An Imperceptible Ruse Indeed (The Gods' Executioner Series) by A.L. Bridges Page B

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