Dear Diary,

"Self-Defense is not Vengeance,

If you have things left to lose,

Defend them, don't seek Vengeance."

Doctrine of Tabitha, Book of Vengeance

Yeah, somebody murders your kid, and you've got another kid? Focus your efforts on keeping that second kid safe. I'm not saying 'oh, the first kid wasn't important'. I'm saying if you go on a Vengeance death run, because that's what they fuckin' are, that second kid is gonna wind up dying too.

Before anybody gives me shit about what Saffron told me I did on the Equinox at the Moon Temple, I didn't go there for Vengeance. I went there to save my kid. Yeah, when I got there too late, I absolutely took Vengeance. I'm not gonna be the kind of hypocrite who says that nobody should ever do a Vengeance. I'm saying that it shouldn't be a fuckin' go to maneuver. I mean, okay, if you're such an incredible badass that after you've torn your way through the assholes who killed your entire family you're still up for asshole killing, I guess you can go look for other people whose families have been murdered and work on giving them Vengeance-by-proxy, but let's face it, how many of his fans are actually Frank Castle, and how many of them are themselves assholes who just want to shoot people without consequence?

Also, I'm very well aware that proactive self-defense and defense of loved ones can wind up with the same end results. Specifically, jackasses getting extra ventilation openings in their skulls. But it's the process that's gonna change. Like, seriously, right now if somebody straight up waxed all my ladies and my menace? I would have to be a lot more strategic, a lot more coherent, about my actions as regards whatever motherfucker did that shit. Because either I have to take the other five kids along with me as I do whatever I'm doing, or I need to subcontract out either the child care or the shit wrecking to somebody I trust with that shit. Just thinking about that is fucking with my goddamned calm, by the way.

You could just Revive them, you realize?

I can what?

You Revived Isnomi.

I... oh. Yeah. I guess I could.

But if the situation prevented that, I would recommend that you trust either or both with your first followers, Daughter.

Huh?

Laurence Lancaster and Bonita Obol-Lancaster. Larry and Bonnie. While he may not be quite your equal in mass combat, in single combat he's tremendously skilled.

I thought about that for a second. Yeah, I guess.

Also, should you need someone to watch over your children, my wife and I would be delighted to do so. Even if the reason is less urgent or dire than that.

Aw, thanks Dad. You're the best.

I know.

So anyway yesterday I stole Marie away with some very specific intentions, only to have my ladies join us and initiate some shenanigans. Not complaining, but I still had a very particular itch that hadn't been scratched. So the moment we had everybody washed, fed, and tucked into bed, I whisked her away to the Bed room.

She looked at me, head cocked questioningly. I rolled her on her back, straddled her hips, and pulled her hands over my shoulders. Once I had her hands there I leaned forward, letting the tips of her nails slide down my back until my head rested next to hers. "I... I can't see you like this. I can't even really feel you like this. Not like I should. Except..." I pulled her mouth to my shoulder.

"Vlickies?"

"Please. And... claws?"

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

My eyes slipped closed as she sank her fangs into my shoulder. Then her nails... her claws punctured my back. Like a cat making biscuits. Just exactly like that, I realized a moment later when she started purring. I have no idea how long we lay there. Time moved oddly. A minute, an hour, an endless moment later, she chuckled, the vibration travelling through my fucking bones in counterpoint to her purr. Might have hurt had my endorphin stream had so little blood in it at the time.

"Somethin' funny?" I murmured, managing to slip my hand around behind her head to hold her right where she was.

Audience.

Without moving my head or my hand, I raised my voice just enough to be heard. "Sorry. Needed this."

Saffron's voice didn't accuse, didn't object. Just informed. "We have an acupuncture kit, you realize? I really should be getting more practice in, now that I think about it."

"Mmm. Siobhan?"

"Yes, Tabitha?"

"Let Saffron practice?"

Funny, right then I swear I could hear the little pouts on both Saffron and Siobhan's faces. "I'd rather hoped to practice on you, Goof. No offense, Siobhan."

"Oh, none taken. I don't really need that at the moment either, but..."

Fond humor filled Saffron's voice when she asked, "need a touch up on your neck, then?"

Siobhan's butt hit the end of the bed. "Not so much need, per se."

"Ladies?" When the banter went silent, I said, "This... This is the only real Marie I get. Everything else. It's all covered by the curse."

Siobhan stayed silent, and even Marie's purring quieted a little at that, and that made Saffron's sudden question seem all the more intense. "That isn't?"

I chuckled a little at that, and my bones vibrated against her fangs. "Yeah. No. I feel it when her fangs go through my skin. When her claws do."

"Does it hurt?"

"No more than usual. Which is, like, no more than a deep tissue massage, y'know? Only so much better. Endorphins good."

Saffron just hummed. After a little bit I heard her pulling open a drawer, then a series of tiny exhalations from Siobhan. "I'm sorry, Sister. Am I hurting you?"

Siobhan giggled. "I'm afraid I'm a bit sensitive, I think."

Saffron chuckled at that. "But you wanted Marie to do unto you as she's doing to Tabitha?"

Siobhan hummed a bit at that. Eventually she said, "this is quite nice, once they're in. Relaxing. Each one just a little more. But... that's it, I think. Each of these is a tiny pinch followed by a tiny bit of relaxation. Marie... honestly her fangs don't hurt much more, and the relaxation? Utter. Complete. Devastating, in every good way."

"Yeah." I muttered.

Saffron sighed, then gasped. "Everything okay?" I asked.

"I just realized; one day before you were cursed, before Siobhan joined us, you and Marie both wound up needing Soul Realignment from Loki. Afterward... you both were so peaceful. So calm. Such a state of utter contentment. I..." she trailed off.

Wept. Marie's voice whispered into our heads.

"Why?"

"I couldn't... couldn't let myself relax like that. Calverton. Norfolk. So many things hovering over us. Over the Alliance."

"Yeah, well. Now I'm fuckin' cursed. It never ends, does it?"

She sighed. "No. No it does not. But... we can do nothing about your curse until Monday. I... I can relax. Oh, not for more than a day? But..."

"You said it's Loki's Soul Realignment that started it?"

"Well, yes, but..."

"Hush." Dad? Can you?

Bring her on the morrow, Daughter.

Thanks, Dad. You're the best.

I know.

"All set, Kitten. You finish up your practice on Siobhan there, and in the morning we'll take you to Dad's place."

I almost didn't hear her when she said, "thank you, love."

De nada, Kitten.

The four of us slept in the Bed. Marie woke us up early enough to return to our bedroom before everybody else got up, and Saffron told them we had to visit Loki today, so they'd all have the next two days off. She was halfway to asking the Maenads to watch the kids when I interrupted. "I think Sigyn wants to sit for us."

She stopped with her mouth hanging open. "All of them?"

"Yep."

"So be it."

We each took a pair of little ones, at which point Siobhan said, "well, I suppose I'll see you all on Saturnday? Or will I be waiting for Sunday?"

Saffron slipped Menace onto her shoulders, reached out, and took Siobhan by the hand. "Where exactly do you think you'll be going?"

"But I..."

"Will be joining us for the next two days." She paused. "Unless you didn't want to?"

Siobhan blushed, and smiled. "Really?"

"Yes. Really. Are you sure you and the Goof haven't been canoodling behind our backs?" When Siobhan cocked her head, confused, Saffron explained, "because you're acting incredibly goofy." She turned to the Maenads. "Ladies." They nodded, and we stepped to Loki's cave.

Sigyn took one look at our cargo and her face lit up. The biggest fuckin' snake I'd ever seen slid over, but before I could respond Menace leapt from her mom's shoulders to glomp his head, after which she rode him back over to collect the rest of her sibs. "I take it I'll be taking care of more than just Saffron today, then?"

I shrugged, smiling. "You mind?"

He smiled back, leaning close as I hoisted a naked Saffron onto his table. "After seeing your mother smile like that? Not one bit."