25 - The Door

Nessie, I need to talk to you. – Darkness
The sun was beginning to set, and Camille still had not come back from wherever she was at. Darkness checked Camille’s room and her little reading alcove. She was not in either place. Her bike was still here. No one was telling him where to find her.
The two men that had had been down to Baton Rouge in spring, refused to tell him anything.
“Not our story to tell,” Aramis said as he took his toddler daughter from her mother.
The little girl settled on his hip and rested her head light brown hair on his shoulder. Like so many of the Lowery’s he had dark hair and blue eyes. His wife had blonde hair and blue eyes. Soft brown eyes slowly drifted close as the little girl began to suck on her thumb.
Aramis gave the older man a look that dared him to ask about the little girl who did not look like himself. Darkness himself was adopted by a white man, he never questioned the difference between parents and their children. After his parents’ deaths, Zydeco was the best thing for the terrified little boy.
“If she wants you to know,” Athos slung an arm around his girlfriend and his friend’s wife’s shoulders, “Camille will tell you. If she hasn’t, we’re not going to break her trust.”
“You don’t have to tell me anything,” Darkness growled, “I just want to make sure that she’s okay.”
Shaking her head, Priscilla gave the two men a dirty look before turning and looking at the other man. “Darkness, she just needs some space. When she’s ready to deal with people again, she’ll come back down.”
“I’ve checked her room…”
Priscilla shook her head. “She’s gone to her safe place.” Someone called her name, and she nodded at them. As she passed, she rested a hand on his large arm. “She has her own demons to deal with, just give her time.”
He looked back at the spot where the two men had stood and found it was now occupied by two scantily clad women who looked vaguely familiar. The blonde ran a hand up his chest while the brunette pressed herself against his side.
“We were hoping that you would come back.” The blonde purred and that night nearly a year ago flooded his mind.
If he had still been hiding from the dark, he would take them up on what they offered. But he had found his light. The dark that he lived in was not quite so oppressive anymore. And the two women no longer held their appeal.
“Not tonight, ladies,” Darkness headed to the back hallway and once again checked the little reading alcove.
The light was off, the books were all in their places and the pillows and blanket were not disturbed. Frustrated, he followed the path towards the kitchen and dining hall. Nessie was stepping out of her office and grinned at him.
He was going to demand that they speak, but she merely smiled at him.
“Yeh have questions.” As with so many things with her, it was more statement than question. She did not wait for him to respond before she started to walk down the hall and motioned for him to follow. “Come. We’ll talk, but it will be over a beer.”
He followed her to the bar where she sat down at a small table. He sat in one of the three chairs at the round table as she made a motion to someone behind him.
“Do you know where she is?” he asked her, his frustration was evident in his voice.
“Aye.” Nessie said as her husband, Knuckles, sat down with drinks for all of them.
“Is she OK?” he asked, and Nessie reached over and took his hand in hers. Turning it over, she ran her fingers over the lines on his palm. “I just need to know that she’s okay.”
“She will be.” She smiled as he twitched his neck. “You can hear him.”
“Yes.” He looked at her and she chuckled. “Do you also hear him?”
“Not the same way that yeh do.” She released his hand and Knuckles pulled her closer. “They talk to me, but I see more than I hear.”
Darkness sighed. “They don’t… they don’t seem to understand.”
“If yeh don’t like what he says, do something aboot it.”
Knuckles chuckled. “From my experience, the spirits that talk to you guys know more than we do.”
“You *know* how old she is.” Darkness said and then took a drink of his beer.
He took another drink trying to wash away the taste of disgust in his mouth. Camille might technically and legally be an adult, but she was still so young. Practically a child. Hell, last night they took two girls to the movies and last year she was babysitting them after school.
High school.
She was barely out of high school and on his next birthday, he would be thirty-five. It would be better for her if he walked away. It would be worse for him, but better for her
“She’s not a child anymore.” Nessie reminded him gently as Knuckles waved someone over.
“What’s up?” a man with light brown hair, no shirt and a cut declaring him to belong to the Devil Herself asked as he joined them. He shook hands with Knuckles and then looked at Darkness. “Oh, hey, I saw you when we were down for my woman’s fight.”
“Darkness.” He said starting to stand up, but the man motioned for him to stay where he was.
“Riffraff,” he said offering his hand and Darkness grasped it. “Everyone calls me Riff.”
“He owns shirts, but he’s not the one that wears the.” Knuckles teased his friend who flipped him off good naturedly.
“Where are yer girls?” Nessie asked.
“My wife is in the gym. My daughter and her woman are going cray-cray over babies. I’m trying to talk them into a grandbaby.”
“How many years are between you and Taz?” Knuckles asked.
“Sixteen. She’s eight months older than my daughter.” He shook his head at his wife’s cousin. “But you know this.”
“Aye, I do. But Darkness here is having an issue with it.”
Riff grinned at the new man. “With our Camille.”
“Age make that big of a difference?” Darkness asked.
“Not in the long run. She’s my other half. Once I let go of the fear of what others think, it was good. Great even.” Riffraff said as a Hispanic woman sat in his lap. “It all still works the same. Notch into slot.”
“Papi!” the woman admonished as she blushed.
“It will be the same thing with you getting my grandchild in you. It will just be a doctor putting a different notch into your slot.” He said gently. She rolled her eyes and said something in Spanish, and he laughed. “Let’s go find you some Gelato.”
“Zee made some yesterday.” Nessie told them.
The other woman kissed Nessie’s cheek and said something in Spanish and Nessie laughed before responding. The two excused themselves and left the bar with his arm around her shoulders.
“If it’s yer race yer worried aboot, I can direct yeh to Cookie and Karan. Me girls are done in the kitchen, so Karan is currently occupied.”
“She’s occupied,” Knuckles laughed, “Cookie and Cowboy took her upstairs a little while back. And Gertie just got here about thirty minutes ago.”
Darkness shook his head. “I’ve dealt with that before. The race issue, and even the multiple partners.”
Nessie placed a hand over his own again. “She’s no longer a child. Yeh have her father’s blessing. It’s oop to yeh now.”
“I can’t… she’s too young. She needs to live, not be tied down to an old man like me.” He let out a deep breath, “I’ve seen too much and she’s too innocent.”
Knuckles laughed and Nessie elbowed him in his ribs. “Sorry, she’s not as innocent as everyone seems to think she is.”
Nessie made a sound of agreement, then she looked at him with bright emerald eyes. “There’s something on the horizon. Something big. And before it gets here, sorrow will strike and she’s gonna need yeh. Yeh are gonna need ‘er too.”
The voice whispered inside his head and Darkness stood to leave.
“Darkness.” Nessie said softly. “She’s strong, but she’s fragile.”
He nodded as he tossed some money down on the table for his half-drunk beer. Then he followed the voice to the top floor and a door that was labeled roof access. A small wedge of wood was at the bottom of the door keeping it from closing and locking.
Taking the flight of stairs up and found another door with the fleur de lis painted on it. Arched above it was Athos, Porthos and Aramis. Priscilla and Camille were written beneath it with Dartanyan and Worm beneath the two names.