Hellmouth #8
"New Life"
A few days have passed since Lock and Gene were cleared from the hospital after injuries sustained in the stadium incident. They now stand tall outside of the very same hospital they were released from to pick up Jamie and the other two regulars, Clint and Walt, after they were hurt following the team's training session-turned- fight for life against the Board's werewolves. Lock sits outside the van kicking a hacky-sack around between himself and Gene, who have recovered greatly since release, while Larson bundles up in his thick coat as the wind increases.
"You should have brought some of that tea of yours, Larson. It sure would cut the cold," Lock began.
"You must be joking. I've been running people back and forth all week and running errands all night. I've been to this very hospital four times this week. I don't want caffeine of any kind because I have just enough energy to pick these kids up, drive back to Station House, and go to sleep," Larson exclaimed.
"Yeah, well, we need something. We got time to stop by and get some coffee?" Gene asked.
"No, Larson's right. Let's get Jamie and them and get home. I think we could all rest up for the party tonight."
"You know, I still have no idea why you all celebrate recuperation after mass slaughters by partying..." Larson drawled.
"Cuz we're alive enough to actually recup..." Gene smiled. Larson wasn't convinced.
"It's a morale booster. It's one thing to join a cause for the good fight, but it's hard to keep fighting when the goal never changes or even gets closer to completion. So we party..." Lock nodded his head and smiled.
"Fine way of puttin it, my man," Gene laughed. They caught sight of Jamie and Clint walking out of the front door, Walt being wheeled out in a wheelchair. "Hey! Look at ole wheels!" Gene shouted. Walt shot him an unkind gesture as Jamie wheeled him over to the van. "Shut up, man... Damn wolf took a chunk outta my left thigh. These punks were lucky enough to get upper-body wounds," Walt said.
"Lucky nothing! Doctor told me that I missed a major artery by a hair. Wolves coulda killed me!" Jamie pleaded for attention.
"You couldn't have picked us up inside?" Clint glared jokingly.
"Shoot, we're gonna have to avoid this hospital for a few months because they are starting to know us a little too well," Lock smiled.
"I thought it was strange when those two nurses came into our rooms and we got all nostalgic about prior injuries..." Gene laughed.
"Alright guys, let's get out of... I'll be damned. Gene, is that Tiffany?" Lock asked, pointing across the parking lot.
"Sure is. That's kinda strange. Hey fellas, help Walt's crippled ass into the van. Me and Lock'll be right back." The team laughed as Gene and Lock trotted over to Tiffany, Gene's wife, calling her attention; she didn't look too pleased to see them.
"Hey, baby, what are you doing here?" Gene asked.
Tiffany stared, contemplating, "Well, Gene, I was getting some tests done."
"Hey Tiff," Lock threw in. She nodded and hugged him.
"What kinda tests?" Gene asked, slightly worried.
"Oh nothing major. Just haven't been feeling like I normally do," she smiled and left it at that.
"Alright, there's bushes that are being beatin around. Let's have it," Gene pursued.
"Cant I tell you this in private?" Tiffany asked.
"That's cool, guys. I'll just head back to the van," Lock turned until Gene grabbed him.
"Lock knows I'm his daddy, honey," Gene said, laughing and receiving a smack on the back of the head by Lock, "This boy's family, sweetie. You can tell him too and save me the trouble of telling him later."
She snarled, then rubbed her temple slightly, taking a deep breath. She looked into her husband's eyes and said softly, "Well, I'm six weeks late. I thought it was weird, so I went here to the doctors to get tested. I wanted to tell you I was coming here but I didn't want to get your hopes up but I should have known... Of all places, you would be at a hospital, wouldn't you? Well, you know all those lives you save all the time? You're about to have one more to protect..." Gene froze. Lock looked at Gene and grabbed him around his head and pulled him into a small hug. She continued, "So you can stop calling Locklear your son. You're gonna be a real daddy now..."
Later that night, after Larson got his nap, everyone communed for the party. As it turns out, Jamie had some ties to a pretty decent caterer from back in his B-movie days so Lock and him got a deal of a lifetime on tons of food for all units. Kelsey and Aimee of the Coven units showed up and ate to their content, but Ky had stayed home for the evening, apparently still tired from all the magic she used in the last battle and seemingly emotional, as well. Midway through the meal, Jamie found it appropriate to remove his bandages at the table, showing the slice wounds from his neck down to the top of his abdomen. Jules started freaking out, jumping into Lock's chest (causing him to draw back in pain from his bruises) and Larson ran to the bathroom due to his extremely weak stomach. Nicholas, enjoying his Vodka Tonic a bit too much, jumped up on the table and began an impromptu comedy routine that was only vaguely funny until he slipped face first through the table. Larson was none too pleased, but everyone else was drawn into hysterical laughter, resulting in Antoine getting up and starting an encore chant. Wiping the tears of laughter out of his eyes, Lock looked over at his best friend Gene, stone-faced as he held his jovial wife. Tiffany laughed out loud at how rambunctious these parties get; she laughed so much so that she never noticed Gene not even sneering, much less laughing as the rest of them were.
Lock walked to the front of the room as the party was beginning to die down and tapped an unopened bottle of Champaign on the table alluding to his announcement, giving a moment for everyone to calm themselves before he spoke: "Alright everybody, when we started this party tonight, we had so much alcohol here that I didn't think we would drink it all, and if we did I certainly wouldn't have thought we would be coherent right now. Well, it seems I underestimated you all because you all can hold your liquor... Except Nick, but that's because he's a loser. Anyways, this is the last bottle of Champaign left and the last hint of alcohol in the place, so that means that this party is coming to an end." (A chant of boos came from the left side of the room and Nick flipped Lock an awkward, wobbly middle finger) "This bottle I am going to save. You see, folks, I have bad news. Our greatest fears have come true... Our very own Gene Erwin has successfully bred. Tiffany broke all the rules against nature and is now pregnant with his child! This bottle's for them!" Every unit in the place jumped up and gave Gene a standing ovation. Gene stood with Tiffany and smiled and bowed and did the works for his group. Lock calmed them down once again, "Alright now, everyone! Go home! Go be with your loved ones! Get some action that DOESN'T require wooden stakes and decapitations. You too, Nick, I heard that your right hand has been missin you something fierce! Me and Gene'll handle the hunt tonight. I'll see all of you later! Good job at the High School, fellas."
A crowd of people came through towards the back exit, patting Gene on the back, shaking his hand, giving him random congratulations and headlock- noogies, and some going as far as asking Tiffany how she could stand his smell. Lock made his way over to them, grabbing Gene on the shoulder, "I'm sorry I didn't let you announce it, man, but since you're gonna be in the spotlight for the next nine or ten months, I had to grab my four minutes of fame," Lock said.
"Does he really have to hunt tonight, Locklear? Cant he have one night off so he can be with me?" Tiffany asked.
"Tonight will be slow. Fabini has kept it in check since the High School incident and his Board is probably reeling it in for a while too. It'll be real quick, I promise," Lock smiled and hugged her.
"Plus, I'm coming along, too," Jules interjected.
"Um, sweetie..." Lock started. Jules grabbed him by the bicep and pushed him to the side, whispering, "Look, you ain't the only one here with emotional radar. I saw him all somber and everything all night and I'm worried too. Now don't argue with me."
They turned back to the couple quickly, Lock flustered as he spoke, "Yes, um... I believe that Jules would be an excellent asset to us in the field tonight."
"Nice acting there, Affleck," Jules hit Lock in the stomach.
"Does she really have to come along? Do you really think it's okay to drag your secretary into a fight?" Tiffany asked, glaring at Jules. The two shared an obvious distaste for one another ever since Jules got drunk at a different party and called Tiffany a prude after she told Jules to get the hell off Gene when they were dancing. Jules started after Tiffany but Gene stepped in: "We'll be fine, sweetie. I'll be home before ten, okay?"
"Fine," Tiffany shot another look at Jules and leaned in for a soft kiss on her husband. She turned and walked away, Gene smiling softly as her young, black frame swayed outside and towards her car. His smile soon faded as he turned and walked past Lock and Jules on his way to the weapons.
Later that night, on the streets of downtown Cleveland, people walk back and forth, from café to bar, from hotel to bar, from restaurant to bar, and so the trend continues. Behind those places of business, however, Lock, Jules, and Gene walk slowly, looking around as they head towards the lower class section of downtown.
"I would think you'd be happy that you're having a kid. I mean, you always do so great with the kids that you, Jamie, and the Abbit twins volunteer with," Lock determined.
"Yeah, and it's not like you two aren't ready. You're both in your mid-late twenties, she has a good paying job, y'all go to church every Sunday. I think you're more than prepped for this," Jules added.
"Is this gonna be a head session or are we gonna, you know, slay vampires?" Gene asked, angrily.
"This is gonna be a head session. There is nobody out, Gene. We've had three dustings since the High School, and tonight doesn't look much busier. This is our time to nurse our wounds and make sure that everyone's cool. So why aren't you cool?"
"I don't know. Everything is so weird..."
"No it's not," Jules began, "Everything is just like it's always been. People got hurt this time. It's not like anyone died, and it's not like we haven't been hurt before. I don't see what's the problem..."
"I know," Lock said, "This is a whole cop thing, isn't it? This is because of your job with us. Tiffany knows the game and has accepted the risks, but your child wont have the choice and wont understand if, one day, daddy slips up and dies on the job and wonders why daddy isn't there anymore. Is that it, because cops go through this kind of deal all the time..."
"Naw, man, that's not it at all. I mean, I'll be a little more careful when I have a child, but if I were a cop, I know that Tiffany is strong enough to raise our child if I was shot in the line of duty or something. But I'm not a cop. Cops don't have it this hard..."
"What do you mean?" Lock and Jules stopped walking, intent on finding the source of his fears.
"Look, cops see some messed up shit. They see rapists and murderers. They see victims shot and killed and they see dumbass kids overdosing on whatever drug they concoct in their basement or buy on the streets. Last week, I saw a vampire punch through a demon's chest and rip his heart out. I saw myself fight for my life by punching a stake through a green demon's tongue and chopping its head off. Cops don't see that, and that's my problem. You know that everything is bad out there. You know that people live in poverty and make it through life by selling drugs that go only as far as screwing with somebody else's life. You see women prostituting themselves to live, and others whoring themselves because they don't want to be alone. You see men going off to die in wars and, regardless of whether or not it's a good cause, half of them don't know what they are fighting for. Now you have religions saying that anyone who doesn't believe in their ways should die. This life is hard enough to bring a child into, but count in everything that we do know: we know what goes bump in the night, Lock. We know that gangs aren't the only thing to fear in back alleys, Jules, and half the time all gangs will do is rob you. We know that every time there is a fire emergency where people die, its mostly a cover up because some demon decided that today was the day to sacrifice something. We know the truth behind evil in this world, and it goes far, FAR beyond the evil in men. My question isn't whether or not I can stay alive long enough to protect my child, folks. My question is whether or not I should take the responsibility of bringing a child into this world when I know the suffering it will have. Is this world even worth bringing life into? Do I want that fate on my head? Will I be able to look at my baby boy and see some vampire sink his goddamn teeth into him, knowing that I brought that child into this world KNOWING how god-awful it is?"
"It's not like that, though..." Jules said, her tone very low and mousy.
"Let's not be ignorant, Jules. Just because you don't get a lot of field work doesn't mean you don't know what's going on behind the curtains. We saved you from certain doom before you joined us, remember? You know what it's like to stare at death and live. I ... Lock, we do that everyday! The high school was close, but I didn't care. Do you know how many times I thought of Tiffany when I was in that tournament? Once, and that was right after Fabini spat on me. And that was fleeting, too! These are emotions I should feel, but I don't! And that's the way I like it..."
"What are you talking about? Your child is gonna be fine because of you! Because of us! We do this so that people don't have to be bothered with knowing. They can live lives and not know what we know. We took an oath to save these people. Your child will be one of them..." Lock said, fervently.
"No, you don't understand. I love you, Lock. I love you too, Jules. I love Ky. GOD, do I love Ky... She's like a fucking sister to me. And I love Tiffany, with everything I have, but I don't have much. I swung that axe at Ky's throat... What if she timed the glamour wrong? I fought those big, nasty demons to the death, and I lived... What if I died? What would Tiffany have done? I throw my life away every time I hunt because deep-down, I don't want to live anymore, people." Lock and Jules became very quiet. A long moment of silence spread between them, and tears started streaming down Jules's face. Choked up, Gene began to cry as well, pouring his soul out in thick sobs, "I'm sure you all must've seen it before, but that's the truth, in case the class hasn't been paying attention. I read so much, and I know what humans themselves do to cause so much pain and heartache and for little reason. I sympathize with people who kill out of mercy. I mean, come on people! Larson read us some of the files from the Sunnydale Slayer. She averted how many Apocalypses? So the world can end at any given moment. The slayer, for whatever reason, has retired. Between Earth and Hell lies a handful of naïve soldiers with axes and stakes and I want to bring my child into a world like that so that, if he's lucky, he might die at the hands of his fellow man?"
Gene stopped. He sucked in his sobs and began to compose himself, "I'm sorry, guys. I didn't mean to blow up on y'all. I just have twelve million thoughts in my head right now and they're all thoughts that I've tried for the last ten years to avoid thinking. I just need something to happen. Get my mind off of things." And as if it were predestined, a man carrying a child and a woman right behind him went sprinting through the back alleys, the three Hunters hearing their pleas for help. Several paces behind them were two gang-members giving chase, but the speed and maneuverability of these gang-members implied that they were something other than drug pushers or rapists. Like a crack of lightning in the sky, Gene was off in a speedy pace. Lock and Jules followed close behind as they flew parallel to the speedy antagonists. Turning the corner hard, Lock football tackled the one in the rear of the pack, sending them both flying into the next alley. Lock made it to his feet to notice that the gang-member was now vamped-out and fully flexed in a fighting stance. Jules rushed to Lock's side and pulled out her sharp wooden stake, but Gene kept up the chase with the assumed vamp chasing the man, woman, and child. The man was able to kick over a few trash cans in trying to escape the vampire, but the cunning cross-breed was able to work around them, just slowing him slightly. The man thought that maybe he had escaped with his family until the long alley they had been traveling came to a sudden halt. He tried to make his young son stop crying, hoping that the vampire had gone a different route.
The vampire burst from the shadows in the corner of the dead end and delivered a roundhouse kick to the face of the wife. She dropped like a sack of bricks, causing an eruption from the husband. He dropped the child on his feet and charged the demon, only to be sent back down to the ground on his face. The vamp picked up his victim and carried him to the wall where he placed him against the wall, hit him with two quick jabs and a cross-hook, and then pushed a large, metal trash dumpster against the wall, pinning both his arms and legs against the brick wall. The man spat out a tooth and some blood and begged for his family's life. The vampire stopped listening to the painful pleas after catching the whiff of youthful fear in the air. It turned back and quicker than any human alive, snatched the child up by his collar. The vampire carried the child over to the dumpster where his father was trapped.
"How much do you love this child?" the vampire asked.
"PLEASE GOD, I'LL DO ANYTHING. PLEASE LET HIM GO!!!" the man begged.
"You didn't answer my question," the vampire smiled, running a finger nail down the pre-pubescent's cheek, drawing a thick line of blood and a hail of tear-filled screams. "Your wife, your son... How much do you love them?" the vampire continued.
The man started crying harder than he ever has before. His face turned red and his body muscles flexed. He grunted and screamed and pushed with all his might against the weighted dumpster, all to no avail as his fury did nothing but aggravate the vampire. The demon shook his head and extended his fangs. His jaw dropped open, still showing the fainted hint of a sadistic smile, and drew his fangs down towards the child's bare neck. Out of nowhere, Gene sprinted out of the corner alley and plowed through the vampire before it drank its intended victim. Gene found a metal bar on the ground, picked it up and began choking the beast with it. The vampire flung him around in several directions until Gene let go, realizing you cant choke the air out of something that cant breathe. Landing on his feet, Gene harpooned the metal staff through the thigh of the vampire, instigating a howl the likes of which he has heard all too many times. Gene got a running start and speared the vampire right into the dumpster, pushing it just enough to release the father from its hold. The young boy got to his feet and ran to his father on the ground. The man stood tall and wobbled over to Gene to offer his help.
"Grab your wife!" Gene screamed angrily, insuring the man would not be in harm's way. Gene kept hitting the vampire over and over. The vampire limped forward and threw an incredible punch, one that was easily blocked leaving open the metal javelin in its leg which Gene grabbed and twisted around. The vampire screamed until Gene eventually had the beast pinned on its stomach. Gene trapped its two hands on the small of its back and placed his knee on them, making him unable to use his hands or move. He then grabbed the metal bar again and again started turning it and twisting it until the vampire begged for the Hunter to give it the inevitable wooden curtain call. Gene picked up the beast by the hair, turned it to face the family, and plunged the wooden stake clean through its ribcage and into its heart, causing an explosion of dust. Gene stood, taking in deep breaths and slowly letting his heart rate slow back down and regain his composure. He looked over at the family and saw that the mother had regained consciousness. She held and stroked her son, gently telling him that they were going to be okay. Gene looked at the father, who tried again to make it to his feet and struggled, turning to Gene with widened eyes.
Several blocks down, Lock took several punches to his already bruised face and returned fire but didn't nail one blow. The vampire grabbed Lock by his neck and went in for the bite, but Lock struggled and, with trembling hands, was able to work his way out of the demon's clutches. The vampire drew back his fist, openly screamed a few expletives, and threw everything he had into one punch. Lock fell backwards into a ball to avoid the hit, leaving his leg out to trip the vampire on the way down. The vamp tripped expectedly and fell forward, chest-first, on the stake in Jules' hands. It exploded to dust all over the research unit, causing her to shriek and shake all over to get the dust off.
"EEEWWWWW... I did it. That was me. You take the busted lips. I do the staking. You think I could be a slayer?" Jules asked jubilantly.
"Shut up," Lock drawled, whipping the blood from his busted lip, "You see which way Gene went?"
They hurried the way Jules pointed and wound up at the dead end, witnessing nothing more than a pile of dust and a recovering family.
"Is everyone okay?" Lock asked. The father looked over at them.
"There were two. Did you handle the other one?" he asked, frantically.
"What are you talking about sir?" Jules asked.
"Were you with the black man that just saved us?" he asked.
"Yeah. Gene. Where did he go?"
"I dunno. He saved us from that... thing. He stabbed it in the chest and it turned to dust. What was that thing?"
"You mean he just left?" Jules insisted.
"Yeah. I stood up to thank him for saving us and he was already gone."
"Do you need any help sir?" Lock asked in his boy-scout fashion.
"Just some cuts and bruises. We'll be fine. They're just so scared. Can you walk us to our car?"
Across town, a cab pulled to a stop outside an apartment complex a few miles west of Station House. Gene stepped out of the cab and handed the cabbie a few dollars he had in his pocket after sadly noticing his wallet missing. The cab streaked off as Gene headed up to the second floor over to apartment E and knocked on the door. The door swung open quickly.
"Jesus, Gene! Why the hell are you covered in blood?" Ky asked, putting down a steaming bowl of ramen noodles and tightening her robe.
"Don't worry. None of its mine..." Gene walked in the door and removed his coat, hanging it on the back of a dining room chair. He sat down and Ky came back out of the bathroom with a wet rag and wiped the blood off of his face and hands. He pulled his boots off and leaned back in the chair. Ky sat down in the chair next to him with a worried look on her face.
"I dunno why you're here. You know I'm not talking to you..." she said.
"Why's that?" he asked.
"I don't know that either."
"Well, you give the best advice when you're mad at me anyways."
"What'd you do now? Did Tiffany catch Jules drunk and all over you again?"
"No. Tiffany's pregnant."
"Yeah, I know. Lock knows I'm not picking up the phone for him but he insists on leaving me messages on my voice mail with five minute updates."
"He just cares about you. That's all."
"I thought I was supposed to be giving you the advice..."
"You still are. I don't have a clue where to begin..."
"I know you better than you know you Gene, so just start in the middle and you know I'll catch everything..."
"I'm scared."
"Of what?"
"I've wanted a child all my life. When my dad left the house when I was six, I knew I would be a better father because I knew that just being there would make all the difference in the world. I would sit there and think of all the things I would do if I had the chance to raise a boy. All the boy's asses I would kick if I had a baby girl. I knew then and I know now, in my heart, that I can be the greatest daddy in the world, because that was my goal in life."
"That's beautiful, Gene. But I'm not catching the problem here..."
"You know the problem. It started when I was twelve, and my mom was drained by a bloodsucker right in front of me. It happened again tonight. I thought it was just another kill, but when I got there, it was the same thing all over again. I remember when that vamp broke my right arm and dislocated my left shoulder, and he held me by my left wrist and kept twisting..." The words became harder for Gene as tears started to reform and the visions became more vivid, "... and he asked my mother, my bleeding, defenseless mother, what she would do if he killed me. She cried and cried and cried even harder when it started cutting me. We were right outside our home and lots of people were watching but no one dared come help us, and everyone assumed that the other had called the cops... When it had enough of playing with me, it chunked me to the side and drained her. Captain Jon came in and saved me, but it was too late for her."
"Captain Jon... I miss the hell out of him. And I still don't know why he made Lock Captain before he died..."
"Yeah, but that same situation happened tonight, almost verbatim. I stopped it, but I had it in my head that something like that couldn't ever happen again. Something that evil couldn't happen twice. But it did."
"And you stopped it."
"But it solidified it. Before I killed it, I was sparring these ideas in my head off of Lock and Jules, but that just flat out convinced me: if I love my child as much as I know that I will, I don't think it would be fair to bring him into a world like this."
"Ooookayyy, that took a turn I wasn't expecting. What do you mean a world like this?"
"Oh, c'mon Ky, you've seen it too. You've seen the kind of things that we see everyday and all the horrors that are in this world. It's one thing if we lived in a world where we only had to worry about vamps and demons or a world where we only have to worry about protecting ourselves from our neighbors, but both?"
"We live it pretty well, Gene..."
"Did I tell you that I didn't talk for four years after my mother died? Captain Jon would visit me on my birthday and every Christmas day, but from twelve to sixteen I didn't say one word, to him or my foster parents. This is stuff I don't tell people because that's not who I am anymore. You and Lock are my best friends, Ky, but y'all don't have a clue what's goin on in my head half the time, because these are thoughts I don't want to let y'all know I feel. Because that's not who y'all love."
"How can we help if we never know you're hurting?"
"You're not supposed to know I'm hurting. You prick me, I bleed, that's it. It took me fourteen years since my mom died to drown these thoughts out, but I have. I can because I know I'm strong enough and I know that the further I keep Tiffany from this double life I lead, the safer she'll be because she's stronger than me and she can handle herself if I'm not around anymore. But if I drag Gene Jr. into this, he or she cant. And with tonight, I know that there is a chance that my child can feel what I feel, and I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy, much less something I love more than my life, or even your life, or Lock's life. I think the only way I can protect this child is to make sure it doesn't have a life to suffer through..."
"I think you're wrong. I think you're so goddamn wrong I cant find words to express how wrong you are." She stood up from the table and tightened her robe, angered more than she knew she could be. "You're crazy, you know that? No, you're not crazy... You're weak! I spent all these years admiring you, thinking that I would be fine if I could stay close to you, that I should maybe start practicing witchcraft so that maybe I can at least be half of what you are, and you're just going to throw this on me? 'Guess what, Ky, I'm weak and every goal you've had in life is worthless because you looked up to the wrong guy?' Is that is, Gene?"
Gene's tears dried up and turned to confusion, as he suddenly became the bad guy, "What are you talking about, Ky?"
"You, Gene. You're not weak. You're not dumb. You are strong. You are smart. You are a leader. You are inspirational to me and every one of your units. Do you have any idea where the Abbit twins would be right now if not for you? If anything, they're like your sons. They're young black kids who look up to the greatest role model that any of us know. This may be because I'm still really pissed off at him, but I don't know if Lock would have an army if you didn't follow his lead. You've helped us grow up so much, Gene. You were like my big brother growing up. Remember when you beat Antoine's ass after he smacked me on the butt that one time? This is your chance to raise your own flesh and blood. This world sucks, Gene, I'll give you that. But if there is someone strong enough to protect someone from everything this world can throw at them, then it's the guy in front of me."
Gene drew in a deep breath, "... I still cant risk it. I couldn't do that to someone I love..."
Ky screamed. Then she huffed, and slammed herself onto the living room couch six feet away from the table. "That's it. That's all I've got. So fine, what are you gonna do? You gonna ask Tiffany to abort?"
"I couldn't do that... Tiffany knows how much a child would mean to me. She would die before I could convince her to abort."
"So did you come to me for a spell? Best I've got is in the black magic category. I could stir up something that could cause a miscarriage..."
"A miscarriage would kill her on the inside. She would never get over that...this is going to have to be on my hands if its going to go that far..."
"What was that?" Ky asked, confused as though she heard something different.
"I've gotta get going, Ky. Tiffany wanted me home by ten."
"Are you sure? You want me to walk you there, cuz I can put on some clothes and walk you home...?"
"No... a little private walk will do me some good. Let some of those things you told me sink in."
Gene walked to the door and opened it wide. He turned back, put on his coat, looked at Ky one more time, and turned to leave. She grabbed him by his coat sleeve and turned him around. She hugged him tightly and held him close, "I love you, Gene. We all do. You're too strong to think such weak thoughts. Okay? I love you. And remember, I'm still mad at you at least until next Monday." She winked at him, kissed him on the cheek, and slammed and locked the door. Different time, different place, Gene would have smiled.
Gene's thoughts grew darker on his walk home, possibly because the wind speed and direction picked up and changed dramatically. He stepped up to the front porch of his small but nice home in the suburbs, something that his early childhood with his mother couldn't afford him. He took off his boots again and placed them on the side of the front door, reached inside his coat for his keys, but the door opened before he could fit the lock. Tiffany stepped forward with a stern look on her face, looked at her watch, looked back at him, and kissed him passionately on the lips.
"It's 10:10. Ten more minutes and I would have counted you off as dead. We have a new assistant in the office named Mark who would be more than willing to give a young, vibrant, voluptuous first-trimester pregnant woman a nice massage and rub-down, and..."
"Shut up," Gene smiled. He kissed her again and picked her up. He carried her towards the bedroom in his arms, just as he had when she married him. She didn't feel heavier, like he'd expect a pregnant woman would. She nuzzled his chest and kissed the small crevice right below his neck the same way, and that got to him every time. He placed her gently on the bed and sat her upright. He got on the bed, sitting on his knees, and he placed a pillow between his thigh to stomach and her back. She leaned against him and he started massaging her shoulders, just as he had done the night after their wedding. His happiest day ever. She smelled the same way, too, if not sweeter now. He gently kissed her head and continued the massage. It struck him then, again, just as it had hours before hand. This could all go away..., he thought, ...One bad turn, one wrong decision, one missed step, and this could all be taken from me again. A tear rolled down his cheek again, another sign of weakness he had explored all night long. Never. Not by some vamp who gets lucky, or by some thug who catches her alone one night. Not by some jealous Mark or by some vengeance demon or nothing. His thoughts went on and on and the tears kept rolling. Tiffany never knew as her lover's touch never changed pace or strength. His thoughts ended here at the same place they ended at Ky's: My love, my wife, my child... They won't feel my pain. They won't have to. If their pain is to stop, it will have to stop by my hands. My hands. My hands. My hands.
He worked his loving hands up to her neck, massaging the kinks out of a stress filled body. He worked his left hand up and onto her head, massaging her scalp and working away the migraines she normally gets. He moved his right hand to her jaw, rubbing underneath on the front side of her neck. One jerk, he thought, one twist and she'll never feel loss. She'll never feel heartache, or true fear. She'll never feel stress or hate or jealousy or pain again. My child will never sin. My child will never feel any bad emotion ever. Our child will... Our child...
He hesitated. An instant later, the doorbell rang. "If that's Locklear, I swear to God I'm gonna..." Tiffany started up, but then was calmed down by Gene who insisted on getting the door. Gene walked through the house and over to the front door. He expected Lock to give him a lecture about leaving a hunt or leaving a conversation or something. He opened the door to find the man. The man from the alley, his family bundled tight in a blue SUV behind them.
"Hi...um... Gene, is it?" the man asked.
"Yeah," Gene replied, startled, "Can I help you with something?"
"No... um... We found this back in the...uh.. alley. You must have dropped it in the... ruckus," he said, handing Gene his wallet, "I put forty more dollars in there. I know it's not much, and if you think you deserve more, I have plenty more back at the house..."
"No thank you. We're kinda non-profit. I don't deserve this."
"You're right, you deserve a whole lot more... Oh, I'm terribly sorry. You have to understand, tonight was... uh... shaky for all of us. I'm Adam Mitchell. Over in the car, that's my wife Gayle and my son Scott. He turned six today. He had never seen a play before, so we promised to take him to a real one tonight."
Gene smiled softly, "How'd it go?"
"Oh, the show was great. It was the adventure afterwards that didn't bode so well."
"I understand sir. How's Scott?"
"Gayle covered his eyes and everything when you stabbed the guy, so he didn't see the whole poof thing. That thing wasn't human though, was it?"
"Sir, it's probably best you don't know what that thing was, anyways. Trust me. Just stay outta dark alleys at night and don't take short-cuts back to your car."
"You trust me, fella, lesson learned, heh. Anyways, I know I'm not helping with my self image here, but, eh, I know you saw the crying act I pulled and the begging and the not being able to help you fight that thing and the whole pinned-against-the-wall ordeal, and..."
"Yes sir, I know what you're getting at..."
"Okay, yeah, anyways, thank you. Thank you so very much. I try and I try to help my family but it just feels like one man's not enough. I wanted to protect them so bad but you had to do it for me. Normally I'd feel real small right about now and way too envious to approach you this late at night on your doorstep, but that's not how I feel. I don't know, maybe I feel better about the world because there are people like you in it. This world is shit, we all know that, but every now and then someone proves that it ain't all that bad. You're a hero man. To me, and to my boy Scott over there. You make this world worth living in, man." Gene looked down at his feet, taking in what the man had to say. His Jersey accent was low and deep, but the words came out clearly despite the emotion the man tried his damndest to hold back. He continued, "I'm not gonna hug you or anything, because I think I've done enough to demean myself for one night. But if a thanks and a handshake isn't good enough, how bout my eternal gratitude and respect." The man held out his hand and Gene took it, " trust me, pal, that and a dime will get you a cup of joe bout anywhere in America, heh."
"Thank you, sir," Gene smiled genuinely for the first time tonight.
"No, Gene, thank you. Who's that tall white fella with the shoulder- length dark hair?"
"Lock?"
"Yeah, he and his girl mentioned you're gonna be a papa soon?"
"Yep."
"Boy or girl?"
"Don't know yet. She just found out today."
"Well, that's gotta be the luckiest goddamn kid on Earth, you realize that?"
Gene smiled. They released hands, sharing a smile and a look as Mr. Mitchell turned and walked back to his family in the car. Gene watched as the car started and the child, Scott, it would seem, raised his head from his mother's chest and caught sight of Gene. Gene looked at the boy, who shared no kind of emotion with him. Scott buried his face again in his mother's shoulder as the car started and pulled off. He was still scared, Gene knew, and forever he'll associate Gene to that horrible situation. But because of tonight, Scott will feel love, and happiness, and contentment, and pleasure, and belonging... feelings that will outweigh the loss, and pain, and hatred, and sin. As long as I'm here, Gene thought. As long as there are still people who will fight to make sure this world is habitable.
Gene walked through the door and shut it, locking it while making a mental note to write a letter to the police department and fire fighters and the EMT's. Gene walked down the hall and into the bedroom, greeted by a warm smile from Tiffany. He approached the bed, kissed her softly, and softly pushed her back onto the bed. He crawled in the bed beside her and placed his head on her stomach. He kissed it twice and nuzzled it with his face, causing a quick laugh and tingle from Tiffany, who was tickled by the small hairs on his goatee. He laughed back and set his head softly on her stomach, closing his eyes. Tiffany smiled and rubbed his bald head. She reached over and turned off the lamp.
"New Life"
A few days have passed since Lock and Gene were cleared from the hospital after injuries sustained in the stadium incident. They now stand tall outside of the very same hospital they were released from to pick up Jamie and the other two regulars, Clint and Walt, after they were hurt following the team's training session-turned- fight for life against the Board's werewolves. Lock sits outside the van kicking a hacky-sack around between himself and Gene, who have recovered greatly since release, while Larson bundles up in his thick coat as the wind increases.
"You should have brought some of that tea of yours, Larson. It sure would cut the cold," Lock began.
"You must be joking. I've been running people back and forth all week and running errands all night. I've been to this very hospital four times this week. I don't want caffeine of any kind because I have just enough energy to pick these kids up, drive back to Station House, and go to sleep," Larson exclaimed.
"Yeah, well, we need something. We got time to stop by and get some coffee?" Gene asked.
"No, Larson's right. Let's get Jamie and them and get home. I think we could all rest up for the party tonight."
"You know, I still have no idea why you all celebrate recuperation after mass slaughters by partying..." Larson drawled.
"Cuz we're alive enough to actually recup..." Gene smiled. Larson wasn't convinced.
"It's a morale booster. It's one thing to join a cause for the good fight, but it's hard to keep fighting when the goal never changes or even gets closer to completion. So we party..." Lock nodded his head and smiled.
"Fine way of puttin it, my man," Gene laughed. They caught sight of Jamie and Clint walking out of the front door, Walt being wheeled out in a wheelchair. "Hey! Look at ole wheels!" Gene shouted. Walt shot him an unkind gesture as Jamie wheeled him over to the van. "Shut up, man... Damn wolf took a chunk outta my left thigh. These punks were lucky enough to get upper-body wounds," Walt said.
"Lucky nothing! Doctor told me that I missed a major artery by a hair. Wolves coulda killed me!" Jamie pleaded for attention.
"You couldn't have picked us up inside?" Clint glared jokingly.
"Shoot, we're gonna have to avoid this hospital for a few months because they are starting to know us a little too well," Lock smiled.
"I thought it was strange when those two nurses came into our rooms and we got all nostalgic about prior injuries..." Gene laughed.
"Alright guys, let's get out of... I'll be damned. Gene, is that Tiffany?" Lock asked, pointing across the parking lot.
"Sure is. That's kinda strange. Hey fellas, help Walt's crippled ass into the van. Me and Lock'll be right back." The team laughed as Gene and Lock trotted over to Tiffany, Gene's wife, calling her attention; she didn't look too pleased to see them.
"Hey, baby, what are you doing here?" Gene asked.
Tiffany stared, contemplating, "Well, Gene, I was getting some tests done."
"Hey Tiff," Lock threw in. She nodded and hugged him.
"What kinda tests?" Gene asked, slightly worried.
"Oh nothing major. Just haven't been feeling like I normally do," she smiled and left it at that.
"Alright, there's bushes that are being beatin around. Let's have it," Gene pursued.
"Cant I tell you this in private?" Tiffany asked.
"That's cool, guys. I'll just head back to the van," Lock turned until Gene grabbed him.
"Lock knows I'm his daddy, honey," Gene said, laughing and receiving a smack on the back of the head by Lock, "This boy's family, sweetie. You can tell him too and save me the trouble of telling him later."
She snarled, then rubbed her temple slightly, taking a deep breath. She looked into her husband's eyes and said softly, "Well, I'm six weeks late. I thought it was weird, so I went here to the doctors to get tested. I wanted to tell you I was coming here but I didn't want to get your hopes up but I should have known... Of all places, you would be at a hospital, wouldn't you? Well, you know all those lives you save all the time? You're about to have one more to protect..." Gene froze. Lock looked at Gene and grabbed him around his head and pulled him into a small hug. She continued, "So you can stop calling Locklear your son. You're gonna be a real daddy now..."
Later that night, after Larson got his nap, everyone communed for the party. As it turns out, Jamie had some ties to a pretty decent caterer from back in his B-movie days so Lock and him got a deal of a lifetime on tons of food for all units. Kelsey and Aimee of the Coven units showed up and ate to their content, but Ky had stayed home for the evening, apparently still tired from all the magic she used in the last battle and seemingly emotional, as well. Midway through the meal, Jamie found it appropriate to remove his bandages at the table, showing the slice wounds from his neck down to the top of his abdomen. Jules started freaking out, jumping into Lock's chest (causing him to draw back in pain from his bruises) and Larson ran to the bathroom due to his extremely weak stomach. Nicholas, enjoying his Vodka Tonic a bit too much, jumped up on the table and began an impromptu comedy routine that was only vaguely funny until he slipped face first through the table. Larson was none too pleased, but everyone else was drawn into hysterical laughter, resulting in Antoine getting up and starting an encore chant. Wiping the tears of laughter out of his eyes, Lock looked over at his best friend Gene, stone-faced as he held his jovial wife. Tiffany laughed out loud at how rambunctious these parties get; she laughed so much so that she never noticed Gene not even sneering, much less laughing as the rest of them were.
Lock walked to the front of the room as the party was beginning to die down and tapped an unopened bottle of Champaign on the table alluding to his announcement, giving a moment for everyone to calm themselves before he spoke: "Alright everybody, when we started this party tonight, we had so much alcohol here that I didn't think we would drink it all, and if we did I certainly wouldn't have thought we would be coherent right now. Well, it seems I underestimated you all because you all can hold your liquor... Except Nick, but that's because he's a loser. Anyways, this is the last bottle of Champaign left and the last hint of alcohol in the place, so that means that this party is coming to an end." (A chant of boos came from the left side of the room and Nick flipped Lock an awkward, wobbly middle finger) "This bottle I am going to save. You see, folks, I have bad news. Our greatest fears have come true... Our very own Gene Erwin has successfully bred. Tiffany broke all the rules against nature and is now pregnant with his child! This bottle's for them!" Every unit in the place jumped up and gave Gene a standing ovation. Gene stood with Tiffany and smiled and bowed and did the works for his group. Lock calmed them down once again, "Alright now, everyone! Go home! Go be with your loved ones! Get some action that DOESN'T require wooden stakes and decapitations. You too, Nick, I heard that your right hand has been missin you something fierce! Me and Gene'll handle the hunt tonight. I'll see all of you later! Good job at the High School, fellas."
A crowd of people came through towards the back exit, patting Gene on the back, shaking his hand, giving him random congratulations and headlock- noogies, and some going as far as asking Tiffany how she could stand his smell. Lock made his way over to them, grabbing Gene on the shoulder, "I'm sorry I didn't let you announce it, man, but since you're gonna be in the spotlight for the next nine or ten months, I had to grab my four minutes of fame," Lock said.
"Does he really have to hunt tonight, Locklear? Cant he have one night off so he can be with me?" Tiffany asked.
"Tonight will be slow. Fabini has kept it in check since the High School incident and his Board is probably reeling it in for a while too. It'll be real quick, I promise," Lock smiled and hugged her.
"Plus, I'm coming along, too," Jules interjected.
"Um, sweetie..." Lock started. Jules grabbed him by the bicep and pushed him to the side, whispering, "Look, you ain't the only one here with emotional radar. I saw him all somber and everything all night and I'm worried too. Now don't argue with me."
They turned back to the couple quickly, Lock flustered as he spoke, "Yes, um... I believe that Jules would be an excellent asset to us in the field tonight."
"Nice acting there, Affleck," Jules hit Lock in the stomach.
"Does she really have to come along? Do you really think it's okay to drag your secretary into a fight?" Tiffany asked, glaring at Jules. The two shared an obvious distaste for one another ever since Jules got drunk at a different party and called Tiffany a prude after she told Jules to get the hell off Gene when they were dancing. Jules started after Tiffany but Gene stepped in: "We'll be fine, sweetie. I'll be home before ten, okay?"
"Fine," Tiffany shot another look at Jules and leaned in for a soft kiss on her husband. She turned and walked away, Gene smiling softly as her young, black frame swayed outside and towards her car. His smile soon faded as he turned and walked past Lock and Jules on his way to the weapons.
Later that night, on the streets of downtown Cleveland, people walk back and forth, from café to bar, from hotel to bar, from restaurant to bar, and so the trend continues. Behind those places of business, however, Lock, Jules, and Gene walk slowly, looking around as they head towards the lower class section of downtown.
"I would think you'd be happy that you're having a kid. I mean, you always do so great with the kids that you, Jamie, and the Abbit twins volunteer with," Lock determined.
"Yeah, and it's not like you two aren't ready. You're both in your mid-late twenties, she has a good paying job, y'all go to church every Sunday. I think you're more than prepped for this," Jules added.
"Is this gonna be a head session or are we gonna, you know, slay vampires?" Gene asked, angrily.
"This is gonna be a head session. There is nobody out, Gene. We've had three dustings since the High School, and tonight doesn't look much busier. This is our time to nurse our wounds and make sure that everyone's cool. So why aren't you cool?"
"I don't know. Everything is so weird..."
"No it's not," Jules began, "Everything is just like it's always been. People got hurt this time. It's not like anyone died, and it's not like we haven't been hurt before. I don't see what's the problem..."
"I know," Lock said, "This is a whole cop thing, isn't it? This is because of your job with us. Tiffany knows the game and has accepted the risks, but your child wont have the choice and wont understand if, one day, daddy slips up and dies on the job and wonders why daddy isn't there anymore. Is that it, because cops go through this kind of deal all the time..."
"Naw, man, that's not it at all. I mean, I'll be a little more careful when I have a child, but if I were a cop, I know that Tiffany is strong enough to raise our child if I was shot in the line of duty or something. But I'm not a cop. Cops don't have it this hard..."
"What do you mean?" Lock and Jules stopped walking, intent on finding the source of his fears.
"Look, cops see some messed up shit. They see rapists and murderers. They see victims shot and killed and they see dumbass kids overdosing on whatever drug they concoct in their basement or buy on the streets. Last week, I saw a vampire punch through a demon's chest and rip his heart out. I saw myself fight for my life by punching a stake through a green demon's tongue and chopping its head off. Cops don't see that, and that's my problem. You know that everything is bad out there. You know that people live in poverty and make it through life by selling drugs that go only as far as screwing with somebody else's life. You see women prostituting themselves to live, and others whoring themselves because they don't want to be alone. You see men going off to die in wars and, regardless of whether or not it's a good cause, half of them don't know what they are fighting for. Now you have religions saying that anyone who doesn't believe in their ways should die. This life is hard enough to bring a child into, but count in everything that we do know: we know what goes bump in the night, Lock. We know that gangs aren't the only thing to fear in back alleys, Jules, and half the time all gangs will do is rob you. We know that every time there is a fire emergency where people die, its mostly a cover up because some demon decided that today was the day to sacrifice something. We know the truth behind evil in this world, and it goes far, FAR beyond the evil in men. My question isn't whether or not I can stay alive long enough to protect my child, folks. My question is whether or not I should take the responsibility of bringing a child into this world when I know the suffering it will have. Is this world even worth bringing life into? Do I want that fate on my head? Will I be able to look at my baby boy and see some vampire sink his goddamn teeth into him, knowing that I brought that child into this world KNOWING how god-awful it is?"
"It's not like that, though..." Jules said, her tone very low and mousy.
"Let's not be ignorant, Jules. Just because you don't get a lot of field work doesn't mean you don't know what's going on behind the curtains. We saved you from certain doom before you joined us, remember? You know what it's like to stare at death and live. I ... Lock, we do that everyday! The high school was close, but I didn't care. Do you know how many times I thought of Tiffany when I was in that tournament? Once, and that was right after Fabini spat on me. And that was fleeting, too! These are emotions I should feel, but I don't! And that's the way I like it..."
"What are you talking about? Your child is gonna be fine because of you! Because of us! We do this so that people don't have to be bothered with knowing. They can live lives and not know what we know. We took an oath to save these people. Your child will be one of them..." Lock said, fervently.
"No, you don't understand. I love you, Lock. I love you too, Jules. I love Ky. GOD, do I love Ky... She's like a fucking sister to me. And I love Tiffany, with everything I have, but I don't have much. I swung that axe at Ky's throat... What if she timed the glamour wrong? I fought those big, nasty demons to the death, and I lived... What if I died? What would Tiffany have done? I throw my life away every time I hunt because deep-down, I don't want to live anymore, people." Lock and Jules became very quiet. A long moment of silence spread between them, and tears started streaming down Jules's face. Choked up, Gene began to cry as well, pouring his soul out in thick sobs, "I'm sure you all must've seen it before, but that's the truth, in case the class hasn't been paying attention. I read so much, and I know what humans themselves do to cause so much pain and heartache and for little reason. I sympathize with people who kill out of mercy. I mean, come on people! Larson read us some of the files from the Sunnydale Slayer. She averted how many Apocalypses? So the world can end at any given moment. The slayer, for whatever reason, has retired. Between Earth and Hell lies a handful of naïve soldiers with axes and stakes and I want to bring my child into a world like that so that, if he's lucky, he might die at the hands of his fellow man?"
Gene stopped. He sucked in his sobs and began to compose himself, "I'm sorry, guys. I didn't mean to blow up on y'all. I just have twelve million thoughts in my head right now and they're all thoughts that I've tried for the last ten years to avoid thinking. I just need something to happen. Get my mind off of things." And as if it were predestined, a man carrying a child and a woman right behind him went sprinting through the back alleys, the three Hunters hearing their pleas for help. Several paces behind them were two gang-members giving chase, but the speed and maneuverability of these gang-members implied that they were something other than drug pushers or rapists. Like a crack of lightning in the sky, Gene was off in a speedy pace. Lock and Jules followed close behind as they flew parallel to the speedy antagonists. Turning the corner hard, Lock football tackled the one in the rear of the pack, sending them both flying into the next alley. Lock made it to his feet to notice that the gang-member was now vamped-out and fully flexed in a fighting stance. Jules rushed to Lock's side and pulled out her sharp wooden stake, but Gene kept up the chase with the assumed vamp chasing the man, woman, and child. The man was able to kick over a few trash cans in trying to escape the vampire, but the cunning cross-breed was able to work around them, just slowing him slightly. The man thought that maybe he had escaped with his family until the long alley they had been traveling came to a sudden halt. He tried to make his young son stop crying, hoping that the vampire had gone a different route.
The vampire burst from the shadows in the corner of the dead end and delivered a roundhouse kick to the face of the wife. She dropped like a sack of bricks, causing an eruption from the husband. He dropped the child on his feet and charged the demon, only to be sent back down to the ground on his face. The vamp picked up his victim and carried him to the wall where he placed him against the wall, hit him with two quick jabs and a cross-hook, and then pushed a large, metal trash dumpster against the wall, pinning both his arms and legs against the brick wall. The man spat out a tooth and some blood and begged for his family's life. The vampire stopped listening to the painful pleas after catching the whiff of youthful fear in the air. It turned back and quicker than any human alive, snatched the child up by his collar. The vampire carried the child over to the dumpster where his father was trapped.
"How much do you love this child?" the vampire asked.
"PLEASE GOD, I'LL DO ANYTHING. PLEASE LET HIM GO!!!" the man begged.
"You didn't answer my question," the vampire smiled, running a finger nail down the pre-pubescent's cheek, drawing a thick line of blood and a hail of tear-filled screams. "Your wife, your son... How much do you love them?" the vampire continued.
The man started crying harder than he ever has before. His face turned red and his body muscles flexed. He grunted and screamed and pushed with all his might against the weighted dumpster, all to no avail as his fury did nothing but aggravate the vampire. The demon shook his head and extended his fangs. His jaw dropped open, still showing the fainted hint of a sadistic smile, and drew his fangs down towards the child's bare neck. Out of nowhere, Gene sprinted out of the corner alley and plowed through the vampire before it drank its intended victim. Gene found a metal bar on the ground, picked it up and began choking the beast with it. The vampire flung him around in several directions until Gene let go, realizing you cant choke the air out of something that cant breathe. Landing on his feet, Gene harpooned the metal staff through the thigh of the vampire, instigating a howl the likes of which he has heard all too many times. Gene got a running start and speared the vampire right into the dumpster, pushing it just enough to release the father from its hold. The young boy got to his feet and ran to his father on the ground. The man stood tall and wobbled over to Gene to offer his help.
"Grab your wife!" Gene screamed angrily, insuring the man would not be in harm's way. Gene kept hitting the vampire over and over. The vampire limped forward and threw an incredible punch, one that was easily blocked leaving open the metal javelin in its leg which Gene grabbed and twisted around. The vampire screamed until Gene eventually had the beast pinned on its stomach. Gene trapped its two hands on the small of its back and placed his knee on them, making him unable to use his hands or move. He then grabbed the metal bar again and again started turning it and twisting it until the vampire begged for the Hunter to give it the inevitable wooden curtain call. Gene picked up the beast by the hair, turned it to face the family, and plunged the wooden stake clean through its ribcage and into its heart, causing an explosion of dust. Gene stood, taking in deep breaths and slowly letting his heart rate slow back down and regain his composure. He looked over at the family and saw that the mother had regained consciousness. She held and stroked her son, gently telling him that they were going to be okay. Gene looked at the father, who tried again to make it to his feet and struggled, turning to Gene with widened eyes.
Several blocks down, Lock took several punches to his already bruised face and returned fire but didn't nail one blow. The vampire grabbed Lock by his neck and went in for the bite, but Lock struggled and, with trembling hands, was able to work his way out of the demon's clutches. The vampire drew back his fist, openly screamed a few expletives, and threw everything he had into one punch. Lock fell backwards into a ball to avoid the hit, leaving his leg out to trip the vampire on the way down. The vamp tripped expectedly and fell forward, chest-first, on the stake in Jules' hands. It exploded to dust all over the research unit, causing her to shriek and shake all over to get the dust off.
"EEEWWWWW... I did it. That was me. You take the busted lips. I do the staking. You think I could be a slayer?" Jules asked jubilantly.
"Shut up," Lock drawled, whipping the blood from his busted lip, "You see which way Gene went?"
They hurried the way Jules pointed and wound up at the dead end, witnessing nothing more than a pile of dust and a recovering family.
"Is everyone okay?" Lock asked. The father looked over at them.
"There were two. Did you handle the other one?" he asked, frantically.
"What are you talking about sir?" Jules asked.
"Were you with the black man that just saved us?" he asked.
"Yeah. Gene. Where did he go?"
"I dunno. He saved us from that... thing. He stabbed it in the chest and it turned to dust. What was that thing?"
"You mean he just left?" Jules insisted.
"Yeah. I stood up to thank him for saving us and he was already gone."
"Do you need any help sir?" Lock asked in his boy-scout fashion.
"Just some cuts and bruises. We'll be fine. They're just so scared. Can you walk us to our car?"
Across town, a cab pulled to a stop outside an apartment complex a few miles west of Station House. Gene stepped out of the cab and handed the cabbie a few dollars he had in his pocket after sadly noticing his wallet missing. The cab streaked off as Gene headed up to the second floor over to apartment E and knocked on the door. The door swung open quickly.
"Jesus, Gene! Why the hell are you covered in blood?" Ky asked, putting down a steaming bowl of ramen noodles and tightening her robe.
"Don't worry. None of its mine..." Gene walked in the door and removed his coat, hanging it on the back of a dining room chair. He sat down and Ky came back out of the bathroom with a wet rag and wiped the blood off of his face and hands. He pulled his boots off and leaned back in the chair. Ky sat down in the chair next to him with a worried look on her face.
"I dunno why you're here. You know I'm not talking to you..." she said.
"Why's that?" he asked.
"I don't know that either."
"Well, you give the best advice when you're mad at me anyways."
"What'd you do now? Did Tiffany catch Jules drunk and all over you again?"
"No. Tiffany's pregnant."
"Yeah, I know. Lock knows I'm not picking up the phone for him but he insists on leaving me messages on my voice mail with five minute updates."
"He just cares about you. That's all."
"I thought I was supposed to be giving you the advice..."
"You still are. I don't have a clue where to begin..."
"I know you better than you know you Gene, so just start in the middle and you know I'll catch everything..."
"I'm scared."
"Of what?"
"I've wanted a child all my life. When my dad left the house when I was six, I knew I would be a better father because I knew that just being there would make all the difference in the world. I would sit there and think of all the things I would do if I had the chance to raise a boy. All the boy's asses I would kick if I had a baby girl. I knew then and I know now, in my heart, that I can be the greatest daddy in the world, because that was my goal in life."
"That's beautiful, Gene. But I'm not catching the problem here..."
"You know the problem. It started when I was twelve, and my mom was drained by a bloodsucker right in front of me. It happened again tonight. I thought it was just another kill, but when I got there, it was the same thing all over again. I remember when that vamp broke my right arm and dislocated my left shoulder, and he held me by my left wrist and kept twisting..." The words became harder for Gene as tears started to reform and the visions became more vivid, "... and he asked my mother, my bleeding, defenseless mother, what she would do if he killed me. She cried and cried and cried even harder when it started cutting me. We were right outside our home and lots of people were watching but no one dared come help us, and everyone assumed that the other had called the cops... When it had enough of playing with me, it chunked me to the side and drained her. Captain Jon came in and saved me, but it was too late for her."
"Captain Jon... I miss the hell out of him. And I still don't know why he made Lock Captain before he died..."
"Yeah, but that same situation happened tonight, almost verbatim. I stopped it, but I had it in my head that something like that couldn't ever happen again. Something that evil couldn't happen twice. But it did."
"And you stopped it."
"But it solidified it. Before I killed it, I was sparring these ideas in my head off of Lock and Jules, but that just flat out convinced me: if I love my child as much as I know that I will, I don't think it would be fair to bring him into a world like this."
"Ooookayyy, that took a turn I wasn't expecting. What do you mean a world like this?"
"Oh, c'mon Ky, you've seen it too. You've seen the kind of things that we see everyday and all the horrors that are in this world. It's one thing if we lived in a world where we only had to worry about vamps and demons or a world where we only have to worry about protecting ourselves from our neighbors, but both?"
"We live it pretty well, Gene..."
"Did I tell you that I didn't talk for four years after my mother died? Captain Jon would visit me on my birthday and every Christmas day, but from twelve to sixteen I didn't say one word, to him or my foster parents. This is stuff I don't tell people because that's not who I am anymore. You and Lock are my best friends, Ky, but y'all don't have a clue what's goin on in my head half the time, because these are thoughts I don't want to let y'all know I feel. Because that's not who y'all love."
"How can we help if we never know you're hurting?"
"You're not supposed to know I'm hurting. You prick me, I bleed, that's it. It took me fourteen years since my mom died to drown these thoughts out, but I have. I can because I know I'm strong enough and I know that the further I keep Tiffany from this double life I lead, the safer she'll be because she's stronger than me and she can handle herself if I'm not around anymore. But if I drag Gene Jr. into this, he or she cant. And with tonight, I know that there is a chance that my child can feel what I feel, and I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy, much less something I love more than my life, or even your life, or Lock's life. I think the only way I can protect this child is to make sure it doesn't have a life to suffer through..."
"I think you're wrong. I think you're so goddamn wrong I cant find words to express how wrong you are." She stood up from the table and tightened her robe, angered more than she knew she could be. "You're crazy, you know that? No, you're not crazy... You're weak! I spent all these years admiring you, thinking that I would be fine if I could stay close to you, that I should maybe start practicing witchcraft so that maybe I can at least be half of what you are, and you're just going to throw this on me? 'Guess what, Ky, I'm weak and every goal you've had in life is worthless because you looked up to the wrong guy?' Is that is, Gene?"
Gene's tears dried up and turned to confusion, as he suddenly became the bad guy, "What are you talking about, Ky?"
"You, Gene. You're not weak. You're not dumb. You are strong. You are smart. You are a leader. You are inspirational to me and every one of your units. Do you have any idea where the Abbit twins would be right now if not for you? If anything, they're like your sons. They're young black kids who look up to the greatest role model that any of us know. This may be because I'm still really pissed off at him, but I don't know if Lock would have an army if you didn't follow his lead. You've helped us grow up so much, Gene. You were like my big brother growing up. Remember when you beat Antoine's ass after he smacked me on the butt that one time? This is your chance to raise your own flesh and blood. This world sucks, Gene, I'll give you that. But if there is someone strong enough to protect someone from everything this world can throw at them, then it's the guy in front of me."
Gene drew in a deep breath, "... I still cant risk it. I couldn't do that to someone I love..."
Ky screamed. Then she huffed, and slammed herself onto the living room couch six feet away from the table. "That's it. That's all I've got. So fine, what are you gonna do? You gonna ask Tiffany to abort?"
"I couldn't do that... Tiffany knows how much a child would mean to me. She would die before I could convince her to abort."
"So did you come to me for a spell? Best I've got is in the black magic category. I could stir up something that could cause a miscarriage..."
"A miscarriage would kill her on the inside. She would never get over that...this is going to have to be on my hands if its going to go that far..."
"What was that?" Ky asked, confused as though she heard something different.
"I've gotta get going, Ky. Tiffany wanted me home by ten."
"Are you sure? You want me to walk you there, cuz I can put on some clothes and walk you home...?"
"No... a little private walk will do me some good. Let some of those things you told me sink in."
Gene walked to the door and opened it wide. He turned back, put on his coat, looked at Ky one more time, and turned to leave. She grabbed him by his coat sleeve and turned him around. She hugged him tightly and held him close, "I love you, Gene. We all do. You're too strong to think such weak thoughts. Okay? I love you. And remember, I'm still mad at you at least until next Monday." She winked at him, kissed him on the cheek, and slammed and locked the door. Different time, different place, Gene would have smiled.
Gene's thoughts grew darker on his walk home, possibly because the wind speed and direction picked up and changed dramatically. He stepped up to the front porch of his small but nice home in the suburbs, something that his early childhood with his mother couldn't afford him. He took off his boots again and placed them on the side of the front door, reached inside his coat for his keys, but the door opened before he could fit the lock. Tiffany stepped forward with a stern look on her face, looked at her watch, looked back at him, and kissed him passionately on the lips.
"It's 10:10. Ten more minutes and I would have counted you off as dead. We have a new assistant in the office named Mark who would be more than willing to give a young, vibrant, voluptuous first-trimester pregnant woman a nice massage and rub-down, and..."
"Shut up," Gene smiled. He kissed her again and picked her up. He carried her towards the bedroom in his arms, just as he had when she married him. She didn't feel heavier, like he'd expect a pregnant woman would. She nuzzled his chest and kissed the small crevice right below his neck the same way, and that got to him every time. He placed her gently on the bed and sat her upright. He got on the bed, sitting on his knees, and he placed a pillow between his thigh to stomach and her back. She leaned against him and he started massaging her shoulders, just as he had done the night after their wedding. His happiest day ever. She smelled the same way, too, if not sweeter now. He gently kissed her head and continued the massage. It struck him then, again, just as it had hours before hand. This could all go away..., he thought, ...One bad turn, one wrong decision, one missed step, and this could all be taken from me again. A tear rolled down his cheek again, another sign of weakness he had explored all night long. Never. Not by some vamp who gets lucky, or by some thug who catches her alone one night. Not by some jealous Mark or by some vengeance demon or nothing. His thoughts went on and on and the tears kept rolling. Tiffany never knew as her lover's touch never changed pace or strength. His thoughts ended here at the same place they ended at Ky's: My love, my wife, my child... They won't feel my pain. They won't have to. If their pain is to stop, it will have to stop by my hands. My hands. My hands. My hands.
He worked his loving hands up to her neck, massaging the kinks out of a stress filled body. He worked his left hand up and onto her head, massaging her scalp and working away the migraines she normally gets. He moved his right hand to her jaw, rubbing underneath on the front side of her neck. One jerk, he thought, one twist and she'll never feel loss. She'll never feel heartache, or true fear. She'll never feel stress or hate or jealousy or pain again. My child will never sin. My child will never feel any bad emotion ever. Our child will... Our child...
He hesitated. An instant later, the doorbell rang. "If that's Locklear, I swear to God I'm gonna..." Tiffany started up, but then was calmed down by Gene who insisted on getting the door. Gene walked through the house and over to the front door. He expected Lock to give him a lecture about leaving a hunt or leaving a conversation or something. He opened the door to find the man. The man from the alley, his family bundled tight in a blue SUV behind them.
"Hi...um... Gene, is it?" the man asked.
"Yeah," Gene replied, startled, "Can I help you with something?"
"No... um... We found this back in the...uh.. alley. You must have dropped it in the... ruckus," he said, handing Gene his wallet, "I put forty more dollars in there. I know it's not much, and if you think you deserve more, I have plenty more back at the house..."
"No thank you. We're kinda non-profit. I don't deserve this."
"You're right, you deserve a whole lot more... Oh, I'm terribly sorry. You have to understand, tonight was... uh... shaky for all of us. I'm Adam Mitchell. Over in the car, that's my wife Gayle and my son Scott. He turned six today. He had never seen a play before, so we promised to take him to a real one tonight."
Gene smiled softly, "How'd it go?"
"Oh, the show was great. It was the adventure afterwards that didn't bode so well."
"I understand sir. How's Scott?"
"Gayle covered his eyes and everything when you stabbed the guy, so he didn't see the whole poof thing. That thing wasn't human though, was it?"
"Sir, it's probably best you don't know what that thing was, anyways. Trust me. Just stay outta dark alleys at night and don't take short-cuts back to your car."
"You trust me, fella, lesson learned, heh. Anyways, I know I'm not helping with my self image here, but, eh, I know you saw the crying act I pulled and the begging and the not being able to help you fight that thing and the whole pinned-against-the-wall ordeal, and..."
"Yes sir, I know what you're getting at..."
"Okay, yeah, anyways, thank you. Thank you so very much. I try and I try to help my family but it just feels like one man's not enough. I wanted to protect them so bad but you had to do it for me. Normally I'd feel real small right about now and way too envious to approach you this late at night on your doorstep, but that's not how I feel. I don't know, maybe I feel better about the world because there are people like you in it. This world is shit, we all know that, but every now and then someone proves that it ain't all that bad. You're a hero man. To me, and to my boy Scott over there. You make this world worth living in, man." Gene looked down at his feet, taking in what the man had to say. His Jersey accent was low and deep, but the words came out clearly despite the emotion the man tried his damndest to hold back. He continued, "I'm not gonna hug you or anything, because I think I've done enough to demean myself for one night. But if a thanks and a handshake isn't good enough, how bout my eternal gratitude and respect." The man held out his hand and Gene took it, " trust me, pal, that and a dime will get you a cup of joe bout anywhere in America, heh."
"Thank you, sir," Gene smiled genuinely for the first time tonight.
"No, Gene, thank you. Who's that tall white fella with the shoulder- length dark hair?"
"Lock?"
"Yeah, he and his girl mentioned you're gonna be a papa soon?"
"Yep."
"Boy or girl?"
"Don't know yet. She just found out today."
"Well, that's gotta be the luckiest goddamn kid on Earth, you realize that?"
Gene smiled. They released hands, sharing a smile and a look as Mr. Mitchell turned and walked back to his family in the car. Gene watched as the car started and the child, Scott, it would seem, raised his head from his mother's chest and caught sight of Gene. Gene looked at the boy, who shared no kind of emotion with him. Scott buried his face again in his mother's shoulder as the car started and pulled off. He was still scared, Gene knew, and forever he'll associate Gene to that horrible situation. But because of tonight, Scott will feel love, and happiness, and contentment, and pleasure, and belonging... feelings that will outweigh the loss, and pain, and hatred, and sin. As long as I'm here, Gene thought. As long as there are still people who will fight to make sure this world is habitable.
Gene walked through the door and shut it, locking it while making a mental note to write a letter to the police department and fire fighters and the EMT's. Gene walked down the hall and into the bedroom, greeted by a warm smile from Tiffany. He approached the bed, kissed her softly, and softly pushed her back onto the bed. He crawled in the bed beside her and placed his head on her stomach. He kissed it twice and nuzzled it with his face, causing a quick laugh and tingle from Tiffany, who was tickled by the small hairs on his goatee. He laughed back and set his head softly on her stomach, closing his eyes. Tiffany smiled and rubbed his bald head. She reached over and turned off the lamp.