Page 47 of Muzzled

Ryan glanced over at her. “No, Micah’s definitely not a guy. She’s the artist who did those pieces I sent you.”

Bo hesitated, his voice wary when he finally spoke. “Okay, right. You do some pretty cool shit. So you’re calling because…?”

“Because I’m going to need you and Alex up here soon,” Ryan said, obviously enjoying the uncertainty he was causing with his lack of information. “I’m going to reserve rooms and flights for you once you let me know how soon you can get in.”

“Uh-huh.” There was a strange grinding sound and Bo muttered a few choice words. “I’ll check with Sage, but I can probably do Saturday if that works. Is there a reason you need me up there?”

Holding his finger to his lips, Ryan pulled into the motel parking lot. “Nothing much. Just a little issue with Seph tracking Micah down when I’m not around. An escaped shade prowling topside for the last thirty years. An evasive Pirithous in the area. You know, the usual.”

A loud clunk echoed through the speakers, followed by the unmistakable snick of a lighter. “Holy fuck,” Bo breathed. “Micah? You, uh—”

“Yes, I know what’s going on. The shade’s been following me,” she replied, elbowing Ryan when he parked and turned off the engine. “Your brother’s enjoying your attempt to play it cool.”

“Of course he is,” Bo grumbled. “He’s a sadistic prick with payback issues. What the fuck, Ryan? I nearly had a goddamn heart attack. Fuck. We need to pull Alex into this convo. I’ll listen in while you make him sweat, too.”

*

Ryan tossed onearm over his eyes and lay back on his bed while Micah and his brothers continued to lament on speakerphone over Persephone, smiling when Micah made a sly comment about Seph’s obsession with cleanliness and Bo launched into a tirade about his hands, her dresses, and his vacuuming skills.

The tension guiding the first two hours of discussion was finally easing, his brothers’ worry over the escaped shade lessening once they realized it was staying close to Micah and could therefore be drawn out. They’d batted around theories about her artwork, about how much influence the shade may have had over the years with its proximity, and what that meant in relation to the Pirithous.

The bed jostled and he opened one eye, grinning as Micah nudged his leg with her foot. “Had enough?” he mouthed while Alex shouted his tales of Persephone over Bo’s incessant complaints. “Guys? Alex. Bo. Cut it.” He picked up his phone and took it off speaker, covering the mic. “I’m going to be out in the lot, wrapping up a few details. Don’t open the door to anyone.”

She saluted him, calling her goodbyes out as he left the room and pulled the door shut.

“Just us,” he said quietly as he made his way outside. “I need to fill you in on a few other things before you get here. First, the shade we’re hunting is Daniel Elijah Ringer.”

Bo snorted. “I think we both figured that out when you said it got out thirty years ago. We’ve taken down, what, two this century?”

“The man Micah’s mom claims is her father went by the name, Eli.”

The twins went silent.

He took a deep breath and glanced at his motel window. “She found out last week her absentee dad, who she thought was out of the picture before she was born, actually disappeared completely when she was two. Right around the time she first saw the shade.”

Bo whistled low. “We killed her fucking dad.”

“And I take it you haven’t told her,” Alex added.

“Because there’s no need,” he muttered, running his hands through his hair and regretting leaving his sunglasses on the dresser. “It makes no sense. Eli had no sons that we know of. No brothers himself. Nothing I’ve dug up online, either. Which means this Pirithous has to be from a kill further back down the line. I just…there’s no way I screwed up this bad. No way we missed an entire branch.”

He could hear Bo inhale deeply as he took a drag of his cigarette before he spoke. “The Pirithous can’t have girls,” he stated. “No way it’s her dad.”

“The line may be diluted enough.” He lolled his head against the brick exterior of the motel. “The past four centuries have seen a noticeable drop in the scent’s potency. But even if it’s not, how do we explain the shade’s connection to her?”

“Maybe it thinks he’s her dad,” Bo suggested. “The Pirithous line doesn’t know it can’t father girls, so maybe the shade is playing daddy dearest because it believes it is.”

The idea had merit. “You may be right.” Rubbing his chin, he sighed. “You need to see it to believe it. The amount of control it has over her when I’m not around? It comes out in her art. The things it pushes into her head…” He trailed off, turning toward the window to reassure himself she was fine. “So we’ll need to be aware of that. Second issue is Seph. I need you two to help keep her away from Micah before Seph scares her off or Micah does something to set Seph off. More so.”

“What the fuck’s up with that?” Bo’s graveled voice called out over Alex’s grumbled agreement. “Is she pissed her golden boy is up here getting laid instead of down there licking her heels?”

Pacing the length of the lot, he paused to watch a couple walk by hand in hand. “I don’t lick heels, and I’m not getting laid. Now are you on board to help or not?”

“Goes without saying, brother,” Bo exhaled. “But if you and Micah aren’t doing the nasty—and I’m kinda disappointed in you if you aren’t—what the hell is Seph’s problem?”

Pride held his tongue from replying, from including his brothers in Persephone’s assessment of his value to her. “Whatever it is, I don’t want it interfering with wrapping up this damn mission.”

His mind shifted to the final issue he needed to address, the one which bothered him most. He took a moment to collect his thoughts, to ensure the growing worry he felt for her was tightly contained.

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