Free 0.5-The Asylum Interviews: Bronx: An Asylum Tales Short Story by Jocelynn Drake Page B

expression, I was willing to guess that things had gotten a little crazy. “Parker was tattooed last night and it seems that it had an unexpected effect. It appears to make people extremely horny. Parker came here to protect you while we tried to reverse what was done.”
    “You tattooed him!” she shrieked, losing all her earlier embarrassment.
    “Actually, I tattooed him,” Bronx volunteered, drawing her narrowed gaze to him. All her earlier fear of him was lost in a heartbeat. I appreciated Bronx’s attempts to shield me from her anger.
    “We didn’t mean for this to happen,” I said.
    “But why did he get the tattoo in the first place?”
    “I think that’s something Parke needs to talk to you about—”
    “No! Obviously there’s something going on that he’s not telling me, but you know. Tell me.”
    “Jill—”
    She crossed her arms over her chest and frowned at me. “I thought you were my friend, Gage.”
    Fuck! Why the hell did she have to pull that one out? I didn’t do well under the pressure of guilt from a female friend. Guys? Fuck it. A male friend couldn’t guilt me into shit, but I was defenseless against a close female friend.
    “He was starving, Jill,” I snapped. The anger drained from her face and her arms fell slack at her sides. “You knew it and that’s why you sent him out drinking with me. You knew he wouldn’t be able to pass up feeding while we were out and you could pretend that you didn’t know anything about it. Unfortunately, the guilt, along with general starvation, was killing him. He refused to give you up or ask you to change so we agreed to try to help him. We tattooed him, hoping that we could amplify the little things so he didn’t need an orgasm to feed off of.”
    “It didn’t work like we hoped,” Bronx continued when I fell silent. “Parker came here to protect you while we went to collect an ingredient we’re hoping will nullify the effects of the original tattoo.”
    “I didn’t think it had gotten so bad,” Jill whispered. Her face was drawn and unshed tears glistened in her eyes. “I was hoping that after he went out with you and got full, I could jump back in and keep up with his needs.”
    “I warned you this was going to happen.” The bitter words escaped me in a growl as I shoved both of my hands through my hair. “Humans can’t manage an incubus.”
    “I don’t need your I-told-you-so, Gage!” she snapped.
    “Sorry.” I lowered both my hands and pulled her into a hug. “You’re both my friends and I don’t want to see either of you hurt.” Jill sighed and hugged me back, laying her head on my shoulder.
    “Unfortunately, this conversation isn’t getting us any closer to Parker and we’ve got just around three hours until sunrise. If I’m going to be of any help, we’ve got to do something soon.” Bronx pulled us back to the problem at hand. Giving Jill one last reassuring squeeze, I stepped back and looked around the room again, but nothing grabbed my attention. I knew a couple of spells that would reveal images of the last people to walk through the room, but I didn’t want to use them. They would definitely break Gideon’s edict, much less the self-defense-only agreement with the council. I also didn’t know how I’d explain it to my two companions.
    “Oh shit!” Jill cursed. I twisted around to find her covering her mouth with both of her hands as she stared at me with wide eyes. “I think I know who might have him.”
    “Who?” Bronx asked, gently laying one large hand on her small shoulder.
    “This woman approached him about a month ago. She wanted him to work for her, but Parker refused. She was really pissed and we had to call the cops just to get her to leave. What if she found out about his tattoo?”
    “I don’t know how she’d know, but I’m quickly learning that I don’t know half as much about incubi as I should,” I murmured.
    “Who’s the woman?” Bronx asked.
    “Felicia Hart. She’s a