He’d been simply Brian Sedge before he learned about his father, after all, and he still was Brian Sedge. Nothing at all had changed about that aside from a piece of knowledge. When he thought about it that way, it was only slightly more complicated than finding out that you had Nazis in your family tree. Or a lunatic axe murderer. The mystery of his father was an unfortunate twist of genetics, but didn’t suddenly change his own personality in any way. It was just maybe something to watch out for medically speaking, like having a family history of heart disease or something. And now, feeling a little less afraid of himself and more at ease with life, with the sun warm on his shoulders and the last of his ice cream cold in his hand, he suddenly realized that he wanted to find a job nearby and stay in Riverton. He’d meant to only stay long enough to help the police with their investigation— not that they’d called him at all since the attack at the River Trail— but now…
“I don’t care. I told you to leave us alone.” Laura’s angry voice hit him like a slap. Brian looked around and saw Laura, Owen wide-eyed and clutched in her arms, storming towards him. Her face was a mixture of fear and rage.
“Come on, baby. He’s my son too. I’m trying to be reasonable about this.” A harsh, angry voice rose over the warm chatter of the tourist attraction.
Kevin. That son of a bitch. How did he find them all the way out here?
“There is nothing reasonable about you or your insane demands, and Owen is not your son. You’re just… just a sperm donor,” Laura answered, her voice clear and her words clipped. “I’ve got witnesses that you’ve accosted me twice now. I’m calling the police.” She stormed past Brian, making a beeline for the car. He spun on his heel and followed right behind.
“This asshole again?” Kevin whined, but recovered quickly. “I get it. You’re just being bitchy cause this guy can’t give you a good fuck like I did.” Brian put himself firmly in front of where Laura was loading Owen into the carseat, and turned to block Kevin from getting any closer.
“Don’t be crude. Nobody wants you here, man, and you’re being really offensive. Just back off,” Brian said. He’d be damned if he’d throw the first punch, no matter how badly he wanted to. As Laura pointed out, there were witnesses, and he didn’t want to give this jackass any advantages of any sort.
“I told you last time to mind your own business,” Kevin snarled.
“Laura and Owen are my business,” Brian answered. He struggled to keep his voice even, and the charm warmed against his chest. A helpful focus to keep his temper in check. “Just turn around and leave now, man. Nobody here wants a fight.”
Brian felt the soft snick more than he heard it, but that one sound changed the whole game. The knife was aimed straight at his stomach, and he was very aware now of Laura’s back directly behind him. Damn. Someone nearby screamed. A car door slammed. People were watching, the tourists starting to gather around as Kevin escalated the confrontation past the point where words could help. Brian moved more from instinct than anything else, but he managed to grab the knife and stop it cold. He felt a slight sting as the base of the blade bit into his thumb where it slipped through his grip, but his mind dismissed the sensation as minor. He twisted the knife out of Kevin’s grip and with his other hand he swung.
The knife clattered to the pavement as Kevin staggered back, stumbled, and sprawled onto the asphalt, grabbing his face with both hands. Blood streamed down it, splattering across the ground reminding Brian strangely of Owen’s dripping ice cream. Kevin’s eyes blazed.
“You broke my fucking nose! I’m going to fucking kill you!” Kevin moved to attack again, but the sounds of running feet jerked his attention around. A dozen people had their phones out, some filming, some were dialing the police. Several of them stepped forward to stand with Brian and Laura, clearly ready to help them if Kevin chose to try again.
“This isn’t over! I’ll kill you next time! That kid is mine, you hear?” Kevin staggered a bit as he turned, then he took off down the street. Brian didn’t care where he was going so long as it was away from here. He felt kind of strange. A bit out of it suddenly.
“Holy gods, Brian!” Laura spread his hand out, pressing paper napkins against the small cut on his thumb. “He totally deserved that, but you could have been killed!” She was babbling on while she tried to clean up the blood.
“Hey Laura? What are you doing? Is that an ice pack or something, my hand’s cold all of a sudden,” he said. The buzz from the fight was finally wearing off a bit, and now he just felt odd. Sort of fuzzy, and his mom’s charm felt hot and heavy where it bumped his chest. Probably just tired. I didn’t really sleep much last night, after all.
“Brian…” Laura whispered. He squinted at her. She was staring at his hand, her eyes wide. She looked scared. Owen put his hand up on the window of the car, his eyes enormous in his small face, watching them. He looked scared, too.
“I’m fine, Laura. It’s just a little cut. Might need stitches though,” Brian said. Laura shook her head, then met his eyes. She was trying to stay calm, he could tell. She had her Calm Mom Face on. Brian frowned, then looked down at his hand. Under the smeared blood, some vivid, acid green lines were starting to spread out from the wound.
Chapter 10
“It’s going to be okay, Laura. I promise.” Laura’s friend May had an arm around Laura’s shoulders as they sat on the hard hospital seats in the private counseling office. Laura just nodded, wishing she could just go numb, but the cold and the fear were too insistent. She had managed to get Brian into the car, somehow picked up the knife to toss into the car to keep track of the evidence, and then dialed May’s cell phone number before she’d even finished backing out of the parking space. Someone had tried to stop her, told her to wait for the police, for an ambulance, but she’d just yelled something about the hospital and gunned it.
Now Brian was lying unconscious on a hospital bed, being attended by May’s Guardian and some strange woman who they said was a healer. She just couldn’t get the image out of her head of his hand and those horrible, squiggly green lines stretching up his arm. She still wasn’t sure what had prompted her to call the Priestess in the first place— they weren’t all that close, just friendly enough that Laura sometimes called her when a particular book came in— but when she’d seen May’s name in her contact list, she’d just gone with instinct and called. Michael— the Guardian— had taken the phone and given her some instructions that turned out to be mostly unnecessary. Apparently, he had some pull at the hospital because when she screeched into a parking space near the emergency room, there was already a gurney waiting and a nurse explained that they’d had a call about the special case.
“Laura, did you hear me?” May was rubbing her back and peering at her. “It’s going to be fine. Calling me was exactly the right thing, and we got here in plenty of time to get him the antidote. Trust me, okay? I promise. Hey, where’s Owen?” May changed the subject so abruptly Laura almost stopped sniffling.
“Mom came and picked him up. He was starting to freak out, asking what was wrong with Brian and who the bad man was and—” Laura had to clinch her teeth against a sob. After she thought she had control again, she continued. “I didn’t think we needed him underfoot for… for whatever it is they’re doing. Why couldn’t I stay in there? Why did you make me leave him lying in there all alone if he’s going to be fine? Why did they need a private room away from everyone?” Laura sniffled. May looked uncomfortable and Laura’s heart stopped. “May, what’s going on?” The Priestess sighed.
“Brian is not alone. Michael and Anna are with him. And I had you come in here with me because… well, it’s not an easy thing to treat, this poison. When Michael was poisoned, Anna saved him but it was…” she shuddered at her own memories. “It wasn’t pleasant. Michael reacted pretty strongly, and he had to be restrained.” Laura gaped at May.
“Restrained? What do you mean restrained?”
May looked back at her, silent for several long minutes.
May’s curly brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail, making her look young and fresh, but Laura knew that the woman she sat with had fought horrors that she herself couldn’t even imagine. Laura swallowed hard, trying not to grab May’s shoulders and shake the answers loose.
“How much do you know about Michael?” May finally asked. She was frowning slightly, and looked nervous.
“Um,” Laura thought back to the rumors that had flown around the library a few years earlier, when Michael first showed up in the Temple. It had been very unusual, and that was describing it very mildly. Michael Gilbert had no Temple training whatsoever, and so far as anyone knew he was just a reclusive businessman and alchemist. Granted, it seemed that the local Temple Team was always interested in him, but Laura and her coworkers just assumed that was because of his wealth, status, and the direction of his interests. Then he showed up with May and the rumor mill went wild.
Nobody had heard of May losing her previous Guardians, let alone going through the lengthy matching process and bonding ceremony before he appeared at her side. One day she had two long-time friends as her Guardians— men she’d known since they were children together— and seemingly the next day they were dead, and in their place stood only Michael Gilbert. Together the pair of them somehow become the Temple’s heavy hitters: a two-person strike team that was sent in when two or three teams would normally go. The Temple Elders tended to be disinclined to talk about it, but that didn’t stop anyone from speculating.
“I’ve heard a lot of rumors,” Laura admitted slowly. “He— he didn’t really murder your previous Guardians and steal their power, did he?”
“What? No!” May looked completely appalled. “Gods. Is that really what people say? No, he didn’t murder anyone. James and Pike were killed in the line of duty. It was really hard for me to handle, actually.”
“Well, what happened then? And just who is Michael? And how does it have anything to do with Brian?” Her voice hitched as she asked the most important question.
May took a deep breath. “Well, what happened back then was… It all has to do with how Michael was able to become a Guardian in the first place. And that relates, as far as I can figure out, directly to what’s going on. You see, Brian was poisoned.”
“I know that. That’s obvious. That tiny cut wouldn’t make him pass out with horrible lines all over!” Laura knew that she was close to panic and was fighting back the urge to shake May again. Her fingers were twitching.
“Well the reason that the poison is affecting him is that he has, somehow, had close contact with a High Demon. Well, possibly any sort of demon, but we only know for certain about High Demons.” May still looked anxious as she waited for a reaction. Laura’s blood seemed to freeze as the dots started to connect. She felt her mouth start to open, and couldn’t stop the words even though she knew that they might be sentencing Brian to death. Laura darted a glance to make sure that the door was closed and they were alone in the room.
“What if his father was one?” she whispered. May’s eyes widened, and Laura felt vaguely surprised at being able to shock a Temple Priestess.
“Is that true?” May asked. “I… I didn’t even know that was possible. That would certainly explain it though. Oh poor Brian.” Laura grabbed May’s arms in truth, now, fingers digging in.
“You can’t kill him. He’s a hero, May. He’s saved us over and over, I won’t let you kill him.” She scrabbled at May’s arm, determined to defend Brian from the Temple by any means necessary. He’d done nothing wrong, it wasn’t his fault that he’d been born half demon. He hadn’t asked for it. Gods, she had just last night told him that the Temple wouldn’t come after him and now what had she done?
“Laura. Laura!” May grabbed Laura’s arms in return and shook gently, to slow down the panicked defense. “Nobody is going to kill Brian. It wouldn’t matter if both his parents were High Demons. That’s what I’m telling you!”
“What?”
“Michael is a High Demon. A full demon, born and raised in the Demon Realm,” May said. “That’s why he’s powerful enough to replace two Guardians on his own. And that’s why we know that Brian will be fine. Michael was poisoned the same way last Saturday. And he’s still recovering a bit, but he just needs some more rest. He was really badly injured and it took a lot longer to get an antidote to him. Anna had to make it from scratch when he was already dying, but we don’t have to do that today. We already have the antidote ready and we got it to Brian much faster than we did for Michael. None of us are going to hurt your friend, I promise.”
Laura sat, stunned silent as May told her about being attacked in the park, how Michael had taken the blow meant for her and had realized the knife was coated in some sort of poison created to work specifically on demons. He had initially thought he would die himself, but then Anna had come and managed to synthesize an antidote to counteract the poison. The cure had worked, but it had been a brutal process, and as she had said earlier, he had needed to be restrained during the process.
“But… How…” Laura could barely form the thought, let alone the words.
“How did I end up with a High Demon as my Guardian?” May sighed and her shoulders slumped. “It’s sort of a long story. But I swear to you, he’s absolutely dedicated to not just my safety, but to protecting our whole realm. And we’ve learned a lot from him.”
“The new research on High Demons. It’s not just research, is it? It’s, what, interviews?” Laura sat back in her chair. The implications…
“Yeah, basically. And he’s teaching some scholars how to read demonic script, but it’s tough for human eyes to really see it well, turns out.” May shrugged. Laura thought back over the time since she’d met Michael. All the stories and the rumors that flew around the Temple community.
“Do… Does the Council of Elders know?”
“They do. They’re nervous and careful, but he’s proved himself over and over, and he’s got more than a couple of supporters now. It’s going to be a long road for him to be fully accepted, but he’s dedicated to it,” May smiled.
“And now he’s in there with Brian,” Laura swallowed thickly. “What is Michael going to do to him?”
“I’m not sure, but don’t worry. Whatever happens Brian will be okay,” May frowned. “They might have to restrain him though. When Michael was in the hospital he… We…” She clenched her jaw and Laura could see the pain in her eyes as May remembered the events. Maybe it was best that they were in here, away from the action as it were.
“How…” Laura wasn’t even sure what she was asking.
“How do you restrain a powerful High Demon thrashing around and lashing out in pain and confusion?” May finished Laura’s thought. Her face clouded. “Darksteel chains. It was horrible, and even then, he managed to damage the room he was in, and injure Anna. Hopefully your Brian won’t be so tricky since he’s only half, and Michael can help him through it while Anna works.”
Laura stared at the small basket full of wooden blocks in the corner for visiting children to amuse themselves with, thinking of Brian patiently building tower after tower for Owen to gleefully knock over. Please. Please let him be okay. She focused on breathing to fight off the fear, and May kept talking about nothing much just so Laura wouldn’t be alone in her own head. Honestly Laura had no idea what the Priestess said, her voice just becoming background noise buzzing through her brain and helping slice through the horrors churned up by her imagination. Finally, there was a polite cough, and Anna stood there in the doorway looking a little tired but smiling.
“All done. And your friend will be fine after some rest,” she said. Laura was already past her and halfway down the hall. When she burst into Brian’s room, she saw Michael sitting on a chair by the bed. The man— demon? — was frowning down at Brian, who lay quietly under a blanket, his hand wrapped up in a bandage but no more green lines anywhere.
“Why isn’t he awake?” she rushed over to the bed. “Anna said he was okay now.”
“It may take some time for him to fully recover. The poison did do some damage, even if it wasn’t much. Rest is healing for him. He will wake in a few hours is my guess,” Michael answered. His tone was gentle and reassuring, but his words were frank and Laura appreciated both. Michael turned his gaze to her. “You called May before you got here.”
Laura nodded. “I’m not really sure why, I just knew she could help somehow. There’s no way that green stuff was normal. I figured you guys would know more than anyone else about stuff like that. And, well, I guess he’s half demon so…” She swallowed, brushing the hair off Brian’s forehead.
“How did you know that, if I may pry?” Michael asked.
Laura frowned. How much should she say? It wasn’t her story, after all. But then, they had saved Brian’s life.
“He told me some of it. Last night. Not the demon part of it— he didn’t say anything about that and I don’t think he knows,” she sighed. Had it only been last night? “He only found out about it a year or something ago I guess. That his father wasn’t human, I mean. You should ask him.” Michael nodded.
“I see,” he glanced up as May came in. “Now, I am sorry to pester you while this is still so upsetting for you. We need to know, however. What happened? And where?” Laura blinked, her eyes suddenly full of tears. Dammit, no. This was too important to lose her cool now. She took a deep breath and sat gently on the edge of Brian’s bed.
“Well. You remember, May, I’ve told you a little about my ex? The man who, for lack of a more appropriate word, fathered Owen? Well, he got in touch. I haven’t told my mom since I didn’t want to worry her, but he’s sent me a couple of letters, trying to get me to call him, sent some flowers like he wanted to get together again, stuff like that. Finally, he sent me an email and wanted to meet. He said he wants to meet Owen. I haven’t seen or heard from him in five years, you know? Now, after leaving me within a few weeks of getting me pregnant, he suddenly wants to be part of our life. When I did go meet him last Sunday, I basically told him to go to hell and he turned mean. Really mean— I’d never seen him so venomous, not even when he was blaming me for getting his ass kicked out of the Temple Training program. Brian was there at the meeting, which was lucky cause Kevin started to get physical. Not really violent, but just pushy and aggressive till he took a swing at Brian. We left, and the next day I suggested we come up here to my aunt’s cabin.” She looked up at May, who nodded.
Personal Demons: A Riverton Demons Novel Page 7
