Witch's Sorrow: A Witch Detective Urban Fantasy (Alice Skye Series Book 1)

by Taylor Aston White

  She heard a click, the room illuminated by a chrome lamp that perched on the corner of his oversized wooden desk, clean of everything other than the lamp, a piece of paper and a single gold pen that he had positioned perfectly along the natural grooves of the wood. She tried to hide her jump as his eyes settled on her, ones that were just as dark as the room. Obsidian ovals in a white face, ones so dark you couldn’t tell where the irises started and pupils began.

  Well, she thought to herself. This is disconcerting. She had known him all her life, could read him better than anyone, and he wasn’t happy.

  Drum. Drum. Drum.

  Dread's fingers tapped against the top of his desk in an annoying sequence.

  Drum. Drum. Drum.

  Dread Grayson has held his position as Commissioner of the Supernatural Intelligence Bureau since it was first built around three hundred years ago. The man sitting before her, who still drummed his fingers across the wood, was one of the most powerful people in the city, not counting The Council. He just stared at her, his face worryingly composed, the grooves, which he received before the turn, seemed etched from stone, not one facial muscle moving. He continued to stare at her unblinking, his dark hair cut close to the scalp, almost bald. Large bushy eyebrows dominated his otherwise hair-free face, the dark hair highlighting his incredibly pale complexion.

  “You cut your hair recently. Looks nice,” Alice nervously commented as she brushed her own blonde strands from her face. Why am I here?

  He finally blinked at her as a vein started to pulse in his forehead.

  “What are you wearing?” he asked, voice clipped.

  Alice looked down, seemingly confused by his comment.

  Oh shit.

  She bit her lip, heat against her cheeks as she only just noticed what she had thrown on. Her shirt was pure white with two strategically placed avocados on the front. Tucked into her black jeans it looked relatively clean. She was grateful it was one of her politer shirts.

  She folded her arms over her chest, trying to hide the design as if nothing was wrong. That gained her a small, familiar smile, just the tip at the corner of his mouth. Dread had always moaned about her choice in clothing, ever since he took over as her legal parental guardian all those years ago. He still moaned regularly, even though she constantly reminded him she was twenty-three.

  He thought she was acting up.

  She thought the shirts were cool.

  The smile vanished, his face immobile once again. His eyes were something he often used to scare people, the creepiness of them enough to force anyone to behave. It was uncomfortable, to say the least.

  The door at her back opened, allowed some extra light to creep into the still too dark room. She fought not to turn, Dread holding her gaze until the door shut once again.

  “Now Alice, you will remain quiet until asked a direct question. Do you understand?” Dread betrayed no emotion, he had become the Commissioner of the Supernatural Intelligence Bureau, leader of the Paladins. Not her parental figure.

  She just nodded back, deciding it was better not to open her mouth at all. She didn’t always have a conscious thought on what came out.

  “Okay then, when Mr Wild takes a seat we can start this meeting.” His obsidian eyes broke their connection, allowing her to breathe for a second before Mr Wild sat in the seat beside her.

  The man was tall, around six feet with long light brown hair that hid the expression on his face in a straight curtain.

  She looked back at Dread in confusion. Why am I here? she asked silently while his eyes stayed blank. He knew what she had asked, but refused to respond. She huffed to herself as she chanced another glance to her right. Piercing blue eyes met hers for a fleeting second before she forced herself to look away.

  Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. She had recognised those eyes, eyes of a shifter, someone that was part man, part animal. One that was pissed.

  “Let’s get on with this then,” the man beside her complained, his voice deep but emotionless. Monotone even.

  She turned to look at him again as his irises changed, the brightness dimming to a darker blue, ones that showed even less emotion, if that was even possible. It was like staring at a wall.

  Alice observed him as he swept his long hair over his shoulder, revealing an unusually narrow nose compared to his broad chin. His facial hair was messy, as if he was used to being clean shaven but hadn’t had the time or just couldn’t be bothered. She continued to stare at him even as he looked at Dread expectantly, ignoring her for the moment. He had been the wolf shifter she had tagged a week ago, the one who had helped wreck the bar and had gotten her banned.

  “Let’s begin then, shall we?” Dread tapped once more on the desk. “Agent Alice Skye, do you know why you have been asked to attend this meeting?”

  “No,” she murmured, even as she struggled to figure out what was going on.

  “Do you remember the gentleman next to you?”

  Alice gritted her teeth. “Yes.”

  “Then can you explain to me why you arrested the Alpha of White Dawn?”

  “White Dawn?” Alice opened her mouth in a silent gasp. Oh shit, she cursed herself. White Dawn was the largest wolf pack in London, if not Europe. She had royally fucked up. “It was a contract, amber level retrieval.” She strained to remember the exact details.

  “Who gave you the contract?” Dread asked as he studied her carefully.

  “It was emailed across to me. Nothing suspicious about it.” She tried to shrug without moving her arms from her chest, which made her look even more unprofessional.

  “How did you even find me?” the Alpha next to her growled. His irises flashed the brighter blue, barely a second before returning to the darker shade. From her experience with shifters it was his animal’s response, their emotions and instincts rawer than their human counterpart.

  Alice refused to face him, not wanting to aggravate his beast. “I’m good at my job.”

  “What happened Alice?” Dread leaned forward, the light from the chrome lamp giving him an ethereal glow.

  “I was waiting outside the bar where I had tracked the wolf…” A small snarl to her right. “I mean, Mr Wild,” she corrected. “He held a man up by his throat, against a wall.”

  “You held a man against a wall? In a human bar?” Dread’s unnerving eyes turned to the Alpha. His fangs punched below his bottom lip in a show of uncharacteristic annoyance.

  “Pack business.” Was the Alpha’s only response, his tone absolute.

  Alice continued. “The man had started to shift, bones were breaking, and his fur started to erupt from his ripped flesh, but it was wrong.” She knew it, she had seen enough shifts from human to animal and back again to recognise the difference in the transition.

  “Wrong?” Dread questioned her.

  “I have seen people shift, and this man was wrong, sick maybe. He changed into a half state, his legs bent at the wrong angle and half his body exposing muscle. He ran from the bar and the…” Alice hesitated, deciding to correct herself. “the Alpha, chased after him. So I followed.”

  “And because of you, he got away.” Mr Wild started to snarl before he caught himself, his face shocked before it relaxed back into its impassivity.

  “He wasn’t my target.” She observed him from the corner of her eye, wary.

  “It took me three months to track him. I needed the information he could give me. Because of you…” The Alpha started to stand, his voice deepening as violence threatened.

  “ENOUGH!” Dread slammed his hand down onto the table, rattling his pen onto the floor. The vein in his head pulsed violently, attempting to escape his porcelain skin. “I have heard enough.” He stared down Mr Wild until he had returned to his seat. “After discussing the details with both yourself and Agent Skye, I have come to a decision that my Paladin was acting correctly in these circumstances.”

  The Alpha started to protest until Dread held up his hand.

  “However, I will personally invest
igate how a warrant for your arrest was issued. We both know you’re not S.I. jurisdiction.”

  That caught Alice’s attention. The only authority above S.I. was The Council.

  “I’m not happy with this,” Mr Wild said as he settled himself into a more relaxed position. It looked forced. “It took all my resources to track that wolf and then your Paladin went and fucked it up.”

  “Be that as it may, she did her job correctly.” Dread caught her eye, showing her he was still angry.

  But I didn’t do anything wrong. Dread’s eyes glittered as if he could read exactly what she was thinking, which he could. His own eyes replied shut up and sit still. So she bit her lip, deciding to take his advice.

  “Now let’s turn to another matter at hand, Alice mentioned the wolf being sick? Is there a disease going around that we should be concerned about?”

  Alice turned to look at the Alpha once more, watching his jaw clench before he replied. “No.”

  Body language was something she was trained in, and the wolf just lied. Now that’s interesting.

  “Is there anything else you would like to discuss?” Dread reached down to his pen that had fallen, taking his time to line it back up with the grooves of the wood.

  “Not at this present time,” Mr Wild rumbled, annoyed but hiding the emotion.

  “Great, so that matter can be put to rest.” Dread pressed a hidden button beneath his desk. The door opened silently, allowing light to penetrate the tense room.

  “Alice, we need to discuss your recent assignments. However, I will wait until we do not have an audience.” He stood up before placing his hand over the breast pocket of his jacket, a sign of respect. It looked sarcastic. “Until next we meet Mr Wild. Please contact Supernatural Intelligence if you require anything further.”

  Mr Wild said nothing. Instead, he stormed out the door as a flustered Barbie spoke to him in hushed tones. Alice stood, but decided to wait, watching Dread carefully.

  “Alice, you should probably escort our guest down.” He concentrated on the pen.

  “Why did you do that?” she asked, confused. “You knew he was lying. Why didn’t you say anything?”

  “And say what?” He finally looked up, his eyes still angry but more composed. “If you think I’m doing an inadequate job, why don’t you tell me what you would have done?”

  Alice hesitated, thinking about her response carefully. “I don’t know, ask him more questions?”

  “He is the Alpha, Alice. Sickness among his wolves has nothing to do with us. Shifters, in general, have nothing to do with us unless they pay for our services. You know as well as I do they are self-governed ever since Xavier took over on The Council.”

  His forehead furrowed, his expression stolid. Alice didn’t know what to say, The Council being a subject she knew little about. The Council of five, or technically six when counting the Fae twins stayed out of the media, reigning over Breed silently. Dread, on the other hand, had met them all, and he wasn’t a fan.

  “I’ll escort Mr Wild out of the building.” She turned toward the door.

  “Oh, and Alice,” he started, forcing her to pause. “Make sure Mr Wild doesn’t break anything on his way down.”

  Chapter 2

  The lighting in the hallway blinded as Alice walked past Barbie, the receptionist glaring as she adjusted her top to show more of her breasts.

  “Mr Wild, if you are finished with the show would you please follow me,” Alice said politely, not needing to explain what she meant by the show.

  She felt his tension behind her a second later, an ominous presence that stormed past her towards the lifts at the back of the floor, easily manoeuvring through the maze of drab grey cubicles spotted around in a confusing labyrinth. The only way to distinguish each cubicle from one another was the bursts of colour pinned to the walls, individuals trying to personalise their little space in a sea of grey.

  The Supernatural Intelligence Bureau, also known as The Tower, was on constant speed, everyone having something to do or somewhere to be. The forty-second floor was the main operation for the Paladins, a small desk to prepare for contracts as well as their boss, Commissioner Dread Grayson’s office. The other floors contained I.T. technicians, weapons specialists, mailmen, just to name a few. There were even a whole five floors dedicated to a specialist hospital team who worked alongside the London Hope Hospital, England’s largest medical facility specialising in holistic magic as well as general medicine.

  Alice stood for a moment, trying to catch her breath.

  Well, it wasn’t awful, she groaned, covering her face with the palms of her hands. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. The only good thing that came out of that meeting was, A: Dread admitted she actually did a good job. Sort of anyway. And B: He didn’t mention any warnings or disciplinary meetings. Which was always a bonus.

  “Oh Alice,” a sing-song voice called to her.

  She spun to look at Barbie, a feral smile on her pink painted lips.

  “Just to let you know your disciplinary meeting has been scheduled for Tuesday at ten-thirty.” Her eyes twinkled as she smiled. “Make sure you’re here on time.” With a last giggle, she turned back towards her desk.

  “Great,” Alice whispered to herself. “Just great.” A lump in her gut, nerves attacking. “Maybe I could get a job with Sam at the bar?” she muttered to herself.

  “You can’t do that, you hate people,” a chirpy voice replied.

  Alice smiled when she noticed two people hanging around her cubicle. “What are you guys doing here?”

  What sort of friends would hang around to see if she was fired or not?

  “I thought you guys were both out on a contract?” Rose and Danton (or D as he was known to his friends) looked at her expectantly, waiting for the gossip.

  “We were ma petite sorcière. But I missed your belle smile,” D sighed dramatically, his long black hair scraped back off his face.

  Rose elbowed him in the chest. “Ignore him, we finished it up early.”

  “Mon amie you wound me.” He feigned hurt, his pale hand draped dramatically over his heart.

  “As Roselyn was saying, we finished our expèdition early. But enough of that, I would like to know how ma petite sorcière is doing?”

  “Yeah Alice, are you okay? Isn’t that the Alpha? Oh my god, are you fired?” Rose asked in her usual cheery voice.

  At a tall five feet, eleven inches, topping Alice’s mundane height by a good seven inches, she looked like a cheerleader, one who could rip your throat out and smile sweetly the whole time. She was a panther shifter, a sleek cat the same dark shade as her hair.

  “Oui, how are you?” D asked as his dark eyes turned towards the Alpha on the other side of the room. “Why is that wolf storming around? You piss him off, non?”

  “How did you guys even know about that?”

  “You know how nobody here can keep secrets.” Rose fluffed up her dark hair. “So is it true? Did you arrest the Alpha?”

  “Maybe.” The Alpha in question paced in front of the lifts, his eyes flicking towards her every few seconds.

  “Well then ma petite sorcière, in case you have to leave the tower in a more permanent fashion I would like to say how edible you look. Délicieuse,” he said, with a sensual curve of his lips. “I’m sure there are things we could do to cheer you up? Non?”

  Alice couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m busy.” She looked up at D’s laughing face, his skin perfect, common amongst the older Vamps. The exception, like Dread, was when they had scars, wrinkles or skin imperfections before their turn.

  “One day I will own your heart.” He said this to her regularly, enough that she knew he didn’t mean it. D didn’t do relationships, didn’t like being ‘tied down’. Unless ‘tied down’ involved satin bed sheets and velvet rope.

  He really liked to talk after a few drinks, or a lot of drinks as it was in his case.

  “Well, not any day soon.” A ding behind her, the lift doors opening as Mr Wild’s patie
nce wore thin. “I have to escort him down. I’ll catch up with you guys soon.” With a quick wave, she jogged to the lift, barely squeezing in with the Alpha as the doors closed.

  The typical lift music couldn’t drown out the tension in the small metal box. The picture on the wall showed ten people being able to fit into the small space, yet the air was thick with just the two of them.

  Well, this is awkward.

  Mr Wild didn’t seem to feel the same tension, his arms loosely hooked onto his forearms as he leaned against one of the silver panels, casually staring at her. Alice tried desperately not to stare back, instead counting down the floors.

  39. 38. 37. 36.

  “How long have you been a Paladin?” he asked, the question sounding genuine. Strange considering his face looked anything but, his brow low over his eyes.

  “Around five years.”

  “Not long then.”

  “Long enough.” Alice frowned, looking up at him then. His eyes flashed a pale blue as she held his gaze, his animal taking a look.

  She had never met someone who could morph so quickly and so often. She held his stare, desperate to read him. He didn’t look angry anymore, more curious. The annoyance was still there, not that his face gave anything away. She just knew it, could feel the underlying pressure in the air. So she didn’t look away, just as curious as his wolf seemed to be. His nostrils flared, as if he was scenting the lift, scenting her. She finally dropped her eyes.

  “How long have you been Alpha?” she asked, keeping her tone light.

  He ignored her question. “Did you train as a Paladin?”

  “How is that any of your business?” she asked before she could think of something polite to say. She opened her mouth to apologise as the lift door pinged open on the twentieth floor, a group of three people looked at the tension in the small space, deciding to wait until the next one.

  Mr Wild waited until the door closed fully, and the lift began moving again before replying. “Just curious. Never met a Paladin quite like you.”

  She didn’t know whether that was a compliment or not. Probably not. Alice considered it for a few seconds before replying.