Of Life and Death

by A. L. Kessler

  “Okay.”

  Okay. As if she instantly believed me. “Who will I be answering to as a Special Agent?”

  “Boss Man is still your higher-up, but the leader of the task force is Special Agent Liz Jefferson.”

  It wasn’t a name I was familiar with. “Am I going to be expected to use my ability on this task force?”

  “You won’t have to be afraid of using it, but using it or not is up to you.”

  I wasn’t sure how I felt about that option, but at least I knew I I could use it now instead of having to hide it. “And if someone wants to put me in containment?”

  “PIB will keep them from doing that, as long as you take this spot on the task force.”

  I crossed my arms. “And my stipulations?”

  “I’ll see what I can do.”

  Agent Grace had been my temporary partner after Nick was supposedly killed. I’d seen her in questionable places after that, and paranoia told me that this was her doing. She’d been an undercover agent at one point, but because of a case, that cover was blown.

  “Thank you.” I pulled my phone out and looked to see Oliver’s response.

  ‘Tracker on’

  That was comforting. “Will I be operating out of the normal PIB building?”

  “You’ll be going down to the south building again.”

  My heart dropped. I hadn’t been to the south building since they’d rebuilt it after the bombing. I was starting to feel like this was a setup. “Which office?”

  She turned toward me as if wanting to see my reaction. “Fourth floor.”

  I knew the rest of the answer. “Two offices down from the elevator. Is there a reason you put me in my old office?”

  “I didn’t make the call.”

  And I didn’t know if I wanted to face it. “Where are we heading now?”

  “Down there, Boss Man will be there to greet you and brief you on what happened with your old office.”

  I leaned back in the seat and let the idea settle in. I’d be back in my old office, with a new partner, and facing cases dealing in black magic. PIB was blackmailing me to switch jobs, and though I wasn’t happy about it, I had to go along with it.

  We pulled up to the south PIB building. Three months ago was the last time I’d seen it, the building was just being finished, the windows still had coverings on it, and no one had been moving in. Now there were several cars in the parking lot and a few agents walking in and out of the building.

  I wondered if our receptionists were going to transfer back down here, I really like Mandy and Kathy. I got out of the car and stared at the building. Six stories of tall glass windows and concrete. It looked exactly like it did before, couldn’t even tell that it had been blown up. I, however, didn’t want to think about the bomb and the changes.

  Taking a deep breath, I walked toward the building and entered. A new receptionist was sitting at the desk. She looked up and glanced at my badge and nodded. No hello, no smile, no joking around. Great, she didn’t have a personality.

  Lyra walked behind me, our paths deviated, and she went to the elevator. “Agent Collins?” She stopped and called for me.

  I was already at the door that led to the stairwell. “I’ll meet you up there. Don’t worry; I’m not running away.”

  She shook her head and pressed the button. I walked up the stairs and paused before I entered the floor. This was a different building; it didn’t matter that it looked the same. There was no reason for me to be this anxious about it. Besides, Nick wasn’t dead. My gut told me that. This wasn’t his death place.

  I pushed the door open and walked into the hallway. A few offices down was my office. I’d go in there, and it’d look just like it had before it exploded. I would talk to Boss Man, and then I’d get down to work. Solve my cases and then take on my new promotion. If only things would go that smoothly.

  I swiped my key card over the sensor not really expecting it to let me in. To my surprise, the little red light turned green, and the tumbler clicked. I heard the elevator ding, and I waited to see Lyra coming down the hall.

  I held my door open for her, and we walked into the office together. My heart stopped beating at the sight of a second desk in the office. It wasn’t in the same spot as Nick’s who had been off to the left of the door. No, it was only a few feet from my desk, and it felt like an invasion of privacy.

  I glanced at Lyra. “You said you’d see what we could do about the partner.”

  “I will see what I can do, but my hands may be tied on that one.” She motioned to Boss Man who was standing in the corner. “I’ll leave you two to chat and then I’ll be in touch.”

  She walked off, and I wondered why she even bothered to come upstairs with me. Maybe she really did think I was going to run.

  “Boss Man.” I crossed my arms. “That was a hell of a quick promotion.”

  “I see Lyra convinced you to take the deal.” He turned around and motioned to the two desks. “I know you don’t like to work with a partner, so I’ll see what we can do about Agent Grace.”

  I snorted. “Lyra didn’t give me much of a choice, so here I am. Black magic task force I hear. Any particular reason why that force?”

  “Because you’re studying the linguistics of the Cult of Ra, you know other rune bases, and you’re one of the few who can conjure many types of circles without a physical guide. You were born for this Agent Collins, and when I hired you, it’s where I always intended to put you.”

  That wasn’t something I knew. It made sense, Boss Man told me at graduation that I was meant for great things, but I thought he was full of shit at the time. “Why now?”

  “Because it’s the only way that I’m not going to lose you as my agent. You’ll be fine, Special Agent Collins. Grace requested to be your partner because you worked well together after Nick’s death, but I know you. I know how you work.”

  He turned around and finally faced me. “Now about what happened to your other office. Someone put a hex on it using your own rune.”

  I knew that much, and the look on my face clearly said that.

  “The security camera had been compromised with looped feed. Whoever did it knew what they were doing, and judging by the swipes on the keypad, they had a key card. They didn’t intend to kill you, but it was certainly a warning. Do you think you could trace the spell?”

  The scene with the little girl and the dolls came back to my mind, and I knew I wanted to know who was behind the spell. “Yeah, I probably can. I’ll need access to that room.”

  “Your key card will still work. I’ll make sure not to send our cleaning crew into it. You talk to security already?”

  “Sure did, they said they’d pull the tapes for me and let me know if there was something strange on them.”

  “Good.” He started to walk out of the office. “Congratulations on your promotion Special Agent Collins, I look forward to the work you will do with the Black Magic task force.”

  So did I, because I wasn’t even sure what to expect. He left and the door shut behind him with a small click. I stood in the empty office and looked over the view of the mountains. The room had a clean smell to it with a hint of carpet glue that new buildings sometimes had. The windows were perfectly clear, not worn by the weather, but the view hadn’t changed at all. It was the same view I’d started my job with, and staring at it made me feel like I was back on track with my life.

  I hadn’t known that I missed the south office that much until now.

  My phone rang and I picked it up. “Agent Collins speaking.”

  “All good?” Oliver’s voice came over the phone. “You’re at the south PIB building.”

  I closed my eyes. “Yeah, all good. I was promoted.”

  “And that caused you to send me a cryptic text.”

  “They blackmailed me, said they’d turn me over to confinement if I didn’t take the position.”

  He was silent for a moment. “Abigail, what did they promote you to?”


  “Special Agent, working with the Black Magic Task Force.”

  He said something in a language I didn’t know and I could only assume that he was cussing. “Anything else I should know?”

  “I tried to negotiate to get my clearance rank up for database privileges, and I may be getting a new partner.”

  There was that word again, and this time he sounded even angrier. “I’m afraid to ask who the partner is.”

  “Melody Grace.”

  “Oh, Abigail.” His voice lowered. “It sounds like your life is about to get very interesting.”

  Yeah, he was probably right. “I’ll see you tomorrow for lunch; we can chat about it then. And the letter you gave me.”

  “No, no reason to chat about the letter. It should have been given to you long ago. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He disconnected, leaving me in silence.

  After a few minutes of making sure the building wasn’t going to explode, I finally sat down at the desk. The glass top caught the sunlight a little bit, but not at an angle that was blinding, and it gave off the feeling of a fancy office. New office equipment was amazing like that.

  I wiggled the mouse and clicked on the keys to unlock the computer. Typing in my password, I wondered how long this had actually been in the works because it seemed like short notice to get everything ready for me.

  Of course, Boss Man had known I was an elemental for about three months now. Maybe it was something that he was planning on the moment he found out.

  I pulled up the search program and decided it was time to get to work. This time nothing tried to warn me off as I typed in the name Carmen Jones.

  Not much came up, except she was a registered shifter. Not surprising because of what I knew about the other victim. I scrolled through her information and tried to find some link to Drake. I stopped at the place of employment and pressed my lips together. She’d worked at a place called Loraine’s Dollhouse. I hadn’t heard of the place before, but the name caught my attention. Loraine was the name of Drake’s daughter. Interesting.

  I wrote the address down to visit later. Something in my gut told me not to call, but I did pop the name into the search, and the results that came up were as expected. Loraine’s Dollhouse was a little toy store down in Manitou the specialized in custom-made dolls. It sounded creepy.

  I clicked around on the images on the website to see examples of what they had for sale and happy clients with their customer-made dolls. The last picture was a smiling child, her hair in ringlets that fell to her shoulders, and she was clinging to a doll in a plaid dress that looked very similar to her.

  And the child was the one I saw in my vision when I was hit by the spell in my office. My heart skipped a beat, and I stared at her for a moment just to make sure. Yes, she was. Holy shit.

  I jumped out of my chair and grabbed the address before running out of my office. I sprinted to the stairs and took them two by two down to the main level. I didn’t bother waving at the receptionist as I darted out of the building. Only to realize that my Hummer was at the other PIB building and I was standing at the south building, in the parking lot, looking like an idiot.

  I pulled out my phone and dialed Simon. “Hey, you want to go shopping for dolls?”

  He stuttered through his words. “What?”

  “I need a ride, the Hummer is at the north PIB building, and the big scary man took me to the south building.”

  “Got it. I’ll be there in twenty, okay? Then are you going to explain to me what the big scary man wanted with you?”

  I laughed. “Yeah, it’ll make for a fun story on the way to the doll store.”

  “What kind of dolls are we talking about?” His voice sounded skeptical, and the sound of an engine turning came after him.

  I laughed. “Creepy custom-made ones. You’ll love them; maybe you can pick one or two up for the pups.”

  “Right, because nothing says welcome to the pack like creepy dolls. I’ll see you in a bit.”

  I was still standing in the parking lot when Simon pulled in. There were probably things I could have done in the office, but I didn’t want to spend my time up there while I was thinking about the child. What on earth was such a young kid doing involved in such magic? Certainly, she wasn’t the one who cast it. I mean, I’d seen some pretty powerful kids over the years, like the one who managed to bring to life a velociraptor using Life Magic, but hexes were a whole other ball game.

  Simon pulled up in front of me. “Need a lift?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, of course I do.” I jumped into the passenger side of his car. “It’s been a strange day, and I’m ready for it to end.”

  “But first, we’ve got to go shopping for creepy dolls. I’m sure the pups would appreciate them,” he joked again. “And when they think I’ve gone crazy, I’m blaming you.”

  I buckled in. “They’ve met me before, so I’m sure they wouldn’t be that surprised. Though they’d be suspicious of what I wanted since I’m a witch.”

  “Voodoo dolls?”

  “That would probably be their first assumption, yeah.” I sighed. “Here’s the address to the doll shop.”

  He looked down and nodded. “That’s not far from Clarissa’s shop, is it?”

  “Not at all. Might pop in and say hi to her after we’re done with the creepy dolls.” I leaned back in the chair and watched things pass as we drove. “So I have a new title.”

  “Oh? Was that what the big scary man was about?” Simon never took his eyes off the road, and his voice was even. “I was debating on calling someone to help you.”

  He wasn’t the only one, after all, I’d sent a warning to my uncle. “Yeah, PIB has convinced me to become a Special Agent working with the Black Magic task force.”

  “Does this mean if there’s a crime involving my wolves, you won’t handle it anymore?”

  I sighed. “Probably not, unless it’s something like Mina, where someone is using black magic.”

  “Well, guess that means I can’t special request you.” He snorted. “Who’s replacing you?”

  I shook my head and played with the seatbelt. “I have no idea. They are talking about putting me with a partner.”

  “You don’t sound happy about that.” His voice was low. “But who is it?”

  “Special Agent Grace. And of course I’m not happy. I don’t want another partner. I’ve never wanted a partner, and when I finally got used to having one, he blew up.” My voice raised a little bit, and I sighed. “I’m sorry, just…”

  “A sensitive subject, I know.” He turned down the exit to get to Manitou. “And I don’t plan on pushing it, but a promotion sounds like a good thing.”

  I pressed my lips together. “They told me if I didn’t take it then they’d tell the government about me being an elemental.”

  “Well shit.” Simon sighed. “No wonder why they sent the big scary man after you. This is going to prove to be interesting.”

  Wasn’t that the truth. “I’ll have to tell Levi tonight, Oliver already knows. He doesn’t like it at all; there was something in his reaction that didn’t sit right with me.”

  “It’s your uncle; he probably knows a lot more about the situation than you think.”

  That had occurred to me, but since I couldn’t tell what Oliver was thinking in most situations, I hadn’t put too much thought into it. “Scary thought, if he knew about it before I did.”

  We pulled onto the main shopping street lined with connected buildings. The street sloped down dividing the main strip into two roads. Shops crowded both sides of the roads. Simon drove down the hill leading to a large park. “I hope you don’t mind walking; this is the only parking open.”

  “Don’t mind at all.” I got out of the car when he parked and stretched. “I love this place.”

  “So do a lot of the wolves, it’s a very welcoming place for supernatural creatures.”

  It was, and a lot of the local coven members chose to live down here. I was hoping we wouldn’t run into any
of them. I started walking across the street so that we’d be on the side with the shops. Simon followed me. “Something up?”

  I shook my head. “Nope, just on a mission. Get this done, get some information, and get on with my day.” I didn’t want to let him in on the fact that we could be talking to someone who’d put a hex in my office. He didn’t need to know that. I wasn’t planning on asking investigation questions at this time, just scope out the shop and see what I might be able to learn that way.

  We stopped in front of a tan brick store, a wooden sign hung from a small overhang above the door. Loraine’s Dollhouse, there was a small painting of a dollhouse next to the scrolling words, all done in white. Realistic eyes of dolls stared at us through the window. Each perfectly crafted to look lifelike. From the lashes that framed the eyes to the soft curve of a child’s lips. Tiny hands with sculpted rolls of baby fat and chubby legs peeking out from under dresses or shorts completed the look.

  Simon pointed to one that had brown curly hair and big brown eyes. “This one looks like you.”

  I shook my head. “That’s your imagination.” It wore a frilly red dress with black lace, and I leaned closer to look at it. Tiny little, painted fangs peaked out of the lips. “Woah, that’s not what I was expecting.”

  Simon looked as well. “That’s a bit creepy.”

  It really was. I shook my head and walked in. “If they have tiny vampire ones, maybe they’ll have tiny werewolf ones.”

  “We do have tiny werewolf ones, and they come with their own stuffed wolf.” The woman’s voice caught me off guard. “Does the alpha need one?” She gave a slow smile. “Or perhaps the PIB agent needs a doll?”

  Either she’d known we were coming, or she was just knowledgeable. It wasn’t a secret that I was a PIB agent, but I wasn’t sure if it was common knowledge that Simon was alpha. I glanced at him.

  “We’re actually looking for a gift for one of my pups. She collects dolls.” He didn’t miss a beat.

  “Mmm, do you know what kind she likes? I have a variety of porcelain dolls, fabric dolls, clay, glass, and…” she glanced at me as she paused, “some with real hair.”