Missing the Night

  One night, ten years ago, they satisfied her hunger, and she ran as fast as she could. Now, they are back in her life, and they want more.

  Nessa has stayed away from home for ten years, but a plea from estranged family brings her home. Nessa is half faerie, half human, and drains sexual energy from the people around her. Ten years ago, she had a night with two lovers and has not felt the hunger for power since. It all returns in a rush when she helps her cousin save her boss.

  Nessa knew it was an awkward intervention, but when she recognized two of the VPs she was there to protect, she feels like it has been a setup.

  She saves the day and settles the men down for a restoring nap when one of them snaps up and plants a tracking spell on her. Oh, yeah. He was the mage to the other one’s dark elf.

  Hector and Tynan have been waiting for their third. They have kept their eyes out for the last ten years, and when she falls into their laps, they are not letting her go.

  Stovos, king of the dark court, has watched his son’s attempts to locate the woman and was beginning to doubt his son’s sanity. When the courtship of his son and son-in-law exposes the woman that Stovos has been seeking, he is rocked on his own whirlwind seduction with a harpy of his own. She had been under his nose the entire time.

  The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Missing the Night

  Copyright © 2021 by Viola Grace

  ISBN: 978-1-989892-76-3

  ©Cover art by Angela Waters

  All rights reserved. With the exception of review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the express permission of the publisher.

  Published by Viola Grace

  Look for me online at violagrace.com.

  Missing the Night

  Stand-Alone Tales Book 17

  By

  Viola Grace

  Chapter One

  Nessa put hot sauce on her taco and looked at her cousin. “So, when is the wedding?”

  Meredith smiled. “Ten days away. Why have you come to the city?”

  Nessa smiled at her cousin’s redirect of the conversation. “Oh, you know. Time to visit the folks.”

  “Your father is still well?”

  “He is. My mother is as well.” Nessa ate her meal and mumbled, “How is work?”

  Meredith’s eyes lit up. “Oh, the strangest thing. The entire executive floor seems to be having an issue. They are working on a huge and lucrative project, but over the last few days, they have been losing focus. Like, all of them at once. The CEO is losing his shit.”

  Nessa chuckled. “What do you think is going on?”

  “Well, at least two of the guys are warlocks, so it has to be something pretty heavy to stun them. The way they look, it is like they are hollow and drained by something, but there are no physical signs aside from the fatigue.”

  Nessa paused. “Do their eyes look grey? Hair is brittle? They are drinking a lot of sugared beverages?”

  Meredith blinked. “Yeah. Do you know what it is?”

  Nessa drank from her soda. “I have a pretty good idea, yeah. Someone has put a hit out on your team.”

  “That isn’t possible. He would have known. Mr. Twilight or Mr. Poldan would know.”

  “Are they affected?”

  “Yes.”

  “They wouldn’t know.” She wadded up her wrappers and finished her drink. “It’s a pity. They are going to collapse soon if the cycle isn’t stopped.”

  “The CEO has offered a reward.” Meredith blurted it out.

  Nessa paused. “Has he now? When did he offer it?”

  “After the first morning. They have been off for three days now.”

  “So, he offered a reward if you could solve the issue?”

  “If any of us could solve it, we are entitled to a huge share package. We haven’t been able to figure it out, and two staffers have been let go for nearly showing magic to humans. I don’t suppose you would be willing to help?”

  Nessa nodded. “I did wonder why you got in touch. Sure. I can take a look. If I am in time, I can sort it by morning. If not, they are doomed.”

  Meredith looked relieved. “When can you look around?”

  “Let me hit the restroom and send a message to my parents. Then, we can get back to your office, and I can find a good place to wait out of the way.”

  “What? You can’t just figure it out?” Meredith looked appalled.

  “Don’t worry. They won’t see me. Just find a reason to get into the area that they have been disappearing from, and I will follow. Mind you, if I had known about this, I would have asked to go somewhere other than a taco place. Wait. This was your choice.”

  Meredith blushed. “It is across from work. So, how will this work?”

  “Just leave here, and I will be behind you. I will occasionally touch your elbow to remind you that I am here, so don’t do anything like rush for the elevator or jam yourself in tight. Right? If I don’t get in, I won’t come in, and your company loses the bid.”

  Meredith flinched. “Right. Okay, so move like I have a cloud attached to me.”

  Nessa dumped her tray, and then, she got a bottle of water and pulled her hood up over her pastel rainbow hair, pulling it in with her fingertip-less gloves. “Right, let’s go.”

  They stepped out of the shop, walked to the intersection, and Nessa wrapped herself in her nullification glamour when the sign indicated walk.

  Moving while nullified was always odd. It had taken her parents a year to teach her to move around people and keep enough of a repulsion wrap on her skin. The exposure of her fingertips was a necessity. She couldn’t wear mittens all year long, but the cut-off fingertips made her look peculiar but trendy.

  She followed a nervous Meredith into the skyscraper, and the elevator was full, but they were holding the door for her cousin. Meredith smiled. “I will get the next one.”

  The men looked disappointed, and the doors closed. Nessa moved forward, and before she thought about it, she pushed the button. Damn.

  She stepped behind Meredith, who just noticed that the button was glowing. When the elevator chimed, they stepped in together, and Nessa pivoted to watch the door. She wasn’t shocked when it started to close, and a hand held it open, but when she saw the face of the man attached to the appendage, she held her breath.

  The second man who entered the elevator was also familiar, and her cheeks were burning as they greeted Meredith and asked her where she had gone for lunch.

  The first man looked around and frowned a little bit. Nessa pulled up her nullifier and hardened it as the elevator rose up. She caught the names Mr. Twilight and Mr. Poldan and instantly looked at them for traces of other fae on their skin. When she switched her senses, she could see and smell the hands of faerie all over them. Geez. No wonder they are tired.

  Meredith asked politely if they were feeling better, and Mr. Poldan chuckled. “I have only felt like this once before, but I remembered that night. Whatever this is is different.”

  Nessa blushed and followed Meredith out of the elevator and into the hallway.

  Meredith had a cubicle and not an office, but she was the replacement for the receptionist on the executive floor during breaks. Two hours of sitting in a corner, and then, Nessa was ready to follow.

  Thankfully, Meredith headed to the restroom. Nessa didn’t break her field, but she did pee quickly before washing her fingertips and opening her water bottle to crack the seal. She didn’t speak to Meredith, but Meredith was accustomed
to her ways. They had been raised together for three years, but Nessa had something that Meredith didn’t. A powerful faerie in her bloodline.

  Nessa made sure to turn her phone off and remove all alarms. A text to her parents was the last thing she sent, just in case they got curious.

  She followed her cousin into the elevator, and they headed to the executive floor. There was a cart with a tray of coffees and accessories that made Nessa nearly dizzy with enjoyment. She settled down in a low crouch, and she waited near a potted plant. When Meredith pushed the cart down to the boardroom, Nessa followed.

  It was awkward to get inside the room filled with drawings and men moving at a frenetic speed, but Nessa managed to find a stack of boxes and creep in behind them. Now, she just had to wait for eight hours. No problem. Her father came from a long line of ambush predators.

  She watched as they worked, trying to ignore the flickers of memory she was getting when she saw Hector and Tynan. She had known that they were magic and that they were definitely out of her league, but she had used her inborn attraction to lure them both. Her first time had been a bit more aggressive than she had intended, but it was a twentieth birthday to remember for her. She took as much of herself away from them as she could. She blushed when she looked at them, and she could still see the traces of her energy on them ten years after that night.

  Mr. Twilight looked around now and again as they gathered and tried to make up for lost time. There was a furrow between his dark brows, and as he looked around, she could see his nostrils flaring.

  Nessa covered herself in heavier magic, and his frown cleared. Mr. Poldan glanced at him and gave him a slight nod.

  They worked well together, but then, she knew that. The project seemed to have been going well until the interruptions, but they worked until dinner, and then, they sat and ate, discussing details that needed to be finished up.

  Nessa held her stomach to keep it quiet. The food smelled good.

  They continued working until ten when she felt a building of magic coming from one of the glass walls. She got up and stepped down, going to the portal and holding it open until the blank-faced men stepped through, and then, she pulled herself in and let it snap tight behind her.

  There it was. A faerie brothel in the mid-realm. She pinched the bridge of her nose and walked forward, following the men.

  The hostess who was urging them to choose their lovers paused when Nessa approached. “We don’t allow cloaking spells here.”

  Nessa dropped her nullification spell and pulled her hood back. “I am going to need these men back before they are exhausted.”

  The little clipboard dropped to the ground. “You are supposed to be a folktale.”

  “So I have been told. Oh, and these two don’t get to choose tonight.” She grabbed Hector and Tynan, pulling them back from the wave going to select their exotic fae lovers for the night.

  The hostess murmured. “They have been summoned. They need to do something, or they are going to go mad.”

  Nessa pressed her lips together and looked at the blank expression in the two men. “Fine. I will take care of them. I will put back what I take.”

  Nessa paused. “Wait, you have been taking from these two even though they are clearly marked as mine?”

  The hostess’s eyes got wide. “They are old markings. Not fresh.”

  “Really? Why have your females used them as accessing areas? I see their fingertips all over the markings. You have taken from me, and I demand compensation.”

  The hostess frowned. “I beg to differ. We were contracted to distract these men, and they have been enjoying themselves in the process. Your jealousy isn’t my concern.”

  Nessa smiled and flicked her hair out of the hood. “Oh, it isn’t jealousy. I just don’t like others contaminating my food.” She dropped all of the layers of glamour that she used to keep from being marked, hunted, and pursued as a mate. She glowed, she gleamed, she was the most beautiful thing that the hostess had ever seen, and she smiled as the woman dropped to her knees and reached out to her.

  Nessa went and collected all of the men from the office, whispered to them to get dressed, she was going to take them somewhere wonderful, and then, she walked out again. The faeries were stunned and bowed and stayed that way until she was gone.

  Nessa touched the hostess’s face, and she cried out, collapsing with her hand between her legs.

  She took her herd of twelve humans back to the portal and ushered them through. She arranged them around the table and brushed her finger across their cheeks, whispering about the erotic dream they had just had. They would wake up in a few minutes and only have the memory of their ideal of a fae woman or man at their disposal.

  When she got to Hector, his hand grabbed her wrist. He didn’t look up. “Do I know you?”

  She touched his hand and smiled. “No, you never did.”

  Tynan caught her fingers in his and rubbed his thumb across her fingertips, “Will you be back?”

  She whispered softly with a wave of power. “No, my time here is done. This time, there will be nothing of me left behind.”

  His head snapped up, and he kissed her. She shook as he whispered inside her mouth, and she felt something bright and noticeable settle into her skin. She jerked back and covered her mouth. “What did you do?”

  He smiled, swayed, and his head thudded against the table.

  She resumed her daily appearance and stuffed her hair back in her hoodie. She jerked her power from his skin and cleared his memory while trying to figure out what he had tied to her. Nessa yanked her nullification into position and ran out of the building via the twenty flights of stairs.

  She hadn’t planned on talking to her parents that night, but when she asked, her father ordered her to come over to hide. Whatever had been done to her, it was not dissipating.

  Nessa ran the two blocks and got into her car. She resumed her normal appearance when she unlocked the car and drove carefully and sedately out to the sprawling suburbs where her parents had their home.

  When she parked in the carport and walked to the door, it was opened to highlight the form of the most handsome man on the planet. “Hey, Dad.”

  He looked at her and laughed. “Aw, sweetie. You got tagged. Come on in, and we will see what we can do about it.”

  “Sure. Laugh it up, you pointy-eared bastard.”

  Her mother came out and said, “Uh-oh. You only call him that when you are really peeved. Wait. Is that a...”

  Her father grinned. “Tracking charm.”

  Nessa covered her eyes at the look of delighted amusement on her father’s face. It was how he had gotten caught by her mother, after all.

  Chapter Two

  They fed her, and then, her mom took a look at her. “Well, it is definitely a tracker, but there is an energy-drain component that I wish I had thought of.” She leaned back. “There was a lot of planning put into this.”

  Cian snorted. “There always is. How long did he have to plan, Nessa?”

  “Um, ten years?” She winced at his shocked expression.

  “Did you leave a trace on him?”

  She covered her mouth and mumbled, “Them.”

  He snorted. “Them, then. You left traces?”

  “It wasn’t my idea. I just started kissing one of them, and the other is his familiar, so it got a little out of control, and I thought I had gotten it off them.”

  “But you hadn’t.” Her mother looked disapproving.

  “Apparently not. I saw it this evening when I was trying to do Meredith a favour.”

  Cian chuckled. “Did she ask you to be a last-minute bridesmaid?”

  “Uh. No. I am not invited. Right, so there is a problem with the company she works for and—”

  Kallie Northern looked at her daughter. “What do you mean you aren’t invited? I just talked to her mother, and she is looking forward to seeing you at the wedding.”

  “I wo
uld have to crash it. I had lunch with Meredith today, and she didn’t even pretend that it was unfortunate that I wouldn’t be there.” She looked at her mother’s stricken face. “It’s fine. Puberty wrecked a lot of things for us.”

  Cian sighed. “You are unique and kind. She is neither of those things. She has always found those around her who can bolster her bad decisions.”

  Kallie sighed. “I thought that becoming an adult would stabilize her.”

  “No offense, Mom, but I am the one in desperate straights here. Focus.”

  Her mother smiled. “Right. Well, I can brew up something to negate a portion of the effect. I can stop the power drain. Well, I can slow it down. You are going to have to identify the caster before I can focus more on matching the magic pattern to snap it.”

  “But, it can be broken.” She nodded thanks to her father for the hot chocolate.

  “Sure. It can be. If you knew the family name, I would have a better chance at matching it on the first try.”

  “Poldan.”

  Her mother sprayed hot chocolate, and Cian rubbed her back. “Easy, dearest.”

  “Sorry, Mom. I should have said.”

  Kallie blinked. “Where did you meet him?”

  “I was at a college graduation party for Skeller, and he and Hector were there.”

  Cian coughed. The poor hot chocolate seemed toxic tonight. “Hector Twilight?”

  “Um. Yes. Do you know him?”

  Cian clapped her on the shoulder. “You sure have strange luck when it comes to men.”

  “Dad, I have strange luck all around.”

  Kallie looked at him. “Is that the relative of—”

  “Yes. And Poldan was your—”

  “Yes.”

  Nessa was nervous. “What is going on?”

  Kallie sighed. “Come with me to the workroom. I will explain as I mix up the potion.”

  Cian nodded. “I am going to make more cocoa.”