This is all such a bother. “It was me,” I say. “I killed the man, and then I took his car. He won’t need it now, so we gave it to the attendant in exchange for the use of that hotel room.”
The officer’s mouth drops open, and then he starts laughing. “Who are you?” He shakes his head. “You must not understand what’s going on. I’m serious about the investigation. My partner’s questioning the hotel clerk, because his story made no sense. He tried to say a woman gave him the car in exchange for a night’s stay. But if you really did murder someone, why would you just plop down at a nearby hotel, like you had nothing to fear?”
I sigh. “Because I do have nothing to fear.”
“You’re entertaining, but. . .” He shakes his head. “I’m sorry. I’m sure this must be a joke of some kind, but there really is a very dead man down the road. If you can’t explain this in a real way, I’m going to need to bring you in, and your sleeping Whitney, too.”
“No.” I fold my arms. “I forbid it.”
“No?” The cop blinks. “I’m not asking. I’m telling you, sir. We’ll need to get some of this questioning on the record, and we’ll be using a camera to document your answers.”
“I’m tired of all this.” I glare at him. “Whitney made me promise not to kill anyone for a few days, but I swear, if you push me anymore, she’ll just have to be upset.”
He frowns then, like the feelings he has, the feelings telling him to be wary of me, just might be correct. Unfortunately, humans ignore those feelings more than they listen to them.
“I’m Xolotl,” I say. “I recently woke, forcing my way free of the mountain under which I slept.” I step closer, and he backs up. “For your purposes, let’s just say I’m essentially the god of death, and my entire purpose is to kill a lot of humans.” Another step. “Did you still want to haul me somewhere? Because the more time you spend with me, and the more you irritate me, by forcing me to wake my sleeping Whitney, the more likely I am to ignore the deal she and I made and simply end your life.”
“I’m investigating a murder, and you’re threatening to kill me too?” He shivers. He can sense it, the very real danger signals his brain’s sending.
But his desire to follow the rules and enforce law and order is fighting with his desire to run. He’s a fairly impressive human to still be standing in front of me.
“I can see that you’re having trouble processing.”
I wave my hand at the tree behind him. He turns to follow the motion and watches as two birds that were making lots of noise arguing over a nearby branch fall to the ground, dead.
“That could be you next.” I twist my hand and cut off his air flow again. “Does it need to be you? Or can you let this go?” I slow his heart. And then I release his breathing and heart function again.
He coughs and splutters.
I’ve seen cats play with mice, and I’ve never understood it. I never want to torture or tease or make humans miserable before they die, but this is almost a little bit fun.
He’s wheezing, but he seems to have mostly recovered.
“Did you want to make a lot of noise and wake up my Whitney?”
He shakes his head. “No, sir.” He straightens, but he won’t meet my eye.
“It would be best if you told your partner that I did nothing wrong. You two can sort things out without involving me. But if you don’t?” I shrug, and I can’t help my smile. “I don’t really care, because I’m tiring of this deal I struck. What’s a death god if he’s not allowed to kill?”
He turns tail and runs.
When I get back to the room, Whitney’s awake, and she’s changed, but not into the trousers or the coveralls. She’s wearing the red dress. The sun’s barely rising behind the hotel. “I think we should go,” I say. “Or you’re not going to get two more days.”
“Two?” She’s scowling fiercely. “Today’s the first full day.”
“Nice try. I restrained myself several times yesterday.”
“You killed that cop right before midnight.” She snorts. “That makes today the first of three.”
“I’m not sure what bargaining power you think you have.” I shift into a horse, and I start to move, forcing her with the bond to follow me.
“That’s super rude.” She picks up a rock, and she throws it at me. It bounces off my massive backside.
I spin around, my nostrils flaring, my head up and my tail swirling behind me. I snap at her, and then I turn again.
She grabs my tail and yanks. “At least lower your shoulder, you jerk.”
When she climbs on my back, I realize that if I was in human form, I’d probably be smiling. I also realize that she’s wearing the boots I made, and I forgot to make her those socks she wanted.
