(A/N): The aftermath of Jerremyah finding out that Elaine's father is Tarea Hugar.

Lisbet

Uh oh. This wasn't going to end well- it probably wouldn't have ended well if Leo had been calm, but now that Greygorry had riled him up, I feared for his health. Not Jerremyah's health- he would heal, unless Leo really did decide to try to behead him, or maybe rip his heart out of his chest with his bare hands- which, now that I had just seen him punch Grey's nose halfway through his frontal lobe, I was a little more convinced of his ability to do so.

I hadn't been present when Leo had- 'popped the head off a guy with his bare hands, with ease', as Danniel had put it, and I had thought that he had been exaggerating. It wasn't unlike him to do such a thing- now, I wasn't so sure he wasn't underselling it. Greygorry hadn't taken so long to complain about what had happened simply because he was shocked- he had taken so long because he was regrowing his liquefied speech center.

I had been expecting Leo to react poorly to Greygorry's comment, but I hadn't expected him to be so quick to knock Grey's lights out- and display no remorse after having done so. He had thought I was mad at him for hitting Greygorry so hard, but he had accepted it- saying he was 'lucky' that I was still willing to touch him, despite the fact that I could tell he was upset. I had thought it was about what Greygorry had said about Elaine, until he had exhibited his surprise when I had said that I would have hit Greygorry if he hadn't.

It broke my heart into a thousand pieces every time Leo slipped backwards, and convinced himself that we- the people who cared about him more than anything, and wanted only what was best for him- actually hated him, and despised the mere idea of being near him. It made me want to cradle him to my chest and keep him close, so he could never doubt my desires again- but I knew that would only make him feel smothered, and like I was cossetting him, so I resisted the urge on the daily.

Some times were harder than others, however.

"What's it to you?" His defensive tone was accompanied by him standing up and turning to face Jerremyah, crossing his arms over his chest- clearly trying to present an imposing figure, but his ruffled hair dampened the effect a bit.

"Her father is a vampire hunter- and not just any vampire hunter, Tarea fucking Hugar- she's telling you to behead me, and you trust her? How fucking dumb are you?" Before Leo could even open his mouth to respond, I felt a growl tear it's way free of my chest, via my throat, and Jerremyah took notice. "Did you know-?" I cut him off.

"Of course I knew- as Leo told Grey, Elaine isn't her father. And if you two would keep your mouths shut for more than five minutes, we'd be able to explain why." Jerremyah opened his mouth. "And the next time you call Leo dumb, or use the f word-" I was way more furious about the former than the latter. "-I'm going to kick you where the sun doesn't shine- so hard that you're not just going to have to regrow the family jewels before you're able to walk straight again, you'll have to regrow the whole freaking Treasury." His mouth clacked shut, drawing into a thin line, and Leo looked half amused, half surprised.

"Do go on." Greygorry said mock-graciously from behind us and down on the ground, and Leo rolled out his shoulders- something I knew he did sometimes when he was uncomfortable, but didn't feel like he could reach for his hair.

"Um, so..." He glanced at me, and I gave him a hearty nod and an- unfortunately tight- smile in an attempt to encourage him. "A few years before I met Elaine at Hogwarts, her mother- Audrey- took Elaine and her older brother- Jay- and left him." Jerremyah cocked an eyebrow at him. "He was beating all three of them." Now, both of his eyebrows shot up. "Elaine's got a few scars, and I know she has these awful, vivid nightmares about him sometimes-" She does? I... I hadn't known that. I had heard her wake with nightmares before, but I hadn't known what they were about- who, they were about. In all honesty, I had assumed it stemmed from when she had been attacked by Jonothan- the first one, the one I hadn't been a part of. "Jay clearly got it worse- he's covered in scars, and old broken bones- he's a lot older than Elaine, so he got more of the anti-vampire propaganda than she did, but- none of them want anything to do with Tarea." Greygorry chuckled harshly from behind us.

"So, he's a prick all around, then. Good to know." Leo hummed absentmindedly, like he agreed.

"I didn't know that Elaine's father was a Hunter until this term- before you say anything about her hiding it from me, it wasn't applicable before then- he wrote a letter to her, promising- threatening?- to visit them. That's when we first started watching over them." Jerremyah's eyebrows furrowed, and I knew it was because I had already told him about Jonothan having attacked her twice in the past. "A few days before Christmas, while Danniel was on watch-" Said young man waved, as if he thought maybe Jerremyah had forgotten who he was already- or maybe just trying to relieve some of the weight from Leo's shoulders by stealing some of Jerremyah's attention. It didn't work- Jerremyah didn't even glance at him, as focused as he was on Leo. "He finally showed up."

"And I can confirm, he was a-" I cut Danniel off, knowing only expletives were about to follow.

"Danniel." He closed his mouth temporarily, as he thought of something to substitute what he really wanted to say.

"Poop head, small meat and two vegged... bastard." I sighed, and Danniel shrugged. "It's a proper term- it's not my fault your mind automatically goes to an impolite meaning." I rolled my eyes at him, and turned my attention back to Leo and Jerremyah.

"He menaced them a bit, and left- in the letter he sent Elaine afterwards, he said he wanted to talk to all three of them, so he'll try again during summer holidays." Jerremyah's eyebrows furrowed.

"He's told you exactly when he'll be there?" Leo shook his head.

"He told Elaine when he'll be there- it's an intimidation tactic, not a trap." Jerremyah shrugged.

"Could always be both. Hunters don't stay alive as long as Hugar has by being blind to the vampires in their backyard- literally, in this case." Technically, it wasn't his backyard, it was Audrey's- not that he saw it that way, I'm sure.

"Audrey knew what we were before we even opened our mouths- trust me, we know they're not dumb." I told him, and Jerremyah raised an eyebrow at me.

"And she let you open your mouths, after that?" Leo shrugged, again.

"I was offering her a level of protection she wasn't going to get anywhere else- and once I confirmed that Elaine knew what I was- and was okay with it- she was more than pleasant to me." I gave Jerremyah a somewhat strained smile.

"She held his hand." As Jerremyah's eyebrows shot up, Leo rolled his eyes.

"Of course that's what you chose to contribute- I should've expected nothing less." Jerremyah's lips twitched downwards, into the start of a frown.

"And you think Elaine is okay with what you are? Truly?" Leo nodded- and I was happy to see that he did so without any hesitation.

"More okay with it than anyone else has ever been- sometimes, I think she's more okay with me being a vampire than I am." Leo's constant struggle to accept his vampiric nature was something I had always tried to rectify- but I hadn't had much luck. Maybe Elaine would- even without the sway she held over him, it was always more powerful for someone outside of the situation to support you, than someone in the same situation. A vampire supporting a vampire didn't mean as much as a human- or other- supporting a vampire. "More okay with it than you were, when you found out." Jerremyah flushed at the reminder, but when he opened his mouth to respond, Greygorry spoke up first.

"Humans tolerate it easily- when she lets you drink from her, get back to me." There was a second where we were all silent, and then blood rushed to Leo's face- because he knew, in that moment, that his heartbeat had given him away.

"What the- hell, Leo?!"

(A/N): Greygorry: 'When Elaine lets you drink from her, get back to me.'

Leo: 'Should I leave a message after the beep, or...?'

Leo's Heart: *starts doing the macarena*

Leo: 'Uh oh.'

Lisbet: 'Oh for fucks sake- shit, can't say fuck- damn, can't say shit- dang it-'

Lisbet: 'What the hell, Leo?'

Slang translations:

Family Jewels - Male genitalia.

Meat and Two Veg - Male Genitalia.

Poophead, small meat and two vegged bastard - Shithead, small dicked, bastard.