The Fabled Read Free Page A

women practically flocking
to his bedroom. His blonde hair and dark eyes looked nothing like
my dark hair and blue eyes but age-wise I looked like I could be
his sister.
    “I didn’t then. Now I wouldn’t mind a
relationship but being called in the wee hours of the morning to go
do something I can’t share with anyone kind of puts a damper on my
possible dates. I had to practically throw this one out the door
while she was, uh, less than appropriately dressed. She actually
accused me of being married. She thought my wife was on the way
home.”
    I rolled my eyes at him. “You should have
told her your mom was on the way home.” I chuckled. “As far as work
goes, I notified you thirty seconds after I was notified. Would you
like me to ask Lucian to call you first next time? I’m sure he
would love to hear about how important your time is and that proper
notification should be given prior to you doing your job.”
    “Ugh. Don’t tell grandfather. The last time I
complained about something he spent two hours lecturing me about
the proper behavior of young men and how I was failing.”
    I smiled at him. “Just be lucky he wasn’t the
one to train you in becoming an agent. Trust me, no one knows how
to exploit failure like Lucian.”
    “All I can say is, better you than me.”
    “Is that any way to treat your mother?”
    “Hey, he’s your father.”
    “And, your grandfather. I think a little one
on one time with dear old gramps would do you good. I’ll be sure to
schedule your next training session with him. Of course I’ll be
there for moral support. And to watch.”
    “You’re sadistic. You know that.”
    “Mwah ha ha. How did that sound? Villainous
enough?”
    He rolled his eyes.
    We pulled into the park on the corner and
made our way around to the fountain. It was built just inside the
tree line and was surrounded by woods on three of the four sides.
Many thought it was to give one the peacefulness of the forest and
running water at the same time but the Fabled had built this
fountain as one of many portals around the globe. Essentially the
portal was closed unless someone with magical power decided to use
it. In which case there was a failsafe cloaking spell that would
activate as soon as the portal was opened. It certainly made it a
lot faster and easier to get from Georgia to Texas.
    As we approached the fountain I sent out my
magic to open the portal and thought about where I wanted to go.
All of the portals were interconnected and every major city in the
world had at least one. Most of the larger cities had several.
Dallas was no exception and it had three that I could remember. I
aimed for the one that was closest to the coordinates the council
had sent to my phone. I could see the slight shimmer around the
fountain and knew the portal was open so I drove through.
    We came out at the end of an alley in central
Dallas. I hit the GPS on my phone and followed the directions to
the street I was looking for. We were in the middle of the
industrial district and, even at five o’clock in the morning, there
was traffic and people everywhere. This wasn’t good.
    “Damn, no wonder the council is involved in
this one.”
    I nodded. “Even if this Vamp was killed in
self-defense, the killer will be put to death for bring attention
to our kind.”
    “The cardinal sin,” Tristan joked.
    I quickly parked and started toward the dead
body and our medical examiner Calvin.
    “Hey Cal.”
    “Hello Sunny. Tell me, what do you see
here?”
    “I’m going to assume you mean besides the
obvious.”
    He nodded. The obvious would be a cluster
fuck. We were standing in the middle of a crowded street. There
were at least four Wizards holding a ward around the crime scene
which was causing the cars and people to divert their course.
Luckily, there didn’t seem to be much backup as far as the cars go
but we need to get out of here quick.
    I concentrated my attention on the body. He
appeared to be in his mid-twenties.