An Imperceptible Ruse Indeed (The Gods' Executioner Series) (9 page)

So she can port too? Who in the hell is she? Well, since she didn’t turn into smoke like Loki, I doubt she can port without being detected, which only raises more questions about how she managed to get in and out of Niflheim.
And what’s this next event she referred to?

All of these thoughts wander through my mind as I disengage my Mu-cutter and port back to Director Gracie’s office.

“Alright, well I’m pretty sure the vampire invasion of Australia is over.” I report.

“How can you be so sure?” the d
irector asks.

“Well, I overheard the superior of the vampire leading the Australian campaign say that they were abandoning it, just before the vampire was decapitated by her superior.” I explain as I scoop
Cheza up.

“I’m going to take Cheza home now so she can rest. Natasha, I’ll meet you in the room; Cheza and I left some things in there that I’ll need to get anyway.” I inform them before porting to the house in Bellevue
.

I set Cheza o
n the bed, pull her suit off of her, tuck her in, brush a strand of hair out of her face, and give her a quick kiss. I port to the room at the AUSSIE compound and gather up the clothing that Cheza and I have left around the room. I zip my left sleeve back on and fold the clothing into neat piles while waiting for Natasha, who walks into the room five minutes later.

“All done. Ready to go?” she asks.

“Yeah.” I reply while gathering up the stacks of clothing.

I grab Natasha’s hand and port
us to the living room of the house.

“Hey Natasha? Could you do me a favor and help me pull these bullets out now?” I request.

“Of course.” Natasha replies with a slight smirk.

I walk through the kitchen to the laundry room where I
toss the bundle of clothes into the all-in-one washer dryer before adding some soap and turning the machine on. I grab a pair of pliers from our utility drawer in the kitchen and hand off the pliers to Natasha. After grabbing a metal dish for Natasha to put the bullets into, I hop up onto the dining room table and lay face down. Twenty-seven tinks of the metal dish later and I have a back free of bullets.

“Thanks
, Natasha.” I tell her.

“
No problem. Alright, well I’m going to head back to the office.” Natasha says while yawning.

“Are you sure? You could catch some sleep in the guest bedroom if you want.” I offer.

“Hmm… I think I’ll take you up on that.” Natasha replies.

I lead her upstairs
to the door that is across the hall from the master bedroom and show her in.

“Hold on, I’ll go grab some of Cheza’s pajamas.” I say.

“That’s alright, Cole; thanks though.” Natasha replies.

“Are you sure?” I ask.

“Yeah.” Natasha says and an awkward silence follows.

“Well, uh, goodnight!” I awkwardly reply.

“Goodnight, Cole.” Natasha responds as I exit the room and close the door behind me.

I return to the master bedroom
while trying to shake my slight feeling of awkward embarrassment, quietly rinse off my suit and myself in the shower, and get ready for bed. I slide in next to Cheza and spoon her as I drift off to sleep.

Chapter 9: Breakfast Innuendos

[December 23rd]

I wake up at 8am the next morning to find that Cheza is still unconscious. I start to worry before I check on her to find that she’s fully recovered, and is only sleeping. I carefully leave the bed and exit the room before heading downstairs. Natasha is sitting at the bar that divides the kitchen and the living room, reading a newspaper while wearing only a blue lace bra and matching panties.

“Good morning
, Cole!” Natasha exclaims from behind her newspaper.

“Uh, good morning
, Tasha…” I reply while trying to keep myself staring.

“What do you feel like having for breakfast?” I ask.

“Hmm… I think I could go for some sausage right about now. It’s been quite a while since I’ve had any
sausage
and the thought of it is really making my
mouth water
. Can you fix that problem for me, Cole?” Natasha asks with a sultry gaze.

“Yeah; I’m pretty sure we’ve got some sausage links in the fridge. What else do you want with the sausage?” I question.

“How about crepes? I think banana crepes with lots of whipped cream would be really good, don’t you? But I don’t want the banana to be sliced. I would rather have you
shove
the whole
banana
into the
hole
of the rolled up crepe, before squirting a bunch of white
cream
into it. Can you manage that, Cole?” Natasha inquires.

“I believe we have both whipped cream and bananas so I should be able to manage it. I doubt the crepes will be as good as Jason’s; that man is a master at cooking crepes.” I reply and get to work while Natasha quietly huffs.

I cook the crepes and sausage before dishing them out onto three plates: two that I set on the bar and one that I put in the microwave, setting it to the ‘Keep Warm’ function.

“Are you done with the front page stories?” I ask as
I sit down beside Natasha and start eating. She hands me the front section of the newspaper and I can’t help but notice the way her breasts move with her blue lace bra as she does so.

“See something that you like?” Nata
sha smiles surreptitiously.

“No.” I plainly reply and turn my attention towards the newspaper.

“Am I really that unattractive to you, Cole?” Natasha asks, sounding hurt. I turn towards her and see tears in her eyes.

“No, that isn’t it at all.” I tell her.

“I mean, I know that I’m entering my late twenties and I’m not in your preferred age range… I’m over a decade past that already…” Natasha quietly adds.

“You know, I’m getting really sick of everyone thinking I’m a pedophile!” I exclaim.

“You have to admit, the evidence for it is pretty daunting.” Natasha argues.

“I don’t like little girls!” I expound.

“Prove it.” Natasha states and stares at me.

I stare back into her green eyes for several moments before something comes over me. My mouth hungrily finds hers as my right hand slips underneath her bra. Natasha grabs my junk through my boxers and I get so wrapped up in the moment that the shuttin
g of the microwave door comes as a surprise, causing me to jump.

“Don’t stop on my account.” Cheza says and takes a bite of her crepe
before turning towards Natasha.

“
It’s the usual rate and make sure you’re using jimmies; I can’t have you getting my bottom bitch pregnant.” Cheza tells Natasha.

“Got it.” Natasha replies with a serious nod.

“So you’re whoring me out to our friends now?” I ask with mock surprise.

“Whoring you out implies that I’m actually guiding the
horse to the watering hole, when all I’m actually doing is profiting from the horse finding the water all on his own.” Cheza replies with an uninflected tone.

“I’m sorry…” I say.

“If it were anyone besides Natasha, I’d already have your testicles in a vice grip. However, since it is Natasha, I don’t really mind.” Cheza responds, but something tells me that she’s not being completely truthful. Natasha gets a mischievous look on her face and walks over to Cheza.

“Want to do a repeat of a few years ago?” Natasha whispers in Cheza’s ear.
Cheza stares at me as the mischievous look spreads to her face.

“That could be
fun…” Cheza replies as they both inspect me and I start to feel like a piece of meat. I realize what they’re referring to as I hear my phone ring.

“Just a second.” I tell them and race upstairs to answer my phone.

“Cole, we need your help.” Tia says, sounding rather distraught.

“Tia? What’s wrong? Has something happened to you
or Sara?” I frantically ask since Tia being distraught is a giant red flag.

“No, she’s fine. By ‘we,’ I mean the Aztec pantheon.” Tia corrects.

“What’s going on?” I inquire.

“
Tezcatlipoca, Xipe-Totec, and Huitzilopochtli were all killed last night in a manner that you know quite well.” Tia explains and I start freaking out. That’s three out of four Category 3 pantheon heads killed in a single night; one more and Tia dies with him.

“Where’s Queta… Quetzala… Qu
e…” I try to say.

“
Quetzalcoatl? He’s here at the house. He goes by Quinn now by the way.” Tia says.

“Alright, I’ll be there in a little bit.” I tell Tia and hang up
.

I run downstairs and see that the girls have started the ‘pre-game warm-up’ on the couch
. I struggle to ignore the sight as I head to the laundry room and pull out my armored jeans and jacket from the washer-dryer.

“Cole? What’s going on?” Cheza asks from the living room.

“I need to go help the Aztec pantheon.” I say while pulling my pants on.

“Is Tia alright!?” Cheza asks, sounding worried.

“She’s alright at the moment, but three of the four heads of the Aztec pantheon were killed last night; one more and she won’t be alright at all.” I reply while pulling on my jacket and walking into the living room from the kitchen.

“Okay, I’ll go grab my suit.” Cheza says, standing from the couch and Natasha.

“No, Cheza. Your suit has too many vulnerabilities at the moment. I’m taking both of our suits with me so Sara can repair them.” I tell her while grabbing my boots from the entryway closet and sitting on the stairs to strap them on.

“Cole—” Cheza starts to argue.

“Cheza, I can’t allow you to come with me on this one… I can’t risk losing you again with what happened yesterday… it’s my fault you got hurt.” I tell her while hanging my head. I hear Cheza pad across the floor to my position.

“Cole… you have to stop blaming yourself for these kinds of things.
” Cheza softly replies as she leans forward over the stairs and pulls me close to her.

“I’ll let you do this one solo, but I want you to check in with me on occasion.” Cheza adds.

“Yes ma’am.” I reply.

“Alright… be safe, Cole; I love you.” Cheza says.

“I love you too, and I will.” I respond and give her a quick kiss.

After
heading back to the master bedroom to grab my holster pouch and both armored leather suits, I touch my triskele and port to the house in Arizona where I grew up. I find Sara and Tia sitting at the kitchen table with a Hispanic man that is around six feet tall with a thin build and short black hair that has a metallic green sheen to it.

“Hello everyone. Sara, can you fix my and Cheza’s suits?” I ask and hold the suits out to her.

“Sure… Holy shit, Cole! What happened!?” Sara inquires while holding up my suit and inspecting the back of it.

“Cheza and I had to take on ten tanks yesterday; she was getting shot so I jumped in the way and covered her.” I recant.

“Well, your suit is toast. Cheza’s shouldn’t be too difficult to repair, but I’ll need to make a new suit for you. I’ll have to strip the inlay from this one, replace the broken discs, and insert it into a new leather suit.” Sara explains.

“
Take your time on mine, I still have my old one to use as a backup, but Cheza needs hers as soon as possible. Also, can you reinforce the collar?” I ask.

“If you made pure silicon carbide discs then I can.” Sara replies. I walk over to the kitchen sink and hold my left hand over it.

“If I make them half an inch thick, would it limit her neck’s mobility?” I inquire.

“Most likely.” Sara answers.

Cheza being unable to turn her head would be even more of a liability so I guess that’s out. I form pure silicon carbide discs that are a quarter of an inch thick and two inches in diameter. A liter of blood later, I hand the ten discs to Sara and she heads back to her room. I take a seat at the kitchen table next to Tia, who is wearing jeans and a burgundy camisole with a slight puffiness around her eyes.

“So what’s the situation, Quinn?” I ask
the man wearing the black suit across from me at the table.

“Well, as Tia already told you, the lords of the North, South, and East have all been killed.” Quinn replies.

“How?” I inquire.

“There were holes from a blade in their shirts and underneath… their chests were melted and their cores were gone.” Quinn answers. This sounds just like the incidents with the Greek pantheon four years ago.

“Where were they killed?” I question.

“In Mexico City. They were on their way to a meeting with the new vampire leader to negotiate their takeover of Mexico. I was supposed to be going to that meeting as well, but I was running late. When I felt my brothers die, I sent some gods to investigate, knowing that if I went and fell into a trap, the Aztec pantheon would be finished.” Quinn explains.

“Were they together, or did they take separate routes?” I ask.

“Separate routes.” Quinn answers.

“Alright, I think it’s best if I go talk with the vampires in Mexico City and see if they know anything.” I say.

“I’ll accompany him. You should return to Aztlan, Lord
Quetzalcoatl.” Tia suggests.

“What’s Aztlan?” I ask.

“Aztlan is the Aztec plane of the gods, like Mount Olympus or Tir na nOg. It’s sometimes known as the birthplace of the Aztec people; the word Aztec is actually the Nahuatl word for the people from Aztlan.” Tia informs me.

“I think that would probably be best… be careful and report back when you know something.” Quinn says and disappears.

“So, shall we go?” Tia suggests.

“Yeah, but let’s go speak with Maria first; I want to get as much information as I can so we know what we’re walking into. I also need to feed Alice while we’re in the Underworld.” I reply.

“Alright, let’s go.” Tia says as she grabs my arm.

I touch my Haglaz rune and port to Jason’s house first because I can’t port directly to Mictlan anyway.

“Hey Cole; here for Alice?” Reyna asks as Tia and I appear in the kitchen.

“
Yeah, that and to see your mother.” I answer.

“
Well, Alice is down for her nap at the moment.” Reyna informs me.

“Alright, I’ll go see if she’s hungry.” I reply and head upstairs.

I enter Alice’s room and find her peacefully sleeping. I lift her over the guard rail of her bed and hold her against my chest. Alice sniffs and moves to bite my neck without waking up. After she drinks half of a liter, I cut her off and tuck her back into her bed. I turn around and find Tia standing in the doorway, smiling at me.

“Have you considered that she might be your daughter?” Tia whispers.

“Why do you say that?” I ask at the same volume as Tia.

“Well, her silver eyes and silver aura are difficult to ignore.” Tia replies.

“Airi… care to jump in and confirm or deny her, and my, suspicions?”

No response, like I expected.

“Wait, you can see auras?” I question.

“Of course; all gods can.” Tia says.

“If you could see my aura then why didn’t you, or Kira for that matter, suspect my origins?” I ask.

“Because all of the blood warriors had silver auras. As you know, silver auras are reserved for god-created beings like jinn; the blood warriors fall under that distinction as well. Cheza’s silver aura only served to strengthen the lie that she had to be killed to start Ragnarok since she’s doesn’t have t
he blood of a god-created being; that sort of anomaly made sense.” Tia explains.

“Huh… anyway, let’s head to Maria’s.”
I reply.

I
grab Tia’s wrist and port us to the front door of Maria’s house where I ring the doorbell.

“Hello
, Cole.” Babette greets.

“Hello. I need to speak with Maria.” I
reply.

Babet
te motions for us to follow and leads us back to Maria’s usual room before knocking on the double doors.