Falling Over You, page 14
"People are going to think what they're going to think," Lara told him with reassurance. "And who knows? We might be able to find an amazing psychic who'll be able to bridge the gap between you and my family, or you and whoever. We are in Santa Monica, you know. But for the time being, I am completely content being the only person who knows you're really here with me." She picked up her head so she could look at him. "You're not going to suddenly disappear on me, are you?"
Mike pressed his lips together as he opened his eyes in order to lock them with Lara's. "You're the reason I'm here," he told her in a low voice. "You're the reason I'm alive."
A brilliant smile curved Lara's lips up and before Mike could say anything else, she pulled him into another passionate kiss, wanting nothing more than to break in their new furniture.
***
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The Seeker’s Shadow
Chapter 1
I stared at the dead girl’s name on my computer screen. Anna Skaarsgard, 22, death by Shadow Magic. It was like an unspoken prayer that repeated in my mind every night before I went to bed, a crappy pop song I couldn’t get out of my head no matter how hard I tried.
I clicked, trying to open the report. The ringing phone and the low murmurs of my fellow record specialists dropped to background noise I barely registered as the classified popup screamed at me like a barking guard dog. I didn’t know why I expected something different. The rest of the report was locked and, despite being the daughter of the chief of police, I wasn’t allowed access to it.
“Alice? You have a guest. He says it’s important.”
I blinked, immediately exiting out of OnBase so no one would see I was looking at Anna’s report again. It had been a year since her death and despite the closure an arrest and conviction brought, I still felt there was more I could have done.
I didn’t bother to look up at Bianca as she slinked back to the front desk of the Wonderland Police Department without waiting for me to respond to her in any way.
I heaved a sigh. She must still be upset because she screwed up so many times that Lindsay had to pull Bianca in her office and lecture her about it.
“He?” Crim waggled her eyebrows at me, giving me a grin as she casually tossed her long, auburn hair over her shoulder. Her blue eyes sparkled with mischief.
I had to put up with her exaggerated personality because she sat at the desk adjacent to mine, but every now and then, she provided entertainment and town gossip I otherwise wouldn’t care about.
Phones blared in the background. It never ended in the Wonderland Police Department, especially at ten in the morning. Citizens called, requesting reports that weren’t ready. Tow companies were trying to PPI as many vehicles as they could in strict apartment complexes. Dispatch couldn’t input PPIs to save their lives – and even though Wonderland was reasonably quiet with little crime, they insisted the records department did it. Answering the phones in record was its own job, and since I was only extended part-time rather than full-time, it was my job.
I shrugged as I stood, sliding my hands in the pressed uniform pants we were forced to wear, even as civilian public safety officers. Everything was starched to the point where even my walking was stilted. I tried to have a conversation with my dad about letting records – who never dealt with the public in person at all – wear business attire, but he liked the uniforms and saw them as professional. Considering he was chief, no one was ready to argue with him on that front.
Instead of following Bianca to the front desk, I exited the records department and headed to the lobby. Both exits would lead me to the same place, but if I went this way, I didn’t need to put myself behind the desk at all. I could simply walk out without being stopped by a guest who would no doubt assume they could come up to me and tell me about their problems. The only time I actively walked to the front desk was to drop off police reports.
I pushed the heavy, faded blue door open and stepped into the lobby. It was another slow day – a symptom of working at a police department in a small town. Bianca was helping the only guest in the room and the part-timer whose name I had yet to learn was on the phone.
There was no one waiting for me. In fact, every chair in the small lobby was empty, the magazines on the small coffee table in the middle of the chairs untouched.
I frowned and adjusted the silver badge on my chest with my badge number. 9636. Four-digits and the light-blue uniform indicated I was not a sworn officer but a civilian who handled admin tasks like phones and paperwork. The boring part of working in a police department. Three digits were for sworn officers, even those on desk duty.
I looked over to the front desk one more time, trying to figure out what was going on. Bianca wasn’t the sort to pull pranks. She was enthusiastic about her job and desperately wanted to please others so I highly doubted she would try and waste my time with a lie.
And yet, the lobby was empty. Even the guest she currently helped was a stranger to me. To be fair, I didn’t actually care enough about the people who lived in this town enough to know them or even like them. Besides my dad, my best friend, and maybe Crim, I didn’t really like a lot of people here.
Not since Anna died.
Granted, I might have met them at some point. Small towns were filled with familiar faces that I didn’t actually know. And since I didn’t particularly care about getting to know people, I could have just phased them out. Considering my father was chief of police, I should know everyone in this town, especially those people who went out of their way to contact a police department. I didn’t.
“Ah, Alice, how are you this morning, darling?”
I nearly jumped out of my skin. I whirled around, only to see one of the few Wonderland residents I actually was intimidated by. Not necessarily because he scared me but because he had this air about him, an air I couldn’t quite describe. He was both charming and dangerous, like he could kill you with his bare hands but make you smile before he did. I couldn’t get a read on him despite the fact that I could get a read on pretty much anyone else I encountered. I didn’t need magic to read a face or pick up on body language.
“Rumpelstiltskin,” I drawled out, trying to hide the fact that my heart hammered in my chest. I crossed my arms over my chest – something that was difficult to do, considering how stiff the long-sleeved light blue uniform was. “I see you somehow managed to get to our break room without a badge and sample our coffee.”
“What can I say?” he asked, his English accent paired quite nicely with the pressed suit he wore. “Your Kona is the best in town.” He smiled at me, tilting his head downward. “You know you’re not supposed to say my name, darling. You may be the chief’s daughter, but that doesn’t give you special privileges with me.”
“It doesn’t give me privileges with anyone here,” I said. “You know how they treat the unmagicked.”
He tilted his coffee cup in my direction. “That is true,” he agreed, “as unfortunately as that might be.”
I opened my mouth, ready to ask him what he was doing here. There was no reason for him to be in the police department, especially not with his shady dealings – though no one could find any evidence that he had ever done anything even remotely illegal ever – and there was definitely no reason for him to be talking to me. I was the last person on earth that would catch his interest simply because there was nothing I could do for him. He was one of the most magical beings in Wonderland and I, most certainly, was not.
Instead of questioning him, I shut my mouth and tilted my head to the side. No one questioned Rumple. It just wasn’t what happened. The only person in Wonderland who wasn’t afraid of The Imp was my father. Everyone else tended to keep their head down, let him do whatever he wanted and say whatever he wanted just because they feared retaliation.
“I’m sure you’re wondering what I’m doing here?” He sipped the cup of coffee tentatively, as though he was afraid to burn his tongue on the hot liquid.
“I’m wondering why you’re talking to me,” I admitted.
He chuckled, his charming smile affecting my body the way it affected everyone else he came in contact with. Rumple was extremely attractive. The accent only added to that. He wasn’t bulky but he was lean and fit, with broad shoulders and a height that was at least six foot three. I liked to think I was above his ridiculously good looks, but I was in denial about it, which was why I avoided The Imp whenever I could. It was easy for me since there would be no reason for him to have an interest in me at all. I admired him from afar and he couldn’t take advantage of my attraction to him.
“I’ve been wanting to talk to you for a while now,” he said. “I hear you’re good at finding things.”
All amusement had vanished from his face. In its place was curiosity and a darker sense of intrigue. It was as if he could see me, see the part I tried to keep to myself the last year or so.
“I have been known to find things on occasion other people might otherwise be unable to locate,” I said, glancing around.
Bianca was furiously typing away on her keyboard and hadn’t even looked up. I knew, however, that she would want to know what Rumple was here for and why he was talking to me.
“And yet you’ve stopped offering such services to those who might want it.” Rumple dropped his arm holding the cup of coffee so it rested casually by his side. His dark gaze rested on me, pinning me to my spot. “Tell me, would it have to do with the death of your friend last summer?”
I looked away. This was not something I wanted to think about, let alone talk about. Especially not with Rumple-fricking-stiltskin.
But he knew that.
Rumple had a talent for sniffing out weakness and then preying upon it. Why I was suddenly his target, I didn’t know.
“Tell me, do you really believe Beast was the one who overpowered Anna?” he asked, looking down at his shirt and flicking away what might have been lint. “As her best friend, you know how strong her magic was. Certainly, Beast could overpower her in physical strength, but he himself is cursed so his magic is suppressed. Anna would have had the advantage in that fight.”
I looked at Bianca again, afraid she was listening in. However, she was on the phone and clicking the mouse. Another line rang but she wouldn’t be able to get to it. Not with the PD’s stressed importance of customer service.
“Why are we talking about Anna’s death?” I asked. Each word felt like I stone being piled into my mouth and weighing me down. “Her case is closed. Beast is on death row. There’s no reason to talk about it anymore.”
“Hmm.” Rumple dropped his hand and leaned forward. I got swept up in his scent – a mixture of clove cigarettes and something clean and masculine. “You’re right, of course. I just thought you would want the real killer behind bars.”
It took everything in me not to lash out at him. Not because I was afraid of him and what he might do to me or my father, but because I didn’t want to make a scene. I didn’t need people to know I could still get worked up over her death. It had been a year. There was no trial because Beast pleaded guilty.
And that was that.
Just because I didn’t actually feel any type of closure did not mean Anna’s killer was still out there. They weren’t. He was locked up on death row.
“He already is,” I said, each word clipped and low.
He chuckled, a condescending sound wrapped in silk. “Surely you don’t believe that,” he said. “Oh, Alice, I thought you were smarter than that. The evidence doesn’t add up and you know it.”
“What evidence are you talking about?” I asked. “He confessed. That’s all you need.”
“With Paul as chief, you know better,” he said, “unless he hasn’t been teaching his adopted progeny the law and ways around the law.”
I bristled. My patience was starting to get thin.
“What do you want, Rumple?” I asked before realizing what had happened. At least I hadn’t placed my hands over my mouth like I was an idiot.
“You know you’re not supposed to say my name,” he said, sticking up a finger.
A bell chimed and the door to the station opened. I could not tell who it was because my focus was on The Imp before me. Whoever they were walked over to Bianca, purposefully avoiding Rumple and I. As if I could blame them.
“What do you want?” I repeated through gritted teeth.
“I need you to find something for me,” he said and then took another sip of the coffee. “Mmm. This is delightful.” He lifted the cup as though he was inspecting it. “There seems to be magic in it, you know. Something you can’t quite bottle up, something you can’t quite explain. Ah, but you wouldn’t know about magic, would you?”
I shifted my gaze from him to the door that led into the station. If I left now, would he be able to follow me? He had no badge to buzz him in, and technically, Bianca wouldn’t be allowed to buzz him in since no one here requested to see him. But it was Rumple, and Rumple always got what he wanted. I was almost positive if I made a run for it back to the records department like a coward, he would be able to follow me without breaking a sweat. There was no point in leaving.
“Find something?” I arched a brow. I did not think it would actually do anything but it was something I could do. “Aren’t there scryers you could hire if you need something found?”
He chuckled. “Of course there are.” He threw the coffee cup away in the nearest trash can. “I don’t want some scryer involved. You never know what you’re going to get with one of them. I’m sure some are good, but most don’t know what they’re doing save for a few parlor tricks. They take your money and run. I may have a lot of it, but that doesn’t mean I have any intention of lighting even a dollar on fire just to watch it burn. No, you are the one I intend to hire for this job.”
I sighed. However, I could not help but be slightly curious as to what he wanted me to do for him. The word hire was a good sign. Granted, I already had a decent job here but I wasn’t making enough to do what I wanted: leave Wonderland and search for my biological parents.
“I need you to find a photograph for me,” he said. “It’s very valuable. There is a picture of a rose on it.”
“You want me to find a picture for you?” I couldn’t keep the doubt out of my tone if I tried.
“Oh, yes.” He gave me a look indicating how serious he was. “I will pay handsomely. Five hundred up front. Daily expenses. Another thousand once you turn it over to me.”
My eyebrows shot up at the fee he was willing to pay me. All over a photograph. It was more than I made in a month working here.
“Well?” Rumple asked, a grin sliding onto his face the way a snake slithers on sand. “Will you do it?”
I wanted to say yes. I wanted to agree. But this was Rumple we were talking about. I couldn’t agree to something blindly just for the money, even if I was tempted.
“I’ll, uh, I’ll think about it.” I wished my voice was as strong as I needed it to be.
“A reasonable response,” he said with a nod. “I’ll give you three days. Please take the time to truly consider my offer, darling. You are the only one I want for the job.”
He stepped away from me and turned, heading out of the station in a blink of an eye. My heart thudded against my chest. I was relieved to see him go. Every muscle sagged, as though I finally could breathe.
And yet I couldn’t shake this feeling of wariness, as though this was only the beginning of my relationship with The Imp. And once he had his sights on me, he wouldn’t stop until he got what he wanted.
***
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Acknowledgments
First and foremost, to my readers on Fictionpress. This was SO much fun to write! :)
Theresa, for your amazing edits and making this story the best it can be. Thank you for pushing me to make this better.
Sarah Paige, for your beautiful, eye catching covers. I cannot stop staring.
My family - Frank, Kylee, Madisyn, Jacob, and Josh. Your love is the best thing that ever happened to me.
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Isadora Brown, Falling Over You
