Anthony stared at her for a moment before busting out laughing. Kim's face looked severly annoyed, but they couldn't really blame the boy.

"Momma, if you're trying to scare me so I won't fight anymore, this is not the way to do it."

"I'm serious, Anthony."

He rolled his eyes at her, "Yeah right. Next your gonna try and tell me that Ash is a werewolf."

Ash smirked at Kim, "Actually, Amp," he said, calling the boy by his nickname from his initials, "I'm not a werewolf. I'm an eleven thousand year old Atlantean god. And Simi is my fourteen thousand year old demon daughter."

He still was blantantly skeptick. "Oh, yeah? Prove it, then."

Ash's eyebrow rose at the arrogant tone in the ten year old's voice. "Well for starters, there's the fact that I just teleported you from your bed in the Quarter to Kyrian's house in the Garden district, in a matter of seconds."

"Pffft, I'm a ridicously heavy sleeper. You know that and I know that. You could have grabbed me, tossed me in your car and went over a dozen train tracks and I wouldn't have woke up."

Kyrian looked at the boy then to Acheron,"He's quite set on this, isn't he?"

"Yeah," Ash said, shrugging his shoulders as he rolled his sleeve up to reveal his dragon tattoo, "but I have something up my sleeve that should prove him wrong. Simi, true form. Come play with Anthony."

Anthony's eyes change from cocky to shocked as the tattoo lifted off Ash's skin as a black mist that solidified into a young woman. Her skin was a swirl of red and black. Her large, red eyes conveyed an innocent joy at seeing him as she rushed over to hug him. Her black, bat-like wings wrapped around both of them to squeeze him tighter as she picked him up off the ground.

"Oh, Anthony! The Simi has missed you so much and that yummy candy you always have. Akri doesn't let me go anywhere much lately which is not good cause the Simi needs to be free sometime and being stuck on him all the time, though I do love him, is veeeery boring and gives the Simi headaches."

She quickly dropped him as she remembered something in her ever-present coffin-shaped purse. "The Simi has this for you. But it's a surprise so Anthony has to close his eyes." She leaned towards Acheron and unsuccessfully whispered to him, "The Simi found the cutest little pair of horneys that match the Simi's." She pointed to the black horns that stuck out from her long black and red hair. Forgeting to make Anthony close his eyes, she popped the headband on top of his head, then readjusted it a few times til it suited her.

"There!" She clapped her clawed hands together, "They're not as good as Charonte horneys but they will do for Simi's favorite little human boy." She picked him up again and this time swung him around in the air as she lifted them both up a foot off the ground and started dancing to a tune that was only in her head.

Kim stood up from where she had been kneeling to stare at Simi. Her expression conveyed just how shocked she was. Nick leaned over to speak in her ear, "Yeah, being told that there's demons and seeing Simi's true form are different things. Your doing alot better than my first time seeing her like this. I had known her for a few days, thinking she was just some weird teenager before I found out what she really was. I freaked out, which was strange cause there had been plenty of people I had went to school with that had been some form of shapeshifters, and I took them easily."

Kim kept her eyes on the demon woman who was now trying to force the plastic horns on her son, who kept pulling them off. "I always thought there was something strange about her, but not like this. I was thinking maybe it was some form of genius."

"Genius? Simi?" Kyrian looked back and forth between the two women.

"Yeah, like Einstein, or Sheldon."

Nick laughed while Kyrian looked even more confused. Nick waved off the Greek.

"Ummmm, Simi?" Kim walked over to the demon.

Simi turned around, then squeaked in surprise. "Oh! Kimi-Kimi-Kim! The Simi didn't know you were here!" She looked at Ash hurt, "Akri! Why didn't you tell Simi that her favorite human boy's mommy was here?!" Before he could answer, she jumped on Kim, hugging her as well. "And it's so nice to be the real Simi and not the human Simi, which I never can understand why I has to be human Simi when the real Simi is perfect." Without releasing Kim, Simi began to bounce. "Oh, do you have those yummy cookies that we loves?"

"N-n-no, Sweetie." Kim tried to say between bounces, "N-not with me. But I h-have some a-at home."

Simi instantly disappeared mid-jump, causing Kim to fall backwards. Luckily, Nick's quick reflexes caught her before she hit the floor. Nick looked up at Ash as he helped Kim back to her feet.

"Where'd she disappear to?"

Ash just sighed and pointed to the table on the other side of the room. They turned to see Simi poof back into existance, sitting cross legged on top of the table, with a Wolverine cookie jar in her lap. She grinned at them before pulling Wolverine's head/lid off and pulling out one of Kim's cookies.

Anthony's mouth dropped open. "Hey! Those are for me!" He ran over to her and tried to snatch the jar from Simi, who just picked it up and held it over both their heads.

"Simi..." Ash gave her a stern face.

She pouted, both with her lips and wings, before lowering the jar back to where Anthony could reach into it. Though she still refused to let go of the porcelain X-man. Ash let out a light groan, rubbing his forehead with his thumb.

Anthony climbed up on top of the table and sat next to Simi. He leaned over her shoulder to reach into the cookie jar, but Simi's wing was in the way. There was a brief struggle where Simi was purposefully keeping her wing in the way while she stuffed her face with cookies. Kim watched the two eating cookies for a moment before turning back to the men. "Things are never gonna be the same again, are they?"

The three shook their collective heads.

Kyrian looked at the two on his table, "I don't know what to think on how quickly your son has adjusted to Simi's natural state."

"Well, I've always been a fan of the paranormal and he was raised on it. I'm an avid drawer and," she used air quotes, "'mythical creatures' are kinda my thing. I even sell them sometimes online and in the Square. Plus I love sci-fi and anime so all those worlds and genres have been part of his life from day one."

Kyrian looked unconvinced, "Yeah, but there's a difference between being taught things and actually experiencing them. I was raised in ancient Greece, told every day about the gods and what they do for us. That they were always watching us, but I never believed it. I never prayed or worshipped them. I thought those who did were insane." He smirked in spite of himself, "So imagine how I felt when I died and was approached by Artemis to be a Dark-Hunter."

Kim solemnly nodded, though she was only half listening. She was thinking of all the things in life that now could be wrong. How much of her life was a lie? Her brow furrowed as she thought more on it. There had been so many things that had seemed strange in her life. The shadows that caused her to run and climb in bed with her mother, even as a teen. The feeling that someone was watching her when she was completely alone in her own home. How much had been the paranoia her mother had drilled into her, and how much had been her own senses trying to warn her of the pernatural around her?

"Kim?"

Kim blinked and looked up at Nick's worried tone. He, Acheron and Kyrian all had varying levels of worry in their eyes.

"You ok, Kim?" The Atlantean asked. "You kinda zoned out on us."

Her cheeks pinkened as she glanced at her hands, which were beginning to nervously rubbed together. The thumbs rubbing over one another, twirling.

"Sorry, I just started thinking about what all parts of my life have possibly been misleading. What was possibly some demon or creature stalking me that I picked up on but thought it was just paranoia? I can think of so many times in my life where I could swear there was something around me that was off but when I couldn't figure it out, I'd just brush it off. Or at least try, too."

Nick stepped over to stand in front of her. He put his hand in his pockets, searching for something. "Stick out your hand."

She hesitated a moment, before placing her hand, palm up, atop his own out-stretched hand. He placed a small, well worn looking book that seemed to warm up in her hand. Nick flipped it open, then took the small knife and pricked his finger. He squeezed three drops of blood onto the page then spoke in a language that she couldn't even begin to understand. The drops swirled on the page to form words and a picture of herself shadowed in darkness.

This woman you see,

but she is not all there is to be.

Though she is human,

there is danger loomin'.

The enemy of your enemy,

may be you girlfriend.

Now stop picturing her naked, Malachai.

Nick slammed it shut as his face burned bright red. Kim looked up at him but he refused to look at her as he shoved the small book back into the pocet he had pulled it from.

Kyrian snickered, "She give you some lip again?"

"I don't wanna talk about it."

Kim looked confused at the two's exchange, along with the strange book. Though, if she was being honest, that bit about Nick imagining her naked did cause a heat to rise up in places that had long been cold.

Nick actually stomped over to the fridge and yanked it open to start foraging inside, grumbling the whole time.

"I-," Kim started, "I don't quite understand what just happened."

Simi popped up infront of Kim, hanging upside down from the light fixture above Kim's head. "Nick just used his ghost book to find out if Anthony's momma are who Anthony's momma say she is, or if she aren't who she lie she are. Though, Simi take insult cause that would mean that her Akri would not have known she is or is not who you say she is and that just can't happen cause Simi's Akri is the best." Simi stuck her black tongue out at Nick's back.

"Translation?" Kim asked the room.

"Nick used his grimoire to try to find out why it is that you have those feelings. Some humans just are more sensitve to our kind and other species," Ash started to explain. "But there are the few cases where a human isn't completely human. An ancestor that was a demon, a god, a shapeshifter. You may not have any powers but the scent of your heritage is in your blood, and those that could unlock any powers that may be hidden within you would then go after you."

Kim's eyebrows came together in thought, "But with you being a god, Kyrian being a Dark-Hunter, Simi being a demon, and Nick being whatever he is."

Simi interrupted, "Nick is Malachai. The ultimate evil demon overlord that sucks at video games and could destroy the whole world if he wanted to."

Nick dead-panned, holding a beer as he shut the fridge, "Thanks, Sim."

"You're welcome, Nicky." She responded innocently.

"Ooook, even more to the point. With all of your collective powers, shouldn't one of you had been able to pick this up if I had a powerful ancestor?"

Nick sat his beer on the counter, "Not necesssarily. Sometimes if a human is around a paranormal for extended periods of time, you can smell like them but not be one."

Kim arched an eyebrow at that, "Do I smell like anyone? Or I guess I should say, anything?"

"You smell like cherries."

"That's her body butter lotion stuff," Anthony said, carrying the now empty cookie jar. He sat it on the counter then hopped back onto the stool that his blanket was on. "She lathers herself in it from head to toe almost everyday since she found out she was pregnant with me so that she wouldn't get too bad of stretch marks."

"Anthony!" Kim barked, covering her face with her hand in exasperation.

"What?"

"There are somethings people don't need to know."

He gave her a look that said that was now out the window. "Momma, were in a kitchen with two demons, a god, and some ancient general from Rome. I don't think there is anything anymore that is under the topic 'Don't Need To Know'."

Acheron inclined his head to the boy then to Kim, "He has a point."

"Psht!" Nick look astonished at Ash, "Your one to talk, Ash. Your the king of Secrets."

Ash just smiled at him, which aggravated the Cajun even more.

"Kyrian?"

A woman's voice from outside the kitchen caught everyone's attention. She stepped through the doorway, wearing a robe and purple bunny slippers. Her auburn hair was tussled, showing that she had recently been asleep.

"Amanda." Kyrian walked over to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek, "Did we wake you?"

She shook her head, "No, I just woke up and wanted to get some tea. What's going on?" She looked at Kim and Anthony. "Ah, hello. I don't think we've met before."

"No, we haven't. Until tonight, I only knew Ash and Simi, well sort of."

The red head smiled, "Well, I'm Amanda, Kyrian's wife."

"I'm Kim, and this is my son, Anthony."

"Hi!" Anthony beamed at her, "Ya know, she looks alot like Mrs. Tabby. Like scary similar."

Amanda nodded, "If you mean Tabitha Devereux , then it's because she's my twin sister."

"Woah! Really?!"

"Anthony! Inside voice!"

He slouched and rubbed the back of his head, "Oops, sorry."

Amanda walked over to a cabinet to pull out the tea. "Anyone want some?"

There was a collective head shake.

"Ok, more for me then. So, what's happened to have all of you in my kitchen at eleven thirty." She gave a pointed stare to Nick and Ash, shouldn't you two be out patroling right now?"

"We were," Ash said, "But a group of daimons attacked Kim. Luckily, Nick had been nearby and was able to save her before they killed her."

"Wait, what?" Anthony half-shouted. He turned to Kim and searched her up and down, just now realizing she was injured. "Momma, are you ok? How come you didn't say anything after Ash teleported me here?"

She ran her hand through his hair, worry creasing her forehead, "I didn't want to scare you."

"Well, don't do that!" He slid off the stool to hug her tight, "I can't lose you, Momma." He sniffled into her shirt, "I can't."