Page 33 of Countdown to Murder
“I’m not sure I’ll ever figure the love thing out. I’m still working onlike.”
I took her bags from her and put them into the SUV while I answered. “We’ve both admitted to having feelings for each other. Wherever we’re headed, or not, we’ll figure it out together.” I closed the back of the SUV and met her gaze. “No pressure. We just see where it takes us.”
The rented SUV came with satellite radio, and Mira found a classical music station. Not my favorite, but it was energizing and not sleep-inducing, and I found I didn’t mind.
“Tell me what you know of the Concilio,” I told her once I was on a main road and didn’t have to turn anywhere for a while. Our phones were in signal-blocking envelopes, and I wasn’t using the onboard mapping system, either. I’d memorized the route, and had a paper map of the area in case I needed it.
“They owned me from somewhere around three years old until a few years ago. They’re over all supernaturals, and they don’t fuck around. Most of the time, they sent me to kill people, but sometimes they needed me to capturethem and bring them in. Since I work alone, this meant I had a team nearby I could call once I had the quarry immobilized. The team handled transport.”
“Do you know why you were sold to the Master of Maryland?”
“I assumed the price was right. Once I was fully trained, I was nearly always on a mission when I worked for the Concilio, with some touch-up training in between sometimes, but not always. Once I was in Maryland, he allowed his friends to basically rent me out, so I could kill or torture for them. Still, I probably killed about half as many people, compared to the number the Concilio sent me after.”
“What do you know about Nathan? His Majesty?”
“Rumors? Or what I know for sure?”
“Let’s go with rumors.”
“He’s in a threesome with a male god and a woman who’s supposedly some kind of demi-goddess, or Mother Nature, or something else, depending on who’s talking. He still has his Pride, and his lionesses, and he still fucks lionesses in the other Prides under him as well. It seems kind of out there, especially now that I’ve met him.”
“He holds his power in. Don’t let the lack of a huge power signature lull you into complacency. I’ll also say most of what you’ve heard is more true than false, though I of course can’t verify too much without breaking Concilio law, which I’m trying really hard not to do.”
“I’d met Apollonius before I came to the United States, but I hadn’t spent much time around him. That changed when I was brought to Chattanooga. It seems, sometimes, as if he believes I’m his. It’s disconcerting.”
“Let’s not speak his name anymore on the trip, please.” It felt as if we were calling him when his name was spoken, so it seemed best not to risk it.
She rubbed her arms. “Agreed.”
“What do you know of the Slayers?”
“Next to nothing. I know they operate independent of the Concilio. Different goals. They keep humans safe from supernaturals, while the Concilio is primarily concerned with making sure humans don’t find out about supernaturals, and don’t much care how many humans die.”
“See? You’re up to speed and you didn’t even know it. Okay, you asked me about my name, and I didn’t tell you. It feels like you getting into the car and agreeing to come with me means it’s my turn to trust you with more about me, so...”
She was still holding her upper arms, and I adjusted her side of the SUV a little warmer, and my side a little cooler. Thank goodness for dual controls.
“Have you seen Kung Fu Panda?” I asked her.
“No.”
“Well, he’s this big doofus panda who knows nothing about martial arts or meditating, and he ends up beingplaced above the five best martial arts people — animals — in China. He knows nothing, and he’s unteachable until the trainer starts using food as incentive. The other warriors are all muscled and bad-ass, and he’s happy and naïve and pudgy. He bounces.”
She finally relaxed her arms, one on the armrest between us, the other on her thigh. “That isn’t you at all.”
I shrugged. “I like food, and my Zen is pretty practical. I stumble upon the truth when they put me in an investigation. Ihatecardio, and I’ll cheat the fuck out of having to do stairwork in training. I’ll work out with weights all day and thoroughly enjoy myself, but five minutes on the stairmaster or treadmill or even stationary bike and I want to punch someone. Most of my cardio happens in a swimming pool and not on the pavement. I’m not opposed to riding a bike if the area is scenic, but otherwise, I’ll take a hard pass. Oh, and did I mention — I’m a big fan of food. It’s one of my favorite things.” Nearly tied with sex, but probably best not to scare her while she finally seemed relaxed. Or as relaxed as I’d ever seen her, which didn’t mean she was off her guard.
“I was also adopted as a baby. By humans. When I entered kindergarten, a shapeshifter scented the problem and notified Nathan. Rather than take me from my parents, he told them the secret, explained why it was important I was brought up with discipline, and warned them that I’d have to live with someone else for a few years when I hitpuberty.” I took a breath. “Nathan approved of the way they were raising me. With love, but without spoiling me. I had rules, and there were consequences for breaking the rules. And so, when I was close to my firstchange, His Majesty moved me in with his lionesses. Nathan’s personal Pride, along with His Majesty, are the ones who taught me to control my lion. I was with them nine months before they deemed me to have enough control to live with my parents again. They homeschooled me, too. I worked hard to gain control so I could go home, but my time with them wasn’t awful. They were good to me.” I’d spent my eleventh birthday with them, and my goal had been to spend my twelfth birthday back at home. I’d easily met the goal.
“Do you know anything about your biological parents? Shapeshifters can’t just give their babies to the human adoption system!”
She was pissed off on my behalf, and I couldn’t help but smile.
“My biological mom was human. She didn’t know what my father was, but she was afraid of him. He’d slapped her around some. They broke up before she knew she was pregnant. When she found out she was going to have a baby, she moved, to make certain he never found out. Had her company transfer her to another city, which happened to be Dalton, Georgia. She had me, and three months in, realized she couldn’t do right by me. She livedalone in a new city with few friends. She wasn’t cut out to be a single mom, so she made sure I was placed with good parents, and then she had her company transfer her again when her year in Dalton was up. I can’t fault her for any of her decisions now that I know the story.”
I also had a feeling that she realized I was going to look like the man who’d slapped her around and been too rough with her. During my teen years, I’d been angry with her for giving me away, but now, I’m grateful she did. Nathan would’ve taken me from her anyway. She’d have never been able to raise a lion shifter to have the kind of control needed after puberty hit and the lion burst forth.
I sighed. “We can talk about that later if you want. I had a wonderful childhood with my adoptive parents. The mom who raised me is an artist, and she worked from home so I was never in daycare. My dad is CEO of a carpet manufacturer, and he works long hours but he was always there for the important stuff, and he taught me more things than I can possibly list. We rebuilt old cars together on the weekends, and he taught me how to handle firearms. We hunted deer in the fall. Once a year, we went to Alaska to hunt bigger things.” Fuck, I hadn’t meant to get this personal. “The point is, Kung Fu Panda was adopted by a goose. In the first movie, no one ever mentions the difference. It’s just the way it is. Eventually, he finds his biological family, but the dad who raised him is still the man he goes to when he needs his dad. That’s me. I knowwho my biological parents are, but I’m not close to them. I’m close to my parents, and to His Majesty, and to his lionesses — even the ones who’ve come along since I lived there.”
