Love and Other Crisis | Season 1

Episode | 9

Kaliope arrived at work Monday morning cautiously prepared for the strangeness ahead. Inola met her in the lobby and escorted her to the human resource department responsible for Occult recruitment and affairs. She signed her contract, recognizing the tingling for what it was. Magic. The NDA she signed during her interview automatically converted from provisionary upon accepting the position before the deadline.

The employee incentives were nothing to scoff at. She moved up two pay brackets. Free health care. Miscellaneous expenses for lunch and travel.

Hazard pay.

Kaliope swallowed. "You guys know how to sweeten the pot."

"More flies with honey."

Next was Kaliope's ID picture. Inola fussed at her hair, ensuring each strand was in its place. Her onboarding was all so normal Kaliope almost forgot her new job was anything but. Until her ID materialized with the click of the camera. ID and pass in hand, they headed up to the Occult Division.

Regular employees had access up to the fourteenth floor. If one tried to hitch a ride with someone from the Occult Division, they'd find themselves turnabout and back at their desk. A magic filter system.

Occult staffer access ended on the twentieth floor at the Occult CMT office. As far as the rest of the world knew, Sage Tower stopped at twenty floors with a three-tier rooftop Sky Park that offered outdoor access and a panoramic view of the city. Non-Occult and Occult staffers had access to Sky Park, which hosted a cafe and green areas to relax and enjoy the magically purified fresh air. But there were hidden floors below Sky Park. They housed the Occult Assembly, their branch of investigators, and other departments that oversaw occult affairs.

All those secrets. Kaliope's mind maintained its familiar reasoning, headbutting at her new truths with stubborn persistence. "And there's no way anyone can wander off where they shouldn't?"

"If they did, the Veil would get them." Inola curled her fingers, and claws popped out. Actual claws. Kaliope jumped with an undignified yelp. Inola shoved her hand behind her, sobered. "Sorry. Exaggeration. The Veil will only alter their perception of what they see. Perfectly harmless."

Inola gently tugged on Kaliope's shirt for her to stop as they approached the frosted door leading to their office. The fox demon's demeanor reminded her of the cute little fox she had turned into with its big innocent eyes and wagging tails.

"Something wrong?"

Inola fiddled with her bracelet, eyes averted. "You're not...afraid of me, are you?"

"Afraid?" Kaliope shook her head. "No? Why?"

"Your heart's racing."

Kaliope rubbed her chest. "Ah. New job jitters. It's nothing."

Inola showed Kaliope to her desk. It was beside Inola's in the three-spot workstation and faced Gideon Asper, who occupied the longer side. Kaliope's position placed her along the wall of Ronin's office. If she leaned forward, she had a clear view of her boss busy at work through the glass section of the partition.

Inola introduced her to the werewolf she missed on her interview day.

Gideon Asper dismantled the grizzly image of a werewolf she pictured on her head. Dressed in a buttoned-down white shirt and pants, he looked like a cuddly overgrown puppy with shaggy dark curls. His smile lit his dark eyes. Wrinkled the corners of his eyes. And his hand, when Kaliope grasped it, swallowed hers in his warmth.

"He only bites when it's a full moon." Inola meant it as a joke, but both Kaliope and Gideon cringed.

"Not funny, Nola."

"It is, though." Inola flopped in her chair. "My audience is the problem." She picked up her tablet and tapped away at the screen.

Inola's desk barely had any room with all the framed pictures of various smiling faces Kaliope assumed were her family. They all had the same fox-like features and a touch of mischief in their eyes. Unframed polaroids decorated the two sides of her cubicle. They looked so happy together. Kaliope ignored the fluttering in her chest, zoning in on the most prominent picture among them. One of Inola snuggled with a dog.

"Cute dog. Is it yours?"

Inola glanced at Kaliope, then at the picture. "His name's Peppy. And rule of thumb, human. The cuter it is, the faster you should run."

"Ah." Mental images of Inola in her fox form and the wicked toothy grin she gave Andreas lined up in Kaliope's mind. There was definitely more to the fox than meets the eye.

A patch of awkward silence descended. Inola worked on her tablet while Gideon sifted through a folder of papers on his desk. Across the room, Gale, the tech mage, worked at his many screens, not deigning to acknowledge her presence. Kaliope wasn't sure what she should do with nothing assigned to her. She was about to ask Inola for instructions when Ronin emerged from his office.

Ronin deposited the thick book he carried on her desk. Stamped into the leather cover was the title Employee Handbook for the Noccult.

Kaliope read it as Occult for Dummies.

"Read. Memorize it from the front to back cover."

Kaliope eyed the text. "It'll take me at least two weeks before—"

"However long, read it. The rest of you, my office. Five minutes."

Ronin strode away, returning to his office before Kaliope voiced any objections. She stared after him, wanting to throw the gigantic book at his head. Inola and Gideon gave her sympathetic smiles as they filed into the boss's office behind Gale and a floating translucent screen. On it were images of documents, buildings...

They had a case. Was it the client Ronin mentioned on her interview day?

Kaliope squinted, trying to make out the name of the building Gale enlarged on the screen. Kelmor Jeweler. The name rang a bell. Gale saw Kaliope spying on the meeting. With a flick of his hand, the glass partition frosted, obscuring the interior.

That little witch. He really was grating on her last nerves. "What's his problem?" Kaliope flipped the employee handbook open. She hadn't signed up to be tossed on the sidelines. Ronin McIntyre shouldn't have offered her a contract if he didn't want her there.

Kaliope completed the first chapter, which was thirty pages long with text and scattered images, by the time the team emerged. Chapter one was more of an introduction to the Occult, with expanded information about stratifications, etiquette, norms, laws, race designations, and a slew of other things in the following chapters.

Inola returned to her desk.

Kaliope rolled her chair into the fox demon's photo gallery slash office. "We have a case, right? What's it about?"

Inola's eyes shone the way they often did, causing Kaliope jitters. Mischievous troublemakers, Eli called them. Kaliope hadn't reached the "fox demon" entry in the book.

"Family drama."

"Family drama?" It sounded out of place, but there had to be more for the Occult CMT to be on the case. Kaliope pressed for more information. "Which family? What happened?"

"Inola." The brusque voice of their team lead ended Inola's briefing before it began.

"I'm on it, Boss." Inola stood. Grabbed her tablet.

Kaliope withdrew to her cubicle, aware of Ronin's gaze, like a teacher overseeing an unruly student at the back of the class. She didn't relax until a quick glance confirmed Ronin had returned to his desk. Kaliope expelled a long breath.

Gideon rapped his knuckles on the partition, separating them for her attention. He flicked a look toward Ronin's office. "Skip ahead to the chapter about Lycans."

~~~

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