The Paragon Element (Book 1)

by Jeff Hale

  “What? I mean, I wouldn’t hurt him, but I can’t predict what the fae courts are going to do!” Raven shouted, taken aback.

  “Maybe you should have thought about that before you marked him. Mark of claim or not, you should have gotten his consent first. He’s my agent, don’t forget that,” Bianca said with clipped words as she grabbed the contract and started towards the door, which I was still standing next to.

  Then the room seemed to get a lot smaller as pure Aetheric energy roiled into the space that made up my apartment. Raven’s eyes were glowing a dark violet color, and I got a vague impression of wings behind her.

  “You forget yourself, sorceress. I could toss your body into the Aetheric Winds, and then feast on your soul as it is torn in millions of directions at once by an energy storm. You are nothing to me, just another fleeting mortal lifespan.” Raven’s aspect seemed to become more solid, more sharply real, as Aetheric energy strands began to coalesce in the room.

  I was suddenly feeling very real terror as I realized I had no idea who Raven really was. I had forgotten briefly that, despite her appearance, she was from another realm, and was nowhere near human.

  “Go ahead, and then you can slowly combust, dying horrifically. That contract covers the harm of any MAGE agent of your own volition as well. Your move, fae.” Bianca had to shout to be heard over the noise that the energy output was creating; it sounded like the inside of a power plant.

  Just as suddenly as it happened, the energy bled away and Raven seemed like just a young woman again. “Fine. I had no intention of hurting Aerick, and had every intention of helping him fight any battles he may have needed to fight anyway. I don’t like being tricked.”

  “Now you know how I felt when I found out I was marked,” I said under my breath.

  “Fine! I was wrong. For fuck’s sake can we let it drop now? I only did it so I could help hide you. Unless you don’t want my help anymore?” She flopped onto my futon as she spoke, crossing her arms. She almost seemed… human in that moment.

  “Watch her closely. She may be under contract, and we may be paying her, but she’s still fae. Don’t ever forget that. You saw what she can do. If that is ever directed at you, you do what any other agent would do, including myself,” Bianca whispered into my ear as she opened the door to leave.

  “What? Piss myself?” I whispered back.

  “That, and run,” Bianca said as she walked out of the apartment, closing the door behind her.

  “Well? Are we on or aren’t we?” Raven yelled over her shoulder at me.

  “We aren’t working together if you’re going to keep yelling at me,” I said back, keeping my voice even.

  “Okay, fine. I’ll calm down, then we can get to work. By the way, you got anything to eat in this place? I could really go for some chocolate if you have any.” She stood and made her way towards the kitchen.

  “Um, yeah, I think I have ice cream in the freezer.”

  “Perfect! Any whipped cream by chance?” she asked as she gave me a coy glance from the corner of her eye.

  “Um… uh… no. That is, I don’t think so,” I muttered as I headed to the bathroom. I needed to get changed out of the costume and into my field clothes.

  “What about chocolate syrup?” She leaned on the small bar that separated the kitchen area from the rest of the apartment, giving me an excellent view down her tank top.

  “Um… no?”

  “Then what kind of fun can we have if you don’t have anything I can lick off of you?” she asked in a sultry voice.

  Yeah, I needed to change. After a long, cold shower.

  NINE

  As it turned out, MAGE wouldn’t move on Raven’s information for almost an entire month. We kept in loose contact so that I could give her regular reports from MAGE about their investigation into her intel, but otherwise I didn’t see her.

  With Thanksgiving now around the corner I was running out of excuses to avoid any sort of commitment to social functions. One day, a little over a week from Thanksgiving, Nina cornered me at the Wall in the morning before classes. Kat was nowhere to be seen.

  “So, you’re coming to Thanksgiving dinner at my place,” Nina said from behind me. It wasn’t a question.

  “I don’t know. You know my work is keeping me busy. I have to hold down this job if I’m going to continue to take care of myself.” I shook my head and dropped my eyes. I turned and gave her a helpless look.

  Her gaze said that she meant business. The leather pants, sports bra and stilettos that she was wearing distracted me for just a second. I saw Dave behind her, wearing a shirt that stated ‘Wanna play Army? I’ll lay down and you can blow the hell outta me’.

  “Whatever. You work at a government job, which means you’ll have the day off,” she said, her tone leaving no room for argument. Thing was, she was right.

  “Yeah. Okay I’ll be there,” I said, knowing I’d regret that statement later.

  “Good. Kat’s going to be there too. Maybe you can make up for ditching her on that date, and at the rave, and never following through with a second date,” Nina said, beaming a smile at me.

  “What gives you the idea that she’d be happy about that? She’s been all but ignoring me. I can’t blame her for that, but you seem to think she’s going to be happy to see me there,” I asked dubiously. Much to my disappointment, Kat had been pretending that I didn’t even exist, either avoiding the Wall, or leaving the moment she even saw me head that way.

  “Yeah. She did say… what was it exactly? Oh yeah. Never again, I think,” Dave commented, reinforcing my statement.

  “Shush, you,” Nina said, pushing him. “Neither of you know what you’re talking about. I’ve talked with her, and she really, really, likes you, Rick. You just confused her is all. She was afraid that it was her that scared you off. She’s never had a boyfriend, or even a date before. She just wants a fair chance.”

  “I suppose I could give her that. I don’t really have a problem with her. She’s just a bit obnoxious is all,” I said. It was hard for me to believe that she’d never gone on a date before, or had a boyfriend. The boys at whatever school she went to back home must be either blind or stupid.

  “She gets like that when she’s nervous. It’ll be fine. You guys would really get along if you’d just be nice to her.” Nina started to head towards the school as the bell rang.

  The next couple of days passed uneventfully, with the sole exception of Nina constantly checking to make sure I was going to make it to Thanksgiving. Friday changed all of that. I went into MAGE HQ for work and was immediately summoned to Bianca’s office.

  “We have to move on Raven’s intel this week. Now before you go flying off the handle at me, I will say that yes, I know that it’s Thanksgiving, and it will be difficult to explain to your friends that you won’t make it to whatever dinner with them, but this is imperative. By our estimations you will catch the lich in the middle of a ritual that he won’t be able to disrupt in order to deal with you directly, giving you an advantage over him. It’s a brief window at best. But now is the time to strike,” Bianca explained.

  “And this folder?” I asked, gesturing to the file she had placed on my desk.

  “Is further information on the target. Get to know the information in that file and be ready next Thursday.”

  I checked the folder and found out that my target’s name was Amar Nathan, his family’s name obviously Americanized. He was working from a small trailer house next to the Woodlawn Cemetery in North Las Vegas. The cemetery was directly behind Rancho High School, which had probably the highest student death toll in the city, and I wondered if that was a coincidence. Apparently MAGE had to move on this now since enough bodies had gone missing from the cemetery that it was beginning to get noticed.

  Sometimes MAGE let a renegade continue what they’re doing and just kept an eye on them so that they could possibly get them on something bigger. Ms. Dietrich had done most of the lich’s dirty work, and since she’
d gone unidentified for so long, her tie to the lich had been unknown until now. Amar, apparently, had never been caught doing anything outside of a little grave robbing here and there so MAGE had kept me from dealing with him until absolutely necessary.

  Now bodies were missing en masse, and necromantic magics were detected in the area. We already knew he was a lich, so had access to sorcerer powers, but this meant he was a necromancer on top of being a vampire… great. Necromancers were a highly specialized form of earth sorcerer and some of the most dangerous renegades an agent could ever hope to deal with. They could drain your life force and then, once you were dead, bring you back to do their bidding. An undead controlling the dead. How apropos.

  I spent that entire weekend with my cell phone off and studied the files on Amar, his supposed abilities, habits, and routines. Apparently he was planning some necromantic ritual on Thanksgiving Day that involved the sacrifice of a girl that was pure of heart. It had nothing to do with Thanksgiving itself, just simple coincidence. The only good thing to come from the information in the files was the fact that Amar was weak in his vampiric abilities, which was good.

  Monday at school, I had to break the news to Nina that I wouldn’t make it to Thanksgiving dinner after all. Bianca had left a note in the folder she had given me stating that I should tell my friends that I had to travel out of town for part of a survey I was doing for work, complete with paperwork from the ‘Test Site’.

  I made sure to pack that particular prop in my backpack before I headed to school. When I got to the Wall, Nina and Dave were there as always, Nina wearing her gothic cheerleader outfit and Dave wearing one of the shirts I had already seen before. Surprises never ceased; he did re-wear them.

  “So. I didn’t hear from you all weekend and your phone kept dumping to your voicemail. What’s going on?” Nina snapped at me. She was upset about something.

  “Okay, slow down, Nina. First off, I had a very busy weekend at work, and I just found out I have an assignment I have to work on for Thanksgiving.” I gave her a smile that said I was anything but happy about the situation. I pulled the file folder from my backpack and showed her the survey packet. Her jaw dropped a bit as she looked at it.

  “Oh, fuck me with a spork sideways. You have to get that done over Thanksgiving?” she asked in shocked disappointment.

  “Yeah. Sucks donkey ass,” I muttered, stuffing the folder back into my backpack. “And better yet, I have to go to some plant in Wisconsin to finish it.”

  “I’m sorry, Rick. I know I give you shit about you working all the time, but I had no idea. Maybe a part of me didn’t believe you. But, damn. Anyway, look, I was trying to get a hold of you for a reason.”

  She stood and started to walk to the gated area that held the bike racks so we could have privacy for our conversation. Everyone knew that there was an unspoken rule that if people were over here that they wanted privacy and they were not to be disturbed upon pain of having the entire group at the Wall pissed at you.

  “Okay, Nina, spill it. What’s going on?” I asked impatiently, sitting on the edge of one of the racks.

  “Look it’s just…. I dunno how to explain. I called Serena’s mom last night. You know, like I always do a couple times a year. Um, her case was reopened. I guess something made them decide they needed to know exactly how she died. Maybe they finally needed closure or something. Anyway, they finally agreed to an autopsy and had her body,” she paused and gave me a sympathetic look, “exhumed.”

  I nodded, and swallowed hard. Dammit, it still hurt. Bad.

  “Well they found some… oddities. Scorch marks, like lightning strikes, but small scale. Like she was electrocuted or something. They found no marks for a Taser or anything like that. No way to conduct electricity, just scorches like it,” Nina told me.

  I could literally feel myself getting pale, and I felt a chill go up my spine.

  Sorcerer.

  An air sorcerer to be exact. Nothing else that I could think of would explain it. We all knew she had been murdered, and that the police were still looking for even a remote suspect, but had come up with nothing. Now, though, I knew who, or at least what, her killer was.

  My first mission had been against an air sorcerer and I had done a lot of research on them. They could control lightning. The weaker ones could only create small static bolts, but as they gained in power they could create stronger and more direct currents of energy.

  I was pretty sure the one I had eliminated was not Serena’s killer because he had been weaker, only able to produce enough energy to stun someone momentarily, but not kill. He’d been on the list for termination anyway because he had been using the stun effect long enough to drug teenage girls and then rape them. This one though, obviously, could kill with his powers.

  Immediately I got up and started to walk away. My intention was to head directly to MAGE HQ and start looking up all known air sorcerers in the area of Oklahoma with that kind of power. Nina started to follow me, but I heard Dave tell her to let me be. Once I got to the corner where the side road that the Wall and school parking lot were located on met Tenaya, I stopped. I couldn’t go to MAGE HQ right at the moment. Chances were I’d get one hell of an earful from Coleen about reserving my energy for Thursday.

  I also couldn’t open my own case. That required me to get promoted to Detective-Agent, which only happened when an agent went above and beyond in a big way. Instead, I headed back towards the school, avoiding everyone I could. I didn’t feel like talking about it, and I didn’t want to deal with people in general.

  In Health class, I made sure Kelly knew I wasn’t upset at her, but that I didn’t want to talk about what was distressing me. I didn’t want her thinking I was mad at her for no reason. I also made sure Kat heard directly from me why I wasn’t making it to Thanksgiving, and I apologized to her. She thanked me coolly then turned her back and walked away, but I was too distracted by what Nina had told me to care. I kept to myself for a good portion of the week. Between the disturbing news about Serena and preparing for my case, I didn’t want anything breaking my concentration.

  Thanksgiving rolled around and I was in my apartment with Raven, both of us waiting on the go ahead from Bianca. Raven was planted on my futon, watching TV and eating ice cream. I just didn’t know how to prepare for this. I showered and got changed into my field clothes as quickly as I could, which were a pair of well-worn black denim jeans, a black tank-top, and a light-weight trench coat, as well as my comfortable running shoes. I went back out to the living room to sit down with Raven, maybe talk to her. My phone rang before I even had a chance to open my mouth. So much for getting to know my new partner a bit better. I answered it and heard Bianca’s voice.

  “Aerick? Got some more information for you. We’ve already sent a recon team in, they should meet you nearby when you get there and give you any intel they get. Be ready to receive a message on your laptop,” she said, and I could hear the clicking of a keyboard on her side of the phone. I ended the call and opened up my laptop, and a few seconds later I got a communiqué with all the relevant new information.

  “Ready?” I asked Raven quietly, part of me hoping she’d say no and try to talk me out of it.

  “Almost. I have a stop I need to make first, so I’ll meet you there. Hey, are you okay? You look like you’re a bit nauseous.” Raven stood and moved to stand in front of me.

  “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Just have a feeling that I’m not gonna live through this.” I shook my head slowly.

  “I know you haven’t been a sorcerer for very long, but I can tell that you have more talent than any I’ve ever seen or met, including your boss. You’ll be fine. Besides, I’ll be there, and I have a vested interest in keeping you around.” She put her hand on my shoulder and looked into my eyes with those intense violet ones of hers. She had absolute confidence in me. Wish I did. She motioned with her head that we should go.

  “Wait. Why? What makes me so interesting to a fae?” I was intrigued.


  “You’re an amusing, curious individual,” she said as if it made the most perfect sense in the world.

  I just sighed and shook my head and without another word we headed out of my apartment. As I left, I locked the door behind me and looked towards the west, where Red Rock Canyon was. The distinctive square mountain face that marked the west side of the valley was ablaze in reds and oranges as the sun set behind it.

  After Raven drove off, I decided to walk myself down to Vegas Drive, so that I could wait for the bus there that would take me to the other side of town and the cemetery, where Vegas Drive turned to Owens. I hopped on the bus once it got to the stop and headed to the seat in the far back. Once I got to my stop, I hesitated as I stepped off the bus. I didn’t have to do this. I could hand the assignment back in. Sure, I’d more than likely be in a shit ton of trouble with MAGE, but that was starting to honestly sound like a far more pleasant idea.

  Instead of giving in to my doubts, I took a deep breath and started walking again, along the sidewalk that ran alongside the cemetery. Raven would be there to back me up, she had promised. I hesitated at the intersection, then made the right onto Bruce St. There was no need to worry. I took another right onto Foremaster Ln. Almost there. I could still change my mind. But I wouldn’t.

  It was dark now, and while this wasn’t the best part of town, and it surely wasn’t the worst, the gang population here was pretty high. I knew I had eyes on me, appraising me, wondering if I was a threat or not. It had been a long time, but I just hoped no one recognized me. I had never run in this part of town, but reputations traveled quickly.

  Several times I thought someone would stop me and start trouble. I almost invited it. I knew that I could handle any trouble of that nature, and I had no idea if I could handle the trouble I was actually headed towards. Despite my wishes, it seemed that no one thought I was a threat, or they figured I was too much of one. Either way, they left me alone.

  I eventually made it to a small trailer court and I took a right into it. I immediately noticed two black SUVs with government plates, parked off to the side and out of the way. There was no sign of the agents that were supposed to be waiting for me and I could only guess that they had either been caught or had gone in thinking they could handle it.