Twice Bitten (Love, Lust & Magic #1)

Darcy

“I-I think it worked,” a now sweat-drenched exclaimed as he fell back into his desk chair. The room, pitch black save for ’s cell phone in hand and the glow of the moon, was filled with a smoky haze. “I mean, I think we blew the power in the entire building, but, uh, hey . That marks my first ever telepathic control of supernatural creatures spell.”

Awaiting some kind of response over the line, pulled off his shirt and threw it to the floor. He looked down and tapped his phone’s now dark screen. “Odessa?” The call was still connected.

“It did,” she responded. “And it still will. But it’s time for Plan B.”

“Plan B?” Letting out a deep sigh as he wiped his forehead and dropped his elbows to his knees, could only respond with an exhausted guffaw. “W-what’s Plan B?”

At first, no response. Then the call ended.

“Gah,” howled . “I knew I should’ve switched service providers.”

As he punched in the path to redial, the sudden rattling of the windows caught his attention. His eyes tracked across the room as everything shook. Hues of purple erupted from the collection of runes. jumped to his feet to investigate, but he was met head on with the same piercing flashes and fell to the floor like a limp noodle.

Moments later, the trembling of the room came to a halt. Two of the runes cracked and disintegrated. The lights turned on.

“Ugh,” grunted as he regained consciousness. He reached for a bedpost to balance himself on as he got to his feet. His eyes grew wide with disbelief as he realized some of his magic conduits had turned to dust.

He searched the floor for his phone, but quickly gave up as he felt the throbbing of a piercing headache push through his skull. Moving instead to the bathroom, was quick to turn on the sink, hunch over the basin, and douse his face with a handful of cold water.

His palms pressed against the vanity for support, angled up to meet his reflection in the mirror. At first, his face told the story of exhaustion and defeat. But there was something else.

Leaning forward, used his hand to carefully pull back his left eyelid. He gently pressed his index finger above his lash line as though to tease out something caught in his tear duct. But what he was seeing was coming from within his own sclera: a growing flash of color, similar to what the runes emitted just minutes earlier.

A panicked let out a howl as he realized the whites of both his eyes were now filling with unnatural pigment. “Gah, fuck!” he exclaimed as he smacked the counter. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.”

Again, his frame crumbled like a rag doll and collapsed onto the floor. However, this time, it was a purposeful act of defeat. “No, no, no, no. Please, no. ”

And then silence.

It was some time before his hands gripped the countertops again. Pulling himself up from the floor, it was as though ’s panicked state had melted away. He calmly wiped his face and ran his fingers through his hair. His hands moved from his temples and then down to rub his eyes. When he looked in the mirror this time, they flashed bright purple before returning completely to normal. The visual entranced him.

Finally, his lips moved. “Welcome to Plan B, .”