Magic Thief (The New York Shade Book 1) Read online

  Now, I wasn’t happy. I was very much pissed off. I grabbed the pen and started to fill in the form.

  Two minutes later, I put my signature at the bottom and slid the piece of paper back to the receptionist.

  She took it and analyzed it to the very last detail. I looked up at the ceiling. When would this be over? It felt like I’d been there for at least a couple of hours. It wasn’t even a complicated form. How did you find the hellbeast monster, where did you find the hellbeast monster, when did you find the hellbeast monster, was there any human nearby, was there any supernatural nearby, did the hellbeast assault anyone, did the hellbeast touch or eat anything, was magic used in securing the area and/or killing the hellbeast, and finally, size and description.

  I looked at my phone again. No text from Sonny. It wasn’t exactly unusual, but it still made me very uneasy.

  “Everything seems to be in order, Ms. Montero. Here is your confirmation slip,” the receptionist said and slid a small piece of yellow paper with a serial number on it through the opening. “I’ve issued a transfer into your account, and it should be processed in the morning. Have a good day.”

  She didn’t look at me at all, but at that point, all I wanted was to run away, screaming freedom!

  “Thanks,” I said and turned to leave. Just before I’d reached the door, it opened, revealing a face I knew well.

  “Sin,” the man said with a nod, taking me in like he always did—analyzing every little detail of me as if he hadn’t already seen me a thousand times before. His two friends walked in behind him, both sporting wide smiles. I looked down at their hands. Two bags—though theirs were made of paper. They’d scored two hellbeasts. Damn it.

  “Hey there, Lucas,” I said with a wave. I didn’t exactly like him, but Lucas Cook and his friends were my colleagues. They, too, were mercenaries who worked for the Guild, though they preferred the term hellbeast hunters. And as much as I hated to admit it, they were the best in New York.

  “Already done?” Lucas said.

  “Yep.”

  “How many did you get?” his friend Kyle asked.

  “Just one,” I said and nodded at their bags. “Nice job.” That’s me, always a professional. I could respect a job well done. “See you around, fellas.”

  I walked out of there as fast as I could.

  Chapter Four

  The people running out of the building next door caught my attention as I left Hellbeast Affairs. They were the police and the army rolled into one. Their navy uniforms were specifically tailored to hide the weapons they carried, and they also held wards to hide the wearer’s magic for good measure. Wherever they were going tonight, they were in a hurry. Ten of them ran down the stairs and turned left, running in a perfect line, one after the other.

  I walked to the other side of the road with Cavalieros in my mind. I needed to get there as fast as I could and ask Jamie what she knew about the slaughter Damian Reed told me about. If I were really lucky, she’d know what Sonny’s role in all of it was, too. Since he hadn’t replied to my texts, I tried to call him.

  No answer.

  I was getting really nervous.

  My brother was not someone who maimed or slaughtered someone. I’d been trying to teach him to kill hellbeasts since forever, for God’s sake, and he still couldn’t do it. He just wasn’t cut out for it, so that was why it was important I made the money to pay for his tuition. I wanted him to have the best start at adulthood as possible, and Nova Terra Academy would give him exactly that. The people who had the money to attend the two-year program worked high up in the Guild. They didn’t become mercenaries. They didn’t risk their lives on a daily basis. Plenty of other opportunities to keep humans safe from an office, and let’s face it—Sonny wasn’t someone who wanted to spend his life hunting hellbeasts. He was just too soft. Too good.

  And I was almost done. Almost. Another seven hellbeasts, at least two hundred pounds each, and I’d have the money.

  So this better be a misunderstanding because if he blew this up I was going to knock his teeth out.

  I, on the other hand, had no trouble with my job whatsoever. The first time I’d laid eyes on Uncle Mick, training in the barn behind the house we grew up in, I knew it was what I wanted to do. It was one of the very few jobs that allowed me to work alone, without a team. Nobody needed to see me hunt hellbeasts. I’d get a message on my phone if there was a hellbeast sighting in my area, and if I got there before other mercenaries, I finished the job. Nobody saw me. Nobody knew how I killed. That way, my secret remained safe, I had a roof over my head, and food on the table. My little bubble of perfection.

  I didn’t look like a hellbeast killer. At least I didn’t think so, but people always hesitated to talk to me and I had no idea why. It’s not like I looked weird or anything. I was five foot eight, light blonde hair that reached to the middle of my back, brown eyes with specks of green here and there, full lips. I even wore makeup more often than not. My other friend Malin said it was my attitude, the way I looked like I was about to kill someone on any given moment. Well, I couldn’t go around smiling at nothing all the time, could I?

  Cavalieros was a one-story building at the corner of Dugan Street. I passed Arthur’s tattoo parlor and waved at him. He was working on the back of a half naked man with huge shoulders, tattooing what looked like fish on the base of his neck. As I got closer, I saw clearer. Yep. Yin and Yang. The black and white fishes swam around each other as Arthur proceeded to tattoo the round, teal-colored pool of water. Arthur was a sorcerer, like me, though he was a Level Three the last time we spoke. His family’s specialty were tattoos, and the spells he drew them with enabled the ink to move on the skin in whichever way the customer liked.

  There were no bouncers by the door to Cavalieros. Not many people liked to cause trouble in a place where all kinds of supernaturals came to have fun and unwind after a long day.

  The music blasted from the numerous speakers, the heavy bass making the floor vibrate. Kit had been sleeping on my shoulder, and it woke him right up. He didn’t like the club very much—too noisy for him. He was a lazy sucker, that’s all. If anyone interrupted his sleep or messed with his chocolates, he could be a mean bastard. But he also knew the rules and he couldn’t leave, not while I was in the Shade. So he squeaked his concern at me, bit my earlobe a couple times for good measure, and jumped off me to go search for chocolate.

  “Don’t take long,” I told him, but I wasn’t sure he heard.

  The club was huge, always full of people at this time, any day of the week, except Mondays. The wooden bar was across from the entrance, with the DJ booth to its left, and the Siren box to the left. Through the wide windows, I could see the Foxis—three gorgeous Sirens who sang songs without the need for instruments. The box was soundproof, enforced by numerous spells; otherwise their voices would lure everyone out here to them. People paid good money to listen to the Sirens, but some—like me—didn’t prefer it. A Siren’s voice was angelic to the point where it made you want to do things for her—anything she wanted, just to make her happy, and to keep her singing. People in the Shade told stories about the days when Sirens roamed free and lured people to do all kinds of things for them, from theft to murder. Nowadays, the Guild had a good grip on the few Sirens who remained, like the Foxis.

  I made my way to the bar, looking at the crowd of people, dancing, drinking, laughing and having fun. I couldn’t see Sonny anywhere. Whispering under my breath, I activated the Lost and Found spell I’d put on all our clothes. It was meant to make it easy for you to find objects when they got lost—a very basic spell. If Sonny was near, his clothes were going to shine brightly, but only I would be able to see it. I held my breath and looked at the crowd once more.

  Nothing. He definitely wasn’t here.

  The last spot on the left of the bar was empty. Jamie always saved it for me for when I came to visit. It was midnight and the night was just starting.

  When she saw me coming, she waved with
a huge smile on her face. Jamie had the kind of pretty face men always seemed to prefer over traditional beauty. Her short blue hair and deep green eyes made her stand out from a crowd any day, and she used that to her advantage. She also used her magic to her advantage, quite liberally, I might add. She was a Sacri sorceress, too, a Sentient, able to feel what other people are feeling, as well as manipulate some of those feelings. The money she made from tips alone at Cavalieros in a night was almost as much as I made with a hellbeast head. She was a people person and her feel-good vibes had people coming back to her every night. Everybody loved her.

  And everybody loved her colleague, too. Ellis Crone worked the other side of the long bar, and he winked at me when he saw me. Such a charmer. He had a gorgeous face with a cute, dimpled smile most women found irresistible. He’d worked in human bars all around the City before he’d settled here. Some people speculated that he was a satyr—half man, half goat—but you could never tell because his legs didn’t look unusual. Some had even tried to find out by ambushing him in the streets and trying to take his pants off. Those people had proved to everyone else why it was a dumb idea to go after Ellis. He might have looked like an ordinary guy, but he was powerful. I’d taken a peek at his essence once out of curiosity, and though I couldn’t tell what kind of supernatural he was, I’d seen his strength right away.

  Everybody loved the bartenders at Cavalieros, and I was using that to my advantage tonight.

  “What’s wrong?” Jamie said when she saw the look on my face.

  “Sonny. Have you seen him?”

  She narrowed her brows. “No. He hasn’t been here tonight.”

  Damn it. “Remember what you told me last night?”

  “About Kirk Hale getting arrested in the club?”

  “What—no!” Kirk Hale was a witch dealer. He supplied witches with forbidden ingredients for potions that were illegal, and Jamie told me he’d gotten caught by the Guild the night before. “The other thing.”

  Her eyes grew wide. “Typhon Reed?”

  She’d been the one to tell me that the vampire was in the City.

  I nodded. “Just met him. I think Sonny’s in trouble, Jamie. He’s looking for him. He said Sonny was at a crime scene where three people were killed. Do you know anything about that?”

  She shook her head. “Give me a second.” She rushed to the other side of the bar to talk to Ellis.

  Jamie whispered quickly into his ear while people waved and called to get their attention. They couldn’t wait a fucking second for a drink. Assholes.

  Ellis turned to look at me, his eyes wide. He shook his head. He didn’t know, either.

  “He hasn’t heard anything, but he’ll ask around, and so will I,” Jamie said when she came back. She grabbed a peanut from under the counter and leaned down toward one of the cabinets. Her familiar, Uma, was a black cat twice the size of Kit who loved peanuts, and she liked to sleep more than she liked to interact, too, just like Kit. So Jamie had set up a cabinet under the bar just for her pleasure with a soft cushion and a ball of yarn she could play with. Cats were the most common familiars of Sacri sorcerers in the world.

  “Got it. Give me a call if you hear anything?”

  “Of course,” she said and I turned to leave. “Hey, wait!” she called. “Did you really meet the Typhon?”

  Rolling my eyes, I turned around, this time not intending to stop if she called me again. I didn’t hold it against her. She just wanted to know. I didn’t call her information junkie for no reason.

  The plan was to start searching for Sonny in one of the human clubs he frequented, but I never got to take a single step.

  Travis Bennet was standing right in front of me, pale as a ghost. He was naturally pale, with very light blond hair and blue eyes, but this time, he looked terrified, too.

  “Where is he?” he asked, his voice loud enough to be heard by the whole club, even over the music.

  My stomach fell. Travis was Sonny’s friend—his best friend, in fact.

  “You’re looking for Sonny?” What were the odds? They were best friends. He should have known where Sonny was going to be tonight.

  “Yes, Sonny! Where is he, Sin?” he urged me, coming even closer.

  “He said he was going out with some human friends, but you already know that was a lie, don’t you, Travis? So why don’t you tell me what’s going on, right now?” His familiar, an orange, almost perfectly round cat named Dale, meowed by my feet.

  Travis knew. He had to know, but he didn’t answer me. Instead, he turned his head to look at the other end of the club, at the exclusive seats next to the Siren box.

  “Hey, look at me,” I said, and when he moved back, I grabbed him by the arm. “What’s going on, Travis? Is Sonny in trouble?”

  He flinched.

  “What’s going on, damn it?!”

  Something moved on the floor, and the next second, Kit climbed up to my shoulder. He must have heard me shouting and came to see what was happening.

  “Nothing,” Travis finally said, prying my hands away from him. “Nothing. I-I gotta go.” He turned around and started for the crowd before I could grab him again.

  “Hey, wa—”

  The ground shook as the sound of an explosion filled the club. I fell back against the bar, grabbing a barstool before I hit the floor. The music stopped abruptly and people were already screaming. There, on the left side, the wall of the club was completely gone, now showing the corner of the street between bright orange flames that were spreading rapidly onto the walls, while people ran away screaming.

  Jamie was by my side, grabbing me by the arm. “Let’s get out of here!” she shouted and pulled me toward the doors.

  I never thought I’d see half of Cavalieros burned to ashes, but here it was. As the sky groaned above us, dark clouds gathered rapidly, signaling the incoming rain. About five supernaturals were putting out the fire already, but the Shade was going to make it rain until no flame remained in the building.

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Jamie said, standing next to me as we watched. She was terrified, still shaking, even though it had been five minutes since we walked outside. The explosion and the fire hadn’t bothered me—I’d been through worse fighting hellbeasts, but my hands were shaking, too. I looked at my phone again. No texts. No calls.

  Cursing under my breath, I put the phone away just as Kit rushed toward me. He wasn’t scared—nothing really scared Kit—but he was a curious little beast, and I bet he’d hung around in the club until now to see if anything interesting would happen again. He climbed rapidly up my jeans and squeaked when he sat on my shoulder, pulling his tail between his little arms.

  “It’s okay, buddy,” I said, trying to calm my own nerves. I looked for Travis again, my brother’s best friend, but he was nowhere to be seen. I hadn’t seen him since we came out of the bar, running. It was like he’d disappeared off the face of the Earth. He was definitely not inside. Jamie’s boss had cleared every inch of the place and confirmed that there were no bodies in there.

  “What do you think happened? An explosion at Cavalieros?” Jamie asked, wrapping her arms around herself. Her familiar Uma stood by her feet, her back straight, her eyes alert as she watched the people try to put out the fire. It was proving harder than I’d first thought.

  “It looked like it. Maybe an accident?” I said, but I wasn’t convinced. Accidents like that didn’t happen in the Shade.

  The first raindrop fell on my forehead, as if to remind me that I was wasting time. The rain started slow, then poured down on us within a minute, and the last of the fire disappeared completely across the street.

  “Accident, my ass. This was a message. Tanner is gonna be so pissed,” Jamie said, her eyes filled with tears. Uma meowed by her feet, and she wrapped her in her arms tightly. “I know, kitten. I know.” They were communicating with their thoughts, which, sadly, Kit and I weren’t able to do.

  “Are you okay here by yourself?” I asked Jamie. “I really need to go
find Sonny.”

  “Of course, yeah. Go ahead. I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” Jamie said with a wave. “I’ll be heading home soon, too.”

  “It’s gonna be okay. Tanner will have the place looking brand new by tomorrow night,” I said to her with a wink. She offered me a weak smile and ran across the street to see the damage.

  I turned to the other side to leave the Shade and go find Sonny.

  Little did I know that that night was just the beginning of my journey down a really deep shithole.

  Chapter Five

  The look on the human’s face should have made me back off. After all, I was supposed to protect humans, not terrorize them, and this boy was definitely not feeling protected right now. He held onto the blue blanket, trying to pull it over his head, as if it was going to protect him from me.

  “Where is he?”

  “I don’t know!” he cried.

  I sighed. I really wasn’t that scary, but I was just really, really impatient. It was eight in the morning, and I’d had to wait outside his apartment building for a whole hour until his parents went to work. Then, I’d had to break the stupid door down to get in because Jake hadn’t been bothered by my knocking. He was one of my brother’s human friends, and Sonny usually spent the night at his place.

  And I’d thought, fine, you know, they’d gone out, drank the night before, and slept probably close to morning. I thought I’d find Sonny in the room, sleeping, with a nasty hangover. Or they’d already gone fishing, like my brother said they would, but no. The room was empty except for Jake trying to hide under his blanket.

  “Okay, I’m sorry I scared you, Jake. Now, can you tell me where Sonny is? Please?” I pushed myself to say.

  But he shook his head. “I-I-I don’t know. I swear!”

  I pulled my hands into fists because I really wanted to break something. “He told me he was with you. When my brother tells me he’s with you, I expect to find him here. And if he’s not here, then I expect you to tell me where he is. Do you understand me, Jake?” I asked, as calmly as I could. “Do you understand that you need to tell me where Sonny is?”