25

Josie sat on a low stone wall that ran the length of the school building, snacking half-heartedly on some cheese crackers. Mostly she was thinking. It was her free period, which her mom still jokingly referred to as recess, and instead of spending the hour getting a head start on her homework or gossiping with Grace, she was sitting alone on the side of the school watching the younger kids of the elementary school next door run around.

Mostly, she kept thinking about what Drew had told her the day before at lunch. And whether or not she really believed it. And the changes that seemed to be going on with her mom, and the house, the family…Josie wasn't afraid of things changing. In fact, she sort of liked not knowing what was going to happen. It kept things from getting boring.

But that left her with the problem of everything Drew had told her. She knew she shouldn't believe it, because it was just too crazy. But he had said he could show her proof. Josie had told him to let her think on it for a while first. She had to process everything. And she wasn't sure she wanted to know what kind of proof Drew would be able to come up with.

"Hey."

Josie smiled to herself. Speak…or in this case, think…of the devil. "Hey, Drew."

"Why are you sitting out here?" He sat down next to her, facing the opposite direction.

Josie shrugged. "Seemed like the place to go." She held out the small pack of crackers and he took one with a smirk on his face.

"Coach sees me eating this stuff he'll give himself a heart attack screamin' at me." Drew said and popped the whole snack into his mouth. "You're brooding."

"No I'm not. I'm just sitting here."

"Brooding. Believe me - I know what brooding looks like. My dad is practically a professional."

"I was just thinking stuff over." Josie said, going back to looking at the younger kids. "Shouldn't you be in class right now?"

Drew shrugged and finished off the pack of crackers. "We had a team meeting. And Ms. Barnes won't let us back in class while she's in the middle of talking. She says we disrupt her too much." Ms. Barnes was one of the school's English teachers.

"Oh." Josie brought her knee up to rest her foot on the wall, her arms around her leg, her chin on her knee. She felt sort of…bummed out. Down. She couldn't describe it. She didn't know why either. She'd been all right the night before, great this morning, she and Grace were going to make plans to talk their parents into another lake trip at some point. "Drew…when you said everybody. Did you mean…everybody?"

Drew was looking at her profile, studying her closely. "Just about."

"What about my Granddad?"

The question surprised him for a moment. "No. He's human. So was your grandmother and you dad. You and your mom."

Josie mulled that over. If he was being honest, and she saw no reason why he wouldn't be, that meant that the best friend she had known for as long as she could remember had hidden this from her. She didn't know how Grace could do that…she had gone to Grace with everything from her tears when she'd lost her father and grandmother to her fear about her grandfather moving out. And Grace had used Josie's ear in the same way. But this…how could she hide something so huge?

"Nobody's allowed to talk about it. Not to humans. Outsiders." Drew balled the empty wrapper in his hand. "You and your family are different. You aren't outsiders. You're part of this town. And people like you guys. That's why…" He trailed off and frowned a little.

"That's why what?"Josie had turned her head to look at him.

"My mom was human. And she knew what we were but…she forgot. Or she let herself forget. Dad says…" He paused again, that troubled look still on his face. "He said that he let her forget because of some things that happened. Some stuff she probably couldn't live with if she knew it was true. But…there were some people who didn't like Dad. Or they were afraid of him. I've heard different stuff. And Dad thinks that Mom dying wasn't an accident."

Josie lifted an eyebrow. He had said it in a matter-of-fact voice but the look of hurt that crossed his face nearly brought tears to her eyes. "He thinks someone caused the wreck?"

Drew nodded. "Somebody who wanted to get back at him for all the stuff that happened a long time ago. The stuff that brought them together. I don't know all of it because Dad doesn't like to talk about it much. At any rate…you're family is liked around here. Respected. So everybody agreed to just act normal and make a place where they could live in peace. And part of the deal was that if there ever came a time when your family had to know…then someone would tell them."

"And now is the time?"

"Past time, according to a couple of people." Drew smiled a little. "My Dad really likes your Mom. Maybe more than likes her. He's not like the others around here. He's different."

"Different? Different bad? Different good?"

"Just…not the same. I guess I'm not either." Drew looked morosely at the six-year olds who were heading back toward the elementary school building. "I didn't know until Mom died. But I'm not different than anybody else even if I can do weird stuff."

From behind them came the sound of the bell. Josie sighed, knowing it meant she had five minutes to get back into the building to her locker to grab her books before the next class started. But she didn't get up just yet. "I don't need proof. I believe you." She finally said before getting up and walking toward school. She didn't bother looking back to see if he was following her.

~~!~~

He was trying to figure out exactly where to start. The beginning, middle, even now…it all seemed like something a lunatic would talk about. Probably about five minutes before electroshock therapy was prescribed.

Vi was still looking at him expectantly, and for a moment Mark was tempted to once again just push it all aside and forget it. The phone on the desk rang and it gave him a couple of minutes to try to get his scattered thoughts in some kind of order. The phone on the desk behind him rang, breaking him out of his thoughts and bringing an apologetic smile to Vi's face.

Mark let her go so she could answer the call and paced to the other side of the office. At least it bought him another couple of minutes to think as she spoke quietly behind him.

"Sorry about that." Vi said, brining him out of his thoughts. She had hung up the phone without him noticing.

Mark turned to look at her and smiled a little. "Nothin' to be sorry for. Business hours."

"Well I don't necessarily have to keep to any set hours. Want to go in the house instead?"

"I could use another walk, if you're up to it."

"Sure." Vi smiled a bit uncertainly and closed the doors to the office, not wanting anyone that might drive up to think she was there. She also checked on the pool guys once more, who were in the process of setting up the wooden outer walls of the pool. "Where do you want to walk to?" She asked, taking Mark's hand as they set out along the driveway again.

"Anywhere." Mark let her lead them and he figured it was now or never. At least if they were walking around he would not be staring at her to gauge her every reaction. "I don't know where to start." He admitted.

Vi didn't ask what he meant. "First thing that comes to mind."

Mark raised an eyebrow at that. "Do you remember how I said I met my wife?"

Vi glanced at him, enigmatic smile on her lips. "You said you kidnapped her."

"Right. Well. That's not really an exaggeration. I did. I kidnapped her." Mark expected a reaction but Vi just kept walking with that same smile. "Mostly for her own good. But really for mine. I was a different person back then." He paused for a moment. "It was my…father…who killed my mom and brother. I saw him do it." He tightened his grip on her hand, not for the first time absolutely hating what he was. "I saw it but I couldn't stop it."

"Mark…" Vi was looking at him, the smile gone and replaced with a worried frown.

"I'm only going to be able to go through tellin' this once, Vi. As screwed up as it all is in my mind. But I'll start before that. And I'll start by telling you that…well…I'm not necessarily human."

They had stopped walking at that point. Vi was still looking at him, now with her eyebrow raised.

"Part of me is. My mom was human." He went on, ignoring the look on her face for the moment. "But the thing that was my…father…wasn't human. There are some who have convinced themselves that they're some kind of hybrid of a human, no different from a regular person in every way except for some kind of power. I'm not making any sense, am I?"

"You'll get there. Come on." Vi turned and pulled him. Mark went willingly enough, following her through a narrow field and into the line of trees away from the driveway where they had been walking. It was much cooler under the shade of the trees. She apparently had been there before. After walking in silence for a few minutes, they came to a tree that had fallen over during some storm in the past. Instead of clearing it – which was the usual practice, for firewood or just to get it out of the way so the ranch animals wouldn't hurt themselves – the log had been trimmed and flattened into a place to sit. There wasn't anything spectacular about the view of trees but it was quiet, and cool, and oddly enough not haunted by memories like so many other places on the ranch.

Vi sat down on the fallen log, and Mark followed her lead. "Did you do this?" He asked, forgetting for a moment why they were there.

"Yeah. About a year or so after the fire. I needed somewhere to go that was quiet." She smiled, more to herself than for his benefit. "And where the ranch hands wouldn't see me sitting for hours staring at nothing. I was not in a very good place for a long time."

Mark reached over and took her hand again. "You haven't asked."

"Asked what?" Vi looked at him.

"The obvious question when I say something like 'I am not a human' is usually 'What exactly are you?'."

"Oh." But she didn't ask. She kept looking at him and waiting for him to get around to it in his own way. "Just tell me whatever you want to tell me."

Mark sighed and looked down at their joined hands. "My mother was a human. My…father…" Again he almost choked on the word. "He was a demon." He paused and waited for a reaction, then risked looking up into her eyes. And he was surprised to see that she had no reaction at all. Just a look of curiosity on her features. "Ok. Why are you not freaking out? Do you not believe me? Maybe thinking I'm a little unstable or…"

"No." Vi squeezed his fingers when he started to pull away. "I'm not freaking out because I kind of…already knew."

"What?"

"Well – not from any of you. From Link."

"Your husband."

"He only acted like a dumb cowboy. He was actually very smart. And observant." Vi smiled wistfully. "Before we got married he told me that I had to be sure I wanted what he wanted…and that was this ranch. Not because of the work. He loved the work. Not even because of all the animals – I wouldn't have become a vet otherwise. It was the town. He wasn't afraid of anyone in town. In fact, he said he'd always felt pretty damned secure knowing that there were certain kinds of people who were watching out for the town and the people who lived around here. He didn't know if it was everybody or just a few people or…well."

"You already know?"

"I know what Link told me. And I know that I was a little…put off…at first. He didn't know what to call you but I guess when somebody says demon most people wouldn't picture puppies and kittens." Vi made a face. "But we talked about it and if he didn't have a problem then I didn't have a problem. I was a little worried at first no matter what he said but…nothing happened. And – I don't know. I just feel so damn safe here."

"You already know." That time it was a statement, and Mark did it more for himself than for her benefit. "You know some. Not all." Now he was talking to her again. "Like me. I'm not like the others."

"What are you like then?"

"I'm sort of like a mutation." Mark said it without humor. He'd had plenty of time to think about it. "But that's not true either. There are some who think that what we call 'demon' is really a genetic mutation. Usually those are the demons that were brought up to act as human. There are those of us who know better though. Even if there is some kind of twisted genetics going on, it all started with a real fire and brimstone, straight from hell demon."

"And you're different because you're half human?"

"Very." Mark let his thumb slide over the back of her hand. "Demons and humans can't have children. Most of the time. There are a few humans who are considered special. They have to be because it's not the easiest thing in the world. The way that most of the higher demons get a woman pregnant...it isn't pleasant. And the birth is even less pleasant most of the time." He heaved another sigh. "I thought that telling you about what I am would be the hard part. But it's all hard."

"Does that mean your wife was one of those special women? Since you have Drew?"

"Yeah." He smirked a little. "She was. But I guess I need to start at the beginning. The deal in town was that if anyone got involved with you…they would have to tell you. Because you have to help us protect our community here. We don't want to hurt anybody. We just want to live in peace, even if some of us are different. Since you already knew about that…" Mark gave her a pointed look that made her smile. "I have to tell you the rest about me. So you'll understand that I'm different. And so you'll see why…when you showed me those pictures…why it threw me."

"Your mother was one of the special ones too." Vi prompted him when he was silent.

Mark nodded. "It's hard to explain it. But here goes. There are different kinds of demons. Some of them are like the ones in town – they were raised here, they were brought up to blend into the human world. Nobody would know the difference unless they were told…or if they were observant." He shot her another look that made Vi smirk. "But there are other worlds. We call them realms. And there are doorways in between them. Some demons can go through those doors. That's why there are demons right here in town. Because they went through, liked it here, and decided to stay. My father hated this human world. But he needed it if he ever wanted children. And he found my mother. I am not sure how that part of it works, the finding. It isn't something that I cared to learn. He kidnapped her. Took her with him to his realm. And kept her there for years, raping her until she produced a child. Me."

"Oh."

"I guess he could have found another willing demon. It's not unheard of. But there were stories about what the mix would produce, the power. And he wanted it." Mark shook his head. "After I was born, he should have killed my mother. Other demons wanted him to kill her. It wasn't right, to them, to have a human living there in that realm. But he was obsessed with her. And she got pregnant again two years after I was born. That was my brother Glen." He used his free hand to push his hair back from his forehead. "And still, he wouldn't let my mother go. So some other demons intervened. Sort of. I was young – maybe five or six. We were sleeping and then Mom was waking us up, panicked…half hysterical. I'd seen her for six years being used by my father and I never once saw her like this. There was a couple there, people I didn't know. They got us – Mom, my brother, me – and snuck us out. It took all night to find a place where we could cross…"

"Cross?" Vi repeated as a question.

"A doorway from that realm. I don't remember much. I know it seemed to take forever but I was little and tired and scared half out of my mind. I fell asleep. When I woke up we were in a house. Everything was so bright...that was what took the longest to get used to. Where I was before was always dark. Or the next closest thing to dark." He shrugged. "The demons who helped us ended up being the parents of someone who ended up being a close friend of mine. They got Mom into our house, set her up with furniture, a job, some money. My father could not follow us, at least not for a while. I guess they hoped he would either lose interest, or he wouldn't be able to find us."

"Why couldn't he follow you?"

"Because he was old and set in his ways." Mark said with a bitter smile. "He was raised and lived believing something and could not go against that. He could only come here to the human realm once every 20 years. The doors were closed to him any other time."

Vi studied him for a moment, biting her lower lip thoughtfully. "And he showed up."

"Yeah." Mark shook his head. "I was 20. Dropped out of college – not because I wasn't smart enough, I just got bored with it. I was going to leave…Mom didn't want me to. There were things that happened. Things that I could do that I hadn't quite figured out how to control. She wanted me to stay home until I could figure it out. My brother and I were not like anybody else, human or demon. We were stronger than both in a lot of ways." He trailed off before finding his train of thought again. "I was going to head out with a couple of friends, work on a few construction jobs; pretty much drift around until I found what I wanted to do."

"My mom used to call that the spinning compass of youth." Vi said when he did not immediately go on. He smiled but it was automatic. He was too much in the past at the moment for more than that.

"Whatever you would call it. It never happened. One night, after Glen had gone to bed, my father showed up. There wasn't any warning, not even a knock on the door. He just appeared there in the living room. And I froze. He was threatening me – but not really threatening me. Threatening Mom. And he wanted me to kill her to prove my powers. When I wouldn't do it…"

This time Vi waited him out when he stopped talking. As he spoke his voice got lower, dropping to near monotone levels.

"When I wouldn't do it he said he was going to make me watch. Because I was the older son. I was the one he wanted. Mom couldn't fight him off. He had her, scratched her and hit her. And still…I just sat there. The noise woke Glen up. I saw him stop in the hall and there wasn't a hesitation in him. He had been too young when we'd left, he didn't remember much of what happened before we got out of the realm we were in. He just saw someone hurting Mom. He ran in and knocked my Father away, damn near tackling him through the wall. But…Glen's powers weren't all the way there yet. He was strong, he was fast, but our Father had things to draw on. He pushed Glen away and started taunting him…taunting us both, Glen for being a Mama's boy, me for being weak."

"Mark…"

"He killed Glen. I watched. He made my mother watch as well…and I won't go into detail. I can't. I just know there was a lot of blood. He did it in a rage, to prove that he could, even his own son didn't mean anything to him. Watching Glen die…it broke mom. We could both see that. She just shut down. He got bored trying to get a rise out of her. I don't know what he did to her…he had her, and just stared into her eyes for a few minutes. He went into a rage and killed her, for no reason other than what was in his own head. And still I just sat there and watched. When he turned around to face me, he was calmer. He said that I would have to go with him, the rest of them were worthless, and I could learn. And then he kicked Mom's body and started laughing."

He blinked and looked at Vi, almost as if he were seeing her for the first time. "I make it sound like it happened fast. It was damn near all night that my father spent torturing and murdering my brother and my mom. And he was trying to break me. So I would go with him. See what had set him off…he looked into Mom. Somehow. And saw that she'd made herself worthless for him. She'd been so terrified of another demon finding her, even though my Father had staked a claim, she paid a private clinic to give her a hysterectomy."

"But…wait. How old was she when all that happened?" Vi had thought that if Mark's mother had been in her twenties, then in her forties getting pregnant would have been a long shot.

Mark apparently got the direction of the question. He smiled but it was shallow. He actually looked pale. "You already know when this happened. You know how long ago it was. Age was not a consideration."

"So you don't age?"

"Sort of. We age a lot slower than humans. And since I've got both sides I age slower still."

"But your mother was human."

"Yes. But she had absorbed some of the power from my father. A human can't survive a trip to the deep realms without something for the travel to feed from. It makes no sense. I can't explain it because I am not even sure how it works. I just know that it kept her young. "

Vi thought of the pictures she had seen. Mark's mother had looked young, barely 30. "He would have taken her back with him, had she not had that surgery."

"Yeah."

"And she could have had more children?"

"That's what I figured." Mark scratched his chin thoughtfully. "The people who helped us get out the first time showed up. I was wavering. You have to keep in mind I was still a damn kid myself. Full of strange thoughts and…well. I had spent two years in college feeling out of place, hating it, actually starting to hate the people I saw. I didn't know it was this other side of me. None of us knew." He stretched his legs out in front of him, pulling Vi a little closer to his side. "It was like I was hypnotized. He was telling me about what I was. What I had gotten from him. He kept talking about how weak humans are, how pitiful. And I started to see his point. For a few minutes I could see exactly why he had killed my brother, my mom. And then the door pretty much exploded off the hinges and those people came in. I hadn't seen them since I was a kid but I recognized them. They did something. I don't know…I couldn't really tell. For a while I was sick, out of my head. When I finally got myself together I was in a different house with those people, they pretty much adopted me. They fixed things. They pretty much wiped my existence out of the house, and managed to get rid of any sign there had been another person there."

"So that's why the picture was ripped? And the police didn't want to talk about it not even to Steve?"

"Yeah. A lot of favors were called in." Mark smiled, and it was more natural than it had been. "Those people who took me in…they gave me time. A couple of years. I got to know their son, a kid named Randy. But eventually I had to leave. I was angry all the damned time. At my father mostly. I wanted to kill him. I think I had already decided that when he came back…it wasn't an 'if' it was a 'when'…I would be ready for him. I was going to set a trap and I was going to kill him. I spent years damn near killing myself, learning what I could do. People had said a hybrid like me should be stronger, and have more powers. And I did."

"What kind of powers?"

"A lot of different stuff." Mark shrugged again. "Most demons are a one trick pony. They might be able to read minds, maybe levitate something. A few have a base power that feeds on other powers – there is a power we always called the touch, where the demon who had it could just touch a person and be connected to them. It involved a bit of mind-reading. But it seemed like every other day I was learning how to do something new."

"And eventually, your father came back." Vi prompted him again. The half-smile that had formed on Mark's face faded.

"Eventually. Right when I thought he would. I don't think I was part of his planning. He thought I was weak, too human to do him much good." He huffed in disgust. "He was looking for another woman who could bear him a child. There were others…other demons…who did not want to see that happen. In fact in demon realms there are laws against that happening. I know it sounds crazy. He didn't care about that though. He only cared about his own little agenda. He wanted a child to use against other, more power demons." He hesitated a moment. "Rayne was one of the women who would have been a choice for him. I found her first." Again he hesitated, but figured he might as well be completely honest. "At the time, when I took her, I was just going to use her to get my father. But something happened. She woke me up. Up to that point I was pretty damn single-minded. And I would have done whatever I had to do to make sure my father didn't get away with it again."

Mark risked looking at Vi again. She was looking at him, studying him, completely serious. But not disbelieving. And thankfully not disgusted or scared.

"I fell in love with her. I fell hard. Of course I didn't figure that out until after it was all over."

Vi raised an eyebrow. She got the feeling he was holding something back. But considering all he had told her already, she decided not to press him on it. "So you stopped him?"

"Yeah. We did." Mark squeezed her hand again. "I've told you all of that so I can tell you this. When Rayne died…it wasn't an accident. It looked like an accident, the investigators all said it was an accident…but I knew better. My father wasn't liked, he was barely tolerated – but he was one of the elder demons. He was respected and feared. And because of what I am they never wanted to see me with someone like Rayne. By the time it happened, it was more about hurting me and punishing me for what I'd done. There were others involved, a few demons who wanted to kill Rayne to keep my father from getting to her. And I protected her. I turned my back on all of them."

"Are you trying to say that I should be worried about being involved with you?" Vi asked softly.

Mark shook his head. "No. They got their point across. I don't know who did it. Or even if someone did it. It could have been an accident but…it doesn't feel that way to me. It felt like a message. They let me have her but I paid the price. There are some people who won't like the idea of…you and me…together. But that's because for a lot of them, humans are strictly off limits. It's too risky."

"I'm risky." Vi sounded like she was talking to herself. She also sounded amused.

"You already knew. About us." Mark said it again, still surprised. Most people in town had spent a lifetime perfecting their human habits.

"Link knew. Like I said he was observant. And he was…open minded. Maybe that's not the right way to put it but…yeah. He said I had nothing to worry about."

"You don't." Mark brought her hand up and kissed her on the fingers. "Did your husband's family know?"

"He said they didn't. I don't know how he knew because I never asked. The only thing Link didn't know was how many. I didn't ask for specifics because I was afraid if I knew which particular person was not like us I would manage to screw it up somehow."

Mark smiled at that. "You can know now. You have to promise to keep it secret. If your father-in-law doesn't know, keep it that way."

"What about Josie?"

Mark gave her a guarded look. "Drew wanted to tell her. He said he talked to her yesterday." Vi blinked at that. "He needed someone to confide in. Because he's like me…a hybrid. He's different than me though, in ways I can't really explain. But he needed to talk to someone human. He needs a friend to balance him out."

"It's all right." Vi said, a little impatiently. "I think I get it."

"You're taking this all a little too well."

Vi laughed. "Maybe it's just my nature. Link and I had our unofficial policy – whatever happens, happens. I got told on more than one occasion that we were impossible to ruffle. Sometimes I think it's a good thing, sometimes maybe it's bad. But it's how I've always been."

"You really are…ok…with all of this?"

"All of what?" Vi asked, still smiling a little. "Until you give me a reason to not be ok with it, then I am ok with it."

"Good." The relief on his face made her smile widen. "There's one more thing."

"More?"

"Something I have to show you. Steve kind of insisted."

"Oh really?" Vi leaned her head against Mark's shoulder.

"I guess to him it's important. That you know. If you need proof or…"

"I believe you." Vi said softly.

"I think maybe you need to see anyway." Until that moment Mark had not thought it was important. But he could see that it was. It would make it real for Vi. And show her why they all needed to keep their secret.