For the rest of lunch, I couldn’t shake the feeling that Delilah was planning something bad, something big from which there would be no going back. The looks she was giving us from her table were murderous and she wasn’t exactly a shining example of good impulse control. I was the one receiving most of those looks too, probably because she blamed me and my bargain for everything, as if she didn’t hate me enough before.

I didn’t think she was going to set me on fire while we were on school property or anything, even she likely had more self-control than that. No, she was planning something, and Delilah’s plans could only be bad for me. Perhaps I should have had the others go easier on her the past few days, though I didn’t think anyone did anything that was truly heinous, at least not in comparison to how she had bullied my friends over the years.

It was only natural that they would want to get some payback, especially Trixie who was Fey and had been putting up with it for four years. Rose and my sister were both Fey as well and neither was the type to take the abuse that Delilah, and her friends, had been dishing out since we started school here. As for the others, they were all teenagers being offered a chance to get back at their biggest bully. Honestly, I was surprised, and proud of them all for keeping the pranks to minor annoyances and mild embarrassment. What they did was nothing compared to how she had been trying to humiliate and ruin me for the past few weeks.

Our next class after lunch was P.E. and other than constantly murderous glaring, Delilah didn’t try to pull anything. By the time that classes ended for the day, I was starting to feel a bit paranoid about what she might be up to. I wasn’t the only one worried either, we all were. Mallory, who best knew what Delilah was capable of when angry, was the most nervous of any of us.

The only positive was that since we were now heading into the weekend, I probably wouldn’t have to worry about her making good on whatever plan she was concocting until Monday. Unless, of course, she decided to attack me at my home again. Fantastic, now I was going to be worrying about that all weekend.

We all stuck together as a group as we made our way to the parking lot and our vehicles. Alison, Clarice, and I were all tense, fearing that Delilah might torch our rides. With the looks of fury she had been giving us, and me in particular, I was rightfully fearing that she would go against the wishes of her father and make the Charger a target again. When I saw that all of our rides were safe, sound, and in the same condition as they were when we parked this morning, I breathed a sigh of relief.

Soon we were all on our way to our respective homes with my sister, Melody, Carmen, and Mallory all riding with me in the Charger. Mallory was riding to and from school with us every day now since she was living above the club now and wasn’t working at the café anymore. On Monday, Mom and Pandora talked with Clarice’s father, Raul, and they came to an agreement.

Mallory would start working at the club when she turned eighteen in a couple of weeks while one of the club’s part-time line cooks, who was looking for a full-time position, would take over her position at Raul’s Café. It honestly worked out pretty well for everyone since Mallory and her mother were no longer in such a dire financial situation where they desperately needed the extra money. Mallory could be close to home and safe working in the club while getting training from Brock and Cindy, Raul got the full-time cook that he wanted to take some of the heat off him in the café, the cook got a full-time gig, and Clarice wouldn’t have to drive Mallory to and from work until she had a car of her own.

As we drove home, I asked the Efreeti in the back seat, “Do you have any idea what Delilah might be up to? Those death glares she was giving me all through gym class were giving me chills.”

Mallory let out a long and deep sigh and I could see her shaking her head despondently through the rearview mirror. “Sorry, Crystal, at this point I have no idea what she might try. Ever since you, Jess, and your friends showed up at school, she’s been erratic. Before you showed up, she was the prettiest and most popular girl at the school, though being obscenely wealthy was responsible for a lot of that popularity and she follows a very strict routine to maintain and improve her beauty.”

“Then we come in with a set of twins who are far better looking than she is,” Melody interjected with a grim expression. “They get attention in any room they walk into, especially if they’re together. She probably viewed Crystal as the greater threat to her status because Jess is a shapeshifter, while Crystal’s beauty is all natural.”

“Yeah, Delilah is jealous, petty, and her ego won’t let her play second fiddle to anyone. She figured that the only way to go back to the status quo was to get Crystal to leave the school and hopefully take Jess with her. Up until the incident with her car, I could usually have a pretty good idea about how she was going to act in most situations but her jealousy and hostility toward Crystal have made her increasingly unstable, especially since none of you would just back down and take her abuse like everyone else,” Mallory offered.

Carmen’s voice grumbled from the seat behind me, “Not only are we not taking her shit, but we’ve gotten the other girls in Auto Shop to take a stand too. Crystal has been countering her at every turn and turning her plots back on her as well.”

“Yeah, and that’s not helping the other damage Crystal has done to her ego by just being at school in the first place,” the Efreeti explained before frowning again. “She also probably thinks that you turned me against her. I think, in her own way, she actually considered me a friend, she’s just used to being in control and using other people.”

I rolled my eyes as stopped us at a red light and muttered, “Ah yes, because this is all my fault for having the nerve to exist and for being such a bitch to her.”

“Never mind the fact that she brought all this on herself by being her ‘charming’ self,” my sister added acidly.

“She won’t see it that way, Jess” Mallory countered. “Biting sarcasm aside, Crystal is right. Delilah’s ego won’t let her admit that she’s done anything wrong, even to herself, so in her mind, she’s the victim here and we’re all out to get her. So, now she’s acting like a wounded animal that we’ve backed into a corner. That look in her eyes today, it’s like she’s running on pure fury and spite now, and I have no idea what she’ll do next.”

“I’ve seen that look before,” Melody offered sadly. “There was this newly Manifested Metal Mage, he went mad with power and killed some people, so the PDA sent Hunters after him and posted an offer for people like me. I got to him first, there was a fight, and I showed him that he wasn’t as powerful as he thought he was. He had that look in his eyes when he built up his final attack, that look that says, ‘I don’t care if I go down, as long as I take you with me.’ His attack shredded everything within thirty feet of us and flayed most of the flesh from his bones because he was too angry to control himself. I regenerated, he wasn’t so lucky, and I got to claim the reward for bringing in his corpse.”

I put the car back in gear and eased onto the gas as Carmen asked, “What, so you think she’s gone crazy, Mel? Well, crazier.”

My demonic girlfriend in the seat beside mine shook her head as she explained, “No, I just think she’s getting desperate, and desperate people do dangerous things, not always thinking about their own safety.”

If there was any mood in the vehicle other than worried at that moment, it would have been killed then and there. A morose silence fell over us all as I drove us home until we were nearly at the club. That’s when Mallory let out a lengthy sigh, pulled her phone from her purse, and said, “I’m calling Delilah’s parents. I might not consider her a friend anymore, but her parents deserve to know that she may have finally snapped. Maybe they can head this off and keep her from doing something stupid.”

Friday and Saturday nights were busy at the club, so busy that weekend that I managed to lose some of my worries as I focused on dancing and giving extra services when time permitted. I was making plenty of money, and having plenty of sex, so I was a relatively happy Nymph. At least I was until Delilah’s father came to the club on that Saturday night, not long before closing.

I had just gotten off-stage for my final show of the night and was negotiating a possible group session with some club patrons and the Dicken sisters when he approached the table with Pandora. I was glad Mom was giving extra services right now or this might feel more awkward than it already felt when I saw who was accompanying Pandora, and that they were heading straight for me. This couldn’t be good.

I had to revise that thought as they got close enough for me to see the look of concern on the face of Delilah’s father. He looked worried, not like he was here for some fun and entertainment. If he was showing up here, looking like that, this definitely wasn’t good. I quickly and apologetically excused myself from the negotiations and Pandora gave a nearly imperceptible nod of approval as I joined them before leading us to a somewhat private booth.

“Mr. Devereaux,” I started awkwardly, “is there something you need me for?”

The first time that we met he was furious, first with me and then with his daughter when I unveiled the truth about what was done to our respective vehicles. This time though, his expression was that of a very worried father as he asked, “Crystal… has Delilah contacted you? I talked to Mallory on the phone, but she hasn’t heard from her, and she said you were working… so I came here to ask you if you or any of your other friends have heard from her since school yesterday.”

I blinked in confusion even as a heavy weight dropped into the pit of my stomach at the anxious look in his eyes. “Why would she contact any of us? Even if she did have any of our phone numbers, we’re not exactly her favorite people right now.”

“I… it was a long shot, but I had to at least try,” he said with a sigh as he all but collapsed into his seat. “When Mallory called us after school yesterday, I hoped that she might just need some time on her own to cool off, she’s got my temper and Mallory said she was angry. She… didn’t come home last night. We’ve had people from both the mundane police and the PDA searching for her, but they haven’t found her, just her vehicle at West Edmonton Mall.”

Well, fuck. Either Delilah was really going all out and trying to frame me for her kidnapping and/or murder, or something had actually happened to her. Honestly, I couldn’t see Delilah conceiving such a plan though, so it was likely the latter. She had been pretty damn pissed yesterday, and we all thought it might make her do something stupid that would bite her in the ass. The big questions were, what did she do, and where was she now?

As much as I would have liked to think this wasn’t my problem, in fact, it might have just solved my problem, I just wasn’t that kind of person. Delilah was a bitch sure, but she was also a person, and she had parents who were obviously worried about her. Still, I didn’t think there was anything I could do. “Can’t you, like, track her phone?” I asked.

“We tried that, and we tried phoning and texting her, but it says her number is out of service,” Mr. Devereaux replied morosely before standing back up. “I need to go… maybe they’ve found something on the mall security footage. Please, contact me if you hear anything.”

“I will, but I’m probably the last person on earth she wants to talk to,” I told him even as he strode back toward the club entrance. I watched him until he got there and muttered, “What the fuck?”

“It’s probably a kidnapping, I imagine he’ll be hearing from somebody about a ransom soon,” Pandora said thoughtfully. “This doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with you, Crystal. Steven is a wealthy and influential man in this city, and he’s made enemies among both the Paranormal and normie population.”

“I suppose that’s possible,” I murmured pensively. Still, the timing felt too coincidental. Could Delilah be faking her own kidnapping for some reason? No, that didn’t feel right either. She was pissed and so far, most of her actions against me were just typical bullying or quick plans of convenience to try to turn something that already happened against me. Planning something like this would be premeditated, and that didn’t fit what I’d seen from Delilah so far, especially a pissed off Delilah.

“Try not to worry, Crystal. There probably isn’t anything you can do right now anyway,” Pandora told me gently. I was about to say that I wasn’t worried about that bitch when an arched eyebrow and a gentle squeeze of my hand stopped me as she interjected, “It’s okay to be concerned for her, Crystal. I realize that the two of you have been at odds, but she’s still a person who you know, and that probably makes this a little jarring for you, especially given the timing of this.”

“She wouldn’t worry about me,” I told her candidly, believing every word.

“Maybe not,” she agreed, “but that’s part of what makes you a good person. It’s probably a good idea to be careful until she turns up again though. Maybe you should drive the truck when you go to school, at least until Delilah shows up or we have some sort of word about what happened to her. Your car gets too much attention.”

“Yeah, maybe that’s a good idea,” I agreed. I couldn’t shake the idea that this was more than just a disappearance and that Delilah had more to do with it than just disappearing, even if I was maybe a little, tiny bit worried that Pandora might be right. Keeping a low profile for a bit probably couldn’t hurt.

Pandora nodded and her gaze fell upon the table where the three younger Succubae were looking my way, along with the men we’d been talking to. “It looks like you were in the middle of something. Are you still feeling up to the group session? I can always take your place if you’re not.”

“No, I’ll be fine,” I countered. “It’s not like I can do anything about whatever this thing with Delilah is, and I’ll probably sleep better once I’ve scratched my itch and tired myself out.”

If I went upstairs now, I would just start overthinking things, and Melody was probably tired after a full shift so we wouldn’t end up doing more than talking and cuddling and I would probably bring this crap up and ruin the mood anyway. So, I went back to join the triplets and our clients, finished our negotiations, and had some amazing sex until their time was up. Only once I was cleaned up afterward did I go back upstairs and to my room, where thankfully, I was too tired to do anything more than fall asleep.

Monday and Tuesday were weird without Delilah at school, it was uncharacteristically quiet and yet there was this nervous tension that clung to me and my friends like an unseen miasma of dread. There was still no news about her, at least not that I’d heard about and each day that she was missing only made me more certain that something was seriously wrong. By the time that classes ended on Tuesday, we were all seriously on edge when we climbed into the club’s truck.

Alison and Clarice were already gone with their passengers, but we were running late. Unfortunately, my period had started today and in addition to the anxiety of the Delilah situation, I was also completely miserable due to the severe cramps and had to change both my tampon and panty liner after classes were over. I was probably going to have to take the next few nights off work over this too, so that wasn’t making me very happy either.

Making matters worse, I wasn’t able to use my pain relief spell for fear of someone other than my magic teacher catching me using Divine magic at school, so I had to suffer through the discomfort that Midol was doing nothing to ease until we got home. With that in mind, Jess was driving the truck today so I wouldn’t drive us off the road in a sudden fit of pain. My bad day was about to get a lot worse though.

We were almost at the end of the access road that connected the school to the street when I felt something ahead of us. Magic, it felt like Earth maybe. I didn’t even get to call out a warning to my sister before the ground erupted ahead of the truck and a wall of dirt and stone blocked our path. Jess slammed her foot down on the brakes, but we were too close, and in an instant, the front end of the truck crumpled, and my face slammed into the deployed airbag. In my dazed state, as I tried to shake off what just happened, I heard unfamiliar voices shouting.

“Move it! Tranq them all and get the Nymph and the Efreeti, they’re the valuable ones!”

“Shit, the Demon is in play, take her down!”

The sound of gunshots started to bring me to my senses when I felt something being jabbed into my arm and another voice, snapped, “Which Nymph? There’s two of them!”

“Well, fucking grab them both, morons! Move it! Before someone else comes down this fucking road! Get them in the…” That was the last thing that I heard before I passed out.