Welcome To The Garden

He was most of the way to his destination when he sensed it, a presence behind him, shadowed and nearly silent. Subtly, he let his hand rest near his dagger.

"It's just me, Abolish," Legs said from the treeline. Abolish paused, and didn't think about the way he felt something in him relax at the sound of the Doc's voice. Legundo emerged slowly, shoulders drawn tight. He had blood on his fingertips, but was carrying a large satchel that Abolish could see was full of bottles and wrapped meat. Hunting, then. Abolish had the luxury of being able to ration his supplies. Legundo would not have that option, not with a newly turned fledgling to care for.

"All good, Doc?" Abolish asked casually, taking advantage of having an extra set of eyes — well, eye technically — to take a moment to properly adjust his sock. He kept Legs in his periphery as he rested his foot on a nearby fallen tree and began to unlace his boot.

"Where's your grandfather?"

Abolish could tell Legs was trying to keep the venom out of his voice, but he wasn't doing a very good job.

"In town. Sausage wanted an interview." Abolish didn't love the idea of leaving Morcant with Sausage unsupervised, but he liked the idea of being there for that conversation even less, so he had excused himself to go do another round of book hunting.

"He's dangerous, Abolish."

"Sausage?"

Okay, maybe Abolish had been spending a bit too much time trying to get under Scott's skin, because he knew that wasn't a helpful technique when dealing with Legundo. The monotone boredom might have captivated the Doctor's ex-husband, but it just infuriated the man himself.

"Abolish." Legundo growled it, dark and angry, but he did not advance. Abolish — to his own immense frustration — felt himself swallow. He felt no fear. There was no danger, no threat he couldn't easily handle. He felt something in the face of Legundo's rage, and had to make the conscious decision not to.

His boot was halfway unlaced. It felt like he could feel every damaged wool thread against the skin of his sole. He focused on that, and continued his task.

"Morcant's an Elder Vampire, I am well aware that he is dangerous," Abolish said, trying not to sound frustrated. He'd had this conversation before, on and off. With other agents, with vampires, with well meaning strangers. He was not a fool. He knew that, especially from the outside, his relationship with Morcant was… non-traditional.

By legal definition, Morcant was his guardian. Paperwork had been required to move Abolish from the orphanage to Thornvale Manor.

In practice, it was more complicated. They played the roles of father and son, or grandfather and grandson, depending on what age Morcant appeared. Morcant was technically Abolish's boss, his immediate supervisor, and there was certainly some kind of conflict of interest there, but no one had ever made a fuss about it.

Mostly, Abolish just thought of Morcant as his mentor, because there was no word that actually captured what he was, but that was the closest so it was what Abolish used.

"How long have you known him?" Legundo asked. It was a leading question, one that Abolish knew Legs wasn't going to like the answer to.

"I've worked for him for ten years," he said, diplomatically.

"Ten—?" Legs' gaze flicked over Abolish's face. The anger in his expression had been replaced by a flash of guilt and concern. "How old are you, Abolish?"

"I'm twenty six," he said flatly. Legundo's anger returned.

"He put a weapon in your hand at sixteen?" he snapped.

"I demanded a weapon at thirteen," Abolish replied, reaching into his finally unlaced boot to twist the fabric of his sock. "Morcant made me wait a year. I was put in the field at sixteen, after I completed my training."

He straightened, and regarded the Doctor carefully.

"You…" Legundo breathed, a pained expression crossing his features.

"I understand that you have a… complicated relationship with him," Abolish said, turning his attention back to relaxing his boot, "but this is my life, Doc. I know what I'm doing."

The air was heavy around them, but Abolish felt no need to break the silence. He methodically retied his laces, noting the way the leather of his boots creaked quietly. He'd have to condition them, the last thing he needed was for the leather to crack.

"You never mentioned him," Legundo said eventually, as Abolish rolled his pant leg back down.

"He never mentioned you," Abolish said. "What he was to you, at least. Not until he got here."

"Of course he didn't," Legs said with a bitter laugh. Abolish hummed in agreement.

"It likely wouldn't have changed anything, if I knew, but…" Abolish said, and paused, as they made eye contact. Again, that something buzzed under his skin, and he swallowed against it.

"It would have been nice to know," he settled on. Legs' expression was guarded, and Abolish couldn't quite read what was behind it.

"I don't think we were supposed to actually cross paths," Abolish continued. "I was only supposed to monitor you from a distance. We weren't supposed to… interact."

There was a long, drawn out silence. Countless things unspoken. Things better left unspoken, by Abolish's reckoning.

He waited, as Legundo seemed to cycle through a variety of emotions. Guilt, anger, something like sadness. The expressions flicked across his face, smoother than it had been when they had arrived. Abolish should have put it together, the connection, when human blood had smoothed out the signs of age in Legundo's features. He'd been juggling too much — new fledglings, the townsfolk's suspicions and stupid decisions, Legs and Scott, Legs and Owen, Scott and Owen, him and Scott. Little details had slipped through the cracks.

Abolish didn't let things slip.

He didn't get out of his depth.

And yet, here he was.

"You can't trust him," Legs said, voice strained.