An Imperceptible Ruse Indeed (The Gods' Executioner Series) (3 page)

“Haha! The saran wrap! Hahahaha! The saran wrap!” Jason replies while in stitches; so it seems he’s figured everything out.

“I’m sorry, Mommy! I was just so hungry and Uncle Cole smells so good and he said it was okay…” Alice starts to cry.

“
Oh mija, I’m not angry at you; I just misunderstood. It’s okay.” Reyna gently says as she helps Alice out of the tub.

“I’ll go grab you some clean jammies.” Reyna adds and heads out of the bathroom and down the hall towards Alice’s room.

“So, Cole… are you attracted to young girls?” Jason asks me in a serious sounding tone, but with a smile that says he’s fucking with me as he dries Alice off and I step out of the tub.

“Well, that depends… do you want me to go the R. Kelly route and say define ‘young,’ or the Sandusky route and say that I
‘like young people and enjoy being around them’?” I ask while drying off, wrapping my towel around my waist, and slipping off my soaked boxers underneath the towel. Jason and I both start laughing as Reyna comes in with a pair of Alice’s footie pajamas and helps her into them.

“C
ome on; it’s been a long night so I think we should all get some sleep. Cole, is it alright if Alice sleeps with you?” Reyna asks and I realize that it must have something to do with a bloodlust that comes with the fangs.

“Sure. We can talk about what happened tomorrow at breakfast.” I reply before realizing that, with the exception of the towel, I’m completely naked and
my clothes are all in the bedroom. Jason smirks at me and snaps his fingers, applying a clean pair of boxers and flannel pajama bottoms.

“Right. Let’s go get some sleep.” I tell Alice.

“Okay. Goodnight, Mommy. Goodnight, Daddy.” Alice says and follows me into the guest bedroom. I lift her into bed and slide in next to her before shutting off the light.

“If you get hungry in the middle of the night, just go ahead and take a bite; you don’t need to wake me up.” I tell Alice.

“Okay… thanks, Uncle Cole.” Alice softly replies and I kiss her forehead.

“Goodnight, Alice.” I say and drift off to sleep.

…

“So walk us through what happened.”
Reyna says after breakfast, once Alice has been put down for her nap.

“Well
, Alice was eating dinner and I felt nauseous so I went to the bathroom and splashed some water in my face. Then shit got weird. As I brought my head up, I saw Loki standing behind me in the mirror, but he wasn’t behind me when I turned around. Loki asked me what my answer was in response to helping him in return for bringing Addie back. I told him that my answer is the same as it was four years ago; that I’m going to kill him. He said he was happy that was my answer and that he had several things planned for me before I heard the window break in the kitchen. I rushed out there and found a woman in a black leather riding suit with a black street bike helmet holding a knife to Alice’s throat.” I recant while looking away.

“I’m sorry… that never should have happened and it’s my fault…” I quietly admit.

“It’s alright, bro; Alice is safe so it’s fine. What happened next?” Jason asks.

“I told the woman to let Alic
e go; she responded by doing just that after using a spell to put Alice to sleep. She told me that she was following orders to come and say hello, meaning that she must work for Loki. She also told me that it was nice to see me again and that she’ll be seeing the Night Ice Queen again soon as well.” I recap.

“Did you recognize anything about her?” Reyna
inquires.

“Nothing
; I couldn’t even tell what ethnicity she was because her skin was completely covered. As far as I know, I’ve never met her. All I know is that she calls herself Sydney and is about five and half feet tall with a very slender figure.” I reply.

“Plank like?” Jason asks.

“Close to flat as a board… Hmm, I think I may have a lead.” I say as I think of Charlotte; same height, body type, and knife proficiency… I wonder where she was last night? There’s a knock at the door and Jason goes over to answer it.

“Prince Jason, I’m here to make my report.” The head security guard from last night says from the doorway. I leave the kitchen and stand behind Jason to hear the report.

“I apologize, but we weren’t able to catch the intruder.” The guard says.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t expect you to
. The speed with which they were retreating would’ve made it incredibly difficult to catch them, even for me. What about how they got in?” I ask.

“We weren’t able to discover that either… we had no idea they were on the grounds until the window broke.” The guard reports while looking at the ground with shame.

Sydney must’ve known about the security system in place since she most likely works for Loki, knowing that the security force would arrive promptly, cutting our meeting short. That amount of time is really only enough for introductions, which is exactly why she said she was here. Knowing that security was on their way and that I had to take care of Alice deterred me from following, which all but assured her escape. This had been well planned indeed, which seems to be something of Loki’s forte. The only question that remains is how she was able to exit undetected.

“I assume the gates were locked down once the intruder was detected?” I question.

“Uh, yes sir. All of Niflheim was locked down within five minutes of detection.” The guard answers.

That doesn’t restrict porting, but Hel would have been able to sense any porting within all of Niflheim. Thinking back to when Loki showed up at the wedding, Hel seemed pretty surprised… was that just because she didn’t expect to see him, or was it because she didn’t sense him come in? I should go speak with her.

“I need you to go inform Hel that I need to speak with her immediately. I’ll meet her in the front sitting room of the palace in ten minutes.” I tell the guard.

“Yes
, Feros.” The guard replies, bows to Jason, and runs off across the grounds.

I head upstairs, take a quick shower
, dress in my normal jeans/ white t-shirt/ jacket combo, and touch my Haglaz to port to the sitting room in Hel’s palace.

“Hello, Cole. What do you need?” Hel asks from her place on the black leather couch. I take a seat across from her.

“When Loki appeared at the wedding reception, were you able to sense him port in?” I ask.

“No, I didn’t. Does my father have something to do with last night?” Hel questions.

“Yeah; he appeared to me in the bathroom mirror just before the break-in and the woman who broke in was sent by Loki for a meet and greet. I believe that Loki ported in with the woman and ported the two of them out; it’s the only way that the woman could have slipped in and out undetected. The woman gave indications that we had met before so I’m going to look into it.” I reply.

“I’ll see you later.” I add and port back to Jason and Reyna’s house.

“Hey CT, how did things go with my mom?” Jason asks.

“Well
, I figured out that Loki can’t be detected when he ports, so he most likely brought the intruder in last night. I’m going to look into a few things since Sydney said we had met before.” I respond.

Still, something doesn’t seem right;
while Loki physically porting Sydney out seems plausible, it is slightly too hands-on for his style…

“Cole, would you mind hanging around here for a few days? With Alice’s bloodlust due to her fangs coming in, it would be a big help if you could stay around.” Reyna requests.

“Yeah, I suppose I can do that.” I reply.

“So what exactly happened last night?” Reyna asks.

“Well, I woke up and found Alice attached to my neck. She started crying and saying that she didn’t want to kill me, but she couldn’t stop. I gave her the go ahead to drink as much as she needed and reassured her that I wouldn’t die. Then she felt like she was going to puke so I rushed her to the bathroom and got the seat up before she threw up, but it hit the saran wrap and drenched both of us.” I explain.

“Yeah, I figured as
much. What about the candles and Barry White though?” Jason asks.

“I’m blaming that one on you two. When I told Alice that we needed to take a bath, she went to grab the ‘bath time candles’ and when we were about to get in the tub, she said we needed ‘bath time music,’ so I grab
bed my phone and put it on shuffle.” I recant as Reyna and Jason look away with slight embarrassment.

“You should probably correct that misconception about bath time before it gets even worse.
” I tell them and my phone starts ringing so I answer it.

“Cole, I need your assistance.” Maria informs me.

Chapter 3
: Maria’s Mission

“What’s going on?” I ask.

“The vampires have grown restless under an azeman’s rule.” Maria replies.

“Why? What difference does it make who
is ruling as long as it’s essentially a vampire?” I inquire.

“Vampires and azeman have never gotten along very well because vampires see themselves as superior.” Maria answers.

“So it’s a race thing?” I question.

“Essentially, yes. A large rebellion of vampires has formed
since the events during Alice’s birthday party five months ago and they have started attacking the azeman embassies on earth. I could use your help.” Maria replies. I wonder how much influence Loki has in this event…

“Alright, what do you need me to do?” I ask.

“The embassies in the southern hemisphere need assistance. The vampires have already hit all the large embassies in Panama and Mexico, cutting off support to the azeman embassies in the US. Half of those have already been taken out due to their smaller size and I’ve ordered the rest to retreat to the Underworld. The vampires aren’t being subtle about this either; some of the murders have taken place in broad daylight. The media hasn’t reported a connection between all of the murders, but it’s only a matter of time before it gets out.” Maria informs me.

“Where do you need me?” I question.

“I need you by Reyna’s side and to hand her your phone.” Maria says.

“Reyna, your mother needs to speak with you
.” I tell Reyna and give her my phone.

“Hey mom, what’s up?” Reyna answers and I listen in.

“I need you to contact The Agency’s director and ask for assistance in guarding the paths leading to the gates to the Underworld in San Francisco and in Texas. All of the azeman in North America have become targets so I’ve ordered them all to come to the Underworld until we can get this rebellion settled. I was able to clear access for the North American gates to Niflheim and Mictlan. The murders of what are essentially refugees have gained media attention so I don’t think the director will mind assisting.” Maria says.

“What about the gate to Mictlan in Mexico Valley?” Reyna asks.

“That one has been opened to azeman as well, but Mexico has been lost and I’m not hopeful for many making it through that gate. Most azeman have already fled Mexico for either South America or the US.” Maria replies.

“Alright, I’
m sure Carla will help.” Reyna replies.

“Good. I also need y
ou to take a family trip down to Suriname; the Duchess needs to make an appearance at the embassy in our people’s homeland.” Maria adds.

“*Sigh* F
ine… I understand that my presence will add some hope to the situation so I’ll go, but only for a few days; it’s too damn hot there.” Reyna responds.

“Thank you. Cole will be accompanying you, Jason, and Alice as protection
.” Maria replies.

“Alright, we’ll leave later today. Bye mom.” Reyna says and hangs up.

“Did you get all that?” Reyna asks me.

“Yup; sounds like we’re all taking a trip to the little country north of Brazil.” I reply, garnering stunned looks from Reyna and Jason.

“What? I figured I should get a handle on geography so I sat down with a globe and memorized the locations of every country about a year ago.” I respond.

“Anyway, Reyna needs to call Carla and I’m pretty sure I just felt Alice wakin
g up. Feel free to use my phone; her private number is already in there.” I tell Reyna and hustle upstairs to Alice’s room.

I find Alice in a state of half sleep so I lift her over the guard rail of her bed and hold her. Alice sniffs twice a
nd sinks her teeth into my neck; she doesn’t have the hang of getting her fangs to stick out yet so she ends up gnawing at the left side of my neck with her normal teeth. Her gnawing tickles slightly and makes me chuckle before she finally breaks through the skin a bit, just enough for a drop of blood to drip through. Alice’s fangs automatically jettison out of the roof of her mouth, just behind her canines, once her tongue tastes my blood. She drinks for about twenty seconds before startling awake.

“Uncle Cole! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” Alice exclaims in a panic.

“Don’t worry, sweetie; just go ahead and drink. I want you to work on your control, okay? No more drinking to capacity.” I gently tell her while stroking the back of her head with my right hand and supporting her up against my chest with my left.

“Okay…” Alice softly replies and starts lapping at my neck like a cat, which I imagine looks pretty damn cute, but I can’t see it from this angle.

“So you, me, Mommy, and Daddy are going to be taking a trip.” I inform her as she continues to lap up my blood.

“What kind of trip?” Alice asks
as she stops licking my neck.

“Kind of like a vacation. We’re going to the azeman homeland; where your ancestors came from
.” I explain.

“Where grandma came from?” Alice questions
and starts suckling at my throat.

“Yes, and where her mother came from.” I reply, realizing that her grasp of the word ancestor is tentative at best.
I stop talking and let Alice continue drinking for a few minutes.

(Alice just reached 0.5 liters. She was at one liter when she vomited last night)

“Alright, let’s cut her off.”

I seal off the wounds in my neck as Alice continues to suckle
at my neck with no results.

“Don’t you think you’ve had enough?” I gently ask.

“Yeah, I guess so…” Alice quietly replies while struggling to pull away.

“Thanks
, Cole.” Reyna says, announcing her presence from the doorway.

“Did Uncle Cole explain that we’re going on a trip?” Reyna asks and Alice nods
as Reyna hands my phone back to me.

“When we get there, there are going to be a lot of other azeman there. They will most likely give you things and be really nice to you, but I want you to be careful. Don’t accept any of the gifts, okay?
No matter how nice they may seem, the people that might be giving these gifts are not doing it out of generosity. I was hoping to keep you out of situations like this until you were older, but circumstances have changed.” Reyna explains.

“Okay
, Mommy.” Alice replies.

“Now, let’s pack your clothes.” Reyna says with a pleasant smile as I set Alice down.

“Cole, I’m done with my mission. Can you come and pick me up?” Cheza thinks once she establishes our connection.

“Sure, I needed to drop by the house anyway.” I reply and Cheza sends me an image of where she is.

“I need to pick up Cheza and get my equipment from our house. How long are we staying at the in Suriname?” I ask Reyna.

“
Probably for less than three days.” Reyna replies.

“Alright, I’ll go pack and be back in about an hour or so.” I respond and touch my Haglaz
rune to port Cheza’s location.

I arrive in the hotel room in Minneapolis and Cheza jumps me, knocking me onto the bed before I realize that she’s naked.
Cheza unbuttons my jeans, pulls them off along with my boxers, rips my white t-shirt in half, and mounts me; she always gets like this after a mission.

…

About an hour later, Cheza lies nestled into my right side as we both try to get our wind back.

“So
, I take it the mission went well?” I ask.

“Yeah… let’s head home.” Cheza replies, still breathing rather heavily.

We both gather our clothes, as well as Cheza’s suitcase, and I port us to our house in Bellevue, Washington. Tia and Sara bought the house for us when Cheza learned that she had been assigned to the Seattle office of The Agency. We make our way into the master bathroom and hop into the shower together.

“I’m going to be gone for the next three days or so
; Jason and Reyna need to take a trip to Suriname so I’m going to be accompanying them.” I inform her.

“Alright, I actually have another mission anyway.” Cheza tells me; since operators almost never go on back to back missions without at least a week of down time, I think I know what her mission is.

“Are you being assigned to San Francisco or Texas?” I ask.

“What? How did you know about that? I haven’t even gotten the details yet.” Cheza replies.

“There’s some kind of vampire rebellion going on. Maria called me and asked for help. She has already given up on the US and Mexico and has ordered a full retreat. You’ll be guarding the paths to the gates to help the refugees.” I explain.

“Why are you going to Suriname, then?” Cheza inquires.

“Bodyguard duty. The Duchess is visiting the azeman homeland as a morale boost. I’m not sure where I’ll be going from there, but I plan on helping Maria through this.” I reply.

It is most likely my fault, after all.
Either Loki is behind this and the vampire rebellion is an ‘event’ he planned for me, or this is the result of me having Maria kill King Byron; in both cases, I’m the root cause. Cheza and I step out of the shower, and start drying off.

“What are you hiding, Cole?” Cheza asks.

“What?” I reply.

“You feel like you want to tell me something.” Cheza says and I sigh in response.

“Loki contacted me through a bathroom mirror last night. Then a mysterious woman showed up and indicated that we’d met, but I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen her before. She also mentioned that she’d met you, too.” I recant; that reminds me…

“What happened?” Cheza questions.

“Nothing; a window was broken, but there wasn’t any confrontation.” I reply as I pull on a pair of armored jeans, wrap a cloth bandage around my left arm, and pull a t-shirt over my head. Cheza’s phone rings so I grab my phone to send a quick text to Lila while Cheza walks into the other room to answer hers.

Hey, do you know where Charlotte was last night?

I get a reply as I pack a couple changes of clothes into my duffel bag, before unclipping the upper portion of my holster and sliding the Diamond swords into my bag. I stick the pouch of my holster with both of my guns and my Sic dagger to my lumbar while I look at the text.

Hey Cole! Haven’t heard from u in a while! Ya, Charlotte was with me last night. Y?

I just thought I might’ve seen her. Do me a favor and be extra careful for the next few weeks, okay?

Well we r at my mom’s house so I don’t think u saw her…
K but we need to catch up soon!

So I guess that clears Charlotte of being Sydney
. Thinking back, I don’t think Charlotte ever met Cheza anyway. I still have no clue as to Sydney’s identity and I think that an all-black aura like hers would have made more of an impression on me. Maybe I’ve never actually met her before, unless her aura has changed recently… maybe Loki ordered her to say that she knew me just to fuck with my head… that actually seems pretty likely; Occam’s Razor and all that.

“So that was Carla
… looks like I’m going to Texas to defend the gate to Mictlan. Can you give me a lift to the office?” Cheza asks as she re-enters our bedroom while I’m putting my armored jacket on.

“Sure.”
I reply and hoist my bag over my shoulder. Cheza grabs my hand and I reach back to touch the triskele on my left shoulder, but I stop.

“What’s up
?” Cheza softly inquires. I quickly pull her into a hug.

“I want you to be careful, okay?” I whisper
as Cheza hugs me back.

“I always am.” Cheza whispers back.

“I know… it’s just with what Loki said… I can’t lose you…” I reply. Cheza pulls away and takes my face in both of her hands.

“I’m going to be fine.
I’m not going to let Loki or anyone else take me away from you…” Cheza gently reassures me before pulling my head down and brushing her lips against mine.

“
Now I’m more worried than ever that something is going to happen to you…” I say.

“Why?” Cheza asks.

“Because, that’s what every character in any form of media says when the writer is trying to cheaply foreshadow something that usually ends with the character dying…” I reply.

“Would it make you feel better if I kept the connection open for this mission? That way if something starts to happen, you get an image and can port to my location.” Cheza suggests.

“I can work with that.” I compromise.

“Great. Can you take me to the office now?” Cheza asks and I touch my triskele.

I port the both of us to the tech lab of The Agency’s Seattle office.

“Thanks!” Cheza says and gives me a kiss. “I’ll send an image if I feel like I’m in over my head.”

Cheza makes her way to the elevators while I search around for Ryuji and/ or Naia’s desk; I find Ryuji’s first. Ryuji and Naia are the only ones that I’ve seen on a regular basis lately. Since they work with Cheza, we regularly have dinner together and occasional movie or game nights.