Precarious Possessions (Maxwell Investigations) by Dawn Ibanez Page A

normal.” His eyes rolled to the back
of his head.
    Thorne wasted no time. He unloaded the clip of his gun into
the creature’s forehead. When the cadaver was lying prone on the slab again, he
ran over to Barry and felt for a pulse. When he found one, he started to lift
his partner into a fireman’s carry. “Let’s get the fuck out of here,” he
whispered before leaving and locking the medical room.
    * * *
* *
    Madison opened the front door of her house and smiled when
she saw Aiden and Kayin. “Did you have fun with Grandfather?” she asked as she
hugged both of her sons.
    Aiden beamed as he kissed her cheek. “ Becca showed us how to make éclairs.”
    Kayin looked down the driveway where Victor was still
helping Lacey out of the limo. “I think Grandfather wants to marry Becca ,” he whispered.
    Madison smiled as she turned her eyes to Victor. “Now boys,
you know that you are not supposed to talk like that in front of Grandfather.
He’s too old to take a hint you know.”
    Aiden smiled as he looked over Madison’s shoulder and saw
Troy. “Daddy!” he cheered before leaving his mother’s arms and running over to
the tall man he only met last night.
    Troy lifted his son up into his arms and smiled. “Hey
Squirt,” he laughed. This was the one that smiled and easily welcomed him.
According to what Madison told him, this would be Aiden.
    Kayin looked at Troy and frowned at his mother. “Is he our
daddy?” he asked her.
    Madison lifted Kayin into her arms and hugged him. “Yes, my
little devil, this is your father. And I expect you to be nice to him.”
    Victor entered the house with Lacey and closed the door.
“Kayin and I have already had that talk my dear,” he said with a nod to Troy.
    Lacey carried a bag over to Troy and smiled. “We brought
this for you, Uncle Troy,” she said happily. “They’re cinnamon rolls and other
pastries from Éclair’s.”
    Madison laughed as she watched the smile on Troy’s face.
Lacey had just won over another male heart. She shook her head and started for
the deck where Crispin and Dylan were relaxing. “So what are the plans for the
rest of the day?” she asked looking over at Victor.
    The elder Vampire looked at her for a long moment. “Now that
you and the boys are out of danger, I was going to see about that trip I was
telling you about.”
    Madison’s lips thinned as she put Kayin down. “Go to your
father.” When he frowned, she lightly tapped his nose. “Now,” she said gently.
She waited for Kayin to run off before turning to Victor. “You’re leaving?”
    Victor shrugged. “For a while,” he said a wave of his hand. “A year, maybe ten. Who knows?” He noticed the way Madison
frowned at him and scoffed. “I asked you and the boys to come with me, and you
said no.”
    She mimicked his scoff perfectly. “That was before I knew
you were really leaving.” She then looked into his green eyes. “Is this because
of what the kids said?” she asked. “Is there something going on between you and
Rebecca?”
    Victor glared at Madison and hated the fact that it didn’t
scare her the way he did others. He did too well raising her. “Rebecca is none
of your concern.”
    Madison rolled her eyes. “Which means Kayin was right and
you do want to marry her,” she said dryly. When his glare intensified, she
crossed her arms in challenge. “And not only do you find her attractive, you
want to leave before you can act on that attraction. You want her to live a
nice and normal life without our world disrupting hers.”
    “What makes you so sure of that?” Victor asked.
    Madison rolled her eyes and held up a single finger. “I was
with Pan for about a year and a half. He hired a nanny named Emily. She was
completely human with knowledge that magic existed, but not Vampires and the
like. You moved to New York, and soon after, Emily left never to come back, and
you took over raising me.”
    Victor frowned. Emily was a beautiful young woman that was