Page 34 of Countdown to Murder
“And that’s why His Majesty trusts you with his Pride.”
“Yes. Few people know that, and I’d prefer to keep it that way. It’s why I don’t really fit into lion society. I was raised by humans. I understand human society better.”
* * * *
Mira
My instincts told me not to make a huge deal about this, or about him sharing it. It was ahugedeal, but he seemed to want to shift focus away from it, so I decided to help. I wished I could tell him something equally significant, but he already knew my big stuff.
“Thanks for sharing that with me. I don’t think I have anything quite that big to share. I have no idea who my biological parents are. My records say I was hatched in a Concilio lab.” I sighed. “Fawn named me Mira. Before, I’d only had numbers and designations. When I was sold to Maryland, they truncated it and used the designation without the number. They used the English translation and called me Killer, and then Kay. Fawn found a consonant that’d never been in one of my numbered names ordesignations, and found a short name with it that was unlike any of my other names.Mira.I’m happy with a short name that doesn’t describe me. It’s nice.”
“Your ID shows you as Amelia Jackson.”
A vampire lawyer had explained there are people who gather the identities of people when they die without close family. This woman looked similar to me, was the same height, and if you combined first and middle names in a single nickname, you could get Mira, pronounced the way it is in Italy. Mee-rah.
I scanned behind us, to the side, and in front of us again, cataloging the vehicles and drivers in my mind. I knew Panda was likely doing the same, but it was habit for me to always be aware of my surroundings. Finally, I answered him. “Amelia Renee Jackson. Mira. I’m happy with it. I never want to go back to being Assassina2593.”
“Assassina.” He said it with the same Italian accent I’d used. “Doesn’t take a huge stretch of the imagination to know that’s some European language’s word forassassin, and that was your designation.”
“Italian, and yes.”
“Mira fits you. Fawn did good. I’m planning to get food when we stop for gas. If you need something before then, let me know.”
“You said we’d travel four hours?”
“About. I’m hoping to make better time.”
“The plane won’t take that long to reach Chattanooga.”
“No. It’s about a three-and-a-half-hour flight. If I can’t shave some time off, we’ll cross the county line fifteen minutes after the plane lands. Sloan’s going to try to give us another twenty minutes before anyone realizes we weren’t on the plane.”
I kept an eye on the time and made our single stop for gas, bathroom, and food as short as possible. If Apollonius was waiting for us to deplane, we were unlikely to reach our destination even with Sloan’s help. However, if Apollonius planned to meet up with us tomorrow, we should be fine.
I drove as fast as I dared, and it looked like I was going to cut fifteen minutes off our time. I hoped it’d be enough. I’d called for Ryan to meet us in a restaurant at the edge of the county. He owed me a favor, and I could only hope he thought this wasn’t too big of an ask.
“You’re nervous.”
She didn’t ask. It was a statement.
“We’re headed to a safe zone. Slayer territory. If I’ve played my cards right, we’ll have a week to figure things out before we have to deal with the real world again. If I haven’t, we won’t be any worse off than we were before.”
“How were we bad off before?”
“I can’t tell you, but I’m doing everything I can to make sure you understand.”
She was quiet a few seconds. My heart beat like a drum in my chest. The classical music sounded like background music in a movie, upping the tension.
“I don’t feel threatened,” she finally said. “It’s still hours before dark. Today is Halloween. Isn’t there supposed to be candy?”
I smiled and felt a tiny bit of tension leave my body. “There will be. I didn’t think you’d enjoy candy.”
“I quite enjoy the things that are both sweet and sour at the same time. I’m not a fan of chocolate. Oh, and there’s a pie. Key lime? Yes, that’s it. I enjoy that as well, though I scrape the top part off. It’s too sweet.”
“Well, I’m a huge fan of chocolate, so it’s good we won’t have to fight for it. I’ll make sure we have plenty of SweeTarts to hand out tonight, along with the chocolate bars.”
“Hand out?”
“Yes. The town we’re going to is big on Halloween. I’ve rented a beach house, right in the middle of the celebration. We’ll give candy out to trick-or-treaters for a few hours. It should be fun, especially if you’ve never done it before.”
