Chapter 1
Aila
“Are you serious?” Hunter asked, his long Oak-wood staff pausing mid-air before finishing its downward path toward the ground. It hit with a small thud, sending little green waves radiating out around it.
“Completely, I told her I couldn’t but you know Elle,” I responded as I smacked the packed dirt with my own short staff, mine not sending out pretty circles of magic but small puffs of dust.
“Didn’t you just clear Mrs. Jenkins garden of sprites last week?”
“Yeah and I told her that, but she insists they’re back!” I rolled my eyes at the thought of Mrs. Jenkins. I could see her now, rolling up the sleeves of a patchwork shirt and placing her man sized hands on her hips, all the while shaking her head and muttering nonsense about young people these days.
“You with me?” Hunter interrupted my mental imaginings.
“Yeah, sorry daydreaming again.”
“Hey look! They’re this way!”
I glanced over at my partner’s staff, the magic no longer circling the staff but flowing in a steady stream. Should have known he would beat me on picking up their trail. We both peered into the night, following the magic toward one of the abandoned warehouses that surrounded this particular area.
“How many did Jack say there were?”
“Three.” Hunter pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose then dug around in his bag.
I placed one hand on my hip and squinted, trying to make out any shapes in the building ahead. “What kind?”
“Air.”
I turned my attention from the warehouse to Hunter. He ran a hand over his dark green hair, the overly gelled spikes popping back up in random directions. His face was a mask of concentration and I could tell he wasn’t paying the least bit of attention to me. I smiled inwardly.
“What’s the name of that girl you went out with last night?”
“Julie,” he said automatically then jerked his head up from his bag.
I laughed, clapping a hand over my mouth to stifle the sound.
“Dang it Aila,” Hunter snapped at me.
I laughed harder.
“You can’t leave well enough alone can you?”
“How long did you think you could keep her a secret from me?” I finally managed after my laughter subsided.
“All I ask is to keep my private life private. Let’s just finish up here,” he said, angrily jerking things around inside his backpack.
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. A moment later, Hunter straightened holding two flashlights. We started for the rundown building.
“She works at the theater in the next city,” Hunter said reluctantly handing me one of the flashlights.
I shrugged. “When do I get to meet her?”
“Never, not after last time!”
“I didn’t mean to catch her dress—”
A blast of air sent the doors to the warehouse flying. Hunter and I both froze. Searching for the source, I closed my eyes. Two white shapes moved within the building, another on the left ducked behind some sort of wall.
“Two to the right, the other on the left,” I announced just as another blast of air scattered paper and empty plastic barrels across the yard.
“Pinpoint the one using and I’ll take him out first,” Hunter said, his hands tightening on his staff.
I nodded and closed my eyes again. I let my aura stretch, reaching out for the wizards’ energy. A small flash of white to the left, then another burst of air.
“About five feet in, ten feet to the left.”
With a small, gruff snort Hunter stamped the end of his staff in the dirt. I grabbed hold of his shirt as the ground beneath me began to shake. A metal clang rang from inside the building followed by a round of cursing. I gestured for Hunter to go to the right then I slunk to the left. I hoped that was enough of a distraction to get us closer. Fifteen feet away I heard voices on the wind. I stopped and caught Hunter’s eyes.
A man cried from inside, “What the hell do we do now? They sent witches after us!”
“Quit your sniveling and help me drag’em outta the way,” another man growled.
I nodded at Hunter and held up two fingers then pointed them straight in front of me. Apparently, the other two had moved to my side. We snuck closer, the voices growing louder with every step. They’d either forgotten about us, which was highly unlikely, or weren’t too worried about us. That gave me pause and I stopped walking. Hunter noticed and came to a stop too. I closed my eyes and still only saw the two air users but I got a sense of another presence, one dark but not completely malicious. Scanning the rest of the area around me, I noticed only the slightest red flicker at the back of the building. A small image of a cat crossed my sight. I resumed moving, hoping the dark energy was just left over waves from these wizards castings.
“Go around the back and ready the car,” snapped one of the men.
“Now!” I shouted to Hunter, already lurching forward to run.
We burst through the doorway at the same time, hands raised. Both men spun, air blasted from their hands. I ducked as Hunter jumped away. My hair whipped at my face so I crouched lower, sending out my own gust of air in return. The larger man hit the wall behind him; his over sized head bounced off the concrete, then the rest of him slid to the floor. I turned, readying another ball of air, only to squelch it as Hunter flew into my path. The smaller, mouse-like man charged him.
“Look out!”
Hunter tapped his staff against the wall. Vines shot out and grabbed at his attacker. The air user sliced through the overgrowth, the wind cutting like a blade. Hunter readied another shower of vines, but the guy was faster. Before I could stop him, mouse-man was atop Hunter sending air-propelled fists into his face. I flung out my palms. Water, like the top of a broken fire hydrant, blasted from my hands catching the man in the ribs. His body hit the wall with a crack, the breath rushing out of his lungs.
“You okay?” I knelt over Hunter.
A faint smile crossed his face before he grimaced. I picked up his broken glasses and helped him into a sitting position. One hand on his shoulder I glanced around, making sure our two bad guys were still down, then reached for my radio.
“Base this is Aila.”
“Go ahead.”
The radio crackled and whined as I relayed the address of the warehouse and the number of people. Clean up was not going to be happy about this place.
“We’ll be there in fifteen,” the dispatcher quickly said.
“Well this is just great,” Hunter crumbled.
I glanced down to see him squinting at his glasses that lay cracked in my hand.
“We’ll get you a new pair,” I reassured him.
“We always do,” he sighed.
I gave his shoulder a light squeeze before getting up to retrieve his pack. Some of the contents littered the floor near the door but for the most part, all the equipment was still inside it. I pulled out three pairs of handcuffs and a bottle of water. I handed the bottle to Hunter, resisting the urge to toss it to him and made my way over to the first, water-soaked, fugitive. I assessed him quickly; a broken rib or three, a broken arm, no permanent damage. I cuffed him and move onto the bigger man. His injuries were a bit more serious. Blood came in a slow trickle out of his nose and from his head. I couldn’t tell where the wound was unless I moved him and I really didn’t want to touch the guy. I cuffed him swiftly and searched for the third man. Kicking a couple of barrels away revealed a body, face down in a puddle of something smelly. Well that was nice of them. I rolled him over with my foot and to my surprise, he was breathing.
“Damn air users,” I muttered under my breath and cuffed him as well. I stood and took a step back towards the door. I froze just as my foot hit the ground. A faint voice echoed, so soft I couldn’t make out the words or even be sure I’d heard it. I pushed my aura out, hoping like hell no one else was here. I didn’t sense a person, not exactly, but a force. The same dark force from earlier. It saturated the place like an invisible fog. Then it was gone. I blinked, shocked back from my aura sense by the abrupt loss of connection. I shook my head and hurried back to Hunter. I had to get more sleep or I was really going to lose it.
“They alive?” Hunter asked, gingerly touching his face.
“Yep.”
“Bad?”
“The big guy probably has a concussion and the other only has a few broken bones. That first one is behind those barrels, he’s alive.”
“Not too bad then.”
“Not too bad at all,” I echoed with a smile and plopped down beside him. Ten minutes later footsteps filled the silence while beams from flashlights cut through the darkness. Two uniformed officers rushed in. Bright white letters, OMCA, stood out boldly on their chest against the black of their uniforms. I waved at them.
“Over there.” I gestured to the two bodies.
A nod then a smile came from the officer nearest me.
“You two did a number on these fellows,” the first officer said.
“No more than normal,” I joked.
Hunter didn’t laugh, only a tight smile let me know he agreed.
“Where’s the third one?”
I pointed to the stack of empty barrels and grimaced.
“Don’t know what he’s laying in but it smells awful,” I told the officer before helping Hunter to his feet.
“We’ll take it from here Agent Hall,” a third man said from the doorway.
I turned to find David Long leaning against the frame of the door to the warehouse.
“David?”
Slipping my hand out from under Hunter’s arm, I went to David. He folded me into his arms in a very brotherly, over-protective hug. I squirmed and pulled back.
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m off the clock,” he answered with a shrug.
“You’re not supposed to be here. Humans can’t be involved in this stuff.”
“I said I’m off the clock. It’s not official and nobody has to know. Just figured you might need a ride home or wanted to grab a bite to eat.”
I studied David’s face. I’d known him for almost fifteen years now. We’d been best friends since the day we met and not once had he ever showed up at a scene. I put one hand on my hip, watching him close.
“What’s wrong?”
David draped an arm around my shoulders steering me toward his car.
“Nothin’ wrong just wanted to see ya,” he said, his southern drawl growing thicker.
Glancing back over my shoulder, I saw one of the officer’s talking to Hunter. Although I coulnd’t make out their faces, the light from the agents flashlight illuminates enough of Hunter’s body that I could tell he was tense.
“Hang on Dave; we got to give Hunter a ride home first. He broke his glasses, again.” I slipped out from under his arm and walked back to Hunter.
“Hey, Hunter, you need a ride?” I called out, deliberately louder than I needed to.
He nodded; one hand clenched around his pack the other gripping his staff. The agent moved as if to stop him but a quick look my way changed his mind. No way were they holding us up tonight. They could just get all the information from our reports tomorrow.
“The goof trying to get the scoop before we file it?” I asked as we left.
“Yep,” Hunter replied with little enthusiasm.
“Who’d ya get?” David quietly asked when we’re next to him.
“We can’t tell you,” Hunter responded, a chill to his words.
“I will just see it in the paper you file tomorrow.”
“That’s different. Being next to the magic as it happens is another thing all together. If Chief Mason hears about this he will fire all three of us.” Hunter griped his staff even tighter, his knuckles white, and walked a few steps ahead of us.
“Doesn’t much like humans, eh?” David asked me.
“Well, it’s complicated. You really aren’t supposed to be here,” I answered with a smile.
We got to David’s battered and abused Chevy and piled in. No one talked on the way to Hunter’s. The ride was eerily quiet since David’s radio broke last week. I refused to think about work or about all of the chores I needed to do when I get home so to pass the time, I hummed a tune from my favorite Bon Jovi CD.
“See you tomorrow,” I told Hunter as he climbed out of the car.
“Yeah, nine, right?”
“Yep, have a good one.” I watched Hunter until he walked through his door. Thankfully, he was able to tape his glasses together in the car or I would have had to help him all the way to his room.
David’s Impala lurched forward and we started another quiet drive.
“I’m not too hungry,” I said a moment later, trying to break the silence.
“Okay, you want me to just drop you off then?” David asked. He glanced over briefly before turning his attention back to the road.
“Yeah that’ll be fine. We can catch lunch tomorrow if you want though.”
“Sounds good,” David said then sighed. “I want to talk to you about something now though.”
Letting out a silent sigh of my own, I shook my head. “Can’t it wait ‘till morning?”
I glanced at the clock on the dashboard: 3:00 AM.
“No. Not really.” David’s voice was low and sad. I turned in the seat to look at him.
“What’s wrong?”
“Chief Mason is going to talk to you about this tomorrow but I wanted to be the one to tell you. Masons interrogating your dad on Thursday.”
The tension in the car escalated with suffocating quickness. I watched David closely, looking for any sign that he was playing a cruel joke. Nothing, not even a twitch of his mouth to tell me he was messing with me.
“Why?” I asked in a soft whisper.
“An informant told Mason that your dad has been working on something on the outside.”
My mind drifted and pictures swam up in front of me. My father, tall and black haired, a cruel man with a deceptively honest face, blue eyes the color of robins eggs’. I shuddered at the image.
“Are you okay?” David asked with audible concern.
“Yeah, I just want to go home. It’s been a long night. I’ll deal with this tomorrow.”
David dropped me off in front of my run-down red and tan Victorian house washed white in the moonlight. I sighed and turned to wave goodbye to my friend. He was leaning over the passenger seat, smiling his crooked grin. I put one hand on my hip. David rolled down the window.
“Goodnight Aila,” he said with a flourish.
“Goodnight David,” I replied and watched him pull out down my drive. I stared at his taillights until all I could see were the black shadows of trees lining the driveway and thin streams of light from the moon beaming through to the gravel. I turned to my house determined to sleep until I had to face tomorrow and Chief Mason…and my dad.