Slipping from his bed, tiny feet padded against each of the floorboards. They made certain to skip the squeaky ones, his back flush with the wall until he opened the door. It whined on its hinges, causing a shadow in bed to sit up fast. A blade appeared from under the pillow, whipping at nothing, before bleary eyes turned to find a small boy in the doorway.
"Dad?" he asked, his voice soft.
"Donato," Zevran sighed, digging the sleep from his eyes. "What troubles you?" he asked while focusing upon the boy that roused him so quickly and easily.
His son crept closer, fingers worrying a small blanket. When those wide elven eyes landed upon his father, he whispered, "There's a monster in my room."
Zev snorted once, then his weary eyes drifted to his love conveniently asleep and missing all of this. Well, she had a long day. Best to let her rest...this time.
"Dad..." Donato knocked his knees together and Zevran smiled.
With a comforting hand upon his shoulder, he said, "Of course, I will scare it away. Come." Zev threw off the thin blanket that wasn't necessary in these Antivan summers. With bare feet he too padded as silently as a cat upon the creaking old floorboards. His smart son followed suit, almost all the way up on his tiptoes.
"Stay behind me," Zevran ordered, his son nodding.
Upon reaching the room in question, Zevran unearthed his bedside dagger from the back of his pajama pants. The door to his son's room was left open a sliver, no doubt from when Donato rushed to find him. But so too was the window.
Moonlight lanced through the gap, highlighting the fallen blanket tugged from the boy's bed. With barely a whisper to his voice, Zevran asked, "Where did you see the monster?"
A shaking finger pointed towards the closet before Donato bit down on his baby blanket. His mother knit it while she grew him, often cursing up a storm when dropping a stitch. For all of the restarts and - on occasions - giving up on fix the problem, his son was rarely without his comfort. Buffing back his boy's dark hair, Zevran pressed a quick kiss to the tan forehead.
"Grazie. Remain here," he ordered, pointing to the hallway.
Removing the shroud of silence, Zevran stomped into his son's bedroom. His voice bellowed, "Hello? I say, any monsters about in hiding? Would you be so kind as to clear out? You see, you've stumbled into a boy's bedroom and he quite needs his sleep."
With his back to the closet, Zevran bent down and hefted up his son's bed. He tried to glance under, making certain nothing slimy lurked below. "Mr. Monster? We've had quite enough of you," his voice echoed over the piles of books his son was always bent over in.
As Zevran moved to stand up, his ears twitched. The closet door opened fast and a shadow hurled itself forward. Before it could sink blade or claw in, Zevran sliced his dagger backwards. The edge cut straight through the assassin's kidneys, causing the man to drop his own weapon in shock.
Slowly, the elf turned to watch realization spark in the Crow's eyes. "Hello monster," Zevran smiled with all his teeth. Yanking his blade out quickly, he stabbed up through the ribcage, striking the heart and finishing the man off in an instant. He struggled to catch the falling bulk. It was impressive the man could even scale this high, much less fit inside his son's messy closet.
"Daddy..." Donato took a step off from the wall, and Zevran whipped his head up at that.
His boy froze, realizing his mistake, and Zev softened immediately. "Don't worry, Piccolo. Daddy will never let the monsters get you."
A glint in his usually bookish face transformed into a wolfish grin. With a proud raise of his head, Donato declared, "I know. Daddy stops all the monsters."
