[Raynin]

 
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Time: Thursday, November 23, 2017...  3:30 PM
Place: Detroit, Michigan… Location: The Darkk Family Homestead...
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The morning had started out bright and sunny, though the day was a cold one.  Everyone who had the day off from work was happy that the dreaded "S-N-O-W" word hadn't started up for the year, but the kids had been hoping that it would happen after Thanksgiving, so that they could have a longer time off from school.  And the Darkk Family was no exception.  Mrs. Darkk had put out the call, and insisted that all of her children, including the extended family she called her kids made an appearance this year without exception.  And so, everyone hopped on flights, and made the trips necessary to be there for this holiday that none of them would soon forget.  For the Angels of the Fallen, their experience had started two days before.  

**********

Darknyss's mother didn't know that she'd finally stopped needing the crutches, and all of Blood Legion decided to come in early so that she could surprise her mother.  Dark Tiger parked the rented truck in the long, curved driveway in front of the house, and leaned over to kiss his fiancée.

"You ready to do this?"

Darknyss nodded and Dark Tiger hopped out of the truck to get the chair, but Mrs. Darkk had heard their SUV pull up and she was out the door in a flash, running to the back passenger side door to get the baby out of his car seat.

"Oh my!!  Is that my little man?  Don't you look so cute all bundled up in your snow suit!!"

Little Morgan has his arms up and he's waving them at his Grandmother as she starts unbuckling the car seat and he giggles and squeals as she picks him up and spins him around in a circle before he makes a grabbing gesture at Darknyss and says...

"Walk Mama!!  Walk!!"

Mrs. Darkk looks over at Darknyss, who looks from her to Dark Tiger and chuckles.

"Well, I guess the cat is out of the bag now..."

Everyone else has hopped out of the other SUV's and watches as Darknyss slowly climbs down from the truck and walks with a slight limp towards her mother and smiles down at her.

"Surprise Mom."

Tears spring to Mrs. Darkk's eyes and she squeals in surprise and joy and grabs onto Darknyss, holding tightly to her with one arm as MJ grabs his mom around the neck, giggling happily.

"Mama!!  Gamma!!  Hug!!!"

Mrs. Darkk pulls back and screams towards the house.

"Charles... Kameron... Latrice...  Everyone... Come and see!!  Come and see!!"

People start pouring out of the house, and the majority of the Darkk Family is there.  All of Darknyss's brothers and sisters except for the twins are standing there as Darknyss's father pushes his way through the group.

"Now what is all of this commotion about?  Did the baby do something cute again?  Couldn't it have waited until we were in the house cause it's cold as a polar bear's titties out here..."

Darknyss turns around and starts to walk towards her father who stops dead with tears flowing down his own face as Darknyss reaches him and she wraps her arms around his neck.

"Surprise Daddy.  No more chair."

Everyone from the family crowded around and patted her on the back or pulled her from one person's arms to another's as the baby clapped and giggled.

"Surprise Mama!!  Surprise!!!"

Mr. Darkk suddenly howled out over the commotion.

"Alright!  Enough celebratin' in the cold!!  Let's get inside by the fireplace where it's warm.  I'm freezin' my gibblets off."

Everyone had filed back into the house, all chatting happily as they started to catch up on things they'd missed in everyone else's lives since they'd been apart...

**********

The next day had been spent in the kitchen, preparing for the long morning of cooking ahead of the women.  It was later in the evening, around eight at night, and the room is warm and toasty from the oven having been run all day.  Everyone was bustling around, trying to prep their best dishes for the holiday.  Luckily, when Mr. And Mrs. Darkk had the renovations done on the kitchen, they'd made it large enough to accommodate all of the extra hands that they knew would end up around the kitchen island.

Diamond was working on her no-bake cream cheese pies as Raynin helped chop veggies for the dressing, showing off her knife skills in the process.  She kept grinning and saying...

"Look!  I'm a chef!!"

Raynin made quick work of all of the chopping of every fruit and vegetable needed, and when Darknyss's brother Kameron came over, he asked her a question which made everyone pause at the answer.  Kameron leaned over and grabbed a stalk of celery and started to munch on it when he asked...

"With knife skills like that, it's got me to wondring something...  Just how good are you at butchering a hog?  We're thinking of doing a pig roast for the fourth of July."

Raynin nods and she flips the knife expertly in her hand.

"Oh sure.  I can do it in under an hour.  Half an hour if the blades I use are extremely sharpened.  Butchering a pig is just like cutting up a human body for disposal.  Only difference is, you're cutting up the meat to eat, not for burning the evidence to ash in an oil barrel."

Everyone stops mid-stir, chop, and whatever else they were doing and stares at Raynin, who can suddenly feel everyone's eyes on her and she looks up with a frown.

"What?  Do I have something on my face?"

She looks around and shrugs.

"As if everyone didn't know what I did in the Corp was gruesome.  We all have a past you know.  I just try not to dwell on the things I did.  Besides, what I did kept all of you safe!  So just never you mind what I just said!"

Everyone turns back to what they were doing and Kameron clears his throat.

"Well, I'm personally inviting you and your knife skills to join me and the rest of the family for the fourth of July.  I can get a whole pig, and a half a steer.  With your help, we can get the fourth off and poppin'."

Kameron puts his hand up and Raynin gives him a pound before she turns back to her friends who are cooking and sticks her tongue out at them.  Just then, Gothika and Dmitri come in through the back door.   Dmitri has a large bottle under his arm and Kameron goes over to pat him on the shoulder and yelps in shock.

"Holy shit man!  You're freezing!!  What did you do, take a shower before you went out?"

Dmitri looks down at himself and shakes his head.

"No my friend.  I'm always colder than normal.  It's simply my nature as a vampire to be colder than expected.  I don't feel the touch of nature.  I haven't for centuries."

Kameron shakes his head and shrugs.

"Whatever's clever my man.  What's in the bottle?"

Dmitri smirks and shakes his head.

"It's nothing for you to worry your mind about.  It's something for those of us with a more... refined palate so to say."

Kameron lifts his eyebrow at Dmitri and chuckles.

"Oh... So you think you have a more discerning palate than I do?  I'll have you know, my palate is very good in deed.  Every bit as good as yours I'm sure."

Darknyss comes over and puts her hand on Kameron's shoulder.

"Bro, if that bottle has what I think it does in it, then trust me.  You don't want any."

Kameron frowns and looks at the bottle under Dmitri's arm which has no label.

"Just what in the hell is in that bottle?  Is it moonshine?  Cause you know I can handle my liquor."

Gothika chuckles and walks over and takes the bottle from Dmitri and walks over to the fridge, stashing it in the back behind the milk and tapes a sign on it which reads, 'Don't touch, vampire stuff.  Taste it and you'll regret it!' Before she shuts the door with a sigh.

"Oh Lady, don't you worry.  It's just a little bit of blood wine.  AB positive in a nineteen seventy-four merlot.  I can't wait to taste it.  The donor is supposed to be a fourty-six year old virgin girl of all things.  And she wasn't a nun.  I bet it's going to have such an amazing flavor."

Kameron looks at Gothika and shakes his head.

"Oh my GOD!  I forgot you were a... a..."

Dmitri chuckles and reaches his hand out to Gothika who comes over and takes it with a smile.

"A vampire.  You can say it.  I know, she looks like just a blushing young girl sometimes.  But behind that smiling face lurks the face of a monstrous beast who's ready to rip her opponents to shreds at the blink of an eye."

Kameron chuckles and nods towards his sister.

"Don't remind me.  I used to hate training with Lady.  She'd beat the fuck out of me, then take me to go get ice cream to make me feel better for getting my ass kicked by a girl."

Kameron grabs another celery stick and a carrot and munches away.

"Speaking of your upcoming opponents...  I hear you guys have a six-person tag team match against Christina Hilton and the Sullivan Sisters on the next Climax Control."

Diamond nods and slaps Kameron's hand as he reaches for some cubes of cheese she's been cutting for the macaroni and cheese.

"Yeah, that's right.  We do have to face them.  Can you believe they actually are still claiming that they're from here?  I mean, what a joke!"

Kameron chuckles and shakes his head, leaning against the edge of the counter as he tries to pick at something else from the ingredients.  His roaming hand is met with an apple from Darknyss's hand, and he winks at his sister in thanks before he takes a huge bite.

"You know, it's quite possible that they may actually be telling the truth.  Wouldn't that be amazing?  If someone in this business besides us was truthful, I bet the heavens would open and weep for joy."

Diamond shrugs as she finishes chopping the cheese and transfers it to a large ziplock bag, sealing it tightly.

"It doesn't matter if they're really from the D or not.  We know Christina MIGHT be from around here...  But even that fact remains to be proven.  She's just so...  not ghetto enough to really be from here, you know."

Darknyss points to her brother and herself, then shakes her head.

"Not ghetto enough?  What about us?  We're some of the most non-ghetto sounding folks out there.  Hell, just because you speak with proper diction doesn't mean you're not from the city.  And look at Kameron!!  I mean yeah, right now he looks like a reject from the eighties in a cut off jersey and a pair of sweat pants, but when he dresses up and wears actual clothing, he looks like a GQ model."

Diamond sighs and shakes her head as she goes over to the stove and sprinkles a few more herbs into a pot that's bubbling away before she pulls out a clean spoon and tastes the dish.  She nods and turns the flames off from under the pot and pulls out some bowls, lifting the lid off of a second pot and scooping some rice in each bowl, then ladles huge portions of gumbo over each serving.  She points to Kameron and motions him out of the door to call everyone for dinner as she speaks.

"But see, that's just it!  Even though you're kinda bourgeoise, you still can get ghetto when you need to.  These chicks... they're just faking it.  I can smell it!!  My nose knows, you know?  And that shit just gets to me, and it makes me want to take them down even more.  I mean, you ain't gotta lie to get over!!  You're either really from the D, or you're not.  That's like me saying I'm from California, knowing I was born in New Orleans.  I've tried as I might to try and get rid of the Creole accent, but it still lingers.   Even with all of the diction coaches, a hint of it still comes out, yeah.  But that's not even the half of it.  You know Damia and Ray Ray have a score to settle with these chicks.  Besides which, Christina has just found a way to push my buttons."

Gothika smirks as she carries bowls over to the huge table and starts laying one in front of each seat.

"Oh, you're just mad cause she talked shit about you when you two were facing off against each other for the Number One Contender's spot for your title."

Diamond frowns and nods.

"Damned straight I'm pissed!!  That chick don't know me!!  She can sit back and pretend that there's respect, but you can see it in her eyes.  The jealousy and spite over having lost is there.  But I mean, let's face it.  Deep down, she knew she was destined to fail.  Her fate was sealed the moment she stepped up against me.  And at this next Climax Control, it will be once again."

Diamond walks over to the table and places down a few more bowls, and that's when she notices the large envelope with her name on the front of it, written in a shaky hand.  She frowns and picks it up, looking at it confused.

"What's this?"

Darknyss's mom comes over with more bowls and nods towards it.

"I don’t know.  I came for you today.  It was hand delivered.  There was no return address."

At that moment, the room suddenly filled with bodies as the family came in for dinner.  There were shouts from the children and the family all crushed in around the huge table.  Diamond tucked the letter away in a pocket and didn't think another moment about it that night...

**********

It's Thanksgiving Day, and the dinner has been all prepared.  Even though it's only almost four, everyone has been refraining from eating too heavily because they knew what was on the menu for today.  Good food, good company, and lots of laughter.  There was also a shit load of tums and pepcid AC to be enjoyed afterward if needed.  Diamond watched her friends who had become family place the last of the meal on the table and smiled as she looked around at the group who had accepted her for all of her ups and downs, her successes and her faults.  And all she could do was pull them all in for a hug.

"Damn guys!  I can't believe it's been almost fifteen years since we started this crazy run together."

Darknyss chuckles and pats her on the shoulder.

"Oh, I can believe it.  And even though we've had new additions, they felt like long term friends.  I'm thankful to have you guys in my life.  And I know that there's no one I'd rather share this day with than you.  You're not just my friends.  You're my sisters."

Latrice perks up and pouts.

"Hey!!  I AM your sister!!!"

Darknyss bumps her in the shoulder with her fist, and Latrice yelps playfully.

"Yeah, you're my brat of a sister.  Just like Damia and Morganna are.  And even you Raynin.  I could keep naming all of my sisters and brothers, but I think if we don't feed this horde of people quick, there's gonna be a stampede for this food."

As soon as Darknyss speaks, she hears the pitter patter of little feet as her son, MJ comes running in being chased by his older cousins.  He throws his arms around her leg and jumps up and down as she looks down at him.

"EAT EAT MAMA!!!  EAT EAT!!!"

Darknyss reaches down and picks him up, kissing his cheek before she lifts her head to yell out.  As soon as she does, MJ puts his hands over his ears before she bellows out...

"FOOD'S DONE!!  COME EAT!!!"

Just like the day before, there's a crush of bodies coming stampeding into the room.  Everyone takes a seat, and Mr. Darkk blesses the table.

"Dear Lord.  We thank you for the blessings of family and friends to grace this table.  Now I know we have a lot of hungry people around here, and if Jonathan doesn't drop that fork from those potatoes I'm gonna bust him in the head till the white meat show."

We hear a clatter as the fork drops to the plate and Mr. Darkk continues.

"So I'm gonna keep this short.  Good bread, Good meat, Good God, let's eat!!"

Dmitri pulls out the bottle which he's warmed with hot towels until it's at just the right temperature, and pours Gothika a glass before everyone lifts their own drinks in a toast to everyone's health, and digs into the meal.


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Later that night, Diamond finally has a moment to herself, and she opens the letter that came for her with no return address.  She pulls out the paper and opens it, and she sees a turkey drawn from someone's hand...  with a knife drawn stabbed in it's heart.  Across the top of the page are the words, "Why So Serioius?!!  I'll Be Seeing You Soon!!"  She gasps and drops the paper and a Joker card drifts to the floor as the scene fades out.


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