Their Precious Own

by Lia Black

  Derek parked the car, whistling through his teeth. “Shit, those dudes are big.”

  “Envoy guards,” Kayle said, sounding almost bored. “They’re more for looks than anything else. They need weapons because they move slowly enough that they are easy to dodge. But if they hit you, you’re going to feel it.”

  “I imagine so.”

  “I don’t know them, but no doubt, they know me.” Kayle sighed and slid across the seat to follow Derek out of his side of the car.

  “I could have opened your door,” Derek said.

  “I know. But it’s best if you don’t just now.”

  That didn’t sound promising. With one eye on the brutes and the other on Kayle, Derek followed him to the door of the medical examiner’s office.

  The guards were focused on Kayle, all wearing smirks and muttering to one another under their breath. It was beginning to get on Derek’s nerves because he knew Kayle was the topic of their discussion. Finally, one with his hair pulled back into a long braid spoke up. His voice was a low rumble that Derek could feel through his chest.

  “Lieutenant Investigator Perrine, surprising to see you with so much glamour.”

  Kayle eyed the man’s badge. “Guardsman Fairmeadow.” He tipped his head stiffly in polite acknowledgment. After they passed, Derek distinctly heard the word “whore” followed by muffled laughter. Anger kicked loose his adrenaline and he began to turn when Kayle reached back and stopped him by pressing his hand to Derek’s chest.

  “Forget them,” Kayle warned softly.

  “But— they said—”

  “I know what they said. It’s what they all say, so please. Forget them.”

  Derek grumbled a quiet curse, but complied with Kayle’s request. “I don’t get how they can talk to you like that. Aren’t you part of the Sovereign’s guard? Don’t you outrank them?”

  “I do, on paper; but because of what I am, I am afforded little in the way of consideration or respect.”

  Derek hated to admit, but he could somewhat relate. Being a gay cop invited a lot of ridicule. Most of the men in his department avoided him, and a few of the women had wanted to “convert” him, convinced that he could be straight if he met the right girl. That was a line of thinking he’d never had the desire to pursue. He’d known he was gay just like he knew when he was thirsty or needed sleep. His sexuality was not something outside of himself, and he’d never thought about it being somehow “different” until other people began telling him so.

  He’d heard that before the war, people formed groups based on their desire for equality. But becoming equal meant that many groups were just as likely to become militant. Ultimately, collectives rose up against one another; those who had been marginalized began to marginalize others, until it seemed like every cause was rooted in anger. Continents turned against each other, and the people began fighting amongst themselves. No one knew who had fired the proverbial first shot, or if it had come from the outside or within, but the outcome was devastating, and had led to them being managed by Clan like an unruly group of children.

  Unfortunately, with humans being back on the lower rungs of society, it was majority rules, and the majority of humans had decided that people like Derek should work hard to be just like them.

  The Envoy was inside Dr. Ray’s office when Kayle and Derek entered the building. He was, of course, Clan. Derek could tell just by looking at the back of his head. Not a hair out of place in his long, silver braid. It ran down the center of his back, wound through with gold chains and blue gemstones. Tall, regal; he was dressed in fabrics and colors that nearly rivaled the brightness of those worn by Dr. Ray, with whom he was speaking. Today she was dressed in yellow, but the Envoy’s long, blue satin coat was somehow brighter. Dr. Ray smiled at them in greeting and the man glanced back over his shoulder.

  Derek heard Kayle take in a sharp breath.

  “Count Fourie; Your Most Honored Grace.” Kayle bowed as though he were made of wood and hinged at the hip. “I’m sorry to have made you come all this way.”

  The Count glanced between Kayle and Derek, then let out a heavy sigh. “Kayle, we’re not on Apex. You don’t have to call me that. I am your father.”

  Kayle made a little sound, and Derek’s eyes darted quickly between the two men, noting the features they shared, even through Kayle’s glamour. They had the same hair, although Fourie’s was less blond and more a true silver, the same slant to their eyes, and the same full mouth. In fact, they looked more like brothers than father and son, but Derek figured it was one of those perks of being immortal. “You’re—”

  “I’m Kayle’s father, yes,” the Count said with the same wry smile Derek had too rarely seen on Kayle’s face.

  “Whether we’re on Apex or not…” Kayle began, shifting his eyes.

  “Wait— on Apex. Nobody knows he is your son?” Derek felt pressure building up inside and he clenched his fists.

  “Oh they know,” Fourie said, watching his son. “They just don’t like to acknowledge it, and neither does Kayle.”

  “It’s not that,” Kayle said. “I don’t want to embarrass you in front of your peers or the Sovereign. I don’t want to remind you of your shame.”

  Fourie let out a heavy sigh, and Derek got the feeling that this was a conversation they’d had many times and always ended at an impasse. “If everyone knows, then what’s so shameful?” Derek asked.

  “Although it is hardly a secret, that Clan sometimes has relations with succubae is considered an embarrassment. It, like feeding, takes care of a basic need that the Gentry would just as well like to deny exists. Kayle’s mother and I had a friendship of sorts. I had no idea Kayle existed until just before she died...” Fourie took a deep, staggering breath. “...was murdered. I am embarrassed that it took me so long to come to terms with having a son that I almost lost him.” Fourie gave Kayle a sad little smile.

  Kayle reminded Derek a little of a teenager just now. He wouldn’t look at his father, or anyone else. His arms were folded across his chest, shoulders hunched, and he was glaring at the floor.

  “I dislike being spoken of as though I’m not here,” Kayle muttered quietly.

  “Your mother was murdered?” Derek asked Kayle. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

  “How would you?” Kayle shrugged.

  Derek was beginning to learn that the colder the response, the deeper the wound was for Kayle. He let it go, deciding that he’d let Kayle talk about it when and if he was ready. “So why the two different last names?”

  “Perrine is my mother’s chosen surname.” Kayle said softly.

  “Kayle, please,” said Fourie with a wounded little smile. “May I speak with you in private?” He then addressed Derek and Dr. Ray. “It’ll take but a moment.”

  “Wait— are you asking our permission?” Derek glanced quickly at Dr. Ray. Clan never asked permission for anything.

  “It would be impolite not to,” Fourie said, his fangs showing. The smile probably came out more sinister than he’d expected it would.

  Dr. Ray smiled and offered a nod of her head. “Of course it’s fine, Your Grace. Derek and I will just step out into the hallway for a few minutes.”

  “Oh, uh, yeah.” Derek stood up, glancing back at Kayle over his shoulder as he followed the doctor out. She pulled the door closed behind them.

  “So you and the count—?”

  “Normally I would say that a lady does not kiss and tell, but I don’t want you to get the wrong impression. The count and I are acquaintances who go back several years.”

  “Why didn’t you mention that Kayle was his son?”

  “Honestly, I had no idea. But now that I see them together, it’s pretty obvious.” Dr. Ray smiled at the closed door briefly, then turned on her heel and crossed to the wooden bench in the hall, settling herself down on one end. “Kayle is looking a lot better than when I saw him last. I take it you found some supplements?”

  “Supplements…yeah…” Derek raked his fin
gers through his hair, unable to look her in the eye because he was such a terrible liar.

  “Oh Derek…did you? You didn’t…”

  “Not…no. I mean, it was just a blowjob.” Derek started pacing.

  Dr. Ray let out a long breath. “Do you think that was a good idea?”

  “Of course not. It was a terrible idea, but what was I supposed to do? He was killing himself trying to keep up his mask.”

  “Well,” Dr. Ray sighed, “I suppose we could say it’s progress. You wouldn’t do that for someone you hated.”

  “It doesn’t mean I love him, either. And he’s my partner, he’s one Variant; this doesn’t mean my opinion of the rest of them has changed.” If anything, seeing how Kayle was treated by the others made Derek hate them a little more, although he wasn’t certain he felt the same towards Kayle’s father. The Count seemed genuine, and he could tell just by looking at Kayle, how much he idolized the man. Derek’s own father hadn’t been a count, but he’d been there for him his entire life, and in everything he did, Derek tried to make him proud. So maybe he and Kayle had that in common too.

  “Anyway, it won’t happen again. Beyond him being a Variant, I’ve already made that mistake with a partner.” And Marc was so different from Kayle. Nearly always smiling or joking around. He was so passionate, so alive. After their awkward first time together, Marc wanted sex all the time. It got to the point where Derek would have to turn him down because they needed sleep, or Derek needed time alone to process his thoughts. He hated the fact that sex couldn’t just be sex for him, he couldn’t just bang a stranger to relieve some tension and move on. He had to like the person, and it was hard enough finding a person who was out. Marc wasn’t out— at least not before he and Derek had started having sex, and maybe not really then. Derek was never sure if Marc was bisexual, or just horny enough to take sex any way he could get it. He still talked about women and checked them out, but then they’d go back to Derek’s apartment and jump into bed. Derek had tried like hell to believe that it was enough for him, but he missed the tenderness, the little things that couples did together outside of the bedroom. He’d been struggling for weeks with how to approach the subject with Marc. He was falling in love with him and needed to know if Marc could ever feel the same.

  Now he’d never know.

  Derek rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. Thinking about Marc had dropped a lead elephant into his lap. He sat down on the bench, weakened by the weight of it.

  “Derek,” Dr. Ray said, and put her hand on his shoulder. “It wasn’t a mistake, and you didn’t make it alone. I won’t be presumptuous and tell you it’s time to get over Marc. No one has the right to tell you not to grieve. But I do think it’s far past time for you to stop blaming yourself. You deserve to be with someone just as much as anybody else does.”

  “If the rest of the world shared your positive outlook, I doubt the war would have ever happened,” Derek gave her a weak smile.

  “I don’t know about that,” Dr. Ray laughed lightly. “But thank you, just the same.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Kayle always felt ill at ease when he was with his father if there were other Variants nearby. He always had to pretend to be so disinterested, be rigid, and careful with what he said, or how long he looked in the Count’s direction. It was not his father that encouraged this behavior. Rather, it was Kayle’s fear of doing something wrong, and causing his father to regret ever bringing him into his life.

  “So. How are you?” Fourie said, looking at Kayle as he stood on the opposite side the room.

  “You didn’t come all this way just to—”

  He’d forgotten how fast his father could move. Kayle sucked back his words as his father’s arms wrapped him up tight. “Kayle, do you have any idea how worried I was when I heard what happened to you?” His father’s words stirred Kayle’s hair.

  Kayle swallowed the lump in his throat. He mustn’t cry. There was no reason. He’d done the right thing, kept it all inside and nobody else had gotten hurt.

  “I understand why you did not fight back…but no one would have blamed you—”

  Kayle reluctantly pulled away. “Everyone would have blamed me, and it would have come back on you.”

  “I don’t know why you’re so concerned about what people think of me. No one has more influence than I do with the Sovereign, and it’s for good reason that he trusts me.”

  “But there are others who would talk…”

  His father waved his hand. “Talk is nothing. People always talk and complain. It’s politics.”

  “But—”

  Count Fourie raised his hand and Kayle silenced his protest.

  “You are my son. Regardless of what anyone thinks or says, you are the most precious thing I have. To think, I almost lost you a second time. I will not accept a third. As your father, I beg of you, and as your superior, I demand it.”

  “Yes, sir.” His father knew how to compel him to do what he needed to do. If guilt didn’t work, then a direct order would.

  “I asked the Sovereign to allow me to be the Envoy because I want you to have the opportunity to choose what happens next. Would you like to stay here and continue to work with the mundanes, or would you like to come home?”

  He was going to be given a choice? He’d just assumed that the Envoy would do as they always had: come, take the relevant statements, fix down any loose ends, and depart, taking all evidence of their visit with them. “I-I’d like to stay... but that depends on Derek— Detective Childress, I mean— as well.”

  “All right then. I was going to ask if you needed more supplements immediately, but it seems you still have some left?”

  “I don’t.” Kayle couldn’t help it. His eyes shifted downward and to the left rather than force a lie.

  “Oh. Then how…” The count slowly swiveled his head towards the door, before looking at Kayle once more. “Your human partner. Derek did you say his name was?”

  “He offered. I was in no physical state to refuse.” Kayle felt his cheeks heating and he was unable to look his father in the eye, although that was nothing new. It was worse though, because this was Kayle’s base nature. Sex as a source of necessity; it was something from which he could never ascend.

  His father, as was his way, accepted the information with the same serenity and grace he conducted in all of his affairs. “Then no supplements?”

  “No— I mean, yes. Yes, please send supplements. I won’t be relying on anything else.”

  “Pity. You look much healthier when you can feed from the source. We all do,” Fourie sighed and brushed a stray hair off of his coat. His father had never kept blood thralls. He saw the practice as exploitive. He accepted the same highly filtered blood from the human donation centers as the lower caste Clan did. Instead of seeing it as honorable, often his peers and subordinates viewed him as foolish. But they were the fools, and jealous, Kayle thought, of his father’s ability to remain so steadfast in his beliefs. He never bowed to social pressures. His father was noble, and beautiful, and wise, and he could understand why his mother had never stopped loving him, even after they’d parted ways.

  Fourie removed some lint from Kayle’s lapel. “Where shall I have them delivered? Have you found an apartment?”

  Kayle sighed, shaking his head. “No. For now, I am staying with Derek, but I believe he has been keeping this a secret.”

  “Yes. I’d heard that at least two of the men who’d attacked you were police officers. That is…troubling. Chief Gilchrist has assured me that the two in custody will be dealt with as soon as they are fit to stand trial. It is good to know that Derek did not hesitate to fire on his own peers in order to protect you.”

  Right. Kayle hadn’t thought of it before, but Derek had said he didn’t like them. Would things have been different if they’d been someone he got along with well?

  “I know what you’re thinking, Kayle. At least, I know that look.”

  Kayle scowled. “What loo
k?” He sounded petulant even to his own ears and his father gave him that awful, placating smile.

  “The look that tells me you are doubting something.”

  “Doubt makes me a good investigator.”

  “Unless you’re doubting yourself. You said Derek offered—he didn’t force himself on you?”

  “No, of course not.”

  “Well, he seems to have a very strong constitution. Certainly stronger than most mundanes.”

  Kayle wanted to argue that point, but he couldn’t, because he’d thought so himself.

  “I like him. A bit rough around the edges. He is very protective of you.” Fourie said, leaning back on Dr. Ray’s desk.

  Kayle worried his bottom lip. He had several lines of protest built up, but he’d disrespected his father enough today.

  “Oh, and while you are here, I hope you don’t mind but I purchased you a house in Apex. Near the Rise.”

  “A house?”

  “I discussed it with the Sovereign. Other officers of your rank do not live in the barracks with the common guards. There is no reason you should be any different.”

  “But I am—” Kayle snapped his mouth shut as his father raised his hand to silence him again. “Please offer the Sovereign my gratitude.” Kayle said softly, lowering his gaze.

  “I will,” Fourie said. “Kayle, of all of my children, you are the most complicated and vexing.”

  “I-I’m sorry—” Out of the hundred pure Clan children his father had created through the centuries, Kayle was always amazed that he was counted among them. His siblings did not approve of him, but his father had never made him feel unwanted.