by Martha Carr
She didn’t know how the magic used to summon the coyotes worked but didn’t care since bullets and falling hundreds of feet killed them. Sometimes the fine details were just a distraction. Plus, them being visible was handy.
Shay shook her head and walked to the edge of the mesa. The wind rushed past her as she leaned over and surveyed the area. The shrub- and tree-covered ground lay hundreds of feet beneath her. Four intimidating buttes surrounded her, but there was no sign of any magical portal.
The only sign of magic was the cloud of black smoke drifting from near some trees, confirmation of the fatal fall for the shadow coyote.
“Damn it! This is the place. It has to be.”
Shay’s phone still refused to power on, and she stared down at the spinning compass in her other hand.
She snorted. “So much for the backup plan.”
Tomb raids were a lot like hits—sometimes the job didn’t go according to plan, but a professional didn’t whine. At least, they didn’t whine too much. If she couldn’t handle a few inconveniences here and there, she might as well get an office job.
Shay snickered at the thought of sitting in some office pushing paperwork. She’d last about two days before she shoved some asshole’s face into a toilet or HR received complaints about her foul mouth.
“I keep pulling people off the street, I’m going to need my own HR.”
More coyotes howled in the distance, and the tomb raider gritted her teeth. She’d thought she’d have more time to find the entrance to the Cueva de Niza, but the dark reinforcements were already closing on her. If they hadn’t known where she was before, the clouds of their buddies’ smoke was a dead giveaway. Nice, that.
“Guess the AR goggles are pointless with all this interference,” she muttered.
She recalled the translation from her notes.
Come from the sky to stand in the center of the mesa between the four buttes. Look to the north, then walk to the edge. Turn then to the east and walk to the edge. Turn then to the south and walk to the edge.
You must walk this exact path. Once you reach the final edge, prove your courage. You must jump. The cave is watching. Those who refuse risk will be denied entrance for their cowardice.
Shay moved to the center of the mesa and followed the directions. When she reached the final edge, she fished a grappling hook connected to nylon rope out of her backpack.
She took a deep breath and secured the hook on an outcropping near the edge.
“Here goes nothing.”
The tomb raider leapt off the edge and plummeted toward the ground. Her rope caught and jerked her and she dangled there for a moment, but there was still no sign of the portal.
“Why can’t this shit ever be easy?”
Shay climbed up the rope and pulled herself back onto the mesa.
More howls ripped through the desert air, this time closer.
She unfastened her hook and coiled her rope. A smile popped onto her face.
Where there was nothing before, now the air near the edge of mesa glowed with a faint lavender.
At least she’d confirmed the portal’s location. That left one possible solution for getting through it—one she didn’t like at all.
“Fuck, this is stupid.”
Shay moved closer to the edge, still gripping her hook. She sighed. Just because she had to risk her life by throwing herself off the edge of the mesa didn’t mean she had to be a complete fucking idiot about it. Well, no more of an idiot than anyone who jumped from hundreds of feet up.
The cave was watching, or so the translation said. The question remained how much the damned cave understood what it saw.
“Okay, attempt number two.”
She leapt off the edge and resisted the urge to close her eyes. A few seconds later, a cocoon of warm and humid darkness surrounded her. The darkness gave way to flickering torchlight, and she landed with a thud against hard-packed earth.
“Damn it!”
Shay winced and rubbed her butt before looking around.
The cave was so large she could barely see the other side and torches circled the walls. Stone pillars stretching to the ceiling filled the chamber, several inscribed with the Seal of Solomon.
The shadow coyotes didn’t seem like the kind of creature or spirit that would be summoned with that kind of magical symbol, but Shay was a tomb raider, not a witch.
She reloaded her gun and stepped toward the glinting pile of turquoise and gold lying in the center of the chamber. She frowned as she looked at the treasure.
Her target, the Ring of de Niza, wasn’t anywhere obvious. Digging through a pile of gold and turquoise would be far less fun than it sounded, especially when her enemies were close.
Something buzzed behind her and Shay spun, her gun raised.
A huge coyote appeared after a bright lavender flash ten feet above the ground and the snarling beast landed on all fours. Two more arrived a few seconds later and they all charged, growling.
Shay cleared her magazine into their bodies and reloaded as the animals disappeared into smoke.
Her breathing ragged, she stood rigidly, her gun pointed at the entrance. She waited for a couple of minutes, heart thumping, but no other coyotes arrived.
They know where I am. Shit. Need to hurry this crap up.
Shay’s immediate worry disappeared with a dark snicker. It didn’t matter in the end. She wouldn’t be able to escape the cave without the ring anyway.
“Guess it’s time to start pawing my way through some treasure.”
Finding the ring didn’t take as long as Shay expected, but it still took longer than she wanted. The simple turquoise ring with a silver band didn’t look like much, but it would net her two million dollars when she handed it to the client.
Shay took a deep breath. She’d committed the activation phrase to memory and practiced. An easy task usually, but not so simple when it was in an archaic language.
She slipped on the ring.
“Let this ring bind this spot to the next under the watchful gaze of Raphael,” she chanted in Old Castilian.
A wave of heat shot through Shay’s body, followed by a chill to her very bones. She collapsed to her knees and closed her eyes, and after a long moment, a familiar warmth encompassed her.
Shay opened her eyes. She was back in the center of the mesa, but a pale man in a safari hat standing a few yards away kept her from sighing in relief. His fingers grasped a thin onyx wand, and a faint black energy field hovered in front of him.
He smiled. “Excellent. I didn’t want to risk going in, but the fact you’re here shows that you’ve found it.”
Glad she hadn’t holstered her gun, Shay fired at him, but the bullets burst into smoke as they hit the energy field. She kept pulling the trigger until her gun clicked empty.
The man coughed. “It’s rather smoky, don’t you think?”
“Fuck you, asshole.”
“I wish to applaud your bravery, Aletheia.”
Shay chuckled to herself. At least the asshole only knew her alias. “So, you’re Coyote Boy?”
The man tapped his wand against his forehead. “Something I learned a long time ago. Sometimes it’s easier to draw from the patterns already inherent to an area.”
“They weren’t so tough. Just took a few bullets.”
“True, but they kept you busy.” He shrugged. “And now I’m here.”
“Why didn’t the defensive spell on the mesa force you to jump down there?”
The man grinned. “Who says I didn’t? You’d be surprised at the kind of tricks I can pull off with my magic.” He shrugged. “Now, I’m not an unreasonable man. I’ve no desire to kill a woman as beautiful and resourceful as you.”
Shay snorted. “Could have fooled me. Your damn coyotes have been hounding me since Sedona.”
“They have, but you survived, didn’t you? You’ve proven you’re worthy of being spared, and I’m willing to grant clemency in this case.”
“How nic
e of you.”
The man opened his free hand and gestured. “Give me the ring, and you walk away. You can’t even appreciate the true power of that ring. It’s worthless to someone like you.”
“Actually, it’s worth two million dollars.”
He laughed. “Ah, of course. After all, you do this for love of money.”
“Something like that, but I doubt you want this ring to help save orphans or some shit.”
“That’s true.” The man’s smile vanished. “Hand it over, or you die here in the middle of the desert and no one will ever find your body. You’ll serve no other purpose than feeding scavengers.”
“I’ve got another suggestion.”
“What’s that?”
Shay charged as she reached for one of her knives. He laughed. She slashed with her knife, but her attack was stopped cold as if she’d smashed the weapon into a brick wall.
The man arched a brow. “It didn’t disintegrate. Interesting. Apparently, you do keep a few magic toys around after all. Alas, not enough, tomb raider.”
“They’re specially made, asshole.”
The tomb raider backed away, her knife still up. Her adamantine knives might be able to withstand his magic, but she doubted her fists or feet could.
A grin spread over her face when she noticed something.
He shook his head. “You’re an eager one, aren’t you? I salute you, Aletheia. I’ll remember you fondly once you’re dead.”
Shay flung a frag grenade at him.
The man rolled his eyes, but his nonchalance changed to wide-eyed terror once he realized she’d not thrown it directly at him but over him. The wizard looked up at the grenade just in time for the explosion. His field remained in front of him, but there was no sign of it at his back.
Shay took her chance and rushed the man without a word, yell, or even a grunt and slammed her knife into his exposed back. He cried out and dropped his wand, and the tomb raider finished the job by slitting his throat.
The man collapsed to the ground.
Shay sighed and shook her head. “Still have to climb down. That’s annoying.”
4
“You’ve got to be shitting me.” Shay laughed into her phone. “Boner pills?”
Peyton chuckled on the other end. “Boner powder, but yeah. Magical aphrodisiac. I don’t know all the details, but it requires a crap-ton of Oriceran ingredients, and the client is willing to pay fifty thousand for you just to pick it up and hold on to until you can hand it to a courier. Hey, put that down!”
Shay could hear Lily yelling, “Whatever.”
“Things going alright back at the ranch?”
“Some people have to touch everything. One of these days, that’s going to have negative consequences,” he yelled, holding the phone away from his mouth.
“Talk to me about the job, Peyton. This sounds too good to be true. This asshole expecting someone to come after it?”
“Nope,” Peyton offered. “And I’ve poked around to confirm that. To be honest, I think the reason he needs you is kind of…well, gross.”
“Gross?”
“Well, semi-gross.” Peyton cleared his throat. “From what I can find out, the power of the magic is enhanced if it’s kept close to a ‘beautiful female of strong will’ for at least a day.”
Shay barked a laugh. “And how does this guy even know what I look like?”
“I really played up how Aletheia is as beautiful as she is wise and all that.” He snickered. “Look, it’s an easy fifty thousand. If this is just about some horny old man thinking a hot chick’s going to enhance his boner powder, I don’t see the problem.”
“I didn’t say there was a problem, just wanted to know. Okay. I’ve got to head to Virginia to help Brownstone drop Alison off, so I’ll grab the case before that and drop it off when I come back. Easiest job I’ve had in a while—as long as I don’t think about it too much.”
Shay found the whole thing more amusing than anything else. Some things would always remain the same, no matter how the world changed.
“Okay,” Peyton replied. “I’ll contact the client and get a pick-up schedule.”
“Teach Lily what you can while I’m gone and take her to my gym to box. I’ve set it all up with the manager.”
“She’s already figured out my computer system. Girl has a crazy brain.”
“She’s a gray elf. I hear it comes with the territory.”
“Yeah, well take her with you on one of these before she learns my job. I don’t have a plan B. Did you know how much she could eat before you brought her home for keeps?”
“Bye Peyton.”
Shay leaned her back against the wall of the abandoned warehouse waiting for the arrival of the courier. The buzz of a Peyton-controlled drone circling the air helped keep the tension out of her body. No one would surprise her.
Shay couldn’t decide if this was the best or worst job she’d ever taken. It’d be easy money, that was for sure, but that assumed it didn’t involve some incubus showing up and trying to take her soul.
Yeah, like to see one of those assholes try.
She grinned to herself.
“There’s a car coming,” Peyton reported through her earpiece.
“Anything suspicious? Any additional movement in the area?”
“Nope. Why should there be? Did you see something?”
“Nah. The job’s just too easy.”
Peyton chuckled. “Not really. The problem with a lot of people is, they might want to sell it.”
Shay gritted her teeth. “If some magic douche shows up I’m gonna be pissed off.”
“I’ve checked into the job. This time every corner, I swear. You’ve checked into the job. It is what is. Sometimes things are what they appear. You’ve got a rep now, so people are willing to pay a little more for things like this.” He laughed. “Maybe you should stop tomb raiding and become a courier.”
“No way in hell. You know the problem with being a courier?”
“No, what?”
“With tomb raiding, there’s a chance you might not be targeted. When you’re a courier, the chance is high that you will, especially with the high-end shit. Otherwise, they’d just mail it.”
“If you say so. You wouldn’t have to travel so much.”
“I like traveling.”
A black sedan turned the corner, and Shay reached inside her jacket to rest her hand on her pistol’s grip.
The sedan pulled to a stop and a man stepped out of the car, briefcase in hand.
He cleared his throat. “Please confirm who you are.”
“Aletheia. ‘Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.’”
The man nodded, satisfied at the passphrase, and held out the briefcase. “You’ll need to keep it for at least twenty-four hours. It’ll need to be within twenty feet of you for at least twelve of those hours. The more time you spend around it, the greater the chance the client will grant a bonus.”
Shay saluted. “Don’t worry. I’m sure he’ll be able to get it up soon enough.”
The other man frowned. She shrugged and offered him a smile.
Time to see how much Brownstone trusts me.
Shay sat in silence as Brownstone drove them to his church in his F-350. Alison sat in the back with her hands in her lap.
Now that the tomb raider was two million dollars richer, she could afford a day or two off to help Brownstone take Alison to her new school. The idea of heading into an entire school filled with magic users didn’t do wonders for Shay’s paranoia, but she reminded herself it wasn’t like the School of Necessary Magic would be filled with the kind of people she ran into on tomb raids.
“This won’t take long,” Brownstone assured them as he pulled up in front of the church. “Just have to talk to Father McCartney for a quick moment.”
“I’m fine. Not going into a church,” Shay muttered. The last thing she needed was any Catholic guilt.
Alison sighed. “I wonder what kind of religion my
mom believed in.”
Shay and Brownstone both looked at the girl.
Even now Alison looked normal enough, the only visible hint of her otherworldly heritage the natural white ends on her dark hair, but she wasn’t a normal girl. She was a half-Drow princess with a powerful magical heritage who could see people’s souls and the energy from magic.
“Maybe that’s something you can find out at the school,” Shay suggested. “There are Oricerans there. Some of them might be as old as your mom was.”
Her mother’s massacre of the Grayson mercenaries had proven just how dangerous a Drow could be. Shay and Brownstone were lethal, but Alison’s mother had killed scores of men while close to death.
A good killer always recognized the killing talents of another. Brownstone could kick a lot of ass and she respected him for that, but even he would have to be careful around a Drow based on what they’d seen.
Alison smiled, oblivious to the lethal thoughts running through Shay’s head. “I hadn’t thought of it that way.”
Shay still hadn’t told Brownstone about Lily. There was time and things were complicated enough. Better to see if Lily was even going to last. Besides, Shay had spent a lifetime taking care of her own business. Some habits would be a little harder to bend, much less break.
Brownstone patted the girl on the shoulder and stepped out of his truck.
Shay waited until the bounty hunter had stepped into the church to speak. “He’s done a lot of research about the school. So have I.”
Alison smiled. “I know. It’s just a lot of changes. I was living with my mom and dad, and now Mr. Brownstone is looking after me, and I’m going off to a magic school. I know it’ll be good for me, but I’m still a little scared.”
“I think the scariest parts are over. You’ve been through a lot, and you’re strong, to not have let it take you down.”
“Was it hard for you to leave home?”
Shay chuckled. “Nah, I didn’t like my parents. I was doing my own thing around your age too, but I didn’t get to go to a fancy school or anything.”
“You turned out all right.”
