by Alexie Aaron
“Da Dee here,” Brian said.
Ted popped up behind Brian. He put his head down next to Mia and kissed her. “Mia, Burt’s here. I already frisked him, and he has brought his pain pills.”
“Whoa, I don’t know. My track record is pretty bad. My new half-uncle thinks I’m a junkie.”
“Well, your uncle is a nephilim. He doesn’t understand humans,” Ted pointed out.
“You’re right. Talk about complex. He is kind of funny.”
“Neft limb,” Brian parroted.
“Well, that’s a word for preschool. Brian, Nef fil em.”
“Nephilim,” he said clearly.
“That’s a Martin for you,” she said, impressed.
“Mia, there is so much wrong with us,” Ted said.
“We are going to take the PTA by storm. The family tree Brian brings in is going to be very interesting.”
Burt came in and knelt down so he could look Mia in the eyes. “Mia, I talked to Judy, and she says it won’t hurt you to drug up. At least we can get you comfortable, right side up, without screaming.”
Mia consented. She waited until Ted took Brian to his room. Burt gently lifted her up. Someone else pulled down the covers, and Burt carefully rolled Mia over. Mia saw her mother staring at her.
“Amanda?”
“Mia, you’ve got a challenge ahead of you, but nothing you aren’t up for. I’m going to help Ted with Brian until you’re on your feet.”
“How?”
“Your husband. He says I don’t have to cook. You have a man for that. But you do need help with… you know.”
“Yes, I’m thrilled,” Mia said dryly.
Charles walked in. “There’s my Mia,” he said, bending down and kissing her forehead.
“Dad, I met your half-brother Quentin.”
“Oh, we got an email. Thought the guy wanted a kidney or something.”
“He’s a bit different, but he’s definitely a relation.”
“Well, don’t lend him any money, sweetheart,” Charles counseled.
“I won’t, Father.”
Burt sat in the chair next to the bed, enjoying Mia’s family dynamic. He waited until they left to give Mia her pills. He handed her a large PEEPs tee. After seeing her struggle to put it on, he shut the door and helped her. He drew off the tank and winced when he saw Mia’s back. The plasma had already seeped through the flannel. He gently drew on the shirt. “Mia, what happened?”
“Ted didn’t tell you?”
“No, he just asked for Hicks’s Pharmacy.”
“Do you want to know?”
“Yes.”
Mia told him. He was flabbergasted.
“You went into what, hell?”
“I don’t think it was hell. It was pretty cold.”
“Just to make amends.”
“As you and I have discovered, these paranormal beings live according to a code. I broke it big, and they could have taken Brian from me. If Ted didn’t bind me to him, I may not be here. And if Wyatt and my half-uncle didn’t intercede for me, I would be dead. They were going to give me fifty lashes.”
“That’s barbaric.”
“It’s their way. Wyatt tried to take the lashes for me. That was a big surprise. So much honor in the underworld.”
“I’ve never thought of it that way.”
“I try to look at both sides. The creatures we stole from were terrified.”
“Who paid your debt?”
“My half-uncle. He’s also the one that whipped me.”
“I don’t know how to feel about that?”
“Me either, I’m conflicted.”
This made Burt laugh.
There was a light tapping at the door, and Ted came in with Brian. “He’s missing you, Mia.”
Mia held out her arms and tried not to show pain as Brian held on to her. He sat down and started jabbering. Mia winked at Burt as she listened.
“Brian, I haven’t seen Cid. Is he well?”
“Ooh Id wada ees.”
Mia held up her hand and thought a moment. “Murphy and Cid are watering the new trees.”
“You and Mike are good at this. He could understand all your mimicking when you were in the game.”
Mia started laughing. “I thought Murph was going to kill me when I straddled him.”
“Little ears,” Ted said, pointing at Brian.
“You tell me, how would you have mimed code?”
Ted was speechless, and Burt hunched his shoulders.
You guys were fabulous. I wish you could have been on the inside while you took care of us. I mean, what was with that dragon? Murphy chops it in two, and all the bad guys come marching out. We ran like there was no tomorrow.”
“Uccellino broke,” Brian said.
“Yes, I am, but I won’t be forever, Brian. We Martins are fighters. We don’t let a donut go uneaten or a challenge go unmet.”
Ted looked over at his wife and smiled.
“Okay, gentlemen,” Amanda said from the doorway. “Time to settle Mia in for a nap.”
Charles scooped Mia up and took her into the master bath.
“Mr. Hicks, if you have a moment. I’d like to talk with you about something private,” Amanda asked.
“I’ll be on the front porch,” Burt said and left.
Amanda kissed Brian as Ted passed by.
Charles brought Mia back in. Amanda moved her hands up and down Mia’s limbs.
“Are you counting my bones, Amanda?” Mia teased.
“You’re pretty sound. Victims of whipping suffered joint dislocation from the way the body reacted to the pain. Tell me, did they hang you?”
“Amanda…” Charles scolded.
“Yes,” Mia answered, showing Amanda her wrists. “They were chained together, and I was hung off the ground.”
“Who did this?”
Mia didn’t want to say.
“Come on, spit it out,” Amanda ordered.
“Demons.”
“Just like in Central America. Mia, this has been going on forever. You have experienced torture firsthand.”
“No, it was restitution,” Mia said and shut her eyes.
“Charles, she’s making herself invisible again, just like when she was two.”
Mia’s eyes snapped open. “How come I don’t remember any of the good stuff?”
“We don’t know, dear. Now you lay down. I have a meeting to attend to.”
“K.”
“It’s alright or okay, not K, Mia. None of this shorthand. How are you going to teach your son to speak correctly when you don’t?”
“Sorry.”
Amanda walked out the door. Charles stayed a moment. “Mia, let her care for you.”
“Father, Émile Neyer contacted me. She has a family I never knew about.”
“I know. Don’t bring it up. Not now when you’re ill. There is a long, horrible story that goes along with the explanation.”
“He seemed so nice,” Mia said.
“The fault is not the Neyers, it’s your mother’s. We’ll put this discussion on hold, please?”
“Yes, Father.”
Burt swung on the porch swing, taking in the last warmth of the sun. Amanda came out and formally shook his hand.
“Young man, you were the one responsible for rescuing my daughter, and I would like to thank you.”
“Mia didn’t need rescuing…”
“Nonsense, she was barricading herself in. You reached out and brought her back to a workable kind of crazy. My mother-in-law’s death set Mia adrift. You were her life raft.”
“Mrs. Cooper, I understand your viewpoint, but the Mia I met was a functioning adult. She was funny and helpful. And so brave and broken…”
“Broken runs in the family, Mr. Hicks. I’m broken. I’m lucky that I have Charles. I was going through some papers the other day, and I found a letter from my daughter. I have it here.” Amanda dug in her purse and came up with the letter. “My daughter wrote me a total of three
letters in her life. One was about the house burning down. The other told that she was going to follow Jack Kerouac’s example and find herself. And this one.” Amanda handed the letter to Burt to read.
Dear Amanda,
I’m not sure if you’ll ever get this, and I’m not sure why I’m sending it. We haven’t had a traditional mother-daughter relationship, but I wanted to reach out. I’ve met a man. His name is Burt Hicks. He runs a ghost hunting service of some kind. He is tall and soft with the most beautiful brown eyes. I don’t know how to act around him, and I’m sure he finds me ill-mannered and coarse.
I find myself writing his name a lot. Sometimes I write my name with his. Am I tempting fate? I don’t want to screw this up. He is so special. He listens to me and tells me what to do, and he only groans when I ignore his advice. We had a fight, and I feel horrible. It was insecure Mia, out of the box, causing trouble again. I don’t know why I pushed him away? I was hoping you would have some kind of insight.
I feel so safe when he is around. I think I may be in love with him. He has saved me from myself.
Your daughter,
Mia Cooper
“I received it well after you two had called it quits. I know that she is with Ted now, and Charles and I find him the best match for Mia. But I feel that they would have never happened if it wasn’t for you. I don’t remember too much of the wisdom my father shared with me, but he did stress, when you appreciate something someone has done for you, you thank them, and this is what I’m doing now,” Amanda said and folded her hands in her lap.
“Thank you, Mrs. Cooper. I enjoyed my time with your daughter, and I feel that we have established a good, strong friendship since. If I have had any part in, as you say, saving your daughter, then I feel that I have justified my existence.” Burt handed her the letter. “Thank you for sharing that letter with me. If you will excuse me, I have some film editing to do before I go home.”
Amanda stood up, shook his hand, and watched him leave. She walked into the house and held the door open for Murphy standing there. “Come in, you’re letting in the flies.”
“You can see me?”
“I’m a Neyer. Of course I can see you.”
“But…”
“I got so used to pretending not to that, in a way, I no longer did,” she said and walked off.
Ted stood there in the kitchen doorway holding Brian. Murphy moved towards him as confused as Ted felt.
“Did she just say she could see you?” Ted asked.
“Yes.”
“If Mia finds out, she’s going to freak,” Ted said.
“Uccellino…”
“No, Brian, Mommy. She is your mommy, and you would make her very happy if you would call her Mommy,” Ted insisted.
“Mom ee,” Brian said.
“We’ll take it.”
~
Angelo caught up with Sariel over the north Atlantic. “Where are you going?” he asked.
“Iceland. They have more elemental dragons than they have singing stars.”
“I heard that you and Mia killed one recently.”
“Mia had done most of the work by the time I got there. I just lent her my sword. It was attached to my arm at the time.”
“That was most fortunate for her. You no doubt saved her life,” Angelo remarked. “Mia is headstrong and…”
“Are you searching for the right word?” he asked Angelo. “Reactionary, bright, funny, clumsy, sexy - oh my stars is that woman sexy.”
Angelo laughed. “It’s hard to get by the sexy, Sariel.”
“Yes it is, but when you’re as old as I am, you find that you get more out of making a woman happy then being in her bed. Unless you are making her happy in bed.”
Angelo frowned.
“Lighten up, my friend. I was shut down within seconds of my seduction. A good knee to the groin followed by her readiness to stone me. I got the message right away.”
“Why did she pick you then?”
“Destiny put us together, Angelo. Mia wants to protect me. She healed me. You can’t heal an angel, yet she did. I was blind, my peripheral vision gone. She took a slice of dragon heart and called for a mage. Together, they performed a miracle. I hope to return the favor.”
“Mia sees more in me than there is,” Angelo admitted. “She thinks I’m a hero. I’m a librarian.”
“Nonsense, I’ve seen you in battle, Angelo. You are a natural leader of birdmen. You may have been put in charge of documents, but there is not one winged creature who doesn’t fear or respect you,” Sariel said. “The only problem I see, and this is just my observation only…”
“What?”
“In your chess games, you use too many pawns.”
“The outcome is what matters,” Angelo said. “If a few humans die, but the evil is brought down, then what is the problem?”
“Life matters,” Sariel said. “Even the life of the beast we will kill for Mia matters.”
“You sound like Mia,” Angelo acknowledged.
“We may share a few ideals, but Mia is unique. She loves you, Angelo. She doesn’t love me. She cares about me, but she doesn’t love me.”
“Am I supposed to be comforted by this?” Angelo asked.
“Yes,” Sariel said and banked to his left. “Dragon smoke trail. Follow me.”
Angelo got behind Sariel. They put the sun at their backs.
The elemental in question had just caused an airplane to crash. It was dining on the remains of the flight crew when a high-pitched sound cut through the air. He turned and shot a stream of fire before he even recognized the threat. Two creatures with wings afire headed for the sea. He thought of the vermin left in the snack pack of the overbooked 737 and should have been satisfied, but birdman was a delicacy one didn’t come upon too often. Humans were too sour. The chemicals they drank and ate made them taste funny. He took flight and followed the odor of burnt feathers.
Angelo circled the gorge looking for a safe place to set down. He limped along, gliding, not having two good wings to take him home.
The dragon saw the weakened creature and slowed down behind him. He opened his mouth and increased his speed. Soon he would be close enough to swallow the birdman whole.
Sariel shot upwards and stabbed the creature in the lungs. The dragon turned and tried to heat the air, but he could not even warm it. There was a gaping hole in his chest. Irritated and concerned about how long it was going to take to regenerate, he didn’t watch out for the birdman who just now sliced through his neck like it was butter.
Sariel hovered before the dragon. With his rapidly depleting strength, the dragon reached for him.
Angelo jabbed his sword deep into the dragon’s chest from under the arm. He reached in and grabbed the heart. He sped away with Sariel at his heels.
With his last ounce of energy, the elemental put his hand over his lung and sucked in air. The two flyers fought the pull, but it became too much for them, and they started to drift back towards the imploding dragon…
~
Mia opened her eyes to see Cid staring down at her. “Hello, Cid. What’s up? Before you say anything, Burt gave me some pills, and I’m going to probably be inappropriate.”
“I should have stopped you,” he said. “I was there in the dark, watching you write the note. I should have stopped you.”
“Is that why you’ve been avoiding me?” Mia patted the bed beside her. “Sit, please.”
He did.
“Believe it or not, this is the best outcome for the situation. I’m alive. Although, my mother is here, so there is a tradeoff.”
“I heard Wyatt tell Ted what happened. I’m so angry.”
“Demons are beings with tough hides. They seem to need a lot of physicality to get a point across. Thank God for my inner armor or I think I wouldn’t have made it. Hey, this way, I can’t get suckered into more modeling. I really hate that.”
“Do you?” Cid asked. “But you’re so beautiful.”
“I’d
say interesting at best. Yes, I really hate being the center of attention. I don’t get it? People are as cruel to pretty people as they are to freaks. ‘Oh she’s so pretty, I hate her.’ How can they hate me when they don’t even know me? I had to put up with crazy Mia, and now it’s BBB. Modeling does not make me happy.”
“What makes you happy, Mia?” Cid asked.
“A lot of things make me happy. I love to watch you and Ted create something out of nothing. I love to see Murph feel up a tree. Brian when he looks at me. I love to be a part of PEEPs, driving Burt crazy and fighting with Mike. I love Audrey with all my heart. She is such a happy, positive person. It makes me happy to help lost souls to find their heaven. I have new family members to get to know and old ones to be patient with. I’m very lucky.”
“What if this injury is permanent?” Cid asked.
“I’ll find another way to do my job. And what a job it is.”
Cid reached over and carefully hugged her. “I love you, Mia.”
“I love you too, Cid.”
Ted knocked on the door before he opened it. He found his wife in the arms of his best friend. “Look, Brian, Uncle Cid is stealing hugs from your mommy.”
“My mom ee.”
Mia looked over at them, surprised. “What did he say?”
Brian reached out his hands and said, “Mom ee.”
Mia clapped her hands together. “Brian said my name!”
“It’s about time,” Amanda said, walking in. “What’s my name, kid?”
“Amamada.”
“Smart kid.”
“Don’t you mean grandma?” Mia asked.
“Bloody hell,” Amanda said.
“Little ears,” Mia warned, before she followed Amanda’s gaze. There, standing in the doorway, was a very beat-up, slightly-charred Sariel with a singed Angelo on his heels. Sariel held out the dragon’s heart.
“If you all would excuse us, we have to do this while it’s fresh,” Sariel insisted.
Angelo escorted everyone out and locked the door. He helped Mia off with her clothes and gently turned her over onto her stomach. He held her down while Sariel cut into Mia’s back. He sliced a piece of heart off and laid it alongside the spine. He folded back the skin and laid a few more slices inside before taking his sword and pressing down. Mia gritted her teeth and finally succumbed to screaming into her pillow. He next handed the heart to Angelo. “Squeeze the remaining blood out onto her back,” he instructed.