more. I now had that reason. I just needed to keep him away from everyone looking for him.
“How can you do that?” he asked, the gun lowering even more. It was pointing at my chest, but I could see how loose his finger was off the trigger and not primed to put two in me at any moment.
“I work for the supernatural government. It’s called the Tribunal, and it’s been in power for about eight hundred years. Its number one goal is to keep all supernaturals following the letter of the law. What Mygi has done is…well, I can’t say it’s officially illegal, but it’s definitely cause for the Tribunal to step in and make a ruling, to give you some protection. You can never go back to a human life, but I can help you set up usable fake identities to use in the human world.”
“What do you do for them?”
Smart fucking human.
“I’m designated a Tribunal Executioner—”
His hand tightened on the gun, but I was able to push it out of the way before his finger pulled the trigger. Two shots went into the couch next to me. I twisted his wrist until something started to pop, forcing him to drop the gun. Again, I could smell something strange on him, something that didn’t match his totally normal human scent.
“I’m not here to execute you,” I hissed. “I’m also a freelance bounty hunter and do my own investigations into illegal activities. A friend pointed your bounty out to me, and I decided to sniff around and discovered you needed my help.”
Gods, he shot at me. He’s completely okay with killing anyone he deems a threat.
In the beat of still silence in the apartment, I came to a quick conclusion about how I felt about what he had just done.
I can respect that. If someone came to me and called themselves an Executioner, and I didn’t know what that meant, I would have tried putting bullets in them too. He has good instincts.
“How?” he asked, seeming shocked. I had moved so fast, I was pretty sure he didn’t even see me.
“I’m a snake,” I reminded him. “Lightning fast reflexes are kind of our thing.” I couldn’t move that fast all the time, but instinct really ramped up my reflexes when I was hunting or in danger. A snake had to know when it was time to strike. We conserved energy otherwise.
Slowly, I let his wrist and arm go, kicking the gun away before anyone thought to get a little too trigger happy again.
“Now, we definitely need to leave unless you want to explain this to the human police,” I said, glancing at the window. “Raphael, at least take a walk with me.”
He didn’t seem happy, but he nodded.
“Yeah. I can’t get sent back to New Mexico. I know if I’m arrested for the deaths of my friends, I’m an easy target for those people chasing me.”
“Exactly. Do you have a go bag?”
“Of course,” he snapped, seeming insulted I would assume he didn’t. He left the living room into one of the two inside doors. I figured one was the bedroom, and one was the bathroom. It was a tiny, shithole apartment. He came back out with a large duffel thrown over his shoulder. I picked up his gun and offered it back to him.
“Let’s not try to kill me again?” I waited for his reply as he grabbed the gun. I didn’t let go, though. I needed him to make me some assurances.
“I’ll go with you for now,” he agreed. “I won’t try to shoot you unless you try to kill me.”
I let go of the gun.
“Then let’s get out of here. We have to hurry. Hide that. If the cops are already nearby, they’ll be stopping people.” I could have offered to hide it in my bag, but I figured he would be more comfortable with his weapon. I didn’t need him defenseless.
We left the apartment together, and I was really starting to think I should have stayed out of this mess from the moment Paden brought it to my attention.
9
Chapter Nine
I could hear the sirens as we got into his car. He drove carefully this time as we pulled out, the cops too busy investigating the gunshots to realize the culprits were leaving. He was cool under pressure, I had to give him that.
“You’ve done this a lot,” I commented lightly. “Avoiding the cops.”
“Yeah. Whenever someone blows my cover, they show up, and I need to dodge everyone,”