"Fair enough," Cole shrugged. Kid was honest, at least. He raised an eyebrow at the second part of the exchange though - maybe a bit too honest for his own good.
"Well," he said, figuring he'd extend the same courtesy. "When you work a 12-hour shift, and come home to a family where two are in open mutiny, and the other is a recent addition you didn't know existed up until this week, and you can look like you've stepped off the catwalk, I'd like to know your secret."
He softened the tone with a small, tired smile. Quite frankly, it was all going to hell in a handbasket, but Julian didn't need to know that. Oversharing, such as it was, could be worse than secrecy. Cole knew that all too well.
"That is the million-dollar question, partner," he said, his voice low, and the Southern drawl of his accent pronounced as he drew the words out. "Kinda hopin' that it's a few kids in heavy make up, listenin' to too much rock music. But you know, got a feelin' that it ain't."
Truth be told, the level of shadowkind activity had been more than a little alarming in this city. True, it was a city, and would therefore attract more attention from the creatures, but he'd encountered, or someone he knew had encountered, more in a few weeks than he had done in years. That wasn't even factoring in the fucking witch hunters either.
"Whatever it is, if there's an open door between our world and theirs, it'll be up to us to close it again," he said, before motioning with the still-inert flashlight.
"Up ahead, that's where one of the first sightings was."