Silas

I’m not ashamed to admit that I was more than a little excited when I learned that Es’s father was Chorus. It wasn’t often that I got to be myself while on assignment, and we had just clicked on a certain level. Him being a literal sex demon certainly didn’t hurt, but it was more than just a physical attraction. That connection combined with his dad being the god I followed felt almost like a sign.

But then there was Kai. If Chorus was a sign, then she was an omen. It was bad luck to even mention her name during an operation. I wasn’t entirely sure what sitting next to her son while he negotiated a deathmatch with a werewolf alpha counted as, but I didn’t think it was much better. Don’t get me wrong, I still had the hots for Es. I just needed to take a half-step back while I figured out how in the hells you’re supposed to court the son of a chaos goddess. I didn’t have many ideas, but I wasn’t at all above asking his little sister for advice.

“What are the chances that Kai would find out about the fight?” Daria interrupted my thoughts, bringing me back into the conversation. “Is it a guarantee, or could we conceal it from her somehow?”

Es ran his fingers through his short black hair with a sigh. “In all honesty, there’s a decent chance that she already knows. I tricked her into making a kitsune on Bryce’s crew a paladin. Normally, being a paladin of Kai is a meaningless title that comes with a power boost and no responsibilities, but for whatever reason, they are the first person in the history of the universe to actually take the job seriously.”

“We met this kitsune, yes?” Lysc asked, and Daria nodded.

“Captain Virra had two on her crew, but this one sounds like Sora.” She paused for Es to confirm that’s who it was, then continued with a scowl. “They moved into a friendly line of fire while invisible and nearly got killed by Mazi.”

Lysc nodded. “Right, now I remember. They also retrieved the map of the facility for us, and single-handedly killed over a dozen Syndicate soldiers before we made it to Rajak's compound.”

“It was nine, and four of them were techs with pistols, not soldiers,” Daria corrected.

“Either way, it sounds like Kai is going to be involved no matter what,” I pointed out what was probably obvious to everyone in order to get us back on track. “Can we make that okay somehow? Maybe play to her ego and get her paladin to give her a VIP ticket before the fight?”

“The box seats are fairly isolated from the crowd,” Daria mused. “Would she agree not to interfere if we made that a condition of the tickets?”

Es shook his head. “Definitely not as a condition. The moment you try to apply rules to her, she has to break them. It’s a part of who she is. But maybe if Sora and I both ask her nicely after giving her the tickets, she might consider it.”

“And if you’re killed?” Lysc asked. “I’ve already told you that I’m not going to hold back, even with an avenging goddess watching over you.”

“I’ll make a deal with her. If I die in the fight, I’ll go to her afterlife over my father’s and stay there for some amount of time. However little I can get away with while still having her agree to it.”

“It’s going to be at least a century,” a voice came from my left, and everyone except for Es shot up from their seats to turn towards a nine-tailed kitsune wearing a pink and blue robe with a white floral pattern. “And that’s only me sparing the crowd. If you want the big one left alive, then it’ll be two centuries. Oh, also, I don’t want box seats. They’re too far from the action. I’ll take court-side if it’s all the same to you.”

Es sighed before finally turning to recognize his mother but not bothering to stand up. “Hello, Kai. What are you doing here?”

The goddess gasped in mock offense. “What? A mother isn’t allowed to drop in on her son while he’s plotting to manipulate her? What is this world coming to?”

“Respectfully, our intention was to placate, not manipulate you.”

Kai stared at me blankly before pointing to Daria. “You, bloodsucker. Pop quiz. What’s the difference between placating and manipulating?”

“The proposed shift in power of a given interaction,” she answered immediately, then continued in a matter-of-fact way. “If your goal is to maintain your status while elevating that of the other party, then it’s placating. Whereas if you’re looking to increase the status of your party at the cost of the other, then it’s manipulating. In this case, we were discussing what we could offer you so that your son could participate in a blood duel. It was a request made on his behalf by a member of Captain Virra’s crew. One that we only accepted after she completed a rather significant favor for us, and only because we wished to remain on good terms with her.”

Kai blinked at the vampire for a few moments as she seemed to process the explanation. “Wait, you’re only doing this because Es wanted you to?”

“Because he requested it,” Daria corrected her in a way that was clearly meant to sound like agreement. “In fact, due to the rushed timeline that was requested by Captain Virra, and our profit sharing agreement with the local stadium, we stand to lose a significant amount financially, even in some of the best-case scenarios. If you exclude what we’re hoping to gain by remaining on good terms with the captain, then this really is a no-win situation for the pack. Keeping in mind the definitions I provided you earlier, and the relative positions of all parties involved, a simpler explanation would be that we’re trying to placate you so that we can later manipulate her.”

“Oh, sure, that makes sense. Why couldn’t you have just explained it like that in the first place?” Kai asked me, and I wanted to put my head through a wall.

“I’m sorry. I was hoping to impress you by using confusing words that sound like each other.”

“Well, that was dumb,” Kai laughed at me. “If you want to sleep with Es, then it’s Thea you need to impress, not me. And since she knows that you’re either going to kill her girlfriend or lock her away forever, that’s probably going to be an uphill battle.”

“How could she possibly know that?” Es asked, but Kai just shrugged.

“Who knows? Anyway, I’ve got shit to do. Don’t forget, if you die tomorrow, then you’re stuck with me for two hundred years. Love you, bye.” She waved at him before disappearing. Then Lysc and Daria both turned to look at me.

“Choose your next words carefully, elf.” The threat in the alpha’s tone was unmistakable, and I took a step back. I was in a room with three extremely dangerous people. Defending myself from any one of them would have been relatively easy, but if all three decided to attack at once, I wouldn’t have stood a chance.

“Lysc, I owe you an apology. Kai spent the last five thousand years ignoring me, then after I was resurrected, she suddenly decided that she needs to be involved in every aspect of my life. I’m still getting used to her popping up everywhere, and clearly she still has no idea how to behave around actual people. We’re going to want to take anything she says with a heavy dose of salt.”

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“To be clear, you’re accusing Kai of lying about Agent Silas wanting to kill Captain Virra?” Daria asked, and this time Lysc spoke before anyone else could respond.

“No. We’re not going to waste our time trying to decipher a message from the trickster goddess. Es, would you like Agent Silas to be here while we negotiate the terms of the fight?”

“I would.” He didn’t even hesitate, which surprised me.

“Agent Silas, you may stay and take part tonight, but you are not to reach out to Captain Virra while she’s here on Drassun. I will personally make sure she knows you’re here and how to contact you. I’ll also be offering her additional security should she wish it. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I understand.” I let out a resigned sigh. It was one thing when the leader of the local gang refused to meet with the faceless government agent, but it was entirely different when that same gangster felt like she needed to protect my baby sister from me. To make everything so much worse, I couldn’t even argue that her concern was unwarranted.

“Good. Now, please, the food is getting cold. Let us return to the matter at hand.”

“Of course,” Es answered, then waited for everyone to be seated again before continuing. “As a general rule, I don’t like to think about Kai anymore than I have to, so I’ll keep this part short. If there are any extra expenses that rise from her being at the fight, then send me an invoice. I’ll make sure it gets paid.”

“We would appreciate that. Can we have Captain Virra forward it to you?” Daria asked. Es agreed, and Lysc took over the conversation.

“Finally, we can discuss the fight. I’ll be acting on behalf of Nikko, Dezra’s husband, as well as Mazi’s sister, who wishes to remain anonymous. Each of them provided Daria with a single term that is non-negotiable. Any other terms need to be discussed here tonight. After we leave, they won’t be changed under any circumstance.”

Es nodded. “I understand. What are the non-negotiable terms?”

We all turned to Daria for the answer. “First, this will be a duel to satisfaction. Either party may yield at any point, and if you are rendered unconscious then you will be considered to have yielded. The fight won’t end until the yield has been accepted or one of you has been killed. Second, the boss is not allowed to accept your yield.”

“So, he can spare your life, but you can’t spare his?” I pointed out the obvious, then like an idiot, did it again. “Setting a term like that makes you seem like a coward. Es wouldn’t have come here if he was planning on killing you.”

Lysc glared at me. “I would have expected someone related to Captain Virra to be more tactful. Perhaps I should do her a favor and dispose of the whelp pretending to be her brother.”

I was about to tell her to go ahead and try when Es reached over and poked two fingers into my ribs. I let out a startlingly high-pitched yelp, and the traitor actually started laughing at me. “Oh, gods, I’m sorry Silas. I didn’t think that’d actually work.”

He gently patted my shoulder, and I glared at him. “Es, you’re lucky you’re hot. Otherwise, I’d be out the door so fast right now.”

“It’s not luck, sweetie.” He dismissed me before turning back towards Lysc. “Well, the good news is that I now know with absolute certainty that he’s Bryce’s brother.”

Lysc smirked at me as she shook her head. “Yeah, I see it. Damn. I was hoping I would get to deal with him myself.”

“Sorry to disappoint. Should we maybe get back to discussing how you two were planning on killing each other tomorrow?”

“Sure.” Es chuckled before turning back to Lysc. “Both of those are acceptable. However, Silas is right. If word gets out about that second term, then it’ll look bad, and I have absolutely no intention of killing you. If it’s possible I’d like to keep that second term a secret.” Lysc looked like she was about to argue when Es held up a hand. “Hear me out first, this isn’t me holding back or doing you any favors. Try to keep in mind that not only am I a demon, both of my parents are reasonably powerful gods. Normally, if I were to die, I’d end up in one of their afterlives, only to be brought back by the end of the week. Kai raised the stakes on that earlier, but honestly, that just evened them out in my mind. The humiliation you’ll face when I beat you tomorrow in front of your entire pack is probably going to be about on par with how miserable I would have been stuck in Kai’s afterlife for two hundred years.”

“So confident,” Lysc laughed. “Fine, but two hundred years from now, when you’re finally back from Kai’s afterlife and healed fully, I want a rematch. Thea has already started making excuses, and I know she’s just going to make more after I win.”

Es raised an eyebrow at her. “You really think you’ll still be around in two hundred years, old wolf? Seems optimistic.”

“Oh, I am going to enjoy beating you. I’m adding another term, no weapons. I’ll show you just how young I am.”

“In that case, I won’t use my claws,” Es countered.

“Then I won’t shift.”

“Then I’m not using any magic.”

Lysc looked like she was about to offer to tie an arm behind her back, so I stepped in. “Okay, that seems like enough restrictions. Are there any terms to add that might make this fight interesting to watch without disrespecting the two who died?”

“Perhaps we were getting carried away,” Lysc admitted. “I have no more terms. I trust that you will fight honorably."

Es thanked her, and after a beat of silence, Daria continued. "If there aren’t any other terms, then we can move onto procedures and what you can expect tomorrow.”

Es nodded. “Alright, let’s start on that then.”

~~~~~

“Well, that could have gone worse,” I said as Es dropped himself into the seat across from me in the auto-shuttle, and the door sealed shut behind him. “How’re you feeling about the fight?”

“Honestly? I’m nervous.” He chuckled, well, nervously. “Can I tell you a secret?”

“Sure,” I shrugged, then held up a finger to stop him. “Wait, this secret isn’t going to get me killed by one of our sisters, is it?”

He laughed. “No, but if they find out, then Thea will give me shit for the next century, and Bryce will figure out a way to get even.”

“Alright, I see no downside here. Hit me with it.” I leaned back into the seat with a grin, and he gave me a half-hearted glare. “Hey, whatever it is, they’re not going to hear it from me. I swear.”

“Good. People think Thea is the vengeful one, but that’s only because they haven’t seen my bad side,” he threatened, but then shook his head and got quiet for a second before finally admitting to what was bothering him. “I’m only here because I didn’t think I was ready for what Bryce is planning, and I figured this would be an easy win to get my confidence back. But the Drassun pack is nothing like the other shifters I’ve met, and Lysc is… she’s something else. I don’t know if I can beat her tomorrow.”

I wanted so badly to ask what it was that Bryce had planned, but I knew that would be the fastest way to get Es to cut me off. Not wanting that to happen, I pushed the thought aside and focused on him. “Okay, I’m one hundred percent in your corner, but I need to know if I should be cheerleading or plotting an escape. So, real talk for a second. What sort of odds are we talking here?”

“We’re definitely not at the ‘escape plan’ level of hopelessness.” Es chuckled before taking a moment to consider. “If you’re going to force me to put a number on it...”

“Which, for the record, I am,” I interjected after he trailed off and he rolled his eyes.

“I’d say seventy-thirty in the worst case, and sixty-forty in the best. Both in Lysc’s favor, if that wasn’t obvious.”

“Alright, those are numbers I can work with. The way I see it, we have a couple of options, so I’ll let you choose.”

“How generous.” He smiled at me, and I shrugged.

“Federation Agent, remember? I live to serve. Anyway, two options, yeah? I figure it wouldn’t take me long to find out where Lysc is staying, then I can either slip a tranquilizer into her breakfast, or I can break her kneecaps and be done with it.”

The shocked look on his face was priceless, and I nearly doubled over laughing. “Absolutely not. We aren’t cheating. Whatever happened to cheerleading from my corner? I actually liked that option.”

I shook my head as I forced myself to stop laughing. “No, that would never work. The moment you saw me in my cheerleading outfit, you’d fall in love. Which, of course, would distract you the entire fight. You’d lose for sure.”

“Is that so?” He raised a skeptical eyebrow, and I nodded.

“Trust me. One look and you’d be smitten.”

He leaned forward with a dangerous grin. “Now that just sounds like a challenge.”