“Nothing to say, yet.” She fished the last of the bacon out of the pan and set it aside, bracing her hands on the counter with a sigh. “It was negative, so…nothing to say.”
“Oh.” The pancakes were fascinating. I kept my eyes on them. “But…you had a reason…?”
“I’m late, Jess. I…” In the corner of my vision, I could see her rake her fingers through her thick hair. “I thought it couldn’t hurt to be sure.”
“Oh.” In the back of the house, Chunk started barking, a precursor to the deep bellow he’d have when he was full grown. I tried to tune him out.
Annabelle was six years old now. She was destined to be an only child. After three miscarriages, Mira and I had accepted that. Mira’s magic took such a toll on her body…well, the pregnancies had always been over before we even knew it was happening. We’d never really talked about not trying anymore, it had just…happened.
The pancake was burning, and I dumped it out of the pan. “So…”
Mira sighed at me again, turning to lean against the counter, hugging her arms around her. “So, yes, it is still a possibility. I…if the test is negative again, I’ll have Bridge do a blood test. We need to know as soon as possible, right?”
“Right.” Okay, I gave up on pretending to cook. I was sucking at it anyway. Reaching over, I caught her around the waist and pulled her into my arms. She tucked her head under my chin, fitting perfectly. “Do you want the test to be positive?”
“I don’t know.” We stood there for a long time in silence. Well, as silent as it could be with a dog yowling in the background.
How different this was from when she told me we were having Anna. We’d been younger then. Married just a couple of years. So excited about this whole new “baby” part of our lives.
That was before. Before my brother Cole sold his soul to a demon. Before I’d gathered up an impressive collection of scars. Before I knew magic was real, before the forces of Hell had put a hit out on me. Before.
Mira’s thoughts were the same as mine. I knew her well enough to know that. The part of her that desperately wanted another child warring against the side that knew it would be difficult, if not impossible, and majorly unwise on top of all that. I held her closer, silently telling her that those thoughts were okay. I was having them too, after all.
I had to ask myself, if Mira
And the dog was
“Esteban, would you shut the dog up,” I yelled. It came out harsher than I’d intended, and I winced, adding “please” belatedly.
Chunk didn’t shut up, and his clamor almost drowned out my daughter’s tiny voice. “Daddy?” She peeked around the corner at me from the hallway, her hair in haphazard pigtails. Well, at least Esteban had tried.
“What is it, button?”
“The funny man is knocking on the door, Daddy.” One little hand pointed at the sliding glass door behind me. “I put Chunk in my room, because Chunk doesn’t like him.”
I turned to look, and firmly pushed Mira behind me. Funny man, indeed.
He looked human, I’ll give him that. My height, almost as skinny as me, blond hair cut into a Mohawk. More piercings than I could shake a stick at. But he was also standing on my patio dressed in just a T-shirt and jeans, despite the fact that there were four inches of snow on the ground. He wasn’t even pretending to be cold. Mindful of the magical wards my wife had placed on our doors, he tapped at the glass with a stick.
When I was in a good mood, I called him Axel. When I was in a bad mood, I had more…interesting names for him.
I murmured quietly to Mira, “Take Anna in the back. See if you can get Chunk to quiet down.” I knew now why the dog was going apeshit. There was no dog in the world that would tolerate Axel’s presence. Hazard of being a demon, I guess.
“Jesse…” Mira hesitated, her fingers knotting in the back of my shirt.
“Do it.” I glanced at her over my shoulder and gave her a small smile. “Please. It’ll be okay.”
In the hallway, Esteban appeared, his worn machete in one hand. I shook my head at him, holding up a hand to stop him before he stepped into Axel’s view. “Kid, take the girls. Stay with them.”
He wasn’t happy with that, but he gave me a short, tense nod. Mira wasn’t happy with it either. I could tell by the way her green eyes went dark and the muscles in her jaw got all tight. But she nodded. “Yell if you need me.” She scooped Anna up as she vanished into the hallway. “Come on, button, let’s go get ready to play in the snow!” Obediently, Esteban followed them back down the hall, even if he did keep casting uncertain glances over his shoulder at me.
I waited until they were out of sight before I looked back to the man-demon still tapping on my door. “You know I can see you, right? You can stop knocking.”
He grinned at me through the glass. “Gotta get my annoyance quota in early.” Even through the door, he sounded like me. I mean, exactly like me. I was getting a little tired of the demon borrowing my voice whenever he felt like it. That was like…borrowing my underwear. You just don’t do that.
I wasn’t even sure if Axel and I were friends or not. I mean, we weren’t, ’cause he was a demon and that would be bad, but…I guess what I meant to say was, I wasn’t sure if we were enemies. The events of the last year had started to muddle my very clear view of what exactly “good” meant.
I grabbed my bomber jacket and slipped on my sneakers before I stepped out the door. Axel may be impervious to winter, but I wasn’t. Even bundled up, the snow-cooled air snuck past the leather, and I shivered as I shut the sliding door behind me.
