Chapter Twenty #2
“The act that took Lorna’s life was recklessly impulsive. It’s possible Brian expected Lorna to get back up, reattach her head, and keep yelling at him. Although he’d been warned about the limits of paranormal abilities, he didn’t understand them, as it wasn’t his life experience.”
Shit. Titus tried to imagine how Brian might’ve felt. “That must’ve been a hell of a shock for him then, when she didn’t get up.”
“Exactly. So much so, he took his own life, apparently remorseful for what he’d done.”
“He never once thought of Cassius?”
“We are not privy to the thoughts of mortals and can only report on their actions. However, it would appear from what happened that Brian’s only focus in life was Lorna.
While Lorna was an excellent mother by all accounts when Cassius was first born, in the last six months of her life, the arguing with Brian became more of a preoccupation, causing her to neglect Cassius’s needs for connection and the basic necessities of life. ”
Titus huffed out a long breath. “All right, so we have dead parents, and a child Apollo and I have gladly taken on as our own. Where did Cassius’s powers come from, if it wasn’t from Brian?”
“Cassius is indeed special, but he gained his powers from Lorna. While he’s not a full vampire, and will never have the need to drink blood to sustain himself, Lorna had gained her extra powers allocated to a vampire over five hundred years of age when she fell pregnant with him.
Cassius has a unique form of synesthesia, and he is also highly empathic.
He can see and understand a lot more than someone with regular eyesight, and it is likely that his powers will continue to grow and develop as he gets older. ”
Titus absorbed what he’d been told, which was really pretty much confirming what he’d already thought – at least in respect to Lorna and Brian. But his own alpha tendencies meant he had to ask one more thing.
“Given that Lorna and Brian are now dead, do we – and by we, I mean Apollo and I – have to worry about anyone else coming from Lorna’s family, or Brian’s, who might be a danger to Cassius going forward?”
“There is no one,” Paulie said firmly. “You are Cassius’s family now. Lord Zeus was very proud to hear that one of his own had claimed both a fated mate and such a special child. You can now consider yourself part of a very eccentric, but definitely interesting god line.”
“Thank you, Paulie. Appreciate the chat.”
He was just about to tap the app again, when Paulie said, “If you have no other questions for me today, may I make a suggestion?”
Titus wasn’t used to apps showing some initiative, but Paulie had set his mind at rest about his issues with his son.
“What suggestion would that be, Paulie?” Hopefully, Paulie would be quick.
Titus was keen to get upstairs and see what Cassius had chosen as his room decoration before his son went to sleep.
“It would be highly useful for you to have your personal phone added to the godly network. You’d be protected from hacking and any attempts to track your location from local, national, or government authorities.
Access to the godly network would also mean your mate can track you on the godly app if you choose to be added there as well.
A lot of gods find it useful to see where their mates and other kin are relative to their own location at any one time. ”
Aww, a welcome to the family gift. Titus grinned.
“If it can protect me from hackers, Paulie, you can count me in. Please make arrangements with whoever you need to, to make this happen. I assume you already know my phone number and can make the necessary transition from my current provider for me. Can I assume, as I am now mated to one of Lord Zeus’s sons, that I won’t be invoiced for the services? ”
“It would pay for you to remember that you’re immortal now, Titus Haverland,” Paulie said. His tone didn’t change much, but Titus would swear the app was grinning. “We of the god line do not discuss money for any reason as we are above such a mortal concept.”
Titus cracked up laughing as he clicked off the app, barely giving Paulie the chance to say, “All hail the Almighty Zeus and his beloved consort, Paulie.”
Feeling a lot lighter and happier about his new situation, Titus tossed Apollo’s phone onto the coffee table and got up from his chair. Running up the stairs, he poked his head in the room they’d allocated for Cassius. His son and Apollo were still there.
“Oh, my goodness,” he said, his eyes widening as he entered the room. “What is this place?”
Instead of a typical boy’s room, which Titus fully expected, the entire room glowed like an underground cave.
The walls looked as though they were carved out of a mountain, and yet when he looked up, it was as if the moon was literally hovering in the night sky.
It looked so real, Titus was sure that if he stood on tiptoes, he could reach up and touch it. “Is this how you wanted your room?”
“Isn’t it great, Dad?” Cassius bounced on his large bed, which was covered in a thick duvet and multiple pillows.
“Apollo is so great at this. And he said that when I’m sick of the caves, he can make this room a jungle, or a forest, or an apartment, or anything I like.
I haven’t thought what that might be yet, but Apollo said he can do it.
Oh, I know, maybe it could be an alien spaceship. ”
“We can do something like that, too, although I’m warning you now, there are many aliens in this universe, and they all have different spaceships, so we may have to do some research.
” Apollo laughed. “But come on, young man, it is well past your bedtime. Maybe Titus would like to sit and read you a story, or are you too old for that sort of thing?”
Story time? Titus wasn’t sure Apollo had any children’s stories around, but it seemed Cassius had other ideas.
“I’m quite capable of reading myself,” Cassius said. “But Dad…” He patted the spot on the edge of the bed. “Can you come and talk to me for a while? I really want to hear what it was like growing up in a pack. Apollo said we should all learn from each other, and I’d really love to learn about you.”
“And that’s my cue to go. I’ll be taking a bath,” Apollo said, as he kissed Titus briefly before heading out of the room. “Night, Cassius. Don’t sit up all night, you two,” he warned as he left.
Titus sat on the bed, studying his son. There was already some color on his pale cheeks, and Apollo had clearly tidied his dark hair. Dressed in comfortable pajamas that seemed to have a night sky design, Cassius seemed a lot more relaxed than he had been.
“Are you all right?” Titus asked quietly. “I know this has been a bit of a life-changing day for you.”
Cassius nodded. “Mom always said you’d look after me if something happened to her.”
I probably should’ve asked Paulie about that, too.
That was the second time Titus had heard Cassius say that in one day.
But just before bed was not the time for that sort of discussion.
“You can tell me all about that later,” he promised.
“How about you snuggle down under the blankets for now and close your eyes. I’ll see what I can remember about what it was like growing up as a pup in the wolf pack I was born into. ”
As Titus began to share some of his earliest memories, he couldn’t stop watching his son. Cassius’s smile as he drifted off to sleep was one of the best gifts Titus had ever had, aside from his mate. May your soul find peace, Lorna. Thank you.