Sixx and the Hellhound: The Sidekick Chronicles

by Becca Vincenza

  “Not here,” Olezka replied brusquely, cutting Ana off. There were no other paras inside, but I couldn’t help but glance around. Kallan watched us all closely.

  “Well, we need to discuss this now. Do you want to do this at your house?” Ana nodded to Olezka then turned her attention to Kallan. “Or your place? Or our place?”

  “I would not mind visiting my mate’s place. But we must return to Kallan’s house. It is warded from prying eyes and ears,” Olezka said. Stepping away from him, I grabbed my purse that sat next to Ana’s workout bag. I hadn’t planned on getting as sweaty as I did, so I didn’t pack a change of clothing. Cringing, I realized I’d have to sit surrounded by beautiful people in sweaty, stinky clothes.

  “You can shower at my place,” Kallan said to the two of us. Ana grabbed her bag before palming the keys, and we headed out of the building. Kallan’s and Olezka’s cars were the only ones in the parking lot besides ours, but the hairs on the back of my neck prickled. Olezka took a large step forward, matching my strides, and placed his hand on the back of my neck.

  “Want to ride with me, Sixx?” he whispered, swooping down to my level. I swallowed and shook my head because I didn’t think I could talk. The prickling in my skin at his closeness got worse. My senses felt overwhelmed by him right now, and I needed a moment to breathe.

  “Don’t lose me, Ana,” Kallan said. We got into our separate cars, but I noticed all three paras were a bit more tense than usual. As soon as the doors shut, I raised both my brows and stared at Ana for an explanation.

  “The scent of werewolves surrounded the gym,” Ana whispered as she started the car and turned on the lights.

  Only after we pulled out behind Kallan’s car did I dare speak. “Do you know if…”

  “Definitely not those werewolves,” she answered quickly, knowing I was worried about the pack finding us. “But it seemed pretty obvious the guys were feeling a little off. Maybe they know more about this case than they’re letting on. Didn’t you say it was werewolves you got the Dreamscape from?”

  Unable to keep the terror out of my voice, I opted to nod in lieu of an answer. Ana looked over at me and grabbed my hand.

  “I’m sorry. I know this brings up bad memories. I hate that you got it worse than me. If I could, I’d track them all down and kill them.”

  Shaking my head, I tried to push back the memories of those weeks with the werewolf pack. With every day that passed, I had no idea which minute would be my last. They took great pleasure out of taunting me.

  “No. I’m fine. Don’t worry about me,” I said, trying to be strong for her. Ana tightened her hold on my hand. I knew that she meant every word she said. I decided to change the subject. “I think we need a girls’ night soon.”

  “We absolutely do. I think these paras are trying to keep us apart lately,” Ana said with a smile.

  For the rest of the drive, we turned the radio up loud and sang along with every tune, quite terribly, too. We pulled up to Kallan’s house right behind him, and Olezka parked next to us. My laughter left when he gave us a look and got out of his car.

  “Ugh, I’m going to be all smelly and gross throughout this whole thing. Maybe I should just head home…”

  My door opened, and Olezka stood there.

  “Hет. You can borrow some of my clothes. Come.”

  Ana snorted quietly. She tucked her head away as she giggled, peeking a glance over at me once more. “I’m sorry. He has really good ears, though.”

  ****

  Ana and I took turns showering. Once I was clean and after tugging on one of Olezka’s large shirts, I ended up putting my sweatpants back on because his would have fallen off me. I made my way downstairs and saw Kallan and Olezka whispering, but they straightened as I approached. Now, we were all sitting together awkwardly, waiting for our food to arrive.

  “What is this information you have?” Kallan asked brusquely as I sat down on the sofa next to Ana. She glared at him and I wondered what he’d done to piss her off.

  I recounted the information I found on Nova although I left out the part where I went to visit the building. Then I definitely skipped the part about Timur even though it still felt wrong to keep that from Olezka. I pulled my purse onto my lap and looked up at Kallan and Olezka uncertainly.

  “There’s something else. I think I know what the drug is modeled after, but I can’t know for sure unless its compounds are tested. I don’t know if your agency has the capabilities, but I think we need to get it tested. Along with doing a bit of investigation work at the company,” I added, pulling out the baggie that contained the single Dreamscape pill.

  Kallan reached out to take the baggie. “We will keep the drug. It’s safer if it stays in our possession. But I think we need someone on the inside.” Kallan paused. “I believe Nova is noted as a para-owned business.”

  “It is. I checked into all the pharmaceutical companies in the city when we were first put on the case. Sixx, are you certain that Nova bought the company that made the drug Dreamscape might be modeled after?” Olezka asked.

  “Positive.”

  Olezka sighed before looking at Kallan. Then he nodded and looked back at me. “We will get this drug to our labs and have them start working on it right away. But I agree with Kallan; we need someone on the inside. If Sixx’s information is correct, the division producing Dreamscape won’t be doing it in the open for all to see.”

  “If there is a para working on the project, they’ll know we’re one of them,” Ana added as they continued to speak almost as if I was no longer in the room.

  None of them would know what to look for other than suspicious activity. Whoever they chose as the ‘man inside’ had to be smart about it. They needed to be quiet and move the pieces stealthily.

  “Send me in,” I whispered.

  The three of them ignored me, still discussing the possibility of Ana or Kallan going in under a glamour. I sat a little straighter and cleared my throat.

  “Send me in.”

  Silence filled the room.

  Chapter 23

  My hands twisted together as I stood in front of the imposing building.

  Why did I suggest this again?

  “Fudgers,” I muttered, seriously considering walking away. No one would blame me. Hell, Olezka would be ecstatic and Ana would totally understand. Kallan would be annoyed, but he always seemed annoyed in my presence. However, the proud shine in Olezka’s and Ana’s eyes when I offered myself up as their “inside man” filled me to the brim. My courage swelled in the moment, but now it felt hidden in the dark corners of my mind.

  My nervousness wasn’t so much about going in undercover and trying to sort out who was producing this drug; it was the change of jobs. Olezka submitted an application to get me a position at Nova with no problems, even though I was probably under-qualified. It took all weekend, but after a brief phone screen with Hillary from HR, I was locked in my new position. I would be working as an assistant tech to a Pharmacist who specialized in drug compounding.

  I tugged on my purse strap. Was I really up for this?

  No.

  But this would help us shut this drug down. From what I’d read online, more and more instances of the drug had started to spike all over town. The human druggies who tried it rarely came out of it alive. I didn’t think it was simply due to a drug overdose. The more likely alternative was that the human demonstrated a para ability that leaked from the drug, and the paras took care of the problem.

  Steeling myself and pretending to have more courage than I did, I stepped into the pristine building. The lobby had a very modern vibe to it. The floor tile was a spotless, sleek white and the front of the building was made of large, slightly tinted glass panels so the sun wouldn’t become blinding. There was an enormous marble reception desk with three overly pretty ladies sitting behind it. Two had headsets on, and a third had her head down.

  The one with her head down had beautiful red hair and pale, flawless skin. She glan
ced up at me with shocking green eyes. My neck prickled. Definitely not human. But I was supposed to be a simple human employee, so I ignored my instincts.

  “Hi, I’m Sixx Reynolds. I’m…”

  “Yes, you’re starting today with Chemist Doug Watson.”

  “Oh, I thought I was working with a pharmacist as his tech?”

  The receptionist glanced down at her desk and clucked her tongue before glancing back up at me. Her look was one of disapproval. Pressing her lips together, she shook her head, her long hair brushing backward.

  “You were reassigned. Is that a problem?” She raised a perfectly sculpted brow.

  “No. Not at all.” Why the attitude?

  Her frown melted away into a pretty smile, and the tension around her eyes loosened. She grabbed some stuff from a drawer next to her and chirped, “Okay, here you go. This is your temporary security badge, but you’ll get a more permanent one with your picture on it after your probation period is over. Here is a stack of paperwork you need to fill out by the end of the day. It includes your tax and banking information along with a consent form for direct deposit. Please sign the liability waiver here at the back,” she said as she shuffled through the papers, “that states we will not be liable for any harm or damage you encounter here. You know, standard information.”

  What? Definitely not normal stuff. But at the same time, we hoped this wouldn’t be more than a two-week stint, at the most. I’d applied for a long-term medical leave at my other job so I could go undercover at Nova, so this gig couldn’t last forever.

  I took the stack of paperwork and snapped the badge onto my purse strap. The red-headed receptionist stood up. Jesus, she rivaled Ana in height, and Ana stood almost six feet tall. She found out that most fae were extremely tall even with their glamours. The leggy receptionist stepped around the large desk and indicated that I should follow her.

  She led me through the security gate where a guard stood watching me disinterestedly, his stare lingering on the voluptuous receptionist.

  “My name is Pepper. I’ll take you to see Hillary in HR. She’ll help you fill those out and then send you on your way for your first assignment. Every day, you will check in by scanning your badge. It will allow you into all the areas you are allowed to enter.”

  That piqued my interest. Were there places here that were limited to certain employees?

  The rest of the building was as sleek and polished as the front lobby, but where the lobby was solid white, the other floors had black stone interspersed to contrast the white, almost sterile color of the walls. We entered the elevator, and Pepper explained what was on each floor. The building had a lot of floors, but I learned at least half of them were laboratories. Our badges allowed us certain access to the laboratories where we were assigned.

  Once we arrived at HR, Pepper left me to find Hillary on my own. The meeting with HR was quick and easy, and she did exactly as Pepper described. I filled out my paperwork, and she gave me the run-down of Nova’s expectations and rules. Nothing outrageous made me believe she knew of any illegal activities, but I didn’t think it would be as easy as that.

  ****

  Hillary instructed me to head up to level four where Doug the chemist would be waiting for me. And there he was. The skinny, fairly gangly man stood in front of me with his hands fisted in his pockets and hunched shoulders. A scary intelligence settled in his eyes, but most concerning was the way he studied me. His greasy hair was slicked back, and thick, black-framed glasses sat low on his hooked nose.

  I reached my hand out for him to shake, but he looked down at it and back at me without removing his hands from his pockets.

  “You were not what I was expecting, but you will have to do. Follow me,” he said abruptly as he turned on his heel and walked down the hallway. He talked over his shoulder, not even trying to slow his long strides so I could catch up. “You will follow my instructions. I don’t like repeating myself, so don’t make me. If you have questions, ask them. I would rather you make as few mistakes as possible.”

  I nodded even though he couldn’t see me. He moved quickly, and I had to trot to keep up. Worry swirled in my gut as we passed through the labs. He led me to a small office with glass walls where I saw a group of other chemists working inside the lab with their techs.

  “Since it’s your first day, I only want you to observe. We will work you up to more duties as the days and weeks progress.” Doug took a seat on the only empty chair behind a messy desk. I hovered near the front of his desk since the other chair was filled with paperwork.

  He either didn’t notice or didn’t care. He looked up at me as if waiting for a response.

  “Sounds like a good plan to me. I’m excited to start.”

  Doug snorted in the back of his throat and turned to his paperwork, effectively dismissing me.

  It was going to be a long day.

  ****

  As it turned out, the day lasted a lot longer than I wanted. The following days weren’t much better, but eventually, we started to do actual work. I shadowed Doug for a bit. Then he had me train with another tech who had been working there for about a year. They kept me on the same floor. From what I learned, the drug they were working on in this laboratory was for a new type of blood pressure medication. Nothing too exciting. I tried to shuffle through some of Doug’s paperwork lying scattered on his desk to see if there was anything about any illegal drugs, but surprisingly, they didn’t keep that stuff lying about in the open.

  After work, I was supposed to call and check in with either Olezka or Kallan. My first day, Olezka showed up to take me home, which pleased me more than it should have. In the evenings, we kept to our training schedule. Ana had been going out on assignments with them so she could gain field training.

  Life had taken on a strange new sort of routine. It was easy to fall into the rhythm, but I had to remember that I didn’t get this job just to switch careers. I had to remember that I was on a mission.

  ****

  “It’s been a week, and she has found nothing!” Kallan argued loudly, not trying to spare my feelings.

  He wasn’t wrong. Most of what I did all day was busywork. Doug said that once I returned from the weekend, things would ramp up. I had high hopes because, from what I’d seen the other techs doing, it looked like it could be a lot of fun. In the sense of learning a new skill, perfecting it.

  “Hey, back off! She’s not a trained investigator like you are, nor can she use magic to make it appear in front of her! She has to do it the human way,” Ana said.

  Feeling invisible, I remained seated on the bench in the gym as she and Kallan discussed my lack of progress. Once again, Olezka was working late. I thought it was odd that he and Kallan were partners yet often worked different schedules, but Kallan said Olezka held a different position in the Sentinel than he did, so he had more responsibilities.

  “She’s not even trying,” Kallan spat. “Olezka showed me his reports. All she’s doing is what this Doug guy tells her.”

  “I’m standing right here,” I muttered through my clenched teeth, my annoyance building.

  “And you are still doing nothing!” he snapped, finally turning his attention to me.

  Ana straightened her spine and stepped closer to him. “Back the fuck off my sister right now, or I will knock you on your ass.” Throughout her training, Ana had learned to create and use her magic in different ways. But when she was on the verge of losing control, she reverted to the magic she knew best. Electricity sparked between her fingers.

  “She is beneath you, Anastasia. Remember that. She is human. You are fae.”

  “I am also human, which you conveniently seem to forget.” She leaned in with a dangerous glint in her eye and then shook her head. “You know what? We’re done here for tonight. And you can tell Olezka that we’re taking the weekend off from all this shit,” Ana declared. She strode over to her bag, snatched it off the bench, and jerked her head toward the door.

  I followed
without looking back at Kallan. He didn’t try to stop us, but I had a feeling this wouldn’t be the last we heard from them this weekend.

  I was hopeful for a quiet weekend to prepare me for real spy work the next week.

  Chapter 24

  The weekend passed in a flash, but the following week went even quicker. My responsibilities tripled from my first couple of days at Nova. Now, I worked side by side with Doug. While I knew I needed to start digging into the paperwork and try my hand at espionage, I became caught up in the actual work. It was fascinating, an intricate puzzle that challenged me.

  Besides me and Doug, two other sets of a chemist and their tech shared our floor. One of the pairs kept to themselves, but I learned their names were Cecile, the chemist, and Kelly, her tech. They were working on a different type of medication than what Doug and I were working on, but since they needed much of the same equipment from this floor, they shared our workspace. The other pair was a chemist named Key and his tech, Scott. Though they were working on a different drug, they worked with us often because their drug had the same side effects ours did, and we performed many of the same tests.

  Key was a strange guy with bulbous eyes and a thin mouth that was usually tightened to the point that it looked painful. Scott was a muscled-up jock with a neck tattoo of an eye that freaked me out the first time I saw it staring at me. He turned out to be a pretty okay guy; quiet, but he did his work. He rarely bothered me unless we needed to work on something together. On the flip side, Key took too much interest in me at times, which made me nervous. Doug got territorial when Key came over a couple of times, trying to “borrow” me.

  The first week of official work got stranger when I started catching Key and Doug speaking quietly in the corner, handing each other notes or other pieces of paperwork. Normally, Scott or I handled the paperwork, which was why their interaction seemed odd. Once, when Key saw me watching them, he jerked the papers back and stalked off.