V.E.I.L. Division: Alpha

Chapter One Sage Most people pick out something nice for their first day on the job. Something smart. Subtle. Professional. I chose violence. Tight black jeans. Blood-red stilettos. A fitted white tank top that hugged in all the right places. Cropped leather jacket thrown over the top. My gun was strapped to my hip, and my lipstick matched the heels—just in case anyone still had doubts about how I handle confrontation. I looked like sin in a bulletproof wrapper—and I meant every stitch of it. My hair fell loose down my back, long, blonde, and wild. People always underestimated women who wore their hair like mine. They usually regretted it. The building didn’t look like much from the outside. Just another mirrored skyscraper stacked between grey slabs of glass and money. But inside? The air was alive with power. Magic buzzed behind the walls, woven into the floor beneath my feet, humming through every rune-etched doorway. Vital Enforcement of Integrated Laws. V.E.I.L. Elite magical law enforcement. The ones who handled the threats the world didn’t know about—and wouldn’t believe if they did. I stepped through the lobby like I owned it. Not because I was cocky, but because if you walked into a place like this without purpose, you got swallowed whole. I didn’t intend to be anyone’s chew toy. The receptionist looked up, eyes scanning my badge as I approached. “Name?” she asked, flatly. “Sage Voss. Reporting to Team Alpha.” That got a reaction. The slight lift of her eyebrows, the flicker of surprise she tried to hide behind her neutral expression. She pressed a button beneath the desk. “Wait here. Director Hale will escort you personally.” I didn’t move. Just squared my shoulders and kept my chin up. The heels weren’t for style. They were armor. And today, I’d need it. He arrived two minutes later. Broad shoulders. Dark grey suit. Steel-grey hair. A man who didn’t need weapons to kill—his presence could do it well enough. “Agent Voss,” he said. “Walk with me.” I followed him into the lift. He keyed in a floor manually. The buttons responded with a soft golden glow—runes embedded beneath the glass. I walked like I owned the place, but I wasn’t stupid. V.E.I.L. didn’t hire soft. They hired lethal. And every man behind that door had earned their place in blood. I was the wildcard. And wildcards get cut first. “Your transfer caught attention,” he said. “Truth Seeker. Seer. Enhanced perception. Psychic acuity. Unfiltered accuracy.” “I don’t do small talk either,” I replied. That earned me the barest curve of a smirk. “You’re being placed on Team Alpha. High-level operations. No margin for error.” “I don’t make them.” He didn’t smile again. “They don’t want a fourth,” he continued. “They didn’t request you. You were assigned by my authority, which means they’ll assume I forced you on them. They’ll test you. Possibly resist you. Earn their trust, Agent Voss. Or at the very least, earn their respect.” “I don’t need them to like me,” I said. “I just need them to listen when it counts.” The doors opened. The corridor was quiet, lined in polished steel and black stone. Runes traced faint light along the walls, shifting as we passed. At the end, a reinforced door stood open. We stepped inside. Three men were already waiting. All in tactical blacks. Each one radiated power in a different way. The leader stood closest to the table—dark hair, hard jaw, presence sharp enough to cut through stone. Eyes like storms. Silent command. To his left, the tall one—fluid posture, quiet tension. He watched everything without blinking, like he was waiting for someone to make the first mistake. The third leaned against the wall, lazy smirk in place. But his hand hovered near his ribs, close to a weapon I couldn’t see. Nervous energy, masked in charm. They weren’t just a team. They were a pack. And I’d just walked into their territory. “This is Agent Sage Voss,” Hale announced. “She’ll be joining Alpha effective immediately. Full clearance. Central Command has approved her placement.” No one spoke. Hale stepped aside. Left me standing in front of them like a test no one wanted to take. “I’ll let you handle the briefing,” he said to the leader. “Run your evaluations. She’s clear for ops.” He gave me a final nod. “Welcome to V.E.I.L.” Then he left me with them. The leader finally moved. “Thorne,” he said. “Team lead.” No handshake. No warmth. Just an evaluation behind cold eyes. The youngest one pushed off the wall. “So what, you’re a human lie detector?” “Something like that,” I said. He tilted his head. “That real? Or just a gimmick to keep people on edge?” “Lie to me,” I said calmly. He smirked. “I’m a virgin.” Pain cracked behind my eyes like a thunderclap. Quick and mean. Gone in seconds, but it left a sting behind my right temple. “Lie,” I said, steady. The quiet one unfolded his arms. “I’m not armed.” Sharp stab. Behind my nose. I didn’t flinch. “Lie.” Thorne watched me. His voice was flat. “What happens when you lie?” “I bleed,” I said. “Nose, ears, sometimes worse. Once passed out in the middle of an interrogation because someone swore they didn’t kill their sister. They had.” He didn’t react. None of them did. I wasn’t here to impress. I was here to work. Thorne finally spoke again. “You’re a liability until proven otherwise. Stay out of the way, follow orders, and don’t get anyone killed.” I met his eyes. “Understood.” He turned his back and walked out without another word. The others followed. I stayed where I was, surrounded by quiet tech, tactical projections, and silence that felt more like a warning than a welcome. They didn’t trust me. Not yet. But they would. I didn’t come here to play nice. I came to survive. And I never lose.