Forehead drenched with sweat, Nancy closed her eyes and laid back to catch her breath. After six long hours, it was over.

  “Here you go mom,” the nurse said, bringing Shirley over, wrapped in a blanket. The baby was fussy and squirmed a bit but settled once Nancy held her close. Running her fingers over Shirley’s wispy little blond hairs, Nancy smiled at the baby girl who had her vibrant green eyes.

  “My god, she’s so beautiful,” she heard from over her shoulder. Nancy turned, smiling to see both of Ikher’s cheeks wet with tears.

  “Oh,” Nancy said and reached up to cup his face with her hand. He smiled down to her, sniffed and wiped his eyes. “Do you want to hold her?”

  His face lit up. “Yeah.”

  “Like we practiced,” she said as he took her.

  “Keep her close and support the head.” His grin reached both ears as he bounced her gently in his arms. “You’re so little,” he said, taking in every detail like he would never see her again.

  Nancy smiled, watching him dote over her and whisper sweet things as he meandered around the delivery room, impeding the staff trying to get the room cleaned and sorted. He made his round-about way back to her and stood next to the bed still bouncing her. Ikher looked back at Nancy and smiled.

  “You make beautiful babies.”

  “We make beautiful babies,” she said, reaching up and touching his arm. Ikher leaned over and kissed her forehead.

  “God, I love you,” he whispered.

  Nancy’s eyes shot open and tried to focus in the dark bedroom. The only light, her alarm clock across the room, showed two-thirty. Nancy’s lip curled, feeling betrayed by her subconscious but she wasn’t able to fester for long. Shirley moved inside her, adjusting onto what seemed to be the baby’s favorite spot, Nancy’s bladder.

  “Of course that woke you too,” Nancy said, looking down at her bludging stomach as she pushed herself up to pee for the fourth time that night. After sorting herself in the bathroom, she figured she may as well stay up. Laying back down would be futile because she’d either be up again in an hour to pee or an hour and a half to get ready for work.

  Making her way downstairs to the kitchen, Nancy started warming her breakfast, the soup concoction William had discovered. They had slowly introduced more ingredients: carrots, celery, egg noodles, ginger, and unspiced shredded chicken. It was less bland and she could keep it down without difficulty.

  “Morning madam,” she heard from behind her as she sat at the island with a bowl. “Did the little one keep you up again?”

  Nancy nodded. “Mmm, that and nightmares.”

  “At least we know it wasn’t a food-induced nightmare,” he offered with a smile over his shoulder which made her snort.

  Nancy finished breakfast and started back upstairs while William put together lunch for her. Reaching the foyer, she took a deep breath before starting her ascent to the second floor. She had difficulty with stairs when she was pregnant with Michael but being pregnant and malnourished made them twice as formidable.

  She pulled herself up using the railing when she heard William exit the kitchen to put her lunch bag by the door. Seeing her struggle, he followed up the steps to help.

  “We should move you into the front room, at least until the delivery,” William said, taking her arm.

  “Absolutely not. One flight of stairs won’t kill me. Plus, it’s the only exercise I get.”

  When they reached the top, Nancy paused to catch her breath, putting her hand on his shoulder. Catching movement from the corner of her eye, she turned to see Jared standing in the hallway. William followed her gaze and nodded.

  “Mister Lanover, good morning. Any requests for breakfast?”

  Jared glanced from William to Nancy before narrowing his eyes.

  “No,” he said before heading to his office. William nodded and turned back to Nancy.

  “I put a little more chicken in your lunch this time. If that sits well, perhaps tonight we’ll try some broccoli.”

  “Thank you, William,” Nancy said, patting him on the shoulder.

----------------------------------------

  Ikher trotted down the steps from Arthur’s building and jumped in Janine’s van, tossing his bag onto the floor in front of his seat.

  “Thanks again for the lift,” he said, belting himself in. “You wanna get lunch?”

  “Sure,” Janine smiled as she pulled into the street. “Got something in mind?”

  Ikher tapped his chin. “Hmmm, I could do Jamaican.”

  “Good choice,” Janine said with a nod.

  She watched him tap his finger on the window rest to the song on the radio. This trip to his friends in Newcrest had become an almost monthly trip.

  “Hey, I’ve got a question,” Janine said, looking for an opening in traffic to turn.

  “What’s up?” he asked, turning to look at her.

  “I’ve brought you here on the regular. How long’s your guy been dealing?”

  “Oh, Arthur doesn’t sell. He just grows.”

  “No shit,” Janine said, whipping her head to him.

  “Yeah, he’s got a pretty fancy set up in his apartment.”

  “Home growers are like that,” she said. “So, he grows two pounds a month and you smoke it all?”

  Ikher turned and laughed. “What? No. Now way I could smoke two pounds in a month. I wouldn’t be able to function.”

  “The hell are you doing with it then?”

  “I mean, I sell most of it.”

  Janine opened her mouth to say something but froze, her eyes darting back and forth as the pieces fell into place. There was no way. She glanced at Ikher from the corner of her eye. He was his usual relaxed self, watching the pedestrians while they sat at the light.

  “So, you mean to tell me,” Janine said. “That you’ve been hustling the whole time I’ve known you?”

  “Ummm, not the whole time,” he said, his lips pursed as he thought. “But not too long after I moved in.”

  Janine looked back at the road as she tried to figure out how the hell he’d slipped under her radar. Every time she’d offered to buy some from him, he gave it to her as payment for transportation. When Ken mentioned getting some from him, she assumed Ikher had given it to him as well.

  He didn’t have the usual layers of suspicion and self-preservation most dealers had. His generous and affable nature was an excellent camouflage. Everyone in the neighborhood loved him, so she assumed the moderate amount of traffic at his house was because he was the friendliest dude on the planet.

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  She’d locked on to Robin as the mystery dealer since he fit the profile and had done everything in his power to avoid her. But it was Ikher. Ikher sitting right under her nose.

  “Motherfucker,” she said, and smacked the steering wheel with a laugh. “I can’t even be mad.”

  He turned to her, brows furrowed. “Huh?”

  “Oh, nothing.”

  He had an established clientele, so it was better to bring him on board. How to go about it though? The usual route for this kind of thing was too harsh. Ikher was generous and affable, but also super sensitive. Workings out in her head she missed something he said.

  “Whats that?” she asked.

  “I said, who’’s turn is it to buy?”

  “I got you,” she said with a smile. It was the last she could do for what he was about to go through.

----------------------------------------

  “You’re an all star Yufei,” Nancy said as she pulled into her driveway, the motion lamps illuminating her way to the house. “You and Cindy enjoy your vacation. We’ll struggle on without you for a bit.”

  “You flatter me,” Yufei’s voice echoed from the phone in the console holster. “Don’t you have your baby until I get back!”

  “I’ll try not to. See you then!” Nancy said and grabbed the phone from the console.

  Nancy entered the foyer, took off her coat and put her bag down before turning around to an eerie quiet and dark home. Normally at this hour, Michael was making some sort of ruckus or William was putting dinner out.

  She waited for a moment, listening, but could hear nothing. The kitchen was empty like the foyer. On days she missed dinner, William would leave the range light on with a note attached to the hood. There was nothing of the sort. Nancy found the fridge untouched aside from what she and William had used this morning.

  Returning to the foyer, Nancy waited but again, heard nothing. The only light upstairs came from Jared’s side of the house. Taking a deep breath, she started the slow climb to the second floor. She needed to get to the bottom of this, even if it meant dealing with him.

  In the three months since finding out she was pregnant, she could count on one hand how many times they had spoken in person. After catching her breath at the top, Nancy steeled herself for a fight and made her way toward the source of the light.

  “Did William go home early?” Nancy asked in the doorway to Jared’s office. Jared was at his desk, head down, reading reports.

  “You could say that,” he said, without looking up.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “I fired William,” Jared said as he signed a document, still not looking at her.

  “Excuse you?” Nancy said, her brows coming together.

  “I. Fired. Him.” Jared repeated slowly, glancing at her for a moment.

  “First, not your place,” Nancy said as she pointed at him. “Second, don’t be upset when I hire him back.”

  “Good luck with that,” Jared said, making Nancy stop. She took a deep breath, realizing that he was up to something.

  “All right, you have some little trump card you’re holding, so you may as well just get it off your chest,” she said walking up to stand in front of his desk. Jared sighed and sat back in his chair, regarding her for a moment.

  “I had William deported,” he shrugged. “Turns out he was actually Wilheim and was here illegally from Germany,” Jared said, going back to his reports.

  “Bullshit.”

  “Which part?” Jared smiled. “Because I can assure you, part of it’s true.” Nancy exhaled through her nose and narrowed her eyes at him. “I just figured since you don’t need any help to raise your child, we didn’t need any around the house either.”

  Nancy stared down at his smug smile and realized that their separated silence wasn’t enough, he was determined to be spiteful. Best to check this sooner than later. Looking up at the bookshelves lining the room, Nancy took a deep breath as she walked over to one.

  “You know Jared, you were right,” she said, her fingers brushing the spine of his law books.

  “About?” he said after a moment, a hint of curiosity in his voice. Smiling sweetly, Nancy turned and walked back to stand in front of him.

  “About you and me. Without you, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” she said, folding her hands in front of her.

  “Oh, Nancy,” he said leaning back in his chair with a humongous smile. “An apology will not bring your boyfriend back."

  She bit down on the inside of her lip and it took every ounce of willpower Nancy had to not laugh at him. He thought William was the father. That explained why he went to such lengths to get rid of him.

  “Oh, Jared,” she said, copying his tone. “This isn’t an apology. It’s an affirmation of where we stand,” she smiled down to him. “We were both nothing when we met, but now, we’re both more,” she said, tilting her head to the side. “It’s just... that one of us... is so, much, more, than the other.” The mirth faded from her face.“You want to play childish games with the resources at your disposal?” she said, glaring down her nose at his suddenly very sober face. “Very well, you’ve played your hand. I guess we’ll see now what my resources can achieve.”

  Lights flashed up from the dance floor below as disco music blared. His guests were in the middle of a heated argument when Khaba entered the balcony. The conversation stopped as they waited for him to take his seat. They were reeling from a mistake and were there to ask for help. So he took his time.

  “Good of you to finally join us,” Samuel said.

  Like all of them, Samuel’s rebirth had frozen him in time. His ugly mutton chops couldn’t be helped, but that didn’t mean Khaba had to like them. Even worse that they were semi-fashionable now. He completed his slow walk to his seat and sat, crossing his legs. His guests waited for him to speak and when he said nothing Sigil cleared her throat.

  “Ozzy, we can’t find Phillip.”

  There weren’t many his age. After a certain point, immortality lost its luster. Khaba had found a secret though. He committed himself completely to a life. Or rather a persona and would live how that persona would live for a time. When he grew bored or too well known, that life would perish. He had lived many, many lives. OzzyManDias was the name he had chosen for this one.

  The corner of Ozzy’s mouth raised with the hint of a smile but he said nothing. The music ended downstairs and the dj’s voice echoed up.

  “And now, it’s time for the star of tonight’s show! Please welcome to the stage... Cream De La Creme!!!!”

  Samuel face screwed up as Ozzy stared at them without speaking. The crowds downstairs erupted with yells and applause. Samuel threw his hands up.

  “To hell with this! We don’t need him!”

  “Shut the fuck up, Samuel,” Andreus hissed. “This is all your fault, anyway.”

  “Hello, my babies!” Cream De La Creme cooed into the microphone. “I have a very spicy song for you tonight.” More cheers and applause as a fast paced Latin beat started.

  “He’s right,” Sigil said. “We never should have listened to you. Nothing ever goes right when we listen to you.”

  “We unearthed that monster on your request, nay, your begging,” Darya said, almost coming out of her seat. “And now he’s killed indiscriminately and is all over their news.”

  “I didn’t know he would be like this!” Samuel said.

  Ozzy’’s high and light laughter silenced them all. When the laughter wound down to a slight giggle Ozzy laced his fingers over his knee and turned his attention to Samuel.

  “You’re not stupid Samuel. Just, willfully ignorant. Which is worse.”

  “I didn’t know that he would be like this.”

  “You didn’t want to know,” Ozzy said. “You saw this perfect blond haired, blue eye angel and knew that he’d be perfect for the little crusade you cling to from your former life.”

  “That’s not true.”

  “Oh, so you wanted him in your bed then?” Darya said, drawing Samuel’s ire.

  “Fuck off. I would never.”

  “You said he would be an excellent addition to the council, Samuel.” Sigil put in. “You said he would give us clout with the old world because of his age.”

  “But you just wanted another white face to look at,” Andreus said which set Samuel off.

  Ozzy watched these babies as they argued. All of them together not even a quarter of his age. Sigil had been reborn in the interment camps during World War II. Darya, the oldest had barely landed in The City before she had been turned. Andreus and Samuel had both been reborn during this country’s civil war, albeit on opposite sides.

  Together they made up the west coast leadership of this country, the new world. Ozzy was from the old world. Technically, he was from the world before the old world. But he had stopped counting a long time ago. He waited until they were almost to blows before holding his hand up. They fell silent.

  “Do you know why I never swear allegiance to any council?”

  They all looked at each other before Darya spoke up.

  “Because no one can make you?”

  Ozzy’s had taken a liking to Darya. She reminded him of his most recent child, Clint. A quick brain and a mouth that didn’t know when to stay quiet.

  “Not quite. It’s less to with age but more to do with attachment,” Ozzy said, sweeping his gaze over them. “You need to leave your old lives behind. The struggles and prejudices we held then don’t matter anymore and will only drag you down. All councils, old and new, have baggage they refuse to let go of.”

  A silence settled in the balcony as Cream De La Creme’s song ended to monstrous applause.

  “Thank you my babies! Thank you!” she said between blowing kisses into the microphone.

  “All right,” the dj said as slow r&b music wafted up from below. “This set is for all you lovers out there. Grab someone you love or want to love and get out here on the floor!”

  It was Sigil who broke the silence. “So, you won’t help us.”

  “I will.” The shock and relief on their faces almost made him laugh. “Phelipe Levasseur is bad for business and was put to earth for this exact reason.”

  “Thank you!” Samuel said.

  “Yes, thank you.” Darya echoed.

  “The question is, once I have him, what will you do with him?”

  “We’ll rebury him,” Sigil said.

  “We should burn him for the trouble he’s caused,” Andreus said.

  “He's long past due for that,” Ozzy said.

  Darya shook her head. “We can’t. He’s still too connected to the old world.”

  “We’ll rebury him,” Sigil said again, before turning to Samuel. “With warnings this time that everyone can read.”

  Ozzy stood, drawing their attention.

  “As you wish,” he said and left them.

  His mind raced. He was growing bored with this life but perhaps this would cheer him up. It had been many lives since he had hunted. This prey would be especially slippery considering his gift. But that just made it more exciting. Yes, perhaps he would remain OzzyManDias a bit longer.