Chapter 19: Four teens and a baby
Of all things Dorian expected Regina to make him do, breaking into a museum and stealing a Chinese puzzle box was not one of them. He had communicated with Harrison for a bit, before deciding he needed to do this on his own, and turned off the listening devices.
The thing looked to be ancient, as Dorian held it in his hands. It turned out, breaking into the Metropolitan Museum of Art was surprisingly easy. Or maybe it was because he could use his powers to make the security systems glitch out, so he'd been in and out in a matter of minutes, with no alarms going off.
He handed the box to Regina, "Here. This is the right box, right?"
"Yes. You did much better than I anticipated. Maybe you were the perfect choice for this." Dorian growled when Regina tried to leave,
"My hint?"
"Don't you worry, Dorian. I haven't forgotten." Regina held up the box, "Do you know what exactly you've brought me?"
Dorian examined the box. It just looked like an old trinket worthy of being in a museum, "A decorative box?"
"Well, yes, but there are other uses for these particular boxes. See," Regina opened it, and screams came out of it. She shut the box, "Some of these puzzle boxes are enchanted to trap souls, rip them clean from the body. It's a much faster way to make Darklings, or even to remove the soul and absorb its power. Stay for a couple hours, and I'll show you. Of course, if I want you to stay, you have to, seeing as I haven't told you the hint yet."
It was at this moment Dorian knew Regina was actively trying to corrupt him. But he didn't exactly have much of choice, seeing as she was the only one to understand how to break the curse. The last year had been hell, trying to suppress the murderous urges.
Cue sitting through an awkward dinner. He quickly located Maki and sat next to her, trying to find someone he was comfortable with, and tried to make pleasant conversation,
"Dorian, what are you doing here?" Maki asked. Dorian shrugged,
"I think your mom wants me to eat someone's soul, and I'm honestly quite worried about that. Anyway, what have you been doing?"
"Trying to help Maizono," Maki said, "She's been pretty reclusive after what happened to Meredith, her twin. Honestly, after that, I doubt she'd give Mother the time of day. She's been trying to find Meredith for a while. But I mean... most of us are pretty sure she's gonna be batshit insane."
"Is Meredith any threat?"
"Doubtfully a threat to you, but Kelly and Amelia might be in danger since their 'betrayal' is the reason Meredith got exiled the way she did."
"Should I hunt her down and kill her?" The words slipped out faster than Dorian could stop them, fully ready to attack with his scythe or even his mind-wiping flames. Only after he said the sentence did he realize he wouldn't have imagined himself capable of murdering anybody a year ago.
"Oh, lord," Maki examined him, "That curse has done a number on you." She then smirked a little, "Or is it something else?" She gestured to the food on Dorian's plate, "It's not poison. You can eat it."
Reluctantly, Dorian took a few bites, marveling at how shockingly amazing the food was. He heard Maki chuckle, and he decided to get to know her better since he had a feeling he'd be seeing more of her,
"So, Maki, what do you like to do?"
"Alchemy and potions, mostly. My actual magic is in my intelligence, almost like an analytical power. I don't use it all that often, though. But I make lots of potions, such as the one I take daily, which makes me immune to the magic of others. It comes in handy when you have hundreds of sisters, especially a baby in the house." She gestured to the end of the table, where he saw a witch he remembered Kelly identifying as Melania was feeding a baby girl with brown hair and hazel eyes.
"Mother had Maryalice about five months ago," Maki muttered, "She's got shadow and ice powers. Poor girl, she might be considered useful by Mother. Luckily, she's the last Blackwell baby."
Looking at that baby, Dorian had a cruel smirk on his face, "Say, Maki, how does the Recrusent Sigil get branded onto Blackwell witches?"
"Our birth certificates, why? Burn the birth certificate, and technically we are nameless. Therefore Mother cannot find us. Mother keeps all the papers in her room, though."
"I have a plan," Dorian said, "To make her break my curse once and for all. Say, Maki, do you have anything like sleeping gas?"
After dinner, Dorian went to Regina, seeing she had made a little tart. It was glowing, and that was somewhat offputting.
"Eat," she ordered, and Dorian sat down in front of the soul tart, reluctantly eating it, screaming as he was flooded with even more power. When he got the ability to open his eyes again, Regina was watching him, "See why the box is useful?"
"Y-Yeah, I guess." Dorian stood up, holding the glass vial he had gotten from Maki, subtly pouring the contents into Regina's cauldron, "Say, can you give me that hint now?"
"Oh, right, I owe that to you." Regina stood up, walking over to her cauldron, not noticing the red hue of Dorian's eyes and the downright evil smirk. She made a few gestures, and the cauldron lit up, revealing six stones within it, or the image of them,
"These six stones, one for each category of a living thing. These are each a gemstone—peridot, which you and Kelly share, onyx, amethyst, sapphire, emerald, and garnet. That's your hint."
Dorian pondered this as he noticed Regina growing increasingly sleepy from Maki's drug, which was active when inhaled. Dorian was breathing as little as possible to make sure he was awake.
"So there's a stone of tanzanite somewhere. Alright then, I'll just have to find it." He watched Regina pass out and revealed his real malicious intent, "Or you'll do it for me when I'm done here." He then dug through her cabinets until he found Maryalice's birth certificate, which he burned while grabbing a new birth certificate from another cupboard.
Then he ran through the building, whipping out his scythe once he reached the nursery, seeing five witches in there, all of which guarding the baby. He chuckled,
"Do you really want to fight?" One revealed pink fire, and Dorian grinned, spinning his scythe in his hand just for the hell of it since he knew he could win this fight, "Alright then, let's fight."
It was downright unfair in Dorian's favor, using his scythe to cut through one witch and using his mind-wiping flames to take down the rest, before finishing them off. When others came to see what the commotion was about, he unleashed more chartreuse flames into the hallway, grabbing the infant and leaped out the window, rushing back to his apartment, making sure to snuff out the fire.
The baby cried loudly as he landed on the couch, and Kelly groaned awake from where he was on the couch.
"Dori? Wha...why you crying? That's you, right?" He sat up and rubbed his eyes, "How'd the mission go—why is there a baby?"
"Uh...surprise?" Dorian muttered, "Don't worry, we're not keeping her. She's just my leverage over Regina," he bounced the crying child, "You're gonna be my little ticket to being free, aren't you?" The baby continued to cry, and Dorian cursed as he turned on the light, "Kels, can you help me with her?"
"Yeah... I guess. I doubt I'll be able to go back to sleep." He looked at the child on the table, "So first of all, maybe she doesn't like you because you're covered in blood—before you say anything, no, I'm not going to ask. Mostly because I don't want to know."
"That's why you're the best, Kels," Dorian grabbed a fresh set of clothes, before stripping and getting in the shower, wondering how he had gotten blood in his hair.
It was about halfway through the shower that he realized he had spent most of the last few hours being...evil...and he'd loved every second of it.
He curled into a ball in the shower, pulling his knees up to his chest and crying his eyes out, dully feeling his heart beat even more tainted blood meant to corrupt him even more.
What had he been thinking kidnapping Regina's baby?! That was wrong on so many levels, but now he had to go through with his plan. Maybe if he were lucky, this whole thing would go off without a hitch within a couple days.
He heard a knock on the door, "Hey? Dorian? You've been in there for a half-hour. Are you alright?"
Dorian looked up a little, but only managed to continue crying. He dully heard Kelly pick the lock and come in,
"Hey...I called Mia since, technically, this baby is her sister." He turned off the shower and helped Dorian out, wrapping him in a towel. Even if he was kinda out-of-it, Dorian was well aware of every touch as Kelly helped him out, those enchanting sapphire eyes seeing right through him.
"What happened, Dorian?" Kelly asked, "I wasn't going to push you, but..."
"I-I-I can't..."
An invisible hand clasped over his mouth; an equally ghostly hypodermic of adrenaline pierces my heart, unloading in an instant. He felt his ribs heaving as if bound by ropes, straining to inflate his lungs. His head was a carousel of fears spinning out of control, each one pushing his mind into blackness. He wanted to run, needed to freeze. Sounds that were near felt far away, like he was no longer in the body that doubled over into Kelly's arms in a panic attack as he burst into flames.
"Dorian, breathe with me, okay? Deep breath in, then out," he guided Dorian in this, holding his hand since he was immune to the flames surrounding them both, "You can get through this, I'm right here. Concentrate on your breathing, stay in the present."
That was what Amelia walked in on, Kelly unbothered by Dorian's fire, using his own power to keep it all contained between just the two of them.
Eventually, Dorian managed to control his breathing, noticing himself being held gently against Kelly's chest, feeling his breath, and those eyes filled with determination as though he was saying, "I won't leave you."
"I... I lo..."
Kelly handed him some water as the flames went out, "Drink," Dorian obeyed, helping him into some clothing—it was at this moment that he also realized a towel was his only clothing. He felt his entire body heat up in embarrassment.
"So...what did I just walk in on?" Amelia asked, "Do you two have something to tell me?"
"Wha—ah—no." Kelly smiled a little, "He just had a panic attack, and I'm helping out."
Amelia was clearly not satisfied with that answer, but accepted it, "Get him dressed, and we need to decide to do with this baby. We also need to give her a new name if we want to piss off Mother by disconnecting this new one."
"We'll be out in a minute," Kelly said, gesturing for her to close the door, then he looked down at Dorian's furiously blushing face, "You okay?"
"I've been better. I'd feel much better if I was dressed."
"Well, I can help you with that," Kelly hoisted him up, "Come on. Oh! Shit, your Dad's gonna be here in about five hours."
Dorian's eyes widened as he remembered that, "Shit! How are we gonna explain that I casually murdered people and kidnapped a baby?!"
"I mean..." Kelly bit his lip, "You haven't seen him in over a year, and this baby is small..." Dorian blanched,
"Kels, are you suggesting what I think you are?"
"That you should just say you knocked up a girl, and she left you with the kid? Yes. That would also explain why I've been living with you and not that you wiped out half of the city."
"So...I'm swapping out mass murderer for teen father?" Dorian pondered this as he put some boxers on, "My Dad's gonna disapprove of both of those, but I think the cursed mass killer will get me grounded, while teen dad will just get a disapproving stare in my direction. But at least he won't question why you live with me since you're the most popular guy in school, and its common knowledge you babysit."
"Well, there you go." Kelly also changed his top since his current shirt was soaked. Now he wore an azure shirt that matched his eyes and accentuated his muscular chest, "We should probably go meet your daughter now."
They walked out once Dorian had thrown a sweater on and saw the baby was being held upside down by Harrison—who was looking at the child in the same way he looked at data.
"Oh shit! Harry, no!" Kelly ran and grabbed the baby, holding her properly as she screeched, "You know, there's a reason she doesn't like us. But the last thing we need is for her powers to act up. Speaking of which...what are her powers?"
"According to Maki, it's shadow and ice manipulation." Dorian went to the new birth certificate, "I need a name for her... what am I supposed to name her?" He looked and saw his history textbook open, with Queen Alexandrina Victoria front and center, "Screw it. Alexandrina Nanami."
"So, you're actually adopting her?" Amelia asked, and Dorian shrugged,
"Only until her usefulness ends. Hopefully, Regina will break the curse in exchange for her youngest back since Kelly fucked up her reproductive system, so this is the last Blackwell."
"And what if Regina doesn't want her back?" Kelly wondered, and Dorian tensed,
"I... I'm hoping it doesn't come to that." He looked to Alexandrina, as she seemed to be content in Kelly's arms now that there wasn't a guy covered in blood in the room as well. She cooed and fell asleep.
Amelia giggled, "Dorian, funny story. So seeing as Mother has a lot of kids, you can guess that we all had to take care of the babies, right?" Dorian nodded, and she continued, "But Kelly has always had this magic baby superpower. No matter how fussy they get, he can make them shut up just by holding them. One of my sisters, Matilda, starting running around the house when she was three, screeching that Kelly had powers after he got baby Michelle to sleep after she cried for an hour before he got involved. It scared the hell out of Mother and Mara when they thought he had powers. After that, he got put in charge of all the babies. Makane used to joke it's Kelly's eyes that enchant them to sleep."
Dorian sighed dreamily as he watched Kelly rocking Alexandrina, his eyes twinkling, "Well, they sure are enchanting..."
Harrison and Amelia looked to each other after observing the way Dorian was looking at Kelly. Then Harry handed Amelia some money.
Amelia cleared her throat, "So... where are we gonna keep the baby if we're planning to convince your Dad that she's yours?"
"I was thinking about just filling a drawer with blankets."
"That honestly works for now," Harrison muttered, "But thankfully for you, I'm rich as fuck and have been using my allowance to pay your bills to make sure you stay calm at all times. School is still stressful for you." Truth. They'd gone back to school for senior year—Dorian was glad he had those extra credits since he had missed a lot of school days. Things were going well so far. And now this had happened.
"So, what does the fact I owe you my life have to do with anything?" Dorian asked, "And Dad does send me money to pay the bills, but I usually put it towards repairing things I accidentally blow up."
"I mean that I can buy you some baby stuff. We can turn the closet into a baby room. When she's older, you can ask your Dad if you can just buy the place for yourself since he's never here anyway, and that's a waste of a perfectly good bedroom."
"I suppose you're right." He looked to where Kelly had fallen back asleep with Alexandrina on his chest. Amelia sat down next to Dorian,
"Do you... have feelings... for Kelly?"
"What—I mean—of course, I do, he's my friend, and he's been a real lifesaver through this whole thing. How could I not treasure him? You don't find people like that these days."
"I meant more than platonic feelings. I'm not dumb, I see the way you look at him. And he cares deeply about you, but he's oblivious that you love him since he's used to friendships being very close. Am I right?"
Dorian flinched, knowing she was right. And if he were a girl, he wouldn't be afraid to confess to Kelly. But with the way the world was, it was harder to admit. And Kelly knowing the truth would change everything.
"Relax." Harry assured, "Your secret is safe with us. If anyone is gonna tell him, it will be you when you're ready. And between you and me, Kels gets flustered easily when people confess to him. It's cute to watch. You'd think he'd be used to it by now since I swear his yearbook award will be 'most likely to make panties drop,' but no, he stammers, and it's hilarious."
"Thanks for the heads up. And I am going to confess to Kels... just not yet. I'd rather he know I love him before I turn into a homicidal maniac and potentially go all yandere on him. But he also needs to know I don't have much hope he'll return my feelings, though I will be there for him no matter what. It's cheesy, I know, but I still want him to know."
Harrison's phone beeped, and he checked, "Ah, Tazri's wondering where I am. She says she's stopped questioning what I do, just to let her know I'm not dead in a ditch somewhere—speaking of which, I'll send my butler to get your Dad from the airport in a couple hours."
"And for the record," Amelia said, "You're lucky you have Kelly because I actually hate kids. I'll never have them. I have too many damn sisters to see having kids as a good thing."
"That's fair. Isn't this one the 285th?"
"Think so." Amelia shrugged, "But anyway, we have some time before your Dad arrives, so let's get baby stuff. Just give Kelly the scythe, and he can handle anybody who tried to grab the kid."
And so, they went to the store. Thankfully, the Blackwell family was pretty well-known here. Thus the employees just assume one of the daughters was getting baby stuff for their mother again.
"Hey Mia," an employee named Sadie called, "Your mom had another kid?"
"Yeah. Dori's here helping me since this one's a hand full." Amelia giggled, buying the supplies, "At this point, I've seen so many babies that I'm surprised my natural instincts haven't kicked in. Having a baby sounds like a nightmare."
"Yeah, you say that," Sadie laughed, "Just you wait."
"Yup, I will wait for a hundred years." She rolled her eyes as she paid, walking out with Dorian, "Come on, time to pretend we care about this little banshee."
They came back to Kelly, having blended up a steak and feeding it to the little thing. Alexandrina seemed to enjoy it.
"Kels, how did you blend a steak?" Amelia asked in exasperation, and Kelly shrugged as he took a long sip of coffee—having damaged his adrenal gland after downing the hellcoffee, so now he was an addict,
"I cut it into tiny pieces, then put it in the blender. Now it's mush, and she's eating it."
"You're going to be an awesome parent," Harrison replied from where he was analyzing Alexandrina as she shrieked in delight when Kelly tickled her stomach,
Kelly rolled his eyes, "Bold of you all to think I'd find a partner."
"What are you looking for in a partner?" Amelia asked, sending a look at Dorian.
Kelly shrugged, "Someone nice, who puts up with my ADHD, not afraid to stand up for what's right. Preferably smart, too, so I don't have to talk down. And will understand and accept all this insanity in my life."
Harrison was grinning, "Girl? Or are guys on the table too?"
Kelly whirled around, "Okay, what is this about?" His eyes lit up a little when he entered Harrison's mind, and he turned bright red. Dorian knew at that moment that his life was over, Kelly knew.
Never had he been more relieved when Kelly had a confused look moments later, "So there is someone you think I'd be a good match with. Guys, I thought we talked about this. I'm not ready for that kind of thing, especially with all the crazy in our lives. Maybe one day. As for the guy or girl thing, I never really thought about it since I've never dated before."
Oh, thank god, he doesn't know. Dorian sighed in relief. But a part of his heart broke, knowing that it might be too late by the time Kelly was ready. He then forced himself to think on the bright side that maybe this plan would work, and then he'd have all the time in the world.
Harrison seemed to notice what was going on in his mind, and handed him a refill of his dopamine regulation meds, "Here. But remember to take them sparingly, only when needed."
"Right. Thanks, Harry. I really do owe you guys everything. I don't know what I'd do without you."
"Don't mention it," Amelia checked her watch, "Be lucky it's a weekend. But I've also gotta be at the pep rally tonight since I'm a cheerleader."
They all turned when there was a knock at the door.
"Looks like your Dad's home," Amelia said, and Dorian took a deep breath, well, here goes nothing, and opened the door.