Everette
Watching Jax tie down the now sleeping intruder, I grab the knife she'd dropped off the floor, the jagged blade coated in blood. As I study the blade, strong arms wrap around my middle, his head coming to rest on my own as he huffs out a long breath. "There's a lot of blood Jax." The only thing I get in response is a low hum as he pulls away from me and heads into the bathroom, leaving me to clean up the mess. Turning back to our bed, I stare down at the blood-soaked girl, the once-white sheets would have to be burned later. Reaching down slowly, I lift the hem of her bloodied shirt, shocked and confused when all I find are a few superficial wounds and lots of scars, none of them big enough to be the source of the blood that covered her. "I already checked her over, Ev." I jump back from the bed, Jax's voice pulling me from my thoughts. Turning I find him standing with the first aid kit in one hand, his other beckoning me forward. With a sheepish smile, I plop down in the chair in front of him, letting him stitch the wound on my arm closed. "Whatever happened, that blood isn't hers." His voice is clouded with concentration, his muttering almost seeming to be for himself rather than me. "Once she wakes up, well find out why. In the meantime, we have another problem that needs our attention." This has a smile dancing on my face, the thought of going into our special room making my blood sing in anticipation.
We enter the basement to the sound of silence, the darkness nearly impenetrable inside the concrete room. Flipping the light switch, Jax enters the door to our cleansing room, the joyful sound of his whistling echoing through the nearly empty room. "Wakey wakey Sunshine!" His sneer is full of malice, the man chained in the center of the room jolting upright on the floor as much as his binds will allow, his good eye wide in fear. "Seems we need to cut our playtime short." The words leave my mouth coated in disappointment, though the thought of the little fox sleeping upstairs makes it bittersweet. He makes a strangled gargling sound, blood, and spittle flying from where his tongue once sat in his mouth. "Shut up." The bat makes a wet thunk against the man's skull, the gargling turning to wails and moans. "You should have never tried to snatch that girl off the path." Jax's voice is low and menacing, and the man's wails immediately grow louder. Giving a bored nod, Jax turns to grab the wheelbarrow out of the corner, leaving me with the man bleeding on the floor. He looks at me with tears streaming down his face, surely begging for his life if I had to guess, though the sentiment is lost on me. Normally this kind of scene excited me, their fear was always a sweet balm to the ache in my soul. But today it wasn't doing it for me, luckily for the bastard on the ground. With a tired sigh I grip the man's face in my hands, his skin slick and sticky with blood. "Enjoy hell." His neck snaps with a satisfying crunch.
Before long we have him in the compost pile, buried beneath tons of rotting and decaying food, his body chopped up small enough that nobody would be able to tell him apart from the rest of the pile's contents, not that anyone would come looking. As we clean the blood from the room, Jax finally breaks the silence. "The sedative you gave her should be wearing off soon." His voice is neutral, though I can hear the undercurrent of excitement. Walking up to him, I can't help the grin that takes over my face, a feeling of excitement buzzing in my core. Stepping to my tiptoes I plant a kiss on his cheek, groaning when his hand grips my hair to pull me in for a real one. Just as I go to deepen the kiss, a small thud comes from above our heads, signaling the waking of our guest. Pulling away, I smile up at him, the anticipation boiling in my blood. "Let me go see what our savage little fox is up to."
I take the steps back up to the main house slowly, not wanting to immediately alert the wild little creature to my presence. Pushing the door open slowly, I spot her on the bed, her back to me as she fiddles with the tie on her wrist, the bedside lamp on its side on the floor. Stalking silently up behind her, I pause a few paces away, my eyes locked on a particular scar on her back. "If you'd like, I can help you with that." Her whole body jolts, her wide blue eyes finding me, her whole body going still. "I-I was-wasn't t-t-try-" My excitement nose dives into concern as she dissolves in a puddle of tremors, her baby blue eyes wide but unseeing. Rushing forward I see her lips aren't just shaking, she's speaking, her voice trembling and soft as she continues to repeat the same two words. "I'm sorry. I-I'm sorry." Placing a hand on her shoulder I shake her lightly, the tremor worsening as her pleas gained volume and speed. My grip tightens on her before shaking her a little harder, her breath finally coming back in a loud whoosh. Wrapping my arms around her, I feel a surge of possessiveness, a strange need to protect her nearly knocking me off my feet. She struggles in my embrace, her limbs flailing wildly as her heart races beneath my hold. "Easy little fox. Easy. You're okay." Her movement slowed to a stop as she finally relaxed in my hold, her body almost slumping in relief as she collected herself.
After a few minutes, she seemed calm, calmer than I'd ever seen her. Satisfied that the bizarre episode was over, I released my hold on her and took a step back, untying her feet as she stared blankly at the covers. Leaving her right hand fastened to the bedpost, I sit in the chair nearest the bed, crossing one leg over the other. "That's the most I can do for you, at least until I figure out what's going on." She stiffens at my words, and immediately I find myself trying to find a way to soothe her anxiety, Settling on asking my questions instead. "What is your name?" Her face shoots up, surprise written clear as day on her expression. "Y-you don't know?" Keeping my face void of my confusion, I offer an apologetic smile. "Should I?" This has her turning back to the bedsheet, a war of emotions flitting across her face. After a few minutes, I'm convinced she won't speak, but as I'm about to get up, her voice floats softly across the room to me, agony and dismay clear in it. "I...I don't know." My brows inch up in surprise, my curiosity growing as well as my confusion, but I don't need to ask. Her eyes grow wide as she scootches back on the mattress, and I know Jax is back, and he probably looks like hell. "Well let's start with what you do know, little fox. Like how you ended up inside our home with a weapon covered in blood that wasn't yours."
A brief flash of surprise colors her expression, before quickly being replaced with a look of defeat, her whole body cringing inwards as she wrapped her arms around her knees. Jax drags one of the dining chairs next to me, and once he's seated I see that I was correct, he does indeed look like hell. Blood flecks dot his face and clothes, his long dark hair probably coated as well but hidden by its hue. He smiles at me momentarily before turning back to the girl, his face going serious once more. Despite loving this man, seeing his anger in her direction rubs me the wrong way, my hackles rising. I must not be as subtle as I thought because the small girl immediately retreats closer to her bound wrist, trying to get as far from us as she can. Jax shoots me a look mixed with surprise and annoyance, unhappy with my display, but I don't budge, that nagging feeling refusing to allow it. Finally, I school my features before turning back to her, trying my hardest to seem nonthreatening, something I excelled at. "I'm sorry, fox. We don't get a whole lot of visitors up this way, especially knife-wielding ones. Let's try this again." Ignoring the glare that burned in the side of my face from Jax, I smile at the terrified girl. "I'm Everett and this is Jaxon. Why don't you tell us what brought you here." After a moment's hesitation, she finally sighs, resignation evident in her tone when she finally speaks, her eyes glazed as she launches into her story. "I was kidnapped when I was a child, until I finally escaped."