Helen took a long shower to soothe her tense muscles. Running the water as hot as possible she tilted her head under the flow and let it drench her hair. Pushing her bangs back so she could see she leaned against the shower wall, letting the water redden her pale flesh. She must have spent an hour in there, because when she emerged her fingers and toes were wrinkled, her entire body an angry red and the steam in the room was so thick she could probably cut it with a knife. A knife—like the one John used. She shook her head to clear the thought and finally set about her regular routine.
Time progressed slowly, slower than she had seen it go in a long time. Her files were already neatly stacked, she had her notes ready for the weekly staff meeting which was in an hour, and she'd already run through the newest abnormals to make sure everyone was settled and healthy. Five hours she'd been awake and in five hours she'd done the work that should have taken her the majority of the day. Nope, she wasn't avoiding anything at all.
Will was the first to arrive for the meeting and said he had a list of things that needed to be covered as well. She nodded and made room for them while they waited for the other to. The Big Guy was out of town on a super-secret mission according to him. No one knew where he went except Magnus and she refused to tell.
She sat in her normal spot and will chose the chair next to her, leaving the yellow couch for the two remaining members. She and Will conversed amicably until Henry scuttled in late, as usual, and it was time for them to begin. "Alright, Kate, the first thing I need to you start working on is blueprints for some of the stunners, the ones that don't have any. I need you to make these up, Henry will assist you." She looked at the young man and he nodded his agreement. "We have a few new abnormals that will be coming to live here from Norway, Henry I want you to make up the guest rooms and input them into the system when they arrive, they should be here late tomorrow." She turned to Will; this had been one of the things he wanted to discuss with them.
"Ok, so these two abnormals are a pair, mate for life, etc etc. But, the reason they are being moved here is because Norway was having problems with them. Seems the female becomes crazy jealous of the male and tends to overreact a bit—"
Magnus lost track of what he was saying at this point. Her mind was elsewhere struggling to keep up with what was flashing through her head. She could see her hands, soaked with tears. She had her nightslip on and was struggling to walk through the hallways to her own rooms after John had released her. The man was right; she shouldn't have been so flirtatious with her professor.
Helen had had questions for her professor: she needed clarification on some chemistry problem he had posed for the class so she had stayed late. She waited for the entire class to file out and some of the other students to pose their questions before she had her turn, she would probably take a lot more time than all their questions combined any way, she was just being polite. The professor had used some silly metaphor to explain the equation to her and it made her laugh. That was when John had walked in, looking for her.
He had waited until they reached her father's house before throwing a fist into her side and holding her against the wall with his fingers squeezing tightly around her throat. His eyes were wild and crazy but there was nothing she could do to stop him. He was breathing heavily into her ear, "Don't pretend you didn't know what you were doing. I saw it: whoring around behind my back."
She eyes started to water from the pain and lack of oxygen, she couldn't draw in a full breath nevertheless defend herself. Her palms were flat against the wall; if she even tried to hit him the result would only be worse than it already was. He grasped her breast tightly between all the layers of material covering her body. He squeezed painfully and she gasped, his fingers constricting further around her neck. He pressed into her until his hips and erection could be felt. Thrusting into her a few times until she whimpered in protest and closed her eyes not wanting to see or feel what would happen next.
It was then that she felt the warm hand on her arm. Blinking suddenly she looked over and saw Will sitting next to her with a concerned look on his face. She just shook her head at him and he nodded slightly in response before he continued on about the newest additions to their Sanctuary.