(no subject)

[cup-of-joey.insanejournal.com]

WHO: Joey, Thomas and then Jamie
WHAT: Breaking the news, and Jamie learns about immortals, hurrah!
WHEN: Sunday
WHERE: Kemps
WARNINGS: Language? Discussion of torture.



By the time Joey had gotten to Lugosi's to warn Lena, it had been too late. Lena was gone and the backstage area had been badly burned. He wasn't even allowed inside, but it didn't take a genius to know what had happened.

After breaking the news to her family, at least Florian and Ilsa as they were people he could actually tell what had happened, Joey went to Patrick and Michael for help. He had been with the saint and the angel for two hours before realising there was someone else he really needed to inform about this.

He knew Thomas was aware of the existence of immortals. Lena had told Joey it made her relationship with him so much easier because she wasn't hiding part of her life from him. Joey had met the man a few times and he seemed really kind and loving, though he knew Thomas was going through a lot. And now he was going to go through more.

He pounded against Thomas' door, not really caring that it was 9 in the morning on a Sunday. Thomas answered, looking a little frazzled, his hair sticking straight up. He didn't, however, demand to know why someone he hardly knew was pounding on his door.

"Joey. Come on in." Thomas stepped aside and Joey darted into the apartment, glad just to get out of the hallway.

"My friends are coming by later. They'll ward this place up."

Thomas blinked and then he went to get Joey a glass of water. Joey was fairly sure he looked well manic. "Here. Let's go sit down." Joey followed Thomas to the living room and he sat, his hands wrapped around the water glass. "Now...what about your friends?"

"Doesn't matter," Joey said, waving his hands around. "Look, there was a fire at Lugosi's-"

"Oh my god!" Thomas said, suddenly much mess calm than he had seemed a moment ago. "Did everyone get out okay? Is Lena hurt?"

"The fire didn't hurt anyone and they can rebuild. It's fine. Thomas- I-" Joey put the glass down on the coffee table and he ran his fingers through his hair. "Lucifer took Lena. He took her and it's all my fault."

Joey had been expecting yelling and screaming and weeping, but Thomas just sat there and stared at him, one eyebrow raised delicately high.

"He just saw us talking. I'm sorry!"

Thomas licked his lips and then he shook his head. "I'm sorry, what?!"

"Last year Lucifer...took me. Kept me prisoner for weeks."

"Lena told me," Thomas interjected, and there was the panic Joey had been expecting. Thomas had moved to the front of his seat now.

"He said he was bored," Joey lamented. "And he was going to teach me a lesson or something. He took her and I'm so, so sorry! I told Michael and Saint Patrick but we can't do anything because he'll just keep her longer!"

Thomas rubbed his eyes before wrapping his long arms around himself. "You're telling me that Lucifer has my girlfriend, and there's shit all we can do about it?" Joey just nodded. "Fuck. Fuck!" Thomas rose from his chair and he started frantically pacing the apartment. "Fuck. He didn't kill you. He didn't kill you so maybe-"

"He sees killing as a mercy," Joey admitted quietly, and he knew he certainly had felt that way when he had been there. God, his poor Lena. "He won't be that kind."

He watched as Thomas froze and his face crumpled. The man hung his head in the middle of his own living room and Joey didn't know what to do. There was no comfort to be offered here. Joey had been through Hell and he had no words to calm Thomas.

"So we just...have to wait?" Thomas said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Yeah," Joey nodded. "And it fucking sucks." He had been so angry with Patrick for not rescuing him and now here he was in Patrick's situation and it was horrible.

"Shit, Jamie-" Joey watched as it seemed like Thomas reanimated and strode back to his son's bedroom door. Thomas knocked on it unrelentingly. "Jameson! We need to talk! Jamie!" Joey just clenched his teeth. This was not the ideal way to be woken up on a Sunday morning...

Comments

[flare-star.insanejournal.com]

Jamie had been curled up in bed, dead to the world, when he heard the pounding. At first he thought it was part of his dream, but it didn't let up. He sat up, blinking, and stumbled to the door. "Dad?" he asked, bleary-eyed and half-asleep. "'S going on?"

[thomas_kemp]

He had known Jamie was safe in his bed, but that didn't mean he didn't pull Jamie into a tight hug the second he saw his son anyway. Knowing Lena was in danger had him feeling intensely overprotective. "I'm sorry, I know it's early. I have to talk to you."

[flare-star.insanejournal.com]

Jamie hugged him back on instinct, trying not to yawn in his dad's face. "Alright," he said, pulling on a shirt. "What happened?"

[thomas_kemp]

Thomas beckoned him out to the living room where Joey was waiting, looking slightly terrified.

"Joey, if you want to get some sleep you can take a nap in my room," Thomas said, since Joseph looked absolutely wrecked. "I'm assuming it's safe. I'll let Michael in when he gets here."

Joey nodded and he walked into the bedroom Thomas pointed to, falling into the other man's bed, though it was doubtful he would actually sleep.

"That was Joey," Thomas said to Jamie as he collapsed onto the sofa in a terrified heap. "He's a friend of Lena's. She's...she's been taken."

[flare-star.insanejournal.com]

Jamie watched Joey go, his brain trying to keep up with everything he was being told.

"Wait, what?" he asked. "Taken, like kidnapped? Did you call the police?"

[thomas_kemp]

Thomas sighed and he rubbed at his temples. How in the hell was he supposed to just dump this on his son? Jamie needed to know now though. It wasn't a matter of just finding out something strange about life, this was a matter of his safety.

"There's a detective coming by later, but it's...more complicated than that. I have to tell you some things and they're not going to be easy to hear. You just have to trust me, can you do that?"

[flare-star.insanejournal.com]

Jamie felt cold all over, and his heart tried to take up residence in his throat. He sat down in the armchair across from the sofa, curling up in it and resting his chin on his knees. "You know I trust you, Dad," he said. "But I can't lie, you're kind of freaking me out a little."

[thomas_kemp]

"I know. I'm being like dramatic movie guy. Argh," Thomas ran his hands through his hair and then he leaned forward so he could watch Jamie's reaction. He would explain where Lena was in a moment. First he had to introduce the idea carefully.

"There's...people- Fuck this is hard. Uhm. Right, you know my friend Clea? The truth is that she's actually...er...Sappho. The Greek poet. Which I know sounds absolutely ridiculous, but it's true. And Joey back there...he's friends with Saint Patrick. Uhm. The Saint Patrick. And I know you might think I'm telling you this because I've lost my mind or something, but that's...that's not the case."

[flare-star.insanejournal.com]

Jamie's face went blank as his brain piped up 'does not compute'. He knew his dad would never lie to him, but at the same time, the idea that someone like Sappho was still alive, and sharing a city with Saint Patrick...that was really hard to wrap his mind around.

"It does sound pretty...far-fetched," he said at last.

[thomas_kemp]

"I know. Clea explained it to me years ago and I didn't believe it for months until she introduced me to Hermes and- Everything I say makes it sound crazier. I know that, but I have to tell you now because these beings are out there and not all of them are nice."

[flare-star.insanejournal.com]

"And one of these...beings," Jamie said. "They took Lena?" He still didn't believe it, not fully, anyway. But there was a ring of...something in his father's voice that made it hard to write off what he was saying.

[thomas_kemp]

Thomas nodded, watching Jamie carefully. "And I wish I didn't have to tell you, but now it's too close to home. Joey was taken last year by the same person and it appears he took Lena to mess with Joey more." He just really didn't want to say who Lena had been taken by, and he knew he had to. At least, for the moment, he was focused on Jamie and not on his pure terror for the sake of his girlfriend.

[flare-star.insanejournal.com]

"As far as horrible tactics to mess with a person go, that seems to be working," Jamie said. He was wide awake now, however much he might have wished this was just a bad dream he was having. "But they let Joey go...maybe they'll let Lena go too?" He was grasping at straws, and he knew it.

[thomas_kemp]

"That's what Joey says," Thomas stood and he started pacing. "And I know she's strong, but-" He felt sick to his stomach at the very idea of someone hurting Lena. "The person who has Lena...it's Lucifer. Just in case you didn't think this could get any more fucked up."

[flare-star.insanejournal.com]

"Lucifer," Jamie said, his voice flat and bland. "As in, 'Sympathy For The Devil', rebelled against God and fell from Heaven?" His head was starting to spin. "That is really high on the 'fucked up' scale."

[thomas_kemp]

"You're telling me," Thomas whispered. "And I don't know what to do other than freak out!" His hands were flapping about and he started to pace more quickly. "Oh and there's an archangel coming over! So that should be terrifying."

[flare-star.insanejournal.com]

"Of course there is," Jamie said faintly. "Because hey, the Devil's running around the city, the only logical thing to happen is that an archangel is coming over."

[thomas_kemp]

Thomas went to go put his hand on Jamie's shoulder so he could give it a gentle squeeze. "I'm sorry to dump this on you," he said sadly. "I really am. I couldn't keep it from you with this going on."

[flare-star.insanejournal.com]

Jamie still felt like someone had punched him in the gut. "Hell of a thing to spring on me when I just woke up," he said at last. "But, uhm, why is an archangel coming to our house?"

[thomas_kemp]

"I know, and if I could have avoided that I would have." It wasn't exactly nice to have the knowledge that his girlfriend was off and likely being tortured greet him in the morning either. "The angel is the detective and apparently he's going to do something to keep bad people out? I don't really understand it. I only really knew Sappho and then all of a sudden I'm surrounded by people who are telling me about Lewis Carroll and Michael the archangel and Lucifer and all I want to do is go help Lena but anything we do will just make him keep her longer!"

Thomas took a deep breath after that, having clearly gotten more and more worked up while he talked. "I'm sorry, I'm not upset with you. I'm just...panicking."

[flare-star.insanejournal.com]

"OK, I'm just picturing Hermione casting spells to protect our house, like she did in Deathly Hallows," Jamie said, a couple of nervous giggles escaping. It wasn't funny, nothing about this was funny in the least, but this, to him, was better than freaking out. "Erm. Sorry."

"I know you're not," he added quietly. "I can't even imagine what it's like inside your head right now."

[thomas_kemp]

"You have nothing to apologise for," he assured his son. "I just have no idea how to just be...helpless in a situation like this."

There was a knock on the door and Thomas strode over to answer it. He had never met Michael, but he had put together that this was Victor's former partner. He could just tell the man felt different when Michael walked past him. "Er...I'm Thomas Kemp."

"Michael Angel. Is Joseph here?" Michael said, casting his grey eyes on Thomas. Suddenly Thomas felt about three inches tall.

"He's resting. Lena is my girlfriend. He said you were going to...protect the house or something?"

Michael nodded and he looked past Thomas to Jamie, raising a hand to wave. "Hello. I'm Michael."

[flare-star.insanejournal.com]

"Hello," Jamie said faintly, lifting his hand and waving back. Because really, what else could he do? An archangel was standing in the doorway, and he was waving like a goof. His life had just gotten a lot fucking weirder.

[thomas_kemp]

"Sorry. This is my son, Jamie. Jamie, this is Michael. He was Victor's partner. I think?" He turned to Michael for confirmation and Michael nodded. "I've just told Jamie about this all now because of what happened to Lena. Can- Why can't you just go get her?"

"Lucifer has wards around his building which mean I can't enter. And any attempt I make to rescue her will just make him hold on longer. I know it's frustrating."

"Frustrating?!" Thomas yelled, a bit too loudly. "It's not frustrating, it's fucking terrible!"

[flare-star.insanejournal.com]

"Dad. Dad," Jamie said, getting up and going to stand next to his father. "Yelling at the angel will not help, especially one that's here to help." He blinked. "Such a weird sentence," he said, mostly to himself.

"I'm going to make some coffee," he said. "Michael, would you like some?"

[thomas_kemp]

Thomas rubbed at his eye as Jamie reminded him not to yell at angels. It was rare his once epic temper flared up these days, but it was hardly surprising that this kind of situation could bring it out. "Sorry," he said to Michael, sounded a bit embarrassed.

"I understand," Michael said with a wave of his hand. "Could I have four sugars please?" he asked Jamie. "I like sugar. And then I'll set up wards for your doors. I've already sent some from our side to watch Lucifer's house. The moment he lets her go, they'll get her. And he will," Michael assured them. "He will let her go if we stay as calm as possible and make no demands."

[flare-star.insanejournal.com]

"Sure thing," Jamie said, heading to the setting the and setting the coffee to brewing. "An angel with a sweet tooth," he said softly to himself. It made him smile slightly as the coffee dripped into the pot.

He poured three mugs and fixed Michael's like he'd asked, then his and his father's. He passed them out and took his former seat in the armchair, the better to not get in the way of whatever Michael had to do.

[thomas_kemp]

Michael sipped at his coffee and Thomas simply set his aside. "So...so he'll let her go but he kept Joey for, what- Three weeks?"

Michael looked like he didn't want to answer. "I think it was around that long, yes."

"And he had to have several surgeries just to fix his wrists? What's he going to do to her?" Thomas looked desperate and he was shocked when Michael took hold of his shoulders.

"You have to have faith, Thomas."

Thomas felt rage fill his chest and it showed on his face that he was inches away from yelling again. It was just fortunate that Michael turned to start with his wards, so he didn't even notice. Thomas hissed several swear words under his breath and he went to go sit on the sofa. He wished Jamie couldn't see him like this.

[flare-star.insanejournal.com]

Jamie got up and moved to sit next to his dad. One arm went around his shoulders, and he rested his head on the shoulder closest to him. "It'll be OK, Dad," he said quietly. "And I know I don't know that for sure, but clinging to that hope is a lot better to the alternative, don't you think?"

[thomas_kemp]

Nothing deflated Thomas' temper like Jamie, and as his son put his arm around him, Thomas settled down. "You're right, it is. I just hate thinking about what could be happening to her."

He lapsed into silence and then beside them, Michael set to work, causing his wings to manifest with a sound a little like static.

"Holy shit," Thomas gasped, because he had never seen an angel's wings before.