“Did you see anything?”
“Nope, not a stinking thing.”
“You sure?”
“There wasn’t anything there to see. Nothing. No street people, no rats or ally cats, or even a stray piece of garbage.”
They sat in silence for a moment before Tasha repeated, “Nothing was there. It was an empty street.”
“What?”
“It was devoid of anything. I mean not a thing, not even an oil stain on the drive. If that warehouse was in use, ever, there should have been something. Like trash in the bin, or a weed growing through a crack in the sidewalk. Maybe even gum on the sidewalk. Or, I don’t know, something to make it look like life happened there.”
“Maybe the owners are super tidy,” Avery offered, but he knew Tasha and that look she got when she thought she was onto something. Jake trusted her intuition and Avery had learned to trust it as well.
“Maybe, but Avery, I’m telling you, it looked too sterile. It didn’t even smell.”
“Just because it’s a warehouse doesn’t mean it has to smell bad,” Avery chuckled.
“No, that’s not what I mean. It didn’t smell like anything at all; not cleaner, not dust, not, I don’t know, random warehouse smells. It didn’t even smell like wet, and it had rained all day.”
Avery narrowed his eyes as he looked down at the bar top. He tapped his fingers. Tasha knew that action. He was thinking, considering something.
“Did it, um, did it smell like magic?” he reluctantly asked her, almost in a whisper, his face scrunched up in a grimace.
“Magic.” Tasha said it, not asked it. She pursed her lips together then blew out a rude little noise from between them. “I don’t know. Never smelled magic before, not that I know of anyway.”
“You don’t seem suprised by that question,” Avery observed. He was evaluating her as he talked.
“No,” Tasha said with a little realization. “I don’t know why. I’ve not been around magic, but it just seems plausible. I mean I do work for a werewolf, so I guess magic should be possible too.”
“But you're not supposed to know about werewolves either,” he reminded her. Knowing that Jake was a werewolf hadn’t surprised her. It was like all the fairy tale stories her mother had told her when she was a child had been truth to her, not just stories.
Avery smiled at her. “So, you aren’t surprised that there is magic, but you don’t know if there was magic at the warehouse?”
Tasha returned his smile. “No, and no.”
Avery stood and took his leather jacket from the back of his seat. “Well then, c’mon then, Miss Tasha. Let’s go have a little look see, shall we?”
Tasha jumped up enthusiastically and gathered her belongings. “My car or yours?”
Chapter 4
Avery drove his silver muscle car down the drive towards the warehouse where he had picked up Tasha the night before. Tasha followed close behind in her little, dark blue, sub compact. They came to a stop and got out of their vehicles.
“Well, you’re right about one thing. There’s nothing here.”
Tasha nodded in agreement. “See what I mean about the smell. Or the lack of one?”
Avery took a deep breath in through is nose, and let it out slowly. He grinned. “That, absence of smell? That’s magic.”
Tasha looked a little disappointed. “That’s what magic smells like? Well that’s a little bit of a let down.”
“No, no, the lack of smell is what I mean. Lack of smell sometimes means magic. But magic can also smell like whatever makes it. One thing you can count of for sure; there are no hard and fast rules on how to detect magic.” He grinned.
“You are so helpful sometimes Detective. How is it you know so much about magic again?”
Avery ignored the question as they stood shoulder to shoulder, in the middle of the alleyway, and took in the warehouse as well as the street they stood in. Avery looked at the door that read “office”.
“I’m betting we find a little hiding glamour, or a deterrent spell, or maybe even a protection ward of some kind. Maybe all three.”
“How do we find out for sure?”
Avery shrugged then gave her a little crooked, sardonic smile. “Depends.”
Tasha couldn’t help but give a little chuckle. “But of course.”
Avery took a coin from his pocket and tossed it at the door. The coin disappeared. “Interesting.”
“So, do we go in?” Tasha asked, taking a step forward.
Avery grabbed her arm. “Whoa, no ma’am. Not yet. Just hang back, don’t go any farther. I’ve, uh, gotta get something.”
Avery popped the trunk of his car and stood, looking at the interior for what seemed like a long time. He was mumbling about how many and painful the ways were that Jake was going to kill him for showing her magic. Finally he reached into the trunk, rummaged for a moment before he joined Tasha, a black glove on his left hand. In that hand he held a metal disk with engravings of symbols that Tasha did not recognize.
Avery held the palmed disk and reached in towards the door with it. His arm disappeared just as the coin had, but the facade of the warehouse door remained the same, except for a slight rippling around the visible portion of Avery's arm.
“What the?” Her voice seemed loud in the quiet twilight.
“Shh.”
“What are you doing?” Tasha continued in a loud whisper.
“Would you hush for a minute? I’ve got to concentrate. Keep an eye out please. Tell me if anything out here changes.”
Tasha did as Avery had bid her and looked about them. She turned around in a small circle. As she did so, she squinted her eyes to look into the gathering shadows as the sun’s light was finally swallowed by the night. She craned her ear to the left and the right. She did not see that Avery had gained entrance into the warehouse until he called to her from just inside the opened office door. “Tasha, you comin?”
She stared blankly at him for a second before she followed him inside.
The warehouse was dark, only the spot of the flashlight Avery had brought in with him being the only point of illumination. The warehouse smelled awful!
“Avery,” Tasha whispered. “Something feels, wrong.”
“Yeah,” he agreed.
“And what’s that smell?”
“Shh!”
They crept forward, Avery shining his light on nothing, yet the darkness seemed to hold shadows of something vague and sinister and almost tangible.
Very suddenly Avery stopped, and put out his arm to halt Tasha’s progress. “Wait,” his voice was scarcely audible in the eerie silence.
Tasha nodded in the darkness. She felt the hairs on her neck and arms stand on end.
“Magic?” She asked in an almost whimper.
“Yeah. Bad magic. We need to leave.”
Before they had turned, however, they heard a whisper of movement just ahead of them.
Tasha grabbed Avery’s arm. “Did you…”
“Yeah. Shit. Tasha go.”
“What is it?” Tasha squawked around the lump of cold fear that had formed in her throat. She wasn’t afraid of much, and didn’t give in to panic very easily, but this was completely out of her realm of experience.
A deep, guttural growl penetrated the darkness.
“Avery!” she screamed.
“Tasha, run! And whatever you do, do not look back!”
Tasha ran towards the door, but Avery was not next to her. Or in front of her. She looked back.
Just in time to see two red, glowing eyes engulfed by an explosion of light that originated from Avery’s ungloved right hand. The light was so bright it caused her to go momentarily blind. She made to turn towards the door, but she wasn’t sure where the door was anymore, nor could she see it for all the spots before her eyes.
Avery turned, saw that Tasha had stopped and was blinking blindly at him. He screamed, “Run I said!”
Sh
e turned to face the opposite direction of Avery’s voice and hoped she was headed again towards the door. As soon as the dark of the warehouse replaced her blindness two things happened. First, Avery had sprinted past her, taking her by the arm with his gloved hand, a slight jolt coursing through her where he touched her. He dragged her behind him. The second, and most notable to Tasha’s thinking, was the searing pain she felt at her back and the hot, rancid breath that accompanied a bone rattling roar that spurred her on to greater speed.
They burst through the door, Avery slammed in shut, leaning his back against it, reached into a pocket for what looked like a large, red, wax seal and slapped it onto the seem between the door and jamb, just above the door knob. It flashed with light and flame then settled into a gentle glow that spread until the glow encompassed the entire doorway. A heavy thud that shook the ground came from behind the closed door accompanied by a roar. Then silence.
Avery looked at Tasha with a mixture of relief, anger and a little chagrin. Both of them were panting from exertion, exhilaration and fear. And Tasha had a whole lot of questions for Detective Avery Chen.
Chapter 5
Avery was applying a salve to the deep, clawed furrows on Tasha’s back as Jake came roaring down the ally on his motorcycle, swerving around the various vehicles from various parties to whom Avery had called to respond to the situation. Oddly enough to Tasha, none of them appeared to be police.
Jake came to a screeching halt, barley stopping long enough to drop the kick stand before he jumped off, ripped the helmet from his head and fairly charged at Avery with a growl in his throat and his eyes sparking a golden fire.
“Jake, you just stop right there.” Tasha had steel in her voice and her stance caused Jake to pause. “Take a breath,” she demanded.
Jake growled audibly, but did as he was bidden. Then, before he could launch into his tirade, Tasha launched into one of her own.
“No! You don’t get to chastise me, or yell at Avery for me being here.”
“Well I’m going to anyway! What the hell do you think you are doing out here without my protection?”
“What? I was out here last night! What’s the difference between then and now?”
“Well for one, I didn’t tell you to go inside the stupid place. I just said to meet me here. You were just going to observe, not enter into the actual danger!”
“I did observe. And I found something.”
“You should have waited for me. You should not have undertaken this on your own.”
“I wasn’t on my own. Avery was with me. And it was Avery who got me out.”
“Yes, well I can see he did a fine job of it,” Jake jerked his chin in her direction, indicating her already bruised and damaged skin, the angry, dark gouges still leaking blood. When he launched in again, his tirade was directed at Avery. “And you, Avery, how could you subject her to such tremendous danger? You should know better.”
“Hey, back off Jake. If I’d thought she was going to be in serious danger, I would have never let her come. As it was, it was her sense of, of nothing that got me to investigating in the first place. And a good thing I did too. Do you know what was in there?”
Jake ground his teeth together. He wanted to rant more, but he was also curious. “What,” he bit out.
“A hellhound,” Avery answered smugly.
Jake’s short-lived calm broke. “A what? And you took Tasha in there?”
“Jake, settle down,” Tasha sighed. “Avery didn’t know. There was a glamour that hid the sight and the smell of anything being off. We didn’t know until we were inside the warehouse.”
Jake was about to launch into temper again, but was cut short by the arrival of a middle-aged woman; dark skinned, long, straight nose, full lips and bright, dark eyes. Her salt and pepper hair was pulled back into a tight bun. She was tall for a woman, sleek and graceful in her long stride, wearing a smart looking pinstriped pantsuit and low, sensible heals.
As she approached, both Jake and Avery bowed their heads in respect. Tasha did not, but she could tell by their simple action that this was no average woman. Avery gave her a little nudge, but before she could react the woman spoke.
“No, Detective Chen, it’s all right.” The woman smiled at Tasha and held out her hand. Tasha was momentarily captivated by the woman’s smile. It was warm and genuine. Tasha accepted the proffered handshake. The woman's voice was smooth and assuring. “My name is Maven. I’m with the Council.”
“Natasha Tereshkova. I am an assistant investigator with Jake’s firm.”
The woman’s smile grew broader and friendlier if that were possible. “Ah, I’ve heard of Jake’s assistant. The human who can not only see fae runes but can also read the fae language. It would appear that there is more to you than it seems. ”
Tasha screwed her face up in obvious confusion.
“You, my dear, are not supposed to even know about the Fae, let alone be able to read our language."
Again, Tasha looked at her in confusion. She didn't know anything about Fae language, whatever that was.
"And you accept the fact that Jake is a werewolf?”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Are you aware that Avery here is a mage?”
“Uh, no, I mean now I do, I guess. I saw pretty light energy coming from his hand a bit ago. I know I can’t do that, so, it doesn’t really surprise me.”
Maven nodded, pursed her lips in thought for a moment, and smiled again, one eyebrow raise. “Do you know about me?”
“No ma’am, other than your name is Maven and you are with the Council. I’m guessing that doesn’t mean the City Council.”
Maven laughed quietly. “No, no, not the City Council. The Fae Council. It would seem that we are going to have to have a bit of a discussion soon. You and the Council that is.”
Jake tensed. “You don’t mean…”
“Oh, Jake, no, we aren’t going to hurt her. That may have been the Old Way, but we no longer can afford to be so paranoid or so short sighted when it comes to our human friends.”
“Will you take her memory?”
“I don’t think so. She has demonstrated tonight that she can mentally deal with a supernatural danger. If her mind hasn’t broken from seeing a physical manifestation of the supernatural, then I don’t know that anything would. And if I’m not mistaken, her skills in research and observation have been helpful to you in past investigations, including those, situations, that you look into for the Council. I think I can speak for the Council in saying that she will be, if not accepted, at least, tolerated.”
“Tolerated?” Tasha said almost insulted.
Jake shushed her. “I’ll explain later. Thank you, Lady Maven.”
“Lady?”
“Shh.”
“Don’t shush me, Jake,” Tasha said with quiet irritation, behind gritted teeth.
Maven smiled in amusement. “I like her, Jake. I see why you have her around. She’s not the least bit afraid of you.”
Was that a blush creeping over Jake’s cheeks?
“I promise, Natasha, that we will have a discussion soon and I’ll answer any questions you may have. For right now though, I would like to know just why it was that you were interested in this particular warehouse in the first place, Jake.”
“As you may know, I have been assisting Burly in investigating a smuggling ring, my lady. Our inquiries have led us to this general area. There have been various reports of strange comings and goings from this location, but when anyone looks into it, there is nothing to see, which of course made this place even more interesting to me.”
“But the glamour, it allowed you to see nothing but a plain, ordinary warehouse,” mused Maven.
“No doubt about that, now. I knew I was getting close to a breakthrough when I picked up on a delivery van in the drive.”
“It’s a warehouse district. Of course there will be delivery vans,”
“But this one was
a refrigerated unit that originated from this warehouse. This warehouse, by all appearances, doesn’t appear to have any cold storage. But before I could get the proper equipment to come and investigate this location further, I was attacked.”
Maven nodded. “That was last night. I see you have almost healed. Except it looks as if you may have re-injured yourself.” Maven narrowed her eyes as she studied Jake.
“I, uh, may have run into addition trouble this evening in the process of continuing my investigation.”
Maven smiled slightly in an all too knowing smile. “I see. Please, continue.”
“I had an idea that we may be dealing with something in the supernatural, but I had no idea it was a hellhound.”
“More than one,” Avery said. “While only one was here tonight, there is evidence in there of at least one other one having been here.”
“What made you think it was supernatural Jake?” Maven asked.
“Well, for one, there were rumors of general unease in this district, with this warehouse being the epicenter.”
Maven nodded. Tasha looked confused. “I don’t,” she began,
“Have you ever heard stories of haunted houses, and the one thing all the reports have in common is that everyone feels real uneasy?” Avery asked her. Tasha nodded. “Most kinds of supernatural beings send off vibes like that. And have you noticed how cold it is here?”
“I thought that was only with ghosts,” Tasha remarked skeptically.
“Any malevolent spirit will produce cold,” Maven explained.
“Nothing more malevolent than a hellhound,” Jake grumbled, “except maybe an actual demon.”
“Well, thankfully, we are not dealing with one of those horrendous beasts,” Maven remarked. “What else Jake? Burly wouldn’t have sent you out here to simply investigate rumors of unease and cold spots.”
“You are correct in that. What really got my attention was the fact that this is one of Big Jim Thompson’s warehouses. He’s been known to acquisition certain supernatural items on more than one occasion.”
“But nothing like this,” Avery commented.
“Well, none that we know of anyway. And that brings us all up to date. I was in the process of investigating just what he could possibly be acquisitioning that would set the whole area in an emotional uproar. I’m sill not done investigating yet. The only reason why I’m here is that I heard about the attack and came by to see what had happened and to make sure that Tasha here was all right. I had originally been on my way to the Duggan farm before all this happened.”