Haley is a temp on a short-term contract. It turns into an experiment and a fight for the survival of her world.

  Haley is in her second week of a file-sort contract. She’s cleared to work with military records and has been slogging through years of research on artifacts that are only referred to vaguely. She is looking through a file and finds a piece of jewellery in the file with a lot of notes. She grabs the file and the bracelet and slips down the servants’ stairs to hand them off to the researchers in the basement, and that is where things go wrong.

  The world is in danger. A rift of temporally stuck, highly radioactive marauders manage to saw through the space between worlds every six centuries. They are due any day now, and the military and family responsible for the defense are struggling to find the means to unlock the weapons they need. The original defenders never leave any clues, just the vague weapons.

  Haley’s attempt to sneak the file into the lab is thwarted when a test subject is turned to ash. She’s caught, and she’s next.

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Temp Defense

  Copyright © 2024 Viola Grace

  ISBN: 978-1-4874-_______

  Cover art by Angela Waters

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Published by eXtasy Books Inc

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  Temp Defense

  Written by Fate, Book One

  By

  Viola Grace

  Roll for Short Story

  This is book one of a series in which all major plot points have been decided with DnD dice. Each book will contain a list of elements to be included. Setting, female lead, and male lead are the primary elements. They must all make an appearance in the story.

  Settings

  Paranormal theme

  Survival

  Mansion

  Military

  and... Workplace romance

  Female lead

  Black hair

  Average build

  Thin

  Non-human powerless

  Human-range skin

  Working class

  Flirty

  Male lead

  Blond

  Average build

  Non-human powerless

  Human-range skin

  Upper class

  Flattering

  Chapter One

  Haley showed her identification at the third gate and smiled. “Thank goodness it’s Friday. Nice creases on your uniform.”

  He checked her biometrics with a scanner and nodded his shadowy head. “It is Friday. Congratulations.”

  Haley took her card back and smiled. “Thanks.”

  He paused as he was about to trigger the gate and looked at her with the red eyes and smoky grey skin of a warlock. His low creak of a voice rumbled out, “Happy birthday, Miss Preller.”

  She blinked and saw his smile. White teeth on black gums. She smiled back and gave him a happy shrug. “Thank you.”

  The gate opened, and she drove down the lane and up to the mansion of the Renith family. Military vehicles overran the parking area, and her little sub-compact looked like a colourful toddler in the parking lot.

  She got her thermos and lunch and headed inside. She was a temp with security clearance and a completely clean criminal record. It was weird being the only working person in the building without a uniform, but she used the opportunity to dress like a dork. When she walked through the door, she felt the gazes on her blazer and skirt, with no idea that she was wearing a tee that had Beekeepers do it outside on it. It was a gag gift from a friend, but the logo was concealed when her jacket was buttoned, and she put on a vest while she was working.

  She swiped her credentials to head up the stairs, through the magical restraint curtain, and headed up to the office. Her desk was in the middle of the file room, and her task was to look for all expenses in relation to the project while sorting out the detail sheets for the project they were there to work on.

  Whoever had been there before her had just pitched all documents and readings and records into boxes and piled them up. She had been working at Renith House for two weeks and had only gotten through four boxes in that time. She still had over a dozen to go.

  She hung up her blazer, put her vest on, and did up the buttons. Haley tiptoed past the military offices and put her lunch in the fridge. They didn’t like to see her loose outside of designated break times.

  She crept back toward her workroom when Lord Renith came up the stairs. He smiled. “Good morning, Miss Preller. You are looking lovely this morning.”

  She put a finger to her lips. “Shh. Don’t let them know I was out of my cage, your lordship.”

  “Your secret is safe with me. Have a good day. That colour really suits you.”

  Haley blinked and looked at his blond good looks and calm, suave demeanour. He looked like the lord of the manor without being overly muscled like some of the military men roaming the property.

  She returned to her room, opened a box that smelled of ink and chemicals, and began sorting documents about Project Jade.

  She didn’t care. It was a job, and with her bloodlines, it was all that was available in this economy. She had no outward signs of the shadowborn but still showed up on an energy scan. She was in the same situation as ten percent of the population, marked as untrustworthy by an ancient ancestor’s roll in the hay with a human. Here, she was just a keen set of eyes with accurate hands. Jobs like this were hard to come by.

  * * * *

  Lord Jarol Renith smiled as the woman went back into her workspace and closed the door. She was cute and adhered to the rules. It was an interesting combination, and it was difficult to understand how she was even here with such high-security military roaming about.

  He continued to the general’s office in what used to be Jarol’s grandmother’s dressing room.

  He knocked, and when there was a response, he walked in. “Morning, General Awor.”

  “Lord Renith, please have a seat.”

  Jarol settled himself in the leather chair that had been removed from his great-grandfather’s study.

  “How is the research going? We are short on time.”

  Jarol nodded. “I know. We have gotten responses from our family artifacts but nothing like the records have indicated. We have used everything available and can’t get it over base-level responses.”

  “What will increase the levels?”

  Jarol rubbed a hand across his hair. “I don’t know. The team is frantic.”

  “You don’t have anything else you can use?”

  Jarol chuckled. “Human sacrifice?”

  Awor frowned. “Would that work?”

  Jarol held his hands up. “I was joking.”

  The general’s eyes narrowed. “I am not. I know you have tried it without contact, but have you tried it with?”

  “That is precisely what the government is trying to avoid. If this embeds even a fifth of that energy, you would have a very dangerous creature on your hands.” He looked at the general. “Where would you even find a volunteer?”

  Awor snorted. “This is the military. Volunteers are not needed. I simply order it, and they do it. It’s called discipline, your lordship.”

  “I think brute forcing it is the wrong way to go.”

  “We have been trying it your way. We need to take other measures. Leave it with me. We will be trying my way this afternoon.”

  Shock ran through him. “I didn’t sign up to watch men die.”

  General Awor looked at him. “I did. Go and prepare your research team. I have to go through some files to find shadowborn.”

  Jarol stared at him in shock.

  “You can go, your lordship. Get your team ready.”

  Jarol’s head was spinning. He left and watched the woman in the document room sorting and moving with quick and graceful movements. It was like watching a squirrel categorizing nuts. She bit her lip and darted from one side of the room to the other, and while it appeared to be disorganized, the piles of paperwork were melting away as she moved.

  He looked at the one bright thing in the home that had been in his family for the last five defensive generations. He had let down his proud heritage by springing at the chance of funding that would let him start conservation measures across the property.

  Focusing on ancient research had not been favoured by his mother, but thankfully, his father had already passed. The number of artifacts that his family had was known to the governing officials, and they had encouraged and paid for Jarol’s education. When they asked to use the manor for some of the ir defense research, he had signed a five-year occupation lease which would end when the rift in the distant forest was due to open.

  He rubbed his forehead as the steps that had been carved from one piece of granite by ancient hands went by one by one. He headed to the lab and looked at the two research fellows who had been trying to coax a response from ancient jewellery that radiated power.

  “Anything yet?”

  Desmond and Arlon shook their heads.

  “The general is looking for a shadowborn to experiment on this afternoon. Have the safety gear in place, and keep your protective gear on your face. You don’t want to be the last face some military guinea pig remembers.”

  They blinked, and Desmond asked, “Are they really just going to shove them in and see what happens?”

  Jarol shrugged. “No idea.”

  Studying the jewellery that was part of his family legacy had been his focus. Finding out the purpose of the magically radiating stones that didn’t occur anywhere else on the planet had become their life’s work.

  They used the waldos to move the objects around the room to their podiums. Stacking them in the centre of the room had built the charge, but he didn’t want them together. If someone was going to paw the collection, he wanted it nice and separated.

  The glow from the jewellery was getting brighter by the day. A week more and the light would be blinding, and whatever was going to happen would happen.

  Jarol had a sick feeling in his gut. This wasn’t going to be good.

  * * * *

  Haley finished her lunch and her bathroom run. She opened a new box of documents and hauled out the first fifty to begin sorting. She set them down and heard a clunk.

  She pawed through the files and found one that bulged. A silver clasp was sticking out. She pulled the item out and was holding a bracelet in her hand. Haley quickly opened the file and saw a bunch of references to the bracelet and control.

  “What to do, what to do?” She looked at the bracelet and knew the research was being done on lower levels. If she was quick, she could get the bracelet to the researchers and be back at work before the general returned to his office.

  She tucked the bracelet into her vest pocket and left her office with the original file held against her chest.

  Haley walked through the halls with the I know where I am going walk of a professional temp. Her skirt swished above her knees as she headed for the back staircase that she had scoped out on her first day.

  She went as quietly as she could and crept down the two levels to the lab. Haley paused inside the stairwell, where she could see the lab through the heavy protective glass. Something was going on. The general and one of his men were in there and talking to the researchers.

  They turned to come out, and she ducked back behind the wall that concealed the back steps. She kept her breathing calm, and the general commanded, “Pick them up, sergeant.”

  She peeked around the edge of the wall and watched what was going on in the reinforced room. The backs of the general, researchers, and the lord of the manor were facing her, but between them, she watched the man in uniform walk into the inner chamber, looking at something on the walls. He seemed to make a decision and reached for an object.

  There was a golden glow inside the unit, and then, as the man picked the object up, the light went red, and he started screaming.

  She watched from her vantage point as the man turned red, then black, and then collapsed. The faint scent of scorched flesh drifted through the air.

  One of the researchers gagged.

  The red glare slowly faded, leaving the space looking normal.

  The general cursed and muttered, “He said he was shadowborn.”

  Lord Renith said, “There are different levels of it. Whatever his level, it wasn’t enough for the stones. In all recorded history, only my family ever wielded them, and that was over six hundred yearsago.”

  The general growled. “What do you mean, wielded?”

  “Wore and used against the shadows.” His lordship repeated the words like he had been taught to recite them.

  Haley pressed her hand to her vest pocket, and light flared wildly. She clamped her hand onto the pocket, and the light got worse. She tried to slap it out, but feet appeared in front of her, and she looked up slowly.

  The general grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and hauled her out. He shook her like a rag. “What are you doing here?”

  She waited until he stopped shaking her. “I found something in the files that belongs to the research department. I wanted to bring it and the file so they would have it.”

  The general shook her. “What!”

  She pulled the bracelet out of her pocket and held it tight as she swayed. “This. Take it.”

  He dropped her on her ass. All four men stepped back while she held out the glowing stones that were sparkling with a happy rainbow hue.

  She looked around and held up the file still clutched in her left hand. “Here is the research file. It shouldn’t have been in the box.”

  Lord Renith looked at her. “Can you clench your fist around the bracelet?”

  She made a fist, and a bright and cheerful light swirled inside the lab area.

  The general looked like he wanted to grab her, but the light reminded him it might not be a great idea. “Get into the lab.”

  She paused. “That isn’t in my contract.”

  He pulled his weapon and aimed it at her. “I don’t give a fuck.”

  Lord Renith calmly stepped between them. “You don’t want to do that, General. If she feels threatened, the energy might seek out the cause, and that would be bad for you.”

  The gun was lowered.

  Lord Renith turned to her. “Haley, right? I like your vest.”

  She nodded and smiled weakly. “Thanks.”

  “You have an exciting opportunity to join in global defense. You are the only person who isn’t a member of my family to handle the stones without suffering injury. I can do it, but they don’t react to me. Will you help us?”

  She cocked her head. “Can I get overtime?”

  He smiled. “Definitely.”

  She held the bracelet up to him. “Here. This is yours.”

  Lord Renith smiled. “Keep it with you. It suits you.”

  The two researchers stared at her like she had grown a second head. The bracelet was still cheerfully sparkling with bright and inviting colour.

  He took her hand with the file and helped her to her feet. He brushed his hand brusquely over her butt, and she blushed. He chuckled. “Your hands are full.”

  “Yeah. Um, thank you. I hadn’t realized you were so good with your hands.” She blinked and pressed her lips together. “Sorry.”

  He grinned, and the general growled. “Shut up and get in there. How are you doing that?”

  She shrugged. “I have no idea. What am I doing?”

  Lord Renith escorted her into the lab, where the ash outline of the dead man was in front of her. Despite her urge to make light of the situation, she puked right into the ash pile.

  Chapter Two

  “Ohmygod, I am so sorry.” Haley coughed, and the smell of scorched human wafted up and around her.

  Lord Renith escorted her to a desk and settled her down there. “May I see the file that you found the bracelet in?”

  She handed him the file, and one of the researchers cleared up her mess along with the ashes while the other got her a glass of water and a napkin.

  The general just stood and glared at her.

  She finished cleaning her face and took a sip of the water. “I am mortified.”

  Lord Renith stared at the file. “It’s all here. How did we miss this?”

  The general snapped, “What?”

  “It’s all jewellery. There is one man’s ring, and the rest is jewellery. No one reset the stones after the last incursion. They were designed for a lady to wear.”

  “Doesn’t make sense. No one can wear them.”

  Lord Renith cleared his throat. “We haven’t tested them on a woman.”

 

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