Beasts and Burdens (30 page)

“Cori!” Danato climbed off the bleachers and crushed her in a hug. A little too late, he thought about how sore she might be and released her. “What happened?” He moved his hands to her hips, hoping that perhaps he was just confused, and blind, and very stupid. “Did you…oh, Cori…is the baby…” He waited for the answer, but her proud smile gave it. She nodded behind him, and he turned.

Daniel had entered the gym, holding a baby, Cori’s baby. “Danato,” Cori whispered behind him. “I’d like to introduce you to your grandson.”

Danato gasped at the word. He never felt right calling Cori his daughter, though emotionally it was true enough, but this child born and raised within the walls of this prison would know no other man as his grandfather.

Tears sprung to his eyes as Daniel brought the baby to him. The blue blanket should have been a dead giveaway, but he hadn’t even noticed it until he was carefully transferring the baby to his arms. “Have you named him?”

“I can’t. Not until Ethan gets back.”

“Oh, Ethan’s going to be so proud. So proud.” Danato’s leg shimmered with pain, and he faltered. “Daniel, take him, please.” Daniel rushed back to rescue the baby, just as Danato collapsed, panting, sweating, and crying for a new reason.

82

Daniel stared in awe of the mountain of a man crumbling before him. Danato had been reduced to a shaking mass by an unseen force. Cori was instantly by his side begging for answers, but Danato was barely containing the agonized scream written on his face. Even Efrat seemed to be concerned.

“What’s wrong with him?” Efrat asked Belus, who was oddly calm.

“I need to get Danato to the infirmary,” he answered.

“Clearly,” Efrat said with irritated sarcasm, “but what is afflicting him.”

Cori’s head whipped around wanting the same answer from him. Belus pinched his lips shut as if he were refusing to tell, but after a moment’s pause, the truth fell from lips, just as every other truth had only days ago. “It’s sorrow demons, Cori.”

Cori looked over Danato horrified. “Your leg?” She whispered and he nodded. “Danato…all these years?” Danato wailed and grabbed his leg, fruitlessly trying to stop the pain. “Oh, Danato!” Cori leaned her forehead against his.

“What is a sorrow demon?” Efrat asked almost crossing his arms—forgetting he couldn’t. The annoyance in his tone was directed more at himself.

“It’s a demon that feeds off of grief,” Belus said approaching Danato. “The long term effect is very taxing on the body and the mind. Danato has been fighting his demons for many years, but he can no longer stand the pain.”

“We have to help him!” Cori wailed to Belus.

“There is only one thing left to do, but I won’t do it unless he gives me permission.”

“What?” Cori asked volleying her frustration between the two men.

“We have to amputate his leg,” Belus said somberly.

Cori froze absorbing the information slowly. When the reality dawned, her face mutated into a grief Daniel had never seen before. “No, no, no…” She gripped at Danato’s shirt pulling at him, though it was only her that moved from her angry tugging. “You stupid, stupid man—both of you!” she sniffled glared at Belus, “how could you keep this from me? How could you endure this alone, Danato?”

“You can’t just cripple the man,” Efrat murmured behind Cori. “There has to be another way.”

“There isn’t.” Belus shook his head.

“Yes, there is,” Daniel spoke up, finally getting his bearings in the conversation.

“Daniel, yes!” Cori brightened, but Belus was already shaking his head.

“They aren’t exactly easy to see.”

“I only need a glimpse of the bastards.”

“Can you do it without taking off his leg in the process?”

“Even if I can’t that was already the risk.” Belus glowered at Daniel. “My skills have improved significantly over the last year,” Daniel said to appease him. It was true though. Even if Daniel had known about the big man’s affliction years ago, he may not have been any more useful than a surgeon’s scalpel. “Here someone take the baby.” Daniel leaned over to pass Belus the baby, but he waved him off instantly. Cori noticed the slight, and took the child from his arms almost defensively. “Okay, Danato, hang in there, let’s just take a peek.”

Daniel rubbed his hands together and knelt beside Danato. He pushed him up to a kneeling position, which made his breathing labored, but he held himself still. “Okay, Danato, just think about that beautiful baby boy.”

Danato winced and Daniel leapt to look over his shoulder. He gasped and flung himself back from the onslaught of seven or eight fat and happy demon critters writhing near Danato’s leg. Their slashing claws just missed his face. “Jaysus!” Daniel shook his head at Belus and he surprisingly wilted under the unspoken accusation. “She’s right you know! You are both stupid, stupid men.”

“Can you help him or not?” Cori asked.

“Yeah, I can help him, but it might take a while, those little buggers are quick to hide.” Daniel looked to Danato who seemed surprised by this answer. “You know they grab on tighter when threatened?”

Danato flushed, but he nodded. He glanced at Cori. Without words, Belus caught his meaning. “Cori, you should go?” Belus said gently, coming to her side.

“What? I am not leaving him to go through this alone.”

“Cori—” Belus started to plead his
suggestion
again.

“No! Forget you! I’m not leaving!” Cori crushed the baby to her bosom, protecting his precious ears against her volume.

Daniel expected Belus to yell back at her, but instead he extended his hand to her. “Let me take you home. You don’t want to watch him go through this pain, and he certainly doesn’t want an audience for it.”

Cori wiped away an eye full of tears and looked to Danato for permission one way or another. He nodded at her and she wiped her hand on her pants before taking Belus’s hand. He drew her out of the gym only stopping to give Daniel a look that told him he was placing Danato’s life in his hands. There was a good amount of irony in that action.

“I’ll help?” Efrat said maneuvering around Danato.

“How?”

“Nerve interference,” he said simply. Danato seemed just as confused, but was beyond verbal communication. “Pain is just an electrical impulse, sent from nerve fibers to the brain. If you overload them, the message gets lost in the shuffle. I can’t say it won’t hurt, but it might make the pain more tolerable.”

“Well, aren’t you just useful?” Daniel mumbled. “You good with that Danato?”

Danato gave a weak nod, and Daniel knelt down in front of him. Efrat knelt off to his side clutching his leg around the thigh as far as his fingers would reach. “You know not to get in my way, right?”

Efrat gave a vague nod.

“No, seriously, I’m going to be using a pretty intense power, so don’t be an eejit.”

“Hands and fingers inside until the ride comes to a full and complete stop, got it.”

Daniel smirked at him. “Yeah.” There was also a good deal of irony in this moment as well. The man Danato had not so long ago asked him to execute, was now assisting him to save Danato’s leg. Life was strange; stranger still inside the walls of this prison. “Okay, Danato, think happy thoughts.”

83

Cori half expected the house to not let her in, but the fire lit with the warm embrace of an old friend. It had only been a week, but the incident was long forgotten. Cori was happy that she wasn’t going to be killed by her residence, but there was also something insulting about being forgotten so quickly. She really was nothing more than an insect to this entity. Their quarrel was at best a bee sting to her—painful at the time, but forgotten as it healed.

Belus cleared his throat at the door. She hadn’t remembered letting go of his hand. She was surprised he had offered it, but more surprised that he let her keep it for the walk back. “Why doesn’t she let you in?” She ignored his hint.

“You know why?” He answered simply.

“She imprinted on you too?”

He shrugged. “Something like that. I doubt she remembers why she does it, but…as you know, you can’t argue with her.”

“Come in.” She waved him in. He stepped inside shutting the door and hanging his coat. Without any further invitation, he moved to the liquor cabinet and poured two short glasses of brandy. “Belus, alcohol and nursing don’t mix,” she said sitting on the couch.

“It will be out of your system in two hours.” He held the drink out to her. She questioned his knowledge of breastfeeding, but he knew alcohol well enough. “It’s been a long six months drinking alone,” he added, almost pleading for her to join him.

She took the glass of brandy from him and
clinked
it to his before he moved to settle into Danato’s chair.

“What are we drinking to?” he asked before sipping the liquor.

“The house not killing me on entry?” She shrugged and took a sip. It was the usual pungent taste that made her wonder why Belus insisted on keeping her as a drinking partner. She knew nothing about alcohol, and even after tasting every liquor in Danato’s cabinet, she still knew nothing about alcohol. “I suppose you must have done most of your drinking with Danato at one time,” she said swirling the liquid in her glass, because that was the only thing she knew about Brandy.

“I used to do a lot of things with Danato,
at one time
…but the drinking I usually did with Olivia.” Belus held her gaze a moment and she froze under his scrutiny. She could only imagine what it might mean to Belus to replace his drinking partner or the honor she should take from it. As his gaze returned to his glass she pushed away the unnecessary sentiments that were threatening to overwhelm her.

After a moment of silence that demanded conversation, Cori found a new emotion to concentrate on. “I should be yelling and screaming at you,” she said as she readjusted the baby so her arm didn’t go numb.

“Daniel was the best choice to—”

“No, Daniel was…wonderful. I mean about Danato’s leg.”

He nodded introspectively. “Why aren’t you?”

“Because I know you were only respecting his wishes.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I think that’s the last of the secrets.”

Cori stared blankly at Belus while he lost himself in the scent and taste of another sip. “Are you sure about that?” she asked knowing full well that it wasn’t the last secret.

“What do you mean?” he asked honestly confused.

“Belus, I know about my father.”

Belus’s brow deepened further. “Your father?”

“I know that he was looking for me after I went missing—”

“Looking for you? Your father is alive?” Belus gaped at her wide eyed and open mouthed.

“Yes, I thought…”

Belus slumped back in the chair pondering a number of things that were putting more and more ire on his face. “Son of a bitch.” He pounded the chair with his free hand.

“You really didn’t know about this?”

“Please tell me you didn’t try to contact him.”

“No, of course not, but…” Cori suddenly felt guilty. “I read that he was looking for me, but he suddenly called off the search around the time that I got married. I wondered if Danato’s vacation had anything to do with that.”

Belus rubbed his face. “I can almost guarantee it. I knew that he was being very generous with trusting in Ethan so early on, but I assumed he was just testing him.” Belus frowned suddenly looking guilty himself.

“What is it?” She asked.

“Since we’ve dragged out the last of the skeletons, you should know that I never sent for him.”

“What do you mean?”

“The trouble with you and the transmorphs. I told Ethan that I called Danato and he refused to come back, but I never called him.”

“Wow.” Cori’s heart fell and she bit back tears. “I guess we weren’t exactly close then.”

“No, Cori, it wasn’t like that. Danato couldn’t have helped you. In hindsight, I think his presence would have kept Ethan from figuring out how to find you. I sent for the man that I thought
could
help you. Daniel was ultimately your savior, not Danato.”

“I bet Danato was angry about that.”

“Yes, but given his deceit, it’s no wonder he didn’t make a bigger deal about it.”

“Do you think Danato…threatened my father?”

“No, but he probably blew a good deal of bribe money on him.”

“I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that it worked. My father was done with me long before he signed the last child support check.”

“Cori, I don’t mean to add to the burdens that come with our particular employment practices, but you need to understand, Danato listed your immediate family as deceased. He must have bribed your father to cover his tracks with the board. If you contacted him in any way…”

“I didn’t, Belus, and I won’t. I swear. I would never do anything to jeopardize my life here. This is home. This is where my family is.”

Belus stared at her a long moment. “I’m glad you’re back, both of you.” He winked and looked down at the baby in her arms.