Mimi's Demons

Chapter 99: The Pain to Survive

Spring came with a melting of snow and all the ornamental trees around the manor exploding into flower. They clustered to the branches till the trees looked like giant cotton candies in various shades of pink, purple, white, and, in the case of one rare tree that the gardener babied, baby blue. Jaxon the kitten became more of a cat and stopped clawing furniture, but started bringing in dead birds to drop on Mimi's bed. A different child would have been scarred, but Mimi had done her reading. Mimi was a master cat owner. She praised her kitty for his show of love and practiced her leadership skills by making Juli clean up the corpse. Duke's nighttime courses with the cat, which Mimi found out about without Duke needing to tell her because she was oh so sneaky and smart (and had a Juli, were also working well. Jaxon had managed to wake up Mimi a total of three times with loud meows, as well as hiss and scratch at a client who thought it would be smart to wander away from the parlor.

Mimi was pleased. She'd always liked Spring, but this one was particularly good. Maybe she'd even be allowed to upgrade Juli to friend status if Jaxon could take on the minion role. Minions and pets weren't all that different, right? She should probably feel bad for comparing Juli to a pet, though. He would have been hurt, at least.

With Spring also came the reappearance of Bilo.

Like before, her father stood behind him rather than just send him her way like he did Juli. She could tell that it made Bilo nervous—and it didn't look like the kid could handle much more of that.

Because, beneath the clean, button up shirt and tie, he was skinny. He'd grown, but he'd also thinned, his cheeks had hollowed, his hair had grown shaggy, and his skin had paled. It didn't look good on someone who was naturally brown skinned. It made him look sickly.

Mimi mustered up all her disapproval and glared at her father.

He raised one thick, dark eyebrow.

"You get thirty minutes," he said.

"No," she said. "He's getting food and sunlight."

The other eyebrow followed. "Excuse me?"

"Newsflash, Papa, people need sunlight and fresh air. Where the heck have you been keeping him? He looks half dead!" She narrowed her eyes. "Have you been abusing him?"

Bilo's eyes shivered and shot to his shiny shoes. Duke's mouth thinned.

Juli, who had been practicing being a shadow behind Mimi in the corner of her room, cleared his throat.

Jaxon, who napped in the sun on the window seat, flicked his thick tail.

"Boss..." he said quietly to her.

"What?" He hadn't been invited. This was between her Papa and her.

"He's being trained to survive," said Duke. "He was spoiled rotten and would have died the moment he hit his teens, let alone be of any use in our world."

"He's a child!" she cried. "You can't—can't starve him or whatever the he—heck you're doing to him!" And just to prove her point, she reached out and snatched Bilo's wrist to tug him behind her.

The poor boy was so startled he tripped and got swallowed up by a bean bag, momentarily startling Jaxon awake who wasn't that far away. Everyone in the room, cat included, watched him flail around for a bit before giving up and just letting the mushy blob take him.

"See? He just died."

Jaxon yawned, shifted, and went back to sleep.

Duke, however, did not smile. In fact, he frowned, and his eyes darkened.

Mimi's stomach clenched. That wasn't a good sign.

"Mirianna," he said, quietly. "I thought you understood after seeing the bodies and almost being kidnapped..."

Mimi shivered and found it more difficult to look her father in the eye. The black outline she so easily ignored nowadays had thickened.

"I know it's dangerous," she said. "But you're not abusing me to help me survive."

"That's because I don't have to. You've learned plenty well on your own how dangerous life is. Tell me, was it pleasant? Being neglected by your parents, locked away in an asylum, being lured in by a pedophile and living on the streets?"

Her stomach went from a clench to a twisted knot and she had no choice but to look at her feet.

"I have never attempted to make you forget those things. I never tried to restore your faith in humanity, because in our world, humanity doesn't need saving. I'm feeding him, housing him, clothing him, giving him medical care and amenities. Let that suffice."

"At least let him get some sun." Her voice was quieter than she wanted it to be.

Her father sighed. "Very well. I can compromise." His voice softened. "What does the doctor prescribe?"

She wrinkled her nose in distaste. She hated when adults referred to her as such just because she liked to read gory medical books. But if it annoyed her, Duke just made more efforts to do it.

She scraped her mind for what little she knew about sunlight and the human body. She'd read a graphic book about rickets that had been to die for. It made human bones turn to rubber.

"At least twenty minutes a day," she said. "And vitamin D supplements."

"Very well." He kicked the sole of Bilo's shoe, making the poor kid pop up like a jack in the box. "Get up, kid. You're before your mistress."

"Papa," she said wearily, even as Bilo scrambled to get back to his feet. From the sorry look on Juli's face, Bilo had probably been most of the way asleep when Duke had kicked him. 

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My cat is so big when I let him outside while staying at my in-laws because, 1. I had tick and flea spray and 2. they're neighborhood is quiet with not traffic, it looked like a wild animal was out and about, not just some lumbering cat with hip arthritis. But he doesn't stay out long. He comes back and presses himself against the window screen so his fur pokes through and stares at me. Like...dude. Catch me a squirrel or something. You are a cat, right? I give you medicine for your hips, you can gallop with the horsies now. Get. Ugh, fine. It's because you're fluffy and cute, you lazy lump.