“That will be all for this meeting,” Rexx said as he got up.
His secretary looked up at him, then at the others who joined them and said, “Eat up, Mr Rexx and I will see you back at the company.”
He had left them behind. Rexx was so hungry right now, but the food they served at this restaurant wasn’t his cup of tea.
Passing a corner, he saw something out of his left eye and paused. Turning to look at what it was, his eyes widened.
At the end of the corridor, there stood a beautiful young man holding a black menu. Staring a little longer, he frowned, noticing that it was someone he knew, well… was acquainted with.
He walked towards the man as he spoke to someone. The gold name tag caught his eye, and a smirk formed on his lips. Stopping in front of the two servers, he said, “No wonder I couldn’t find you. Your name isn’t Blake, is it Daniel?”
Daniel’s heart dropped to the pits of his stomachs as he saw this magnificent sculpture before him. He looked the same as he did three years ago. Not a thing had changed BUT the horror that took place after he met this man was beyond imaginable.
Daniel took a step back and looked at his co-worker. Would this person even believe him if he told him what this man really was?
Grabbing him by the arm, he said, “Let’s hurry, our shift is about to start.”
Rexx frowned. “I am speaking to you. Where are you running off to?”
Daniel turned to Rexx and said, “Excuse me, sir, but I think you have the wrong person.”
As Daniel was walking away, Rexx was certain that he was the same person from that night three years ago and, just by a glance, he could tell that he recognised him.
His secretary walked up to him and asked, “Is there a problem, sir?”
Rexx shook his head. Looking down at her, he said, “I changed my mind about leaving. Let’s go wait in the car.”
She frowned. She was hungry, so why did he have to leave and take her with? They made it to the car, and he instructed his driver to go wait near the exit where the staff members exited.
Seven hours must have gone by and his secretary was dismissed after an hour of waiting and her complaining. His driver had fallen asleep several times from waiting and he had taken many toilet breaks in between.
Rexx got something to eat while waiting too and somewhere along the line he wanted to give up on waiting, especially when he cancelled so many meetings just to sit and wait here.
Finally, thirty minutes past nine in the evening, he spotted Daniel leaving the restaurant. “Follow the guy with the black hair wearing the blue hoodie,” he instructed his driver.
The car started and drove slowly behind Daniel, who walked a few blocks, then caught a taxi. They followed him all the way to the suburbs, where the cab waited as Daniel went up to a house and was there for just over a minute.
As Daniel made his way back to the taxi, he was carrying a toddler’s backpack and in his arms; he cradled a sleeping child.
Rexx frowned. ‘Does he have a kid?’ He thought, ‘A spouse too? A woman… but he had sex with me.’
*
They followed him back to a house in a shady neighbourhood. The house wasn’t run down, but it could do with some maintenance.
After Daniel paid the taxi driver, he walked up the steps to the door and unlocked it.
Climbing out of the car, Rexx said, “I’ll be back in a moment.”
“Yes, sir,” his driver answered.
*
He made his way up the steps and raised his hand to knock on the door. As he knocked once, an ear piercing roar sounded from the other end, but you could tell it wasn’t near.
Rexx’s heart shuddered. How many hundreds of years ago did he last hear that sound? Not even he made it.
He knocked again, but there wasn’t a sound that followed. His heart was beating fast. He wanted to know what that sound was, but Daniel wasn’t opening the door.
He raised his foot and kicked the door in, shattering the hinges.
He stalked through the house, reaching the livingroom and froze. On the couch, there was a baby T-Rex jumping.
It stopped its jumping and looked at the man that just entered. It’s yellow eyes stared at him from head to toe, then growled. It jumped off of the couch and charged at him, but Rexx lowered onto his knees and hands and growled with his eyes shifting to a dark yellow with a brown slit in the middle. His teeth grew sharp and so did his fingers, with his skin changing to a muddy brown colour with the texture of leather.
The little T-Rex immediately knew that something wasn’t right, and from the smell of the creature in front of him, it knew it was in trouble. He made a U-turn, running straight for the bathroom where Daniel was and burst through the door, shifting back to a human and cried.
Daniel was in the shower and popped his head out from behind the curtains and asked, “What’s wrong?”
The naked toddler pointed to the door saying, “Bad man, dada.”
“What nonsense? You’re a fucking T-Rex,” Daniel complained as he climbed out and wrapped himself in a towel.
He picked his son up and walked towards the living room. He paused when he saw Rexx standing there in complete shock.
Rexx turned to them and saw the little boy in his arms. and what he had seen seemed almost like a dream.
“What the hell are you doing in my house? I’m calling the cops!” Daniel said, frightened and made to run off, but Rexx caught his arm and held him down firmly. Pushing him towards the wall, he looked at the boy in his arms and saw that he resembled him in every way.
He looked at Daniel, who was struggling, and let him go. He stepped back and said as he fixed his composure, “I’m sorry for breaking into your house. I heard a noise and thought something was wrong.”
Daniel frowned and looked at his son. He looked at the man in front of him and said, “So you followed me all the way home? This is trespassing and, as you can see, there is nothing out of place here except you.”
Rexx didn’t know what to say. Why did it seem like Daniel was pretending not to know?
He moved back, standing against the wall, giving them space to move. Daniel looked at him cautiously as he lowered his son on to the floor.
The little bastard broke free from his hold and shifted. He rushed up to Rexx and bit his left leg and started gnawing on it.
There wasn’t any pain from his sharp teeth piercing him. It just felt like a tickle.
Daniel gasped and dropped to his knees. He wrapped his arms around his son’s waist and yanked him off, saying, “You never listened, do you?”
“It’s okay,” Rexx said with a smile on his face. He took the boy and held him up in front of him, saying, “You can’t bite just anything. What if I am poisonous?”
Daniel stood up and looked at his son, who was trying to bite Rexx’s head off but couldn’t reach him. “Give my son back,” he said timidly.
Rexx turned to him as he held the boy like a football ball and asked, “How is it possible? Did you steal my semen?”
“Did I steal your semen? You left it inside me!” He said almost screeching.
Rexx’s brows twitched. “So you impregnated someone with my semen?”
Daniel felt his soul leave his body. He yanked his son back from him and said, “I think it’s about time you take your leave, sir.”
Daniel walked away with his son in his arms, leaving Rexx there. Rexx frowned. Daniel shouldn’t disrespect a myth like him, but here he was, as if he wasn’t afraid of him.
“I want to know!” He growled
Daniel shuddered, reminded that there was a beast in his house. His son too stopped his struggle, and they looked at Rexx, who stopped in front of them.
“He is my son. My offspring! I have been trying for countless years to produce a child that is of the same species as me. All I ask is how,” he said, almost begging him.
His son looked at Rexx confused. He shifted, then looked up at his father, then back at Rexx.
Daniel could see that there was worry in Rexx’s eyes. He felt conflicted. It wasn’t like he didn’t know how to contact this man. It was just that how ridiculous was this story to tell? What if it was just all a dream and Rexx shoved him into the street, calling him delusional?
He looked at the towel at his waist, then placed his son down on the couch and took the towel off. Rexx saw a scar below his naval and grew surprised as he heard, “I gave birth to him. After I left the hotel, I thought I had cleaned out all of your semen, but I didn’t. I was in pain for so many months, then finally the doctors found the cause and it was Laken.”
Rexx looked at the boy, who was now lying on the couch fast asleep with drool seeping out of his mouth and mumbled, “His name is Laken?”
“Mn,” Daniel hummed. He covered himself and said, “I didn’t expect to see you at the restaurant.”
Rexx turned to him and asked, “Why didn’t you contact me after you found out? I gave you my business card.”
“And you thought I was a prostitute,” Daniel said with a smirk.
Rexx sighed, “I know and I’m sorry. I thought we cleared that up.”
Daniel nodded his head and sat down. He picked Laken up and asked, “How are you alive?”
“My genetics evolved? But I’m also the offspring of another. My parents died unfortunately,” he said as he knelt in front of Daniel and gazed down at his son.
He looked at Daniel again and asked, “Why didn’t you come find me? I would have done everything possible to keep you safe and comfortable. You must have gone through such excruciating pain carrying him and giving birth all alone.”
Daniel shook his head. “For a long time, I thought I was an experiment waiting for the day to be called back, but that day never came. I admit, raising him is tough but all my troubles amount to nothing against him. He’s my peace.”
Rexx looked down at Laken who was asleep and smiled. The days he spent as a young boy and dinosaur were far behind him. He was terrible as a child and to think Daniel managed this all by himself. Lifting his gaze, he looked at Daniel and asked, “What about now? Are you willing to accept my help?”
“I’ll think about it,” he answered.
*
Daniel looked at his son, who was following Rexx like a tail. Rexx was leading them into the soccer stadium that he owned. Currently, it was closed, and they were the only people here, him being the only human.
The stadium was in the shape of a dome from outside, but inside it was square. Rexx looked behind him at Daniel and smiled. “Head up to a safe spot in the stands.”
Daniel frowned and nodded his head. As he was heading in a different direction, Laken came running after him, “Dada, where are you going?”
Daniel stopped and caught him. “I’m going to watch you from those chairs up there. Didn’t you want to run with your daddy?”
Laken nodded his head, then shook it. “No.”
“Everything will be okay Laken, if you want me you can just run my way and I’ll catch you okay?” He assured his son.
He placed Laken down on the ground and watched as he ran off to Rexx. When he was safely beside him, he made his way up to the stands and sat down.
From his position, he saw Rexx, but not Laken. Rexx stopped in the centre of the field that was just covered in sand and took off his clothes. Seconds later, a naked Laken came running towards him.
Rexx looked down at his son and spoke to him. Laken soon rushed off to a safe distance and, to Daniel’s horror, the sound of bones breaking echoed in the stadium as Rexx went from a human to a dinosaur in seconds.
He shuddered where he was sitting and wet himself.
Laken rushed out towards Rexx, who was in his true form. He rushed up Rexx’s tail, up his back, to his head and stood there. Daniel laughed and pulled out his phone. He snapped a picture of Laken, who was using his father as a guarding post, and looked around.
When Laken saw Daniel, he roared, and Daniel waved his hands like crazy.
Rexx lowered his head, then flicked it up, shooting Laken into the air. He stepped a few steps back and held out his arms, waiting for him to fall down.
As he came down, Rexx caught him, then threw him back over his head. Laken was having the time of his life. It felt like he was flying.
He turned around and saw that his father’s back was wide open and he wasn’t moving. He landed on Rexx’s back and slid down to his tail but was flicked back up into the air and Rexx moved away. He looked at Laken, who was flipping in the air and landed on his side when he hit the ground.
He got up and shook his head.
“WHY DIDN’T YOU CATCH HIM!!” Daniel yelled from the stands.
Rexx turned to him and roared, frightening Daniel back into his seat. Rexx turned back to his son and looked at him. Laken was slowly walking towards him, so he lowered his head, kissing their noses together.
Laken scratched his claws against Rexx’s skin, trying to hold him, but the scratches just tickled him.
Rexx let out a huff, catching his attention, then started running. As he was leaving, Laken followed behind him and roared when Rexx got extremely fast.
He seemed so angry trying to catch up to Rexx and in the stands Daniel was laughing and taking videos of them.
His other phone in his pocket started ringing. He took it out and saw that it was his father calling him. Declining the call, he sent his father a message letting him know he was currently busy and would call him later.
Daniel’s parents didn’t know that his son was a shapeshifter. Laken didn’t trust anyone besides the person who gave birth to him to show his true self to. Daniel was grateful for that and because of his son’s trust issues, he wasn’t being watched by people who would do them harm.
Daniel got up and went to the car. Taking out a spare pants, he changed and put everything away. He looked at the driver and asked, “When are we eating?”
“Mr Rexx’s food will be brought here in a truck. If you want, I could get you and your son something to eat in the meantime,” the driver answered.
Daniel nodded his head, “I’ll just wait and hear from him.”
Daniel wasn’t surprised that the ‘food’ would be brought in a truck. He must have an animal seeing that he is so big. Laken was the same. He couldn’t tolerate human food, his meat always needed to be raw.
The teachers showed concern when he didn’t bring lunch to school and even tried feeding him instant noodles. They were referred to a doctor too, and the only explanation he could come up with was that he didn’t like to eat in front of others.
When he returned to his seat, he saw that the two dinosaurs were looking at him. It was easy to tell that Laken was worried when he couldn’t find him and even refused to continue playing with his father.
Laken rushed up the steps to him and shifted back when he reached him, “Where did you go?” He asked, climbing onto his lap.
Daniel looked at Rexx, who had shifted back and was putting on pants and said, “I just went to the car quickly. Are you done playing with your daddy?”
“No, I thought you left,” he said.
Daniel chuckled, “And you can see that I am back. So why don’t you go back to your daddy and play some more? We won’t be able to come back here for a while.”
Laken pouted and nodded his head. He dashed off, running right past him, and shifted. Rexx watched his son run around like he was crazy and walked up to Daniel, asking, “Where did you go?”
“I pissed my pants after you changed, so I’m wearing new pants,” he said.
Rexx chuckled as he sat down beside him. They watched Laken run around roaring and he asked, “So, does he get to run around like this?”
“In the house, yes, that’s why I barely have furniture,” he answered.
“I was surprised when you said he doesn’t shift in front of your parents, maybe its instincts,” he said.
Daniel nodded his head. “By the way, I’m hungry. I heard a truck is coming.”
Rexx looked at him, saying, “Mn, I ordered two cows. It usually lasts me a month, but I want to feed Laken too, to see how much he can eat.”
Just as he said that, a truck hooted outside and Laken shifted back. He was sitting on the ground covered in dirt and looked around, confused.
Rexx disappeared to lead the truck this way while Daniel went to fetch his son and dressed him up quickly.
Two live cows were off loaded and Daniel just stared at them. Rexx returned and Daniel said to him, “You expect my child to kill a cow?”
“He’ll do brilliant,” Rexx said, taking Laken from him and taking off the clothes. He chucked it to one side and said to Daniel, “You can wait elsewhere.”
Daniel nodded his head and rushed back to his seat, where he hid behind the chairs. He peeked his head out and watched cautiously.
Rexx placed Laken down and shifted. He walked over to the cows that were trying to escape and caught one in his jaws, killing it, and started eating.
Laken shifted too when his father did, but didn’t move. He was watching him the whole time and as he was watching him eat; he felt hungry. His stomach growled as he looked at the other cow, who was desperately trying to get to safety.
He turned around to look at his father and spotted him hiding behind a chair. Daniel felt sorry for his son, who had to do this, but he knew it was best for him.
Getting the courage, he walked over and said, “Aren’t you hungry? Go catch it like your daddy did.”
Laken shifted back, saying, “But it’s too big.”
Daniel shook his head, “Yes it is, but you are strong.”
Laken pouted for sometime as he watched the cow struggle. He looked at his father and saw that he was already done and lying on the ground with his eyes shut.
Shifting, he rushed up to the cow and went straight for the neck, killing it. He started eating once it was lying on the ground and that’s when Rexx opened his eyes and watched him.
He slowly got up and made his way over to Daniel, who was watching their son and didn’t notice him approaching him.
It wasn’t until he noticed he was covered by a shadow that he turned to look what it was and saw Rexx sitting down beside him.
He immediately made to run away, but he was blocked off by his tail that was curved around them. Rexx brought his tail closer, forcing Daniel to be near him, and huffed at him.
No matter how much Daniel wanted to accept all of this, he still thought it was a dream. How the fuck was this even possible?
He sighed against Rexx’s leg and said, “You’re cold. Why do you want me near you? I’ll freeze to death.”
Rexx huffed again, laughing. He looked at Laken and saw that he was quite slow when it came to eating.
He shifted back and saw that Daniel was blocking the noise out with his hands. Taking his hands away, he asked, “Does it hurt?”
Daniel shook his head as he looked at the handsome man in front of him saying, “Tyran Rexx, who knew that it stood for something else.”
Tyran chuckled with a shake of his head and smirked, “Yes, it was that obvious.”
