Family Ties: Hold
#5 of Family Ties
Hold
A SideProject by Kyuuketsuki
_"I kinda expected this..."
"And still you pushed me to tell him..."
"He was gonna find out eventually, babe..."_
Anthony stirred at the smell of ammonia. The half-demon tried to sit up only to find Drayke straddling his waist with the foul-smelling substance in a bottle in his hand. "Ugh, I feel like butt. What happened?" he asked, holding his head.
"You fainted, handsome." Drayke replied. "Kyle told you something big, and you bit it. Can't really blame ya, kiddo. I'd freak if a stranger told me he was my dad, too. Of course, that'd be impossible since my dad's a ruler in another-
"Kyle told me WHAT?!" Anthony sat up, almost knocking Drayke off the couch.
"Relax now, prettyboy." Drayke laughed, pushing him back into the cushions. "Now, there are some things I need to cover with you before I let you up, seeing as you fell and bumped your head. One, we both know what you are. We've known since you stumbled up our steps. I gotta say, you've done a bang-up job hiding it. Almost had me convinced you were all human.
"Two, we're both demons, Kylie and me. So you can stop pretending to be human 'cause lord knows we're not pretending anymore. I don't know about Kylie, but holding this form is aggravating as fuck, so I'm going to change now if you don't mind." That said, Drayke's face changed first. The whites of his amber eyes turned black and the 'makeup' on his eyes swirled under his skin, becoming wicked pointed markings down his cheeks and up his forehead. His nose turned upward and pointed at the tip like a bat's and black ram horns twisted from just above his ears. "And the name's Manya, not Drayke. Pleasure to meet you, handsome."
Anthony looked this new beast over. Manya didn't look too different from Drayke. He was still just as pale and handsome. His lips were still stained black and his body was still just as slender except there were more tattoos swirling beneath his skin. Anthony took Manya's free hand and held his own up to it. From his sharp black claws up to his elbows, Manya's hands had become black, catlike paws. He looked up at Manya's bat face. "...I'm still unconscious, aren't I?"
"Want me to pinch you?" As the demon offered his service, he dropped the smelling salts he held in his right paw and from the elbow down, it morphed into a large black crab claw. "By the way, this is what I do. I'm what you call a Shapeshifter."
The teenager balked, trying to get away from Manya's pincer while the demon on top of him went on.
"Three. Now, I don't know if you're ready to believe this or not but Neirid - Kylie - is your daddy. I met him not long after he put you up for adoption. Now, I don't remember why he did it, but I know he had a good reason."
"A good reason?" Anthony reached into his confusion and pulled out fury. "A good reason for letting those people have me?!" His short horns came through just inside his hairline and his canines elongated into fangs. Anthony found preternatural strength and forced Manya off of him, pushing the demon backward, over the arm of the couch and into the wall next to the hallway. He sucked in a deep breath and let it ignite in his lungs before breathing black flames at Manya.
The demon landed on his feet - hooves - and grinned. "That's quite enough of that, handsome." Manya said. He snapped the fingers on his left paw just as the fire touched him, letting it spill over him as black rose petals. He laughed as Anthony coughed up the dark flower parts. "You almost singed my hair, mate. That wasn't nice." When the teenager sucked in another deep breath, Manya let out a high pitched screech that forced him to his knees. "Listen to me. We are not your enemies, Matthew and Lara Watkins are. You went through an orphanage and an adoption agency. There was no way Neirid could have known who'd get you."
"He could've just raised me himself!" Anthony screamed. "He could've been a dad instead of leaving me with those fuckers!"
"It was your mother's dying wish."
Anthony and Manya both turned to the hallway. Neirid's footfalls were heavy coming from the darkness at the end of the hall. "Before your mother bled out, she saw how human you looked and asked me to give you a chance at a human life." At the entrance to the hallway Neirid seemed almost bigger than he had been as Kyle, but that could have been the twelve-inch lyre shaped ivory horns piercing the air from his head. Neirid's change was far more drastic than Manya's had been. His square-jawed face was catlike now, though still framed by his chin-length blonde hair and beard. Most shocking was that his skin was now as black as Manya's tattoos, making his blond facial and chest hair stand out more.
"Oh, hey baby." Manya said, taking the bigger demon's hand. His mischievous, almost taunting demeanor changed to loving and caring in the blink of an eye. "Why's your shirt undone? "
"Thought the buttons would come off when I changed." He mumbled back to his mate. "Erebus, I swear I didn't know what was happening to you." Neirid said, taking a step toward his son. "I always checked on you at the orphanage, but when you were adopted I had to stop." He sat on the couch with Anthony, who sat as far away from him as possible without being on the floor. "Listen to me. You can't blame your mother, but I promise if she hadn't asked that I let you live with the humans, I would have kept you."
"Neirid knew the moment you stepped out their door, Erebus." Manya said, coming to sit next to him. The teenager turned away, but Manya took his hand. "As soon as we could, we started guiding you here. Look, Imma go out for a while. Talk to your dad, please?" Manya kissed him on the cheek before he got up and walked over to the rack where Neirid had hung Anthony's coat to dry. "Mind if I borrow this?"
"I don't care." Anthony said, folding his arms.
Manya looked to Neirid as his entire body morphed. He was about six inches shorter now with his now short black hair pulled back into a ponytail. Manya was now a mirror image of Anthony. The demon snapped his fingers again and a thin gray mist swirled around him, becoming a white button-down shirt and black skinny jeans. "I'm gonna go run the cops away from here, so I might not be back for a couple days, okay?" Neirid started to protest but Manya spoke before him. "It wasn't really a question, babe." He turned to Anthony. "It's been our experience that demons are better accepted among the anthros, so as long as you stay away from humans, you should be fine if you don't revert." When Anthony nodded, the demon made his way out the door.
The silence was crushing. The demon thought about moving to sit closer to his son, but the space between them felt almost solid. It was like the space between two magnets. Neirid reached out to touch Anthony and was proven right when the teenager cringed away from him. "Erebus, you have to believe me. If your mother hadn't been dying, I would've just let her be angry with me and kept you."
"You let your half-demon son fall into the hands of humans. Full-blooded, super-religious humans, no less." Anthony said. "Bite me."
Neirid sighed. "Erebus, is this what you intended to do when you found me?" he asked, turning on the couch to face him. "Were you looking for me to have this conversation?" Anthony didn't respond. Neirid leaned a little closer to him. "Or were you looking for home?"
The teenager shook his head. "I dunno! I... I just don't know..."
The big demon closed the space between them and carefully put a hand on Anthony's shoulder. He craned his neck to see the boy's face. A shimmer ran down his cheek. "Are you crying?" He didn't answer. He just wiped his face and kept looking away. Neirid sighed. "Don't do this. Erebus, you left those people to find your dad and found Kyle. You know Kyle was just me, so you can't like him and hate me. You have to let me be your dad now."
Anthony shook his head. "No. You're only part right, Neirid." He felt the fire in him swelling - burning in his chest. "I did leave to find you. I did find Kyle first, then you, but then I remembered that you let me go to those people." He stood up and turned around to face Neirid. "So no, I don't have to 'let you be my dad'. I have to cool." The pain in the demon's face may as well have been written in white against his ebon skin. Anthony sighed, black flames visible at the back of this mouth. "Look. I know you're sorry. I get that it's not your fault, but I need to get my head around all this."
"I understand." Neirid said, standing up as well. He took both of Anthony's hands. "By the way, I really am proud of how you handled that son of a bitch that tried to brand you."
Anthony grinned. "Well, it wasn't that he tried. He did."
"Fast healer, I see."
"Yeah and... I didn't use bleach. I burned him." He confessed, opening his mouth to show Neirid the black flames in his throat. "I didn't mean to blind him, it just happened."
"He brought it on himself." Neirid said. He kissed Anthony on the forehead and pulled him toward the hallway. "Come with me. I want to show you something."
Down the hall, past Manya's bedroom on the right wall, the hallway turned left. First was a door on right, then further down was one on the left. Neirid opened the door, revealing a flight of stairs. They turned left to a second flight which led into a very dark room. Anthony thought about using his own night vision, but before he could, Neirid spat a ball of fire into the center of the room. It hovered there for a moment before it exploded into scores of little flames that ignited lavender candles lined up on either side of the room.
Once it was bright enough to see, Neirid led Anthony away from the stairs and across the room. On the other side was a large portrait on an old easel. In the gold frame was a woman with fair skin and long, wavy black hair. Her eyes were bright blue and she wore no makeup other than two shades of red lipstick; darker on her upper lip and brighter on the lower. Anthony looked up to Neirid. "Who is this?"
"Rachael Nicholson-Nightsiren." Neirid replied, stepping behind the teenager. He put both hands on Anthony shoulders. "Erebus, this is your mother."