by Sierra Cross
Having wrapped up his pep talk, Eric’s piercing azure gaze landed on me. My guts turned to jelly. As he started moving toward me, I felt the sharp prickle of razor blades scratching across my skin and my queasiness flowered into revulsion. Dark magic was pouring off him in waves.
“Alix, I’m especially glad to see you here.” He patted my shoulder and the coffee I’d drunk threatened to come up and decorate his impeccable cashmere sweater.
“Thanks, Mr. Starr. It’s been a great morning so far,” I lied, hoping the benign smile plastered to my face hid my panicky thoughts. This man was pure evil. And then there was my aunt, who’d been born without a spark of magic in her. My aunt who could never sense evil. She trusted him. She was dating him, if I wasn’t wrong about my hunch. Bad boys were Aunt Jenn’s weakness. God, she was in so much danger.
We both were.
“I’ve reassigned you to my team—the Germination Project.” He turned to Addison, who looked as stunned as I felt. Had the CEO just assigned me a whole different job? Why would he stick me, a new hire, on some high-profile project? To win points with Aunt Jenn? Little did he know, she believed in working your way up the corporate ladder. “Can you see that she finds her way to her new desk assignment on the sixth floor?”
When he turned to go, the relief in my stomach was so palpable I let out a huge breath.
All eyes in the room were on me. Mouths gaping open.
“Wow, Alix. That’s quite an honor.” Addison’s voice had turned to cold, smooth plastic. No doubt she assumed I was a spoiled brat, coasting on my aunt’s position. “Hope you can live up to the expectations.”
I smiled weakly. Her contempt was the least of my problems now. My every instinct was screaming at me to run from this building and never return. But I couldn’t afford to act rashly. Once I revealed that I knew Eric Starr ran on fumes of dark magic, the clock would start ticking on Aunt Jenn’s safety. Act normal, I told myself. That meant staying through the end of the work day.
After a tense, silent elevator ride to the sixth floor, Addison went mega-petty and used her super long legs to outpace me down the hall, so I had to practically jog after her. Once I caught up, she vaguely pointed out where my new desk was before she turned away, tossing over her shoulder a cool “Good luck.”
Fortunately, there was only one cubicle here with no personal effects, so I was fairly confident I was in the right place. This cube farm looked more like something you’d see at NASA than a standard tech company. Grey and white, hardwired for massive amounts of tech—but no cords visible anywhere. Blinking digital memo boards glowed at the end of each pod. Each cube’s configuration was tailored to suit its inhabitant: from regular seated desks to adjustable sit or stand desks too, and, in one case, a treadmill desk. I sat down, and the waves of dark magic, thick and sludgy, made it hard to breath. The sensation was much stronger up here than it was on the lower levels. I set my employee handbook binder on the desk and sank into the Herman Miller chair.
“Hey, welcome to the team.” The fresh-faced guy in the pod next to me rolled out his chair so he could talk to me around the partition. “Our director’s out today—he wasn’t expecting a new hire—so I’ll show you around. I’m Braiden.”
“Alix.”
“Nice to meet you, Alix.” Braiden sported a man-bun—normally a point against him—but he also had a nice smile and didn’t actively reek of evil, so I let it slide. In fact, I focused on him as hard as I could with my newfound magical spidey sense, but picked up nothing. “You need anything to help get settled in, just let me know.” He pointed to the wall at the end of the pit. It was solid white with an almost invisible door inset into the center of it. A glowing blue panel to the right of the door looked like a biometric security panel. Just looking at that door made the world pitch and roll like I was on the high seas.
“You been briefed yet?”
“Not yet,” I swallowed hard, hoping I was still sitting upright as I answered. “This whole thing is kind of a surprise to me.” From the base of the door, a fluorescent purple light bled out, forming a slim pool of light on the carpet. As I looked at that light, I felt…I couldn’t describe it…euphoria. Like the highest high. Like chocolate and sex and the first time someone says I love you. Like playing in the snow when you’re little. That last hour of sleeping in on a Sunday morning. Or like the time my roommate talked me into running a half marathon with her and ten miles in I realized I was smiling at nothing, smiling so hard my cheeks hurt. Just looking at the light felt like everything good all at once. And a part of me wanted more. Its darkness was absolute—pure driven malevolence—but it felt so good I didn’t care. Wait…I didn’t care that it was evil? That thought scared me enough to jerk my eyes away. It was only a brief moment of looking at it, but it felt like minutes. And in that time, I felt its presence like it was looking back at me. And now it knew me.
“Okay, we’ll see what level of clearance you are assigned.” Braiden gave a good natured shrug. At least he seemed good-natured. Who knew anymore? “I’m only a three. That’s the bare minimum to be on this floor. The team is a mixed bag. Everybody seems to have a different level of clearance. But the last couple days have been big. More than one high-level exec’s gotten transferred to this project.” He grinned, no doubt proud of the department’s growing cache. “Looks like we’re entering Phase Two.”
Phase Two of what? I wondered.
A guy wearing baggy shorts, flip flops, and a graphic tee put his palm on the security panel. As he did his images changed for a split second—nobby skin, gnarled limbs, red eyes. A Nequam. My coworker was a demon in human clothing.
I turned to Braiden, wanting to scream, “Did you not see that?”
But my new coworker was busy watching me with a look of understanding and slight amusement. “Don’t feel bad, you have to have a level ten to enter,” he explained. “Very few people get that. I’m guessing you’ll get a three to start—three’s pretty impressive for your first day. I’m almost at my two-year mark.”
He thought I was jealous of the other guy’s clearance. He showed no sign he’d seen a demon.
Perhaps he was really the mild-mannered Wont he appeared to be. It made a certain kind of sense. The whole company was “a mixed bag.” Good mixed with evil. Ordinary employees like Braiden and Addison—or Aunt Jenn for that matter—offered practical cover. If Millennium had been 100 percent demons, the trail of their magic would be overpowering. Local magicborn would have banded together to destroy the place long ago.
Demons were smart. Not a reassuring thought.
“Congrats on two years, man,” I muttered, praying I didn’t sound as rattled as I felt. What the hell was behind that door? What were they planning on doing with it? And the scariest question: Why would looking at something evil feel so damn good to me?
The shuttle bus let me off at the end of the block, just down from Asher’s bookstore. I’d spent most of the day filling out health insurance forms and arguing with IT about whether I should have a laptop or a desktop—reassuringly normal corporate bullshit. But I felt so exhausted from battling the nausea all day my limbs shook with fatigue. At the same time, I was burning to tell Matt and Callie about what I saw. I’d texted them both to meet me at Asher’s.
I walked the tidy well-landscaped path leading around back of Talisman Books to find a staircase to the second floor. As I reached the landing, I felt the slight prickle of wards that allowed me through. The door opened without my having to knock. I walked down the hall to find Matt and Callie already seated in Asher’s office/lab. I could feel the cold chill between Matt and Asher from across the room.
“Alexandra.” Matt took one look at me and rushed to my side. “What happened? You’re white as a sheet.”
I didn’t need it, but the feel of his hands on my shoulders was so comforting that I let him lead me to the couch. Asher and Callie turned their armchairs to join us facing the fireplace.
Asher waved a gloveless hand and ignited
a fire, the tattoos shifting and shimmering as he did. “Tell us.”
“There’s something going on at Millennium Dynamics,” I blurted out.
“Millennium Dynamics?” Asher spat. “No freaking kidding. The CEO’s a damn Caedis. That’s where you work?”
Matt’s face hardened, blood draining from his cheeks. “You’re quitting. Immediately.”
My face burned. That sounded way too much like a command, and I wasn’t in his army.
“No, Guardian,” Asher said with derision, before I could compose myself. “Eric Starr’s doings affect the whole magicborn community. If Alix remains, she’s poised to monitor him and his Neq servants.”
“Alix, maybe we should talk about this in private,” Matt said, turning away from Asher.
They snipped back and forth until I felt like my head would explode. “Stop!” I rubbed my temples. “Please. Let me just tell you the whole story.”
By the time I got it all out, Callie was looking as freaked as I was. She slid closer to me and patted my hand. “Don’t worry, Alix, we’ll get your aunt out of there.” She understood the pain of losing family, the terror of it ever happening again.
Matt and Asher didn’t bother to reassure me; they both looked angry, ready for a fight. Hopefully not with each other.
“Well, you’re not going back, that’s for sure,” Matt said. “And we may need to offer protection to your aunt, once she breaks ties—”
“I thought you were a guardian, not a babysitter?” Asher said to Matt, venom in his words. “You’re supposed to protect her while she does her duty. Not keep her from getting into the fray.”
“She’s still untrained,” Matt shot back. “She’ll get herself killed!”
“Then what do you propose instead? You’re going to march up to the front door and say,” Asher continued in a sing song falsetto, “‘Excuse me please. May we have a look at your super-special demonic lab?’”
My emotions were being lobbed back and forth so hard and fast I felt like a tennis ball. My first instinct had been to flee. Matt’s words, about keeping me safe, wrapped around me like a warm blanket. But that wasn’t the choice my mother would have made. She had a duty to fulfill. Ready or not, I’d inherited that duty. It was awakening something in me, something long dormant but so much a part of me I recognized it as true. The pull came directly from my soul. I wanted to fight, I wanted to stop this evil from whatever it had planned. “I’m going back,” I said.
“No, I won’t risk her life for this,” Matt said firmly. Her. It burned me that he wasn’t even talking to me, but still arguing with Asher. Who was no better, with his posturing and smirking. My hands tingled with angry heat, at both of them.
“It’s not your choice,” I threw back, and turned to Asher. “Or yours!”
“Dear children.” Asher’s smirk continued to inflate, unabated. “You do realize all of us will risk our lives, being that we are in an actual war, yes?”
“The warlock wants you to do his job for him.” Matt met Asher’s eyes. Their gazes locked. “I spent my whole life training to protect coven members. I accept that that’s what my life is for, and I know I’ll die doing it. How it’s worked for the last thousand years.” He glared at me. “Your job is to protect the Demongate. Asher’s is to clean up demons who get through. The traditions work but only if you obey them.”
We were still staring daggers at each other when Callie spoke up, her voice charged with emotion.
“I’m willing to risk my life for this.”
The pronouncement, coming from sweet, bubbly Callie, shocked me. “No one’s saying you have to.” Then I realized I was being just as overprotective as Matt. “Sorry, Callie.” I hung my head. “It must be contagious.”
“Asher’s right, we can’t walk away.” Her usually smiling face was uncharacteristically serious. Unwavering. “This is what we were born to do. We start training right now.” She turned to Matt. “You said the most important thing is to complete the triumvirate. So let’s do it. Asher, help us scry for Liv. Until we get her, Alix, you just keep your head down and observe what’s going on at Millennium.”
"I will,” I said, and Asher nodded his agreement. Matt blew out a breath. Then he nodded too.
We all stared at Callie. My sweet little sister had become a warrior.
Chapter Eleven
A light mist fell on us as Callie hugged me good night in front of Asher’s bookstore late that night. Normally I wasn’t a hugger but I leaned into it.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m beat,” Callie said with a sigh. “I never imagined using magic would be so exhausting. Tell Matt he’s a trooper.”
Asher had kicked Matt out before magic lessons began and to Matt’s credit, he took it like a grown-up. Okay, more like a pouty teen, but he didn’t throw punches.
Good news: Callie could scry just fine. Bad news: something weird was still happening with Liv’s signature and we couldn’t pinpoint her. My magic was still spotty at best. Asher only made a cryptic comment saying he’d figure out a way to find Marley. With what I saw of Charice, though, nothing short of his balls on a platter would placate her. There were so many things to worry about I could barely keep up. I’d just leave this one in Asher’s court at the moment. Right now I had to warn Aunt Jenn and it couldn’t happen over the phone. Matt would just have to stew a little longer.
I looked at my phone. It was after eleven; I knew Aunt Jenn was already asleep, but this couldn’t wait.
I let myself in with my key and disabled the alarm—the security code was my birthday. As I was contemplating the best way to wake her without scaring the crap out of her, she appeared on the stairs looking as if I’d woken her up. “Alix! Are you testing my cardio fitness? Or actually trying to give me a heart attack?” She tied the sash of her blue silk bathrobe and studied my face. “What’s wrong?”
“I think we need to sit down.”
At the kitchen table, over steaming mugs of chamomile tea that neither one of us touched, I laid it all out for her. The purple light. The demon entering the lab. Eric Starr’s dark energy. She listened, brow knit, worry on her face growing with each part of the story while I explained how dangerous he was. How perilous it was for her to work so closely with him, and that she needed to quit immediately. Find another job, a new career, new city…whatever it took.
“Alix, you’re scaring me.”
“I know, I’m so sorry.” Tears came to my eyes. Terrifying my aunt felt cruel, but it was for her own good. “I know it’s bad, but there are steps we can take to protect you.” I was about to tell her about how we could try to get her into a magical witness protection program—Matt thought this would definitely qualify—when she sat back and let out a long sigh.
“I know this is a huge transition in your life.” She took my hand in hers. “But this isn’t how the Alix I know handles adversity. Not with paranoia and fantasizing.”
Stunned, I dropped her hand. “You think I’m making this all up?”
Her gentle voice and the deep concern in her eyes was harder to take than derision would have been. “Believe me, I know better than anyone how hard it is to accept that you weren’t meant to follow in your mother’s footsteps. To make that break, to bury those old hopes. It’s incredibly painful.”
“It isn’t that!” It came out more defensive than assured.
“Honey, we both know you don’t have magic. It’s not an opinion. It’s the evaluation of the most experienced witch on the west coast.” I opened my mouth to protest but she raised a hand to stop me. “You and me are in the same nonmagical boat, kiddo. Even if that weren’t the case, I’ve been working with Eric Starr for ten years. He’s doing amazing things—things that will change the world. I am not in danger, I’m part of a company that’s bold and innovative. I’m not some victim. Neither are you…usually. Your nerves are getting the best of you.” She stood. “It’s late and we both have a big day at the office tomorrow. We should get some sleep.”
; Her stance was solid, her face set. She wouldn’t be swayed. But I knew what I felt. I tried to pull some magic to my fingertips…but nothing happened. “You have to believe me—”
“No, Alix.” She cut me off, the agony in her voice unmistakable. “You have to move on, like I did. We’re two peas in a pod, honey. Always have been, always will be. And I’m not going down this road again, for your own good. It’ll just break both our hearts.”
Chapter Twelve
At 4:45 p.m. on Tuesday, I sat hunched over at my desk, nervously playing with the charm on my necklace as I double checked my work. My report—researching Millennium’s competitors in the neural network space—was riddled with typos. No doubt because I was sinking so much mental energy into watching my back. The necklace was from the velvet bag my mother left me. Asher had explained that it was a coven necklace, and the mark carved into the charm was a twining symbol. When worn by all the members of a coven, it would strengthen their magical bond. He’d added a simple quelling spell to it, to combat the nausea that plagued me here. Thanks to Asher’s spell, I’d kept down the slice of gourmet pizza I had at lunch in the food court. Actually, I was amazed I could eat it in the first place, but I’d been hungry. Instead of making coffee or breakfast this morning, Matt had gone for an early run. His attempt, I suspected, to give me space.
For the tenth time today, I reflexively checked my phone, secretly hoping for a text from him. But there was only one from Emma, asking me to call her. As much as I loved the girl, a mundane catch-up call was not something my overwhelmed brain could handle right now. I made a note to respond later.
Then I scolded myself for pathetically checking texts like a lovesick teenager.
Matt had been waiting for me at the kitchen table when I returned from Aunt Jenn’s last night. He motioned to me to sit across from him. From the firm set of his jaw, I assumed he was going to go all sergeant on me and bark out reprimands for having gone AWOL, but he didn’t. Instead, he told me about how protection was a team effort. He could only do his job if I let him in, kept him informed of what was going on. That it was my choice, always my choice. But it was his calling—he looked me in the eye with that melting gaze —to keep me safe. I stood there, speechless. All I could think of was how unfair it was. Matt was an ideal guardian for our coven. He and I made a perfect team. We had natural, good, working chemistry…the problem was my feelings for him didn’t stop there. They’d spilled over, at some point. Who knew when? Maybe it started when I saw him kill that first demon, or when he handed me that first cup of coffee. Or guided me through the ambush outside of Sanctum. Or threw his arm around me at the frat house. Maybe it started the very moment when I pulled him into this realm, using magic I swore I didn’t have but that he was confident I did. Whenever it began, it was way too late now. He took my silence for me being confused about what I wanted. Which couldn’t have been further from the truth. I knew exactly what I wanted, he just didn’t want me back. Not in that way. Calmly, Matt stood and told me that if I wanted him as a guardian he was all in, I only needed to ask. Those were the last words we’d spoken to each other before he left for his shift at Sanctum.