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sit down in a chair and resume
my meditations. Instead of meditating, I found myself thinking
about Elyssa. I sensed her hot, welcoming presence nearby, thanks
to my incubus sixth sense. We'd made love for the first time in a
dingy hotel room just a week ago. Talk about magic . I sent
out a questing tendril of incubus essence and found the halo of her
aura feet away. She seemed amused with my academic efforts.
    I tapped against her halo. She flinched, and
for a moment, her defenses sprang up reflexively, cold and
impersonal. Then she realized it was me and opened up, even more
amused than before. But beneath the surface of her amusement
simmered love, spiced with a bit of lust. My demon senses burned
with desire to dive right in. But if I did it without tempering my
mood, Elyssa and I might get more than we bargained for. I sure as
heck didn't want us to rip each other's clothes off in front of
Bella.
    Easing back on the throttle, I evened out my
emotions, trying to match her amusement, rather than the lust.
    "Do you feel anything yet, Justin?" Bella
said, seemingly from somewhere far off as I concentrated.
    Oh, I felt something all right. I felt a grin
spread across my face and quickly tightened my mouth so as not to
give myself away. With my incubus senses extended, I could taste
some of Bella's emotions, namely frustration and concern. She
really cared about me and was worried sick about my abilities. A
wave of guilt came over me. Here I was, screwing around while she
was dedicating time and energy toward helping me.
    Easing back on the emotional throttle, I
started slowly withdrawing my senses, trying to focus instead on
the magical energy in the air around me. The thread of my essence
abruptly tingled in a way it never had before. The feeling was so
alien, it shocked me out of my trance and my eyes jolted open.
    "What is it?" Bella asked.
    "I felt something weird."
    "Describe it."
    I shrugged. "I dunno. All tingly. It made me
feel funny."
    "Funny?" She took a seat across from me, gaze
intense.
    "Well, not funny like when someone touches
you in your no-no place, but—"
    "Justin, be serious."
    I sighed. "Let me see if I can find it
again." I closed my eyes and breathed deep. Nothing happened for
what seemed an eternity. I realized whatever I'd done had been with
my incubus senses extended, so I pushed it out in different
directions. Still, nothing happened. Setting aside the emotions
emanating from Elyssa and Bella, I forced back my own frustration
and probed for the strange sensation again.
    All of my senses tingled with such
abruptness, I yelped and jerked back. My chair fell over backwards
with me in it. Bella leaned down, her violet eyes laughing at me
though her mouth held a firm line. She offered a hand and pulled me
up with dhampyric strength that belied her petite frame.
    "I think you've found the magic," she said, a
note of triumph in her voice.
    "Did you really?" Elyssa said, eyes wide with
delight.
    I grinned. "That's magic? It feels nothing
like when it's trapped in a circle."
    "How does it feel?" Elyssa said. "All I feel
when I'm in a circle is pressure in my ears."
    "You don't feel the static in the air?" I
asked.
    She shook her head.
    "Strange." I shrugged. "I feel pressure in my
ears, too. Depending on the amount of magic in the circle, it's
like an electric charge in the air." I set my chair upright and sat
again, extending my incubus senses. When I focused on the tingling
sensation, it flooded back, nearly overwhelming me. It wasn't
unpleasant, just weird.
    "Do you feel it?" Bella asked.
    I opened my eyes, maintaining my link.
Usually when my demonic senses were active, I saw the ghostly,
glowing auras of the people around me and sensed their emotions.
Looking at Bella and Elyssa, I saw them now, both glowing and
healthy with positive emotion. In addition, I noticed a smoky haze
in the air and motes of bright light, some drifting lazily, others
zipping past like little stars. A bright ball of white the