I sat next to François and fucking Irwin, as far as I could from Cas, so I could focus on something other than glaring at him through the meeting.
“Err, Sil, since when do you have a dog the size of a horse?” Irwin asked, plainly terrified of Amavi.
To be fair, sitting on her hind legs, she was almost as tall as him on his chair—and taller than me.
I grinned. “She’s harmless. I think.”
Amavi growled low, which made Irwin squirm in a way that made me wonder if he pissed himself. Again. Then the hound opened her maw in what could only be interpreted as a grin. I chuckled, scratching the top of her head. She was a bit of a dick, apparently.
Isla was last to arrive, walking in five minutes before the scheduled time. It seemed we were all eager to get going.
“I see everyone’s here. Good.” Gideon quickly ran through the events of the week. Though most were known to me, I still learned plenty about the last couple of days when we were in Paris.
“On mortals, taking a single dose is fatal. Some change, others die within hours of ingesting it, but eventually, they all burn up. Sups, however, are considerably more powerful while drugged—and may survive the change. But if they do, they remain so addicted to the magic they’ll do about anything for a dose. Consider them highly dangerous.”
I sucked in a breath.
“Silver?” he said, catching the sound.
Reluctantly, I made myself say, “Cas and I used one of the reserves on our mission. Neither of us were affected.”
A fair few of our colleagues started to whisper to each other.
“Yes, but both of you are what the Guard consider superior supernatural entities. We’re focusing on effects on the general population.” He moved on. “We’ve recovered or located five hundred of those cursed reserves, total, which is only a quarter of the stock we’re looking for. A further fifteen hundred are on the loose. That means a thousand berserkers, addicted to magic, too powerful to stop until the magic fades, and give or take five hundred dead humans. The research department has come up with a shot of defensive magic—several metals, enzymes, a sedative. Administered to a berserker, it incapacitates them temporarily. We’re mass producing them as fast as possible, but for now, each team will have one shot. Use it well. Our current mission is to locate and retrieve the fifteen hundred crystals. All non-emergency leaves are suspended until that’s done. Assignments for the next week are on the board.” He waved behind him, to a black board where several envelopes were pinned. “Any questions?”
There were a few, none too interesting, so I followed the line of Guards grabbing their envelopes.
I frowned when I didn’t see any bearing my name.
Then I turned and spotted Cas, waving our envelope.
Ugh. For one moment I forgot he was still my teammate.
I stomped over until I stood in front of him. “Give me that.”
“Tut, tut. Learn to share, doll,” he drawled with a punch-worthy smirk.
I all but growled. “Either open it so we know what we have to do orgive it to me.”
The asshole made a show of taking his time to open the envelope, and then read our assignment in silence.
Losing patience, I snatched the paper, so fast the corners remained stuck between his index fingers and thumbs, torn off.
Silver and Cas
Saturday, Sunday off—recovery.
Monday to Friday—map-surveillance night shift, 8 p.m.-2 a.m. Keep live map. Check any area with intense magic.
That seemed easy enough.
“See you Monday, then,” I groaned, turning on my heels.
Avani whined, and I looked back to see her staring at Cas, as though wondering why we couldn’t stay with him.
“Come on, pretty girl,” I coaxed her. “We have to get going.”
It took a second and then third call, but she obeyed.
