Chapter 24 Callie
twenty-four
Callie
I had seen Jack’s death glare before. The one that promised the most painful end imaginable.
It stopped people in their tracks and made them cower.
The woman who stood next to her made Jack seem like a pale imitation of true terror.
She was wearing a plain black t-shirt with its short sleeves straining to wrap around her impressive biceps and worn blue jeans.
She was taller than Jack by at least a foot, maybe more, and wider, with dead eyes like a shark.
My body froze, every hair standing on end and cold washed over me as the woman’s gaze shifted to mine.
“Callisto Ramirez, are you in danger?” Her voice was rough, deep, and held such authority that I answered her before my head had even processed what she was saying.
“No.” My voice was barely above a whisper. I shook myself and cleared my throat to speak more clearly. “No. I’m not in danger.”
The woman scrutinized me for a long moment and every cell in my body wanted to flee in opposite directions.
She looked like Jack, or that is, Jack looked like her.
The same brown hair, though this woman’s was longer, reaching her hips in a thick braid pulled over her hulking shoulder.
The same brown eyes and narrow nose, but the woman’s lips were wider and fuller, and she had a sharper chin.
Jack was a large woman, built like a Mack truck and a strongman had a baby, but whoever this was made our look downright dainty.
Jack’s fiery eyes left Rathal from where she stood next to Death Incarnate and softened on me, her shoulders relaxing.
“Callie, thank god. I’m so glad to see you’re okay.
When we saw on the drone feeds that you were taken I about lost my shit.
I’m so fucking sorry we couldn’t come get you personally.
Ohem and I had to go to Earth to get my mother. ”
She jerked her head at the terrifying woman who lifted her lip in what I’m guessing was supposed to be a smile but all it did was flash a fang at me in a silent snarl.
My heart stopped in my chest for a beat and then tried to gallop away like a panicked horse.
The woman, Jack’s mother, showed me more of her teeth.
Jack watched me and then looked at her mother before rolling her eyes and smacking her mom on her arm.
“Quit terrifying my friends. This is why Patty fucks with you.” She looked back at me and gestured at the monster that birthed her. “Callie, this is my perfectly harmless mom, Hella. Who will not eat you or bury you in a shallow grave. No matter what she says.”
Right. Perfectly believable.
Hella snorted and crossed her massive arms. “Patty fucks with me because she’s not right in the head and has a death wish.
” She sighed before crossing her eyes and sucking in her cheeks to make an exasperated smacking sound before her face smoothed out into a more pleasant appearance so that when she returned her gaze to me it was with more warmth.
It changed her entire face. Gone was the Death God and in its place was a mom. It was like two different people.
Holy crap that was uncanny.
“It’s nice to meet you, Callie.”
“Yeah. You too,” I said, a little dazed. The switch was freaky and if I hadn’t seen it with my own two eyes I’d have never believed it.
Jack grinned at me and winked when I widened my eyes at her.
“Aga is coming for you,” she warned, her smile widening.
Warmth washed over me. I knew my friends were coming but having it confirmed was a weight lifted off my shoulders. And then it dawned on me that the grumpy crocodile was going to be so pissed when he got here to rescue me and found me married to Rathal.
I couldn't freaking wait.
Rathal growled low at my side. He pulled his legs from the water and rose, holding a hand out to me.
I took it, letting him pull me to my feet.
Jack watched us with a frown, her eyes shifting between our joined hands and my face before she settled her glare onto Rathal.
It was a pretty good glare, but now that I’d seen her mother’s it had lost a lot of its potency.
“What the hell happened? Why did you take her? Do you need us to come and get you? It wouldn't be that much of a detour.”
I gave Rathal a shaky smile when he looked at me expectantly and shrugged my shoulders before turning back to meet Jack’s eyes.
“It’s a long story, but I’m fine where I'm at for right now. I’m…
gathering intel. Rathal has been informative and helpful in providing valuable insight into the Unity’s movements. ”
If Rathal had eyebrows they’d have flown off his head. “Yes,” he said, drawing the word out into almost a question. He looked at Jack. “And I am willing to provide support should you require it. Whatever you need.”
Jack narrowed her eyes. “Anything huh?”
Rathal winced. “Within reason, of course.”
“Oh, of course. Well, how do you feel about air raids? Particularly under heavy fire and probably through an orbital bombardment,” she asked, her eyes blinking at us innocently.
Hella snickered. Rathal looked like he wanted to jump into the holoscreen and strangle her.
I raised my eyebrow at Jack, my stomach erupting into butterflies, and not the fun ones either. “Uh, that’s pretty specific. What do you know?”
Jack’s demeanor grew serious. “I don’t know how thorough your new boy toy’s spy network is but the Unity is on the move.
Patty is on Tuanov trying to garner support from the Neldre with Rema.
Tuanov is on the Unity’s target list. We suspect they are going to jump into Tuanov’s system with a Dreadnaught and we won’t get there in time to help. ”
Well, yeah. Earth was so far away there wasn’t even a jump point close. Wait a minute.
“Before we discuss further, I feel like I’m lost. Can you fill me in? How are you on Earth right now? And how are you able to communicate with us? How are you getting back?”
Jack held her hands up. “Woah, slow down. I’ll explain.”
Hella sighed and walked out of frame, but she was replaced by Ohem, who stepped in behind Jack and placed a massive clawed hand on her shoulder.
The lighting in the room reflected off his shiny skin like the sun off of black glass.
His four tentacles waved behind him like soft blowing streamers.
I couldn’t see his tails because the holovid was only from the waist up but from experience I knew they were wrapping around Jack’s legs.
Ohem’s four glowing yellow eyes squinted at me, which was his version of a smile.
I waved at him. Rathal jerked a little when Ohem came into view, but otherwise remained silent next to me, though his hand squeezed mine a little tighter.
I narrowed my eyes at him in renewed suspicion about his dodginess earlier. I’d find out… sooner or later.
Jack’s smile turned soft and she leaned back into her mate and crossed her arms before she continued.
“We need more soldiers. There are over a million Rijitera on Earth, more than enough to crush this war and the Unity like the ants they are. The Clans wouldn’t want to be left out so Anu built me a ship and sent Ohem and I to get them while Aga searches for you and Izari, Anu, Amee, and Sam are running things while Ohem and I are gone.
We got here and my mother—” Jack glared at a space out of frame before looking back at us.
“—knew all about Anu, the Unity, the Vrax and pretty much orchestrated my abduction so she’d have boots on the ground and first hand intel.
I’m still mad about it, but whatever. She also had already notified all the clans of our impending departure from Earth and just when I’d started to worry about how the hell we were going to move a million people off planet with one ship that would only fit roughly sixty, my mother drops the bomb of bombs that there was a Mother ship buried under our fucking house. ”
My eyes widened further, my eyebrows climbing up my face. “Wow. That’s a lot.”
Jack threw up her hands, narrowly missing smacking Ohem in the face.
He looked at me and winked two of his eyes.
“I know, right! That sneaky bitch. Anyways, to make a long story short. My mom and aunts are some of the original survivors that arrived on Earth and set stuff up here. Her and Anu have been in cahoots this whole damn time and we are just about done with the boarding. To say the US government is losing its shit at a million people converging on one spot in New Mexico is the understatement of the year. We are forty-five minutes away from Roswell, Callie. They are losing their minds. My life is chaos and I am going to kill someone soon if we don’t get off this rock in the next day. ”
I whistled softly. “Damn . You’ve had a hell of a homecoming.”
Jack grimaced, her nose wrinkling as if she’d smelled something bad.
“Ya think? On top of all that, I find that my mother has been hacking into some asshole pirate's surveillance satellite and has taken over his relay system without him knowing. She’s been using it to spy on everyone. Her and Anu have also been using the comms on the Mothership, aptly named the Vengeance, to talk to one another. I get the super awesome, and totally not unexpected, news that Patty is in a world of shit and is killing people on Rema’s planet and that the Unity is sending a battalion to wipe the poor Neldre’s planet off the map.
So, what are you and this Anubis looking motherfucker going to do about it? ”
I’d wondered when she’d bring up the Anubis in the room. She’d played it pretty cool. I almost wanted to shout that she was an imposter.
“Are all your friends this rude? Being the child of a Hellspawn I expected as much.”
“Watch how you speak about my mother, meat,” Jack spat, her beast moving under the skin of her face.
As far as threats went, calling someone meat when you were an opportunistic predator that had no problem eating sentient beings, was a damn good one.