Chaos Conspiracy

by Holly Evans

  He opened his mouth to argue, but a grin spread over his face instead.

  “What can I say, Inverness is a very quiet city, and sometimes I have to make my own fun.”

  I laughed and headed to the tiny bathroom to get a quick shower before I ran over to the Council headquarters. I dropped my clothes on top of the washing machine. Czechs put their washing machines in their bathrooms. I supposed it was because the water line was already there, and it reduced the noise some. Either way, it made the tiny bathroom even more cramped.

  Once I was fresh and smelling of lilac, I pulled on my jeans and a clean t-shirt. It was a little snug, but it was the only clean shirt I had. That just left my boots and daggers before I ran to catch the tram and hoped I made it there in time. Someone needed to buy me a motorbike; public transport was a pain in my ass.

  Kane handed me my boots as I emerged from the bathroom. I didn’t miss the sly smile that formed when he looked me up and down.

  “Knock ‘em dead - just not literally. Save that for the bad guys,” he said as he pulled me into a hug.

  “Take my spare key if you head out, I don’t want the neighbours catching you picking the lock,” I said.

  “Spoil sport.” His grin remained firmly on his face.

  I rolled my eyes, double-checked I had my transport card and daggers, and headed out into the hallway to hear the sound of my tram leaving. Well, this was off to a fantastic start.

  TEN

  The Council building was a grand affair with angels standing tall and proud on the corners. I paused for a moment and took in the building. There were so many little details, such as the almost delicate pattern around the upper windows. It looked like an elegant fortress, imposing with its height, thick stone walls, and windows that were set deep within the stone. The main walls were smooth, making them difficult to scale, unlike a lot of the buildings in the city which had faux stone blocks at convenient intervals. Not that I had taken to climbing the buildings late at night when I couldn’t sleep.

  I lifted my chin and reminded myself that they had called me, and if they wanted to take me out, they would have done so by now. It was a good opportunity, potentially a life-changing opportunity. I just had to hope that the hole in the upper thigh of my jeans wasn’t going to lose it for me.

  The inside was every bit as grand as the outside, if a bit more understated. Dark wood floors had been polished to a bright sheen, and the off-white walls were bare in the entryway. The ceiling had intricate patterned crown moulding where the walls joined the ceiling. It had been engraved with what looked to be an array of sigils and runes, although I couldn’t be sure, given the ceiling was three times as tall as I was. A man cleared his throat behind me, making me spin around to see who had been watching me inspect the room around me.

  “Ms. Kincaid, I assume,” an older shifter with deep green eyes said.

  He stood rigid and straight, his hands behind his back, his wolf rippling just below the surface. His blood sang a rich song of old victories.

  “Yes, yes, that’s me,” I said, entirely at a loss with what I was supposed to do.

  Did I try and shake his hand?

  He dipped his chin and gestured for me to follow him down the wide hallway that had intense portraits of people I didn’t recognise hanging at even intervals. The shifter led me into a room on the left behind a tall, dark-wood-panelled door. Inside was more dark wood and off-white; they really committed to a look.

  A man stood in front of the open fireplace that was easily big enough for me to stand in. The fireplace stood empty, but the broad mantel over it held a number of small silver ornaments. The man wore a navy-blue suit with fine white pinstripe patterning. The suit hugged his broad shoulders and the pants were rather snug around his very nice ass. He turned around to reveal it was my ‘saviour’. I didn’t hear a single note of his blood song until he faced me with that smirk. Then it hit me like a tsunami.

  “Are you stalking me?” I demanded, trying to hide the way his blood called to me.

  He took a step towards me, his gaze holding mine.

  “Ms. Kincaid, this is Mr. Caspari, your partner on this case.”

  My blood ran cold.

  The Caspari brothers were very well known in supernal circles. The man before me, the one I was going to have to work with, was the result of a union between a demon prince and one of the most powerful witches in the Americas. At least I now understood why his blood sounded so good. Demon blood was supposed to be addictive. I had no doubt that it would be far more addictive to someone like me. The gods were taunting me.

  The smirk remained on his pretty mouth, his eyes sparkling with amusement at my horror, the asshole. I lifted my chin and held my hand out to shake his while I tried to block out the song of his blood. It was washing over me in seductive waves, damn him.

  “The pleasure’s all mine,” he said with a toe-curling purr.

  I was screwed.

  “Yes, I expect it is,” I said.

  That only deepened his smirk.

  The shifter cleared his throat and held out a pale cream folder. “This is your assignment. You have been given an expense account. I suggest that you use it to invest in some suitable clothing, Ms. Kincaid. You will be representing the Council, after all.”

  “Are you capable of a normal smile, or will your face only twist into a smirk?” I asked Mr. Caspari, ignoring the jibe from the shifter.

  His face lit up with laughter that filled his eyes and formed a huge grin on his face. He was stunning when he really laughed like that, and of course his blood song only got brighter and more potent with his happiness.

  “Call me Dante. We’ll be working very closely together,” he said before he took the folder from the shifter.

  “I’ll leave you to make the appropriate arrangements. I trust you can walk Ms. Kincaid through the paperwork,” the shifter said.

  “Of course,” Dante said, his face a mask of professionalism again.

  I held back a groan. I hated paperwork. That was the problem with working for anyone but the gods, there was so much paperwork to fill in. I didn’t like having that sort of paper trail, but Kane helped me hide my identity as much as possible.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll walk you through it. I didn’t catch your name,” Dante said as he put his hand on my lower back and guided me towards a table with paperwork on.

  “What’s the assignment?” I asked, nodding towards the folder.

  His hand was warm and comforting on my lower back. My mom’s voice popped into my head: Never trust anything you trust immediately. It’s a trap.

  “We’re going to be working together. I can’t call you Ms. Kincaid,” he pushed.

  “Wren.”

  It would have been so easy to lean into him, to flutter my eyelashes and give him whatever he asked for and plenty that he didn’t. I couldn’t afford to do something so foolish. He was a demidemon and a very powerful witch, to boot. Why couldn’t I have something nice for a change?

  I started filling in the forms, which asked for every scrap of information three times. There were plenty of tick boxes to make sure that I understood the Council wouldn’t be held even slightly accountable for any injuries I might incur. Dante’s presence was a distraction the entire time. I couldn’t block out his bloodsong, and I swore he was using it against me. He couldn’t be, though. That would mean he knew what I was, wouldn’t it? I chewed on my bottom lip as I tried to ignore the gentle waves of his bloodsong washing over me.

  “I’m not going to bite,” he whispered in my ear.

  I glared at him.

  “I should hope not. It would be very unprofessional,” I said.

  He smirked at me, and I resigned myself to the fact he was going to drive me mad in the best and worst possible ways.

  ELEVEN

  Dante didn’t understand the concept of personal space. He sat next to me with his thigh pressed to mine on the leather sofa as we looked over the details of the assignment. I was struggling t
o focus past his bloodsong. I needed to get myself under control, else I’d lose the job.

  “It looks like a simple enough case. People have gone missing in Dubrovnik. They suspect a new cult that sprang up earlier this year is involved.”

  I’d never done a missing persons case before, so it was all new to me. I was usually strictly a hack-and-slash girl.

  “Do we know anything about the cult?” I asked.

  That was an intelligent question, wasn’t it? I was completely lost and hoped Dante didn’t notice.

  “Not much. They’re very reclusive. We haven’t been able to find out who or what they worship. I’m sure you’ll have no problems getting them to talk,” he said with a seductive smile.

  What did he mean by that? I gave him a weak smile and looked over what we had for the missing people. They were all supernal, but there wasn’t anything I could see that tied them. One was a solitary witch, another was a fox shifter, the third was a part-bred fae. None of them looked to have many close friends or family, but that wasn’t surprising. It was much more difficult to kidnap people with strong ties.

  “I’ll book us a flight to Dubrovnik and arrange the accommodations, then we can get you some more suitable clothing.”

  I nodded in acknowledgment and texted Kane that I was heading to Dubrovnik for the job with Dante Caspari.

  Kane replied a few seconds later saying he’d been planning on going to Dubrovnik soon for some witch business, so he’d join us. I relaxed some knowing Kane would be close by. He’d helped me out of some sticky situations in the past. It probably wasn’t the most professional thing I could do, but he was Dante Caspari. He was as dangerous as the entire Council combined. Well, that might have been an exaggeration, but the fact remained that he was half demon and an incredibly talented witch. If he found out what I was, I’d be screwed, and not in the good way.

  “My best friend will be joining us in Dubrovnik,” I said casually.

  Dante turned his full attention on me, his mouth pinched a little and a small line formed by the corner of each eye.

  “Is she as beautiful as you?” he asked with a smirk spreading across his mouth, although his eyes remained hard and unrelenting.

  I shrugged and smiled back. “He’s pretty, but I wouldn’t say beautiful.”

  The smirk was replaced by a thin flat line. His bloodsong became deeper, felt territorial and almost warlike.

  “Do you normally bring him on assignments with you?” His curious tone didn’t cover the intensity of his gaze.

  I didn’t normally get assignments where I was sent out of country, and I hadn’t risked my life and my secret by working with someone as dangerous as Dante before. Of course, I couldn’t say any of that, so I gave him a coy smile and a shrug.

  “Did you manage to book the flights?”

  “Yes, we need to be at the airport tomorrow at 4pm. That means we have plenty of time to get you a suitable wardrobe,” he said, his eyes dropping to linger on the hole in my jeans.

  “If you give me the expense account card, I can buy my own clothes, thanks,” I said, holding my hand out.

  “Sorry, but you already signed the paperwork that said I’d control the expenses. And besides, you need clothes that you can represent the Council with.”

  “And I assume you know where to source these clothes,” I said sweetly despite wanting to punch him.

  I was not a child. I could get my own clothes. Yes, having Kane there was a little awkward, but he was there on witch business not to hold my hand.

  “Of course. I’ll book the accommodations, and then we can go,” he said with a smile.

  I got up and looked around the room, finding that I needed some room to breathe. Everything about him was so intense, and it would have been so easy to surrender to him and his damn bloodsong. I needed to get a grip and focus. This could mean fantastic things for my future. I couldn’t fuck it up just because I had to work with Dante. I was better than that.

  I wandered over to the fireplace and began looking at the silver figurines that perched on the mantel. I had to stretch up onto my tiptoes to see them clearly. I was 5’4, which caused problems now and again. The figurines looked to represent the various forms of supernals, or at least the main classes that held onto power. I recognised the lycan and the wolf shifter. The pixie had been pushed back behind the elf. There were so many different types of fae that I wasn’t sure I knew all of them. Pixies, sidhe, puka, and elves ran the show, though.

  Something about the figurines was bothering me. They were all depicting people of the various races standing proudly with their chins raised and their eyes hard. The silver caught the light oddly. When I leaned in a little closer, I saw that there was a blue hue there. Then I realised what was bugging me. I could hear the faintest whispers of a bloodsong coming from each of the figurines.

  TWELVE

  Dante had put his hand on my lower back to guide me out into the hallway once he’d arranged the accommodations.

  “We’ll be staying in a private apartment in the heart of the old town. It will give us the safety and breathing room we’ll need,” he said as we returned to the entryway.

  I had to admit, that did sound really good. I’d never been to Dubrovnik, and the idea of staying in a nice apartment, even if Dante was there, really appealed.

  “It has two bedrooms, I assume,” I said as we stepped out into the heavy rain.

  Great, I was going to be cold and look like a drowned rat when we walked into the expensive shops Dante was taking me to.

  Suddenly, the rain stopped. I looked around and realised that it hadn’t stopped entirely, Dante had just formed a bubble around us to keep us dry.

  “Now you’re just showing off,” I muttered.

  “You’re welcome,” he said with a grin.

  He led me to a very expensive black sportscar, because what else would a man like him drive? I didn’t want to know how much the damn thing cost. The parking space alone must have been more than my rent.

  He held the door open for me, leaving me to squeeze past his hard body and half-fall into the low leather seat. Everything was chrome and mahogany, and I felt like I was almost sitting down on the road. When Dante turned the engine over, I couldn’t keep myself from grinning as the engine purred. It had that wonderful growly edge that vibrated through my entire body. Dante pulled out into traffic, and I watched the world go by as I tried to avoid small talk. I hated small talk.

  The peace of watching the river helped me tamp down my magic and get away from his bloodsong.

  “We’ll get you a full wardrobe. I don’t want to risk losing you because you’re wearing cheap jeans,” he said, his fingers brushing my knee as he changed gear.

  I’d have killed to be spend the Council’s money on a whole new wardrobe, but Dante put me on edge. I was struggling to enjoy the experience, and the struggle only got harder when he parked on the most expensive street in Prague. The shops were all top-end fashion shops that wouldn’t even let me inside. I couldn’t afford to look in the windows, let alone purchase something.

  “We’ll begin with Silk and Thread and go from there,” Dante said before he got out.

  I’d never heard of Silk and Thread, but that was hardly a surprise. I shopped in the bottom-end shops. I followed him down the road with the classic black and white mosaic path that a lot of Prague had. The buildings were a uniform pale cream, with archway windows and large faux pillars complete with intricate detailing at the top and bottom. The clothes stores had simple elegant displays with beautiful murals painted behind them to show the garments off to their best. There were no over-stuffed sales racks within, either, only a few hand-selected pieces that I didn’t want to know the price of. The jewellery shops weren’t any better. They displayed hundreds of thousands of crowns worth of diamonds in their displays, with security guards standing near by making sure you didn’t try and steal something.

  Silk and Threads was located in the back of one of the top end clothing stores
- the supernals’ shops were hidden behind the non-magical shops. I kept my eyes down and my hands in my pockets as I tried to ignore the look of deep disdain on the shop assistants’ faces. Dante, on the other hand, walked with his head held high as though he owned the shop, and, for all I knew, he did. The Caspari brothers were very rich. Dante was said to own many large supernal businesses. He didn’t need to work, and yet here he was.

  He led the way past the form-fitting dresses and hand-made stilettos through the blood-red door into a shop that was far more my thing. Gone were the small dresses and high heels. This new shop was full of beautifully tailored jeans, the most stunning leather jackets, and knee-high boots that could have come straight out of my dreams.

  I walked around Dante, who was standing with his hands in his pockets surveying his domain, and went straight to the boots. There was a pair of oxblood boots with sturdy soles and delicate stitching that made them both practical and beautiful. I didn’t dare touch them in case one of the assistants leapt on me for dirtying their products.

  “They’re a good starting point,” Dante said, a smirk back on his face.

  I looked between him and the boots.

  “What’s the catch?” I asked.

  He laughed.

  “Everything in this shop has been designed for people like us. It is all alchemically or magically enhanced to protect us. The boots will make you stealthy thanks to air magic, and the leather has been alchemically reinforced to better protect your calves and feet. You’ll require some jeans, shirts, and a jacket.” He gestured to the rest of the shop.

  I didn’t know where to start. I felt like I’d died and gone to Heaven.

  I started with jeans, as they were closest to hand. They had every fit, type, and colour neatly arranged on racks. Each pair of jeans had a little white label describing the type of magic they had been imbued with,and they had everything from partial invisibility to fire proof and knife proof. As the Council was paying, I wanted jeans that looked fantastic and kept me safe from everything anyone could throw at me. The shirts and others were all in their own neat section of the store, nothing overlapped or touched. There was even a section of lingerie - for those who fought in their underwear, perhaps. I didn’t dare go and look.