Chapter 5
I’d taken Ivan home Sunday night, waited down the street until I saw him go inside, and even watched for another hour in case he came running back out.
After driving by the place three times before going home, I sent him a text reminding him to call me if he needed something, but got no reply.
I headed home to prepare for the next day and my new job.
The packet of information I’d been emailed detailed a very generous pay increase of over twenty-thousand more a year, a healthy benefits package, and a list of my coworkers and new supervisor.
I was to be partnered with Angel Mao. The name made me picture a small Latina woman with lots of attitude and maybe the ability to set people on fire, but there was no identifying information about any of my new team or even what role I would play on it.
Would I still be working homicide cases?
I couldn’t imagine how insane they’d be if they were all SED related.
I showed up to the Richfield precinct early Monday morning dressed in nice black slacks and a button-up as dress code hadn’t been in the packet.
I’d never been a uniform cop as I’d studied and gone direct to detective.
My skillset best applied to solving cases and putting together puzzles no one knew were missing pieces.
Every spot in the small, concrete, private parking garage had a number, and as I drove by the one for my car, a red motorcycle took my spot. I went up to the top and back down. No unnumbered spots opened.
Fuck.
What a way to start a new job. I drove up and down the entire garage three times, until I decided to take the last numbered empty spot. I dug in my glove box to find a piece of paper and write a note explaining the situation and leaving my contact info. I really hoped no one would tow me.
When I stepped into the precinct, expecting a similar layout to my old one with a gated entry then the bullpen leading to offices, I was surprised to find it closed off.
The lobby was encased in a barrier of bulletproof glass and a buzzer to get inside beside an ID scanning panel.
I didn’t have an ID to scan, nor could I see anyone, so I hit the button.
“Hello?” The box asked.
“This is Jude Holt, reporting for duty. I’m here to see Sergeant Hanna?”
“Check in at the main desk, please,” the voice said. The door buzzed, and I grabbed it.
I ducked inside. The door weighed a ton and closed with a final snap behind me.
The lobby area, devoid of life, led down one narrow hall to a second solid door, which buzzed as I approached.
The cameras overhead meant someone was watching.
The entire area felt like entering a prison ward.
I glanced up as I tugged the door open and finally found the main desk the disembodied voice spoke of.
The front desk broke off into two halls, elevators on both sides. From the outside, the place had been four stories, which hadn’t looked that big. Maybe there was more underground. I walked up to the desk.
The person behind the desk pushed their long, white hair away from their face, shoving it behind one ear, which was pointed. Was this a fae? I blinked, dumbfounded, and trying not to be stupid—or more stupid than usual on my first day.
“Jude Holt, right? I’ll need your ID. Security is on the way up to set up your scans and keycard.”
Their nameplate said Robin, but I couldn’t tell if they were male or female. “Thanks,” I said, eyeing the clock. “My packet didn’t tell me what time to be in?”
“Most roll in by nine unless there was a late-night callout,” Robin said, taking my ID and scanning it.
“Does that happen a lot? Late night stuff?”
Robin gave me a faint smile. “Sadly, yes. Are you a morning person?”
“No.” I held up my giant travel mug of coffee. “This is the third one already.”
“And you’re not jittery yet?” Robin glanced at my arm and the mark. “Most of your kind aren’t really alive until after dark anyway.”
The elevator dinged and a large Lurch-looking man stepped off, dressed in a security uniform.
He had to bend to exit the car, and as he turned my way, I took an unconscious step backward.
Was he made of stone? The gray pallor of his face, carved with ornate symbols and glossy black eyes, made me gulp.
“Agent Holt, this is our Chief Security Officer, Galen.” Robin handed back my ID. “He’ll take you down to the security office and get your card set up.”
I racked my brain for what he was. The book I’d been given by my old boss was too big to memorize in a handful of days. Was it rude to ask? Holy shit I was out of my comfort zone in this new job. Dead people, I was used to. Criminals, sure. But a stone security guard?
“He’s a golem,” Robin offered helpfully. “Some of them are powered by death magic. Galen here is Sergeant Hanna’s creation.”
“The sergeant created a golem?” Talk about stepping from reality into a fantasy novel. “With death magic? I’m not sure the manual covered that.”
“Manual?” Robin inquired. Galen stared at me, not breathing, more looming like the stone terror he was, waiting with an unnatural stillness. I couldn’t imagine anyone fucking with him.
I took off my backpack and dug out the manual, holding it up.
“Oh,” Robin said. “Let me get you the updated one.” They disappeared into a back room behind the desk and returned with a giant tome which they plopped on the counter.
“I think my grandpa has phone books with less pages,” I grumbled, taking the book and stuffing it in my bag. “Do you want this one?”
Robin waved it away. “No need. I’d just file it.” They pointed to the trash.
“Is it top secret or anything?”
“It’s standard issue. You could probably check out a copy at the library if you really wanted.”
Good to know.
The door behind us opened with a beep, someone else coming in.
I sensed their frustration as I turned, meeting the gaze of the hottest Asian man I’d ever seen outside a Korean Drama or K-pop video.
He was at least six feet tall with a lean, athletic build; tan with smooth skin, a sharp jawline, soft features, and tattoos on his fingers and neck that traced above his shirt line.
His glossy, dark hair framed his face; tousled, pulled back into a ponytail in the back, but a little messy as though he’d been in a rush.
It enhanced his deep brown eyes which squinted with both exhaustion and irritation.
With his high cheekbones, lush lips, and long lashes, he could have been a model.
The sort of guy you’d drool over on magazine covers; defined muscles without the bulging veins that spoke of starvation diets and dehydration.
He could have stepped off the stage of a boy band, aged out, like the finest wine, ready for his C-drama debut.
He wore black jeans and a dark navy long-sleeve shirt with the Cheshire Cat on it, which read, “We’re all mad here.
” The sleeves clung to his biceps, showing definition I could only dream of ever achieving.
He also had a glowing mark on his arm, though his was orange.
A variant? I glanced back at Robin. They didn’t have a band. Not fae?
The new guy held up a familiar piece of paper, his gaze on me. “This you?”
“Shit,” I said. “Was that your spot? I don’t know who was in mine.” I glanced back at Galen, the giant Lurch golem. “Can I move it after I get ID stuff? I’m not sure where else to park. There wasn’t anything else left in the parking garage.”
The pretty guy’s gaze rolled over me, looking annoyed and confused. “I’m aware, since I walked from down the street. You’re the guy in the hearse?”
“It’s a Honda Civic,” I said.
“A wagon painted black and decked out with silver trim.”
“Easy to find in any parking lot. She’s got great mileage. Not as cool as a ’67 Chevy Impala, but I couldn’t find one under two hundred thousand miles.” I resisted the urge to sing ‘Carry On My Wayward Son’.
He frowned. “Is this job a joke to you?”
“What? No. I didn’t ask to be transferred, but no, I plan on taking this job as seriously as I did my last twelve years working in Homicide,” I said, irritated that everyone always saw me as some blond twink without a brain the second we met.
I hadn’t even worn eyeliner today, trying to butch it up as much as possible for the new team of cryptid hunters I’d be working with.
“There was a red motorcycle in my spot, and I didn’t even know what time I had to be here.
Is this place always this disorganized?” I folded my arms across my chest, not backing down even with Mr. Hotty glaring at me.
He opened the letter, reading through it, eyes widening as he glared at the bottom. Hadn’t he read it all the way through before?
“You’re Jude Holt? The hotshot detective necro variant they transferred?” His gaze flipped to Robin. “Get Hanna on the line, tell her it’s a no-go. I’m not working with PR’s wet dream “Necromancer Ken”.”
I flinched. “Working with?” I tried to fit him to the names on the list I’d been given for my new team, but he didn’t look like a Bobby, or Ezra, or even a Wade. “Who are you?” An elevator door opened with a ding.
“Agent Holt, this is your new partner, Agent Angel Mao,” a female voice said as a tall, rail-thin woman stepped off, her hair a halo of white-blond curls around her like some blonde version of Merida from Disney’s Brave.
She wore combat boots, fitted leggings, and a sweater-dress with a badge on the belt around her waist as well as a gun and taser at her side.
The lanyard around her neck said Sergeant Hanna.
Her ears were pointed too, but there was no mark on her arm.
“No,” Mao said. Hot Asian guy was my new partner?
“You wanted someone smart, resourceful, and tenacious,” Hanna said.
“A puppy would have been more useful,” Mao growled.
“I’ll tell Ezra you find him useful,” Hanna said.
“I don’t have time to train a rookie.” He eyed me again. “Is he even legal?”
“I’m thirty-four,” I said.
“The fuck you say?”
“Agent Mao,” Sergeant Hanna said, her tone no-nonsense. “Go stock his locker. I’ll bring him to you once his security clearance processing is finished.”
“I can move my car,” I offered.
He huffed and stomped toward the elevator. “Don’t park there again tomorrow, pretty boy.”
He thought I was pretty?
I blinked at him with wide eyes, confused and more than a little intimidated as he vanished into one of the elevators and the doors closed.
“I apologize,” Sergeant Hanna said. “I had hoped your first day would be less eventful. However, it’s rare we go a day without an active case, and there’s a sizable backlog since we are understaffed. Angel is one of our most seasoned agents.”
“I feel a bit like Alice in Wonderland,” I said as I put my hand on the mark. “I’m not even sure what all this means. One day, I’m trying to help out a daycare with a Veil splice, and the next, I’m transferred to SED and don’t even know what you want me to do.”
She tilted her head and a flash of color changed in her eyes, the pupils narrowing for a half second before returning to normal. “Investigation is what you did, yes? Your record is impressive. Highest solve rate in the state. Even your ME said you often caught things he wouldn’t have.”
“It’s not because of some power. If that’s why you think I should work with Agent Mao, it might be better not to pair us. I tested at a zero. Got a shiny piece of paper with a sticker that says I’m officially variant with no known ability.”
“Mhmm,” she said, her gaze focused on the band around my arm. Galen stood at her side, unmoving. “Let’s get you security clearance and introduce you to the team, shall we?”
“What about Agent Mao?”
“What about him?”
I sighed, hating starting off on the wrong foot. “Should I move my car?”
“No. I’m sure Angel will take care of it,” she said as she headed for the elevator, Galen at her side. I really hoped pretty Asian guy didn’t tow my car. Finding a ride-share this close to a merge was damn near impossible.