Spell Caster

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Cassie tightened the band around her hair, trying to hold back the urge to change its colour again. It would be as easy as a single flick of the wrist, but she didn't want to draw too much attention to herself and alert her colleagues that magic was real.

"Cassie?" her boss called.

She turned, her white lab coat swirling with her. "Yes?"

"I have a sample for you, but it's causing a few problems."

She frowned, not sure what to make of that. She trusted her boss, but this sounded almost as if it was off the books, which was a little out of character for him.

"Problems like...?" she prompted.

"It's not going through any of the machines quite right," he replied.

"Is there a chance they're broken?"

He shook his head. "No. I've tried every machine in the building."

"What makes you think I can sort it?" In all likelihood, she could, but she wasn't going to admit that to him just yet. It might raise questions as to how she managed that, and magic wasn't going to be an acceptable answer.

"You're the best technician we have. So far you've managed to get to the bottom of everything we throw at you." He raked his hand through his greying hair, a sheepish grin on his face. "Will you try this one for us?"

Cassie sighed. She really shouldn't. Not if it had failed every machine already. That would just be asking for trouble when she did manage to work it out. And she would. If there was one thing she loved, it was putting different pieces of the puzzle together and discovering the truth of the matter.

"Sure, I'll have a look." The words tumbled out before she could stop them. "But no promises," she added hastily, hoping it was enough to cover her back.

"Thanks, Cassie, you're the best."

That was odd. He never spoke to any of the staff that way. Even if they were doing him a favour and getting to the bottom of mysteries.

"What's the sample code?" Grabbing one of her post-it notes and a pencil, she readied herself to jot it down.

"E6-34U," her boss, Michael, recited.

"Thanks." She flashed him a reserved smile, hoping it'd let him know she wanted to be left alone now.

"Thank you, Cassie. I look forward to hearing what you think." He turned away before she could fully process what he'd just said, but the sense of oddness didn't leave with him.

"Oh well, at least it's a challenge," she muttered to herself, setting aside what she was currently working on and preparing her station to check out the mystery sample.

If she was honest with herself, she was a little bored with this job. There wasn't that much to actually get her mind racing anymore. But it paid well and the hours were good, which was more than she could expect anywhere else given how young she was.

With her workspace cleared, she got out another sheet of paper for her notes, putting the sample number at the top for easy reference. She considered adding about how odd Michael's behaviour was but thought better of it. For now, anyone stopping by her desk would be able to see her notes, and she didn't want to risk them seeing it.

But she would still keep it in mind. It hadn't been right, and that, added to the sample itself, was enough to have her suspicious.

The samples fridge was full to the brim, as always, but she found what she wanted with ease. She lifted the single tray filled with vials carefully, examining it as closely as she dared without knowing if it was poison.

Setting them down on her desk, she grabbed a pair of disposable gloves and snapped them on. It was important she didn't contaminate the sample, mainly so it didn't come up with all the indicators of it belonging to a witch. The last thing she wanted was to be discovered for what she was by accident.

She pulled up a list of the various tests they could do, trying to decide the best way to start the process. She suspected that some of the problem Michael was facing was that the blood belonged to a paranormal and the machines couldn't work out what it was for that exact reason. She almost hoped that was the case, then she could make up some kind of excuses and fake paperwork for it. But something deep down told her there was going to be some other difference that wasn't as easily hidden as the mere existence of paranormals.

It really couldn't be that easy. She'd seen paranormal blood come through before and it had never caused too much of an issue. Especially the types that were mostly human. They just passed through the machine like normal human blood would.

That wasn't why the Witch Council had placed her here though. She was meant to catch the other situations. The ones that could risk revealing an entire secret society living right beneath the human's noses.

"Now, let's see what we've got here," she said to herself, starting the first test.

Two hours later, things weren't looking any clearer than they had been and Cassie was left frowning into a microscope, trying to work out what she was looking at but failing in a way she'd never thought possible. Even knowing what she was looking for, and with a tiny, secretive influx of magic, she hadn't got any of the answers she was looking for. On the surface, it almost seemed like shifter blood. If she was right, it was specifically avian shifter blood, but the rest of the results were making it hard for her to trust that diagnosis.

"Come on, Cassie," she muttered. "You're a smart woman, you should be able to work it out."

"They say talking to yourself is the first sign of madness."

She jumped, almost knocking over one of the vials of blood as she turned to look at the owner of the voice.

"Who are you?" She looked him up and down, trying to work it out for herself.

He certainly wasn't one of the other lab technicians, and he didn't have the air of a doctor. If she had to guess, she'd say he was paranormal too, though she'd need more time to make that assessment for sure.

"Hadrian." He held out his hand.

Not knowing what else to do, she pulled off one of her gloves and took his hand in hers, giving it a firm shake.

"What are you doing here?" She wasn't going to offer up her name for nothing. He'd somehow come into the restricted lab without anyone noticing. While the technicians kept to themselves, as a rule, they didn't let just anyone walk in and would call someone out if they weren't meant to be there.

"I've come to see you, Cassandra Morgan."

She shivered at the sound of her full name dripping from his lips. Everyone called her Cassie, and she preferred it that way. And yet there was something alluring about the way he said it that only made her want him to repeat it.

"I'm afraid I'm working, can this wait for another time?" She struggled to tear her eyes from him as she turned away.

She knew she had to cut him off now though. He'd probably come from the Council, and if she didn't, they'd think they could get to her at any and every point during the day. And that wasn't something she was willing to have them know. Even if she worked here because of them, they still needed to respect her time and her work. She wasn't just theirs to control.

"It can't wait. It's about the sample you're working on."

The blood ran cold in Cassie's veins. How did he know what she was working on? Usually, she'd have dismissed his words as just conjecture, but with the odd behaviour of the sample she was working on, she doubted it. It just all seemed a little too suspicious for her liking.

"You have five minutes." Her voice lowered as she talked, hopefully giving him some idea of how serious it had to be for her to give up her time like that. "Give me a moment, I can take us to one of the meeting rooms."

"I don't think that's a good idea," he warned.

She closed her eyes and counted to five in her head, trying to remain calm. She wasn't an angry person by nature, but he was pushing her last nerve.

"Fine. Come with me." She waved him in the direction of her desk.

Setting down the sample she'd been working on and her notes, she turned back to him and perched on the edge of her desk. Maybe not the most sensible position for her to be in, but she was already frustrated over the lack of answers she'd gotten and didn't have the patience for setting this up like a proper meeting.

"Speak," she demanded.

"Is it safe here?" Hadrian raised an eyebrow.

Why did he have to be so attractive? She was sure most people wouldn't have this problem, not with the nose that looked like it had been broken one too many times and the look in his eyes that screamed cold and efficient. But to her, apparently, both of those traits were appealing. Even if they never had been before.

"There's no one about," she pointed out.

"That doesn't mean no one's listening."

"If you've come from the Council then you're well aware of what I am. Believe me when I say no one is listening." She folded her arms, partly in annoyance, but mostly so she didn't start picking things up from her desk and fidgeting with them. The last thing she wanted was to make it obvious how nervous she was.

"I'm not from the Witch Council, Miss Morgan, but I am here on important matters."

She gave him what she hoped was an expectant look.

"I believe we may have the answers you're looking for."

Cassie gave a short laugh. "Maybe I'm not looking for answers. Maybe I'm just doing my job." Despite the words, her curiosity was piqued. She wanted to know what he had to say about the blood, mostly because she hadn't made any headway on it herself.

"You're not the kind to give up when there's something to learn."

As much as she didn't want to agree, she loved finding the answers to things, and this was no different. That desire was what had made her go into science in the first place. Well, that and the urge to combine it with magic. She was sure there were some great applications of the two, and it was part of her duty to find those and prove to the Witch Council that they should be using modern science too.

"Fine. What is it you think I need to know?"

"I assume you've worked out the blood isn't human?" he asked.

"Yes. As far as I can tell, it's an avian shifter."

His eyebrows shot up faster than she could speak.

"I'm sorry, was I not supposed to have worked that out?" she asked sweetly.

"I'm just surprised you can. I wouldn't have thought any of your machines could have worked it out."

"They can't," she admitted. "It's my experience that can. There's something in their red blood cells that almost matches birds. They're quite easy to tell apart."

"Are all shifters so easy to recognise?" There was something akin to interest on his face.

She frowned. Was he seriously unaware of the various differences between different kinds of paranormal? It seemed unlikely if he knew there was something different about this specific sample she had.

"No. Sometimes you can tell it's a shifter from the sample, but it's only avian shifters I've found that are markedly different. You can tell witch blood just by looking at it too." She'd only been able to discover that by looking at her own blood. She'd only been half surprised to find tiny sparks of magic dancing among the blood.

"Interesting." He stroked his chin while he ran his other hand through the various papers on her desk. She wished he wouldn't do that, but it wasn't in her best interests to ask him to stop. Not when he had information that could further her own research.

"Are you going to tell me what you know about this blood?" she asked, narrowly avoiding tapping her foot with impatience.

"You're right, it's avian shifter. But it's been tampered with."

"Oh?" She turned to pick up her notebook, completely forgetting how annoyed she was by the situation as the curiosity sunk in. "Was it before or after it was extracted from the body?"

"Before," he responded.

"What was it that was introduced to the system?" She looked through her notes trying to see if there was any indication of what had happened on them.

"That's what we were hoping you could tell us."

"And you didn't think of bringing the sample to me yourself and asking me first?" She didn't try very hard to keep the accusation out of her tone. She didn't see the point in hiding something like that.

"We didn't know if you'd agree or not," Hadrian responded.

"From everything you've just told me, I think we both know that's a lie. You always knew I'd agree to look at the sample." Though she did have to hand it to him, doing it this way had meant she'd done it on the lab's time and not her own. Not that it would have made a difference to her answer. The professional intrigue would have been enough for her.

He shuffled uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "Okay, the plan was to see how far you'd get on your own. I don't think we expected you to even be able to tell what it was."

"Glad I could impress," she bit out before she could think any better of it. "Who are you here on behalf of?"

"I can't tell you that."

"Of course you can't." It was a cliché straight out of a spy movie, and she was already tired of it. She didn't want to be caught up in some weird plot she needed to get to the bottom of. And yet...

"But if you agree to help us, you might get the answers you're after."

She sighed. "Isn't that always the way?"

Hadrian's lips quirked into a smile. "I believe it is. What do you say? A little adventure in exchange for some answers?"

She pretended to think about it but knew without a doubt what her answer was going to be. "Yes."

"Welcome to the team, Cassie." He held out his hand, and she took it, giving it a firm shake and sealing the deal. Hopefully, she wasn't about to make a big mistake.