Page 24 of Countdown to Murder (A Paranormal Halloween #3)

“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 being placed 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 na?ve 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. I hate cardio, 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 hit puberty.

” 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 first change, 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 lived alone 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 know who 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. ”

“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 a huge deal, 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 or designations, 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 for assassin, 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.”

Assuming we made it to the beach house, which wasn’t a given. We had a few obstacles to clear before we made it to the beach.