“Tristan?” Calan repeated.
Krystan grinned. “Yeah, it’s our celebrity mashup name. Travis and Krystan make Tristan and since we made this little guy, it’s the perfect name.” She looked way too proud of herself. Insane people usually were.
“Celebrity mashup name?” Calan asked. I’d have to explain to him about the conception and death of Branjalina later on.
Both Krystan and Travis seemed unphased.
“You want this kid’s life to be a joke?” I asked, removing myself from Calan’s embrace ready to snatch that baby and run with him until I could get the bean away from his psycho parents.
Travis took the baby from Krystan. “We’re his parents. His life is already a joke.”
“Don’t you think this is...unimaginative. Contrived?”
Krystan opened her mouth but Travis answered. “You’re talking to the woman who named her nail-riddled bat, Batman. I’m just happy we could agree on a halfway normal name.”
Krystan gripped her blankets. “Hey, Batman makes total sense. Batman is a bat and for the longest time he was the only man I could rely on.”
Travis and I rolled our eyes while Calan tightened his lips.
“Seriously though?” I asked Krystan, looking at that little baby who had no idea what’d he just been born into. He was definitely going to need some sane godparents on his side.
Krystan grinned. “What else did you expect from us?”
9
Asharp, rhythmic knock prompted me to grab my broadsword before striding across our living room to answer the door.
Emma was at the kitchen counter on her laptop, managing our Whack A Ghoul cases while Krystan and Travis were at home taking time with the baby. “Do you really think Othanos would knock first?” she mumbled.
It had been two days and the Veritas had yet to locate Othanos much less take him out.
I sent her a dark look. Raising her hands in defense, she added, “It’s not like we have a peep hole to check if it’s him...”
She’d been dropping not-so-subtle hints about my “overbearing protectiveness.” She didn’t need to know I’d all but stopped sleeping, falling back on my meditations to provide a measure of rest while I could still be wakeful and alert for any trouble.
My jaw clenched, but I abided her suggestion. What I saw caused me to only further tighten my grip around my weapon. “Who are you and what do you want?” I yelled through the door.
“We have a package for you from the Order of Veritas.” The message was delivered with the clipped efficiency of a soldier. My parents had sent three agents from their personal guard.
“Leave it on the doorstep,” I said.
“No can do, sir. We have orders to stay within proximity of the book while you examine the contents.”
“Yeesh, even Ylang wasn’t that paranoid,” Emma said, pushing away from the counter and getting up to stretch and roll her neck.
I didn’t know how to tell her that our apartment had been watched the entire time the book was in our possession. There was also a number of wards cast on our house to make sure the book stayed inside and any visitors out.
“Leave the book, and I’ll grab it as soon as you vacate the premises,” I said through the door.
“Sir, we can’t do that. You either accept the book with our escort or we’ll leave and take it with us.”
“Oh for heaven’s sake,” Emma said, rolling her eyes. She crossed the room, pushing me back to turn the lock. My hand wrapped around hers, stopping her.
Fire glinted in her eye as she looked up at me. “Let go, Calan.”
“You shouldn’t be this close to the door anyway.”
“Have you lost your mind? No wait, that was when you followed me into the bathroom to make sure the big scary toilet didn’t eat me up.”
