Seven Devils

Lucas was, if nothing else, a creature of habit. He shopped in the same store roughly the same time each week. He tended to pick up the same products and the same foods even if he didn’t always eat the same thing and did attempt to spice it up. He pushed his cart through the store, listening to the muzak that was playing through the tinny speakers and tapping his fingers on the handle of the cart, rings clinking gently against the thick plastic.

Glancing up as he dropped a small plastic container of oregano into his cart, he spotted the long-haired blonde that he had regularly done the grocery-store dance with. They tended to shop at the same time, it seemed, at least once a week. He offered the guy a smile and turned his cart around because he didn’t want it to look like he was following Christian.

The third time it happened, though, he was perusing chia seeds and granola in the health food aisle. He put the box down and tipped his head at Christian, hip cocked slightly to the side as he said, “I’m definitely not following you,” he waved his hand demonstratively. “I was definitely in this aisle first.”

Christian had also spotted Lucas who he saw frequently when grocery shopping and smirked in response to the greeting he was given because what were the chances? Still, it definitely made things interesting. Food shopping was not the most exciting thing to be doing after all, but needs must.

He’d strayed into the health food aisle and was currently trailing his fingertips across a selection of protein powders which ranged in flavour from something as normal as strawberry to something as weird as papaya.

A prickling across the back of his neck had Christian turning his head to rest a steely blue gaze on Lucas, a soft snort escaping him a second later. “Are you sure about that?”

“Yep,” Lucas said with a decisive nod of his head. “I was definitely here first.” He waved his hand around the boxes of granola. The other one was tucked under his arm. “We have to stop meeting like this,” he added with a little smirk, pushing his glasses up his nose. “People are gonna talk.”

He picked up the granola again and squinted at the box before replacing it. His body might not be a temple to Adonis but he wasn’t going to turn himself into a temple to Buddha by letting something with that sugar content into his system. Detox teas were bad enough.

“It’d be on everyone’s lips. The clandestine grocery store affair.”

“So what exactly are you looking for?” Christian inquired all too innocently as he watched Lucas regard a box of granola with akin to horror written across his very expressive face or so Christian had learned during their many grocery store encounters.

He put a couple things into his trolley and snorted softly. “Everybody loves gossip after all. I mean, it happens how many times a week?” He smirked as he glanced over at Lucas. “What do you think is the most scandalous thing they think about it?”

The hunter snagged a couple boxes of seeds as well the birds in his garden had to eat.

Lucas wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and then chuckled at himself. “I’m sure they’re wondering who’s house we spend our time at, or who we’ve got at home that we’re avoiding to have our illicit shop affair?”

Looking up at the shelves again, Lucas just lifted his shoulder, like he’d been caught out. “I’m just… browsing. For things. Health things. In the health aisle.”

Christian tipped his head to regard what Lucas had in his cart, a smirk playing at the edge of his lips. “Yes, lots of health things.” He even went so far as to fish out a bottle of wine and a huge selection of chocolate. “I can see that.”

He chuckled as he replaced them in the cart and looked at Lucas. “I guess it depends on who has the nicer place.”

“Look under the chocolates, Christian,” Lucas chastised. “There’s some fresh vegetables there. You don’t get to judge me.” Though it was playful, Lucas wasn’t really that bothered. Besides, the food in his cart wasn’t really the thing that sustained him. “Some of us need to eat our emotions instead of just purging them out over a weight machine.”

He waved his hand in Christian’s direction demonstratively. “Obviously it works very well for you but some of us just do not have the constitution for that kind of physical exercise.”

His lips quirked upwards. “I’ve never seen your place, so I can’t really judge if it’s nicer than mine or not.”

Christian bit back a laugh as he gave the remaining items in the cart a cursory glance and nodded. “Oh, yes, sorry, I missed those… carrots.” His lips twitched into a playful smile as Lucas waved his hand demonstratively while giving him a compliment in regards to his physique but he did nothing to correct the assumption that he was some sort of gym freak because the truth was not easily shared. You didn’t go around advertising you were a hunter if you valued your life or the lives of the people you held dear.

“I guess that’s a good point. Maybe one of these days we should remedy that?”

Lucas looked surprised, and then pleased with himself. “Maybe we should, better give some truth to those rumours after all.” He tilted his head and lifted a shoulder. “Besides, maybe you can give me some tips on what I’m clearly doing wrong with my shopping.”

He waved his hand and added, “Healthy things.”

Christian ducked his head as he tried his best to hide an amused smile though he didn’t quite manage to wipe it off his face by the time he looked back up at Lucas. “Might even cook dinner, show you how all the healthy things are supposed to be used.”

He reached up past Lucas’ shoulder and snagged a pack of rice cakes.

“I mean, if you trust me to cook you dinner?”

Lucas’ own smile was a little impish as he looked up at Christian and he just lifted a shoulder. “As long as it’s not flavourless rice cakes,” he said, gesturing to what Christian had just put into his own cart. “I’m always happy to let a handsome man cook food for me.”

He tilted his head and then held his hand out, “Phone? I’ll give you my number Then we’re officially having an illicit affair.”

“Oh, I promise, if I’m cooking anything? It’s gonna be chock full of flavour. If it ain’t then I am doing my ancestors wrong.” He reached into the back pocket of his jeans and handed the phone over to Lucas already unlocked. This was his “social” phone and not his work one as Christian was very careful not to get the two mixed up as honestly it was more hassle than it was worth.

He tipped his head and ran his eyes over Lucas slowly. “You have any allergies I should know about?”

“No,” Lucas answered, glancing up from where he was tapping his number into Christian’s phone. “And believe me,” he added, just for a moment letting the accent he’d spent fifty years learning how to busy slip, “long as it tastes good you’ll be doing them proud.” After all, the food in New Orleans was raved about for a reason. “Just nothing with gator in it. Please.” The accent was gone again, accompanied by a slight look of disdain. “Too much of that puts a guy right off.”

Christian smirked, pleasantly surprised by the slight slip into an accent, which clearly had not been something Lucas had been meaning to do. It was filed away for reference if ever needed. Some hunter habits were harder to break than others.

“No gator, I gotcha,” he assured the other with a smile. “Not too fond of that myself.” Meat was tough as old boots and it did not make for a fun culinary experience. “How’d you feel about shrimp?”

“Shrimp are fine,” Lucas said with a nod. “So long as they’re properly prepared.” He’d sent more than one plate back due to certain… parts of the shrimp having not been removed.

His lips twitched back up into that impish smile and he caught his subconscious before it tried to do anything else, clamping down on the power he felt bubbling up in his chest. No thank you. Not right now.

“You have my number now, Christian,” he said, “which, if I do say, has taken far too long. So text me about dinner?”

Christian tsk’ed softly and gave a small shake of his head. “What sort of Cajun do you take me for, Lucas?” He turned his phone over in his hand and tucked it back into his pocket before he reached up to snag a couple more things off the shelf which found their way into his and Lucas’ cart.

“I’ll be in touch.”

And with a parting smile he went on his way.

Hannah had only been in town for a week, but she knew (thanks to the Men of Letters) that Rose and Dan were nearby; and it killed her to not be able to go right up to them and hug them both tightly and cry and have that happy reunion she so craved. They would require explanation, truth. And Han was more than a little worried as to how that would all go over with their family legacy.

She had walked by Christian’s earlier in the week, his vehicle in the driveway but Hannah couldn’t muster the courage to approach her friend’s front door. He was a hunter, after all, and she wasn’t human any longer. She had become acclimated to the enhanced senses, for the most part, but the whole.. sensing others and tapping into that animalistic instinct thing was just far beyond her. For the time being. It had been enough to actually learn how to control shifting at will, and to partially shift -- which she was still a little rough at. Hannah hadn't covered the more fine-tuned attributes of being a werewolf with the Men of Letters due to time restraint.

Thankfully, they put her in Seven Devils in one of their safe houses, and enough in the woods that if she had a bad shift no one would know.

Still, she needed to bite the proverbial bullet and finally say something; to anyone. She had thought about taking the easy way out by texting, even as she finally made her way up the driveway, but Han pocketed her phone and decided there was no backing out now.

Quiet footsteps stopping at his door, she tucked a few strands of hair behind one ear before reaching out. Hannah stood there for what felt like forever, her arm extended but unsure of what to expect from the otherside. Finally, she knocked; although Hannah felt like running instantly. She even turned as if she were going to actually leave, but knowing the pain she had caused kept her on the porch to wait it out, good or bad.

---

Like all good hunters Christian got his assortment of weapons out to clean them and sharpen blades that might have become dulled over multiple uses and the good thing about living in the mountains was you could easily pass those off as being used for the regular kind of hunting and not of the supernatural variety.

Today was one of those days and as he unloaded cartridges and checked through the different parts of his firearms as well as polishing down silver blades he heard a knock at his door which caused his head to turn. He wasn’t expecting any visitors though he’d been smart enough to set aside a hidden room in his home so he could push a bookcase back into place and nobody would be none the wiser.

He finger combed his hair back and secured it at the base of his skull before he wandered over to unlock (the many locks) and open his door at which point he stopped dead in his tracks and his eyes widened only a fraction as he took in the sight of somebody he never thought he’d see again. Of course he’d always hoped she was alive despite reports to the contrary but he’d never thought that it would actually happen.

“Hannah?”

---

She pursed her lips in a thin, unsure smile. “In the flesh,” the Were joked weakly, before her expression softened to a more apologetic one. Hannah couldn’t help but analyze his body language right away, looking for any possible signs of danger as a result. As if he would know right away she was a werewolf. Luckily, he wasn’t Dan.

“So uh;” Hannah had began to say but her words left her. She shook her head lightly before looking at Christian, really looking at him for the first time in a long time. “I’m sorry, and it’s long overdue, and I don’t even know where to begin or how to explain any of the shit show that has been the last year but.. I’m sorry, and.. I’m sorry if that’s not enough.”

Hannah threw her hands up in the air, as if surrendering to his reaction, letting her shoulders round a little.

---

Christian’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly because as every hunter knew some things were too good to be true and there was no way Hannah Lakatos was standing on his doorstep, alive, breathing if not for something more than what the eye could catch. She was nervous that much was obvious but that was understandable given that she’d vanished and had been presumed dead.

Regardless she still seemed herself despite whatever fate had befallen her and she was at his doorstep without a weapon or at least as far as he could see which meant she hadn’t come looking to hurt him.

His hand flexed restlessly around the door it still held and he reached out with one arm to encircle those rounded shoulders, pulling her close and into a firm hug. “I never thought you were dead,” he shared quietly before withdrawing to beckon her into his home. She was out during the day so she wasn’t a vampire which meant inviting her in wasn’t going to seal his doom.

---

The silence had been almost too much, although she supposed it as better than an angry outburst that she expected Daniel would have. Hannah allowed herself to get pulled into a hug, her arms quickly wrapping around Christian’s torso and careful not to squeeze too tightly. It had been so long since she had had contact with literally anyone she knew and cared for, it took everything in her power to keep from letting tears fall. “I wanted to say something,” she told him, reluctantly letting go only to follow him inside, “to any of you just to stop the worrying.”

Hannah took a quick glance around, making note of the direction of the back door, her gaze skimming over the numerous weapons he had laid out on numerous surfaces. The tiniest of smirks crept onto her lips as she realized he must’ve been cleaning — some things never changed.

“I wasn’t allowed to, which sounds like a stupid excuse I know, but I was recovering.” The werewolf eyed the silver blades for a moment before trying to gauge his next questions. And was it warm? Hannah suddenly felt herself practically swimming in her coat — most likely from working herself up and running warmer as a werewolf. “I was in Kansas most of the year,” she admitted, peeling her coat off and hanging it over the back of the couch, “with the Men of Letters of all people.”

---

Christian strayed in the direction of the kitchen where he took two cool beers out of his fridge, uncapping one and offering that to Hannah. “What happened?” It was the most obvious question and definitely the first one that needed to be answered as that would really dictate how the conversation flowed.

And sure Christian was a hunter but he wasn’t a black and white kind of hunter which meant he didn’t just kill for the sake of killing. His uncle had taught him better than that, not every supernatural creature was evil.

The fact she was with the Men of Letters did pique his interest as they were nothing if not secretive and if she was with them then something serious must have happened.

---

Hannah gladly accepted the beer with a small nod in gratitude. She didn’t hesitate to take a swig in preparation. For as nervous as she was, her hands surprisingly weren’t shaking when finally face to face, having to spill her secret for the first time.

“On my way home the night I disappeared, I got bit,” she said, gauging his response with every word that left her mouth. Pushing up the sleeve of her sweater to her elbow, she revealed the deep mangled scars on her arm from the night the werewolf had bitten her. Though fully healed now, Hannah was still incredibly self-conscious of the scars. The constant reminder that the normal life she had tried so hard to achieve, for not only herself but for her younger siblings, had ended that night. “Werewolf.”

Hannah was quick to speak up again. “I knew I couldn’t go back home. If I did and the others got wind of it, they could have shown up at the house looking for me,” she began to frantically explain. “Chris, you know how some of them can be— I’ve tried my entire life to keep Rose and Mike from all of it and then… I couldn’t bring this home to them.”

---

The bottle was halfway to Christian’s lips when Hannah told him what happened that night and revealed the impressive looking scar on her arm. Comprehension and understanding were two of the most challenging things when somebody you’d known for years and had known as a hunter confessed to the fact she was now in fact one of the creatures you hunted on occasion.

Well, shit and a few other choice words in the Creole that Christian had grown up speaking, but he thankfully managed to keep all of that to himself.

A slow inhale and a placement of his bottle to one side led up to Christian approaching Hannah and reaching out (after having asked permission with a look) to take her arm in his calloused hands, brow knitted together. “Jesus, you’re lucky it didn’t take your arm.”

She was right though, some hunters didn’t care, they wouldn’t think twice about taking her down.

---

The werewolf watched him carefully in silence, her pupils dilating as he brought himself closer and even reached out.No angry expletives, no sound of steel ringing as it left the dining room table to be swung.. Instead the hunter took her arm and examined it — differently than the Men of Letters when they had to stitch her up. Hannah already felt better about coming to Christian first.

"And I don't even know why it happened," Hannah admitted with a shake of her head, glancing down at the deep scars. "For the longest time it was just a blur but, looking back I&mda0h;"

She paused and tried to shrug it all off, like it hadn't profoundly affected her mentally and physically. At first all she remembered was being knocked into the snow and the stark contrast of heat from the wolf's mouth, and the searing pain, on her arm. "My car was stuck so I tried walking home and.. maybe I was being followed the whole time, I don't know." And other than running from those she cared about, Hannah hated that the most — not having answers.

Her gaze lifted once more to study his, as if waiting for his expression to change to one of disgust.

---

Even though Christian was more used to handling guns and various other weapons his touch was surprisingly gentle as he observed the full extent of the scarring. “Hell if I didn’t know you were stubborn before this just confirms it.” Anybody else would have died from that injury but not Hannah Lakatos.

“Didn’t piss any packs off that you know prior to your attack?”

It was a distinct possibility given the life they led after all.

“And have you got anywhere to stay in town?”

---

Part of her wanted to pull away and hide as Christian looked so closely at the scars, but his expression remained unchanged and she was able to tolerate it. The tiniest of smirks played out across her lips when he called her stubborn, her guard easing up significantly. “Yeah, well, I’ve learned from the best,” Hannah replied. Having regrettably grown up in the hunter life, she was used to dealing with the likes of her brothers and with the local hunters. “Not that I know of,” she admitted with a shake of her head. Then again, that didn’t mean that the Lakatos legacy hadn’t pissed any packs off. Or that the actions of her father and uncle and their glory days hadn’t somehow come back to haunt them.

Her shoulders had completely relaxed by the time he asked about where she was staying. “The Men of Letters put me in one of their safe houses,” she told him reassuringly. “It’s secluded, and by the woods so I can…” Hannah trailed off. Turn? Shift? Wolf-out? She still wasn’t comfortable with that to call it. “Do my thing,” she added. Because she had a thing now - a lycanthropy thing.

Her eyes narrowed in a mock suspicion at him. “Why? Are you inviting me to stay?” she asked with a certain amount of amusement in her tone. She couldn’t imagine putting him in danger like that, from herself or from the rest of the hunting community. Although, her thoughts were quick to rationalize the meaning behind his inquiry. She had been traumatized by the bite, sure; but her actions had left emotional scars for those she cared about.

Hannah reached up with her free hand, resting it against his chest reassuringly for a moment. “I’m not going anywhere, Christian,” she tried to convince him.

---

"Ain't that a fact," Christian drawled, lips twitching into a smile as he knew exactly what Hannah was talking about. Hunters were a bred all of their own and like all sorts of people you had your bad and your good, sometimes the bad was so much to the point where other hunters had to put them down. Christian knew his uncle had in the past when one hunter had lost their mind and gone on a killing spree of anything and everything without any sort of consideration or care.

He was relieved to hear that the Men of Letters despite their disdain for hunters were looking out for Hannah, giving her somewhere to stay and taking into consideration what she might need when the full moon rolled around. It also meant that the town and people were also safe as he couldn't imagine she had a lot of control considering she wasn't born but turned. He knew without a shadow of doubt that Hannah wouldn't want to hurt anyone if it could be helped in some way.

Christian had been about to respond to her questions but the words stalled somewhere in the back of his throat as she rested her hand against his chest and assured him that she wasn't going anywhere. He reached up and curled his fingers around the wrist of the hand against his chest, squeezing it softly. "Yeah? Good 'cause take it from me losing you once was hard enough so I'd like to avoid it for a second time if it's all the same."

---

Hannah had nearly stepped away until his hand was around her wrist, keeping her right where she was. It was far from forceful, and even the small squeeze her gave her was nothing but convincing, pleading even. She enjoyed the pause, taking in his scent due to the close proximity, which was muddled with gun powder and a hint of sawdust.

Losing you, triggered her smile to turn sad however, even if just a flicker really. Another reminder of the unfair perspective she’d had. Knowing the whole time that they had all been relatively safe and well - but to them she was missing, presumed dead even. Hannah was quick to recover, her smile returning with a little more tease to it.

“You’re gonna make me hug you again, aren’t you?” she joked. Though once again her expression fell more serious than she would have liked at the realization that she simply could hug him once more. It wasn’t a longing, or a dream, to be able to see family and friends and to get her life back.

And so she did it anyway - balancing her beer bottle on the nearby table to free up her other hand in order to wrap her arms around his neck. Hannah leaned into the hug, making it warmer and apologetic. Whether it was for Christian or for herself, she couldn’t really tell, but it was the first hug in almost a year to actually mean something and hold a sense of comfort. “I’m so sorry,” she told him once more.

---

Christian didn’t trust easy and he certainly didn’t let people close all too often, could say it was as a result of his earlier developmental years, but when he did, well, he tended to feel fiercely which unfortunately meant that loss was particularly felt when it happened. It was inevitable given the lifestyle but didn’t make it any easier.

As Hannah wrapped her arms around his neck he too placed his beer aside in favour of encircling her, holding her close, reassuring himself through touch alone that she was there and not some very vivid hallucination who smelt a little like the world after it rained.

“Don’t do it again,” he remarked softly, teasingly, because honestly she was a walking tank for the most part now and out of the two of them? He was the one more likely to get hurt or even killed.

---

The werewolf allowed herself to just enjoy the hug for a little bit, smiling as she rested her chin against his shoulder. His remark warranted a quiet laugh, causing her to pull back enough to look up at him. “If I find some sort of GPS tracker on me or my things I’ll kick your ass,” she replied just as lightheartedly, her finger pressing the middle of his chest to accentuate her point before smoothing over the spot.

Despite enjoying the closeness, Hannah let go to stand beside him, snatching her beer up once more. “Thanks for not, y’know, wanting to kill me after finding out,” Hannah said truthfully, although she tried to play it off as just joking. “I can only imagine how Dan is going to react…” she muttered, dreading it almost.

“God, I don’t even want to think about how heartbroken Rose is,” she groaned lightly. “Is it terrible that I’m just… craving normalcy for once? I want to jump back into things and try to get back to life before all this happened,” Hannah admitted in a moment of complete transparency. “I want to go out for drinks, and burgers, and sit around a fire and laugh again and just....”

She sighed with a shake of her head. “I know it’s not that easy, though.”

---

Christian snorted quietly and rolled with it, arms folding across his chest as he leaned back against the nearest flat surface with the middle of his back supported. “Do me a favour, don’t look in your shoes when you get home.” He leaned forward and snatched up his beer again, taking a swig and running his tongue over his lower lip to catch any traces left behind.

“Not gonna lie,” he began with a small shake of his head. “It wasn’t pretty after.” And that was as close to the truth as Christian was going to get without giving away too much or something that her family should tell her. “But I get wanting normal, I do.”

He nudged her shoulder lightly with his own. “Gotta rip the bandaid off some day though.”

---

“You got it,” she said with a little salute and smirk. She probably wouldn’t check her shoes, and that was even if she went home later - part of her wanted to crash here so she had the comfort of being near people she knew again.

The amusement was very short lived, though, as he only confirmed what she had assumed. She stood in silence, pursing her lips lightly and just.. stewing in the guilt for a little while. Hannah took a drink of her beer, then paused, and couldn’t help but take another - almost finishing it.

His nudge caused her to shift her weight onto her other foot somewhat, smiling softly. “Yeah, you’re right,” she admitted. “But I’m going to need to get really drunk afterward. Like, college hockey championship drunk,” she told him in warning. Very rarely was Hannah to the point of visible intoxication, but college hockey was surely a weakness - and something to be witnessed.

Hannah finished off her beer and gave his abdomen a little smack as if to say ‘catch up’ before pushing off the wall, swinging the empty bottle in the air as she spun round to face him. “I think I owe you at least a case of these and.. let me get dinner tonight?” she offered. It’d be takeout, of course, but it’d give them both reason to stay in each other’s company.

---

Christian snorted before waving demonstratively in her direction. “I’m pretty sure that a drinking contest between us is no longer fair. The odds are definitely now in your favour.” Still, he lifted the bottle to his lips and finished the drink off in a few short but impressive swallows until sure enough it was drained dry and he placed the now empty bottle to one side.

“And dinner sounds pafé.”

He definitely wasn’t going to turn down free food but more importantly the chance to spend some more time with Hannah, to catch up on everything that they’d missed and just enjoy the chance they had to be in one another’s company.

It was after all something that Christian hadn’t thought would be possible again.