The elegant Victorian mansion was quiet now except for the muffled sound of the Howlers playing on the stage next door in the bar. It was furnished in expensive turn-of-the-century antiques that had been in the house since they were new. The bear clan didn't like change. Gallagher was glad for that. It felt strangely like coming home again.
"How long are you staying?" Zar asked as he led him up the hand-carved mahogany stairs.
"Until the New Year."
Zar nodded. "Mamanwill be glad to hear that." He showed Gallagher to a room at the end of the hallway.
Gallagher stepped inside and found a warm, cozy bedroom. The windows were well-shuttered and covered by heavy drapes that would keep the daylight from reaching him.
"Here's a cable modem for your laptop if you brought one."
The corner of Gallagher's mouth lifted. "All the comforts of home."
"We try. I remember well the days of running and hiding, and never having a single comfort. Take a few minutes to get settled in and join us when you're ready."
Gallagher watched Zar leave while feelings and memories went through him. He appreciated the bears' courtesy, but he would trade all his money and immortality for one single night spent with his wife and son.
One single Christmas with them, watching Rosalie's face light up as she opened a gift.
The pain of his loss racked him. He didn't want to hurt and wish for things he could no longer have. He sat on the bed and stared at the wall. He saw his great-granddaughter's face and wondered if she would go home at Christmas to be with her family.
For that matter, he wondered if he should go home himself. At least Chicago was familiar to him. Weary and heartsick, he lay down on the bed to just rest for a second. He only wanted to escape for an instant into memories of a time when he had been human.
Gallagher woke up to find that three days had passed while he slept. He didn't remember anything about his dreams.
"Why did you let me sleep so long?" he asked Mama Peltier as soon as he left his room and found her in the downstairs parlor on the right.
In human form, she was an elegant, tall blonde woman who most often wore a stylish suit. Though she looked no older than forty, she was in fact close to eight hundred years in age.
"Acheron said you needed to rest and I agreed."
"But three days?"
She shrugged. "Do you feel better?"
Strangely, he did. At least physically.
It was just after dark on Christmas Eve. The bear clan was slowly filing down the stairs and gathering into the two main parlors where dual twelve-foot-tall pines were decorated.
Gallagher stood back, watching the whole crew of Katagaria and Arcadians who made Peltier House their home, gather around for the coming celebration. The tiny bear cubs climbed over presents and tried to eat and climb up the trees while their fathers and mothers, in human form to make Gallagher feel more at home, pulled them back. Justin Portakalian came down in his panther form and picked up one of the smaller cubs by the scruff of his neck and rolled him playfully across the floor.
It was the most bizarre Christmas gathering Gallagher had ever seen in his one-hundred-plus years of living. He felt even more out of place than he had felt three days ago when he arrived. As members from The Howlers came in to join the party, Gallagher decided he needed a breath of fresh air and a moment of quiet to clear his head. He headed out into the cold dark night and drifted aimlessly through the French Quarter. Before he realized it, he was outside the St. Louis Cathedral.
It had been a long time since he'd last been in church. There were only a few people headed inside. No doubt most of the parishioners would wait until the Midnight Mass. He started to turn away, but instead found himself heading inside with the others.
The foyer was dark, but his Dark-Hunter sight saw the interior clearly and he moved toward the small font of holy water that rested on the wall to his left, just beside the church store. He blessed himself, then opened the dark wood doors that led into the cathedral. The beauty of the stained glass and statuary immediately took him back to the days of his youth.
Gallagher genuflected, then sat down on the last row. Here, he felt his Rosalie. Devout, she had never missed a Holy Day of Obligation or Feast Day. He had dutifully gone with her even though he'd hemmed and hawed about it. Ever patient, she would sit by his side, patting his arm and smiling to herself over the fact that she had gotten him to do the impossible.
"I miss you, Rose," he breathed, his chest tight with the pain of her loss.
He wanted to stay here where he felt her, but he couldn't. No Dark-Hunter could remain in any old church for very long before the ghosts of the past came out to possess them.
And he was too weak at this moment to fight them.
Getting up, he made his way silently out back to the font, then out to the street.
It was cool out, but nowhere near the coldness he felt inside himself. Gallagher headed down Chartres Street. He didn't know where to go. He didn't feel like going back to Sanctuary and there was no real need to hunt on Christmas Eve. Since most humans were at home with their families, the Daimons tended to stay in as well.
"Hel-lo!"
He paused at the familiar sing-song voice. Turning around, he found "Simi" behind him.
"Hi," he said, half-expecting to see Ash with her.
But apparently she was out alone. Simi bounced up to him. "What'cha doing out here all alone?" she asked. "Did you forget how to find Sanctuary?"
"No. I want to be alone for a bit."
She cocked her head and frowned. "Why? Were the bears mean to you? Mama can get a bit cranky whenever I play with the cubs. She thinks I'm going to eat one, but bleh! They're way too hairy. Now if she'd let me skin one, I might be interested."He laughed in spite of himself. "Are you joking?"
"Oh no. I never joke about hairy food. It's disgusting." She looked up at him. "If they weren't mean to you, then why did you leave?"
"I don't know. I guess I didn't feel right being there."
"Why?"
He shrugged. "What are you doing out here?"
"Not much.Akri is off with that red-headed demon so he said I could go play just so long as I don't eat nothing not cooked by a human. But all my favorite places are closed so I thought I'd go find the bears myself and see if Jose, since he's human, would make me up something good that wouldn't makeakri mad if I ate it."
"Akriis Ash?"
"Yes."
"And the red-headed demon?"
"Artemis the bitch goddess. You know her. She's the one who stole your soul."
"She didn't steal it."
Simi blew him a raspberry. "Of course she did. She steals everything." She stood up on her tiptoes and stared into his eyes. "Hey," she said, taking his chin in her hand so that she could move his head back and forth while she examined him. "You're hurting in there. That would makeakri very sad. He doesn't like for his Dark-Hunters to hurt and the Simi don't like it whenakri is sad. Why are you hurt?"
"I miss my family."
Releasing him, she nodded sympathetically. "I miss mine too. My mama was good people. 'Simi,' she would say, 'I love you.'Akri loves me too."
She tilted her head down so that he could see her horns which were now covered by what appeared to be very small knitted hats. "See,akri even gave me hornay warmers so my horns wouldn't get cold. You want some hornay warmers too?"
This had to be the oddest conversation of his life. He didn't know why he stayed here talking to her. Maybe it was her childlike manner. There was something very charming about her.
"I don't have horns."
"You want some?" she asked hopefully. "I could give you some real colorful ones.Akri has some black ones, but he doesn't let other people see them."
"Ash has horns?"
"Oh my, yes. They are quite lovely. Not as lovely as mine, but they are still very nice. The Simi would say she hopes you see them, but if you ever did, you'd be dead and I think the Simi would miss you. You seem very nice too."
Gallagher frowned as she rummaged around in her giant oversized, beaded purse. After a few seconds, she pulled out an oven mitt that looked like a fish. She handed it to him.
"That is quality. From QVC. My favorite place. Do you watch QVC?"
"No."
"Well, you should.Akri says I watch it too much, but he never complains when I shop there. They like me too. Put me on television and call me Miss Simi. I like that."
He handed her the fish back.
"Oh no, that's for you. Presents make people happy. The Simi wants you to be happy."
Oh yeah, this was without a doubt the strangest moment of his life. Both mortal and immortal. "Thank you, Simi."
She waved his words aside with her hand. "No need to thank me. See, that's what families do. They take care of each other."
His stomach tightened at her words. "I no longer have a family. I had to give them up."
She looked at him curiously. "Of course you have a family. Everyone has family. I'm your family.Akri your family. Even that smelly old goddess is your family. She's that creepy old aunt who comes around but nobody likes her so they make fun of her when she's gone."
He laughed again. "Does she know you say that about her?"
"Of course. I say it to her face all the time. That's whyakri told me to come play while he's with her. He don't like it when we fight."
She took his hand into hers. "Listen and I'll tell you whatakri once told me. We have three kinds of family. Those we are born to, those who are born to us, and those we let into our hearts. I have let you into my heart so the Simi is your family and she won't give you up. If you are sad right now, then I'm thinking your family is still in your heart too, and they are taking up so much room that you have no room for anyone else."
"I can't give them up."
"And you shouldn't. Ever. No one should ever forget those they love. But it's like with QVC—whenever I fill up my room with too much stuff,akri builds me another room. Somehow there's always space for more. Your heart can always expand to take in as many people as you need it to. The people who live there, they don't go away. You just make room for one more person and then another and another and another."
With her arm in his, Simi walked him down the street. "Don't you want Simi to be your family?"
He thought about her words and strange analogy.
She leaned forward and whispered. "This is the part where you say, 'Yes, Simi, I would like to be your family.' 'Cause if you don't, then I'll have to take my mitt back and barbecue you.Akri is still upset about the last Dark-Hunter I barbecued and that was… oh, a thousand or so years ago. He part elephant when it comes to remembering things. So tell me, do you want Simi to be your family?"