It was him, no doubt. But the state he was in made her flinch. He was covered in blood and dirt, barely able to stand. She crossed the kitchen in an instant, intending to support him. She didn´t reach him in time – he suddenly sagged down to one knee, swaying.
Somehow, she managed to bring him to the guestroom before he finally fainted.
* * *
In fact, there was not much she could do for him.
She took of his boots, cleaned his face from blood and grime – everything else would have to wait. There was not much left of his clothes. Yes, there was his healing ability – but this looked bad. His pulse was slow, but steady. That at least.
He had told her that he was immune against any kind of medicine or drug, so there was no use to give him something against the pain. Besides, he was still unconscious. Whoever had attacked him, it must have been brutal. There were bruises, cuts, surely broken rips- not to speak of possible internal injuries.
She had no idea how many he could take before even his body was too battered to heal up again – or if he could be killed by something like this anyway.
As there was nothing more that she could do for him then, she decided to do something for both of them. She went to the garage, picked up the weapons and loaded them. Whoever had done this, she wasn´t looking forward to meeting him or them without anything at hand to try and survive.
* * *
Morning dawned when he finally woke up. The moment he opened his eyes, his head announced that it was going to explode any minute. He was thirsty like hell. Getting over the first moment of paranoia and shock about his possible whereabouts, he recognized his surroundings and relaxed. His body ached unbearably – a stinging pain to which he couldn´t locate an origin. It was the same feeling after being shot or stabbed or being killed by any other deadly injury – just that death brought release from every pain for other people. He would only faint – and have time to enjoy the feeling of being alive (and badly tortured) for hours, if not days.
He had known that there would be some kind of trap. But he had underestimated them. Their attack had been much more powerful than expected. Well, he had survived. That was the point they had underestimated.
He couldn´t remember much of the way back here. In fact, he hadn´t expected to find her here again. He had intended to settle business first and the girl later on.
There was no use to try getting up – he knew that his body would refuse obedience, at least for some more hours or a day. So he laid back, trying to let the last days and events pass once again in his mind – which made him fall asleep again almost immediately.
* * *
The next time he woke up, it was early afternoon. There was some noise in the kitchen. He tried to stretch cautiously – that made him flinch, so he stopped. Leaning back, he scanned round.
She had really taken care in looking after him. Grateful, he found a bottle of water besides the bed, emptying it in moments. There was a handgun on the nightstand, her watch besides it, blankets and a pillow on the armchair nearby. She had obviously spent the night here.
There were also the remains of his clothes – a problem. Looking further ´round, he realized that she had also taken care of that. On the dresser on the opposite wall were two packs of clothes. He closed his eyes, disbelieving the incredibility of his situation. She had obviously been shopping - her brother´s stuff would never have fitted, as from the pictures, he hadn´t been much taller than her.
The fact that she had had enough time to go to town made him realize that he didn´t know for long he had been unconscious.
There was no use to try to get up – he felt still to battered for that. So, again, he laid back, trying to sort out what had went wrong.
* * *
When she went to check up on him, she was quite surprised to find him awake. She had opened the door cautiously to avoid any noise, almost wincing when she discovered him sitting upright, his back against the high headboard of the old fashioned bed. Her eyes scanned his body immediately. "Hey", she said.
She drew closer but stopped in the middle of the small room, uncertain what to do or say. "You´re alright ?" He only nodded. She was again in jeans and a red sleeveless shirt this time – again, he found that he preferred her in navy green and black.
"I won´t bite you", he stated when she didn´t move. She was barely able to put away that bunch of cynicism. She crossed her arms. "Why ? Did somebody pull out your fangs ?" Her voice was calm. He suppressed a chuckle. He just liked the way she confronted him. "Wanna check ?" he asked. "Oh, you´re better!" she stated. Still, she stayed out of his reach. She gestured to the empty bottle. "Thirsty ?" Too tired to give the tough guy, he simply nodded, throwing her the bottle. She caught it, giving him a disapproving look, wrinkling her nose. "Have a shower, will you ?" She managed to close the door behind her before one of his boots hit the wood.
Some hours later, he finally followed her advise, still feeling screwed. The hot water felt good, but it would still have needed a cute little Asian trio to massage the pain out of his muscles. Sethra had made herself busy around the house whole day, obviously staying away from him on purpose. Well, fine.
When he returned to the guestroom, she had already changed the sheets and blankets. He checked the clothes. The stuff would fit.
Still tired, but too anxious to return to bed, he went to look for her. In fact, she was not hard to find. When he entered the kitchen, there was some noise upstairs which led the way.
He found her in the small storage room alongside the bedroom. When he stopped in the doorframe, she was cursing with all her heart. Already standing on a chair, she was just not tall enough to reach the stuff stored at the top of some wall cupboard. She could barely touch the box with her fingertips and scanned the racks underneath for some additional books to stand on.
"You´re gonna hurt yourself", he told her. She jumped, banging her head against the edge of the cupboard´s door hard enough to make even her feel it. "Thanks, dick", she growled, rubbing her head. "Excuse me ?" he asked indignantly. She turned her head to him. "Fuck – you !"
He couldn´t overcome the temptation. With two steps and one grasp at her waistband, he made her going down backwards into his arms, struggling against him immediately. Sharp pain let him regret hit, but her anger would do for consolation.
"Why don´t you ask me to give you a hand ?" he inquired, ignoring her resistance. "Get your fuckin´ hands off me!" she spat. He tightened his grip, grinning. "What´s the magic word, darlin´ ?" She stopped her hopeless tries to slip out of his grip, grinding her teeth. She cleared her throat. "Get your fuckin´ dirty claws off me – please !"
He shook his head, catching a whiff of her perfume, the scent of her hair, her sweat – and something additional he couldn´t allocate first. "Shut up, bigmouth, will you." Something draw his attention and he loosened his grip. She took her chance, whirling round to face him.
"Turn ´round", he ordered. She gave him a stare. As the floor was covered with stuff and he was blocking the door, there was no way back or out. "Turn around", he repeated impatiently. "Why ?" she asked suspiciously. "Dear Gods!" He grabbed her and turned her so quickly that she had no chance to resist. A single claw ripped the back of her shirt, exposing her shoulder. There was the source of the unknown smell – a fresh tattoo he would barely be able to cover with one hand. Four gaping bloody scratches in dark grey, black and red, drips of tattooed blood trickling down from two of them.
He didn´t need to touch it to feel the original scars under the colour. He had left them the day they had first met.
* * *
"Are you insane ?" he asked, disbelieving. "Who´s asking ?" she returned snotty. He didn´t answer, but drew her closer, forcing her back against his chest. He liked her scent when she was angry. And he wanted to bed her. Now. It took here a moment to notice. She closed her eyes, sighing. "You´re not serious about this, are you ?" she asked. "`bout what ?" came the innocent answer. "You were half-dead half a day ago!" "You´re annoying me." To his surprise, she cocked her head, exposing her neck. When he didn´t move, she sighed. "Still no biting ?" She pretended disappointment. He ignored that.
"I didn´t expect you here", he said instead. As he wasn´t going to release her, she settled against him. "I didn´t expect you here either." His free left hand slipped under her shirt, caressing naked skin. "How long was I gone ?" he asked. "Forty-eight hours. Today´s day 2." These guys had really wrecked him.
She shifted her weight, then touched his forearm, still across her chest, fixing her. She got nervous. "Victor, may I ask you something ?" She felt his muscles tense immediately. Well, she had to know. Then he chuckled darkly. "Asking me questions will allow me to beat you, sweetheart. That´s against your little agreement."
It was her body´s turn to tense, but she didn´t comment. He could imagine that it took her all courage to suppress a snappy answer to that. "I thought you never agreed to that arrangement…." He could tell that she was trying hard to suppress her sarcasm. "Go ahead", he ordered. She still hesitated, closing her fingers around his forearm. "See, I interpreted the battered window as a no", she finally said. His left hand rested warm on her belly now. "If it would have been a no, I would have battered you, wouldn´t I ?" She closed her eyes.
"Stop doing this to me", she begged suddenly. The fingers of his right hand followed her collarbone. He denied. "And now ask that damn question." Again, she hated him for this, but other things were more important now.
"Is there a chance that … somebodyfollowed you here ?" "No", came the short reply. "Certainly not." He remembered the gun on the nightstand. "You can sleep without the gun then." She leant her head against his shoulder, only slightly relaxing. "I am not sure about that." "You got me to take to bed with you. More efficient." She smiled, aware that he couldn´t see it. "And why the hell should I take you there ?" she asked. His beard tickled on the sensible skin of her neck. "You´re a bad negotiator, Seth." Adding her name in that way made it a serious threat. He chuckled again, making her feel the deep rumble in his chest. It made her shiver. "Why ?" she asked, boding ill. "You should have included the biting."