Family Ties: A Place for my Head
#1 of Family Ties
A Place For My Head
A SideProject by Kyuuketsuki
Hightown was not exactly pleasant tonight. The weather man had neglected to mention how bad it was going to be. The sky was doing its worst tonight. The lightning turned the night today for brief moments, followed by deafening thunder. The rain was making it impossible to see, not that anyone was stupid enough to be out in this storm in a vehicle.
Not that being on foot was any less stupid. Anthony staggered through the ankle high water. Every step was another torrent of profanities, some in English, others in Blacktongue, a language he'd learned without being taught. The half-demon could not have picked a worse night to leave home but with his home situation ever deteriorating, no night seemed better.
Anthony was the offspring of a human mother and a demon father and given up to an all-human family for adoption. Unfortunately, that family was not exactly accepting when he discovered his power. Then again, it could have been the short horns that grew just inside his hairline and the tail he sprouted. He'd been handling it fairly well until tonight, when dear old Matthew (who he never called dad) decided it'd be fun to try branding a cross onto his neck. Anthony's skin healed quickly, leaving no trace of the branding iron, but Matthew's eyes would never work again.
He found higher ground a rested for a moment. Anthony took in a deep breath. As the air burned in his chest, his yellow eyes blacked out completely. He exhaled black flames into his hands, holding them there while he thawed out just a little before moving on. The half demon had done some searching and found the names of his birth parents. Unfortunately, his mother was dead. His father, however, was somewhere in this city. Hightown was big, but that didn't seem to matter. He felt a pull from his demon half. It was like his horns were being tugged a long. He followed them, certain they weren't leading him in circles.
A car went by and threw a tidal wave on him. Anthony turned sharply after the car, and growled, his teeth lengthening into fangs. He thought about setting fire to the car; about making the tires explode, but he was tired. Too tired to even hold his demonic features. His eye turned blue, his tail and horns retracted and his fangs reverted. The half demon fell against a light pole and groaned.
Lightning struck above him as if ordering to him move. "Yeah, yeah. I'm goin'." He said to no one. He sighed and waded across the street and up the steps of one of the conjoined brick homes. Tripping on the top step, he fell against the door knocked with his forehead. Maybe whoever was inside would take pity on a lost teenager. He continued banging his head on the heavy door until the light outside came on.
"Young man, you'll give yourself brain damage like that." Someone said. Anthony lifted his head to see that the door had been opened as far as the chain on the other side would allow. Before he could see the occupant's face beyond his gray eyes, the door was closed again. He could hear the chain sliding off before the door opened completely. An arm looped around his and lifted him off the ground.
"Come on in. You'll catch your death out here."
The man, Kyle, took Anthony's trench coat and hung it before his fireplace on the way into the kitchen where they sat, warmed by the burners on the stove. Anthony sat at the table, watching him search the cabinets. Kyle was like a giant. He was no less than 6'4 with broad shoulders. His body was like a tree trunk and looked as if it would be just as hard if someone punched him. The half demon made a mental note not to punch him. He was square jawed with blonde hair pulled back behind his ears
"You drink coffee?" he asked.
"You got bourbon?"
"No."
"Then I drink coffee. Black"
Kyle chuckled and returned to the table with two mugs full. "Bourbon, eh? Pretty strong for a kid. How old are you?"
"Sixteen." Anthony replied, taking a sip of his bitter drink. "Listen, I really appreciate you opening your door. Sorry for knocking so late."
"Knocking? Knocking is traditionally done with one's fist..." He said, still grinning he held his hand out, asking for the boy's name.
"Anthony Watkins, but you can leave the last name off."
"Oh, boy." Kyle sighed, scratching his chin. "Out in this storm, looking for liquor and ready to drop your last name. Sound's serious.
Anthony shook his head, his inky black hair flinging droplets of water around him. "It's a long story." He said through his teeth as if biting a bullet while someone carved one out of him.
The man looked to the windows in the living room where they'd walked through before. Lightning flashed followed by another sky boom that shook the pictures on the walls. "Well you can't expect to go back out in that. Why don't you tell me your story?"
"You'd let me stay here until it passes over?" Kindness didn't exist to Anthony, so when faced with it, he only had disbelief.
"It'd be horribly irresponsible of me to let you leave here in all that." He replied, gesturing to the outside. "What's got you out tonight?"
Anthony took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, lest he set fire to Kyle's kitchen. "Well, for starters, I was adopted by the Watkins's. Growing up, I didn't exactly see eye to eye with them. They were very religious humans - people." Using the word 'humans' instead of people might let on that he wasn't completely human.
Kyle did not speak throughout Anthony's tale, but the half-demon noticed subtle things. The man clawed at the table at some points. At others, his jaw tightened as if he were trying to keep back a flow of obscenities. Anthony also noticed the edges of the man's eyes turning slightly red. He looked as if he were in pain; as if he might cry.
"I can stop if you like." Anthony said, taking pity on Kyle's nerves. He took another sip of his coffee and drummed his fingertips on the table. "There isn't much more, but I'm sure you get the gist of it."
"No." Kyle replied through his teeth. "Tell me everything. These people sound horrible."
"They are. It's just one more thing." He cleared his throat. "I wanted to get a tattoo. I didn't argue when they said 'hell no' but Matthew decided to try branding me with a cross on my neck to make his own point, I guess."
Kyle shook his head. "Unbelievable."
"Believe it. I'm not the best kid in the world, but I'm not the worst." he said. "I found out who my real parents are, so now I'm looking for them. Well, him. My birth mother passed away."
"I'm sorry." Kyle said, drinking from his nearly untouched coffee.
"It's okay. I just wish I'd known what she looked like." He chuckled humorlessly. "The files I found had no pictures of my real parents. I'm just going with names and my gut."
"Then how will you find your dad?"
Anthony paused. He'd neglected to mention to Kyle that he was part demon, so saying that he would follow his horns was out of the question. "I dunno." he said with a shrug. "I know he's here in Hightown somewhere, but that's all I'm sure of." Anthony looked down at his black band t-shirt and worn skinny jeans. Thanks to the fire burning inside him, only his Doc Martens were wet. "Listen, I'm really cold, If I take off my boots, can we sit by the fire?"
Kyle nodded. "By all means, don't worry about the carpet. It'll dry." He said, ushering the half-demon into the living room. Kyle sat in an armchair in the shadows across from the fire while Anthony sat with his legs crossed in front of the fire, hoping the man wouldn't question how he could sit so close without burning. He put his cup down on the floor in front of him and crossed his hands on top of it, watching the flames reflected in his glossy black nails.
Neither of them spoke for a while. After about thirty minutes, it was Kyle that finally broke the silence. "So, do you think your adoptive parents will be looking for you?"
"Hope not." Anthony said, running his fingers through his now dried hair. He looked down at his coffee. It was cold. He glanced over his shoulder before wrapping both hands around the cup, pushing the heat inside him into it and reheating his bitter drink before raising the cup to his lips again. "I just want to find my dad and be done with them forever."
"I know you will." Kyle said warmly. He left his chair and came to sit before the fire with Anthony.
"You sound more sure than I feel. Why?"
"Oh, I don't know. I just feel something in you that most people don't have."
Anthony smiled - something he hadn't done sincerely in years. "Kyle? If I don't find my dad... can I come back here?"
The human chuckled and put one of his big hands on Anthony's shoulder, drawing the half-demon close to him. "Of course, that is, if you don't mind sharing the place with my mate."
"Mate?"
Kyle pointed to a portrait of himself holding another, equally handsome human. His hair was long and black around his pale, pointed face. Around his eyes were painted black and his nails were darkened as Anthony's were. Despite his dark look, the man's stained black lips were pulled back into a loving smile as he looked up at Kyle. He was a man after the half-demon's own heart as far as appearances were concerned.
"That is Drayke." He said. "He's probably out drinking. Maybe even picking up someone to go home with." Kyle continued with shrug.
Anthony cocked an eyebrow at that. "But he's your lover."
Kyle shrugged again. "We have our affairs, but in the end, we come home to each other."
The half-demon looked to Drayke's image in the portrait and back to Kyle. They were complete opposites. Drayke looked like a young goth guy no older than maybe his mid twenties. Kyle on the other hand - in his brown slacks, white button down shirt and suspenders - looked a lot more mature than his mate. "How'd you two end up together?"
Kyle snickered. "It just happened. He bumped into me one day and I haven't been able to get rid of him."
Anthony nodded then sighed. "I almost wish I didn't have to keep looking." He said, resting his head on Kyle's shoulder. "You've been so nice to me, I don't want to leave but I have to find my dad." the boy yawned.
"I understand. Come." Kyle said, standing up. "This storm isn't letting up, so you can sleep here tonight." He continued, helping Anthony up as well before stepping into the hallway that led to the bedrooms away from the living room. "In fact, until you find him, I don't think it'd be a problem if you returned here to rest at night."
"Are you sure?"
Kyle turned around to see the surprised look on Anthony's face and nodded. "You seem like an okay kid and you certainly don't need to be worrying about a place for your head on top of finding your father."
"T-thank you..." Anthony stammered, turning into the room Kyle had stopped in front of. Looking around at the dark décor; the silver sais mounted on the wall, band posters, pencil art pinned to the black painted walls, he immediately assumed this was Drayke's room. He'd sleep on top of the covers to keep from messing up the dark human's bed. He barely realized he'd stepped all the way into the room before he'd fallen into the bed and out of consciousness.
Kyle smiled and left the room, leaving the door open in case Anthony got up so that he wouldn't knock anything over.
_"...So is he as handsome as you thought he'd be?..."
"...No. He's even more perfect..."
"...He gets it from his daddy..."
"...Those eyes are his mother's... My beautiful boy, Erebus. Welcome home..."_