“There was a high demon examining her body,” he said sulkily, glowering at the picture in my hand.
My pulse beat faster and I fought to keep my voice steady as I stood straighter.
“Who?”
“Ver–”
The demon suddenly gaped, blood pouring from his throat and I froze, staring down at him for a shocked moment.
I whirled and crouched, dropping my shields long enough to send out a tendril of power in an attempt to track the owner of the arrow.
Nothing. They were gone.
I glanced back down at the demon. Dead. An arrow stuck out from his throat, and I twisted until it came free, careful not to make contact with the tip, in case it was poisoned. The arrow was matte black, which explained why I hadn’t seen it coming— it hadn’t caught the light. Even the feathers were black, and I stared at them consideringly. I knew the types of bolts most of the bounty hunters in the Triangle used, and I’d never seen one like this before.
Someone hadn’t wanted me to hear what the demon had to say. The only lead I’d ever gotten, and he was dead.
But I now had half a name. I could use that.
I dragged the demon the twenty feet to my Toyota, hauling his body into the trunk. The Mage Council wouldn’t be happy— they’d wanted him alive— but I’d still get half the bounty. The sooner I wrapped this job up, the sooner I could figure out who ‘Ver’ was. I grunted as I shoved the demon’s limbs into the trunk. I kept an old tarp handy for moments like these, and I adjusted it to prevent the blood from soaking my trunk. With a last glance around the vicinity, I slammed the lid and headed for the Mage Council’s local offices.
The lives of humans on Earth all changed within a single moment just over seventy years ago– the moment the portals opened and paranormals streamed through in droves.
The ten years following the opening of the portals were known as the Decade of Despair. While the name still made me roll my eyes, there were few other ways to describe the years where close to a billion people had died. The Mage Council had fought the good fight, and it still focused on recruiting the kind of humans who wanted to make a difference… and those who longed for power of their own. I didn’t fit either category.
Before the Decade of Despair, the Mage Council’s Durham facility was the Durham County Human Services building. I’d seen pictures of the original building in a book somewhere, and it had been designed with plenty of windows in an attempt to make it more welcoming.
The Human Services had been mostly rubble after the Decade of Despair, and the Mage Council had snapped it up. The new facility was designed to withstand anything paranormals threw at it– the walls were made of colossal stone slabs, and the lower floors had bars on the windows. Most of the glass was long gone since the mages considered it a security risk, and it was now an unimaginative gray block of a building with some of the strictest security measures in the city.
The facility spanned a city block and towered over the smaller apartment buildings in the area. Along with floors of offices, a library, and the mysterious, ultra-secure upper floors, the facility had been expanded to include a judicial floor, a basement prison, and an execution chamber.
Ben was leaning against the side of the building when I arrived, and I silently cursed. He looked like one of those guys who’d peaked in high school, and was reliving his glory days over and over. His hair was thinning, but he’d occasionally spring for a glamor-charm, giving him a luscious head of hair for a few weeks before the spell faded. Most of his muscle was slowly turning to flab, and he spent the majority of his time off attempting to get laid.
Ben’s smile widened and he wandered after me as I dragged the body around to the back entrance so it could be checked in. He watched me silently and I refused to give him the satisfaction of acknowledging his presence.
The mage working behind the check-in counter gave me a dark look as he processed the body. I shrugged and stared mournfully at the cash he’d slid under the glass screen. I’d counted on twice the bounty. This week was going to be tight.
I ground my teeth as I shoved the cash into my pocket and took the paperwork from the mage. Whoever thought they could get away with killing my mark in front of me would have another thing coming, oh yes they would.
I had half a name, and it wouldn’t take me long to research exactly who that name belonged to. For the first time, I had a solid lead— someone who’d been seen near my mother’s body. That was cause for celebration.
“So, how exactly did you fuck that up so bad?”
Ben hadn’t taken the hint. Maybe if I pretended he was invisible, he’d leave me alone. The mage still hadn’t forgiven me for plying him with drinks six months ago and making him spill everything he knew about the dagger currently sheathed on my belt. He’d been snooping around the restricted section of the Mage Council’s library, and if the council found out, he was inbigtrouble.
The Mistilteinn Dagger was also known as the Dagger of Truth. The moment I’d heard of it, I was determined to make it mine. With the dagger in my hand, I’d be able to interrogate suspects without needing a truth spell.
Of course, if the council discovered exactly where I’d found my dagger, I’d be in much deeper shit than Ben. The Mage Council had to cooperate with the high demons, because if it came down to a war, the demons would wipe them all out without blinking. Stealing ancient artifacts from the demons wasn’t conducive to a good working relationship.
Both Ben and I had kept our mouths shut, but that didn’t mean we were buddies. He thought the dagger should’ve been his, even though he hadn’t had the ovaries to go after it. Me? I’d never forget the first time I worked with him after joining the Mage Council and he double-crossed me, stealing the mark and leaving me stranded, deep in red cap territory after dark. Turns out, vicious, murderous goblins don’t listen to reason. I still had a scar on my thigh as a reminder of that night.
He was still staring at me. I scowled. “Mind your business,” I advised him, and he lifted his lip at me before turning and stalking away.
I headed back around the front of the building, scanned in at the desk in the lobby, and took one of the elevators up to Cara’s office. The apprentice mage specialized in weapons and, if I slipped her a fifty, she’d likely examine the arrow for me. The fact that someone had killed Asparas before he could tell me who was seen near my mom’s body could be coincidence, sure. He could’ve pissed off any number of people during his rampage across Durham.
But I’d been doing this job for long enough that I didn’t believe in coincidences.
I knocked on her open door, my eyes scanning her office. A collection of swords leaned against the wall in one corner, a tiny window offered a small glimpse of the city below, and her floor, desk, and guest chair were littered with books and weapons.
