Blood of My Blood, Flesh of My Flesh (Bughead)

Dragula

"Betty...where are you going?"

Polly's pregnant figure on the threshold of her door, with Betty one hand braced on her window to scale her roof, made her hold in a frustrated groan.

"Oh, Polly. Shouldn't you be asleep?" Betty asked, wincing. She'd tried to be quiet.

Polly huffed, coming and lightly throwing herself onto Betty's plush comforter, crossing her arms and staring up at the fairy decals on Betty's ceiling.

"I'm not sick. I'm just horrified." Polly said, "C'mon, I'm also bored out of my mind."

Betty sighed, "I'm going to help Sweet Pea perform a magic spell. And then..." She wavered, trying to decide, "And then we might have a new lead on Jason."

Polly shot up instantly.

"Please, let me come," Polly begged, "I need something to do!"

"It might be upsetting-,"

"What could be more upsetting than finding out your dead boyfriend was adopted to be a husband to his sister?" Polly asked point-blank.

Betty blinked.

"Uhm, okay. Very true. Fine. But...if I decide it's too much-,"

"I'll go straight home, I swear!" Polly was nearly bouncing, "I am so geeked about all this magic! I gotta know what my kids will be getting into, right?" She nudged Betty, "And Jason can't explain it. He would have been so excited, you know?" She sighed, "He used to talk about it, covertly. I just didn't realize what it was. But he loved magic and loved me...so much."

Betty considered taking Polly upstairs, just for a moment, before she bit back the urge. Instead, she was now convinced that the spell hadn't worked, and it was a dud.

Why get her hopes up, to crash them back down again?

She handed Polly a flashlight, "He would have been a great father. We both know it. Hopefully, finding out the truth will be good enough."

XXX

"Woah! You think you're taking that weapon out of the house, mister?" Fred said, grasping Archie's tee shirt as he attempted to leave, a crossbow hanging off his back like one would sling a pair of sneakers.

"It's a Grimm weapon. It's not like...a normal weapon."

"Damn your mother," Fred cussed under his breath, "Give me that."

"Where's mom anyway?"

"Off visiting some friends," Fred said, eyes narrowed suspiciously, "What's going on?"

"We got a hit on the Jason case."

Fred pressed his lips together, "I think you should leave that to the professionals, son."

"Seriously? Keller's made a mess of it! And he knows practically nothing." Archie huffed, "This one is real, Dad. We'll actually know!"

"And you think taking a crossbow is reasonable?"

"It's a recurved crossbow, Dad," Archie informed him with a roll of his eyes like it made a difference that it wasn't just a bargain-bin Walmart crossbow, "It's historic. And, I d unno what we'll encounter out there."

"Archie," Fred shook his head, "I've been so worried this entire time. You getting this is like being handed a curse, you know?"

"But...it's my heritage," Archie said, confused, "I feel like I belong."

"You belonged with me, just moral and normal, fine," Fred said, grasping his wrist, "If you keep on this path, you are going to end up dead. Just like Jason Blossom. You need to believe me when I say I'm trying to protect you," His voice shook, "I just need to. This is my job. My best and worst job, Archie, Understand me."