Blood of the Covenant Pt. 01

Author's Note: Hello everyone. Like my last one, this story will also take its time in ramping up to sex. Give it a chance like you did for 'A Full Nest'. I will say that this one is much more dramatic and darker than that one. Depression, trauma, alcoholism are all things you can find in it so stay away if you're here to only get off (nothing wrong with that). I was in a very dark place when I started this story. It took me getting out of that dark place for me to finish, hence the delay. And since I don't want people getting their hopes up like they did in with 'A Full Nest', I'll tell you guys right now: The Mom will not get involved.

Prologue: Promises Kept and Promises Broken

"He's five years old Matt!" Claire slammed her hand on the table. "Where is he supposed to go?!"

"The government has a system." Matt clenched his jaw and stared right back at her. "Foster care. Let them take care of him."

"You know as well as I do how much of a shit hole that system is." Claire said.

"That's not our problem, Claire! We've got two little girls to take care of!"

"That's not what this is about." Claire glared. "You've never liked Ryu! So now you're taking it out on Banri."

"You really think I'm that petty?!"

"Yes, Matt. I do. You think I haven't seen the way you looked at Diana?"

Matt's shut his mouth and averted his gaze.

"That's what I thought." Claire smiled sadly. "I'm keeping my promise to her and taking Banri in. It's up to you if you want to keep your vows with me."

***

Emily flinched as she listened to her parents arguing and shoved the door closed. She returned to her sister's crib and smiled at Banri who was perched on a stool next to it. "You're gonna be my new little brother."

"I want my real sister. Where's Kira?"

"I don't know." Emily sat on the floor in front of him. "Mom told me you're going to be a part of our family."

"I already have a family." Banri wiped his snot with his arm. "Where's Mama and Papa?"

"I don't know." Emily shrugged. Zoe began whimpering. "Uh-oh. Looks like Zoe is waking up." She grabbed a book from the nightstand. "She likes it when people read to her. Wanna help me?"

"Okay." Banri wiped more of his snot, this time with his other arm. As Emily read aloud, Banri did his best to repeat whatever she was saying.

Matt and Claire continued to argue downstairs.

***

The next morning, Claire slowly opened the room to Zoe's nursery. She smiled when she saw Banri and Emily asleep on the rocking chair, the boy's face squished against the armrest. Claire gently rocked the chair until they woke up. "Good morning, little bugs."

"Good morning." Emily yawned.

"Where's Mama?" Banri asked immediately.

Claire wiped her eyes quickly. "Your parents and Kira are gone, Banri." She wanted to say that they'd gone on a trip or were 'visiting God'. But she didn't think that was fair to Banri. Diana always talked about how bright Banri was. He'd understand.

"Where'd they go?"

"They... Come here." She took hold of the boy and had him sit on her lap as she sat cross-legged. "Remember Glub your pet fish?"

"Yeah. Papa said he died."

"Yes, he did, honey." She couldn't stop her tears anymore. Banri couldn't see them but Emily did. The girl somehow knew to not say anything. "Well. Your Mama and Papa and Kira... they were..." Claire paused to swallow her sobs. "They're dead, Banri."

"Oh." Banri said in the simple way that only children could.

Claire could tell he still didn't get it. But he would someday. She'd explain it to him until he did. But for now, the boy needed some semblance of normalcy. "Your Mama always made you cereal for breakfast, right?"

"Cheerios."

"Ew." Emily scrunched her nose. "We only have good cereal. Like Froot Loops."

"Oh."

"Would you like some Froot Loops, bug?" Claire laughed. "They look like colorful Cheerios. And taste better."

"Okay."

"Okay!" She had him get off her and then stood up. "Emily could you please help him brush his teeth? There's a toothbrush he can use in the cabinet."

"Yeah." Emily nodded, immediately taking Banri's hand. "Come on, bug."

Claire watched them go and then leaned over the crib. The little one year old smiled and shook her feet up at her Mom. "What am I going to do, Zoe? Your Dad is leaving me to take care of you three all by myself."

"Buh." Zoe said then added some more sage wisdom. "Buhhhhh."

"Ah. Yes." Claire nodded. "Thanks, honey."

Chapter 1: Homecoming (18 years later)

"Welcome baaaaaaack!" The three Rossi women shouted as Banri entered the house.

Banri jumped and dropped his bags. "Fuck!"

"Yesssssss." Emily rushed up and hugged him. "Scared you just like I wanted."

"Welcome back, bug." Claire hugged him next. "Your flight okay?"

"Long and boring. But it was fine otherwise." He tried to get out of Zoe's tight hug. "Okay Zoe. I get it. You missed me."

"I really missed you." Zoe rested her chin on his chest and smiled up at him. "What'd you bring me?"

Banri rolled his eyes and pushed her away. "Let me put my bags away first, you brat. And I need a shower."

"You actually bought me something!" Zoe grinned.

"Let me help you." Emily reached for a bag. "What'd you get us?"

"I got it." He took the bag away from her reach. "You'll see." He smiled and started upstairs.

"I expected him to curse in German." Zoe sighed. "What a waste of an internship."

"He was only there six months." Claire said. "Come on. Let's get back to the pizza. I just heard the timer go off."

***

After the much-needed shower, I grabbed a beer from the fridge then went to the living room with the duffel bag containing gifts. I found all of them in the living room. "Is that pizza in the oven? I can smell it."

"Yep." Claire moved over and patted the spot she was just sitting at.

"You're the best, Mom." I smiled and hugged her. Mom's Italian food and her last name were the only things 'Italian' about her.

"I know." She hugged me back.

"What'd you get me?" Zoe reached for the bag and I grabbed it away.

I brought out a quilt. "This is for you Emily. This old lady was knitting and selling them in a lodge we stayed at for a weekend."

"Awww." Emily crooned. "There's little fireflies on it!"

"That's why I bought it." I said. "Because your ass lights up like a bulb at night."

"It sure does. Thank you." Emily laughed and kissed my cheek.

"What'd you get me?" Zoe repeated.

I pulled out the glass beer stein that I had wrapped in the quilt. "This is for you, Mom. When you want to get drunk before heading into work. You're a better doctor when you're drunk right?"

"Beautiful." Claire laughed. "Thanks, bug."

"Baaaanriiii." Zoe pouted. "You're so mean."

"Just a lesson in patience." I brought out a box and handed it to her. "Hope you like it. It's one of a kind."

Zoe tore through the wrapping and tugged the top off the box. Her jaw dropped in a weird mixture of a smile, look of surprise, and the frown that comes with happy tears. "A teddy bear..." She pulled the black bear out and hugged him. "He's so soft!"

"Not just any teddy bear. Made by Steiff. I think that's how you say it. My boss told me that people collect bears made by them."

"He's wonderful." She hugged me while hugging the bear. "Did you name him?"

"Of course not. That's your job." I moved so she could squeeze between me and Mom. "Wanna see what makes him one of a kind?"

Zoe nodded. "Does he talk?"

"Take a look at his foot. Right one."

Zoe bent the bear's leg to look its right foot. On the white felt paw pad, the words 'Littlest Bug' were stitched in. Something she used to call herself when she was a kid. "Oh my gosh..." She began to cry. "This is so sweet." She began hugging me again, this time seeming like she wouldn't let go for some time.

"She gets a gift like that and I get a blanket?" Emily scowled in mock anger.

I somehow managed to point at the duffel bag despite my arms being trapped by Zoe. "There's one more thing. It's for you."

Emily reached in and pulled out a book. "Brothers Grimm!"

"Yep. Did I do good?"

"You did great, Banri." She put her gifts to the side and began hugging me as well.

"Ma. Help."

"Sorry, bug." She smiled and got up. "I've got some wings to make."

She left after giving me a kiss on the forehead and I could do nothing but watch her go. "You guys are going to kill me if you squeeze any harder."

"We missed you." Zoe mumbled.

"Yeah. Deal with it."

"I missed you guys too." I sighed. "It's good to be home." Finally, with my three favorite people on the planet.

***

"So, Bug Mama." I rubbed my extremely full belly. Emily and Zoe had gone to bed, but I had been coaxed into another slice of cake. "Any new men in your life that I should know about? Do I have a new Papa?"

"Ha!" Mom smiled around her wine glass. "There was for a week actually."

"Really?"

"Yea. Pharm. Rep that I met after he made a pitch to the hospital director. We went on a coffee date and then a dinner date." She finished her wine. "Then I realized he was exactly like Matt. That turned me off immediately."

"Well that'd kill any attraction." I laughed. "Still haven't heard from your dear ex-husband, I'm guessing?"

"Nope."

Matt Fahey hadn't been a part of our lives since Zoe's second birthday when the divorce had finally been finalized. According to Facebook, he had replaced Mom, Emily and Zoe with a new family entirely. I sighed as a pang of guilt joined the stomach pain. "Sorry, Mom."

"For what?"

"Well you know. If I hadn't come along..."

"Bug we've been over this." She moved from her recliner and sat next to me so she could hug me. "Our marriage was dying before I adopted you. You just helped show me that it was beyond saving. How can I stay with a man that turns away a kid in need?"

Years of me apologizing and years of her saying that I didn't need to. Still didn't make me feel any better. "Yeah. I guess. I still feel guilty."

"Because you're a good man. Good people tend to feel guilty for things they don't need to feel guilty for." She brushed my hair with her fingers and smiled. "I've done an excellent job in raising you."

"Nice humility, Mom."

"Thank you." She ran her hand through my hair a few more times and then got up. "I'm headed to bed. Pancakes for breakfast sound good?"

"I'll just have cereal."

"Pancakes it is." She ruffled my hair and walked to her room with her wine glass still in hand. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." I got up and walked upstairs. As I passed by Zoe's room, she poked her head out the door.

"Hey."

"What's up, buttmunch?"

"I can't sleep. Wanna watch a movie with me?"

"Sure." I shrugged and walked in. Her room hadn't changed at all in the months I had been gone. Muse posters all over the walls, with one wall dedicated entirely to displaying a quilt made entirely out of concert t-shirts. She bounced over to the side of the bed that was closest to the wall and patted the seat next to her.

"What do you want to watch? I was thinking Conjuring."

"You sure? I don't want you to piss yourself. Especially when I'm right here in the splash zone."

"I'm not going to!" She scowled and waved her new teddy bear at me. "I've got Dominic with me."

"Dominic? Really?" I rolled my eyes. Her Muse obsession had no limits, Dominic being the name of the band's drummer; her crush since she first discovered the band.

"It suits him." She said simply. "So. Conjuring?"

"Alright." I got settled into the bed, prepared for Zoe to tackle me in fear at the first sign of anything creepy. "Just give me a flash flood warning."

"You keep making that joke and I'm going to pee on you on purpose."

I laughed and nudged her laptop over to her. "Point taken. Start the movie."

"Good." After she pulled up the movie and it started playing, she snuggled up to me properly. "I'm really happy you're home, Banri."

"So you've mentioned."

"Because I am. And so are Mom and Emily." She put her head on my shoulder. "You're not actually going to move out, are you?"

"Zoe I've got a job. That's about the time people move out. I'm going out tomorrow to start apartment hunting."

"Emily has a job. She's still home."

"Emily is only good at taking care of other people. She'd starve to death on her own. Her staying home is a survival issue."

"Please? Mom is happier than us that you're back. I don't think she's ready for all of us to move out yet. Even I'm commuting to college."

"Moms are never ready for their kids to leave."

"I know but... Mom is even less ready than those moms. Just postpone the apartment hunting. Not permanently."

"But indefinitely."

"Yes."

I sighed heavily. I wondered if Mom and Emily had told Zoe to ask me since I had the hardest time saying no to her when she begged for something. Mostly because she hardly ever begged for anything. "Fine." Staying home would help me save money. Not that I needed to. Inheritance plus prudent investments equals an even more rich me.

"Heh." She grinned. "I knew you'd say okay."

"Fuck off you little shit." I shoved her away, but she latched back on immediately.

"Nooo I'm kidding." She sighed happily. "Thank you, Banri."

I just squeezed her arm. "Watch the movie."

Horror movies didn't bother me beyond making me flinch during the jump scares. They never gave me nightmares and the uncomfortable gut feeling that accompanies them went away when the movie ended. Zoe would strongly disagree with me. She spent most of the movie with her face either buried in my shoulder or in Dominic's belly. When the credits began rolling, Zoe slammed the laptop shut. "I've made a mistake."

"What a surprise." I chuckled.

"Ugh it was so good though." She rubbed at her eyes to wipe away the ghostly images in her mind.

"Will Dominic be enough to help you sleep?"

"Nope."

"Want me to knock you out?" I cracked my knuckles.

"Yes, please." She smiled and extended her jaw towards me.

"Pow." I punched her lightly and she flopped back on to the bed.

"Knocked ouuuuuut." She wailed.

"I've got something that will make you forget the movie."

"Another gift?" She was sitting up in seconds.

"Nope." I got off the bed and looked to see if the door was locked. "I still want this to be a secret from Emily and Mom."

"Oh jeez what'd you do?"

"This." I took my shirt off, revealing the tattoo I had gotten in Germany. It was a dragon that started on my lower back, curved around my left side, and clawed its way up to my heart to breathe flames over it. A silvery moon was rising right behind the dragon's head. The burn scars I had gotten ages ago were still visible, but the tattoo did a great job of covering them up. I flipped my key necklace back around my neck, so she'd have a completely unobstructed view. "What do you think?"

Her jaw being almost on the floor was enough of an answer. "Holy shit, Banri. It's beautiful." She walked around me and felt at it. "This must've taken your whole trip!"

"Pretty much yea." I nodded. "My first session was a day after I landed."

"The colors are gorgeous." She was looking up close at the dragon's turquoise scales. "Mom and Emily are going to freak the fuck out."

"I have no clue how I'm going to tell them." I shrugged. "But I've wanted to get it for years."

"For your parents." She smiled. "The moon that's rising behind the dragon. Your Mom?"

"Yep."

"I think they'd actually like it." Zoe said. "Because of what it means."

"I've heard them talk, on multiple occasions, about how ugly they think tattoos are."

"But it's your tattoo! Not someone else's." She insisted.

"Maybe."

"Well you'll have to show them eventually." Zoe gently touched the scarring on my chest. "This part must have hurt extra right?"

"Fuck yeah." I grimaced. "Brought tears to my eyes."

"You're insane." She shook her head. "Can I take a picture?"

"Sure."

"Sweet!" She grabbed her camera off her desk and moved around me taking multiple shots. She then did the same thing with her phone. "I'm posting this to Instagram the second you tell Mom and Emily."

"Fine by me."

"You going to post to yours too?"

"Nah. Yours is enough. All the same people follow us."

"Yeah I guess they do." She put her phone aside and hugged me. "Your parents would have loved the tattoo."

"You really think so?"

"Mhm." She nodded confidently. "I think Kira would be pissed that she doesn't have a tribute though."

"Of course she has a tribute." I smiled and pointed at the dragon's scales. "Mom said that Kira loved turquoise."

"Brilliant!" Zoe nodded with approval. "When are you going to get a tattoo dedicated to me?"

"Next year or something. I'd like to come up with a good design."

"Wait you're actually going to do it?" She jumped up and down.

"Well yeah. It'll be for you, Emily, and Mom. I can't leave the Rossi girls out." I smiled at her cute excitement.

"Can I help you design it?"

"I'll come up with the idea. You can draw it out."

"Yesssss." She pumped her fist in the air.

"Feeling better?"

"Yep! Much better." She hugged me again before getting back in bed. "Goodnight, Banri. Thanks for hanging out with me."

"Goodnight, bug." I put my shirt back on and moved to the door, looking back at her after turning the light off. "Sleep well."

"You too."

Chapter 2: Hero

"Mhm. I'm home." Zoe sat on the sofa and flopped her feet onto my lap. She wiggled her feet at me as she continued her phone conversation. "Tonight? No I wanna hang out with Banri." She looked at her feet then at me with a hopeful smile.

"No." I mouthed at her. I didn't feel like massaging her feet.

She pouted and continued to wiggle her feet. "Yes I'm putting my brother first. He's been gone a long time." She raised her left foot so that it was right in front of my nose and smiled smugly. I knocked her foot back down and kept it there with my hand. "I'll see you tomorrow. Dinner. Yeah. Bye."

"Stephen?" I asked as she hung up.

"Yep." She nodded. "What do I have to do for a foot massage?"

"Twenty bucks."

"Are you serious?" She attempted another pout.

"Pouts only work on me if you're sick or if you're my girlfriend. You're neither."

"I'm your little sister. Pouts should work."

"Guess I'm a heartless bastard." The bastard part is true for sure.

She unclasped the back of her phone case and pulled out a ten-dollar bill. "All the cash I have is this."

"I'll take it. Family discount." I snatched the money up and stuffed it in my pocket. I smiled at her sigh of satisfaction as I began my massage. "You and Stephen. Been together like three months, right?"

"Four."

"Dayum." I said. I briefly thought about Brie before pushing her out of my mind. "All my recent romances haven't lasted very long."

"That's because you're a slut, Banri." Zoe rolled her eyes. "There were at least six different girls that kept popping up in your Instagram pictures while you were in Berlin. Was it like one a month or something?"

"They were friends." I smirked. "...with benefits." I wondered why she looked annoyed despite the smile.

"Whore." She gagged.

"What can I say? Ladies can't resist me."

"Oh my god stop it." She rolled her eyes. "Am I going to be an aunt sometime soon?"

"Oh hell no." I shook my head. "I wrapped it up and pulled out. Every time. I don't trust them when they say they're on the pill."

"Grooooosssss." She pulled one foot away to smack my face with it. "Groooosss."

"Oi." I shoved her foot away as she tried to kick me again. "Keep hitting me and the massage stops. And no refunds."