Phasing (The Dark Origins)

By D.L. Miles

Just when seventeen-year-old Ashley thinks she’s able to quit her job at Legion, a government of supernatural beings, her long-time partner, Colt’s, family starts to disappear. They aren’t the only one’s either; spooks have been vanishing all over the world.
Ashley chooses to find Colt’s family as her final case with Legion, but as they begin to investigate she begins to uncover things about herself she never thought possible. She starts to think that maybe Legion holds too much power, and maybe they won’t be so happy to just let her walk away from them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: D.L. Miles
• Release date: Apr 6, 2018
• ISBN: 9781370272198

D.L. Miles

Miles is a Sun Scorpio with the heart of a Moon Pisces. She began her publishing journey in 2012, admittedly maybe a little too soon. Her eclectic taste comes through in each book she writes, ranging from soft fantasy romances to dark brooding poetry to serial killers that hold a grudge.For special offers and updates check out her Patreon! www.patreon.com/dlmilesbooks

Book preview

Phasing

D.L. Miles

Copyright 2018 by Devin Miles

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Cover design by www.yocladesigns.com

The Dark Origins

Read the stories of three girls as they discover who they are, where they come from, and where they're going.  Each book is the tale of one girl, their life, and how different events lead them to the same place at the same time.  Find the other novels in the series...

Igniting

Shimmering

Phasing

Also by D.L. Miles

The Ethereal Crossings

Shadeland

Fenridge

Northcliffe

Glenbrook

Threads of Chaos

With Cross & Charm

Goderich Girl Novellas

Violet 24

Rouge 52 (coming soon)

Chapter 1

WORKING

I dodged to my left, a streak of fire just missing my legs by a fraction of an inch. As I landed into the puddle I tried to let out a shout but instead let the muddy water into my mouth. More curses came from me, but I didn’t have much time to grovel in my own pity. I jumped to my feet and whirled, just in time to see another shot of fire coming in my direction.

It was technically against the rules to use my powers unless it was absolutely necessary, but since I didn’t feel like having any more of my hair singed off, I felt this was absolutely necessary. My hand shot to my right and a small window opened, a miniature portal to a safer distance from the elemental.

In the blink of an eye, his burning gold eye, I was behind him. I watched him quietly, hoping Colt would arrive soon with Enna. A fire elemental would only be preoccupied for so long before getting bored and moving on to light something else aflame. And this particular elemental got bored fast.

His entire body was flame, a glowing torch that lit up the normally black night in Thistlewood. So far he’d gotten me once with his whip, a length of blue fire that hung from his hand. Thankfully it’d only been my leather jacket, but I could feel the heat of the burn; it was at least second-degree.

We had started our fight in the park beside us, the children’s playground now melting into the wood chips. Although the wood chips were now nearly a pool of fire. Colt would never be able to miss it from overhead.

I inched my foot, preparing myself for another jump when the elemental heard me. He whirled on me, whip already in motion and I didn’t have enough time to create a portal again. I braced myself for another lash of flame when Colt hit me to the ground. My breath was knocked from my lungs, but I managed to stand quickly. Colt was at my side now.

Where’s Enna? I asked.

Colt kept his stern gaze trained on the elemental, which seemed confused by another person joining us. She’ll be here soon.

How soon is ‘soon’? I muttered, trying to gauge the next attack. The elemental began to pace back and forth, maybe debating if he could handle two of us. Legion agents weren’t to be taken lightly, but whenever I worked alone they usually thought differently. I guessed I might have thought the same of a seventeen-year-old half-elf girl. I barely took myself seriously. But whenever Colt arrived, the chiseled six-foot Amazon people tended to rethink us.

The elemental tilted his head at us, and I felt his fury coming in waves. Do you feel that? I asked.

Feel what? Colt questioned. I could tell he wanted to get into the battle, to just take down the elemental and get this done. But a fistfight with fire didn’t exactly work, and we needed Enna. Fire elemental versus a frost elemental was a much more even battle.

He’s pissed, I said, preparing to make another portal. And kind of confused.

How can you tell?

I can feel it. Nobody ever understood why I could feel what others did like this. I always chalked it up to reading body language, but how exactly does one read a fire elemental? I’d never know. But I knew he was mad.

Well he was kicked out of his home, mused Colt, keeping his hands at chest level should anything happen. The elemental still refused to make a move.

He wasn’t kicked out, I argued, he burned it down. Which I totally don’t get because a fire elemental living in the house firemen practice on seems to be a pretty good deal. Light a fire, it gets put out and he lives happily ever after with his little fire wife.

The elemental roared, his flame turning bright blue before dwindling back to an orange glow. His whip crackled as he stepped towards us, this time leaving a burning trail behind him. I’d made him mad.

Oh, I said, no fire wife? He began to turn blue. Okay, she leave you? He ignited, his fire going as high as the lampposts around us. Beneath him I could see the pavement melting, black tar pooling as he stepped towards us.

How do you do that? Colt whispered.

Do what? Figure things out? I consider it a special talent.

No, always find people’s buttons.

I shrugged. Same thing.

I jumped to the left while Colt jumped to the right just as the elemental’s whip shot towards us. It cracked in the space we’d once been, and when he saw he missed he didn’t hesitate to go right for me. I leapt out of the way quick enough to see a bench split in half from the elemental’s power.

I pulled at the collar of my shirt, wondering when Enna would get here. A whistle screeched from overhead as a frozen breeze rushed past me. Overhead I spotted Enna in her usual white gown as she flew by. Get out of the way Ashley! she shrieked.

I wasn’t exactly clear on what she was going to do. Either she would dump a pile of snow on the elemental to subdue his power long enough for us to get the cuffs on, or she would outright freeze him to the ground. Either way I didn’t want to be involved.

The elemental was no longer concerned with me, lashing his whip towards the sky at Enna. He never hit her, but the constant cracks were beginning to fray my nerves.

Colt was waving me towards him and instead of waiting, I decided to break the rules again. Enna whistled once more, signaling her return back. I created a quick portal to my partner and jumped through. The purple static rim of the portal showed me Colt, vanishing the moment I was through it.

Enna dove low to the ground, her dress scraping across the pavement as she showered it with snow. That snow quickly melted from the heat but suddenly formed into ice, and as she passed by the fire elemental she let out a wave of white and silver. I clenched my eyes shut as I felt the wind hit me, shielding my face from the pinpricks of snow. I couldn’t see him, but I’m pretty sure Colt just stared forward and watched the show. Amazon’s were lucky that way; braving the harsh elements was nothing out of the ordinary.

When I was able to see again, able to breathe again, I found the fire elemental was frozen in place, his fire defeated. It was strange to see a frozen fire, and Colt and I joined Enna as she landed beside him.

Her blonde hair was blown back, its lengths reaching her waist. And despite the fact she was a frost elemental, she had large hazel eyes. Of course, her dress hadn’t been ruined at all, and she looked like she was about to step into a masquerade ball.

Thanks, I said, wondering how hard it might be to dye my black hair blonde. It would probably never look as good on me as it did her though. But damn if I didn’t want it.

She smirked. You’re welcome. Did I see you use a portal?

I would never break the rules to save my life, I said. That’s just wrong. Sometimes, the rules didn’t make sense. Or most of the time.

Enna said, You could have survived a freezing.

Colt cleared his throat before I could comment. I’m sure Cressida will allow us to portal back to the Centre; our fireman is starting to melt.

Enna and I faced the elemental, and as Colt said I could already see the ice around him melting. He was really pissed off about his wife leaving him. I felt bad for the guy, knowing he was going into lockup because of this. A spook was not allowed to make so much noise no matter the cause. Legion would not allow it.

Enna caved. Fine.

I opened a portal to the Thistlewood Centre, ensure it was big enough for Colt to carry the elemental through. He lifted the fireman over his shoulder and stepped through as if it were nothing. I heard Enna give a sigh, and as I followed them I just rolled my eyes.

As soon as we were back walking the white halls of the Centre Enna disappeared. She seemed to feel her job was done, and that we wouldn’t need her in case the fire elemental got out again. But as Colt carried him down the hallway to a holding cell I noticed the ice was melting less. I could feel his mood shifting from anger to depression, making me feel even worse.

Ash, said Cressida, appearing from the elevator just as we passed it, a word.

Colt paused and looked back, careful not to hit anything with the ice. Cress waved him away, and after giving me a glance he continued on. It was always like this; I got in trouble and everyone else walked away completely innocent. I used to hate Colt because of it, but now I realized that it wasn’t really his fault.

Hi Cress, I grumbled. She began walking to her office, a light sparkled coming from her. Faeries were always shedding their dust all over the place. I wrinkled my nose at it and trailed behind her.

Cress’ office was pretty small, considering she was the head of the Centre in Thistlewood. From here she had to watch over all Legion agents, myself included, and make sure all the supernatural creatures of the city stayed in line. It couldn’t have been an easy job, but she never seemed to need to make an effort to do so.

I heard you made a portal today, she began, sitting at her desk. I took my usual seat across from her and crossed my legs.

I made three, I told her. She grimaced. One so that I didn’t get lit on fire,—I pointed at my burned jacket, my favourite jacket—one so that I didn’t get frozen by Enna and another to get the fireman here.

You could have survived a freezing, she said.

I rolled my eyes. And then I would be frozen, and that would suck. What’s so wrong with making portals anyway? It’s not like it’s hard.

Not for you, corrected Cress, you’re special. And right now, if you weren’t aware, special spooks are going missing. The most powerful of our kind are going missing, Ashley. The more you use your gift the more chance there is of you vanishing.

I’ll just portal away from the danger, I suggested. Easy-peasy.

Although she did have a point. The strongest people in our hidden society were vanishing, and Legion had no idea why. We would all get up one morning and someone else would be gone. The few agents that were working on the case had nothing; the only connection between victims was their abnormal strengths.

I know creating a portal for you is like nothing, Cress said carefully, but for others it is extremely difficult. The fact that you were able to create three portals tonight, and not even be winded is…amazing. But—

Yeah, yeah, I mumbled, stop doing it.

It’s for your own good, Cress told me. She pulled her dark curls back as if she were overheated. Personally I felt it was always too cold in the Centre, but then again I was a beach kind of girl. Give me the sand and the sun and I was happy for life. Maybe a surfer-boy to entertain me wouldn’t hurt either.

You know, I started, next week is—

You’re dismissed, Cress said quickly. Go see if Colt needs any help securing the fire elemental.

But—

Dismissed.

I pursed my lips and sent her a glare. She would never let me bring up my birthday next week, because we both knew what that meant. It was the end of my current contract with Legion, and she knew I didn’t want to renew it. I wanted out.

With a huff I stood and left her office. I was so sick of all this. Tonight I had been lit on fire, and it wasn’t the first time I could say that. I hoped it would be the last.

So far my injury count was higher than most other agents my age, mainly because everyone made a huge deal about not using my powers. But my powers were also the reason I was stuck where I was. Elves were mainly used to create portals to transfer agents and hostiles to the Centre. But because I made them so easily, it was a big deal. So I tended to get hurt a lot; although I’d have a lot more scars if it wasn’t for Colt.

I started walking towards the containment rooms. Colt had been my partner for two years now, but we’d been together in training before that. We went to school together since we were about ten, and he’d been assigned to be my partner even then. An Amazon and a half-elf made a surprisingly successful duo, I had to admit.

Colt came out of a containment room, clothes blackened with soot. I arched a thin brow. Did fireman get out?

Just part of him, he told me, nodding his head into the room. I peeked around the corner to see that the elementals hand had gotten free of the ice, his whip lashing out at everything in the room. I flinched back as it came at me, but it never made it past the red line beneath the doorway. The new security measures were nice.

You didn’t get a bracelet on him? I asked. Normally when a spook, or preternatural as Legion referred to us, was using their powers like this we put a bracelet on them to stop it. I’d never had one put on me, but I’d used enough of them to see their affect. Most spooks dreaded the bracelets; it left them completely powerless.

It’ll be fine, Colt said, brushing his blond hair back, he can destroy the room all he wants; his fire isn’t getting out, and neither is he.

I shrugged. Thanks for tackling me, by the way. I lifted my arm to display my jacket again. Getting lit on fire sucks.

He stared down at my arm. You need to go to the infirmary, he said. Take your jacket off.

It’ll heal, I said, I’m special, remember?

He stared at me. Most people were intimidated by Colt, mainly because of his height, or his muscle, but I didn’t find him scary at all. Maybe it was because I’d known him for so long, and he’d saved my life more than once. Or maybe it was because I was nearly six feet tall myself, and I didn’t have to tilt my head much to make eye contact. In a fight he was sure to win, since my body had often been described as spindly and spider-like. My brother was the same. Thanks a lot Dad.

But as I stared into Colt’s intense gaze I found I was breaking, and my arm really did hurt. Fine, I conceded. I’ll go see Lathan about my arm.

I’ll walk you.

Colt and I took the elevator up one floor, careful not to go to the main floor. I’d done that a couple times while dragging a hostile spook with me; humans taking a dip in the public pool didn’t like it when the elevator doors opened and a werewolf jumped out at them. They were so panicky.

The silver doors opened to another white hallway, but each room here had glass doors and walls. Some of the curtains were pulled across, giving patients privacy, so Colt and I headed to the one empty room. I jumped onto the examination table with the crinkling tissue paper, and we waited for Lathan.

Take your jacket off, Colt said again.

I shrugged best I could out of my leather jacket, each movement bringing me more pain. Now that I didn’t have anything life-threatening to distract me my arm was beginning to sear a lot more. When my jacket was finally off I saw just how bad the burn was.

Ew, I whined. Gross. The skin above my elbow was red and already starting to blister. It puffed out, parts of it extremely red or white against my pale skin. I hoped it wouldn’t scar.

You should have portalled away, Colt chastised.

I didn’t know he had a whip, I admitted, "and besides, creating portals is just sooooo wrong."

I don’t care. Colt stared me down again. If you’re going to get hurt, make a portal. You shouldn’t suffer just because they want your powers to stay hidden.

I sat there for a while and Colt just inspected my arm. As an Amazon he didn’t exactly have healing powers, but it did get me thinking about my birthday. He was a year older than me, and he’d renewed his contact already; if I left, he would get a new partner. That made my stomach hurt.

Hey Colt, I murmured, can I ask you a question?

Sure.

Why did you renew your contract with Legion?

He paused, his eyes finally meeting mine. I don’t know, he confessed, I guess I always figured I would.

I inched forward on the table when he finally let go of my arm. Yeah but why? I’m eighteen next week and I don’t know if I want to or not.

He shrugged. Didn’t Gavin?

He did… I thought of my brother, off in another city doing the same thing I was. Or at least I thought he was; his jobs were often classified.

Why don’t you want to renew? Colt questioned in a whisper. I felt like he was asking me why I didn’t want to work with him anymore, but that wasn’t it at all. If I didn’t renew, I wanted Colt to stay in my life; he was my friend, as close as family actually. I didn’t want to lose him.

I just want to go to a regular high school I guess, I confessed. I know that’s lame and all, and if I did I would be older than everyone but…I wouldn’t have to glamour myself to do it or anything. I pulled back my hair to display my tiny ears. They were what pointed out my human side, the only thing making me seem like an elf was their slightly pointed tips. And my eyes are more blue than turquoise, not like Gavin’s. I just…didn’t you ever want to go to high school, join the football team or something?

He blinked slowly. Not really.

You’ve never wanted anything outside of Legion? I asked. Outside of the Centre? How long have you lived here, away from home and away from society? I want to be in society; I want to go to stupid school dances and whine about how lame they are. I want to wonder if some guy that’s really a jerk likes me and go to a job that I don’t have to worry about being stabbed, or shot, or hit with a whip that’s on fire or—

You want a lot, don’t you darling? Lathan said as he whisked himself through the doorway. Tight leather jeans and a white dress shirt with the top four buttons opened made him look like he would own a nightclub, not be the medical administrator of the Thistlewood Centre. He didn’t even wear a white lab coat, which I felt would make him extra-sexy. I wondered why I avoided seeing Lathan so much when he was so easy to look at.

I do, I said, and my birthday is next week which means I’m allowed to ask a lot. I eyed Colt. New leather coat, by the way, top of my b-day wish list. He smirked.

Lathan smiled and set a clipboard beside me, already pulling at my arm to see the damage. I swear, Ashley, you are the only one that can make him smile.

"That’s my third most special