Chapter 9
9
A ll I’m saying,” Bryant insists, stabbing her spicy tuna roll with a chopstick for emphasis, “is that I think I have an objectively good chance of getting hitched to Kenneth Long.”
There’s an immediate and predictable uproar from around the table. JJ drops his head into his hands, groaning; Roma massages her fingers against her temples like she regrets ever agreeing to lunch today??—
Chester, of course, asks the million-dollar question. “But why would you want to get hitched to Kenneth Long?” he says, wrinkling his nose in distaste. “He’s a dick.”
Bryant scoffs. “Want to? Who said anything about wanting to, Locke? I’m pretty sure no one actually wants the political marriages that the Council arranges for us, but we just gotta make the best of them.” She spears another piece of tuna and pops it into her mouth before continuing, “In any case, he’s the only other single purebred left at the Redwater Sanctum. If the Council wants to keep the bloodlines pure, they’ll either have to marry me off to Long or ship me away to another Sanctum entirely. And if they did that, then poor Strike Team Kappa would be Bryant-less, and we couldn’t have that, could we?”
“I mean, I could stand for a bit of Bryant-less-ness sometimes,” Roma says diplomatically.
Bryant punches her arm. “Shut up.”
Chester snorts out a laugh when Roma punches her back, and JJ shakes his head in amusement, popping a piece of sweet potato roll into his mouth. It’s one of the rare occasions when the four of them were scheduled for the same day off, and they’re taking full advantage of it with the lunch special at Yamamoto Sushi Restaurant, one of their favorite spots a few minutes away from Lakeside.
Although JJ is starting to think that their little quartet isn’t management’s favorite. His smile wavers when he spots Ms. Yamamoto watching them with an air of suspicion from the sushi counter. All these years, he just thought that she and her husband were a bit reserved by nature, just a little standoffish, maybe even too busy to make nice with their customers??—
But when JJ brought Desi and Cass here last week, both Yamamotos were engaging and charming, doting on Desi and bringing JJ and Cass a free sample of their newest appetizer. Since JJ, Roma, and Bryant are usually here at least once a month and?—as far as the Yamamotos knew?—it was JJ, Cass, and Desi’s first time, the difference was startling.
He’s trying not to think about that too hard, though. It’s been just over two weeks since his first field trip with Desi?—and Cass?—and the four other days he’s spent glamoured with them since then have been illuminating.
Desi, of course, is always his constant, excited to spend time with him no matter the occasion. She loves riding on his shoulders and trying the new foods he buys her in the Courtyard and making admittedly mediocre sandcastles with him at Lakeside. Whether they’re playing tag, reading a picture book from the library, or watching episodes of Wyvern Academy on JJ’s cell phone, she’s always bubbly and enthusiastic, and JJ’s heart melts into a puddle every time she races to Cass’s door to hug him.
And Cass is also a constant, in that he’s constantly stiff and abrupt. Even though they’ve thankfully toned down the overt hostility since their post-crepe conversation earlier this week, their short conversations still feel awkward and their default setting is still to ignore each other.
Nowadays, though, it feels less like Cass dislikes JJ and more like he just doesn’t know how to act around him. JJ is cautiously taking it as a sign of progress.
And he can readily admit that Cass is a surprisingly good co-parent. He clearly adores Desi, always cooking her unique meals and introducing her to new experiences, and he hangs back just enough during their field trips to make JJ think he’s doing it on purpose.
Like Cass is trying to make sure JJ gets his time with Desi, too. It’s a strangely sweet gesture, and one that JJ is actively trying not to think about.
In any case, Desi and Cass are the same in every scenario. It’s the rest of the town that treats JJ exponentially differently whenever he’s wearing the glamour. People actually make eye contact with him, actually smile at him, actually engage him in conversation??—
Actually seem happy to see him, his semi-adopted daughter, and his fake boyfriend.
JJ knows that Redwater’s civilians don’t always trust the cult on the hill. He just didn’t realize how deep that mistrust went until he was able to spend a few precious hours each week without the burden of that identity.
Roma is talking again. JJ forces himself to tune back in. “And the Council already paired off all your older siblings with other purebreds,” she says, an edge creeping into her voice. “They might want to use you to raise a mixed hunter’s status.”
Instantly, Bryant’s expression sours. “Don’t even joke, Gutierrez.”
“She’s got a point,” Chester says. “They’ve already guaranteed the Nehemiah bloodline for another generation, so they might want to play politics with you.” He waggles his eyebrows. “Who knows? Maybe they’ll even marry you off to me or JJ.”
JJ chokes on his sweet potato roll. Roma thumps him firmly on the back, and Bryant gapes at Chester, appalled. “Don’t even joke! Do you have any idea how much of a disgrace it would be if I got matched with an outsider?”
JJ fights back a wince when Chester’s smile falters. “We’re not outsiders, Bryant,” he says quietly, giving her a meaningful look. “Remember?”
She waves her chopsticks around impatiently. “Yeah, yeah, I know. And it’s nothing personal against either of you?—Chester is a whole snack, and JJ, you and I would make beautiful babies,” she says, and she leans forward. “But if the Council tried to pair a purebred like me with a neophyte like one of you, it would be a huge scandal. Their goal is always to keep the original hunting bloodlines as clean as possible, so a match like that would be political suicide. Most of the Sanctum doesn’t even consider you two real hunters, so??—?”
“Yeah, we get that,” Chester cuts in, giving her a flat smile. “Trust me.”
The atmosphere at the table is rapidly shifting from friendly to hostile. JJ bites back a grimace, quickly running through his options to defuse it. Much as he loves Bryant, her status as a purebred effectively insulates her from consequences, so she often doesn’t realize how condescending her comments can sound. JJ knows she doesn’t mean it as an insult, Roma knows she doesn’t mean it as an insult??—
JJ thinks that Chester knows, too, but he’s always been more sensitive about the bloodlines hierarchy than JJ. Chester always wants to prove his worth, to be recognized for his abilities, to be considered the absolute best at his craft.
To earn the respect that’s always been denied to him as a neophyte hunter. And JJ loves him like a brother, but sometimes, he really wishes Chester would just keep his head down.
Apparently, Roma also senses the danger and is as keen to avoid it as JJ is, because she clears her throat noticeably. “Anyway, I’m hoping the Council will pair me with Long,” she says, carefully coating a piece of salmon with wasabi. “Bring some honor back to the Gutierrez name, you know?”
Bryant’s expression turns thoughtful. “That’s a valid point. The Gutierrez lineage might be mixed blood, but it’s still generally respected. Matching you with a purebred would erase some of the stain your sister left behind.”
Roma’s jaw twitches. Naomi Gutierrez’s disappearance is still a sore spot with their group?—after all, she trained all four of them at various points during their teenage years?—but the sting is especially potent for Roma. Not just because Naomi basically raised her, not just because she left Roma without so much as a goodbye, not just because her defection cost Roma’s father a possible position on the Council??—
No, it’s all of that plus the fact that Naomi ran off with Sawyer Solomon, the purebred hunter who trained JJ and Chester. Considering how strict Naomi always was about maintaining the bloodlines hierarchy, that part was a slap in the face for all of them.
Especially because they left right when JJ and his friends needed them most: during their final exams to become full members of the Sanctum. Strike Team Kappa’s mission was to kill the demons who murdered JJ’s and Chester’s families, and Chester’s??—
Well. Chester’s final exam was to interrogate JJ. But JJ really doesn’t like to think about that day.
Luckily, Chester doesn’t seem inclined to dwell on the past, either. “You would hate being married to Long even more than Bryant would,” he informs Roma bluntly.
She shudders. “And don’t I know it. But I’ll just find a side partner for myself. As long as I don’t get pregnant and screw up the bloodlines, no one really cares if you’re faithful to your spouse.”
“Yeah, that’s one thing about the Sanctum that still bewilders me,” JJ admits. “Why put so much emphasis on ‘proper matches’ if everyone just cheats on their partners anyway?”
Bryant smirks. “Well, you would know, wouldn’t you? Since you have a side piece of your own.”
Chester chokes on a piece of tuna. “You what?”
“I do not!” JJ protests, scowling at her. “Will you quit it with that? I’m not seeing anyone.”
“Two words for you: metaphorical hay.”
“There’s no hay!”
“Hay?” Roma repeats, squinting suspiciously between them. “What hay?”
JJ glowers at Bryant. She smiles innocently back. “Bryant has this ludicrous theory that I’m seeing a guy outside the Sanctum. Spoiler alert: I’m not.”
To JJ’s indignation, Roma looks skeptical. “I mean, are you sure?”
“Am I sure that I’m not seeing anyone?” he repeats incredulously. “How could I possibly not be sure about that?”
“Well, you have been spending all your days off away from the Sanctum lately??—?”
“To buy tacos, Roma! I’ve had a craving!”
“?—?and you’ve been spending all your money,” she finishes relentlessly.
Bryant looks thrilled. “He’s what?”
JJ gapes at Roma, aghast. “How do you??—??”
“Our accounts are linked, remember? I see all your low balance alerts.”
Damn Roma for actually checking her alerts. JJ is pretty sure that Bryant just ignores them. “Listen??—?”
“JJ,” Chester says seriously, leaning forward. “I understand why you wouldn’t tell these two psychos if you’re seeing someone, but why wouldn’t you tell me?”
“I’m not?—?” All at once, JJ snaps his mouth shut, his thoughts racing at light speed.
Bryant’s general lunacy and lack of propriety could easily be explained away, but if Roma has started realizing that he’s spending all his days off in town?—and that he’s powerless to resist buying Desi everything her heart desires?—then that’s another story. And now that Chester is primed to notice JJ’s behavior, too??—
He needs to get out ahead of this while he can. Think up a suitable cover story, one that’ll satisfy their morbid curiosity?—and keep them from digging any further.
After all, if one of them followed him into town one day as a joke, he doesn’t want to imagine how quickly he would be burned as a dissident for consorting with demons.
And, much as he hates to admit it, they have already handed him an explanation on a silver platter. Reluctantly, he leans forward, lowering his voice. “Okay. Hypothetically, if there were a guy??—?”
Roma and Chester both look thunderstruck. Bryant fist-pumps triumphantly. “I knew it!”
“Hypothetically,” JJ stresses. “If there were a guy, then it’s, uh. Then it’s still very early stages. Not even worth the effort to call it a ‘thing’ yet. And?—?” He darts a glance at Roma. “And I’m spending more money than usual because I, um. Just have very little impulse control. When cute guys are involved.”
Roma looks delighted. “He’s cute?”
“Tell us everything,” Bryant says eagerly, leaning forward. “What’s his name? What does he look like? Have you touched his??—??”
“First of all,” JJ says, heat flaming up his neck, “there’s no ‘metaphorical hay,’ thank you very much. Early stages, remember?”
Bryant pouts, leaning back in her seat. “My other questions still stand, though. Name, age, date of birth, vocation, criminal record??—?”
JJ scoffs. “Oh, so you three can pool your resources and stalk him? Please. I’m not stupid.”
Chester nudges JJ’s shin under the table. “You gotta give us something, man. You can’t just drop a bombshell like that with no details.”
JJ hesitates. “Well??—?”
Really, what can he say about his imaginary boyfriend? That he’s nice? Funny? Attractive? That they meet up for little lunch dates in the Courtyard?
That he has smooth bronze-gold skin and silky black hair and a sharp smile and??—
Mortified, JJ shoves that last thought away. Even if Cassius Chin technically is the only male-presenting thing in JJ’s life right now, that doesn’t mean JJ has to base his fake love interest on him. “Well, he has a daughter.”
The words slip out of JJ’s mouth without any actual input from his brain, and he knows they were the wrong ones when the rest of the table falls into stunned silence. “Um,” Roma says faintly. “What?”
JJ fidgets awkwardly. “She’s, um, four years old. And she likes dragons.”
“Four-year-olds do like dragons,” Chester agrees warily.
“How old is this guy?” Bryant asks, wrinkling her nose. “If he already has a kid, I mean.”
Oh, somewhere between two hundred and three hundred years old. “Not that much older than us. Mid-twenties.”
“JJ.” Roma’s eyebrows are furrowed. “Be careful, okay? Especially if there’s a child involved. I know the Council hasn’t mentioned marriage prospects to us yet, but when they do…”
“It’s an order, not a request,” Bryant finishes, her lips pressed in a thin line. “Side partners are generally acceptable, but?—but this guy would have to understand that. Same with his kid.”
For some reason, JJ’s heart twists. “I know,” he says quietly. “Like I said, it’s still early stages. We’re just?—we’re just having fun. That’s all.”
“I don’t think any of us get enough fun nowadays,” Chester says softly, and when JJ glances over at him, his eyes are sympathetic.
JJ knows that Chester gets it better than Roma and Bryant ever could. While the girls were born into hunting society and raised to understand their places in it, JJ and Chester had an entire decade of civilian life before demons killed their families and the Sanctum took them in.
Roma and Bryant never expected to marry for love. JJ and Chester did. And if JJ really did fall for a man on the outside, he knows that Chester would be rooting for him, even if the Council didn’t approve.
“Excuse me.” Ms. Yamamoto appears next to Bryant’s chair, her tight smile firmly in place. “Can I get anything else for the table?”
It’s a familiar question?—one of the subtle ways, JJ knows, that Ms. Yamamoto uses to tell them they’ve overstayed their welcome. Now that he thinks about it, pretty much every restaurant they frequent usually gives them an hour tops before trying to kick them out.
He’s never had that happen with Cass and Desi, though.
“No, I think we’re good,” Bryant says, handing over her credit card, and the conversation thankfully shifts to safer topics after that.