Mystical Alley Groove: An Urban Fantasy Action Adventure (Scions of Magic Book 2)

by TR Cameron

  Cali rapped her knuckles on the bar. “Anyway, back to the exceedingly important topic at hand. My safety.” She paused to collect her thoughts. “I’m of the opinion that the best defense is to strike them while they’re still thinking about attacking you.”

  Tanyith shrugged. “Scale is an issue. There’s a large number of them and only two of us. Three if you count Zeb.”

  “Four if you count Fyre, but yeah, I see the problem.” She exhaled a low sigh. “We’ll simply have to let it lie for now and see how it turns out. I’ll keep my eyes open.”

  “Me too.” Her partner turned to the dwarf. “Maybe you can have a chat with the people you know and have them watch for trouble too?”

  He nodded. “They’re already on it. Everyone’s doing what they can because no one wants to see this situation escalate.”

  Cali shook her head. “No one but the Zatoras and the Atlanteans, anyway. I don’t think it’ll end while they’re both still around.”

  Tanyith raised his glass, took a large sip, and impressively managed to avoid coughing. “Knowing the Atlanteans like I do, I’d say that’s a very fair assessment.” He lifted his drink in a toast. “To teamwork and staying alive, then.” A deep gulp finished it and he stood only slightly unsteadily. “Now, I need to get home. I have an appointment tomorrow.”

  She made a woo-ing sound. “Hot date?”

  He gave one of the softest smiles she’d ever seen on his face. “An old friend.”

  “Old female friend.”

  Rather than reply, he merely turned and wandered out the door. Once it closed behind him, she leaned closer to Zeb and whispered, “You know what, I bet she’s not old at all.”

  The dwarf laughed. “No, not with that look on his face. Doubtless, she’s more age-appropriate than some.”

  Cali scowled. “Don’t you start. And don’t tell me you don’t see the sparks from Barton when he’s around, either. She’s the one he needs to watch out for. It’s never good to consort with the enemy.”

  He gave one last chuckle. “She’s closer to friend than foe. Jealous much?”

  She gave him a pitying shake of her head. “Stop trying to use young-people lingo, Zeb. It only makes you look sad.” With a wink, she snatched her tray up and returned to the customers.

  Chapter Nine

  Tanyith strode up the sidewalk to Sienna’s house with flowers clutched in his left hand. This time, he’d purchased them from a street vendor rather than picking at random from the garden islands decorating the lane. He was fairly sure the points he’d lose for off-the-cuff thoughtfulness would be regained for not destroying her neighborhood.

  Unlike the first occasion, when he’d arrived unannounced and saturated with trepidation, he had been invited this time. Despite her parting words a week and a half or so earlier, he hadn’t really expected her to be receptive to another visit. The fact that she’d been the one to reach out filled him with positive vibes. Don’t get too crazy here, Tanyith. It’s a long way from having a drink together to rekindling a flame that might have burned all the way out for her.

  The door opened without him having to knock, and the sight of her took his breath away, exactly as it always had. Her eyes were a beautiful trap, sparkling, intense, and deep enough to fall into. All that surrounded them was gorgeous, but he’d constantly been captured first by those luminous pools. That much, at least, hadn’t changed.

  He stopped on the porch and grinned, probably like a fool. “Hi, See.”

  She smiled. “Hi yourself.” She reached out for the flowers, took them, and sniffed deeply. “Beautiful. Come on in.”

  With a laugh, he stepped through the doorway behind her. “Thanks for the compliment.”

  She groaned. “Stupid joke, stupid person.”

  Exactly like old times. “The joke isn’t bad merely because the audience is too unsophisticated for it.”

  She walked into the kitchen and pulled a vase down from a cabinet. “Yeah, sophistication. That’s the issue.” She twisted the handle to run water into the vessel, then turned to set it on the island between them. Her long fingers retrieved a small knife from the drawer and she twirled it once like a performer before she sliced the stems at an angle and dropped the bouquet in the vase. “Seriously, though, the flowers are very pretty. You were thoughtful to bring them.”

  Her tone, suddenly less playful, warned him she had something on her mind. “What’s up, Sienna?”

  She shook her head. “Drink first. I want to know what you’ve been up to.”

  Again, it was like it always had been. Despite being a free spirit, certain formalities existed in her world that must be observed. Chief among them was her desire to be a good host. He followed her to the living room, where a set of four glasses stood around an ice bucket and a bottle of amber liquid. She sat cross-legged on one battered couch and gestured him to the nearby matching chair, then used metal tongs to plink cubes into two tumblers and poured. “Infused ginger bourbon.”

  He took the glass, sipped, and nodded in appreciation as the whiskey burned its way across his tongue and into his throat. “Delicious. You have always been a genius when it comes to flavors.”

  Sienna raised an eyebrow. “Not only that.”

  Tanyith laughed. “Indeed. Not only. So, let’s have it.”

  She frowned. “It feels weird asking you to do this for me.”

  He shrugged. “We have too much shared history to worry about that kind of stuff, and you know it. Hit me.”

  Her sigh spoke volumes. “After we broke up, I dated a guy for a while. I really liked him. Things were going well, I thought, and then he flat-out vanished. Gone like he’d never existed. Numbers didn’t work, and he wasn’t around any of the places where he had been.” She frowned and studied her hands, which were folded in her lap. “I’m kind of ashamed to say I looked for him. Hard. I was a little crazy.”

  The confession unsettled him but he laughed. “Been there. Sometimes, the brain winds up stuck in a loop it can’t get out of.” He knew the guy she was talking about because while he hadn’t neared stalker status, he had spent more hours than were healthy in the nightspots she frequented after they’d split. The sight of them together had been like lava in his belly. “It gets better. It merely takes time.”

  “It’s been almost a year and I’m still not past it. So…I know you must need work and I have some money set aside. I’ll hire you to look into his disappearance. We could do a contract or whatever you want and we both win. You make some cash and I get some closure.”

  He shook his head. “I’ll do it for free.”

  “No. Just…no.” Pain or guilt or both flickered across her face. “This can only work if I pay you. That’s the only way I won’t feel dirty about it. Please, say you’ll do it.”

  Unsure how she would take his next question, he hesitated. “What if the news is bad?”

  She sniffed and made kind of a half-laugh and half-sob. “It can’t be worse than the answers my brain gives me.” She raised her eyes to meet his. “It’s not about the romance anymore. I don’t think there’s anything that could bridge the gap. I simply need to know why. Was it me? Was it something else? It chews on me.”

  “And if I find him and he won’t answer?”

  Sienna raised her hands, then let them drop. “That would be something, anyway. I can work with that but I can’t handle the absence of some kind of explanation.”

  Tanyith nodded. “Needing resolution is something I understand well. I had thirteen months to think about nothing else.”

  She managed a half-smile. “So you’ll do it, then?”

  “I will. Let’s call it twenty-five an hour plus expenses. Does that sound good?”

  “You could go higher.”

  He shook his head. “I’m not exactly in demand at the moment and it’s not like I have a mortgage or anything. Plus, this gives me the flexibility to keep working on my own stuff at the same time. Win-win.”

  “Win-win,” Sienna echoed.
/>   “But there’s one catch.”

  She chuckled. “There always was, with you. What is it?”

  “You have to let me take you out to dinner.”

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea?"

  “There’s no way to tell until we do it. No pressure, only dinner. With dancing as your exclusive option.”

  “It’s lonely in prison, huh?” She raised an eyebrow.

  When he broke into laughter, she joined him. After a moment, he was able to speak again and said, “Yes, it was, but that’s not the reason. It was circumstances that pulled us apart before. Now, those have changed. Maybe there could be something more than friendship for us. If not, we’d still have a nice meal together. But I’d like to be sure. You know, for the sake of closure.”

  She shook her head. “Well played, Tay.”

  “Is that a yes?”

  Sienna nodded. “It is. I’m busy this weekend. A week from Friday?”

  “Deal. Now, do you have any idea where I should start looking for this person who was stupid enough to leave you?”

  “Yeah. But you definitely won’t like the answer.”

  “I hear that often lately. Tell me anyway.”

  “He was hanging around the Horsehead mostly toward the end.”

  He muttered a curse under his breath. “Any other leads?”

  She shook her head. “No, that’s it. I told you it wouldn’t make you happy.” He rose and she matched his movement and wrapped him in a hug. She whispered, “Thank you.”

  For a moment, he rested his chin on her head. “You got it, See. I always said you were irresistible. It seems like it’s still true.” She laughed into his chest and there were more words, but his brain had already moved on to the next task. When the door closed behind him, he pulled his phone out and pressed the second speed dial button.

  Moments later, a brusque voice answered. “Barton. Who’s this?”

  “Tanyith.”

  She barked a short laugh. “How’d you get this number, Shale?”

  He sighed inwardly and chose not to give her the pleasure of rising to the bait and correcting her again. “It’s nice to have friends, Detective. So, I thought in the interest of continuing our partnership on good terms, you might be willing to answer a question for me.”

  She replied neutrally, “First, let me clarify that I owe you exactly nothing. But go ahead and ask.”

  “What do you know about the Stallion Bar?”

  A note of interest entered her tone. “A lot, actually. Why are you asking?”

  “A friend requested that I look into someone who disappeared. He was last seen hanging out there.”

  “Recently?”

  “Nah. Long gone, but that’s all I have to go on.”

  “So you’re a private eye now?”

  He laughed. “Are you gonna keep breaking my balls, Detective? I have other people I can approach for information.”

  A smile crept into her voice. “Nah, I’ll give you this one for free. It’s a gathering place for the human gangs in town, usually but not always peacefully.”

  That confirmed his perception of it. His friends had taken to calling it the Horsehead because of the scene from The Godfather. “So that’s one more thing that hasn’t changed since my time.”

  “You probably won’t be particularly welcome there, given your history.”

  “I doubt anyone there will know me anymore.”

  “It depends. It’s run by the Zatoras now. Is there any reason they might recognize you?”

  He winced. Not good. “Nothing more than any other guy, I suppose, Detective.”

  “Uh-huh. I’m not stupid, Shale. If you decide to leave neutral territory, be careful, okay? I’d hate to have to explain to Caliste how the guy who’s been hitting on her died suddenly and violently.”

  Somehow, he managed not to growl. “I’m not hitting on her.”

  “Sure, sure.” He wasn’t able to read her voice, but he sensed that she was playing with him. “So, anything else, Philip Marlowe?”

  Again, he couldn’t help but laugh. “No thanks, Columbo, I’m set.”

  “See you around. Try to make sure it’s not on a slab, okay?”

  “I’ll do my best, Detective. Same to you.”

  She clicked off without responding, and he shook his head. Kendra Barton is the most annoying woman I’ve ever met. But damn, she’s good.

  Chapter Ten

  So many things had changed in Cali’s life since the death of her parents, but this room in the back of Emalia’s place remained constant with the same beat-up table, the same vinyl-covered chairs, and the same chipped tea set. It provided constant reassurance that the world would keep turning and that she could always depend upon it and upon her former guardian, ongoing mentor, and only known relative to remain steadfast.

  Her aunt had decided to keep her shop closed today and was in what Cali thought of as her “loungewear”—a grey Loyola sweatsuit and large fuzzy slippers. It was far from a regular look for the woman but it suited her. At their feet, Fyre lay curled in his natural form to take up as little space as possible in the cramped room. She had offered to share a bigger place with the other woman, but the answer was always the same. “I have what I need and that is sufficient.”

  I have what I need too. But I’m not sure I have enough space for the lummox at my feet. Especially if he grows any larger. The jury was still out on whether Fyre would grow beyond his current size, but the possibility couldn’t be discounted. Emalia poured tea into both cups, a new brew she’d said she was testing to see if it was more energizing than the last one. She sipped it with a grimace, and the older woman laughed.

  “You kids today can’t handle a little bitterness.”

  “This isn’t merely bitter. This is like licking the pure essence of bitterness. You may have cracked a hole in the entire bitterness-space-time continuum with this creation.” She took another sip. “Okay, it gets slightly better. Now, it’s only horrible rather than deadly.”

  “Wimp.”

  She laughed. “Woo, tough words. Are you sure you want to break out the big guns on your grandniece like that?”

  Emalia rolled her eyes. “Impudent whelp.” She couldn’t keep the edges of her mouth from twitching up, though.

  “If you dislike the monster you created, that’s on you, Doctor Frankenstein.”

  The older woman shook her head. “You spend too much time on the streets with your friends. It’s made your tongue sharp. Where’s the respect for your elders?”

  Cali stared incredulously at her until they both broke into laughter. “You’ve taught me everything I know, lady. You have only yourself to blame.”

  Her aunt nodded and feigned sadness. “It’s a pity. I have no idea where I went wrong.”

  The banter subsided into a comfortable silence until the tea was finished and her teacher tilted her chin at her. “So, what do you wish to practice today?”

  She scratched the back of her neck. “I’m not sure. I have to work on maintaining my disguises better, but that’s not new. Things are getting a little scarier out there, though, and I feel like I might need to be much stronger and faster in order to deal with it. So, can you make that happen?”

  The older woman released a soft laugh and shook her head. “If only it worked that way, my child. But it doesn’t. Magical skill, like any skill, is only learned through practice and more practice.”

  “So, what would you recommend? I’ve faced force, fire, shadow, and lightning. Oh, and ice from this doofus.” She gave Fyre a gentle kick, and he snorted chill fog up the leg of her jeans, which made her shudder.

  Emalia shrugged. “Any and all of them would be useful for fighting enemies directly. As time permits, you should test each one. But it seems as if you might be best served to avoid direct opposition when you can—evade a strike more than meet force with force to block it. True?”

  Cali nodded. “Sensei Ikehara would say that is the best way. Who am I to argue? Besides
, I have Fyre to handle the direct stuff.” She laughed. “Although my Aikido teacher—and everyone else who really knows me—would also point out that I go with force against force as a default.”

  Her aunt clapped briskly. “Well, we can work on all these areas, then. But it’s mental magic we should focus on for now, as your skills in force magic have proven adequate thus far.”

  She tilted her head to the side in confusion. “Come again?”

  Emalia grinned. “I’m not surprised that you don’t recognize the description. It’s part of the Atlantean heritage but one abandoned long ago as our society shifted to trials of combat for advancement. The subtle skills are not well suited for such engagements.”

  “You sound like Yoda, only with your words in the correct order.”

  She laughed. “An apt characterization, since we’ll work on mind tricks.”

  Cali frowned. “I won’t have to lift rocks with my mind, will I?”

  Her mentor cackled in amusement. “Good is telekinesis, yes. But for such things, the time is not right.”

  She put her forehead down on the table and muttered, “Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Everyone around me has gone insane. You’re my only hope.”

  “So. Is that the path you wish to travel today?”

  Cali lifted her head with a sigh. “Tell me more about it.”

  Emalia shrugged. “It’s very much like illusion, but you will manifest the effects in the target’s mind, rather than the real world.”

  She frowned. “So, mind control?”

  A stern look grew on her teacher’s face. “Only in the most extreme uses, and I would never countenance it except in cases of life and death. More often, it is used to distract, deceive, or occlude.”

  Her frown expanded. “That still sounds like dark side stuff, Ms Yoda.”

  Emalia shrugged. “If it allows you to end a situation without fighting, is it not worthwhile?”

  A flippant reply jumped to her lips, but she forced herself to really consider the question. The woman’s words usually carried depths of meaning. “I’m not sure. I guess as long as I’m not forcing whoever it is to do something they wouldn’t do anyway. Like, it wouldn’t be okay to make one person kill another.”