Scales (Avery Rome Book 1) Read online

  “Still, even he turned out all right. Yes, he’s more of a jerk now than before and not easy going and nifty like me, but breaking up with you doesn’t exactly mean he failed. He’s a day walker already, which is impressive. Not even a full six months into things. It took me just as long and everyone thought that was impressive.”

  Eve growled a bit, but smiled ruefully at the same time.

  “I know, I know. I’m proud of him, but… I wish things could have lasted. It was probably a poor plan from the start, bringing over a boyfriend like that.” She looked at Avery then winked. “Not that I did it. That one was Linda. She’s a local Master Vampire. Too cute to trust with your boyfriend if that ever comes up, by the way. Not that I blame her. Anyway, what’s the clock at?” She pointed at the plastic bit in Troy’s hand. It said there was almost two minutes left.

  Avery spent that right in front of the node, waiting for a countdown, which Troy provided perfectly. Just as he said one, she stepped through, the line taking her to a strange place. It was inside a cave. Exactly ten meters under the ground, with solid rock over her head. She could feel that there was a line of ore directly above her. It ran a bit off to the right and was mainly iron, though there was crystal right next to it. She didn’t know what kind that was, but it felt familiar.

  Standing in front of her, smiling, was a skinny man who was wearing a black suit which was a little frayed around the cuffs. The scent from him was of dust and cloves, but faintly enough that it wasn’t unpleasant. His face lit up in a vast smile that threatened to touch his oversized ears on either side.

  “Miss Rome? How wonderful to meet you! If I may introduce my friend here?” A delicate seeming hand, one which was unlined even if the man was thousands of years old, waved smoothly, perfectly in fact, at a man who was wearing very pretty multi-colored silk robes. He seemed to float forward, bowing toward her. “This is Shin Wa. He rules China for my kind.”

  Avery bowed back, since it seemed the right thing to do. It got a small smile from the other man, though he didn’t say anything. Instead he simply watched her as if fascinated for some reason. That got her new friend, Bey, to say something to the man, which earned a bigger smile.

  Then two other Vampires, who looked nearly identical and ethnically appropriate to the place they were located, stepped forward holding a nice trunk between them. It wasn’t that large or anything, so she moved forward and took it from them, which got Bey to seem happy about it for some reason. As they let go, the two Vampires looked troubled though.

  Probably since the box was a little heavy. It was filled with metal and stone, though that seemed to be silver and more crystal, of various types. Avery could both feel and taste the variety of things inside. The sturdy banded wood as well.

  Bey, acting as if it were simply expected of her to do that kind of thing, moved forward then, taking her left arm at the elbow.

  Then she walked them back into the line. The Vampire hopped a bit when they went through, his face pleasant as they got back into the yogurt shop. Eve and Troy were both gone already, even though she hadn’t been away for long at all. Edom was running the front as she walked out, still holding the case, not knowing where she was supposed to go next. Probably to find the other people. The easiest for her would be Lang, though calling first made sense. The woman might not be at the node for instance. It was still early enough in the day there, being before noon. It should be about an hour later in Colorado, Avery thought. Bey however had a different idea in mind, waving for her to follow him. He moved quickly, his steps light as she followed along, the metal banded chest not feeling like much to her, other than a bit bulky.

  He moved directly across the red brick of the mall, directly into a candle shop. The sign out front said simply Candles and More. There was a man behind the front desk, with a woman working to keep the place clean, sweeping up. The counter man looked at Bey, then her and smiled.

  “Hello! Are you folks finding everything you need today?”

  Bey stopped for a moment, seeming pleasant, if not actually warm toward the man.

  “We need to see Lisa Weise, if possible? A matter of some delicacy?” The words were polite, but the small man seemed slightly annoyed with the person behind the counter. Not toward the lady sweeping the place up however.

  The man hopped up quickly, moving toward the back.

  “May I inform her who’s here for her?”

  “Indeed. I am Bey, of the Vampire Council. This lady is Miss Avery Rome. The Shifter line walker, among other things.”

  The man jogged to the back, his face serious enough. He tapped on the door to a small room. Avery could feel the inside of it, the sound bouncing around enough for that in a very low tone. It made a picture for her, showing that there were two people in the space, one of them was a man. The other a woman. It was her voice that responded to the pounding.

  More correctly the gentle tapping that the counter fellow was doing.

  “Yes?” The voice was a bit brittle sounding, in the way that some women got as they aged, if they weren’t happy with their lives.

  “People here, Ambassador Weise. Bey from the Vampire Council and Avery Rome? The Shifter line walker?”

  There was a pause then, the woman standing.

  “I didn’t know they had one yet. That means there are six of them here now? Exciting. I should go and meet them.” She started to move, her arms and legs roaring a bit.

  To Avery.

  The strange man with her in the back stood up as well.

  “I know that Transmorguire is on the investigation team. Kind of a coup for us that he is. He’s important as well as a stunning investigator. It means they’re taking us seriously this time.”

  The space wasn’t large so they were in view no more than a few seconds later, the man that they’d spoken to as well. Lisa Weise moved into the front position, the older man behind her and to the right, if not too far back. When she closed in, the woman bowed.

  “Bey! A new friend as well?” She was wearing soft looking blue clothing. A blouse in that color with a matching dark blue skirt. Her legs were mainly bare, the hem only going to her mid-shin. That wasn’t really a big issue, but being in that kind of clothing reminded Avery of home. Any woman wearing something that revealing would have been beaten. Publicly.

  It had never happened in her lifetime, but she’d heard stories of when her mother was a girl when it had. The rest of the Shifters, the ones at battle camp, easily showered in the same spaces and dressed in front of one another. None of them wore dresses there however, everyone being in matching fatigues. She was still in what they’d all been wearing on the last mission. A dark blue CDC shirt, with gray trousers.

  The other man was in a suit as well, but it was a stately and refined gray thing. Better than what Bey was wearing by far. That was his choice though, clearly. After all, he’d hired her for millions of dollars, which meant he could dress however he pleased.

  The Elder Vampire, who looked youthful, seeming younger on the outside than either of the Mages, reached out to touch Avery on the arm, after bowing back to Lisa.

  “This is Avery Rome. Eve contracted her to work with us for the duration of the investigation. The Shifter line walker. Our people in China have sent riches to aid us in our search. Precious metals and crystals that might be of use in magical working?” He waved to the box that Avery was carrying, which had Eric Weise moving in to take it from her. She nearly handed it over when Bey held a hand out.

  “That would not be wise, perhaps? It weighs about a thousand pounds? It could be placed in the back of the shop here, if that would serve?” The Vampire was looking at her, not the others, though Lisa smiled, her eyes popping open a bit.

  “This way? We can use the corner of the node room? That’s a lot to be carrying around.” There was real worry about that, which was clear since the woman nearly ran toward the back room. It was much nicer than what the Vampires or the Shifters had for their nodes. The space was large and open, bu
t there was a silver ring set into the floor, with ancient writing on it, etched in. Avery could taste the magic inside of it as well.

  Lisa pointed to the far side of the room.

  “Against the wall there? Thanks. I didn’t know that any shifters were that strong. Or is it a line walker thing?”

  The men came in then, moving slowly, compared to what Lisa had forced, trying to let her set the box down quickly.

  “Um. Dragon. As far as I know we’re all kind of strong.” She felt very shy, talking about herself like that, but no one asked anything else of her. Not for a bit. When it did happen, it was Eric who did the honors.

  “Now, we need three more people. One is already in the area. Our Human FBI contact. Zoe Borden. I believe that the Trollienkeine gentleman, Lars, is already here? At this location. I’m not certain how to best retrieve him. Perhaps we should all go and see about that? I don’t want to give offense, simply calling. The Shifters seem to be sending in their military leader. Lang Peterson? Do we have a way to retrieve her that will be… Impressive enough?”

  Avery frowned a bit.

  “I doubt she cares if it’s impressive. Let’s call her and ask? If she’s near the pickup node I can get her directly. I know where that is. I was there earlier today.” What she didn’t know was the number to call for that. Lisa fixed that easily enough, by calling Jahn Samson directly.

  Which got Wendell Little. It seemed to be how that worked, in the main.

  “Hello, Mr. Little. Lisa Weise, from the Vancouver, Washington node? Mage. We have a node pickup from there. Lang Peterson? The Vampires are paying for it?” It was a question, which had Bey bowing, even if it didn’t make sense.

  After all, she was a Shifter. So was Avery. No one seemed to think that just being a member of a group meant they owned the line walkers for some reason. It had come up a few times now, which probably meant it was a real thing. If Bey was basically Troy’s father, as well as a High Elder of their entire kind, then him asking Troy to help him was probably an important sign.

  Wendell coughed a bit.

  “Hmm. I could request that our new line walker aid in this, if it would serve?”

  Lisa grinned, getting that Avery could hear that they were talking about her, at a guess. She spun in her chair to make eye contact.

  “She’s already here. I think ready to be there as soon as Minister Peterson is ready?”

  Wendell sighed.

  “So much for being impressive with our new person then. You say the Vampires hired her? That’s fast work. Well, as long as she’s being treated well. Not that she wouldn’t be, with the personnel there. All of you are rather well known for being… Impressive. Do remind her that she and I have an appointment next week.”

  Avery hadn’t forgotten. She was supposed to take him to meet up with Calley Hale. To discuss her Presidential bid. Avery could hardly believe that as a real thing, but Wendell seemed to think it wouldn’t be a problem. Not that she’d win, depending on who else was trying for the position. Just that she could be a serious candidate.

  Even if she looked youthful and was a woman.

  Then no one had claimed that the Shifter Nation kept women down. The Gray kind of did that, holding that the place of a woman was in the home. Interestingly, the rest of her kind had all seemed to think that was backwards and very Human thinking. Not that she’d talked about that kind of thing with people a lot, but over the years the others had spoken about it enough for her to understand the idea.

  Calley had been an important Ambassador for years as well. That meant she was in the loop on a lot of political things already, most likely.

  “As for Ms. Peterson, she should be in her office. Allow me to connect with her? I can see what her plans are.”

  The line went dead, but hummed a little, showing it was still connected. After a minute, Wendell was back, his words coming suddenly.

  “She should be in the main node room in a minute? She’s already in route.”

  Avery moved from the door of the little office, stepping through directly. That meant she was there nearly a minute before Lang was. The woman had a bag with her. A ruck sack, to be exact. She was dressed in a skirt that was longer than what Lisa Weise had on, but still daring, showing a bit of ankle. The jacket and blouse were all in black, giving the whole thing a very uniform type of feeling.

  She lit up a bit when she saw Avery standing there.

  “Rome! I didn’t know I had backup on this one, outside of the other members of the investigation. It’s probably a piss poor plan, splitting this up. Still, if we can work together for ten minutes it should work out for us. What do you think the odds are?”

  She didn’t really know, but lied about that.

  “Everyone seems to be high level so far. I haven’t met the… Trollinkeen or the FBI person yet. The others the Mage, Weise and Bey the Vampire, they’re both nice seeming. Polite.”

  Lang nodded at her.

  “Trollienkeine. Not that they’re picky, as long as you don’t call them Trolls. Great sense of smell on them, which can come in handy. I do all right that way, being a Wolf. I don’t know how Dragons are that way.” She seemed curious, but moved toward the node location. She was a bit off, since it wasn’t marked at all. The room on this end was clear however, but being the government building, they seemed to only ever use the one node. It wasn’t a shared building or anything.

  Avery didn’t know what to say, trying to go by what she’d noticed from the others over the last years. Her mother as well.

  “Average? Better than a Human, but I can’t track a person by scent. I can tell when people are moving at a distance though, which is…” Not that helpful in finding people.

  The older woman seemed pleased at the sharing, taking her arm to be led through the void.

  “That has to aid a lot when hunting. So, shall we?”

  It didn’t take long, though like Bey, the older woman hopped when she went through. Why that was Avery didn’t get. It didn’t seem needed, to be honest.

  When they got back, Eric explained his idea of going to retrieve the last man as a collective. That was for Lang who’d missed it the first time.

  “After all, we can’t impress him with line walking, so he knows to take us seriously. Though I doubt we’ll need that with his kind. Very heroic bunch. Powerful fighters as well. Perhaps he can see to guarding Miss Rome?” The Mage looked at the others, getting a slightly strained look from Bey.

  Lang just nodded a little bit.

  “Not needed. Rome is well trained. Also not a kid. You’re, what is it again, a bit over five hundred?”

  Avery nodded, smiling and not looking at Eric. He clearly wasn’t trying to belittle her, just protect their transportation. That was a good plan, going into an uncertain situation.

  “About that. A bit more, I think. Perhaps Lars would help me protect our Human contact?” That was probably going to be the weak link to the group after all. Though possibly not. Humans weren’t strong, or gifted with magics in particular, it was true.

  They were, however, incredibly clever and creative as a group. Many other beings were as smart, but in different ways. Underestimating them might be a poor plan. Even The Gray knew that much. They figured it made them all a bit evil, but there was, Avery realized, a small chance that her people had been wrong. About a lot of things.

  Interestingly, Bey bowed toward her.

  “That might be a very good plan. We should collect the last member from this location? Then be away to the land of New Mexico? That is where the last death was recorded. A Mage woman. Along with her two small children. All killed with Human firearms.”

  One thing was clear as he spoke. Mages or not, if Bey found the killers, they probably wouldn’t survive it happening.

  Avery decided to help him in that task, if he needed it. Killing children was the kind of thing that monsters did. The real kind.

  Chapter eight

  It was fall, as far as seasons went. Late September, Ave
ry thought. She hadn’t really seen a calendar in several years, so it was hard to keep track of that kind of thing. The time she’d spent in the Congo had been warm, if not as brutal about it as one would think of Africa as being. New Mexico was as hot, though in a drier fashion. To her it felt nice enough, but three of the others in their team seemed to find it a bit oppressive.

  Lars, the giant, rather blocky and powerful looking white man, Lang and Eric all started to sweat instantly, as soon as they walked outside the node complex. They had to, since they needed to meet the FBI man, Borden. Having him come inside hadn’t been considered, since no one had known if Avery could come out at the right specific location inside.

  Which had been correct, more or less.

  The person that knew where to go in this case had turned out to be Lang, who had worked out of the Shifter location there for several years, decades before. None of the others would have known to tell the FBI man that part of things. Bey and Eric had both been in touch with them separately, which made heading to the parking lot a very intelligent thing to do.

  When they got there, being a mall style embassy set up, they found a large parking lot filled with cars. There was no one standing there to meet them, which left them all waiting. It was probably very rude, even if the conditions didn’t bug Avery personally. The sun was bright, warm and gentle on her skin. That made one of their group who seemed to think that.

  Only Eric and Lang responded outwardly to the discomfort however.

  The Mage pulled at his suit a bit, loosening his nicely tailored gray jacket.

  “A trifle warm here. Perhaps we should go back inside? Air conditioning is rather needed in this part of the world.” The tone was a bit annoyed, but not really complaining yet.

  Lang growled however, for her part.

  “You can’t count on Humans to show up on time. Laziness is bred into their very bones. Perhaps we should simply go and see to this on our own? I’m not certain that working with that sort will benefit us in any way.” There was a touch of anger in the words, her Wolf nature coming out just a bit. Standing there and waiting might have been enough to get that response on its own, but the FBI man being late wasn’t going to help that part of things.