Alice Series Box Set

by Maria Dean

  "So, you're looking for Astrid," the man said as he returned to her kitchen ignoring Alexi's question. He was in the middle of brewing a pot of tea and grabbed two more cups for Alexi and Jonas. "Are you friends from work?" He glanced at Alexi's Pizza Hut uniform. "I'm guessing that's a no with you."

  Alexi blanched. "Oh, no, I actually intern at her office. I just deliver as a part-time job."

  Jonas was a more brazen liar. "I work with her a lot, actually. She's great at what she does. I've never seen someone with as much talent as Astrid."

  The man chuckled. "Well, that's certainly sweet of you. I'll be sure to tell Astrid that when I see her next." He poured them both a cup of tea. "I'm so sorry you missed her. Here, please, take this for your troubles. I'd hate for you to have to leave empty handed."

  The men accepted, though Jonas was still a little concerned. He watched Alexi blew on the tea to cool it before taking a sip. When Jonas tasted it he was surprised at the good blend of tangy and sweet flavors.

  With Alexi drinking the tea, Jonas took it as a sign he could drink it too. They both downed the liquid quickly. "Forgive me for asking, sir," Jonas started as he set down the mug on a table, "but what's your relationship with Astrid?"

  The man raised his mug. "Good question," he smiled. "I'm surprised two of Astrid's close friends couldn't notice the family resemblance."

  Alexi choked on his tea. "You're Astrid's father," he sputtered, dropping the mug on the floor. "Calypso warned me about you." Alexi tried to stand. He didn't make it more than three steps before collapsing onto the ground.

  Jonas, panicked, tried to escape before collapsing. He could feel the life ebbing slowly from him, but he was powerless to move his body.

  "That's a shame," Aaron Pfeiffer said, carefully stepping around them to pick up the mugs. "Now I'm going to have to call the cleaners." He removed a rune stone from his pocket and squeezed it, alerting his allies he needed assistance. Aaron activated an alchemic doorway nearby, so anyone who got the message could come by and assist. He then set to work cleaning up the mess the two men had started.

  "You know," one of his allies said as he stepped out of the doorway, "you can't just kill every man who shows up, looking for your daughter. That's going to get suspicious one day."

  Aaron shook his head and pulled up Alexi's sleeve, revealing a star-shaped tattoo. "This one worked for my ex-wife," he said. "And this one," he added, grabbed a jewel-encrusted knife from Jonas's waistband, "was a dragon slayer."

  "You know, we did intercept a report that said she was wandering around in our realm," his companion informed him. "What do you want us to do about it?"

  "For now? You can do nothing. Astrid's an adult. I can imagine she's capable of taking care of herself." Aaron slipped the dragon slayer's knife into his own waistband. "But if push comes to shove, she's still my little girl. I'll do what I can to make sure she's safe."

  Then other man started to pour a cleansing potion on the carpet, clearing up the spilled tea. "Safe from what, your wife? Or the Dragon Shifters that are roaming the city."

  "Safe from the truth," Aaron replied reaching down to check if Jonas was dead while the cleaner left the room. "You know young man my daughter doesn't know many things about her life. I've overseen every step of her journey and scum like you are just a small wrinkle on her path. A path she'd never know I'm directing."

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Elixir

  CHAPTER 1

  Astrid Pfeiffer understood why X had made himself at home in the Merriam Park library. For an introvert with a thirst for knowledge, the library was a sanctum. And X was definitely an introvert.

  When she was lonely fourteen-year-old, she spent a lot of time in the Wicker Lake Academy's library. It was a year after she'd been ejected from her aunt's home in North Carolina and sent to an ominous boarding school in the Midwestern woods.

  Everyone in her year was still awkward and unsure of themselves, meaning no one wanted or had the courage to talk to each other. Astrid relied on books and imaginary friends throughout elementary school. She made herself at home in a library alcove in between the nature and true crime sections. The library was her new safe space, far away from the cluttered turmoil of teenage angst and social anxiety.

  Astrid's third visit to Merriam Park was during a busy middle school trip, and she found X hiding out amongst the adult romance stacks.

  "They're everywhere," X grumbled when She caught him deep in a steamy vampire novel. "All they do is knock things over and shelve things incorrectly."

  The lawyer turned dimension traveler sat on the floor across from him. "Kids are nightmares like that sometimes." She set two piping hot cups of coffee on the ground. Taking one, she picked up a discarded paperback and snorted.

  X grabbed the other cup of coffee. "What?" He asked, watching Astrid gloss over the description of the book. "I never took you for an erotica fan."

  Astrid shook her head, chuckling to herself as she shelved the book. "Not really. My aunt had way too many of those scattered around her house when I was younger. They scared me more than anything." She paused for a moment. "What are the odds I can get a Saint Paul library card?"

  Shrugging, X said, "I don't see why you couldn't. It might be useful when I have documents to give you." There was the other reason they were meeting in the soft-core section. The employee break room was occupied, but Astrid still needed information from X. Her last trip through an Alice portal was the most intense one yet. She needed to figure this magical mess out, now more than ever.

  Astrid also had to watch herself. X thought she was on the monster hunter's side. She couldn't let him in on the fact she supported the Russo family.

  Maybe support wasn't exactly the right word. There were three Russo brothers vying for her attention, with their younger sister teetering between wanting to kill Astrid and just being mildly annoyed by her presence. Astrid had her reservations about being involved in the family's drama, mostly as it was tearing her understanding of her own family apart. She still wanted to commit herself to helping them. The Russo family forced her out of her comfort zone. Though it felt weird to admit the cousins helped her grow into a new person, Astrid knew for a fact she wasn't the same person she'd been when she first stepped foot in Magdalena's house. Change, as scary as it could be, was a good thing.

  In front of her, X was flipping through a large pink binder. She'd asked him to prepare a file on the different organizations in the Twin Cities. From what she understood, the dragon slayers and the monster hunters were moderate allies. They partnered on certain dragon endeavors and sometimes sent their trainees to the other organization for more experience. They had their differences, like how the slayers worked with the church and how the hunters accepted women into their ranks. Neither of the organizations, however, were fond of the alchemists.

  Jonas Fletcher had told her the alchemists in Saint Paul weren't fans of his sect of slayers. This was a common phenomenon she discovered as she read the detailed history X provided her with. It indicated there was more fighting between the three groups in the last century than there was against the dragons. The conflict was why X operated as a free agent in the library. He could collect information from all three groups but wasn't bound to any rules. Unbeknownst to X, this worked out in Astrid's favor. The alchemists were the only ones onto her real identity. As long as X didn't bother with them, the truth behind her interest in dragons would be safe.

  "This is everything we could record from the last century," X said, handing her the binder. "There's also an itemized list of all my transactions since I've been here." He leaned back on the library wall, pleased with himself. "That's probably the most organized I will ever be."

  Astrid paged through the binder, glazing over the mix of typed pages and messy, handwritten notes. "This is perfect," she said to him. "I cannot thank you enough."

  "Don't mention it," he replied. "Your compensation was more than enough." There was a fat stack of money in his pocket for the
effort, along with another minor Alicing favor. Astrid knew she couldn't just go around promising people favors like that. She only hoped X would be reasonable.

  Checking X's list, her index finger hovered over one of his most recent transactions. "This is the list of locations you gave to the dragon slayers, right?" He nodded. "Where d'you get that information?"

  Astrid waited for him to finish his coffee before he spoke. "I got it in a trade with the alchemists a while back. They wanted to know who could get them out of a legal bind, and I figured the dragon list would come in handy." He leaned over the binder and pointed to the transaction date and time. "I had to go to the alchemist's house to get the information. It was all kinds of shady."

  "Shady?" Astrid prompted. She wasn't shocked the alchemists were sketchy. If there was one thing she'd learned over the past month, they were only slightly insane. Astrid preferred to spend time with the calm X or the fidgety, jailed dragon slayer. Despite their allegiance against her dragon friends, they had the advantage of not trying to murder her without a second thought.

  To his credit, X seemed to hesitate at the idea of working with them. "I've never had a lot of luck with the alchemists. They pay a lot for information, but sometimes the stuff they demand is too crazy. I avoid them or direct them to other historians if I can." He tapped the dragon list. "This was one of the few exceptions. The alchemist's request wasn't too crazy, and the list turned out to be useful. I'm pretty sure he gave me a fake name, though." At Astrid's quirked a brow, he added, "His name was Ronald Hope. I couldn't find any records of a Ronald Hope in either of the cities."

  Astrid froze, the image of a frightened businessman flashing through her mind. "I need that address," Astrid decided with a sudden burst of energy.

  The jolt shocked some sense into her companion. X glanced at her, his eyebrow raised. "You know, you never told me why you needed this stuff. As a monster hunter, there's no reason you'd need to know these things."

  A valid point. It was a little out of character for a Twin Cities monster hunter to ask about her own history. "I'm new to all of this," she admitted. "I was thrown into hunting pretty recently. It doesn't help that my mom is apparently a legend in the business."

  "Calypso Gray," X said. Astrid's body froze as she stared at him. "It's easy to see the resemblance. I've only met her once, but there's no forgetting her face."

  She tried not to choke. Everyone seemed to know about her mother's private life. "Who needs to know your own parent when everyone else knows her better?"

  To her surprise, X nodded in understanding. "My dad died when I was a kid. He was a community leader in our neighborhood, and everyone seemed to know who he was. I'd go to the store with my mom and three different people would stop us and ask if we were Daniel's family. Everyone would have a story to share about a time he helped them out." X's shoulders sagged, face falling as he looked at the shelves past Astrid. "I didn't care about how nice he was or how many people he'd saved in their time of need. I just wanted my dad back."

  Softly, Astrid asked, "How'd he pass?"

  X regarded her with a sad smile. "Shot by a cop."

  "God," she muttered. "I'm sorry. I know that's not helpful to hear, but I'm sorry."

  "No, I appreciate it." X let a moment of silence pass between them. "That's why I came here. Socializing with people who kept trying to resurrect a dead man? Not ideal. But books? Stories with endings, wrapped in a bow? That made sense. That was comfortable."

  Astrid understood well how that felt.

  "Thank you," she said, closing the binder. "I appreciate all of this. I'll let you know if there's anything else I need." As an afterthought, she added, "And if there's anything you need, you can always call my office."

  "Thank you," X said quietly. "Let's go get you that address, huh?"

  They both rose, Astrid grabbing both the binder and the romance novel she'd found. She was never a romance fanatic, but the story amused her. Splitting her time between working and investigating the dragon endeavors meant she didn't have time alone. The least she could do to entertain herself with a crappy book.

  X glanced at the cover as they returned to the front desk. "Oh, wow," he chuckled. "I get it now." He rounded the desk and disappeared into the back, returning with a slim manila folder. "Here's the information on that alchemist source. Let me know if anything interesting comes up." Then, X reached for a stack of papers. Handing one to Astrid, he said, "Here's your library card application."

  She grabbed a pen off the desk and began to fill it out. "Do me a favor and don't tell anyone about this," Astrid instructed. "Especially if a bunch of handsome Italians come around looking for me. Don't ask."

  "Do attractive Italian men stalk you often?" X asked, stifling a grin.

  "A little too often," she grumbled in reply.

  The library doors swung open, a weathered man stomping inside and making a beeline for X and Astrid. "Xander Dougherty!" He exclaimed, nearly knocking Astrid to the side. "I need to talk to you right now." Glancing at Astrid hesitantly, he added, "In private."

  "She's cool, Zion," X replied. "Break room's occupied. How quick can you make this?"

  The man, Zion, dug around in his trench coat for a moment. "One of my men has been missing for a week now. Jonas Fletcher. Someone paid his bail and he just disappeared." He pulled out a piece of paper and slammed it on the desk. The paper had two security photos, one of Fletcher and one of a man in a Pizza Hut delivery outfit. "The last time he was seen was outside this apartment building in Minneapolis. A hunter quickly followed him inside. Neither were seen again."

  Astrid squinted at the photos. They didn't give her a good view of the apartment itself, but there was a fountain in the background that sparked something in her memory. Pulling it closer, to Zion's chagrin, Astrid pointed at the man in the delivery outfit. "That's Alexi Spinelli," she said. "He was an intern at my law firm."

  Zion turned to her, paying her real attention. As he turned, a silver pendant bounced around on his chest. "You. I don't recognize you. Do you work with Dougherty?"

  "Sort of," X cut in. "Astrid is one of my sources. She helps with some of my more unique cases."

  "Is that so?" Zion replied. "Well, Astrid, is there any reason that a hunter would follow one of my slayers, right after he got free?"

  Astrid shrugged, pushing the photo back toward Zion. "I'm afraid I don't know why. I didn't know him very well." Now she thought about it, it was strange she hadn't heard from either of them, Alexi especially. Her last interaction with him was negative, sure, but they still worked in the same building. "I'll keep my eye out for both of them."

  Zion didn't seem convinced. "I still need a word with you, X."

  The monster hunter sighed. Entering Astrid's information into the computer, he swiped a card under the scanner and gave it back to her. X scanned her book too. "I'll be seeing you, yeah?" She nodded. "All right then."

  As Astrid left, she could feel Zion's burning gaze on the back of her neck. She didn't blame him for being suspicious of her. It was almost like he knew she'd recognized the fountain from the photos as the one in front of her apartment building.

  ***

  For the first time in Astrid's dragon-filled journey, she could easily travel to her next location using public transit. It was a small victory that meant she didn't have to pay a ridiculous amount of money for a Lyft or hijack her coworker's car. Though the transit system could be slow, it was more financially efficient and better for her personal conscious. Then there was the bonus of getting to ride through Saint Anthony Park, a neighborhood she was once familiar with when she was in college but had lost touch with after she left.

  The Alchemist known as Ronald Hope lived just passed the U's Saint Paul campus. He lived in a little townhouse off Como Avenue that. Had Astrid not known a possible psychopath lived there, she would've mistaken it for the home of a happy family. The house was lined with a white picket fence, with pastel green walls and big, open windows. Homey and welcoming.
The exact opposite of what she would've expected from an alchemist like Hope.

  Astrid arrived on the front porch and realized she didn't have a plan. Though she knew Hope would not be there, she had no idea if he had a life partner. He could've had a wife and kids, and no one would've been the wiser. X had said nothing about Hope's disappearance, though, and Astrid had faith that meant no one was snooping around his business.

  Much to Astrid's disappointment, her knock on the front door was met with rustling from the other side. Something was in there, and it was not very happy. She could make out a quiet growl from the other side and wondered what kind of crazy stuff Ronald was keeping in his house. Was it another dragon? Had Ronald captured a magical creature and kept it in his house?

  To add to her theory, the thing inside wasn't human, the house's occupant did not try to open the door. Either it wanted to wait her out, or it was physically incapable of opening the door. Carefully, Astrid tested the doorknob. It turned easily.

  "I'm coming in," she announced to whoever was inside. "I'm armed."

  A lie, but an easier threat than 'I'm going to send you into another dimension.'

  Astrid turned the handle and pushed the door open with enough strength to let it fall open. In seconds she was greeted with an aggressive clicking, as if someone was dropping nails on a hardwood floor. A shape burst out from the house, brushing past Astrid and running into the front lawn.

  A dog. A big, sweet Rottweiler that, from the smell of the house, hadn't been out to use the bathroom in a while. The poor beast's fur was matted, and Astrid could tell from a distance he hadn't seen a day of care since Ronald Hope had left.

  "Oh, sweetie," Astrid murmured, taking out her phone and dialing Irene Russo's number. "Hey, I think I need your help with something. A dog-related something." She watched the dog bounce around the front lawn before collapsing from exhaustion under an oak tree. He panted heavily, heaving his entire body with every movement.