Greykin Valley

| 75 | Moving Out

Jackson looked like he'd seen a ghost. "Or...three dreams?"

Raphael mumbled, "Well, best not take any naps until we get back to the house, huh?"

Damon scowled in hostility as anger and worry filled him. "This isn't a fucking joke," he exclaimed frustratedly, and the fact that he didn't even know the full extent of what the Holy Grail were doing and what they wanted made him feel worse. "These people are trying to take his soul; is it so hard for you to take it at least the slightest bit seriously?!"

The orange-haired man turned to face him—

"It's fine," Jackson said before Raphael could say whatever he was going to say to match the offended look on his face. "We can figure it out after Kane's dealt with...right?"

Raphael seemed hesitant to back down, but after a few moments of shifting his gaze between them, he half-nodded and said, "Strămoş Luca will get to the bottom of it." He then turned around and walked off.

Damon shook his head as he growled quietly. He wanted to yell...he wanted to scream to let his built-up anger and confusion out, but he felt aimless. Why did the Holy Grail want Jackson? Was it really because he was a created hybrid, or was there more to it? He wanted answers, but there was no way for him to get them—not yet.

Instead, he sighed away his fury and looked at his mate. "Are you okay?" he asked him quietly.

Jackson sat down. "I don't know," he said as confusion and fear fought for domination of his face. "I just...I don't know what to do or think or say." He shook his head and exhaled deeply. "Some cadejo Master wants me, and now the Holy Grail does, too. If this is what my life is gonna be like, I...I almost wanna use my reward from Lord Caedis to undo this whole hybrid thing."

Damon moved closer to him and frowned as confusion outweighed his frustration, but before he could question why Jackson would want that, it hit him. He understood why Jackson would want to be free of all the perils that came with being what he was; often when he was a child, Damon himself wished he wasn't a Greyblood, so he knew what his mate was going through. Instead of asking why, he asked him, "Do you think that's even possible?"

He shrugged. "I mean...if he can bring Sebastien's mate back to life, I'm sure he can undo whatever turned me into a hybrid." He then shifted his gaze to Sebastien, who was talking with Raphael and Cyrus. "Sebastien might know."

"But will he be honest?" Damon grumbled.

Jackson frowned at him. "I don't know why he'd lie about something like that."

"He's Caedis' little stooge; telling people the ins and outs of his shady deals and contracts would probably get him killed. I mean, isn't that the point? Isn't the whole deal with the devil thing supposed to benefit Caedis more than the people he makes deals with?"

A conflicted expression warped Jackson's face. "I don't...know. Sebastien only got roped into serving him for life because he didn't read the terms properly, right? And I did. I read that contract over five times; we get to the lab...and we get whatever we want."

"I don't know," Damon muttered unsurely. "It all feels a little too good to be true, especially after spending time around Caedis' little devil spawns."

Jackson laughed a little but quickly sunk back into a depressing gloom. "But I also wanna know everything that he knows about the Holy Grail; I want to find out what really happened to my parents."

Damon felt the urge to offer to use his reward to give Jackson either one of his desires, but he wanted to use it to find someplace new for his pack to settle and be safe. "You might be able to get that information anyway," he said. "If Caedis is going to be figuring out what the Holy Grail wants with you, maybe you can get whatever you can out of him in the process."