Risen (Haunted Series Book 22)

and asked for his drink order.
“I’d never turn down a beer.  Where’s Mia?”
“She was still getting dressed when I left.  She suggested I go ahead and get a table, since this place doesn’t take reservations,” Ted explained.  “We’re celebrating Mia’s first solo fight without getting a scratch.”
“Strange thing to celebrate, but if you’re buying, then I’ll lift my glass to the graceless girly-girl.”
Ted smirked.  “Does that look like a graceless girly-girl to you?” he asked, pointing to the golden woman walking through the restaurant.
Mia had found a pale beige slip in Sabine’s things.  She pulled the golden chain mail dress over it and pulled up her breasts so they would float securely above the tight high waist of the garment that split at the thigh before it danced at her ankles.  Sabine’s expensive sandals fit her.  She and her beautiful cousin had the same shoe size - which worried Mia as Sabine was significantly taller.  Mia could not recreate the coronet effect with the golden chain and decided to sweep her hair up in a messy bun, wrapping the chain around it, allowing the remainder of the chain to trail down her back in two uneven ends.
“You’re a lucky bastard,” Mason said.
“Don’t I know it,” Ted said.  “Except, look at all the men I have to fight tonight to get her out of here.”
“She only has eyes for you.  Of course, once she sees me, you’re doomed.”
“You really think you can handle that much woman?”
“I’d like to try.”
You’d like to try what?” Mia asked, arriving.
“Lobster, I’ve never had it,” Mason said quickly.
“Ted, you look very sophisticated,” Mia said and kissed him lightly on the mouth.
“I borrowed this from Winnie’s brother.  He’s a blackjack dealer at the casino.”
“Mia, once you wear out husband number one, I’d like to suggest you look into taking a younger lover,” Mason said.
“No.”
“But, Mia.”
“No.”
“She shut you down.  Live with it,” Ted said.
The waiter rushed over and pulled out a chair for Mia.  She sat down.
“What may I get for you?” he asked, doing his best to keep his eyes on her face.
“I’d like something festive… Do you have a suggestion?”
“Do you like rum?”
“I don’t hate it.”
“Then I’ll have Sidney make you an island punch.  Sir?”
“Two Coronas.”
“Very good.”
Mia waited until he had walked away before breaking into laughter.  “This is so much better than the Taco Bell.  I can’t even get an extra sauce there.”
“Try wearing that dress and…”  Ted stopped himself.  “You look beautiful no matter what you wear, but wow, Minnie Mouse, wow.”
“Before you guys get all goofy, I think we need to talk about a few things I’ve discovered,” Mason said.
Mia and Ted broke their gaze and looked over at Mason.
“Jake sent me all these files full of things he found on ghost ships.”  Mason took a drink of the icy water before continuing, “It’s not unusual to see them this time of year.  There are a lot of rumors and a lot of falsehoods out there, but Jake did a remarkable job of weeding through all of that.  He says that a ship bearing a flag of a peacock feather had been seen most frequently.  The local fishermen call it the slaver of the dead.  It could have picked Murphy up and pressed him into service.”
“How big was the blast?” Mia asked.
“Very big.  It took out my hearing, caused a disruption in the wave pattern, and knocked Burt on his ass.”
“I think the slaver is a good idea, but I think he may have ended up in a different dimension.  Maybe the between?  If so, Sabine saw the very ship you’re talking about, but it disappeared just this side of the horizon.  She said it didn’t connect with the water here.”
Mason nodded and then patted his pockets looking for his cell phone. “Oh!  I just got this from Cid.  I forgot all about it when you walked in,” Mason said.  He accessed his phone and read, “The birdmen call the between that is over the oceans the GSD which stands for Ghost Ship Dimension.  And Nicholai does not want you to fly in.  Something about a ship that hunts birdmen.”
“Hunts birdmen?  Why?” Ted asked.
“Demon bounty,” Mia said.  “I remember reading, last winter, about a tall ship called The Risen.  It reportedly can move between dimensions.  I thought they meant between dimensions of Hell, like sail down the river Styx and out onto the Sea of Inhumanity.  I’m not sure under whose colors the ship sails.  I do know it’s not Abigor.  His ships are too modern.  They would stand out.”
“Remind me, who is Abigor?” Mason asked.
“He’s a Duke of Hell that commands sixty legions of demons.”
“Sixty!  That’s impressive,” Mason commented.  “I didn’t know there were that many demons.  That’s a real appetite killer.”
“Mia was offered forty legions of demons to command,” Ted told Mason.
“Girly-girl, you sure are a surprise.  What did you say?”
“I turned them down.  I was mad at the time.  Not just fifteen minutes before, they had sentenced me to death.”
“They are a fickle lot,” Ted said.
Mason’s eyes were large.  “You are going to tell me what happened yourself, aren’t you?  I don’t want to hear it after it’s been exaggerated.”
“Who exaggerates?”
“Murphy.  He once told me that you tossed an old woman out the window, and Burt burned her.”
“Um.  She was an undead, not just an old woman.  And yes, she was burned,” Mia said.  “It was the only way to destroy her.”
“That’s the investigation when Burt was trying to kill you by making you climb eight flights of stairs at the asylum,” Ted remembered.
“He was being a real bastard.  He was still upset over our breakup, and Whit was there, so I was being doubly punished.”
“Why did you