JJ fidgeted noticeably at the latter part of his comment, making it a dead giveaway that she had bigger reasons than just a general discomfort, and she couldn’t reel it back fast enough to cover it.
“I know. It’s just…”
She hated that it sounded like such a dumb reason in her head, but she was hung up on it nonetheless.
His teasing smile faded as he took a step closer to her, gentle fingers touching her cheek. He was definitely missing something important.
“J, you can tell me. You know I won’t judge you or anything.”
“Well it looks like my mom is smarter than all y’all, ‘cause she can get him to do or not do anything she wants.”
Not that Chance stopped killing entirely, but Sera had been the only one to figure out how to get Chance to agree to a blood bond that prevented him from going after family or anyone closely attached, and even several decades down the line, it was still going strong without CHance screwing up.
“So explain it to me. Explain why I should trust your word over his or why you’re any better than anyone else I’ve talked to about it, including Great Grandad.”
“Your grandmother said the same thing for decades and look where that got her.”
He knew his son would never give up killing and it was only a matter of time before something made him snap completely again. Chance was about as stable as Konis and Tass didn’t hold much fondness for his own mother either.
“Thanatos was hardly around at the time, so I’m not entirely sure he counts as a reliable source of information during that time frame,” he growled, never quite realizing that he had been less present than his own father. Nor did he notice that Chance’s poor impulse control was maybe inherited more from him than Brittia.
That Chance thought Azrael cared about such small matters in the grand scheme of things was amusing to the angel. As much research as his stepson might have done, it was clear he missed the point entirely in the scope of what Azrael would set out to do if he was unchained. Personal slights aimed at Chance were nothing to him when he apparently had a world full of sinners to burn.
“Hardly. I just don’t care beyond how it affects me personally,” he replied flatly. There was no point in lying and they both knew it.
Chance paused, a considering look on his face. “Although, when this little snap is over with, you’re more than welcome to set Tassos on fire. I hardly think mother would mind too terribly. I’ll even bring the marshmallows for that one.”
It was a fun thought, but not enough to make him unchain the other either. With the way Az was responding, he wasn’t entirely sure his stepfather would remember any of this once he was put back in the head space the entire family knew.
“I’d like you better like this if it wouldn’t cause so many annoying little issues. You know, it was the initial reason I liked you more than my father. Although I do suppose like is a strong word. You never denied there was that darkness in you.”
“Like that would stop me.” Matt returned, sounding sleepy as he got comfortable and settled down again, a small smile curling his lip when Tucker nuzzled him, Matt being a total sucker for all kinds of physical affection, no matter who it came from.
“It might if I bite you hard enough to leave a mark,” he countered, a small part of him sort of wanting the other to call his bluff. “Besides, you’re going to pass back out before I do.”
It was an excuse, really. In truth, JJ was a little afraid of anything involving needles, partly because of the trauma of witnessing her mom wasting away on drugs when she was a kid, but she was reluctant to admit that that was a factor since she knew logically that there was a big difference between syringes and the kind of needles used in tattooing, and being nervous might seem silly to anyone else.
“I promise you, it doesn’t hurt and it won’t lead you down the path of moral decay,” he teased gently, trying to calm whatever fears she might have.
He knew all the details of her past, but it never crossed his mind that her issues with needles might have been because of her mother. He merely assumed it was just a general fear, like his near phobia of centipedes.
The angels tone was as cold and expressionless as his face and if Chance was trying to appeal to whatever remained of Azrael as he knew him, then it was a sure sign of desparation, since there was no way he could know whether there was anything left, and the creature before him may not have any sort of emotional sentiment that could be used as leverage.
Still, Azrael was also keenly aware of just how much time remained before one of his siblings was called into the fray. After all, in unlocking the binds on his mind, Jophiel had conveniently also boosted Azrael’s omniscience, particularly with regard to the presence of his brothers and sisters.
He ignored the first question, fiddling with his phone absently. There was a tightness in his shoulders as he text his youngest son’s wife, telling her to drag Teddy the hell out of town if she had to because he doubted his son would listen to sense. The boy was too much like himself to run without being forced.·
“Just someone better equipped to handle your little psychotic breakdown.” Chance paused, glancing up from his phone with the ghost of a smirk touching his lips.
“You didn’t think I would be stupid enough to touch those chains, did you? I’ve done my research on you. I know if you get lose, you’ll kill my Seraphine and then I go back to being chained up in the Underworld. I’ll pass on that, thanks.”
“Wow, for a moment there, you almost convinced me. Really. I mean, if you care that much about the aftermath, why didn’t you give enough of a damn before the fact? ‘Cause let’s be real here for a moment, Azrael has been doing your job of being a dad a whole lot better than you have, and that’s saying something considering how much he fucked up too.”
It was a cruel comment, but that was no surprise coming from Chance’s son, and whether Teddy knew he was being cruel or not was another matter, but it didn’t change the fact there was some element of truth to it with regards to Azrael’s role in the whole mess.
“The way I see it, you don’t get to play judge, jury and executioner when you didn’t do a damn thing to stop it in the first place, and besides, my dad might have his faults, but at least he’s been there for me my whole life, and he and my mom have been doing great that whole time.”
“I tried but your grandmother wouldn’t allow anyone to touch the twins.” It was Chance more than Oona, really. Chance and her had been close when the boy had been just a child. “He went after Boo before any of us knew what he was capable of. I told her then that he needed to be dealt with. But she thought she could reason with him, get him to agree that family was off limits. But it didn’t stop him. Nothing stops him for long.”
He tried not to wince about the comment involving Azrael. He had tried to be around for the twins when they were growing up, had taken them often enough, but Chance only ever wanted to be around his mother and Oona followed his lead. It had made it hard, the added pain of knowing Britt wasn’t coming back to him again didn’t help either.
Tass’s hands clenched at his sides, the kid beginning to get under his skin. “You’re too damn much like him to understand,” he growled, not understanding why no one in the family seemed to be stepping in to keep the past from repeating itself.
“Oh, you think I don’t know about all of that stuff? About how you had him locked up? He only hurt Grandma because of you. That was your fault.”
Whether Chance had twisted any truths to his benefit or not, Teddy was well versed on the things that had gone on long before he was born, and not just from Chance’s telling of it. Sera had filled in some of the blanks too, offered up a second perspective that explained things better, as well as bits and pieces of details from other family members to answer questions the kid had had as he was growing up.
“Seems like if anyone is out of the loop here, it’s you.”
Gods, he was going to need a drink after this encounter. Or several. He knew there was no use in trying to use logic, the boy seemed far too much like Chance that it was a little unnerving.
“He needed to be locked up. He was using your mother to torture some of his siblings and he nearly killed his nephew. He did all of that just for the hell of it. Boo still has the scars from nearly being gutted. Not to mention what he did to your older siblings.”
“Better than being a piece of shit who betrayed his own family,” Teddy shot back without hesitation, not a single flicker of emotion behind the coldness of his tone.
It was evident that the boy was probably simply mimicking what he’d been taught, but it was undeniable even from just looking at him that Teddy was Chance’s son, and not just from the strong physical resemblance.
“I’d rather be a killer than a coward.”
“If that’s the sort of shit you’ve picked up from your father, then you really ought to know that he tried to murder his own mother.”
It was likely Chance had twisted those events in his favor as well, Brittia sure seemed to believe the lie but he didn’t. She could defend their son all she wanted, but he didn’t trust him in the slightest.
“You’re too young to know or understand what happened because of Chance, kid.”
Teddy was probably much more familiar with Tassos than the other was with him, but that was only due to Chance’s hatred of Tass and the fact he’d hardly been quiet about those feelings since Teddy was a kid, meaning all Teddy knew of his grandfather was the venom his father held for him and that it had poisoned his own opinion of him, though perhaps slightly less, owing only to the fact that Teddy had never actually met Tass in person.
What was it with his son and twisting kids? He could never understand why it seemed so damn important to Chance that his kids end up the same fucked up disaster he had somehow turned out to be and it honestly upset Tass greatly.
“Being a serial killer isn’t going to get you very far in life,” he pointed out, crossing his arms and staring the boy down. “Surely you’re aware of that.”
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