Chapter Two
The Deputy had heard. He had heard the screams that his girl had let out as he brought his belt across her back with punishing harshness. Jacob's punishment had worked better than he coud have hoped for, not only was his girl going to think twice about stepping out of line, but the so called mute Deputy couldn't shut up.
It was the Deputy's sudden found voice that had Jacob delaying sending him in for his test, instead calling in his brother to bear witness to the now talkative Deputy.
The girl stayed obediently by his side the very moment Joseph's convoy had rolled into the compound, dark eyes cemented to the ground. It was that exact reaction that Jacob enjoyed extracting from her most, the unrivaled obedience that always followed punishment, the unquestionable submission to only him that had kept the girl alive for so long. He should have culled her, should have sacrificed her along with all the other weak he had hunted down, yet everytime his finger twitched on the trigger the girl would exceed his expectations with her loyalty.
Outrage was what met Joseph's arrival. Jacob had watched with mild amusement as the Deputy lost his mind, arms gesturing wildly, as he unleashed his feelings about the girl to Joseph. It was that wrath that had John so excited and anxious to get his hands on the Deputy, and had he been like his little brother Jacob would have gloated and antagonized Hope County's would-be hero, but that wasn't his style. He much prefered to learn a persons weakness, harness it and use it to destroy them, and it seemed that the girl was an effective weapon against the Deputy.
As the Deptuy's tirade continued the blistering stare he had held firmly on Joseph shifted over to the meek girl at Jacob's side, pity flashing through the hatred for a moment, almost silently begging her to back up everything he was yelling at Joseph. "Tell him. Tell him what a sick fuck his brother is."
Panicked eyes shot up at Jacob, waiting for him to tell her exactly what he wanted her to do, and remaining completely silent as he had taught her. A low scoff sounded from in Jacob's chest at the comical look of disbelief the Deputy was aiming at his girl. She would never speak out of turn, and she sure as fuck wouldn't say anything out of turn about him, something the Deputy only just seemed to be grasping. She was his. She wasn't Joseph's, she wasn't John's, she wasn't even Eden's Gates, she was his, and there wasn't a thing the Deputy could do to change that.
"She'd be better off dead than with you."
A smile tugged at the corners of Jacob's mouth. Not one person would dare to speak to him the way the Deputy was, not even Joseph, he liked a challenge though and the Deputy was intent on fucking pushing. Clicking his fingers wordlessly at one of his men, Joseph stepping back to allow him to rule his Kingdom as he saw fit, Jacob dragged the girl forward to the cage beside him, her thin legs barely able to keep up with his much longer strides, and threw her into the small cage along with the Deputy.
She was confused, that much as clear. Her dark eyes watched him frantically, unsure of what it was she had done wrong, it was new not just for the Deputy but for her too, never the less the Deputy needed to learn that words had consequences.
"You keep running that mouth of yours, yet I haven't seen any follow through from you." Jacob spoke in his usual levelled voice, his fingers wrapping around the handle of his knife and pulling it from its holster. "Words mean little 'round here Deputy. Lets see how strong you are, see how merciful you really are."
The knife landed right at the Deputy's feet, glinting in the flood lights that surrounded the grounds, and Jacob laughed when the Deputy cautiously picked up the knife still not understanding the test he was being given.
"Cull her. Grant her the mercy you say she needs."
All the strength that the Deputy was emitting suddenly disappeared, something that was anything but a shock to Jacob, he had known the second the words had left the Deputy that was exactly what it was. Just words. The girl didn't look so convinced, a mixture of terror and hurt flitted across her newly cleaned face, her hands twitching with nervous energy as she kept an unwavering gaze on Jacob's hunting knife.
"She's a child." The Deputy offered out as if it would some how change Jacob's mind. And child she was not. Jacob may not have known exactly how old the girl was, but she sure as hell wasn't a child. Yet again the Deputy showcased just how weak he truly was.
Jacob had known the knife was going to be discarded before it was even thrown back out of the cage in defeat. People constantly disappointed him, it was something he had grown accustom to, it didn't stop the mocking shake his head gave as he had his girl removed from the cage. "She would have ripped your throat out with nothin' but her teeth if I'd told her to. She knows her purpose, she understands what is required to survive. Do you?"
She was The Deputy's weakness and only a fool wouldn't have utilized it.
That was why Jacob had his girl sit infront of the Deputy's cage since his brothers departure, to serve as a mocking reminder that he knew exactly what the Deputy's weakness was. She had been sat there cross legged for almost five hours, and Jacob had felt his eyes flicking over to the pair more times than he cared to admit. Sure his girl was allowed to roam his compound freely while he worked, but his men knew the rules, more to the point his men abidded his rules with the same level of obedience that his girl did. His men were no concern when it came to the girl, they had all beared witness to what happened when someone touched his belongings and not one of them had broken rank since. The Deputy however seemed to take pride in shitting on as many rules as he could, and it was that rebelious streak that had Jacob watching them with trained eyes.
So far nothing out of the ordinary had happened, the Deputy appeared to be getting more bold as the hours dragged by. He had started huddled at the back of the cage, actively ignoring the girl, roughly two hours ago though he had moved up to the cage door and mirrored the girl. She hadn't moved an inch, staying in the exact spot he had tapped his booted foot on all those hours ago, even with the midday heat pounding down on her scrawny frame, sweat visably trickling down from under her matted hair, his girl never so much as shifted in discomfort.
His instructions were clear and she was following them religiously. Not a single sound was to escape her lips, not a muscle was to move until he instructed her to do so, the same instruction hadn't been given to the Deputy though. Jacob wanted to get under his skin. To torture him. So when he had his girl sit before the infamous hero of Hope County he hadn't spoke a word to the Deputy, he had pushed his rough fingers as far as the girls tangled hair would allow and told her what a good girl she was. That had sparked a reaction from the once silent Deputy. The memory of it had the ghost of a smile pulling at Jacob's mouth, it soon disappeared when he caught sight of the Deputy trying to engage his girl in conversation.
He could just hear the words 'escape' and 'safe' pass the Deputy's lips and sneers at the false promises that are being thrown at the girl. The Deputy couldn't get himself out of his compound let alone the girl too, and even if he some how managed to there wasn't a chance in hell that she would follow him willingly. She only followed him.
"Peaches." Jacob growled his sharp eyes never leaving his girl and the Deputy. "I want the basement set up and ready in the next five minutes." Peaches flew off at a frenzied speed eager to remain out of Jacob's bad books, which he had learnt the hard way was not a nice place to be, just like the Deputy was about to learn.
The girl tensed when he came to stop behind her, sat a little taller showing him he had her attention. He was a cruel man at the best of times but he wasn't above giving rewards for good behaviour, so Jacob slid his finger tips across her scalp, uttering a few words of praise which had her leaning back on her toes into his thick legs. "You seem to be enjoying the company, Deputy. She's a pretty thing, I told you though about looking at things that don't belong to you."
It had all been part of the test, to see how pliable the Deputy had become. He was still fighting though. Still going against orders, still resisting becoming the soldier Jacob was going to make of him, to serve the purpose he had already decided. The girl knew hers and she would aid the Deputy in following his.
"We're gunna try something new today. Something just for you." Circling around the girl Jacob situated himself directly infront of the Deputy, his strong hand grasping one of the cages metal bars. "We'll see how strong you are." He was an alpha through and through, and he would be lying to himself if he said the way the Deputy looked at the girl- his girl - didn't bother him. The girl would be best described as cute; malnurishment and dirt had dulled alot of that, she was average, nothing special. When he and John had first found her though she had sparkled with innocence and naivety, so much so that John had wanted nothing more than to snatch her away to his bunker, no one argued with Jacob though. When he decided the girl was his that's exactly what she became, no questions asked.
"Pup, on your feet." He didn't need to look over his shoulder to know that his girl was already stood to attention awaiting his next command. "Down to the basement, Peaches is there waiting for you."
She took longer than Jacob would have liked to move her feet, long enough to have him turning to fix his hard glare on her instead of the Deputy. "Do I need to repeat myself, Pup?" In the same way Peaches retreated from him, the girl shot off like a frightened animal all legs and clumsy feet.
Jacob reached into his pocket pulling the music box from its depths, giving it a few elongated twists. He smiled knowingly as the Deputy backed up as far as the cage would allow him, it was amazing the sheer amount of fear such a small object could instill. "If it were up to me you'd be dead already, but Joseph has other plans for you. You've already passed two tests, this ones a little different. Everything though has a purpose."
She was swaying on her feet, black eyes taking frantic looks around the darkened room, uncertainty written all over her gaunt face. She never had been brave without him, too small and weak to dare to take on the unknown without him. He had only taken her down to the basement twice, and both times had been along time ago now, back when he had first brought her to the Veterans Centre. The fear he had created in her all that time ago was evidently very much still there, she was visably trembling but knew better than to ask Peaches where or how long he would be. A preditory smirk spead across Jacob's scarred face, concealed by the lack of light in the room, much like the rest of him.
On the only chair in the room the Deputy was just coming around, the haze the music box inflicted finally releasing its hold on him. Would he break rank again and speak to the girl? That was what Jacob wanted to know, to see if any of his training was getting through the Deputy's thick skull, to see if he was ready for his final test. That was what had him staying in the thick shadows that framed the room, hidden from everyones sight. An invisable, formidable presence.
"Let me out. Let me out and I'll get us out of here. You'll be safe."
As far as the girl knew he was no where to be seen, as far as she knew she could speak and he would never know. Still she stayed silent. He had never been more proud of his girl, she was showing her unrivaled obedience to him even when she thought she was alone. Safe from his punishment. Jacob could have taken the few steps forward into the one dim light and mocked the Deputy for trying- and failing- again to corrupt the girl, he could tell though that the Deputy wasn't done so Jacob chose to stay out of sight.
"I know he hurts you." The Deputy spoke again, his voice softer. "I heard...I heard what he did to you. I heard you scream. If you let me go he'll never hurt you again."
There were those fake promises again. The complete weakness that the Deputy continually displayed really made Jacob question why his brother even wanted to save the man. It would have been so much simpler for everyone if Joseph had simply let him do what he had offered to the very first capture. He would have been more than happy to put a bullet into the Deputy's skull, to end the trouble that he kept causing the Project and his family, but Joseph was all about saving souls so the Deputy had been spared.
Anxious energy crackled in the basement, specifically from the girl and Peaches, they both knew that the basement didn't hold good things for anyone who was taken down there. Both had suffered at his hands in the room, both had cracked down there, and currently both were exchanging fearful glances as they awaited his arrival.
"Lavender."
Hearing his girls name come from the Deputy's lips had Jacob stiffening, his fingers twitching on the holster of his pistol. He should have shot him dead the moment the girls name had been spoken, it was only his own loyalty to Joseph that stopped him pulling the trigger.
"I can help you, but first you have to help me."
"No!" Peaches yelled, making the girl jump a good inch from the ground, and suprising Jacob with the harshness the cowardly man's voice held. "You're not strong enough! He'll know, he'll know and he'll hurt us. One, two, three. One, two, three. Then you'll be strong enough. But never, ever, say her name."
"Why?"
Jacob scoffed as the single word sounded from the Deputy. "I am shocked to see that Peaches learns faster than you."
The girl was shocked too. She practically leapt out of her skin when his deep voice filled the dark space, and he stepped into view. She had done well, that she would atleast know that, the panic on her freckled face made it clear that she knew something was coming. Something bad.
A/N/ Thank you to everyone who left a review, and to those who asked for more chapters. It's taken me a while but I've finally got something to post and more with be coming soon :) Let me know what you think.