Missing Magic (7 page)

“Why?”

“He doesn’t know you.” She shrugged. “And in
case you’re right about Mick and Jack knows something, I don’t want
to alarm him. Let me handle this.”

Cenrick nodded. For the first time she
noticed he looked pale. Actually, his skin tone appeared slightly
green, as though he was on the verge of puking.

“Cenrick? Are you all right? What’s
wrong?”

“Sorry.” He took a shuddering breath. “Now
I’m the fish out of water.” Dragging a hand across his mouth, he
narrowed his eyes. Perspiration beaded on his forehead. “I don’t
like this place.”

She glanced around their elegant
surroundings. “Why not? This is the best place to live in town.
What’s not to like?”

He shrugged, giving her sheepish half-smile.
“The space – it feels confining in here. Like being in a giant
beehive. Not natural. I’m Fae. I need space.”

The big guy was claustrophobic. Interesting.
Dee filed that information away. “I’m sorry. This shouldn’t take
too long. Maybe you’ll feel better once we’re inside Jack’s place.
It’s very spacious.”

Keeping an eye on Cenrick, she rang the
doorbell. Once, twice, listening for a response. She waited,
tapping her toe on the carpet. “Hmmm.”

Cenrick leaned against the wall, his eyes
closed. Even from ten feet away, she could see he was perspiring
profusely.

She rang once more, keeping her finger on the
buzzer. Finally, she admitted defeat. “Still no answer. Just our
luck. Jack’s not home.

“Maybe he’s over Mick’s.” He straightened,
frowning. “I hope he hasn’t met the same end as some of Mick’s
other friends.” ?”

“I doubt Jack’s Fae.” Still, despite her
denial, her stomach burned. What was up with Mick?

“Jack could be Fae.” Cenrick continued. “Mick
seemed to choose to hang with others like himself.”

“He hung out with me. Not everyone is Fae.
Some of us are just plain humans.” She turned her attention back to
the buzzer, trying one final time.

Nada, zip, zilch.

A door opened two doors down. A tall,
elegantly dressed man emerged, glancing at them. “Looking for
Jack?”

“Yes.” She smiled, recognizing him from one
of Jack’s numerous parties. “He doesn’t seem to be home.”

“He never is.” The man shrugged. “I haven’t
seen him for a couple of weeks.” Wearing expensive slacks and a
well-cut jacket, he walked towards them. “I guess he’s just busy,
busy, busy. Like we all are.” Smiling, he eyed Cenrick
appreciatively.

“You don’t have any idea where he might be?”
Dee asked.

The man shook his head, his gaze touching on
her with disinterest, before rocketing back to Cenrick. “None
whatsoever. Maybe he decided to do some traveling. He always wanted
to see the Caribbean.”

She sighed. “Thanks.”

Too busy fighting his claustrophobia to
notice the other man’s blatant invitation, Cenrick leaned against
the way, his eyes closed.

The man continued past. He lifted his hand in
a casual wave, giving Cenrick one last, lingering look before he
turned the corner. A moment later, they heard the ding of the
elevator opening.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes.” Cenrick exhaled. “Though I’ll be
better once we’re back outside.”

“Come on, then.” She started off down the
hall, keeping an eye on him. “That guy thinks Jack’s on vacation.
It’s possible, though I doubt it, since he and Mick usually go
together.”

“When was the last time you saw him?” Though
he kept pace easily, Cenrick still looked uncomfortable. He’d
untied his shirt, exposing more of his gleaming, muscular chest.
Catching her looking, he gestured. “It’s hot in here.”

She felt her face heat, trying to remember
what they’d been discussing. Jack. Focus on the topic at hand. “I
haven’t seen Jack in awhile, which makes no sense. Unless,” a
thought occurred to her. “They broke up. Maybe that’s why Mick’s
been acting so weird. Losing Jack might be enough to send Mick off
the deep end.”

“Wouldn’t you know?”

Surprised at the question, Dee gave Cenrick a
rueful smile. “Once, I would have. Until a couple weeks ago, Mick
told me everything.” Catching herself, she amended her statement,
“or very nearly everything.”

Hearing herself speak the words, Dee was
struck by a sense of loss so strong she nearly staggered. How could
Mick have hid so much of himself from her? How much of what else
she knew about him was false?

And Jack. Was Jack Fae too? Had he succumbed
to the same mysterious illness as Peter and the others, becoming
the ones the Oracle called soulless? Cenrick had said the damaged
Fae were all Mick's friends. But how could she tell which were Fae
and which were not. Looking sideways at Cenrick, she saw only an
extremely handsome man, but not someone unmistakably magical like
one of the elves from Lord of the Rings.

And Mick? He looked like any other cop she'd
ever worked with. A regular guy. Hell, most people didn't even know
he was gay, never mind a Faerie.

They reached the elevator. Cenrick pushed the
button. “Let’s go. I need some fresh air.”

While they waited, she continued her train of
thought out loud. “If Jack left, Mick would be devastated. That
would explain the way Mick suddenly stopped going to happy hour, or
hanging out in clubs.”

“Maybe.” Cenrick didn’t sound too certain.
“But I’d think that since you are his best friend, he’d confide
something like this to you, wouldn’t he?”

She refused to let her shoulders sag. “You’d
think. But then, he didn’t tell me he was Fae.”

Was Jack Fae too? Had he succumbed to the
same mysterious illness Peter and the others, becoming the ones the
Oracle called Soulless? Cenrick had said the damaged Fae were all
Mick’s friends, though she hadn’t seen Jack.

How could she tell who was Fae and who
wasn’t? Looking at Cenrick, she saw an extremely handsome man, but
not a magical being. Not someone unmistakably magical, like one of
the Elves on
Lord of the Rings
.

And Mick? He looked like any other cop she’d
ever worked with. A regular guy. Hell, most people didn’t even know
he was gay, never mind a Faerie.

The elevator finally arrived. Once they’d
stepped inside, she studied Cenrick, looking for obvious hints she
might have missed. She saw nothing. “How come you don’t have
wings?”

That
got his attention. He stared at
her. “What?”

“Wings. I thought faeries had wings.”

He snorted. “Not in real life. Some human
invented that. What brought this up?”

“I can’t believe Mick is Fae. I couldn’t tell
and he never told me.”

“Why would he? Most Fae come to the human
world to live a normal, at least by your standards, life. Mick was
left there by accident, but by the time he found out he was Fae,
human seemed more normal. He wouldn’t have wanted to risk it.”

The elevator stopped at the fifth floor. No
one got on. Again, she punched the L button for Lobby.

Cenrick sighed, drawing her attention.
Studying him, with his amazingly broad shoulders and rugged, sexy
features, she grimaced. “You know, I can’t see any family
resemblance between you and Mick.”

Mick was… ordinary looking. Average height,
average build, sandy-brown hair, regular face. Cenrick, on the
other hand…

He brought Conan the barbarian to mind, even
dressed in his wrinkle-free khakis and tight-fitting, t-shirt. Talk
about the ‘it’ factor. This guy had it in spades.

“Different sides of the family.” He shrugged,
his face carefully blank.

Cop-face, she thought, wondering why. She
studied him again, trying for her usual detachment, but the
feminine side of her couldn’t help but appreciate him.

He could have been a movie star, or romance
novel cover model, with his thick hair, hair so dark it was almost
black, tumbling all the way to his shoulders. On some men, this
might signal trouble, but on him it looked… just right.

The rest of him was just right as well. His
physique was amazing. At the gym she’d seen men work for years
trying to obtain such a build. He had broad, muscular shoulders, a
narrow waist with, she was willing to bet, a set of pecs and abs
that would make a champion bodybuilder jealous.

Not to discount his face. Good Lord, no. His
gorgeous high cheekbones, ruggedly chiseled features, and amazing
eyes the color of molten chocolate made him so beautiful that
looking at him almost hurt.

Almost
.

She sighed as the elevator doors slowly
opened. Yep, Cenrick of Rune was absolutely mouth-watering. If, she
amended hastily to herself, one was in the market for a man. Which
she wasn’t.

Hastily, she averted her eyes.

“Something wrong?” he asked, stepped aside to
let her exit first.

“Nope.” Pushing past him, she cleared her
throat, slightly embarrassed to be caught looking, and gave him her
best detached look. The frozen, don’t mess with me stare she’d
spent years perfecting in foster home after foster home. Girls that
looked like her, even when she was still a child, learned quickly
how awful men could be. Only around Mick was she able to relax. And
later, Peter, who’d teased and joked his way past her defenses.

The Ice Princess, they called her around the
precinct. Dee had always been proud of her ice princess moniker.
Hell, being aloof was the only way an attractive woman could make
it in law enforcement, or any male-dominated career, for that
matter.

All her life she’d had to play down her
looks. She’d taken care to ensure that words like Barbie Doll and
advancement-by-couch were never applied to her. Though her blonde
hair was thick and healthy, she kept it cut short, wearing it
tucked neatly behind her ears. She chose loose, non-descript
clothing to hide her admittedly curvy figure, and saved the dangly
earrings and heels for out-of-town weekends with Peter, the man
she’d thought loved her.

Obviously, she’d been fooling herself. Both
about Peter and her job. And about Mick, her pretend-brother.

She forced her thoughts back on track. Mick
and her job – two monumental problems, somehow intertwined. Though
she’d become a cop because of Mick, she’d always given her job one
hundred and ten percent. She was a good, no, an excellent cop, and
all the guys respected her.

Or, they
had
respected her. Now the
taint of false accusations would flush her career right down the
toilet, unless she could clear her name. Odd how the word of a
known prostitute was enough to make the department open an
investigation. The hooker had accused Dee of roughing her up and
demanding a cut of her income. Dee barely even remembered the last
time she’d arrested the woman. The lies were no doubt part of some
elaborate scheme to get even.

When the first instance occurred, her direct
supervisor, Lieutenant Cowell, had told her the suspension was only
a formality.

“Of course we have to open an investigation.
You know the drill. Take a few days off, let Internal Affairs look
into it, and this will all be over before you know it.”

She’d believed him. After all, Dee was an
honest cop. She’d never done anything even skirting the borders of
unethical in her life.

Taken her boss’s advice, Dee had gone
shopping the first day of her paid suspension. She imagined she’d
be back at work by the end of the week.

Then a second civilian came forward. This
time, his accusations were harder to dismiss. A respected business
owner, his coffee shop was near her patrol area. His accusations of
Dee demanding protection money were so ludicrous, she couldn’t
believe anyone would take them seriously.

Unfortunately, the police department had no
choice.

This time, Lieutenant Cowell had referred
Dee’s questions to Internal Affairs. Police Chief Ferguson had left
a message on her machine, asking her to avoid the press until the
situation was resolved.

She supposed she could count herself lucky
they hadn’t made her turn in her badge or her service revolver.
Yet. Everyone knew once that happened, your career was over.

Still… it wasn’t as if she ever could ever
regain her old standing in the department. These types of
accusations, even once disproved, could hang over a cop’s head
forever.

Her neatly ordered world had been turned
upside down. None of this made any sense. Sometimes she found
herself wondering if she’d inadvertently stepped into an old
episode of the Twilight Zone. She even caught herself looking
around corners, half expecting Ashton Kucher to jump out and yell
“Punked!”

In short, she wanted to wake up from this bad
dream.

She glanced at Cenrick, who appeared lost in
his own thoughts. Instead, things had gotten even more surreal. Now
she had to deal with alternate realities, a Fae prince, and the
knowledge that a horrible, atrocious act had been committed against
his people. Possibly by her Mick, her best friend.

Keeping ahead of Cenrick, Dee pushed through
the double glass doors feeling like a one woman cyclone. She hated
this unfocused feeling. As a cop, she was used to taking
action.

“One dead end.” Cenrick’s slightly accented
statement made her start.

“True.” She wiped her suddenly damp palms on
her jeans. They reached her car and she pressed the key fob,
unlocking the doors. “So we’ve got to think of something else.”

Sliding in the car beside her, Cenrick
nodded. “Any thoughts?”

“Not yet.” She forced a smile, turning the
key in the ignition. “I’m thinking we should circle back and check
out the house. Maybe do a stake out.”

“Stake out?” .

“Watch the place, without Mick and his new
friends knowing. Maybe they’ll leave him alone long enough for one
of us to get in and talk to him.”

“Sounds good.” He rewarded her with another
one of his breath-stealing smiles. “Let’s go.”