by K. N. Banet
Well, I can’t be sure what he’s into. His girlfriends did call him Dom.
“Well, this is a shithole,” I commented lightly, trying not to open my mouth much as my fangs dropped again.
“Thanks,” he snapped. “I’m on the top floor.”
Of course you are, because if anyone shows up, getting out has to be as hard as possible.
I followed him up to the third floor and followed him into his apartment. Quickly taking in the environment, the first thing I was able to put together was that Raphael was a drinker. Empty beer bottles sat on every surface. They were the only mess, though. There was no laundry or dirty dishes anywhere, just empty beer and liquor bottles. He hit it pretty hard, but I couldn’t smell alcohol on him nor vomit or anything in the apartment.
So, not a sloppy drunk. There are worse things he could be than a drinker.
“Start talking,” he growled as we walked into the living room.
I picked up one of the beer bottles and decided to throw it in the trash. Why the urge struck me, I didn’t know, but the need to clean up was strong. It wouldn’t be hard to get a garbage bag and fix it up. I didn’t say anything, but the very clear click of a gun going off safety made me turn to him slowly.
“Don’t shoot me,” I said carefully, looking at the gun in his hands, pointed at me. “If you think Mygi is a problem for you now, you can’t even begin to comprehend the problems you’ll have if you accidentally kill me.”
“I don’t know you, so I’m going to keep this on you. Sorry, it’s nothing personal.”
I nodded slowly, trying not to make sudden movements.
Smart humans are more dangerous than most supernaturals. His instincts are telling him that he and I are not the same, and that makes me a threat, no matter what promises I give him.
“You’ve been running from Mygi for five years. You have the right to be paranoid, but you really can’t shoot me.” I needed him to understand killing me was going to make his problems a lot worse, not a better.
“Damn right, I do, and I’ll make the call whether I can shoot you,” he growled. “Now, you said a fucking vampire? Why do I think you’re telling the truth? Vampires aren’t real.”
“Because they are. The world knows about werewolves and fae, and they have some idea about witches now. There’s more, there’s so much more. Mygi Pharmaceuticals is a supernatural company, owned and operated by monsters that go bump in the night,” I explained, wanting to strangle him. How dare he pull a gun on me? I was there to help.
“What are you?” he demanded.
“A naga. Well, nagini, a female naga. Um…” I tried to think of a good way to explain. His look of confusion told me everything. He had no idea what I was. “Indian species of supernaturals. I turn into a snake. Not Native American. I wasn’t born on this continent kind of Indian.” I hated having to clarify, but I lived in the United States long enough to know I had to, or the more ignorant would start asking what tribe I came from. Since I liked most Native Americans I met, I didn’t want to insult anyone by trying to joke around about being Navajo or something. Plus, no one in the supernatural world was stupid enough to insult the beings and people who inhabited the Americas before we arrived from all over the world.
“What else is there? What is Mygi going to send after me to catch me, and how do I kill them?”
Straight to the point. He’s not going into shock like most humans do. He’s either hard to shake, or he had already considered something supernatural was going on, more than what he knows possible.
“That sort of explanation would take too long for the limited time we have,” I said gently, moving toward his beaten up and used couch. “We only have until sundown to get you moving and into a secure location. There are three definite people coming after you tonight. Only one of them I know for sure knows how to fight and kill. The other two are mixed bags. They could have tricks up their sleeve that could turn any situation in their favor.”
And if they’re working with Sinclair, there’s an incredibly high chance they’re really fucking good at what they do.
As I sat down on the couch, I had to admit I was scared. Raphael followed me every step, his gun pointed uncomfortably at my chest. He wasn’t stupid enough to aim for the head. He would double tap me like a professional. I was immortal but not invulnerable. I hadn’t thought to wear body armor. He could kill me, and there would be little I could do about it.
Talk about a confidence killer. One human could kill me when I’m trying to help him. I would become the laughingstock of the supernatural world. Years spent cultivating my reputation, wasted by one attractive, paranoid human male.
“One is a vampire, the leader. Easier to kill than the other two, but this one is pretty old and damn powerful. The chance either of us can kill him tonight is slim.”
“What would it take?”
“The sun or fire. You can incapacitate vampires, but those two things finish the kill. Well, you can also behead him,” I said, trying to get comfortable on the couch. It was probably the worst thing I had sat on in my entire life. Lumpy and awful, sitting down was almost as distracting as the gun in front of me. “Broken necks don’t kill them. Heart injuries don’t matter, they’ll heal ‘em. Cut off the head, throw them in the sun, or set them on fire. Those are your three options.
“The other two people I know for a fact are going to find you tonight are a fae and a witch. You can kill a witch like any human, but who knows what sort of spells you have to get through to do that. A fae, you can mortally wound with an iron weapon and hope it sticks. It’ll stop their healing process, but someone else could save them if you don’t stab them in the heart or cut their head off. They won’t bleed to death, so don’t rely on that. Like the witch, a fae can have a variety of annoying abilities you’ll need to fight through.”
“What else is out there?”
“Well, everyone knows werewolves, so I can tell you about werecats. Be careful with them. If they get a good enough bite, you’ll be turning fuzzy during the full moon. Just like werewolves, but a lot bigger, meaner in a lot of cases, and very antisocial.”
“Werecats?” His hand was starting to shake. I didn’t like that much, considering it was holding a firearm.
“Well, we can talk about my kind, the nagas. Or maybe the kitsune, they’re always fun. What about banshees? They’re cousins to the fae. We can try nymphs. What about ghosts or spirits?” I shouldn’t have been egging him on, not with how nervous he already was. I hadn’t even started on the real monsters, the ones that couldn’t take human form. The sphinx, the manticore, the wendigo, and more—hidden away. Keeping those secret from the world was a lot harder, and they were going extinct at an alarming rate, but many of them were still around. There were so many supernatural or mythical creatures, there was almost no way for any single person to know what was out there. I was only giving him a taste of the terrible.
“You’re…you’re lying. There’s no way…”
I opened my mouth and let my fangs drop again. I could taste the drop of venom falling from one of them. I spit it out before it got into my system. The last thing I had time for was that.
I’m going to need to milk them the moment I get the chance. I can’t deal with all this right now.
“I’m a naga, just like I said. Snake people from India, going back to ancient times. I wouldn’t lie to you about the rest. You need to come with me. Mygi put a ten-million-dollar bounty on your head, for all the public to see. I’m not planning on cashing you in for it. Money isn’t much of a worry for me. I’m just trying to keep you alive.” If anyone had asked me this time yesterday, my objective would have been different. Capture human, find out what human knows, then let him go on his merry way.
My physical reaction to him changed the rules. His life was the most important thing now. I reined in my anger over that frustrating fact and tried my hardest to keep calm. If I started getting pissy, his trigger finger was going to get twitchy.
�
�How do I kill werewolves?” he asked. “Some type of metal, right?”
“Silver bullets, obviously. A lot of them. They heal well, but once silver gets into their system, it’s a toxin. It hampers all their abilities, and they can’t Change when they have large amounts of it in their body. Just load them up or hit them in a fatal spot, head or heart. They won’t come back from it. Good luck getting silver bullets, though. A silver sword or dagger is much easier.” Silver bullets weren’t easy to come by. Most were custom made by small supernatural companies, and those companies didn’t stay open for long once a nearby werewolf pack found out someone was putting silver bullets on the market. Every few years, there was someone new I had to contact to make sure I had a good supply since I wasn’t into making bullets for myself.
“Werecats? How do I kill those?”
“Exact same deal. They both Change on the full moon, without any control, but they can shift between their forms whenever they want to, full moon problem aside.”
I checked the time while he watched me. Less than an hour until sunset, and he didn’t seem like he wanted to come with me yet.
“Maybe you should pack,” I said gently. “I won’t move.”
“I haven’t decided whether I’m going with you,” he growled. For just a second, I wondered if I caught a glimpse of red flashing in his eyes.
“Why don’t you tell me your story?” I asked, crossing my legs and leaning back.
“You know my name, so you know what happened,” he snapped. The gun was still shaking in his hand.
“I know very little. You were set up to do great things in the human world. One night changed everything, and you disappeared for ten years. I know for five of those years, you were with Mygi, though I’m assuming it was against your will. You’ve been running from supernaturals since you escaped.” I licked my lips, and there was something else in his scent now. I had no idea what it was, and that scared me. What had the good people at Mygi done to him?
“I killed all my friends,” he snarled. “You know that part.”
“I do,” I whispered. The gun rose up, and he took two fast, large steps across the room. The cold metal touched my forehead.
“Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you right now just for knowing that and make my escape?”
“Because I might be able to make all this stop,” I said softly. He could kill me, and I was just sitting there. This wasn’t the first time I had a gun to my head. “I’m kind of important, and there’s so much you still need to understand.”
Keep cool. No sudden movements. The moment his guard goes down, disarm him. Can’t kill him, but I can at least take away his advantage and gain control of this situation. Talking to him is obviously not working.
“I’m human,” he said with a conviction I didn’t really understand. It was almost like he was trying to convince himself. I could smell how human he was. There was no arguing that he was human. “I’m not a supernatural. Why is this happening to me?”
“I don’t know, but you’re in it now, Raphael. There’s no turning back. Once you’re in, you stay in. The only way to get out of the supernatural world is in a body bag.”
Humans tried and failed before him and would continue to try and fail after him. Some dipped their toes in, going to witches to dabble in magics they didn’t truly understand. When things got too hot for them, they tried to walk away, but by then, they knew a few real spells and knew magic was possible. They were always pulled back in, normally for misusing magic. Then there were people who accidentally got jobs with supernaturals. Even if they never knew the secret, they were in danger, a target to whoever their employer’s enemies were.
“Why don’t you tell me what happened?” I asked softly. We were running out of time, and I was getting more anxious by the moment, but I needed more of a rapport with him. He wasn’t going to budge unless I really made him think I gave a shit.
Sadly, I did give a shit and really hated it. Of course, the one time I needed someone to think I cared about what happened to them was the one person who refused to get with the program.
“I was about to graduate, and my buddies finally convinced me to try something. I went through drug testing, so I stayed clear of all of it for a long time, but they promised this drug was a great high and completely natural, so it wouldn’t show up on any drug tests. I was drunk.” The gun lowered a little, which put it between my eyes, but he was relaxing, so I took it as a good sign. “I don’t know…I woke up, and I was surrounded by them. They were all dead like something beat them to death one by one. I was covered in blood. Some people came and grabbed me before I could even get out of the house. Next thing I knew, I was spending my days strapped to a table.”
I swallowed. That sounded worse than I had originally thought.
“Then you escaped, and Mygi has been after you ever since.”
“That’s right.”
Great. Mega corporation into pharmaceuticals, doing illegal captures and experiments on humans. I mean, what else could this be?
“I said I can help you, and I will.” I needed to make a call to Cassius and fast. He was going to want every piece of this to build a case, and the faster he could start, the faster I could get permission to take out anyone who tried to grab Raphael. There were still so many things I didn’t know, like how Raphael escaped to begin with, but it didn’t matter. Now, I had full confirmation this wasn’t a standard ‘capture the human to keep the secret’ problem. This was a company trying desperately to cover up illegal activities, and hoping no one looked too closely at them. The Tribunal wouldn’t unless they had reason to think this was part of something more. I now had that reason. I just needed to keep him away from everyone looking for him.
“How can you do that?” he asked, the gun lowering even more. It was pointing at my chest, but I could see how loose his finger was off the trigger and not primed to put two in me at any moment.
“I work for the supernatural government. It’s called the Tribunal, and it’s been in power for about eight hundred years. Its number one goal is to keep all supernaturals following the letter of the law. What Mygi has done is…well, I can’t say it’s officially illegal, but it’s definitely cause for the Tribunal to step in and make a ruling, to give you some protection. You can never go back to a human life, but I can help you set up usable fake identities to use in the human world.”
“What do you do for them?”
Smart fucking human.
“I’m designated a Tribunal Executioner—”
His hand tightened on the gun, but I was able to push it out of the way before his finger pulled the trigger. Two shots went into the couch next to me. I twisted his wrist until something started to pop, forcing him to drop the gun. Again, I could smell something strange on him, something that didn’t match his totally normal human scent.
“I’m not here to execute you,” I hissed. “I’m also a freelance bounty hunter and do my own investigations into illegal activities. A friend pointed your bounty out to me, and I decided to sniff around and discovered you needed my help.”
Gods, he shot at me. He’s completely okay with killing anyone he deems a threat.
In the beat of still silence in the apartment, I came to a quick conclusion about how I felt about what he had just done.
I can respect that. If someone came to me and called themselves an Executioner, and I didn’t know what that meant, I would have tried putting bullets in them too. He has good instincts.
“How?” he asked, seeming shocked. I had moved so fast, I was pretty sure he didn’t even see me.
“I’m a snake,” I reminded him. “Lightning fast reflexes are kind of our thing.” I couldn’t move that fast all the time, but instinct really ramped up my reflexes when I was hunting or in danger. A snake had to know when it was time to strike. We conserved energy otherwise.
Slowly, I let his wrist and arm go, kicking the gun away before anyone thought to get a little too trigger happy again.
“Now, w
e definitely need to leave unless you want to explain this to the human police,” I said, glancing at the window. “Raphael, at least take a walk with me.”
He didn’t seem happy, but he nodded.
“Yeah. I can’t get sent back to New Mexico. I know if I’m arrested for the deaths of my friends, I’m an easy target for those people chasing me.”
“Exactly. Do you have a go bag?”
“Of course,” he snapped, seeming insulted I would assume he didn’t. He left the living room into one of the two inside doors. I figured one was the bedroom, and one was the bathroom. It was a tiny, shithole apartment. He came back out with a large duffel thrown over his shoulder. I picked up his gun and offered it back to him.
“Let’s not try to kill me again?” I waited for his reply as he grabbed the gun. I didn’t let go, though. I needed him to make me some assurances.
“I’ll go with you for now,” he agreed. “I won’t try to shoot you unless you try to kill me.”
I let go of the gun.
“Then let’s get out of here. We have to hurry. Hide that. If the cops are already nearby, they’ll be stopping people.” I could have offered to hide it in my bag, but I figured he would be more comfortable with his weapon. I didn’t need him defenseless.
We left the apartment together, and I was really starting to think I should have stayed out of this mess from the moment Paden brought it to my attention.
9
Chapter Nine
I could hear the sirens as we got into his car. He drove carefully this time as we pulled out, the cops too busy investigating the gunshots to realize the culprits were leaving. He was cool under pressure, I had to give him that.
“You’ve done this a lot,” I commented lightly. “Avoiding the cops.”
“Yeah. Whenever someone blows my cover, they show up, and I need to dodge everyone,” he said, his voice tight, fraught with tension. “So, what is it you do? You said you were a Tribunal Executioner. You kill people?”