Five Night Stand (Fox Brothers Book 2) (10 page)

Max had heard enough. He was starting to second-guess his decision to tell Ryan the truth. “Soon as we kill the bad seed we’re leaving. Can you handle that?”

“I can handle anything. I’m a Fox. Do I have any other choices?” Ryan pouted.

“No you don’t.”

Ryan stroked the shortened barrels of the shotgun on his lap. “We can’t even find the demon.”

“We don’t know where to look. You didn’t get any clues from Scar?”

“None.”

“So she just clubbed you over the head and took you to her evil lair”

“Yep, no, I guess.”

“You didn’t get any Intel from her?”

“None.”

“Seriously nothing?”

“Jesus dude I said no.” Max’s brows furrowed.

“You didn’t try to charm her or anything. She’s a vamp but she’s still a woman.”

“Charm her. I was tied up the entire time.”

“Right.” Ryan pressed his lips in a fine line. “Maybe you’re out of practice with the ladies.”

“What? Shut up. I’m not. Whatever.” Max blew air from his mouth.

“Maybe we should call Uncle Donny, see if he has any more news.”

Sure, it was a way for Max to get out of this odd conversation. Max pulled his cell phone out of his back pocket and dialed. He put it on speakerphone. The cell rang twice.

“Max.” Uncle Donny’s voice came out loud and clear through the cell.

“Uncle Donny we’re coming up empty. You got to help us out here. Is there anything else you can tell us about this demon child?”

“There is no prophecy, no book to study. This is all new to me. Only thing I know is not only is this kid a demon. I’m hearing that it might be part human.”

“Part human, that doesn’t sound possible.”

“Yeah, yeah I know it sounds silly but that’s the word.”

Max frowned. “So basically we were looking for a demon that possessed a kid. But now you’re saying there was no demon possession. The kid was born a demon?”

“I’m saying anything is possible. I wish I had answers but I don’t.”

Max was deep in thought. Ryan didn’t notice as he was shocked by the news Uncle Donny delivered. Max was good at concealing his emotions whereas Ryan wore all his thoughts on his face.

“Thanks Uncle Donny, call us if you hear something new.”

“Be careful boys. This kid is a hot commodity. Get the kid. Get Vampir and high tail it back here if that doesn’t lead you directly to Drack. Be careful out there boys.”

“Always.” Max hung up the phone with a press of a button. He lifted his face to the heavens and sniffed the night air. “Smells like rain.”

A bolt of lightning struck the sky. Max slowly stood and headed for the screen door of the house. He stood there with his hand on the door handle. He replayed Uncle Donny’s words and tried to make sense of them.

It started to drizzle rain. The enclosed porch only picked up a few drops of the light rain.

“Where you going?” Ryan asked. He was just taking notice of Max standing at the screen door.

“I got to hit the head.”

Max opened the screen door and scurried inside. As always, he was up to something. Ryan just didn’t have the energy to try to determine just what that was.

CHAPTER 10

The wheels were turning in Max’s lizard brain. He entered the kitchen and went straight for the guest bedroom. He knew it was insane but he just couldn’t stop himself. He grabbed his duffel bag off the floor by the side of the bed. He started frantically rummaging through it. He was looking for something specific. He soon found it. He grabbed the small bottle of clear liquid from the bag and shoved it in his back pocket.

Max paced the floor by the bed a few times before he left the guest room. He questioned whether or not to proceed with his wild theories. Max was never one to back down and oftentimes his hunches were on the money. It was better to be right and safe instead of being wrong and dead.

He crept down the hall when he thought the coast was clear. He was sure Ryan was still on the back porch. He reluctantly strolled toward Cyan’s bedroom. The room was so small it could have easily been mistaken for a walk in closet. He slowly crept into the open bedroom door. Little Cyan was peacefully asleep in her pink teddy bear toddler bed.

“What are you doing Max?” He softly whispered to himself appalled at his own thought process. “What are you doing Max? What the hell are you doing?” He repeatedly questioned his sanity in a dull murmur.

Max removed the small liquid-filled bottle from his back blue jean pocket. “Thank God for holy water. No harm in checking.” He mumbled. He crouched down over Cyan. He poured holy water on the tip of his index finger. Some of the holy water splashed and landed on the inside of his blue jeans thigh, right near his crotch.

“Oh crap!”

He placed his wet finger on the little tot’s arm. “Here goes nothing.” Cyan’s skin began to bubble and blister. Max’s heartbeat raced at an alarmingly frenzied pace. He was visibly shaken. This was not really happening but it was. Somehow he thought his hunch was wrong.

“Son of a bitch.” He scoffed a little too loudly. Cyan didn’t wake to the sound of his verbal alarm.

Max’s eyes stayed fixed on the toddler as he slowly backed away from the bed. He turned to see his brother standing right behind him. Their eyes widened when they found each other in the dimly lit room. They both quickly hurried from the bedroom closing the door behind them.

Max knocked into his brother as they stumbled into the hallway. They were both a little shaken from what was asleep a few feet away behind the closed bedroom door.

“Max how long did you know?” Ryan asked with a hint of fear in his voice. He mouth hung open while he waited for Max to fill in the gaps.

“I just figured it out. Did you see that?”

“Well yeah. Jesus Max, Cyan’s the demon kid.”

“I don’t, yeah she is.” Max stumbled over the incoherent words.

“This is so so so unbelievable.”

“Well yeah. She’s demon and she’s half human.”

“What?” Ryan brushed his hair off his forehead with his hand.

“You my brother with a pinch of Drack demon banged her mother.”

Ryan chuckled. “No Max this is Patty’s kid. Monica’s sister.”

“Wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

“No brother, this is Monica’s kid and the offspring of a hunter named Ryan Fox. A hunter that was possessed by a goddamn all powerful demon hybrid.”

“What?”

“Look dude saying
what
, doesn’t make it any less true.”

“But that’s not even remotely possible.”

“Yeah it is. You demon baby-maker.”

“First monsters can’t make babies, second demon monsters can’t make babies.”

“No but demon possessed human hunters can make babies with fertile small town waitresses. Monica lied the kid is not her niece. I saw the birth records. Cyan is her birth daughter.”

“You knew Cyan was my daughter?”

“Yeah but I didn’t know it was the kid we were looking for.”

Max held up the bottle of holy water. He was reliving what he had just experienced. Ryan snatched the bottle from Max’s hands.

Worry lines formed on Ryan’s forehead, exactly three creases. “What are we going to do? What am I going to do?”

“Kill it, her, whatever.” Max offered with little to no emotion. He removed his dagger from the leather holster near his ankle.

“Max, that’s a little girl in there. That’s my daughter.”

“Don’t you think I know that Ryan.”

The Fox brother’s debate was interrupted when Monica sauntered into the hall. She was wearing her regular waitress uniform, minimal fabric, extra sex.

“Where did you come from?” Max asked. He had never heard anyone enter the back door.

“Kansas, visiting the wizard.”

“What?”

Monica’s eyes darted over at Ryan. “Looky, looky, my baby’s daddy?” She smiled while approaching them. Her entire tone and demeanor had changed.

Monica’s eyes turned demon red. She was possessed.

“Holy shit.” Max spit.

“You know why I’m here?”

“Yeah but I don’t give two point five fucks.” Max warned. Just a minute ago he wanted to kill Cyan. But family always came first and he would back his brother’s play or die trying.

Demon Monica raised her hand gesturing for them to take it easy. Taking it easy was exactly the opposite of what she had in store. She karate kicked Max in the face. His body hit the wall sending the blade careening. The knife flipped into the air before landing on the carpet next to his unconscious body. He was out cold.

“Shit!” Ryan spit as his eyes moved to his brother.

Monica began to sing in a sultry croon. “It’s raining. It’s pouring. The Fox brothers are boring.”

“That was a bad move.” Ryan was getting ready to take her out.

“I’m still a fan. I still have a big poster of you guys on my wall and all that stuff I said about Max being my favorite. Just forget about that.”

It was clear. Ryan recognized this demon as the one from the high school parking lot. He had jumped into another host body. He should have let Max kill this punk when he had the chance.

Ryan charged toward the demon with all the speed he could gather. On impact they both landed in the kitchen on top of the table. Ryan looked over toward the kitchen counter by the sink. He saw his machete and his shotgun but there was no way he would be able to reach them with a demon fighting him so wildly. They rolled around before getting back to their feet.

Demon Monica punched Ryan square in the face and he loosened his grip on her shoulders. She kicked him once in the center on his abs. He tumbled back and slammed into the refrigerator. Ryan recovered quickly and blocked the hall that led to Cyan’s bedroom. He glanced down at his injured brother in the hall.

“Hey dude, hand over the terrible two.” Monica bated.

“Fuck off demon!” Ryan grumbled.

“Oops I forget I’m no longer skater punk. I’m the sexy African American waitress with the big tits.” The demon Monica cupped its own breasts with the palms of its hands. “This things feel like heaven. I can understand why you knocked this one up.”

Demon Monica sang imitating Marilyn Monroe’s seductive serenade of JFK. “Hap-py Father’s Day to you. Hap-py Father’s Day to you. Happy Father’s Day Mis-ter Fox.”

This was all surreal. Ryan turned back and jumped over his brother’s body. He rushed to cover Cyan’s bedroom door with his six foot four frame.

“I won’t let you near her.” Ryan declared with a face that meant business. A face that said your ass is grass. The face of a father lion that would protect his cub to the death.

“Say that to my boss.”

“Who is your boss?” Ryan asked while he inched further into the doorframe.

“Coming to the stage is the one and only Vampir.” The demon introduced with a contemptible heartiness.

The vampire Vampir danced around the corner. He was soon standing in the crowded hallway with the duo. He was decked out in a long expensive black leather trench coat. He was outfitted in head-to-toe black, mostly leather. Even his hair was jet black. He looked more like a Goth rock star instead of a powerful vampire. There was an air of failed celebrity about him. He was a wannabe as far as the Fox brothers were concerned.

“Hakuna matata, what a wonderful day.” Vampir glared directly at Ryan. “How cute, the doting dad.”

“Vampir you will never get your hands on my daughter.” Ryan proclaimed.

Vampir tilted his head like a mechanical toy. “Never, that’s a pretty long time. Drack got his hands on you so if history repeats itself I will get my hands on your demon spawn.”

“Not if you’re a headless corpse.” Ryan boasted.

“Oh rats are we going to fight over a stupid kid named after a Crayola crayon. Let’s flip the script. How about you be MJ and I’ll be Paul? You say the girl is mine and I say no no no she’s mine. Now move it, before I usher you out of here and show you I’m a good kisser.” Vampir flashed his elongated fangs. “Going nowhere fast. We reached the climax.”

Ryan tossed the holy water he took from Max on the demon version of Monica. She was the closest. As her skin burned she screamed in pure agony. Ryan opened Cyan’s bedroom door and rushed inside.

Ryan’s eyes scanned the room. He glared down at the toddler bedbut she was nowhere in the room. The window above her bed is open and wet. The window seal was covered in rain.

Vampir entered the toddler’s room with the demon Monica right behind him.

“Enough witty banter, kill him!” Vampir ordered.

The demon Monica sprung into action. She charged toward Ryan and pounced hard into his hulking stone frame. They smashed onto the toddler bed making it crash to the floor. Ryan punched the demon in the face, once, twice. They were engaged in a life or death tussle. Ryan blocked a knee to the groin. His reflexes were sharp. His speed was excellent for a man of his size and stature.