see, my food just got here. I’ll call you right back and?—”

“ !” came a shrill howl from the other line.

“Now it is, ma’am,” swallowed hard as he instead pulled open the suitcase to reveal its contents. “They-they’re out.”

“Good,” purred his caller. “I’ll channel my powers to them from where I rot.”

A little miffed by the conversation, shrugged. “Y-yeah, you know, I’ve been meaning to ask how you get reception from the great beyond, but, you know what? Never mind, this is good,” he said to himself. “S-sounds totally normal.”

Putting his call on speakerphone and setting the phone next to the bag, he stepped forward to further investigate its contents.

“I can feel their power. I can feel it running through me now,” said the woman on the other end of the call. Panicked, hung on her every word. “I can feel… I can feel… Bubble wrap. !?”

As the caller’s voice cracked, grew frantic. “Uh, yes, ma’am, the runes are still wrapped. Sorry. My-my bad!”

The sound of popping plastic filled the room as his hands moved fast to unwrap and organize the five pristinely cut slabs of colorful stone tucked in the bag before him.

“Idiocy! Insolence!” the woman cried out.

One by one, the runes—each with their own distinct symbol—lit up as he pulled them out of their wrappings. “Th-there,” uttered. “I got it.”

“Perfect. Now it’s time for me to take control of what’s mine.”