Black than Blue

by Rebekah Weatherspoon

  “Did I interrupt something?” she asked with a knowing smile.

  “No, Mama.”

  “Good. I wanted to show you girls something before we eat.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Cleo

  “We own this whole block,” Ms. Leanne explained as we hustled across the street. “Well, we own it for other demons. Every building is linked by underground tunnels. Omi and Mary are down there at the end.” She pointed to a yellow town house similar to theirs with black shutters.

  “But this is what I wanted you girls to see.” She climbed the few steps to a brick home directly across the street. She opened the front door with a gold key and ushered us inside. When she flicked the lights, I saw that a massive remodeling was under way. The floors in the front parlor had been stripped and drop cloths lined the entrance hallway. It smelled of paint and new wood.

  As we walked through, Ms. Leanne flicked on lights in various rooms. Covered furniture was centered in the middle of what might have been another living room area. Another room was home to a baby grand piano. New shelves had been installed in an office / library space.

  “What do you think?” she said as we made our way past a couple bedrooms on the second floor.

  “It’s nice. Who is it for?” Benny asked.

  “You two, silly.”

  “Mama.”

  “Ms. Leanne.” Benny and I blurted out at the same time. Dinner and a cozy room underground was the perfect way to say welcome to town, but a house? I knew we’d live nearby. Still, I was expecting us to choose a place together, and my only requirement was a comfy basement and off-street parking for the Range Rover. This was too much.

  “I’m not hearing any arguments. Now, there’s room for your friend Andrew here, but if he wants his own place he can have the one next door.”

  My mind flashed to the equally large town house right beside this one. “That place is huge for one person.”

  “Plenty of room to stretch out,” Ms. Leanne said, scrunching her nose up with her smile. “There are bedrooms upstairs, of course, and you’ll have your master bed and bath upstairs and down, just like your daddy and I do, but this is what I wanted to show you.”

  On the third floor, we stopped in the master bedroom. I saw that Ms. Leanne really did have a thing for canopy beds, but that’s not what she wanted to show us. On the far side of the room she opened a set of double doors. She flicked on a light switch and revealed the start of a nursery.

  Benny’s hand flew to her mouth. “Mama.”

  I stared at the infant furniture. The crib and the changing table were the same mahogany cut as the bed frame behind us. “Ms. Leanne, you didn’t have to do this.”

  “Oh yes, I did. Your daddy is still all bent out of shape, but he knows what you girls want. When he told me, I knew this was exactly what I needed to do.” She looked at Benny and me like we were crazy. “I want my grandbaby close, and what’s closer than right across the street? Well, under the same roof is pretty close, but I’ll know you’ll want your privacy. So I just want to know when.”

  “When what?” Benny asked. Her confusion mirrored mine.

  “When am I going to see this grandbaby?”

  “You are the only woman I’ve ever met who wants to be a grandma.” I laughed.

  “Sure do. So?”

  “Mama, we haven’t even really thought about our wedding yet, let alone a sperm donor or—”

  “Oh nonsense. It’ll take your daddy no time at all to find someone. Just tell him what you’re looking for.”

  “And I should graduate first,” Benny added. I was waiting for her to put her hand to her mama’s forehead, just to check the temperature on her sanity.

  “Summertime sounds great.”

  “Mama.”

  “Oh stop. You two have nothing to worry about.”

  “Except raising a baby,” I muttered. I knew everything would be okay, but I was still terrified. Dalhem hadn’t raised Benny from infancy. Even if her father was a lousy piece-of-shit bum, she had time to adjust to the world of humans like any normal child. How do you explain to a toddler that one of her mommies can’t go outside during the day? I feared enough for her having to deal with a world that wasn’t all that into her having two mommies in the first place.

  Sensing my panic, Benny’s mama put her hand on my forearm. Her fingers were freezing, but still I felt comforted. “I’ll be here to help you every step of the way.”

  “Thank you, Ms. Leanne,” I was able to squeeze out.

  “It’s Mama to you.”

  *

  We almost made it all the way to the dining room when Dalhem appeared out of nowhere and stood in our way. He was mostly human, but his horns and wings were out, as were his obnoxiously large fangs. Ms. Leanne embraced him and stood on her tiptoes to kiss his chin. Clearly, they’d made up. Instantly, he was in my consciousness, letting his strength and authority be known, not that I cared.

  See, here was my problem with Dalhem. The man-demon, whatever he was, had all this infinite wisdom, all this power. He had thousands of humans and vampires in his service. Having lived for thousands of years on earth and in hell, he understood the human condition better than most, but just because Benny and I had gotten into it, he treated me like shit. I thought of all the insane shit I’d heard my demon brothers and sisters getting up to, but when it came to me, Dalhem behaved just as human as the next. The overprotective father in him reared its ugly head. It worked out great for Benny, but hours after my change, I had to deal with the fact that the being who was essentially the father of our kind, the master of our race, was not there to support me when I needed him the most. He showered Ginger with attention and respect, but he damn near hissed and growled at me every time we were in the same room.

  I did respect his authority and I would never go against him in any major way that would jeopardize his control or put the girls in danger, but when it came to his pissy attitude with me, well, he could kiss my ass. I let all of that roll around in my head in the split second before he addressed Benny and Ms. Leanne.

  “I will speak to your Cleopatra alone.” I was so tempted to just throw myself on the floor while groaning, “Lord Jesus,” but I kept the drama between Dalhem and me.

  Benny turned to me, frowning nervously. I stroked her cheek softly and said, “I’m pretty sure he won’t kill me.” I didn’t think he would.

  “Daddy. Be nice,” she said. He didn’t respond, just mentally asserted that I should follow him. We ended up in his study. This time I actually looked around. It was decorated in golds and creams and dark woods. He stood beside his desk and I made myself very comfortable on his couch. I stopped short of putting my boots up on his coffee table. I wasn’t trying to start a fight with him.

  “I see that you still have no use for respect. Do you, Cleopatra?”

  I winced at him using my full name. “No?”

  “You’ve broken a vow that was not yours to break, and now you wish to mate my Benita, to join my nest, though you have not asked my permission.”

  “I have to know. What were you getting out of the tu’lah?”

  “You do not question me!” he roared. I think it pissed him off even more that I didn’t jump with fear or wet my pants.

  “Okay, whatever. I don’t know what you expect me to say. You know exactly what I’m thinking. You’re in my head. You and I never talk. Ever. I asked Ms. Leanne and she said yes, but you know Benny would marry me without approval from either of you, if that’s what she really wanted. She suggested we join your nest, and your wife seems more than happy with the idea. I think you know that too, unless she’s managed to keep those renovations across the street a secret from you. It seems like I’m not the only one who can get on just fine without your approval.”

  The temperature in the room cranked up a bit. “I know you have no respect for the plans of greater beings.” Dalhem growled.

  “This isn’t about respect. Bottom line, do you care what Benny want
s?” It wasn’t a question he intended to answer. “I love her and you know I have loved her this whole time, but if you want to call her in here and ask if she wants to be with Paeno instead of me, go for it. I won’t argue. But I’m pretty sure Benny made her choice.”

  “You are not right for her.”

  “That’s a lie. You don’t like me. I made things difficult for you with your sister, but really, that’s not my fault. You presented Benny with an extreme choice and all it did was drive us back together.” I leaned forward and looked him square in his golden eyes. “I’m sorry if that screws up your plans, but I love Benny and I’m not letting her go.”

  Dalhem’s mind was closed off to me, but he was so easy to read. He would never hurt Benny. End of story. And hurting me would tear her apart. As he stared me down, he and I both knew there was nothing more to talk about. Benny and I were getting married. We would have our family, and Dalhem would just have to deal with this demon pact with his sister on his own. He could be pissed at me all day long. Still, his emotions wouldn’t drive Benny and me apart.

  “Someday, your actions will have repercussions, Cleopatra.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Master, I—” Dalhem disappeared before I could finish.

  *

  I found my way to the dining room and smiled at the look of relief on Benny’s face when she saw I was still in one piece. I was also happy to see my sister-queen.

  Omi came around the table and gave me a firm hug. A woman who I guessed was her wife, Mary, stood beside her. Mary was beautiful. Though her skin was near a buttery white, she was unmistakably black. Her thick, curly hair, a deep shade of auburn, was tied back on the top of her head in a full bun, and dark brown freckles were spattered across her nose. She and Omi were dressed alike, both wearing dark blazers over light sweaters with tight jeans under knee-high boots. They were a perfect pair.

  Omi introduced us and Mary hugged me as well. She was fairly powerful, though less so than Omi and myself, but Mary had a very positive energy about her, and I could tell that her kindness was genuine.

  “I trust you are okay?” Omi asked. She looked me over like she was checking for bruises.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. He just wanted to bitch at me some more,” I replied. “What are you doing here?”

  “We’re here for dinner. I wanted to meet you,” Mary said.

  “I fed from the girls and set them on each other. They barely even notice when I’m gone.” Omi pulled me closer and lowered her voice. “This next change in your life will be big, and we want to be there for you.”

  Mary reached out and squeezed my hand.

  They wanted me to cry. I could feel it. Instead, I squeezed Mary’s hand back. “Thanks.”

  Dalhem appeared and took a loud, huffy seat at the head of the table. Benny and Mary did their best to cover their snickers at his brattiness. We took his arrival as the official start to the meal and took our seats around the table.

  As Faraut served dinner, Mary and Ms. Leanne jumped right into their conversation about some feeders Mary had to take from a demon who was losing his grip on reality.

  “I’m what we call an eraser,” she explained to me. “Most demons are good at concealing themselves and wiping the minds of unbound humans, but sometimes there are mistakes or a wipe isn’t complete so I track down the humans and give them a slight reprogramming.”

  “It’s nothing drastic,” Benny asserted, though I didn’t think it was.

  “I’ll do something simple like alter the details to a demon they saw to make them think they were dealing with another human.”

  “You might need to teach me that trick,” I said. Camila had taught me how to conduct complete wipes, but I could see where that might leave a human feeling a little confused, and nothing caused problems like a confused human. I thought of De’Treshawn and how he’d probably had nightmares for a few days after I’d dealt with him.

  Dalhem growled from the end of the table as the thought passed through my mind. Ms. Leanne hushed him with a light pat on the back of his massive palm. Mary went on with her story like he wasn’t even there.

  “I was telling Leanne about this particular demon who wasn’t wiping humans properly, so we took away a few of his feeders to give him some time to think.”

  “Do you think he’ll come around?” I asked.

  “He will.” Mary smiled.

  “How did you two meet?” I asked Omi. Mary was an interesting woman, very different from our other sister-queens.

  “We were born on the same plantation,” Omi replied. I almost choked on my beef.

  “My forbear owned a sugar plantation on Barbados. He owned a large number of people as well,” Mary said. I knew they would tell me the whole story if I asked, but I could only imagine what their early lives had been like. I held off my curiosity for another time.

  Faraut stepped in the room with a tray full of desserts, and coffee for Ms. Leanne. “Let’s take dessert by the fire,” she suggested.

  “I will leave, my ladies.” Dalhem stood with another grunt and vanished.

  *

  One a.m. came and went, and the three of us demons were just settling into our night. Ms. Leanne excused herself to bed and Benny excused herself to change into her pajamas. Once we were alone, Omi’s mood became a little somber.

  “How often do you visit your family?” she asked me.

  “Lately, not that often, but usually…every night.”

  “We understand your loss, but—” Omi started.

  But Mary finished for her. “It has to stop, Cleo. Holding on to the past and holding on to things you can’t control will only drive you mad.”

  “More so because you are getting nothing in return,” Omi added.

  “We understand that you and Benny plan to have a family.”

  “Yes. That’s the plan,” I replied.

  “You need to live for them. Not for your past, or you will turn around one day and find that you are missing things in the present,” Omi said.

  “I get it.” I saw how my death had affected Daddy. How would my marriage to Benny be if I slipped out every night to check on them? How would my child feel if I kept this part of my life from them?

  Mary perked up in her seat and offered me another one of her true smiles. “We have a proposition for you. Two propositions, actually.”

  I laughed at the way she nearly bounced on the cushions. It couldn’t be a bad proposal. “I’m listening.”

  “With you and Benny leaving the sorority, we thought you could come work for me,” Mary said.

  “As an eraser?”

  “Yes. We all have our responsibilities in this nest. Omi says you are wonderful with the girls, and I think you should keep dealing with humans in a way that strengthens your powers.”

  “I’d love that.” Raising a child would be work enough, but when it came to being immortal, I knew there would come a time when I would want and need more to do with myself. Training and working with Mary seemed like a good fit for me. “What’s the other part of the proposition?”

  “We meant what we said,” Omi replied. “We want to be here for you.”

  “We thought that perhaps we could be your surrogate family,” Mary said.

  Omi clarified. “Your relationship with a Camila is like a sister bond. She is your friend, but you two have a certain dynamic.”

  “She treats me like a child?”

  Omi laughed this time. “Yes, she treats you like a friend and sometimes like a child. I see how that has made it hard for you to confide in her sometimes. She cares, but you are the first vampire she helped create. She doesn’t know how to work with you from time to time. Benny has her support here, and not that they won’t support you, they will. Leanne is lovely, but Dalhem will always be Dalhem.”

  “And in-laws are still in-laws,” I said, getting her meaning.

  “We want you to feel like you have someone to turn to as well. You and Andrew.”

  I got a little choked up, okay. I wi
ped my eyes against the onslaught of emotion beating against my chest. Omi had been watching all along. She seemed to know exactly how I felt, about Camila, about Benny. Ms. Leanne was amazing, but that didn’t change the fact that I’d lost my mama, that I still longed for a little something of my own.

  “I would really like that, you guys. Really.”

  Mary whipped out a dark blue handkerchief and handed it to me. “If there is anything you need from us, it doesn’t matter how small, you may come to us.”

  “Well, there is one thing,” I said.

  “What is that, my dear?” Omi asked.

  “Would you like to help me pick out a ring?”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Benny

  Cleo stayed up all night with Omi and Mary. Though I could have stayed in bed with her all day, my biological clock and my growling stomach woke me up at nine in the morning. I left her sleeping and went to have breakfast with Mama. Cleo was still asleep when I came back. Leo and Boomer were snoozing at her side. I watched her for a few seconds. She’d fallen asleep on her back, fully dressed. Her legs were crossed at her ankles, and her arms, folded over her stomach. I was sure she thought she’d lie down beside me for just a few minutes, but even demons need their sleep. There was no need to disturb her, so I took some time to finish my German assignment. I would have finished much sooner if I hadn’t been fantasizing about Cleo the whole time, the thought of dropping out becoming more and more tempting every minute. I couldn’t wait until we could just be together.

  When I checked on Cleo again, her eyes peeked open when I poked my head in the doorway. I stepped inside and closed the door with my butt.

  “Did you have a good nap?” I asked, walking slowly to the foot of the bed. She eyed me warily as I moved.

  “I did. It would have been nice to sleep with you, though.”

  “I just had to take care of a few things.”

  “Oh yeah?” Her eyes narrowed as she noticed my hands were still behind my back.