Demon Driven (35 page)

“Hi yourself, Toni. Happy birthday!” I
said.

Deep, dark brown eyes fastened onto the box
under my arm.

“Is that for me?” she asked, her eyes never
leaving the package.

“What this?” I looked down at the square box
wrapped in shiny red party paper like I had only just noticed it
tucked in my arm.

“You know….I think it is!” I said with my
best attempt at surprise in my voice. “ I found it on the street
and thought it must belong to you!”

Now her glance met mine and her expression
changed from intrigued curiosity to disdainful disbelief.

“Pah! You brought it for me and you know it!”
she said with grave certainty.

“Okay, you got me, I did!” I confessed.
“You’re as tough an interviewer as your mother.”

She smiled at that, her face lighting up at
the comparison with her cop momma. Several unknown adults in the
kitchen were watching our conversation, sipping cocktails with
bemused expressions. I did my best to ignore them, concentrating on
Toni and her parents.

“I think you should open it immediately,
although I would really rather be far away when your parents see
what I brought you,” I said.

Gina’s eyes narrowed, but ignoring her I set
the box on the ground in front of Toni and helped her slip the
fitted top off. I watched her face while she peered over the edge,
listening to her sudden intake of breath as she recognized the
contents. “Ooooohhhh!” her face lifted to look at mine, eyes big as
quarters, mouth forming a perfect ‘O’. Then she spun to her
parents, jumping up and down like only a five-year old can. “Momma,
Daddy, it’s a mouse….my very own mouse!”

Not daring to meet Gina’s eyes, I pulled the
El Grande Mouse House plastic habitat out of the box and pushed the
box out of the way so I could set it on the floor. The little white
rodent inside was crouched in the corner scrubbing his face and
whiskers with his paws as if in a hurry to clean up before meeting
his new owner. Chet had told me that was a sign of nervousness, so
I explained to Toni.

“Toni, he’s still pretty young and he’s very
scared right now. See how he washes his face like that?”

She nodded solemnly. “It means he’s really,
really scared. So maybe we could put him in your room and let him
calm down before you show you friends. Okay?”

She nodded and I carried the cage into her
pink and white room, setting it on her desk.

Finally I turned to face the music. Gina had
her arms crossed, staring at me in her careful unreadable way. Roy,
however, was smiling broadly at his little girl’s delight and bent
over to listen as she explained to him, exactly what I had told
her.

“A mouse? Really, Gordon?” Gina said.

She called me Gordon, instead of Chris, so I
was either in big trouble or she was faking.

I added gas to the fire. “Actually, he’s a
rat. Still a pup. He’ll be bigger, which is why I got the biggest
cage.”

“He’s a rat?” Antonia asked, her little brow
furrowed. Toni was a city girl and to her a rat was a brown ugly
thing, best avoided.

“He’s a white lab rat, Toni, the youngest in
a batch that my friend Chet had. I thought he should be rescued and
figured you were the best one to raise him.”

The fact that he was cute and hers was more
than enough to decide in his favor. “Will he bite?”

“Not this one. He’s been handled almost from
birth and now he likes it,” I said, opening the cage and picking
him up in the palm of my hand. I had handled him before so he knew
my scent and began to climb around.

I showed Toni how to hold him, how to pick
him up, and how to be gentle. Then I took a bottle of hand
sanitizer from my pocket and cleaned her hands, explaining why she
should do that after every time she picked him up.

“What are we supposed to feed him?” Gina
asked.

“Tanya is bringing up the supplies. We got
you about two years worth of food and bedding,” I said.

“Tanya is here?” Roy asked, his tone and
expression startled enough to tell me he knew what she was.

“Yeah, we have a date night tonight and she
wanted to meet you and Toni.”

Gina patted her husband on the arm and spoke
to reassure him. “It’s good, Roy. I don’t think Tanya knows many
children.”

“Try none!” I said.

“Where is she now?” he asked, nervously.

“She’s finding a parking spot. She’ll be
right up.”

“You left her to find a spot? On our street?
She’ll never find one!” he said.

I laughed. “Roy, Roy, Roy. Ye of little
faith. I’ll bet you a cold beer that she’ll find a spot inside five
minutes and it’ll be no more than two buildings away in either
direction.”

He frowned at my confidence, but having no
downside to the bet he nodded. He would understand when she entered
the apartment. All the men at the party would understand and
probably the women too. I’ve seen a street gang pick up and move a
VW by force of numbers just to let her have a parking spot. A quick
smile and a grateful laugh had been their only payment, but
apparently she had change coming because when we returned an hour
later, the gang had been keeping an eye on her car, protecting it
with a vengeance.

* * *

“Chris, I want to introduce you to some
people,” Gina said, holding out her hand to lead me into the living
room like a shy child.

The main living space of the apartment held
seven adults and what appeared to be thirty-seven children but was
actually six, multiplied by their birthday cake stoked frenetic
play.

There were four women and three men, five
girls (not counting Toni) and one lone boy who looked a bit
bewildered. I liked him immediately, our expressions probably
matched.

One very small woman was talking with three
others, her back to me. Her audience included Roy’s counterpart
from I.S. 341, Sonja as well as another woman and one man. All
three stopped paying attention to the tiny form of Roy’s boss, Dr.
Schmidt, and looked at me as Gina led me over.

Sonja’s eyes widened as she saw my eyes, and
her expression alerted Dr. Schmidt who turned, glass of wine in
hand to see who was coming.

“Jean, Sonja, Peter, Carol, this is Chris,”
Gina said simply.

Peter and Carol just gave me the normal stare
I get when meeting people. Sonja’s dark skin went pale and Jean
Schmidt jumped at my violet eyes, which she had last seen while
bleeding from a bullet wound.

Her wine glass dropped toward the floor as
her hand involuntarily opened from the shock of seeing me.

I leaned around Gina, putting my hand lightly
on her back and caught the glass, letting it fall a whole four
inches before snagging it. It wouldn’t do to move too fast.

“Nice to meet you all,” I said, mildly,
handing the small, shocked principal her glass of red.

Peter and Carol greeted me in a distracted
way, both trying to figure out the reactions of the other two.

“And these ladies are Liz, Karen and Denise.
Three of the girls running around us belong to them,” Gina said
with a laugh, pointing out the other three adults, who all smiled
with the interested expressions of women sensing a juicy story. I
nodded and said hello.

“Chris is to be Toni’s new Godfather,” Gina
said, announcing one of the other reasons for my visit.

Roy’s oldest brother had been Antonia’s
Godfather, but had passed away from a virulent form of brain cancer
about four months prior. Gina and Roy had popped this question on
me after my meeting with the government. Probably payback for what
I had done to her.

“He’s also the reason I left the force and
went to work for Homeland Security,” she added.

Gina’s name had been the one I gave the
President as my choice for intermediary and he had not only given
her that position, but also made her the new Presidential Advisor
on Anomalous Phenomenon. Apparently, Kincaid was looking for a
job.

Gina seemed to be keeping the Presidential
part quiet though.

Acknowledging the round of polite
exclamations at this news, I suddenly became aware of a fierce grip
on my outstretched hand, the hand that had returned the wine to Dr.
Schmidt. Her expression was as fiercely grateful as her grip was
tight. She looked me squarely in the eyes and whispered “Thank
you!”

Two words that carried the weight of a
building or maybe the weight of a school. Behind her, Sonja’s head
gave a sharp nod of agreement, her face reflecting the emotions
that had locked her tongue.

Peter and Carol figured it out first, awe
flickering across their faces from one to the other like a shadow
crossing a wall.

“You’re the….” Carol trailed off when I
glanced at her. Twin ideas warred in her eyes. Yes – I was the one
who saved the school, but I was also the one who pulped eight armed
men into pink mist in almost the same amount of seconds. As much as
she was grateful, she was also afraid.

Dr. Schmidt had no such conflict, pumping my
hand and reclaiming my gaze with her own. “We are more grateful
than you can know,” she said.

I am not comfortable with gratitude. I do
whatever I do because it seems to be right, at least according to
the principals my parents and grandparents drummed into me. I don’t
ever do it for thanks or accolades. Eyes brimming with tears, faces
aglow with thanks, all these make me nervous, and this time was no
different. Tanya chose that moment to save me yet again.

“Ah, Gina, I think Tanya should be at the
door almost anytime now,” I said, glancing at my watch like I
needed its aid in calculating her closeness.

The rap at the door came right on cue.

“Oh, excuse me, I need to let Chris’s fiancée
in,” she said.

The word fiancée was enough to break the ring
of emotions, curiosity replacing the rest.

I had felt her in the building, on the floor
and at the door. Now I felt her enter the room behind me and I got
to watch the reactions of the others. Even the children stopped
playing to stare. The adults looked thunderstruck. I spun
around.

She stood in the archway, Gina just to her
side. Wearing those clingy black lycra spandexy pants that I like
so much. Just a little heavier than leggings. You really can’t wear
them well if you’re not in shape. Tanya wore the hell out of them.
Her top half was covered in a deep burgundy sweater, the color so
rich it would turn to black in low light. Black, calf-high boots
and a tiny black Coach purse completed her outfit. As always, her
eyes found mine instantly.

“Any trouble parking?” I asked,
innocently.

“No, a young man came racing out of the
building and gave me his spot. Said he had to run to the store or
something. Odd though…he didn’t seem to have a wallet or anything
with him?” She frowned in remembrance.

I laughed and looked at Roy, who was as star
struck as the rest. He caught my eye, breaking out of her spell
long enough to realize he owed me a beer.

“Tanya, this is Roy, Gina’s husband,” I
introduced her. Then I introduced the rest. It was interesting to
watch their reactions. At some unconscious level, they seemed to
sense something different about her, as their facial expressions
reflected fascination edged slightly with trepidation. The
primitive human animal sensed the presence of an apex predator. But
her beauty and allure attracted them. I had noticed the same effect
with almost all vampires, but it was greatly magnified in Tatiana’s
case.

A small gasp of air announced Antonia, who
was peeking at Tanya from around her father’s leg.

“Tanya, this is the birthday girl herself,
Antonia!” I said.

“Oh! Such a beautiful name, for such a
beautiful girl!” Tanya said in her exotic Russian accent, as she
moved across the room like smoke. She gracefully dropped to one
knee; bringing her face to Toni’s height.

Tanya hadn’t been around human children
before and I could tell she was fascinated. That sincere interest
and attention brought Toni out from behind her father to shyly
shake Tanya’s outstretched hand.

“Christian, you lied to me!” Tanya said, in
mock outrage. “You said Antonia was pretty! She’s far too beautiful
to be merely pretty!”

When a goddess pronounces you beautiful, it
has impact. Toni’s face lit up with amazement.

“Are you a princess?” the little girl
asked.

“Oh no! I’m just a girl,” Tanya said.

I snorted, earning myself a look from the
vampire princess.

“She’s my princess, Toni!” I said, with a
huge grin. The adults all laughed, breaking the tension
slightly.

Tanya ignored me, still concentrating on the
little girl.

“Did Christian give you his present?” she
asked.

“Oh yes! My very own mouse.. rat,” she
corrected.

“Do you like it?” Tanya asked tentatively,
not having much use for rodents herself. Of course the fact that
the little thing went frantic with fear when she came near it might
have influenced her.

“I love it! I’m going to name it Sebastian!”
she pronounced.

“Well good. But I brought you a present as
well,” Tanya said. I cleared my throat, causing her to flash her
cerulean eyes in my direction.

“Actually, Christian helped, but it was my
idea!” she amended. She held her hand out to me without looking and
I slapped the little blue wrapped box into it like she was a
surgeon. I had been carrying the little gift in my cargo pocket of
my black pants.

Tanya handed it to Antonia, who looked at her
mother for permission to open it. Getting the nod, she carefully
pulled the paper off, revealing the kind of little black box that
all women love to get.

Opening it she stared in wonder at the
necklace within.

Tanya reached in and pulled it out, holding
up before Toni so she could see the whole thing. The adults around
us oohed and ahhed in appreciation. The tiny silver bear was
standing upright, its arms and legs slightly exaggerated, its eyes
chips of red stone.