Green Mage, page 5
part #2 of Mackenzie Green Series
"Oh, goodie! Any hints for me?" I coaxed as I stood to follow her, wondering if it was the same man Liz encountered.
"Nope, it's a surprise. I was going to give you a heads up. Then I felt ignored for five whole minutes. Alas, actions have consequences."
Her smile was smug. It was ironic hearing my earlier words parroted back at me. Chris, the bitch, knew I hated going into anything blind. Surprises were the worst!
I shrugged my shoulders. It was never good to show Chris how much she bothered you. It only encouraged her.
Chapter 6
My mind regaled me with likely candidates. Despite my new fame, personal requests were rare. People who asked for specific hunters wanted to make a statement. At just under six feet with a modest athletic build and green eyes, I was nothing special to look at. Eye candy, I was not.
We passed through the elegant foyer with its marble floors and giant ass chandelier and headed to the large staircase. Wide enough for four people to walk side by side, it only went to the second floor. At the top, a railing spanned fifteen feet to the right, giving the room a more open feel while also preventing morons from falling over the edge.
We ascended the stairs in tandem. Chris walked with the light, balanced grace of a fighter. Her shoulders were relaxed, her muscles coiled. You could tell she was only a moment away from violence. Old habits died hard—a fact she was proud of.
At the top of the stairs, Chris pulled ahead of me and strode over to the large double doors that loomed beside a modest secretary desk. Gently, she pulled on one of the handles, and the door swung open soundlessly.
I stared into the room, hesitant to take that first step, but a warm feeling tugged at my core. I hadn't felt it in months. I shook my head and passed it off as nerves. Steeling my resolve, I took one step forward, then another.
No time like the present to see what waited for me in the belly of the beast.
I walked into Curtis's office and took a deep breath, instantly relaxing. Behind me, the door clicked closed and I made my way towards his desk. I debated challenging Speedy, as Saber had done, then dismissed it. I was winning the turtle over through sheer stubbornness, and I wasn’t ready to change tactics yet. After all, in the last three years alone, she’d gone from hissing and snapping at me to one solid snap with a slow blink. At this rate, I’d have her completely won over by the time I retired.
Speedy looked me straight in the eye. I could feel her huff of exasperation. Then she blinked her large liquid eyes slowly and gave me a half-hearted snap. My heart lightened. Maybe Saber had softened her up. We’d be friends before you knew it.
How naive. The turtle went from sitting on her log to plowing through the water and over the floor towards me in a blinding flash. In a very uncoordinated maneuver, I jumped in the air and let out a squeak. Speedy slowed her approach, a hissing noise escaping her as her leathery head bobbed up and down. Laughing fit finished, she ambled back to her pond. I shook my fist. You wouldn’t have done that if my familiar was here. Next time I was so bringing Saber.
A light cough from Curtis's desk reminded me that other people, including a prospective client, were in the room. I flushed red and looked at the floor. Come on, floor. You can swallow me up any time now.
Curtis's eyes shone with amusement. I figured the only thing that kept him from outright laughing at me was the person sitting in the chair across from him. I held in a snort.
My boss was a handsome man. His black curly hair rippled in waves down to his shoulders. If you looked into his gray eyes, you were more likely to find humor than anger. He sat tall and regal, a true king of his castle, a warrior people dismissed because he was slim and weighed a buck thirty soaking wet.
“Mackenzie, I'm glad that you and Speedy are getting along so well.”
I resisted the urge to hit my Guild Master. Nothing I could say would redeem myself. In this situation, silence was golden.
The twinkle in Curtis's eye shone brighter. Bastard. “If you've finished, the client and I were just finalizing the contract for your services.”
I nodded, still not trusting myself to speak. I shifted from foot to foot, a slight movement that generally would have gone unnoticed. Curtis, however, was paying close attention. It made me sweat. This meeting was getting weirder and weirder.
Our contracts usually came to the hunters, signed and agreed to before we ever met the client—if we ever met the clients. It was part of our arrangement with Curtis. He handled all the negotiations for our services and then got a percentage of the money from the hunt. In return, he provided us with the tools and knowledge to keep us safe. It was a good trade.
I snuck a peek at the man sitting in one of Curtis's plush wingback chairs. Tall and muscled, with dirty blond hair cropped at ear height, I immediately felt drawn to him. It was unnervingly familiar and also sent a jolt of fear through me. I was shit at deciphering what that meant.
A quick self-check told me that my shields were holding firm. I’d worked hard to make them second nature. After escaping my captors, it had been a habit, but I’d gotten lazy in the last year. Two months ago, that laziness had almost cost me my life. I didn’t want anyone to catch me off guard again.
I shuffled my feet a second time as Curtis outlined the terms of the contract to the client.
“What you're signing is a standard Lifer contract. It will bind the hunter to you until the contract’s fulfilled. However, as you can see in section two, you, as the client, must give full disclosure to the hunter. If you hold back and the hunter is injured, they can and will end the contract.” Curtis folded his hands on the table. A hard edge entered his eye. “I take the safety of my hunters very seriously. If you stab them in the back, there is no safe place for you.”
The man nodded.
Who are you? I won't lie. It was driving me nuts. If I didn’t know better, I would have said the man was Lucan, the Dragon Protector, but that couldn’t be. Curtis had banned Lucan from the guild for lying during his last contract. No way Curtis would let him take out another one. Not so soon.
I focused harder on the conversation. If Curtis won't tell me who you are, then I'll just have to figure it out on my own.
So focused on the mystery man in front of me, I almost missed when Curtis addressed me. “This will be a straightforward bodyguard contract.” I curiously tilted my head. The client certainly didn't look like someone who needed a bodyguard. Then again, he could be one of those gym junkies who talks tough but has zero self-defense capabilities.
“Mackenzie, the client has several critical meetings to attend over the next week. He has stated and signed that he can take care of himself, however, he believes he will need someone to watch his back. He’s aware you’re a Lifer,” meaning, I wouldn't kill anyone for him, “and he’s delighted to have you simply incapacitate them.” Uh, huh. “I have also warned him that baiting anyone to attack you with the explicit intent to have you kill them in self-defense will only end poorly for him.”
Funny how more than one client had tried that trick.
One of my earliest clients had known that hiring a Lifer was cheaper than a Reaper. He could cut costs by forcing me to kill in self-defense. I'd left him dangling from the ceiling and his enemy unconscious at my feet. While helplessly swinging from my vines, I'd threatened him with horrible pain and dismemberment if he ever stepped foot in our guild again. Curtis had laughed himself silly when I debriefed him.
“Do we have an agreement?” Curtis's attention was now back on the client. He had that secretive smile on his face, the one he'd been wearing more and more around me lately. It had started soon after I met Lucan two months ago.
I also found it odd that the client hadn't turned to give me a once over. Since this was a bodyguard gig doubling as a social event, the client usually wanted a pretty face.
The man reached out to shake Curtis's hand. My magic itched to stretch out and get a feel for the guy. I cleared my throat before they made contact.
“Do I get to know the client's identity before you two bargain me away for a cow and some pigs?” I fought the urge to cover my mouth. My interruption was against protocol. As a hunter, I didn't get much of a say regarding the clients. I just did the jobs. Despite being mortified, my mouth continued to run without my consent. “Or is he afraid I'll say no if I see him?” Where the hell was this coming from?
Thank the Old God Curtis seemed more amused by my outburst than mad. I calmed a bit, remembering that, technically, he'd teased me first. That had to give me some leeway, right? And at least with this pause, I could frantically rack my brain for anyone I'd met over my career that elicited the same emotional resonance.
Curtis's mouth twitched into a suppressed smile. “You know the rules, Mackenzie. You don't get a say.”
I did snort that time. Curtis would never force us to take a client against our will. Though, as a seer, he usually knew if the match between client and hunter would work out before we did. It was his way, and we trusted him.
The client stiffened, his hands clenched into fists on the arms of his chair. Hum, did he not like the banter? Or was it the implied slavery joke?
“The client has requested that you remain in the dark about his identity until the contract’s finalized.” With his amused smile in place, Curtis urged me to finish the game; to figure out who the client was.
I stalled. “What if I guess his identity? Will you confirm it?” I pushed my brain harder. There was only one name that kept popping up, but it didn’t make sense. Meanwhile, the client tapped a finger on the table. With his other hand, he held up three fingers.
Curtis nodded and looked at me. “He's agreed that if you call out his name within three guesses, I can confirm his identity. But if you cannot guess, then you have to take the contract with no amendments.” I weighed the choice. Curtis always gave us a chance to add amendments to our contracts. If I took this bet, I might get in over my head.
Screw it. I could do this.
Lowering my shields and reaching out with my web may have been cheating, but my family clause was on the line. It was the one that let me terminate a hunt in case of a family emergency. It was the one clause I would never, ever allow Curtis to cut from my contracts. So, cheating it was.
My web was a network of energy that tied in with my elemental abilities. With it, I could sense any living thing in its boundary. Lately, I'd been working on refining its use. I'd read in a book that the auras of living beings were unique, and one power granted of the earth was to be able to read them. I wasn't that good yet, but I was competent enough to see the nature of a person. Animals shone with a red tint, plants green, and humans blue. There were subtle differences in each. With animals, if I was looking at a predator, the tint would be more crimson. Prey had a pinker hue. Omnivores fell somewhere in the middle, and plants were even harder to tell apart.
My web reached out to encompass the two men. Curtis blazed blue in my mind, wisps of yellow threaded through. It made sense. His base was human, but as a seer, he fell within the realm of air magic.
The client nearly blinded me with his profound purple aura. This man was a predatory shifter. I focused harder as something odd caught my attention—shiny white flecks that reminded me of glitter.
I went through the supernatural beings I’d categorized. I'd never seen glitter before. Too bad I hadn’t had a chance to test it on Quinn. It might have given me some insight into Mythos shifter's auras.
The client moved in his seat. I squinted. Did he feel my web? No, that couldn’t be. No one ever felt my web.
I took a deep breath in through my nose as silently as I could. I was no Terran shifter, with their enhanced physical senses, but powerful magic users sometimes gave off unique scents. I inhaled again, and the smell of wet earth and ozone filled my nose.
What the…
I was baffled. I could never forget this smell. But how the hell had Lucan gotten Curtis to rescind his proverbial banishment?
A wicked smile curved into place. However, he did it, I was going to enjoy tweaking the dragon's tail.
Curtis's face went carefully blank. Lucan was one of three beings who oversaw the dragon shifters' care in the city. He answered to Jasper, the Dragon Head of the Mythos Triad, someone I was doing everything I could to avoid at the moment. Lucan had more political power in his pinkie than I did in my whole body.
As a Guild Master, Curtis couldn’t afford to slight the Dracos Tribe. He had to present some level of decorum.
Me, not so much.
“Curtis! You should have told me that we were hosting Master Dagmar. I should have seen it earlier—the closed blinds, the formal setting. Shame on you for making our guest risk the perils of sunlight.” I wagged a mocking finger in Curtis's direction and the Guild Master’s shoulders tightened. It was taking an enormous effort for him to keep his composure. Challenge accepted.
Lucan stiffened in his seat. How to insult a shifter in two sentences—mistake them for a bloodsucker. I could picture that tiny vein in his forehead throbbing.
Curtis shook his head. “That is incorrect, Mackenzie. You have two guesses left.” Neutral face or not, the man was doing a horrible job hiding how much he was enjoying this.
“Damn, I was so sure it was him.” I made a show of tapping my finger on my lip. Not that Lucan could see.
Blonde-haired and blue-eyed, Lucan looked nothing like the sleek polished auburn-haired vampire. Why, the suit the Master of the Dead always wore cost more than I made in six months. Master Dagmar would never be caught dead in the jeans and a black tee-shirt Lucan was sporting.
I snapped my fingers. “You’re right. I see it now. Not the right build. I've got it! Gordon Pain.” I infused my voice with sincerity. “I'm so sorry, Mr. Pain. I should have recognized you.” By the Old God, this was fun. First a vampire, then a human—a grossly disfigured human.
Gordon Pain was a famous athlete with similar coloring to Lucan. However, he'd suffered facial trauma as a child, and despite his fame, people found it difficult to look at him. My eyes crinkled. Lucan’s ego must be raging right now.
I moved towards the back of the chair. Not giving Curtis a chance to tell me I was wrong, I leaned forward and whispered in Lucan's ear.
“Now, Lucan, who let you in here? Aren’t you banned?”
I wasn't surprised when Lucan moved from his seat and tried to grab my hand. It was a submission move used to take out an attacker at your back. I snatched my hand away and smoothly slid to one side.
A shiver of pleasure rolled through me as I faced the Dragon Protector. It intensified as a deep growl vibrated in his chest. His six-foot-two frame towered over my five-foot-eleven. The draw I'd felt to him before punched me in the gut as his electric blue eyes met mine. Never had I had such a visceral reaction to someone.
I tore my eyes away from Lucan’s and looked at Curtis. “I'm not sure this is going to work. If he's going to growl and attack random people, it might be better if I go and send Sam up.”
Lucan tensed at my teasing. Sam was a Reaper. Lucan didn't seem to find the joke funny. Heck, Sam wasn't even in the building right now.
Curtis's façade cracked. “Why do you think that Sam would be better suited as Lucan’s plus one?”
Ah, that explained Lucan’s reaction. The thought of Lucan with Sam on his arm, waltzing through some fancy shindig, made me smile.
“Lucan's magical powers seem to be inciting homicidal reactions in people. At this rate, I’ll be beating them off with a stick. At least with Sam, after he’s killed the first one, the rest would think twice before attacking.” I shrugged my shoulders and Curtis looked away. He was so close to losing it. I took pity on him and addressed the Protector again. “Besides, don't you have minions for this?”
I looked Lucan straight in the eye. He was frowning at me, the muscles in his shoulders tense. It didn't make me uncomfortable. After all, what was a bit of teasing after spending days together, practically naked, in a dirt nest. Good times!
I double-checked that my shields were up. They were holding firm. Good thing too because, moments later, Lucan's empathic magic hit me in a raw wave. He was projecting, but not the emotions I expected. Instead of anger, I got a healthy dose of annoyance and hurt. Not that his face showed it, but the dragon honestly thought I hadn't recognized him. I stifled the urge to reach out and comfort him. Suddenly, the teasing didn't seem so funny.
Dragons had mental magic—telepathy, empathy, telekinetic, etc. Their magic, like all magic save hedge witches, always came in pairs—active and passive. The Dragon Protector was the strongest empath I’d ever come across. I’d seen his active talent of projecting emotions cause hardened street thugs to wet themselves and flee in terror. I had yet to see him engage his passive power, which I assumed was the ability to read the emotions of people close to him. Maybe he was simply good at hiding it, or perhaps it was the reverse. Perhaps it took the strength of will to keep his feelings to himself. One day, I might get the nerve to simply ask him.
I turned to Curtis with a more appropriate look on my face. He caught on quick to the shift and raised an eyebrow. I shuffled in place. I wasn’t ready to tell my boss about the mushy feelings I had towards this dragon. Not until I figured out why I had them.
“I thought he was blacklisted.” I pointed to Lucan. “With his lies. How did he wiggle his way back into your good graces?”
I'd forgiven Lucan for lying and nearly getting me killed, but that didn’t mean we didn’t need to have this conversation. I needed to know if I could trust him. If not, working with him would break something in me.
“I'm not the only one keeping secrets, am I?” Lucan’s voice was low and surprisingly soothing as he watched me with an intensity I couldn’t name. I mentally pinched myself.
“But you were the only one obligated to share specific secrets.” I didn't want to push, but I needed to. Lucan’s continued annoyance and hurt wafted against my shields. It felt like bad allergies or a horrible rash on my skin.
“Lucan, if I'm going to watch your back, I need to know that you’re going to watch mine. If I can't trust you, I won't do this.”
