Chapter Text
Jonah Ghostkeeper, such a name. A multi-generational last name of containment. If he were a conformist to metaphors, 'keeper of ghosts' could mean 'hidden secrets' if you really looked outside of the box. He never waved to greet the seasoned residents of Kalispell to ease their worries nor bothered to ever introduce himself to any neighbors.
But that was his charm, he kept to himself, so much that it was a shock when a little girl with hair short in contrast to his that was long, and eyes lacking that sparkle that every kid her age was ought to have, came running outside of the house, jumping off the front porch and running face first into snow. Jonah ran after her then stopped halfway, his arm flying to press against his lower back and he groaned in pain. He has yet to heal from when they both left together.
She stopped running away and then saw his back aching again, she was used to seeing those random back pains hit him but it didn’t mean she liked it. The little girl slowly approached him, “Are you okay-”
He caught her. Jonah pulled her up by one of the straps of the overalls, they weren't quite playing together, it was only her running away to avoid confrontation.
“You think this is funny? That you can just fucking bite me?-” Jonah leaned in to look into the little girl's face more. The little girl’s nose was flushed pink from the early January snow, she sniffled, her nose a bit runny. Her teeth had been too dull to break skin, so really what had happened was that she left a bite mark. A soft one, not hard enough to really hurt him.
As he tilted his head to observe her, she mimicked him. Another notable odd trait.
“You gotta stop doing that. It's weird. When you go to school you can't be doing that to the kids okay? They're gonna think you're weird.” he took her small hand and guided her back inside the cabin. "Come on. It’s cold out here."
He wrapped a blanket around her shoulders and noticed she automatically held her breath and stilled. His hand twitched, unsure what to do in response, food was care, food was healing, he’s seen it cool tension before the house. And sometimes even during.
Jonah spotted a crisp red apple in the fruit bowl on the table, a statement piece for the cabin, not that anyone would see it but just something personal to tell him their situation was normal, suburban. Not off the grid as they once were. “Do you want a snack?” said more as a statement and less of a question. Irina nodded slowly.
"I'm sorry, Jonah." she said in a shaky voice. “If I bited you and make you like me, and then you would be stronger. Your back hurt and I wanted to fix it.” She didn't really have the words to explain that she wanted to take away the pain of healing that Jonah has dealt with for the past month since leaving. "You help-peduh- uhm- helped me leave. I want to help you too so you don't get hurt anymore."
From hearing her attempt at explaining, his heart clenched for a reason he did not want to name. He felt sorry in a way, “Help?”, he passed the plate to her. "You-" he exhaled. This was a kid, not just the spawn of a human and a vampire, or a thing with vampiric nature, or a bounty he would normally have hunted 8 years ago back in Alaska. This was a kid. His kid, whether he liked it or not. And this kid, lucky for him, seemed to take after more from him than that thing he failed to kill off. His kid- that thought similar to his logic, in her own warped lack-of-exposure-childlike way. "You don't get it, kid, you can't make me like you. It doesn't work like that because you don't have that kinda ability. You're weak.." well that came out kind of wrong. He passed her a plate with apple slices neatly set on. She took it, eyes tracking him as the spoon dipped into the peanut butter container and was put on her plate. She didn’t used to eat things like this.
"I'm weak?" she muttered under her breath, then suddenly blurted out, "What’s that brown stuff?"
“It’s- just eat it. It’s good.” Jonah twitched in slight annoyance.
“But what is it? Looks weird.” said Irina.
“Peanut butter.” he said a bit sharply, laced with irritation he tried to suppress. “Every kid likes peanut butter. I used to be a kid and I liked it. And you're a part of me and if you’re like me, you’ll like it.”
Cautiously dipping her apple slice into the brown textured goop, she took a bite of the slice and squinted, processing the new texture and flavors in her mouth. Her eyes widened, she gave him a toothy smile. “This tastes good. I like it.”
Jonah let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding. He was relieved, he actually expected her to be like one of those little kids that will scream and thrash over trying new things.
The silence stretched on as she ate some more. He tapped his foot rhythmically against the floor, maybe a tick, maybe self soothing, he didn’t know, he just did it.
“I’m sorry I bited you.” She apologized again. Sensitive too, or apologetic, a personality trait from that thing, not him. Jonah didn’t apologize more than needed, in fact he didn’t find apologizing necessary most of the time. Guess that's more proof she’s only half of him, part him, not full.
“It’s fine. I’m over it. You didn’t even hurt me anyways. Too weak for that.” Weak, again. Something tells him he should find another way to frame things, otherwise she’s gonna end up like one of those weird freak kids that grow up to be pushovers. “You’re…strong.” he tried to correct himself. “But you didn’t hurt me. Got it?”
“I’m weak and I’m strong?” Irina raised a brow, visibly confused. “Why?”
"Because,” He feigned suspense, “well for one, you’re a kid. And kids are weak. But you’re not like other kids."
Irina frowned. “Is that bad?”
“No. Not really. I mean it could be bad but, it’s not. Because you’re not bad. You could be but you’re not, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah. Right. So, you’re special. And there’s only one of you left.” he twiddled his fingers to add to the magical imaginary picture he was trying to paint in her mind.
“I’m special…that sounds cool.” she stated, “but…it’s not just me. What about Brother Di-”
“Irina. Listen to me. That was not your brother. He had you call him brother but you both were not actually family. It was a uh-” a title. A practice. Almost religious. “Family doesn’t do what they did to us. Those were evil people. BAD people. And you’re not like them, that’s why there’s only you. That’s why you're special.”
“Oh. Right- right. I forgot. I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to apologize so much.” Jonah said quickly.
“Okay- sorry- no- yeah. Okay!” For a moment he thought she was done until, well until when she clearly wasn’t. “My teeth are dull, like you said. That’s uh- why you didn’t get bited from me and hurt-”
He cut her off. “Bitten. The correct word is bitten. Okay, Irina? You’re gonna learn more shit like that when you start school.”
“Yeah. But one day it’s gonna work, I think. And they're gonna be sharp right? Like mama’s?-” that got him to snap. Mama.
"That was NOT YOUR MOTHER!" his tapping stopped. She flinched back subtly, her ears, human like his, twitched from the loud voice. "That...was not your mother." he repeated in a slower, calmer tone. "No real mother sharpens their kids' baby teeth to look like fangs."
"I'm sorry-"
"Stop apologizing. Just remember that. That thing wasn't your mother. Those people weren't your family. You do NOT have siblings. It's just you and me, always been that way. Okay? You're just confused." Her eyes downcast, she ate another slice of apple in response instead of words. "Your name is Irina, your last name is Ghostkeeper. Like mine. You look like me, you sound like my sister when she was a little girl- your my- my-" he didn't dare to say that word. Daughter. It felt too attached, too real. "Kid. You're just a kid. Remember that. Okay?" Much better.
"And you're my dad?"
"No." he quickly corrected. "I'm just Jonah. Your friend. And when you go to school you'll make a lot of more friends, yeah?"
She nodded in acknowledgment, not agreement. She turned her gaze off of Jonah for just a moment and her eyes landed on the window above the kitchen sink, outside was blue and cold, the snow had finally stopped falling. “Maybe.” she thought to herself. She wrapped the blanket around her tighter.
“And, remember this too, okay? It’s important. With me you don’t gotta apologize so damn much like you used to have to do back then. You just listen. Remember. Don’t do the thing you wanna apologize for again, and we move on. Easy right?”
“Right. I’ll remember that, Jonah.”
So this, here they are, a bit south to Kalispell Montana, a cabin like structure with tall pine shading them from sun and wandering eyes, was their new house away from the old house they escaped together. And maybe one day their new home, too.