MAGIC IN DISGUISE
AGENTS OF A.S.S.E.T. 3
CHAPTER ONE
How
did I get here?
Deep within her hand, the twinges began.
Sage stared at the ugly blemish blackening her palm. A few days earlier, the
only deformity she could claim was the birthmark that labeled her a Terra: The
Tree of Life.
The Great Mother had bestowed innate
magical protection upon those who bore her mark. But all magic comes with a
price. Especially for Terras. If only she’d read the fine print, she’d have
been more careful with her gift.
Sage had been tasked with protecting the
greatest weapon known to the magical community, The Seed of Destruction; daring
to use its magic, however, earned her this penance. And if the ever-growing
black mark on her palm was any indication of the consequences, she too, would
ultimately be destroyed by the seed’s need to consume power.
Pain was fast becoming her constant
companion. Living in a house with vampires, she was never too far from magic.
Dark or light, it didn’t matter. The seed burned with insatiable hunger for
power. She clenched her fist tight, but it did nothing to silence the
throbbing.
A knock at her front door provided a perfect
distraction from all the negative thoughts that came to her during the lonely
hours of isolation.
She jumped to her feet, happy to have any
kind of company. Well, any kind of non-magical company. What she wouldn’t give
for a pair of missionaries to drop by. She’d endure whatever religion they
wanted to peddle as long as they would sit and have a cup of coffee with
her.
“What’s the password?” Sage called
playfully as she clicked the door lock.
“Coffee,” Grey responded mechanically.
“That was last week’s password.” She yanked
the door open, and met him with an impish smirk. “Try again.”
Grey stood, arms crossed, that silly fedora
ever present on top of his head. She was tempted to knock it off, just to
continue her playful greeting, but he beat her to the punch with an annoyed,
“Grow up.”
Mercurial as ever, she never knew if he was
going to play along with her jokes or throw a wet blanket on her good mood.
Still, she had to try. He was the only person who visited her since she’d
earned the scarlet letter at ASSET. Administrative leave, they called it. Sage
had other words. Cabin fever, a slow decent into madness.
“Don’t you want to know the new password?”
She stood her ground, hands on her hips, a flimsy barricade, more playful than
purpose, but enough to prevent Grey from entering her home.
“You’re either going to let me in, or find
a new way to get to work.”
After nearly a week without news, his words
renewed her spirit. Her blockade crumbled. She reached out and yanked Grey into
the apartment.
“Do we have a case?” Thank the Goddess! Real human…er…Terra interaction. Non-bloodsucker
company. Vampires didn’t make the best of roommates. “Fill me in. Shifters,
witches, trolls? Who needs our help?”
“Slow your roll there, newbie.” Grey
cracked a smile. He had to know how much she needed this. How desperate she was
for something useful to do.
She closed the door behind him and ushered
Grey to the kitchen table. “Easy for you to say. You’re not on house arrest.
I’d willingly jump on the back of your bike and ride across the country and
back if it means getting out of this house.”
“Careful what you wish for,” he teased.
She pressed him down into one of the dining
chairs and rounded the table to take the one opposite him. “I might be a
newbie, but I’m not messing with wishes and djinn again. Hell no!” She crossed
her fingers behind her back. Luke’s fate had been a need-to-know basis kind of
thing, and even though Grey was her partner, she hadn’t quite let him in on
that secret yet.
Luke was still very much alive and living
across the walkway from her apartment too. Though he couldn’t possibly have
retained his magic after what she’d done to him.
“All
right, there’s this kid.” Grey folded his arms on the table and leaned in
closely. “Poor, pitiful little thing.” He whispered the words like a secret
none but the two of them should share. “She got herself into a lot of trouble.
Mixing with the wrong sort.”
“Really? Do we need to rescue her?” Chills
prickled at the back of Sage’s neck. She bristled with excitement. This was her
chance to make amends. Anticipation had her salivating for more information.
She wouldn’t fail. “Who has her?”
“Oh yeah. She needs rescuing, all right. If
I had my way the minute I brought her in, I’d have her locked up. For her own
protection.” He snickered, breaking just long enough for Sage to catch the
cruelty of his joke.
“Jerk.” She reached across the table and
swatted the hat off his head. Too bad she’d been aiming for his cheek.
Grey laughed all the way to the ground as
he ducked under the table to retrieve his fedora. His amusement vanished as he
came back up. Eyes widened with fearful curiosity. He stared silently as if
seeing Sage for the first time, only he hadn’t looked her in the eye. The
target of his concern fell much lower than her face.
“You sure you’re up for working in your
current condition?”
Sage hid her ruined hand behind her back,
but it was too late. He’d already taken in the new damage. “I’m fine. I can
still work.”
He stood and dusted off the hat before
placing it back on his head. “I’d rather we get you sorted before hitting the
field again, but Ava’s ordered you in for a meeting.”
She cringed at the prospect of another
lecture from Queen High Bitch herself. “Should I be scared?”
Grey gave a noncommittal shrug. “Whatever
it is, we’re partners, so we’ll take our lumps together.”
She stood and grabbed her keys off the wall
hook. “Speaking of… How come I got sent home while you were still allowed to
work?”
“I didn’t get anything stuck in my hand on
our last mission,”—he pointed an accusing finger at her—“but don’t think I got
off easy. Ava’s had me tied to her desk all week.”
Her mind instantly sank into the gutter,
conjuring up a naughty vision of Grey bound at the wrist and ankles across
Ava’s mahogany desk. Ava certainly fit the dominatrix persona, but Grey as a
submissive? Nope. Can’t have thoughts
like those. Bad Sage! Where was the mental bleach when she needed it?
“You’re right. Administrative leave is so
much better. But I’m still ready to get back to work.” A sharp shock jolted
through her palm quick as a strike of lightning. She winced, hissing as she
clenched her fist tight enough to send her nails into her skin. The seed never
failed to make its desire known. Even the prospect of being near magic was
enough to awaken its insatiable hunger.
Grey was at her side before she opened her
eyes, taking her hand in his. “You’re getting worse.” Carefully, he inspected
the damage. Blackening skin spread out from the center where the seed had made
its home, its darkness reaching out in all directions, devouring her slowly. He
tiptoed the pads of his fingers across each of the lines in her palms.
The shocking tenderness of his touch took
the edge off her pain. Tickled a bit too. Sage fought against the smile it
brought to her face. It wasn’t like Grey to be so… Had he numbed her mind as
well? What new magic was this? His gesture was stirring something else within
her.
“Fine… I’m… Good. Can I have my hand back?”
He let go as if she’d burned him. “Does it
hurt?”
So
much! “A little. More when I’m around magic.”
“I don’t doubt that. You’re like a
lightning rod caught in a thunderstorm. All the magic around you, right there
for the taking.”
“To put it mildly.” She scrubbed her hands,
trying to stop the tingling left in the wake of his grip.
“You sure you’re going to be okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“Good, because I don’t need my partner
getting all weird on me when we’re out there dealing with whatever shitstorm
Ava assigns us.”
Snarky tone. Condescension. Teasing. That
she could handle. That didn’t send butterflies buzzing around her stomach. She
reached for a pair of silver-lined gloves on the counter and slipped them on.
Ava had suggested she wear them. She hadn’t tested whether or not it blocked
the seed’s power, but better safe than sorry.
“Me, weird?” She waggled her silver-coated
fingers at him. “Don’t know what you mean.”
“Maybe keep those in your pocket.”
“You think, Captain Obvious? Gloves in the
desert, in the middle of summer. Might as well walk around with a neon sign on
my head.” Looking weird was the least of her worries. It was the very real risk
she could accidentally kill someone with a single touch that weighed heaviest
on her mind.
“I know this is difficult. I’m proud of how
brave you are being. You’re handling this so well.”
What
the hell was that tone? He’d gone from snarking to simpering in a blink,
talking to her like she was some fragile creature moments from shattering into
a thousand pieces should he utter a negative word. Come to think of it, he’d
been noticeably less Grey since she’d been cursed.
“Don’t talk to me like a lost cause.”
Grey stepped back as if she’d took a swing
at him. “What?”
“You’re being too nice!”
His brow crinkled. Grey opened his mouth
but no words came.
“You know something you’re not telling me, partner.” Sage threw her hands on her
hips. He wasn’t going to weasel out of giving her an answer. He wasn’t a soft
and gentle kind of guy. The new case was a charade. Sage was dying. Or worse.
If there was a worse. That thought sent a whole different kind of chill
slithering down her spine.
“As long as I’ve lived, I’ve pissed off my
fair share of women,” – Grey stared at her in disbelief – “but not once has any
girl ever yelled at me for being nice.”
“You know what I mean.” She narrowed her
eyes, daring him to blow more smoke up her ass. “You’re not being you. What
world-altering devastation are you hiding from me?”
“Woah. Hold on there, Drama Queen.” Grey
threw his hands up in the air, taking yet another step away from her. Any
further and he’d plaster himself against the front door. “You jumped right onto
the crazy train.”
“You’re an insufferable asshole, and that’s
on a good day. But since this whole thing happened.” She pulled the glove off
and shoved her blackening hand in his face. “You’ve been distant. And when I
finally do see you, you’re speaking to me like…I’m some sort of…cancer patient
who’s been given two weeks to live.”
“Put that away.” He swatted at her hand.
“No.” She held it firmly in his face. “Not
until you tell me why you’re acting so weird.”
“Stop this now!” He took hold of her hand
with a growl that made him sound part wolf. His grip was iron, tightening when
she resisted, preventing her from pulling away.
“Let me go,” she demanded.
“You can’t hurt me. I’m not afraid of you.
Probably the only person in your current circle of friends that can say that
right now.” His breath came slowly as he moved her hand to his chest. Grey
fixed the ruin of her palm directly over his heart.
Stubbornly, she gave one final attempt to
pull free before resigning herself to his will.
His
heart knocked against her wounded hand. The steady rhythm vibrated powerfully
through his chest, but it was the warmth that radiated from him that worked
true magic. Each pulse of his heartbeat fought against the ache, absorbing it,
neutralizing it, and steadily gaining ground against her pain.
He loosened his iron grip, letting the
choice to continue their physical connection fall to her. Sage found herself
floating somewhere in the neutral zone between pain and something much more
intense. His thumb ghosted over the back of her hand, so tender, so intimate.
She sucked in a frightened breath, realizing how much his touch had kindled
within her. A wonderful distraction from the pain in her hand but sure to leave
lasting scars on her heart. She wasn’t ready to let him past her defenses. This
wasn’t the time for those thoughts anyway.
She let her hand fall, instantly regretting
the loss of his warmth, and released her breath in an attempt to force with it
all the stress she could expel from her body. Their physical connection had
said what words couldn’t, and that scared her more than the meeting she would
soon have with Ava.
“You
paid a high price for your service to the gods.” Grey’s voice cracked. He
cleared his throat to cover the sound and leaned in, their noses almost
touching. The silent way his eyes had begged her to come closer could not be
unseen.
“It’s only temporary.” Her legs went soft
like warm jelly. She backed away awkwardly, struggling to stay upright. “I’m
sure ASSET had a way to fix this.”
“One way or another, we’ll set things
right.” Grey mopped his face with his hands, wiping disappointment away as he
replaced it with a stony mask of indifference. She’d have much rather he kept
the smile, but ultimately his game face was what she needed.
“Yeah.” She chuckled nervously. “Because
I’m not wearing these gloves for the rest of my life.” She turned away, her
cheeks burning with raw emotions she wasn’t ready to process. Her focus had to
be on removing the stone.
“Sage,” he called to her.
“What?”
“You’re not going to die, okay? We will fix
you.”
“Of course we will. I’d hate to
inconvenience you with my death.” Sage found snarky comebacks flowed much more
freely than heavy emotions.
“You know how much I hate paperwork,” Grey
responded in kind.
“Good, because the alternative is the Luke
Skywalker approach, and prosthetic hands are not that advanced yet.”
“You have a movie to reference for every
situation, don’t you?”
“Pop culture is my second language.” She fit
the glove back over her bad hand. “But I do draw the line at the Michael
Jackson references.”
“He only wore one glove.”
She snorted at his attempted humor. “You
think I could get away with that?”
“Better safe than sorry. But if you’re
itching to test the theory, I could hold Zack down for you.”
That was more like it. Grey was beginning
to sound like himself. Dumb jokes and playful condescension she could deal
with.
“Don’t tempt me. He’s been nearly as
insufferable as you this last week.”
Grey’s lips twisted into a sneer.
“Something you haven’t told me?”
Was that jealousy she detected? Sage nearly
took the bait, but inciting another testosterone war wouldn’t help matters.
“It’s just difficult having him live here at the apartment while he trains
Matt, that’s all.”
“Better than the alternative.”
“You don’t have to listen to him. The one
saving grace about my new little…affliction.” She wiggled her fingers again as
if casting a magic spell. “He can’t come anywhere near me.”
“He’d only make that mistake once.”
“And I’d have more blood on my hands. First
month on the job… What’s my tally?”
“You do have an impressive kill count for a
newbie.” The wink he gave her held a little too much flirt in its wake.
Sage turned to the door before things got
awkward again. “Let’s go see if I’m up for any awards, then.”
“Promise not to kill me?” Grey shoved her
aside as he rushed to open the door. Yet another oddly un-Grey-like gesture.
“We’re meeting with Ava,”
she reminded him. “Are you sure it’s not my head on the chopping block?”