Page 6 of Stolen Magic
Hell, even I knew I didn’t belong, even without her mockery.
What are you doing here, Alaska?I wished I could answer my internal question, but all I could do was blink at the dark-eyed woman like an idiot. She’d asked me a question. Right.
“The entry position for an assistant.” My middle and forefinger curled around each other while I hoped she wouldn’t ask me to be more specific. There were a couple I read about on the website, but for the life of me, I couldn’t remember anything about it.
“I’m sorry, those were already filled.” With an indulgent smile that never reached her dark eyes, she dismissingly turned away from me.
Panic clawed inside me, making my heart work overtime while I stared at her profile. I was by no means some professional hacker or anything, but I knew enough to actually find out if they had a recording of my breaking and entering. All I needed was to get inside the building, and I could disappear until I found what I was looking for. The woman was the main obstacle between me and, quite possibly, my death sentence. There was no doubt in my mind whoever sent those flowers had some type of evidence they planned to use against me. Without any, it’d be their word against mine, and I could play dumb with the best of them. To send a bouquet with a threat meant the person had proof, regardless that I didn’t see any cameras in the room.
“I saw that the position was open before I came here this morning. Are you sure I can’t apply just in case they don’t have the right candidate yet?” Proud that I sounded calm and collected, I leaned on the desk toward the woman. She looked like she was in her mid-fifties, but I had a feeling she was a shifter too, which could mean that she was fifty or a hundred and fifty. They didn’t age like regular humans.
A muscle twitched in her jaw, and her sharp, sniper gaze swung at me like a whip. Her thin, red-painted lips were already parted to tell me to get lost, but at the last second, her dark irises jerked over my shoulder, widening for a moment. It didn’t take a genius to figure out someone was standing behind me. Someone that made this vulture woman blanch as if she was staring at a living, breathing T-Rex in the middle of LA. I stiffened but didn’t dare turn. Keeping my eyes glued to the woman’s face to better judge the situation, I waited, a little too aware of the weight of the daggers on the outside of my thighs.
“Morning, Pura,” a low, raspy voice said from right behind me.
My heart punched my ribs, and goosebumps pebbled my skin. How on earth didn’t I notice whoever it was when they were standing close enough to ruffle my air with the air passing their lips? At least the woman, Pura, according to whoever was behind me, looked the same way I felt. Shocked.
“Mr. Bell.” Pura jumped from her seat like it was on fire, and the chair rolled away from her until it bumped the wall with a thud. “What a pleasant surprise to see you here.”
A million questions swirled through my head. Ice Matrix CO. belonged to Dimitri Bell. Why was his receptionist surprised to see him in the building? And what kind of a shitty luck did I have for the man himself to be standing behind me two minutes after I stepped foot inside his building? Was it all part of his plan? Did he send those flowers hoping I’d be stupid enough to come running right into his hands? All my instincts were screaming at me to run. Instead, I very slowly turned to face him, my back pressed on the desk so I didn’t fall at his feet like an idiot. My legs were trembling without control.
My eyes locked on his piercing silver gaze, intense enough it felt like it reached all the way to my soul. A frown tugged at my forehead at the slight wrinkles around his eyes and mouth, and the streaks of silver at his temples. With shoulders wide enough to block my view from the space behind him, he was dressed in an expensive-looking dark suit with a white button-down shirt that had no tie. All the photos I’d seen of Dimitri Bell must’ve been from many years ago because the shifter standing in front of me looked at least ten—if not more—years older. His face also seemed rounder, and his lips thinner. I also expected him to be taller, which was dumb on its own. Why I cared how he looked or about his height was beyond idiotic.
“Hello.” His charming smile loosened the panic tightening my chest.
“Hi,” I answered as eloquently as ever, still staring at him.
With an amused chuckle, he turned his gaze to the woman, and I sucked in a much-needed breath. “I need to see my son, Pura. Tell him I’m on my way.” Those silver irises flicked back to me. “It happens often, you know.” Grinning, he flashed a perfect set of white teeth at me, while Pura’s frantic mumbling in the phone receiver created a hum in my ears.
“What happens?” I asked him dumbly, my voice breaking from the drumming of my heart in my throat.
“It takes a moment for people to tell if it’s me or my son they are looking at.” With a quick glance at Pura, he took my elbow and spun me in the direction of the silver elevator doors to our right. “Come, I’ll show you where to go for the interview.” My feet automatically followed him, and I was too shocked to do anything but blink at the man.
A strong hand reached out, and he mushed the button on the wall to call the elevator, lighting it up red. Numbers glowed above the doors, too, but I was so stunned that they were blurry and too far for me to notice. It must’ve amused him more because he laughed.
“Pura has been with us for many years, and she is very protective, as well as set in her ways. Don’t hold it against her.” The doors opened with a dull ping, and he guided me inside. “We need more young people in the company.” My stomach dropped when we lurched upward, but I still couldn’t find it in me to say a word. “Good luck. Knock on the third door to your left.”
I stumbled when he nudged me out of the elevator, and I gaped at his widening grin until the doors closed, taking him away. It took a long moment for my limbs to function and for my brain to get back online.
“Holy crap.” Panting, my gaze darted around the empty hallway lined with doors on both sides.Did Dimitri Bell’s father just give me entrance to his son’s building?It’d serve that jerk right if he really was the one threatening to expose me. Unwilling to look a gift horse in the mouth, I quickly scanned the doors, locating the bathrooms at the far end of the hallway. Heart in my throat, I darted in their direction before anyone had a chance to see me and drag me out.
All I had to do was find the security office and delete whatever evidence they had against me. If any.
Dimitri Bell wouldn’t know what hit him.
A smile stretched my lips.
Chapter Five
I’d like it to be known that bathrooms in office buildings should never look as good as the one I stood in, but I took full advantage of it. The shoes were the first to go as I tugged them off my feet and stashed them behind the toilet in one of the stalls. Next were the earrings dangling from my ears, in case there were metal detectors that they might trigger while I skulked around the place. My daggers were made of smooth, blessed agate, so I was confident I could walk in anywhere with them strapped on my body. It took me the longest to tie my hair in the smallest ponytail known to mankind so it didn’t get in my way. The length looked great when I styled it, just brushing the top of my shoulders, but it definitely was not convenient when infiltrating a security company. With that done, I hunkered down to wait for someone to open the door so I could slink out.
It was the longest wait of my life, and I prayed Pura forgot all about me and didn’t check with her coworkers to make sure I ended up in one of the offices for an interview. When the sound of feet hurrying over the smooth floors in the hallway reached my ears, I took a deep breath and called on my spell. “À sealladh,” I murmured under my breath and watched my reflection disappear in the mirrors lining one wall. Back pressed next to the door, I held my breath and strained my ears to make sure there wouldn’t be any surprises waiting for me outside.
The door opened so fast it banged on the opposite wall, and I flinched, plastering myself to the tiles behind as if I was trying to meld with them. Wide-eyed, I watched the man rush toward the pissers like his ass was on fire, his fingers already fumbling with the zipper of his pants. Biting my lip, I slipped through the door before it closed because I didn’t want to end up with an eyeful of sausage. Swallowing the snicker threatening to escape, I looked up and down the hallway, unsure which side to start with first. The older Mr. Bell deposited me on the fourteenth floor, so I knew I needed to go down since it stood to reason that the security offices would be on the lower levels. From what research I did on the company, the first half of their building dealt with a mixture of human and supernatural clients. Dimitri would make sure no human stepped foot on the upper part of his empire, which would cater to those with powers in case they needed his assistance with something of that nature. Different rules applied to those of us with magic, and anyone with half a brain would make sure the two stayed separate.
It was what I would do, in any case.
With my mind made up, I inched to the door with a glowing exit sign above it and a picture of a stick figure descending stairs next to it. One look over my shoulder assured me that no one would notice the door opening, so I pushed through it and closed it gently behind me. My tense shoulders relaxed as the cool air of the stairs washed over me, until I noticed the camera sitting at the corner above my head. My spell never failed me before, but the words “I know” written in an elegant scroll and scratched over the small card floated at the forefront of my mind’s eye, taunting me. I pushed the gloomy thoughts away and, with a firm grip on the banister, I darted down the many stairs, taking them two or three at a time. After only a few levels, I found myself pressed to the wall, and I held my breath when a door opened, the sound of shuffling feet joining me in the quiet space.
