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Sam wakes me at some ungodly hour and I brush my teeth before I head out for a morning walk with her. Long Sands beach at low tide is such a relaxing walk, especially with the sun coming up over the ocean. It’s reviving, and even the cool wind whipping off the water invigorates me. I forgot the sense of peace the Atlantic Ocean brings me. It’s been way too long, and I can’t imagine settling down anywhere else.
It’s early enough on the beach to let Sam walk without her leash and I unclasp the hook. She glances up at me as if she’s unsure about leaving my side and investigating the unfamiliar surroundings.
“It’s okay, girl. You can check things out.”
Her tail wags and I continue walking. Sam runs ahead of me with her nose to the sand before she stops, looking over her shoulder to make sure I’m still in the area. Her concern makes me smile, but I continue my leisurely gait. She stays within twenty feet of me at all times and when other dogs approach, she does a cursory sniff and then she’s on her way.
“Tom?”
My gaze snaps up from Sam. A familiar face is walking towards me, but I’m at a loss for a name. I smile anyway.
“Hi,” I say.
“Austin’s going to shit,” she says and the name snaps in place as she stops in front of me.
“How are you, Paige?” I ask.
“Pretty good. When did you get back?”
“Two nights ago.”
A large and very wet Alaskan Malamute, with one blue eye and one brown eye, trots up to Paige and drops a ball at her feet. Sam slides between us, positioning herself in front of me in that protective stance I’m used to.
I reach down, stroke her head, and she looks up at me.
“It’s okay, girl,” I say and glance up at Paige. She has the ball in her hand and pitches it into the water. The massive dog bounds after it and Sam just watches.
“Nice dog,” I say and Paige glances at Sam.
“She’s beautiful,” she says and crouches down offering her hand.
“Sam, this is Paige,” I introduce and she sniffs Paige’s hand.
“Wow, she’s really trained well,” she says, looking up at me as she pets Sam.
“I guess.”
“I can’t get Goliath to stay by my side like she does,” she says and smiles, standing while her dog comes bounding back.
“Goliath, very appropriate name.” I smile and her dog finally takes notice of Sam and the sniffing begins until Sam issues a low warning growl. “How old is he?”
“Five. And we really thought he’d calm down by now, but he really hasn’t.” She laughs and tosses the ball again. “He has pulled me down a couple of times, but he’s been good lately.”
“Sam’s been with me from a puppy and she’s kind of kept me alive,” I say as Sam nudges my hand and I stroke her head, scratching behind her ear.
“So, I imagine you were successful?” She looks out over the ocean before bringing her gaze back to mine.
“All the portals are closed, if that’s what you’re asking,” I say and she nods slowly. “However, there was a loophole none of us were aware of.”
Her pleasant smile fades. “What loophole?”
“Our, um, enemy is locked topside, so we are all still in danger.”
Her face pales. “How the hell did that happen?”
I shift and shrug. “They forgot to mention that he had to be present when the last portal was closed. He wasn’t, and I shut it down without knowing.”
A pained sigh escapes her. “You know we barely got away with our lives, right?”
“Yes. CJ told me what happened when he contacted me about the house.” I slide my hands in my pocket. “I understand Austin’s a doctor now?” I deftly change the subject.
The genuine smile forms again. “Yes, and he works here in York now.”
“That’s what Val was saying yesterday. What about you? What are you doing?”
“I work in the Ogunquit Museum.”
“Nice.” I can’t think of anything else to say and I shift my weight.
“We got married a few years ago.” She raises her hand showing off the gleaming diamond.
“So, he finally popped the question. I wondered if he’d ever get the nerve up.”
She raises her eyebrows with a laugh. “It took him entirely too long, but yes. He finally grew a pair.”
I laugh and a gust chills me to the point I shove my hands in my pockets. She shivers as well.
“Well...” I start.
“You want to see the house?” she asks, pointing her thumb over her shoulder.
I never saw the finished product before I left and I shrug, even though I’m curious as hell.
“Come on, Austin will be happy to see that you’re okay.”
“All right,” I say and she whistles for Goliath.
He trots to within a few feet and shakes the water out of his fur, spraying Paige, Sam, and me, before going to Paige. She snaps on the leash and starts up the beach. I keep pace, with Sam between us.
“Damn, that is a really special dog,” she says as we reach the stairs.
“That she is,” I agree and wave her forward. We follow on the narrow sidewalk until the sidewalk disappears on Nubble Road. I stay behind Paige with Sam on my right side. She never strays and I have to smile as Goliath seems to be distracted by everything he sees.
We stop in front of the property where I spent my life with Raven, before she died. The house looks completely different from the quaint cape that sat there before, and I smile at the realization of the design I worked on with the builders. The multiple roof lines of the California Bungalow style is much more pleasing than the plain lines the house used to have.
“It looks fantastic,” I say.
“It’s a little weathered,” she says, “but outside of replacing some shingles, it’s been a great place to live.”
Something in her words makes me take a closer look at her. “Paige, I don’t want the house back,” I say, just to settle her nerves and her creased brow smoothes. “I knew I was giving it up when I signed the papers.”
She looks at the ground and then up at me with a small smile. “We love it here,” she says and heads into the garage. “You can bring your dog inside if you want,” she adds when I pause at the entry.
She towels off her Malamute. The moment Paige opens the door, the dog darts inside. Sam looks up at me and I swear her eyebrows rise at the behavior of the other dog. I press my lips against a smirk and follow Paige inside.
“Austin,” Paige yells. “I found an old friend of yours on the beach!”
Austin steps out from the front of the house and his aura is as bright as the rest of the angel kin. I smile and give him a head nod.
“Holy shit! How the hell are you?” he asks crossing to me, offering his hand and I shake it.
“I’m well, thank you.” I give a glance around as we step farther into the home. The kitchen is wide open to the family room, as I had arranged. I never liked the separation between rooms and this set up was as light and inviting as I had hoped. The back wall is almost entirely made of glass and the view is just as spectacular as I remembered.
“I’m going to clean up for work,” Paige says and disappears upstairs.
“That’s right, you never saw the finished product,” Austin says.
“No. I never did, but I do have to admit, it came out much better than I ever imagined.”
“Then let me give you a tour,” he says, waving me farther into the house. We walk from room to room and my mind goes from pleased to remembering every little thing I did for Hannah. The familiar sadness hits when I stand outside what was to be her room. A lump forms as I scan the mural of the Disney Castle.
“We never changed the decorations in here because some day, we’ll have kids,” he says.
Sam nudges my hand, picking up the melancholy that drifts over me. I scratch her ear and say, “Hopefully you have girls, because that would be a little much for a boy.”
He laughs and nods, taking me back to the great room. “Can I get you something to drink?”
“Nah, I’m good.”
“You sure? I just brewed a fresh pot of coffee?”
I glance at the pot of liquid energy and think about my walk back to CJ’s. “Coffee might not be a bad idea,” I say, and step up to the island while he fixes two cups of java.
“Cream and sugar?”
“Yes, both, please,” I answer, glancing out at the back yard. Hannah and I had walked through the house a couple of times during the construction, but my last solid memory here was dumping Raven’s ashes over the bluff.
“So, are you just visiting?” he asks as he passes the cup.
“No, I’m here to stay. I finished closing the portals.”
He smiles and his eyes light up.
“It’s not all good,” I reply to his reaction. “Lucifer is stuck topside. They never mentioned he had to be there when I closed the last one.” I shake my head in disgust. “So, we are pretty much in the same boat as before.”
He closes his eyes and his chin dips to his chest. “I thought...”
“You thought you were free and clear the minute you saw me.”
He nods and meets my gaze. “He’s been powering up, too.”
“So I heard.” I take a sip of the coffee.
“I held off having kids because I was betting on you closing the portals,” he snaps.
“Sorry.” I sigh.
“I’m not snapping at you. I’m just pissed with this whole thing. We barely made it out of Dartmouth, and I’ve been looking over my shoulder ever since.”
“I don’t have a clue how many of us are left, but I do know, when that source dries out, he’s bringing the fight here.”
“Have you talked to Naomi about who on that list is still alive?”
“No. She’s tracking the list?”
He nods. “Apparently Damian set up a program that posts an alert when someone dies. She knows the exact number of us who are left, along with where we are. You should talk to her.”
“I’m not sure she’s going to want to talk to me,” I say.
“Why would you say that?”
I open my mouth and close it, studying him. “You don’t know.”
“Know what?”
I run my hand through my hair. “Shit. I would think after all this time, someone would have said more about why I took off.”
“After your daughter died, CJ asked you to close the portals for him,” he says with a crease between his eyes.
“No one told you what happened to Damian?”
Creases appear in his forehead and his eyebrows lower in confusion. “I know he died.”
“I killed Damian.”
His eyes widen and he steps back.
“Lucifer wanted his grace back in exchange for my daughter’s life.”
Bewilderment returns and his mind circles on how that had anything to do with me killing Damian.
“Damian harbored Lucifer’s grace as well as Michael’s and Gabriel’s. I had to steal it for Lucifer.”
Still, he did not get what that means.
“I had to rip out Damian’s heart and give it to Lucifer,” I finally spell it out. “Not my finest moment, but once I had it in my hand I realized if I gave it to that bastard, we would all die. So I ate his heart instead of handing it over.”
“You’re shitting me,” Austin says with a laugh.
“No. That’s how you steal grace.”
His smile fades and the color in his face pales. “You ate his heart?”
I nod. “Hannah died anyway. And CJ didn’t ask me to go. I went because it was my only chance to redeem myself, but considering I fucked up by leaving Lucifer on earth, I’m still damned.”
Austin slides back until he’s leaning on the counter next to the kitchen sink, putting as much distance between us as he can. His clinician’s mind starts running down all the psychosis’ he might be dealing with and I chuckle, sipping my coffee.
“I’m not crazy. I was desperate, and a desperate man will do anything to keep his child safe.”
“But in your case it backfired,” he says still keeping his distance.
“Yes.” I stare into my coffee and again, Sam nudges my hand and I glance down at her. “I’m okay,” I say and rub her head before I meet Austin’s gaze. “I should be going, but thank you for the information. I had no idea he set up a watch system.”
I turn to leave the way I came in and stop. “If we know he’s coming, I’ll make sure someone calls you. It might be safer for everyone to be in one place.”
“Why, so he can slaughter us all in one shot?”
I glance over my shoulder at him. “No. So he doesn’t slaughter you before he comes to get his grace back.”
Austin gulps and I give him a sarcastic smile.
“I’ll catch you later.” I take my leave before I say anything else. Sam trots next to me and I move faster on the way back. Sam’s a good sport and keeps up, but by the time we walk in the door at CJ’s, I can tell the old girl is tired. I give her food and water, wait until she is finished doing her business outside, and settled into a light sleep before I hear movement upstairs indicating the house is just waking up.
I slip outside and cross to Naomi’s, and I stand at the back door for a moment, wondering how prudent this is. Last night she wanted nothing more than to rip me to shreds. I lift my hand and knock, hoping I’m not opening myself up for catastrophe.
She opens the door and the pleasant look on her face sours. “What do you want?”
“Austin said you had a program that’s tracking how many angel decedents are still alive?”
She blinks and crosses her arms before she gives me a nod.
“And neither you nor CJ told them what I did?”
She presses her lips together and looks out over the ocean, shaking her head. “We didn’t think it was his business.”
I let that digest a moment. “Do you know how many descendents are left?”
She nods and waves me inside. Michael is sitting in front of the computer and the tightness of his neck and shoulders screams aggravation.
“Let Tom see,” Naomi says and Michael glances over his shoulder at me before he slides the chair away, inviting me to take a closer look.
Red dots fill the map of the world. There are a few green clusters in Central America, a few in Mexico, and then a concentrated cluster in York. The number tally at the bottom reads forty-five, and the screen refreshes. Another dot turns red and the number decreases to forty-four.
“Jesus,” I whisper.
Michael glances up at me. “Even he wouldn’t be able to help us now.”
My gaze snaps to his and he runs his hands through his hair.
“With the rate he’s going through the list, he isn’t alone. He’s got his guard with him, which means we have a slim chance of winning, even with giving your brother a trinity of grace.”
“We have no issues toasting demons,” I say and straighten.
“They aren’t like any demon you’ve ever encountered. They are his elite guard. The oldest and strongest demons, and if they are feasting on angel blood along with Lucifer, I’m afraid your powers might not be enough.”
“How long?” I nod towards the screen and Michael gives me a shrug.
“A week. Two weeks at the most.” He looks up at me. “I honestly don’t know. I have no idea how fast he’s been moving, so my guess is only as good as Naomi’s information.”
“It would take about four days of straight driving to get from Costa Rica to Maine without stopping. So unless he wants to give up the rest of that angel blood, it’s at least four days.”
“He has access to a private plane.” I say.
Naomi’s gaze jumps to the screen and the fact that the dots are clustered doesn’t settle well with either of us. He has four plane hops to decimate the bloodline before he heads to York.
“I don’t know, then,” she says, less certain this time.
“Well, keep an eye out and let me know when the last one goes red. That’s when we will need to warn everyone.”
They nod and I head back to the house. CJ’s tooling around the kitchen and I take a seat at the breakfast bar.
“Why did you tell Austin you asked me to go close the portals?”
CJ stops and faces me. “Would you rather I told the truth?”
“Actually, I would. It’s the same as treating me like a victim. You’re making excuses for my actions. Don’t.”
“I’m sorry; I was just trying to avoid the conversation.” He turns back to the stove and flips the egg, letting it sizzle on the other side before sliding it off onto a plate. He turns off the burner and takes a seat.
I get his aversion. No one wants to admit their brother murdered someone. It just isn’t socially acceptable. “Did you know about Damian’s tracking machine?” I ask, hooking my thumb towards Naomi’s house.
He nods with his mouth full, and takes a sip of juice. “Yeah. I was going to suggest we take a look at that today to see where Lucifer is right now.”
“Central America. I’ve been over there. There are less than fifty of us now.”
His eyes widen. “He’s already swept South America?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, man,” he whispers, and stares at his food. CJ slowly pushes the plate of half-eaten eggs away. “I’m not ready for this.”
“No one ever is.” I give him a tight smile and file the facts about Lucifer’s guards for a conversation we need to have later.
“We have a couple of days. Let me have today to get my head clear, okay?” he asks.
“Sure, what do you need from me?”
He stares at the countertop and then looks up. “We are going to need some serious groceries if we are going to be holed up in the house for the next few days.”
I smile. “I can run to the store after I clean up, as long as you have a car I can borrow. I also need to run to Kittery to get some clothes.”
“Sure,” he says. “I’ll put together a list, and you’re going to need to stop at the hardware store, too, just in case.”
I cock my head at him.
“You’ll understand when you see the list.”
“No problem. And it’s okay if I leave Sam here?” Sam’s head lifts at the mention of her name.
“That is no problem at all. She’s a good dog.”
Sam yawns and puts her head back down and I head upstairs to shower and shave.
The warm water pounds the back of my shoulders and I take my time washing up. My nephew is still pissed that I’m staying in the house, and I can’t think of what to do to turn that around. Maybe something at the store will present itself, but I’m not sure what a ten-year-old is into these days.
I climb down the stairs and everyone is up and sitting at the breakfast bar helping CJ with the list.
“I can also pick up some movies if you’d like.” I say and get a nasty look in return from Alex.
“We’ve got streaming movies, so that’s not necessary,” Valerie says, and glances at her watch. “I need to go. Be good for your father today.” She looks straight at Alex when she says it and he drops his eyes to the paper in front of him. “Love you, hon,” she adds, and catches a kiss from CJ before she waves her fingers at me and disappears out the garage door.
“Here’s the list, and the keys to my truck,” CJ says, swiveling on the seat and holding out both items.
A quick scan of the list tells me the kids might have gotten to CJ before Valerie did, and the list of junk food covers half the page. I glance over the edge at CJ and he shrugs. Reading down the list, I get to the rock salt, which explains the hardware store. I give him a nod and start for the door. Sam gets to her feet and I turn back.
“You’re staying here,” I point at her. “You’ve earned a day of rest.”
Her ears drop and she looks totally dejected, almost to the point I give in, but with the number of stores I need to hit, it wouldn’t be fair to leave her in the car.
“She’ll be fine,” CJ says. “We’ll keep her busy.” He smiles and I nod, taking my leave.
* * * *
AFTER LIVING OUT OF a duffel bag for years, I’m hard pressed to buy more than what can carry me over for a few days. I chuckle as I glance at my meager pile of clothes. Just a couple of pairs of jeans and a half dozen shirts are balanced on my arm, but with the shit still hanging over my head, I don’t want to stock up for nothing.
The morbid thought sours my mood and I glance around the store as I wait for the next cashier to free up. Once I have my clothing and slide into the truck, I have one detour in mind, and I swing into the toy store outlet, not sure if a gift would help, but it couldn’t hurt.
I debate on what to get and I travel back and forth between the boy section and the girl section so many times that finally one of the sales clerks comes to my rescue.
“Can I help you?”
“I have no idea what to get my ten-year-old nephew.” I say. “And I didn’t want to show up empty handed for my seven-year-old nieces either.”
He smiles and turns, leading me down a few aisles before he stops in the section with all things nerf.
He pulls down a couple of nerf guns. “You will want to get the refills because these things get lost easily. I suggest getting them for both the kids, they will have a blast.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I have two girls and a boy and they constantly ambush each other.”
I look at the one he hands me and then up at the others. “How about the Zombie strike one?”
“Good choice. Two?”
“Three, my brother has twins.”
He brings me up to the register and checkout, and I request gift bags to go along with them. With all three packaged up, I put them in the cab of the truck with my new clothes, and then I’m on my way to the supermarket.
My cart screams party and I huff as I toss in yet another bag of chips and as I take the turn to hit the soda aisle, I bang carts with another shopper.
“Sorry,” I say and look up.
“Thankfully you don’t drive as sloppily as you push a shopping cart,” Bridget says and I laugh. She eyes the contents and then looks at me. “Think you have enough junk?”
I turn the list in her direction. “CJ’s, not mine.”
An awkward tension builds between us and she starts to navigate around me.
“Can we talk?”
She slowly shakes her head. “I can’t Tom, not with what’s at stake.”
Her words belie the colors swirling in her aura and my jaw tightens. “You can’t just write me off,” I hiss under my breath.
“I have for ten years,” she says and walks away with her cart as if I’m a complete stranger.
It burns, and I turn into the soda aisle, nearly pitching the boxes of soda onto the lower shelf of the cart. Eventually, she would have to listen to reason, but with the cold shoulder, today was not going to be that day.
I focus on the rest of the list, but just knowing she is in the store is distracting. With my cart nearly overflowing, I step into the checkout line. Bridget just happens to be in front of me and as I stack my groceries on the belt, she gives me a dirty look.
“What?” I say in response, opening my arms wide. “This is a public place, right?”
Her lips press together and the fire of anger burns in her eyes. I continue stacking, and when the cashier states her total, Bridget reaches into her back pocket, pulling out her credit card holder. She unzips it and pulls out the few cards enclosed, shuffling through them.
Flares of panic color her aura as she shuffles again and now looks in the empty pouch.
“I, um, it seems I’ve left my card at home,” she says, as her cheeks bloom.
“I got this,” I say, and pull out my card.
“No.” Her glare is enough, but I hand the card to the cashier.
“Don’t be difficult. This saves you a trip back,” I say and the cashier ping-pongs her gaze to Bridget.
“I’d rather have to drive across the country and back than take your money,” Bridget says and the cashier’s lips form a shocked ‘o’ before she looks at me.
“Charge the card,” I say with authority, and she swipes it through the machine without any further argument.
“Damn it, Tom,” Bridget says, and her hands clench into fists.
“You’re welcome,” I say, and she lets out a derisive huff, stomping away from the line.
The only word I catch is ‘asshole,’ and I glance at the cashier and her equally wide-eyed stare.
“She’s a little mad at me,” I whisper and finish stacking the conveyor belt.
The cashier chuckles. “I would say so.” She hands me the card back and rings up my bill. By the time I get to the parking lot, Bridget is gone and I shake my head at her angry display. I am so tempted to swing by the house and give her hell, but I have some frozen foods sitting in the truck bed that might end up as mush if I do that, so I head to the last stop.
The hardware store.
It seems rock salt is pretty scarce in late March and all I can get is the last five-pound bag, not a twenty-pound bag that CJ asked for. When I pull into the garage, the first things I pull from the cab are the gifts, along with my clothing.
I cross to the coffee table where the kids are working hard and deposit the three bags right in the center. “You can open them once we have all the groceries inside,” I say, before they can grab the gifts. All three pairs of eyes look up at me and then, collectively, they get up and head out to the garage to help with the groceries.
I trade a grin with CJ and we step out, grabbing the lion’s share of bags before coming back inside with the crew.
“You can’t buy me,” Alex mumbles, but the minute he opens the bag and pulls out the Nerf gun, I can see some softening in his hard features. “I get to shoot you with this, right?” he asks with narrow eyes.
“If you can hit me, sure.” I say, and glance down at Sam as she stretches and trots over to me. “I didn’t forget you,” I say, and rummage through the grocery bags for the dog bones that I bought.
The girls both grin at their guns and turn their gaze on Alex. “We can play zombie wars!” Amber or Arianna exclaims.
“Dad, can we stop for the day?” Alex asks, inspecting his new toy.
“Sure. Why don’t you take those downstairs, though?”
He didn’t need to say things twice. They grab their gift bags and bolt to the basement.
I’m thrilled they like the gifts, and I grab my clothing bag and bring it up to the guest room before I return to help CJ put the groceries away.
“What time does Val get back?” I ask as I unload the bags onto the counter top.
“Thursday’s are her late day,” he says. “So she won’t be home till almost eight tonight.”
I glance at the clock and it’s a little after two in the afternoon. “I ran into Bridget at the store. She’s still pissed off at me.”
“She’ll get over it.” CJ grabs the soda boxes and slides them into the pantry before he takes a seat on the couch, picking up the papers and a pen, correcting his kid’s work.
I slide onto the couch across from him.
“I know you said you wanted today to get your head together, but there’s one other thing you need to know.”
He looks up from the paper, waiting for me to finish.
“I guess Lucifer is traveling with his guards. From what Michael said, they aren’t like normal demons.”
“And?”
“And they can’t be turned to dust as easily as normal demons.”
He slowly lowers the paper.
“Especially if they are drinking angel blood along with Lucifer.”
“So, things might get bloodier than we anticipated.” He leans back in the couch cushion and closes his eyes.
“Michael’s worried. So, yes. I think we’re looking at a serious beating.”
“That’s just great,” he mutters, and picks up the papers again, focusing on the kids schoolwork instead of the inevitable.
I let him have his space, but I know what I just told him is scalding his insides as much as it is mine. I stand and cross to the kitchen to find something to munch on. Nacho chips, cheese dip and a beer sounds like a good snack, so I grab two bottles and carry my bounty to the coffee table, setting one of the beers in front of my brother before opening the chip bag and dip.
He sends a sideways glance at the beer and then looks at me.
“What else are we going to do?” I ask when he raises an eyebrow. “Besides, it’s not like it’s ten in the morning.”
“I can’t go and get drunk. I’ve got three kids to watch tonight,” he says.
“Relax. It’s just one beer.” I kick my feet back on the table and Sam jumps up next to me, laying her head on my lap.
Begrudgingly, CJ reaches out and snatches the beer, giving me the evil eye as he takes the first sip. “You could have gotten a bowl,” he nods towards the chip bag in my lap.
I offer him the open end of the bag and he grabs a handful. The cheese dip ends up on the corner of the coffee table between us.
“How’s the studio working out?” I nod to the closed door to the right of the television, trying to take the edge off the swirl building in his mind.
He sighs. “Good,” he says. “It gives me that needed outlet, since I haven’t toured in a long time.”
“I saw you on an international charity telethon about a year ago,” I say. I remember that one because Sam and I had just gotten back from closing a portal and had some bruises from the beasts we encountered. We had just chilled in the hotel room with ice packs and whatever I could find of interest on television. Surprised to catch the airing in the middle of China was an understatement, but it had been one of those moments that made me glad I was the one risking my ass as opposed to my brother. The world needed him more than it needed me.
Before he can comment on the wandering narrative in my head, the air shifts and the whistle of a nerf bullet whizzes by my face and hits CJ’s beer dead center as he draws a sip. I turn and the arsenal of nerf comes at a clip fast enough so my diving roll away from the couch is speckled with foam.
I stand, assessing the damage... at least a dozen of the sticky nerf arrows are now tacked on my shirt. Alex, Amber, and Arianna stand from their hiding spot behind the couch with grins so wide I have to laugh.
“We got you!” Amber exclaims.
“That’s because you ambushed me,” I say, pulling the darts off and offering them to the kids. Even Sam has a few sticking to her fur. I have a moment, wishing what was coming for us was as benign as these nerf darts, but I know better than to waste a wish on a lost cause.
So, for now, I decide to embrace the lighthearted mischief blooming in the children’s eyes.
“You don’t happen to have any of these things hanging around that we could use,” I ask CJ, and he shakes his head.
“Well, then, it’s time to rectify that.” I put my hand out. “Can I borrow your keys again?”
CJ tosses me the keys and Sam gets to her feet. I glance at the kids.
“Alex, you feel like coming to the store with me?” I ask and he glances at his father before looking back at me. He’s torn, he still doesn’t trust me. “Neither of us bite,” I add as Sam stands by my side wagging her tail.
After a moment of complete indecision, he nods and puts his nerf gun on the counter before following me to the truck. I open the back door for Sam, and Alex climbs into the passenger seat.
Quiet encompasses the cab and I glance at Alex.
“I’m sorry if I disrupted your life,” I start and he just looks out the window. “I missed out on watching you and your sisters grow up.”
“Why did you even come home?” he mutters under his breath.
“Because I thought it was done and everyone was safe. Guess I blew that one.”
Alex narrows his eyes at me. “My dad doesn’t even have a picture of you at the house.”
“That’s because our homes were blown up before I left town.” I say. “The only pictures I have of the family are in Wolfboro.”
“Wolfeboro?”
I nod. “I still have a house there. At least I think I do,” I clarify. I really don’t know if that house is still standing, but I would imagine my real estate agent would have told me otherwise, and I have consistently paid the upkeep bills over the years. “Your dad never took you guys over to the lake?”
Alex shakes his head.
“Well, this summer, we will have to take a trip. If I recall correctly, I have videos of when your dad and I were kids.”
“Really?” His eyes spark with interest. “I’d like to see what he was like at my age.”
“Your dad was always the good kid,” I say and send a wink in his direction. “I was the one that dragged him into trouble.”
“So, you’ve always been a trouble maker?” he asks.
“Kind of. But I had some bad stuff happen when I was a little younger than you are, and it screwed me up.”
“Like what?” There isn’t a hint of sarcasm in his question. It was asked with all the innocence of a child, and I sigh.
“I was kidnapped by a serial killer.” I glance over at him. “Obviously, I survived, but that’s only because of the magic your mom now holds.”
He is quiet but I can hear the questions plaguing him.
“Go ahead, ask your questions,” I say and glance at him. “But you might not want the answers.”
“What did he do to you?”
“He practiced surgery on his victims without knocking them out.”
Alex’s eyes widen and his jaw loosens as he stares at me. “What kind of surgery?” His voice is small as he whispers the question.
“He cut out my spleen and he butchered my tongue.” I say. “I had to learn sign language and used my hands to talk for twenty years, until my wife died and willed her tongue to me.”
His horrified glance locks on me, but I don’t look his way.
“I knew real monsters existed long before we ever knew Lucifer was real.”
“Why didn’t my dad stop him?” he finally asks.
I glance at Alex as I pull into a parking spot. “If your father had known where to find me, none of it would have happened. I didn’t have this back then.” I tap my temple. “And I didn’t know how to get a message to him.” I turn the vehicle off, and stare ahead for a moment. “Are you okay?” I ask, glancing his way.
Alex nods. “I didn’t know.” He gives me a forced smile.
“It’s okay.” I mess up his hair. “Now let’s go buy out the entire stock of zombie nerf guns and whatever else you think would be fun.”
True to my word, we buy the remaining guns and as many refills as they have, and we head home to take this zombie war game to the next level.
By the time Valerie rolls in, the house is littered with nerf darts, some still sticking to each of us, and we are all lounging on the couch with the remnants of homemade pizza on the counter and discarded plates on the coffee table. In short, the place is a disaster, and a twinge of guilt bites me.
I rise, and gather the plates, offering her a tired smile.
“Sorry about the mess,” I mumble, as she takes her coat off and crosses to grab the last few pieces of pizza that we saved for her.
“I’m not upset. I know you and CJ will clean it up,” she says, smiling around the pizza. “Did you guys have a fun day today?” she asks, focusing on her kids.
“Yeah,” Alex says. “Uncle Tom got us all nerf guns and we played zombie war most of the day.”
She glances my way with a nod of approval and I smile. My nephew still has some reservations about me, but today did a great deal to thaw some of the frosty attitude.
Overall, it was a good day, and right now, I’ll settle for as many of these as I can rack up before hell comes knocking on our door.