Kane definitely meant ‘bury’ ... he just didn’t know what else to do with a lot of emotions, especially the strongly negative ones. They got purged when he was hunting to a certain degree -- something Adrian would surely understand -- but for the most part he just carried it all with him. He tried to keep all those dark feelings shoved into a closet inside of him, because there was no help for a lot of it. He’d had a shitty dad, so did a lot of people. He had trauma from war and had lost someone he loved, join the fucking club. He hated himself a lot sometimes, but that didn’t make him different from some anorexic teenage girl, did it? Life was hard and shitty for most people, those were just the facts. Kane gripped Adrian’s fingers with a tiny smile in return. “Don’t do that,” he murmured. “Your soul’s worth a lot more than me.” It was probably just a turn of phrase, Kane didn’t even believe in the Christian ‘devil’ anyway, but again, his instinct was to protect Adrian.
Adrian could argue that it wasn't, the tunnel hadn't wanted it because it was too tainted. He could also tell Kane he'd already sold his soul and whatever scraps were left at the barrel were in the hands of Caius D'Onofrio but he knew that he couldn't say that second part out loud no matter how hard he tried and the first part wasn't something he wanted to talk about at all. Westin and D'Onofrio had him between their teeth and he couldn't even talk about it. "Yeah? What do you think I'd fetch on the black market?" he said jokingly instead and realized that Kane hadn't even attempted to collect his soul on that fateful day when he'd killed him. It was just a testimony to how out of it he had been, a very special Point Pleasant treat. "Good thing you're already loaded or you might be tempted," he added cheekily.
“Tens of thousands, easy,” Kane told him with a faint smirk. “Maybe a hundred, if I had a fun story to go with it.” He eyed him for a beat, wondering if Adrian realized what an incredibly rare being he was. Maybe he did, since he’d had all of those scientists trying to dissect him. It was possible he was the only person in the world who’d overcome the wendigo curse, gotten it under control without losing himself. Kane was in fucking awe of him, if he thought about it enough. A dark joke about Adrian needing to ripen before harvesting crossed his mind, but Kane didn’t let it out. He didn’t want any misunderstanding about whether he would ever hurt Adrian again. “You know you’re like ... a fuckin’ unicorn, right? Just not nearly as pure.” He smiled a little.
Was it a weird thing to feel good about? Probably, but Adrian wasn't sure anyone could be told they were a rare unicorn worth tens of thousands of dollars without feeling a little smug. He absolutely felt smug and he grinned as Kane talked, shaking his head to look more amused than happy. "So I'm a tainted unicorn and you're a unicorn hunter and we fall in love," he said loftily. "I guess we're just a cliche after all." He looked Kane in the eyes again, his grin growing into something a little warmer. There was no doubt he'd do all the cliches with Kane. He might not feel it all fully when he was like this, his love for Kane something a little more twisted up and weird, but it was still love, damn it. "You think you can sleep tonight, oh lover of mine?" he asked. Kane did look tired and Adrian was far too restless to even try to sleep.
Having an idea of what Adrian’s soul would be worth only made Kane want to protect him more. He wasn’t the only hunter out there, and if any of them knew what a payday they could get from killing just one guy ... but Adrian was more than just a guy. He was a powerhouse like this, to put it mildly, and Kane pitied any other hunter who tried to fuck with him. Just a little though, because fuck those guys, they needed to stay far the fuck away from Kane’s man. “Yeah, we’re a goddamn Disney movie,” Kane agreed in a murmur. Cliche or not, it was real and he was fully in it. He gave a dark chuckle, then nodded. “Yeah. You heading out? To go be wild and shed blood?” He reached to run his fingers through Adrian’s hair, sounding like he approved, if that was the plan.