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It turns out that getting a therapist is hard. The Corporation had a few on hand but they mostly dealt with supernatural creatures or half-breeds. Only two knew how to relate to humans. But I didn’t connect with them. Nothing was wrong with that. Jackalope said it was best to find the right person instead of forcing getting better with the wrong one.

It would still take a little while after I did find the right person to figure out if I needed medication or not. The entire thing was exhausting, but I did need to do it. If I didn’t have Jackalope being so supportive, I would have already given up. Jackalope permitted me to do one job as long as two Agents stayed with me. It turns out that all of Six’s brothers were very protective of the one who befriended their family. I ended up finishing one job with two stern men wearing suits and sunglasses ready to attack any slight imaginary threat.

I arrived home after a very long appointment. To my surprise, I saw Jackalope standing outside dressed in his suit. I hadn’t seen him wear it since he first moved in. His tie wasn’t fully done up. I went over to fix it for him before I questioned what was going on.

“Who died?” I joked after I stepped away.

He forced a smile on his face. I didn’t like how he was acting, or what might be going on. I doubted he got hired back at The Corporation. He would have told me. This was something else. I very soon found out when a crack echoed down the road. I flinched at the noise, but Jackalope was expecting it. A large dark carriage came racing down the street. The two large horse-hybrid creatures made a sharp stop in front of the house. The back legs looked to belong to some sort of big cat. Each leg was scarred as if it had been stitched on. A deep scar ran across their necks, and it almost made it look as if someone attached the head of a white horse to a dark black body.

“What’s going on?” I asked suddenly a bit scared of what just pulled up.

Jackalope didn’t give me an answer right away. The carriage door opened, and a large person stepped out. He was dressed in dark robes and at least two times my size. Grey tangled hair covered most of his face. But I saw his mouth lacking any lips grimacing in our direction. He gestured towards Jackalope to come over with one long gnarled finger.

“A meeting with my family has been requested. They would like you to come along as well.” Jackalope answered.

He didn’t sound like himself. His voice was like how we first met. I didn’t like how he was forcing himself to appear calm. I looked between him and the monsters waiting for us. A feeling of fear started but I refused to let him go alone with such creatures. I gave the tall monster another look over wondering if somehow those two were related.

“Alright. Let’s go.” I agreed and started to follow him to the waiting carriage.

Jackalope let his mask slip for a second. He wasn’t overly happy I was coming with him. The creature held the door open for us. He then made his way to the front of the carriage to drive it to the next location. I really hoped my neighbors didn’t see this. Normally supernatural creatures couldn’t be seen by humans unless they wanted to be. Or were too weak to make themselves invisible to their main food source.

The door was closed, and it shut out the world outside. The seats weren’t too uncomfortable. A set of deep red curtains kept me from seeing where the carriage was headed. I felt it start moving but oddly enough didn’t hear the wheels or the horses outside. Jackalope sat across from me, not keen on starting up a conversation.

“What is this all about?” I asked in a careful tone.

He wasn’t acting like himself. That stressed me out a little.

“Do you know what a Jackalope is?” He asked.

The question made me pause. I’ve never really considered his name all that much. When I was much younger, I believed there were some horned rabbits somewhere in the desert like a lot of children.

“A rabbit with horns I guess.” I replied to him.

He gave me a somewhat tired smile. His name meant a bit more than he let on before.

“They’re a hoax. A taxidermy animal pretending to be real. Something almost believable you could assume was alive. Before I had a name my creator was torn between Jackalope or Fuji after the fake mermaid. But I don’t think I look like a Fuji.” He explained.

At least his hint of a smile looked real this time around. For a few moments, I didn’t understand what he was getting at. Then I remembered the scar down his front. The one that made it look like he’d been cut open at some point. My body grew cold at the realization.

“You’re....” I started but wasn’t able to ask such a gruesome question.

His expression was one I didn’t like in the slightest. He smiled at my horror. Such a thing didn’t suit him.

“My body was harvested from a deceased human. My organs are from a supernatural creature and my horns are from another creature. My name suits what I am. I was cut open, stuffed with something else, and a set of horns added to help with the hoax.” He admitted.

No wonder why Fera got so creeped out over the idea of him being created in such a way. I suppressed a shudder and needed to look away from him to collect myself.

“You have horns?” I asked trying to stay off the more gruesome topics of what he said.

Another real smile came. He nodded and followed my gaze to the set of curtains. Most monsters could hide certain features. I never saw his horns because he never used his powers around me. I’ve heard Jackalope wasn’t stable magic-wise. If his organs weren’t his own, it made sense he had issues using the power that came from them.

“I remember a little bit of who I was before. Not much. It's very vague but... I know I had a family. People who cared about me. Their names are gone, but I know they were there. And I turned my back on them.” He said in a soft voice.

He's never talked about any of this before. The fact he was now wasn’t a very good sign.

“What do you mean?” I asked a moment too late.

I understood what he meant by turning his back on them. I had almost made the same mistake. I hated how that fact made me feel almost as much as I disliked his defeated expression.

“I ended my own life when I was a human. I no longer remember the reasons. But I don’t believe it was justified if there were still people in my life supporting me. When I worked as an Agent, I always wore a fake smile. I’m a dead man. That was my choice. I shouldn’t be able to feel sadness or much of anything. The fact I have been enjoying myself recently is an insult to those I left behind.”

We sat and listened to the minor noises coming from outside. I wanted to reach out to him, but I knew he wouldn't accept any kind of comfort at that moment. He dealt with all of this on his own and I never had a clue. As his friend, I should have noticed how he felt.

“Would you have hated me if I never made it home?” I asked him.

I needed to fold my hands in front of myself to keep them from shaking. Jackalope looked up with a slightly horrified expression. He never would have been angry at me if I didn’t pull the gun away in time. He would blame himself before me for my actions.

“Of course not.” He said truthfully.

“Then why do you hate yourself for what you did? How come you can forgive everyone but yourself?” I pointed out.

He shook his head unable to respond. His answer was the same reason why I still blamed myself for his missing arm. No matter how much others said it wasn’t our fault, we simply couldn’t forgive ourselves for our actions. I didn’t realize that Jackalope had gone through so much the same things as myself.

The carriage slowed to a stop. We weren’t able to finish our conversation. The door opened and he walked out first. I stepped down to find we stopped in front of a massive Gothic mansion. The place was bleak and straight from an old black-and-white horror movie. I half expected a flash of lightning to appear in the grey sky. The carriage used some sort of magic to travel here. There wasn’t any way this place was in the same country as we started in.

Jackalope started forwards to the large wooden doors. I needed to half jog to keep up with his long strides. Another creature very similar to the one who picked us up stood by the doorway and watched us as we went inside. The main hallway looked dusty and old. Creatures peaked through the dark corners at us. All of them are a sown-together mess of other features. Jackalope may be the most human out of all of them.

I followed him, the fear filling my limbs at the sight of the other creatures. He led us to a large room at the end of the main hallway. Instead of a tile floor, we stepped out into packed dirt. The room a large circle with an upper level. It looked a lot like a smaller version of a stage that Gladiators may have fought in. From the dark stains in the dirt, I fear this place was made for that kind of purpose.

Jackalope stood in the middle of the room and sat down on his knees. My legs would fall asleep with them tucked under like that, so I just sat in a different way that felt more comfortable. His head was directed to a small opening on the ground level. A chair was placed halfway out of the darkness. I saw a set of legs but didn’t see who was watching us.

“It seems like my rabbit has finally come home. I never suspected you would show your face here after the disgrace of being fired. I suppose the Mailing Company is somewhat reasonable. I would have killed you if you didn’t get that job. Now, what would a failure like yourself request a meeting for?”

The voice sounded female. She acted like a harsh mother, so I assumed she had been the one to create Jackalope. She cut open his dead body, stuffed it with organs, and forced him to work a dangerous job. On principle, I didn’t like her. But I was shocked that Jackalope had been the one to request a meeting. It seems as if he kept his head down and working, his family wanted nothing to do with him.

“I would like to request you to disown me.” He said in a stern voice.

The women in the chair were a bit of a way away, but we still heard each other just fine. I understood why he no longer wanted to be a part of this family, but why ask now? Why not when he was first fired? His parent asked that question for me.

“Oh? Now for what reason do you wish to go off on your own?” She said in a teasing voice.

“To get married.” Jackalope responded, his eyes still facing the other side of the room.

My brain shut down for a full minute. That didn’t make sense. I kept looking between him and his shrouded parent as if an answer would just appear. Married? To who? Was he dating someone from work and he just forgot to mention it? Or was it an Agent? Fera was out of the question because she liked other girls. I considered Nessie for a moment but that didn’t feel right in the slightest. As my thoughts ran a mile a minute, Jackalope lifted his hand. On reflex I took it. A slight tint of red came to his ears, but otherwise, his expression didn’t change. I finally clued in with such a loud click in my brain I thought those two heard it.

Did he want to marry me?

Wait.

Hold on.

We just lived together. It didn’t mean he actually liked me. I must be misreading this somehow.

I didn’t have a chance to question him. A shrill mocking laugh came from the darkness. His unseen parent thought his request was hilarious. I flinched at the sound. My body wanted to get up and fight the one who dared laugh at such a genuine request.

“Married? Someone like you? First, you bring disrespect to this family by being removed as an Agent, and now this? Not a single creature in our world cares for you. Being so desperate enough to request to be disowned for a human. I cannot stand it. I’ll do you a favor and have your other family members end your life here.”

Jackalope expecting this kind of answer. He shot to his feet pulling me up with him. We weren’t able to move from the spot. A creature dropped down from the second level. The lower half was a pure white snake, but the torso looked to belong to a human. The head, however, had been cut off and replaced with a huge crow face. Jackalope's parent created this monster with bits and pieces. The scars where the parts had been attached were visible on the body. I don’t think this monster wanted to attack us. It just didn’t have any choice.

Two more creatures dropped down on all fours. One was a dog the size of a horse with a human face. The other slightly smaller. The body looked similar to an otter. A dark black wolf's head attached low to the neck with a fresh scar. I stood defenseless and scared as hell. I didn’t have a weapon on me and Jackalope was missing an arm. We stood no chance against these monsters.

Or so I thought. Because I’d been living with the kinder version of Jackalope, I’d almost forgotten he had been an Agent for a reason. His face held no hints of fear. A spark of black electricity came from his chest. In a fluid movement, he reached over to grab hold of it. The sparks turned into a long straight line as he pulled it away from his chest. The power formed into a sleek black blade. Instead of keeping it, he tossed it over to me. By some miracle, I caught the new sword without cutting my hand. The two monsters backed off when they saw the weapon. They knew something I didn’t.

The next movement came too fast for my eyes to catch. I only heard the loud crack of Jackalope moving. For half a second he had been standing next to me, then he was across the room. He’d slammed the snake creature into the stone wall so hard cracks appeared up to the ceiling. More jagged black shapes came from his body. When he turned, I could see just how much he changed.

A set of black horns came from his head. They flickered as if they weren’t entirely solid. All the black energy around him crackled in an unstable way. His eyes landed on the other two creatures ready to take them down.

I didn’t know the end goal of this fight. He wouldn’t kill the creatures that were forced to try to attack us. If we did escape, then we would be hunted down. I saw more eyes looking down at us and doubted Jackalope could defeat an army of these creatures.

The creature with the wolf head peeled off in my direction. I only had seconds to react. I swung down the sword a bit too early. A burst of dark sparks came from the blade directly into the creature pushing it back. Jackalope managed to also knock back the otter creature. Despite our progress, I doubted we would make it out alive. My hands shook in fear waiting for the monster to recover or for another one to come down to attack.

My fears were proven justified. Another snake-like creature dropped down hard near Jackalope. He didn't have enough time to get out of the way. The long tail caught his leg and slammed his body hard against the ground. I shouted out his name scared to death about him. I swung the sword again like a bat to send more power in that direction. It landed on the target pissing it off enough to let out a loud hiss and forget about Jackalope long enough for him to get up.

He stood on uneven feet. A cut on his forehead dropped blood down into the dirt. Something looked wrong. His horns were crackling. His face twisted in a feral expression and a set of dark claws appeared on his hand. More of that darkness started to cover his legs transforming them into something else. The otter creature tried to come up behind him. He slammed it with a powerful blow that embedded the poor things into the dirt.

The sword in my hand shook. The wolf's head came closer, and I used the sword once again. After the final blast of energy, the entire thing broke apart burning my hands and a spark flying up to cut the side of my cheek. Jackalope’s power was becoming unstable. He was an Agent and fought monsters for his entire life, but he didn’t have control over himself in the long run. If we didn’t get away now, we risked him attacking everyone including myself.

I saw him transforming into something else. His body hunched over as that black energy pouring from him crackled frantically. The sparks burst outwards hitting the stone walls and exploding pieces off them. I nearly got hit by one of those bursts. The wolf head creature made a run for it. The movement caught his eye. A somewhat focused amount of power was thrown in that direction knocking the creature aside. He nearly killed it with one attack.

He didn’t want this. I knew that. These creatures were the same as him. But their bodies were weaker and that made their power more stable than his own. The sound of the magic around us and the room slowly being destroyed was overpowering. But I still tried to reach him.

“Jackie!” I shouted over all the noise.

A hint of recognition came to his eyes. A new monster jumped down into the fray almost directly on top of me. I covered my head with my arms expecting to die in the next few seconds. Instead, I felt an arm wrap around my waist and a burst of wind hit my back. When I opened my eyes, I saw all the remaining creatures knocked out. Jackalope stood next to me, and his entire demeanor changed. His horns no longer flickered, and that black energy flowed around him instead of crackling. Somehow, he’d been able to stabilize his powers.

To my shock, he leaned down to bring us closer. His head resting next to my own.

“Please keep helping me.” He whispered causing my face to grow hot.

“I haven’t done anything. I’m just here.” I admitted.

“Sometimes that’s all I need.”

He pulled back to show off his smile. Scarred face or not, his smile was perfect. Unable to help myself, I held him back a bit convinced we might make it out here alive.

“How disgusting!”

I’d forgotten about his parent for a few minutes. The person he feared the most finally came out from the darkness. The human body we saw was nothing but a lie. A monster poured from the shadows. The body long with countless arms grafted on. The main head looked like a beautiful woman. Around it was a circle of other heads of creatures. All of them with dead milky eyes. This monster not only created stitched-together creatures, but it added other parts onto itself to gain power.

“You have no rights to this power! You were made to serve and nothing else! What an insult! What a disgrace! Those organs do not belong to you, nothing in your body does! I worked hard to find them and you owe everything to me! How dare you use it for your own gain, I shall put an end to this right now!” The monster screeched.

I knew this thing was stronger than both of us. I didn’t want to die for once. But I didn’t have any clue how we would be able to get out of this. There was no time to think. A light came from the creature’s main mouth. Jackalope matched it with his power. They both attacked at the same time knowing that energy exploding after hitting each other would cause a backlash that would kill someone here.

At the last second a crack of pure silver lightning came down between two blasts. A shockwave hit us all. I would have been blown off my feet if Jackalope hadn’t kept an arm around my side to support me. When the dust settled a new person stood between us. I stared at someone I never would have expected.

“Would you care to repeat what you just said?” The newcomer said in an intimidating tone.

He was the white-haired man that took over the Hunters' case and the person I’d spoken with before. I dismissed him as being The Silver King when we met before. He acted to kind but now his entire personality shifted. His red eyes hard enough to make the creature back down.

“This boy of mine...” It started in a weak voice.

“From what I’ve seen, Jackalope has well paid back his debt for his life. He’s worked an honorable job, and if he wishes to be removed from this family, I do not see why not. His body is his own. You did do a proper trade for the pieces that make him up, correct? Therefore, he does not owe anything. However, thirty-five years ago there was a rash of stolen organs. If somehow, he ended up with one or two, then surely, he would owe himself to the family affected by that death. If that isn’t the case, then he should be free to go.” The man spoke and his worded implied a lot.

If the creature refused, it would have been admitted it stole the parts to make Jackalope, if not all the creatures in this family. That would mean Jackalope risked having his organs returned to the other creature’s family. And his parent would be arrested or killed for the crimes. But if the creature claimed to have gotten the parts in a fair way, then Jackalope could go free. He's worked enough to no longer owe his parent for his life.

I saw the internal struggle on this creature's face. If it let Jackalope go, then the other creatures it made could follow in his footsteps. But if it didn’t it risked being killed by The Silver King on the spot.

“Yes. You’re right. Jackalope has earned his freedom. He had worked enough for me to get back the worth of his traded organs. We were just... testing him to ensure he was strong enough to leave this family.” The creature lied.

“Then there is no issue. I wish to speak with him alone for a short while. There are special protocols when a creature becomes engaged with a human. It’s best if we go over them.” The King spoke and turned towards us.

The creature’s Jackalope fought were stirring. At least they would recover from the fight. We followed behind the white-haired man, and I gave one last look over my shoulder to that towering monster. Clear hatred showed on its attractive face. If anyone but The Silver King spoke to them, they might have just killed everyone in the room.

We didn’t leave the mansion. Instead, we ended up in a room off to the side. Cautious, the King finally broke his composure.

“Look at how dirty you two are! You must have been so scared!” He said in a voice completely different than how he spoke to the monster.

Jackalope’s horns faded, and he did look pretty rough from the fight. Cautious frantically brushed us both off. Form some reason, our minor wounds healed along with the dirt being brushed aside.

“Did you just...” I asked slowly as I looked at my newly healed hand.

“I just helped you with the dirt. That’s all.” Cautious said as a huge hint to drop it.

At least I was smart enough to do so. I don’t think he could display any kind of favoritism and heal others for no reason.

“Thank you. I wasn’t expecting you to come in person. I thought you to be too busy, but you did save us.” Jackalope said over to the man.

Cautious smiled in a way that made him look much younger. Now everything made sense. Jackalope turned to me to start explaining what I already knew.

“My parent...” He started but wasn’t able to get the words out.

“I get it. Your parent killed and stole parts of other creatures to make all of you. Since being an Agent is a respectful job, they must have seen this as an easy way to create a powerful family with a shortcut. I’ve been working on scenes with stolen organs. So, they just have started back up recently. When you heard what jobs I’ve been doing, you arranged all this to put an end to it.” I commented.

Both of them looked at me as if they didn’t expect a human to put easy hints together. At least that was explained, but we still had a very important thing to talk about.

“About... the marriage thing.” Jackalope stared, his voice clearly embarrassed. “I... I needed to say something that would upset my parent enough to make them attack. I’m sorry. I risked your life for something like this.”

Cautious looked between us interested but not wanting to interrupt.

“Did... You do not mean the offer?” I asked slowly.

Jackalope let out a nervous smile, refusing to look in my direction. It looked almost sad in a way.

“Well, most people need to be in love with each other to get married.” He pointed out.

“Good. We got that covered.” I replied without any hesitation.

It took a few minutes for either of them to react. Jackalope kept trying to say something, but words failed him. My chest got tight, and I knew my expression looked as stunned as he did.

“I need to step into the other room to scream for a few minutes.” He finally admitted.

“Take your time. I’ll be here.”

We defaulted to sounding like business partners in order not to break down. He left so quickly that I thought I saw his heels kick up dust. The moment he was out of the room Cautious came over to me to take my arm. He shook me, frustrated over what he just saw.

“Why didn’t you confess to him in a better way!” He demanded sounding like a child.

“I panicked.” I said truthfully.

I was still in shock and the full truth of what just happened hadn’t hit just yet. Cautious was saying something but my brain refused to listen. I thought I heard him say that we needed a ring for this to be proper. Then disappeared through a door leaving me alone with my thoughts. Which were just internal screaming.

Cautious came back before Jackalope. He placed something in my hand, and it made me crack a smile. I didn’t have time to make fun of him for it. Jackalope came back into the room flustered. He had hoped we would have forgotten the whole thing in the few minutes he’d been gone for. I walked over to him and offered what The Silver King brought.

“Cautious said we needed a ring.” I told him.

Jackalope looked it over wondering if this was a joke.

“This is a ring pop.” He pointed out the obvious.

“I panicked!” Cautious admitted.

Jackalope laughed and I think it was the first time I heard him do so. I felt a little bit jealous that Cautious was the one who caused it. It felt weird having an audience for this conversation. Soon we didn’t need to worry about it. A door flew open, and a large person walked swiftly over to the most important person in the room. Cautious tried to get away, but he was easily lifted over the shoulder of the newcomer. He wore a long trench coat that went down to his ankles. His face was just a tangled mess of vines with two eyes barely visible.

“I’m taking this.” The newcomer stated.

He turned to carry away the struggling King. Cautious yelling back to us to call him for updates. With that strange scene over with, I needed to force on a more important conversation.

I realized I was fairly close to Jackalope, which was embarrassing. But I didn’t move back.

“We really should get a proper ring. Before that, we should try dating first.” I offered already feeling a blush creep up my neck.

I felt him take a hold of my hand which didn’t make it easier to deal with this whole ordeal.

“I don’t what you to go through this if you think you owe me in some way. I can’t imagine how hard it’ll be for you if we do make it official. I'm not human, and a guy. Some people tend to frown on both of those aspects. And... I’m...” He trailed off to look at the room we were standing in.

He'd been made from stolen parts. He carried the weight of three lives. The one for his horns. Another for what was inside, and the final was the man who died for him to become what he is now. I wondered if he offered his life for my own that day because he just was tired and wanted an easy way out. Or he might have had no reason at all for such an impulse.

“You're perfect.” Another thing embarrassing to say, but he needed to hear it.

His smile came back for a few seconds. Then tears started in his eyes. For his entire life, he never considered just living to be a possibility. Working as an Agent meant he could have died at any time. Now he could take it easy in a perfectly normal house, doing reasonable work. The fact that someone would stay beside him after knowing everything about his past had been beyond something he ever hoped for.

I let him bury his face into my shoulder. I carefully held him back as I thought why the hell this took so long. I’ve never really dated anyone. With my self-esteem issues, I didn’t think a person could ever see me as an equal. I never even considered gender when it came to a partner. After everything, this felt right.

When he pulled away, his face was stained with tears he rubbed away with the back of his hand. This was the second time I’d made him cry. I felt a little guilty about that. I wanted to make it up to him. When I leaned in closer to do so, he pulled back. That simple action caused me to spiral into thinking somehow, I completely mistook everything we said so far.

“My face is a mess.” Jackalope explained which ended my spiral.

I showed him just how little I cared about a still-damp face from tears. For a few minutes...

I felt eyes on us and nearly died when I realized we weren’t exactly in a private place to be showing any kind of affection. He agreed that we should head home before his parent found us and did something none of us liked.

The carriage waited outside to take us back. The Driver looked somewhat friendlier even though his lip-less expression never changed. The entire ride back was awkward. We weren’t certain how to react to each other after everything that happened.

Sure, we nearly died but that barely touched the mortifying ordeal of asking out your previous roommate. We acted like blushing schoolgirls for the rest of the day. It may have been easier to deal with if we didn’t live with each other.

Just as I thought I would be able to calm down a little I was tricked. Jackalope wanted me to stay in his room for the night and promised nothing would happen. After the day he went through, I agreed.

It was impossible to close my eyes let alone try to sleep with him next to me. I stared up at the ceiling with the glow of the small rabbit light casting shadows in the room. His bed was far too soft with all the blankets but very warm.

“Do you wanna make out?” He asked as a joke to break some tension.

I gave his shoulder a light tap.

“Yes, but I’m not ready for that.” I answered honestly.

I didn’t know how much time that might take. I dreaded I might just shut down and he would leave me for someone else if I didn’t get my act together. I looked over at him. His face clear due to the small light next to the bed.

“I don’t think I’m good enough for all of this. I don’t like myself.” I admitted getting serious because I thought he needed to hear the truth.

“I can’t see why you don’t see all your good qualities.” He answered back.

“Lying at the start of this relationship?” I said in a falsely offended voice.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He said matching my tone.

“Gaslighting now too? I should have seen all these redflags before we got engaged.”

He wanted to keep the joke going but the word engaged made his face twist back into a shy smile. He wanted to scream but held it in.

“I am serious about how I feel. But... I like who I am with you. All this right now is alright. I feel guilty for putting it all on you. I don’t want you to think you have to stay here. You can leave if I become too much of a burden.”

All of that was also true. He wasn’t going to be responsible for my mental state. I would never hold him down to make myself feel better. But I never considered he also needed me. A regular human might not see him in the same way I did, and if a creature found out how he had been made they would be disgusted by it.

“I like who we turned into.” He said back.

We. It had always been simple answers with him.

He wanted to save my life because I gave his existence a second thought.

I wanted to keep living to put up his hair every morning.

It had been we since he moved in. I wasn’t the only one being supported by him. He needed me around no matter how much I refused to see it. I knew if I spoke again, I would start crying. Instead, we both stayed next to each other watching the shadows on the ceiling for a few minutes.

“Wanna fool around?” He half-joked.

He could be pretty demanding when he wanted to be. But that was alright. Sometimes you should give in to a demanding partner from time to time.

It took a long time to get my home life settled. I needed to figure out my work life. Doing jobs in the field was almost out of the question. I came back with bullet holes too many times. Now I have a home to return to. I asked for a meeting with Lupa to go over some sort of arrangement. He agreed two days after the technical engagement. That was a fact I wasn’t sure how to approach.

Fera picked me up to bring me into the office. She could make a magic connecting door, but also a friendly face was always needed. Her beads were a bright orange that day. All the bright colors really suited her. She greeted Jackalope who came over to the front door to see us off.

“How is the shoulder doing? Robin said to stop doing dangerous jobs and no one wants to see you in the clinic for a third bullet wound.” She commented. The snitch.

“Third time? When was the second time?” Jackalope said as if this was a murder investigation.

“I don’t want to talk about the second time.” I replied as if I was on trial.

At least he was letting it drop until I got back home.

“You really need to tell your roommate important things!” She scolded.

“Fiancé.” I corrected.

The word took a while to sink in. When it did, she let out a screech and latched herself onto me. I nearly fell over the sudden weight. I heard a lot of ‘I told you so’ for the next few minutes. Jackalope peeled her off so we could get my meeting done with. Fera wanted to tell Nessie right away, but we already accidentally broke the news over text and told her he was going to be our flower girl replacement.

She needed to get her shrieking under control. The moment we stepped through the door and into the office, she snapped back to a professional Agent. She led me to Lupa’s office, this time I was a bit more confident dealing with the meeting.

I walked through the small path to find the set of couches in the middle of the plants. Lupa sat with papers again. This time he didn’t set them down when I sat.

“I would like to stop doing fieldwork.” I told him.

“Yes, that would be best. You appear to be somewhat of a liability. There may be jobs when we do have proper Agents to protect a human like yourself. We can offer those to you when they come up.” He said sounding almost bored.

I wasn’t expecting this to be so easy. They needed my skills in some way. So why let me only do a job from time to time? Lupa kept speaking to answer my unspoken question.

“We would like to offer you a teaching job instead. The Agents get along well with you. It would be a better arrangement.”

I sat stunned. I never even considered that kind of work before. That would be perfect for me. But I had another question.

“Why didn’t you offer this to me before? I was shot. Twice.” I huffed.

He finally set down his work. A smile came on his face as if he had won some sort of game.

“Do you think you had the confidence to do so when you first started working for us?” He asked.

I was about to say yes, but the truth sank in. I would have rejected just a teaching job to start with. I would not have believed anyone should have listened to what I had to say. While on the field I did teach some Agents, but I also did another job at the same time. It made me feel busy or as if I was doing something useful. Lupa saw through me. He might have known more about who I was than myself from the start. I hated how easily I got played.

“I do understand why Jackalope doesn’t like you.” I said as a cheap shot.

“I am not wrong in my assessments. I make the choices most cannot. I wonder why you could forgive the Hunter and yet you do not like my reasoning.” He answered back in an easy tone.

He brought up a good point. I’ve nearly died twice because of him. He was the one who ordered Jackalope to suggest I spread the word about the Dark God. They did not have Agents strong enough to stop the deaths. Lupa was willing to sacrifice lives to put an end to the deaths at some point. When he assigned that job with The Whisper he knew if I died then it would confirm something supernatural was at work. If they brought on strong Agents, they would not have found the creature before it killed again.

The Hunter shot me and yet I forgave him. I saw some creatures as equal to humans and that man killed them. Lupa made calculated choices and The Hunter acted on emotion. But they both had blood on their hands.

“I forgave him because he cares.” I told him.

Lupa gave me a questioning look but didn’t appear offended. He shuffled the papers in his hands somehow making the action threatening.

“A bold statement to claim I do not care about the lives of my Agents. I want the best for them. And I must keep working. If we are all caught up its best if you head home to your new roommate.” Lupa dismissed me.

“Fiancé.” I corrected on reflex.

He didn’t seem to care either way. Jackalope wasn’t working for him and therefore meant nothing in his eyes. I started to head back through the path wanting to get home. I glanced over at the small creature. I’d met a lot of kindhearted creatures and it nearly made me forget there were real monsters out there. I was glad that Jackalope got away when he did. I feared what would have happened to him if he stayed under Lupa’s control for much longer.

As I walked back through my front door and kicked off my shoes, I found it hard to believe all of this started with some strange deaths. I saw them through to stare directly into the dark. I became scarred from everything that happened and nearly lost my life more than once. Somehow, I got through the other side alive and doing better than before. There would still be bad days. For once I finally thought there would be more of the better days than the hard ones. I still had work to do. A lot more than I might even know. But I knew one important and simple fact.

We’re still here and that’s all that matters.