Entering the doors on the ground floor of my stepdad’s workplace, I walked across the white polished floor that matched the walls of the minimalistic, yet grand, reception area. Only one thing hung upon the bare backdrop, and that was a white plaque inlaid with black text that read: Portis Forward Incorporation. I removed my sunglasses and walked up to the reception desk. Alvina and Sindri were manning the desk today, and I walked over to say hello.
“Good day to you, Terra Vane,” Alvina said to me with a regal bow of her head. With long, white hair and eyes that seemed aware of something you didn’t know, her posture was held firm. She appeared as if she hadn’t relaxed a day in her life.
“Hey Al,” I smiled in greeting, and I was sure I was the only person in the whole of Portiside who got away with calling her that. She, alongside many of the people who worked here, had known me since I was a teenager. Chris was always saying they had a soft spot for me.
Sindri grinned at Alvina’s awkward smile. In regards to looks, he was the complete opposite. He was an Emerald-Fire Citizen whereas Alvina was an Emerald-Air Citizen like Rosie. They were as different as chalk and cheese, Alvina and Sindri, and it was evident in both their looks and their personality.
“Hey Sin.” I waved at him and he waved back from his relaxed position. He was wearing a gray tunic and pants, the same as Alvina, to abide by the Portis Forward uniform protocol. But I’d seen that guy out and about and he definitely preferred black and orange as his wardrobe. And I mean bright orange—as orange as his hair.
“Come to see Chris or Rosie?” Sindri asked me, pressing a few buttons on something that resembled a console in front of him. I knew from past experience that he was summoning the crystal-generated elevator.
“Dad is the lucky one today,” I told him and he didn’t even flinch. I’d called Chris ‘Dad’ since I’d eighteen and it had felt right for the both of us. There may have been tears on Chris’s side, but he would never admit it.
“Haven’t seen you around in a while,” Sindri asked. “All good?”
“All good. Recently finished up on a case.” I hesitated but then figured Chris would tell them anyway once he found out. “They whacked a desistance order on me though.”
Sindri sucked in air between his teeth and grimaced. He knew exactly what that meant, and he knew me too well to know I would have taken it lightly.
“Please tell me you deserved it at least.”
A smile tugged at my lips and I winked at him before saying, “I definitely deserved it.”
“Oh, you’re killing me.” He put his hands on his heart and fell back into his chair. “I’m sure you were a fire fairy in a previous life. You’re just too bad to be human.”
Laughter escaped me and Alvina rolled her eyes.
“You shouldn’t encourage her,” Alvina reprimanded him then she looked at me. “And you shouldn’t flirt so much. He’ll be a nightmare all day.”
“If anyone can control an uncontrollable Fire Fey citizen, Alvina, then it’s you. Just blow on him and put him out of his misery.”
“Of course,” Alvina said with another regal nod. But Sindri was helpless with silent laughter as he picked up on the double entendre. Lucky for me, the elevator dinged its arrival, saving me from Alvina realizing what I’d just said.
“See you later,” I yelled to them both, hiding a grin as I made my way over to the elevator.
As soon as I stepped inside the crystalline-white contraption, it took off in the direction required without me even pushing a button. Within five seconds I was at my intended destination of the sixth floor. I stepped out to find Christopher Vane standing there with his eyes closed and his arms open.
Did I mention that my stepdad liked to think he was funny?
“You want to thank your lucky stars it’s me stepping out of the elevator,” I told him as I walked into his open arms and laid a fat kiss on his cheek.
“You make enough noise for anyone to know who you are. Missed you,” he said and he squeezed me tightly as if I hadn’t seen him only a few weeks ago.
“Yeah, yeah. Missed you, too.” I leaned back and let him direct me over to a waiting area that was situated by a secured door that gave access to the labs. I may have made it through this far without a search because Alvina and Sindri knew me well enough, but that was as far as my clearance got me.
Chris sat down next to me on the white chairs, molded to resemble the letter S. He leaned his head on his hand as he studied me.
“Have you finished the case you were on?” he asked. I squirmed a little under his scrutiny. He knew too much for his own good as he watched me through those piercing eyes of his.
His hair was tied back in a ponytail, as it often was, and he wore it to a length between his shoulder blades. It was the color of his feathers when he turned all griffin on me, gold and brown woven together with a soft shine. If you twisted my arm, I would say that he was a catch for all the attractive ladies out there, and it had always stumped me what he’d seen in my mom. Not that there was anything wrong with her. But with lips that were pinched together more often than not, and her nervous constitution, she was the complete opposite of Chris when compared with his calm demeanor. He was a lot more suited to Rosie, who’d had a crush on him for as long as I’d known her. It was a pity he couldn’t see past his own nose where she was concerned. I would have thought that my usually astute stepdad would have picked up on it over the years. But he was a bit dense where women were concerned. I mean, he’d gone for my mom of all people. He needed his head checked for that alone.
Bitchy, I know, but you haven’t met my mom.
“Case is all done and dusted,” I explained to him eventually, “and Cole has given me a desistance order for my troubles. I’m off for seven days. And so is Kaleb.”
“What did you do?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I don’t want to know, do I?” he asked, ignoring my question. “If I ask, then I’m going to regret asking and I’m going to be mad, or worry, or cry. I know you too well.”
Even when he was insulting he could still make me smile.
“We took out a very dangerous criminal. One that Cole thinks goes deeper in regards to the fact it escaped from the Territorial Shifter Hold. But Cole doesn’t seem to like my methods and he thinks I have a death wish. He feels that a break from duties will help me to reflect. He’s a pain in my ass.”
Chris began to smile but stopped himself when I scowled at him. “Do I get to tell you what I think, or do you want me to tell you what you want to hear?” he asked.
“Do I have a choice?”
“Of course you do. I can tell you that Cole is a complete idiot who doesn’t know how to run the agency. He’s made the wrong decision in taking you off the case because you’re so damn brilliant that none of us compares to your shine.”
“Very funny.”
“Oh, I’m hilarious. But if you want me to tell you the truth. Then I would have to say that you’ve always felt like you’ve had something to prove in that place. It’s what’s made me a complete wreck over the years and caused me to wonder many times why my hair hasn’t turned gray.”
“I wasn’t trying to prove anything,” I told him as I let out a deep breath. At least with Chris, I could be completely honest about most things. Aside from men, sex and periods. They were completely off the table. I believe he was very happy with that arrangement. “The killer was dangerous, and he’d taken out a lot of people over the past few weeks. He was escalating in his kills, and we ran into him during a stakeout at The Beer Barrel in the Victorian Quarter. I set myself up as bait and Kaleb came to save the day. Then I saved Kaleb’s neck and set the killer on fire. Cole wasn’t impressed with that.”
“Do I want to ask what species the killer was?”
“A wendigo,” I said it so quickly that it was a wonder he even heard me.
“A wendigo?”
“Yes, a wendigo. Be quiet. Cole is trying to keep it under the ra
dar as he digs deeper to try and understand how a wendigo managed to get out of the hold and into the city. He thinks that it took something.”
“Like a drug?”
I nodded. “He popped something in his mouth before he changed, and a blue ring appeared around his irises. He was extremely fast, like a vamp, and he was more flammable than expected when I threw a fiery branch in his direction.”
“You always were resourceful.”
“Shut up, Dad,” I reprimanded him. “I’m being serious.”
“I know that. And as much as it makes me feel sick at the thought of you in any danger, I know you can hold your own. But Cole has a right to be worried, and he has a right to make sure that you understand that you’re not like the other agents, honey. Not in a lot of ways. You seem to forget that when your heart overrules, and it might get you into trouble that you can’t walk away from one day. You can’t blame us for worrying about that.”
“You, I get. I understand why you might worry. You love me and you kind of like having me around, or at least I hope you do. But not Cole. At the end of the day, I’m an agent who did her job. I’m sure he wouldn’t have put a desistance order on any of the other agents if they’d done the same thing.”
“Did he put one on Kaleb?”
“Yeah. But that’s more so for letting me get into trouble, not necessarily for what we did. It annoys me how he treats me so differently and I’ve had enough.” I cringed. “I shouted back at Cole. I may not have a job at the end of all this.”
Chris chuckled. “I believe Cole thinks more of you than he’s letting on. He’s always been too serious a man—or shifter if we’re being particular. Don’t take it to heart, and be thankful that he lets you go your own way a lot of the time. Sometimes the things we assume aren’t necessarily the truth.”
“You agree with him?”
“Never,” he said in an exaggerated voice. “But remember, your perception and his are two very different things. All you can do now is play nice, enjoy the time off, and then do things a little bit more discreetly next time.”
“Are you saying I can get into trouble as long as I’m discreet about it?”
“I learned a long time ago that you were born to be trouble.” He ruffled my hair. “But I wouldn’t have you any other way.”
“You used to say trouble was my middle name,” I told him, as I thought back to the million times he’d reprimand me, then come up trumps when I needed his support. He’d been through hell and back with what I’d thrown at him over the years, but he was always there. In that, he’d never faltered.
“Tell me about it,” he replied. “I would love for your name to change to Terra ‘I’m going to settle down and have babies’ Vane, but that’s just beyond hope.”
“Hey.” I shoved at his arm and he caught it and pulled me into the fold of his hug.
“You’re right. I don’t think there’s a man out there who could handle you.”
I resisted and snuggled into the one place where I felt safe. “You’re supposed to say there isn’t a man out there who is good enough for me.”
“Well, Portiside is a large place, I suppose. There has to be someone brave enough out there who will have you.”
“You, Christopher Vane, are sailing very close to getting an ass kicking.”
“Would it save my ass to say I can take a few hours off and pay for lunch somewhere?”
I didn’t hesitate in jumping up out of my seat and pulling him along with me.
“It would save your ass ten times over if you pay for dessert, too. I’m a hungry woman.”
He groaned out loud. “My currency balance just squirmed. You and food have a very loving, and long-term, relationship. It’s a pity you couldn’t marry it.”
“I’d just eat it.”
“Yep,” he said as he removed his white lab coat and threw it onto a hook on the wall. “I really feel sorry for the man you’re going to end up with.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
We’d eaten out at a posh place called The Quartz, before taking a walk out onto the Moors. Venturing into the trees had us coming across a couple of wood sprites and playing with them for a while before we went on our way.
Wood sprites were a great tonic if you were ever feeling down. Their innocent, playful nature made you shuffle your priorities as they dragged out your inner child. They were tiny, humanoid fairies who could fit in the palm of your hand, and they always traveled in large groups. If a person didn’t feel better after playing Hide and Seek or Catch the Dandelion with a bunch of happy wood sprites then they had no soul, in my opinion.
Dusk had come and gone when we finally returned to Portis Forward Inc. I ended up going back up to the sixth floor to wait for Rosie who’d sent a transmission to my watch comms about an hour before.
She was going to head home with me, and she wanted to grill me on the desistance order that she’d heard about through the grapevine. News definitely traveled fast.
Before heading out, I gave my stepdad a hug goodbye. It had been so good to see him.
“Thanks for the food,” I told him from the waiting area outside the entrance to the highly secured labs. “Next time, I’ll buy.”
“You say that every time,” he replied with a smile.
“I can’t help it if your mouth keeps getting you into trouble and you have to compensate me with food.”
“Is that right?”
“That’s right. Are you going back to work now?”
He let out a sigh and reached for the lab coat he’d left hanging on the hook earlier.
“For a bit longer. This project has got us working all hours, but I’m sure it will be worth it.” He paused then lowered his voice. “Would you like me to ask around to see if there is anything that would help in regards to what the wendigo might have taken?”
“No,” I replied, not wanting him to get caught up in all this. But it was too late. He’d sensed my hesitation. “Maybe. You need to be careful.”
“Alright.” He winked, then leaned in and dropped a kiss on my forehead.
The door behind us beeped, followed by a whooshing sound as Rosie stepped through to meet me.
“Did she rope you into buying lunch again?” Rosie asked Chris with a glimmer in her eyes. If I didn’t know her any better, I would think she was just admiring our father/daughter interaction with affection. But I knew Rosie well. If only my stepdad could see the crazy vibes pinging back and forth between them, they’d both be a hell of a lot happier.
Rosie had tight, honey-colored curls that flowed to her shoulders, and she kept them clipped back most of the time. Her skin was a medium brown and her eyes a piercing green hue. She was still wearing her lab coat over her clothes and her bag was hanging from her shoulder. She looked tired, but her beauty didn’t suffer for it.
Many members of the fairy kin were striking in their appearance compared to Earthside standards. At first, it had taken a little getting used to, but to them, their looks were the norm. I think it made some of them uncomfortable, especially with the attention they received from humans when over on Earthside. And many used a magical glamor to tamper down their appearance a little. Some didn’t have any choice but to use one anyway because their eyes were either a little too wide, or their ears a touch too pointed to pass for human. And some didn’t even resemble humans at all.
Rosie didn’t need one though, even if she was often baffled by the male attention she got when she visited Earth. She wasn’t far off my height but her petite frame made her appear smaller, more delicate. It was a deceptive appearance when she had the power to manipulate air. She could easily set a mini-hurricane on your ass if you got on the wrong side of her.
“Do you want to come with me to see Mayra before heading off home, or give it a miss?” I asked Rosie, knowing she was most likely way past her bedtime. She was putting in the same hours as Chris lately—if not more.
“I’ll come with you to see her. I haven’t seen her for a while. We can play catch u
p.”
“Alright then, let’s go. See you later, Dad.” I pecked him on the cheek and watched Rosie give him a nod goodbye. Her cheeks blushed slightly as he patted her on the shoulder and then we were out of the door.
My stepdad really needed to get his eyes checked.
“What are you going to do with the rest of your time off?” Rosie asked me as the motion of the monorail lulled me into a relaxed state. We’d caught The Rail to the Victorian Quarter where Mayra’s shop was located.
Rosie had listened patiently while I’d updated her on everything that had happened with the case.
“Brood, and sleep, most likely.” I suppressed a yawn and shifted in the upholstered seats that matched the color of the deep red carpet beneath my feet. The luxurious interior was the total opposite to the outside of the machine that looked like it had been built using the remnants of a scrapyard. But even that was elegant in its own way.
A blend of silvers, coppers, and browns mixed well with the cogs that embraced the external facade. Swirled into patterns that had been etched into the wood, they weaved their way into the interior where the wood met metal. Each chair, crafted by hand, was soft enough to sleep on. And gold plated chains hung from the ceiling in rows for the passengers to pull on when they needed to alert the driver. It gave the impression of expense and elegance. But then there wasn’t much that was mass-produced in Portiside. You could tell based on the unique craftsmanship that immersed itself into many of the things over here.
“It might do you some good to step back for a while,” Rosie told me as the screeching of the monorail wheels signified the end of our destination. “You know how working on certain cases for long periods of a time can wear you down.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s the thought of Cole forcing me into not working that doesn’t sit well with me. You know how stubborn I am.”
“I’m very well aware.” A meek smile followed as we both stood up and made our way to the exit. The monorail came to a complete stop and it was time for us to descend onto the platform.
Death Be Blue (The Terra Vane Series Book 1) Page 7
