Private Finished Dire Warnings

Honestly, Shay was tired, for all that she tried to maintain an upbeat persona. Winter was always hard on her body. She was coughing, regularly had to carry around a bloodied handkerchief with her and just, in general, felt achy and exhausted.

After some food and human interaction, a nap was sound like the best thing the world had to offer. That was when Angelo pulled her to the side for a talk.

Shay searched for all the things she could have done to upset him recently, but when he told her it had nothing to do with Fitz and her relationship, she was kind of at a loss.

Since the Spiderlings and other family duties, Shay didn't have the wild streak she might once have had. She had responsibilities and she took that shit seriously.

Giving her not-dad an incredulous look, Shay said, "shoot. Either I did something, or you've run out of people to ask in your time of need. What's up?"

"Oh, drat, it's starting to look like the first," Shay went on as Angelo told her to sit. Her tone was playful, but that didn't hide the fact that she was at least half-serious.

She took a seat across from him, worried the comfy chair might be enough to have her dozing off. "Mhm," she answered sleepily as he explained that he'd be willing to go to her if he needed her expertise... on reaper things. Nice to know. Misguided, but a nice gesture anyway.

"Yeah. Charlie Rotmore. He's the teacher supervisor of my club." She paused and thought of saying something in line with her usual snarky comments. But her mind was slow, and she'd have much rather waited for Angelo to finish his thought on this particular subject.

Shay was awake then. She was maybe a little too focused on Angelo's reactions. It made her grimace about the same time he did.

Maybe – No, most definitely – Shay was being too sensitive. But why did it feel like all the adults in her life thought she was some kinda of idiot? Or that she didn't know these types of things already. Like she was some kind of fuck up. And again, Shay found herself thinking back to Vito and how very similar his mannerisms had been to her.

Shay supposed, so long as Angelo didn't tell her she'd end up dead, raped, and in a ditch somewhere she'd have more warmth for him than she'd had for Vito. But that didn't help any of her building resentment.

She leaned forward in her chair, letting that playful mask slip away. All the weariness her face bore had her looking older than eighteen. She probably looked about as tired as when Angelo had visited her back when she'd first began running the Rosales gang for that short time.

"Just," she sighed, "say what you mean, Angelo. You don't need to go dancing around the subject okay? It's not like I purposefully go against you just to get to you – not really anyway.

"And yeah, I know he's dangerous. We all do. He's a fuckin' Lich for Christ sake. And I did hear about his little meltdown around you. I don't think he's going to do a damn thing. He's too worried about what other people think of him, and besides, if he did, I'd kill him."

Shay leaned back, not bothering to hide how little the idea bothered her. "Shit. I'm not supposed to say that in front of you, am I? You're a cop."

Angelo seemed downright disturbed. Right, he was normal. Shay had forgotten that little detail. Charlie was a lich and a murderer. No, being a lich meant more than just being a murderer. It meant terrible things. It didn't seem out of the ordinary to Shay that Charlie wouldn't give a shit about all of that.

"Yeah, yeah, and not all Demons are assholes. Let's be honest with ourselves Angelo; the supernatural have those stereotypes for a reason. They're not like people."

As Angelo went on further to explain what he meant, hands clenching in what Shay assumed was rage. Oof. Shay was reminded of how human Angelo was. Her face softened some as she struggled to pull her mask back on.

"He's...." She breathed in slowly, trying to find the words. How much could she tell Angelo? And, could she tell him all her horrible things? Angelo was a good man despite his past crimes. The same couldn't be said of people like Klaus, Charlie, or her.

"He couldn't commit genocide. He's not strong enough. But yes, I don't think he feels bad either. No in the way a person would feel bad. He wants to be human again, but he gave that away, and his curse is that it'll stick with him forever."

She gave Angelo a wry smile. "I sometimes forget how human you are. You know I was dating a serial killer, right? I knew what he did. I didn't really care then; I don't really care now.

"And you know, I'd have killed those wolves at the New Years party. Not even in self-defense. I'd have done it afterward, even understanding their reasoning. I'd have killed them because how dare they. No regret. No hesitation. It wouldn't be out of necessity. It would just be because."

She met his eyes, something careful in her expression. "Do you think I'm a better person now, Angelo? We're all monsters here, Angelo. Just some of us are better at playing human."

"They were not good people," Shay said back fiercely. "Good and bad doesn't work that way, Angelo. Sure, most of us would have done the same to save our people, but that doesn't mean they didn't almost kill plenty of innocent people themselves. They put my baby cousins in danger. They nearly killed me with their bullshit. We all could have died, and some of us would have stayed that way. One of them threatened to rape Live.

"So, yes. I'd have killed them to get out. And I might have been willing to kill them after I was out, too, if the cops hadn't handled it. What makes it okay for them to get my baby cousins shot, but it's all okay because they had a reason? Horrible things have been done in the name of good reason all the time. That doesn't make them okay."

She huffed, pinched her nose and calmed herself down. She could see Angelo wasn't faring well with this news. In fact, he was looking about the second worst case scenario. With the worst being that he told her to get out of his house and never fucking return.

Shay looked to one of the pictures on the way. "You killed for money, you know. It's not like I'd kill anyone for anything. I've never harmed someone like that, but I know I could do it. Maybe it sounds monstrous to you, but if you really thought about it could you say you'd be any different?

"I can admit I'm not the standard of virtuous. But I'm also self-aware enough to know that the sins I commit will stick with me to my grave. No matter how to try to wash them away. The same is said of my good deeds."