The Family Man

Chapter 24

I woke, sensing someone else was in the room. The only light was from the hospital monitors and what was leaking under the door from the hallway. Someone sat back in the chair next to my bed, his face slowly coming into focus. It wasn't Eric or Jake. I reached out slowly for the call button, my hand finding only blanket where I left it before I fell asleep.

The man held up his hand with the call button dangling from its cord. Quentin smiled at me. I fought the fear climbing rapidly from my gut.

"Where...where's Maria?" I asked, silently praying for her safety.

"I really have no idea," Quentin answered quietly in his rich accent. "You're her mother, don't you know?"

"You didn't...you didn't hurt her. Did you?"

"No," Quentin replied, shaking his head slowly from side to side. "I believe we had a deal. I intend to honor it." A strange relief washed through me. The fear for my own life seemed trivial to that of Maria's. He had come to complete the deal.

"Is it going to hurt?" It was my last fear. I had resigned myself to being dead. The dying itself was still frightening.

"Not even a little," Quentin replied. He wore a strange smile as if this was funny. I waited a moment, waiting for the inevitable, but he remained motionless, just smiling and staring.

"Are you waiting for Eric?" I asked when the pause became too much. Quentin laughed. It sounded insane, but any sound from him was on the loony side.

Quentin reached forward. I flinched, but he only placed the call button on the bed within easy reach of my hand.

"I'll leave if you push that," Quentin said and sat back calmly, crossing his legs. "Though I think you may want to hear what I have to say."

"You don't mean to kill me?"

"No, nor your daughter or her father." Quentin gave me the smile again as if he enjoyed me believing I was in my last moments.

"Then why are you here?" I kept my fingers away from the call button. "Eric said you wouldn't risk coming to the hospital."

"Marcius is a monster. I would not trust anything from his mouth." All the humor left Quentin's eyes.

"It was you who had a knife at my daughter's throat," I responded quickly. I wasn't sure it was a good idea to argue with Quentin, but my instinct was to defend Eric.

"Ah, yes. From your point of view, I am the monster." The light returned to his eyes with his smile. "I concede your point. Both Marcius and I are monsters. Though I claim he made me. I am his Frankenstein."

"I've only known him for a few months," I said.

"Yes," Quentin said, nodding his head. "Our experiences differ. If you allow me my opinion, I'll allow you yours."

"Agreed." My family was alive, Quentin's had been slaughtered. It was easy to see his point of view as long as Maria wasn't threatened anymore. "So what is it you want me to know?" I shifted in the bed, trying to move my butt to a cooler portion of the sheets. My side complained, but my ass was happier.

"I am no threat to you or your family. I tried to tell the monster, but mutual trust is nonexistent." Quentin tilted his head. "I am through with it all. I intend to return to my homeland and retire my vendetta."

"Eric will never believe it," I said.

"That's why I'm telling you. For some reason, you like the beast. I cannot fathom such a thing, especially from one such as you." Quentin shifted from one side of the chair to the other, uncrossing his legs, then recrossing. "He trusts your words. I saw it in him when you tried to sacrifice yourself."

"Why should I trust you?"

"Because you live," Quentin said, his smile returning as if his words were some kind of fabulous gift.

"How do I know you won't go back on your word?" I asked.

"You don't. If you wish you can uproot your life and hide somewhere." Quentin shrugged his shoulders. "Given eternity, I could just wait for your grandchildren to be born. Or do what you did and employee a detective. Most effective that. I wonder why I never thought of it."

"You killed Terrance," I said firmly.

"Yes, that one I regret," Quentin said. "He was insistent on your anonymity. I had difficulty persuading him, and things got out of hand. His Italian friend took much less convincing, and is happier for it."

"And you call Eric a monster," I added, pushing my luck.

"Again, different experiences," Quentin said. I sighed and nodded. Terrance had died trying to protect my identity. I may be as much a monster as the Quentin and Eric. "On my mother's soul, I give you my oath; I am done hunting down the monster's descendants. Unless he comes to find me, we will never see each other again. He has won."

"I don't think anyone won," I said, "everyone lost."

"Our point of view will forever differ," Quentin sighed. He pointed to the call button as he stood. "You may push that now." He turned toward the door.

"Why are you ending this now?" I asked. Quentin turned back to me with that strange smile.

"You reminded me of my mother. Nothing more, nothing less." Quentin opened the door and left before I had a chance to question his answer. I stared at the open door, wondering why I believed him. He had spent thousands of years murdering innocents. All that time, and it was I that reminded him of his mother. None of it made any sense, and yet I found his words trustworthy.

I pushed the call button. I needed to see Maria.