“Rudolf said he had his hands woven into everything from the top to the bottom. Maybe he was right?”
“Or maybe it was the other way round?” Kaleb suggested. And I had to admit, it sounded more accurate when he put it that way. Rudolf was a bottom feeder on a power trip. It didn’t make sense that he would be the brains behind anything more complicated.
When Cole didn’t show half an hour later, we headed back to the main office to find that his door was still shut.
“Has he come out yet?” Kaleb asked Doreen once she came off a call.
“Not yet. He’s still on with them. The call was requested through a secure line.” She pursed her lips. “Don’t get many of those.”
“Interesting,” I said as I tapped my chin with my fingers. Kaleb smirked as he made himself comfortable. Ten minutes later, Cole showed his face, and he didn’t look happy.
“Doreen, hold all my calls,” he said from across the office. “Agent Vane, Agent Cipher, in my office. Now.”
“This doesn’t sound good,” I muttered, and Kaleb’s silence confirmed that he agreed. I followed him in and closed the door behind me.
“What is it?” Kaleb asked in all seriousness as he kept a watchful eye on his brother.
Cole rubbed his eyes. “There’s been a prison break.”
“Erm,” Kaleb said as he raised his hand. “I think we already knew that.”
Cole’s hologram pod bleeped as he loaded up the screen. “I don’t mean the Territorial Shifter Hold. I mean the actual prison. You need to take a look at this.”
Holographic images lit up on the table where the pod was pointing. Different faces flashed into existence, from one to the other, appearing like police photos on Earthside. Facts appeared beside them, but they were going by too quickly to read.
“Twelve others have escaped,” Cole told us, his voice heavy with the burden that had landed on his desk. “And they’re twelve prisoners who weren’t assigned to the Hold like the wendigo and shifters were. It looks as if this was planned with help from the inside, and it seems that Rudolf taking the rogues was executed for a greater purpose. Or as a good distraction.”
“Twelve?” Kaleb asked, the disbelief on his face mimicking exactly what I was feeling.
“Twelve that the Consilium are declaring after an investigation at the prison. Knowing them, they may keep others quiet if it’s in their best interests.” He said ‘interests’ with a bite to his tone, and the tension in the room raised a notch.
“And that’s them?” I asked, pointing to the scrolling images. “That’s the twelve who have escaped?”
“Yes,” he replied, as the faces repeated over and over again. “A deadly reptile shifter. A corrupt elf lord and an incubus, to name but a few. They’ve been on the run since the rogues escaped, and the prison have finally admitted there has been a breach.”
“Are the prisoners still here in Portiside?” It may have been a stupid question knowing how seriously Immigration took their role. And if there’d been any attempt of illegal transportation through a portal without the correct paperwork, there would have been a takedown. But I asked it anyway.
“As far as we’re aware,” Cole replied. “But considering the Consilium, and the prison, have tried to keep this under wraps for this long, then I’m not disputing anything,” he spoke angrily. “We have now been assigned to the escape, and I’ve been told to keep it need-to-know while we try to dig deeper.”
“And we’re the need-to-know?”
“While you gather information and try to find a lead on these criminals, then yes. You already have the background and knowledge on the rogues and the drugs. And the files are on my desk ready for you to get started. But the files cannot leave this room. I suggest you go get some paper and a pen to make notes.”
“This is bad,” I whispered, and Kaleb and I looked at one another. Our earlier concerns about corruption in the Consilium were even more worrying now. It seemed as though Cole was started to piece it together, too. His face looked like thunder.
“Bad isn’t the word I’d choose,” Cole growled. “Twelve criminals are running loose in my city and the citizens are in potential danger. I suggest you work fast. I have a few phone calls to make, and I need to give Dan the heads-up. Do what you need to, and keep me posted.” He focused on me. “Every step of the way.”
Memories of the kiss lingered in my mind as Cole’s eyes hovered on my lips for a short second. But what had happened between us no longer mattered. We had a major distraction in front of us, and I didn’t want to deal with my roaring emotions right now.
It didn’t matter what Kaleb had said about love. Cole wasn’t in love with me. Lust, maybe. I felt it, too, but it was a risky itch to scratch. Finding these escaped prisoners was more important. And I had a feeling that Cole had only given us the highlights. Not one to judge a book by its cover, but if you wanted to pile together a scary bunch of people, then the twelve still rotating in front of us definitely fit the bill.
Cole nodded in our direction, then left the room.
“I guess it’s time to go get a pen,” Kaleb shrugged as he tried to put a light spin on things, but I could sense he was also worried. An incubus—not good. A reptile shifter—maybe not so bad. But an elf lord? Wonderful. And not in a good way.
A sigh left my lips as I headed to the door to fetch what we needed so we could get started. But I wasn’t about to let Kaleb off that easily.
“I’ll get the stationery, and you can get the coffee, Wolf Boy. I’ve got a feeling it’s going to be a long day.”
“Fine,” he said as he swung his arm around my shoulders. “No one said that life as an Enforcer Field Agent was going to be easy.”
“Amen to that,” I agreed as we headed off.
It looked like today was just another beginning.
THE END
for now…
***
Book Two in the Terra Vane Series:
DEATH BE CHARMED
will be coming soon.
Keep reading for a sneak preview!….
***
DEATH BE CHARMED
CHAPTER ONE
Images projected by the hologram pod in our boss’s office changed from one to the next, to the next. They were being repeated on a loop while my wolf shifter partner, Kaleb, and I made notes. We had case files spread around us that we had been rifling through for the past few hours. My hand ached, my back ached, and my head hurt.
“Twelve escaped prisoners,” I said as I threw my pen down in frustration. “Where the hell do we begin?”
Kaleb looked up from his papers and leaned back in his chair. He stretched his arms high and let out an exaggerated yawn.
“Have you read through all the case files now?” he asked me.
“High level. I’ve got the gist. I’ll dig deeper once we select who we’re going after first.”
“I have a suggestion. But only if you promise not to snap my head off.”
“I won’t snap your head off.”
“Promise me? I know how it annoys you when you’re tied to a desk.”
“Fine.” I rolled my eyes and then crossed my fingers while keeping them out of sight. “I promise.”
“Alright,” he said with a twinkle in his blue eyes. His dark blond hair fell around his handsome face, features that I had become semi-immune to over the years. He grinned before saying, “The vampire. We should go after him first.”
“Why the vamp?” I asked, trying to keep any form of snappishness out of my voice. Vampires were near the bottom of my list of Favorite Species of Portiside. I may have a good friend as one, but still …
“Why not? Many in these files are loners. And the others seem to have destroyed any form of alliance with their packs, clans or families. But the vampire …”
“You think he’s fled back to Darkwood?”
“I would say it’s a place to start. Unlike the others.”
Flipping through the file on the vampire, I glanced over
his details once more. “Romeo Lovejoy. Nice name.”
“And fitting. According to his background file he likes the ladies.”
“Yeah,” I said as I half-listened to him and half-read the file in front of me. “He likes them a little too much. According to this, they put him in prison because he decided to go on a rampage. He reaped vengeance on another vampire who broke his heart by going on a killing spree. He raped and murdered several women who looked like her.”
“A serial killing vamp. May as well jump in at the deep end.”
A sigh left my lips as I glanced at the images still popping up on the pod. “They’re all classified as the deep end. A wolf shifter assassin. A corrupt and murderous elf lord. A soul borrowing demon—and that’s beside the incubus who escaped. This is madness.”
“Only as mad as the case we recently solved,” Kaleb reminded me, and I allowed my head to drop into my hands.
“Yeah, I guess. And the case and the prison break have to be linked if we think the Consilium have some involvement. But that stays between us for now.”
The recent case of a serial killing wendigo had spiraled into something a lot more corrupt, and now we were suffering for it. Having discovered that the wendigo wasn’t the only creature to have escaped the Territorial Shifter Hold, we’d followed the trail to an illegal drug and a corrupt Ground Patrol force. The cheetah shifter club owner who’d been behind it all had let slip that someone higher up the food chain was involved when he’d kidnapped me. And the illegal Earthside weapons and drug he’d had access to hinted toward the same said club owner being linked to the Consilium. That meant something bigger, and potentially more devastating, was going on.
The Senates who made up the Consilium were responsible for governing our world—one which was located on the other side of a portal connected to Earth (known as Earthside over here). They helped rule the different species who had taken to residing here over time.
They’d also been the ones to red flag the results of the drug we’d discovered during our last case. At first, we thought they’d red flagged them to avoid public panic in regards to both the wendigo and rogue shifters having escaped from the highly secure Territorial Shifter Hold. But that hadn’t been the case.
The Shifter Hold was a place where shifters, who had been unable to fully control their animal, were sent to live out their lives. It was a blended ecosystem of jungle and forestry to accommodate the shifters who had been frozen between the state of animal and human. Livestock would be sent in there for them to hunt and eat. And, sometimes, a prisoner from Portiside Prison who had been given a death sentence would also be released there. But the escape from the Hold wasn’t our biggest problem right now. In fact, it had been a distraction for a much bigger coup. A break out from Portiside Prison.
Now we had twelve escaped prisoners on the loose. And it looked like they’d been gone for a while if the timeline of the rogue shifter escape was anything to go by.
“The reptile shifter ...” Kaleb said as his chair creaked beneath his weight. His muscled body showed no mercy on its small frame.
“What about him?” I asked.
“Torroro of the Dark Hills. Part of the Dark Hill clan who live near the Giant Pass in the mountains. He’s another option, but I don’t think he’ll be back with his family.”
“How come?”
“Check your notes. They’re the ones who put him in prison.”
Shifting through the papers I found the notes I’d made on Torroro. All I’d scribbled was ‘Cannibal. Uncontrollable. Failed last review.’ Detailed, I know, but paperwork wasn’t my strong suit. I reached over for his file and began reading that instead.
“He couldn’t control himself,” I said, scanning the information. “They claim he isn’t the usual rogue shifter because he hasn’t frozen mid-shift like rogues usually do. The reptilian half of him dominates his mind and body, and he refuses—or doesn’t know how—to shift back into human shape. They put him in there for his own good?”
“And for the good of the people he was killing,” Kaleb said with understanding. “It’s always hard to think ill of a rogue because they’re only following their natural instincts. They don’t know any better, hence why they get stuck in the Territorial Shifter Hold to live out their lives.”
“But Torroro didn’t get put into the Shifter Hold. He was sent to the prison.”
“If you read on, it states they did so because they wanted to enroll him into the Evolver Program for study. They wanted to try and understand why he refused to shift and embrace his human half. His family thought him to have a disability, where he was immature and his mind hadn’t developed fully. They thought it best to confirm that through the Evolver Program.”
Evolvers were akin to scientists in our world. The labs where my stepdad and roommate, Rosie, worked hired many of them. But other Evolvers elected to work for the prison system, helping captured criminals to reform.
I wasn’t sure how any of the reform programs worked, but if it made our city a safer place, then I wasn’t about to argue.
The noise of shuffling papers echoed around the room. I flicked through the file to get to the reform section. “It looks like the Evolvers at the prison were beginning to agree with the family,” I told him after a brief silence. “Torroro exhibited a lot of child-like behavior. He didn’t understand that what he was doing was wrong. It says here that he claims he was only looking for food, and he didn’t want to hurt anyone.” I looked up at Kaleb. “That doesn’t sound like someone who would be a key role in a prison break.”
“The others could have taken him for some other reason?” Kaleb suggested.
“But why? He would be more of a hindrance than a help if he doesn’t understand things at a more mature or complex level. They would need stealth and a lot of planning to stay hidden after leaving the prison. Taking Torroro is a risk. Why bother with him?”
“Who knows?” Kaleb asked as he stood up and grabbed our empty mugs. “It’s going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack with every one of these. That’s why I’m leaning toward the vampire. They look after their own, and it’s rare for one of them to end up in prison. Usually, they see to any wrong doing their own way, keeping it under the radar.”
“I guess it can’t hurt to go to Darkwood and ruffle a few feathers.” I suppressed a yawn. “Go grab us a coffee and I’ll read through his file in detail to see if we can come up with some form of a plan of attack.” I reached for Romeo’s file when a thought struck me. “Do you think Immigration Control have been notified?”
“You think they might try and head for the portals to go over to Earthside?”
“When dealing with twelve, very dangerous criminals who are looking for an escape, we need to consider all angles. It’s something to consider.”
The thought of any one of those prisoners breaking through into Seattle made me shudder. That’s where one of the main portals to Earthside led to. Humans weren’t equipped to deal with such an evil who could either raise the dead, or get off on sexual energy—even though I, myself, was a human. But I’d seen such horrors before having lived over on Portiside, ever since I was a teenager. My Enforcer Field Agent status and psychic gifts also helped in that regard.
“Cole will have that covered, I’m sure,” Kaleb told me. “Speaking of which …”
Shifter hearing was an amazing thing since two seconds later a hard knock came on the office door. Two more seconds later, Cole, the Enforcer Chief of the agency and our boss, came striding in.
“Update,” Cole grunted.
Kaleb grinned at his older brother and said, “I’m on the coffee run. Terra will fill you in.”
Kaleb left the room before Cole could stop him. It wasn’t fair that Kaleb had the family tie on his side to stretch the boundaries a little.
Wolf shifters had held the Enforcer Chief chair for as long as this world could remember. With Cole the Beta of his clan, he was patiently waiting out for the Alpha spot by looking af
ter the agency. His younger brother, Kaleb, reaped the benefit of partnering up with me: the only human on the force.
With the door to the office now closed, the room felt ten times smaller. Cole was an imposing figure, and he was staring at me with his arms crossed over his chest. I hated that my mind, body and soul all reacted to him from the moment he entered the room.
Memories of the short-lived yet passionate kiss we’d shared earlier hit me from nowhere. So did the confession that he liked me in a way that was more than a boss should feel for his subordinate. Not that long ago, he’d backed me into a corner and finally, I’d told him I liked him also. Well, not in so many words, but the kiss sort of hinted at it.
Kaleb’s timing at that point had been perfect as he’d chosen that moment to knock on the door. But Cole hadn’t been too impressed by the disruption—and neither had I if I had to admit it. However, it had broken the spell between us.
Cole wasn’t only my boss. As the next in line for the Alpha position he’d had a potential suitor picked out for him from birth, and he was too ambitious a man to step away from all that for the likes of me. It didn’t stop me from wanting to kiss his face off again as he watched me now, though. Instead, I scrunched my fists tight and readied myself to give him an update.
“Kaleb wants us to start with the vampire angle. We’re going to begin by questioning a few people in Darkwood. We’ll go from there.”
“You won’t be able to question the vampires without an official request order,” he told me. “And that will need to be approved by both the Consilium and the vampires. It will take a few days, if the vampires play ball. Longer if they don’t.”
“I thought we had the jurisdiction to question anyone?” I asked furrowing my brow. Species politics and I didn’t get on well, even if it had been the manipulation of shifter politics that had allowed Cole to force a killer off my back recently.
Death Be Blue (The Terra Vane Series Book 1) Page 27