Chapter 6
6
S o spending the day with Julian Jackson could be worse.
Cass certainly supposes it could be better, of course. But it could definitely be worse.
For the most part, he and JJ have spent the past few hours ignoring each other. It’s a surprisingly easy feat to accomplish, namely because Desi is enough of a distraction to keep them occupied at basically all times. She skips happily between them, asking ten thousand questions about everything under the sun, and Cass and JJ dutifully take turns answering.
Cass is perversely pleased that he was able to answer several questions that stumped his hunter counterpart. JJ’s disgruntled expression afterward was just the icing on the cake.
And today’s little excursion has been relatively low stress. They’ve really just been milling around the Courtyard, checking out all the food trucks and shops. Cass has been here hundreds of times before, of course?—it’s one of his favorite spots for lunch with Ez and Obie?—but he’s never explored it quite as thoroughly as today.
And he’s never seen it through someone else’s eyes, either. Usually, he comes here with a purpose and a destination in mind, but Desi just wants to race around and see everything, leaving Cass and JJ following in her wake.
Based on JJ’s comments, Cass is pretty sure that he’s already building a mental schedule for their next few field trips, which is both irksome and endearing. Irksome, because he just seems to assume that Cass is going to agree to this stupid charade again next time, and??—
And endearing, because seeing how much care he’s putting into his time with Desi makes Cass’s heart do something funny. He’s trying his best to ignore the sensation, though.
So he likes that his hunter co-parent is good with their semi-adopted daughter. It’s not a crime.
In any case, JJ has been surreptitiously guiding Desi towards one last store as the sun starts to drift towards the horizon, and Cass has to admit that it’s a good one. And when Desi catches sight of the handmade dolls in the window display and claps her hands in delight, Cass can’t fight back a smile.
“Pretty!” she squeals, running over to press her face against the glass. “JJ, can I get one? Can I get one please?”
“Of course,” JJ says, and unexpectedly, he sweeps her into his arms, covering her eyes with his hand. “But there’s a special doll for you in there, okay? One that looks just like you. But it’s a surprise, so you have to close your eyes.”
Cass almost scoffs. Nikolai’s claim to fame is hand-sewn dolls with a wide variety of skin tones and hairstyles?—a doll for every child, as he likes to say?—but that doesn’t mean JJ has to be dramatic about it.
Desi clearly doesn’t share Cass’s pessimism, though. She gives JJ a toothy grin, covering each eye with one small hand. “Okay! All set!”
“Awesome.” JJ shoulders his way into the toy shop and steps inside, pausing just long enough to hold the door for Cass. He waves politely at the owner, makes a beeline for the section with the cloth dolls??—
And completely ignores the shelf with the ones that look like little girls. Frowning, Cass breaks into a jog to catch up with him. “Jackson? You sure you know where you’re going?”
Briefly, JJ glances over his shoulder. “Yep,” he says, and he strides past the animal plushies, ducks into the section that houses fantasy creatures??—
Cass stops dead, heart stuttering.
JJ doesn’t seem to notice, carrying Desi to the wall of dragon plushies. “Surprise!” he says, and with a flourish, he pulls a green wyvern doll off the shelf. “Look, Desi! It looks just like you!”
Desi gasps. “It’s me!” she says, grabbing the plushie and hugging it to her chest. “I love her! Thank you, JJ!”
“My pleasure,” he says, tweaking her nose with a grin. She giggles, throwing her arms around him in a hug, but Cass??—
Cass is more preoccupied by the innocuous little wyvern plushie, because that’s Desi’s true form. Not the form she took in Tamaros, obviously, because physical bodies don’t quite exist in Tamaros, but??—
But that’s the unearthly part of her. The inhuman part of her.
The part that Cass thought hunters were trained to despise and revile and destroy.
But JJ is downright beaming as Desi makes her new doll fly through the air. He brought her here for the express purpose of buying her a toy that looks like her true form.
And, Cass realizes with a start, JJ was the one who introduced her to that Wyvern Academy show, too. He’s the one who made it a point to pick out picture books that included friendly dragons as main characters.
Apparently, he’s the one who saw Desi at her most demonic and made it a point to love that part of her, too. Cass wonders if JJ has any idea how rare that is for a human.
Especially a hunter.
Suddenly, Desi makes grabby hands at the shelf. “Ooh, ooh! JJ, look! That one has pretty blue scales like an ice wyvern! Can we get her, too? So they can be friends?”
JJ hesitates, glancing at the price tag. “Well??—?”
Impulsively, Cass steps forward. “Sure, we can,” he interrupts, grabbing the ice wyvern and passing it to Desi. “How about JJ gets you the one that looks like you, and I get you her friend?”
Desi’s eyes light up. “Yay!” she says, proudly handing the green dragon to JJ and the blue one to Cass. “Should I get them a house, too? They’ll need a place to live!”
JJ’s face pales. Nikolai also makes all the dollhouses by hand, and the prices notably reflect that. “Um, I?—I’m not sure if??—?”
Decisively, Cass takes pity on him. Much as he wouldn’t mind throwing around his wealth for Desi, he’s noticed JJ discreetly jotting down all of today’s expenses on his phone. Tacos for lunch, pavlova for dessert??—
Both of which he treated Cass to, as well. Without even asking. Part of Cass finds it annoying, like JJ is trying to prove that he can provide for both of them, but he reluctantly has to admit that it’s also kind of sweet.
After all, they’re co-parents now. The fact that JJ is at least making an effort to be friendly is a good sign.
“I have an idea,” Cass says, tapping Desi’s nose. “How about we make them a house? We can build a little blanket fort with pillows and sheets. It’ll be cozy for them, and big enough for you to fit inside, too.”
“Blanket fort!” Desi cheers, and she twists around in JJ’s arms to hug Cass. “Thanks, Cass!”
JJ flashes Cass a look that seems torn between grateful and jealous. Cass ignores it. “You’re welcome, sweetie,” he says, and he gently plucks her out of JJ’s arms to place her on her feet, pointing at the accessories. “Now, how about you grab little suits of armor for both of them, just like in the show? Just one for each, though?—make them your favorites, okay?”
“Okay!” Desi dashes off to go look at the felt armor collection, leaving Cass and JJ alone.
JJ clears his throat quietly, shoulders hunching. “Thanks. For, um. For buying her the other doll.”
Cass avoids his eyes. “Uh-huh. Dolls need friends, after all. It’s very important.”
“I know. I had a little sister.”
Cass’s stomach lurches. His eyes flash to JJ, but the hunter is absorbed in straightening out the green wyvern’s little horns, making sure they’re neat and even.
Right. Julian Jackson. He wasn’t born and raised in the Sanctum, not like most hunters are. No, he used to be a civilian?—he had a family, went to school, played sports. Just like any other human boy.
And then the Jackson–Locke murders happened, and the Sanctum took him in. Cass has pored over all the Chain’s files about the neophyte hunter, and while he didn’t like most of what he saw, he did notice a distinct lack of senseless violence in JJ’s history. The vast majority of his kills were criminal demons or summoners, ones that the Chain itself also wanted taken down, and Cass couldn’t find any instance where JJ targeted someone without just cause. The Sanctum may have trained him to be a ruthless hunter, but there’s clearly a part of him that never lost his humanity.
The same part of him, maybe, that still remembers his little sister explaining that every doll needs a friend.
It almost makes JJ seem sympathetic. Cass doesn’t like it. In fact, he doesn’t like any of the realizations he’s had about his hunter counterpart today, from the way he loyally tipped every food truck with his clearly meager salary to how happily he smiled when Esteban called Desi his daughter. And what Cass should say right now is “thanks for treating me to lunch” or “the wyvern doll was a good call” or even “I’m sorry about your family.”
Instead, he blurts out, “So how much does that infernal place pay you, anyway? The Sanctum, I mean.”
JJ scowls. “Enough. I don’t spend most of it, so I’m fine. This?—this is fine.”
“I know this is fine, lackey,” Cass fires back. “I’m just trying to figure out where the cultists draw the line between employment and indentured servitude.”
JJ glares down at the doll. “Not a cult. And I’m fine.”
Cass resists the urge to roll his eyes. “Whatever you say.”
Luckily for their rapidly deteriorating conversation, Desi chooses that moment to trot back over. “Ta-da!” she says triumphantly, holding up two sets of colorful felt armor. “Look! I got one for Kira and one for Hana!”
“Awesome,” JJ says, taking the pink armor and holding it up to his dragon plushie. “This one is Kira, right? I think she’ll look very pretty and very fearsome in pink.”
“Yeah!” Suddenly, Desi’s smile wavers. “Do we?—do we have enough money for both?”
JJ blinks down at her, startled. “Yeah, of course we?—?” he begins, and then he cuts himself off with a start, shooting a hard glare at Cass.
Damn it. Cass’s face flushes. He forgot that Desi has demonically enhanced senses, too. She probably heard every word of their conversation, and the thought makes guilt churn through him.
No matter how much he dislikes JJ on principle, the last thing he wants is for Desi to hear Cass arguing with her other dad.
“Of course we do, Desi,” JJ says, ruffling her hair. “Nothing to worry about.”
Desi’s smile goes back up to full brightness. “Great!” she says cheerfully, and she bounds towards the older man behind the counter. “Hi! I’m Desi!”
“Hello, Desi! I’m Nikolai,” he says, smiling fondly as Desi starts telling him all about the adventures she’s going to have with her new dragons and grilling him on his knowledge of Wyvern Academy.
Cass wavers briefly before admitting defeat. “Sorry,” he says, pitching his voice as low as possible. “Won’t happen again.”
JJ glowers down at the floor. “Okay,” he says, and he walks over to join Desi without another word. Letting out his breath in a hiss, Cass follows.
Hopefully, JJ’s plans for his next visit won’t require glamours. Somehow, Cass feels like he and his co-parent might just get along better at a distance.