Death's Mate

by C. W. Gray

  Death ducked his head, hiding his smile. She really does like to chatter. “Well, Leti lives a few houses down. He really does help everyone he meets. So do a lot of the other people in our neighborhood. They helped me once when I needed it.”

  She leaned around Scythe and patted his knee. “Are you okay? Did you lose your parents too or is it about your eyes? Folks say a lot of things about you, but they don’t know you. I like listening to Val’s stories of you instead.”

  Death smiled softly. “I lost my parents a long time ago, before I met Leti or anyone else. Leti and the others helped me by accepting me. I’m not like other people.”

  Crea leaned over and pressed her nose to his, staring intently into his eyes. “Do you really see ghosts? What about souls? Deonna at the refugee camp says souls aren’t even real, but Val said they are and I believe him more than Deonna. What about freezing things? Deonna said you once froze a whole ship. How do you even do that? Will the baby do that too? Val is really looking forward to the baby. He wants to name him Seshi after your first mate. Do you miss your first mate? How did she die? Did you have any babies with her? Is it weird to be having a baby since you and Val are so old? My granny always said people should have babies young so they can keep up with them. She also collected empty boxes, so I don’t know how much she really knew. After she died, we had to spend months getting all the empty boxes out of her house.”

  Death let her chatter on and closed his eyes, pressing his forehead to hers. He smiled to himself. Seshi? Val hadn’t mentioned wanting to name the baby after Seshia.

  “Crea,” he said, interrupting her newest round of questions. “Will you please come home with us? We can talk to Leti and let him smooth things over with the people looking for you. You can meet Lorry and Wyatt and all my grandchildren. I have a new one, you know. His name is Riley.”

  “Val told me all about him. He says he loves his grandkids.” She bit her lip. “Would Val want me to live with you all?” She gently placed her hand on his round belly. “The baby will be here soon.”

  “I know my Val and he wants you with him.” Death gave her his best smile, hoping it didn’t look too creepy. “If you don’t mind living with a person that can see spirits, harvest souls, and freeze things, I’d like to have you there too.”

  “Okay.” She leaned back and kissed Scythe’s ear. “You’re gonna be my best friend, okay Scy? You can sleep with me at night, and I’ll share my food with you too. We can play, and I’ll tell you all about Vextonar. I lived there for a long time, so I know everything about it, but you can tell me about Charybdis Station since that’s where you’re from.”

  Death typed out a quick message to Val on his communicator, then put it in his pocket. “Don’t forget your lunch bag, Crea.”

  She was at his side in a second. “Hold on. I got to help you stand up, remember?”

  Death barely resisted rolling his eyes. Val was far too overprotective. “Thank you.”

  She helped him stand up, then bent and grabbed her lunch bag, pulling it open. “Yummy ham sandwiches. Val knows they’re my favorite.”

  He tugged on Scythe’s leash and slowly walked toward the tram, Crea pressed against his side as she devoured the food in the bag. Edgar flew from the top of the building and landed on Death’s shoulder, Poppy’s shiny hair clip still in his beak.

  He looked up as they passed the building and saw Val watching them from the second story. His mate was crying.

  “Make sure she sees the pet battle, Veri,” he called out, voice breaking. “I’ll stop and pick up some things for her room on the way home from work.”

  Val hurried home after his lunch break. Pops had been happy to let him have the rest of the day off and had pulled his ear when he found out Val had been hiding a refugee child.

  Val rubbed his ear as he remembered. “I know it was stupid,” he mumbled. “Didn’t have to pull my ear off.”

  He stepped off the train and jogged down the street.

  Muffin met him at what Val had come to understand was Muffin’s corner. Verion’s friend, Leti, shared an extra-large yard with the two families that lived on either side of him. Wobble, Leti’s llama, and Trixie, Leti’s small goat, spent most of their time in the yard.

  Muffin should have as well, but the goat continued to get out, no matter how many engineers looked over the fencing. The larger, long-haired goat enjoyed munching on the grass and flowers lining the walkway. He also always greeted Val when he passed the goat’s corner.

  “Oh, Muffin. So much happened today. You won’t even believe it.”

  Muffin bleated and ran beside him, his long hair bouncing with every step.

  “I think Veri and I adopted Crea. You remember me telling you about her, right? You should come meet her.”

  Muffin bumped him gently and bleated again.

  “You’ll really like her.”

  They had to stop for a moment at Sebastian’s house since the road was now blocked with a line of peach trees.

  “Kelly, you need to focus,” Sebastian said, voice tired. He stood with his apprentice in the front yard. “You were supposed to grow one fruit tree.”

  The small Siren woman covered her face. “It was lonely and wanted friends. I can’t help that.” She glared at the first tree and pointed her finger. “Blame the tree. It knew what would happen when it asked for more trees.”

  Val and Muffin darted through the trees and continued on.

  Unfortunately, the pet battle was still going strong. Val came to a stop and watched in amazement as Fluffle launched himself over Scythe’s back with a loud hiss. He landed on top of Porkchop’s head and swatted the pig’s nose, making him turn and run in the opposite direction.

  As soon as the pig retreated, Fluffle ran across the street, a pack of pets following behind him as they charged the other team of pets.

  “Stars, would you look at that, Muffin.” He wrapped an arm around the goat’s neck. “I know why you aren’t playing with them. Fluffle is scary.”

  Princess Buttercup was spread out in front of Leti and Hack’s house. His eyes were closed as he napped, small puffs of smoke coming from his nostrils. The two baby dragons in the neighborhood were curled up together on his back.

  Aagy, on the other hand, was currently getting his ass handed to him by Fluffle, even if he was a dragon.

  Fire and several of the neighborhood kids stood on the sidelines, cheering on the pets.

  “Come on, Wobble,” Rizzie, one of Leti’s kids said. “Stop eating the rose bush and take out Luna. She’s sneaky.”

  Another child named Xu, whooped loudly when Porkchop snuck around Fluffle and booped Scythe in the butt. Verion’s dog yelped and turned around, eyes wide as he stared at Porkchop.

  Midge raced forward, barking and growling at Porkchop, but the pig ignored her and charged toward Scythe.

  Dr. Bloop, Beck’s large dog, came to the rescue, jumping in and sitting on Porkchop so Scythe and Midge could run away.

  Val winced and crossed the street, staying as far away from the pet battle as he could. By the time he made it to the house with Muffin, he was exhausted.

  “I thought most of the kids were in school, Muffin.” He let the goat into their backyard. “Here, you can have some peace and quiet, my friend. I’ll bring Crea out to meet you after the pet battle.”

  Muffin bleated again, then bent to chew on the grass.

  Val went in the back door and through the kitchen.

  A freshly showered Crea was pressed against the front window between Lorry and Sai as they watched the pet battle. Crea looked better in her borrowed clothes. They cheered for Fluffle.

  Morgan and the twins watched too, cheering on Porkchop’s team.

  Verion nodded at him from the couch where he sat, reading something on his tablet.

  Val sat beside him and pulled his mate into his arms. “Veri, how did you know?”

  Verion cupped his face and gave him a gentle kiss. “How did I know you loved her and wanted to ad
opt her?”

  Val nodded, voice thick with tears. “I was being so careful.”

  “I saw it the moment you said her name,” Verion whispered, nuzzling his ear. “Your heart is a beautiful thing, and I’d do anything to make you happy. She needs you, and you want to help her. It wasn’t a hard decision to make.”

  “Did you ask Leti?”

  “He’s already taken care of it. She’s fostering with us until she decides if she wants us to adopt her.”

  “What did Lorry say?” Val bit his lip. His son had dealt with so many changes over the past year. He was worried a new sister would be too much.

  Verion snorted. “Look at them.”

  Lorry cheered and spun Crea around in his arms. “Fluffle’s team wins again! Porkchop and the others will never beat them.”

  Val let the last of his worries drain away. “That’s good.” He leaned into Verion and ran a hand over his mate’s belly. “Our baby will have a lot of family, won’t he?”

  “Seshi will have plenty of friends and family.”

  Val gave Verion a sheepish look. “Crea blabbed?”

  Verion kissed his chin. “Yes, and it means a lot to me that you would want that. I’ll only accept, though, if we make Norao his middle name. That’s actually a Crellic name, and it is similar enough to Nora to honor your first love as well.”

  “Seshi Norao.” Val sighed happily. “Now we just have to decide on the last name. Your family name is probably fancier and you’re a doctor and everything. Seshi Norao Morrick.”

  “Seshi Norao Philbert,” Verion said with no hesitation. “I want him to carry your name. I want to carry your name. Wyatt and Morgan hold the Morrick name with them and will do it proud. I want to be a Philbert.”

  Val barely recognized the happy noise he made, and he hugged Verion tightly. It was moments like this that reminded Val that though he never said it, Verion did love him. “You’ll marry me?”

  Verion kissed his chin again, wiggling in his arms. “Why do you sound so surprised? Isn’t that the next step for mates? If you don’t wish to marry, I’m happy to simply be with you. Marriage is a societal normalcy, but it isn’t necessary to share your name.”

  “Societal normalcy,” Val said, chuckling. “Gods, the way you talk. I would love to marry you, Veri. You’re right. It’s not necessary, but I still want it.”

  Verion looked toward the window again. The kids were still watching the pets outside. “I do need to ask you about something.”

  Val kissed the back of his ear. “Yes, I would love to go upstairs and make love.”

  Verion grinned and pinched Val’s nipple through his shirt. “Not yet. We have to put together a room for Crea, but we’ll do that after lunch.” He leaned his head against Val’s chest. “We need to talk about the baby.”

  Dread settled into his gut. Val had avoided this conversation for a while now and had hoped to keep avoiding it. “Seshi. The baby has a name now.”

  “What if he is like me?” Verion whispered. “What if he can do the things I can do?”

  “Then we train him to control it and help others. Like you do.” Val evened out his breathing. It wasn’t really that complicated, and he was starting to worry about how many people were trying to make it complicated.

  “It’s not as easy as that. People, children especially, make mistakes.”

  Val buried his face in Verion’s neck. “What do you think then? I love Seshi and just want him to have a normal life with his family.”

  “If we have to, we can move to Frost Veil. The lab I used to work at is still empty. We could live there and train Seshi if we need to. He would still have you and me.”

  Lorry’s angry voice cut in. “Excuse me, but what the actual fuck?”

  While they spoke, Morgan and the kids had drifted closer. None of them looked too happy, not even Kiki and Pela.

  Kiki stomped over and held her arms up. “Up, Val-pa.”

  Val’s heart warmed at the name she and Pela had given him. He picked her up and set her in Verion’s lap. “No grumpy gooses, sweet girl.”

  Lorry scowled, looking pissed. “We’re all grumpy, Dad. You can’t move to Frost Veil.”

  Val sniffed, wiping his eyes. “We don’t want to, Lorry. It’s just a backup plan.”

  “Like if the baby has a lot of powers and tries to make a ghost army?” Crea asked, crawling onto the couch beside them. “I think Seshi will let me be a lieutenant in his ghost army, so it won’t be so bad on Frost Veil. That’s the really cold planet with dragons like Stardust, right?”

  Val wrapped an arm around her. “Yeah.”

  Lorry gave him a hard look. “If it comes to that, I’m going with you. Seshi needs his family.”

  “Lorry, you have a mate to consider,” Val reminded him softly.

  “His mate and he have already talked about it,” Sai said, hands on her hips. “I can be Dr. Morrick’s assistant and learn from him. It’s not a conventional education, but I can’t be Seshi’s favorite big sister if I’m not there for him.”

  “You’ve already spoken?” Verion gave them a surprised look. “And it will be Dr. Philbert soon, Sai.”

  Lorry grinned. “Dr. Philbert?” He shook his head. “A doctor in the Philbert family. What would Grandpa have said to that, Dad?”

  “He wouldn’t have believed it,” Val said, grinning. “Now explain why you’ve already spoken about Frost Veil.”

  “Wyatt said that if we had to move, that was the best place to go in order to help train the baby,” Morgan said. “We’re planning to go too if it comes to it.”

  “You are?” Val felt faint. He knew Verion’s son loved his father, but that was a huge change to make.

  Morgan snorted. “Now that Wyatt has his dad, he’s not ever letting him go. You, Lorry, Sai, and, now, Crea are becoming more and more important to him too. Then there’s the baby to consider. If he does have Death’s gifts, he’ll need all the help he can get.”

  Lorry shrugged. “Sandra said it best. She said that we’re all a family, no matter what. If you have to go, then we all go.”

  “Sandra?” Val swallowed. Somehow, he had managed to continue to avoid Verion’s ex, but it was getting harder by the day.

  “Is that the lady you’re scared of?” Crea asked.

  Maybe Crea and I talked a little too much, he thought, giving her a betrayed look.

  She patted his cheek. “She seemed nice when she came by today.”

  “You’ve already met Sandra?” Val groaned and let his head fall back.

  Morgan grinned. “I completely get your fear of her. The woman is scary when she’s on guard. She likes you though, even if you do run from a room when she comes in.”

  Val sniffed. “I don’t know what you mean. Now, back on topic, please.”

  “Val-pa.” Pela reached for him from Morgan’s arms, and he took her, setting her between him and Crea. It would have been almost impossible to leave Lorry and the twins behind.

  He hadn’t even been thinking about Crea coming with them. I’m a bad foster parent already.

  “Why didn’t you all say something about this plan?” Verion asked, eyes narrowed on their kids.

  “It’s a backup plan,” Sai said, using their own words against them.

  Val closed his eyes. “Okay. We have a backup plan, but I don’t think we’ll have to use it. We can handle one baby.”

  9

  Val helped Verion sit down when they reached the birthing center. He shouldn’t have been as nervous as he was. He’d been through this with Nora, but damn it, this was Verion. His mate was strong mentally, but his body was so average sized, and the baby had looked big in the pictures.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked again, shuffling his feet and looking around. “Doctor? We need a doctor right now!”

  Verion gave him an exasperated look. “I’ll be alright, Val. Calm down.”

  Lorry patted his back. “Wyatt is on his way.”

  Crea yawned and sat beside Verio
n, cuddling up to his side. “You’ll be okay, Veri. Babies are born every day. Once, when I was on the box ship, I saw a lady have twins right there. She didn’t have a doctor to help, and she screamed and screamed. It was horrible, but they were okay after a while. She passed out, though. Are you going to pass out? I’ll catch you.”

  Val sat down, all the blood rushing from his head. “Oh fuck. It’s going to hurt, isn’t it? We need a doctor, damn it!”

  “Uh, Crea, why don’t you come with me? We’ll go pick out a gift for the baby.” Lorry held Crea’s hand and tugged her to her feet. “Maybe another stuffie for you too, huh? Since you’ll have the big room soon?”

  She made a face. “Okay, but I still think you and Sai should just live at home with me. Why do you need a whole apartment anyway? I don’t need the big room.”

  They left, and Val sat down and took Verion’s hands. “I’m so sorry, Veri. I would do this for you if I could.”

  Verion shifted in his seat with a wince, hands smoothing over his rounded stomach. “I really am alright. My body is in perfect condition, and I heal instantly. Stop worrying so much.”

  “I just don’t want to lose you.” Val blinked away his tears. “I wish Nora were here. She’d know what to say.”

  Verion’s eyes narrowed. “I know you loved Nora, but can you please not mention your dead wife when I’m about to have your child?”

  “Oh, yeah. That was kinda stupid, huh?” Val ran his hands over his head. “It’s just, I was a mess when she had Lorry too.”

  Verion’s expression stayed placid as he breathed out slowly when another contraction hit. “I wasn’t there for Wyatt’s birth.”

  The pain in Verion’s voice hit Val hard. He wrapped his arms around Verion.

  Verion took one of his hands and linked their fingers over his belly. “We created this child, Val. I’ve protected him with my body as he’s grown. Now, we’ll greet him as he makes his way into the world.” Agony flashed across his face. “How could I have missed this with Wyatt?”

  Verion pressed his head against Val’s shoulder. “Part of me wishes I had known you my whole life, but a large part of me is happy I didn’t meet you until after I learned from my mistakes. It hurts to remember Sandra’s pain when I let her down. It would kill me to see disappointment or anger in your eyes.”