Chapter 17
17
J J reacts just as quickly as he did the first time he saw Ez and Obie. He’s on his feet and away from the couch in a flash, Desi hugged tightly to his side and an escrima stick held aloft in front of him, keeping the weapon between them and the threat.
The threat, of course, is just Micah Devereux, and shit, shit, why the hell didn’t Cass specify what Gregorio meant by Micah “dropping by his house”? Cass figured he’d just leave the documents in Cass’s mailbox, or at least knock! “Micah, wait?—?” he begins, stepping forward.
Micah, though, is still gaping at the hunter across the room. “You’re?—you’re JJ,” he stammers, and Cass freezes, his heart stuttering. “Julian Jackson. From the Sanctum. What are you??—??”
How does Micah know JJ? Swallowing hard, Cass turns to JJ. “Jackson, stand down,” he orders. “Micah won’t hurt you.”
JJ doesn’t move. Desi has gone utterly still against his side, her face tucked against JJ’s scarf as she peeks at Micah.
“JJ,” Cass hisses.
“Um.” Deliberately, Micah backs away?—away from JJ and Desi, towards Cass. “I’m just, uh. I’m just here to drop off some paperwork. For Cass.” He holds up a manila envelope as evidence, his incredulous eyes flickering to Cass. “And, um, I shall take my leave once I’ve dropped off said paperwork.”
If anything, the words make JJ look even more uneasy. Cass fights back a groan. “JJ, step away from the door,” he says, and he jerks his head at Micah. “Devereux, come with me. We need to talk.”
Slowly, JJ edges around the perimeter of the room, keeping a wide berth between himself and Micah. “Cass. You good?”
The words are quiet and even, but Cass has the unerring suspicion that if he said no, JJ would jump to protect him in a heartbeat. “Fine,” Cass says briskly, and he beckons for Micah to follow him. “Come on.”
Micah practically steps on Cass’s heels as he hustles towards the back door, shooting nervous glances at JJ all the while. It’s only once Cass herds him outside underneath the awning and casts a hasty soundproofing spell around them that the demon finally speaks. “Chin,” he says, “what the hell?”
Cass pinches the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. “Listen, Micah??—?”
Predictably enough, Micah isn’t listening. “That’s Julian Jackson!” he hisses, jabbing a finger towards the living room?—the empty living room, Cass realizes with a jolt. JJ must’ve brought Desi back to her room and probably barricaded them inside. He even remembered to grab Lucy the Dragon before retreating. “He’s a hunter, Cass! One of their best! And who?—who’s the kid? Is she a tiny hunter?”
“She’s a tiny demon, not a tiny hunter,” Cass says, crossing his arms over his chest. “Summoned a few months ago.”
“But she’s not?—?” Micah cuts himself off abruptly, eyes widening. “She’s not registered, is she? The Chain doesn’t know about her.”
Cass shakes his head. “No, and I plan to keep it that way,” he says, and he takes a deep breath. Moment of truth. “Jackson found her and decided to hide her instead of handing her over to the interrogators. I ended up accidentally kidnapping her, and?—and now we’re sort of co-parenting her.”
Micah looks bewildered. “You? A parent?”
Cass forces down a stab of irritation. “Why is that so surprising?”
“I don’t know, man. Maybe because your only goal for the past two hundred fifty years has been to topple as many dictatorships as possible? You never really settled down, never had much interest in a partner?—?” His jaw drops. “Wait. Are you and JJ??—??”
“No,” Cass snaps, desperately hoping Micah doesn’t notice the heat creeping up his neck. “Don’t be stupid. We’re just co-parents. That’s it. And how?—??” The dissonance of Micah calling him “JJ” jangles through Cass’s brain again. “How do you know the hunter?”
Micah’s expression flickers before smoothing over again. “I might not be in Public Safety, but I still make it a point to know our local hunters.”
Cass’s eyes narrow. “Yeah, but you called him ‘JJ.’ Only his friends call him that.”
“You call him that,” Micah counters.
“Because?—because that’s what Desi calls him, okay?” Cass lets out his breath in a hiss. “Listen, can we just?—can you just forget today ever happened? Please? I’m begging you here, Micah. Desi loves that hunter. If the Chain finds out about her?—about either of them?—he won’t be able to visit anymore. She’ll be devastated.”
Micah hesitates. Glances towards the living room.
Cass steels himself. “Micah, I would die to keep that little girl safe, okay?”
Micah goes still. Guilt twists through Cass when he sees that Micah recognized the tacit threat beneath the words.
I would kill to keep her safe, too.
To Cass’s surprise, though, Micah just cocks his head to one side, curious. “And the hunter?”
“I?—?” Cass bites back his knee-jerk retort. “I would endure some mild to moderate maiming for the hunter. If the situation really demanded it.”
Micah holds up the manila envelope. “Are these for you and the kid? Or the kid and the hunter?”
Cass grits his teeth. “Haven’t decided yet. Micah??—?”
“I have to tell Gregorio,” Micah says, and Cass’s heart plummets. “He’s my husband, okay? We don’t keep secrets from each other. But?—but I swear that neither of us will tell another demonic being. All right?”
That’s probably as much of a concession as Cass is going to get. He nods once, looking away. “All right. Thanks. What do you want in exchange?”
Micah looks confused. “In exchange?”
Cass scowls back. “Oh, so you’re just going to hide the fact that the infamous Cassius Chin has a child and a hunter co-parent squirreled away out of the goodness of your heart? What’s the catch, Devereux?”
For a long moment, Micah considers him.
And then he says, “Someday in the future?—the very near future, I think?—I’m going to ask you to trust me about something. And, when that day comes, I need you to trust me, okay?”
The words catch Cass off guard. Micah’s usually relaxed and jovial face is grim and serious, his eyes are shadowed, his shoulders are tense??—
Desi?—and JJ?—might be Cass’s priority, but he’s known Micah for almost two hundred years. That counts for something, too. “Micah,” he says quietly, leaning forward. “Are you in trouble?”
Micah’s lips twitch. “Not yet,” he says, and he holds out the envelope. “Here. Your new identity packages for the kid and?—and whoever else you want to hide. I conveniently forgot my logbook, so I guess I’ll just have you sign for them the next time you stop by my Outpost. If I remember.”
A bit of the anxiety drains from Cass’s shoulders. “Right,” he says, and he gingerly takes the envelope. “Thanks, Micah.”
Micah’s smile is humorless. “Watch your back, Cass,” he says, and with a flick of his wrist, he opens up a rift behind him. “And be careful, okay?”
“I will be,” Cass says, and as Micah steps through the rift and disappears from sight, Cass has the sinking feeling that this just got a whole lot more complicated.
Desi is huddled in the blanket fort that serves as her stuffed dragons’ home, hugging Kira to her chest. “So you think they might want a castle?”
“I think so,” JJ says, snuggling up next to her and ensuring his escrima stick isn’t in her line of sight. “Dragons like castles, right? Castles and gold?”
Desi shrugs one shoulder, hugging Kira tighter. “I guess.”
JJ fights back a wince. Desi has been quiet and anxious ever since Cass herded Micah Devereux into the backyard and JJ herded Desi into her bedroom, locking the door and situating her in a corner where he could easily protect her.
He has the sinking feeling that he might have overreacted, but damn it, he has to stand by his instincts. Not only was that a demon who didn’t know that Desi existed?—or that Cass was consorting with hunters?—before today, but JJ is also pretty sure that Devereux was involved in the invention of the guillotine during the French Revolution.
And if Devereux wasn’t a threat before, he definitely is now. JJ’s stomach churns at the thought. Cass himself looked shocked to see the demon, so JJ doubts they’re close friends. Would Devereux cover for Cass with the Chain? Would he tell his superiors about Desi? About JJ?
Would Cass and Desi have to go on the run, never to see JJ again?
The very idea makes JJ feel physically ill. Firmly, he forces it from his mind. “Well,” he says, lifting up Lucy and Tybalt to cuddle with Kira, “I think they probably like the blanket fort in here, but how about in the living room? Do you think they’d want a higher perch to watch movies with you and Cass?”
Desi perks up the slightest bit. “Dunno. Maybe!”
JJ smiles at her. “Maybe we can build a castle for them together? You and me and Cass? I’m sure Cass has tools, and I can buy some materials at the hardware store, and??—?”
And JJ’s senses might not be as enhanced as a demon’s, but he still hears the snick of the back door sliding open. He cuts himself off, heart pounding, as a lone pair of footsteps pads across the living room.
Cass’s voice floats down the hall. “Desi? JJ? You can come out now.”
Desi rockets to her feet. “Cass!” she says, and she races for the door.
Hastily, JJ wrestles her back. “Wait a minute, Desi. Let me make sure it’s safe, okay?”
“But that’s Cass!” Desi protests. “He’ll make sure it’s safe!”
Honestly, JJ doesn’t doubt that one bit. But a thread of anxiety deep in his gut, one born from the Sanctum’s known tactic of “surrendering” to trick their enemy into letting their guard down, makes him gently settle her back in the blanket fort and grab his escrima stick. “Just let me check, okay?”
If anything, Desi looks even more unhappy than before, grabbing both Kira and Hana this time.
There’s the rustle of someone trying to turn the doorknob, followed by a semi-exasperated sigh. “Jackson, open up. It’s just me.”
Cautiously, JJ creeps forward, unlocks the door, and pulls it just wide enough to see Cass’s face, holding his escrima protectively in front of him. “Is Devereux gone?” he asks quietly, glancing over Cass’s shoulder.
“Of course. Did you think he’d be out here holding a gun to my head or something?”
JJ raises his eyebrows.
“Wow,” Cass says. “You really need to retire to, like, a beach somewhere. The inside of your head sounds like an awful place.”
“You’re sure he’s gone?” JJ’s throat feels like cotton. “Cass??—?”
“JJ.” Cass reaches through the narrow gap between them, wrapping his fingers around JJ’s wrist. “It’s safe now. I promise. You can drop the weapon.”
Cass’s voice is soft but firm. Taking a deep breath, JJ mentally recites the spell to open his makeshift pocket dimension, letting his escrima fall into it. “All right,” he says, and he steps back, swinging the door open wide. “All right. Cool.”
“Cass!” Desi streaks across the room, jumping into Cass’s waiting arms. “Cass, are you okay? Is everything okay?”
Cass hugs her tightly. “I’m fine, sweetie,” he whispers into her hair. “Are you okay?”
She buries her face in his shoulder. “I was really scared.”
Guilt slams through JJ, hot and unyielding. Damn it, damn it? ? —
He didn’t mean to scare her. He didn’t want to scare her.
He just wanted to protect her. “I’m sorry,” he croaks. “Desi??—?”
Cass shoots him a warning look, and JJ snaps his mouth shut, dread curdling through him. They may be co-parents, but Cass is indisputably Desi’s primary guardian. He’s the only one with a house where she can live and the freedom to take care of her.
If Cass wanted to, he would be perfectly justified in taking Desi away for good.
Now, Cass presses a light kiss to Desi’s forehead. “JJ didn’t mean to scare you, honey,” he murmurs. “But Mr. Micah didn’t know about you or JJ before today, and JJ didn’t know Mr. Micah, so he was scared that he might try to hurt you. He was just trying to keep you safe, okay? He’s seen a lot of bad people do bad things to each other, so he wanted to make sure you were safe.”
A wave of relief?—mixed with something else that JJ doesn’t quite know how to define?—washes through him. “I was really scared, too, Desi,” he says softly, stepping forward to take one of her little hands in his own. “But I think I might have made a mistake and overreacted because I was scared, and I think that scared you even more. I’m really sorry about that.”
Desi sniffles, wrapping her hand around two of his fingers. “But the bad guy is gone now?”
JJ glances at Cass.
Cass looks like he’s choosing his words with care. “Mr. Micah isn’t a bad guy. He’s a friend?—not a best friend like Auntie Ez and Uncle Obie, but still a friend. And he’s not going to tell anyone about you, Desi?—or you, JJ,” he adds, eyes flickering up to meet JJ’s. “Well, technically, he’s going to tell his husband, but Gregorio can keep a secret. They’ve helped me in the past. They’ll help me again now. We’re safe. You’re safe.”
Slowly, the tension starts to drain out of JJ’s shoulders. “Okay. Okay, good.”
“Yeah.” Clearing his throat, Cass hands Desi back to JJ, and JJ bundles her up in his arms, relieved when she immediately snuggles into his scarf. “Do you, uh, still want to stay and watch a movie? Our sandwiches might be cold, but…”
JJ attempts a smile. “Depends. You still want me here?”
Cass’s eyebrows furrow. “Of course,” he says, and then, like he said more than he meant to, he brisky turns around, leading the way back to the living room. “Come on, lackey. If I went to all the trouble of making lunch, the least you could do is eat it.”
Warmth curls through JJ’s chest. Smiling to himself, he grabs Kira for Desi and Lucy for himself, walking down the hall to where Cass is waiting for them.
Just like he always is.