Page 25 of Muted Voices (Broken Ashes #1)

H e looks at me with a raised eyebrow. “They haven’t seen you in action yet, have they?”

“Er, well, I saved three of their asses, but I had my gun,” I reply.

“I feel like there’s a story there that Ernie will enjoy, save it for poker night. Which you will be attending next week, or he might come and find you.”

“You got it,” I reply. “Just quickly, is there anything else that you can tell me that you think I should know?”

He seems to think for a couple of seconds while the bartender who came to get us gets increasingly twitchy and then nods, “Oh, Ty, the boss at SID, he knew your parents too. We were all really close.”

“Fucking hell,” Evander curses, “it’s all connected, and we don’t even know why or how.”

“I don’t think that I’m even shocked anymore,” I say, and I’m okay with it. I really am; I’m used to shocking things being thrown my way. Granted, this is probably the most shocking thing that I’ve had to deal with, but not by much, so I’ll just roll with it, like everything else.

Everything happens for a reason.

We all hear a crash from the direction of the bar, and without any more discussion, I head back down the hallway, knowing that Sully is behind me and the guys are scrambling to catch up behind him. I know that none of them want me anywhere near the bar fight. I mean, we may have just been told that I’m not human, but for all intents and purposes, I am, and they see me in that way, which means that they see me as vulnerable and something that they need to protect and while it is true that I am more vulnerable than them, I know how to get control of a bar fight no matter who the patrons are and if Sully wasn’t confident that I could handle it, he wouldn’t let me anywhere near the situation.

As it is, he usually leaves me to handle it. Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, he’s always claimed that I seem to have a sixth sense which ensures that I don’t get hurt, at least not seriously anyway, and I’m wondering if that’s a part of my supernatural side coming out to protect me. I very almost mentioned the voices to see if they’re a part of my supernatural side, but if I’m being honest with myself, I’m so terrified that they aren’t and that I’m actually crazy thanks to all of the shit that I’ve been through that I just couldn’t bring myself to ask.

I’ve done the research, and I can’t find any kind of supe that hears the voices like I do. I mean, there are the supes that have telepathic abilities as part of their magic, but I’ve studied them extensively, and none of them hear the voices when they’re entirely alone and there’s no one near them. They can also hear them more distinctly, or at least they can make a single voice in the cacophony stick out so it's more understandable. I can't do that.

So I’m assuming it’s a me thing and not a supe thing.

Fuck me; I’m a supe.

Before I can completely spiral into my thoughts, something else crashes loudly in front of me, and I’m reminded that I get to help break up a bar fight.

“Neith, please be careful,” Doc says.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” River asks.

I hide my smirk as Sully rolls his eyes, “You guys stand behind the bar. It gets a bit hairy when these two go at it and I don’t want to get in trouble for damaging some of Ty’s agents. I’d never hear the end of it.”

I can't help but salute them as I launch myself into the fray, a massive grin on my face as I duck a flying chair.

I need this.

Reed

I ’m so focused on Neith and following her so she can’t go through with the bar fight that I don’t realise that I’ve stepped through a one-way ward until it’s too late.

Sloane watches us all closely as we realise and meets my eyes, “I am more than aware that you think you can blast through this ward with ease,” he says, shocking me that he knows that. He looks at Ransom, “As do you, but I think it's really important that you all see just how capable Neith is, considering she has no access to her supernatural side yet. This ward was also reinforced by an old friend of mine, I think you’d be surprised how long it will take you to get through it.”

“The second it looks like she’s in trouble I will use everything in my power to blast through this ward, and I don’t give a fuck who finds out how strong I am.” Ransom meets Sloane’s eyes, his voice dark and full of promise.

Sloane nods, taking the threat seriously, as he should. He may know Neith and have this familial connection with her, and we respect that, but in the very short time that we’ve known her, we’ve come to care about her, and in all honesty, I know in the case of River and Griff, their instincts are riding them hard to protect her, they’re going to struggle with this.

“Trust me, if it looks like she’s in any actual danger, I will step in myself,” Sloane tells us before he adds, “but as I said, you need to see this. Her instincts are better than most supes, watch.”

I haven’t actually taken my eyes off her since we got shut in here, and although I’m trying desperately to hold onto my magic so I don’t destroy this bar and the majority of the supes inside it, it's easy to see what he’s talking about, that doesn’t make it easy to watch.

She’s fucking magnificent.

At this point, the whole bar has descended into chaos, and instead of being worried or even scared, she’s grinning as she dodges and weaves through the fighting patrons. Surprisingly, she successfully manages to take down a few and gets them out of the way of stomping feet.

“How is she doing that?” Doc asks the question that we’re all thinking, “She’s fucking tiny and pretty much human, yet she’s knocking out supes twice her size and then dragging them into safe places too? It doesn’t make sense.”

“Is this because her magic is starting to grow?” River asks, and I have to admit that it's not something that I had considered.

Sloane shakes his head, “Nope, this is just her.”

“I don’t understand how no one can know what she is,” Raiden says curiously.

He’s still engaged and focused, he cares, and that means that in only a few days, she’s managed to reach the same status as we are, and I really hope she doesn’t hurt him because Raiden doesn’t handle that well at all.

“You’ll understand when you need to,” Sloane replies and then whoops loudly as Neith ducks a magical blast coming her way with a massive grin on her face and a beer in her hand. She is genuinely enjoying this.

“Where the fuck did she get the beer from?” Van asks incredulously.

“No fucking clue,” Ransom replies and then adds, “I’m more curious to find out how she knew that a blast of magic was heading her way. I only just picked up on it before it was sent, and I've been working with magic for decades; that’s my thing.”

“Whatever it turns out that she is, she’s going to be fucking strong,” Doc comments.

“She is. I don’t think there’s ever been any doubt about that,” Sloane replies, his eyes tracking her every movement to ensure that she really is safe, “and I have a feeling that she’s going to need all of you.”

“We’re not going anywhere,” I reply, knowing that they all feel the same, and no matter what kind of supernatural she turns out to be, so long as she lets us, we’ll be there to help her.

“Good,” Sloane says.

Neith

O ne of the usual barmen sees me and grins as he throws a punch, “Neith! Thank fuck you’re here. This got out of hand ridiculously quickly.”

I grin, “I’ll say, I have to warn you I’m going to play a little bit first.”

He ducks another blast of magic and replies, “When do you ever not?”

He makes a good point, I very rarely break these things up as quickly as I can and that’s simply because I have too much fun. There isn’t actually any time to reply to him though, because the voices in my head start to buzz. That’s the only way to describe it, and I’ve come to learn that it means that magic is being sent my way. Instinctively, I duck, and the wall explodes behind me.

I pop back up to standing with a grin, take a sip of a beer I stole from the bar, and point at the fucker who sent the magic my way; his eyes widen as I yell, “Bad move, dude. You went against the rules of engagement!”

“This is a bar fight; there are no rules of engagement!” he yells back.

I see Joey from the door wade through the crowd, heading straight for the guy that I’m arguing with, and instead of answering the guy, I grin and wave, “Night night.”

His face fills with confusion for a mere moment before he crumbles to the floor, knocked out by Joey’s touch. It’s a really cool gift to have, but as I understand it, he can't use it too often without it really draining him, so he can’t just go through the room putting everyone to sleep, although that would shorten the bar fight substantially.

I'm having so much fun, and it is genuinely helping me get rid of some of the tension that was building thanks to the revelations. Once again, my instincts ping, and I duck before swinging with my left hand, and when that’s predictably blocked, I swing my right hard, catching the guy across the jaw, making his head snap to the side before he drops to the floor in a daze.

I have no idea how I'm capable of doing that to a supe; at least I didn’t; now I’m thinking that it probably has something to do with the fact that I’m one too, or at least I’m becoming one? I don’t know. I’m a bit hazy on the details.

My distraction costs me, and I find myself ducking just a bit too late. Thankfully, it’s a normal hit and not a blast of magic, but it does graze my cheekbone, and I know it’s going to bruise. Nothing is broken though, so I’m counting that as a win and a lesson in complacency. I should definitely know better.

I grab the guy that got a lucky hit in by the throat and draw my hand back to punch him when a wave of magic snaps out through the room and the whole room literally freezes, and the guy stops struggling, his eyes widening with panic when he realises that he can’t move.

The bar is in my eyeline, and I glance over to see a mad as hell Ransom, his eyes glowing as he glares over all of the now frozen patrons.

“Damn,” I hear River mutter, and that’s enough to let me know that this isn’t Ransom’s usual go-to.

“Alright,” Evander yells, “We’re with SID. In a moment, you’ll be able to move again, and I suggest you either help clear up the mess you’ve made and get back to your evening or fuck off. The choice is yours.”

Ransom’s eyes are on me as he weaves his way through the crowd to get to where I am, and I know that any second now, he’s going to release the hold that he has on everyone, and I know that it’s him and only him. I can feel his magic, I recognise it from when the first hybrid showed up.

I smirk, causing his eyes to widen as I let my fist fly, connecting with the guy's face just as everyone unfreezes.

Ransom chuckles, although there is surprise in his eyes as he asks, “Were you ever frozen?”

I shake my head, “Nope, but everyone else froze, so I figured that I should do it too, just in case they all knew something I didn’t.”

Ransom stares at me incredulously for a couple of seconds before he shakes his head, his eyes filling with warmth, “I guess there’s some sort of logic in that somewhere.”

“I thought so,” I smile.

“Are you okay?” Griff asks as he approaches with the other guys.

I’m unsurprised to see that all of the guys are following him and looking concerned, although River keeps looking from me to the guy on the floor until he grins.

“I’m fine,” I manage to say before River interrupts me.

“Ransom’s magic didn’t work on you, did it?” he asks excitedly.

I shake my head, “Nope.”

“Huh,” Raiden mutters. “I’ve never heard of a supernatural with that gift.”

“Well, you wouldn’t you? If I had that gift, I sure as shit wouldn’t want anyone to know that their magic didn’t affect me,” Doc points out.

I point at Ransom, grinning triumphantly, “Ha, I knew there was logic in my approach!”

“I was the one that told you that there was logic in your approach,” he replies.

I smirk, “I don’t remember it that way.”

“Alright, let's help clear up, you two,” Evander suggests with a smile.

Looking around, I’m not surprised in the slightest that the majority of the patrons that were fighting mere moments ago are now helping to tidy up the mess they’ve made, all while giving our group cautious looks.

I can’t say I blame them; that was a pretty big show of power from Ransom, and although they don’t know which of the guys actually froze them, they know that it was one of them, and it's made them cautious enough to behave even in their inebriated states. I think the guys have gone up in Sully’s estimation too, because I’ve been involved in a lot of bar fights here, and they’ve never tidied up after themselves. He’s leaning on the bar, smirking as he catches my eye and winks.

Yeah, the guys have definitely earned themselves a couple of points where he’s concerned.

It doesn’t take us very long at all to have everything righted, and the bar looks back to normal, complete with all of the patrons sitting back at the tables and drinking again. I head up to the bar where the guys are talking to Sully.

“Back to normal,” I grin.

He smiles, “Yep, it’s better than the usual mess I’m left with, that’s for sure.”

“We should probably get going. We’re going to check out a lead tomorrow, and we need to be rested so we don’t miss anything,” Evander says as he looks around at all of us.

“Alright,” Sully replies, “take care.”

The guys all say goodbye, but before we can leave, Sully pulls me off to the side and out of their earshot.

“Everything okay?” I ask.

“I just want you to know that no matter what happens, you can always come to me. I’m hoping that the more developments that happen, the more I can tell you. I would love to tell you about your parents one day.”

I reply honestly because other than a few things, I am always honest with him, “I’m not really sure how I feel about that. I do know that right now, I am not ready to hear anything about my parents, even if you could tell me.”

If I’m being completely honest, I don’t even want to ask if they’re still alive, he keeps saying I did know them and things along a similar vein that all tell me that it’s in the past and not present, and I don’t know how I feel about that so I’m going to ignore it because that’s the way that adults deal with shit.

Right?

“I understand that, Neith Love. Whenever you’re ready, if I can, I’ll tell you,” The lines around his eyes soften, and it's only when he’s being kind and gentle like this, his Irish brogue softening, that you can tell he’s a lot older than the late forties that he looks.

“Thanks, Sully,” I reply gratefully. I know that eventually, I’m going to want to know, but not right now. Right now, I’ve got to deal with the whole Supernatural thing.

That’s enough.

“No problem, now go on and get some rest,” he says, pulling me in for a quick hug. “Congratulations on your new job, by the way, and if I ever see your boss at HID in a dark alley, he won’t be leaving it.”

I burst out laughing, “Thanks, Sully.”

“No problem,” he grins.

I turn back to face the guys who are doing absolutely nothing to pretend that they aren’t watching us and move toward them, saying a quick goodbye to those I know as I move through the bar. I didn’t laugh because I thought Sully was joking; oh no, he’s deadly serious. I laughed because I can imagine my ex-boss's reaction to Sully in all of his ogre glory, and I would actually pay to see him brought down a peg or two. He certainly fucking deserves it, and not just for me. That fucker not only had a problem with supes but a problem with women too, and being beaten by an ogre is actually probably too good for him.