Chapter 57

The Siblings knew I preferred solid furniture so the table was heavy. The weight did not stop me from picking it up and tossing it through the concrete wall in the backyard.

"Jesus!" Kiera exclaimed as the Brothers backed away from me.

"Show me," I said to my Crests.

"Use my car, Iane," Anna said.

Iane nodded and turned to lead Doris Alex, Melisa, and me to the front of the house.

"Christ, that bastard is strong," Roderigo said behind me.

"Will make things interesting for you if his sister is excitable," Robert said humorously. "Her gifts aren't as developed, but..."

Samantha and Anna laughed freely.

Doris Alex held the back door of the car open for me. Iane got behind the wheel, and Melisa sat on Doris Alex's lap in the passenger seat. They started whispering as Iane pulled out of the parking spot. I stared out the window and remembered.

It was the first foster home that Jason and I had lived in together. The family kept the kids for three to six months, until more permanent situations could be found.

"She's scared, David," Jason answered my question as I approached the bathtub.

"Don't touch anything," he warned looking down at the bleeding girl.

Tiffany was a system kid like us. I put my hands behind my back having learned that Jason gave the best advice.

"Is that a reason to do this?" I asked turning to face him.

"Scared is a good reason to do a lot of things," he replied.

"What's she scared of?"

"The monsters," he whispered.

I nodded, and looked at the girl.

"Isn't she scared to die too?" I asked quietly.

"You can't understand," he said. "I don't think you know how to be afraid."

"So?"

"Some things are less scary than others, David," he continued.

"I don't get it," I told him honestly.

"Would you rather beat up the bully boy, Jonathan, or a monster?" he asked gently.

I nodded again.

"We'll be leaving this house soon," Jason told me.

"Why?"

"The Johnsons are not going to be able to handle Tiffany's suicide," Jason said. "The social worker will say it's their fault too."

"That's stupid," I said. "It's the monsters' fault."

"I know," he said. "But did they ever ask what happened to you?"

I shook my head slowly.

"They won't admit that they fed us to the monsters, David," Jason said.

"Tiffany's gone, Jase," I told him.

"Let's go," he said extending his hand towards me.

"I'm going to kill all the monsters someday," I promised as he led me out of the bathroom.

"There's a lot of monsters," he replied.

"I don't care."

Jason was right though; too many monsters and too many people not willing to go looking in the dark.

"We're here," Iane said putting the car in park.

I opened the door and stepped outside. The neighborhood was dirtier than I expected.

"That one," Doris Alex said pointing to a two-story house.

Its cleanliness and the neat cut of the small lawn in the front yard made it stand out from the other houses. I followed the girls as they walked towards it. They waited at the front gate while I circled the house.

"Ready?" Iane asked when I walked back to them.

"For what?" I asked her.

"You're in enough trouble, Iane," Melisa warned.

"He's about to meet his mother for the first time!" the Ian Sibling said angrily.

Melisa stepped forward and slapped the taller Sibling.

"When I say heel, you heel!" Melisa hissed. "How this would be done was my decision."

Iane's eyes flashed as she rubbed her cheek but she, smartly, kept quiet. Doris Alex looked away to hide a smile.

"Let's go," Melisa said walking towards the door.

"Don't even think of laughing, bitch!" Iane whispered to Doris Alex as I walked past them.

"You're the one that had to try Rank-hopping with Melisa," Doris Alex said amused.

Iane growled dangerously.

"Feel free to keep trying though," Doris Alex told her. "I promise never to get bored of watching your teeth get kicked in."

Melisa rang the doorbell and stepped aside.

"I got it," the girl yelled behind her as she opened the door.

She stared at us with the curiosity of the exhausted.

"Can I help you?" she asked me.

The gasp from behind her pulled my eyes to the source of the sound.

"David..." the woman said putting a hand over her mouth.

Tears covered the brilliant blue eyes that were staring at me. I looked from one female to the other; they looked like before and after pictures.

I stepped into the house and walked into the living room on the left. The Siblings followed me inside.

"Excuse me!" the girl exclaimed. "Mom?!?"

"It's... it's..." the woman tried to speak but could not finish.

"It's okay," Iane comforted the girl.

I studied my surroundings before walking into the dining room.

"Mom?" the girl repeated. "Who are these people?"

"He looks just like his father," the woman said in stunned amazement.

"Do you know who his father was?" I heard Doris Alex say as I walked into the kitchen.

I took the stairs in pairs. The bedroom doors were open except for one.

"Yours?" I asked the girl.

She had followed in my wake as I explored her home.

"Who the fuck are you?" she asked.

I shrugged and opened the closed door.

"Hey!" she screamed stepping in front of me. "That's my room!"

"That's why I asked," I said staring past her.

I walked into the other bedrooms. The house was meticulously cared for with every thing in its proper place.

"Very clean," I said.

"My mom even cleaned that asshole's room yesterday," the girl spat from behind me.

"Your brother?" I asked unnecessarily.

She spun and ran down the stairs. I walked through every room on the second floor again before heading back downstairs.

The Siblings were sitting around the woman with the girl staring sulkily at them from a recliner. The woman's eyes moved to me as soon as I walked into the living room.

"Who are these people, mom?" the girl asked insistently.

"That's my..." the woman said only to be interrupted by Melisa.

"No!"

"David is your brother, Katherine," Iane told the girl.

"I don't have a brother," she replied.

"No, you don't," I agreed with her.

"Do you know who David's father was?" Doris Alex asked the woman again.

"No," she replied wiping her brow. "I met him one night and I just... I had to..."

She looked at me with pleading eyes.

"It's the Bloodlines," Doris Alex told me nodding. "Blindfolded in a room full of men, most of us could tell you whose genes would be best to pass on."

"It's true!" the woman whispered staring at Doris Alex. "Everything my mother told me is true!"

"Stop that, mom!" the girl said angrily. "They're just a bunch of stupid fairy tales."

The Siblings reached behind their necks, undid their chains, pulled their crest rings off, and handed them to the woman. She looked down at them as if they were flawless diamonds flashing hypnotically in sunlight. Her tears fell on the rings freely.

"Mom?" the girl asked unsurely.

"Shush, honey," the woman whispered.

"Where are they?" Melisa asked suddenly.

"On a fishing trip," the woman answered pulling her eyes away from the rings. "They won't be back until Sunday night."

The Siblings visibly relaxed at her words.

"How did you find him?" the woman asked.

"You could say that David found us," Doris Alex said smiling gently. "Of course, it's impossible to miss that many Katherines in someone's genealogy."

The woman smiled shyly.

"He was the only boy I'd ever heard of our women bearing," she told Doris Alex. "My mother was so proud, if she hadn't died when she did..."

She broke down sobbing; Melisa pulled her into a tight hug.

"Why did you come?" the woman asked when she recovered.

"Katherine," Iane replied.

The three Siblings and the woman looked at the girl, who set herself to jump out of the chair.

"Why?" the woman asked but the fear in her voice expressed that she knew the answer.

"The animal," Iane replied.

The girl sat back and stared at the women in front of her.

"I've tried to protect her," the woman said softly. "I've even given him my body."

Iane stood up angrily and gave the coffee table a solid kick.

"Iane!" Melisa said strongly.

"NO!" Iane yelled. "You're not Bloodline, First! You can't understand! We belong to Brothers from the day we are born! Even Bloodline children who don't accept a white ring have their mates handpicked."

"Until we lost them, no one outside the Society had touched an Ekaterina for over a millennium," Doris Alex said looking at Melisa. "And Katherine has to throw herself at that pig to protect her daughter!"