S:S:S:S:S:S: Chapter- 10 :S:S:S:S:S:S
Time for another update!
A sweet thanks to Orangeporqupine, Erik Killmonger and Gloria for their sweet reviews. Hope y'all like this one too :-}
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With an exhausted sigh, Claire put the last plate back into the rack and turned around to go back to the bedroom. Her back was aching like hell today but whatever she'd seen in the morning had numbed her senses enough to make her forget her own pain. The faces of those dying kids were still revolving around her brain repeatedly.
Her tired feet dragged themselves into the room. She ran her eyes around. Creed always left the room a complete mess everyday. She sighed and started putting things back in their places. When the room became 'restable' again, She sauntered over to the window to close it but the eye-widening view of a shirtless Creed from the gate definitely caught her attention.
In spite of the bone freezing winter in Canadian wilderness, the feral hunk was decorating his rusty gate with those CCTV cameras and thumbprint scanner lock of his in his half-naked glory. Her heightened senses were giving her a clear view of his bare back and the drops of warm sweat trailing their way down his tanned spine and wetting the waistband of his tight jeans hanging on his hips. Every muscle of those bulky arms and chiseled shoulders undulated with every movement he made. She unconsciously licked her lips.
Damn...why does a fucking psychopathic murderer like him have such an astonishing body?
Her mesmerized contemplation shattered when Creed looked up over his shoulder at her and smirked. Shit, he knows!
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She hastily closed the window and came back to the bed. She picked up her novel from the stand and buried her eyes into the book.
"Don't pretend it wasn't you who was literally droolin' over this divine physique a minute ago, frail." Creed's smirking taunt from the door made Claire bite her tongue behind the book. Pretending was useless.
With an annoyed sigh, Claire put the book aside and crossed her arms. "First of all, what are you talking about, huh? I was closing the window, okay? Second of all, I wasn't drooling over your half-naked ramp walk, I was just watching you put those little toys on your gate."
"Was necessary, baby girl." he said, wiping the sweat with a towel, another distraction for the poor feline. When he smelled another waft of her sweet arousal, he smirked again. "Forgot the keys in the pocket once and you ran off faster than Usain Bolt earlier today. Then those kills and then that cop prob that walked up to my door, everything happened just because of a silly mistake of mine that ain't ever gonna be made again.
He threw the towel at her with a sharp glare. "I hate trespassers on my territory, frail. All the doors, gate and the entire area around the mansion, everything is being watched over from now on." the low growl had the clear warning. Do not try to escape again.
"Don't worry," Claire shook her head softly. "I'm not going to repeat that mistake again."
"Ya better not." Creed gave the final warning before spinning around for the bathroom but the red spot on the back of his bandage narrowed Claire's eyes.
She panicked. "Oh my god, your shoulder, it's bleeding."
Victor tried to look at his wound shoulder in the mirror. "Shit, looks like all that exercise's opened the hole again.
Before she could realize she was trying to first-aid her biggest enemy, Claire hastily picked up his ointment from the stand and climbed out of the bed to give it to him. Creed's eyebrows drew together at the unexpected help. With a suspicious look in his eyes, he took the tube from her. He sliced the bandage with his index claw and threw it aside before taking his hand behind his back to apply the ointment but just like last time, the bulky arm wasn't reaching the wound.
Biting her lip, Claire momentarily watched the little struggle because speaking hesitantly. "D-Do you need some help with that?"
Creed gave a cocked brow over his shoulder with an amused smirk. "What did ya say?"
Claire huffed with a roll of eyes and crossed her arms again. "I just asked if you needed some help with that."
Both surprised and amused at this 'helping' avatar of his personal Hellcat, Creed narrowed his eyes at Claire for a long moment before finally replying. "Okay."
Claire climbed into the bed and sat Indian style and tapped the empty space before her. "Come here."
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"Thought ya'd love seein' the king of mean in pain." Creed smirked at Claire in the mirror.
Claire slowly and carefully applied the cream on the opened wound. "Being a 24x7 sadist is your job, not mine."
Creed chuckled and shook his head. "I don't know why I let ya get away with all those stupid taunts."
Claire bitterly smirked at him in the mirror, covering the the reddened area with the white ointment. "Because you've never seen a girl as more than a bed toy before. We can also talk, laugh and 'taunt' like you do."
"Maybe." Creed gave a lazy nod and rolled his neck tiredly. The day wasn't even over yet and whatever happened earlier today had already left him pretty exhausted and with a fucked up mood. All he now needed was a good long nap without any more disturbance.
Creed's fatigue could be smelled by Claire, too. She knew he would soon hog the bed and start purring louder than a house cat but before that, she had a small question that had been revolving around her brain since those cops knocked at their door for him.
"Creed?" she lowered her head and dropped her voice to its lowest pitch. "Is this place haunted?"
All the tiredness disappeared from his face as he heard her startling question. He glared at her meek frame in the mirror. "Why the hell do ya wanna know?" his tone suspiciously careful.
Successfully hiding the tremble his glare caused in her voice, Claire gave a soft shrug. "Just like that, you know. This mansion already looks older than dirt and the haunted thing, it makes me quite curious about the history of this place."
Creed smirked. "Yer not afraid there could be a scary 'ghost' wandering around here to scare the shit outta ya?"
Claire rolled her eyes. "First, I don't believe in all this ghost shit and second," she muttered under breath again. "Even if there's one, it can't be worse than you."
Creed chuckled and momentarily scanned her words in mind. Curious, huh? He didn't know why, but his mind unconsciously started going backwards, it hesitantly entered the whirl of those dark, horrific memories he'd buried in a small corner of his mind a long time ago.
"This is not my house." he whispered, his mind swimming in the river of reminiscences. In spite of the frail's goddamned attempt to escape him in the morning, her little 'help' she spontaneously offered before the cops made Creed hesitantly start speaking about his past.
"I...I used to work here, with my Pa, Thomas Logan who was a goddamn child-bashing drunkard. After keeping me as a fuckin' prisoner in his cellar for years just because I was born with these claws and after killing my mother when she finally tried to help me escape, the fucker came here, to Alberta, changed his name and started working at Howlett Estate. Master Howlett and Mistress Elizabeth, they owned the land. Howlett Estate was said to be built on a foundation of tears and was believed to be bad luck by the servants who lived and worked there. Master Howlett was a nice man but Mistress Elizabeth, she was a crazy, sadistic whore behind that sophisticated facade who let my Pa fuck her like a bitch behind her husband's back every night." Creed paused and fleetingly glared at the feral girl in the mirror. She was left completely dumbstruck by this unexpected revelation.
"What? Cat got yer tongue?"
"N-No," wiping the shocked expression off her face Claire quickly lowered her eyes and tucked a stranded lock behind her ear. "I-I was just listening carefully."
Creed snorted and decided to continue. "So all that fucking with my father, it had to result in something and that 'something' was my baby brother, James Howlett. Things went pretty smooth for the next few years until Master Howlett decided to kick my Pa out because he had brutally raped and murdered a girl working in the mansion." the flinch that crossed Victor's face when he mentioned the unfortunate death didn't go unnoticed by Claire but she decided not to jaw about it at the moment.
"I was actually happy when Master Howlett told Logan he couldn't take me or anything else given by the mansion with him but the night he was leaving, he snuck into Mrs. Howlett's bedroom when me and Master Howlett were with Jimmy. My ears caught him trying to persuade Jimmy's mother to elope with him. Master Howlett rushed out of the room to stop him as he heard the heated exchange of words between Thomas and his wife. Jimmy and me were left alone and suddenly, we heard a gunshot. We both hurried out of the room and Jimmy fell stunned to see his father's lifeless body on the floor, shot by Logan. The horror of his father's brutal death caused Jimmy's powers to manifest for the first time. His first, bone claws prodded out, stunning all of us. In rage of retribution, he ran at Thomas and buried his claws into his chest right in front of my and his mother's eyes."
He let out a deep sigh before resuming. "Jimmy came to his senses when my dying father told him the biggest secret of his life that...he was James's real father. The shocking truth traumatized little Jimmy's innocent brain but in stead of taking her son in her arms and wiping his tears, Elizabeth's eyes were filled with horror and disgust for his son. It shook Jimmy to his core and forced him to run away from the mansion but I was just frozen there, stunned by whatever just happened. To my biggest surprise, that crazy slut of a mother, she cradled the body of that asshole Logan rather than her own husband and cried for him. The horrifying death of her boyfriend in front of her eyes made her lose the remaining sanity she had. She just picked up Thomas's gun and shot herself. I had to see the third death in same night. It terrified me. I just wanted to get out of that fucking place but just as I spun to escape, I heard a weak groan from behind. I turned around only to find the biggest horror of my life, my father alive who needed my help to take him to the hospital.
His words suddenly turned wrathful. "All the anger and frustration of being treated like a damn dog for the past ten fucking years of my life kindled a sudden fire of rage inside me and without any realisation of what I was doing, I just pounced at him on all fours like an animal and ripped his fuckin' head off!" he looked at the stunned feline over his shoulder with a darkened gaze. "And that's the history behind the house."
He searched her eyes for fear and disgust for the man who killed his own father but all he could find was shock and sympathy as if she could understand his pain and anger against his father.
After a long silent moment, the feral woman finally spoke something that came out of nowhere. "You need a nap, right? J-Just sleep for a while." she tried to get up but Creed caught her wrist and glared up at her.
"Where the hell are you goin'?"
"I thought you needed some sleep so I was just going to clean the remaining rooms until you-"
"Don't run yer goddamn brain's horses until I tell ya to!" Creed growled and pulled her back into the bed "I need a nap bad but ya need it worse so just duct tape that damn hole in yer face and shut yer eyes with me for a while."
In stead of wasting both her strength and time in another back talk, Claire just sighed and did as the alpha asshole said because he was right, she needed some rest, too. She rolled onto her side and closed her eyes. She heard the old bed creak under Creed's weight as he flopped on the bed and smirked.
"Creed?"
Victor exhaled an annoyed breath and glared over him shoulder. "Now what?!"
Claire bit her lip and spoke softly, not sure if her further words would be appreciated or not. "Your Pa deserved it."
Creed slowly rolled over with a completely surprised smile at her words. He couldn't believe the hellcat really said something like that in stead of lashing out at him for murdering his father.
His hand slowly reached over to stroke her aching back through the shirt. Claire flinched at the touch first but then relaxed a little when he released a soothing purr.
"Sleep, kitten, you need it."
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I know I know, you guys must be wondering why I showed Victor a born feral in this fic. Well, because I'm gradually trying to connect him to another story from the comics very few people know about.
Next Time:- Victor tells Claire about his first love ;-}
And one more thing:- I'm working on a Storm/T'Challa plot bunny named GODDESS'S PANTHER and going to post it by the end of the week so stay ready, peeps ;-}