Night Season by Eileen Wilks Read Free Book Online Page A

come with me."
    He reversed his chair. Lily followed him promptly. Cullen paused to give the two guards a cross-eyed grin.
    Childish? Sure. But fun.
    Behind the door on the right was another hallway, this one short and ending at yet another door.
    "MCD idiots," Lily muttered as they headed for that door.
    "You're MCD," he reminded her.
    "They're regular MCD. Not Unit."
    MCD stood for Magical Crimes Division, a section of the FBI that had a bad rep with the clans. MCD had been tasked with enforcing the registration laws before the Supreme Court decided that werewolves were citizens.
    The Unit was different from the rest of MCD. Most of its personnel were Gifted, for one thing. On paper the Unit looked like part of MCD, but in practice it had always operated independently of the rest of the division—even, to some extent, of the entire FBI bureaucracy.
    Then came the Turning. The number and severity of magical disturbances shot right off the scale. The Unit was the only law enforcement agency with trained, Gifted agents, but there weren't enough of them to deal with everything. So they'd recruited from the ranks of regular MCD agents for some positions… leading to the presence of cretins like the two Cullen had just encountered.
    Brooks stopped his chair a few paces away from the door at the end of the hall and put it through a tidy maneuver that left him facing Cullen and Lily. "I'll ask Agent Yu to brief you in a moment, Mr. Seabourne. First, though, I have a question. In your opinion, did those two agents act in honest if regrettable ignorance? Or did their actions arise from prejudice?"
    Cullen shrugged. "Asshole Number One is stupid—probably doesn't read much, so he never knew about the search orders being rescinded. He thought he was 'doing his dooty.' Asshole Number Two—"
    "Sort that for me, please."
    "Asshole Number One's the blond. Number Two is the African American, and if he didn't spend his formative years as an agent shooting lupi, he wanted to."
    "Thank you. Mr. Timms? Your opinion, please."
    His bodyguard was startled by the request, but answered promptly. "Baxter's an asshole, like Seabourne said. Likes to push around anyone who can be pushed. Carter's okay."
    "Thank you. May I say, Mr. Seabourne, I'd like to meet you sometime when you're in possession of all of your parts. Is the regrowth painful?"
    "You ever had a wound heal to the itching stage?"
    "I have."
    "It doesn't itch like that all the time. Just most of it. Inside, where I can't scratch."
    "I see. That could be quite annoying." He nodded at Lily. "Please bring Mr. Seabourne up to date as briefly as possible."
    "Yes, sir." She looked at Cullen. "We've got visitors. They say they came from another realm, and circumstances back that up. They arrived at the node at the Fashion Center Mall two hours ago. Just before their arrival Gan showed up, obviously aware they were on their way, though a little confused as to the timing. There are three of them—a gnome, a man who looks human but isn't, and the third… I don't know what to call the third one. The gnome won't give his name—we're to call him the Councilor. The one who looks human is Wen of Ekiba, and the other one is called Tash, no surname. They claim they're here for trade… and for me and Cynna. Gan says they want us to find something, but they're not talking. Or rather," she added, "the Councilor talks without saying much and they all talk among themselves, but not in English."
    Cullen's eyebrows hitched up. "How did they communicate with you at all?"
    "The gnome knows some English, but he won't discuss anything of substance without a shield. He's not talking about wards. Cynna asked about that. He claims he knows a shield spell, but can't use it. His magic isn't the right kind. That's why you're here."
    Excitement rose and exploded in a dizzy froth. "Real shields," he repeated carefully. "This gnome is talking about a spell that erects a true shield over a space, not just a