A Weapon Of Magical Destruction

by Katie Salidas

  “Because our people can’t be affected by the things most supernatural creatures can do. The vampire, for instance, didn’t try to mesmerize you. He couldn’t.”

  “No, he knocked me out,” she said flatly, rubbing her head again.

  “He was smart. They’re all getting smarter, unfortunately. But the bottom line is, so long as our inner light burns bright, no magic affects us. We’re not only neutral in the fight between good and evil, we’re naturally magically neutral. No spells, no enchantments, no hypnosis, nothing otherworldly will have an effect on you. For that reason, you’re well suited to this job.”

  “And I have to take it?” she asked.

  “No. As I said before; you can die. Or be turned into a darkling. You’ve used up your one freebie.”

  She tried to ignore his condescending tone. “This is what my mother did.” The memories came trickling back. Her mom had always been sent away on business trips. Sometimes she came back battered and bruised. An agent at ASSET.

  “That’s how I knew to look for you. The Phoenix office called in your location and description when Miranda was reported dead.”

  Mark had often tried to get her to come to work for him. If he were in on the secret too, she knew she’d be okay. He was the closest thing she had to family. “ASSET,” she whispered again to herself.

  “That’s a shell company. Anonymous Supernatural Security and Elimination Taskforce.”

  “Supernatural? I thought the first S stood for Strategic?”

  “You really think we’d put the word supernatural right out there for all the humans to see?”

  He had a point there. Sage nodded.

  “ASSET is in every major city in the world,” Grey confirmed.

  “Why didn’t she tell me?” Reality struck hard. As fantastical as it all seemed, the pieces fit. Mark had protected her as the next in line every time her mother had been sent out, knowing that if the worst happened, she’d be awoken.

  “Look, I don’t do the emotional breakdown thing, so don’t start crying. My job is to bring you in. Once you get there, you can do the whole why me thing with senior staff.”

  Between a rock and a hard place, she had no choice. The truth was staring her in the face no matter how much she wanted to ignore it. And at this point, talking to anyone other than Grey would be better. “Fine. Whatever. Take me to ASSET.”

  THIRTEEN

  Clinging to Grey’s back as he sped through the streets of Las Vegas on his motorcycle, she reminded herself that her mom had worked for ASSET. She was heading toward knowledge and understanding; answers to all the insanity. If they made it alive.

  Wind whipped her hair into a frenzy, lashing her chin like a cat-o-nine-tails. Exposed to the elements, she could feel the dirt clinging to her skin. A thin film of grime had started to coat her arms as sweat dried in the air. She’d never ridden on a motorcycle before. Who would want to? Death traps. Grey had better be right about the whole immortality thing. Nothing separated her from a major case of road rash – or worse – if his insane weaving through traffic led them to an accident. She squeezed her eyes shut, and mumbled, “Magical immunity” as a mantra as Grey brought them speeding down a thin line between cars stopped at an intersection.

  “Tell me when we get there.” She cringed and buried her face, closing her eyes as they narrowly missed rear-view mirrors jutting out from cars.

  “You sure you’re really the daughter of Miranda Cynwrig?” He taunted her with the question.

  Part of her wanted to lash out. He’d been nothing but a jerk since she’d met him. But it wouldn’t do her much good. She was stuck with him until they reached ASSET. It was his job to bring her in. With luck, she’d be rid of him at that point. Though his mocking laughter and condescending tone deserved at least a good slap upside the head before they parted ways. Maybe after they’d parked. Sage smiled at the idea.

  They traveled down toward the center of downtown Vegas into an even tighter web of narrow and densely packed one-way streets. Before she could get her bearings, he turned into a parking garage and drove down into a basement-level space.

  “Know where we are?” Grey asked.

  “Not really. I try my best to avoid this area.” Rule number one when living in Las Vegas: avoid Downtown and The Strip at all costs. The rest of the city was as normal as they come, with the added perk of alcohol in every grocery store. Unless she was forced, Sage never went where the tourists were. And short of a few parking fines and jury duty, she’d stayed pretty far from the old casinos and official city buildings.

  “Something else you’ll have to get used to, then.” He laughed, as if causing her any inconvenience was making his day better. “Welcome to your new home.”

  Who referred to work as home? She might agree to work downtown, but home was her comfortable apartment with Matt, and probably Josh someday. He’d eventually have to move in because there was no way Sage was ever letting the best roommate in the world go.

  She stopped short and reached into her pockets, fishing for her phone. In all the commotion, she hadn’t let Matt know what was going on. He’d be worried when he noticed she hadn’t come home.

  But these weren’t her normal jeans. Still in the leather ensemble from dress-up night she’d never had the chance to change out of, Sage couldn’t remember the last time she’d held her phone or her wallet. They could be anywhere. The bar. That hotel room. Or Zack might have taken them off her during the hours of blackout that left a hole in her memory.

  Shit!

  “You coming?” Grey stopped short in front of a bank of elevators.

  Reality trumped the fantasy land Sage was about to enter. Credit cards would have to be cancelled. She’d just been laid off. How was she going to find money for a new phone? Shit! Stress riveted her in place. She’d have to get a new ID card too. How exactly was she supposed to make time for all of this?

  “What’s wrong now?” Grey groaned.

  “My purse. My phone. My life?” Panic sharpened her tone. “Pick one.”

  “Check the saddle bag.” He pointed back toward the motorcycle. “Hurry.”

  A small win – her purse and wallet were there, as was her phone, although it was dead. Trivial things, but in her current state, they meant the world. She could breathe again and focus.

  Back in Phoenix, ASSET had a gorgeous white high-rise, flooded with light from every angle. The kind of place that felt welcoming and inviting, giving the illusion of transparency and truth. Little had she known what lay hidden in plain sight.

  This building gave no indication it belonged to a company at all. No signs. No placards. Even the parking lot was bare of names for its employees.

  “This is ASSET, right?” Sage asked, confused at the stark contrast to what she’d grown up with.

  “Welcome to the Vegas branch, yes.” Grey led her into the elevator and they rode it all the way to the top floor, exiting into a great open space with offices and conference rooms to either side. A large reception desk stood sentry at the center of the lobby. Behind it, Sage saw hallways leading to more of the building. Back home they had a lovely large cafeteria for the employees and training rooms where she’d watched her mother practice with the latest equipment. She’d loved seeing the dance of daggers and had even been offered chances to try her skill at knife throwing. For a kid, it was like a playground. Knowing better now, if this place housed the same space, it would be for serious work.

  A tiny girl with silvery-blue hair sat at the large receptionist desk, answering phones and jotting down notes. Too busy to give a proper welcome, she smiled at Sage and Grey as they passed. People scurried around like little ants, busying themselves as they crossed the expanse of open lobby space, traveling from one office to the next, paying little to no attention to either her or Grey.

  “This way.” He guided her toward one of the glass-enclosed offices that sat just beyond the reception desk.

  Inside a fierce woman sat slaying the keys on her laptop, her turq
uoise eyes glued to the screen as if it held the secrets of life itself. Behind her, an impressive assortment of medieval-style weaponry had been mounted to the walls. Swords of folded steel were the first thing that caught her eye. Inlaid with patterns and magical symbols, they seemed to shimmer as they caught the light from the window. One had a cross guard so ornately decorated with gems Sage knew it couldn’t possibly ever be used for fighting. Just the kind of weapon her character would use on game night. If her phone hadn’t died, she’d have taken a picture to show her RPG group. Magic users loved their pretty, shiny weapons, but used them more for decoration. It was her spells that did the damage when it came to dungeon raids.

  Sage’s eyes darted all over the room, marveling at the vast array of pointy, shiny things. A great big Warhammer, probably too heavy to mount, sat propped against the back corner of the office. All of it amounted to an impressive collection she desperately want to reach out and touch. But first impressions and all, Sage didn’t dare reach a hand out. By the looks of the office, the lady busy at her computer was some form of grand high muckety muck. With any luck, good behavior might earn Sage a chance to play later.

  “That was faster than we expected,” the woman said, and pointed over her computer screen to the seats opposite her desk. Her fingertips looked as if they had been covered in lace; the pattern reached all the way up to her forearms, surrounding the tree-shaped marking that designated her as a Terra. The tattooed gloved might have been henna or some form of tribal ink. Grey had said they were immortals – maybe this woman was that old. Her tree looked slightly darker, but with all the changes happening Sage wondered if her own mark would darken too. Before Sage could really take a good look at the patterns surrounding the special mark at her wrist, the woman barked, “Sit. Wait. I’ll be finished in a moment.”

  Not exactly the warm and fuzzy welcome Sage had been hoping for. Mark had always been the most gregarious of guys, even as the director of operations. The grandest of the poohbahs at ASSET Phoenix, he was cheerful and welcoming to anyone who crossed his path. Maybe Sage should have taken him up on the offer to work there. The vibe she was getting at the moment was neither happy nor welcoming. Still, this was all new, and she’d made it this far, so it was time to see if she could get the answers promised.

  “We had some trouble with a Vampire that helped sway the decision to come in,” Grey responded, and took his seat. “They’re still pretty riled up. Might want to send some peace keepers.”

  Sage followed his lead and took the remaining chair, wondering what trouble Grey was referring to. She’d only met one vampire, but his words implied more.

  “Understatement of the century, Maddox,” the woman replied with annoyance. “They’re out for vengeance. I’ve got reports of vampires and Shades openly attacking patrols. Together. Thanks to last week’s little kerfuffle, we’ve got the beginnings of a line being drawn in the sand.” Her fingers nimbly clacked away at the keyboard while she spoke. The words might have been chosen to make it sound less threatening, but the meaning came through loud and clear. Sides being picked for a battle: vampires and Shades.

  Sage had yet to learn which side was which at that point. She turned to Grey, wanting to ask what was going on, but held her tongue. Getting answers out of him had already proven to be as hard as pulling vampire teeth.

  “Word on the streets is they’re looking for something,” he said casually.

  “Do we know what that something is, Mr. Maddox?” The woman’s response came as sharp as the blades hanging on the wall behind her.

  Grey’s eyes said yes, but when he spoke his casual tone didn’t betray the lie. “If I knew, I wouldn’t have called it something.”

  “I have Ethereal factions breathing down my neck. New recruits to locate and retrieve. And let’s not forget the budget and maintenance of this building. Don’t bother me with somethings. It is your job to know. Do your damn job!” Even as she reprimanded him, the woman kept her eyes locked on the computer screen.

  Grey didn’t seem to be bothered by it. Not surprising. Given the abrasive attitude he’d displayed with Sage, she expected he was used to getting it back in spades from upper management. He sat casually in the chair, his fingers toying with the grip of a blade sheathed into his belt. A sword, by the length of the handle, but short enough that she hadn’t noticed it before under his leather coat. Dagger perhaps, she wondered.

  The longer she sat, the more regretted coming. She’d expected some kind of welcome, or at the very least, an acknowledgement of her being in the room. But for all the attention she’d gotten, Sage might as well have been one of the ornamental weapons hanging on the wall.

  She let out a sigh loud enough to remind them of her presence.

  “Do you have any training?” the woman finally asked.

  Sage stood and looked down over the top of the computer screen to meet the face of her would-be new boss. “Hi. I’m Sage.”

  Those turquoise eyes glared up at her angrily. “I know who you are. I’m looking at your file. What training do you have? Weapons? Martial arts?”

  Everyone in the Las Vegas office had the same brick wall mentality when it came to conversation, it seemed. Sage took a breath and plastered a sweet smile across her face as she replied, “I’m sorry, what is your name?”

  Scowling in response, the woman tapped the end of her pen on a nameplate at the edge of the desk: Director Ava Williams. “Training?”

  “I take mixed martial arts twice a week,” Sage responded, in her best saccharine tone. “And my mother taught me how to use a knife.”

  “No training.” Ava all but rolled her eyes as she shoved the pencil she was holding into a tightly knotted bun at the top of her head for safekeeping.

  “I just said–”

  “You take classes, honey. And you’ve played with knives. That’s not training,” Ava replied. “Another newbie to be coddled; just what I needed on my plate.”

  “Sorry to disappoint you.” Sage threw the same snarky tone back at Ava.

  “Training wheels, dear.” To her surprise, as Ava stood, a smile replaced her scowl, though the moment Sage spotted it, she knew it wasn’t genuine. “You’re grounded to the premises until we get you adequately brought up to speed.”

  “Wait. I have a life. My apartment–”

  “Had,” Ava cut her off. “We will assist in closing your affairs.”

  “You can’t do that. That’s kidnapping.”

  Ava pressed a button on her phone. “Rina. I need you to start processing Sage Cynwrig’s paperwork.” A moment of silence held the room in thrall before a tiny voice over the speaker replied, “Yes, Ms. Williams.” And just as quickly, Ava returned her commanding glare to Sage, waggling a finger of disappointment as she continued her lecture. “You’re far from a child. And I’m sure Grey’s already warned you what is out there. With the Vampire and Shade factions threatening war, I have Terras with nearly a century of experience being taken out… daily. I can’t afford to watch out for one little girl who misses her boyfriend.”

  “That’s not fair. My mother had a life and home.”

  “And your mother, ancient as she was, lost her light to exactly the same type of creature you ran into. She’s a darkling now. You want to join her?”

  Ava’s words hit her like a slap to the face. Mark had said her mother was dead, that her plane had gone down in the Atlantic. No one had said anything about darklings. Sage opened her mouth to speak, but words failed to come. Tears, however, screamed with anguish as they leaked unchecked from the corners of her eyes.

  “I’m sorry to be so blunt, but that is the fact. You are important, untrained as you are, and I’m not risking the safety of anyone under my command. You’ll have to put aside your old life for the time being and learn your job quickly. Understood?”

  Ava didn’t wait for her to answer; not that Sage could have summoned her voice if she’d wanted to. Miranda might still be out there? As a darkling, whatever the hell that truly was. Wh
y wouldn’t Mark tell her the truth? And to hear it from such a cold and unfeeling woman – it was like hearing she’d died all over again, with all the pain that accompanied it.

  A few more keystrokes and the printer came to life. Ava whipped out the document and handed it to Grey. “Take her to quarters and then see she’s introduced to the trainer.”

  FOURTEEN

  Just like that, Sage had suddenly found herself drafted into a magical police force without so much as a signing bonus. Come to think of it, she hadn’t signed anything at all, so how was it that she found herself at the doorway to a dorm room with a slip of paper telling her she was assigned bunk number 4?

  With her phone dead, she couldn’t even call a friend or reach out to Mark as a lifeline. This wasn’t her home. She felt neither welcome nor a sense of belonging here. Aside from a stupid mark on her wrist, she had nothing in common with any of the people she’d met. And that Ava woman had a serious stick up her ass. She didn’t need kid gloves, but a little compassion given the circumstances might have helped smooth this transition along.

  Sage reached to the necklace her mother had given her and gently caressed the silver trunk of the tree, tracing the thin branches with her fingertips. She was a Cynwrig. What would her mother have told her?

  You are not ready for the darkness in this world, but you must find strength in the days to come…Find the light within yourself and allow it to illuminate your future.

  Remember that true strength comes from determination…Defeat is not an option.

  Thought it was far from ideal, Sage had to give this new reality a try. If for nothing else, to honor the memory of her mother. She’d worked for ASSET, so there had to be some good here.

  Two bunk beds were pressed up against the wall with a tall chest of drawers separating them. Each drawer bore a number matching the associated bed. She’d been assigned number four – lower bunk and bottom drawer. At least she wouldn’t have to climb over anyone when it came time to sleep.