Doorstep
It reminded Eddie of those scenes in bad horror movies, like when the busty twenty year old girl is on the phone with the murderer and realizes the call is coming from inside the house.
His father was here. At their house. On their doorstep. Flesh and blood.
“Eddie, it is no longer your sister’s wedding and I am going to kill him this time.”
“Who the Hell told you where to find us?” He found himself more angry than anxious this time around.
“Eddie, son-”
“No! You don’t get to be here!” He had to grip the door frame just to stop himself from punching the man.
“I got the address from your sister. In a way I’m not proud of. I told her we needed to go over my will and she agreed to meet with me somewhere public. She left to use the bathroom and I got this address out of her phone.”
“You’re such a piece of shit, Carl.”
His father looked taken aback that his son called him by his first name.
“I wasn’t lying about the will. We need to go over it.”
“I don’t want anything of yours.”
“Eddie I-”
“I know you’re wealthy, I don’t care. We don’t want any of it.” It wasn’t even a subject of consideration for him or Venom.
“You wouldn’t even take it for your children, Eddie?” The man had genuine curiosity in his voice and it made Venom burn under Eddie’s skin.
“Oh, are they children to you now? Last we spoke they were abominations.” He couldn’t even help the way he spat the words out.
His father took a breath and lowered his head.
“I’m dying, Edward. End stage cancer. The doctors say it’s bad and there’s not much time left for me. They said to get my affairs in order. This is something I desperately want to mend, I don’t want my son to hate me right up to my last breath. But more than anything, Eddie, more than anything I want to meet my grandchildren. Even if it’s just once. Because no matter what I said or how I’ve felt in the past that’s what they are. They’re my only grandchildren.”
Eddie thought that his elderly father looked older than ever to him right now. Older than it ever occurred to Eddie that he could be. He wondered if Mary thought the same.
“You do not deserve to know them.”
“Was..Was that the-”
His father stopped before trying again.
“Was that Venom?”
Eddie steeled his jaw and nodded, feeling more confident with his other having his back on this.
“Have your back on everything, Eddie. Always.” Venom silently reminded him.
“They’re right. You don’t deserve to know them.” He spoke again to his father.
“Eddie if they’re yours, I’m their family.”
“They have a great family without you. Go home before I call the cops or something worse.”
By worse he very obviously meant letting Venom take the initiative they so badly wanted to- even now, buzzing in his chest.
Before any of them could say anything else there was a small little someone wrapping arms around Eddie’s leg.
“Hey you’re that mean old man!” It was Scream hugging his leg.
“You have wrinkles.” And Agony on his other.
“Daughters?” His father said the word like he was gonna cry.
“You have two little girls, Eddie?” He looked back up at them with tears starting to build.
His question and surprised voice made them both think he must not have gotten as good a look at the kids as they thought two months ago.
Carl pushed some hair off Agony’s forehead but both Scream and Agony had narrowed white eyes. Eddie quickly pulled Agony back and out of his father’s reach. They remembered the scene at the wedding and even though they didn’t know what was said or who this person was they knew the ordeal had bothered their dad. Anyone that bothered their dad was not okay with them.
“Daddy, you and Dad aren’t done playing with us. Come back!” The girls chose to ignore him completely and address Eddie instead.
“Okay, we’re coming.” He smiled and ran a hand through the seemingly infinite layers of fine, spindled strands of her symbiotic composition that constituted Agony’s hair. Her’s was straight while Scream’s fell in curls and waves, it always enchanted him which Venom found endearing and so distinctly Eddie.
“Go home.” Eddie said finally before closing and locking the door.
To wash off the encounter Eddie and Venom poured all their shared energy into playing with Agony and Scream.
Unfortunately that incident on the doorstep wasn’t the end of it.
Carl had evidently stayed in town despite Eddie’s order they both had desperately hoped he would follow. He didn’t want to call his sister about this yet because it would only stress her out and make her worry, but he was going to tell her eventually.
He couldn’t really think out the details of that right now because he was staring at his father who was standing awkwardly out of place on the other side of the playground watching both them and the kids.
Every now and then, when they were not fully in control of themselves, Venom would make more animalistic and predatory sounds. Low, guttural growls and fuming. They rattled around his own throat and chest. It was happening now and he could feel the seething radiating off of them. He could sense their line of thought, that his father had essentially cornered them somewhere they couldn’t control things. Somewhere they couldn’t protect their family in a physical manner. The weather was nice and there were young children everywhere. Too many fragile bystanders to rupture into violence.
After leaning his weight from side to side for several minutes Carl finally made the walk over to them. Eddie just kept watching the routine chaos of kids playing, keeping an eye out for any playground bullies that might try to push one of their kids in the sand or something.
Carl settled next to them shifting his eyes from the kids to him and back to the kids. Glancing frequently at Sleeper who was persistently trying to grab Eddie’s stubble which was too short to be grabbed at all. The baby loved to tug the beard he had been sporting the last few weeks but he shaved yesterday and Sleeper was not pleased about it. The feel of small hands rubbing his cheek and pointed claws scraping across his skin was a welcome distraction from the many physical sensations being caused by the current situation.
“Muh Muh!” Sleeper cried to him, unhappy about his fruitless tugging efforts leading Venom to give him a bundle of overlapping tendrils to pull at instead.
“Mama? I think the kid’s a little confused.” Carl seemed to be attempting humor.
Eddie train of thought ground to a halt at that statement and he couldn’t bite his tongue.
“He’s not confused about anything. He can call me whatever he wants.” There was heat in his tone now despite all his work to remain unbothered.
“He’s a boy? I have two granddaughters and a grandson...a-and the other three, of course. Are they boys too?” His voice was filled with pride and it angered Eddie to no end.
Goddamn it, he was revealing things by mistake. He didn’t want his father knowing a single thing about their kids. No names, no genders, no ages, no anything.
“Please explain to me how one goes from calling a child an abhorrent deformity to suddenly wanting to be a loving grandfather or whatever the hell it is you’re trying to do?! Explain it to me, Dad. Really. Please!” He was really going off now.
“.....Dying, Eddie. That’s how. You and your sister are the only good thing I ever did and you’re only good because you got away from me. I know that. But I don’t...I don’t want to die alone. I know I don’t deserve anything from you but you’ve always been a better man than me. Better father too, clearly.”
Eddie and Venom were no strangers to near death experiences so they had a general understanding of the whole mortality thing being able to change someone’s mind but they still barely had a very small splinter of sympathy for him.
As he grasped at the fluttering tendrils Venom was providing, Sleeper tucked his face into Eddie’s neck not thrilled with being watched for so long by a stranger.
“Agony said you’re that jerk from Aunt Mary’s wedding!”
Shit. That voice was unmistakable even without looking.
Phage was both very excitable and not at all shy, he was always saying hi to strangers and talking to almost anyone who would let him.
“I was a jerk at your aunt’s wedding, I hope you can forgive me for being such a big jerk.”
“It’s okay.” The six year old decided because unlike his parents he was very forgiving. Even to people who didn’t deserve it.
“What’s your name?”
Shit, no. Was it wrong to tell your kid to be quiet and go away? Just one time?
“Phage! I’m six!” Phage always introduced himself with both his age and name like every little kid.
And now his father knew two more things about their kids. Fantastic.
“Hi Phage, I’m your grandpa.”
Eddie inhaled deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose as Venom groaned so loud he wasn’t even sure if it stayed inside his head.
“And what’s your little brother’s name?” Carl knelt down so they were eyelevel.
“Sleeper! He can say ‘Mama’ and ‘Papa’ now! And almost Agony’s name too!” Phage was always proud of his little sibling’s accomplishments.
“Phage. Darling, go play.”
“Ooookay.” Phage said it with a sigh like playing was becoming tedious and he wanted to keep talking with the adults.
His father had now learned three out of six names they never wanted him to know. Before Phage turned around his father rested his withered hand on top of Phage’s head and smiled at him so warmly and fondly it hurt Eddie to see it with the knowledge his father had never once looked at him that way.
“Don’t think that way, love. He is an old man with a lifetime of nothing besides regret. You are far more loved than he ever has been or ever will be.”
Thanks, V. His thought swept along their bond gently but sincerely.
“So two grandsons and two granddaughters then. Eddie they’re all so beautiful. Truly.” His father said with even more fondness.
“Shut up.” Not his greatest response but it was the only thing he could think of to say.
Carl sighed heavily and looked at the ground.
His father turned and placed a hand on Sleeper but it rested there only briefly before Sleeper whined, pressed his face into the side of Eddie’s neck and fussed. An ink black tendril wrapped around Carl’s wrist and quickly forced it off.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to upset him.”
“I’ve told you before, do not touch him.”
“Or any of them.” Eddie added.
“Eddie, this doesn’t have to be as hard as you’re making it.” Carl was pleading now.
“Well it sure as shit can’t be easy. Not after everything you’ve done to us. You’ve gotten a look at them, now get out of here.” Eddie wouldn’t look at him, choosing to look at Sleeper instead.
“Will you at least tell me the names of the other three? Agony, Phage, Sleeper. Who are the others?”
“Go. Now.” Was the only answer either he or his spouse would give.
His father sighed once more but with an air of finality before placing a firm hand on Eddie’s shoulder with a small squeeze.
“I love you, son.”
And then he left.
Carl walked down the busy but insignificant New York City street and entered an innocuous bank. He presented his ID to the teller and she led him into the back. Using a small key he opened the safety deposit box that matched the number he was given. He removed the instrument he was given that looked like a harmless wedding band on one side but had a small, sharp blade hidden on the other that allowed him to pull a small sample from each child he was able to come into physical contact with. No way Eddie or Venom could have caught it with the way he made sure to position his hand. He dropped the blade in the box and pulled out three vials from his breast pocket. Each neatly labeled.
Hybrid Sample F
Hybrid Sample M 1
Hybrid Sample M 2
He placed them in the safety deposit box and left to catch his flight back home. Someone from the Life Foundation would be by to pick up the samples soon.