Chapter 11: Holiday!

It was still dark out when a hand wrapped around my cock, waking me. The questions from my dream still rang in my head, but that hand made it easy to stop worrying, at least for a while. I let myself get lost in the sensation.

"Jordan! Everyone's still asleep!" I shushed her.

"Don't worry," she giggled, "I can be quiet." She put her hand behind my head and pulled me in for a kiss.

"You're insatiable." I looked at her. It was dark, all I could see was my brand on her, burning brightly in the blackness, which just stirred my errection even more. "Aren't you tired after driving for so long?"

I felt her shrug. "I dunno, I guess being around you just invigorates me." She climbed on top of me, guiding me into her. Then I felt her wrap her arms around me; her fingernails started digging into my back. It was obvious she was trying to be quiet, and struggling. I was certainly enjoying that feeling.

And then I felt a third hand start caressing me. I heard another female voice groan as the mattress shifted to accommodate the extra weight. I looked to see where the groan had come from, and saw another one of my brands. I was so startled I came.

Then everyone did. So much for being quiet.

California: Wednesday Early Morning

Almost immediately, the hall light came on, spilling through the open bedroom door. I took advantage of this opportunity to look down and see who the newcomer was in my bed. I saw a tangle of red curls.

"Randi?" That came from a shadow suddenly appearing in the doorway. "What are you doing?"

The redhead stirred beside me, turning to face the door. "Geez, Mom, what does it look like I'm doing?"

Then Jordan popped her head up from behind me. "Randi? Really, Eric? I thought I was enough for you, campione."

"Jordan? Eric? But ... what?" The shadow disappeared from the doorway. "Tony!!"

"I think you broke Patty, piccola."

Jordan stretched. "I'm sure you can fix her. You fixed Cori." I winced at Jordan's cavalier attitude towards my powers.

Randi turned over and snuggled up to me. "That was nice. Can we do this again?" Pretty soon she was snoozing. It sounded like a bulldozer.

The last time I saw Randi was Thanksgiving (Antonio always got Thanksgiving, and Dad always got Christmas). She'd been pushing 18 with a vengeance, ready to graduate high school. She was the salutorian. I'd have gone to her graduation, but I was on a plane to Italy.

Randi and her mother, Patty, had been long-term tenants of Antonio's, ever since he'd been thinking about retirement. I'd always considered them family. I was 11 when Randi was born. Even though we weren't related, I was still 'Uncle Eric' for the longest time. She'd always been the tag-along kid. Until now. Now I could feel all 18 years of her naked curves moulding into my side.

Jordan peered over me. "How can such a small girl make such a large noise?"

I shrugged. "Search me."

"I wonder why she decided to join us."

"She's got my mark."

"What? How?"

"No idea. I've seen it a few times."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Brandy, Stevie ... and now Randi. None of them were around when I had my seizures, and I didn't purposefully brand them. Still, they've all had my brand."

"Wonder what that's all about."

"It's a mystery."

Then we could hear Patty's voice, muffled, coming down the hall; I could also hear Antonio's mumbled replies.

"And then I caught them all in bed together!" Now there were two shadows in the doorway. The taller of those shadows moved through the door, and flipped on the bedroom light. Randi stirred awake. Patty stormed in, shoving herself past Antonio. "You see what I'm talking about?"

She grabbed Randi's arm. "You're coming with me. No daughter of mine is going to participate in this kind of perversion!"

Patty was a looker. Forty looked more like twenty-five on her. She was shapely and slender; you've probably seen her in the background of a lot of TV shows and movies, trying to earn her SAG card. I never really had a crush on my teachers; but Patty always featured in my adolescent fantasies.

I tried to stop her, but then I pulled back - I noticed a brand on her, and not one of mine. It was blue. I remembered Vaughan's warning about taking from anyone else.

Randi flopped to her feet almost like a rag doll, and tried to pull herself away from Patty. "What is your problem, Mom?"

"Calm down, Patricia," Antonio said. "Let go of her."

Patty let go of Randi out of startlement. Randi quickly jumped away from her mother. I could see Patty's face grow red with rage. "But..."

He took her hand. "I know, I can see you're upset. Go back to bed, try to sleep." He deftly maneuvered her out the door. "I'll talk to the kids."

She started spluttering. "Sleep?! But..."

"It is the middle of the night, Patricia. At least one of us should get some sleep. I'm sure they'll respond to a level head more than shouting and violence."

She sighed. "I guess you're right. But this is wrong! They're family!"

"It's going to be okay."

Defeated, Patricia hung her head. "Oay, Tony. I trust you." She turned and walked down the hall.

Antonio closed the door, then turned to us. "Eric, you want to tell me what's really going on here?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could even get a word out, Jordan piped up. "Eric and I are fucking, and Randi decided to join us."

"Oh," he said, blinking like a deer caught in headlights. He crossed his arms, glaring at us, then he turned to Jordan. "Are you happy? Is he treating you well?"

Jordan made a show of thinking about it. "Yes, nonno," she finally said, rolling her eyes. "Eric is a good man."

He sighed, frowning. "I don't like it. How did this happen?"

"It's a long story," I sighed. "The tumor sort of made me psychic."

He nodded, as though that was old news, then he turned to Randi. "You really upset your mother."

Randi hung her head. "I know! But I didn't do anything wrong. It's not like Uncle Eric is really my uncle."

I laughed at that. "I haven't heard you call me Uncle in a long time. I kind of missed it."

She climbed into the bed and snuggled up close. "I can start it up again, if you want."

How could I say no to that?

"Well," Antonio said, gruffly. "As long as you're happy." He shook his head. "How am I going to explain this to Patricia?"

"Eric's good at that," Jordan said. I glared at her.

"Randi, please go back to your bed. Let's not give your mother more reason to explode in the morning. Come," Antonio said, "I'll walk you." Randi pulled herself away from me and let herself be led into the hall. Antonio looked over his shoulder at me, and turned the light off, then shut the door softly behind him.

After the door closed, I turned to Jordan. "That was weird."

I felt her snuggled up against me. "Breakfast is going to be awkward."

"I don't know what I'm going to do about Patty."

"What do you mean?"

"She's marked by someone else. So I can't change her like I did Cori."

"Oh. But you can replace that. You did that to me."

"Yeah, but those were special circumstances. I was told that it's frowned upon to interfere with other people's property."

"What about Rocco?"

"He's a special case." I kissed my sister on the forehead. "Don't worry, piccola if I find out that Patty's being mistreated I'll do my utmost to stop it."

"I know you will, campione."

California: Wednesday Sunrise

As predicted, breakfast was awkward. I'd slept fitfully, and it was pretty clear that everyone else had, as well. Nobody was willing to look into anyone else's eyes.

Jordan was the first one to crack. "I can't take it anymore. Can we please talk about the elephant in the room?"

"Fine!" Patty grabbed a chair at the kitchen table, pulled it out, and sat down. She crossed her arms defiantly. "Let's talk about it. What do you to have to say for yourselves?"

"We're happy, Patty. And we're not hurting anyone else."

"But ... it's incest!"

"So what? We're not going to have kids. And it's not like we're taking advantage of each other. We're consenting adults."

Patty looked like she was about to explode. So, I jumped on the grenade.

"Hold up, Patty. Jordan's right. Do you think I haven't struggled with this? I've run through it over and over again, in my head. But it's not like there's any abuse here. I had no intent to start sleeping with Jordan, but it was a good thing that it happened." I looked to Jordan for confirmation, she nodded. "I've been thinking about this ever since. As far as I can tell, there are only two reasons incest is taboo: one is that it can be abuse, especially when parents or other adults take advantage of children. But Jordan and I, we're not children anymore."

"And the other reason?"

"Inbreeding; playing the genetic lottery is dangerous enough without additional blood-sharing. And we're not going to have kids. But really, since inbreeding is off the table, and Jordan and I are both coming at this with our eyes open, where is the harm?"

"The boy has a point, Patricia." This earned Antonio a glare from Patty.

"Yeah, Mom!"

"Look, the truth is that if Jordan and I weren't related by blood, everyone would be happy for us. This is probably the healthiest relationship I've had, and I think it's the best Jordan has had, too. The only problem is the need to be secret about it. Look, Patty, I'm not asking you to approve."

Patty snorted. "Fat chance of that."

"Just please, think it over."

Patty looked over at Antonio. "Tony? What do you think of this? Surely you don't approve!"

He frowned. "I do not like it. I do not understand it. I will not give it my blessing." My heart sank. Then he looked over at the two of us. "But, I will accept their choices, and not intervene in their happiness."

Jordan hugged Antonio. "Thank you, nonno!"

"Fine!" Patty turned towards Randi. "Now let's talk about you."

Randi's eyes were as big as saucers. "Me?"

"Yes, you. What were you doing in Eric's room last night?"

Suddenly, she turned scarlet. "That really happened?! I thought I dreamed that..."

"I wish it had only been a dream." Patty put her hand on her head.

"Geez, Mom! It's not like I haven't had sex before."

"Don't remind me. Now, answer the question."

"Um." Randi said. "I remember being thirsty, so I got up and went to get some water from the bathroom. When I was coming back, I thought I heard something happening in the guest room, and then I started feeling really good. I swear, the next thing I remember is being in bed with Eric."

"She was a surprise visitor. At first I thought I was dreaming." That earned me a glare from Patty.

"Take a chill pill, Mom! I'm not a little girl anymore." She rubbed her arm - I could see bruises where Patty had grabbed her, like a handprint.

Patty looked like she was about to break. Her mouth was working, but no sounds were coming out. I really wanted to give her a hug, but I wasn't sure if that would make things better or worse.

Luckily, Jordan came to the rescue. "Look, we're not going to solve this over breakfast, and it's Independence Day. We're supposed to be spending time together. Can we just let it go for a day? Just be a family until tomorrow?"

"I promise not to misbehave." Everyone in the kitchen stopped, and looked at me in shock. Patty held a look of disbelief on her face. I grinned. "Well, no more than normal."

It wasn't very funny, but somehow, that worked. We all started laughing, and the tension in the room plummeted. Finally, after catching her breath, Patty said, "Okay, fine, I'll give it a try."

"Thank you, Patty," I said, pulling her into a hug.

California: Wednesday Midday

It was almost twelve on the dot when my phone rang. I pulled it out of its charger to see who it was. It was Erin.

"Hello?"

"Hey honey. Just wanted to call and wish you a Happy Independence Day!"

"Thanks ange-." I stopped. "Sorry. Happy 4th to you too."

"Wait, don't hang up yet!"

"Why not?"

And then my mind was flooded. It was Ilyskn. Words are a poor substitute for describing my first Ilyskn conversation. Since we were both newcomers to the language, we stumbled like virgins, laughing and discovering at the same time. By the end, I felt like I understood Erin like never before.

And then it abruptly stopped. My phone had run out of power.

I plugged my phone back in, and called her back.

"Sorry about that. My phone died."

"Weird. Mine's saying it's low, too. And I charged it this morning."

"Looks like Ilyskn sucks up a lot of juice."

"I wonder what our bills will look like."

"Bite your tongue! Don't tempt fate."

"Temptation is what I do."

"I better get going. Family stuff." I could smell the meat sizzling on the barbecue.

"Oh. Right. I should go too, charge my phone up again."

"I'm going to the hypnosis show on Friday. You should be there. I could use some backup."

"What are you going to do?"

"I haven't figured that out yet."

"Good luck."

"Thanks, I'll need it."

I stared at the phone in my hand for a few seconds longer, then pulled out my wallet and dug through my stack of business cards. When I found Elise's, I dialed the U.S. number. Whatever message that was on the other side was Ilyskn.

It was a layered message in two parts. The first part was in English, a pretty standard automated phone system.

The other part was in ILYSKN, layered over it, and blasted very strong. Like before, if it was noise, I'd have wanted earplugs. The message was something about loyalty and obedience, repeated over and over. Quickly, I shut the phone off.

"That was disturbing."

Clearly, it was a day for worrisome things.

California: Wednesday Afternoon

"Heey, buddy." Lloyd was wearing a bathing suit, a Hawaiian shirt, and some oversized sunglasses. He pulled himself off the pool chair he was lounging on to walk up to me and give me a hug.

"You're finally out of your cave? If we see your shadow, does that mean we get six more weeks of spring?"

"No, dude. That's only if I don't see my shadow."

Lloyd was a bastard. I mean that literally. He showed up on Antonio's doorstep around the time we moved to Phoenix. His mother had had a fling with Antonio, then had moved away to Nashville. Since they were so far away, Wanda never bothered to track Antonio down and tell him he had a son. He was maybe sixteen years older than me.

After getting over the shock, Antonio was overjoyed to find he had a son, and converted part of the garage to be a small studio, inviting Lloyd to live with him. Almost thirty years later, Lloyd still lived in that garage. I wouldn't call him a freeloader, but he was definitely a slacker.

I racked my brain trying to remember the name of his wife. "Where's Sabrina?"

"Sophia."

"Oh, right. Sorry."

I'd never met his wife. She was a mail-order bride from Russia. She showed up on Christmas day, and they married on Valentine's Day. From what I'd heard she was a nice girl, a bit wild. Almost exactly Lloyd's type. Which meant it wasn't likely to last too long. Of course, Patty didn't approve.