“My friend needs my help,” he told them. “It’s not safe to wander these woods alone. Follow me back, and we can try finding the others.” He realized after he had spoken that he was implying he knew that more people were in the woods, despite having never met them, but there was no time to lie.
He turned around and hurried towards the sound of Gabriel’s voice.
When he arrived in the clearing, he discovered several things. The vampire had returned to adulthood, and was surprisingly Ciaran, the owner of the night club he had frequented on more than one occasion to make a deal. Ciaran had apparently found a toddler who bore a striking resemblance to him. And then there was Gabriel, crouching in front of a girl who looked as if she could be a living doll.
His voice caught in his throat.
He had seen pictures of her before, the few times Quinn had sneaked him into her house. The outfit wasn’t exactly the same, but it was similar enough for him to note the resemblance. Anger began to rise up from the depths of his soul; Adriel must have sent Quinn in when neither one of them returned, not caring what would happen if Quinn - whose weapons had all been confiscated upon their capture - was defenseless.
Quinn turned her head to look at him. “Hiya!” she said. Gabriel got to his feet and pulled Quinn close to his leg, hand going protectively on her shoulder as he scanned the forest around them. “I’m Quinn! Quinn Holt!” She looked up at Gabriel. “Do I know you? You seem really familiar! Are you...Are you my uncle?”
Gabriel gave him a desperate look.
“He is,” Azazel confirmed. He didn’t know how else to get Quinn to trust them when she was this little; she had no way to know who either of them were, and both of them could look intimidating. “He’s your Uncle Gabriel, and I’m your Uncle Isaac.”
She grinned. “Are you married?”
Gabriel suddenly choked on his spit, and Azazel stiffened considerably. “Er, no, we’re just-” Gabriel started to protest, but Quinn’s grin quickly turned into a frown. Gabriel smiled - a clearly forced look - and left Quinn’s side momentarily to throw his arm around him. “Sorry for trying to trick you, Quinn. You’re right - we are. Aren’t we, honey?”
“Honey?” he whispered.
“It sounds convincing,” Gabriel whispered back.
Azazel hesitatingly leaned closer to him.
“We are,” he lied. He could already feel his cheeks growing warm as they simulated blushing; Quinn wasn’t going to let either one of them live this down once she returned to normal.
xXx
He nervously glanced around the woods, red eyes wide with terror as he waited for a monster to jump out of the darkness and attack him. The villagers would never go in a place like this, so that should have made it safe, but monsters weren’t going to avoid him just because he was cursed.
“Joshua said that I’m not cursed,” he reminded himself; his voice shook as he spoke. They always thought he was trying to do something that would hurt them when he talked like this, but it just made him feel better. It made him feel like he wasn’t alone in the scary woods, and covered any shuffling in the woods. “The villagers are the mean ones. It’s not me. It’s not me. It’s not-”
He suddenly tripped over a root and went crashing to the ground with a startled, terrified yelp. Now he couldn’t stop the tears from forming in his eyes, blurring his vision as he struggled to get back up. His knees were all covered in dirt now, and he kept getting dirt in his eyes when he tried to wipe away the tears. He just sat down and continued to sob, rocking back and forth.
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