Page 23 of Reaper Unhinged
And I’d be doing it alone.
Chapter Nine
Cora
The Magiguard offices are in Central Necro masquerading as a generic office building. The streets are buzzing with people as I cross the road and head for the main doors.
Dayna warned me I may not get past the reception desk. The masquerade is real, and Magiguard security is top-notch, but I promised Fee I’d take care of this, and I don’t intend to let her down.
I pass a young couple on the way to the entrance. They stand with their heads together, poring over a piece of paper.
“They’re paying for blood donations,” the woman says.
“There’s no address,” the guy says.
“There’s a phone number.”
The door to the building is the thick glass kind with a metallic vertical bar to be used as a handle. I push it open and stride into the foyer. My heels clip on the tiled floor as I make my way to reception with a huge smile on my face.
The man behind the counter glances up at me and does a double-take. Yeah, I have a million-dollar smile when I decide to use it.
He puts down his pen and blinks at me. “And how may I help you today?”
“I’m here to see Ursula Mann.”
His expression smooths out, and he rakes me over. “I think you have the wrong building. We don’t have anyone by that name here.”
Dayna warned me about this. The Magiguard run a front business with real human employees, but this guyisMagiguard, and he knows every other Magiguard by sight.
I’m not one of them, and I’m not an entity known to them, which makes my knowing Ursula’s name a red flag.
“Look, my name is Cora Dawn. I’m a friend of Seraphina Dawn, who’s a Dominus. Tell Ursula we got her message to Azazel. Can you do that? Please?”
He shrugs, impassive. “Like I said, we have no one by that name here.”
Oh, bloody hell. “Fine, then you can chase up on your missing humans issue yourself because all the Dominus are tied up on other matters.”
He stares at me levelly, unmoved.
I throw up my hands. “I tried.”
I turn and head for the door. There’s nothing else to be done here. At least I managed to get a message to Keon at the Academy. Not a total failure then. The crisp midday air slaps me in the face, and the smell of coffee and bacon fills my nostrils. My stomach rumbles. I need food, and there, like a beacon beaming at me from across the street, is a greasy spoon café.
“Cora?”
I pause at the curb and look over my shoulder to see a slender woman standing behind me.
She smiles thinly. “I believe you wanted to see me?”
* * *
I polishoff my bacon sarnie while Ursula watches. The greasy spoon café does excellent bacon sarnies, and the coffee is pretty good too.
I wipe my hands on a napkin. “You sure you don’t want one? They’re delicious.”
She smiles thinly. “I’m not hungry, but thanks. You said all the Dominus are busy.” She gives me a skeptical look.
At least she’s waited till I finish eating. Polite of her, which means having to lie to her will probably make me feel a little bad.
