His Vice

Ch 7

When they pulled up the small suburb in the middle of the night, she stared at the houses as they drove by. She had spent the last two days straight in that damn car and she was tired of it. The moment they pulled to the side of the road and she saw the silhouette of the safe house, it unnerved her. In the darkness, it stroke a resemblance to her childhood home, and that concerned her. Middle class, she'd lived the most of her childhood in the middle class, then, being a teen runaway had fallen down to lower class, then had shot up to upper class in a single day, the one percent of the one percent. Dropped back down to lower class, hit upper class yet again. And now, she was right back where she started.

She got out of the car, holding Maxxy's sleeping form in her arms. She already missed Zuni, she couldn't believe he had forgotten Zuni. She felt so horrible it made her heartthrob. But, everything just happened so fast, and Zuni had been sleeping in Max's room that morning. And, she hoped to god that Max was bringing her, a few hours away still from where they were. She felt a hand on her shoulder, glancing up at Cam's soft eyes. He grabbed her wrist, placing the cold metal of the key to the house between her fingers. Luckily, Hell's Heaven was prepared for anything and everything, each chapter had another they were assigned to in case of problems and had over a dozen safe houses in the city they were assigned to on their person.

"Max should be here by dawn," Cam said, holding an arm around her shoulder, leading her up the empty driveway

"Great, we have so much to talk about" she joked softly. Cam looked amused by her words. Harmony sighed, glancing down at the sleeping child in her arms. She gazed behind her, seeing Spike pulling out her stuff from the backseat. She walked up the few small steps with Cam up to the door, shoving the key in and turning it. When the door opened, she was hit with a gust of cold air from inside, stepping through the threshold.

"Water and power should have already been turned on" Cam claimed, pressing the light switch by the door. It lit the foyer from right above their leads, revealing a hard linoleum floor, and the walls of light brown. She walked through each room, turning on the lights. Everything was already furnished, ready for occupants. Hotel art on the walls, candles, and small trinkets on the mantle above the fireplace. She suspected it was designed this way so that all the new occupants would have to do was put up a few pictures of themselves, and the place would look as if it had been alive for years. But, the biggest signal of its emptiness, the thick layer of dust that covered every surface. The place hadn't been occupied for years.

She walked up the carpet stairs, turning on more lights, staring at more decorated tapestries, more frames with hotel art, opening the doors, revealing a bathroom and the master bedroom. She cursed, realizing this house was designed with the intention that the couple occupying it could actually stand to sleep in the same room. She walked down the stairs, returning to a room left of the kitchen that she had discovered already, a fresh set of baby toys and a crib sat in the corner, more frames with fake art. It was the only room with items not covered with dust.

She suspected that Max had possibly contacted the Los Angeles branch on his way here, insisted that a baby would be staying there and they made the proper arrangements before her arrival. Spike had already placed her baby bag in the room, sitting on the changing table. She could hear the two boys rummaging through the fully stocked kitchen cupboards, Spike had been complaining for the second half of the trip that there was nothing good to eat when only fast food was an option.

She placed Maxxy into the crib, covering him with the freshly folded blankets inside. He stirred, letting out a few small noises, but didn't wake from his slumber. She walked over to the baby bag, pulling out his teddy bear and his favorite blanket, laying the blanket over the sleeping child and carefully lifting the covers slightly, slipping the bear next to her son and watching Maxxy latch onto it with his tiny hands, pressing his face into its chest. She smiled, feeling the need to just stare at him, such a happy little face of contempt. She wondered if after the circumstances of the last week if she would ever see that face again. Maxxy had cried more the last seven days than he ever did in his first year of life.

Though, she suspected that Maxxy's childhood was going to be very far from normal. He was just past a year old and already he'd been kidnapped, shot at. She couldn't help it, being so mad at Max, because by killing that man, he had put all of them in danger, including his own son. Maxxy couldn't protect himself, he couldn't even speak, he couldn't walk without holding onto furniture, he was in diapers! And now, he was being hunted down by a gang of criminals hellbent on ending his little life, his life that hadn't even begun to start yet.

She hated this feeling of being so powerless to protect her own son, it made her so angry. And there was only one person to blame for all of this. She growled lowly, turning off the light and closing the door. She made her way to the kitchen, stepping in to find the two boys had already raided the fridge and were sitting on barstools by the rain granite counter, eating sandwiches. She moved to the other side of the counter they were sitting at, leaning on her elbows abruptly right across from Spike. He glanced up at her briefly, but just leaned back down continuing to munch on his sandwich.

"So, your Maxwell's best friend right?" Spike shrugged, wiping the crumbs from his mouth

"Ya, I guess you could say that"

"So, please do tell me, where the hell did everything go wrong with him?" Spike raised an eyebrow in question.

"The second he was born" Cam joked. Spike hit him in the ribs, effectively shutting him up.

"Well, I do have one idea" Spike responded, leaning his hands on the table "But, if I tell you this, you can't dare tell him I told you this" She nodded her head, leaning in further, curious.

"Did Max ever tell you about what happened to his Mom?" she tried to think back.

"I mean, not really, all I know about his parents is that his father died" she responded truthfully. She really didn't know much about Max's parents, his upbringing, it always seemed to be testy subjects for him.

"Well, he was so excited for his fourteenth birthday, he was having all his friends over, his father's connections too. In Hell's Heaven, your fourteenth birthday is the most important, a time of celebration, because, at fourteen, you're finally able to attempt initiation. He had been preparing it for weeks, getting himself ready for his chance to complete the final test, be a full-fledged member, something he had been working to and indoctrinated into since he was born. But, while they were cutting the cake, a shot was fired. It was a hired hitman that was supposed to take out his entire family but only hit his Mom. Max had to watch his mother bleed out in front of him, inches from where he stood"

"Holy shit," Cam said suddenly, eyes wide, his mouth wide open and still full of food.

"I had no idea"

"Ya, I was there. It was brutal" he muttered, trying not to look at her. "But, his Dad's death might be even worse for him"

"Why is that?" she asked. Spike lifted his head, looking hesitant to speak suddenly.

"Because he was the one that killed him," he said simply. Harmony couldn't help but her knees weaken slightly in disbelief, Spike's words playing in her head over and over again. Max killed his own father.

"His father had abandoned Hell's Heaven, it was Max's duty to track him down and eliminate the loose end, take his position"

"That still doesn't make it right" and, after so long, she thought of that word again, the one that echoed in her head the first time she had ever seen Max. Monster. Max had killed the man that raised him, that fed him and clothed him from infancy, that loved him. No amount of reasons should be enough to kill that person without guilt, and it seemed that after everything that Max ever did, he was never guilty. Max was a horrible person. She leaned up from the counter, moving out of the room, up the stairs. The boys watched her disappear through the door, Cam looked at Spike.

"Fuck, Max is going to kill you" Spike groaned, running his hands over his tired face, knowing that Cam's words were true. Harmony ripped open the walk-in closet, realizing it had already been filled with clothes of her and Max's sizes, on opposite walls. She ripped through the women's clothing, pulling down a set of pajamas. At least in this experience of pretending they weren't gang members, they could actually wear clothes of multiple colors on this venture instead of just black. She climbed under the covers of the cold bed, shutting her eyes tightly, falling asleep alone.