12. Milo
Author’s Note:
No animals were harmed in the making of this scene. Although people may die, animals will not, so no worries. Spoiler alert: all the dogs from the fighting ring will be fine and will go on to lead happy lives in my fictional universe.
MILO
Rowan’s sister was apparently a harpy. And not like an annoying woman who complained or nagged too much, but an actual harpy. With wings and talons and feathers.
It was fucking awesome.
I knew I should be a little more shocked or whatever, because, hello, she had a normal upper body (with the addition of wings), but she also had bird legs, and it was kinda crazy to look at.
But mainly, it was fucking awesome. What was even more awesome was thinking of busting a dog fighting ring with an actual harpy to help.
“So maybe you could swoop in, teeth bared, wings out—oh, do you have any kind of screech or anything?” I asked.
Riley leaned in close across the table, as excited as I was about our forming plan.
“I can make men’s ears bleed,” she crowed proudly.
Rowan was sitting back, arms folded, looking decidedly disapproving.
That didn’t stop my strawberry milkshake from pressing his leg against mine, though, so that we were still touching under the table.
It was super sweet. And kind of comforting, because a part of me did think that maybe I was having a really crazy hallucination.
“Perfect!” I gushed. “So somehow we’ll get you inside unnoticed, and then you can fly out of the rafters all screechy and fierce and shit. Do we start the killing right away, you think?”
“Hmm, probably not. There may be innocent bystanders there. I’d think they’ll mostly run screaming, though. Whoever stays will probably have a vested interest in the dog fighting or the dogs, and thus we have our guilty parties.” She looked proud of herself.
“You guys…” Rowan started.
“So Rowan or I can man the door and let people out, and if they look suspicious maybe we’ll just taze them.” I shrugged.
Did I feel bad thinking about tazing “innocent bystanders”? Eh. Because, you know, they were at an illegal dog fight. How innocent were they, really?
“I don’t think—” Rowan started again.
“Hush,” Riley interrupted. “I promise we won’t kill any innocents, okay? And people won’t think I’m real, anyway. They’ll think it’s a costume and theatrics put on by some animal rights group.”
“Maybe we could tap into their sound system or something and announce that the fight is officially over. That way innocent people are likely to head out because they won’t want to get stuck with some animal rights activist stuff going on,” I suggested.
Yeah, I knew having Riley swoop in as a harpy probably wasn’t the best idea, but damn, it would be so much fun.
You have to have a little fun, right? These people deserved to be terrorized for their actions.
Even the spectators weren’t really innocent in my mind, but I did get that we couldn’t just kill everyone.
Plus, if we set up a bomb or something in order to wipe everyone out, we would end up taking out the dogs, too.
That kind of defeated the purpose. We were on a mission to save the poor pups.
Our food came at that moment, and we all ate quietly for a bit. I’d ordered a strawberry milkshake just to tease Rowan, and he’d gone an adorable shade of red. It wasn’t until we made a big dent in our food that he spoke up.
“So I like the loudspeaker idea. We’ll announce that the fight is being broken up by some animal rights group. Most spectators will get out of there because they won’t want a fight or legal issues.”
“Yeah, but what about evil spectators, brother dearest?” Riley asked. “We just gonna let them get away?”
“No. I can, like Milo suggested, wait outside the door. I can incapacitate anyone who’s truly evil.”
Riley nodded her head in agreement, although I wasn’t sure how Rowan was supposed to know who was “truly evil” and who wasn’t. Maybe he had some pics from his brother-in-law’s research.
“Great,” I said, dunking a fry in my milkshake. “That means I get to be the loudspeaker person. Perfect.”
“Uhhh…” Rowan started, and I just knew my boo was gonna give me shit about taking that role.
Riley cut him off. “He’ll be fine. I’ll be there with him. I’ll make sure no one gets close. From the layout it looks like there’s an office or something on a second floor overlooking the factory. He can stay up there.”
“I’m sure it won’t be empty,” Rowan argued.
“What, do you think I can’t take care of a few people and make sure your boyfriend here doesn’t get hurt?”
Rowan blushed adorably at me being called his boyfriend, but he didn’t correct Riley. “I’d just feel better if Milo was with me.”
“Oh, boo, that’s so sweet. But sometimes we’ll need to split up on jobs, and I assure you that I can handle myself.”
Rowan looked mildly alarmed and like he didn’t trust that sentiment, but whatevs.
I’d been keeping myself safe for a long time before he came along, and as much as I loved working with him, I also wanted to be able to work on my own if I felt the need.
Best to set that precedent early in our relationship (since we were, apparently, dating).
We finished the meal, talking over the logistics of everything. Riley pointed out that we should wait until at least one or two dog fights were done before we did anything, because there might be people who came late. I understood her logic, but I hated the idea of any dogs being hurt.
“And what are we doing with all the dogs?” I asked belatedly. We still had to figure out how to deal with the puppy mill guy, too.
“Troy is gonna call the authorities to report everything when I’m done, and he’s found a couple organizations to mobilize to take care of the puppy mill dogs as well as the ones from the fighting ring.
He’ll actually call those first, so they’ll be here ahead of the authorities.
Not that we don’t trust the authorities or anything, but they won’t have a clue what to do with all the animals. ” Rowan shrugged.
“Looks like we’re set, then. And you’re sure we can’t kill the puppy mill guy?” I asked again.
“Nope. But the authorities will take care of him. Troy found some evidence to connect him to the illegal dog fights, and he’ll go down for that.”
Good. So everything was settled, and we just had to wait until evening. We all looked at each other as we finished eating.
What the hell were we gonna do with the rest of the afternoon? I knew what I’d do if it was just Rowan and me, but his sister was here, too. How did one entertain a harpy?
“I can’t believe you guys made me get a pedicure,” Rowan complained for the hundredth time.
“Shut up, you big baby. You were half asleep when they were giving you a foot massage,” Riley said distractedly.
We were watching the entrance to the warehouse. People were parking in an abandoned lot that was shielded from the main road and heading into the warehouse, and there was quite a crowd. It made me disappointed in humanity.
Sometimes people were assholes.
The dog fight was scheduled to start in ten minutes, and although there was still a steady stream of people heading in, I was itching to head in, too.
“I think we should get into position,” I stated.
Rowan sighed. “You sure you don’t wanna come with me?”
“Aww, boo, so sweet, but you know sometimes we’ll need to work separately in this partnership.” I wiggled my eyebrows when I said partnership, and Rowan predictably and adorably blushed. He was just too easy.
He looked at his sister, then at me, then at his sister. He leaned in and gave me a kiss, then he glared at his sister, daring her to say something, before he ran off into the night.
“He’s so sweet,” I sighed.
“If you hurt him I’ll eviscerate you,” Riley said.
I smiled at her. “We’re gonna have little Rowans and little Milos together.”
She looked at me oddly. “You know you can’t have babies, right?”
“You know that harpies don’t exist, right?” I shot back.
Yeah, yeah, I knew little Rowans and little Milos were a slim possibility, but a guy could hope. “Hey—you could be our surrogate.”
Riley looked appalled at that, and then she was in her harpy form, which was really scary as fuck. Her eyes even got all black and everything. Very goth.
“Alright, loverboy, let’s go. I saw a window that probably leads to the office.” She pointed up to a high window on our side of the warehouse.
“Umm, perhaps you’ve forgotten that I don’t have wings,” I said, eyeing the distance up to the window.
I gave a squawk of alarm as I felt myself getting lifted by the shoulders. “Fuck!” I cried out as my feet left the ground.
“You’re fine,” Riley said, but she didn’t sound reassuring, just annoyed. Not that I blamed her. She apparently had to fly my ass up to the window.
I closed my eyes, focused on her talons holding tightly to my shoulders, and tried not to move. When we stopped, I opened my eyes, which was definitely a mistake. I was hanging in the air while she looked in the window.
“What the fuck! Just go in already!" I hissed at her.
“There are people in there. What am I supposed to do about them?” she said, her wings flapping at a leisurely pace.
“Kill them!” I said.
“That’s fine, but it probably won’t be quiet.”
We heard a roar of noise from inside—the crowd was cheering. Perfect.
“The noise of the crowd inside will drown out your entrance. Now get in there and put me down!” I hissed.
“Fine. Reach up and hold onto the windowsill with your hands,” she demanded.
I did as she asked, hoping she didn’t take long. Upper body strength was really not my thing.
I think every hair on my body stood up as Riley used one of her fingernails to literally cut through the glass. The sound was like a thousand nails scraping down a chalkboard.
Well, apparently we weren’t working with the element of surprise.
She took the glass and threw it down below, where I could hear it shatter, and then she was in the window.
Since I was hanging like a fish on a line, I heard the screams, a few gunshots, and some gurgles of pain, but I didn’t get to see anything.
“Riley!” I hissed.
There was another moan of pain inside, and I flinched as I heard something wet splatter everywhere.
“Riley!” I called louder. Fuck it at this point. We obviously weren’t being quiet.
“A little busy!” she called out, and I heard another oomph of pain and something slam into something else.
“I can’t hold on for much longer, Riley. I didn’t get the memo that I needed to focus on arm days!” I yelled.
“For fuck’s sake,” she muttered.
There were a few more wet gurgles, some thumping of bodies, and then Riley’s head was poking out the window. She grabbed my arms and pulled me up and in through the window.
“Well, obviously you don’t miss arm days,” I mumbled, brushing myself off when she put me down inside.
Mostly I was avoiding staring at the carnage that was the warehouse office.
I looked at Riley, but that wasn’t much better.
Her nails apparently also turned into talons, and they were coated in blood.
Pretty much all of her was coated in blood, but she was staring at one of her nails (talons?) looking all disappointed.
“I think I chipped my nail polish,” she complained.
I cleared my throat, giving a quick glance around. Yup, lots of gore. I thought there might have been five or six guys, but since some body parts weren’t attached to people anymore, it was hard to say for sure.
“Well, that was… efficient,” I murmured.
She looked up and smiled at me, which was kind of horrific, what with the blood all over her. She then gestured toward a viewing window that looked down on the factory floor. It was tinted, making me think that people probably couldn’t see in, which was definitely a good thing.
Riley walked around, finally saying, “I think this is the loudspeaker system over here. Makes sense if this used to be a factory. Hopefully they got it up and running for the event.”
“I can’t believe no one heard all that,” I commented.
“A warehouse office probably has good soundproofing to drown out noise from the warehouse below. No one’s come running in yet, so I’m guessing we’re fine.”
I’d just have to hope that Riley was right. I walked toward the window and looked down at the crowd, ready to watch for Rowan’s signal for me to call out over the loudspeaker.
I didn’t see Rowan, but I did see the dogfighting ring. There were two dogs in the ring, and one was attacking the other, but the other one wasn’t even fighting back. It was just cowering in the corner. And people were cheering.
“What the fuck?” I asked.
Riley came over, looked, and said, “Bait dogs. They get the dogs ready to fight.”
“Fuck that,” I murmured, and I headed over to the loudspeaker system.