AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A moment passed before the glass lowered—just a crack.
“Do you not see the demon in the middle of the road?” Darien used his pistol to gesture to the goatlike creature standing in front of his car—
And froze mid-gesture.
He blinked. And blinked again. He scanned the sidewalks, the businesses, the cars parked on either side of the street. He even tipped his head back to check the roofs of the buildings, cold rain pelting his face.
The creature was gone. There was no trace of it, not even a hint of an aura when he blinked his Sight into place, scanning the same areas he’d just scanned a moment ago.
“I’m sorry, man,” the guy was blubbering. “I’m sorry, I didn’t—”
“Did you see it?” Darien demanded, nostrils flaring, hair wet and sticking to his face.
The driver slowly lowered his hands. “See what?”
“The demon.” Darien waved again at the now empty road.
“What dem—"
Darien was walking back to his car before the guy could finish his question. Thunder rumbled over the city, and electricity crackled across the forcefield, temporarily lighting up the green and making it visible to the naked eye.
When he was back in his seat, he didn’t bother moving the car as he took his phone out and made a call he’d never made before.
—
Witchlight Alchemy and Archives was the polar opposite of Lucent Enterprises. Witchlight might be messy, but it had character, unlike the cold and sterile building that sat in the North End of Angelthene, looking every bit as self-important as the people who ran it.
Darien decided Witchlight suited his good friend Arthur a lot more than Lucent Enterprises. And it was a good thing that his friend, who sat at a worn worktable halfway across the cluttered room, looked so content as Darien walked through the front door, rusted bells declaring his entrance with a metallic clang.
Because it was his fault that Arthur had needed to swim through the job pool, something he shouldn’t need to do at his age. And if the man had looked even the slightest bit unhappy, Darien wasn’t sure what he would’ve done with that extra weight stacked on top of everything else that was crushing him.
“I was wondering when you might show up,” Arthur said without looking up from his work. Laboratory glassware was spread before him, liquids bubbling in coiled tubes. Arthur was peering through a microscope and scrawling notes on a pad of paper.
“How’d you know it was me?” Darien asked as he crossed the room, boots thudding on creaky floorboards.
Art shot Darien a disbelieving look. “I would know it was you entering a room even if I were blind.” He peered through the microscope again. “The air shifts when you’re around. Almost like a storm or fast-falling night.”
“Very poetic,” he crooned. “When did you become a hellseher?”
“Some humans are sensitive to energies, Darien. Just because we can’t see them doesn’t mean we don’t feel them.”
Darien paused beside his table. “What are you working on?”
“I’m looking into this here for Roark.” He gestured to the small stone he was examining through the microscope. “Have a look.” He rolled his chair back a foot.
Darien rounded the table. He shut one eye as he looked through the microscope. “A rock?” He blinked, stepping back.
Arthur shrugged. “Looks like it.”
It was shaped like a crescent moon, its iridescent appearance similar to volcanic glass.
“Why does he have you looking into a rock?”
Arthur shrugged. “My clients tell me very little, Darien. Need to know basis.”
“Right.”
He bumped a playful fist against Darien’s arm. “Though I’m just as curious as you,” he whispered.
