Sin & Magic (Demigods of San Francisco Book 2)

by K. F. Breene

Bria followed my lead across the spacious floor, ducking in and out of people moving about their day.

  “The teen said she was in the lobby when she saw him,” I murmured. “And that today is the second calendar day she took. If it’s what I suspect, then this is the second time he’s been here since I last saw her. It sounds like he comes about once every two weeks. We’ll see if that’s exact, and if so, we can come back here in two weeks and catch him in the act.”

  “Or we can just steal the security footage from earlier, get his face, and get Kieran to find him,” she replied.

  I wasn’t going to ask how she planned to get the footage. I suspected I wouldn’t like the answer.

  As we neared, the blue-skinned woman at the high desk glanced up with unnaturally green eyes, a welcoming smile adorning her lovely face. I had no idea what kind of magical creature she was, but wondered if she knew Valens’s penchant for killing lovely things and putting them in his trophy room…

  “Hello,” Bria said, grabbing the edge of the desk.

  I looked at the teen before shifting my gaze to Bria. “Where is it?”

  Hopefully the teen would realize I was talking to her.

  “That’s what we’re going to find out.” Bria smiled at the front-desk woman. “Can you tell me where the rock wall is? I have a hankering for climbing.”

  The teen bent down, out of sight.

  “Oops.” I clucked my tongue. “I dropped my pen.”

  Bria frowned at me. “Well, don’t expect me to get it.”

  “Lazy,” I admonished, scooting around her. “It was on your side.”

  “I’m a climber, not a crawler.” Bria winked at the front-desk woman.

  I bent and peeked around the side of the desk, gasping when my nose nearly touched the ghost’s. I pulled back a little.

  The teen didn’t. She held out her two thick sheets of paper. A large black date graced the bottom of each page, leaving room in the middle for an inspirational quote.

  I took them out of her hand with a quiet “thanks” before standing and checking the dates. Fifteen days apart… I squinted and shook my head, trying to remember the date I was here last.

  “Oh!” The receptionist frowned at the calendar pages, rising up a little to see better. “Where did you find those?”

  “Ummm…” I stared at her like I had been caught holding a stolen necklace.

  “They were down there,” Bria said, pointing to the side of the desk. “I noticed them when I first walked up. I meant to pick them up, but…” She laughed and hit the heel of her hand off her head.

  I handed them across the desk sheepishly.

  “That is so strange.” A look of perplexed wariness crossed her features. “I was watching that spirit guy work”—she pointed at the far end of the large front wall of glass, way to the side of the double door—“and I heard this ripping sound. I swear I saw the page disappear…” She laughed, a forced sound matching her uncomfortable expression. “This was the second time it happened. I mean…” She swiveled to gaze vaguely at the side of the desk. “How did it get over there? And why haven’t I seen it all this time?” She wiped the pad of her finger across her forehead nervously.

  “Weird,” Bria said, either exceptional at hiding the adrenaline raging through her body, or missing the huge clue the attendant had just dropped.

  “Yeah,” the woman went on, blinking in confusion. She shook her head and lifted her pencil-thin, light blue eyebrows, moving on. “Honestly, they shouldn’t allow that spirit guy to work in such a busy area. Who knows what he’s dragging out of the depths, know what I mean? Both times this happened, he was here.”

  “Yeah, that’s not right,” Bria commiserated, grimacing. “You have to watch him work?”

  The woman waved the thought away. “He’s over in the corner, so it’s not that big of a deal. And actually, the weird dance he does is kind of neat. It reminds me of those dances the Native Americans do.” She grinned sheepishly. “Or maybe that’s just because his hair reminds me of this Native American guy I dated once. You know…” She made a flowing gestured down the side of her head. “That really pretty long black hair?” Her lips curled. “That air elemental with him gives me the creeps, though.” She shivered. “He tried to hit on me once at the solstice party, and no-thank-you.”

  “Wait,” I said, holding up my hand. My heart thudded in my chest. The teen had seen a man with long white hair, but if she’d only glimpsed the spirit trapper while he was using magic, she’d probably seen him in the spirit plane, where the colors were neon, like negative images. That hadn’t even occurred to me!

  “I think we just saw those guys.” Bria turned to me with excited eyes but an inquisitive expression. “Didn’t the arrogant guy we just saw have long dark hair?” She put her hand up to her chest. “He was with that gangly ginger.”

  “Yes! That’s him. He’s gangly, right? And such a jerk. I mean, please, I have fae blood. Do you really think I need to lower myself for an air elemental that can only get a job with a spirit person? No.” The woman smiled at someone passing by, easily masking her haughty tone. Clearly my freak show training wasn’t a catch-all, because I had not seen any of this coming. “They just finished up not that long ago. They have to go to the back of the building to get the other half done, whatever that means. All I know is, good riddance. I wish they’d just stay back there all the time. I mean, we have guests coming through here.”

  “How often do they come?” I asked.

  Bria shoved me and stepped in my path. “I know, right? How often do you need to deal with that?” she asked the woman. Clearly, I was way too blunt in my approach. Subtly, that was the key.

  “Every two weeks about.” She plastered on a welcoming smile, perking up as a flustered older woman with a large knit purse approached the desk. She looked back at us. “Oh, right, you want the rock wall. Well, you just go—”

  I stepped away, my mind racing. They were here. Right now. Two of them. We could go after them and…

  And what? They were Valens’s guys and employed by the magical government. We were rogue rebels who needed to stay under the radar. If anyone saw us, we would be the ones apprehended, not them. In a building full of professionals, a couple of oddly dressed girls attempting to hog-tie a couple of suave guys in suits would certainly get noticed.

  “Let’s make that appointment before we hit the rock wall,” Bria said, grabbing my arm and jerking me away. Halfway through the lobby, she said, “Get a grip, would you?

  “What’s the plan?” I asked, ignoring her. My legs and arms trembled and anxiety squeezed my chest.

  “We know what they look like,” she said quietly, climbing the stairs we’d just come down. “All we have to do is find them.”

  “Yes. But then what?”

  “What do you mean?” She pulled me into the alcove again, blasting a hard scowl at a woman looking our way. The woman ripped her notice to the ground and quickened her pace.

  Oh yeah. We’d get noticed.

  I said as much.

  Bria slipped her backpack off of her shoulders and dropped into a crouch, ignoring me. She shoved her hand down into the bag. “A little stalking and then springing up unexpectedly will work perfectly for those clowns.”

  The teen appeared right next to Bria, her eyes staring solemnly at us.

  “Why is Valens keeping you here?” I asked her, shifting from foot to foot as my adrenaline surged uncomfortably. “Did they ever try to move you?”

  “We need a code word for when you start randomly talking to a ghost,” Bria mumbled. “Did they ever try to shove you into a different skin?” she asked, pulling a small shoe box out of her pack.

  The teen picked at her button, her gaze shifting down to Bria. “Twice. I hated it. It felt weird.”

  I relayed what she said.

  “I can imagine,” Bria said, setting the box down and digging into her bag again. “Then what happened?”

  “It was like trying on gloves that didn’t
fit,” the teen said. “They felt slimy. I tried to push away, but I kept getting forced back in, so I dropped a chair on them and left.”

  After I relayed the information, Bria paused with a candle in her hand. “She left? How?”

  The teen shrugged. “Teleported to the other side of the building. When they came for me, I just teleported again. Finally, they stopped looking.”

  Bria braced her forearms on her knees after I’d relayed the girl’s answer. “Huh. They clearly didn’t have someone strong enough to control the soul.” She tilted her head and pulled back the lid on the shoe box. “Stands to reason, I guess. They said she was a strong class five. Still, moving something as big as a chair in the afterlife?” She lifted her eyebrows and pulled out something furry. “That’s intense. No wonder Valens wants her trapped here. He probably wants to keep her in the rafters in case he can scrounge up someone strong enough to use her.” Bria glanced up at me. “Like you.”

  I recoiled. “Ew. I wouldn’t want to force a soul to do something like that.”

  “How do you think you’ll ever make money?” Bria gently pulled out another furry thing and set it next to the first.

  “Not like that,” I mumbled. I squinted through the low light of the small alcove, trying to make out the shapes she was lining up on the ground. Bria added a third before closing the box and putting it away. “What are those?”

  She glanced at the people walking by in the hall. “Rats. And we have to do this somewhere more private.”

  “Rats?” I took a step away. The teen’s eyes widened and she blinked out of sight.

  Bria looked up in confusion. “What’s the matter? They’re dead.”

  “What are you doing with dead rats in your backpack?” I asked, trying to keep my voice down but having a hard time of it.

  “To seek so that I can destroy. I just need to animate them, set them on the trail, and hopefully they’ll find our guys before they leave the building. I have a couple standby souls who love scurrying around in these little bodies. I just let them have at it until the bodies decay out from under them. Least I can do, right?”

  I took another step back as she collected the bodies and stood, looking down the hall. “Let’s find a bathroom, and then let’s find our guys. We’ll get them today, I know it.”

  I had no doubt she was right. My problem was, what would we do when we did get them? And how would we keep from setting Valens on our trail?

  35

  Kieran

  Kieran leaned his elbows against his desk, the middle of his chest throbbing. The strange ache he’d felt since leaving Alexis’s house had intensified until about an hour ago, when it had slowly but steadily diminished into nothing but a soft hum. That was when the other feelings had begun. Inexplicable anxiety, random uncertainty, bouts of excitement, and now, intense worry.

  He scratched at the center of his chest, knowing the feelings had to do with Alexis in some way. Knowing she’d formed a sort of connection between them, and now he was getting a smattering of her emotions. He had a vaguely similar situation with his Six, whose intense emotions he could occasionally feel, but while he could suppress his awareness of the Six, he couldn’t seem to do so with Alexis. Every surge of emotion caught his attention. Every degree of rising or falling intensity jogged him out of his thoughts.

  He looked out of his window of his office at the blue of the bay, one of the better views in the building. The feeling of worry intensified before another emotion took over. Something like fright and disgust mixed together.

  Alexis had left her house earlier with Bria. The guys had seen it on the camera and notified him. Judging by the GPS tracker, the BMW had been left behind. That meant Bria had driven, except Zorn had verified that Bria’s car had also been left behind…in a random neighborhood.

  Bria only stole cars when she didn’t want to be tracked. When she was doing dangerous work that might have repercussions.

  He blew out a breath. Why had he pulled the detail off of Alexis’s house?

  But he knew why. He trusted her with every fiber of his being. He couldn’t help it. When she’d looked at him with those big brown eyes and agreed to give up the investigation, he’d bought it. He’d forced himself to tear her presence from his life, believing that she’d keep herself hidden. Keep herself safe.

  And maybe she’d meant it in the moment. Maybe she hadn’t lied. But clearly, Alexis Price could not be trusted to stay out of the action. And now he knew.

  His phone vibrated against the desk. Zorn’s name came up. The girl knows where Alexis has gone but won’t say. Should I force it out of her?

  The girl was Daisy.

  He texted back. Ask Mordecai. Tell him that Alexis might be in danger.

  Mordecai wouldn’t play games.

  A rush of shimmering air magic flew past the window. Like a big blanket, it shifted as it settled, attaching to the walls.

  He looked away and returned to his computer. Valens did a fairly useless territory marking every couple of weeks or so, probably intending to prove that he had the staff and resources to “protect” the entire building. No easy feat, sure, but what was the point? It didn’t stop anyone from entering, and it didn’t harden into a forcefield of any kind. It was just there, only visible to a select few and hardly noticeable at that. Unless it was fresh, he couldn’t even see or feel it.

  When Kieran had first noticed it, he’d thought Valens was making a statement to him personally, but it had apparently been going on for six years or more. His father was eccentric. There was no two ways about it.

  A strange buzz washed over his skin, making him pause. It only lasted a fraction of a second before sliding away, but it was strange enough that he glanced back out the window. Something disrupted the familiar currents of the air magic—strange colors and odd blotches, woven into it. The air drape stilled and, because of that, mostly disappeared.

  A burst of feeling unfurled in his middle, the actual emotion unintelligible, but the strength of it undeniable. He paused, waiting for more, when his phone vibrated against his desk.

  Zorn: She’s in the magical government building.

  Kieran stood in a rush, and like rusty hinges given grease, his thoughts started to collect. Slowly at first, laboriously, but then in a rush.

  She’d talked to a spirit here. It was here she’d first learned about what Valens was doing.

  She had returned to the source, seeking more information.

  He turned his head slowly, directing his gaze out the window.

  Alexis had alluded to there being a spirit trap over the building.

  Over the whole building.

  In a daze, he crossed to the window, and slowly put out his hand. The buzzing he’d felt a moment ago ran across his skin like ants. Air magic didn’t usually elicit that effect, and then there were those strange colors and patches...

  He’d never seen the patches before today, or felt the buzzing.

  He’d never been able to see ghosts before today, either. But he’d seen three in the building on his way to his office. Two old people and a teenager picking at a sweater button.

  Tingles spread through his body.

  The answer had been drifting by his window every couple weeks.

  The air drape wasn’t Valens’s way of marking his territory. Nor had it been put there as a warning. It somehow carried the magic of a Ghost Whisperer, or some other spirit magic, creating a prison for the spirits inside.

  Like flicking on a light in the pitch dark, suddenly he could see.

  Kieran remembered something that happened soon after he set up an office in this building. One of Valens’s Elite had been murdered. A crime of passion, people had thought, pinpointing a scorned lover. The clues had overwhelmingly pointed to the lover’s guilt. The case was closed in no time.

  But a few days later, miraculously, the suspected murderer had been released. In his place, they arrested a mundane looking guy who had previously lived in a rental on the periphery of town,
minding his own business, with a temp admin job in the magical government building. He’d already given his notice, and was ready to head out of town.

  Unbeknownst to literally everyone, he was a spy.

  Under the pressure of Kieran’s father, the spy had cracked, spilling all of his secrets.

  The guy had knocked off dozens of high-profile professionals in his day. He was responsible for toppling the magistrate of Scotland, for forcing the Demigod of Paris to renege on an agreement, and for exposing the illegal trade of magical beasts between the South Africans and Russians.

  There had been virtually no clues. No evidence to lead Valens and his team to make that arrest. It wasn’t the first time Valens had pulled off a seemingly impossible coup, sending the world a message: I’m immune to even the best. Nothing can take me down.

  Kieran shook his head slowly, incredulous, as he fitted the pieces together.

  Valens always got his mark because he never lost a spirit to the Line and the protections of whatever lay beyond it. The dead became their own eyewitnesses. Before the shock and memories from the traumatic event could evaporate, the brain’s natural coping mechanism, his lackeys would move the spirit of the murdered person into another body so they could recount their own murder.

  Genius.

  Alexis had helped Kieran uncover another chink in his father’s chainmail: his father didn’t know the unknowable at all. He wasn’t any more insightful than any other expertly trained and experienced Demigod…he just knew how to collect information from the dead. And soon, when Kieran found the originator of the spirit trap, he’d wipe out his father’s neat little trick.

  Reality seeped back in. The gravity of the situation blared through the quiet room.

  The spirit trap had just been set. That meant the creator—or creators, since clearly an air elemental had laid the foundation—were on the premises. He’d felt it, which meant Alexis must’ve felt it, too.

  Bria never ran from a fight. Never. Alexis had courage in spades, and wouldn’t leave a comrade behind.

  Those women would go after the magical workers responsible for the spirit trap. Maybe they were already going after them. He knew it as well as he knew his own name. The problem was, if that air elemental was in any way trained—and he had to assume that was the case since draping a building this size was no easy feat—the ladies would be outgunned. Alexis didn’t know how to fight with her magic, and Bria could only take on an air elemental in close combat. Put any space between them, and that elemental would toss her like a tumbleweed.