It had been hell to find a car rental that was willing to work with three kids that had absolutely no credit and had driver's licenses that looked brand new they were never used. Jake's eyes were tracing the tree line as Jane sat between them, the GPS in her hand. They had gotten a shitty pick-up truck, riding quickly through the dirt road toward who knew where. Roxy had sunglasses and a scarf wrapped around her head since the sun was so harsh today. None of them spoke as they followed the road that had told them they were going the right direction. There was one single power line that met a house, then another down another few miles, though the GPS kept peeping on- guiding them on. Jake was scared. He didn't know what he was going to find when he got there and was sure as hell not prepared- not matter how much he said he was- for Dirk actually being fine and there with another person. This… Nathanial… he didn't seem like a good person from the records. The newspaper articles were old and from what he read, the man was violent as they come. But then again, the news tended to blow things out of proportion more often than not.

Perhaps he was innocent, and Dirk was simply… having coffee… for days without any contact with him. Which who would in the situation that Jake had put him in? Dirk was missing though, and until Jake knew he was safe he wouldn't stop searching. Roxy said something and he turned his head from the window, dust clouds billowing up from behind their tires. "What?" She glanced at the GPS, "We're here." Jane nodded, swallowing herself looking at the large building. It looked like a home that had been connected to an office. An old sign on the front that had long stopped blinking with the word 'open' hung loosely to where it banged against the side of the building with each breeze. Jake had a feeling about this place, such an unsettling one that he nearly turned away from it. The ground felt squishy beneath his feet as he walked though he knew that they hadn't had any rain for some time. He looked down and saw it newly mulched. He frowned, looking at the girls who were sharing his look of unease. After a moment to collect him he gestured to the girls to follow him. The place looked like it hadn't been lived in for some time though had a white van in the makeshift dirt driveway.

Jake glanced at the windows before peeking around the side of the house, and then the side of the building attached to it. There was an exit sign on the back that was boarded up completely. The sign read that it was once a lumber mill, which made sense for it to be so far out of the way of the city and into the dry countryside. He went back to the girls who were waiting, Roxy examining the ground and Jane looking skyward with narrowed eyes. There was no birds, no sound of the wilderness that usually came with the forests around them. Jake breathed out before walking towards the front door, hearing a shotgun cock. "You have twelve seconds to tell me what you're here for." A voice asked from the window beside the front door that had been closed not moments ago and covered by a white curtain. Jake held up his hands, itching to grab the gun from inside his jacket. The girls hadn't known he had brought his shoulder holster, just in case they ran into trouble. But instead he played it in the safe route, "I'm looking for someone. His name is Dirk Strider." The gun stayed where it was before retracting and he put his hands down slowly. Roxy murmured that she had a bad feeling about going inside when the door opened to reveal a tall man. He was fairly handsome in a rugged sense, something that the picture hadn't portrayed. Blue eyes met Jake's green, they were about the same size, his black hair clashing with Nathanial's brown, their posture fairly similar, and Nathanial's lightly tanned skin almost an even starker contrast than anything else to Jake's deep golden brown tan.

These things didn't go unnoticed by Jake, who narrowed his eyes at the other. "Nathanial Morris?" He offered a hand to him, "I'm Jake English. These are my friends, Jane Crocker and Roxy Lalonde." Nathanial glanced at the hand but didn't take it and Jake dropped it immediately, not particularly wanting to shake the man of Dirk's possible killer anyway. Pleasantries were sometimes more difficult to keep up than punching someone in the face and demanding them to tell you what they did with your boyfriend. Nathan nodded, "Pleasure. Come in, please." He glanced behind them, like he was checking for someone else and stepped out of their way. Jane physically shivered walking past Nathanial's, feeling cold breath on her neck briefly. It felt as if she had walked past death and it immediately made her shrink closer to the other's. They sat on a couch that was in front of a high backed chair. "Tea?" Nathanial offered calmly and Jake at first started to say that would be fine before nails of Jane's fingers went into his forearm. He refused afterward, taking the hint that they didn't need a chance for Nathanial to do anything since his favorite pass time seemed to be drugging people.

"We're fine, thank you." Jake sat down when their temporary host did. He held his gaze, feeling like he was staring down an animal. "Sorry about the shotgun. A lot of people get the wrong idea from reading the news and come here to start trouble." It was a perfectly understandable reason and thus Jake nodded, "It's fine. I'm a gun man myself." He let that hang there in the still eerily quiet house. "Down to business then?" Nathanial asked curiously, cocking his head to the side that seemed almost menacing. Jake nodded, being the spoke's person for the group apparently. "I'm looking for my boyfriend. He sent me a picture of you both together the other night and I haven't heard from him. I'm starting to worry." There was a demeanor change immediately after he said the relation and Nathan smiled, though it wasn't real. "Is that all? Dirk and I had a great night, partied, went to a hotel off of 4th near the club and he went on his own way. Stumbled around a lot like he had too much to drink- might want to check the jail, he was probably just sleeping off the stupor." Roxy shifted next to them, knowing just like the other two that Dirk always cut himself off before he got that drunk.

"Hotel on 4th?" He asked, raising his eyebrow. That was close enough walk from their apartment that Dirk could have made it home, even seriously drunk. "We'll check the cameras on the street corners." Jake commented offhandedly and Nathan narrowed his eyes, "Do that. Might give you a direction of which way he might have gone. "Jake took in a deep breath, brows furrowing now, "True…" The man stippled his fingertips, leaning forward to say more softly, "Tell me, how did you get my address?" Jake paused and Jane interjected, "The police have you registered as a sex offender, your records are public knowledge. All we needed was your name which the bar tender happily provided." That was likely, and a lot more legal than what Roxy had done. Jake nodded and opened his mouth before Roxy jumped in as well, "Do you have a bathroom I can use?"

Nathanial nearly said no before Roxy took off her sunglasses and he spotted her near bright pink eyes, attracting his attention spectacularly, "Please?" She batted her eyelashes and he slowly nodded, "Down the hall on the left." He answered softly and the woman thanked him, getting up and walking down the hall, the door shutting with a click. Jake stared Nathan down when Jane asked softly, "This is a really nice property." Nathan didn't look at her, just kept staring at Jake. "It was my father's. He recently passed and I inherited it." Automatically Jake responded, "I'm sorry for your loss." Nathan simply shrugged, "He wasn't a very nice man. Though he did install in me the importance of having a strong family and hard values." Jake felt like there was meaning in that, but didn't know what really was. Nathanial went to get up when Roxy came back in, if possible more pale than when she left. "I think we've overstayed our welcome. Thank you, Mr. Morris, for having us in. We'll check on the hotel to find my brother." Nathanial offered his hand to her and Roxy took it, grip firm and lips a thin line. "He's your brother?" Roxy nodded, "Twice removed, but yes." Nathanial smiled gently, "I can see how you are both very similar. Jane and Jake stood slowly, watching the two of them worriedly. Roxy didn't back down from the shake, nor the hand holding afterward. Her pink eyes were like Dirk's, defying and intelligent, but also more expressive. Nathanial let her go finally; as she turned he licked his lips. They headed toward the door, not saying a word as the man shut and locked the door behind them.

"Get back to the car. Drive." Roxy whispered to Jake who had the keys in his hand from earlier. They piled in and Jake pulled out of the parking-lot and started back. "What happened?" He asked her and she was shaking her head, "We need to get the police! Anyone- I didn't really go to the bathroom. You know how we got traits from the game and all that? I can pick any lock being a thief and I found a safe and I just- impulsively-!" Her voice was cracking with mild panic as she searched inside her jacket pocket before pulling out a pair of sunglasses. Jake stomped the breaks looking at them, he picked them up with gentle fingers. They were cracked in several places and he looked back at the house. It took Jane and Roxy almost eleven minutes to keep him from turning the truck around. "He's still in there dammit! Let me bloody go!" He was screaming, and Roxy tried to be the voice of reason, "He may have him somewhere else! We need the police! If we go barging in and Dirk isn't there then he can get us arrested and then there will be no one to find Dirk!" Jake stared at the house, tears coming down his face. He punched the car into motion again, driving recklessly back toward the city. "I'll kill him if he puts a hair out of place on Dirk's head. I'll kill that bastard- I'll- I'll-"

xXx

Dirk was lying on the floor, eyes lowered against the beam. Jenna was asleep not too far away. There had been silence above them for a while and he wondered if Nathanial had left. There was a sound of a door and his question was immediately proved wrong. He swallowed, feeling thirsty again- the feeling never completely went away he started to notice. Dirk ignored the hunger in his gut, having giving his meal to Jenna who was eating more for two than he was. He knew that she was at the point that if the child didn't survive, then she might not either. In some sort of sense, he felt responsible for her now. He was reminded of Jane so much it hurt at times. The banging continued with slow purposeful steps. The blond swallowed, too weak to move at the moment. He was tired, injured and had very little will left to keep going. Nathanial had said someone was sneaking around the property- and if he knew Nathanial, they were already dead. His eyes shut, praying to any god that really did exist that it hadn't been Jake, Roxy or Jane.

The door opened and his eye looked up at Nathanial. His face was swollen from where he'd hit him with the hammer a few hours ago. Nathanial came in so quietly it was a thousand times more frightening than anything else he had done. The larger man clamped a hand over his mouth, "Shhh…. you tried to hide that beautiful sister of yours from me…" He squeezed until Dirk was bleeding from the cut on his cheek. Dirk tried to struggle but he couldn't as Nathanial started to strip him. "I met that boyfriend of yours…. You tried to hide him from me. You said they were just friends. And you know what I told you about keeping secrets from me… You're mine, Dirk. Only mine. And it's time I showed you that." Dirk's head connected with the concrete flooring and his eyes widened. "What is he-?" Dirk started to struggle more, putting panic effort behind it before Nathanial hit him in the back of the head. He felt himself stripped and held down. "Get off of me!" He yelled into the hand around his mouth and his head was pounded into the concrete again. "Shhh… Don't wanna wake the baby." He whispered into his ear and Dirk's eyes widened, "Fuck you-!" The next punch nearly knocked him out. Nathanial squeezed around the back of his neck, "Remember Dirk… you brought this on yourself."

You brought this on yourself.