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<span class="mu-r">“She was a vampire ninja assassin, actually.”</span> you said, leaning in to whisper. <span class="mu-r">“I still have her swords if you wanna see them later.”</span>
Richard just barely managed to stop himself from taking on a dumbfounded expression, and instead narrowed his eyes at you.
<span class="mu-b">“Dare I ask what you did to piss off a vampire assassin?”</span> he asked.
<span class="mu-r">“Why’s it have to be my fault?”</span> you protested.
<span class="mu-b">“Because <span class="mu-i">normal</span> people don’t usually get chased around by ‘vampire ninja assassins’, Ben!”</span> your brother quietly hissed between clenched teeth. <span class="mu-b">“And in any case, couldn’t you have taken the fight outside?”</span>
<span class="mu-r">“In my defense, she was using Pete and Vic as hostages in order to lure me there. Forgive me if I wasn’t considering the importance of property value.”</span> you argued.
Richard’s eyes flashed, and you were surprised to see a look of pure malice in his eyes. It wasn’t often that you saw your brother getting angry, so it caught you off guard.
<span class="mu-b">“Well…at least no one got hurt.”</span> he reasoned, taking a moment to calm down. <span class="mu-b">“I suppose I have you to thank for that.”</span>
You nodded slowly. <span class="mu-r">“I…I never wanted any of this to lead back to them.”</span> you said, trying not to glance at Peter as you did. <span class="mu-r">“I had never fought anything like that before, and I didn’t think that they could-”</span>
<span class="mu-b">“I know.”</span> Richard said quickly. <span class="mu-b">“It’s fine, Ben.”</span>
His tone of voice gave you the impression that everything wasn’t “fine”, so you took a deep breath, confirmed Peter’s position relative to yours with a casual glance, and explained things as best you could. You told him about your first encounter with Cindy, and her circumstances with the Cult of Khonshu. You didn’t bother to explain anything about her connection to the Moon God himself, because that would greatly complicate things.
The explanation did, however, take longer than you would’ve wanted it to, since you were phrasing it in a way that made it sound like you were explaining a video game setting, or a recent show that you’d been binging.
You weren’t sure how much of it Peter could understand or hear, but you didn’t want to take any chances.
<span class="mu-b">“She was part of a…vampire cult?”</span> Richard asked.
<span class="mu-r">“No, no. It was a normal cult. The vampires came later.”</span>
The look on his face told you that your clarification had, in fact, failed to clear up anything at all. But before he could inquire any further, the front door swung open, and Vic stepped inside, struggling with a bunch of plastic grocery bags. You and your brother immediately moved to help her carry them, and she expressed her thanks upon having her burden lifted from her aching arms.
(Cont.)
