Silver and Gold (Sanctuary Book 1)

by Lilith Sinclair

  The ruddy-cheeked shop clerk followed Alex’s wandering through the small aisles. She used every pause as a chance to convince Alex to purchase something, anything, making her seem more than just an employee.

  Alex drew abreast of a wooden A-shelf, listening to the different hums of magic that pulsed from the shelves. Nestled among the various trinkets, the tear of a monk, the hair of a yeti, and the comb of a mermaid were the only authentic items on display; all three were underpriced. She took a last look at the cashier

  The cashier leaned farther forward, staring intently.

  Knowing better, but more inclined to keep authentic items in the hands of people more apt to use them, Alex tossed the money on the counter and left with her carry-on just a little heavier.

  Finding nothing of interest in the remaining shops, she wandered to the loading gate and sat in a row of vacant plastic chairs.

  A few people were up and about. Some wore rumpled business suits while others sported tee-shirts and jeans.

  The dyed-blonde woman who went a little heavy on the makeup that morning manned the ticket station and chatted with a cute but average-looking guy dressed in jeans and a fitted tee with a faded club’s name on the front, and only the faintest hints of copper clung to him. The scent of cotton candy and pretzels mingled with the coppery smell.

  Mira plopped next to Alex. “Want some?”

  Alex declined, reading the various emails Monique had sent her.

  Mira nodded toward the couple. “What do you think?” She passed a hot pretzel to Alex. “Got this one for you.”

  Alex tore off a piece and blew on it before popping it in her mouth. “Looks harmless. Not our job.”

  Vampires were banned from hunting for a meal at various places, mostly travel hubs, like train stations and airports. From what Alex could tell, he wasn’t breaking any rule, and, until then, she wouldn’t go out of her way to report a non-issue.

  “Besides, I think those two are dating or something.”

  Someone barreled past, close enough to ruffle Alex’s hair against her cheek.

  A low buzzing like a gnat drew Alex’s attention from her phone. Her fox uncurled herself, sniffing the air, and Alex’s hairs on her arm prickled like the building of static.

  “Everything okay?” Mira asked. She continued peeling pieces of cotton candy from the bag, munching away.

  “I … I don’t know.”

  The man who had stormed past continued to the chatting couple, and anger rolled from him, mixing with the heady scent of werewolf.

  “Hey, Fang Face. Do you mind hunting somewhere else? That woman doesn’t want a corpse.” Built like a quarterback, the man planted himself into the couple’s space, standing toe to toe with the vampire and towering over him. “Not when she can have a warm body like this.” He highlighted his tall, lean frame that filled out the jeans impeccably well.

  Seriously? Alex didn’t want to deal with territory disputes, and, for the briefest of moments, she considered ignoring it. But it was an airport with lots of cameras and witnesses. If she sat there, the media would have a field day with it, and the council wouldn’t hear any excuse as to why any operator of any rank didn’t do something about it.

  She set her stuff in the seat beside her and stood. “Hey!” She leveled a glare at both, and a snarl slipped past.

  The vampire grinned, stepping in front of the woman. “Go on, little puppy. Your master’s calling you.” He mockingly shooed at the man.

  The wolf shoved the vampire, and both men flashed their canines. A low growl rumbled form his chest as he wrapped his hands in the vampire’s shirt and lifted the bloodsucker straight up.

  The terminal went silent.

  “Wouldn’t want that pretty face of yours marred with things that don’t concern you,” the wolf said to Alex.

  Alex nodded to Mira, leaving her with evacuations. “Let him go. He’s got as much right as anyone else.” She approached them.

  “Transportation hubs are strictly forbidden by council law.”

  “Let him go.” She changed her tune from hard steel to gentler, hoping he wouldn’t kill the poor bastard. “He could be catching a flight, like anyone else here. She could be his girlfriend.” Alex paused where the seating area ended and the ticket checking area began. “We do not interfere with supes and their freedoms. That’s the area enforcer’s job.”

  His eyes hide behind reflective shades. “Enforcer. Ha! Like they would do anything with the Master of the City lining his pockets.” He kept the vampire suspended in the air. “No. We handle our own area.”

  The back of his shirt made sense as Alex turned her head, seeing the local theriomorphic collation’s seal broken along the image from an Ozzy Osbourne’s album artwork. Always something. She rubbed her jaw, checking on Mira’s progress. “Let him go before I have to do something.” Her voice was low, holding a promise many didn’t live to tell about.

  His eyes were hidden, but his brow twitched. A second ticked by before he lowered the vampire to the ground. He leaned in close to the man’s face, making promises about all the things he would do if the local mixed shifter pack ever found him at the airport again.

  He couldn’t have just let him walk away? She moved forward, breaking the wolf’s hold on the vampire and shoved him onto the gangway. She slammed the door shut with her foot and flung the man against the wall with brute force, denting it, and snarled in his face. “You ever do something that stupid again, and what the shifter council could do will be child’s play compared to me.” She didn’t like bullies, and she didn’t trust anyone who hid their eyes on purpose.

  Her own reflection stared back at her as she kept him pinned. Spring in the forest washed over here. Energy flared as her temper became something wild and called for blood and destruction. Shadows thickened, and the raw magic pulsed around them, hammering home that she wasn’t just a pretty face.

  The shadowy plane of second sight overlapped with the present. A hulking bi-color wolf stood at the heart of him, crouching in unfamiliar territory. His throat bobbed as he swallowed, and the bitter scent of momentary fear clouded his woodsy smell. “What in the hell are you?” His voice cracked.

  Licking her lips, she considered for a moment to let the dark and twisted side free. She dropped him and stepped backward, calling the shadows back to her. Fox-demon. Demigod. Kitsune. Her kind went by many names, but he hadn’t earned the answer.

  Leaving him slumped against the wall, she pushed open the door with a bang, startling a few people who returned to their seats.

  Mira had taken up residence near the doors, flipping through a magazine. She raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.

  The vampire was nowhere to be seen and neither was the woman. Another woman with spiked hair had replaced the blonde and smelled of saltwater—a witch, most likely, or a human who didn’t take chances.

  Mira looked over Alex’s shoulder as she passed the pretzel.

  “He’s alive. Are we good?” She didn’t want FBI or TSA breathing down their necks, and she seriously regretted not taking Rita’s offer of a port.

  “Yeah. Money talks.” Mira sighed like she had been cut from a trust fund. She led Alex to the plastic seats where their stuff laid. “He was rather good looking.” She placed her finger to the side of her face, watching Ronin scamper from the gangway.

  6

  Even in the predawn morning, the Dallas airport was wall to wall with people. Vampires, weres, witches, and more traveled from all over the world to witness the splendors found within the concrete jungle of mayhem, and, as Alex contemplated a life-size ad, she thought the cheerleaders weren’t a bad reason either.

  “Found it.” Mira’s cheer voice could be heard over the bustle of bodies.

  Alex joined her at the correct conveyor belt.

  People stood aloof of each other, waiting for their haphazardly thrown bags marked with torn and stained destination tags on the conveyor.

  Alex waved to a little girl no older than f
ive who sleepily clung to her daddy’s chest yet giggled and smiled before snuggling deeper into the crook of his neck and drifting back to slumber.

  Mira screeched, pointing out her bags, and smiled as she counted them.

  Alex leaned over, fetching their bags and getting a whiff of fae clinging heavily to a little, old couple. Fae-kind couldn’t handle iron structures, and Dallas was an epicenter for metal structures. Giving that, Alex suspected the couple of being heavy dusters, despite fae dust being illegal. She nudged Mira and tapped the side of her nose.

  Mira pretended to take a selfie, sending the photo of the couple to the local area enforcer and delegating the problem to them.

  Alex’s phone rang, and her smile fell as Fredrick’s name flashed across the screen.

  His dull voice came over the line. “Status report.”

  “Nothing yet. I’ll call you when we do.” She readied to hit End, not in the mood to deal with his unique style of abrupt, but wasn’t fast enough to get in the last words as her screen flashed an incoming text message from Rita: Housing in TX, Cali, and FL compromised.

  “I heard about the airport in DC. Don’t make a habit of it.”

  Alex nodded, fully aware he couldn’t see it. “Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.” How the fuck …

  The phone screen blinked as he ended the call.

  She stared at the phone and rolled her eyes. If Rita knew about the housing, he surely did, and yet, he hadn’t mentioned it. “This is why I hate working with him,” she muttered.

  Mira grabbed Alex’s wrist and turned it to read the message. “You sure this isn’t harassment?”

  The fox-demon nodded, placing the last of their bags on the luggage cart. “Let’s get out of here.”

  She dropped the topic immediately, donning her cheerful facade. “Hotel then?”

  7

  A huge cow skull, easily the size of a small car, sat under metal bison that galloped across the sky, announcing their arrival at the Texas Frontier.

  “Hello. Two adults?” the lady at the ticket counter asked.

  “Actually,” Mira spoke, “I called earlier and spoke with the overseer for property acquisitions.”

  “Yes, ma’am. That would be Mr. Hall. Give me a minute, and I’ll page him for you.” She grinned ear to ear, and genuine joy radiated from her as she spoke into an old-fashioned phone. Her fingers twirled in the cord, and a nod accompanied every ‘okay’. “Go on in. The office is near the restrooms. Mr. Hall will be waiting for you.” She gave them two wristbands before gazing over the parking lot, hopeful of another visitor.

  Texas Frontier was not what Alex had expected from the pamphlet. It was filled with high tech, self-guided tours and interactive screens. Through the rooms, history played out—rough and rowdy outlaws to gruff men dispatched to end the reign of the Wild West. On wide screens, recreations of the Alamo played as Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie rallied behind the town’s defenses with the ideas of victory and impending reinforcements.

  “Miss Mira?” A lanky man with glasses perched on top his sandy hair asked. He looked out of place as the acquisition’s liaison dressed in jeans and a tee-shirt.

  “Mr. Hall, I presume.” Mira offered her hand to him.

  “Yes.” As he shook her hand, his eyes alighted on Alex hanging a step behind. “This would be?”

  Alex introduced herself and shook the gangly man’s hand.

  The musty scent of old books and grease clung to his skin. “Let’s head to my office.” He turned and went through a plain-looking door clearly marked Employees Only. His office was cramped and cluttered, with files and National Geographic magazines laid across the desk. Mr. Hall scrambled to clear paperwork tossed on the plastic chair in front of the desk. “I didn’t expect the federal government to send someone, especially when the police couldn’t find a lead.” He adjusted his glasses and sifted through the files.

  Mira took the empty chair and crossed her ankles, exposing a little skin above her knee. “We specialize in the unusual.” She tossed her hair over her shoulder.

  Alex repressed a laugh, letting Mira’s natural charm and smile woe Mr. Hall.

  Even with the room far removed from the hustle and bustle, Mr. Hall tracked in every scent imaginable from his visitors. The scents soaked every porous surface and swirled around the ceiling, clinging to the layer of dust that encased the fast-moving fan blades. With second sight, faint lines of magic covered the bookshelves, and some of the tomes glowed brightly.

  Impressive collection, Alex thought, unsure if the books were enchanted or if they had become imbued with essence from the previous owners.

  “I’m sorry I can’t give you more information. The piece stolen was a pot. While we have photos, there really wasn’t anything remarkable about it.”

  Mira batted her long eyelashes. “How did it come to be in your possession?”

  His ears reddened, and his fingers dug around the collar of his shirt. “It came via Mexico City from Brazil or Chile. I’m not sure which. I’m not really a historian. I just find pieces that match the owner’s request. It was already here when I started. The woman who had the job before me had started the process for any piece we could afford the insurance on, which were small, unremarkable pieces.” He prattled on, stumbling over his words and jumping from one tangent to the next, and Mira controlled the careening train with gentle nudges.

  Alex felt a building pressure against her temples, spreading across her face and begging for her to close her eyes. The room wavered as if it was part of the shadow planes; wispy structures sat like a double image over the real world.

  Mira glowed orange and green. Mr. Hall’s aura was a soft beige that mixed with the wavering sepias that fought with the black and greys of second sight. She pressed against her temples, rubbing tight circles over the tender flesh and trying to get an anchor on what buzzed just out of hearing range. Her ears popped as magic flared across her skin, and the fine hairs of her body stood on end seconds before her meta-shields forced the creature’s power back into itself.

  A loud screech sounded from the upper corner of the ceiling.

  Alex’s hand dropped to her daggers, ready to defend against the inky-black creature that made such a ruckus, but Mira’s laughter mixing with Mr. Hall’s embarrassed chuckle and the normalcy that followed stayed her hand.

  They didn’t notice it, and it was definitely an it—a mixture of leather wings and scaly legs against a fuzzball of a body. It clawed at the concrete wall, leaving not a mark, and hissed like a hellcat before skittering across the ceiling titles and disappearing into a puff of smoke.

  “Excuse me,” Alex muttered, stepping into the hallway. Her back hit against the cool concrete walls, jarring her body and loosening the chains that had shackled themselves around her chest. With shallow breaths, she fought to regain control over second sight. With tedious care, she checked her mind’s shields as her fox sniffed around, coming up empty on their shared realm. “Okay,” she whispered, moving logically through what she knew.

  Magical creatures weren’t abnormal for Alex. Between Greywood, the academy, and Morgan’s training, there were few things she couldn’t identify, but that thing wasn’t something she’d ever seen before or anything like it.

  She dug out her phone, hesitating to call the one person who would know about the thing. Morgan, why does it have to be so fucking complicated? Opting for the lesser of two evils, she sent him a short message, hoping her mentor had better things to do than check his phone.

  “Thank you for your time.” Mira turned in the doorway, nearly tripping Mr. Hall who had been right on her heels. “If we need anything, I’ll be sure to give you a call.” She shook his hand and took his business card then ran it along her lips.

  To him, it looked sexy as hell. The heavy scent of attraction rolled from the office and filled the corridor.

  To shifters, she was cataloging his smell with a little more flair than needed and nothing else, knowing her effect on the average male an
d using it to her advantage.

  Alex waited until they were down the hallway before plucking the business card from Mira’s hand and turning it over. Mr. Hall had written his personal cell number on the back. “You got a fan.”

  Mira shrugged. “If I thought he could handle me in the sheets, it wouldn’t have been bad. But I’m afraid”—she pushed her ass against the door to open it—“he wouldn’t last past the first touch.” She purred low in her throat with a smile on her lips. “There’s plenty of fish to fish from.” She winked.

  Alex let the conversation lull on the way to the car as her mind kept trying to nitpick the creature apart. She didn’t think the creature was the thief. For one, the video evidence, even blurry, showed a brightly colored larger creature, and this thing was the size of an overweight house cat. Mammal? Reptile? Earth-side? Altarian? Those were questions she couldn’t answer.

  “You okay?” Mira leaned over, started the car and adjusted the AC.

  Alex sat for a moment, contemplating telling her about the creature, but ultimately decided to wait. “Yeah. Where to? Airport? Food?”

  Mira’s stomach growled, and she laughed. “Food. Then airport.”

  8

  Alex muttered about the weather as she pulled her hair into a ponytail and wiped sweat from her brow. She shifted her stance as the black slacks stuck to her thighs and bunched around her knees.

  Mira flattened her skirt. “Now, who should have packed more?” She laughed as she kicked her heel to the side before bending to fiddle with her shoe strap. All the pent-up energy from the longer flight had her bouncing around like a kid with a three-foot-long pixie stick.

  Maybe porting is the better option. It was always a balancing act between deciding which way to travel with the ocelot. Could just ask her next time. ‘Hey, you want to fly or port?’ She replayed the scenario in her head, thinking porting might be worth it just to save on the luggage fees.