by Nia Night
His loft was the only one on this entire floor, so the elevators opened right into his living room. Sure enough, the large place was packed with supernaturals. The floor plan was open, with the living room leading into the kitchen, the kitchen flowing into the dining room, and so on. The lights were low, and people were settled all around, eating tiny foods and drinking colorful drinks, doing drugs and unspeakable things to each other, as if no one else were around.
A beautiful Fae female in a tiny dress and heels approached with a tray of these colorful libations, and I accepted the offering. Then I glanced around for Milo, who spotted me at the same time I did him, and headed over with a grin on his handsome face.
Though he wasn’t my type, there was no denying that Milo Rayyan was an attractive male. Tall with a toned and slim build, he moved with a grace that was nearly feline. His sandy blond hair was always coifed up to perfection, the kind of thick hair that you sink your fingers into during sex, and his eyes were the most brilliant of golden hazel that I’d ever seen, always with a mischievous twinkle in the centers of them. He wore nothing but the most expensive clothing, suits and collared shirts cut to fit his body to exactness.
When he leaned in and kissed me on my cheek, the scent of his cologne was admittedly intoxicating. “Iliana, my dear,” whispered the Sorcerer. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”
I couldn’t help the smile that came to my face. The fucker was charming as a bracelet. “I’m in search of information,” I answered.
Milo’s full lips pushed out in a pout, but that twinkle remained in his irises. “And here I thought you might be visiting to finally let me taste that beautiful body of yours.” His eyes ran the length of me, and I wondered how many females that particular line had worked on.
“If I did that,” I said quietly enough that he had to lean in closer to catch the words, “you might stop trying, and I’m not sure my heart could take it.”
Milo’s tongue ran out over his lips. “I thought the Sisters didn’t have hearts.”
I winked. “I’ll count on you to keep the secret.”
With a smirk, Milo held out a hand. I took it, letting him lead me to one of the back bedrooms. Inside, we found three Fae making out on the bed, but Milo shooed them out the door with a flick of his wrist.
I watched the Fae with a bit of curiosity until they’d shut the door behind them, leaving me alone with the Sorcerer. Violet swirled in his golden eyes as he looked at me, but I knew there was no danger from Milo. He just liked to tease and play.
“What’s this about, Ili?” he asked.
“The other night I had a Mark. There was a child with him,” I began, explaining about what happened in the park, with the Accursed and the questions from my Superiors, ending with the most recent Accursed attack in the alley near my loft.
“Do you need me to ward the loft?” Milo asked first, and it would be a lie to say that his immediate concern for me didn’t warm me toward him.
I shook my head. “All the Sisters’ dwellings are protected by strong magic, so I should be fine, but have you heard anything about a human child, and why various supernaturals would be after her?”
Milo’s eyebrows rose. “The child was human?”
I nodded. “Pretty sure. I didn’t sense anything supernatural about her.”
The expression on his face told me that he indeed knew something, and I took a step closer in my eagerness to learn what that something was.
“And where is she now?” he asked.
I paused. “I’m not sure. I told you, I turned her over to the police.”
When Milo’s eyes swirled with more violet, I wondered if I had not misjudged our relationship after all.
6
The Sorcerer took another step toward me.
My hand went down to my waist, where my Calidi chain was wrapped around my hips.
Noticing my unease, Milo blinked, the violet swirling in his eyes clearing. “My apologies,” he said, “I didn’t mean to alarm you. But if the child is who I think she is, the people coming after you aren’t going to stop until they find her.”
“Why?” I asked. “She was hardly ten years old, and just a human.”
“But she’s not just a human,” he said, and held up a finger. “Hold on, I’ll be right back.”
Milo flitted from the room with that unusual grace of his, leaving me dumbstruck in the bedroom. I eyed the bed and almost took a seat there before reconsidering. Gods only knew what depravity had taken place on that mattress.
Instead, I wandered over to the balcony doors and pushed them open. The warm summer breeze kissed my face, and even though I have always had a healthy fear of heights, I went to the edge and looked over.
Carson City was magnificent from this height. The balcony wrapped all the way around the penthouse, giving full view of every direction. The lights of the casinos gleamed bright against the night, the cars and people walking below as small as toys. The sounds of the city were muted this high up, offering a glimpse of the bustle without the added irritation of the noise. From here, I could see the building where my loft was, and the police station where I’d left the child a little over a week ago. The bars and clubs were hopping, sending search lights flashing across the night, though even these were swallowed up by the twinkle of the skyscrapers and blanket of stars above.
When Milo joined me on the balcony, I was distracted enough that he startled me, though my body gave no indication. There was an old book in his hands. He brought it over to the glass table that was out here and flipped through the pages after taking a seat. I claimed the chair across from him, leaning over the tome with rapt interest. The pages were yellowed and brittle, and he turned them with the care of a librarian.
“What is this?” I asked.
“This is the book of The Fates,” he said. “It holds all the prophecies of the supernatural realms, as well as that of the mortal.”
I blinked. I’d never heard of such a book. Then again, my education was limited to fighting and killing various kinds of creatures.
He found the page he was looking for and pointed down at it. “Here,” he said. “This is it.”
I looked at the strange markings on the page. “You can read that?” I asked.
Milo gave me a droll look. “I can read over fifty languages, Iliana,” he said, “and, yes, Viturro is one of them.”
Feeling like an ignorant little Halfling, I sat back in my chair and waited to be illuminated.
“When the war between immortals and men draws near,” he read, “there will come a child. Though the child will appear human, she will not of be mortal origins. One of seven keys, this child will herald the beginning of the end of the world as it is known. Following the turning of the seven keys, the Veil between realms will be dropped, and the worlds of immortals and men will collide once more.”
Milo paused and looked up at me. He had the audacity to shrug.
“What the actual fuck?” I said.
I know, very ladylike, but this was not even close to what I’d been expecting.
The Sorcerer chuckled at my vulgarity. “What the actual fuck, indeed,” he said.
“What makes you think Vida is this child?” I asked.
“Vida,” Milo repeated, rolling the name around on his tongue. “Maybe she’s not, but there have been rumors for years that the first key would soon appear. Eventually, the Veil will fall, and the war to end all wars will begin.”
I blinked, not at all knowing what to say to this.
Milo only stared back at me.
“So you’re saying that I could have just handed over the key to some supernatural apocalypse?” I asked.
Again, he shrugged and pointed to the book. “One of seven keys, but for lack of better terms, yes.”
No wonder the Accursed wanted her. I looked down at the book. “Is that all it says?” I asked.
Milo scanned the page. “Only that she needs to be protected. She’ll be assigned a guardian to ensure this, and i
f something should happen to that guardian, she’ll be assigned another, and another. Her survival is paramount until the time is right.”
I stood rather abruptly, suddenly anxious to be out of this penthouse and on the ground again. “Thanks,” I said to Milo. “I appreciate the help.”
Milo watched me with those golden eyes. “Iliana?” he said, pausing me in my tracks. “What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know yet,” I answered truthfully.
“Will you look for her?”
I bit my lip, shrugged.
“I doubt your Superiors would approve of that.”
I nodded. “Thanks for the warning.”
Milo tipped his head to me. “I’m here if you need me,” he said. “Happy hunting.”
I took these words and left in a hurry.
Pacing around my loft, I tried to make sense of this new information.
The sun was only a couple hours from rising, and I hadn’t slept a wink, but I was too wired to even consider doing so. Several times I started writing out a text to my Superiors, only to end up deleting the message and changing my mind.
They clearly knew the value of the child. Otherwise, why would they have asked me her whereabouts? And furthermore, they also wanted to keep me in the dark. Otherwise they would have offered more information than just peppering me with questions.
The wiser part of my brain insisted that this was still not my problem. Even if Vida was some professed game piece in a future war, what did that have to do with me? I was a Sister, and that meant I had one job, eliminating Marks. That’s what I’d spent my whole life learning to do, and that was what I was good at.
But the other part of me kept seeing Vida’s little face, the strength I’d glimpsed behind her eyes, the bravery with which she’d marched into that police station.
I decided I needed to find out what the police had done with her, and then I could decide what to do from there.
Since the Accursed had come after me the night before, I assumed that at least those soulless bitches didn’t have her, but they were not the only ones with dark intentions whose hands the child could have fallen into.
I showered, put on clean clothes, and ate breakfast. As soon as the hour was reasonable enough, I headed over to see someone I thought could help.
When I reached the apartment of the person I was looking for, I saw that I’d woken him up when he opened the door.
Grant Ford’s hair stood out in a wild and dark mess atop his hair, and his glasses sat crookedly on his nose. He wore sweatpants, socks, and an old t-shirt with the Batman logo on the front. He blinked when he saw me, and then a slow smile spread across his face.
“Iliana,” he said, and stepped aside to allow me to enter.
“Hey, G,” I replied. “Did I wake you up?”
Grant yawned, stretching. “Just stayed up a little late gaming. What’s up?”
I wandered over to where his bank of computers sat, the only organized part of his entire apartment. Reaching into my pocket, I put a stack of cash on the desk holding the machines. “I need a favor,” I said.
Grant eyed the money, and then me. “You know I’d do it for free,” he said.
I’d considered sleeping with Grant a couple times, but he was mostly the person I came to when I needed someone who knew their way around technology. He was human, but he didn’t annoy me as much as other humans did, and he had a generally sweet demeanor that was common among nerds. I knew that he was in love with me, but he was also one of the few people that I didn’t want to see get hurt, so keeping him at arm’s length was more of a favor to him than he sometimes realized.
Grant sat down behind the bank of computers and clicked a button on the keyboard. The center screen came to life. He looked up at me over the rims of his glasses. “What am I looking for?”
“I need you to get into the GCPD database,” I said.
Grant chuckled and began tapping at the keys. “Oh? Is that all?”
I nodded toward the wad of cash on the desk beside him. “That’s why I pay well.”
Grant shook his head but didn’t further comment. I watched over his shoulder as his fingers continued to fly over the keys. He wasn’t aware of it, but watching him work his magic at the computer always turned me on a little. In general, he was a very unassuming male, but when he sat behind a screen, his confidence in his ability to dig into its inner workings radiated from him like a beacon.
Less than thirty seconds after he sat down, he said, “I’m in. Now what?”
I gave his shoulder a slight squeeze of approval, and didn’t miss the way this tugged the corner of his mouth up. “I’m looking for a child that was left at the station on 17th street. Name is Vida, but could be listed as something else. About ten years old.”
Grant got to work again, and my brow furrowed as I watched the screen. First, he pulled up missing children files from that date, and then child files in general, and finally, he brought up all the reports from the 19th.
“There were no reports about a child on that date,” he said, confirming what I could already see.
I was usually pretty good about remembering such things, and I would’ve put money on the fact that I’d dropped Vida at the station on the morning of the 19th, but I had Grant check the surrounding dates as well, just in case I was somehow mistaken.
He did as I asked. A few moments later, he was scanning the screen along with me, shaking his head. “Nothing,” he said. “If there was a child at the station on 17th street, there are no reports of her at all. No mentions.” He looked up at me over his rims again, but didn’t further comment. Another reason I was fond of Grant; he didn’t ask questions.
I stood up straight, still looking at the screen in disbelief, a feeling of unease weaving through my stomach. “Hmm,” I said.
“Is that all you wanted me to do?” Grant asked.
I nodded. “That’s it.” Sliding the money toward him, I kissed his forehead and headed out the door.
The more I pondered the situation, the stronger the dread circling my stomach became.
7
That evening, I did not go out and party. I did not seek comforts of the flesh. My head was spinning with the idea that there was no record of Vida ever being at the police station in the GCPD database.
That meant one of two things; either someone had gotten to her while she was there—and that someone could be absolutely anyone—or she’d fooled me and had never gone inside, waiting until I left to sneak away and go Gods knew where.
Was the child even aware of what she was, and what her value to both the supernatural and the mortal world was? I couldn’t be sure, but my gut told me the answer was yes. She’d been too calm when the Accursed had attacked, too cool even when I’d taken her back to the loft before dropping her at the police station the following morning. She hadn’t asked me any questions, even after seeing me use my fire magic to kill the Vampires. She hadn’t cried. The child had not shed a tear.
I paced around the loft as this all circled in my head, only stopping when I noticed the sun sinking beyond the large glass windows looking out over the street below. The loft was spacious, and the windows were such that I could see out just fine, but those on the outside could not see within. I stood here now, silence surrounding me beyond the chatter of my mind, and contemplated my next move.
If you’re smart, I told myself, your next move is nothing at all. What you learned from the Sorcerer doesn’t change the fact that the child is beyond your realm of responsibility, and getting involved could lead to very serious consequences in the Sisterhood. Things are good right now. Why risk messing them up?
When my stomach grumbled audibly, I grabbed my boots and went for some takeout, though I found I could only eat half my usual portion.
When I returned to the loft nearly an hour later, as soon as I opened the door, I knew something was off.
Despite the magical wards surrounding the place, I was not alone.
I had
my Calidi chain out, my fire magic brimming, before I even bothered to flip on the lights.
The inside of the loft was draped in shadows, the furniture and walls only outlines and shapes. There was no strange noise, or other physical manifestation that gave away the presence of an intruder. Only the certainty that twisted my gut. Instinct, as it was, saving my ass more times than I’d like to admit.
I took a step inside, shutting the door behind me. The magic thrumming under my veins heightened in anticipation, and the glow of the heat working down the links of my Calidi chains illuminated the space with a soft red. Sure enough, in this luminescence, I spotted the stranger, and my jaw clenched at the idea of someone being in my personal space.
It was not one of my Sisters, but rather, the hulking form of a male. Large, square shoulders led down to a muscled torso, which led down to more honed bulk below. Dressed in all black, with features I could not make out for the shadows, there was an air of danger surrounding him, and had me shifting into a fighting stance before a word was uttered.
“Who are you?” I asked.
And received silence as an answer. That was all the go-ahead I needed. This was no ordinary intruder, because a human would not have been able to get past the magical wards surrounding the place without tripping the alarms. Most supernaturals would not have been able to get around them. Whoever this male was, he was here for a purpose.
One guess what that purpose was. Ten hells, even when I almost convinced myself to let the whole Vida mess go, things kept popping up to push me back on the path.
I swung my chain hard and fast, intending to wrap it around his neck and bring him to his knees. But to my shock, the stranger lifted his arm just before the links could make contact. They coiled around his forearm instead. I almost grinned, because the fire magic surging through the links should have him howling in pain, regretting that decision. However, even though I could smell his skin burning, he gave no indication that he felt the sizzle at all. Instead, he let it coil there and gripped the end of it, yanking me forward.
