Chapter 37
“My, how the tables have turned,” Maxim said.
Across the Monopoly board, Clement and Bryan, both near destitute, glowered at him. During the course of the game, the Lares had sidled closer to one another and had even given each other’s fruit baskets approving nods.
“How did you do that?” Bryan asked.
“It’s unlikely for someone to get that lucky with the dice every time,” Clement said.
Maxim gasped in mock shock. “Clement! Are you suggesting that I cheated? I’d not know how. As a hunter, my mind is always clear of such deceitful thoughts.”
Bryan turned to Clement. “I think he cheated.”
“You too, Bryan?” Maxim scratched Ume behind his ears. The Shiba was snoozing away, his head resting on Maxim’s ankle. “I wouldn’t.”
“Hmm.” Bryan crossed his arms. “But you could.”
Maxim raised his brows. “Yet I would not. You have no proof, have you?”
“None, other than our decisive ruin.”
Maxim gestured at the board. “I’m sure the two of you can recover. There are still properties to buy, and it’s not like you have to go to jail every round. Although it looks as though you insist upon it.”
“I’m not sure I like this game anymore,” Clement said. He’d had fewer trips to jail, but he’d been there often enough.
Suddenly, Bryan shot to his feet. “They’re back! The car just came back in through the gate.”
Clement sighed. “The human will have made himself ill again. I’ll head downstairs. There’s no telling what state he’s in.”
“No,” Bryan said. “If you go and wait for them, they’ll think we missed them.”
Clement heaved himself back onto one of the couches. “We didn’t miss them. Why would we miss them? It’s a lot quieter with them gone.”
Bryan nodded. “Exactly.”
“Well, Ume did miss Raven quite a bit,” Maxim said. “We should leave the board out so they can see we’ve been otherwise occupied.”
Bryan nodded. “Good idea. Oh, let me arrange my new tangerines in the bowl.”
He grabbed the fruit and walked over to his desk.
He put them all into his bowl, going one by one and making sure to arrange them prettily.
Maxim could see he was keeping one eye on the elevator though, and that didn’t help, not when Maxim himself had a strange urge to rush downstairs and make sure all was well with the three of them.
Rather, I should make sure Raven is well.
Jason can take care of himself, and so can Heath.
Raven certainly can, too, but I’d rather he doesn’t have to.
“Humans are odd, aren’t they?” Clement asked suddenly. He was fussing with his own fruit basket—not as obviously as Bryan was, but making sure each item sat perfectly among the others.
Maxim turned to him, the Monopoly board between them forgotten.
“In what way?”
“They are…like those pale green flies, I used to think. They barely do any living before they die. And then, before you know it, there is one who is bright in the most surprising ways, and his life is like an invisible fire in your heart.” He sighed. “I hate that about them, I truly do.”
Maxim huffed. “Do you?”
Clement met his gaze but didn’t answer. His mouth was pinched, but not even that sour expression could do much to hide his fine features.
“They’re here!” Bryan said again, and in the next instant, the elevator chimed and opened.
“Oooh, we stopped spinning,” Heath said.
“Erm, this is just the lobby, stop—” Raven said.
But Heath was already stumbling out of the car. Maxim could hear it, and he stood. Umeboshi did not move. For a dog with so much attitude, Maxim truly had expected better from him.
“Darling, are you back?”
Heath had undone two buttons on his shirt, which made it so that he showed a sliver of skin.
It was still quite modest in Maxim’s best estimation, but it was a lot for his baby boy.
Behind him, Raven was reaching out a hand as if to stop Heath from stumbling blindly.
Jason was leaning on him heavily, his head resting on Raven’s right shoulder, and thus stopping him from grabbing Heath.
He looks well, Maxim thought. I should have known he’d be the responsible one.
When Heath saw Maxim, he pouted. “Dad. That man called me sugar bear.”
Maxim covered his mouth with his hand. “Oh, no. Did he really? What man, darling?”
He moved to intercept Heath while giving Raven a smile that was meant to say, relax, this is my charge. Heath allowed himself to be hugged, if only so he could lean on Maxim.
Raven let out a relieved breath. “He means the bouncer from the Red Clover. The two of them were dancing when Jason and I came back from the bathroom.” He glanced at Jason. “Jay wasn’t feeling too good. Apparently, champagne isn’t for him.”
Heath whimpered. “He made me do the paso doble, Dad!”
“Jason?” Maxim asked.
Heath’s whimper intensified. “No, that barkeep!”
“Bouncer,” Raven said.
Maxim petted his son’s hair. “Did he? Well, you’re quite good at the paso doble, aren’t you?”
Out of the corner of his eye, Maxim saw Bryan frown. “Should I take him upstairs, Maxim?”
“Uh, I think Jay needs to spend the night as well. And he needs to sleep on his side,” Raven said.
From behind Maxim, Clement heaved a sigh and came forward. “I will take care of that. You said you took him to the bathroom because of the champagne?”
Raven shrugged as best as he could with Jason leaning on him. “He said he wasn’t feeling too well. Then he threw up and blamed it on the champagne.”
Clement cackled as he heaved Jason off Raven’s shoulder. “Oh, this idiot.”
“I did make him drink your water, I just don’t know how much it helped.”
Clement focused on Raven. “Thank you for that.”
“No problem.”
Heath roused in Maxim’s arms. “I didn’t drink water. I ordered the drinks for all of us. We drank fire, and then some more fire—oh, the barkeep taught us how to do it, but Raven blew on his fire.”
Raven chuckled and stepped out of the elevator to allow Clement and Jason to go up.
“He means the bouncer, not the barkeep.”
Heath grinned at Maxim. He smelled of liquor. “This was a business expense, can you believe that?”
Maxim faked interest. “Was it really? Darling, that’s nice. Such a smart plan to hatch. Now, come on. We shall take you upstairs. Raven, do you mind if I take him upstairs to his room first?”
And Raven, when he smiled in his oversized hoodie, looked for a moment like the college student Maxim had seen in all those photos, a young man who had a life full of possibilities ahead of him. He looked unburdened. For that alone, Maxim was grateful.
“No, of course not, and better you than me. He’s sort of slippery. He went right back to the dance floor when I was trying to get them both to leave.”
Heath lifted his head. “Yeah, that’s because that barkeep told me he can do the foxtrot as well, and that’s much more fun that the paso doble. Stupid dance, that.”
“I see,” Maxim said and once more petted Heath’s head.
Ume had apparently decided that now was his moment. He walked right up to Raven, pushed his ears back in delight, and began to look all enthusiastic about his human being back. Raven bent down immediately to scratch behind those ears.
“I guess I should take this one for a walk, huh? Wouldn’t mind the fresh air either.”
Bryan dropped whatever pen he’d been playing with and stood. “Yes! And you shouldn’t go alone. I’ll take Heath to bed, and then Maxim can go with you.”
“Are you sure?” Raven asked from where he was kneeling next to Ume, who had rolled onto his back to get his belly scratched like the shameless dog he was.
“Absolutely,” Bryan said, rounding his desk.
“Huh?” Heath said. “What’s happening?”
“Bryan is going to take you to bed,” Maxim said. “And I’ll take Raven out.”
Heath nodded, his mouth tensing in that way that usually meant he was about to say something serious.
“About time. I think.” He raised a finger in Maxim’s face.
“But if you are weird to him or do old people shit, I will come after you. For real, Dad. Raven and I are friends, and we go friends before business expenses in this house.”
Raven made an insecure sound. “Ignore him, he’s drunk.”
Heath turned and nearly stumbled out of Maxim’s arms. “Yeah, I am. That barkeep’s fault. But I’m not that drunk. I have your back, Raven. And your front and side. Maybe also your…above? Guess it would be better to wear a helmet for the above, to be honest with you.”
“Riiiight.” Raven stood and looked at Maxim. “Should we head out, then?”
“Yes, I should think so.”
Maxim handed Heath over to Bryan, who had to push him toward the elevator while Heath kept waving at him, Raven, and even Ume. Ume completely ignored Heath but circled Raven’s legs, black eyes watching closely for what was going to happen next.
“Yes, walkies,” Raven said, and Ume booped him in the leg with fresh excitement.
“He wasn’t all that enthusiastic earlier. Come along, you two.”
Maxim led the way, slowing his steps enough to allow Raven to catch up to him. When they passed the low table in the waiting area, Raven looked at it curiously.
“Did you guys play Monopoly?”
Maxim sighed. “Indeed. I thought it would suit our two Lares.”
“Right. Um. What does it mean to be one of those? A Lar? Can you be turned into one?”
The front door opened for them, and outside, cool night air welcomed them.
It all reminded Maxim of that first nighttime walk he and Raven had taken.
And yet, everything about tonight was different from how it had been then.
There was no creeping fear that Raven would demand his existence as a vampire be ended.
There was no worry about telling him the right thing at the right time or about him buckling under his own pain.
“Well, Lares,” Maxim started, then paused. “They were closer to humans once than fae, werewolves, or us vampires, but somewhere along the way, people forgot about them. They were household guardians. You’ve heard of those, yes?”
Raven nodded. Ume, clearly invigorated by being outside, was walking ahead of them, almost as if he wanted to give them the space to talk among themselves. Just as well. It was quiet, the traffic in this part of town almost nonexistent, and Maxim couldn’t sense people anywhere near them.
“Like Hestia? The Greek goddess?”
“Oh, similar I should think. Lares or their counterparts in other cultures were considered smaller gods, more intimate, and often related to a specific family. They’d get daily offerings—milk for the brownies, that kind of thing.
They prefer staying in one place, and that place becomes almost like an extension of their body.
They can control it like they would their body.
A lot of the time, they remain unseen by choice.
Just a minor haunting, people will think.
But some turn toward the family who lives with them.
” He leaned closer to Raven. “Bryan is like that. He’d move with us anywhere, and I cannot imagine him not being with us. ”
Raven nodded. “Yeah, he seems like part of your family.”
His expression turned pensive, gaze falling to the pavement, his thoughts clearly turning inward.
Maxim looked up. The light that covered New Amsterdam like a veil made it impossible to see most of the stars, but there were some little shards of brightness in the dark.
“Family is the people you hold close, those you guard, those who are dear to you. Yes, Bryan is very much that.”
Raven didn’t immediately answer, but Maxim thought he saw wistfulness flicker in his expression. They went to cross the road to get to Seneca Park. Ume was already waiting for them at the curb, judging them with his steady gaze.
“Yeah, that must be nice.”
Maxim let out a breath. “I should hope so. Or are you making a complaint? I’m not quite sure whether either you or Jason are the newest family member, but if something is amiss, you might as well tell me the ugly truth of the matter so that I might rectify it.”
Raven stopped, this time not in the middle of the road but on the gravel path leading into Seneca Park.
“What?”
Maxim turned, shrugged. “You are family, obviously.”
“Oh.” Tears rushed into Raven’s eyes, filling them rapidly, and before Maxim knew what was happening, Raven was crying. “Oh.”
Maxim didn’t even stop to think. He wrapped Raven in his arms, giving him a close hug.