After I finished writing up the meeting with Channing Miller, the Director of the Human Hybrid Overwatch Division, I played around for a little longer with my new found abilities before passing out into a dreamless sleep. I was off work the next day and didn't have classes for another two weeks, so I didn't bother setting an alarm.
I almost wish I had though. The blaring noise on my phone was an infinitely nicer wakeup call than the earthquake-like knock at my door I received. With a groan, I forced myself to open my eyes. Early rays of dawn spilled in from the window, illuminating my living room. The knock came again, and I gritted my teeth and rolled off the sofa. Trudging across the room, I ran through the list of people that could possibly be at my door that early.
As I wrapped my hand around the doorknob, I realized that there was no one that would ever be at my apartment that early. If there was an emergency, my friends, wherever they might've been, would have called. Work would have called as well, but I didn't expect any of them to show up at my door at any time day.
Crime rates weren't exactly high in my area—well, except for drugs. But, it was southwest Virginia. We as a region were dirt poor and dull. Drugs were pretty high up on the entertainment list.
But still no, probably not getting robbed or murdered.
So, unless one of the supernatural creatures or Channing Miller herself had graced my apartment—or my guardian at such a godforsaken hour—I had no idea who I was about to open my door for.
As another knock shattered the silence of the room, I jerked the door open. Standing in the threshold was Channing. At her side stood a giy several inches taller than me with ashy blond hair, hard hazel eyes with thin white lines of paint on the sides of them, and a tray of coffees in his hands.
"If one of those coffees isn't for me, you've wasted a trip," I said.
The guy held out the tray, silently offering me one.
I smirked and took it, taking a small sip. "How'd you know the way I take my coffee?"
"Like I told you last night, you've been observed since birth. There are very few things we don't know about you, Daisy."
I nodded, conceding her point as I stepped back to let her and the guy into the house. "Well, you've fed the beast, so you deserve to sit down a minute."
"Oh, I'm just here to introduce the two of you," Channing said as I twitched my fingers, closing the door behind them. Damn, I was getting good at the whole door thing. "I couldn't find a guardian that'd willingly agree to take you, so I found another hybrid that's been studying for two years now. He's quiet, responsible, and he used to volunteer at a daycare, which means he's used to unruly toddlers."
I rolled my eyes, taking a sip of my coffee as I plopped back down on the sofa.
Channing put an arm around Coffee Guy's shoulders. "This is Dallas Sturgill. Dallas, this is Daisy Madison. The two of you are in charge of supporting one another and making sure no one gets into trouble. If one of you gets on my list, that means both of you are on it. From this point forward, I've tied you together until one of you clears your hybrid and supernatural training. No complaining, no bitching, and no disrupting the universe. Do I make myself clear?"
"Eh." I shrugged.
"Perfectly clear, Channing."
"Did you have to drop her off this early? I'm a real bitch at this time of day."
"I have the feeling that's just who you are." Without another word, Channing turned back to Dallas. "I've got to get back to HQ. Spend the day with Daisy, both of you should get to know each other, try to make sure she doesn't get into anything ridiculous. Daisy, I want you to keep Dallas distracted, and maybe try to cheer him up a bit." She dropped a wink at me and left the apartment, leaving Dallas and I alone to stare at one another.
"It'd be rude if I went back to sleep, wouldn't it?"
Dallas nodded. "Just a bit, yeah. I'd leave, of course, but Channing has upgraded our surveillance level for the next few days—until your first day of training—and I don't think she'll take too kindly to me walking out."
I hummed and pulled my legs under me as I leaned against the arm of the sofa. "So, this whole thing really is real? Right? I'm not dying or hallucinating?"
Snorting quietly, his lips quirked for a fraction of a second as he shook his head. "I thought the same thing for a bit, but no, this is all incredibly real. Almost scarily so."
"Cool. That means my life isn't about to go back to boring anytime soon." I took another sip of my coffee. "Now tell me why Channing picked you. Despite what she says, I haven't been particularly erratic or unruly over my time as a human. I don't believe that a guardian wouldn't take me, which means she must have a reason for sending me a girl that's my age and barely has a foothold in the supernatural world."
"I don't know."
"Yes, you do."
"I really don't."
That was a lie. I knew it was. He wouldn't meet my eyes when he said it, unlike every other time he'd spoken, and it was too forced, especially on the last bit.
"What's with the paint?" I asked, gesturing to his eyes. Two thin lines ran back from the outer corners of her eyes to his hairline and ears, sort of like the arms on a pair of glasses. Another white line ran perpendicular to them and went down the side of his cheek, close to his jaw.
"It's not paint. It's a fae marking. All faeries have some sort of identifying mark, and this is mine." He shifted his weight to his right leg, still awkwardly holding the coffee tray with only one coffee left in it. "Helpful hint, you probably shouldn't ask other people, other fairies, like that. Some, especially those that aren't settled with it yet, find it a bit off putting."
"Hmm, okay." I shrugged and gestured to the chair opposite the sofa. "You can sit down, you know."
"Oh, um, thanks." Dallas glanced around for somewhere to sit the tray.
"Table."
"Huh?"
"Put the tray on the table in there."
"Oh, right. Thanks." He sat the tray down in the kitchen and came back to the living room, where he perched on the chair, like he was ready to bolt up at any second. "If you have plans or work or anything like that, don't feel obligated to sit with me. I can shadow you, it's no big deal." He shrugged. "Oh, I can also turn invisible, so you don't have some random guy following you all day. That's fine too." He took a deep breath and rubbed his inner arm, tugging at the navy sleeve of his jacket.
Keep Dallas distracted. Cheer him up.
That was what Channing had said. Dallas was there to make sure I didn't do anything too stupid or reckless and expose the supernatural community or whatever the fuck, but Dallas wasn't a guardian. Channing had assigned me to Dallas too. There was something wrong there, but talking… Yeah, I wasn't about to make him sit there and talk. No, that wouldn't be good for either of us.
But going out and start digging around to learn more about the creature that attacked me the night before… That could be fun—and distracting. Two birds. One stone.
"Go get yourself some breakfast. There's a little coffee shop right down the road, doesn't even take five minutes to walk there. They have really good croissants. After that, we'll run an errand."
"Okay." Dallas stood up and pulled his jacket a little tighter around him. He ducked out of the apartment without another word.
I sighed and rubbed my eyes. Sleep could wait. There was a depressed faerie that I'd been asked to distract, and a poltergeist I wanted to get a better look at—or at least some answers about.
It looked like an interesting day…
After showering and dressing in a pair of ripped jeans, a t-shirt, and a flannel thrown over it, I stepped back into the living room just as Dallas entered. He had a croissant wrapped in a napkin that he passed over to me.
"You haven't eaten either, so here you go."
"Thanks." I took a bite of it as I went over to the table to grab my sneakers. "I owe you one."
"Don't mention it." Dallas leaned against the table. "So, you want me to go invisible for this or—?"
"Not unless you really want to, but I was thinking we could have some fun."
"Uh, sure, I guess. Fun is nice."
I chuckled and finished up the croissant. "So, you've been supernatural training for two years, yes?"
He nodded, slipping his hands into his jacket pockets.
"I'm assuming they've taught you how to know whether other supernatural creatures are around, or that someone isn't human or something?"
"Well, yes. It's difficult to keep things hidden otherwise."
I pulled my sneakers on and bent down to tie them. "How would you feel about identifying something for me then?"
"It's possible, but I might not be able to be super specific. I didn't do so hot in the species identification portion of intro."
Folding the cuffs of my jeans back down, I stood straight. "Want to go figure out what attacked me and provoked my magic powers to come out last night?"
"Channing won't like it."
"No, but I think you will."
A small smile touched her eyes as his lips jumped. "I'm not a troublemaker, Daisy."
"I'm not either. I'm just a girl that really hates being bored." I grinned.
Dallas laughed and shook his head, but didn't protest a single bit as he followed me out the door of the apartment. We got into my car and drove back out to the supermarket.