“Yeah, it would totally annoy all the angels if your friends tagged along. I mean, totally unprofessional and everything,” Riley said, his tone sly. “Absolutely against the rules.”
“Fine, twist my arm,” I said with a grin. “But you guys better pack fast.”
Thirty-six minutes later the three of us stood in HR headquarters. The other angels did indeed look a bit peeved that I’d arrived with an entourage. One of the commanders approached the HR and whispered in his ear, casting a dirty look in my direction. The HR shook his head and responded quietly, though I could hear his words. “Special Agent Star can bring whomever she likes,” he said.
Eli walked up to us and nodded a greeting to Riley and Quinn. He cast me an assessing look, and I couldn’t help but notice his eyes flicker to my wrist for the barest of moments. I wanted to punch him in the face.
“Do you need an angel to take you through the pathways, or do you think you can do it yourself?” he asked me.
I’d been practicing my interdimensional jumps the past couple of months, and they were a lot better. Usually only angels could perform the jumps, but I was a quick learner. You needed to know where you were going, and I had plenty of vivid images of Dublin stored in my head, albeit old ones. Plenty that I wished weren’t there. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. I’ll take Quinn if you can take Riley.”
“Sure.”
We gathered together to make the jump, and the HR stood before us, providing a final blessing and words of wisdom. The odds were already against us. It was why they’d called me in. I was always their last resort.
“If anyone can find Ambriel, it’s the four of you,” the HR said, his voice soothing and encouraging as always. “I know you’ll do your best.”
“If he can be found, we’ll find him,” I responded. To the others, I turned and said, “Are we ready to do this?”
An angel, a witch and a werewolf all nodded back at me. I fixed the location Eli and I had agreed upon firmly in my head, and leaped out into the interdimensional pathways.
CHAPTER THREE
I felt the familiar feeling of my body being compressed and yanked through space, as if stepping onto a roller coaster already in motion. A brief jerk, my stomach jumping into my mouth, and we popped into the space between spaces. Blackness, but for a few white, lacy branches that looked like coral, dotted here and there in the vast space. Then we were ripped forward again, and a moment later stepped out of the pathways. Two blinks of an eye and it was done. The whole interdimensional travel thing was pretty wicked, I had to admit. Goodbye, Delta. I had my own personal jetliner now, plus the added bonus of a heady adrenaline rush.
We’d landed in the Ballsbridge neighborhood of Dublin, an area south of the River Liffey and a bit inland of the bay. Apparently it was where all the national embassies were housed, not that I would know. I hadn’t been to Dublin in about a hundred years. Last time I’d been there’d been horse-drawn carriages, not hover crafts. Glancing around me at the asphalt roads, neat tree-lined avenues and glittering city lights, it appeared a few things had changed. I eyed the modern concrete structure before us and shivered in my leather jacket as an icy late-winter wind whipped down from the sky.
Eli gave us a sharp nod, as if verifying that none of us had gotten stuck in the pathways. “There’s no Holy Representative stationed in Dublin, but we do have a significant angelic force. We share this building with the NHTF.”
NHTF stood for Non-Human Task Force. They were basically special police trained to deal with supernatural problems like demons opening portals into the Earth realm, rogue werewolves, etc. It made me a bit uncomfortable that an essentially military force had shacked up with the forces of Heaven.
Apparently I wasn’t the only one who thought that. “Isn’t it a bit of a… I don’t know, conflict of interest? For the NHTF and angelic forces to work so closely together?” Riley asked.
Eli flicked his gaze over to him as if the thought had never crossed his mind. Maybe it hadn’t; the dude had grown up trained not to question authority. “The NHTF is an ally, it makes a certain sense to share offices in some instances.”
“Maybe, but it makes it hard to keep a separation between government and God,” I added.
“Well, we can debate that another time,” Eli said stiffly. “We’re here to find my missing comrade.”
He strode forward toward the doors without looking back to see if we followed. Riley, Quinn and I cast each other raised-brow looks before following him inside.
The interior of the building was stark and militaristic, not in the slightest bit welcoming. Looked like the NHTF had definitely taken the lead in décor. It had none of the elegance of the lobby in HR headquarters back home. A single desk stood at the back of the room, behind which sat an angel in the usual pale gray tunic, and an NHTF officer in an olive uniform. To the right of them was a door, flanked by two more officers. Though it was only a couple hours until midnight, none of them seemed surprised to have visitors. Eli stopped in front of the desk and cast a quick salute. He’d changed when I went home, and now wore the same sort of tunic as the other angel instead of the jeans and t-shirt he seemed to prefer. It covered up all his nice muscly bits, which was a tad tragic.
“Commander Whitesong here to see Commander Juno.”
The nameless angel and NHTF officer nodded. The NHTF officer leaned to the side, casting a glance that slid off me like I was five-day-old roadkill. “And these are?”
Eli opened his mouth to speak, but I stepped around him. “Special Agent Zyan Star. Yes, THE Zyan Star. Appointed by the HR of Northwest America after saving his life and preventing Lucifer from taking over the realm of Earth.”
They looked me up and down, taking in my burgundy hair, leather jacket and jeans. Not to mention the big-ass katana strapped across my back. And the emerald green nail polish.
I hooked a finger over my shoulder toward Quinn and Riley. “And these two were instrumental in helping me and Eli—Commander Whitesong, that is—save the planet’s ass. We’re here to find the angel you guys lost.”
“I’ll call Commander Juno,” the angel said, scrambling over his words slightly.
Eli cast me a reproving look as we waited, but I just grinned in return. A couple minutes later the two NHTF officers guarding the door pulled it open and a tall angel emerged. Her hair was short and red, her eyes a startling purple, bright unlike Eli’s pale lavender ones.
“I’m Commander Juno,” she said. “Follow me.”
We entered the depths of the building, passing through stark white hall after stark white hall. What was it with them and decorating like a mental hospital? We reached what was clearly a command center, a busy room with banks of screens and holographic programs running. Angels and NHTF officers stood together, monitoring video feeds, calling out commands into their comm devices, and repositioning various satellite feeds.
“After Officer Lightwing went missing, we tapped into our global surveillance network to see if we could pick him up via facial recognition scans,” Juno said, confirming my thoughts. “We also of course have the supernatural DNA scanners in all registered businesses to track the supernatural population. It picks up angels as well. Nothing matching his DNA signature so far. Wherever he’s been taken, it’s off the grid.”
Hopefully not off the grid as in dead, I thought grimly.
“His apartment was pristine, not a trace of a struggle or any suspicious DNA evidence,” she continued. “Not that we really expected anyone to have taken him out from under our noses in this building. We’ve interviewed his contacts outside the angelic forces and no one has seen or heard anything pertaining to his whereabouts.” She sighed, her purple eyes troubled. “He simply clocked out of work two days ago, presumably left the building to run an errand, and vanished from there.”
“What makes you certain he was abducted?” I asked.
Juno looked over as if noticing me for the first time. Her face bore a look of confusion. “What else could explain his di
sappearance?”
I shrugged. “Maybe he didn’t want to work for the angelic forces anymore.”
The female angel went stiff as an oak. “Angels do not abandon their position, Ms. Star.” Her tone was arctic. “Unlike the other supernatural races, we are born and carry on our lives to fulfill a very specific purpose: to protect humanity. It is our duty, pure and simple, and not something we simply walk out on.”
I let her insult of other supes slide right on by. “That’s all very noble, but I’ll repeat my question: do you have hard evidence that Ambriel was abducted?”
“I don’t need evidence.” Juno’s eyes bored into mine. “I’m not sure how the HR in Seattle handles things, but we follow a very strict code of conduct here in Dublin. We’re not accustomed to bringing in outside help on our missions, let alone someone of your… reputation. Not all of us are keen on your involvement in this, so I suggest you tread lightly if you wish to continue employment with the angelic forces.”
I smiled broadly. “Let me clarify something about my reputation, as you seem to be confused. I follow no code of conduct and I never tread lightly. That’s why the HR asked for my help, and later promoted me to special agent. I get shit done. And another thing—I am no one’s employee. I choose the cases I wish to work, and since so far your team here in Dublin has failed to find even the tiniest lead in Ambriel’s disappearance, Eli and I were called in to salvage the situation. I respect the HR, and I’m working this case as a personal favor to him. You can fire me if you wish, it makes no difference.”
Juno’s face twisted, and she opened her mouth to fire back a response. Eli took a step forward, placing himself between the two of us. “Let’s all take a breath here. Commander Juno, not everyone is accustomed to Zyan’s mannerisms, but she is very good at her job, as are her colleagues, and we’d like to help. Please finish your briefing so we can get to work finding Ambriel as soon as possible.”
The purple-eyed angel was so red in the face I thought her head might explode. She took a breath in, and let it out slowly. “We feel that it is most certain that one of the other supernatural races abducted Ambriel. That’s the avenue we wish you to explore. Since your comrades have connections here in the city, we want you to canvas the supernatural community and ascertain who might have motive.”
“I just can’t imagine any of the supes wanting to kidnap an angel,” Quinn said, shaking her head back and forth.
“Except for Lucifer’s lackies,” Riley added.
Juno ignored their comments and turned her attention to Eli. “You’ll report back to me every twelve hours with a progress update. That is all, Commander Whitesong.”
Eli bristled slightly but said, “Certainly, Commander. We hope to have news soon.”
She nodded sharply and waved to a nearby angel. “I’ll have you escorted out.”
We were led back through the maze of hallways to a side entrance, not the main lobby we’d come in through. The door the angel showed us led into an alley between the buildings.
“Well, that was pleasant,” I said once we were outside.
Eli glowered at me. “Only because you had to challenge her authority and put her on the defensive.”
“Me?” I chased after him as he stalked down the alley toward the street. Riley and Quinn trotted behind us. “She was a gigantic bitch from the get-go. I was simply holding my own after she insulted the fuck out of me, Riley and Quinn. Like we’re some supernatural riff-raff slaves to do her bidding.”
“Why can’t you behave for once?” Eli stopped and looked down at me. “Just keep the peace.”
“Well, maybe if you’d have stuck up for me, partner, I wouldn’t have had to jump her shit.”
“I did stick up for you.”
“When?”
“I said you were good at your job.”
“Whatever.” Now it was my turn to stomp off. He was really being obnoxious. What had happened to our lovely bonding from a couple months ago? We were right back to square one.
“We need to find a place to stay,” he called after me.
“I already know where we’re staying.”
“Which is where?”
“Somewhere away from this place. If we’re going to get in with the supes here, we need to stay in the right neighborhood. The Liberties has a large supe population. We’ll blend in there.” I stopped and glanced over at him. “Well, you won’t blend in, Wings, but we’ll do our best. Follow me.”
Eli said, “I’ve been to The Liberties. It’ll do.”
“Glad to hear it,” I said, somewhat sarcastically, and we stepped through the pathways.
I wondered what had led Eli to visit The Liberties before, but that was a story for another day. For now, we just needed to find us an angel so we could get back home. Or more specifically, so I could get back home. Quinn and Riley could stay and sight-see all they wanted, but I was already on edge and ready to get my ass out of here.
The street I’d directed us to lay right on the cusp of The Liberties and Old City neighborhoods. Before us stretched a ramshackle building, rising more or less in a straight fashion toward the sky. Two large, dirty windows dotted the front, and yellow light from within spilled onto the street. Cobblestones pushed up beneath my feet like an army of angry moles, and the lack of asphalt comforted me. I was glad to see that some sections of the city still held onto their roots. This rock had been trod upon by countless people for centuries, and it glistened with age.
“The Drunken Dragon,” Riley said out loud in a dubious tone as he looked up at the wooden sign hanging from the building in front of us. It was amazing he could read it at all since the painted lettering had nearly weathered off. All that remained were streaks of pea-green paint, plus the sign hung straight down from one chain as the other had broken. “Please tell me we’re not staying here.”
“When you’re trying to fly under the radar, you don’t roll up into Dublin and get rooms at The Westbury. You stay somewhat off the grid, and with people that don’t blab their mouths off,” I said. “Like the dragon shifters that run this tavern.”
“I didn’t realize people used the word tavern anymore,” Quinn said, a smile on her lips as she tugged at the hem of her blue sweater dress.
I opened my mouth to respond, but Eli beat me to the punch. “We’re here to work, so it makes no difference.”
“Thanks,” I said, shooting him a smile he didn’t return. “Except I was going to add in something about whining like babies.”
Riley rolled his eyes. “I’m sure it’ll be swell.”
I strode to the door, a massive thing with a brass handle and ribbons of curling red paint drooping from the front. It was no joke to heave it open, and I’m no weakling. They just didn’t make things like they used to. Not substantial things, things of true substance. Even the walls and doors of HR headquarters, virtually indestructible, were nothing compared to the buildings on this street. Modern buildings lacked a certain vitality. They lacked life. The things surrounding me now had been hewn from the earth with painstaking care and assembled with hours upon hours of labor, had weathered time and history. They lived and breathed and told stories of times gone by.
Memories were not, however, anything that interested me at the moment. I suppressed a wave of them as the essence of the place hit me, a tangible smell of whiskey and timber and cobwebs. And the metallic taste of dragon scales. It’d been a long time since I stepped foot in this joint, and the ghost of it scurried over my skin. But I couldn’t turn back now. As Eli said, we had work to do.
My eyes darted about, taking in the dark wood that comprised the walls and floor, and the array of rough-hewn tables dotted about. About the same as I remembered it. A couple people sat in shadowy corners nursing their drinks. From behind the bar on the far side of the room, a weathered man looked our way. He paused in his polishing of the glasses and his mouth dropped open. “Well call me the bastard son of a leprechaun, if it isn’t Kaitlyn McClellan.”
Three hea
ds spun to look at me. I ignored them. “Well you are a bastard, Gus, and I did always wonder about the leprechaun part.”
Gus grinned and leapt over the bar, nimble as a cat (or shape shifter), and came to pull me into a bone-crushing hug. “I was wondering when you’d come back to your old stomping grounds.”
After a moment Gus released me and I stepped back to look at him. He hadn’t aged a day since last I saw him, a good hundred years prior. Same raven hair and pewter eyes, same fishermen’s skin, red and leathery. He was older than me—dragon shifters lived way longer than most of the other shifter species, even reaching four digits in some cases. I guessed him to be more than halfway to that mark. He’d been around this place when it was a tiny village run by pagans.
“What brings you to The Drunken Dragon?” Gus asked, looking questioningly at my companions. His eyes rested for a long moment on Eli, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly.
“A lot’s changed since we last spoke. I’m in Seattle now. These are my two roommates, Riley and Quinn, and the one packing the wings is my partner, Eli.” I smiled. “I’m helping the HR out with special cases here and there.”
“And a case brought you here?” Gus’s eyebrows went up.
“Yep. It seem we’ve got a missing angel. I’m going to try my connections here, see if I can’t flush anything out. Local forces can’t find a trace of him.”
Gus looked at me for a long moment. “Little Kaitlyn working for the HR.” He shook his head. “We do have a lot to catch up on. And we’re going to need whiskey for that many stories.”
Behind me, Eli made an impatient noise. “Zy…”
“Just a moment,” I said, smiling sweetly at Gus. I turned on my heel and guided Eli by the elbow back out the front door. “Is there a problem?”
“We don’t have time for you to catch up with old acquaintances. We need to get out and start canvassing.”
“This is how we’re going to get the case solved—if it can be. By me talking with all my local friends. The angels have turned up nothing. It’s why the HR wanted me to work this one.”
Whiskey and Angelfire Page 2