4. Are you ready to surrender? #2
“Yes and no. We can make adjustments if we need to, but the commissioner will need to get it approved, then it’ll have to pass through the city government, and depending on the budget issue, it might get bounced up to the state level.
This year’s was particularly bad. We took a lot of cuts, but we’re supposed to be doing more work.
We do have authorization to do program fundraisers, but we haven’t figured out how to pitch it to the commissioner, who has to get the final approval for the specifics.
Some things we’re not allowed to do fundraising for, like our staff budget.
However, we can do fundraising for new K-9s, domestic violence support programs, animal rescues when animal control is overwhelmed, and community outreach.
We need to do a lot of PR; while our precinct is generally okay, mismanagement and poor training has been an issue.
Holding our precinct at a higher standard only does so much good.
But that’s what the commissioner wants, especially after Morrison’s less-than-legal activities. ”
“Have you been sneaking in work, Mr. Samuel Leviticus Quinn?”
He grinned at me. “I’m an incubus. I don’t need nearly as much sleep as you do, especially after spending hours making you happy.
As I wanted to make sure you were getting enough sleep, I worked when I wasn’t cuddling with you.
I set your work laptop up while you were asleep, and I mostly set your home one up, installed some games, and otherwise got it ready for you to customize to your preferences.
I got laptops for the children, although they’re heavily restricted, they’ll only be able to access the internet when we’re supervising them, and they’re meant for education purposes.
My grandfather has been helping me set up a schooling plan for them.
They’re far more advanced than most gorgon whelps at their age, but they’re behind on some of the basic survival techniques.
That’s part of why my grandfather has them for another few days—possibly up to a month.
We need them able to defend themselves and have better control of their abilities.
Beauty is a biter, and Sylvester will reflexively petrify, although it’s tiring for him.
My grandfather is concerned that the circumstances of their birth has damaged their development. ”
“And their rabies treatment?” I scowled at the thought of what had brought the pair of gorgon whelps into our lives.
If I got a hold of whomever was responsible for attempting to weaponize rabies, I’d bring them to justice one way or another.
With my track record, justice would involve a quick death during some brawl or another, but I could handle that.
It beat leaving them out to hurt or kill others, and enough people—and animals—had perished already.
“That wouldn’t have helped matters any, and while their father paid out for a miracle before his death, there’s only so much an angel can do, and the angel would have only helped because of a perception of injustice.”
“The rabies infection would have been a part of an attempted murder,” I guessed.
“That’s my thought. They’re children, and any angel would have wanted to right that wrong.”
“But their mothers? What about them?”
“It’s miracle enough the whelps survived a round in a glass coffin, Bailey.
Gorgons are magic. Everything about them is magical.
Their mothers would have died in the coffins from that much exposure to neutralizer.
I suspect part of the miracle was them surviving through treatment in the glass coffin.
But they may have survived because of how they were born. I haven’t been brave enough to ask.”
I struggled to imagine Quinn being afraid of something like the answer to a question. “Why are you afraid to ask?”
“There are some gorgons who would risk cracking their children’s eggs if they think they can create another Beauty or Sylvester.”
I sucked in a breath. “That’s horrible. But why?”
“I suspect that may be why Audrey wanted you in the first place. To conduct experiments just like that. Your immunities would make you the perfect surrogate for that sort of thing. Had you been their mother, you wouldn’t have died bringing them into the world—and the other child may have survived, too.
I won’t be surprised if you are asked to carry a cracked egg in the hopes the shell would heal or the child might survive as a live birth. ”
It never failed to amaze me how much gorgon society could amaze and repulse me at the same time. Worse, I couldn’t see myself saying no, especially in the case of a cracked egg where the whelp might survive. “How often does that happen?”
“Not often. Broken eggs usually kill the whelp immediately, and it’s rare an egg will crack without being fully broken.
Beauty and Sylvester were likely banged together during conception and their eggs cracked but didn’t break until a few weeks later, when the eggs would have started to grow.
The father would have known when he’d attempted to retrieve the eggs.
That probably finished breaking their eggs.
His bride must have loved him—and them—very much to have wanted to try to carry them to term.
The human child was likely from superfetation—conceived after the whelps, usually by a matter of days or weeks.
Human embryos wouldn’t be able to survive the rigors of petrification, and gorgon whelps are born able to petrify. ”
“Thus the third child died along with their mother.”
“Right. A cracked egg happens every few years, and even then, one in ten might make it if the surrogate is willing to attempt a live birth. Cracked eggs rarely survive, so the surrogate willing to take the risk would have to be flown in immediately. Gorgon magic would allow the woman to carry the whelps to term, though—or for however long was necessary. It’s never really been tried before.
Most gorgon fathers make the difficult decision to save their bride or surrogate. ”
“But Beauty and Sylvester are proof it can happen.”
“That’s right. Their mother must have fought hard to try to bring them to term. Most gorgon males just won’t risk losing their bride. The brides are often the heart and soul of a hive, and losing her hurts the whole hive.”
“If the bride has a cracked egg, won’t she get upset if somebody else takes over being the surrogate?”
“It would be better than losing her child, I would think—and most surrogates wouldn’t survive after month six or seven. The petrifications would be too taxing.”
“Like what happened with their mom.”
“Exactly. Beauty and Sylvester are very lucky to be alive.”
“How many women are like me? Who don’t get petrified by gorgons?”
“There are no other women like you, Bailey. There are some resistant women, but they’d probably die, too. If the petrification doesn’t kill her, their venom would.”
My eyes widened. “Do you think their serpents…?”
“Think? No. Know? Yes. I had the toxicity reports pulled from her autopsy. It showed lethal amounts of their venom in her bloodstream. Infant gorgons have weakened venom, but they likely bit her internally countless times during the stress of being born. That’s the only defense they have, and they had no way of understanding what was going on. ”
“We’re never telling the kids that. It’s bad enough they’re convinced their petrification killed their mom…” I couldn’t imagine how much it must have hurt. “Their mother was truly amazing.”
“The petrification certainly didn’t help, but their snakes were the actual cause of death. Make no mistake. Their mother wouldn’t have survived either way. And yes, it takes an amazing woman to do that. She refused to give up until her babies were born.”
My poor little children. “But I could save eggs like theirs, couldn’t I?”
Quinn sighed. “Assuming the eggs were left in the surrogate until the transfer, and if it isn’t during your period.
Gorgons plan for when their surrogates are at peak fertility to make certain their magic takes hold.
In theory, if you wanted to take over being the surrogate, the hive male would retrieve the egg or eggs in question, hand them over to me, and I’d handle implanting them.
It would not be a very comfortable process for you, especially if the eggs are more than a few weeks old.
A little magic can help with that, though.
Then you’d probably endure a pregnancy from hell, and the delivery would be complicated. ”
“Complicated? It would be full of sharp, pointy teeth!”
“Yes. Then there’s an issue of the little gorgon having even more mothers than normal, so we’d end up with another child around.
The child’s father would not want you to be excluded, the bride would probably fawn all over you until the day she dies, and don’t get me started about what the gorgon mother—or mothers—would do. It would be a mess.”
“That doesn’t seem highly problematic. We’d just have play dates with all the kids. At the rate we’re going, is anyone going to notice an extra gorgon whelp running around under our feet?”
“Probably not,” he admitted.
“Just make it clear I’ll cut the dick off any gorgon who deliberately cracks their eggs. And I’m unavailable for any other gorgon nookie.”
Quinn chuckled. “If being an emergency surrogate is something you want to do, I can register you with the CDC for specifically that exception. I’ll give you a full list of when a second surrogate might be needed, and you can pick the options that you like best. They’re all post fertilization, so that’s not something I mind. ”
“As you’d be the primary participant, at least as far as I’m concerned.”
“That’s right.”
I pointed at my flat stomach, which wouldn’t show any signs of pregnancy for at least a few months. “What stage does this become a no fly zone for such efforts?”