Page 40 of Monsters of Midlife

The familiar scents of lamb and rosemary wafted from the kitchen as my brother made his way to the side table and took out two glasses. He held up the decanter of whiskey, raising an eyebrow at me. I shrugged in acquiescence. Sharing a drink with my brother was one of the few pleasures I allowed myself in life.

“Mom cooking?” I asked.

“What else would she be doing on a Sunday afternoon?” My brother smiled, his blond hair falling just in front of his eyes. “Hope you just didn’t come here to see her. It’s been a while since you’ve come for dinner.”

“I’ve missed you.” I ran a hand through my hair, suddenly feeling exhausted. “It’s been rough out there.”

I rarely let my guard down. There was always a monster around every corner that would take advantage of the minute I turned my back. I was always either in defense or offense mode. Before and after Caroline there was always my small family. It was only here, with my mother and brother, that I was able to relax. My brother was a child of Typhon also, although we couldn’t be more different. Where I had embraced the supernatural world, he had chosen to live among humans and take care of our mother, who had suffered a mental breakdown when she had realized the “man” she was in love with was in fact the god of monsters.

The real god of monsters.

He had no heart, no level of caring, and no real desire to be with a human woman except to use her for his own pleasure.

She had been in love with him, though. When he had disappeared, leaving her with two young sons, she had collapsed and never quite recovered. She’d raised us both in the human world, knowing the supernatural world existed, but denying it at the same time. When the DGC had come to her to claim my brother and I, she had negotiated with them to only take one of us. Being the eldest, I had volunteered, and everyone had agreed. I took care of the world monster problem; my brother took care of our mom.

My mother was human, nothing more, nothing less. But the status of having demigod children allowed her a lot. Even though she was never completely happy with us when she discovered we were half monster and she had consistently tried to keep us out of the supernatural world, she couldn’t stop it. We were demigods and didn’t really have a choice in the matter. When she realized demigod lineage came with quite a sizable pension from the DGC, she had come to terms with it, although frankly I don’t think she ever truly liked that part of us. My brother had seen fit to change his stance and act more human than demigod, which seemed to keep her happy.

“How’s she doing?” I motioned towards the kitchen.

“The usual,” his gaze shifted to me. “If she’s cooking, the rest of the world doesn’t exist and she’s happy.”

“But she can’t cook all day and night,” I commented.

“Exactly,” my brother murmured.

“I’m glad you’re here to care for her,” I raised my glass to him.

He clinked his glass against mine.

“I need to talk to her,” I looked at him seriously.

My brother sighed. “That doesn’t usually end well.”

“I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t urgent,” I said. “I’m still her child.” No matter how she felt about me personally, she would see me.

“Is that Ryder?” I heard my mother’s voice coming from the kitchen.

I called out to her. “Yes, it is Mom.”

“Tell him to get his ass in here,” she said immediately.

“Sounds like she’s having a good day,” I rolled my eyes at my brother.

He looked intrepidly at me, but there wasn’t much he could do. I was the heir apparent to everything of my father, I was first in line to be the monster’s demigod.

The house was an old mansion that had been built in the early days of settlement, only instead of being made from wood like most of the buildings, it had had been made out of stone brought over from England. We hadn’t built the house, but when my mother had seen it, she had fallen in love and insisted she couldn’t live anywhere else. My brother was completely indulgent of her whims and had agreed to buy it, insisting I pay for half of it. I had done so happily. Now I walked into the kitchen grateful to see her cooking again.

There was a long period of time when she had only been writing. It was going to be her great memoir, making sure everything she had seen and experienced was handed down to posterity, even though she knew it was completely against the laws of the supernatural world. Never would her memoirs be published. If they were, it would be nothing but fiction and the rantings of a crazy lady.

“Hi, Mom,” I said, leaning forward and dutifully kissing her on the cheek.

“Ryder,” she said quietly, looking me up and down as if I was maybe wearing the wrong outfit. Or maybe she was looking to see if I had grown a second head. My mother still recognized us as her kids. There was the dutiful son who lived like a human and acted like a human and for all intents and purposes was a human. And then there was me, who had gone full bore into the monster world, carrying out my duty to the supernatural world. Somehow, she had always figured that meant I had joined my father’s side and I think she secretly was waiting for me to one day bring news of him.

I never did.

Typhon was gone.

The gods of Earth were gone forever.

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