That doesn’t sound like an escaped prisoner. Shaking, JJ drops into his fight stance. Close enough to the door to attack, far enough away to see his opponent. The shrieking and the roaring are getting louder, louder and closer andangrier?—
Without warning, thick black smoke starts oozing under the door, curling and undulating towards JJ. He fumbles the nails, bites out a curse, and slots them back into place. He can’t fight smoke, even if it seems to be billowing towards JJ with a mind of its own. Eyes fixed on the door, ears straining?—
Screaming. Roaring. Weapons clanging. Cacophony.
Abruptly, JJ’s door creaks open.
At first, he doesn’t see anyone there, the churning black smoke obscuring his vision. But then a figure appears in the doorway, and JJ’s eyes manage to adjust, and he realizes with mounting horror that the figure is atiger.
Not a normal tiger, though. No, it’s more like an abstract artist tried to paint a tiger from someone else’s description and got all the details terrifyingly wrong. Dark blue coat, impossibly arched spine, jagged teeth and claws, glowing yellow eyes?—
It’s a demon. A demon’strue form.Every instinct in JJ’s body is screaming at once, impotent alarm bells clanging in his head. He wants to run and there’s nowhere to run, wants to hide and there’s nowhere to hide, wants tofightand?—
And it’s just him and two nails against a demonic tiger. Somehow, he doesn’t like his chances.
The demon prowls into his cell languidly, casually. Like it knows it has all the time in the world to rip JJ to pieces and is enjoying the anticipation. JJ’s chest clenches with fear as the tiger stalks closer,closer,the smoke swirling and whipping around it until its gleaming eyes are all JJ can see?—
All at once, the smoke disappears.
And Cassius Chin is standing in its place.
Relief and confusion andjoyslam through JJ so fast that he sways on his feet, legs trembling and nails dropping from his numb fingers. “Cass?” he stammers.
Cass’s lips twitch. He reaches out a hand. “Let’s get out of here, Jackson.”
The hollow ache of resignation in JJ’s chest vanishes like it was never even there. It’s less of a run and more of a stumble towards Cass, reaching out to intertwine their fingers so Cass’s warm palm rests against his own.
And Cass’s half-smile morphs into a grin as he pulls JJ close, peels open a rift, and guides JJ through.
“I promise you can rest soon,” Cass says, pulling JJ forward onto a barren patch of tundra in Siberia and snapping the rift closed behind them. The cold wind bites into his bare skin—manifesting clothes after a true form transformation is a waste of energy that he doesn’t have time for right now—but with JJ next to him, he barely feels the chill. “Twenty minutes of rift-hopping to throw the Sanctum off the scent, ten minutes to let Desi hug you like her life depends on it. Can you hang in there for another thirty minutes, JJ?”
“Of course,” JJ says immediately. His hand is trembling in Cass’s and his voice is scratchy like he’s been screaming, and Cass forces down his white-hot fury at the humans who dared to hurthishunter. The Sanctum’s spellcasters might have healed JJ’s physical injuries, just like Roma said they would, but Cass can still see the trauma of the past few days in JJ’s pale face and bloodshot eyes. “How is she? Desi?”
Deliberately, Cass decides to leave out the anxiety and the crying. “She’s been really sad,” he says carefully, pulling JJ through another rift to Peru, “and she really misses you. Having you back will be good for her.”
A small smile tugs on JJ’s lips. Some of the tension in Cass’s chest eases at the sight. “It’ll be good for me, too,” he says quietly. “And—and how about you? How are you?”
How isCass?Well, that’s a loaded question if he’s ever heard one, especially coming from the man who just spent three days being tortured to within an inch of his life. Honestly, it’s just like JJ to take care of everyone else before himself, to put the rest of the world first?—
To keep holding himself together when it’s so clear that he’s one wrong move away from falling apart. Cass has the nagging feeling that he’s going to have to coax JJ into being kinder to himself from now on.
Later, though. Right now, Cass still feels a little out of breath. Even though his demonic true form features claws, fangs, and enough nightmare fuel to make most humans cower in a corner, fighting his way through the hunters wasn’t easy. He and Roma got into the Sanctum easily enough—Cass made them invisible for their trek through the halls and their brief detour to the weapons room for JJ’s escrima sticks—but once she deactivated the anti-rifting spell work in the prison itself, all hell broke loose.
Not that Cass was complaining. He’s been a ball of pent-up rage for days now, and taking it out on the hunters who hurt JJ was beyond satisfying.
Roma is safe. They jury-rigged an alarm spell to let her signal Cass once she was safely away from the Sanctum, and he felt the low buzz of confirmation at the base of his neck shortly before he reached JJ’s cell. He already asked Obie to set up a safe house for her, and Obie should be meeting her with the key within the next hour.
And now, JJ is safe, too. He’s here and he’ssafeand he’s smiling at Cass, and in this moment, that’s all that matters. “Me? Well, I’m still pretty high on adrenaline, so I’m splendid,” Cass says, and he tries out a smirk. “Thought you’d seen the last of me, didn’t you?”
JJ’s smile falters. “Actually, yeah. Yeah, I did.”
Cass’s heart twists. “Stupid human,” he says, shoving as much affection into the words as possible. “You thought imprisonment and impending execution could get rid of me?”
The grin comes back. It’s shaky and disbelieving, like JJ isn’t quite convinced this is real, but it still makes Cass feel lighter than he has in days. “I’ll never doubt you again,” JJ says softly, and his eyes dart up to meet Cass’s. “Thank you.”
Cass’s throat feels dry. “Entirely my pleasure,” he says, and hastily, he snaps open their next rift, pulling JJ through. “Any location requests? We’ve got another fifteen minutes of rifting ahead of us.”
JJ hesitates. “Somewhere warm?”
