by R Phoenix
“Is that wise?” Tobias asked with some alarm, even as Bryce stuck the key in the locking mechanism and undid the one cuff.
He cast a tired glance up at the man before turning to the other wrist.
Percy shut the door behind them, and something happened then, mostly in Kolt. He suddenly grew rigid, but there was no flare of sensation when Bryce touched the incubus’ other hand.
“Good. Good,” Tobias said with a nervous nod, petting Percy on the shoulder briefly. “Smart.”
“What— Where am I? What’s going on?” Kolt asked as Bryce released his other wrist. Immediately, the incubus grabbed his own hand and wrist, rubbing at the damaged skin there.
Bryce’s eyes were fixed on that gesture. He’d promised Gideon that Kolt wouldn’t get hurt. More or less. “You’re safe here,” he said quietly, sitting down on the edge of the bed with Kolt.
“You’re with the Organization,” Tobias said without foreplay.
Kolt’s eyes widened with panic.
“Nice, Toby, real nice.” Bryce sighed, standing up and looking at the pair of lab rats. “How about you two fuck off and let me do my job here a minute, yeah? Give us a few moments alone. I’ll come get you when he’s ready for you.”
“But Rickman and I outrank you,” Tobias argued ineffectively.
Bryce gave him yet another tired look. “Please, Tobias. I’ll make sure we get everything done in time.”
It was quiet for a few painfully tense moments, in which Bryce only heard Kolt breathing hard behind him. Eventually, Tobias conceded and opened the door again. Kolt sucked in a breath and held it, but as soon as it closed behind Tobias and Percy, he let it out in a sigh.
“Take me home,” Kolt said, looking directly at him.
Bryce sighed, his shoulders sagging down as he forced himself to relax for this. “Do you remember what happened last night, Kolt?” he asked as gently as he could as he sat back down on the edge of the bed.
Kolt was quiet for a moment before he nodded, once.
“Then you know I can’t just take you home,” Bryce said softly.
“Leandro—” Kolt said, but his voice wavered.
“You don’t have to worry about him, okay? I know I fucked up. I should’ve gotten you out of there when you told me to. This is my fault, but I’m getting you out now. Please give me a chance here, Kolt,” he continued, gently putting a hand over Kolt’s.
“It’s his fault. It’s Leandro’s fault,” Kolt said. Where he’d sounded nothing but hostile before, it suddenly seemed like his voice was fragile. “He fucked with me, with my needs, my- I— He did this to me, I’m— I’m— not like this… I’m not dangerous,” he stammered.
Bryce glanced at the door, where he could see Tobias and Percy peering in through the small window. “Kolt, please, listen to me. I can fix this,” he promised, even though he wasn’t entirely sure how yet.
“Aren’t you going to kill me?” Kolt asked. The certainty with which he spoke was startling, taking Bryce off guard.
“What? No. I don’t… No,” Bryce answered. “I just told you. I’ll fix this. Leandro will pay for all of this, okay?”
Kolt was still breathing hard, but he didn’t say anything. He looked wary and unconvinced.
“Do you know anything about what Leandro is doing, anything that’s not legal?” Bryce asked.
Kolt glanced at the door and their peeping toms, then shook his head.
It was a conditioned response if he’d ever seen one, and he let out a breath. “Come on, Kolt. You murdered a ton of people. I know you didn’t mean to—”
“I did,” Kolt cut in. “I meant to, because I was starving, and he wouldn’t let me feed! He ignored me, and he let me starve,” the incubus snapped. “So I fed. You can’t blame me for that.”
“I don’t. No one will either if we explain it to them, but then you’re going to have to cooperate with me. And tell me about what Leandro is doing. Can you do that?” he tried again — all too aware he was pushing at a time Kolt didn’t need to be pushed.
Before Kolt could respond, Emma pushed open the door and stepped inside. “Bryce, we need to talk.” She glanced at Kolt, freezing briefly as her eyes flicked over him. Her voice was more guarded as she addressed the incubus, “Do you need anything?”
Kolt shook his head again, though this time it was less calculated.
“Can’t this wait?” Bryce asked, his hand still over Kolt’s — and he was only becoming painfully aware of that fact now that the gesture was under Emma’s scrutiny.
“No,” Emma said evenly. She opened the door, her eyes not leaving Kolt even as she gestured to Bryce.
He sighed and looked back at Kolt for a moment, who looked vaguely like a deer in the headlights. “I’ll be right back,” he said, letting go of Kolt’s hand, only to have the incubus grab his back immediately.
“Don’t go,” Kolt pleaded.
“You heard the lady,” Bryce tried. Kolt’s grip tightened on his hand to something painful, and he sucked in a breath. “Okay, okay, look, listen,” Bryce said, leaning a little closer to Kolt. “I’ll be just outside. You’ll be okay.”
“Don’t leave me alone,” Kolt insisted without even listening to what he was saying.
Bryce exhaled, glancing at Emma — and the pair of lab rats still at the window. “Is one of them okay?” he asked, gesturing at Percy and Tobias.
Kolt stalled, glancing from the door back to him. “Not the tall one. He’s a fucking psychopath.”
Bryce snorted in amusement. “All right. Let go of my hand, and I’ll send Percy in, just as long as your promise not to devour his essence.”
“What?” Kolt asked with a startled look.
“Joke,” Bryce pointed out with a slow smile and a shrug. “Just be nice to him. He’s a nerd, but he’s my nerd, and he means well.”
At that, Kolt finally let go of his hand, and sat back a little in the bed. He didn’t look in any way relaxed, but he was making an attempt at looking like he was, at least.
“You’re up, Perce,” Bryce said, when he exited the room. “He wants to talk to you.”
“Me?” Percy asked with a surprised look, his fingers flexing around the edge of the iPad.
“Yeah, you. He asked specifically for you. He won’t eat you.”
Behind him, he could hear Emma telling Kolt, “You’re safe. All right? No one here is going to hurt you. I just need to talk to Bryce.”
Kolt made a sound that sounded remarkably like a scoff, but he said nothing.
Bryce exchanged a look with Emma, as Percy took over the vigil.
Emma lifted a shoulder in a shrug, closing the door on their way out and motioning for Bryce to step across the hall with her. “Leandro’s lawyer’s on the phone,” she told Tobias off-handedly. “She wants to talk to you.”
“To me?” Tobias asked, sounding baffled. “Don’t you handle the lawyer stuff?”
“I’m a peon, apparently,” Emma said dryly. “And she doesn’t like being told no. May as well tell the Director he’s going to be needed soon. I doubt she’ll stop with you.”
Tobias gestured at the phone in the office of the lab, and Emma nodded.
“Line two, when you’re ready, though I wouldn’t keep her waiting long,” she pointed out.
Tobias jumped to it, like a child chided for skipping chores. Bryce glanced back into the room, looking at Percy and Kolt. Percy looked more uncomfortable than he ever had, but he was talking and tapping away at his iPad. Maybe he was finally getting the answers he wanted all along, provided Kolt was cooperating and not lying.
“What do you think you’re doing, Bryce?” Emma asked in that tone of voice that made him feel like he was ten years old again and being asked if he’d taken the last cookie from the package.
He drew in a breath so he wouldn’t fly off the handle immediately. He didn’t need to fucking answer to her, but at the same time, he needed every ally he could get. “I made a promise, and I intend on keeping it. So if I ca
n flip him on Leandro, I’m sure you can cut a deal for him with the higher ups,” he stated plainly. She might as well know, considering he’d be relying on her for the actual deal-making.
“It’s gotten too personal for you,” Emma replied. “You’re going to end up casting doubt on the entire operation if people see you getting cozy with him.”
“Don’t patronize me,” Bryce said. “I’m the one that brought him in. He’s in distress. There is no rule that says I cannot show empathy towards him. He won’t be a suspect for long. You knew about that bracelet, didn’t you?” he asked her, quickly changing the subject. “You recognized it.”
Emma hesitated, suddenly interested in the tiles on the floor instead of the conversation. “Of course he’ll be a suspect, Bryce,” she said, like it wasn’t obvious she was evading his question. “He’s an incubus. Those people were killed by an incubus. Two and two make four.”
“Bullshit,” Bryce said, shaking his head at her. “It’s not that simple, and you know it — and does the Organization ever stand out when it comes to fucking grey areas.” He smirked. “It was Leandro who made this happen, and we fucking let him. You knew as well as I that he needed help, but what did we do, instead of trying to prevent this orgy of death?” he asked pointedly, not about to roll over just because she waved rules at him.
“He refused my help,” Emma retorted. “I could’ve removed it and bought you both more time. He didn’t want me to.”
“Oh, yeah,” Bryce said. “I guess that makes it all right then,” he added with a nod. “I’m sure you’ll sleep well tonight.” He sure as fuck wouldn’t. Not if there was any chance of this going badly for the incubus…
Emma’s eyes flicked toward the room where Kolt was, watching him and Percy for a moment in silence. “I don’t know how long he had it on,” she finally admitted.
He waited for her to continue. There was obviously something she wasn’t saying, but she stopped there.
“Too long, obviously. He lost his goddamn mind if I have to believe Gideon, and for once, I really do,” Bryce filled in the blank for her.
“Gideon. Leandro’s pet thug,” Emma said, looking back at Bryce. “For fuck’s sake, Bryce. First the incubus, now the nephilim. Do you really think they’re not just as guilty as Leandro is? You think Gideon didn’t just go straight back to him and report all of this?”
“Gideon, the pet thug, who turned my face into hamburger meat for shouting off about wanting to take Kolt away from Leandro. Gideon, who hand delivered him to me. What is your fucking point?”
“Exactly! He beat the shit out of you. Why would you trust him?” Emma demanded. “You think this isn’t a trick, or a trap? Think about what you’re trying to do — get Kolt to flip on Leandro. Leandro’s favorite grunt is going to help you with that?”
Bryce shook his head definitively. He wasn’t buying her conspiracy theory. “If this is all part of an elaborate fae trap, why are you fielding calls from lawyers instead of giving Tobias there a lap dance while Leandro’s pet incubus devours your soul?”
Emma rubbed her temples, looking back at the incubus. “For all you know, Tobias might be the one giving me that lap dance,” she retorted. “Seriously, Bryce. He’s not even restrained. It wouldn’t help much, but it’d be something.”
“He freaked out over the restraints, and an emotional incubus is a bad thing, right?” he asked her — genuinely asked her, because it had seemed like the good call to make at the time. He drew in a deep breath, but before she could answer or raise more concerns, he held up his hands to stop her from saying anything further. “Just… tell me what you’re afraid of, and I will mind it. Okay?” he suggested, trying to sound rational.
“You might be an idiot, but I don’t want to see you dead,” Emma said bluntly. “If he loses it, he’s going to rip through everyone here. What are you going to do to keep that from happening, Bryce?”
“Silver bullet?” he suggested, deadpan.
Emma blinked. “I’m being serious,” she snapped.
“So am I!” Bryce replied. “I won’t let him hurt anyone, okay? I’m not too close to this. I’m not letting more people die on account of that motherfucker Leandro.”
For a moment, Emma was silent, turning fully to face the glass. She watched Percy, whose delight was written across his expression, and Kolt, who was less delighted. “What’s he going to do when you aren’t there?”
“I can bring him some magazines, probably,” Bryce said, again deadpan, because she seemed to like that so much, but he did draw in a slow breath and held it, following her gaze to Kolt and Percy. “You should’ve seen him, Emma. He wouldn’t stop ripping at the cuffs, not even when his wrists started bleeding. There’s a world of difference in him with the door open or closed. I’ll have to see what Tobias and Percy make of it.”
Emma’s voice was oddly soft as she replied, “Cuffs probably reminded him of the bracelet. I wouldn’t have wanted them on either.”
Bryce arched a brow, in a bid for her to continue and explain herself.
“You already know it kept him from being able to absorb energy, yeah? So he was starving,” Emma said. “If Leandro was using it against him, I’m not surprised Kolt flipped out about being restrained like that.”
“Huh,” he said — not actually having looked at it that way but nodding anyway. “Makes sense, I guess.”
“No!” The shout was audible even through the thick door and reinforced glass of the secure room.
His gaze darted back to Percy and Kolt inside. Kolt sat upright, both hands gripping Percy’s shirt hard and practically shaking him. He had to have screamed, for them to hear it through the fucking door.
“Shit,” he muttered, seeing the color quickly draining from Percy’s face. He yanked the door open, and Emma was right on his heels as he strode inside.
“I was just trying—” Percy started to explain, but Kolt didn’t give him the chance.
“Let him go, Kolt,” Bryce said, his hand going to his gun as he’d promised Emma, even if he hadn’t thought about doing it.
“I told you,” Kolt snapped — releasing Percy immediately. “I told you not to leave me here. You can’t leave me here,” he added in a snarl.
“Why?” Emma asked, her voice far too neutral for a loaded question like that. “What will happen if you’re left alone here? Leandro can’t get to you.”
Those words were a test, and for a horrifying moment, Bryce could see and feel the similarities between her and the fae he’d encountered. Not that Emma seemed to care. She simply watched Kolt’s expression closely.
Kolt looked at him then back at Percy, before he looked at Emma, his eyes narrowing. “Like you don’t fucking know why!” he hissed. “This room, and that fucking bracelet!” His hands flexed, and he ducked his head down. “I don’t want to hurt anyone, but here, like this, it’s—”
“It’s the magic,” Percy said hastily. “These rooms, they’re designed for detention of otherkin. They nullify most powers, magic, and spells.”
Kolt was right. Emma had to have known that.
“I’m not trying to play games with you, Kolt,” Emma said. “But if I’m going to find alternate accommodations, I need to cite more than your PTSD to get this by the powers that be.”
“He can stay with me,” Bryce said, the words out there before it was even a fully formed thought in his mind. “We can’t risk him hurting someone, or himself, because our detention rooms drove him to it. We’ll never hear the end of it.” It sounded very reasonable, when he put it like that.
Emma blinked, her eyes snapping to Bryce at the same time Percy’s did. She opened her mouth to respond, but her lips pressed into a thin line and she looked back at Kolt instead. “Do you want to go with Detective Ackerman?” she asked.
“Yes.” There was no hesitation, no consideration, just agreement.
It stroked Bryce’s ego a little, and he offered a half smile to the incubus.
“How are you going to keep yours
elf fed?” Emma asked bluntly, quirking a brow as she looked between the two of them. “If you want to convince anyone you’re harmless as long as you’re not starving, you need to make sure you don’t get too hungry.”
Kolt recoiled at that, but his gaze darkened.
“Jesus Christ, Emma,” Bryce muttered.
She didn’t look repentant, but she didn’t get a chance to speak before Kolt interjected.
“I don’t— I know everyone thinks that an incubus only feeds on sexual energy, that we need sex, but I can feed on other energy too. It’s… most emotions, but lust is—” He paused, looking down. “Lust is easiest. Best, even.”
Percy unlocked his tablet, furiously adding to his notes.
“As long as Detective Ackerman isn’t a psychopath, I’ll be all right,” Kolt continued with a nod.
“I’m not,” Bryce immediately supplemented before Emma could fucking ask.
“And how do we know you aren’t just going to kill Detective Ackerman and take off?” Emma asked instead.
Kolt looked back up and stared at her, hard. “You really are fucking fae, aren’t you?” he answered sharply, and this time Emma recoiled as though he’d slapped her. “You don’t know, and you can’t know. And I can’t prove it, so you’ll just have to take the cheap murdering whore’s word for it,” he snapped. “Do I have to talk to her?” he asked, looking at Bryce instead, and Bryce was caught off guard by the hostility of the question.
“Eh… well… I eh…” He glanced at Emma.
“Since I’m the one who’s going to have to get this greenlit, yes,” Emma said, but her voice was more subdued, and she didn’t look at the incubus. “They’re going to want something in exchange for taking the risk. What can you offer?”
“My promise that I won’t snap and kill everyone,” Kolt answered, sullen.
Bryce drew in a deep breath. “You already know the answer to that, Emma,” he said pointedly, because he would have to get Kolt to flip on Leandro or he had no fucking case.
