Page 3 of Winners, Losers, and Champagne Kisses
“They could still be planning that,” Pax said. “This could just be the first wave.”
“No,” Cas said. “It’s bad optics. The angels are on a pretty high pedestal with some people and we just had several gods sow doubt. If they were going to do damage control, they would have sent the smooth talkers and not the angels who kick puppies in front of cameras.”
“So, we’re dealing with dumb, violent angels,” Pax said. “They are lashing out at people who approach them. They will probably try to come for everyone who was at that hearing. We can handle ourselves, but I’m worried about Pepper.”
“Hrpm. I’m really good with a shotgun,” Pepper said.
How cute was she? Unless she had bullets with a special kind of silver core, guns mostly just pissed us off. Before I figured out my shadow wolf, I used to run as a regular wolf to center myself after Cas and Pax found me.
Someone thought I was trying to eat his chickens when I was just trying toplaywith them and shot me right in the ass. The bullet was stuck, so I had to run all the way up the mountain so Cas could perform surgery on my butt. I had supernatural healing, so my ass was still perfect. I snuck over to his house every night at midnight and let his chickens into his living room.
Oh, he tried to stay up with his shotgun to catch who was doing it, but maybe he shouldn’t have shot a shadow demon in the ass when he was just trying to have a romp with his chickens.
Fucker.
“That’s not going to do anything,” Cas said. “I’m going to call Lucky to protect you.”
“Lucky?”
“The FBI agent whose asshole you ripped open because he started a fight with Capital police arresting Hannibal and Saul. Lucky and his entire team are supernatural. I trust him.”
“Of course, they are. Do what you must.”
Seriously, I adored Pepper Crane. She didn’t just get the Coalition outlawed because it was wrong. She legitimately accepted us. I knew plenty of people thought my horns and ears were some kind of cosplay costume. She didn’t abandon me even when I set the record straight and she had invited us into her home to cook for us.
That meant a lot to me. She didn’t even blink when Cas told her there were supernaturals in the FBI. There was at least one in congress that I knew of and she hadn’t asked us to out anyone. She seemed to get that we were regular people who had normal jobs.
Lucky better not fuck this up. Pepper Crane had to be protected at all costs.
In a perfect world, we would have had a plan laid out for any choir of angels that could have shown up. We just didn’t have time. I had to figure out if I was actually a fury and how that worked if I was. Getting gods into Congress was pretty major, but the actual fight was always going to be with the angels.
Dinner was ruined. I mean, between Cas and Pepper, it was delicious, but the vibe was down. I guess we were hoping to get a night to celebrate before they showed up. As Benji would say, ‘rude.’ I agreed. But this was technically what we wanted.
Dionysus had properties everywhere, including D.C., so that’s where we’d be staying. We waited until Lucky and his team showed up. It was actually adorable. Lucky was a massive shifterand Pepper was a tiny human woman in her seventies. Lucky looked terrified of her.
“Sorry about your press conference, Ma’am. After the team that searched their houses got back to us about what was there and what they’ve done to our kind, we just wanted an excuse to knock them around a bit.”
If Lucky could partially shift like Benji could, his ears and tail would have been drooping. I was trying not to giggle because this situation really was fucked.
“Yes, well, no one would have been mad at you if you hit them a bit, but you had to involve capital police in your brawl and they didn’t do shit to you,” Pepper said, giving Lucky stink eye only a grandmother was capable of.
Pax was closest to me, so I buried my face in his chest to suppress my laugh. He just wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head.
“Sorry,” Lucky grumbled.
“Well, I’ve got enough beds if some of you double up and I made plenty of food. Cas was helping me cook and was telling me about how you all have different dietary needs. It’s fascinating stuff. I think I’m prepared to feed you.”
“You don’t have to. We have a per diem for food.”
“Then you can use it to buy groceries. We’re going to be on break for the next few weeks. I don’t do well when I’m idle. If you’re going to be here protecting me, you’ll probably want me cooking for you because I’m a miserable cunt when I’m bored.”
Lucky started choking. I was pretty sure he wasn’t scared of anything criminal or supernatural, but Pepper Crane might be a little too much for him.
“We’re going to regroup and investigate,” Dionysus said. “We’ll call for backup if we need to.”
“Do that, but keep me posted. The president is up for reelection in two years and he’s terrified I’m going to runagainst him. He’s going to look like shit to voters if angels start killing people and he does nothing. I can make him call in reinforcements, too.”
I think we wereallhoping she’d run against him. I couldn’t decide if having the president call for reinforcements was a good thing or not. On one hand, we might need the help. There would be supernaturals among them.
