Farrington-Gores: An attack dog for hire

‘Hey, Hazel.’

‘Oh, hey… I didn’t realise it’d be both of you.’

‘Don’t worry, I’m not gonna blow up on you this time. Things have changed since then.’

‘Thanks. You’re right, things are different.’

‘Right. And since Hazel is Wednesday’s girlfriend, it makes sense to call a truce, right?’

‘Yeah. Though I dunno how the triplets would feel about it.’

‘Probably a lot harder to convince. But still! It's early days.’

‘That makes sense… Well, maybe one day. So, what did you want to see me for?’

‘Well, I know it’s a bit cheeky, but I was wondering if you were prepared to help me out again.’

‘Uh, is this for another attempted murder?’

‘No, just a regular beating.’

‘On Tate?’

‘One of his allies. This guy Austin tried to beat me up over the whole meteor thing.’

‘Oh, shit… Are you alright?’

‘Yeah, he didn’t manage to get to us.’

‘Someone I know warned us about it in time.’

‘That’s something. So… is this the first time he’s physically attacked any of you directly?’

‘Apart from the fire. But I dunno if he knew Auntie Raya and Logan were abroad. If he did, then it’s “just” arson and sending a message. If he didn’t… that’s attempted murder.’

‘Look… I’m sorry for what happened, but judging by what happened last time, I’d be reluctant to get on board even for Tate again. I don’t know this Austin. No offence, but why should I risk getting into trouble over him?’

‘I know… It’s just that we feel stuck. He hasn’t just gone after me. He assaulted Jude, put Heath’s mum in the hospital and is the abusive ex of one of the women we know. He’s got a really long history of violence against women.’

‘Oh, Jesus…’

‘It’s true. The prick’s dating my mum, too, to make it worse.’

‘We just don’t want him or Grandad to get away with it.’

‘Ugh… Do you want us to go after Tate again? Teach him a lesson?’

‘No, not “us”. Edward would be really fucking mad at me if he heard I’d enticed your dad into violence.’

‘Yeah, he doesn’t need much enticing… but I get it. I don’t think I can help you out, though. Sorry.’

‘I know I shouldn’t have asked. I wayyyy pushed my luck last time, and I ought to keep my head down.’

‘We knew it’d be a long shot. You’re not our personal attack dog for hire. We’re just fucking fed up of being helpless.’

‘And it feels like we’re stuck in a cycle of violence. I never used to give a shit about that, but… right now it seems one side hurts the other, the other gets back at them and it just escalates. Until what? Someone ends up dead? If that happened… I’d hope it wasn’t one of you.’

‘That’s why I wanted to kill Grandad, so it’d be over. Instead, I screwed it up, and he’s alive to get revenge. Which he did. Or tried to, at least.’

‘You weren’t asking me to go after Tate, though. Going after one of his allies doesn’t hurt him. You know he only cares about himself.’

‘Maybe if it was accompanied by a threat, like “this’ll be you if you don’t leave us alone?”’

‘I like that idea, but does it work? Do you think Tate would take it to heart and change his ways? I think you were right that death is the only permanent solution.’

‘Well, obviously, but maybe it’d buy us some time? A temporary truce? A reprieve, of sorts?’

‘That’d be better than nothing.’

‘Yeah, I see your point.’

*ring ring*

‘Oh, that’s me.’

‘Hello? Dad?’

‘Where are you, Hazel?’

‘Still in Sunset Valley, why?’

‘Okay, good. Don’t go back home. Abraxas is after me, he had one of his cronies stalk me all this time and it turns out he was gathering intel on me, to try to plan my death.’

‘What? How did you find out?’

‘Rikard took him back for a bit of interrogation. He told us himself.’

‘”Interrogation?”’

‘It’s fine, he cracked before anything happened. Anyway, he knows where we live, so don’t go back today. I’d hate to think of Abraxas doing anything to you to try to hurt me. Rikard and I are going to go to Devil’s Port and sort out this little problem, okay?’

‘What, now? You’re not going to rush into this, are you?’

‘I’d rather not hang around for too long. Abraxas will know the game is up once his little friend gets back to him and I don’t want to give him too much time to prepare.’

‘Alright. What do you want me to do?’

‘You could stay with Wednesday tonight if it’s not an issue for them. If it is, go back to Lástima.’

‘Will do. Thanks for the heads up.’

‘Not a problem. Love you, see you later.’

‘Bye, Dad.’

‘What was all that about?’

‘Abraxas is going after Dad, so he’s decided to go after Abraxas first.’

‘Whoa, holy shit! I didn’t realise your dad had beef with Abraxas…’

‘Well, Dad’s always hated the idea of him ever since I told him what he did, but I’d bet this is something to do with Tate.’

‘That wouldn’t surprise me… Wow.’

‘Look, I’ll get back to you guys on the topic of Austin, okay? I’m gonna have to go up to Wednesday’s.’

‘Sure. Thanks for listening.’

‘It’s alright. See you later.’

‘Ah, hello! How lovely to see you again. Please, come in!’

‘Oh, hi. Sorry I didn’t call ahead. I just got urgent news.’

‘Oh. Oh dear, I’m sorry to hear that. Presumably you’re here to visit Wednesday? She’s upstairs right now, I believe she’s currently lost in her own little literary world.’

‘Yeah, but I think you’ll want to hear it, too. It’s about Abraxas.’

‘...Ah. That figures. Well, would you mind keeping an eye on the girls while I fetch Wednesday? It would probably be prudent not to yell up the stairs, especially as she might not even hear it; it’d be of no surprise if she had headphones on. And well, the last time I left those two alone to go and check on something for five seconds, Jezebeth was ever so kind as to grab my dinner off the table and throw it onto the floor. Kids!’

‘Oh, right. Sure.’

‘I won’t be long, I promise!’

‘Wednesday?’

‘Hey.’

‘Oh good, I wasn’t sure if you’d have headphones on. Come downstairs a minute, won’t you? Hazel’s here, she says there’s some urgent news involving Father.’

‘...Oh no.’

‘My thoughts exactly.’

‘Hey.’

‘So, what has the ridiculous overgrown pubic louse of a man done this time?’

‘Well, I got a phone call from Dad not long ago. He said that one of Abraxas’ allies had been stalking him.’

‘Oh. What for?’

‘Who is your father? Having been out of the loop for so long, I don’t know what mine’s up to these days, other than general mayhem and misery causing.’

‘Oh, um. It’s a long story. Dad and Tate are sworn enemies. He said the guy he caught was working for Abraxas and managed to get him to tell him he was gathering intel on him so they could plan to kill him, presumably on Tate’s behalf.’

‘Oh God. Presumably you know that he has a particular preference for considerable cruelty, as well… So whatever he’s planning, it should be completely ceased. I don’t suppose you’re aware of which perfidious pest Father assigned to this task?’

‘No, he didn’t say who it was. But the thing is, Dad’s already planning to go down to Devil’s Port himself to confront Abraxas.’

‘Oh no…’

‘Ooof. How likely do you think you’d be able to talk him out of it? Going to Devil’s Port is not a particularly pleasant prospect at the best of times, and honestly, damn dangerous.’

‘Um, I think Mr Atwood will be able to look after himself okay…’

‘He’s going with Rikard. My uncle, big red demon. I don’t think he can be dissuaded from this.’

‘...I suppose that does put an extra position of power in your father’s favour. He’s aware that Abraxas has supernatural forces on his own side?’

‘Yeah, he does, but I’m not sure if he’s really prepared for it. Rikard is strong, but…’

‘If he can’t be persuaded to call it off, he should at least delay it until he knows exactly what he’s doing, and has a solid plan. Going into Abraxas’ lair isn’t something to take lightly; you should let him know there are things that linger on his side that even the mightiest mind can struggle to take in. Not to say that descriptor applies to me, but I’m still not quite over the whole ORTOS deal.’

‘You’re right. Dad didn’t hurt or kill the guy and he said they let him go, so he said he didn’t want to give Abraxas too much time to prepare.’

‘Ahh… An understandable line of thought.’

‘How has Indigo’s plans to disrupt Abraxas’ life been going, anyway?’

‘Um, it’s been waylaid a bit. She’s been distracted with all this wedding stuff… And… maybe this is bad of me, but I kind of haven’t wanted to remind her, either…’

‘I can’t really blame you for that. I’ll call him back, then, persuade him to wait. He’s got somewhere else to stay, anyway, he told me not to go home in case I wasn’t safe.’

‘Oh, for God’s sake… I’m sorry my imbecile of a father is causing these problems for you and yours.’

‘You could always stay here, with us…?’

‘If that’s okay, I’d like to.’

‘Well, there’s another spare room that’s not the one I’m currently staying in; there’s certainly space to support another person, so even if this were my house, I’d have no objections.’