Chapter 8

Kith and Kindling

The TV was still on when her alarm woke her, the film menu music playing every 30 seconds. She flicked it off and groaned. She wasn't in the habit of being so frivolous with her electric, and now that Kandomere was paying for it, she had intended to be even more reserved.

She ate a small bowl of cereal and thought about what food they would need to buy when they got paid. She had a little money in her account, but she wasn't comfortable dipping into it until more had been deposited.

Once again, Kandomere was nowhere to be seen when she and Kyra left for work. The blown bulb had however been fixed at some point in the night. Alice was impressed. She was certain he had been true to his word about the maintenance available in the building. In the human community, such requests would take days, even weeks. More often than not they would need to fix urgent problems themselves.

When they arrived at the studio, Alavara was having a meltdown over a model who had turned up high. That was certainly a dose of reality Alice hadn't expected. Human models were notorious for over indulging in drink and drugs. She genuinely hadn't expected the same to be true of elves, though she and Kyra knew 'pixie dust' was rife amongst the lower-class workers. The valet drivers at the restaurant often brought their stashes to work to share around the kitchen staff. Alice had never tried it and was never stupid enough to leave anything she intended to eat or drink around them/ Kyra hadn't been quite so lucky.

Not long after they had started working for Norkas her homemade food had been spiked. Thankfully, Alice managed to persuade Norkas to send Kyra home ill, embellishing on how much she'd been vomiting in the toilets and that she couldn't be around food like that. It would be a health code violation. She'd threatened the kitchen staff with food tampering, telling them she'd source some good and fresh orc shit. They claimed not to believe her, but they never messed with her or Kyra again. She had been secretly grateful they hadn't. Following through on her threat was not something she would have relished in, even though they would have deserved it.

Meanwhile, Alavara had thrown the model out and ripped up his contract. She was fuming.

"That is the second model in two days I've had to fire!" she screamed at no one in particular.

Alice flushed guiltily. The first model had been because of her. She'd been grateful for her standing up in the way she did, but she also knew that if Alavara kept firing models she'd have none left for her to shoot.

Alavara noticed the look and waved a hand at her.

"It is good riddance to bad rubbish. Isn't that what humans say?" she quipped.

Alice chuckled weakly. "I suppose it is."

Alavara rambled off some orders in Elvish to her subordinate, who then rushed off to execute them. Alice understood some Elvish, though she was far from fluent, but the speed with which Alavara spoke in went right over her head.

"I have sent for more. As I told you, everyone wants to work here."

With no model present there was little for Alice and Kyra to do.

"Can we do anything to help set up?" Alice asked, not wanting to be a spare part.

"No, we were all ready for you to come right in. As soon as the new model arrives we'll get to work."

Alice nodded. She was out of her element. She was so used to just finding things to do when it came to the service industry, being here as a photographer with nothing to photograph, she felt next to useless.

"I trust you healed up well after that nasty incident at the restaurant?" Alavara asked.

Alice was surprised by the question. "Oh, yes. I'm all good now. It was mostly just bruising. A few cuts from the glass."

"It was quite fortunate that Kandomere was there that night. That awful purist might have really harmed you."

Alice blushed. She had very little memory after the initial hit from Faltorin until she woke up in the elf hospital. Kyra had told her the whole story, how Kandomere had quite literally leapt over tables to cuff the assaulter and had picked her up without even thinking, whisking her out to his car and speeding off into the night. She'd made it sound like a fairy tale.

"Possibly. But, I wasn't going to stand by whilst he attacked Kyra. He was awful to her every time he came in."

"Blood Purists. High Borns. It's all rubbish. I did not earn my reputation by relying on such archaic ideals. I worked hard. As does Kandomere. Although he reports to a superior, he is the Special Agent in Charge of the Magic Task Force. The entire department reports to him. Most elves would consider such a vocation to be beneath them. Working with humans. It's not quite a fall from grace, as they would say, but it doesn't elevate him. The best part is, he doesn't care. He never did."

It still surprised Alice that Alavara could be so verbose with her, especially about Kandomere, which she secretly appreciated.

"I don't know about that. He still wears that gorget. I might be human but I know what it means," Alice commented.

Alavara smiled. "He wore it. I have noticed that he stopped wearing it when he became acquainted with you."

Alice flushed again. She was right. He had removed it the day she'd pointed it out to him.

"I'm not sure why. I just told him I knew what it meant."

Alavara waved a hand. "It was his father's. He didn't wear it out of belief in the words. He wore it purely for sentimentality. His father told him it would add an air of superiority over those he was leading. At the time, he was young and naïve about the human world he'd stepped into. He no doubt felt foolish having it pointed out to him. It's something he should have removed years ago, I think it had simply become a habit," she explained.

"Still, he shouldn't have taken me to an elf hospital. That won't have been god for his reputation, especially charging the visit to the MTF."

Alavara smirked and looked at Alice intently. "Oh, he didn't charge it to the MTF. He paid for it himself."

The flush that had barely dissipated returned threefold. He'd paid for her hospital stay? Why would he do that? There's no way she could earn enough in a year, even doing photography, to pay him back.

Alavara chuckled. "I believe he's quite fond of you."

Alice stuttered. "No, no… I think it's just guilt… He tried so hard to get Faltorin prosecuted it lost me and Kyra our jobs and apartments. He just… feels bad…"

"Oh, I'm sure there was some minor guilt… in the beginning. But now? I'm not so sure. He does not open so easily, not even amongst his own kind."

Alavara's phone interrupted them. Alice was grateful for the distraction. Kyra had been silently standing listening to the exchange and was busy grinning at her.

"Oh, stop that!" Alice whispered.

Kandomere's morning had been more eventful. Reports had been coming in from other MTF divisions around the west coast of Inferni Coven activity. Even though Leilah was long dead, he hadn't assumed that they'd somehow stopped the entire organisation. The Inferni were countrywide, and likely had offshoots across the globe. Capturing one Inferni wand wouldn't be enough to stop their plans.

It still burned him that he hadn't been the one to kill Leilah, or even bring her in, though he was smart enough to recognise that she wouldn't have been taken willingly. Tikka was considered dead along with Leilah's other coven members, but without any remains he wasn't completely convinced. She might have turned against Leilah, but that didn't mean she wasn't dangerous. He didn't trust the Shield of Light either. They might have thought they had noble intentions, but they were just as obsessed with magic as the Inferni were.

He'd re-read the same passage of the report in front him three times before he gave up. Images of Alice in his arms had been unrelenting for most of the morning. It was frustrating. This auburn-haired woman had quite literally crashed into his life and he hadn't been able to shake any thought of her away. He wanted to be mad about it, but he couldn't summon any ire whatsoever. There was something just so utterly intoxicating about her presence. He'd spent so many years engrossed in his work, he'd never given any thought to sending time with anyone but his colleagues.

Montehugh's rapping on his door was a welcome relief.

"Boss? We got a lead. Might be bogus, but…"

"No, we should check on it. We need all the leads we can get," Kandomere said, standing up and slipping the files away into his desk drawer.

He followed his partner out, determined to shift his focus back to his job.

Alavara had been right. Models had turned up from all over the city to work for her. Most had initially tried to give Alice a hard time, but a stern word from Alavara was all it took to put them in their place. She was happy to let Alice do all direction, though she remained present just in case a model decided to get particularly mouthy.

As it was, the day went relatively smoothly after the morning's debacle. Alavara didn't have a single criticism for any of Alice's pictures, or indeed Kyra's speedy work doing whatever else she needed. The sense of accomplishment Alice found by actually doing something she loved, couldn't be understated. She went home gloriously happy and Kyra was glad to not have to deal with the sneers from elves she was forced to serve for a pittance.

The rest of the week went just as smoothly. Alavara was just as chatty about Kandomere and she seemed to revel in making Alice blush.

Alavara was internally thrilled that her closest friend's son seemed to have found someone to care about, though he hadn't actually admitted it to her. Yet. All in good time. She knew him well enough to know when he felt passionate about something. She'd followed his career for long enough. To have something consume him other than chasing Inferni members was music to her ears.

Unfortunately, chasing the Inferni had meant many late nights, which had also meant that Alice hadn't seen him all week. Was his interest waning? She felt stupid for thinking he had any interest in her other than guilt. There was still a part of her that worried he'd tell them that their stay in his spare apartment was temporary and that they'd have to start looking elsewhere. He had assured her that he wouldn't do such a thing, and Alavara had said that he was a man of his word. Still, it made her uneasy.

Her unease was further exacerbated by their first week's pay which had landed in their accounts. It was far more than they had been expecting and Alice intended to talk to Alavara about it on Monday. It was surely a mistake.