I looked my dad in the eye. "I know you create monsters because you believe this world is boring. But you no longer need to create them." I held up a hand to stop him from protesting. "No, listen. You've made fifty different monsters. All of which are capable of reproduction which they've been doing. This means that the world won't become boring if you stop creating them." Morgan held up a hand. "Yes? Do you have something to add?"
"I do," Morgan said. "I looked into Dad's programming and noticed that he can reprogram monsters without needing to catch them. So, Dad, you can reprogram them to only eat animals."
"They prefer human," Dad said coldly.
"Only because you programmed them that way," Martin said.
"Yes, and it's not like they won't kill a human every once in a while," Eve said. "All carnivores kill a person eventually."
"True," Mom said. "Just last week a bear killed a man." She looked at my father. "Dane, we're still married and I still love you despite everything that's happened." She paused and looked at me. I knew what she was about to say and decided it was what would happen so I nodded. "If you stop creating monsters and reprogram them to eat animals then we can be a family again."
"Though it will take some time to earn our trust back," I added.
Dad looked at me and Mom. "You both will come back home?"
"Only if Scott and Morgan can come," I said. "They're my brothers and your sons. They deserve to come home."
Dad was silent for five minutes before saying, "I guess I'll quit making monsters and I'll reprogram them."
"Yes!" Everyone said at the same time.
Dad smiled a little. "Sapphire, Morgan, Everest, and Leslie were pretty convincing." He turned to his sons. "I owe you both an apology. Scott, I shouldn't have kicked you out. Morgan, I shouldn't have left you on his doorstep and I should have let you come into the world correctly. I hope you both can forgive me."
"It will take some time but we'll eventually forgive you," Scott said.
Morgan pulled out a laptop from his bag. "You'll have my forgiveness if you reprogram the monsters right now," he said.
Dad took the computer. "Okay." He fell silent and started typing. An hour later he shut the computer down. "Done."
Morgan took the computer back." Now I forgive you." He got up and went to the bathroom with the computer hidden under his shirt. Surprisingly, I was the only one who noticed. I also knew he was going to make sure Dad actually reprogrammed them which is a good thing because Dad could say he did it but in reality, he didn't.
I turned to my father. "Dad, you have one more apology to make," I said looking pointedly at Mom.
He nodded. "Leslie, I'm sorry I set that FleshEater on you. I'm sorry I ripped Morgan from you, threatened to take Sapphire away, made you give Scott up, and made monsters to begin with. Will you forgive me?"
"Yes," Mom said. Wow, she didn't even say it would take a while.
Morgan came back and gave me a small nod. Dad had reprogrammed them. "You gave up too easily," Darla blurted.
Dad frowned. "What do you mean?"
She stared at him. "Are you serious? You changed your mind way too easily. Do you really not care about your monsters? Do you not care that they're going to be killed? All that research and you're going to throw it away?"
Brooklyn frowned at her. "Darla, why are you so upset? This is what we wanted to happen."
"He's throwing away years of research! It's wrong!"
"Darla, you hate monsters," Eve said confused. "Why are you acting like they're important now?"
"I think it's quite obvious, Eve," I said calmly.
"What do you mean?"
"She doesn't want my dad to stop." I had suspected this for a while but kept it to myself. I figured Darla would slip up and do something that would show the truth. Looks like I was right on that.
Vin's eyes widened. "Are you saying…?"
I nodded. "She's been screwing with your experiments. The only thing she wants is for the monsters to go on the way they were." I looked at Darla who was giving me a murderous look. "It's why she hates me. She knew I was going to figure her out." I bit into my burger, chewed, and swallowed. "She's the one who sent the FleshEater to the park and made sure the Steelfang got Luke."
Lizzy stared at Darla. "You've been on the opposite side this entire time?"
"There is only one side," Darla said coldly. "That side is with the monsters. You either join or die."
And, for the first time since he's been with me, Slash let his claws slide out. He raised a paw to scratch her. "No," I told him. He dropped the paw and growled. I ran my fingers through his fur. "Not yet," I said in a voice only he could hear. I could tell he understood what I meant. I'd allow her to leave the cafe and he'd allow the Slashers outside to have her. See, the other plan was really just to get Darla to slip up and my Dad to change. Yes, I was tired of waiting for her to slip up on her own. It's one of the reasons why I invited everyone here. Being a good strategist was what I was good at and I am enjoying it. At least the Slashers outside will be rewarded for waiting so long.
"Wait, so the Fangtor in your shed was just a ploy to get us to your house?' Jordon said.
She smirked. "Yeah, and he wasn't the only one there."
Shock slammed into me. Hard. "You fed your parents to them," I said in disgust.
She shrugged. "It was the only way to get them to trust me."
Mary got up and ran to the bathroom. Everyone else looked sick too but they stayed at the table. "How could you do something like that!?!" Eve said. "They took care of you! They loved you!"
"They were useless!"
"You're worse than my father was," I said fighting not to throw up.
"How? I'm only responsible;e for killing three people. He's killed more!"
"I've killed two and injured one," Dad said. "The fake me and Mrs. O'Reilly. Leslie was the injured one."
I blinked for a minute then stared. "You didn't let the monsters kill anyone else?"
He sighed. "I didn't let them. The ones who've killed people refuse to listen to me." He saw our worried expressions. "They'll listen to the reprogramming though," he added quickly.
Darla stood. "You destroyed them. Now I have to create my own."
"Go ahead," I said casually. Everyone stared at me. When Darla looked away from me I winked and they relaxed. I looked down at Slash and he purred. "You might as well leave so you can get a jump start. I'm sure you'll be successful."
She smirked at us all. "My monsters will be the deadliest monsters on the planet. She turned on her heel and walked outside. There was a scream and then silence.
Everyone looked at me. "What?" I said innocently. "I told everyone there were Slashers out there."