Page 46 of Time Traveling Space Bastards
I was pretty sure what happened in Valtens’s filthy house was going to have implications. From what I understood, Kuka was only able to maim his brother if he struck first at him. Valtens didn’t. He aimed straight at me.
Valtens would have known that, too, and I was pretty sure his intention was to make Kuka watch as he killed all of us before he aimed at him. Valtens would cheat at contests, but I knew Kuka never would. He’d bust his ass and figure it out.
Omi had everything she needed to repair Enix, so I had questions while she worked.
“How is this going to play when you get home? You’d have to lie that he was aiming at you.”
“Actually, I don’t. You did good keeping the bonds to yourself. I’m guessing you did, or he wouldn’t have tried to kill you first.”
“I’m confused. I didn’t tell him because I didn’t want him using me against you.”
“So, most people don’t know this since they weren’t explained the rules, but our Velne are considered extensions of ourselves. Attacking you was an attack on me. As far as the rules of the contest go, it was a justified kill because he might as well have been trying to murder me.
“And not everyone finds their bonds. Some people fall in love and get married to someone they aren’t bonded to. It’s considered precious to find yours. No one is going to find it abhorrent I protected my Velne.”
“And you,” I said, turning to Ghol. “You said you erased all the footage except for me. Why the actual fuck would you do that? It puts me at the scene.”
“I’m still not sure how all of this time travel works, but I think I just fixed your botched murder investigation when you fake your death.”
“Yes!” Kuka yelled. “I couldn’t figure out why Big Daddy allowed this to happen. It fixes everything and if some version of us does this again, it’ll be so much easier.”
“I’m confused,” Torrek said.
“Me, too.”
“Okay, so someone is calling the cops on my brother either way. There was a weapon that went off and rapist is burned into his front lawn. Someone is going to come asking questions. They aren’t going to find Valtens, and your weapons can’t do what ours can. There’s no sign of a fire inside and the house is filthy, so they are just going to think it’s dust on his floor.
“I’m guessing your coworker is going to show up to work and her boss isn’t there. You said you two were practically running the store. She’s going to wonder where you are and still call the wellness check.
“When the cops find the blood we’re going to leave behind, they will know you aren’t alive. They are going to start looking into people who knew you and guess what? Your boss has rapist burned into his front lawn and is currently missing.
“They’ll look into his security footage since he’s got cameras everywhere. They won’t see us, but they will see you, the girl who got murdered, tied up in his living room. They aren’t even going to look at Owen. The investigation won’t be compromised to protect Owen because they’ve got a lot of evidence it was your boss.
“They will never find Kevin or your body, but if any version of us does this again, we’ll look into Kevin straight away and realize he’s Valtens, just fifteen years older. It’ll be so much easier next time. Quick thinking, Ghol.”
“Big Daddy, I’m still mad you let me get kidnapped.”
“It had to happen like this, Big Mommy. It fixed your murder investigation and Omi couldn’t have attacked him and won. He gave the appearance of being unarmed, but he had a weapon on him. She would have died.”
Shit. He had me there. I’d gladly get kidnapped and stuck in Kevin’s stinky, shit-ass house if it meant I got to keep Omi as a sister. Valtens said he never went anywhere without that gun. It was tiny, but it also meant he had it in the bookshop with us this entire time.
Tangilique and I both would have quit if we knew Kevin had a gun in the back of his pants, even if we would have thought it was a regular human gun. He was unhinged and ill-tempered on a good day and we wouldn’t have wanted to be in the same shop as him while he was armed.
I’d had Kevin’s ass right in my face while we were putting new stock up. I never noticed. I mean, I avoided looking at the man’s ass because I was sure it was unwashed, but if I hadn’t noticed in ten years, Omi probably wouldn’t have, either. None of us did before he pulled it out and aimed it at me.
“Thank you for saving my sister,” Torrek said. “But how did you know everything would work out with Baxter?”
“Because I knew where Valtens was and knew none of you would let anything happen to her. I also know the rules of the contest and can see the entire past of it. Kuka would have been justified killing Valtens just for kidnapping his Velne. It’s happened before.”
“How does this work?” I asked. “Everything happened the way it was supposed to except my murder investigation. I thought we faked my death the entire time, but now I’m thinking that’s wrong if it needed to be fixed.”
“You actually could have been murdered before. Your crime scene was pristine, except for your blood. They were able to piece together what happened from the blood spatter, but there was no other evidence. Which means there was an Enix involved. If Valtens murdered you, he would have come back to turn me back on to get rid of your body and evidence. He would have used me for an alibi, too. I wouldn’t have liked it, but I probably would have done it because he was my owner, and he would have threatened me.”
“Well, fuck. Now he’s dust, and I never got to punch him in the dick. What happens next?”
“We have to get a move on to stage your murder scene. Then, we have to travel seven thousand years into my past to leave your books behind and I have to figure out how I’m going to explain everything when we get home. I don’t think we should tell everyone you’re the Devouring Mother, but I need to come up with something to fix the present and future.”
“You can do it,” Omi said. “And Enix should be as good as new since we all know how Baxter wants to thank him.”
“Only if he’s okay with that!”
I kept repeating that because I wanted Enix, but I didn’t want him to reciprocate or do anything because I was their Devouring Mother and he thought he had to. I wanted him to want me for me and I never wanted him to do something he was uncomfortable with since I knew what his past was.
Enix stood and gave me this smoldering look.
“Oh, he’s definitely okay with that,” he growled.
Game on.