“I’m just saying, not everyone who went… that way is dead. I’m not saying it’s a good idea, and we’ll probably get the beating of our lives is Gran finds out, but there’s at least one survivor we might be able to talk to, even if the chances are pretty small.”
“So you’re idea is to break into the mental ward and meet our grandfather? That doesn’t sound like a good idea,” she mumbled. “I mean, he went insane when they stripped them. They had to put him there to keep him from killing himself.”
Azrael didn’t give a damn about speed limits as he drove across town to Jeri’s place, getting there in a fraction of the time it normally would have, but there was no time to waste.
Springing from the vehicle, he didn’t wait for Britt to get out before he was banging his fist on the front door and yelling for his son to answer.
Britt was slower getting out of the car. This was the first time she was going to see her son since she nearly died and, honestly, that hurt her more than she wanted to admit.
It was an effort for Jeri to drag himself off the couch and open the door, dried blood caked and chipped on his skin. He had to lean heavily against the door frame, dark eyes entirely displeased to see either of his parents.
He grabbed his car keys from his pocket and waited for her to finish getting ready, as impatient as he was out of sheer worry for his daughter, and his family, if it turned out that Chance really was out and on the loose again.
If he wasn’t taking Britt with him, he’d have used his angelic abilities to arrive at Jeri’s in a matter of seconds, but angelic travel was even more stressful on non-angels than shadow travel was, so driving was a more feasible option.
She was ready in less than five minutes, arms wrapped around her middle as she followed him out the door. It had been her call to finally have Chance locked up and she had nearly died for that, but a small, idiotic part of her had never quite given up the idea that he could be fixed somehow. It was hard to silence that when there was no telling how long he had been out, if he was really out, with him having not hurt anyone in the family until now.
“Jericho hasn’t got a fucking choice in the matter. This isn’t about him, it’s about Sera, and if he thinks he can stop us, he’s got another thing coming.”
It wasn’t often Azrael got anywhere near this rattled and angry, but this was one of the few things that flipped the switch with the barest of effort.
“If Chance has Sera, we’ll figure that out, but right now, the priority is making sure Jeri isn’t just fucking with us. Until then, we’re just wasting time, so are you coming or not?” he asked, grabbing his jacket.
His tone was enough to make her shrink her back just a little, never too fond of seeing him angry. It wasn’t anything personal, she had just never reacted well to that with anyone, even when she understood the reasoning and that it wasn’t directed at her.
“Yeah, yeah I’m coming,” she mumbled, moving to grab a t-shirt and her shoes.
“No way in hell am I letting him get another shot against you. I almost lost you last time, Britt. I’m not giving him an opportunity to finish the job.” he answered back, getting up again and starting to pace about.
“We should go over to Jeri’s first and make sure this isn’t just some twisted fucking joke before we start running around trying to figure this shit out, and if this is just Jeri’s idea of getting back at us, we’ll find Sera and bring her back home here, okay?”
“Az, stop. Please. I’m the only one in this family that has a shot at getting close to him or reasoning with him and you know it. You didn’t see how he reacted the last time I saw him. He wasn’t pissed I survived.” If anything, he had seemed hurt when she said he wasn’t her son anymore.
“Jericho’s not going to let me inside of his house…”
“I know,” he conceded with a growl, despite his instincts telling him to track them down and tear Chance to pieces on sight.
“Maybe we should call Ava? If Chance is back, he’ll want to go after Jack too, so we should give her a heads up, just in case.”
“I think telling Warren might be better. Mom’s too quick tempered,” she pointed out, giving Az a look saying he was too. Warren, she had learned, was a little more diplomatic.
“If he is out, I–I should be the one to try to reason with him.”
“Wouldn’t she come here if that were the case though?”
Azrael wanted to believe that was the reason and that any minute now, Sera would show up on the doorstep confirming it.
“What if it’s true? What if Chance really has gotten out somehow and he’s taken her? It’s not like I can’t find her if he has, but we’re going to need to need some sort of plan going into this to get her back without anyone getting hurt.”
“This would be the first place he come to look for her though and she knows it.”
She was trying to be reasonable instead of reacting in fear, but she had an awful sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that said otherwise.
“If it is then you can’t go and you know it. He’d hurt her just to spite you. Hell, Az, most of the family is out because he won’t listen to them.”
“Honestly, I don’t know what to think,” he admitted, sitting down next to her and putting his head in his hands.
“I mean, it’s gotta be, right? Chance can’t get out of the Underworld, but why would Jericho resort to being this spiteful now, after all this time?”
“He can but not without help. Lyri told me what Konis said of the chains. Only way to get out of them is for someone else to take your place in them but I can’t think of anyone that would want to help him.”
She shook her head, trying to think of something. “Maybe Sera took off because of Kellen and he’s lashing out?”
He hadn’t heard her wake up, so he was a little startled when she spoke, catching him on the backfoot for what he should say to her in response.
“Er… something like that.” he faltered, running his hand over his face as he considered for a moment whether he should tell her the truth before deciding that keeping things from each other never worked out well, so he just straight handed her his phone to show her the message.
“What do you mean?”
Her frown deepened when he handed her the phone and it took her a long moment to really comprehend what she was seeing. It was enough to make her blood run cold. “This is a joke, right? He’s just trying to be hurtful?”
ofviolentdeath 