The Wicked (A Novella of the Elder Races) Read online

  Khalil folded his arms and looked at his daughter. Phaedra’s eyes narrowed further as she considered his expression. “Fine,” she said between her teeth. “But only for the duration of this job.” The younger Djinn turned to Olivia and gave her a razor sharp smile. “Come, human. We have a meeting to attend.”

  “Really, I don’t mind calling a taxi,” said Olivia. She would rather take a cab than get on Phaedra’s bad side. She set her pack on the floor next to her suitcase and walked toward Grace, intending to hug her goodbye.

  Phaedra’s corporeal form dissolved into a whirlwind of Power that engulfed Olivia and yanked her away from the world.

  A maelstrom surrounded her. There wasn’t anything solid or stable anywhere. She wanted to scream, but some stubborn sense of pride made her swallow it down. She would not give the ornery Djinn the satisfaction of knowing that she had rattled her.

  When the world re-formed, the details of her surroundings were completely different. Olivia stood in a polished hallway, outside double doors made from carved oak and propped open to reveal a conference room filled with several people.

  Phaedra materialized beside her, long blood-red hair whipping around regal white features that were filled with subtle, smug amusement.

  Everyone in the room turned to stare. They all wore different versions of the same kind of outfit Olivia wore, along with varying expressions of surprise.

  Details blurred in the moment, except for a few standouts. Carling Severan, former Queen of the Nightkind, stood at the head of the conference table. She was a dark-haired, beautiful woman, with honey-colored skin and long, almond-shaped dark eyes.

  Despite the fact that Olivia knew that Carling was one of the most Powerful witches in the world, and she was also one of the oldest and most Powerful Vampyres in the world, Olivia sensed no evidence whatsoever of the other woman’s Power. The fact that Carling could cloak her Power to that extent was more than a little unsettling.

  The Vampyre stood beside a man Olivia had never seen before. Both Carling and the man were the same height, which meant he could not be very tall, perhaps only a few inches taller than Olivia herself. He wore a plain gray T-shirt, jeans and boots, and he was extraordinarily striking, with a hard, boldly planed face half-hidden by sunglasses, short, dark brown hair speckled with flecks of white, and a palpable aura of power that was both physical and magical.

  Along with everybody else, he seemed to be staring at Olivia and Phaedra. With his sunglasses, it was hard to tell where his eyes were trained, but at least his face was turned in their direction.

  Olivia jerked her gaze away. She knew exactly what everybody was thinking. No one in her right mind would bargain away a costly, potentially dangerous favor in return for transportation from a Djinn, not for a trip that could be completed so easily by mundane means. Everyone present would think she was either insane, or insanely important.

  Actually, scratch that thought. Nobody would believe she was insanely important.

  There was probably a worse way to meet the people she would be working with for the next few weeks, but at the moment, she couldn’t think of what it would be.

  Olivia took a deep breath to try to calm her rioting nerves. Then she looked at the empty floor around her feet. Irritation took control of her mouth. She said to Phaedra, “You forgot my luggage, dimwit.”

  Realization transformed Phaedra’s features, wiping the smugness away. The Djinn crossed her arms with a scowl. Then she blew into the whirlwind again. A moment later she reappeared, and Olivia’s luggage landed with a thump at her feet.

  The room was so silent, one could have heard a pin drop.

  Let’s be sensible, shall we? Let’s not make an enemy of the whackadoodle Djinn.

  “Thank you,” she said, in as polite and dignified a tone as she could muster. Phaedra twitched a shoulder in impatient reply and stalked into the room to lean against a wall.

  The tips of Olivia’s ears felt as if they were burning, and so did her cheeks. She refused to look around at anybody. She especially did not look at the striking, powerful man who stood at the head of the room.

  Instead, she picked up her suitcase and pack, carried them into the large conference room, set the pieces along the wall with the heaps of other luggage, and then sat at the large conference table, several seats away from anybody else.

  The floor never did open up and swallow you, no matter how badly you might wish it.

  Chapter Two

  When nine people in total entered the conference room, Carling nodded to one of the men, who shut the double doors. The striking man in the sunglasses remained motionless beside the Vampyre, hands clasped behind his back. He appeared to be studying the occupants in the room, his strong features impassive.

  Aside from Carling, there were four women and four men present. Two of the men were Wyr, including the man at Carling’s side, and one male was an Elf. Olivia guessed that the fourth male was human. Of the other three women, there was one Djinn, of course, a Light Fae and a woman whose heritage and race Olivia couldn’t quite place. Her coloring was similar to Carling’s, her strong face attractively hawkish. She wasn’t quite human. Olivia suspected that she was of a mixed race.

  “Good afternoon,” Carling said. “We have the agency plane waiting for you on the tarmac, so I will keep this meeting as short as possible. It is public knowledge that I have become estranged from one of my progeny, Julian Regillus, the Nightkind King. Julian and I are having several disagreements.”

  Several of the people sitting at the table exchanged glances. Carling and Julian’s estrangement had, in fact, hit several major news websites and many tabloid sites, but Olivia could tell that nobody had expected Carling to speak so frankly.

  Carling continued dryly, “The relevant disagreement today is regarding my library, which is located on a small island in an Other land that has a single underwater crossover passageway located in the ocean just outside the San Francisco Bay.

  “I filed a suit with the Elder tribunal, which Julian countered with his own suit. I claim I have the right to retrieve my property, since it is located in a place outside of Julian’s legal jurisdiction. Julian claims that he has banished me from the Nightkind demesne. Since the crossover passageway is located in his demesne, he has the right to bar access to me.

  “My suit involved an offer of resolution where I would send a team that would travel to the island on my behalf. That team would pack my library and transfer it completely out of the Nightkind demesne. As some of you already know, the tribunal has granted my petition and ordered Julian to allow my team access to the harbor in order to transport my library. Upon completion of this task, I relinquish all rights and claim to the island. Since I also filed documentation about a sentient species that lives on the island, rights to that land will revert to them.”

  Carling turned to the man who stood beside her. “This is your expedition leader, Sebastian Hale. He has final say on all decisions. He has a full security team, most of whom will remain on board a yacht in the harbor. The three of his staff who will be traveling to the island are present here—Derrick, Tony and Bailey. Derrick is the medical doctor who will be traveling with the team.”

  Two men, the Elf and the human, and the Light Fae woman nodded to the group as Carling mentioned their names. Then Carling gestured to the hawk-faced woman of mixed race. “This is your head librarian and symbologist, Dendera Amin. Dendera is the department head for Magical Studies at the National Library of Turkey. She has final say regarding anything to do with the library itself. Her team has two other symbologists—Steve and Olivia.”

  The symbologists gave each other assessing looks and nods. Dendera’s expression remained reserved, while Steve, a Wyr of some kind with a thin, intelligent face, gave Olivia a quick smile.

  “Last,” Carling said, “but certainly not least, there is one Djinn on the team, Phaedra, who will stand guard over the underwater crossover passageway while you are on the island. All of your resumes a
re on file with the tribunal. Phaedra, only these seven people are legally permitted to travel to the island. Certainly no Nightkind, nor anybody that Julian might suggest sending with you, should be allowed access. Julian will most likely keep a yacht in the harbor to make sure that we actually fulfill the terms of the petition.

  “You have three days to make the crossover and start the removal process. If for any reason you fail to do so within that time frame, my petition becomes null and void, and I lose all legal claim to my library. It is Sebastian’s job to see that this does not happen, and that you depart for the island well within that deadline.”

  The Vampyre paused to look at each one of them before she continued. “You’re all excellent at your jobs, and that didn’t happen by accident. I have been collecting that library for thousands of years. There are many items that are old, fragile, dangerous and valuable. Before I was forced to leave, I destroyed some of the darkest items, but I did not have time to safely contain or destroy everything. Stay on top of your game, be careful and work as a team. It’s the responsibility of Sebastian and his team to safeguard both you and the contents of the library. Good journey and good luck.”

  With those final words, Carling strode out of the room, and Sebastian Hale faced the group alone.

  “Dendera and I have already been thoroughly briefed,” he said. His voice was as striking as the rest of him, strong and deep and rich. “I won’t add anything else right now. We have several hours on the plane where we can get acquainted with each other and run through details of the expedition, so for now, get your luggage and make your way downstairs. There’s transportation waiting to take us to the airport.”

  Phaedra pushed away from the wall. She looked bored again. She said in a curt voice to Sebastian, “I will see you in San Francisco after your flight.”

  Sebastian’s hard face turned to the Djinn. “No, you won’t. You will travel on the plane along with every other member of this crew.”

  Phaedra’s expression turned edgy and unpredictable. “That’s ridiculous.”

  “That’s the rule,” said Sebastian. “You travel with us and attend the meeting, or you’re off the team. In fact, you do everything I say, or you’re off the team.”

  The Djinn’s expression turned deadly. “Don’t push me, Wyr.”

  “Or you’ll do what?” asked Sebastian, his voice flat. He tilted his head.

  He looked unimpressed. Unafraid.

  Which meant he believed he could face down a Djinn and win the confrontation.

  Olivia was reluctantly impressed.

  She also knew that Phaedra had already given her word to her father that she would see this assignment through successfully to its conclusion, so she was not quite as taken in by the scene as everyone else in the room.

  She walked around the end of the table, collected her luggage and said to Phaedra, “Quit making an ass of yourself if you possibly can.”

  Then without waiting around for any more drama, she walked to the bank of elevators at the end of the hall.

  One by one, other people joined her at the elevators. Olivia kept her head down and eyes to the floor. When the elevator doors opened, people filed in with their luggage. They rode down to the ground floor in silence.

  Outside the main entrance, two black Cadillac Escalades idled at the curb. With a minimum of conversation, the group loaded into the vehicles. Olivia managed to score the front passenger seat of one Escalade. Thankfully neither Sebastian nor Phaedra joined the group in her SUV. During the trip to the airport, she listened to the others’ desultory conversation from the back seat, but she didn’t join in.

  The driver took them to a smaller, more business-oriented airport than Miami International Airport, where Olivia had originally flown in. They met up with the group from the other Escalade, and in short order a uniformed flight crew took their luggage out to a corporate-sized Boeing parked on the tarmac. Soon after, the group filed into the sunshine to board the plane.

  Sebastian went first. Olivia watched him run up the airstairs. It was such a simple, ordinary feat, running up stairs. But his body in movement was mesmerizing, full of grace and power, and so effortless he seemed to float. When he stopped in the doorway of the plane, she could hardly believe what she had seen. Watching him for those few seconds had taken her breath away.

  He remained by the door, turning to watch the others as they boarded. When it came to her turn, she ducked her head as she climbed toward him and pretended she was invisible.

  “You,” he said when she reached the top.

  Resigned, she lifted her head. She had been right about his height. He stood just a few inches taller than she did. His compact body was proportioned remarkably well, his shoulders not too wide, and his lean legs not too long. Exposed by the short sleeves of his gray T-shirt, his arms were cut with lean muscle.

  Combined with his lack of expression, those sunglasses of his were truly unnerving. Up close, she felt the force of his presence as a palpable thing. As he turned his head to glance down the stairs at the others, she also saw that he was not as young as she had first thought. Lines bracketed his hard mouth and fanned out from the corners of his eyes. She couldn’t tell if the white that flecked his sable brown hair so strikingly was from age, or if it was a characteristic of his kind of Wyr.

  Groping for some measure of composure, she reminded him, “My name is Olivia Sutton.”

  “I know who you are,” said Sebastian. He did not make that sound like a good thing. “Take one of the seats at the first table. You will sit with me.”

  Her entire body pulsed in reaction. Surprise, and something else, something quite out of the ordinary. All she knew was that her response was completely involuntary, and by the small tilt of his head, she realized he had sensed it. Damn those ultra-sensitive Wyr senses.

  All the while, his expression remained as revealing as a stone wall.

  She refused to feel as if she were back in grade school and summoned to the principal’s office. With as much composure as she could muster, she said, “Certainly, if you wish it.”

  Without another word, he turned to the next person in line, and she knew that, at least for the moment, she had been dismissed.

  Sebastian knew exactly when things had gotten interesting, and it hadn’t been when he had accepted the contract for the job that Carling had offered and decided to head the team himself.

  In fact, Bailey, his vice president and the second in command of his security company, had questioned that very decision at their home office in Jamaica.

  “You’re not cleared for work,” she said, leaning her tall frame against the doorway of his office. Her sleek, Light Fae build was corded with muscle, and she kept her curling blonde hair cut short in a careless, charming tousle. “In fact, you’re getting worse, not better. Why did you take this job?”

  “There’s no major, life-altering reason,” he said without turning away from his desk. The morning had already turned sultry, and a ceiling fan pushed the hot air around the room. He had already discarded his shirt and wore cutoff jeans. He had promised himself a long, cool swim as soon as he had finished some necessary paperwork. “Carling is an old friend, and we bartered an exchange of services, that’s all. And there’s no point in me remaining holed up in this office, sitting on my ass while I wait for our research teams to bring me news of something that may or may not be of use to me. This way I can spend a few weeks keeping busy, while the time slippage will give them a few months to try to find answers.”

  Not that there was any real hope that any of their research teams would bring back something that could help him. He had not yet told Bailey what Carling had told him, gently, when he had consulted with her. He hadn’t told anybody yet.

  Bailey studied his expression. She didn’t appear to like what she saw. “You sound so bored.”

  “I am bored,” he told her. “I’ve been bored for a long time.”

  That had no doubt played a major factor in his getting injured du
ring the last job, if “injured” was even the right word for what had happened to him. What was continuing to happen to him. He had made a huge mistake by underestimating the danger of the situation they had been in. He had been bored, and he hadn’t been paying enough attention. He knew it, and Bailey knew it. Neither one of them said it aloud.

  Instead, she said in a light tone of voice, “C’mon, it’s an ancient, magical library on a deserted island that houses a mysterious sentient species. Aren’t you the slightest bit interested in that?”

  “Three months ago, I was protecting an archaeological party from a tribal chieftain who was in possession of a shrunken head that uttered curses against one’s enemies.” He shifted his sunglasses to rub his aching eyes. Another headache began to pulse in his frontal lobe. It would soon force him away from his desk, but he refused to give in to it just yet. “Five months before that, I was locating stolen gold treasure and transporting it back to the Thailand government, its rightful owner. Last year I was escorting a runaway Dark Fae heir back to his family in the Unseelie Court in Ireland.”

  He’d had decades of exotic experiences. He was drowning in exotic experiences. They all ran together in his mind like a never-ending banquet of highly seasoned, complex delicacies, and his palate had turned jaded.

  When he had been a younger man, he could barely stay in one geographical location long enough to do the necessary paperwork to start a business. Now that he was no longer young, he was not interested in yet another astonishing adventure. He needed the good, solid nutrition of…something, but he didn’t know what that something was.

  “Then let me take care of the job with the magical library,” Bailey said. “Carling didn’t say that you had to be the one to do it personally, did she?”

  He didn’t reply, because actually Carling hadn’t. She had just asked that his security company take on the contract.