Rachel Caine - Kicking It

Cutting him off, I pulled my badge and held it above my head. “I’m Inspector Darque from the MCIB.”

The intersection went silent at my announcement. Now the agent looked at me.

“Thank goodness,” a rookie cop said, breaking the silence.

I glanced at him. His caramel-colored skin looked slightly washed-out as if something had scared the blood from his face. He also barely looked old enough to be wearing a uniform. I gave him a smile and a wink as I pocketed my badge. After all, we were both paid to take risks, but I was paid very well to take the more extreme ones.

“Bring me up to speed,” I said as I approached the two ABMU agents. There were grumbles from several officers who clearly considered the scene theirs, but I was dealing with a magical enemy. Many of the officers were probably plain vanilla human norms without a drop of magic in their blood, maybe a few were witches, but the agents were guaranteed to be witches and were experienced in dealing with corrupt magic.

The tall agent looked me up and down, and the crinkling around his brown eyes told me he was less than impressed. He didn’t offer his hand, but said, “I’m Agent Tayler and this is Agent Kelvis. We have agents and officers on the other end of this street as well. The creature was active when the first responders arrived and they managed to get tape enchanted with a barrier spell laid and activated, so we hope we’ve trapped the creature. Unfortunately, two of the officers and one pedestrian were hurt before the barrier went up.”

I raised my eyebrow and shot a doubtful glance at the barrier tape. It blocked the road and would have prevented a car from gaining entrance to the side street, but what would stop the creature from just stepping off the road and walking around the barrier? I knew practically nothing about what was plaguing this town, so I held my opinion to myself. For now.

“You said three people were injured? Can you describe the injuries?” Sometimes I could learn as much or more by what a summoned or created creature could do than by seeing the creature itself. The important word there being sometimes .

“I don’t have to describe them,” Agent Tayler said as he started toward the mass of parked cop cars. “They’re still here. A hospital is something the residents are fighting to have built. Until then, the ambulance has to make it here from the city. Lucky for you though, because the boys are still resting in their car.” He pressed his lips together and then gnawed at the top lip as he released the bottom. “So what do you think these creatures are?”

“Don’t know. I haven’t seen one yet.”

Tayler nodded me toward the vehicle closest to the barricaded street. I headed in that direction, anxious to check on the wounds and then pass the barriers to search out the creature. If it’s still here. Stopping beside the passenger door, I grabbed the door handle, pulling hard.

Locked.

I knocked on the window, but the man in the seat didn’t move. He was sitting with both of his legs tucked to his chest, his face buried in his knees with his arms hugging his legs while further obscuring his face. Neither the civilian in the backseat nor the officer in the driver’s seat appeared any more inclined to open the door than the passenger. The man in the back lay in a fetal position, his gaze locked on the ceiling. He didn’t even blink when I pounded on the window.

“Agent, do you have a key to this car? And why are these people alone and sitting if they’re injured?”

“For the latter, you’ll see soon enough. No to the former, but I’ll see if someone else does.” He all but marched toward the crowd of officers. It was a highly controlled tantrum, and I assumed he’d been the agent in charge before I showed up. For dealing with the creature or the witch who’d brought it into this town, my badge trumped Tayler’s. Some people just didn’t take that well.

One by one, the officers glanced at where I stood, shaking their heads. Then one officer stepped forward and made his way toward the car and me. It was the young officer who’d spoken earlier. I was glad to see that he wasn’t quite so ashen anymore.

“Hello, ma’am,” he said, ducking his head in a small bow.

“Please don’t call me ma’am. My mother is a ma’am.” I paused. “You don’t really think I’m that old, do you?”

“Oh, no ma’a—Inspector. In fact, I’d love to take you to dinner while you’re in town.”

Now that surprised me. I eyed the kid—okay, he was definitely a man, but he was a very young one. And a cute one. But he was simply too young—I’d feel guilty if I started a short affair with him. Still, I was flattered. And I had to give him credit for his nerve. He might have been uneasy about facing a magical creature, but I had walked in and taken over the scene, and he’d asked me out before he even knew my first name. Ballsy.

“Thanks but—” I stopped. The kid’s gaze had dropped from my face, but he didn’t look like he was undressing me with his eyes. It was more like he was navigating a particularly hard puzzle. I glanced at the bandolier of vials slung across my chest, each vial containing a nasty magical cocktail. Then there were a set of throwing stars as well as two sets of throwing daggers—all enchanted—and my tactical belt filled with more vials, customized spelled darts for my crossbow, more weapons I’d picked up over the years, and some basic necessity charms like a spell checker and a lie detector. And that was just what was visible where my jacket gaped open. It was part of my regular hunting attire, so I rarely thought about how unusual so many weaponized spells could appear. Which is why my weapons and gear are hidden by spells. He shouldn’t have noticed them.

Except he had.

“What do you see?”

The young officer jerked his gaze upward, as if he’d only now realized he’d been staring in the general area of my breasts. He cleared his throat, and if he’d had a lighter complexion, I would have sworn he blushed. “I, uh, I was looking at your weapons—the spelled ones. I’ve never seen a . . . display like that. But, uh, you needed the key to the cruiser.”

He held it out. I accepted the key but shook my head. “You’re not going to slip away that easy, kid.”

“Russell.”

“Huh?”

“My name, it’s Russell. Russell Lancaster.”

I nodded to acknowledge the name. A few minutes ago I wouldn’t have bothered remembering. The last two minutes had changed that. But there was still one more test. I pulled a vial from my bandolier. “What can you tell me about this?” I asked as I passed the vial to him—carefully.

“Whoa, this . . .” He made a face and moved the vial so he held it between two fingers. “It feels like fire, only hotter. More destructive.”

I didn’t try to stop the smile that tugged at my lips. It was a real one after all, and those were rare. Russell stumbled back at my expression. It may have been a real smile but it must have been one of my more predatory. The vial shook in his fingers and I grabbed it from him before he dropped it. Now that would have been a mess.

“You’re a good sensitive,” I said, taming my smile into something I hoped looked professional. I didn’t do professional often. “Are you interested in a little work on the side? I might be able to use you on this case.” Or I might not, but it was always good to have a sensitive waiting in the wings.

“Sure.” Russell leaned back, one hand moving to his belt. “Let’s swap phones and program our digits.”

Not happening. I carried only an emergency phone with me on hunts. It had one programmed number: Derrick’s. Two people call in, Derrick and my boss back at MCIB. No one else. It was a safety precaution. A phone going off at the wrong time could prove deadly in my profession.