Deadman's Blood (2 page)

“Does this have something to do with Mom?” Anton asked.

“Ummmm. No. Not really, I mean, maybe..., no, I mean...”

“Okay, you are freaking me out, Dad. Just tell me already.”

“Right. That would be best. From the beginning, right? Right! Okay...Hmmmm. About 28-29 years ago, I filled in for my friend, Professor Scot Hadley at the University of Minnesota. Do you remember Prof. Hadley? Real tall guy. Used to come to the house a lot. He’s a professor of Archeology. Very nice guy,” Dominic relayed.

“No, I don’t remember, or maybe vaguely; why?” Anton asked.

“Oh, nothing. I mean, well, I filled in for him for a semester at the University when he took a tumble on a dig site,” Dominic said.

“Right. You were in Minnesota for a couple of months. Yeah, I remember that, not necessarily the guy, though,” Anton said.

“Prof. Hadley, yes. You don’t remember him? He had sandy blonde hair...6 foot 4 or more...Really, you don’t remember him....” Dominic persisted.

“No. I don’t remember him. Is he pertinent to what you have to tell me?” Anton asked.

“Prof. Hadley? Oh no. No. Nothing really to do with him,” Dominic answered.

“Dad...why are you so nervous? Just spit it out, already,” Anton urged.

“Right. I’m sorry. I just ummm...guess I’m a little embarrassed to have to tell my son the particulars of my, you know, my...”

“Your WHAT? So far, all you’ve told me about is Prof. Hadley, but then you said it had nothing to do with him,” Anton told him.

Dominic sighed. “I’m not doing this very well, am I? Maybe if I just spit it out, it will be easier.”

“Okay. Whatever is easiest for you,” Anton said.

“Okay. I had a very brief affair with one of the students while I was in Minnesota,” Dominic blurted out.

“Almost 30 years ago...you had an affair...So?” Anton replied, befuddled.

Dominic dropped his eyes to the desk and mumbled, “A child was conceived from that union.”

“A child? Huh! You mean, somewhere in Minnesota I have a brother or a sister?” Anton replied.

“A brother, and not in Minnesota, but much, much closer,” Dominic explained.

“Why didn’t you tell me about this before?” Anton asked.

“I only just stumbled upon it myself,” Dominic answered.

“You stumbled on it? You mean you didn’t know? Why? Didn’t the mother contact you?” Anton asked.

“No. I’m guessing she was rather confused about all of it,” Dominic told him.

“Confused about it? You’re either pregnant or you’re not pregnant. What’s to be confused about?” Anton asked.

“She was a human woman,” Dominic replied.

“YOU? And a human woman? After all the garbage you gave me about ‘tainted blood’ and how ‘our blood line has been pure from the beginning’ stuff?” Anton said.

“I know. Pretty hypocritical, isn’t it?” Dominic admitted.

“Uhhhh, yeah! But I still don’t understand why she would be confused?” Anton wondered.

“A human woman having a born vampire’s baby would gestate anywhere from 18-24 months, and she may not even have known she was pregnant until a year had passed after conceiving,” Dominic explained.

“Hmmm. So did she contact you? Is that how you found out?” Anton inquired.

“No. I haven’t spoken to her since I left Minnesota, although I’ve thought of her often, well. I just....That’s where this gets a little complicated,” Dominic said.

“THAT is where it gets complicated? It seems pretty complicated already. So how?” Anton asked.

“Well, the night of the party, uhhh...I was talking to Josh,” Dominic said.

“Josh. Our Josh. Upstairs Josh?” Anton asked.

“Yes. And I asked him about his powers and if his parents had any powers like his,” Dominic responded.

“He’s adopted; his parents don’t have any supernatural powers,” Anton stated.

“His adoptive parents don’t...” Dominic said.

“So his...but his biolo... and you... so you think...”

“I’m his father,” Dominic admitted.

“Josh? Your...a brother... Josh... But how can you be sure?” Anton asked.

“I ran a DNA test against some hair from his comb and mine and the results matched,” Dominic said.

“So Josh...I have a brother...Josh is my brother. You’re sure?” Anton asked.

“I am,” Dominic confirmed.

“Wow! But how? How did you come to the conclusion to take the test?” Anton wondered.

“I told him I would help him find his biological parents if he wanted to; all I needed was names. He told me that his mother’s name was Katarina Jansson, his birthdate, and that he was born in Minneapolis. Recognizing her name and figuring out the timeline, well, it was just a fluke. Like I said, I really just kind of stumbled on it,” Dominic explained.

“So where is his mother? Have you contacted her?” Anton asked.

“She’s in a clinic near St. Paul. I’ve been looking into her past and it looks like they’ve had her in a psych ward since a bit before she had Josh. I’m not sure she ever even got to see him as they put him up for adoption immediately after. I’m trying to see if I can get in to see her. I think an explanation from me and some proper treatment might get her out, but I have to find out how much damage they’ve caused over the years by medicating her,” Dominic said.

“Poor woman...That must have been awful for her. No one believing her all those years. Do you think she can take the news of you being a vampire?” Anton wondered.

“Time can only tell, but I feel it is the very least I can do. I’ve caused her so much trouble. If only I hadn’t been so pig-headed, I could have known another son all this time. We could have been a family and she wouldn’t have been locked away. And Josh, well, he would have learned early on how to control his abilities. I just can’t believe what a mess I’ve made and never even knew about any of it,” Dominic said.

“Geez, Dad. You can’t take all that guilt on. It will eat you alive. If you had known, you would have done the right thing, wouldn’t you have?” Anton asked.

“Yes, Anton. I loved your mother more than anything, but I have to admit I loved Katarina, and I thought if I stayed in her life I’d only complicate it. I stayed away because I thought it was the right thing to do for her and for you,” Dominic explained.

“Why me?” Anton asked.

“I didn’t want you to think I loved your mother any less,” Dominic said.

“Geez, Dad. Mom died over a hundred years ago and you haven’t been with anyone but Katarina since? I had no idea. I thought I had the corner on loneliness. You didn’t have to do that to prove to me you loved Mom. Mom loved you. She wouldn’t have wanted you to be alone for all these years mourning her.

“Wow...I have a brother. I always wanted a bother; like Devon and Blake. Have you told him yet?” Anton asked.

“No. I felt I needed to explain things to you first,” Dominic said.

“Right.”

“How do you feel about all this?” Dominic wondered.

“I don’t know... I guess...I wish I had known a long time ago. I wish we had gotten to grow up together, maybe even been a family. And Josh...well...I think he’s great. Seems though, we Larsen men carry loneliness around like it is a badge of honor and Josh is no different. I think that is one of the first things we need to work on as a family!” Anton admitted.

Dominic laughed and nodded in agreement. “Have any suggestions on how I, or we, should tell him about all this?”

“Oooooh! Yeah. That’s going to be a bit of a shocker for him, isn’t it?” Anton said.

“Do you think I should contact his adoptive parents and let them in on my findings and his lineage?” Dominic wondered.

Anton made a face and said, “I don’t know, Dad. I think maybe that should be Josh’s decision. It might be nice for him to have a haven to go back to where no one is the wiser, if this whole vampire thing freaks him out,” Anton explained.

“I suppose you are right, I just would so like to know everything about his childhood and what I missed.”

“Maybe in time you’ll get that. But for now, it’s not your place. As for how to tell him…I don’t know. If you want me to be there, I’m willing to do that. Just tell him what you’ve told me, just cut out the Prof. Hadley stuff; that made things rather confusing. So when do you think you’ll tell him?” Anton said.

“I think the sooner the better. What about you?” Dominic said.

“I agree.”

“Maybe this evening after dinner. Will you join me?” Dominic asked as he stood up from behind the desk.

“Definitely,” Anton answered as he stood and walked around the desk.

Dominic greeted him with open arms and hugged his son and said, “Thank you, Anton. I love you, son.”

“I love you too, Dad,” Anton answered with a hard pat on his dad’s back.

*****

That evening as dinner wound down and people were excusing themselves, Dominic asked Josh if he might speak with him.

Josh exclaimed, “Sure, Dominic. Is everything okay?”

“Yes, I mean, I hope so. It’s just that some information has surfaced that involves you and I would like to talk to you about it.”

Puzzled, Josh’s face showed concern, but he agreed to meet Dominic in the study. Dominic made eye contact with Anton.

“Ummm. Josh, would it be okay if Anton joined us? It involves him too.”

“Of course. No problem,” Josh said.

A few minutes later Anton joined Dominic in the study and closed the door.

“You doing okay?” he asked his dad.

“Nervous. Really nervous. This could go badly in so many ways....” Dominic was interrupted by a knock on the door.

“Come in, Josh,” Dominic said as Anton sat down. A worried Josh entered and closed the door behind him, then crossed the room to a chair next to Anton in front of the ominous desk.

Anton spoke up, noticing Josh’s hesitance. “Dad, maybe we should sit over by the fireplace. No matter how old I am I’m always a bit intimidated at talking to you behind that huge desk.”

“Oh! Sure! I never knew that, Anton. Yes. I suppose I can see that. Josh? Would you join us over there?” Dominic suggested.

“Sure,” Josh said, feeling a little better and less like a little kid being sent to the principal’s office.

When they were all seated, it took a few fumbled starts on Dominic’s part to get things moving.

“I asked to talk to you because I’ve found out some information on your biological parents...Well, maybe I should go back a little farther...Do you remember our conversation the night of the engagement party? When I asked about your parents?” Dominic asked.

Looking confused, Josh first looked at Anton, then at Dominic and replied, “Yes.”

“You told me that evening about your biological mother, Katarina Jannson,” Dominic said.

“Yes. And you said that you had met her,” Josh said.

“Yes. I did. The thing is that I knew her quite well. Intimately, you might say.” Dominic looked at Anton for support. Anton nodded in encouragement.

“Oh,” answered Josh, but as if a light went on, he replied, “Well, that was well before my time. Are you worried I might not have approved or something? Is that why you are telling me this? I mean, Dominic, I think you are a great guy. It’s kind of nice to think that someone as nice as you looked out for her once...”

“Josh. It’s a bit more complicated than that.”

“Oh? How? It’s not like you’re my father or anything, I mean, that was almost two years before I was born,” Josh said.

With a heavy sigh, Dominic looked down at his hands and thought for a moment, and while he did this, Josh looked to Anton for answers. Anton, however, didn’t feel it was his place to step in just yet; after all, the bucket of beans had only been half-spilled. When Anton didn’t reply, Josh looked back to Dominic who was now wringing his hands trying to find the words to say.

“I’m not sure how to say this without it being a shock, so I suppose I should just say it and then explain afterwards,” Dominic admitted.

“Oookaaay!” Josh said, rather worried. “Did you find my mother? Is she okay?

“Your mother is fine; in fact, I am looking after her and trying to get her released to a facility here in Connecticut, where I can be closer to her and hopefully watch her recovery more personally,” Dominic explained.

“Oh! Okay,” Josh said.

“I mean if that is okay with you, Josh. You have a say in this too.”

“I...I...don’t know. I’m not sure I really care one way or another. I’ve never known her,” he admitted.

“I know, Josh...and I think that is my fault. It’s also my fault that she has been in the psych ward all these years,” Dominic said.

“You? How could that be your fault?” Josh asked.

“Dad...you are getting off the point,” Anton interrupted.

“Right. I’m sorry. I suppose I’m making this more confusing than it really needs to be. I....Josh....I am your father,” Dominic said.

Josh went white and confusion washed over his face as his eyes glazed over. There was nothing but silence in the room for several uncomfortable moments before Dominic continued.