What is a difference?

Jake had found himself a wall to sit against, the sounds of metal creaking and breaking outside a curt reminder that something was happening, the way his mom was being attacked, he only assumed it was her being overpowered in that situation. Some part of him wanted to stop Samael, wanted to help her, but that part of him that wanted to avoid her, that part that didn't know what to do. That part of him he thought he had banished just hours ago was... gone.

He had run, jumped, fly. For hours he had done this. From night to day, he had done this, the only thing he had eaten was lunch yesterday and even then that was the only food he had in the past two days. He was hungry, tired, sore and that blast of emotion he felt suddenly was draining. And he knew he could stand up, and keep going, get out there and try to do... something. But there was nothing.. He could do.. He had hit her with enough strength to send her flying and she got up like it was nothing. She wasn't his mom.. so what was she?

Looking up to Samael when he spoke, Jake was silent for a moment, unsure what to do, what to say, what to ask, did his mom run away? Did she... Did he.. No, he wouldn't... Jake knew he had to.. ask.. him. What had happened, more. He had to know what his mom meant by what she said. He had to know. Food would just kinda be a bonus. "Yes... But. I need.. I need to know.. What she meant.. What she said. Please. Don't.. Sugar coat it or whatever." Jake stood up, head tall. He couldn't be done now, he had gone though so much pain, broken limbs. This.. This had to be nothing compared to that. "I... I need to know what happened."

Despite how stoic Samael usually looked, there was a faint trace of pity that worked its way into his expression. Parental problems had been a thing that colored his experience, so he knew what it was like to go through something like that. There wasn’t much he could do emotionally for someone that was effectively a stranger to him, but maybe he could get them a bite to eat in the very least. Jake wanted answers, but he could get them while the two had food. He did know a nice diner not far from here, so maybe he could get said food from there considering that his office had nothing more than a microwave and that was by no means a great way to enjoy a meal, especially when he could hear the younger males stomach growl like it did.

”I’ll explain everything while were getting a meal. I know a pretty good diner not too far from here, though I guess you can’t walk in dressed up like that.” Waving that off, he walked over to a closet, digging around in it as he removed what looked to be clothes that were around Jake’s size, at least they looked it. They followed how Samael mostly dressed up, black jeans and a white shirt that looked rather comfy as far as shirts went, leather jacket was optional. ”Change into these. If you’re one of those hero types, i’m sure you don’t need people seeing you like that anyway.” He would let him change, whether that was in the bathroom he had or him turning around to let the guy have some privacy.

Regardless once that was done he could lead them to said diner.

Jake's shoulders drooped a little at the words Samael shared, a diner was... it was public. He didn't want to be anywhere public, even if it was out of this stupid red uniform. But he was hungry. And emotional eating far outweighed the thought of having people stare at him like he was a freak. Even if all they saw was a young adult. He felt like one now more then ever.

Remaining silent, Jake took the clothes and let himself into Samaels bathroom, quickly discarding the red garment for the jeans and shirt, which were just a little tight on his muscled frame, but thankfully him and Samael were the same height, a factor that he assumed was only possible because of what he was... What was he? A question to ask Sam later, Jake looked to now, which was a leather jacket, it was... it looked comfortable, more clothes to hide himself with but he opted not too. Less clothes to get though in case he needed his wings.

Exiting the bathroom, Jake glanced at Samael, noting that he did not look much like Nathanial, but maybe that was just the eyes. Compared to Nate's silver eyes, his were black, just like his mothers was. Black like an inescapable void. He wanted her blue eyes back. "Let us go then." Jake stated, following Samael wherever he went, Chicago was not exactly new to him, as he had been there once before, when he had met those kids. But that was a pleasure trip, this was... He didn't know where he was, and he didn't like that, not one bit.

It didn’t take long for yhe young nephilim to change into the clothes, Samael tapping his foot a little as he did so. He gave Jake a small thumbs up when he showed up, sans the leather jacket as he expected. Not everyone could appreciate a good leather jacket, but he wouldn’t judge him for that. Sure, everything looked a little tight, but then again that came with being rather packed with the muscle. ”Righto.” He said, leading the way to said diner after picking up a pair of shades from a cabinet filled with many pairs. The walk from there was short, taking only a few minutes of walking as they turned the corner and could walked through the glass doors.

The smell of Americana hit his nose. Fried meats, and various other things causing his stomach to rumble, made even worse with the concept of being able to smell as keenly as he could. Settling down into a table, one of the waitresses brought around a menu, handing both to the two male, giving Samael a small wave and a smile as she walked off. He looked through the menu with a cursory glance, humming to himself until he picked something out and set it down. ”Feel free to pick out whatever you want. I’ll pay for it.” He offered a smile, trying to seem as friendly as possible, and to some degree he hoped it worked.

”I also can’t promise perfect answers, but i’ll do what I can.” He added as the waitress returned to ask what they wanted.

”Alrighty, what’ll it be Sammy and his little friend?” She asked, giving Samael a small wink.

”I’ll have the New Yorker burger with a basket of fries and….a chocolate shake. Large.” He smiled returning the wink, turning to Jake to see what he would order.

The walk was not long, that was nice, upon entering the diner, he was momentarily distracted by the sell of meat, a smell that almost allowed his stomach to take his mind over and forget about all of this so he could just eat that wonderful smelling food. Almost. Following Samael, Jake found himself seated with a menu and many things he had not heard of, others he just wasn't interested in.

When Sam spoke, Jake just nodded his head, if his mom was that way the entire time, he might not have gotten all of it, but he had to get enough. More then what was said to him. When a new voice came in, Jake glanced up at her, not sure if to be annoyed at her commit of him being a little friend. But he bit back his words when he spotted a small gesture to Samael from the waitress.  "I'll just have a burger of any kind. Crispy chicken if you can. Meat otherwise." Jake said, not having looked too far into the menu to see if chicken was even offered, not caring. He just wanted answers from Samael, and so he looked to Samael for them.

Jake didn’t seem to order a drink, but he didn’t bother mentioning it as she wrote something down on her notepad and walked off to give the order to whoever manned the kitchen in the back. With a sight, he let his attention turn back to Jake, trying to think of the words that would help him beyond the offers of food. ”I initially thought you were a nephilim, child of an angel and all that jazz. However, i’m not sure what to think about that anymore.” He thought back to the encounter with the woman, growing mad under whatever curse had grabbed ahold of her. He hadn’t seen anything like that before, and yet it had happened.

”From what I can tell, whatever change she went through was a long time coming. Maybe before you were born even, maybe if affected you somehow?” The suggestion was there, but he didn’t know how much legitimacy it actually held. Honestly, these were things he had never thought about, and he wasn’t sure if Jake could even count as an angel and demon hybrid. Something did tell him that would have explained so much as far as the disgust from his mother, or rather former mother.

”You could be a hybrid of angel and demon, though I can’t be certain about that.” The waitress brought his shake, Sammy sliding a straw into it and sipping on it pleased. ”I’ll probably need to look into it more. Your mother was a little vague about everything.”

Jake kinda felt like he could handle it, he felt he had some understand from the simple words his mom had said to him. But as Samael spoke, he started to break down a little, piece by piece. By the end of Samaels explanation, he was staring at his own hands. Wondering. Afraid. He wanted to activate his energy, get a good look at it, it's chaotic nature, how it had seemed to be excited the longer he was in the pit of ravens. How his... His wings. "My wings are a grey color. Not white. Not black. In-between. if what your saying is.. true. She was changed a long time ago.. maybe... that changed happened while she was.." Jake didn't want to think it, not because it was a shy feeling talking about his mom that way, but what happened to her.. "Pregnant with me. Meaning she was... demonic? When I was born but... Angelic before. It... She was always quiet. Sometimes she got angry at people very easily. But.. She was getting better, then.. this."

He didn't want to think, but thinking was the only thing that kept him from breaking down into a fit of tears. Thinking, planning, thinking. If his mom had something happen to her before he was born. Then her structure, what made her, her would have changed, the change to her must not have affected him, but because he was already growing a half angel, her new genes, new blood, body would have nourished him from then on, changing him, making him... this. This thing. Not angel, not demon. A mutt. "It... It's a lot. To digest..." He mumbled to himself, shuddering the more he thought about it, he needed to think of something else. And that was when he was reminded of a certain brand on his chest.

"Look. I.. I need time to think about this... But. While we're here. We might as well look into something that concerns us both. That book." It was also for his own selfish reasons, to find that book meant to focus on something else, meant that if he could punch something along the way, he would. He would.

”Don’t know what to say about the gray wings. They aren’t a color i’ve seen in anything angelic, but...I haven’t met many angels in my life.” They were normally holy and regal colors, not something as undecided as gray. The more he learned about Jake, the more that Samael found himself question what the odd angelic being actually was. If it was tough on him, it must have been unbearable on the person that was dealing with such painful questions like Jake. Maybe what he needed right now was something to distract him from these problems, and that was when the book the angel once requested came up.

”An artifact of my father. A pretty odd request from an angel, but I guess their whole lot is like that.” He admitted as the food made itself out, in a timely fashion as usual. A massive burger, with fries was set before Samael and Jake’s chicken sandwich before him, both things looking rather good to his stomach. They were also the generous portions that one came to expect from a diner like this. ”I’ve had a few people look into the book for me, likely people that knew more about the thing than I did.” He paused to take a massive bite from his burger, a few dribbles of juice falling down his chin.

After a swallow he continued to speak. ”Oddly enough, it’s not where you would expect. Not any kind of hell dimension or whatnot, more like a dusty pawn shop in New Orleans.” He paused, seeming as if he had missed something within the explanation. ”Well, that’s where the trail last went cold anyway. Might be that we can find a few things there, if the information is right anyway.”

Jake listened as he went into his... chicken sandwich, which at least tasted nice, maybe not the best thing to order here, but he was hungry and it was crispy. After a minute or so of head nodding and devouring a chicken sandwich, Jake had a grasp on what was happening. New Orleans... that was south of Chicago, way down south. By car that could be a whole half day maybe... that would be nice, having been fed, having gone though that mess, Jake realized just how tired he felt, never having stayed up this much before, late nights were not new. Staying up from morning to the next days afternoon was a nightmare on his system. He wanted to sleep, right now.

"If... You want to go look into that now. It would be away from here. And I'm sleeping in the car ride over... you have a car right?" Jake asked, his hope on a loose table, edging to fall off and shatter at Samaels words, to get away, to do something, anything, along with a nap on the side was the best thing going for him, if he could focus on something else that concerned him, he didn't have to deal with the now.. the now could be dealt with later, when it was a yesterday problem, that sounded better then a now problem.

Despite how thin Samael looked with his normal choice in clothing, he put away food rather well. His burger and fries were done away with in the span of maybe five minutes, wiping away the grease around his lips and washing it down with the chocolate treat. He wasn’t sure if Jake would even agree to heading to New Orleans, but then again not like they had too much choice as far as things were concerned. He however found himself smirking when driving was mentioned, shaking his head a few times. ”I don’t have a car Jake. I do all of my travel by portal, makes cross country ventures a hell of a lot easier.” With that he reached into his wallet, pulling out  a few bills, one of them looking like a twenty and settling it down upon the table.

”We’ll leave in a few minutes, and I can probably get us a hotel room. Give you a little rest before we of the whole investigation thing.” Samael explained, letting Jake finish his food before standing up and motioning to be followed. Paying for the meal was after that, and then they could return to his office. From there they stepped into a backroom, the darkness seeming like daylight to him as he noted the circle on the floor.

”try to hold your breath while we move through the portal, otherwise you might lose your lunch.” He offered, doing so before activating the array and then there was a feeling of vertigo, following a flash of light before they appeared in what looked to be a parking lot. Iron fences, and boards clinging to it. ”Huh, that was pretty easy.”

Jake's hope fell and shattered at the mention of portal, that meant he would be getting no rest. Thankfully, it was pieced back together when Samael mentioned a Hotel room to rest in, his eyes felt like bagging but he didn't let that slow hi down as Sam paid for the food and left, Jake continuing to follow him along like a tired, zombie puppy. Returning to the office, his mood soured as he looked at the damage caused by his mothers insane durability. A reminder of the past events that occurred with the only brief knowing that he could think of it all later, after he had a good few hours of sleep.

Following Samael into a dark room, Jake listened to Sam's orders as he stared at the dark covered ground, his breath held, waiting for something to happen, he didn't bother to try and turn his red vision on, too much hassle. And that was when something indeed happen, first an unease took hold of him, followed by a flash of light as they found themselves in a parking lot. Sure beat hours of driving, his stomach didn't agree so much but he ignored it, first. Sleep. "Hotel. Now. Please." Jake nearly begged, he wanted to just lie down, the transportation didn't help at all, only adding to his mood of sleep obsessed need. He didn't even care if the bed was made out of wood at this point, it would be something more then anything, something familiar. When everything around him was only getting stranger by the second.

Upon arriving, he could tell that Jake likely did not pay attention to what he said and rolled his eyes. ”Does not no one ever listen to me ever.” Samael groaned, throwing Jake over his shoulder and carrying him off to the nearest hotel. Having people look at him because he was carrying someone over his shoulder was something that didn’t bother him when he walked into the lobby, approaching the from desk and ordering them a room. It was a little easier than he thought, Samael having the key within  five minutes and then just going to the room and tossing Jake onto one of the two beds. ”Alright, you cuddle up and sleep. I’ll do a little research on my own or whatever.” He said with a wave of the hand, the younger male having likely already lost consciousness.

He rolled his shoulders and gave a sigh.

Spoiler:

By the time Jake likely awoke, it would have been around night time Samael stepping from the bathroom, dripping wet and toweling himself off with what looked to be various red lines along his back, running around what looked to be scraggly black feathers clinging to his back, dressed in a pair of shorts that looked more like cut off jeans. It made the whole demonic marks theme make even more sense. ”Enjoy your nap Jake?” He asked, granted it was more like a six hours of sleep, he set himself down on the other bed, hair normally kept in a clean style now dark copper strands arrayed in a messy fashion.

Jake mumbled a 'what' right before being picked up, he didn't offer much a fight, he was tired, a little sick and the idea of not moving was getting better and better the father they went. Eventually, after some more mumbling about being uncomfortable, he found himself thrown into a bed, to which he curled up and went right to sleeping, the eternal darkness of rest taking him form the day to the night.

By the time Jake woke, he wanted to go right back to sleep, more sleep sounded nice. But he also wanted to do... something. His mood had returned to a calculating stage, a stage he needed to forget recent events, a stage that was just... easier to be. Looking around the room, his eyes widen a little at the sight of Samael, seeing a lot more then he bargained for, but a interesting more to that. Black feathers lined his back, marking him as the son of the raven. "Could do more. But. Can't sleep forever. And we're here, you... did what you did.. So. What do we do?" Jake asked as he climbed out of the bed, stretching a little, first Samael needed to get dressed, after that. Jake was ready to punch any demon Or angel that got in there way.

”Yeah, I hear if you sleep too much you never wake up.” He said with a grin, joking around with the whatever this kid was now. Still, he did ask about what they would do next and he would have to come up with what that something was. ”get yourself ready, we have ourselves a book to grab.” He said with a smirk, standing up and picking a shirt from the other side of the bed and slipping it on. Changing into his jeans and jacket from there was easy,  Samael raking his fingers through his hair to force it into some manner of controlled style. Putting his glasses on, he  sighed.

”Get ready make sure you’re all awake. I don’t need you being groggy and slowing us down.” He said before pausing, remembering that he did buy something for this. Reaching into the small mini-fridge under a counter, he handed Jake one of those chilled coffees in a bottle that people bought when they couldn’t afford to spend time brewing it. He tossed the bottle to Jake, not caring whether he actually drank from it or not. ”Not sure what exactly we might be dealing with once we get there, so be on your guard Jake.” With that done, he would lead the male out of the hotel, down the elevator and through the city of Jazz.

Where they were lead was a small looking antique shop, closed from the looks of things, and that made things easier. Well, it would have been if there wasn’t a magical ward around the place. ”Might need a second to break through this.” He said, examining the building front before motioning for Jake to follow him around through an alleyway, one that lead them to the back entrance which showed that the barrier had been more visibly broken. ”Welp, looks like someone beat us to it.” He said with a shrug, walking through the doorway with as little noise as he could and hoping Jake would follow suit.

The backroom was filled mostly with boxes, leading into the front room from behind the register into the showing floor.

Jake just looked at Samael with content as he spoke, he was awake, as awake as he was going to get. That was till he was passed the drink from Sam, a sniff told him it was coffee. Okay, he was going to be a little more awake then what he was now. Downing it on the way down the elevator and past the hotel, Jake remained silent, not willing to open his mouth unless needed, didn't want too.

Lead to a rather old looking store, Jake didn't notice anything at first, and was rather confused when Samael stated that he would need to break though something before wondering around to the alleyway rather then just breaking though the door. Very strange. Following him, Jake felt a tingling as they made it to the back, where he saw the ward, faint, not something he might have noticed before all this. Looking to Samael when he stated that someone had broken in, Jake narrowed his eyes to the door, if that someone was still here... "Alright then." Was all he said as he followed Samael in, sighting the boxes that filled the place along with a smell that just said old stuff.

Pushing aside things towards as he headed towards the front room, Jake was prepared to beat something in the face, very prepared, he was looking forward to whatever happened as long as it ended with his fist hitting something hard.

He was leading someone uninitiated in the arts of magic into an odd situation, and that much he was used to doing. Not like this was the first time that he had brought someone into his world, but then again that was how life worked. His senses were keen upon the magic that was rich within the air, causing his skin to tingle and even make his stomach jump with butterflies. Nothing like what people equated with love, but it did manage to make hima  little uncomfortable with the whole thing. Considering the fact they were braking in, and his own ability to see within the dark, Samael didn’t bother turning on the lights and looked around the main room.

Nothing that needed face beating materialized, instead though there were a few things that likely had some magical value though he quickly turned to the large bookcase with various thickly bound tomes that didn’t look like it fit within the shop itself. He ended up moving through the books, reaching them as fast as he could for anything that could suggest that one of them were the book or even having some clue to where he would find the book.

However one thing would call out to Jake in particular, that being an antique mirror of special design. The frame looked like it were weaved with black iron and embedded with various dark colored gems, though the mirror itself seemed only to reflect Jake itself as if demanding he look into it.