Relationships are important, family even more so… and yet, family is often the hardest relationship of all. Those we love are those who know us the best and the worst. They can needle us into greatness… or just needle us.
A careless word, a simple wrong gesture can turn a small difference into a world of anger and pain. Ego and emotion tangle tightly into a disagreement and split families apart. Sometimes families never try to repair the relationship, no matter how it hurts to be apart. The pain of distance seems easier to live with.
Family makes us. It also breaks us.
----------------------------------------
I awoke when the rental car keys slid through the mail slot and hit the hardwood floor. The brass flap closed with a satisfyingly heavy clang, and I collected scattered wits and exhaled the last of my impromptu nap. My cell phone indicated that it was just past three in the afternoon, and I’d gotten back at just after noon, so I’d not had much sleep. It was enough to let me function for a little while longer, but it wasn’t enough to bide me more than a few more hours.
The arrival of the keys meant that Kelly, or one of Charleston’s finest had located and returned my rental car. I didn’t expect it to be washed, but upon investigation, it looked as if it had been. He’d probably had to do it because I’d said it with Xelander present. Well, no matter; by four it would be raining, and the wash would be moot.
Ah yes. Xelander. I didn’t want to have him in my life again, and I found myself hoping that he’d opt to live and let live. I knew better, however, and it should come as very little surprise that shortly after the rental was returned to me that there came a knock at the front door. I didn’t have to look; I knew it was him.
“You really don’t know when to give up, do you, Xelander. Did you park in the back, or are you out on the street?” I looked at him, noting his black slacks and white shirt that was open at the collar. At least in hospital, he’d had a tie on. Scanning the road behind him didn’t reveal a car, and I let him slip past me before I took a good look once more. Nope, no car in sight.
“I don’t have a car; I walked.”
“You walked. From Calhoun.” Well, to be fair, it was a little more than a mile, and I’d been known to walk farther. That was out of necessity, though, not out of sheer perversity. “Why haven’t you got a car?”
“I’m only just arrived in the area, and I’m staying at the Rutledge House on Broad. It wasn’t hard to figure out how to get around.” Those pale blue eyes of his lifted to look to me for a moment, and then he shrugged. “A walk of a mile or two is nothing, Teimhean. I still run.”
Oh yes. He ran. He ran like the wind when we were younger, and I spent many days trailing after him, out of breath and miserable. “Right. I figure you run what, ten miles a day? In an hour, no less?” I cringed at the thought of trying to run that far. I was a sprinter, capable of a decent distance in an incredibly short amount of time. Any distance over half a mile, however, and you could leave me in the dust. Xelander was that distance runner.
He gave me a wry almost-smile and shook his head. “No, I manage about eight miles in an hour. But that’s beside the point. I didn’t come here to discuss running with you, Teimhean.”
“No, you came as my attending physician to make sure I got home and didn’t do anything stupid.”
“I came as your brother, to offer a long overdue apology.”
My heart tried to stop, and I couldn’t help the sudden wince of pain any more than I could the instinctive turning away. Years ago, emotion had ruled, and I’d ended up with a magic-laced scar across my chest. At times, it still caused me pain, though I was certain it was related to the fact that I forced my magic to hold it in place and kept it from healing like the rest of me.
He was at my side faster than it took to think about it. “Teimhean… what is it?” I felt his hands, strong at my elbow and shoulder, a stabilizing presence, and I tried to push him away, but he pulled me towards my sofa and helped me sit.
“Just an old injury that resists healing…took me by surprise, nothing more. I’ll be fine.” I didn’t think I was fooling him anymore than I was fooling myself. I pushed my magic harder, making it flare within me for a moment, and as the pain receded, I eased under his grasp. “Truly, I’m fine, Xelander. Now, what did you need?” Crap. I could have lived another year without asking him that. Especially now that I knew why he was here, and I didn’t want to hash through everything that had gone between us.
“I owe you an apology, Teimhean. For what I said back in Kensington. I was… angry. I was stupid. I never should have said what I did, and I am sorry.” His voice was quiet, rough with emotion, an edge I’d never heard in his words before. “My words that day… did more harm than any bullet from the war, and I would give anything to take them back, to make them vanish into history.”
“They are history, Xelander. I forgave them a long time ago, banished them into the past, and let them die.” And yet, I kept the scar as a reminder. “It is as you said. We were angry and stupid. Suzu would call it a foible of men.” I waved him away successfully this time, and watched as he sat in the chair across from me. “And no, contrary to how it appeared in hospital, she’s not my woman… she’s just the closest thing I’ve got to anything resembling a relationship with the opposite sex around here.”
“I admit to curiosity, but I didn’t think you were homosexual.”
I was glad I didn’t have a drink in my hand. “Christ, if that’s your idea of a bedside manner, then it is absolutely amazing that you’ve lasted more than a day in Charleston.” There were certain subjects that remained taboo, no matter how avant-garde the city tried to proclaim itself as being, and discussing sexual orientation was as high up that list as mentioning a female Cadet attending the Citadel in a room full of men over 50. You just didn’t do it.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“I don’t censor myself around you, Teimhean. I’ve known you long enough to warrant it.” He leaned back in the chair and gave me one of those looks, the kind that search through you and make you feel self-conscious as you squirm and try to avoid meeting that gaze. Unfortunately, I was never good at looking away, and I found myself staring right back at him. “I saw you a few times over the years. Paris, London, Boston… and now, seeing you here, it made the point that our paths were still connected.”
“Connected in means unfathomable to mere immortals such as ourselves?” The quip came easy, and I knew I’d regret it. I should have been less friendly, not as easygoing with Xelander, but as simple as that admission and my acknowledgement, the old kinship was back. In truth it never left, but we were young and angry, male notwithstanding, and that got in the way of things.
He gave me that solemn little nod of his, a ghost of a smile glittered briefly in his eyes. He’d been fast to a smile once, when we were very young, but the advent of the war had changed us so drastically that it was arguable that we weren’t the same men as the boys who had gone to battle. I’d ended up beholden to a demon, and he’d ended up an unwilling experiment in immortality. I wondered how much he’d managed to figure out.
“Speaking of that… if I’d known, Xelander… I don’t know that I’d not make the same choices all over again. Oh, maybe I’d have had the intellect to broaden things a bit, but sitting here, talking to you, seeing what it is that you are, what you do… I almost wonder if it wasn’t worth it. The lives that you’ve saved must be numerous.” Just as numerous as the lives I had taken, I’d imagine. I didn’t give that part of the thought voice.
He shook his head, looking away, that pale ice blue gaze settling on something distant, perhaps in the past, and I used the opportunity to rise and move across the room to bring two bottled waters back from the refrigerator. “Here, the tap water around here doesn’t bear drinking. Keep that in mind while you’re at the Rutledge House if they haven’t a filter system.” In truth, I had a filter system, but I still didn’t like the taste of the water. Suzu had proclaimed it all in my head, which could have been the case.
He unscrewed the top and took a sip from it, as if expecting the bottled water to have some sort of fruity chemical aftertaste. I sat back down, opened my own bottle and nearly finished the thing before I gave it a thought. “Roper may be one of the better medical facilities in Charleston, but they don’t have a good handle on magekind, do they?” It was rhetorical but needed pointing out.
“I’m hoping to change that. There’s a medical research company in the area who has made some waves recently in just that area. They’re purporting to start research in xenobiology, and practical application of modern medicine to magical-natured beings.”
I found myself choking on water as he continued. “I’m told that the CEO is someone best avoided, though, and that the best person in the corporation to approach is the CFO, though by all indications he keeps his own hours and is a difficult man to catch in a face-to-face meeting- Teimhean, are you all right?” He couldn’t know that he was talking about Ravenswing and myself, could he? I waved a hand at him and struggled to catch my breath. “If you insist, but I find it ill advised for anyone to attempt to breathe water, fire nature and healing abilities notwithstanding.”
That was his version of a joke, of course, and I gave it the appropriate nod and choked chuckle. “I’ll keep that in mind for next time, I promise.” I put the empty bottle on the coffee table and spent a few moments clearing my throat before I gave in and let my magic sweep through to clear out the water and undo any irritation in my lungs. I may not be able to breathe it, but I could heal from the damage it tried to do to me.
Once suitably recovered, I looked at Xelander, trying to ascertain whether or not he knew that I was the CFO of which he was speaking. I was pretty sure that he didn’t know, and I certainly wasn’t going to tell him until it was necessary. But to know that he was actively opting to try for the three sponsorships that I had managed to talk Ravenswing into pleased me.
I confess that a part of me had suspected that Ravenswing had created the file, but this proved otherwise. I’d have to play it carefully so as not to appear as an interested party to the public eye, but the thought of a medical facility for magekind appealed. At the very least, I’d not have a cocktail of drugs pumped into my system to make me ill for an entire day.
“So, what will you do then? Camp out in the hopes that you catch the guy?” Oh, there was little doubt I’d pay a merry Hell for it, but if I couldn’t have a little fun at Xelander’s expense, what could I do? “I guess calling and making an appointment ahead of time is out of the question?” I considered collecting another bottle of water, but decided against it, what with how the last one went.
“I’m told he’s in transit a lot. Seems he was supposed to be in the office this morning, but his receptionist wouldn’t admit that he wasn’t in. I suppose that isn’t terribly surprising; I was more surprised when she said that he was ‘supposed’ to be in.” That would have been Caroline. She usually didn’t offer more information than was necessary, but every so often something slipped past her guard. Given that, she must have been worried.
“Slip of the tongue, I’d imagine. He probably didn’t want anyone to disturb him or something equally as banal.” I’d have to make sure that Xelander was extended a formal invitation to come visit the CFO in person. The look on his face would be priceless, and the thought of it made me almost chuckle. He did an almost doubletake and then lifted an eyebrow at me before shaking his head and taking another drink of water.
“I should probably take my leave, Teimhean. I’m told that it rains in the afternoon, and I’d like to avoid getting soaked. Here… this is my card; I’d prefer you not be a stranger.” He fished a business card out of his pocket and handed it to me as he stood. “The bottom number is my cell phone. Call me.”
“I could give you a ride if you want. Where are you, Rutledge House, you said?”
“It’s two blocks from here, Teimhean. I don’t think that walk will kill me.” He actually cracked more than a hint of a smile, and it turned a little wry before he turned away from me. Nothing that I knew of would kill him, and I knew that it was a subtle reminder that he knew what I’d done. Honestly? If he’d not figured it out by now, I’d have been worried.
After he was gone, the townhouse seemed entirely too quiet. There used to be little sounds, little indicators that there was someone else that called the townhouse home, but now that Suzu was gone… the place seemed even emptier than it was. I moved into the kitchen and poked through the refrigerator. There wasn’t anything that was quick, nor easy, so I grabbed an apple off the counter instead. It wasn’t very good, and I tossed the thing after three bites.
I walked back into the living room and checked my phone, keying the volume on the ringer up and scanning the emails that I had missed. I had a coded message from Ravenswing, and when I read it, my ragged emotions took control, and my phone nearly went flying across the room. My magic caught it as it left my hand, and I held it in the air for a moment, cursing Ravenswing out roundly before putting the phone on the coffee table. My punishment was another assignment with nearly no prep time. Son of a bitch.
My shower didn’t last nearly as long as I’d wanted it to, but I had a job to do. It wouldn’t be a pretty job, as the instructions were clear. Messy wasn’t a problem, but it had to go down tonight, and in a short window of time at that. My life seemed to be revolving around that damned warehouse.