moonshadows | TBTT later: Show them what you are

Finally, the see-sawing back and forth gets to be too much to bear. Whatever happens, this has to be done.

“Tessa.” The word cuts through the cheerful babble and every eye is on him. Yes, that’s fear in the corners of their eyes. They’re wondering if he’ll snap at last.

“Yes, Kal’shan?” The half-demon, at least, is unafraid.

“Show them what you are.” His voice is hard, his eyes cold and demanding.

“We know what she is,” the older woman says dismissively, putting truth to her words by not batting an eyelash as the teenage girl sheds her disguise. “Joshie brought her here one day – poor little lamb – and told us her story.” She sniffs disapprovingly. “Horrible way to treat a little girl.”

This is unexpected. “You truly knew her nature, then? All this time?”

Joshua’s father smiles tolerantly. “Of course.”

“And still you welcomed her into your family…still you treated her as if she were your human grandchild. Why?”

“What, we should throw a child out into the cold because she’s got wings and horns?” Tessa’s grandmother snaps. “We’re not-“ the word ‘monsters’ crosses her mind, but what she says is, “that cruel.”

“She’s hardly a child,” he says, then stumbles to a halt as a thousand echoes of she’s just a child rustle ominously. He shoves them down. “She’s a demon, trained in the arts of pain and conquest. Weren’t you afraid of what she could do?”

“Oh, I won’t say it wasn’t a bit nerve-wracking in the beginning,” Donald says, but his wife cuts him off.

“She was a wild thing, never had any real parenting. Never had a decent family.” Evie sniffs disdainfully again. “Just needed some good old-fashioned mothering to set her straight and sweeten her temper.” At his startled look, she grins slyly. “Just like you needed a friend to sweeten yours.”

The desire for acceptance is a painful constriction in his chest. Before he can talk himself out of it, he drops his illusions and braces for their reaction. Joshua looks concerned, but the motion of his eyes indicates that it is his mother’s potential reaction that concerns him. Donald looks startled and a little alarmed, but to his credit he simply presses his lips firmly together and nods once in acknowledgment.

“Thought so,” Tessa’s grandmother says with unimpressed serenity, startling everyone. Then she squints at him. “The blindfold’s very pretty – is that your work, Tessa sweetling? – but why are you wearing it?”

Beside him, Tessa stiffens in response to his reaction, but his arm tightening around her keeps her silent. He’s having a hard enough time accepting these people not cringing away in horror; the possibility that his eyes don’t bother them is too much to deal with right now. “Habit,” he says shortly, trying to keep his voice even, and they nod. “You suspected…?”

The older woman flushes slightly. “You reminded me of Tessa when she was younger and just couldn’t believe that a couple of strangers could care about the person behind the fangs and claws. That, and the way she latched onto you, defended you…it just made sense.” Suddenly, her expression firms into stern resolve. “Don’t think this means anything’s changed, buster,” she chides. “You’re still expected to eat all your vegetables, and there will still be no funny business in this house, you understand?”

He understands now why Tessa tolerates the melodrama. Such mundane concerns are a relief from reality, a temporary illusion that he is not a monster. Almost without realizing it, he finds himself smiling. “I understand.”