"Is there a particular reason why?" Omen asked.
"I have been doing this since I was thirteen, Omen," Ajax soberly said. "It started out of desperation and our need for security, don't we have that now? So, why continue?" He swallowed a stiff gulp, "…And, at the end of the day, I'm just tired of thanklessly killing enemies and watching allies die while the rest of the world goes on its merry way."
Ajax rubbed his palm on her shoulder, "I just want us to leave this dangerous industry while we still can, instead of sticking around until something bad inevitably happens to us."
"Oh," Omen's eyes turned wide in shock, before she separated her gaze from him, "Well, uhm, retirement is not something a twenty-three-year-old should talk about, but you're no typical young adult, are you, Vince?"
She met his gaze again, tenderly cupping his face, "You have worked hard to protect Christine and me ever since you were a teenager and even before that, Vince. Whatever you choose to do, I will always support your decision."
This time, Ajax's eyes turned wide in shock, speechless. He exhaled a breath he didn't know he was holding.
Ajax wanted to say things to her, so very many things to her, he wanted to hug her and never let go, he wanted to thank her until his throat bled out. But when he opened his mouth, nothing came out.
Soon an uncomfortable silence descended in the room as the initial relief in Ajax's mind morphed into guilt for not talking about it sooner.
"Listen, I-" Ajax said when a voice interrupted him.
"Hey, AJ! You're back!"
Ajax snapped his neck to the source of her voice and saw his step-sister, Christine coming down from the stairs adjacent to the cabin.
He immediately smiled and waved at her, "Hey, Christy! How're you doing?"
"Great!" Christine grinned broadly, "What about you?"
"Better than great!" He chuckled, "I am elated to see you!"
"Well, you better stay that way," Christine laughed, and addressed Omen and him, "Anyway, I gotta go, good night you two!"
"Sure," Ajax fiddled with his skewers while looking at her antics fondly.
She was the same age as him—twenty-three years old—with much of her mother's beautiful features, but with a natural sharpness to them.
Her lips were plump with a well-defined cupid's bow, and she had fair bright skin, clear blue eyes, and freckles on the bridge of her nose. Most prominently, however, she had rich, naturally multi-tonal auburn hair.
And, for some reason, she was in outside clothes ready to leave, in the middle of the night, with two heavy duffle bags.
Ajax curiously turned to Omen, using Christy's arrival to dissipate the previous awkwardness between them, "She going somewhere?"
Omen sighed, "Her best friend had a disastrous breakup, she called Christine an hour ago. Now, Christine wants to stay over at her place tonight."
"Huh," Ajax processed her words, and turned to her, "Is that normal?"
Unlike Christy, who—despite knowing about the supernatural world—had spent most of her life in normalcy thanks to her mother's efforts, he had spent it fighting monsters and researching spells.
Ajax never resented Omen or Christy for the difference in treatment he got.
After all, Christy didn't have innate powers like Omen and himself, which—along with Omen's intense desire to give Christy the life she never got—were more than enough reasons for Omen and Ajax to go above and beyond to maintain a regular life for her.
"I don't know, I never lived like her," She watched her daughter's antics affectionately. "But, I am glad she gets to."
"Me too," A small smile formed on Ajax's face.
Once Christine left, the deafening silence saturated the air again. Until Omen softly clapped her hands.
"Well," Her gaze turned to the case documents, and she let out a helpless smile, "I guess I will cancel this job then."
"No," Ajax said, stopping her from retrieving the papers. "I've been thinking, and I think I want to do this job as, you know, my last job in the field. And, I would hate for you to lose face by canceling a picked case."
"You know, you don't have to. I don't care about my reputation—"
"Besides, you worked so much on these cards,"—he picked a business card—"I like the design too. I want to do one job with them, at least."
"Hah!" Omen laughed with flushed cheeks, "Then, I'll brag to my buddies how this box is actually the leftovers from the warehouses full of business cards that you went through before you retired."
Ajax chuckled, "And, don't forget to add how I rescued this box of cards from a burning building set alight by a pyro-pixie."
They cackled at each other's antics.
"Usually, knowing your terrible care towards delicate objects, I would never give you more than one card. But, this time, I want you to have the box." Omen added, her hand brushing on its surface.
"I'll do anything to not catch fewer strays from you," he laughed, waving his hand and causing the box to disappear.
Omen shook her head with a smile.
Ajax shifted his weight on the chair and turned to the door. "I guess, I will see if Chris gets to her friend's place safely."
He touched the documents of the case Omen had picked for him; they promptly disappeared, "If she is safe, I will move on to the job site from there. I am a bit worried about Chris. When I got here, eight people were spying on your house."
"And?" Omen raised an eyebrow.
"And I took care of them obviously," Ajax rolled his eyes. "They all belonged to different secret societies, not a big problem individually or collectively. But one of them was a grunt for a local coven, they might try to recruit ya."
"Oh?" Omen looked at him unbothered, "They confessed to all that voluntarily?"
"Pretty much," Ajax nodded. "I had to impale their immediately non-essential organs with spikes. Rip out all of their nails. Sell one of their souls to a demon, and use its suffering magic to torture the rest. But for what it's worth, they cracked in seconds."
He further added something as if he'd forgotten to mention it before, "Oh, and I doubt any of them will bother you again, though the coven might try to track you indirectly, so be careful. Warn Chris too."
"Jee, I wonder why they won't bother me," Omen smiled, a moment later, she laughed out loud abruptly.
Ajax smiled reflexively and asked, "What is it?"
"It's just," her eyes turned tender. "You're so attentive, like that one reliable husband I never had."
Ajax's scoffed, "And you're like that only lover I've ever had, perfect."
"Oh, you." Omen looked down, crow's feet crinkled by her eyes, she walked closer to him, placing a hand along the lapel of his open chest robe. "Hey… stay sharp out there. Take care of things. Trust no one but family."
"...Sure," Ajax tilted his head at her unusual behavior. "Why did you say that?"