“I thought your job was protecting people,” I stated simply.
Officer Riland headed in my direction, but Kaleb stopped him in his tracks with one hand against his chest.
“Don’t,” was all Kaleb said in a dangerously low tone. Apparently, Riland had a brain in there somewhere as he remained where he was.
“Our boss will hear of this,” Wiles promised as he went to walk away. “He’ll report it to your chief.”
“Let him.” I shrugged my shoulders. “And by all means, please tell Dathan Raynes we said ‘Hi’.”
Wiles said nothing as he grabbed Riland’s arm to march him away before he made another stupid move. We waited until they were out of view before we said anything.
“Cole is so going to have our ass over this,” I murmured and Kaleb laughed.
“They won’t say a thing if they’ve got something to hide. And trust me, they definitely have something to hide.”
“Any reason why you decided to poke at them that way?”
“I think that little exercise told us plenty. Don’t you?”
“That their colleagues were supposed to be on duty that night? Yeah. It would seem that no one from SQR was anywhere near here, or the park, when the attack occurred.”
“And they’re eager to hunt for more business and even steal it if necessary. That’s a risky game to play.”
“Shit,” I whispered as some of the pieces started to come together. “Rudolf has got his heavies dressed up as GPOs to extort for him. He’s taking out the territories from underneath the others under the guise of protection. Once he’s got them all in his pocket …”
“He’ll own them, and fear will be enough to protect him from anyone pressing charges. The SQR will become the most dominant force around here. No one will dare take them on.”
“It would become gang territory,” I agreed, thinking of how this kind of thing operated on Earthside. “They’re working fast. Taking over territories with limited resources; spreading like a disease…”
Kaleb looked as frustrated as I felt. This wasn’t how we were used to working, and it was weaving even deeper into something that wouldn’t even fall under our jurisdiction. Anything such as this would be dealt with by the Senate Support Council, who audited firms such as Ground Patrol. It was a legal tangle where they had law keeper support to help them unravel it all.
“We need to find out why they wanted to make themselves scarce at that particular time, on that particular night,” said Kaleb.
“Yeah, I know. I think it’s time to do some digging on the victim.”
“You don’t think it was a random attack?”
“I did. But I don’t anymore. What if she was targeted?”
“By a rogue shifter? That’s a bit of a risky way to target someone.”
“It’s also a great way to target someone. Who would it lead back to?”
“Good thinking. But right now it’s leading back to the Territorial Shifter Hold, and the Consilium are shutting the lead down.”
I rubbed my eyes wearily, “Yeah, that’s the part that doesn’t make any sense.”
“Tell me about it. So, what now?”
“Let’s go ask around. There are a few legal drug sellers around this time of night. Maybe they’ve heard of some new kind of drug hitting the streets that we’re not aware of.”
“Cole didn’t want us to poke in that direction. Not with the Consilium on his case.”
“We’re not going to pull on that thread directly. We’ll just say we’re doing a random drug sweep. They won’t know it’s related.”
“Sneaky,” he grinned. “I must say, I’m liking this side of you.”
“You would.” Kaleb was the one who usually liked to play fast and fanciful with the rules.
“Drug sellers tonight, victim tomorrow, then Rudolf the day after. At least we’ve got a path to follow now.”
Remembering my conversation with Mayra, I told him, “Don’t forget, I’m out tomorrow night. I’ll only be a few hours, though.”
His laugh was loud. “Last time you said that, Mayra had to have me come fetch you. You were so sloshed you could barely walk.”
“I was not that bad.”
“You said you wanted to marry me and have my babies. You were that bad.”
“Oh,” I recalled the vague memory of those words and heat hit my cheeks. “I don’t think I remember that bit.”
“Of course you do. You couldn’t face me the day after. It was hilarious. And while we’re on the subject of babies …”
“Shut up.”
“Will you call me ‘baby’ again, please? Just one more time?”
“Piss off, Kaleb.”
“You’ll say it again. Don’t worry.”
“Don’t count on it.”
He laughed and urged me in the direction of the first seller. “Wait until you’ve been on your girl’s night out, then you’ll be calling me up and begging your ‘baby’ to come fetch you.”
“I hate you.”
He laughed and draped an arm around my shoulder. “Yeah, I hate you, too.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Located on the edge of the Victorian Quarter, The Wicked Cauldron was an isolated building that looked more like a haunted house than a bar.
Making my way in through the crooked doorway, the doormen nodded their heads in welcome. It was just after six so Rosie and Mayra should already be inside.
Annoyance still filled me from our failure the night before. Questioning the drug sellers had resulted in nothing. No one had heard of anything new hitting the streets, and there were no rumors amounting to that effect.
There had been nothing untoward on the victim’s paperwork either. Emera Divan was a twenty-four year old registered witch. Not a hereditary one, but she was listed as a Sapphire Citizen. That meant she must have qualified from the Sapphire extension of Portiside Schoolhouse. Those who had the means and talents to do so could stay on for extra studies of certain magical subjects to pass the banding exam and get their magic license. Without it, they would remain under the color banding of their birth, or immigration date, if they were anything like me.
My testing hadn’t been the nicest of experiences when I’d come through the portal. But Dan had stayed with me through it all after he’d pulled some strings. Thankfully, for me, I’d bypassed most of the school’s learning and only had to enroll in the last three years before applying for the academy. But Emera’s background bothered me. We couldn’t find much on her before her enrollment, and there had been nothing to connect her to Rudolf or the SQR officers. She had no next of kin listed, and her neighbors had said she was quiet and kept to herself. She ran a freelance business but there was no client book in her home that we could find. We’d hit another dead end, and Emera was still in her healing coma so we couldn’t speak to her.
The lack of information had demotivated both of us after spending all day on it. And we’d parted ways with the same weight on our shoulders and no results to show for our efforts. At least I had the outlet of a night out, and I was glad for the reprieve.
As I walked deeper into The Wicked Cauldron I appreciated, as always, how true it was to its name.
It was pretty wicked.
Neon green stalactites hung from the recess above the long bar, with dark fabric falling from the apex in the ceiling. It made me feel as if I was in the middle of a huge, black circus tent as the fabric draped effortlessly into the surrounding walls. A huge cauldron sat in the middle of the large space, with four sets of stairs leading up to where it had been mounted. Smoke, thick and dense like dry ice, spiraled out of its center where patrons could add their wishes or spells on little notes of paper if they so desired. It was a novelty that rumor had emphasized by claiming the cauldron was blessed by Hecate herself. The goddess of magic was a deity many of the witches worshiped over here.
I found Mayra and Rosie sitting on green, plush stools at the bar with smoking drinks already in front of them. Coming up at thei
r rear, I picked up the purple one in the middle and supped out of the straw. “I take it the Indigo Velvet is mine?”
“All ready and waiting,” Mayra said as she pulled me into an embrace. “Thank you for coming.”
“No need to thank me,” I told her before greeting Rosie in the same way. “I needed this as much as you two did. It’s nice to get together.”
“How’s the case going?” Rosie asked as I took a seat among them.
“Weird and full of corruption.” I raised my glass. “And as frustrating as hell.”
They laughed and clinked their glasses against mine.
“So,” I turned to Mayra, “going to tell us who your so-called friend is?”
“There’s no need to name and shame. But she was a witch who I trusted. It turns out she used me to do a spell she couldn’t do, so she used a fake friendship and disguised spell to do so.” She hesitated. “It turns out she got me to open a demonic door. I thought she wanted to open a door to an ex’s heart so he could see her intentions are true. She told the truth on that part though, I suppose.”
“What do you mean?”
“Her ex-boyfriend was a demon.” Mayra shook her head. “She summoned a demon when she was younger and he made her his lover before dumping her ass on this plane. He then headed off home and left her pining ever since. He wasn’t too happy when he discovered why I’d yanked him back through the door.”
“Did he try to hurt you?”
“No. He was just annoyed and told me to watch my back with his ex who he called the Psycho Bitch from Hell.”
“Wait a minute. You’re telling me that even a demon thought this chick was psycho?”
“Yep. And that’s bad.”
“I’d say so,” Rosie said. “But what hurt you?”
“A few things got through when the door opened because I’d done so unknowingly. You know me. I’m over the top when it comes to protection. If I knew I was opening a demonic door I would have done things differently. She left me open because she was desperate and stupid. I was lucky I saw what came through before it was too late, but they still managed to attach to me for a few seconds. It left behind some bad energy. But it’ll go soon.” She let out a long, deep breath. “I feel better already just being here with you guys.”
“What did you do to the witch?”
“Reported her to Healers Holding Hands. You know? The HHH? They can deal with her. I’ve also put some protection over each entryway to the shop so she can’t come anywhere near it again. The Magus Senate can revoke her magic license for all I care. She crossed a major line.”
“Yeah, she did,” I replied. It must have been serious if it pushed Mayra far enough to consider involving the Consilium. And it was extremely lucky that she’d had been able to fight the demons off and close the door before it was too late. There weren’t many who would have been so fortunate.
Demons were beings from another dimension, and small demonic doors could be opened if someone was powerful enough to do so. But there were many who didn’t try for good reason. The demon domain was made up of many different cities, where there were some demons who were decent enough not to kill you. But there were many others who would eat you for the fun of it. From what I knew of the demon world, it wasn’t a nice place. Thank goodness for the giants of Giant’s Pass who protected Portiside from what was known as The Shadow Veil.
The Shadow veil was the weakest point between the demon dimension and the dimension pocket we sat in. It was a place where the demons could find a way through without the use of magic from our side to aid them. We were lucky it sat on the other side of the mountains that bordered our world, for that was where the Carraig Giants patrolled regularly to stop anyone from passing through without sanction—including the demons. Part of the Fey, and listed as Emerald-Earth Citizens, the Carraig Giants were supposedly born from the hills and mountains that made up the pass. They never wandered far from their home, and they took their role as protectors of Portiside very seriously. They didn’t like the threat of the demons, who always hovered close by the weakened veil, and they worked together to ensure no one escaped through to cause us harm.
A few demons had pleaded their case to become citizens over time—hence the need for a Demon Senate—but the fewer the better after what I’d heard. And there weren’t many in Portiside who would disagree with me. Mayra may have been strong enough to have saved herself from the dark entities that had tried to come through the door, but few other Sapphire Citizens would have been. Messing with the demon world was bad news.
“Enough about me,” Mayra said as she waved off our concern. “How’s your work going, Rosie?”
“Busy. Always busy. But I love it. I worry sometimes that I work way too much. I’m hardly at home lately.”
“Tell me about it,” I nudged her. “We’re saving a fortune in crystal energy between us right now. I’ve only been using the place to crash.”
“I know. And I’m sorry I’m not there as much. There’s just a lot going on with the project.”
“It’s fine. Honestly. I’m thankful you let me move into such a lush place. After the herb seller nearly killed me by burning the oleander flower by mistake at my old place, I thought I would have no choice but to move back in with Chris. But that would have been so low on the cool factor. I would never have been able to get laid ever again ... Not that I’m getting any now.”
“I wondered how long it would take for you to get around to sex,” Mayra said. “It’s been longer than I thought.”
Laughter filled my voice, “Shut it. I think it’s a sorry state that between the three of us we’re seeing no action lately. We’re not bad looking ladies and we work hard. We should be able to have some fun in that way every now again.”
“Kaleb would be very happy to fulfill your needs,” Rosie said with a snort of laughter and I prayed for patience.
“No, not Kaleb. That’s a disaster waiting to happen. But you always have my dad you could jump on top of.” The words of what I said registered a little too late. “Actually, hold that thought. That’s weird. Not that I don’t want you to. You go girl and all that. But I don’t want to think about it. After you’ve done the horizontal dance, maybe afterward, you can tell me how it went in a very high level of detail. And I mean extremely high level. Like, ‘Terra, we did it,’ and that’s all. Or maybe even higher than that? Like a knowing smile. Yeah. That’s better. A knowing smile.”
Mayra’s loud laugh caused a few patrons to turn around to see what was going on, and Rosie blushed hard.
“Terra,” she berated me, glowing red, and I couldn’t help but laugh with Mayra.
“We know you’re hot for him, Rose. And it’s fine. We’re annoyed you’re taking so damn long to get around to it. Maybe you wouldn’t need to work so much if you were getting some.”
“The reason I can’t go there with Chris is because of the same reasons you can’t go there with Kaleb. You work together. You’re friends. It would be too messed up. And you don’t have to factor in that the man you would be sleeping with is also the dad of one of your best friends.”
“Technically, he’s my stepdad. So maybe that will make it less weird for you. But yeah, I get why it’s weird.” I leaned on the bar. “We’re so sad, the three of us. The last time I had any was when Bernard traveled through here. That was over twelve months ago. No wonder I’m a miserable bitch half of the time.”
“Mine is longer than that,” Mayra admitted. “It’s been almost two years since I had an affair with that warlock, Stenner Bluelight. What that man could do in bed …”
“And he proved that by trying it on with Dawn. He was a dick.”
“Yeah,” she admitted, “but he was a handsome dick. That was a shame.”
“I can beat you both hands down,” Rosie said, as she leaned her head on her hand. “Four years.”
“Four!” Not that it was a bad thing, but she was still a female with hot Fey blood running through her veins. Each to their own in
when they chose or chose not to do the dance, but still …
“It was that scientist over on Earthside when I was working there for six months. It was fun while it lasted, but then I had to come back here. He’s married now. Quite a sweet guy to be honest.”
A sigh escaped her lips as she reminisced and I could see the hurt beginning to simmer.
“I have a crush on Cole,” I blurted out, trying to divert her attention away from any pain she might be feeling. But a small and secretive part of me also realized it was because I had been desperate to make the confession for the last few weeks.
“What?” they both demanded in unison, startled at my outburst, and I buried my face in my hands.
“I can’t help it. I keep fantasizing about him and weird things keep happening between us. There’s a strange pull, one I think we’re both fighting. But it’s so wrong, isn’t it? Am I right?” I looked up to see doubt on their faces.
“He’s your boss, Terra,” Rosie said with concern. “And a shifter. He’s also the eldest son of an Alpha, remember?”
“I know,” I groaned. “I know. He’s most likely had his mate picked out since birth, but I can’t help it. I’m an idiot.”
“You’re not an idiot,” Mayra said, and I noticed her signal to the barman to pour another round. “And I think deep down, I’ve always known that Cole is fascinated with you. Ever since you’ve been at the academy.”
“Fascinated? I doubt that.”
“Yes, fascinated. And that means he never knows how to handle you. You’ve turned his ordered world upside down, and I think he wants to punish you a little for it.”
“What?” I asked as the blood drained from my face. A vision of Cole, in a bedroom, punishing me in all the right ways sailed through my head like an unwanted guest.
“It’s just a crush,” Rosie reassured me with a gentle tap on my arm. “You’ll get over it. We’ve all been there.”
“You’ve wanted to ride your boss?”
“Well, maybe not my boss. But you know … The boy you couldn’t have. The one who got away. The one you had to pine for from a distance.”
Death Be Blue (The Terra Vane Series Book 1) Page 16