Home Latest News READ CHAPTERS 1-3 – When the Mask Slips – Detective Lynx Wu Book 1

READ CHAPTERS 1-3 – When the Mask Slips – Detective Lynx Wu Book 1

Coming Soon

by Iris Kayan
0 comments Donate

Read Chapters 1-3 below!

Content Warning: Animal Abuse (in Chapter 2 only)

Chapter 1

Lynx Wu slammed the door to his car, the aftermath of sirens still ringing in his ears as gravel crunched beneath his feet. The night was coloured by the neon glare of London’s soaring high-rises beyond the university’s halls of residence. The Magician had to be here, somewhere in the dark with stolen magic. He knew it deep in the marrow of his bones.

He flashed his badge at the university lobby to the two uniformed officers, got the name of the male student in the chair, and stood over him. The cool night air pointed to a prank, but the young man at the lobby with his face in his hands and a towel over his shoulders told a different story. The third victim this month.

“David Cole, I’m Detective Wu. I’ve been told you pulled the fire alarm, is that correct?” There wasn’t even the flicker of a flame.

Cole groaned, lifting his head just enough to squint up at his face. “How many times do I have to answer the same question? God.”

Lynx exhaled through his teeth. Every second was another chance the Magician could get away. “Mr Cole, please answer the question.”

“Yes, goodness’ sake. Yes, it was me. Aren’t you people going to try harder to look for her rather than asking me stupid questions?”

Lynx ran a hand over his face and swallowed a nasty remark. This was neither the place nor time, and Cole was his only lead. “What sort of magic did you have?” There, he said it: did

Cole blinked at him, turning pale. “What do you mean? I still have my magic, don’t I?”

Pity softened Lynx’s expression. “I’m afraid, in my experience of what the Magician does, this isn’t a temporary alteration.”

The man opened his mouth like a fish. “She literally took my magic? Forever? But…”

“I’m very sorry,” Lynx said. “If you could give me more information…”

But Cole wasn’t listening anymore, clawing at his hair as his bloodshot eyes grew wide. “Is there a glass? I- I need a glass.” He looked around in panic. One of the uniforms came over with a glass. Cole gripped it so hard, his hands shook. “Nothing’s happening!” he shouted. “My magic isn’t coming back? This horrible, godawful, feeling isn’t going away?”

Cole was a damaged wire, a sight Lynx had become familiar with as the ruin the Magician left her victims. It was violation, like smudged lipstick or a hand print wrapped around a woman’s thigh.

“It’s a common response,” Lynx said, remembering the reports from past victims: fatigue, a disorienting void like a missing limb that one eventually grew accustomed to, depression over an ability to do something that was now gone. It was simply something one had always taken for granted, like talent. That, and a certain privileged position in society. “I’m sorry, Mr Cole.”

With the second sight that his restoration magic gave him, Lynx could see the new blueprints of Cole’s previous state forming. Blueprints that stacked together like clear slides, images that overlapped like a flip book he could shuffle and pull out, allowing him to restore anything and anyone to a state up to fourteen days ago. After that, the new blueprints would overshadow the old, and even he wouldn’t be able to help Cole anymore.

Lynx wanted nothing more than to restore him. Restore the magic to Cole and make everything all right, take the frayed edges of his soul where once it was tethered to magic and close over the wound. But without the magic present, there was nothing to reattach.

“What if you found her,” Cole said, “found the magic she stole – is there a way of restoring it? Detective, do you know? How common is restoration magic?”

Well, Lynx already knew the answer to that last question: not very.

Cole stood, his hands curling around the air like he wanted to grab Lynx. “You gotta know, c’mon, don’t tell me you don’t know! I need my magic back. I need it back, goddamnit!”

“Calm down, Mr Cole.”

“How?” Cole spat, raising his fists. “How am I supposed to be calm?” Spinning away, he raked his hands through his hair. He came back with murder in his eyes. “You might as well have told me I’ve lost both of my hands! Is this how you deliver bad news? Who’s your supervisor?”

Lynx needed coffee. And sleep. And a month off so he can bugger off to the Bahamas and leave all his problems behind. “Mr Cole, I’m not the enemy here. I need as much information as possible from you about tonight. What sort of magic did you have?”

Cole slumped. Sinking into the chair, he stared up at Lynx for a moment before replying, “I can refill glasses.”

“Refill glasses?” The sheer number of strange and unusual magics in the world never ceased to surprise him. He wondered if anyone knew all that could possibly exist. It was like finding a new species, always the possibility of something else out there, something else being mixed, and born.

“Yes. Whatever was in the glass before it was empty, as long as it’s liquid, I can make it appear again until I get tired. I thought that bitch just wanted drinks, the same like everyone else…” He pulled his hands through his hair again. His right leg had started twitching as he pressed a fist into his mouth. “My magic’s never coming back?”

There was nothing Lynx could do, just as there was nothing he could do when his own brother was stripped by the Magician just days ago. Eight missed calls – eight – before Lynx had finally picked up to his brother screaming through tears.

Every victim was a reminder of that.

Lynx clenched his fists. If he caught the Magician before fourteen days were up, he could still restore Fox’s magic to him. Now, Cole was Lynx’s lead. 

“When did she leave your room?”

“I don’t know! It’s not like I checked-” Cole bit his tongue and took a deep breath, curling his hands. “I don’t know, I really don’t. Probably no more than fifteen, twenty minutes ago. You’re going to find her, right?”

Lynx decided to ignore the question. He’d been after her for six months. “What else can you tell me about this girl? Did you get her name?” Not that she would have given a real name, but it had to be asked.

Cole shrank. “I’m sorry, Sir.” An entire evening with the woman and he didn’t even get a fake name. Lynx held back a sigh. “But I do remember she had on a green top, black bottoms and boots. Brown eyes. 5’4’’ and slim, and I’d assumed she was like me. My age, I mean. I wouldn’t have gone for her if she’d been a hag. Look, she came onto me, all right?”

She had to be nearby. Lynx had arrived on the scene within five minutes – there was no way she could have gone far. He informed dispatch of the description and told them to be on the lookout. Pointless routine. It was all just confirmation of what he already knew. When he was done, he asked Cole, “Why did you bring her home?”

Cole looked embarrassed, eyes shifting away. “What do you think? C’mon, officer. I thought we were going to get it on. I mean…”

“So you were expecting sex. Did you see her face?”

“No, she had the mask on the whole time…” Cole replied in despair.

Lynx damn near cursed out loud. “Are you being smart with me? Were you just going to do it while she kept her mask on?”

“No! Bitch never even took off her clothes! We never- She didn’t- We met at the pub and she already had it on, played me the whole night and I just had to see what’s behind that mask. She said I could if I took her home. So… I did. Wouldn’t you? C’mon, any guy would have done it. I’m the victim here!”

Lynx glanced out at the emptying courtyard – the students in their gowns and slippers were returning to their rooms. He wasn’t going to get her tonight. Not here, not now. Rubbing his temples, he sighed, hoping to banish all his frustration in a single breath. Did he really work all night on call so he could question this idiot in front of him, while the Magician got away practically from under his nose? 

Don’t think about it. Cole was shivering under the towel. The magic inside Lynx tugged at him – where he normally saw an aura of light around a person that indicated the presence of magic, now he saw flying sparks like the end of a severed cable.

Lynx left him with another officer and went to find out whether the bionic dogs had found anything in Cole’s room: an item of clothing, a sock even, that had been left behind. Not that he expected anything or Lynx would have caught her long before now. He matched the guy’s story with a uniform’s and told him not to let anyone enter until he’d had a chance to get fingerprints. Cole had buried his face in his hands, his shoulders trembling.

Lynx looked at the time. Nine twenty. He muttered a curse. He was meant to meet his brother, Fox.

But he would be damned if he was giving up now – not now when she was on this very campus only a breath away. The sparking edges of broken magic burnt in his vision.

Lynx activated his wristband and dialed for his brother. The call picked up.

“Fox?” Lynx said.

“Hey,” Fox replied. “You almost here? You were supposed to have been here half an hour ago. I was just gonna call you.”

“I’m sorry, Fox,” Lynx said.

“I’ve got your beer ready in the fridge – my last one, so don’t say I don’t think of you. If you want more though, you’ll have to bring some because I’m flat broke.”

Damn. His brother was going to be pissed. “Look, Fox, I was on my way and-”

“You’re not coming,” Fox finished for him, making him wince.

“I really was going to come.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“I’m on a case. It’s the Magician. Fox, I’m this close to getting her.”

“You’re obsessed with this girl. If you were gonna catch her, you would’ve got her before she got to me! So why don’t you just give it a rest? I don’t need you avenging me, Lynx. I can take care of myself.”

Did Fox blame him? Perhaps, and perhaps it was deserved. Lynx was the cop – it was his job to keep everyone safe. Especially his own brother.

But that was precisely why he had to catch the Magician now. “It’s also my job. My responsibility,” Lynx said. “You’re not the only victim she’s got.”

“This is the fifth time you’ve stood me up, always because of some case.” Fox laughed dryly, making Lynx bristle. It wasn’t his fault his brother would never understand what it meant to be responsible, but he held his tongue.

Fox continued, “Work’s the only thing you care about, isn’t it? You practically live at the station!”

Lynx inhaled, reining in his own temper. This was his fault, not Fox’s. “I’m sorry. Please, let’s do it another time.”

“When, huh? You name a time. I’ll be there.”

“I’ll let you know.”

“Go waste somebody else’s time.” Fox hung up.

Lynx deactivated his phone, guilt making his chest heavy, but that couldn’t be helped. Fox would just have to wait.

 

Chapter 2

Sutyu Lam smiled at David Cole’s stolen magic gleaming in a bottle like fire in her bag, safely on the rooftop of a residential building on the other side of the university. Far away from Lynx Wu. David Cole pulling that alarm was a godsend, providing her with dozens of empty rooms to hide in. If only Lynx had looked up, stared harder at the windows and he might have seen her behind one of them.

Now she just had to deliver this, get paid, and maybe have something left over to help Fox out with a few debts. It’d started out as a way of keeping tabs on Lynx by getting close to his brother. She joined Fox’s loser’s club for poker and found a young man the polar opposite to Lynx: smiling with a glint in his eye, never a stickler for rules, always out of cash, like herself so many years ago. They quickly became friends against her better judgment, but then she’d never been one for judging anyway. Evading Lynx didn’t exclude her from having friends, after all, did it? Fox didn’t have to know she was the Magician, or that she stood behind the mask that stripped his magic.

She swallowed. Artemis had twisted her hand, but who would believe her?

Her mind refocused on the job at hand. The sooner she completed this job, the sooner she could be rid of Artemis. She made her way along the roof of the U-shaped building to the further northern point, away from the commotion where Lynx was still searching. Pulling out the vials from under her dark green top, she downed the first of her supply of flight magic. Perks of being the Magician was never having to rely on only the magic one was born with.

Stolen magic spiked her blood like a shot of caffeine. No, better than caffeine. The air seemed to thicken at the touch, silken like water between her fingers. She stood on the edge of the roof terrace, inhaling the evening air twined with smoking oil and spiced drinks from the party just starting on the grounds of the next building, golden fish balls bobbing in sauce and fire-throwing performers entrancing the student crowd. Not a single eye saw her silhouette breathing like a death wisher thirty floors above them. The neon spotlights seemed to taste of something as she licked her lips. Brass and paraffin wax, age-old flavours packaged into glaring bulbs that lined the path, shining on far too many stalls of shots twinkling with licensed magic and deep-fried squid for anyone to notice insignificant her.

She jumped.

Cold air rushed past her bare arms. How many times had she wanted to jump – from the stairs, from the balcony, from the windowsill of her bedroom on the fourteenth floor? Her body tingled, her blood hot from mixing with magic that was not her own, pulsing with a new ability she’d stolen. The air around her took on a different quality, like spider’s silk that vanished at the touch.

Taking hold of the new magic coursing through her veins, she began to glide, her legs kicking out for an invisible foothold. The air pushed back, making soft steps for her feet. Walking on cloud nine, literally, or skating. Defying death. The thrill of it never ceased to enthrall her.

She went like this for some time, stopping on various roofs to top up her flight magic with another vial. Finally, she landed on Otterson Street lined with empty stores already gone bankrupt, causing the handful of people milling about with bottles in hand to flick their eyes over her. 

The factory where her client waited was just down the next street. Holographic girls flickered below street lamps, telling people to subscribe to a variety of websites and services. Now that it was nearing ten, the digitalised girls bent at the hips often, breasts bobbing like fucking water balloons, hands trailing up their legs and playing with the frills of their skirt. Sutyu’s face scrunched in disgust. 

As she walked, her wristband vibrated. She looked down to read: Fox. She tapped on ‘t-chat’ so the messages projected directly in her mind’s eye: -What u doing?

She smiled, wondering what shenanigans he had in mind this time. He’d been inviting her to a lot of stuff lately, and she always had time. It wasn’t like there was anyone else to see. She held a finger on her wristband to record her mental reply: -Nothing. She released her hold, and after a precautionary three second delay that allowed her to change her mind, the message sent.

A moment later, a reply glowed behind her eyes.

Fox: -Come over 🙂

Sutyu: -Got beer?

Fox: -Not for much longer. Hurry up.

Sutyu: -You drinking all by yourself?

Fox: -Got stood up. And I only got one bottle anyway.

Her brow creased, concerned. She replied: -You’re only inviting me so I’d bring beer, aren’t you? 😉

Fox: -Guilty. 

She was already wondering how she could cheer him up. There was a secret tree in a park she had yet to share with anyone. A young tree. A real tree amongst artificial plants created with bundles of feeding tubes to form the trunk and complex organic matter that only resembled trees. She imagined saplings growing into sturdy, mighty trees with long, wide arms strong enough to bear the world. The wonder that would be.

Maybe she could tell Fox, show him. But she’d rather tell him in person.

Sutyu: -What happened?

Fox: -Nothing. Will you come? Please?

Her heart clenched, familiar guilt rising to clutch her throat. Every upset raked her with the reminder that she did this to him when she stole his magic.

She checked the time. It should be a quick in and out at the factory, and she knew exactly where on the way to his she could find dragon whiskers candy, Fox’s favourite. -Give me an hour.

She turned the corner, descending into the back streets where walls smoothed into unpainted concrete or became boarded up with steel. Without the glare of moving commercials and holograms, the alley was pitch black. She put on her mask.

It took her a moment to find the firewall behind which the backdoor to the factory was hidden. She used a stolen wristband to gain access—anyone stupid enough to have something right on their wrists taken deserved to have it stolen.

The firewall receded, a hot line of iridescent amber splitting the darkness like embers curling away black paper. She entered, letting the simulation close behind her, and walked through the factory door.

The smell of blood, sweat and alcohol laced the air, sitting like rot in her nostrils. Deep in the rotten belly of the building, an arena greeted her in place of conveyor belts and machinery.

Down in the pit, a snarl ripped through the air. Sutyu tensed at the sight of a cheetah and a bionic wolf circling each other. The cheetah lunged—Sutyu gritted her teeth as she watched it ripping into the wolf’s neck. Cables and wires snapped, electricity sparking as a thick, blue chemical oozed from the damage. Sutyu’s nostrils flared at the odor. Ozone and acid. She covered her mouth as though that might block the stinging smell, but even that was wrong. Wrong, because it should have been blood, not this eerie chemical solution leaking away. Her heart hammered at the inescapable question: What the hell had humanity done to nature?

The canine howled, swinging its entire body away. The feline flew into the air, teeth still firmly hooked onto the wolf, and slammed into the grimy floor. Sutyu flinched as the impact knocked its grip clean off. The cheetah lay crumpled, its powerful chest unmoving. The darkened audience roared as it was pulled off the pit. 

Tears burnt behind her eyes. These animals could only have been stolen from protected land abroad or sold to them from zoos in need of the cash, since the truly wild only lived in sanctuaries in the most remote reaches of the globe nowadays. And how much longer before the last of those in the wild died out altogether?

“Good evening, Magician,” a sly voice said beside her. Artemis. She was smiling, looking utterly out of place in her sleek blue dress as she brushed back her dark hair. Her moon and arrows earrings gleamed in the dim. 

Beside Artemis, a man grinned at Sutyu with too-wide lips. A strange light danced in his eyes. “Magician, Magician,” he said, clambering closer. His neck stretched, craning where he stood. “Magician good girl? Good to master.”

Sutyu’s skin crawled under his gaze. She held her ground and looked at Artemis. “Evening.” 

The man was sniffing the air, making dry, sucking sounds as his nostrils flared.

Her eyes slid among the crowd, picking out those who weren’t standing quite right and whose lips were pulled tight against the animal fights. Suddenly she wanted to know how many more of these recruits – these ‘pets’ – Artemis had.

“Don’t let him bother you,” Artemis said, fondly stroking his hair like he was a dog. He immediately stilled, his head leaning against her hand. All that was missing was a wagging tail. “Did you get it?”

Sutyu swallowed against the knot in her throat and pointed to her bag where the bottle was. “But how does a magic of refilling glasses help bring the ring down?” The cause that lured her into working for Artemis in the first place. Something about her still didn’t sit right with Sutyu, but in her line of work, she’d learnt not to ask questions. Who was she to judge anyone?

“Offering refillable beer, dear. Everyone’s going to come here once word gets out – so much the better when we finally attack.”

The man lifted his head with a rasping laugh. “Attack, attack. We tear them to pieces!”

“Patience, my pet,” Artemis said, placing a hand on his arm.

Sutyu frowned. Actively luring more people to come rattled her. “Punish them all in one fell swoop,” she said, trying to reassure herself.

“No, Magician,” Artemis said with a shake of her head, making Sutyu blink. “The fun is in deciding who should die and who should simply be tortured.” 

Her guts twisted at the thought. Sutyu just wanted the ring burnt down. Anyone caught up in it was collateral. But torture?

Artemis opened her hand, revealing a glowing series of numbers displayed under her skin just below her fingers. “Here, we agreed on five hundred.” Her gaze flicked at Sutyu’s bag in signal.

Sutyu clenched her jaw. The bastards probably deserved it. If the authorities were more competent, she wouldn’t need to stoop so low. Besides, she needed the money. She produced the bottle, gleaming golden like a lantern in her hand. 

Something changed in Artemis’s smile, like a mask that slipped for but a moment. Something dark in her eyes, a rage that twitched her lips into the briefest frown. “They deserve everything that’s coming to them,” she said, but the smug edge was gone, and what laced her voice instead made Sutyu shudder.

Sutyu swiped her own hand over Artemis’s. She’d had the surgery done a few years ago, embedded an encrypted card under her skin so the only way to steal her money was to cut off her hand. The digits under her skin flashed, and she tapped the side of her palm to check the monetary input to confirm the amount. Satisfied, she swiped it again to erase the display from her hand.

Artemis took the bottle and said, “Thank you.” The act was back, the smile, the tone. “I’m glad we’re working together.”

Sutyu shoved the word torture to the back of her mind. “I have a policy of going above and beyond, especially for a cause like yours.”

Artemis’s eyes flashed, her grin widening. “Woman of my own heart. My pets will follow a few home again tonight, recruit them for the cause.”

Sutyu’s eyes widened. These ‘pets’ were former gamblers? She glanced at the man beside Artemis who was now crouched like a child with his knuckles on the floor. He pulled his lips back to reveal all his teeth, crazed eyes boring right into her.

She looked away. “But how?”

Artemis tapped the side of her nose. “Magic. Have a good evening, Magician.”

What sort? But Sutyu bit her tongue. She cast a final look at the bettors below her before turning away. Shadows would follow some of them home tonight, start the gears moving on Artemis’s plan before the actual event, kidnap them to be used or kill them if they must.

It was none of her business.

Sutyu had to get to Fox. The stink of animal and beer followed her into the night as she left, clinging to her hair and clothes. She hugged herself with a shudder, wishing it was raining, although one look at the dark emerald light that tinged the black sky and she knew she only had the green rain she hated to look forward to. No refreshment there. Good thing her income as the Magician meant she could afford a specialised membrane inserted into her lungs to filter out the toxins in the coming chemical rain.

Some of the passers-by clearly weren’t so lucky judging from their running steps to get indoors. Must have missed the weather alert. 

When she was sure no one was looking, she took off her mask. Spotting three pairs of magnetic skates for rent shackled to a rack down the road, she went over and unlocked one with an app on her wristband. Quickly she fudged a few things in the code so the counter in the app dialed back into minus numbers. Now as long as she returned it before they hit zero, she wouldn’t be charged. Better than the bus.

The green rain began to fall. Sutyu blinked, feeling the rain’s burning irritation like shampoo in the corner of her eyes. She was putting on her skates as a woman strolled past with an invisible umbrella – magic forcing the rain to slide around her rather than on her. Lucky bitch. As she was looking, someone came out of the alley that led to the factory. A man of slight build and a fuzz of black hair, shoulders pulled inwards and hands in his pockets.

Fox. He was walking up to the bus stop just as a bus pulled up.

A chill raced down her spine. Had he been at the fighting ring?

Her gaze darted into the dark. Nothing moved except for the bustle of the main street, which was fast emptying with the green rain. Artemis’s pets weren’t anywhere to be seen. She swallowed. What the hell was Fox doing here? She knew he was broke, but she was going to help him, goddamnit! She yanked on the second skate and raced towards her friend. “Fox!”

He didn’t hear her, disappearing into the bus with two stragglers who darted up just in time. The vehicle pulled away before she could get there.

Fuck.

She fired up the skates and slipped into the alleys. The rain shrouded everything in green, its pattering amplified against the metal shutters over every window so it was thunder in her ears, accompanied by a quiet hissing. Sulphur, eating away the surfaces. She gulped, pushing herself forward. Faster! She cursed herself for having used up the flight magic.

Fox’s place was cramped in a line of long terrace housing, the glass in the windows in plain view and the shutter still rolled up, unlike every other house.

She saw him from afar, a silhouette running from the rain. Someone else was behind him, legs long and stretching in a soundless creep three metres away.

Artemis’s pet. Had to be. The prowling stance didn’t seem human.

The chill made her voice coarse. “Fox! Behind you!”

He didn’t hear, still at least three hundred metres from her. He rounded into his house, pushing through the door. Right before it shut, the other man lunged. She watched them both tumble inside, the door slamming into the wall.

She nearly tripped getting the skates off and paused long enough to whip out her pocketknife, heart pounding in her throat as she ran. Another crash erupted up ahead. She charged into the house. The door to the kitchen had been shredded, giving her a clear view of a man’s back and Fox pinned under him.

Her breath hitched. She didn’t think. She drove her knife into the man, making him jerk and howl. She ripped the blade out as he swung back and she slashed. A fist flew at her from the side. She dodged but his foot came around hers. She slammed into the floor, her head banging against the tiles. Blinking away stars, she was scrambling to get up when a weight smashed into her. Pain exploded in her shoulder. The man straddled her, crushing the air out of her lungs. The knife plunged – she didn’t care where, as long as it got him off her.

The man reeled back with a scream, blood coming out of his thigh. She was going for a second stab when he grabbed her wrist – fuck – and pinned her knife hand beside her head.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Fox cowering in a corner and one side of his face pouring red. He looked back at her, dark, wide eyes unseeing. Then he blinked, registering.

Sutyu punched her attacker’s nose. It crunched as a fist met her own jaw, snapping her head to one side. A coppery taste filled her mouth. The man snarled.

A pair of arms locked around his neck from behind. His eyes bulged as both of his hands clawed at the chokehold. Sutyu swallowed blood, watching the man rise above her with Fox growling on his back.

She leapt to her feet, heaving to catch her breath pressed against the kitchen sink behind her. The man was swinging like a wild bull, but Fox clung like a pesky tick. 

Sutyu patted her pockets for a vial. She hadn’t prepared for this, but she had to hope she’d had enough foresight to-

Her fingers closed over a slim glass cylinder. She gasped in elation – yes. She’d packed her electricity magic. It was a precaution, like pepper spray one might have in their purse. The magic flared down her throat, pins and needles shooting down her arms like a fresh shot of panic.

A cry and a thud jerked her attention back. Fox had been crushed between the wall and the man’s back. His arms gave, his knees buckling as the man clambered away into the middle of the room. Swinging round, the attacker sneered at Fox’s crumpling figure and crouched on all fours like an animal.

Definitely one of Artemis’s pets. She pulled on her magic, hand twisting as though turning a cap on a bottle. Magic crackled like live wires, flaring from her fingertips.

The man was about to lunge when lightning arched from her hand straight at him.

He fell where he stood, spasming on the ground as electricity skittered across his flesh. By the time he’d stopped moving, his body was sizzling.

Sutyu stood heaving, gripping the counter behind her as she stared, every fibre of her being honed onto the man, waiting for the monster to pounce. She gulped, his stillness sending shivers up her spine. Gathering herself, she cast her eyes about. Fox. Where was Fox?

There, his figure curled up against the wall with his head in his arms. She rushed over, falling to her knees before him, but he just trembled, balling up tighter with a whimper. His black hair was plastered to his scalp, half of it gleaming and sticky with blood.

“Shh, Fox,” Sutyu said, gently prying at his arm. “It’s me. Sutyu. Look at me, Fox. Look at me.”

He hesitated. His dark eyes peered over his folded arms, watching her with such stillness it made her heart ache.

“He’s dead,” she said, reaching out for him. “Thank your lucky stars I got here, huh?”

He laughed, a burst that sounded more like a cry in disguise as they clutched each other. “Thank my lucky stars indeed.” Blinking, he stared at the corpse in the middle of the room. “That’s awesome magic you have, Sutyu. I never knew.”

She shrugged, knowing better than to show him her vial of spent magic. She’d never told him she was magical, so let him believe electricity was her natural born magic.

Fox wrapped his arms around himself. His teeth started chattering as the shock seemed to wash through him. “Well, there goes our evening. I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Sutyu.” He blinked away tears. “I’m sorry.”

“Hey, what are you sorry for?”

“I invited you.”

“And if you hadn’t, you might not be here now.” At those words, Fox paled, his resolve crumpling before her eyes and she winced. “I’m gonna need that beer,” she changed the subject promptly, half smiling, but she couldn’t help her furrowing brow as she took in the blood still streaming down his face covered in dust. It was like a mask split down the middle in red. “You’ll need to see someone for that.”

“Probably.” He licked his lips, eyes darting. His shirt was soaked through with sweat. His focus was wavering – Sutyu could tell. He needed medical attention now. She tapped her wristband and activated her phone. Pressing once on the stud behind her ear, she ordered it to dial emergency. Fox’s head rolled.

“Hey, stay awake,” Sutyu said. “Why did you text me so late anyway?” 

The emergency line picked up. “555 emergency. How can I help?”

Fox’s words were slurred. “I… Well, plans fell through. Still had beers to drink.”

“My friend’s head is bleeding,” Sutyu said into the hidden receiver in her skin, a tremor creeping into her voice. She swallowed, wresting her nerves under control. “Male in his twenties. Yes, he was attacked. No, I don’t know if it was a sharp or blunt object.” Muting the call temporarily, she asked Fox, “Did you finish your beer?”

“Is he conscious?” the person on the line asked.

A tap on the stud and a thought command. Unmute. “Yes.” She nudged Fox, whose eyes had drifted shut. “Stay awake. Who did you have plans with?”

He didn’t reply, staring at her.

She gave the dispatcher the address and quickly finished the call. Then, she took off her top.

Fox blinked hard. “What… are you doing?”

Well, if it kept him awake. “You need something to press against your head wound.”

“Did you bring- ARGH! What the hell!” He twisted away and shrank against the wall.

Sutyu gripped his shoulder to keep him in place and pressed the clump of clothing over the head wound right above the temple. “Hold it there. So talk to me,” she said. “What sort of beer do you have? Stay awake. Tell me about the beer.”

“The beer? You’re really interested in the beer now?”

“Yes, you loser! It’s all I bloody care about. What sort?”

“Partens. Shall I get you one?” Fox tried to stand.

Sutyu pinned him against the wall despite the pain in her own shoulder, biting back a hiss. There was no resistance from him, like paper in the wind. Her heart fluttered. “You stay right here, Fox. And who were you meeting tonight?”

Sirens cut through the night before he could answer. The familiar sweeping red and blue lights. Moments later, paramedics rushed inside, followed by officers.

Sutyu rose to receive the authorities, all too aware she was in nothing but jeans, boots and a bra. How ironic that she’d spent the night avoiding the police just to invite them in now.

 

Chapter 3

Sutyu sat in the waiting room of the Saint Albert Hospital, her arm in a cotton sling. The doctors had examined her and said she was lucky all she got was minor swelling in the shoulder with the way she was thrown to the floor. A blackened bruise the shape of a hand was imprinted on her forearm where the madman had clutched. The sight of it left her cold, a tremor that reverberated inside her core and drew her lips tight. 

A nurse had kindly given her a fresh top from her own change of clothes to wear. Toplessness wasn’t without its advantages when the paramedics realised she couldn’t travel like that and had allowed her to ride in the ambulance with Fox. Still, she definitely preferred to have a top on.

She exhaled slowly, trying to banish the nightmarish memory of the madman bearing down on Fox. Another second and he would have been dead. She shuddered.

“Sutyu?”

Sutyu started, coming face to face with Detective Lynx Wu. A dozen scenarios flashed through her mind: Handcuffs and prison bars; Lynx with coffee content not to talk; Lynx searching her bag; or maybe he would never catch on. The flip back and forth made her giddy, twitching the corners of her mouth, but she pushed back the smile. Each time she met him was a jolt down her spine, dancing so close she could taste the adrenaline.

“Detective Lynx Wu is here to ask you a few questions about tonight,” the nurse said, seeming to have materialised out of nowhere as she showed Lynx in. “I’m sorry, but it has to be done.”

Sutyu wrapped her arms around her elbows and nodded, playing the part of the shaken civilian. She exhaled through her nose. It always took a moment to switch gears.

The automatic doors closed behind the nurse. Sutyu glanced at Lynx as he sat down two seats to her left – this may have been the first time she was alone with him. He still looked miserable, black hair that fell into his eyes, dark stubble, and a shirt that looked too crumpled to have been worn for just a day.

His gaze met hers. The tension and furrowed brow she knew him for disappeared as his face creased into a smile, and a gratefulness she’d never seen before stared back at her. Grateful. To her. She blinked, uncertain.

Dimples dented his cheeks, and the laugh lines around his eyes stole away the years. Now they looked like brothers. “Sutyu, I don’t know how to thank you,” he said.

She managed a smile in response. Unease twined like a snake around her limbs. She needed him to not look so dang indebted. “It’s nothing.”

“What you did tonight… If you hadn’t been there…” Lynx exhaled, looking away. The heaviness returned to his expression, and he became the detective she’d observed for so long from afar again. Then it slipped away, and he just looked tired. “My apologies, I haven’t had much sleep. Would you like some coffee? ‘Cause I’d sure like some myself.”

“Whiskey would be far better.”

Lynx laughed. “Glad to see you still have a sense of humour.” Dude thought she was joking? Shame. “If you don’t want anything, I’ll get myself a cup and be right back.”

She shook her head as confirmation and he left. Sutyu stared after him and imagined for a moment if it hadn’t been Fox who was attacked tonight, but Lynx. She couldn’t imagine Lynx succumbing to tonight’s attack the same way Fox did, the way her friend was on the verge of tears. The way he’d shaken in her arms, blood gushing from his head. If she’d got there a moment later. Her breath hitched. Sutyu realised she was shaking. Something cold fell down her cheeks and she swiped at them. Tears.

Sutyu held her stomach, a tremor shooting through her. The chill she’d felt on seeing the shutters up, the opened door. The way that man had loomed over Fox, their faces inches from each other like the man had wanted to bite. She knew he belonged to Artemis – she’d met them before, always ill at ease when she was around them because it was like they weren’t really human. Not human. What in God’s name were they?

“You’re shaking,” came Lynx’s voice.

Sutyu jumped and cursed. Cold tears streaked her cheeks and she cursed some more. 

“You could have died tonight,” Lynx said quietly. “Fox could have…”

She glared. “Has anyone ever said you’d make a great counsellor?”

He chuckled, leaning his elbows on his knees. “I’m sorry. I got you something, by the way.”

Her attention went to what he was holding. Coffee for himself, and a strawberry flavoured Meiji bar. 

He held it out. “I was hoping I couldn’t go wrong with chocolate.”

She frowned, hesitating, and took it. Lynx had always been standoffish when she’d been with Fox, friendly, but hardly attentive. Now, however. It felt odd. She bit into the fruit jelly inside the cultured milk chocolate covering. The sugar coupled with a sour tang was good. She sniffed, grateful for the sweet and embarrassed that she should be crying. And in front of Lynx at that. She had not expected the giddy nerves of being around him in combination with tonight’s shock would trigger this.

He held out a tissue. 

This did not make her feel better. But dribbling snot on top of everything else was simply out of the question, so she swallowed her pride and blew her nose with it. “Thank you.”

“If you’re ready – I know there’s never a good time – but I need to ask you a few questions.”

Sutyu glanced at him. The tenderness in his voice was too much for her. She’d rather he went back to being the stoic jerk she preferred to think of him as. This was her game, not his. The breadstick didn’t know whom he was being kind to.

Lynx spent a few minutes going over the basics: what time was it when she’d arrived? What first alerted her to the danger? What was the purpose of her visit? Can you describe what happened from the beginning? How did you subdue the attacker?

“Electricity magic,” she replied to the last question. She knew he’d see her magical aura and realised she’s magic-born too, but thankfully that was normal enough that it wouldn’t matter as long as he couldn’t tell which type of magic she had. “A good magic to be born with, especially for a woman.”

“How powerful is it, may I ask?”

“Powerful enough. I can jump start the kettle with a zap, for example, or the boiler.”

Lynx finished scribbling everything into his notepad. “Thank you, Sutyu. This is all very helpful.”

Her smile was tight, though she bet her bottom dollar Lynx interpreted it as nerves rather than what it was: dread. This was going to create more problems for her. “I’m glad to hear that,” she said, struggling to sound sincere.

“Sutyu?”

“What?”

Lynx gestured at her arm in the sling. “I, er, might be able to help with that.”

She hadn’t even thought of him using his restoration magic on her. This close to the detective, she felt a flicker of curiosity in her stomach, a craving that made her look – what did Detective Lynx’s magical aura look like? Feel like? Taste like?

And what would it mean to strip it?

The thief in her, the hate in her that’d fed so much of what she did, wanted to badly. Restoration magic, one in tens of thousand, hundreds of thousands – and a cop’s too! To have such a thing in her repertoire excited her like a child who’d just caught a secret glimpse of other people’s presents under the tree – and which of those she’d unwrap for herself anyway.

Yet here he was, trying to help her.

Shame put a lump in her throat she couldn’t swallow. So instead, she quibbed, “You’re a detective by night, and a doctor by day?” She wasn’t sure if she should let on that Fox had told her about his magic.

He laughed, which made her smile too. There was something charming about him, so much like Fox she couldn’t help but feel warmed. The familiarity was dangerous for her. It was one reason why she’d never attempted to steal Lynx’s magic. It required a friendship, a level of trust, before she could snip someone’s magic, and that was dancing too close to the fire even for her.

“I’m glad Fox has a friend like you,” Lynx said. Was he being serious? “No, I’m not secretly a doctor. But my magic might be of help.”

She raised an eyebrow, feigning ignorance. “You heal?”

“I do. Technically, I simply return things to their previous state. I can’t reverse death, but other than that, I can restore most things as long as it’s done within a certain time frame. May I?” he asked, indicating her shoulder like he wanted to touch it.

But she was this close whether she liked it or not – this close to the detective who had been nothing but a nuisance, this close to seeing something rare and precious if she’d just open her second sight. That uncanny ability to see whether someone was magical or not by seeing their aura, like focusing a camera lens and suddenly the picture cleared.

Maybe seeing the magic she craved would dispel any illusions that they could ever be friends. Lynx was not Fox.

She opened her second sight and saw.

It struck her like heat from a blaze. It was the colour of the purest jade, his precious restoration magic, curled like a pale, green sun pulsing with light. She couldn’t see where the shining flare of power and his soul connected to snip through and steal it. What would it be like to tease such a gem open? To pry Lynx bare.

What would Fox have to say about that? He’d never know it was her, so it wouldn’t matter. 

Lynx pressed his hand onto the back of her shoulder. Her muscles tingled, tightening at his touch, but it wasn’t nerves. It was as if her sinew had a will of their own, pulling and pinching as if being rearranged, Lynx’s magic working like hooks and strings rushing between the fibres. She exhaled to force herself to relax. He eased her arm out of the sling and passed a hand over her bruises. The healing was like the skimming of a butterfly’s wings beneath her skin, a traveling flutter leaving heat, and then, relief, in its wake. It took all of thirty seconds.

She rolled her shoulder and tested her elbow, pumping her arm, then clenched her fist.

“All good?” Lynx asked.

She nodded, impressed. Restoration magic was a notorious bitch to manipulate – she’d know, since she’d used it from her vials just once before. Yet, there was not a single flaw in Lynx’s work. “Yeah. Thanks. This certainly goes towards improving my mood. You can fix anything? Not just certain things in particular like normal restoration magic does?”

“Anything and anyone,” he replied. “I keep the fact quiet.”

A wise decision. She could only imagine the favours people would ask of him, or worse, magic thieves like herself coming for him. A magic like Lynx’s could fetch hundreds of thousands.

He smiled, pleased. “I’m going to see Fox. You’re free to go, unless you want to come?”

She would have loved to – but Lynx’s presence deterred her. Either he would figure her out or she’d give herself away. The risk was too high. Stealing Lynx’s magic would be no good to her if she was in prison. She shook her head. “Tell him I’ll come see him in the morning.”

“Do you need me to call a car for you?”

“I’ll take a taxi.”

“If you give me ten minutes, I can drive you home.”

Would Lynx never leave? “It’s all right, thank you.” His name caught between her teeth. She could do without the intimacy of saying his name out loud. “Tell him I said hi.”

 

Enjoyed the chapters? BUY THE BOOK using the BUY NOW button below!

Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter so you get more exclusive scenes, character interviews and other unique content! Follow me on Instagram for character art, book quotes and sneak peeks into the book world!

You may also like

Leave a Comment