Rhys wasn't given a chance to even see Jack until the next morning and by that time, he had been too busy doing other things to think to mention the strange encounter with Lilith. He didn't think that he had any need to mention it unless it happened again, anyways.
It hadn't been all that frightening, when it came down to it – it was just that it had been a little alarming and more than a little confusing.
Though now, the feeling that he felt more than anything else was pure unsolicited relief.
Which was definitely strange and not something that he felt alright explaining to Jack or even any of his friends because he just knew that they wouldn't be able to understand how much his fear had lowered and slowed down to a halt when he realized that it may have just been someone like her following him instead of who he had dreaded it being.
Rhys knew that she wouldn't attack him and she definitely wouldn't kidnap him or rape him, worst case scenario she'd be an annoyance to Jack for a while – but she wouldn't physically hurt them because she wouldn't get the chance to.
He looked over at his soul mate with a smile, ready to kiss him and sing his praises when he noticed the odd look that Jack was giving him. It was weird to Rhys and he couldn't help but comment on it.
"What?" He asked through sips of his coffee, "Why're you giving me that look?" he added, wondering if he had something on his face or if he had accidentally done something to offend the older man without even realizing it.
"Seriously pumpkin?" Jack groaned out loud as he gave Rhys a dumbfounded and almost disappointed look, "Atlas?"
With relief visible in his face, Rhys just giggled in reply. "but she's so cute!" he defended himself weakly, "Come on Jack, I couldn't go home without her."
"Her?" Jack asked dubiously in reply.
"Yeah, Gortys told me, herself, that she is a she." Rhys gushed, "She's sentient, Jack! And, and, and she's developed with imprinting software and emotions, and…so many options!"
Jack was impressed by that despite himself – a robot with a self creating personality was kind of fascinating and definitely more advanced than he would have given credit to Atlas for.
If Angel and Rhys weren't already so attached to thing, then Jack would have snatched it up and rooted through it's wiring so he could figure out its secrets.
Plus, he knew that he couldn't really help but give Rhys everything that he wanted. He also knew that the only option that Hyperion had for companion bots were the CL4P-TP units and… he was not dealing with that at home, he had enough of them on Helios.
He had been trying to get rid of the annoying robots since they came out but no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't escape them – they were the bane of his fucking existence. So the choice was a little easier than he would let on to Rhys or Angel.
"You can keep the little robot, just…" Jack groaned, "Don't bring it, or her I guess, around Helios. I still got a reputation to uphold, sweet heart." he said, "Can't have anyone knowing that I use any Atlas tech or I'll get fucked over on my own company policies."
"Of course." Rhys agreed, amenable as always. "Maybe she could walk Angel to school…"
Jack arched a brow at that and it urged the younger man to continue, "Well, she's been complaining that she's old enough to walk to school on her own. I don't exactly feel comfortable with her walking all that way and I know it's really not far but…"
Rhys faltered slightly, "I don't know, maybe I'm just being overbearing and silly but it's just that there are so many bad people out there and she's so trusting…but maybe with someone or something that isn't either of us escorting her to school… it could be a good compromise."
"Can uh, shit." Jack gave a short laugh as he spoke. "What's it name, again?"
"Gortys." Rhys supplied quickly, anxiously darting his eyes from his soul mate to his cup of lukewarm coffee. He was always nervous bringing up any suggestions on raising Angel, like Jack might get so offended at what he said that he would throw Rhys out of his home and he would spend the rest of his days starving and homeless.
It was totally baseless and irrational, but the thought went through his every single time that he opened his mouth about the goings on of his soul mates daughter.
"Yeah, yeah whatever, can Gortys keep Angel safe?" Jack asked, looking directly at the bottom line of the whole situation.
"I, I'm not sure." Rhys admitted, "There's a lot of options that I haven't gone through but you can take a look of course. I just thought that I'd put it out there for you."
Jack made a thoughtful noise, "Look, if it doesn't it's not a problem, I can hack it," he said and upon the mortified look on Rhys' face, "Remotely, I don't need to open something up to alter it. I won't kill your friggin' robot." he added in a begrudging tone, with a look of feigned annoyance on his face.
After a moment, he grinned maliciously and joked, "It would have been a lot of fun, though. You have no idea how much I love tearing up the wires of Atlas machinery and putting it back together. Or not."
"You're evil." Rhys replied with an exaggerated pout. "How could you do that to anything so cute?"
The older man chuckled and reached forward to give Rhys a gentle kiss, "Aw, don't worry kitten. I would never try to open you up and cross all your wires."
Before Jack could open his mouth and say something else sarcastic, Rhys beat him to the punch by saying, "I think you've already done that a few times to me, Jack." in a very serious and reminding tone. He even managed to keep a straight face for a full two minutes before he burst out into a fit of giggles.
Jack responded to that by taking a hold of Rhys' hand and kissing the pulse point of the younger mans' wrist a few times, each bit of contact made Rhys flutter a bit in his chest.
His face lit up at the affection and he smiled at Jack, biting his lip to stifle any more of his giggles as he did so. The two of them sat in comfortable silence – it was nice, when you felt so content with someone that you could just take a few relaxing moments where you both could just shut the hell up and enjoy the moment together.
"Pumpkin, do you know what day it is?" He asked, breaking the quiet seemingly out of nowhere. Rhys took a moment to process the question before he actually answered him.
"Saturday, I think." Rhys answered, "Why do you ask?" he asked with genuine curiosity.
Jacks' schedule was sporadic at best, he had meetings pretty much every day and he popped in and out of Helios about four times a day. In any case, Rhys was surprised that Jack wouldn't know and even if he didn't that he had to ask him to clarify it.
Jack grinned at Rhys then, quick to butter the younger man up for meeting Lady Hammerlock. "I think we should go out somewhere tonight." he said, "Just you and me, Rhysie. Anywhere you want."
"Oh! Can we please go to that little Italian place with the gelato bar again?" Rhys babbled excitedly, holding his hands in a prayer formation as he asked. "I've never seen so much fancy ice cream in one place before." he gushed, "I mean there was other great stuff there too, but…"
"Got it. I'll get us a seat there tonight." Jack promised as he moved to tuck a stray lock of hair behind his soul mates ear. "Oh, shit one more thing." he said in a very forced casual tone. "I want you to meet someone, a friend of mine."
"Yeah?" Rhys queried, looking at the older man with an amused gaze. "Is it another one of your ex girl friends?"
Jack laughed at that, like it was one of the funniest things that he had ever heard in his life. "Jesus, god, no!" he said, after his laughter had died down. "Hammerlock is just a friend. Resourceful lady but… ya know, we're not really each others' types." he assured the younger man easily. "Plus, she's like… part of the friggin' British nobility and you know that that's not really my scene…even if I was into her."
Rhys giggled, "Well, that's a relief." He faintly remembered Jack mentioning her in the past, around the time they had first met. "I dunno if I could deal with anymore exes."
"So what do you say pumpkin?" The older man asked, sizing Rhys up as he spoke. "Should I let her know to make plans?"
Rhys let out a tiny sigh, more out of relief than anything else. "Sure. I'd love to meet a baroness." he answered quickly. "She's not going to judge me if I don't know which fork to use or don't know… like, what an aria is, right?"
Jack laughed at that and shook his head, "What the fuck is an aria pumpkin?" he asked between chuckles.
Rhys shrugged and pulled a face, "It's not like I have no reason to be nervous about all this." he quickly defended, "She's an aristocrat. It's pretty intimidating."
It wasn't a secret to either of them that Jack truly loved taking Rhys out to fancy places and showing him off or showing him off anywhere really.
He liked to let the entire world know that he had someone that he could love and care for, someone that was made for him by whatever benevolent force that had decided that he deserved to have someone as sweet as Rhys curled up in his arms every night.
It scared him a little bit too, because he had never factored a soul mate into any of his plans. He hadn't factored in Angel before he had her either, but that was a little bit easier.
On the very, very, very unlikely event that Jack couldn't take care of Angel – for whatever reason – he had at least ten potential families that his daughter could go to. People he trusted to be good to her and a trust fund large enough to set her up for life.
But Rhys? He had no idea what would happen to the younger man if he were to be arrested – financially, he would be secure.
But what he would to Rhys emotionally? He might end up breaking the kid and that wasn't something that he would ever want to do him because his soul mate had already been put through enough disappointment and abuse for a lifetime.
It was a long shot that he would actually get caught, truthfully. Most of his kills hadn't even been found and he moved all over the country. Unless he got some made for TV FBI agent that had a hard on for seeing him behind bars, he doubted that he would ever face any consequences for all the things that he did.
Still, Jack found himself doing things like this for Rhys more and more often. Spoiling the hell out of his soul mate and "surprising" him at least twice a week, he was making up for something that might not ever even happen.
"This place is kinda ritzy, huh?" Rhys commented out loud, "You didn't want to go to the Italian place?" he asked, looking at the older man curiously.
"I thought you might want try some french tonight." Jack hummed in reply, bracing his hands around Rhys' shoulders. "I uh, should have told you, Rhysie. My bad. Buuuuuut, I think you'll like the food here." he leaned in close enough so that he could whisper in Rhys' ear. "I got us a private booth."
"Private booth? L-like private, like…?" Rhys giggled nervously at that as he took to stammering like a complete idiot at the implication, "J-jack I don't… why would we need a private booth?"
After a moment of shocked silence, the older man snorted with amusement. "Not like that, kiddo, fuck… you know, you're great at making me feel like a fucking pervert."
"I'm sorry…" Rhys blushed, "If it makes you feel any better… I, I don't think that – well, if you had asked I don't think that I'd be opposed…"
"That's cute, Rhysie." Jack murmured, taking the younger mans' face in his hand and giving his knuckles a sweet and chaste kiss. "Maybe some other time, huh." he added with a snicker.
It wasn't long after that that they were led to their private booth, the hostess gleefully lead them there while she gushed about the food and service in a bubbly tone before letting them know that their waiter would be there in a few moments.
"So what do you think?" Jack asked, after Rhys had sat down comfortably in the plush seat across from the older man.
"Well, it's…" Rhys trailed off as their waiter came to them – in pretty much record time, Rhys was sure that was a good sign – and set down menus for them.
"May I take your orders, sirs?" The waiter asked, looking at the two of them with a patient glance. "Or just something to drink?"
"Oh, um…" Rhys looked at Jack helplessly and thankfully his soul mate got the message and covered Rhys' hand with his own in a reassuring manner as he ordered for the two of them, the younger mans' face lit up at the faint, almost secret glow.
Like it was reassuring him of how real this all still was. Like the universe was telling him, 'yup, you still got a soul mate, don't worry kid. No take backs. Forever and always. Ride or die. In sickness and in health. For – fucking – ever.'
"Thank you." he said when the waiter left the two of them, "I felt weird. With the whole…" he trailed off into a giggle, "You know, the…I'm still not used to going places like this." he admitted, "it's all just so, I don't know I feel like I'm always out of my element and I'm pretty sure the waiter was judging me." he grabbed a roll of the complimentary bread and picked at it listlessly as he continued on speaking.
"Like, 'he can't even order for himself! He doesn't belong even here. What's he doing here? Is he a hooker? I think that he's a hooker. Let's call security right now!'… or something like that." he joked, trying to make himself feel a little less like a socially inept idiot.
"Yeah, no, Rhysie I'm pretty sure the waiter was judging me." Jack replied back snarkily, "Whatever. Dudes' probably just jealous of me and my mega hot boyfriend who, by the way, is classy as shit."
"No." Rhys said, looking at the older man with mischievous eyes. "I'm pretty sure that he was jealous of me and my super hot CEO boyfriend."
"And your legs." Jack pointed out, motioning towards the younger mans' legs with his eyes. "Cause, let me tell ya, I am totally jealous of those pretty stilts of yours."
Rhys giggled, "And my legs." he parroted in agreement and bumped his knee against the older mans' playfully. "Thanks, you always know what to say." he looked down, suddenly feeling very guilty about keeping something secret from Jack. The urge to tell the man was overpowering his critical thinking skills and it was hard for him not to just blurt all the words out in one breath.
One of the older mans' hands rested on Rhys' knee and squeezed it gently. "Somethin' wrong, Rhysie?" he asked, "You look, shit I don't know… pensive? You got something to tell me?"
"No… well, yes? The thing is that I'm not exactly sure if I should right now." Rhys admitted, darting his eyes around nervously. "I really like how everything's going tonight."
"Did you… kill anyone?" Jack asked, looking at Rhys in a way that said 'this is pretty close to home so it's probably the best place to start'
"No…"
"Are we in millions of dollars of credit card debt? Yeeeeah, I bet it's that, your ice cream fetish is outta hand."
"No!" Rhys giggled stupidly, "Jesus, of course not!"
"Are you sleeping with someone else?" He tried then, laughing a bit.
Rhys looked at Jack with total mortification, like he was amazed that that thought had even come to mind when he thought of Rhys.
"No, no, no… god, it's nothing like that." Rhys dismissed the older man quickly. "It's… when we all went to the robotics festival I…" he blinked, "Never mind, I don't actually want to talk about this right now." he said, shaking his head a bit as he spoke. "I'm sorry for wasting your time."
At first, Rhys had thought that Jack might respond with annoyance or even anger but he hadn't expected the chuckles that emitted from the older man that evolved into full body, hysterical laughter.
It annoyed Rhys more than he was proud of, "What?" he snapped, "Why are you laughing?"
"I was just-" Jack laughed loudly, interrupting himself and earning more than a few judging looks from the other people eating at the restaurant. "I was just thinking about the concept of you being a cheater or a murderer or a thief."
"It's that funny?" He asked with incredulity heavy in his tone and expression. He crossed his arms over his chest as Jack nodded, the older mans' laughter subsiding slightly. "You don't think I could have a dark side?"
"No offense, cupcake but…" Jack shook his head slightly, giving the younger man a very obvious very exaggerated once over. "You're too cute to have that much of a dark side, babe. Just not your style."
Rhys narrowed his eyes in offense and leaned back, crossed his arms over his chest petulantly. "Rude." he said in a blasé tone, "I could totally be evil." he added in protest.
"Nooooo. No, Rhysie, no… you really couldn't." The older man said, shaking his head in a dismissive manner. "But that's alright, you know?" he reassured, "Cause you're just perfect the way that you are. Cute, sweet, smart as hell and just the right amount of cunning." Jack pretended to think for a minute before he added, "Oh right and you're super hot too." like it was an afterthought.
Rhys wrinkled his nose at that, truthfully unsure if he should be offended or flattered by the sentiment of it. "Thank you?" he said, looking at his soul mate with an odd expression. An expression that was somewhere in the middle field between adoration and bemusement – a strange combination but he couldn't bring himself to mind the dichotomy nonetheless.
Their food came soon after that and Rhys was delighted to see that the meals that they were given were not overly decadent and pretentious but instead looked like two servings of a simple roast. The only thing not simple looking was a cup of hot chocolate places on his side. He smiled at the pretty mug topped with sky high whipped cream. "French hot chocolate?" he quipped, "You know me so well."
"Yeah, well that's not much of a compliment looking at the dent in my bank account from all your visits to that ice creamery." the older man joked as Rhys took a sip of the overly sweet liquid. It was rich enough that he doubted that he would be able to even halfway finish the mug and he preened in delight at the taste. "It's really good," he complimented. "Thank you."
Jack chuckled and moved in a little closer to the younger man, "Here," he mumbled as he leaned in close, "You got a little…" he murmured even quieter before he kissed the corner of Rhys' mouth.
"Whipped cream?" Rhys replied, wrinkling his nose a little before he let out a small giggle. The older man nodded and he quipped, "How nice of you."
They ate in relative silence, enjoying the food as well as the ambiance of the restaurant as they did so.
The two of them felt comfortable and contented by everything around them as they finished their meals. It wasn't until someone brought them their checks that Rhys noticed a slight change in the atmosphere.
"Jack." he adressed the older man, gently shaking Jacks' shoulder so as to draw attention to him, "I think that someone's coming towards us." he added as he pointed towards the mysterious figure.
"What?" he said, looking in the direction that Rhys was pointing. He almost immediately deflated. "Shit." Jack blurted out loud.
Jack really didn't want to deal with Aurelia Hammerlock today. She was an ally, a benefactor and someone that he owed at least some of his quick rise to success to but today all he wanted was to spend quality time with his soul mate. He hadn't planned on dealing with anymore of his friends of allies today and he certainly hadn't expected to see Hammerlock before he told her what had happened with Rhys.
"Hello, Jack!" Lady Hammerlock chirped as she came towards them, "I didn't think that you were the type to come to establishments such as this." she added in a tone that almost seemed suspicious to Rhys as he curled up against the older man.
Jack just groaned wordlessly, pinching the bridge of his nose before he looked at the woman approaching them. "What's up Hammerlock?" he greeted in a tone that already seemed annoyed with the way that the environment of the room had changed so quickly.
Taking one good look at the woman, Rhys quickly realized that he had been correct in his assumption that Lady Hammerlock would cut an intimidating figure. She was tall – a little taller than him – with dark skin, impossibly well coiffed salt and pepper hair and a sneer that seemed like it was more comfortable for her to hold than a smile.
"I was just passing through," The Baroness replied, "Then I heard that you were here with someone half your age and made a grand old scene about getting a private booth. I come here on occasions, though I find the atmosphere dreadfully gauche."
Jack looked at Aurelia Hammerlock with a straight glance, "Is that right?" he grumbled before, gesturing to the young man at his right. "I wanted to have a night out with Rhysie here," he gave Rhys a fond look as he spoke, "He does so much for everyone around him that sometimes I just gotta spoil him a little."
Rhys pretended not to notice that Jack wrapped an arm around him in a possessive and protective manner as he continued speaking to the woman standing in front of them, "But we do like privacy so…"
His attempt at dismissing the Baroness fell flat and she pressed a little further, "Well, why don't I have a chat with him right now?" Aurelia asked, "We are, after all, together right here and I'm really, very eager to meet him."
"I thought I told you that I'd let you know." Jack spoke with a tight lipped smile, fury dancing in his eyes as he did so. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure that I told you I needed to talk with Rhys about it first."
Looking at the older man, Rhys could see that Jack was barely holding himself back from screaming at the heiress and the consequences of that worried him more than a little bit. He was torn between ducking his head from the crossfire, making up some sort of excuse to get them out of there and allowing everything just to run its course.
"Why don't I ask him right now?" Lady Hammerlock suggested, looking towards Rhys with curiosity. The amber haired male had been a hair short of hiding away from her while Jack and her argued in tones filled heavily with passive aggression.
"Would you be alright having a conversation with me alone?" she asked Rhys directly and she didn't seem as frightening just then, but he was still wary of unfamiliar people and it showed as he fought himself to smile at her and speak in a polite sort of way to the Baroness.
"Me?" Rhys pointed at himself stupidly as he spoke. "Why would you want to talk to me? Especially alone. I mean I'm no one special or anything…" he chuckled nervously, trying to deflect the attention away from him. If he wanted to hide just a little bit more, he would be crawling under the table and running out of the restaurant wildly – probably ending the day with both him and Jack being forced never to return to that restaurant for as long as they lived.
"Well, you are Jacks' soul mate." She pointed out simply, before giving Jack – who was clutching Rhys protectively – a very pointed look, "And I know how he can be." she said, "I just want to know how you are when he's not hovering over you."
"Oh, he's not hovering." Rhys defended the older man quickly, "He's just really protective over me. He cares about me and that's so nice, so different. Especially when you think about how I…" he trailed off in his ramblings and looked at Jack curiously.
"Are you okay if I go and talk with her?" he asked, "I don't want to do anything that would really bother you."
He studied Rhys' face for any sort of hesitation and to see if the younger man was trying to hint to him to get him out of this. "Sure thing, Rhysie." He assured, once he noticed the genuineness on his soul mates face. "Try to be back before they bring the dessert out, alright?"
They walked off to have a private talk with each other, leaving Jack to think about how he just gave his soul mate the green light to talk smack about him with his benefactor. The whole situation was so ludicrous that all he could do about it was laugh.
Seeing Lady Hammerlock before Jack had had the time to properly prepare himself mentally and give Rhys enough time to compose himself of all the anxieties that he had been feeling had been just about as shocking as a shot to the face but the two of them made do.
He had wondered exactly what Aurelia had to say to Rhys but he figured that it wasn't all that important – the thing that actually worried him was the nervous way that his soul mate had been acting all night. Jack could tell that Rhys wanted to tell him something but for some reason, every time that Rhys almost got the courage to say something in the next moment the young man would be stopping himself.
"Hey." The older man murmured, snapping Rhys out of his maladaptive thoughts. Rhys gave a quick start before he answered his soul mate with an unsure, "Yes?"
"Something wrong?" Jack queried, "You zoned out for a bit and you look a little green."
"I…I'm fine." He mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest and rubbing his arms up and down in a fidgety display.
"Rhys, come on just tell me what's been going on." Jack muttered, "You've been acting squirelly all night and I can tell when you're lying."
Rhys was alarmed at the use of his actual name and it only made his need to squash the impending argument all the more important to him.
"Nothing, it's totally… nothing." The young man dismissed quickly, waving his hands frantically to enunciate that there was nothing to be seen here and that the two of them should move along with their day and ignore everything else.
Jack narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the younger man, "… alright." he said, deciding to let it go for the moment.
"So, Lady Hammerlocks' really pushy, huh?" Rhys blurted out, desperate to change the subject and ease some of the tension that – he felt – was going on between the two of them.
Thankfully, Jack took the bait and snickered in kind, "Yeah, she's pretty intense. A little crazy too, in that 'Downton Abbey' posh kind of way."
The younger man let out a soft chuckle at that, "Yeah, like she'd poison the sugar in your tea as soon as look at you." he chirped in reply. "I can see why you two are friends." he added in a soft but cheeky tone.
Jack responded to that by flicking the younger man rudely on the forehead, "Rude." he said before leaning in to whisper, "I'll have you know I don't use poison."
Rhys looked at him with wide, somewhat frightened eyes before he managed to compose himself and smile at the older man with at least a little sincerity. "I guess you don't." He mumbled back with a bit of a tremor in his voice. The fact that his soul mate was a serial killer had alarmed him when he found out about it and it still frightened him even now.
It wasn't as if he thought that what Jack did was excusable at all, it was just that he loved Jack more than his soul mates actions frightened him. Simple as that.
Though, no matter how much Rhys loved Jack, his devotion didn't deter him from recoiling anytime that the older man ever brought murder and violence up.
Rhys clung to the older man, wrapping his arms around Jacks' forearm and burying his face against the older man as he spoke. "Can we go home?" he asked with his voice in a quite murmur. "I've had enough action for one day."
Jack smirked at that, "Alright, Rhysie. We can get home." he agreed in an almost jovial tone. He chuckled at the way that Rhys cuddled up on him, "Jeez, what a leech." he quipped before kissing the top of his soul mates head.
Rhys clung to him even further as Jack got his car from the valet and only separated from the older man when the two of them had to get in their car.
It wasn't until the two of them had gotten home, checked on Angel sound asleep in her bed and settled down for the night to watch something on Netflix that Jack realized that he was feeling something. A prickly, tingly sort of feeling that felt like it burnt the hairs on his skin clean off.
A few moments after that he realized that what he had been feeling was a solidified urge. The worst thing about these urges is that they wouldn't generally build or give him time to think about what he was going to do about it.
Jack loved killing, but the need to do it overwhelmed him sometimes, it was all consuming . He just needed to do it – and now. He needed to kill something – someone – fast.
Jack coughed awkwardly, "Hey, kitten want me to make you something to drink?" he asked of the slighter male with a tinge of discomfort present in his tone.
"Sure! Can you make me some of that Passion Fruit but mix it with the Chamomile?" he asked, "Oh, and add a lot of sugar… like usual."
Jack took that as an opportunity to kiss Rhys on the top of his head, "Sure thing, sugar." he hummed, before getting up and making his way to the kitchen to make Rhys the drink he asked for, with something else in it to help the younger man be put in a deep sleep for the night.
Jack was definitely thankful that Rhys was to out of it – and too trusting at that – to notice the slight difference in taste, or even how drowsy it made him just moments after he finished the cup. When Rhys was fast asleep, the older man was quick to scoop up his slumbering soul mate and lay him down on the silk sheets of their bed.
He worked quickly and quietly to get himself ready for a trip out of town, ready to quell the insatiable urge that he had to destroy someone from the inside out and watch the light go out of their eyes.
Even though Jack hadn't stopped his killing – or even slowed it down – he made it a point these days not to kill people that were innocent, or at the very least he made it a point to go after criminals and the type of people that his soul mate wouldn't actively disapprove of.
He also tried to stay closer, because Rhys knew exactly what the undertones of Jack going on a "Road Trip" or a "Business Trip" so it was a little bit more difficult for him to do without feeling what he thought might have been guilt when he saw the heartbroken look in the pretty young mans' eyes.
It wasn't hard at all to do – the smaller, more rural communities surrounding Opportunity had a high enough level of crime that he could easily find someone trying to rob a house or hurt someone within a few hours of arriving in a spot.
Jacks' victim of the day came in the form of a weedy looking junkie trying to break into his caravan, he smirked and took the man down with a lot more ease than he was used to. The jaundice like skin cracked easily and he made a note to himself to watch out not to bleed the man out as he wrestled him into his caravan and smacked his head enough times that the man passed out.
Once he bound his victim securely with hand cuffs and wire rope, he moved back to put his car on auto drive. He set out all of his tools, put on a protective apron so that no blood splatter got all over his favorite clothes, then he waited with – semi – patience for his victim to awake.
"Finally!" Jack exclaimed as the bound man woke up, "Thought I might'a killed you before the fun started and that doesn't work for me."
As the victim became more and more lucid, he thrashed around more. Jack watched the man tire himself out with heavy amusement. "Are you done?" he asked once the man became still, his chest heaving up and down with labor to breath. "Or do you want to try to scream for help? It wouldn't work, but… ya know, it's pretty funny watching you lowlifes squirm."
The man started to sob, like he was trying to evoke pity from Jack – Yeah, uh not happening, kudos for trying though – but all he got in return was an unimpressed stare and more crude remarks.
"Let's be real here, kiddo." Jack said, looking at the drugged man with a disgusted sneer on his face as he pulled on his latex gloves with a painstakingly slow pace. "You did a lot, and I mean a lot of bad stuff." he added and then took to listing off the mans' crimes with a sadistic sort of pleasure. "Let's see… breaking and entering, possession, trafficking, assault with a deadly weapon and…" Jack smiled grimly, "rape."
The man pulled a disgusted and surprised face as Jack listed off all of his crimes, almost like he was trying to ask how Jack would have figured all of that out about him in the first place and Jack – being the smug and talkative murderer that he was – elected to fill him in.
"If you're wondering how I happen to know all of this – which you are, I can tell – I got it all from the local arrest reports." Jack said, with a bored tone. "It's public record, dum dum. Aaaaaaanyways, I saw you trying to steal that nice ass car and I thought, 'Jack pot! Easy kill.' you know? But then I looked up your name from your ID and I found a fucking shitty gold mine."
He clapped his hands together with overt loudness. "Let's get this show on the road, because it's…" he trailed off and took a moment to look at his pocket watch. "Nine fifty-three, I gotta be back in a few hours. Lucky for you, I won't be able to take all that much time with you." he said, "So let's get this show on this road."
He looked through his tools, knowing that he could probably only play around with one of them for a short while before he ended it and got rid of their body. He ended up going with a classic, his bare hands – before he had met one of the people who had abused his soul mate, beating someone to death had never really been his thing. But now that he had done it he couldn't understand why.
Because it was fun.
He moved over to his victim and braced his hand around the mans' throat as he pulled him up. Jack barely said another word as he punched the man in the face, impacting on his cheek. He hit, kicked, punched and smacked the man in every which way that he could.
His victim screamed and screamed until it seemed that his lungs were about to give out, trying for any sort of reprieve from his own inevitable death. Jack had to laugh at the pathetic display, the guy was all big and bad and evil up until the point that someone else got the upper hand. Once that happened he turned into a sniveling little bitch whining for his mommy.
He hit the man a few more times before he finally gave him a reprieve by wrapping his hands around his victims throat until he stopped thrashing. He kept them there, keeping his victims airways constricted for a good three minutes.
Once Jack was satisfied that his victim was dead, he made the preparations to get rid of the body and be back on his way home.
Water had to be his favorite method of disposal, it was just so damn effective – if it was a swamp then the body would be pulled down, preserved but unable to be retrieved for years. If it was a lake then water would wash away and contaminate whatever DNA evidence that he might have left behind. If it was a river no one would be entirely sure where exactly it was originally dumped.
Jack was filled with relief as he weighed his victim down in a mossy and polluted river. Nobody saw him, because of course they didn't, and even if someone did – it would only be one person and he could easily get him of them. The best thing that he found about these rural communities is that nobody ever seemed to be awake in the dead of night.
Jack returned home to his soul mate still sleeping – the drugs he had mixed in with Rhys' nightly tea did their job well enough and he wouldn't wake until morning. Jack eased his arms around the younger man, holding him protectively against his own body.
He didn't particularly like the idea of dosing Rhys with powerful sedatives every time that he went out of town and traveled off to the other settlements surrounding Opportunity to go and find someone that was stupid and anonymous enough for him to kill.
Plus, he could tell that Rhys didn't approve of Jack killing people – with good reason, even he knew that it was the worst hobby that anyone could ever have – and he was so obviously uncomfortable when and if Jack ever brought it up that it had become like a game of avoidance keep away for the two of them.
Still, it was better than letting Rhys in on just how much bloodshed he needed to keep calm and civil during his day to day life. If the younger man knew any more than he already did, then he would be practically complicit in his crimes and he wouldn't allow his soul mate to spend a day behind a prison cell.
No, it was easier and better for the younger mans' safety this way, he decided. Jack frowned and disentangled himself from his soul mate, he got up and made his way out of his bedroom at an almost lethargic pace.
He moved back into his study and went back to work studying all of Franks goings on. Admittedly, it became more than a little bit easier when Aurelia had gifted him all of the man – and his wife's too, as an added bonus – all the information that she could find. Credit cards, social security numbers, addresses, aliases.
He read through the files with clinical interest, Frank was shady enough that Jack was actually surprised he hadn't already been killed by someone else. Gambling, violence, sexual assault, bribes and even more disgusting things were listed in the file.
He also noticed that Frank had a job working with the sheriffs office in Sanctuary. He sighed, that meant that if Frank was tried for a crime – and looking at these, he probably had been – he would easily get off with at most a slap on the wrist.
That meant that Frank needed to die at his hand – he wasn't sure whether or not Rhys wished to be a
part of the hours of torture that he would be sure to inflict on his soul mates abuser but he could think of a way to ask the young man his preference. If Rhys did want to be a part of it – than he would have to make sure that his soul mate wasn't recognized in town.
Jack was pulled out of his thoughts when he noticed that Gaige had sent him a message, on a whim he checked the text message and read through it.
Jack LilItH SAW Reese! That gurls bad juju! Did he alredy tell you? Oh snap! Whatever either way. Bad juju!
*Reeze?
*Rhys!
Ur boyfrnds name is hard to spell"
Jack groaned when he read through the entire message because Lilith following Rhys meant that killing Frank would come with more than a few problems. Lilith had been a "problem" for him for quite a while, she believed without a shadow of a doubt that Jack had killed her boyfriend. What was his name? He was sure that it started with an "R" but that was all that he could really remember.
He supposed that he could kill her and then Frank, or at least make sure that she was indisposed for a while…he could have one of his seedier friends get her out of the way. Wilhelm probably, he would do anything for large amounts of cash.
"Why does everything have to be so damn complicated?" He groaned, putting his face in his hands. Going the nonviolent route drove him more than a little crazy but it all became worth it when he thought of how happy it might make his soul mate.
But with Lilith in the mix, Jack felt like it was a little smarter to get rid of the man… and maybe use the shady information that he received about him as motive for Franks untimely death.