by Lolah Lace
“I doubt it.”
“My uniform has nothing to do with who I am?”
“You’re a waitress that picked my brother up at a bar and brought him home with you. What did you do? Play scrabble.”
“Do the math, nine months plus two years. Look at my kid. Does she look like me or does she look like Ryan spit her out?”
Max pondered this for all of two seconds. “Just because she’s white doesn’t mean she’s my brothers.”
“She’s Ryan’s daughter.”
“What do you want, a guest spot on Maury Povich?”
“I don’t want anything.”
“This is bullshit. You’re playing my brother.”
“Playing Ryan, I would never do that.”
“What’s your end game?”
“Game. I thought I’d never see Ryan again. Your brother disappeared on me. I was minding my own business when you two showed up.
“And you’re pretty damn bitter about it.”
“Why would I be bitter?”
“Why would you have a baby by a stranger?”
“You’re not a parent. I love my daughter and there’s no way I could hold a grudge with the guy who gave her to me.”
“So when were you going to tell Ryan?”
Monica face drew into a scowl. “I wasn’t.”
“And why is that?”
“I’m not stupid. You guys lie, cheat and steal. You’re criminals, right? When Ryan was here before I saw all the fake I.D.’s. He sleeps with a gun under his pillow. I’m sure Ryan does not want a child. Does he even have time for a kid? Is any man with a trunk full of weapons a good role model?”
Max recognized many valid points in Monica’s words. His face conveyed his thoughts.
“You don’t have the right to keep this secret from him.”
“You don’t have the right to tell me what’s right or wrong when it comes to my daughter.”
“She’s my brother’s daughter also. Or did you forget?”
“Yeah I kind of did forget until he showed up in my town.”
“That’s just so messed up.”
“When I first met your brother, he was this incredibly hot, arrogant, robot.”
“So your point.”
“Now he’s different. I’m not going to burden him by telling him he’s got a kid with some five night stand from some small hick town.”
“Do you really think I’m going to keep this from him? He’s my brother.”
“I know he’s your brother but Max please don’t tell him. It doesn’t do anybody any good.”
“Your logic sucks.”
“It may suck but it’s what is best.”
Max and Monica engage in a silent stare down. Their mutual glare was interrupted when they both heard the car unlocking the front door.
They remained in the kitchen trying to wipe the guilty looks off of their faces. Suddenly Ryan walked into the kitchen carrying Cyan on his hip and in his arms.
“We’re back. We had two cones apiece. This little princess can really eat.” Ryan smiled.
Max and Monica gawked at Ryan with Cyan firmly in his arms. Both their expressions were similar, blank. Max was faced with a decision that he wished he didn’t have to make. Secrets were a burden. Having things out in the open seemed to always be the best way. It was the way Max had been taught to cope with life’s unsavory aspects.
“I’ll take her.” Monica said and hopped up from her chair. She reached outto take her daughter. Cyan ignored her mother’s waiting arms and instantly laid her head down on Ryan’s shoulder.
“I got her.” Ryan said after he noticed the look of disappointment in Monica’s eyes.
Little Cyan reached up and rubbed Ryan’s cheek with her tiny fingers. Cyan’s wide smile revealed two cheek dimples, identical to Ryan’s. Not to mention the little cleft dimple in her chin.
Max now had a very good reason to study the little girls face. She had his brother’s shape of eyes, nose, chin, hair color and smile. Fox DNA. The similarities now all seemed obvious. It was undeniable.
“I guess she likes you.” Max watched curiously as Ryan sat his little niece down on the floor.
Ryan smiled. “I like her too. She’s a cool kid, the coolest.” He looked down at Cyan lovingly. “You want to go get on the swing?”
“Yah swing!” Cyan jumped up and down in front of Ryan. She wanted to be picked up again. He bent to pick the excited little girl up into his arms. Ryan left out the back door with Cyan firmly on his arms.
Monica walked over to the sink. She looked out the kitchen window as Ryan sat Cyan on the swing set in the backyard. Monica turned back to look at Max.
“This is some bull shit.” Max mumbled under his breath.”
“Don’t I know it.” Monica muttered in return.
“I don’t like this one bit. You already got the one kid. Are you being safe?”
“Being safe?”
“Don’t play dumb, contraception.”
Monica rolled her eyes. “Seriously, from a guy with a gun stash.”
“I got my eye on you, Jezebel.
Monica turned her back to Max. She glanced out the window at Ryan and Cyan playing on the swing.
Max had information. He didn’t quite know how to convey it to his brother. Max had been in his fair share of sticky and uncomfortable situations but this was uncharted territory.
He tried to put himself in this peculiar position. Would he want to know he had a child somewhere in the world? He really couldn’t answer his own question. It had only been the two of them for so long. Ryan had been a little off since he had been possessed by Drack’s demon. He really didn’t want to tell his brother anything that might send him over the edge. But Ryan was strong. He lived after Drack’s demon was abstracted from him.
Max had made up his mind. There would be no secrets between him and his brother. He was going to come clean with the information he acquired and let the chips fall where they may. Honesty was the best policy when it came to family.
***
Max avoided Ryan for a few hours. He wasn’t sure how to broach the subject of Cyan’s paternity. It was late and Max wondered why his brother felt so comfortable here at Monica’s place. Could Ryan have some unconscious connection to the little girl?
Max waited until he heard Monica leave the house. She was probably going to see her sister. He couldn’t be sure. He couldn’t believe Monica left Cyan with Ryan. His brother was now babysitting his own daughter.
Ryan decided to go out to the back porch where Ryan was peacefully sitting alone. Max walked out the screen door and turned to see Ryan was sitting in a wicker rocking chair holding a sawed off double barrel shotgun in his lap. He had his ancient machete at his feet.
“Well shit, you are prepared. Are you expecting a threat?”
Ryan looked up at his brother but didn’t respond. Max sat next to him in the spare rocking chair.
“Did you booby trap the front door and the windows?” Ryan asked Max.
“Yeah I took care of it.”
“Wonder why Scarlet didn’t kill you when she had the chance?” Hearing that Scar kidnapped Max had put Ryan on edge.
“She’s a vamp now. Nothing she does is going to make sense to us.” Max half shrugged. He didn’t like where this was going.
There was a brief calming silence. It was the kind of silence that could only be shared between two brothers that grew up together in a world full of chaos and death.
“I don’t trust Scar.”
“Obviously, you’re armed to the teeth.”
“Maybe Scar still cares about you.”
“Maybe but I don’t want to think about that right now.”
“You’re still alive.”
Max ignored Ryan’s assessment of the events that happened while he was tied to a chair in a barn with his vampire ex. Max was hell-bent on changing the subject. He was out here on the back porch to get something off his chest.
“Ryan you got to hel
p me out here. Something has been puzzling me for awhile now.”
“You puzzled.” Ryan sarcastically added. “Sure what’s up?”
“What’s the deal with you and Monica?”
“What?”
“You really like this girl?”
“I don’t know.” Ryan shrugged. “It’s just like we have a connection.”
Max raised an eyebrow. “A connection.”
“I can’t explain it. I would if I could, but I can’t. It’s a feeling I have about her.”
“A feeling?” Max raised a curious brow. “What like a total eclipse of the heart?”
“Make jokes, it’s the same way you felt about Scar.”
Ryan silenced himself as soon as he remembered the pure self-loathing and agony Max felt after he wasn’t able to help Scar. Max was a self-destructive pain in the ass. He was a disaster. It took him so long to come out of his funk. It took him a long time to get over the fact that he couldn’t save Scar.
“Scarlet is done. She’s over. She is a monster.” Max knew he would never be able to confess he had sex with Scar as a vampire and through the intense fear actually enjoyed it. He still hadn’t processed that incident himself. He was going to act like it wasn’t some of the best sex of his life.
“Well she’s a vamp but she spared your life.”
“That doesn’t matter. I can never have a life with Scar but you.” Max stopped speaking before he revealed too much.
“Me what?”
“You seem to like Monica.”
“Max Monica is not the first woman I liked. I’m here now so whatever.” Ryan smirked and frowned.
“She kind of has a kid.”
“Her niece is not her kid and I like Cyan.”
Max twisted his lips. “When did you turn into Mr. Mom?”
Ryan shrugged. He couldn’t help the smile that formed on his lips when he thought about Cyan. “I don’t know about the Mr. Mom thing. Who knew I would be so parental.”
Max had heard enough. He was starting to second-guess his decision to tell Ryan the truth. “Soon as we kill the bad seed we’re leaving. Can you handle that?”
“I can handle anything. I’m a Fox. Do I have any other choices?” Ryan pouted.
“No you don’t.”
Ryan stroked the shortened barrels of the shotgun on his lap. “We can’t even find the demon.”
“We don’t know where to look. You didn’t get any clues from Scar?”
“None.”
“So she just clubbed you over the head and took you to her evil lair”
“Yep, no, I guess.”
“You didn’t get any Intel from her?”
“None.”
“Seriously nothing?”
“Jesus dude I said no.” Max’s brows furrowed.
“You didn’t try to charm her or anything. She’s a vamp but she’s still a woman.”
“Charm her. I was tied up the entire time.”
“Right.” Ryan pressed his lips in a fine line. “Maybe you’re out of practice with the ladies.”
“What? Shut up. I’m not. Whatever.” Max blew air from his mouth.
“Maybe we should call Uncle Donny, see if he has any more news.”
Sure, it was a way for Max to get out of this odd conversation. Max pulled his cell phone out of his back pocket and dialed. He put it on speakerphone. The cell rang twice.
“Max.” Uncle Donny’s voice came out loud and clear through the cell.
“Uncle Donny we’re coming up empty. You got to help us out here. Is there anything else you can tell us about this demon child?”
“There is no prophecy, no book to study. This is all new to me. Only thing I know is not only is this kid a demon. I’m hearing that it might be part human.”
“Part human, that doesn’t sound possible.”
“Yeah, yeah I know it sounds silly but that’s the word.”
Max frowned. “So basically we were looking for a demon that possessed a kid. But now you’re saying there was no demon possession. The kid was born a demon?”
“I’m saying anything is possible. I wish I had answers but I don’t.”
Max was deep in thought. Ryan didn’t notice as he was shocked by the news Uncle Donny delivered. Max was good at concealing his emotions whereas Ryan wore all his thoughts on his face.
“Thanks Uncle Donny, call us if you hear something new.”
“Be careful boys. This kid is a hot commodity. Get the kid. Get Vampir and high tail it back here if that doesn’t lead you directly to Drack. Be careful out there boys.”
“Always.” Max hung up the phone with a press of a button. He lifted his face to the heavens and sniffed the night air. “Smells like rain.”
A bolt of lightning struck the sky. Max slowly stood and headed for the screen door of the house. He stood there with his hand on the door handle. He replayed Uncle Donny’s words and tried to make sense of them.
It started to drizzle rain. The enclosed porch only picked up a few drops of the light rain.
“Where you going?” Ryan asked. He was just taking notice of Max standing at the screen door.
“I got to hit the head.”
Max opened the screen door and scurried inside. As always, he was up to something. Ryan just didn’t have the energy to try to determine just what that was.
CHAPTER 10
The wheels were turning in Max’s lizard brain. He entered the kitchen and went straight for the guest bedroom. He knew it was insane but he just couldn’t stop himself. He grabbed his duffel bag off the floor by the side of the bed. He started frantically rummaging through it. He was looking for something specific. He soon found it. He grabbed the small bottle of clear liquid from the bag and shoved it in his back pocket.
Max paced the floor by the bed a few times before he left the guest room. He questioned whether or not to proceed with his wild theories. Max was never one to back down and oftentimes his hunches were on the money. It was better to be right and safe instead of being wrong and dead.
He crept down the hall when he thought the coast was clear. He was sure Ryan was still on the back porch. He reluctantly strolled toward Cyan’s bedroom. The room was so small it could have easily been mistaken for a walk in closet. He slowly crept into the open bedroom door. Little Cyan was peacefully asleep in her pink teddy bear toddler bed.
“What are you doing Max?” He softly whispered to himself appalled at his own thought process. “What are you doing Max? What the hell are you doing?” He repeatedly questioned his sanity in a dull murmur.
Max removed the small liquid-filled bottle from his back blue jean pocket. “Thank God for holy water. No harm in checking.” He mumbled. He crouched down over Cyan. He poured holy water on the tip of his index finger. Some of the holy water splashed and landed on the inside of his blue jeans thigh, right near his crotch.
“Oh crap!”
He placed his wet finger on the little tot’s arm. “Here goes nothing.” Cyan’s skin began to bubble and blister. Max’s heartbeat raced at an alarmingly frenzied pace. He was visibly shaken. This was not really happening but it was. Somehow he thought his hunch was wrong.
“Son of a bitch.” He scoffed a little too loudly. Cyan didn’t wake to the sound of his verbal alarm.
Max’s eyes stayed fixed on the toddler as he slowly backed away from the bed. He turned to see his brother standing right behind him. Their eyes widened when they found each other in the dimly lit room. They both quickly hurried from the bedroom closing the door behind them.
Max knocked into his brother as they stumbled into the hallway. They were both a little shaken from what was asleep a few feet away behind the closed bedroom door.
“Max how long did you know?” Ryan asked with a hint of fear in his voice. He mouth hung open while he waited for Max to fill in the gaps.
“I just figured it out. Did you see that?”
“Well yeah. Jesus Max, Cyan’s the demon kid.”
“I don’t, yeah s
he is.” Max stumbled over the incoherent words.
“This is so so so unbelievable.”
“Well yeah. She’s demon and she’s half human.”
“What?” Ryan brushed his hair off his forehead with his hand.
“You my brother with a pinch of Drack demon banged her mother.”
Ryan chuckled. “No Max this is Patty’s kid. Monica’s sister.”
“Wrong.”
“What do you mean?”
“No brother, this is Monica’s kid and the offspring of a hunter named Ryan Fox. A hunter that was possessed by a goddamn all powerful demon hybrid.”
“What?”
“Look dude saying what, doesn’t make it any less true.”
“But that’s not even remotely possible.”
“Yeah it is. You demon baby-maker.”
“First monsters can’t make babies, second demon monsters can’t make babies.”
“No but demon possessed human hunters can make babies with fertile small town waitresses. Monica lied the kid is not her niece. I saw the birth records. Cyan is her birth daughter.”
“You knew Cyan was my daughter?”
“Yeah but I didn’t know it was the kid we were looking for.”
Max held up the bottle of holy water. He was reliving what he had just experienced. Ryan snatched the bottle from Max’s hands.
Worry lines formed on Ryan’s forehead, exactly three creases. “What are we going to do? What am I going to do?”
“Kill it, her, whatever.” Max offered with little to no emotion. He removed his dagger from the leather holster near his ankle.
“Max, that’s a little girl in there. That’s my daughter.”
“Don’t you think I know that Ryan.”
The Fox brother’s debate was interrupted when Monica sauntered into the hall. She was wearing her regular waitress uniform, minimal fabric, extra sex.
“Where did you come from?” Max asked. He had never heard anyone enter the back door.
“Kansas, visiting the wizard.”
“What?”
Monica’s eyes darted over at Ryan. “Looky, looky, my baby’s daddy?” She smiled while approaching them. Her entire tone and demeanor had changed.
Monica’s eyes turned demon red. She was possessed.
“Holy shit.” Max spit.