Page 6 of Muted Voices (Broken Ashes #1)

Ransom

“S hit, okay, where are you exactly? I’ll get the Doc to send a team to you to collect the body,” Evander replies.

“Wait, is she okay, the woman?” Reed suddenly interrupts.

I share a look with the others, “That’s actually more complicated than it should be. We’ll explain more when we get back.”

“Fair enough,” Raiden replies, no longer sounding bored, and in fact, seeming more invested than he has for a long time. That’s either going to be a very good or a very, very, bad thing.

I decide that it’s probably best not to try to reply to that or figure out where his mind is heading, and instead, I quickly tell them our coordinates, which I only know because Griff rattles them off to me after a quick search on his phone.

“Great, Raiden is calling the Doc now. He should be there any minute. I take it you guys are hitching a ride back with him?” Evander asks.

I share a look with the others; I know I don’t want to go back without speaking to Neith again and at least trying to get a couple of answers to our questions, but it’s not until I see River and Griff’s reaction that I know that they feel exactly the same way as me, River is almost looking at me pleadingly.

What the fuck is it about this girl that has all three of us fucking hooked.

“Actually, I think we’re going to hang out here for a bit longer. I mean, we shouldn’t have found a hybrid out here, and I want to check out the surrounding area and see if there’s anything else that could lead us in the right direction of the sick fucker that we’re after.” I tell Evander, and I see River and Griff’s eyebrows raise, even though they both look relieved that we’re not heading straight home with Doc.

“Yeah, that makes sense,” Evander replies.

I think that we’ve gotten away with it without being questioned more until Reed’s voice comes through the phone, a knowing lilt to it, “That doesn’t ring completely true.”

When I stay silent for a moment too long, Evander asks, “Ran? What’s going on?”

“Honestly, there’s something about this girl. We’ve spoken to her; I don’t think that we should just leave without finding out more about her. I’ve got a feeling,” I reply honestly, because we’re family, and I tell them everything anyway.

“There’s more,” Reed says in his harsh tone; even though he’s trying to keep it gentle, he can’t help it; it’s who he is.

“Damn it, Reed,” I chuckle, and I’m glad when I hear his laughter join mine.

“Can’t keep anything from me, brother, you know that,” he teases.

“Ransom, what the hell is going on?” Evander asks, as impatient as always.

We all know it’s because he worries, and he worries because he cares. He lost someone incredibly important to him, and it’s left him with scars and reactions that are slightly different from the norm. Fortunately for him, we understand better than most since we all have our own demons and are just a little bit damaged.

“Alright, dude. What I said was true; we really should look into how a hybrid has ended up out here, especially since we know that they can’t happen naturally, and he smells exactly the same as the other ones, so we know that they are from the same lab, run by the psychopath.”

“But?”

Before I can answer, Griff does, which surprises me because usually, he’d rather stay quiet and let the rest of us talk it out. I’m not the only one that it surprises when he answers before I can.

“She stood between us and the Shifter, Evander. A human stood in defense of three supernaturals. When was the last time you heard of that happening?”

“She saved our lives, she shot him, took him down,” River adds, his voice subdued, which is another tell about how much Neith and this whole situation has affected us.

The phone is silent.

“She seriously stepped between you three and the Shifter to protect you?” Raiden’s shocked voice comes over the phone, clearly having heard what Griff and River have said.

“Yes, she did,” I reply, barely refraining from adding that she looked fucking spectacular while doing it.

“Wow,” Reed mutters, darkness in his tone, he’s never had good experiences with humans, and yet, although this clearly shocks the shit out of him, he doesn’t question us and believes us immediately.

“Okay, I can see why you’d need to stay. I can’t remember the last time that a human did that,” Evander replies. “It also intrigues me that she managed to kill him. I mean, we’ve fought these hybrids before, they’re crazy fucking fast even for us, and a human managed to kill it. That seems like something that needs to be investigated. How did she kill him?”

“Silver bullet straight between the eyes,” River replies, and it’s easy to hear the impressed smile in his tone.

“Impressive,” Raiden replies, sounding intrigued, which makes me slightly nervous. “Are you sure she’s human?”

“Dude, seriously?” I ask, “We’re extremely sure.”

Griff smirks as he crosses his giant arms over his chest, “River got himself in trouble with her because he sniffed her.”

“Griff!” River exclaims, knowing he’s not going to live it down.

“Don’t you know better by now?” Evander teases.

“Dude, it’s not my fault, she’s fucking observant.” River tries to defend, and his response makes us all laugh.

“Alright, we haven’t got a job lined up for a while, so we don’t need you three back, and we most likely won’t until Doc has had a good look at the body and hopefully finds us some more clues to where the fuck this lab is,” Evander replies, getting us back on track.

“Do you guys want an extra pair of eyes? I want to meet this woman,” Raiden asks.

“I think we’ll figure her out first before scaring her with your snarky and disinterested self,” I reply with amused affection.

“Or worse, your full focused attention because she intrigues you,” River adds. “Dude, you know that you give people whiplash when one day they have your entire focus and the next you don’t even acknowledge them. I think we’re lucky you still love us.”

Raiden chuckles, “You guys are different; I never have to worry about you leaving and not coming back or my fierce loyalty scaring you. You accept me for who I am, and I get to be entirely myself. That’s why you’ve got me forever.”

And that there is the reality of him; it's heartbreaking, but he is right; we’re not going anywhere, and we love him for exactly who he is.

“We know, man, I’m just teasing,” River replies.

“I know, you are right. I’m far too intrigued by her right now, and for some reason, my magic is as well, and that’s just from hearing you talk about her. I’m actually not sure that it’s a good idea that I meet this intriguing human, not with my magic taking an interest in her. It’s never done that,” he replies honestly, a slightly worried note in his voice.

“Fuck,” Evander and I say at the same time.

“Ransom, figure this woman out, and find out if she’s a threat to us, but be fucking careful. She may be human, but I don’t like the way that Raiden’s magic is behaving or the fact that you’re all behaving out of character, too.” Evander orders.

“You got it, boss. We’re going to wait for Doc, and then we’ll see what we can find tomorrow and then head back to the bar where she works tomorrow evening and see what we can find out about her. We should be back in a couple of days.” I reply.

“Got it. Keep us updated on everything, and if you need backup, call for it,” Evander practically barks.

“Got it,” I reply and then hang up.

I just stare at the others in silence, absorbing the words that Raiden had said to us. Raiden’s magic doesn’t show interest; it just doesn’t, not unless we’re fighting for our lives, and then it perks up a bit; he’s always described it as apathetic, just not interested.

“Well, that’s certainly concerning,” Griff mutters.

“It means that we need to see her again, even more so now. For Raiden’s magic to stir, it has to mean that she is somehow important.” River adds.

“We know that already though, don’t we? Otherwise, there’s no way that Griff would’ve had a vision about her,” I reply, and then add because I think it’s important for them to know, “I don’t believe for a second that the only reason why you saw Neith was because the shifter has a link to the case that we’re working.”

“I don’t either; otherwise, my focus in the vision would have been on the shifter, but the entire vision was focused on her,” Griff admits with a frown, not liking the unknowns in this situation, and to be honest, I don’t like it either.

“We’ll figure it out. Hopefully, she’s going to be happy to see us tomorrow,” River replies, “if we have to stay longer, we will. She feels important, and there’s a mystery and a puzzle surrounding her that I want to figure out. I mean, how has she not turned? How is she not in pain?”

“I was thinking about that,” I start, “the only thing I can come up with is that because he was a shifter, it messed with his ability to do that, so it was just a normal cut.”

River frowns, “I’d agree with you, except I could still smell traces of the toxin. She should have been in agony, turned or dead, and yet she showed no sign of discomfort and, in fact, had bandaids on it.”

Griff throws his hands up in the air, “Fucking bandaids.”

Watching Griff shake his head in exasperation makes me chuckle; it doesn’t happen often, and the fact that Neith, this tiny, beautiful woman, is the one who has managed to unravel him just makes it even more amusing. I’d be wanting to find her again just for that reason alone.

Before any of us comment anything else, the magic in the air starts to build, fizzle, and crackle before a coroner's van, a very high-tech one, suddenly appears out of nowhere in a spark of orange and purple tendril magic.

“Hey Doc,” River greets happily as a tall incubus steps out of the van, smiling happily.

Like all incubus, he’s gorgeous; unlike most incubus, he’s a giant nerd and is happier delving into the world of science than heading out every night for sex.

He’s developed a serum that means that he doesn’t have to hunt every night. Obviously, he still hunts; he’s a succubus, and it is in his nature to love sex, but he doesn’t want to be ruled by it, and because of the nature of his work, it means he could be in the lab for days and having to go out to feed would interrupt his workflow.

What can I say? The dude really loves his work, and we’re all grateful for it. He’s a fucking genius.

“Heard that you guys have a situation on your hands,” Doc, or Camden to anyone he’s not friends with, says as he grabs his medical kit and walks over to us.

“Yeah, actually, we’ve got another feral hybrid experiment,” I explain.

“Yes, Evander told me. I think it’s curious that he’s all the way out here, though,” he starts but suddenly stops, his eyes widening slightly as he takes a deep inhale and his eyes flashing molten gold.

“Are you alright, man?” River asks him; it’s not often that we see his incubus come out to play, not unless we’re all on a night out.

“Damn, who the fuck was the woman?” he asks, surprising us all.

We share a look because there is something different about this woman and something going on with this whole situation. I don’t believe that Griffith got that vision of Neith because of the link to our case, and that means something else is happening, and now, the unflappable always in-control Doc is having an issue?

Griffith fills him in on his vision. Doc is one of our closest friends, and it really isn’t hard to trust him with this. Having said that, something stops us from saying too much, just like it did when we were talking to Evander and the guys. I think we want to keep her to ourselves for a bit longer because I would be willing to bet my last dollar that she’s going to be meeting the others at some point.

“She’s human?” he questions, the same confused look in his eyes as the rest of us had. Eyes that are now thankfully back to normal. Succubi may feed on all things to do with desire, which doesn’t necessarily mean sex, but obviously, that’s where they get their biggest hit from. Even so, their powers don’t actually have much to do with sex at all. They tend to be better looking so that they can attract their prey more easily, but they aren’t a danger to whoever they have sex with, and they can abstain from sex entirely if they wish. Doc just chooses to take the serum mostly when he knows he’s going to be in the lab for a long time so he doesn’t start to get distracted by hunger pains; otherwise, he doesn’t need it.

It's similar to the way humans eat; just because they eat a fish doesn’t mean they can suddenly breathe underwater; it just sustains them and helps to keep their bodies strong. An incubus or succubus can have an assortment of different gifts that have nothing to do with sex.

Doc just happens to be an incredibly powerful Incubus; we don’t even know the extent of his gifts, and he’s one of our best friends. We’ve actually been trying to convince him to join our team permanently for a long time, but he’s too happy in his lab and doing doctor things. He won’t ever leave that.

River nods rapidly, “Yeah, she’s human, and I double-checked.”

“He got yelled at for it, too,” Griffth smirks, his big arms crossed over his chest.

Doc smirks, “No way, you got yelled at by a human woman?”

“Yep,” River grins, looking pleased with himself and making Doc frown in confusion.

“Why do I feel like there’s more to this than you guys are telling me?” he asks.

“Probably because there is,” I retort.

He scoffs when we all remain silent, “Fine, keep your secrets. You should know that I haven’t picked up the scent of a human that smells quite like that before,” before we can ask, he adds, “Definitely human, though.”

“Yeah, she’s pretty fucking unique,” I reply.

Again, Doc’s eyebrows raise, but he doesn’t say anything, simply asks, “So, how was he taken down?”

Griff clears his throat and then says, “The woman took him down. Stood between us and him and shot him straight between the eyes.”

Doc just stares at him for a second before his gaze switches to the rest of us as if to see if Griff is pulling his leg and joking with him, which is not like Griff at all.

“Right, okay. I’m not really sure what to do with that, so I’m just going to move on because, holy fucking shit, a human stood between you and a supernatural. That’s practically unheard of.”

“You don’t need to tell us, man. We’re just as shocked,” River replies.

“I bet. Right, I’m going to get him back to my lab so I can see if he’s really linked to the others, although it seems unlikely that he’s not.” Doc says. He starts to pull his magic, and a gurney appears underneath the victim floating into the back of the high tech coroner's van.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of watching you do that with such ease,” River chuckles.

Doc smiles, “Well, I can’t do it with that much ease around anyone else but you guys. You know I have to make it look a bit more difficult when anyone else is around.”

“Yeah, we know, man, just like us,” I tell him.

“I’m guessing that you guys are grabbing a lift back with me?” he asks as we follow him back to the van.

“No, we’re going to hang around here for a bit longer,” River replies, bouncing around like his fox form.

“I thought so,” Doc smirks.

I feel the need to add, “There are some things that don’t add up about the woman. We need to get to the bottom of it before we can leave.”

“Alright, man,” he smirks and then becomes serious as he pauses before getting back into the driving seat of the van, “just be careful. I’ve got a weird feeling about this one, and that’s with me knowing that you haven’t told me everything about her.”

“We will, man,” Griff replies.

“We just need to work it out before we let everyone else know,” River adds.

“I hear you,” Doc replies, “keep in contact or I will come back for you.”

“Got it,” I reply.

The three of us step back and watch as he gathers the magic around him again, and the entire van disappears with a pop.

“Now what?” Griff asks gruffly after a minute of walking back to the bar so we can get our car.

“Now, we head home. Have a few beers because I know I fucking need one, and then we’re going to eat and get some sleep. We’ll find Neith at the bar in the morning. She said she was working, and we can get to the bottom of some of these mysteries.” I reply, but for some reason, I think we’re only just beginning to scratch the surface of the mystery that is Neith.