Wild Tiger Chase - Chapter 47: Chapter 47

The night was especially dark when Léon and Rob left Kali's small house in Ragged Street, and it got even darker as the couple followed the stream of NAVs and honks towards the train station. They crossed New Continent and reached uncle Marco's house in Piemak Borough around nine-thirty—after the first city-wide patrol went back to the Heroic League office—but only managed to leave the place at ten-twenty, after Kali and uncle Marco's long string of hugs and admonishments.
The houses were bigger and cleaner in this block, with white-fenced garages, small gardens, and bicycles everywhere; the nice, black-colored plasmetallic roofs glimmered then and again, sputtering electrical buzzes when the drizzle met the few broken cracks in the solar plates. Instead of the bleak walls of flaking paint and the empty plastipaper boxes of fast food they had just passed by, this small one-way street in Piemak Borough was decorated with pumpkin lanterns, skeletons, and small wooden silhouettes of witches in their brooms. Oh, and cold. It was pretty cold in Piemak Borough, almost as if spring wasn't already in full bloom in New Continent.
Léon shivered and rubbed his arms. "Are you sure this is a good idea, Bhalu?" He looked around and stepped closer to his boyfriend, interlocking their arms. He couldn't imagine what The Mayor would do if he found them. "We're still in danger and it's freezing here. Iara will be furious if she finds out we disobeyed her orders."
Rob shook his head no. "She'll never find out, Leo. We need a little time to rest, and I know how much you miss your family." Rob tugged him closer and weaved an arm around his shoulders. "Come here; I'll warm you up all right." Rob popped a loud kiss on his temple. "And when we arrive home, I'll have you nice and cozy in bed while I'll—"
"Bhalu!" Léon pinched Rob's waist, making him chuckle. Léon widened his eyes and sent a meaningful glance towards the kid Rob was carrying.
"While I make tea!" Rob laughed. He looked at the little kid. "I was gonna say, while I make tea."
Pipo narrowed his little black eyes and giggled. "Leo hates tea." He rested his head on Rob's shoulder and yawned. "You're so funny, Robbie."
Rob laughed even more. "No, Pipo. You are funny." Rob adjusted the clown-fish hood over Pipo's head and booped his nose. "Just so you know, I'll make hot chocolate for your brother, not tea. The tea is obviously for me."
"Obs-ous-ly," Pipo agreed, bobbing his head. "And I'll throw all my candy in Amma's pot and ask Amma and she'll make hot candy-caramel-mint-drops-chocolate for me."
Léon tried to hold back a smile, but couldn't. "Hot candy-caramel-mint-drops-chocolate, huh?"
"Sounds lovely. Can I have some, Pipo?" Rob muttered.
"Yes! With bubble-gum."
"With bubble-gum? Brilliant!" Rob echoed, raising his eyebrows at Léon.
He scoffed. "As long as you two brush your teeth after that..."
Rob raised a hand, and Pipo high-fived him with a lazy giggle.
The night was calm in Piemak Borough. Children and teens laughed and raced each other under the drizzle, as parents and older siblings walked behind them. It was a change of pace for sure.
New Continent was a mix of cultures and religions, so at any time of the year, each house in each borough had a different celebration going on. Amma, for instance, would be more worried about the preparations or the actual celebration of Diwali. Every year, Léon helped her, Pipo, Satina, uncle Marco, and uncle Javi to prepare everything. And after the praying and their traditional stories about their family's origins, uncle Marco and Amma always shared some of the stories Grandma Ondina loved to tell—like the story of Saci Pererê, of Kerana's Sentinels, and the River's Mother. Which, granted, had nothing to do with Diwali, and everything to do with the folklore of the place Grandma Ondina, uncle Marco, and Amma grew up in.
Goddess... Léon loved his family.
A group of kids shrieked. Rushed steps approached, and a girl almost collided with Rob when she and her friends left the dark house at their left. It was a somber, frigid place covered in lianas, weeds, and cobwebs that definitely looked like the real deal and not the plastipolyester ones.
Léon shivered. "That's weird. I've never seen this house here before."
His voice was barely louder than a whisper, but Rob stopped in his tracks and opened his eyes so wide, Léon feared they might pop out of their orbits.
"You're taking the piss out of me." Rob leaned forward to look through the arched entryway. "You're joking... right?"
Léon raised an eyebrow. "No. Either, I didn't pay any attention to it before, or the house sprouted there like mushrooms in a corpse."
"Morbid," Rob murmured.
"It's a ghost house! Because the real house is dead," Pipo said, widening his little eyes as much as Rob.
"Yeah." Rob sighed. "Morbid too. Clearly, it's a family thing." Rob looked at the house again, and then at Léon.
"Rob, no." Léon furrowed his brows. "We don't have time; Pipo should be in bed already."
His smile turned mischievous as he pivoted around and walked the few meters to the stone path leading to a small, yellow door. He rapped his knuckles on the wood and waited. A muffled voice came from the other side.
"... Told them already we don't have candy anymore. You should just conjure more instead of using me as your manservant."
A second person chuckled. "Don't forget to put your mask on, Nha-nha."
"I don't need one."
The lock opened with a clack and the knob turned.
"Trick or treat?" Pipo, Rob, and Léon said in unison—although Pipo was the only one excited among them.
The first thing Léon registered were muscles, right at his eye level. After that, the ends of long, silky black hair. Large shoulders, a thick neck, a strong chin, and a jaw rounded in the corners that climbed up to connect to two heavily pierced ears. And above them, big and branched and healthy, two antlers added another 50 centimeters to a man who should already be close to two meters and ten in height.
He lowered his head and stepped outside, sporting nothing but a thin silk shirt and jeans; Léon and Rob needed to step back to give him space—and to avoid being hit by those massive antlers.
Léon raised his eyebrows; his eyes snapped to Rob's in a silent question.
"Apparently, he can leave during this time of the year," Rob answered. "Something about being strong enough to walk around without feeding off of me."
"The flow of Cosmic Force is quite something by the end of October. So much so that I can even grow them back." Anhangá pointed at his antlers and let out a lazy chuckle. "I told you they weren't horns," he added in whisper directed at Léon. Something glimmered in his dark eyes as he looked from Rob to Léon. "But since you're here, why don't you come in? I'm with some friends, and I'd love to introduce you."
Rob looked at Léon, and they both looked at Pipo. With a wide smile, Pipo stretched his arms to Anhangá and smiled when he scooped him up.
"C'mon, bitter one. Loved one. And little one." He looked at Pipo and they shared a grin. "I'm with some friends I'd like to introduce to you." And going back inside, he added, "But we have only until three, so we better get started!"
Rob groaned, and the sound was filled with resignation and dread. "Your mom will murder me," he whispered.
Léon chuckled. "She will."
He stepped closer to Rob and kissed his cheek. Inside the house, a small group of people crowded around Anhangá to meet Pipo. Outside, Rob drew an arm across Léon's back and brought him closer until their chests touched.
"Well, Tiger. If it makes you smile like that, I suppose it's worth it."
Léon chuckled and kissed him. "You're a sweet bear, Bhalu."
"You could douse me in honey later on," Rob whispered. "I'd be even sweeter."
Léon barked out a laugh and murmured something about licking him clean before sashaying into the house. When Rob joined him, a moment later, his cheeks were still shades darker and redder.
This year, with everything happening with The Mayor and with how unstable his mind, heart, and his powers were, the only thing Léon managed to do was to make sure his window was open and Amma's old oil lamp was lit. It would be his first time spending Diwali away from everyone... and only now he was starting to see how much that affected him.
With a sigh, he reached for Rob's hand and intertwined their fingers. At the end of the day, Rob was right. Léon needed this distraction. And he was glad to have his Bhalu by his side.