Zoey Avenger (Incubatti Series Book 2) by Lizzy Ford Page B

care at all that she was about to face off with the members of the Sucubatti and Incubatti Councils. Vikki had discreetly reported that the Enforcers weren’t pleased and the Cambions thrilled that Team Rogue was about to get itself annihilated by both societies.
    “Stop messing with that, Chrissy. We have to give it back to Grant,” Zoey said with a glance at the agitated human in their midst. “Is it working?”
    “Yes, I think so,” Chrissy said, tilting her head. “It feels like I’m outside right before a storm. You know how charged the air gets?”
    “As long as you’re not struck by lightning,” Ginny quipped. “How’d you get him to give it up, Zoey?”
    “How do you think?” Zoey replied with a shrug. “I told him he could voluntarily turn it over or I could take his arm off while he slept. He was happy to volunteer it.”
    “I tested it today. It can hide the wearer from detection as well,” Chrissy reported. “It’s amazing technology.”
    “Good to know. How is the device you planted in our friend here?” Zoey nudged the body bag closest to her, the one belonging to the succubus.
    “Electromagnetic pulse bomb. I told you, it’s fifty-fifty at best,” Chrissy reminded her. “I set it to go off in twenty-four hours.”
    “I’ll take those odds,” Zoey said firmly. “That gives us twenty-four hours to find Olivia’s lab.”
    “No pressure.” Ginny gave a tight smile.
    “I hope it works,” Chrissy murmured.
    “You’re brilliant, Chrissy,” Zoey told her. “Everything you touch turns to magic.”
    Chrissy’s expression softened. The strain of the past several weeks was clear on her face, and Zoey felt responsible for the stress they were all under. Without sex magic to help sustain her, Chrissy was the worst off and in dire need of a vacation.
    “After this, you can take a real break,” Zoey promised her.
    “I don’t need a break,” Chrissy replied. “I’m proud to serve with you, Zoey.”
    “Tell me that when tonight’s over.” Zoey shrugged her shoulders to loosen them and drew a deep breath.
    They drove in silence for half an hour, leaving the bright lights of DC for the darker forests of Maryland to the north. Ginny pulled into an abandoned parking lot. The meeting with the Councilmembers was being held on neutral territory in Rockville, Maryland, about twenty miles north of DC, in an isolated area at a campground chosen by Zoey because it was far enough away from both societies’ operations centers.
    “You ready?” Ginny asked, meeting her gaze in the rearview mirror.
    “As much as possible.”
    “Thank god. That body’s been in the van for a day now,” Ginny said and opened the driver’s side door.
    Zoey opened the sliding door and stepped from the van into the warm night.
    “Here.” Chrissy handed her the armband. “I’ll keep the van running.” She moved up to the driver’s seat.
    Zoey secured the band around her forearm and pulled down her sleeve to cover it. She helped Ginny heft the dead succubus over one shoulder then struck off through the parking lot to the open field where the meeting was taking place. She sensed rather than saw the sex magic from succubae and incubuses around them, a sign the societies had thought to secure the perimeter with no less than a dozen of their people.
    She felt Declan’s presence long before she saw him. Despite the armband, her blood lit on fire at the idea of seeing him again. Already, the magic that drew her to him initially, that bound them as soul-mates, was stronger than last time, a reminder of how powerful he was. The armband was working but he was potent enough for the magic to creep into her system anyway.
    Three Councilmembers – two Incubatti, one Sucubatti – stood in the middle of the field beneath floodlights. They were flanked by the respective heads of their security arms, along with personal guards for each Councilmember and foot soldiers.
    Bred and trained to kill Cambions, Zoey’s and