Monster Baiter (An Obscure Magic Book 6) Read Free

faced the kidnapper.
    The teen slumped on a chair, and he was still wondering what had happened. “I don’t understand.”
    “Which part? You grabbing the horn and unleashing your rage or turning back into yourself? Pick one and I will explain it.”
    Sophia cocked her head and nodded to his clothing. “Get dressed. I will wait.”
    He swallowed. “You said you were in college.”
    “Yes.”
    “How old are you? You talk a lot older.”
    He got up and pulled on his sweatshirt and sneakers.
    She grinned. “Oh, you don’t need to know that. Imagine that I am the same age I look. It will make you feel better.”
    They sat in silence until they heard the approach of the officers.
    “Who is coming for me?”
    “Mage Guild. The officers will take you into custody and charge you with misuse of magic. The horn has been made useless, and once it is used in your investigation, it will be destroyed.”
    He jolted. “You can’t.”
    “Oh. I can. In fact, I am one of the only ones who can.” She walked him out to the mages, and they took over. The looks she got in her cheerleader outfit were close to leers, but when she pinned them with her gaze, they looked respectfully away.
    She put the horn in an evidence case and took their card so she could fill out the report and send it to them in the morning.
    “Ms. DeMonstre, is that your car in the road?”
    “Yup.” She walked with them back to the highway with a spring in her step.
    “Can we help you get it started?”
    Sophia chortled and walked to her hood, removing the support rod and lowering it with a click. She tapped the hood twice, and the car roared to life.
    “I have it under control, Officers, but thanks for the offer.” She climbed into her car, waved them goodnight and headed back to the office in Redbird City. She really hated commuting, but when humans became monsters, she was the DeMonstre on duty.
     
    Her parents looked at her and laughed. Her father grinned. “The cheerleader again?”
    “It rarely fails and has a wide age range for attractions. Thanks to this curse of ours, I won’t ever look my age, so why not?” She walked through the entryway and toward her change room. The sheer amount of fantasy costumes that she had sometimes embarrassed her, but the weird part was that she could wear the same ones her mother had, and her mom wasn’t born a DeMonstre.
    While the family name was passed from daughter to daughter, her father, Gerard, was the rare DeMonstre male. He still looked to be twenty-five, and his elegant demeanour gave him a European flare.
    She grabbed some normal clothing and stepped behind the changing screen. Her instinct was confirmed a moment later when her parents knocked on her door.
    “Come in.” She pried the top off and slipped her comfy shirt over her torso.
    “How did it go, Sophy?”
    “It went fine, Dad. It was a little bit of oh no my car broke down followed by whatever will I do and a lot of waving my ass in the air, but he took the bait.”
    Her father was eager. “What was the enchantment?”
    “It was a simple rage-to-animal focus. The guy was definitely socially awkward and desperate for female attention. The manifestation was boar, bear, a touch of wolf and some fox. The trigger was a standard cow horn that would have had no place in the forest. It would have stood out to even the blindest of seekers.”
    “What about his lair?”
    “Bomb shelter under a cottage in the woods.”
    Gerard made a frustrated growl.
    “Relax, Dad. I know that if you could be out there, you would be. There just aren’t as many female monsters seeking men as there used to be. Don’t worry. You still look pretty.”
    Her mother chimed in. “I keep telling him that he should take up acting or, at least, running around naked, but he refuses. He misses being the Cursed One.”
    Sophy finished smoothing her tights and tucking them into her knee-high boots. Her tunic fell to her knees and was slit up her thighs. She wrapped a wide