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“Dad, you’re not listening to me.”

Steven Windemere looked across the coffee table at his eldest child, watching as she paced a line into the carpet. The last two years had changed his daughter drastically. He remembered a time when her hair was tightly curled in golden ringlets, and she never wore this look, this crazed look of determination. Sure, she’d had a determined look, but there was a difference between that look that she wore at those times – intelligent, quizzical, searching and intent – and the one she had adopted slowly in the last twenty four months – crazed, biased, and while intent, not in the intent on sane success, but intent on blood, intent of vengeance, intent on some sort of disturbed sense of justice she seemed to have been injected with by her new friends.

“Lorelai, how can I listen to you? You’re sounding insane, really. Are you even listening to yourself?” he shook his head, hanging it between his shoulders, and running a hand back through his thinning hair. “I mean...Your brother, honestly?”

Lorelai snorted, stomped her foot on the carpet, flicked a bit of her chemically straightened, bleached nearly white hair back over her shoulder. “Yes, that thing that used to be my brother.”

Oh yes. That was the new term. That thing. Steven resisted a groan of annoyance at that. Sure, his children had never really been like he’d been with his siblings. They’d always sort of held each other’s successes against the other. Thorn resented Lorelai’s honour rolls, Lorelai was always jealous of Thorn’s natural ability to befriend anything that was worth befriending, from people to animals. Then again, Lorelai had never been as straight forward about her jealousy with her brother’s ability as he had been with his over her natural ability to excel.

Maybe this was how fate compensated. By making her absolutely fanatical over dealing with his sudden...powers.

“Lorelai, stop it. He is your brother, he is not ‘that thing’. He was your brother, he is your brother, and he will continue to be your brother. So knock off this ridiculous behaviour. I will not stand for it.” Steven finished, getting to his feet. Honestly, he could almost feel his hair falling out over this.

“No, dad. Listen,” Lorelai steepled her fingers together, poising them just under her chin, her blue eyes sliding closed as she breathed out slowly. “That-...He. Thorn. He isn’t the same being he was. I doubt he ever was. I think it was all an act, all of it. I mean, look at what he does now. He’s a demon. He’s been touched, and not by an angel. By the devil himself, dad. He is an abom--”

“Lorelai.”

“An abomination, dad. Worthless scum. No one but the Father, God Almighty, should be able to be in one place and then another without much effort, for God is everywhere. No other being should have that ability.”

She lifted her chin as she spoke, as though she was in no way aware of how insane she sounded, how fanatical and how much of an eliminationist she was coming off as. She really looked intent on this thought process, didn’t look like she was gonna give it up for the world.

“Lore, baby, please, listen to me. Thorn is completely normal in what he does. I mean, look at all the students in the school he goes to. They--”

It seemed, though, that he’d given her the wrong set of words, just then, as her eyes flicked open and she launched into another rant. “Yes! That school, dad, that school. It’s full of abominations like him. Shapeshifters...Werewolves! Vampires! And...and...Demons! Demons, dad! In all shapes and sizes! You’re telling me that that school is normal?!”

“There are angels there too, Lorelai.”

“Not enough. And they are probably all on the verge of falling anyway, how could they stand to be in a school with those demons and tainted beings, and...” she threw her hands up in disgust. “It’s a gathering of disastrous freaks and the children of the adversary, dad. And Thorn is smack in the middle of it. And happy! And...He’s having gay sex with a Japanese demon--”

“Now, Shunsuke is a kitsune, I doubt very much that he is in any way a demon.”

“He’s damn well close enough to.”

Steven rubbed a hand over his jaw, scratching at his stubble. He needed a shave. And a good night’s sleep. Or maybe a stiff drink.

“And another thing. His...relationship preferences,” she shook her head stiffly again. “Another abomination against the Lord.”

Steven was slapping her hands out of their makeshift steeple, glaring hard at her. “Young lady, I will not tolerate that language, that talk, in this house.”

Lorelai’s eyes hardened, and she stepped back, plucked the violet tinted sunglasses from her head and slid them on. “Fine, then, father. You go ahead and believe that Thorn is good and pure, and whatever else you seem to find that abomination able to be. You’ll see. We’re going to prove it to you, and to all of them like you. Prove that they’re abominations, the children of the adversary, and deserve to be eliminated.”

And with that, she turned on her heel, hair in its tight ponytail swinging as she marched down the hall into the foyer, pushing out through the screen door of the house, letting it bang against the frame.

Steven put his head in his hands, wanting to cry. What had happened to his family? Why had his children grown to hate each other so much? Or, at least, why had his daughter become some sort of...crazed soldier for the Lord?

He raised his eyes, letting them roam over the image of the three of them, five years ago, grinning, loving, a family...While trying hard to ignore the rumble of the sports car engine in the driveway, that guy’s car, the one who had become Lorelai’s guide in her new life...And trying to remember his family as it had been.

That was becoming harder every day.

Description
“Dad, you’re not listening to me.”

Steven Windemere looked across the coffee table at his eldest child, watching as she paced a line into the carpet. The last two years had changed his daughter drastically. He remembered a time when her hair was tightly curled in golden ringlets, and she never wore this look, this crazed look of determination. Sure, she’d had a determined look, but there was a difference between that look that she wore at those times – intelligent, quizzical, searching and intent – and the one she had adopted slowly in the last twenty four months – crazed, biased, and while intent, not in the intent on sane success, but intent on blood, intent of vengeance, intent on some sort of disturbed sense of justice she seemed to have been injected with by her new friends.

“Lorelai, how can I listen to you? You’re sounding insane, really. Are you even listening to yourself?” he shook his head, hanging it between his shoulders, and running a hand back through his thinning hair. “I mean...Your brother, honestly?”

Lorelai snorted, stomped her foot on the carpet, flicked a bit of her chemically straightened, bleached nearly white hair back over her shoulder. “Yes, that thing that used to be my brother.”

Oh yes. That was the new term. That thing. Steven resisted a groan of annoyance at that. Sure, his children had never really been like he’d been with his siblings. They’d always sort of held each other’s successes against the other. Thorn resented Lorelai’s honour rolls, Lorelai was always jealous of Thorn’s natural ability to befriend anything that was worth befriending, from people to animals. Then again, Lorelai had never been as straight forward about her jealousy with her brother’s ability as he had been with his over her natural ability to excel.

Maybe this was how fate compensated. By making her absolutely fanatical over dealing with his sudden...powers.

“Lorelai, stop it. He is your brother, he is not ‘that thing’. He was your brother, he is your brother, and he will continue to be your brother. So knock off this ridiculous behaviour. I will not stand for it.” Steven finished, getting to his feet. Honestly, he could almost feel his hair falling out over this.

“No, dad. Listen,” Lorelai steepled her fingers together, poising them just under her chin, her blue eyes sliding closed as she breathed out slowly. “That-...He. Thorn. He isn’t the same being he was. I doubt he ever was. I think it was all an act, all of it. I mean, look at what he does now. He’s a demon. He’s been touched, and not by an angel. By the devil himself, dad. He is an abom--”

“Lorelai.”

“An abomination, dad. Worthless scum. No one but the Father, God Almighty, should be able to be in one place and then another without much effort, for God is everywhere. No other being should have that ability.”

She lifted her chin as she spoke, as though she was in no way aware of how insane she sounded, how fanatical and how much of an eliminationist she was coming off as. She really looked intent on this thought process, didn’t look like she was gonna give it up for the world.

“Lore, baby, please, listen to me. Thorn is completely normal in what he does. I mean, look at all the students in the school he goes to. They--”

It seemed, though, that he’d given her the wrong set of words, just then, as her eyes flicked open and she launched into another rant. “Yes! That school, dad, that school. It’s full of abominations like him. Shapeshifters...Werewolves! Vampires! And...and...Demons! Demons, dad! In all shapes and sizes! You’re telling me that that school is normal?!”

“There are angels there too, Lorelai.”

“Not enough. And they are probably all on the verge of falling anyway, how could they stand to be in a school with those demons and tainted beings, and...” she threw her hands up in disgust. “It’s a gathering of disastrous freaks and the children of the adversary, dad. And Thorn is smack in the middle of it. And happy! And...He’s having gay sex with a Japanese demon--”

“Now, Shunsuke is a kitsune, I doubt very much that he is in any way a demon.”

“He’s damn well close enough to.”

Steven rubbed a hand over his jaw, scratching at his stubble. He needed a shave. And a good night’s sleep. Or maybe a stiff drink.

“And another thing. His...relationship preferences,” she shook her head stiffly again. “Another abomination against the Lord.”

Steven was slapping her hands out of their makeshift steeple, glaring hard at her. “Young lady, I will not tolerate that language, that talk, in this house.”

Lorelai’s eyes hardened, and she stepped back, plucked the violet tinted sunglasses from her head and slid them on. “Fine, then, father. You go ahead and believe that Thorn is good and pure, and whatever else you seem to find that abomination able to be. You’ll see. We’re going to prove it to you, and to all of them like you. Prove that they’re abominations, the children of the adversary, and deserve to be eliminated.”

And with that, she turned on her heel, hair in its tight ponytail swinging as she marched down the hall into the foyer, pushing out through the screen door of the house, letting it bang against the frame.

Steven put his head in his hands, wanting to cry. What had happened to his family? Why had his children grown to hate each other so much? Or, at least, why had his daughter become some sort of...crazed soldier for the Lord?

He raised his eyes, letting them roam over the image of the three of them, five years ago, grinning, loving, a family...While trying hard to ignore the rumble of the sports car engine in the driveway, that guy’s car, the one who had become Lorelai’s guide in her new life...And trying to remember his family as it had been.

That was becoming harder every day.