Black and White

by Zenina Masters

  She really wanted to know where they were going, but one thing was for certain, they weren’t transporters.

  Ty clocked the miles and used her training to measure the distance that they travelled. It was only a few blocks until they stopped and turned left, heading through a gate into a private property.

  The moment that the door opened, Ty could taste wild magic, and she had tasted it before. There was a powerful fey nearby, and it seemed that she was about to meet him.

  Chapter Three

  They were unpacked like so much cargo and levitated into a heavily gated garden. Ty watched everything, and Al struggled upright as well.

  Despite her horror at what was happening, a trickle of hope ran through her. If other shifters had been kidnapped and hidden, the death count might not be as high as they had anticipated. Emery might still be alive.

  It was a bit of hope she hadn’t expected to find, so she tucked it away deep inside and tried to ignore it as she was floated into position in a holding cell. The blonde and her brother made sure that they were secure before they stepped outside and rang a bell.

  Ty shifted position and wrapped her arms around her knees protectively. Al crouched in a hostile posture, and she could see the snarl in his expression. If he wasn’t acting, he was rattled. It might be a side effect of the drug.

  When the figure appeared, it had the long lines and elegant grace of the fey. There was no mistaking it. The human mages bowed awkwardly.

  The blonde said, “Lord Kamian Algar, these are our two catches for this evening.”

  He stroked her cheek, and she closed her eyes in bliss. “What are they?”

  The brunette stood straight until he was stroked in the same manner. “They are exotics, the charm told me that, but I don’t know what kind. You do so enjoy discovering what they are that we brought them straight to you. If you don’t want them, we will take them elsewhere.”

  The fey came toward the cages and looked them over. “They are both very lovely in their human forms. It does bring up the curiosity. Will they be missed?”

  The blonde shook her head. “No, Lord Kamian. They are both transient. No one will miss them for days, and there is no way to trace them back to you if you choose to keep them.”

  “They both appear to have Asian blood in them. I wonder what lies beneath. Yes, bring them out into their animal states, and I will tell you what I decide.”

  The fey waved his hand and an elegant chair appeared. He took a seat and waved for them to begin.

  The man moved swiftly and soon the trundling sound of something heavy on wheels approached. A crush box was a cross between a cage and a medieval torture device. They were always large enough to hold a human but no larger. The confinement usually triggered the shift, and once locked in place, the shifter could be put into a bladed collar that would stop the shift back to human.

  It was a very unpleasant thing, but it wasn’t the first time Ty had faced one. She had learned something early in life—giant pandas couldn’t be collared for long. It would hurt to pull it off, but she could do it in a very short period of time.

  Lord Kamian looked from one of them to the other. “Do the female first. I am eager to add her to my collection.”

  The blonde looked put out by the offer, but she nodded, and together, she and what appeared to be her brother moved to Ty’s cage. The barrier faded as they touched it, and she was soon gripped by her arms and hauled to the crush box.

  “Nononononono.” Ty fought and struggled against the two mages, but there was a frisson of actual remembered panic at the idea of being in that box.

  She heard a chuckle from the fey, and he got to his feet, the crunch of his elegant shoes got closer. He stroked her cheek, and she felt the magic run along her skin. If she had been in a more receptive frame of mind, she might have given in to him, but as it was, she bit the finger as soon as it got close enough to her lips.

  He hissed and shouted, “Put her in.”

  She was guessing that he was a little perturbed, but now she knew what he tasted like. She had tasted fey before and each of them had a distinct flavour.

  They didn’t strip her, which was another form of cruelty. Her clothing would bind her tight, but then, they didn’t know what she was. This was going to require fast action.

  She flipped onto hands and knees the moment they let her go, and she pulled her strength from her bear, rearing rapidly onto her knees and breaking the bands around the box before anyone could get into position to apply pressure.

  Ty went for Al’s holding pen, but he was already out of it, breaking the floor and the glyphs that were in the wood.

  The humans shouted and ran, but Lord Kamian Algar smiled at them. “Very impressive. I will enjoy adding you to my collection.” A moment later, he vanished in a whipping of wind.

  Tyanna looked around her and at Alatas. “Fancy meeting you here.”

  He came up next to her. “Good work with the box.”

  “Practice. It isn’t my first; it won’t be my last. I hate those things.”

  “Shall we report in?” He moved his hands to trigger his transport.

  “It won’t work in here. Can’t you feel all the fey barriers? This place is soaked in magic, but it may explain how so many shifters can go missing without any trace. If the fey are creating personal menageries, it will give hope to a lot of those who have missing loved ones.”

  She headed back the way they had been brought.

  “I couldn’t believe it when I saw you in the bar. You really seemed to be in place.” Alatas caught up with her.

  “I should have been more surprised that we were both sent after the same target. It seems to be a theme.” She shrugged.

  “So, you can feel magic?” It seemed he was trying to keep the conversation going.

  “Yes. I was fostered by a mage when I was a teenager. She exposed me to magic and told me how to differentiate between the various types. It was a lesson that made me a very good hunter.” She snorted, “Well, good for one of my kind.”

  He rubbed the back of his neck. “I hadn’t realized how strong you were.”

  She chuckled. “It always surprises folks that all that roly-poly has a practical application.”

  They drew even with the van, and she smiled. She pulled the keys and put them in her pocket. A few feet from the gate, she nodded. “We can transport from here. Shall we?”

  He nodded. They stood a few feet from each other, and Tyanna gripped her hand, pressing her thumb into the other palm. In an instant, she was standing in the landing area of the Shifter Council Headquarters.

  Across the underground arrival facility, Alatas appeared in his circle. He raised his hand to her, and they met at the door. “Shall we report in?”

  She shrugged. “We may as well. I still wonder what Wax was up to. Was he in it with them?”

  Al sighed. “A question for another day. For today, I believe we have enough new information.”

  As they headed for the elevator, she asked, “Do you think that is his real name? The fey, I mean.”

  “I was still dazed by the drugs. I think last of it cleared out with the transport. What was his name?”

  “Lord Kamian Algar. Well, we will give his name to the council and I will draw a sketch of him. We have the address, though I doubt anything will be left over when we get more folk in to investigate. The fey are very good at hiding their tracks.”

  They got into the elevator and didn’t say another word until they were talking to their handler.

  Tamora had taken one look at them and sent for coffee. “You two smell like it was a long night.”

  Ty sat and began to sketch on the pad that Tamora kept for such occasions. Alatas watched eagerly as the elf’s features took shape under her pencil. When the coffee showed up, she had a rough outline and was filling in the details.

  “All right you two; tell me what you found.”

  Ty looked to Al and sai
d, “Go ahead.”

  He outlined his time at the bar and the young blonde woman who talked his ear off. Alatas had been drugged at some point, but he wasn’t aware of it. When the woman disappeared, he had followed her but was too disoriented to make much headway. The young man had come up to him and offered him some help finding a cab. Al had gone with him because he had been dizzy and wanted to see where they would take him.

  When he arrived, Ty was meditating in one of the energy columns and he was feeling decidedly unfocused.

  Ty perked up. “I tasted the contaminant that the bartender put in my drink at the young man’s urging, so he is in on it as well, but I think he is pure human.”

  Tamora leaned forward and folded her hands on her desk. “What did the young mages smell like?”

  “Magic and the male smelled like hair dye. They are either twins or at least siblings. He dyes his hair so that the resemblance is not as obvious, but they smell and look the same if you go past that.”

  She finished her sketch. “Once I let them catch me, I just had to wait until they decided what they were going to do with us. Apparently, they decided that as Al and I are both exotics, they would offer us to a private collector.”

  Tamora sat back and her mouth opened in surprise. “What?”

  “You heard me. A private collector of exotic shifters. His name is Lord Kamian Algar, though I don’t know if his name was wrapped in a glamour or not, but this is what he looks like.” She slid the image in front of her dispatcher.

  Al craned his head. “That is exactly what he looks like, down to the pointed ears and earring.”

  Tamora shook her head. “Please repeat that. This fey has a collection of shifters?”

  “If he doesn’t have one, he wants to start one. Fortunately, I have put a flea in his ear and he is targeting me now.” Ty smiled brightly.

  Tamora rubbed her forehead. “What did you do?”

  Al chuckled. “She bit him and broke his crush box.”

  Ty gave a happy smile to her dispatcher. “I got him good, too. I will be able to tell him by taste even if a glamour is involved.”

  Her friend held up the image and called in her receptionist. “Take copies of it, scan it and send it to the guild and council heads. Let them know that we have a collector on the loose and he may have friends.”

  The receptionist nodded briskly and headed off to make copies.

  Tamora leaned forward again. “Now, what aren’t you telling me?”

  Chapter Four

  Tyanna sipped her coffee and smiled in relief. She had been awake for a while.

  “I can’t speak for Al, but I got the impression that this was a well-rehearsed choreography. They mentioned offering us to Algar first. That implies that there were others waiting in the wings. If the fey have started collecting shifters, we might have a problem.”

  Tamora got to her feet. “Give me a minute.”

  Alatas looked over at Ty. “I wonder what we are about to learn?”

  “I don’t know. So, how have you been keeping?”

  He smiled brightly, his teeth white in his tanned face. His body said Pacific Islander, and his features had the sharp exotic cast of a blended heritage. The thick waves of dark hair were very fetching, and he smelled like popcorn no matter what he was shaped like.

  She smiled. “I have been busy. Yesterday was supposed to be my day off, but Tamora left a message and here I am. Were you in search of Wax?”

  “Jeremy Wax? Yes. I got the same information you did. He was long gone by the time I got to the bar, but now that we are aware the bartender is in on the kidnappings, I think we might have been misled as to the truth of the situation.”

  Ty had a thought. “Do you think that he could have been grabbed by the mages as well? I mean, if it was the last place he was seen, it could have been where he disappeared, too.”

  Alatas nodded. “It could have been. I still don’t understand why the mages guild doesn’t know about this.”

  Tamora came back in. “They do now. You two are scheduled for a complete debriefing with the Guild Master in half an hour. Tyanna, can you draw a picture of the two human mages?”

  She nodded. “Bring the sketchbook back and I will get to it.”

  Tamora retrieved the book and handed it back.

  Ty started to draw the young man first.

  “When did you start to draw?”

  She flicked a gaze at Alatas and smiled, “You may as well ask, when did I start to breathe, it is the same thing. When I was little, my mother gave me a pencil and paper to keep me quiet. I never let it go. When I need to calm down, I draw. When I need to think, I draw. And when I need to make an image of a backstabbing human, I draw.”

  Tamora laughed and went to fetch more coffee.

  Ty watched the face appear under her pencil. When she was staring at the man she wanted to claw into a bloody heap, she flipped the page and went to work on his sister.

  Her hand blurred across the paper and she sketched the woman. When it was finished, she rubbed her hands together and reached for her cool coffee.

  Al took the sketchbook and he nodded. “That is amazing. I mean, I knew that you could draw people, but I have never seen it before.”

  “I only need to do it in situations like these, when taking a snapshot would have gotten us killed. I had my phone with me, but I didn’t think that taking a picture was a good idea.”

  He chuckled. “I was thinking the same thing. Mind you, I was still struggling with that drug. How did you avoid it?”

  “I was a sissy. I told them that I didn’t like the taste, and they swapped it into my normal cheap beer selection. I had to drink some, but then, I went to the ladies’ room and puked it up then flushed it with half a litre of water.”

  He winced. “That sounds unpleasant, but I am glad you did it, because with her pinning me to the back of the booth, I didn’t have a chance to dodge.”

  She cocked her head. “Are you still seeing that skunk?”

  Tamora laughed.

  Al blinked. “Um, no. She headed to the Crossroads a year ago when it was obvious that I wasn’t interested in making our relationship permanent.”

  “Ouch. Well, that certainly sends a signal. Nothing like going off to the Crossroads to let a guy know that she doesn’t consider him mate material.”

  He shrugged. “We weren’t right for each other. We both knew it.”

  Tyanna grinned and finished her coffee. “At least you figured it out on your own.”

  Al sighed. “Yes. I believe she married a badger. They were a much better fit.”

  Tamora was watching them with a soft expression on her features. Her phone rang and she jerked upright. “He’s here? Right. We are on our way.”

  She hung up and the slight crest of hair was smoothed down with her practiced hand.

  As Tyanna got to her feet, she realized that she had never considered a cockatoo as a boss, but Tamora was ideal. Her hair standing in a crest when she was startled never failed to be funny.

  Ty had never seen her fully transformed, but the crest that emerged was bright blue against her dark hair and deep chestnut skin. It stood out.

  Al stood next to her and she noted that he was quite a bit bigger than she was in human form. It always amused her that when they shifted, they switched physical advantage. He was swaying a little so she was guessing that he wasn’t as clear of the effect as he tried to pretend.

  With the sketchbook back in hand, she moved with her little group to one of the large conference rooms where a tired-looking mage sat talking to the equally rumpled council member.

  “Tyanna, Alatas, this is Mage Guild Master Tobias Orcross. We are waiting for the fey representative, but they said they were on the way.” Tamora smiled brightly.

  Ty felt the change in the local atmosphere. “The fey is here.”

  Master Tobias gave her a strange look. “You look familiar.”

  She stepp
ed forward and gave a short bow. “We have met before. Tyanna Willow Wu, at your service.”

  “Ah, the bear that was raised by Ekiadu.”

  She didn’t correct him with details. “Yes.”

  He extended his hand. “I am pleased to meet you formally. I have heard excellent things about your adventures.”

  Tyanna shook his hand and felt the exploration of power run up her arm. It was a common mage’s trick. She looked him in the eye, and his expression was one of surprise as she used her beast to roll his magic down her arm and up his hand. She released her grip and gave him a pleasant nod.

  His look was one of grudging respect.

  The fey representative sailed through the door. “I had to take the elevator, can you believe it?”

  Ty felt another surge of recognition, which followed instinctive joy. “Lady Liahan. It is good to see you again.”

  The woman smiled and opened her arms for a hug. “Ty-Wi-Wu! How lovely!”

  Tyanna rolled her eyes but went forward for the hug. The clash of fey and shifter magic nearly caused sparks, but it was a familiar feel. “Hello, Aunty.”

  She heard Al and Tamora behind her. “Aunty?”

  The smell of rosemary, roses and honey wrapped around her. It was a great smell.

  “I don’t care, honey, but your folk are staring and I was called here for a reason. We can talk later.”

  Liahan Green Willow was right. With one sharp inhalation, Tyanna backed off. She returned to Tamora and Alatas, ignoring their shocked looks.

  Lady Liahan greeted the other two representatives and took a seat. “Now, why don’t you tell me why I am here?”

  Tamora explained the situation and Alatas’s and Tyanna’s roles in the events. Liahan was irritated when she heard that human mages had kidnapped Ty, but when she heard that an elf had been involved, she was furious. Her hair glowed white and crackled with energy.

  “They tried to put you in a crush box?” Liahan was on her feet with her fists clenched.

  “I am fine, Aunty. Please, sit and we will show you the image.”

  She opened the sketchbook and showed Liahan the picture. “He was identified as Lord Kamian Algar.”