by K. N. Banet
“You work for the…Tribunal or whatever. Would Mygi try to kill you?”
“At some point or another, Raphael, everyone tries to kill me,” I whispered, giving him a sad smile. “If they’re into something illegal, covering up my murder is the best option they have, but they would have to do it before I can testify at a Trial. Anything I say before that is considered inadmissible. It needs to be said directly to the Tribunal under their oath or it doesn’t matter.”
“This sounds like it’s going to be harder than you let me believe,” he accused.
“I sure as fuck never said it was going to be easy,” I reminded him. “Do you really think this is as easy as making a phone call? After everything you’ve been through? First, I need to keep you alive. Now, I need to make some calls.” I grabbed my bag off the table in a huff. “Let me show you the room you can use. Heads up, though, in the supernatural world, we’re all pretty much night owls, and you might want to switch to that schedule as soon as you can.”
“What about my job? Or really any of my life?”
“Did you have much of a life before I met you?” I demanded, wondering if he was serious. “And we both know you’re overqualified for construction and getting paid under the table is probably garbage. Once we’ve secured your safety, I’m sure there’s going to be some work you can find in the supernatural world.”
“That’s it? I’m in the supernatural world and have no say in it?”
“Yes,” I answered with finality that, hopefully, didn’t get any back-talk. Because I need you to stay in the supernatural world, even if everyone else lets you walk away from it, damn it.
He sighed, and I watched that red flash through his eyes, but he didn’t get angry, didn’t make any attempt to argue.
Impressive.
“Come on,” I ordered. He followed me toward the back of the house without complaint. “If you know how to use them and someone attacks, feel free to break into any of the display cases and take a weapon. I have something from everywhere and know how to use all of them.”
“Are you showing off or warning me?” he asked with a low growl in the mix.
“Both,” I answered, unperturbed by him. “And trying to help you. If you’re interested in something, maybe I can show you some things.”
“No, thanks. I’m not fond of killing things,” he answered.
“That’s…going to need to change,” I muttered, keeping my pace. “Okay, so there’s two bedrooms and two offices. One office you can use as you please. It will automatically log you in as a guest since you can’t match my biometrics. The other office is and will remain off limits to you indefinitely. You can’t get in it without me anyway, so don’t try; it’ll set off the alarm system. If there’s an emergency, you’ll come to my room.”
“Excuse me?” That seemed to insult him.
“I have a safe room in my private bathroom,” I explained.
“Why?” There was worry and curiosity in the question.
“Because people try to kill me,” I answered blandly. “Don’t worry. There’s only been one who’s made it here, and he’s been very, very dead since that night. Most attack me at my condo in the city. It’s less secure.”
“You have a dangerous job if people are trying to kill you so often that you need a safe room. Maybe you should get a new one.”
“I have a dangerous life, and my job has nothing to do with it,” I said, pointing to a door, hoping to get him off the topic. “That’s your room.” I pointed to the door next to it. “That’s my room. Really easy. Just come into my room if the alarms start going off. Or if I tell you to. Don’t argue, don’t try to fight.”
“You saw how strong I am—”
“I don’t know if you can recover from a cut throat or a decapitation, so don’t do anything stupid. This is a world of immortals. You’ve been really fucking lucky so far, but you lack training, knowledge, and experience.”
“And how much experience could you possibly have? You look younger than me even if you do have white hair.”
“I’m one hundred and seventeen years old,” I said without inflection. I kept my face straight as he tried to work out what I had just said. I decided to throw a wrench into his process after a moment. “I’m immortal. I’ll look like this until I die. My hair went white when I was a teenager. Unlucky, I guess.”
“You…”
“I’ve been around.” I shrugged. “Been an Executioner for eighty years, and a bounty hunter most of those. I’ve been killing people since I was fifteen. So, over a century on that. And my parents started my weapons training when I could walk. I was raised with a weapon in my hand.”
He sagged against the wall, his eyes wide.
“Look, Raphael, you’re in it now. For the most part, everyone you meet is going to be older than you by a long shot. We’re talking people who aren’t even trained killers being able to take you out just because they’ve gotten old enough to know how. Now, you have some neat abilities, and those will help you in the long run. From the looks of it, you’re still aging. No one else is, and that’s going to work against you. Vampires are locked at the physical ages of when they were turned. Werewolves and werecats hit their prime and practically stop. Same for many species, like mine.” I was cold, brutally honest with him because he needed it. “If you lose your temper with the wrong person? Dead. If you get flippant with the wrong person? Dead. If you even so much as look at some people the wrong way, they’ll try to kill you. Don’t ever look at someone in this world and only see what lies on the surface. It can and will get you killed.”
He slowly nodded, taking in my words. Good, he needed to stay flexible, able to adapt. Adaptation was the cornerstone of survival. Some species failed, while others thrived, and individuals had to stay on their toes.
“Get some rest. You look like you need it,” I said, reaching to open the guest room door. It wasn’t really the guest room. It was my room for Cassius when we were fucking. Before him, it had been pretty empty, a wasted space. I didn’t want to tell Raphael that, though. For some reason, it seemed incredibly distasteful.
“Thank you,” he mumbled, walking into the room. I watched him throw his bag on the bed as I closed the door. Right before I lost sight of him, I watched him sit down on the edge of the bed and lean over, covering his face.
Tonight, I effectively ended his human life once and for all. Some strange part of me felt guilty for that.
I walked away, heading for my unsecured office. As I walked, I pulled my phone out of my bag to check the text. It was from the naga I had texted earlier.
Adhar: A human is better than nothing. Bite him and get it over with. We don’t have the numbers anymore to be choosey.
With a hiss, I shoved the phone into my pocket. One problem I wanted to leave for another day. A day hopefully in the very distant future.
11
Chapter Eleven
I turned on the computer and opened up my work messaging system. Every Executioner and Investigator could get ahold of each other using it. I clicked on Cassius, quickly typing out that I needed him to call me straight away. He, like most others, downloaded the program on his phone. I didn’t because I didn’t find that secure and also didn’t want my coworkers to get ahold of me that easily. My phone rang within a minute. I picked up, steeling myself for his interrogation.
“What did you get into this time, Kaliya?” Cassius asked, his voice the same steely, cold, and impersonal thing I remembered it to be.
Why did I ever sleep with you?
“A bounty on a human came up—”
“If you did something illegal, I can’t help you, and you know better than to ask,” he snapped, cutting me off. “I know we have a history but—”
“I haven’t done anything illegal. Let me fucking explain, Cassius, or so help me, I will fly to where you are and kill you myself.” When I was greeted with silence, I continued. “Mygi, the pharmaceutical company? They put out this bounty on a human, his name is Rap
hael Dominic Alvarez. At first, Paden was just curious and asked me to look into it. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal since we see bounties on humans all the time even though they’re illegal.”
“We don’t have time to go after the perpetrators of every illegal bounty. As long as no one dies, we Investigators turn a somewhat blind eye,” he said, his obvious disagreement coloring every word. Cassius was a stick in the mud.
“Exactly. Well, I dug into this one a little because it seemed weird. Paden thought it was really strange and—”
“Let me guess because you aren’t going to tell me. Paden wanted to see what sort of information this human might have since he’s also part of the information business. His bar is just a convenient cover.”
“I won’t confirm or deny that,” I answered calmly. “You know that.”
“Sometimes, I wonder what our superiors saw in you. You live on the line. Some days, I’m convinced you’re going to flip to the Lawless side, and we’re going to be enemies.”
“Aw, Cassius, you know I could never do that to you,” I teased. “Now, can I continue, or are you going to continue with the judgmental ass act? How does your new fiancée like that kind of thing? Is she into the whole ‘I’m holier than thou’ routine?”
“We’re getting married next month, and before you say anything, this is not a marriage of political convenience. I genuinely enjoy her company.” He sounded like a wooden board that suddenly grew a mouth. I would know since I’ve seen talking trees. They’re always bland, boring things.
“You don’t love her?” I was curious. Cassius and I had worked well because love was never a part of the equation. Rather, we had always mostly hated each other and had great sex.
“Would it bother you if I said yes?” he asked softly. “Why don’t you continue with what you’ve found, Kaliya. I don’t think we should play this game anymore.”
It did bother me, but not because he loved someone else. More power to him for it. The idea of Cassius finding love gave the rest of us hope for the future because he was by far the least likable person I had ever met—attractive but annoying.
“Good for you,” I said kindly. “Really, Cassius. There are no hard feelings. I never really liked you all that much.”
“You’ve never missed the opportunity to remind me of that. One day, I hope you meet a man who’s willing to put up with being hated for breathing.”
“I’m not a man hater,” I snapped. “Dick.”
“No, you hate everyone unless they’re useful to you for whatever reason,” he retorted.
“Back on topic,” I declared, not wanting to touch that statement with a ten-foot pole. “Last night, I ran into Sinclair. Mygi hired him privately, along with two people who must work for him, a fae and witch, to go after Raphael as well.”
“Gods, now we’ve got Sinclair in the mix,” he mumbled. “You know what the Tribunal said—”
“Yes. No more tangling with Sinclair, but he’s in my city, Cassius. He’s here. I can’t ignore that, and I had already started looking into it.” I didn’t mention The Board. Cassius knew about it. We had fought more than once over it, and I wasn’t looking for another fight. Right now, I just needed his help because he had the job I couldn’t take. “So, I broke into the place where he was staying to figure out why Mygi would put out a bounty, wait a week, then hire Sinclair. Something didn’t add up with that.”
“You found out what’s going on?”
“The company had some disagreements. Sinclair was hired out-of-pocket by someone in power at the company, and if he’s successful, he also gets the bounty. Would you like to know how much money we’re talking about?”
“Please.”
“Sinclair was paid ten million upfront for his time. The bounty is for ten million.”
Cassius did something I almost never heard and whistled. It sounded like birds whenever he did it, probably because of his fae nature.
“That’s a lot of money for one human,” he said softly.
“Right? It gets more interesting. I stole the intel the Mygi guy gave Sinclair and was able to get to Raphael before Sinclair and his goons could. At least one of them tailed us for a little while, the witch or the fae, maybe both, because it wasn’t quite sundown yet. That’s when this got a whole lot weirder.” I took a deep breath. “Raphael Dominic Alvarez isn’t human.”
“What is he?” Cassius demanded. “And why did the bounty say he was?”
“That’s the problem and the ultimate question, isn’t it? I’ve never seen or heard of something like it. I have no idea, and neither does he.”
“You want me to take this case, don’t you?” He sounded defeated as if I had just caught him in a trap.
“Yes. I need backup because I promise Sinclair isn’t going to walk away from twenty million, and his ego demands he not fail this, not for a company like Mygi. His reputation is on the line. He’s not going to let me hide Raphael away until everyone forgets about this, including Mygi, which could be a very long time.”
“And protective custody would only last so long,” Cassius added. “Mygi would probably just keep offering more until the Tribunal told them to stop what they’re doing…”
“Exactly. So, I need an Investigator…investigating while I keep Raphael safe. Maybe you can help me figure out what he is.”
“Why did they claim he was human?” Cassius went back to that, and I sighed.
“Because he used to be human. About ten years ago, he took some drug to get high with his friends. He woke up and realized he had killed them. Now, I don’t know every supernatural species that exists, I’m pretty sure no one really does, but…that’s not normal.”
“It’s not. How does Mygi factor in?”
“They captured him that morning before he could run for help or try to figure out what was happening. He spent five years being experimented on, then escaped. He’s been on the run for the last five. Based on what Sinclair was told, they tried capturing him repeatedly and failed. They were hoping someone on the outside and the heat of so many people looking for him would finally lead to his recapture.”
“You’ve got me. Keep him under lock and key, Kaliya. I need to push this up to the bosses and get their approval to investigate. Mygi is incredibly powerful politically and won’t like an open investigation into their affairs. This is going to have to be played carefully.”
“Yeah, but at least it would be something. I have to keep this guy safe, Cassius. I have to.”
“Of course. What does Paden say? You’re a dog with a bone when something catches your interest.” The dry chuckle on the other end let me know Cassius was now one hundred percent on my team for this, letting me relax a little. “I’ll let you know when they give me the…green light, as humans say.”
“That’s the one,” I said, chuckling. Cassius had a problem with modern human sayings. He was catching up, mostly because everyone gave him shit for not figuring them out already.
“I do have one question that’s not totally relevant,” he admitted finally.
“What’s up?” I was insanely curious now.
“How is it you have already stumbled on this when you’ve only been home for…two days? You were just at the Jacky Leon Trial, and now you’re in this.”
“Oh, was that her name?” I frowned. “Yeah…The bounty came up while I was out of town, so I’m actually a week behind everyone else in the city who watches these things. Sinclair showing up really pushed up my time frame to figure out what was going on. Initially, I had no intention of getting involved and protecting Raphael. I just figured I would look into it for Paden, and he could decide what he wanted to do with it.”
“You always did strike fast.”
“I’m a snake, of course I do,” I reminded him.
“Send me a report, and I’ll look into it.” Something about those words seemed final as if he was looking to get off the phone.
“Can do.”
“Stay safe, Executioner.”
We both hung up, and I stared at my cellphone for a moment. Cassius must have had company at the last moment if he said goodbye using my role. That was the sign someone was around who he didn’t want to know that he spoke to me on a semi-regular basis. Maybe it was his soon-to-be wife, or maybe it was one of the Tribunal, who didn’t like it when their Executioners and Investigators teamed up and caused trouble for them. Cassius lived with the male fae Tribunal member, so it would make sense he would have to be careful.
Before moving on with my list of tasks, I wrote a small report on Raphael’s abilities and what he looked like when he used them—the red and black eyes, the black ink spreading from them in his veins, the unidentifiable smell, the super strength, and advanced healing. Maybe he would know someone similar or something about it. The more we knew, the better.
I didn’t put anything about my reaction to the not-human, though. That wasn’t Cassius’s business. That was a problem only I could handle, but it meant keeping Raphael alive was extremely important.
I called Paden next, pushing aside thoughts of Cassius.
“Before you say fucking anything,” Paden growled on the other end of the call, “just know that I know what you did. You have him, and Sinclair is furious. He’s in the Underground right now, talking about you and how you’re sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong. His witch looks a little beat up too, and I’m guessing that was you?”
“No, that was Raphael,” I answered. “Paden—”
“How does a human do that to a witch?”
“He’s not entirely human, but I don’t know what he is. He doesn’t know what he is,” I snapped quickly, tired of the berating tone in Paden’s voice. “He’s here at my fucking place, sleeping in my second bedroom, and it’s been a fucking challenge, let me tell you, to fucking get him here.” Taking a steadying breath, I realized I couldn’t tell Paden much until I knew more. “Let me get back to you tomorrow night. I might have more, but the last couple of days have been crazy.”
