Chapter 39: I Am Human and I Need to Be Loved

Demond called and asked him over to discuss a job he's planning, a normal request from his boss. What was unusual was the request to bring Thessaly along. Not about to endanger his daughter, Sheridan demands to know what the vampire wants with her before he agrees to bring her with him.

"I want her to meet my son," Demond says, "I'll explain when you arrive." When Sheridan does arrive, Thessaly in tow, Demond begins the promised explanation, "There have been refugees streaming from some of the remoter towns upriver. No one is sure what is going on, but whole families have been wiped out. Vampire families as well as human. I was contacted recently by a vampire fleeing whatever madness is happening up there, but she was already dead when I arrived at her hiding place. She had this boy with her, a human boy. He's deeply traumatized, and can't remember anything about his life, or his escape from...whatever they were fleeing from. All he could remember was that his name is Archer. So, I adopted him."

"You adopted him? That doesn't sound like you," Sheridan answers truthfully.

"You think I'm a cold heartless monster?" Demond asks. Before Sheridan can start to respond, the vampire continues, "That's not a fair question, really, I've cultivated my image as a cold heartless monster since before you were born, after all. The boy was alone and needed someone to step in...and I thought he might fill this...emptiness I've been experiencing lately. But, I'm in way over my head. I thought, raising a human child would be no problem, that I'd done it once it before. But, it was actually my Sundari that raised our daughter. I'm not even capable of feeding him properly. So, you're going to help me."

"Because I'm such a great father?" Sheridan laughs, "My mother feeds my daughter."

Demond laughs, "Well, our incompetently raised children will at least have each other for solace."

Archer may be traumatized by events he can't remember, but he's together enough to know that the vampire who has taken custody of him is a criminal, and that his visitor is one of his underlings. He's not at all sure what to make of his new situation, but at least there's someone to play with now.

"You don't have any toys," Thessaly quickly observes when she follows Archer into his room.

"I have pillows," he says.

Archer comes home with Thessaly after school on days when Demond and Sheridan will be out late 'working'. At the Enmity house, he gets a proper meal, and access to every kind of toy available.

And he's made a friend in Thessaly.

Chanda asked Sheridan to meet her at Cog for a few drinks. "No interrogation, promise," she says. It's not the best night, Demond and Sheridan will be casing the MorcuCrop building later that night. But Sheridan can't really say no to Chanda, so he shows up looking his best.
After a drink and a dance, Chanda suggests going home with him.

"Babe, I can't. I have to be...somewhere...in a few hours," Sheridan says regretfully. Normally he'd be all over this.

Chanda looks crestfallen. "Where are you going."

"You know I can't tell you," he says. "Another time, okay?"

As a cop, it kills her to know that he's off to do something illegal.

Archer spends the night in one of the spare beds in the Enmity house, dreaming of a life lost to him and forgotten by his waking mind.

Mummies, he thinks on waking, but he has no idea why. Must escape the mummies!

Archer sinks low into the schoolbus seat so he can't be seen. Thessaly has no idea what he's afraid of, but she remains vigilant.

Tamsin had just learned this cookie recipe and was trying it for the first time when Grim came for her. She didn't even get to taste them.

Chanda comes right away to console her grieving boyfriend.

Sheridan's emotions always ran strong, deeply passionate in love and grief. Chanda spends the night holding him, letting him vent his sorrow in her arms.

Rex is devastated by the loss of his wife. Why wasn't it him to go first?

Normally his mother or father would help Thessaly with her homework, but Tamsin is gone and Rex is deep in despair, so Sheridan tries his best to fill their shoes.

Demond comes by with Archer. "We'll postpone the job," he says, "You shouldn't work while you're in mourning."

"I'll be fine," Sheridan insists, "I need to be doing something to get my mind off it."

"I understand," the vampire nods, "But we're not working tonight. I'll stay with you, we'll find other ways to distract you." Demond has been getting incredibly sentimental of late, and Sheridan wonders if he's suffering some vampire equivalent of a midlife crisis.

Both men are active, athletic types, and have trained in martial arts, so they spend the evening sparring rather than engaging in the planned heist.

Demond holds back, not using his full vampire speed and strength, so the fight as equals. Even with his self-handicap, Demond wins.

"You didn't hold back, you gave it everything and tried to win" Demond remarks, "Most men who work under me would have let me win rather than risk my displeasure. That's what I like about you, you aren't afraid of me."

"I'm not much afraid of anything," Sheridan answers. "And I've never pulled a punch."

Demond laughs. "Listen, when this next heist is done, you're not going to be just my second man anymore. We're going to be partners, equals. And more, I hope you consider me a friend."

Sheridan always thought Demond preferred being alone, that his solitary lifestyle was of his own choice. And maybe it had been, but of late, the vampire has grown more social, and seems to need him for companionship as much as for his muscle on the job. For himself, Sheridan had been losing touch with all his old high school friends, Demarcus, Kenyon, Lane, they had all become responsible men with families and didn't want to hang with their criminal friend. So Demond is pretty much the best friend he's got.

While their fathers spar, Thessaly and Archer play video games.

Rex and his son have had a troubled relationship, and rarely see eye to eye, but they've managed to form a bond by training together. Though they don't speak or even face each other, this time thy spend together means more to them than either would admit, especially now that Tamsin is gone.

When his mourning is done, Sheridan joins Demond for their planned heist at the MorcuCrop building. Breaking into such a secure facility will be their greatest challenge.

Their plan was flawless, and they got and got out without problems. As he promised, Demond made Sheridan a full partner when it was done. And he asked a favor of his friend, he needed someone taken care of.

That someone was Owen Post, a petty criminal who has been trying to move into Demond's territory without paying allegiance, or a share of his cut, to the acknowledged master of the area. Owen has been spending a lotof time at Red Shed, so Sheridan drops by there on his way home from the heist. Besides the bartender, Owen is the only person in the bar.

Owen thinks he's man enough to take Sheridan.

Sheridan teaches him otherwise.

Sheridan finally gets home in in the early dawn hours, and grabs something to at before going to bed. His father, always an early riser, comes into the kitchen as Sheridan is cleaning up his plate.

"Just getting in?" Rex asks. "When are you going to give up this lifestyle and settle down?"

"Let's no get into this right now, Dad," Sheridan sighs, "I'm going to bed."

Saturday afternoon, Thessaly and Archer meet at the park. Archer builds a sand fortress. "To keep out the mummies," he explains.

Sheridan admires the results of many hours of training.

He is so hot, he's on fire.

His preening is interrupted when Chanda rings the doorbell.

"Do you do this on purpose?" she sighs.

"Do what?" he asks, kissing her.

"Flaunt your half-naked body at me so I can't think straight," Chanda answers with a laugh. "Where's Thessaly."

"At the park with Archer," Sheridan says, "She'll be home for dinner if you want to stick around."

They decide to wait together in the hot tub.

"Marry me," Sheridan says.

"I can't."

"Why not? You've tried leaving me, but it doesn't stick. You know we're going to be together forever. So why not just give in already, Chanda?"

"I know," she sighs, "I've given up trying to not be your girlfriend. But I can't live with you. I can't stay home and wait for you while you're out thieving and brawling. It's hard enough turning my head to it as it is, I can't live any closer to it."

"What if I quit?"

"I'm not so sure you can quit, Sheridan," Chanda says, "But if you do quit, and stay quit, for at least a year. Then...maybe."

"All I get is a maybe?" Sheridan groans. But that's more than he's gotten before, so he'll take it, for now.

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Challenge Notes:
Archer Riley is a clone of Pavel Archer from the R&R Legacy. And I make vague reference to events that happened at the end of that legacy in Archer's background story. But Archer is not meant in any way to actually be Pavel (who is dead before the end of that legacy) or any specific person from that legacy. Maybe some forgotten cousin with a close resemblance to Pavel. Maybe it's just an alternate universe.

Gratuitous beefcake shots of Sheridan are for Cece. :P
He has reached the top of the thief career, his LTW. And still maintaining the Athletic hobby/obsession by working out. And another fight for another week. I feel bad for he new immigrants SP moves in, they re always my first targets, lol. Poor Owen was just hanging out at the bar, had no idea what hit him, lol.