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Chapter or Story
Chapter 11
The noises downstairs awake both me and the labrador I find by the foot of my bed. We exchange a long suffering look, then get out of the warm bed, the dog running downstairs instantly, while I struggle into a pair of pants and grab the gun Anna gave to me from under my pillow.
It must be the PTBs, coming to kill us all. They must have discovered my absence and known this was where I'd be. My daughter, well, from what I gathered they were just waiting for an excuse to kill her, so this must be their two for the price of one deal. And as for Richard, he was associated with Morganna. That was all the reason the Centre would need to take him out.
My heart in my throat and my thoughts random and nonsensible, I run downstairs. After unlatching the safety, I whirl to face the couch...to find Richard holding a gun on a man dressed all in black. Anna is siting on the couch, her arms crossed over her chest, looking at the man in annoyance.
The man in black looks at the three of us, giving a curious look towards me, and a suspicious one towards Richard. Anna sighs and strokes the dog's back to soothe his growling.
"Anna," I question, "Who's this?"
She smiles at the question, and rises, pushing Richard's gun down to his side, before going to stand in front of the strange man. He looks down at her with dark eyes, and she touches his cheek gently with the back of her hand.
"He's a little lost labrat, who thought he'd come and tuck me into bed."
He looks at her, sighing deeply, and scrutnizing her face.
"Parker, I heard."
She looks at him, one eyebrow raised, and I swallow thickly. Even I can sense the sexual tension in the room, and it awakens a parental feeling I had never thought I'd get a chance to feel.
Suddenly, my daughter is a teenager, showing me her first boyfriend, and the urge to castrate him is overwelming.
He glowers at her. "Was it hard for you to do it? Or did you send him off to his final resting place with the same disreguard with which he sent Catherine to hers."
Morganna looks at him calmly, her eyes calm and her face void of any emotions. I have to admire her controll, but feel sorrow at the same time. Parker must have been a really horrible father for her not to even question her decision.
"Jarod," ah, Nimrod boy, "for a genius, you're acting pretty stupid. It's 3 in the morning, you don't carry a gun, and you're standing in my living room acting coy."
"And you're trusting Cox. Not an Einstein decision on your part either, Parker."
"Who I trust is my own buisness. You seem to forget that a lot."
"It's my buisness as well.Your friends inevitably end up either dying or hunting me."
Anna flinches at the verbal barb, her fists clenching and her eyes slitting. I've seen that look before. My own face mirrored in the pupils of the men I tracked down, showing me the pure unadulterated bloodlust I in my eyes. I have to stop her. There's been too much bloodshed tonite already.
Stepping between the two of them, I steer her away from him gently, ignoring the shocked look on his face and the indignant one on hers.
"Well this has all been very nice and tension-filled, but I fear we have more pressing matters to attend to. So if you'll kindly leave, kid, we can carry on with our buisness."
Jarod's face as being called "kid" is priceless, and I bite my cheek to keep from laughing and ruining the whole serious mood I've set around us. He looks around me at Anna, his nostrils flarring.
"Call him off. Now."
"And why should I? He brings up a very good point: you shouldn't be here. Go save a kitten from a tree and help orphans find nice families to adopt them and get the Hell out of my house."
I grin wolfishly at him, and Richard smirks behind his hand. Jarod glares at us all, but looks especially angry at me.
"Your fucktoys are getting older, Parker. Freud would have a field day with this relationship."
Fucktoy? FUCKTOY? I'LL SHOW HIM FUCKTOY!
Grabbing him by his jacket, I shove him up against the wall, feeling the bloodlust so long dormant awaken in my soul. The side of me that relishes in the power I hold over people cackles evily, while the part of me that wants to give everyone I meet a hug tries to push me away from him.
Jarod's eyes go wide as my gun presses against his forehead and my arm goes on his throat, keeping him pinned like a butterfly against the wall.
"You listen here, KID. You may be the child of Margaret and Charlie, but no one, and I mean NO ONE, talks to her OR me like that. And if you do it again, you'll regret your ancestors were ever spawned under that rock in the primordial ooze. Do we have an understanding? Am I making myself clear?" He nods desperately, his face purpling a bit. Morganna watches in silence, then steps foward to touch my arm lovingly.
"Let him go, Dad."
"He insulted you."
"He's Jarod. He may have a record breaking IQ, but he's not the brightest crayon in the box."
With a bark of laughter, I let him drop to the ground, enjoying his gasps for air with far too much glee. Well, its no castration, but it'll have to do.
Anna smiles thankfully at me, and Jarod's still breathy voice intrudes on the glow I feel at seeing her face lite up like that.
"D-D-Dad?"
Anna looks at him, then grins and links arms with me, resting her head on my shoulder. I grin back at her, my heart swelling with adoration and pride. My daughter. Ah, what a wonderful feeling it is to finally know her.
"Now who's got a kick ass family?"
"B-But how..."
"You'd be surprised what you can find down in SL-28. The most interesting people are often right underneath our noses. Or the floor. Sometimes they're under the floor."
Jarod is looking very much like a fish out of water, while Richard is collapsed on the couch, laughing hysterically and clutching his sides. The dog has lost interest, and is curled up by his feet, licking his paws.
And here we stand, together and happy.
Morganna gives my hand one last sqeeze, then walks out of the room, retreating to the kitchen. Jarod takes a few unsteady steps towards the nearest chair, and Richard takes pity on him, kicking it underneath his legs so he doesn't collapse on the floor.
"Take a load off Wonderboy. You're awfuly pale--you look like you swallowed a bug. Have you tried breathing? I've heard it works wonders for your complexion and adds years onto your lifespan." Jarod inhales deeply, and Richard smirks. "Atta boy. Anna? Bring out some smelling salts for our little genius here?"
"I'll get him something better." She emerges from the kitchen with a glass of bourbon, and hands it to Jarod. He takes it in shaky hands and swallows a gulp down, then gasps for breath again and rubs his eyes. Richard laughs gently and lies back, rolling his head on the couch. I close the open door firmly and lock it in three places before returning to them.
Jarod has apparently regained his breath, for he is now staring openly at Morganna.
"Parker...I...I'm sor...My apologies." Morganna laughs softly.
"You can't even admit it, can you? You just can't admit to yourself that this time, I'm the one with the power; I have the answers and its ME who decides whether or not YOU get them."
"You're really enjoying this, aren't you," he grumbles and she grins widely.
"Damn straight." I clear my throat.
"Technically, I'm the one with the answers, Anna, but I'll let it slide. Now, one of you three is going to tell me this whole exciting story of how my daughter came to be the hunter of my best friends' son. I already know the whole Pretender tale-- it got me locked up for over thirty years." Cox smirks softly.
"The Centre took Jarod from his family and used him for thirty or so years. He finally figured out they were bad news (took him long enough) and ran away. Mr. Parker decided the best person to track him down would be the ones who had known him the longest. Thus, Sydney, Morganna, and Broots have been chasing Jarod for about five years now." He takes a breath and a sip of his drink, then inquires after how Debbie did at her recital.
"Lovely. My little girl danced like an angel-" Jarod clears his throat.
"As entranced as this conversation has me, I think it might be better if we saved this for another time. In case you haven't noticed, this man has all the answers we've been looking for." I grin.
"Flattery will get you everywhere." Morganna smiles and looks up at me.
"Dad...mom keeps telling me something about completing her plan."
"Drawing a blank."
"I thought you would, but rumor has it she left a DSA explaining the whole thing. Do you have any idea where she would hide something like that? So no one could find it unless she wanted them to?" I close my eyes for a moment and think back.
"She did keep several safe deposit boxes. Get me a pen and a piece of paper." Cox grabs one for me, and I write the numbers and the locations down.
"Don't know what good it will do-- someone has probably already cleared them out." Jarod looks at the numbers and sighs.
"I'm sorry, Parker, I've already gotten to all of these." Morganna's face fell, and I try and think of something else.
"If, and this is just an if, Catie's plan was to take down the Centre...She'd do it through the government." Three breaths stop, and I continue, sensing this is a delicate and unthought of subject. "Catie believed very strongly in the system. She thought that evil should be handled by it, not by a few renagade; a coo would only cause more problems in her mind, creating tensions on loyalties and forming more enemies.
"Catie would have wanted someone to get the FBI or CIA on the Triumvirate's tails, to get forces started that couldn't be stopped by a few deaths." I look up and feel myself become even more sure in my words. "Go to the government. That's Catie's way."
