The Runt of the Litter

Nature, Nurture, and That Gray Area (Will)

Note: Sorry I know I'm coming in late again. 

I babysat my niece for a couple hours this morning and then when she'd left I sat down to write this chapter and something big came up. I spent most of the day preoccupied with that, so the chapter is short and it's up later than usual. Sorry for that. But I promise what happened was important. And I didn't want to fully blow off posting this week, so I took what time I did have and wrote something short.

Also, this is for a request from @bitxhyxo to see something with Jack and Anna. It's not totally fair that your request came in the form of such a short chapter, but I fully intend to include Jack more consistently in the future, at least in fics where Anna is above age eighteen. So don't worry. You'll see more of him. And thank you lots for your patience. 

And thanks to everybody who is still waiting for a request to be posted. I know some of you have been waiting forever, and I swear I'll get to every single prompt.

IMPORTANT (AND EPIC) ANNOUNCEMENT

The absolute goddess, @Musicpotterhead, drew some art for this story, and it's incredible. And, because she's so awesome, she told me I could use the four pictures she drew on the chapters they were inspired by. So go check them out. Here are the chapters where you can find them: "Shards (of us)", "In All My Spite", "Glass Lives", and "Dog Days".  For real, go look at them, they're so good. I may have cried a little when she sent them to me (in a good way). Thank you so much for your amazing artwork and for letting me include it in the book ❤️

Thanks to everyone who's been reading, voting, and commenting. Y'all are the reason I don't just curl up on the floor in my bedroom 24/7, which is tempting. 

Anna is nineteen.

Nature, Nurture, and That Gray Area (Will)

Anna closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. The air felt shallow and warm. Much worse, though, it smelled bad. She wrinkled her nose. There was packed dirt beneath her bare shoulders and old planks of wood a few feet above her. She could sit up, but not straight.

She let out a long sigh and closed her eyes. Her head ached from a hit she'd taken earlier, but she was pretty sure she didn't have a concussion. If she did, it was only mild. She was still able to think straight. Her wrist felt suspiciously like it could be sprained, though. Those demons had not been gentle tossing her and Jack into the cellar. And that was the other thing... Jack.

"You doin' okay?" she called without looking behind her.

Jack had been curled up against the cement wall with his knees pulled to his chest since they landed here. He looked small, but Anna couldn't help thinking of him as dangerous too. He looked young. He looked small. But he was a nephilim, and he was Lucifer's son, and he'd been known to blow up from time to time.

"I think so," came the quiet, timid voice.

Anna nodded to herself and put her hands under her head so she could recline more comfortably in the dirt. She was content with his answer and was prepared to spend another twenty minutes or so in silence before she asked again. Hopefully the boys would find them before too long, but considering that they'd thought they were after an entirely different creature, and considering that they'd thought this family wasn't any real kind of lead-- which was the entire reason they'd let Anna and Jack come here alone-- odds were good that their rescue would be a bit slow.

"Are you?"

Anna startled a little. Not because Jack scared her, but because she hadn't been expecting him to speak. "Am I what?" she asked, propping herself up on her elbows and craning her neck and shoulders around so she could see him. She wondered if he'd been speaking to her all along, but she'd missed the first part of what he'd said.