Time had passed slowly for Jess. She couldn't tell if it had been five minutes, ten, an hour, or more as she remained trapped under the Monster she now was forced to call Rus. Thankfully since her arrival nothing had gone past the small kisses and delicate touches he gave to her, albeit unwillingly accepted on her part. She had tried to ask him questions that would give her any idea on where she was or if she could convince him to remove his glove so she could see but he always shut her down or ignored her question by changing the subject. Not like it had changed much though since everything he had said so far was mostly compliments about how pretty she was and the such.
Now though they both laid across the bed. Rus had pulled a pillow from somewhere above them and placed it under her head and his. Right now she was stuck being basically his body pillow until Red either arrived or she had convinced him to get off, which was not looking promising as time passed.
Rus' hand played with the ends of her hair as he held her. The now calm smile he had helped in settling the full on panic she had going on to that of just anxious nervousness. She had been able to calm down enough to now think of more ways to escape. So far she only had two good ways to get him away from her. One being that she needed to use the bathroom and the other was that hopefully he would be kind enough to allow her to eat. The bathroom plan would be easy since all she had to do was just escape through the window, given that they were on the first floor or if the roof to the second was sloped enough for her to climb on. If he did the later and left the room for food then she could try and sneak out somehow through the main house. She just had to be particular about her choice of hiding places if he came back.
Rus' legs, that was tangled in her shorter ones, moved drawing them closer to him. This made his weight shift so that he was pressing on her a bit harder now. It wasn't to uncomfortable. Really it felt like a fat dog had laid itself on top of her. Still she would rather him be a mile and a half away from her right now.
"U-um R-Rus?" Jess looked up to him, well looked as far as she was able seeing as how the fur from his hood and the fact that he was higher on the pillow than she was. The hum of an acknowledgement told her he had heard and was listening. "I'm starting to g-get hungry. I w-was meeting Red f-for breakfast b-but t-this happened."
She felt Rus' body tense for a second before it went lax again. He was probably thinking on what he could do to not leave her alone for so long all the while let her do the things she was asking of him. His hand moving through her hair stilled before ultimately he removed it out of there before pushing himself to sit up on what she assumed was a bed. Immediately she tried to get off of it only for one of his long arms to snake around her middle. Like a child she was hoisted up to sit on his hip while he held her close to him as he himself got off the bed and walked in the opposite direction of where she saw light coming through what she also assumed was a door.
That weightless feeling washed over her again making her cling to Rus. This time thankfully it did not last as long and the room they were now in was not to bright to where her eyes would hurt. It did take a moment for them to focus and when they did she found that he had taken her to a rather nice looking kitchen. From what she could tell from the sheer curtains was that it had been right around noon or at least one o'clock in the afternoon. That in itself made her worry about Red. She hoped he wasn't causing to much of a mess in trying to find her but yet again the idea that he was so worked up just because of her made her feel a bit special.
Jess expected Rus to let her go where he stood. That didn't happen though, even when she tried to wiggle out of his hold so that she could stand. Instead his hold on her tightened to where she stayed put until he moved over to the counter where he placed her down to sit on. When his arm left her back she did try to get off of the counter only for his hand to come back to grab her hip forcing her to stay there. While he did that his body also came forward to basically pin her there, his thigh finding itself between her legs.
She tried not to flinch away when he quickly leaned forward towards her and she did lean back to keep him from coming any closer yet he still continued on until the back of Jess's head bumped into the door of the cabinet above her. The pain from the sharp edge made her bring her hands up to rub the stinging bump on the back of her skull. While she was she heard a soft chuckle coming from the man looming over her.
Jess grumbled knowing that he had done that on purpose and he had the gull to actually laugh at her. It wasn't funny, well maybe it was if you weren't on the receiving end, but still the fucking thing hurt.
"Don't l-laugh." She grumbled embarrassed pulling one of her hands back to check to see if she was bleeding. Thankfully there wasn't anything there but it still felt like she could have nicked herself.
Rus only chuckled more giving her a peck of a kiss on the top of her head before moving away with a simple "stay". Not that Jess was going to listen anyways as she tried to move off the counter when he was far enough away from her. Again she didn't have such luck as she found her body practically glued down to the counter. Now this was getting annoying. Not going to bother even trying to resist, because from her prior experience she found out that doing so was basically pointless, she huffed out an aggregated sigh and just sat there watching as he pulled some stuff out of the fridge.
From the looks of what he was grabbing he was planning on just making her a sandwich. Actually while he was getting the stuff ready she took this as a chance to see if he would let her see his Soul Mark. Before he had started to put all the stuff together on a paper plate she spoke up.
"C-Could you p-please wash your hands?" She asked nervously watching as Rus stopped what he was doing before looking her way. "Not saying y-you're dirty, but you k-know... Germs?"
Luckily that was enough for him as he left the stuff there on the counter and moved over to the sink. Jess's heart began to beat profusely in her chest. She watched him turn on the water first before he began to remove his gloves. At first upon seeing the sight of his bare right hand she almost felt relief. No mark meant no soulmate. Albeit that was rather a sad thing it had started to make her feel a lot better. Until she saw his left hand. Instant dread replaced whatever happy feelings she was slowly gaining like pouring ice cold water on a small fire. There placed on his actual ring finger was his Soul Mark burning away like an actual orange sun. The magic coming off of it acted like steam as it curled and swirled almost an inch above his finger before disappearing.
Jess sat there stunned. Like she had no fucking clue what she could do next because literally the last thing she ever wanted was something like this. Of all the places it had to be. It just had to be on his left hand.
A Soul Mark on the left hand was something far more meaningful than one on the right. It was basically a declaration saying that the two were perfectly matched even if the other party didn't have one on their own left hand. Not saying that one couldn't have a perfect relationship with someone who had it on the other hand. Those kind of relationships were fine and happy. Yet those on the left were ones that had a more powerful and stronger connection to their soulmate than those whom had their mark on the right hand. These people, or Monsters, never separated no matter what like those with right handed marks. The danger to that though was the mentality of the other person. In more than one case if there was one left and one right mark and the person with the left wasn't perfectly sane the off chance of the left killing the right out of "Love" was high. To dumb it down it was basically a death sentence if her soulmate was as loony as she thought he was.
Jess felt so upset. She was angry, scared, and saddened that all of this had to happen.
Why? She thought feeling tears starting to build in her eyes. Why did all of this had to happen to her of all people? Why after all the bull shit that he had to deal with these past few years lead up to this? It wasn't fair! It wasn't fair and she didn't want this.
Amidst her despair induced thoughts Jess failed to notice that she had started to work herself up into an anxiety attack. Her body had started to tremble harshly and her breathing hiked to where it was now becoming harder to even take in a full breath of air. The fact that she was unable to move by Rus' magic also didn't help. It only made her feel stuck, other than the obvious that she was. Closer to the feeling of claustrophobia. Something she was really only starting to dislike at this point.
While she was breaking down Rus had caught on to what was happening and immediately stopped what he was doing to go back to her. She didn't want him to though. Him helping her was the last thing she wanted at this moment. Really if she was being honest neither did she want Red helping her either. She knew that once he came he would start throwing hands with Rus and that would only make her feel worse. All she wanted was to be alone. To be back laying in the bed of the hotel again. Like the day had never went past the moment she woke up. That happy giddy feeling never leaving her the moment she decided to step out of that room.
"mistress."
No. She wasn't anyone's mistress. She was just her! Just Jess. Only Jess!
" 's alright."
But it wasn't! None of this was alright! Why couldn't they see that? If they were perfect together then why couldn't they understand that she wasn't fine? Why? Why couldn't they help her? Why? Why was... was she getting tired?
Rus blew another cloud of smoke from his lit dog treat into her face. The smell was definitely odd but it seemed to be working in helping her calm down. Though at the same time it was also making her feel weird. Like that good weird one feels when they eat an edible. Where they are zooted past recognition but at the same time still conscious of the world around them.
Jess curled herself into Rus' lap as he picked her off the counter so that he could sit himself onto the kitchen floor. If it wasn't for the fact that she found him comfortable at the moment she would have pushed herself off of him the moment she could. But he was so warm~. His clothes were surprisingly soft to. Oh wait a minute... that's a blanket. When had she been wrapped in that? Smelled nice though. Like cherries. When was the last time she ate cherries? It has been a while. Maybe she should get some later. The really sweet big ones. Those were always her favorite.
A bang from the living room made Rus tense around her. Why had he done that? It could have been nothing but an animal or one of the pine cones she had seen on the trees outside the window. But when she saw something come into the kitchen she picked her head up to see that it was Red.
Boy did he look mad. Why was he mad again? She knew it but couldn't recall it for some reason... Ah! She remembered now! It was because Rus kidnapped her. Wow did it take him a long time for him to get here? He must have been really running around then.
"Hi Red~." Jess said sweetly but Red ignored her as he let out a rather scary sounding snarl directed towards Rus.
"what the 'ell did ya do to her!?" Red yelled summoning a large bone spike in his hand.
"she's fine." Rus stood picking up Jess and taking her with him as he moved carefully over towards the opposite side of Red putting the dinning room table between them.
"obviously not! ya must 'ave fucked with 'er so bad to have to zoot 'er the fuck out." Red growled taking a step closer.
"didn't do shit." She heard Rus say. Raising her hand she gently poked his cheek with a giggle.
"Yes you did~." She then began poking him for each one of the things she could remember he had done to her. "First you kidnaped me. T-That wasn't very nice. Then you kissed m-me. Not that it w-wasn't bad. I kind of liked it, j-just a bit. Then you even trapped me with your magic r-remember? I couldn't move. I... I didn't like that. Why did you do that?"
Red and Rus saw tears start to form in her eyes as she kept talking. Rus moved her slightly in his arms so that he could use one of his hands to gently grab the one she was poking him with. Opening it he gently pressed it against his cheek.
"I d-don't like it when you do that. It scared me so m-much. Please don't do it again. I w-won't run away. I-I'll stay here so please..." Jess couldn't finish what she was going to say as she started to openly sob in Rus' arms. Rus did try to sooth her though. He had brought her closer to nuzzle her hair while his hand that was holding her came to wipe away her tears. But unfortunately she didn't stay long as she was yanked out of his arms by Red's own magic.
She floated over to the burly monster before settling into his own arms. The moment that he had her though the two of them blipped out of the room. Jess was to worked up to even bother feeling the shift in between the void that when the two of them appeared in Red's room she did nothing but continue to cling to Red and continue her crying. Not that Red was complaining about it though.
The large monster happily, even though he was peeved off to high fucking hell because of the damn ass hat of a copy of his brother, that he was able to sooth his little mate now that she was back into his own arms again. His soul was literally eating away at him when he had seen her disappear. He knew that the damn mutt wouldn't seriously do anything physical to her but still he had no idea, other than what she had said before she started crying, what he actually did... and that pissed him off. Where did he touch her? Where did he kiss her? How did he kiss her? The ideas and thoughts dancing their way across his mind made his blood boil.
For now it was fine. He would make sure to get rid of every single trace of Rus off of her. Later of course. He would rather she be awake for that and right now if he did such a thing she would no doubt push him to away.
Moving over toward the bed Red pulled back the blankets and made a move to place her on said bed. When he leaned down though she only clung to him more. Her arms wrapped around his thick neck gripping onto his own jacket and shirt. Red felt happy that she was seeking comfort from him. Hell if she wasn't so upset he would have been ecstatic that she was even clinging to him. He would have been so happy. Instead the situation was not how he wanted.
"ya gata let go babe. can't lay ya down if ya don't." He said with a sigh.
"D-Don't go. Don't leave m-me alone." He heard her say. She buried her face deeper into his shoulder almost like if she did so then there could be a possibility that he wouldn't leave her.
" 'm just gana grab someth'en. i'll be gone for a minute, give or take." Red assured her.
Jess sniffed before giving him a whimper of an "ok". Letting go of Red she allowed him to take the blanket she was wrapped in away before placing the blankets of the bed over her. She snuggled into them nearly covering her whole head. Red almost expected her to stay awake and wait for him to come back but whatever drug that was in those dog treats Rus smoked must have been mixed with some sort of sedative. Not that he was complaining about her soft snoring that she was doing right now. It meant that he didn't have to worry about having to rush what he was going to do. Yet at the same time he still wanted to come back to her quick. So leaving her in his room he teleported out to beat some shit out of his brother's knock off.
Malicious darkness, glowing hands, bone spikes, and pain that only could come from dreams were all the perfect materials to build a perfect nightmare for Jess.
The place she was in was pitch black. It wasn't the void kind of place she had felt when she teleported with Red and Rus. This place was a lot softer on her body and felt warm as she floated gently over what she knew, rather than saw, was the floor of this place. Almost the perfect place to hide herself away as she collected all the information she had gained that day properly.
Red and Rus were her soulmates.
Red was nice. She liked Red. Red liked to flirt with her. She liked it when he did that. It made her feel pretty. Red also made her feel safe. She liked it when he did that too, whether be it intentional or not. She wouldn't mind staying with Red forever if he kept her feeling that way. She also wouldn't mind opening up to him either. Jess was sure he would help her get over the dark stain on her heart she was hiding. Hell she already knew from how he reacted to when she told him about her father that he would be adamant about helping.
Rus though. She could say more things bad about what her first experience with Rus gave her. However as she thought about it she noticed that she could have been over reacting some when she worked herself up into a panic attack. Other than keeping her down with his magic and the fact that he had kidnapped her he had not once harmed her in any way. Actually should the head bump on the cabinet count? He was teasing her though. Not like he actually pushed her into it or anything like that. The kissing and touching she could kind of forgive to. Red hardly kept his hands off of her when they had first met at the bar anyways. It wouldn't be fair to condone him for it when she allowed the other to do the exact same with no repercussions. Though that didn't mean they could do as they please either. Maybe if she could talk to them both about setting some boundaries they could work out something? Of course that would mean having all three parties agree on it and from Red's reaction when he finally came he did not seem to keen with Rus being around her period.
As she was contemplating on how to get the two in the same room she found herself sinking down towards the floor of this dark space. Not that she was very far from it in the first place but when she touched the bottom she felt the air around this place shift. And she was sure from the tingle she felt crawl up her spine that it wasn't good.
Taking a step forward Jess looked around to see what would have caused this weird feeling. However, she did not get very far when she felt something roughly grab her wrist yanking her back to where she had fallen on her side. Jess yelped when her hip landed onto the hard floor. The pain on her hip searing her like a small fire. When she looked up to see what had grabbed her she was shocked to see a large brightly glowing skeletal hand. It almost took up her whole hand and a lot of her lower arm but what concerned her was that it looked like it was on fire itself. Orange wisps seemed to rise off of it like steam but from what she felt it was not burning her. Still though the grip itself stung. She was sure there would be bruises there later.
Pulling her arm back she tried to get this weird hand off of her but no matter how hard she tugged or pried the long fingers off they would not budge. In fact the more she struggled with it the tighter the grip became until the clawed nails started to pierce her skin. Jess cried out when they dug into her so deep that blood started to pool around the nails staining them a reddish pink.
"Let me go!" She cried out ignoring the fact that her stutter was gone. It didn't let her go though, rather it tugged her forward again forcing her to stumble as she was practically dragged wherever this hand was taking her. She did try to resist more but as she did the more it dug into her skin making a concerning amount of blood run down her arm to drip onto her legs and the black floor.
Suddenly, when she stumbled again after a harder tug, a eruption of magic the same color as what was coming from the hand ignited in front of her. It was far taller than her by almost four feet and from the actual heat she felt brushing against her skin she was sure that it would do some real serious damage if she were to touch it. Unfortunately from the looks of it that seemed to be the plan. Instead of letting her go it forced her forward closer and closer, the heat growing hotter and hotter with each step.
"No!" Struggling she tried to get herself free not matter the pain or the damage she caused herself. At this point she really did not care what happened to her arm so long as the rest of her remained uncharred. "Let me go damn it! LET GO!"
Without warning a barrage of grey-white spikes shot out in front of her pushing back the large inferno while also causing the hand on her arm let go as well. She wasted no time pulling her hand back to her, ignoring the fact that she was staining her shirt with her own blood, as she ran away towards the direction of where the spikes were coming from. Though when she picked her head up to see where she was going she came to realize that was a mistake. One glowing inferno of magic was enough, but now there was two!? This one being a bright scarlet red but the way the magic flared out and the way it licked at the air made it seem like it itself was angry. It could be the reason why it was attacking the other but still. Even close to this one was not safe.
A spike landed close to her leg making her snap back into reality that she needed to keep moving. Deciding that choosing a side was not the best option for her she took off to the side and away from the battling infernos. Jess made her legs go as fast as she could as she dodged and stumbled around the falling pieces of the spikes that had been either deflected by the other opponent or shattered. Yet just because she ran did not mean that she was escaping all of the attacks. Many of the sharper shards nicked and cut at her legs, face, and shoulders making it hard for her to stay focused as new pain was added right after the other.
Tears ran down Jess's face as she kept going. She just wanted to get out of here. This was way to fucking crazy for her.
Wake up! She needed to wake up now!
"babe!"
Jess gasped as she woke, her hands shooting out to grab anything that was touching her in which case was Red's hand on her shoulder. He was sitting at the edge of the bed leaning over towards her. He had a worried look on his face but that soon disappeared when she had came back to reality.
"ya ok? sorry fer wak'en ya but ya seemed like whatev'ah ya was dreaming bout was gett'en out of hand." Red said bringing his hand up from her shoulder to cup her cheek. Her small hands followed not wanting to let him go just yet. "tibia-honest i wasn't sure if i should have waked ya or not."
"I'm g-glad you did. It was d-definitely not fun being stuck in t-there." Sitting up Jess scooched her body over to Red where she snuggled herself into his side. His arm came to draw her closer and if it was not for the fact that she needed both the bathroom and food she would have stayed and maybe might have taken another nap on him. He was surprisingly warm to so you really couldn't blame her as her eyes started to droop. But when she caught a whiff of cigarette smoke on her she quickly shot herself upright. "Mu-Rus! Where is h-he? Is he still here?"
She heard Red growl. A low bellowing sound that reverberated from his chest causing Jess to flinch a bit. "tha bastard took off before i could beat his fuck'en face in."
"You attacked h-him?!" She asked concerned and shocked even though she knew he might have done it anyways.
"don't get ya hopes up just yet sweetheart. wasn't able to finish the job but don't ya worry that pretty little face of ya's. i'll get him next time he comes 'round."
"Y-You can't!" She yelled grabbing the opening of his jacket tightly.
"i can." He said looking down at her as he gently took her hands off of his jacket to wrap them around his neck. he didn't miss the look she gave him though. She held a look of both fear and worry that just seemed to irritate Red because he knew that worry and fear was on the damn mutt's behalf. "i have every right to aft'ah what he did to ya today. tak'en another monst'ah's mate before a claim is one thing but tak'en what's mine is completely different."
"I u-understand that but he is ap-parently m-my soulmate as well. Me nor you c-can keep him away f-forever. B-Besides its not l-like I wasn't g-going to set up some ground rules first." She said looking away from him not having the courage to look him in the eyes as she claimed that Rus was also her soulmate. Her eyes then cast down to look at the metal bites that held his jacket together as if whatever she was thinking of disturbed her. "B-Besides its not like we have a c-choice in the matter anyways. T-The l-longer we keep him away the m-more reckless I think h-he would get."
Red wanted to outright laugh. Rus actually trying to get to her after what he just did not to long ago? That would be hilarious. Not that he didn't get away without any scratches himself but still. The warning was made and he was sure Rus would heed it till he made sure all his wounds were licked. Red raised his hand to run it through her messy bed hair. " 's fine if he stays gone. ya don't need him anyways so just stop worry'en bout him."
Jess sighed. She knew it was going to be some kind of difficult to try and get Red to understand. It wasn't like she expected him to agree with her right away anyways. Still though, if she did not put her foot down within the next few days the possibility of her getting any form of acknowledgement out of him was going to be zero to none. She knew that Red would rather have Rus gone for good but with the fact that she did not know what Rus was capable of was scary. The chances of anything good happening by keeping him away was sure to be the same chance as getting Red to listen.
"F-Fine. We'll t-talk about this l-later."
Red hummed but Jess was not fully sure if he was agreeing with her, which she doubted, or if it was just so that he could get the conversation over and done with. That didn't stop him from continuing to run his hand through the locks on her head. Not that she minded that he was doing it. She knew Monsters took touching as a form of affection and it was actually quite relaxing to her to have his hand massage her scalp before slowly dragging his fingers away like he was trying to untangle her hair from its roots. Honestly it was making her sleepy again and she was considering just staying there with Red on the bed. But she had already slept for long enough in her point of view. Realistically she was both hungry and her bladder could use a good emptying.
"Red w-where's the bathroom?" She asked looking back up at him.
"down the hall to the left." He said unraveling his hand from her hair so that he could hold it out to her as he got up, offering it so she herself could get up. "ya wana shower or someth'en? could let ya borrow some of mah clothes till I bring ya car and stuff over here."
When he said that the realization hit Jess that she did not know where exactly she was. Then again Red had said she could borrow his clothes. Did that mean that they were at his house? It would explain why Rus had said Red wouldn't come for a while. Who would think that the kidnapper would be at their own home? It was a smart move though. Rus did have a good few hours with her before Red had managed to show up. That and if Red had not showed up till later she was sure that Rus would have done much more than she would have liked.
On the thought of Rus she failed to notice that Red had moved back to her, an annoyed look on his face. It was clear to him that her mind had wandered over to the other male and that did not sit well with him. Quickly reaching out he grabbed Jess by the jaw making her turn her face to him as he moved faster than she could react to. Opening his mouth his tongue came out to leave a slimy wet trail over her lips that definitely would have shocked anyone back into reality.
Jess squealed as she tried to get out of Red's hold. It was pointless seeing how his hand held her small jaw firmly and it didn't help either when she opened her mouth to tell him to stop that said tongue slipped in.
Red released a low growl the moment his wet appendage entered her own cavern. He wasted not even a second to coil it around her own tongue before she could even dare to move away from him. In fact, to make sure she didn't his hand, that had been gripping her jaw, moved around her head to grab a fist full of her hair just before pressing her closer to him.
Red's mouth easily dominated over hers leaving Jess breathless and weak long before he even pulled away. When he did and his red eyes looked down at her euphorically dazed face he couldn't help the pleased pur that rumbled through his chest.
"s'long as i'm around, don't be think'en bout anyone other than me." He rumbled, his lips mere centimeters away. "got that?"
Jess nodded still trying to catch her breath and her mind from what had happened.
Red smiled before placing a softer kiss on her lips. "good girl."