Shadows of Fate (Shadow Born) Read Free Page A

agencies, and prisons. The headquarters for the Interspecies Relations Taskforce, or IRT, was west of Denver, underneath the remains of the Justice Center that had once been affectionately called the Taj Mahal by locals.
    During the Rise, as the survivors began to rebuild, each region pieced together a government system to maintain a semblance of peace. Communication between the states had been impossible, which had put an end to nationalized government. Each state was broken into districts. Those districts were responsible for policing their own, and the laws were often brutally enforced. The IRT was in charge of keeping the peace between the species in the Rocky Mountain District. This had been Brenna’s reality for the last ninety years.
    A half hour later, Brenna pulled into the makeshift parking lot on the upper level of the tunnels. Jumping onto the dirt, she secured the van with a simple charm. She shook her shoulders to release the tension in her neck then pulled her pass out of her back pocket. With a quick charge she pressed it against the innocuous metal rectangle on one dirt wall. Dust settled from the ceiling as the room shifted to reveal the entrance to a narrow set of tunnels.
    She moved into the darkness and hit the switch to close the chamber. In recent years, as local power stations came back online, they had managed to pipe electricity into the underground, so a chain of Christmas lights lit the passageway. The red, green and blue bulbs strung against the dirt walls gave the path a surreal look. Brenna wasn’t sure what a Christmas tree was, because such things predated her time on Earth, but it must have been spectacular.
    When she reached the end of the tunnel, she freed the athame from her back and slit open her palm. She waited for enough blood to well up, and pressed her hand against the glass doorway. The enchantment recognized her blood and opened. It was primitive and messy, but it worked, and suited Brenna’s style of magic. The lights blinked as the spell unwound. It was a different world inside. Hospital-like with glaring white tile and white washed walls, at first it hurt your eyes.
    She waved to the receptionist incased in a circle of spell-proof glass. Lucy flipped her off, then went back to typing. Barely five foot, she looked like a mix between a Cheshire cat and pink hippo. Well, aside from the furry pink wings folded against her back.
    “Love you too, sweetie,” Brenna said, blowing a kiss. Thankfully Lucy considered her a friend. Brenna had no desire to be on the gargoyle’s bad side.
    “Seraph wants you.” Lucy looked up for a moment, humor in her piercing blue eyes. “He’s got someone with him.”
    “Thanks.” Brenna stepped forward, motioning for her to open up the security window. When Lucy shook her head, she added, “I got you something.” She pulled a chocolate moon pie she had pilfered from the underground market from her duster’s pocket and waved it against the window.
    The partitionshifted and the pie was snatched from her fingers. By the time Brenna looked back, only crumbs were left on Lucy’s face. The gargoyle belched, and went back to typing.
    Laughing, Brenna walked inside. Cameras lined the narrow hallway as she made her way to her office. The halls were filled with a menagerie of creatures forced into an uneasy truce, due to their contracts with the IRT. Species that were sworn enemies often shared offices.
    When the void between worlds had been bridged during the Fall, all manner of creatures had spilled onto this plane, some drawn to the blood and chaos, others simply ripped away from their homes. Now, trapped here indefinitely, they waited for a chance to return home. It could be a week or a thousand years, there was no way to know. In these unstable times, the Guardians let none approach the portals unchallenged, and left few alive. All they could do was to make the best of it.
    It didn’t make for a stress-free working environment. About once a