persephone de luca joins the bau,
solving cases by understanding
the unsubs, struggling with her
past and her future in the process.
━━━━ a criminal minds anthology ft. persephone de luca.
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HELLRAISER. && part seven. dinner and southern skin eaters
OVER THE SOUNDS OF CLINKING metal, there was near-constant conversation. A noise that I did not mind. The chatter between family members was melodic for me, a patterned rhythm that I was born into and raised within. We, the De Lucas, put great effort into meeting as regularly as we could, having dinner together, perhaps watching a movie, but time and plans were fickle and often what worked for me did not work for the others. Still, we made do, and today was one of those special afternoons, where everything, seemingly, fell into place.
My mother, Allegra De Luca, was a stern, yet beautiful, looking woman woman with curly hair and bright eyes. She was in a state of constant exhaustion, working as a trauma nurse in the local hospital. My sibling, Theodora was tall and gloomy, with dark rings around their eyes, choppy hair and a crooked smile, they worked as a mortician and probably saw just as much death as I did. My younger brother, Kit, was sweet, gentle and iridescent, he liked ballet and bows and yogurt and dreamed of becoming a ballerina. I respected him the most. Out of all of us, he shone the brightest, and that was something hard to do when it seemed that shadows followed you for being a De Luca.
Still, despite the darkness that clung to our blue eyes and the stench of death that followed all of us (save Kit), we laughed jovially and allowed ourselves to forget the horrors, even if they were lodged within our chests, permanent and painful.
"So," I began, dragging out the vowel sound. "Theo, excited to finally graduate? Then you can cut up dead people for the rest of your life!" I teased. We were sitting at the dinner table of my mother's clean apartment.
Theodora rolled their eyes. "You say it like I'm some serial killer or something."
Kit sat across from me, Theodora beside me, and Allegra at the head of the table. "If anyone was going to be a serial killer it would be you," Kit interrupted, gesturing to Theo, before slyly eating his dinner. Take out Indian, he ordered the Mango Chicken because it was sweet. I used to tease him saying that he ordered it because it made him sweeter. Kit then would reply that I ordered spicy curries because I was so angry.
Theodora threw their paper napkin and rolled into a ball at Kit. "Shut up," they scoffed. Kit responded by sticking out his tongue.
"Stop fighting, the three of you!" Allegra scolded, but her voice was light-hearted and the rest of us snickered at her faux-anger.
"But, to answer your question Agent Persephone, I am very excited and I can't wait to be the serious, stony-faced mortician who helps the detectives."
I laughed. "I'll be sure to call you, in the wee hours of the night."
Allegra shook her head, "that's enough work talk. Do we have anything else we can discuss?"
"I just learned about how bodies react under being dumped in salt water?" Theodora suggested.
Kit chimed in next. "I just perfected my cabriole?"
"I learned how to poison someone without leaving any evidence."
Allegra shook her head, swiping her hand in the way, waving away each of our answers. "I've raised kids interested in murder, dead bodies and," she looked to Kit, "well, at least you're lovely. My little angel boy." She, then, looked at the rest of us. "Any of you dating? Any cute boys or girls in your class?" She looked at Theodora and then me, "Or in your team?"
Theodora and I both rolled our eyes. "Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you," Theodora replied.
"Just don't date anyone like your father, men with O-names, or men who drive trucks, or men who are exceedingly charismatic." Allegra moved her hands a lot as she talked, I used to tease her saying that it was because of her Italian heritage.
I laughed, "Yeah, sure, Theo and I will just date the awkward, weird ones with no friends." Allegra shot me a look, and as she went to scold me I heard my phone ring. "Sorry, mum, but this agent needs to answer a phone call," I jested, and stepped away from the table.
"Hello?" I asked, walking to the bathroom, away from eavesdroppers. The room was small, the tiles absolutely clean, however, and perfectly organized. As I waited for the person on the line to respond I fiddled with the items, moving them slightly, adjusting their perfect positions.
"Agent De Luca, you're needed. We have a case." The voice belonged to Hotch, his tone was firm and urgent.
