Dawn College

"We dunno what to call it. Jace chose her, that's it. It's that simple. We've got to live with that choice." Abel dropped his hand briefly to wipe the blood on his thigh, the wound already black and festered before he abruptly dug his fingers back in to start it bleeding again.

"Had he known how much of a brat she was two years ago he wouldn't have." Maria muttered.

"He didn't even know what he was two years ago. Besides, Jace had funny teen years. Really. Fuck..." Abel mumbled to himself, wiping his hand quickly again before muttering, "Can you shift up for me?"

"Raine had bratty, self important, rude, snobbish, self entitled and garish teenage years." Maria said, leaning over and shifting the stick up as asked.

"Jace had this awesome mulitcoloured mohawk in a fit of rebellion once. That was awesome. Sampson almost gutted his dad though, when he realised he was siphoning the immortality off. Biggest fight I've ever seen him and Goliath have."

"Think of that brattish girl who wanted a golden goose in that film about a chocolate factory, and that's Raine until about two years ago. 'I want it now or you're all going to be in deep shit'."

Abel gave a quiet laugh, almost hysterical as he shook his head. "Daddy's girl, mommy's girl?" He hurriedly wiped his hand on his thigh again and then made a face as he quietly coughed up a mouthful of black liquid onto his lap, mumbling about ruining his jeans.

"Both, depending on who she was playing up to at the time. Most of the time it was dad though."

"Sounded eager to get away from him. Down to first. Please." Abel was coming up to the long driveway leading to the house.

"That's 'cause she came into her power and he turned nasty, basically wanted it off of her so he could use it. Despite being a bitch she had a moral compass." Maria shrugged as she pushed the gear down. "Then he started making threats, so she went off to live with mum who won custody in the bloody ten year long battle that was over less and less kids each year that passed due to us all turning eighteen. Then she shipped Raine off to that school."

"All father's seem quite nasty nowadays. They managed to dig Jace's up out of the lake and he's still kicking." Abel dropped his hand just so he could throw the truck into park outside of the house before he was falling out of the truck to his knees, coughing harshly.

"They found him? Do Jace and Ray know?" Maria asked, frowning when he got out and getting out herself, walking round to him.

Abel was scrambling to get his bracelet off with blood slick fingers, breathing in deeply with a watery rattle in his chest as he answered, "First we contacted. He knows."

Maria just grimaced a little at that, "Well he probably hasn't told Ray then," she said, before dropping down next to Abel to try and help him get the bracelet off.

"M'going into shock," Abel told her blearily. "Don't have to stay an' help, isn't pretty, getting you dirty Jace won't be happy..."

"I'm not just gonna leave you here am I?" Maria shook her head, taking the bracelet off and throwing it away from him.

"Not as if I'm gonna die anyway," Abel mumbled, coughing a few more times into his hand before slumping back against the truck and slowly relaxing, wiping his hand clean on the ground before moving it to his shoulder. "Just gotta clean out.."

"It still hurt you though."

"Towards the end it did, but I can deal with it." Abel took in some steadying breaths.

"Well I wasn't just gonna sit and watch you in pain."

"You coulda walked inside. If I didn't get the bracelet off, one of the others would have found me eventually." Abel rubbed his shoulder gently, face twisting just slightly in pain.

"I'm not that bad of a person."

"I'm not saying you are, just...it's the normal thing to do."

"How is walking away normal?"

"Cause I wasn't in any real danger, right? I mean, even if it killed me, like I said with the bracelet, someone would have come out to take it off and let me get up eventually. I'm not allowed to bother the guests."