Cassandra cringed as she remembered some of the things her mother had read to them when they were children.
Chris kept laughing. "I don't know if you want the baby to see this if you're the one raising him."
"Let me guess," Wulf said, narrowing his gaze on Phoebe. "He'll have nightmares that Daddy is going to hunt him down and rip his head off?"
"Pretty much. I am particularly fond of the one called: 'Acheron the Great Evil.'" Chris paused as he turned to another story. "Oh, wait... You'll love this one. They got the story of the nasty Nordic Dark-Hunter. Remember the story with the witch and the oven? This one features you with a furnace."
"Phoebe!" Wulf snapped, looking over at her.
"What?" Cassandra's sister asked innocently. "That's our heritage. It's not like you guys don't swap stories on Andy the Evil Apollite or Daniel the Killer Daimon. You know, I see human movies and read their books too. They're not exactly nice to my people. They portray us all as soulless killers who have no compassion or feelings."
"Yeah, well," Wulf said, "your people happen to be soul-sucking demons."
Phoebe cocked her head with attitude. "You ever met a banker or a lawyer? Tell me who's worse, my Urian or one of them? At least we need the food; they do it just for profit margins."
Cassandra laughed at their banter, then took the book from Chris's hands. "I appreciate the thought, Phe, but could we find a book that doesn't paint the Dark-Hunters as Satan?"
"I don't think one exists. Or if it does, I've never seen it."
"Great," Wulf muttered, picking up another card, "just great. My poor son's going to have nightmares all of his childhood."
"Trust me," Chris said as he upped his bet against Wulf. "That book's going to be the least of your kid's problems with you as his father."
"What do you mean?" Cassandra asked.
Chris put his cards down and met her gaze. "You do know that as a small child, they actually carried me around on a pillow? I had a custom-made helmet that I had to wear until I was four."
"That's because you banged your head every time you got angry. I was afraid you were going to get brain damage from it."
"The brain is fine," Chris said. "It's my ego and social life in the toilet. I shudder at what you're going to do to that kid."
Chris dropped his voice and imitated Wulf's lilting Norse accent. "Don't move, you might get bruised. Oops, a sneeze, better call in specialists from Belgium. Headache? Odin forbid, it might be a tumor. Quick, rush him for a CAT scan."
Wulf shoved his shoulder playfully. "And yet you live."
"Ever the better to procreate for you." Chris met Cassandra's gaze. "It's a hell of a life." Then Chris dropped his gaze as if he were thinking about that for a minute. "But there are worse ones out there."
Cassandra wasn't sure which of them was most stunned by that confession. Her or Wulf.
Chris got up and went to the foyer where a trestle table was set with snacks and drinks. He poured himself more Coke and grabbed some chips before he and Wulf resumed their game of cards.
It was just before midnight when Urian rejoined them. He looked a lot better than he had earlier. His deep tawny skin had a healthy glow. His eyes were bright and for once he wore his long, blond hair down around his shoulders. Cassandra would give Phoebe credit. Her husband was extremely gorgeous.
When he was dressed completely in black, there wasn't much difference between Urian and a Dark-Hunter. Except for what they needed in order to live.
Phoebe smiled as Urian neared her.
Wulf didn't. In fact, the tension between the men was fierce.
"What's the matter, Dark-Hunter?" Urian asked as he draped his arm around Phoebe's shoulders. "You were hoping I'd succumb?"
"No, I was just wondering who you killed to reclaim your health."
Urian gave a short amused laugh at that. "I'm sure the cows you eat aren't exactly thrilled by their slaughter either."
"They're not people."
Urian sneered at that. "In case you haven't noticed, Dark-Hunter, there are a lot of people out there who aren't human either."