Piotr Rasputin (clutteredcanvas) wrote in supernextdoor, @ 2012-04-20 10:06:00 |
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Entry tags: | 10.06.11, arabella, arabella and kris, kris |
I feel like a hero
Who: Kris and Arabella (With NPC Dan)
What: An impromptu night in shining armor
When: After dark, Thursday
Where: An alleyway near Arabella's home
Warnings: Violence
Dan had gotten home very late the night before. The sky was already brightening slightly through the slits in the blinds that hung on the windows in their apartment. It was a common occurrence for him to drag his ass into the apartment at all hours of the night after doing god knows what - or who for that matter. He crawled into the bed smelling of some strange combination of herbs and honestly Arabella had chalked it up to some random new drug he was trying out. She'd been far too tired to argue with him and had simply pretended that she was asleep. It was much easier than dealing with Dan's drama and bullshit. She didn't have time for an argument or accusing him. She had to work the next day for crying out loud.
On the way to work that morning, Arabella had seen the break in at a local witchcraft shop. She'd thought nothing of it at first but as the day wore on, she began to grow suspicious. Dan had come home smelling strange, he'd been standoffish all morning before she'd gone to work and she could have sworn that he had a cut on the palm of his hand. By the time she got off of work that night, she suspected that Dan was involved in the break in. While she wasn't sure what his motive was, she figured it was probably for money so he could feed his habit. The car ride home only seemed to make her more angry and by the time she'd parked and collected her things to head into the home they shared, she was fuming.
Setting her bags on the table nearest the doorway, she searched through the house for Dan, finding him in the bedroom, sprawled out on the bed playing video games. It made her want to puke. She was footing the bill on the apartment and he was barely working and when he was all his money went to his drug habit that he still continued to deny and then she'd come home from busting her ass and there he'd be playing his video games.
"You did it, didn't you?" she asked him, fuming and folding her arms across her chest. "You broke into that shop down the street, didn't you? What the fuck were you thinking, Daniel?" She knew he hated it when she called him by his full first name. She knew better than saying it and taking that tone with him, but she was so upset and confused that she wasn't really thinking as much as she probably should have.
"Can't you see I'm in the middle of a game?" he questioned, leaning his body to the side since she'd stepped into his line of vision. "Get the fuck back, man, your ass is huge and blocking my view." Typical of him really to insult her. To pick on her features and make her feel as though she was less than the dirt stuck to the bottom of his VANS.
"You need to be off the game." she said, flipping the switch which caused him to jump up, startling her backwards into the corner of the doorway. He glared at her and stepped right up into her face. "So what if I did?" he questioned. "It was just a supe store. Some old trashy devil worshipping whore. What the fuck do you care? Worshipping the supes now too?" he asked.
Arabella, though she was indeed supernatural, had never really found the time to mention what she was to her boyfriend. He'd never asked, she'd never needed to tell him. He'd also never hinted that supernaturals were something to be hated, but now a whole new side of him was emerging. "I don't worship them..." she told him as she backed out of the bedroom and moved to collect her purse and jacket again. "I am one." With no more than those three little words uttered, she rushed out the front door, hearing the sound of his footsteps angrily following her.
She got as far as the alleyway before he caught up with her, jerking her by her purse strap until he could snag her by the arm. The purse broke and fell to the ground, its contents strewn across the concrete beneath them as he used his free hand to backhand her. "You dirty, supe, skank ass slut." he hissed through clenched teeth as he shook her like a ragdoll and shoved her against the wall of their building. "When the fuck were you going to tell me that I've been sleeping with one of them?" he growled at her, pulling back his arm again, this time balling it into a fist and catching her right across her left eye.
She whimpered out a cry of pain, clutching at his shirt and doing all she could to push him away. "Please, Dan, don't." she sobbed. "Lemme go." Dan didn't make it look like that was an option as he pulled his hand back to slap her again.
Kris spent entirely too much time brooding to the point he was starting to annoy himself. He had so much shit in his head he opted to go on one of his walks. He could drown his senses with the noise and smells of the city and try to forget everything he had done, at least for a short time. He didn't regret hunting down the bastard who killed his pack, but once he was dead Kris felt as if he had nothing left to do. His sole purpose now was to protect his pack but Carr didn't exactly need or want Kris' meddling.
As he came around a corner his ears picked up the sound of a woman and the sound of hitting. Those two things should never happen in Kris' mind and he turned toward the noise, his eyes shifting to amber. There, in an alleyway. Some douchebag hitting some poor woman. In Kris' world, a man used his hands to protect a woman never to hurt one. In seconds flat Kris was across the street. He grabbed the guy's arm, snarling and he pretty much tossed him back, putting himself between the woman and her abuser. "I'm going to suggest you run away now, little boy." he said, his voice hard with a growl. Kris' wolf was just as much apart of this as he was right now, making Kris all the more dangerous.
Everything happened so fast that Arabella scarcely had time to suck in and hold a breath in preparation for the slap that never came. Some man had jerked Dan away from her and put himself between the two of them. She wanted to pipe up, to tell this guy that things were just going to get worse and he should go, but she couldn't seem to find her voice. Instead she sank down against the wall behind her and pulled her knees up tight against her chest.
Dan, however, wasn't opposed to stating his piece. "Listen, buddy, you don't know who the fuck you're messing with and if you know what's good for you, you'll leave me and my bitch alone." His eyes flicked to the girl huddled on the ground and he glared at her. "Get your ass up and stop the crying or I'm gonna give you something to cry about."
Arabella was too shaken to move even a muscle in any direction, her heart pounding so violently in her chest that she thought she might be having a heart attack. Dan was just about to say something else to her, but this guy was still fucking standing there so instead, he glared at Kris. "I thought I said to get lost."
These were the kind of men Kris hated. In fact, they were not men. They were bugs that needed to be squashed and this prick was about to. "My mama always taught me to respect and treat ladies nicely. Obviously your mama missed that lesson so I'll give you the recap." And with that Kris punched the guy full in the face, breaking his nose in the process. "You don't hit girls." he said, picking the sonofabitch up and slamming him against the brick wall of the alley. "You don't hit women." he said, punching the guy in the gut several times. "You never call the fairer sex names such as bitch." he said in an almost conversational tone, though there was the underlying growl. "Have you learned your lesson?" he asked, hand on the bastard's throat as he kept him pinned to the wall, letting the douche see his amber eyes and sharp teeth.
Dan hadn't suspected the guy to be as strong as he was. His breath was caught in his throat and he thought he might die if the guy punched him again so he just nodded. "Lemme go." he rasped, squirming in Kris' grasp.
The werewolf squeezed just a bit more before letting go and stepping back, letting his wolf calm down a bit. He wanted to rip the morons throat out. He would have to go hunting soon, if his bloodlust was that bad.
Kris turned to the woman he was apparently protecting and went to her, ignoring the sniveling nit behind him and kneeled down. "Are you alright?" he asked gently, the complete opposite of what he had been only seconds ago. Ever so carefully he touched her chin, tilting her face to see the damage. He bit back a growl when he saw one of her eyes already swelling shut. "We'll have to put an ice pack on that." he said, already planning on taking this girl away from the abusive bastard she was apparently with to get her some proper help. The need to protect her was fierce. HIs wolf would have it no other way.
For a moment Dan just stood there until he saw his opportunity to run. So that's exactly what he did, stumbling out of the alleyway and hauling ass down the road. Arabella didn't so much as look up in his direction as he fled. Figures. The coward. She flinched ever so slightly when the unknown man touched her chin and tilted her face, surveying the damage that Dan had done to her. "It'll be fine." she told him, her voice raspy as usual, but much more meek. "He didn't mean it." It was a kneejerk reaction that she just couldn't break herself of. "You didn't have to do all that..."
"He did mean it." he said, his rough hands carefully inspecting her injuries. "And yes, I did. Come on, let's get you up, darlin." He gently helped her up off the cold alleyway floor. "Do you have somewhere safe I can bring you?" Something told him she didn't and he was already thinking about if he had left clothes all over his room or not.
She shook her head a little because she didn't have anywhere that she could really go. Or at least not anywhere that she wanted to go at that point. Her mother would freak and call the police and she didn't want to go through all of that. "I can't leave." she whimpered, though she did let him help her up off the ground. "I don't have anywhere else to go and... and I..." There were so many reasons but she couldn't think of them all. She felt slightly dizzy and sick to her stomach and her face hurt something awful. "I need to go back to my apartment." she whispered, looking around at her purse contents spilled across the ground. "I need my medication." Amongst other things. Carefully she bent over to try and collect her belongings.
Kris stilled her hand and quickly picked up her things, putting them in her purse. "Why don't we go get some of your things and we can find some place safe for you to rest." he said, his wolf snarling. She needed to be safe at the den, this injured female. His wolf was unhappy Kris let the man go without killing him, but his wolf didn't seem to understand such things as murder. He handed her her bag and could see she was still unsteady on her feet. "Please don't be offended." he said before scooping her up in his arms, holding her against him. "Which way?"
She took her purse, annoyed that Dan had broken the damn thing more than by the fact that he'd technically broken her. But she didn't get much of a chance to ponder over it before he'd scooped her up. She let out a surprised little gasp, but honestly was thankful to feel the warmth coming off of his body and she leaned into it. Yeah, not offended. Comforted. She told him where her apartment was, thankfully not very far for him to have to carry her. "Where are you going to take me?" she asked him once they'd gotten into the apartment.
Kris could smell the bastard all over the apartment and smell a lot of other things too. He was on alert as she gathered some things and his wolf pushed him. "Safest place I can think of is the hotel me and my brother-in-law are staying." He figured he could bunk with Carr and she could have his room. That way he could still hear her in case something went awry. "Until you can figure something out. I'll help any way I can." Kris was obviously a man of honor and to see such a beautiful face marred by some stupid human sent him into fits.
"I don't want to put you out of your own room." she told him as she pulled a bag from her closet and stuffed a couple of changes of clothes into it. Collecting her identification and keys and what important cards and cash she had, she sighed and went into the kitchen. Syringes and her insulin were the next things to be tucked into her bag as she glanced at the man still following her so protectively. "Do you have a fridge in your room?" she questioned. She couldn't really stay there, not when Dan was probably going to turn up at any moment to finish what he'd started.
His nose twitched a bit as she gathered up her things. Insulin. So she was a diabetic. Fantastic. It would be even harder to keep this female alive. Kris had no idea what his wolf was so interested but he was keeping the animalistic inner argument to himself for now. "There's two beds then, but a lady deserves her privacy." he said. He had been raised with a healthy, proper respect for women which his mama had hoped he'd pass on to his sons and that he would care for his mate properly, as his father had done. Unfortunately, none of that ever came to pass, but the lessons stuck, perhaps even more so. "And yes ma'am, there's a minfridge for your medicine." he said, looking around. "We best hurry." he said as he could smell blood and pain from that sniveling coward come up the block. While Kris had no problem beating him again, this lovely creature need not see it again. Kris took her bags and helped her outside, waving for a taxi. He had walked a ways from where he was staying.
She nodded. She didn't want to stay there anymore anyway. She'd collected what she needed and let him help her with her belongings and once they were in the taxi safely, she glanced over at the man. "Arabella." she said softly. "I think it's only right that you at least know my name." she explained. The man had saved her life in every sense of the word. She didn't really want to think about what Dan would have done if he hadn't happened along. He'd slapped her before, she couldn't deny that, but he'd never gone that far out of control with her. He was a different man, not the one she had fallen for nearly two years prior. "And thank you." she added.
Now that she was safe, Kris realized just what a he-man he had been. He blushed a bit, rubbing the back of his neck. "Arabella. I'm Kristopher Malark, better known as Kris." he said, mentally kicking his wolf. "And you don't have to thank me. I just did what anyone would." he said, trying to play it down as much as he could. He hadn't been thinking like a human when he did what he did. It just went to show how close his wolf always was to the surface.
She shook her head. "That's not true." she told him softly. He was being far too humble. "This isn't the first time he's slapped me around." she admitted, shuddering a bit at the flashes of earlier rolled through her mind. "It's the worst, but not the first. And you're the only one who's ever stepped in and said anything to him." Though she was still silently telling herself that it was all her fault for egging him on in the first place, she was grateful all the same to Kris. "Your brother-in-law is likely to think that you've lost your mind bringing home some random woman." she said, shaking her head a little.
"You don't have to worry about him anymore." His wolf and Kris alike would make sure that bastard never went near her again. "And you certainly don't have to worry about my brother-in-law. He already thinks I've lost my mind years ago." he said and gave her a little grin, trying to lighten her spirits. Inside, he was raging. The bastard had hit her before. The beating Kris had given him was not enough, but Kris would amend that once he knew Arabella was safe and settled.
She liked that little grin and he did cheer her up a bit. She even smiled, though that got a wince from her and Arabella lifted her hand to her bruised face. "It's pretty bad, isn't it?" she sighed. At least he'd only managed to get the one eye. And she didn't have to work the next day, thank god. Maybe she'd call out until she could walk around in public without looking like Julia Roberts from Sleeping with the Enemy.
Kris let his eyes slide into amber so he could see better, very carefully touching her face. "It's not good." he said softly. "We'll ice it to get the swelling down but it'll be all kinds of colorful come morning." It would of been worse if Kris hadn't came by and he knew it. It just cemented in him that something needed to be done about this Dan. No male hurt his female and got away with it. And then Kris had to put the brakes on his own thinking. His wolf was getting possessive and that couldn't be a good thing. He didn't have any more time to think about it because the taxi pulled up to the hotel and there was Arabella's bags and Arabella herself to get upstairs.
She dreaded looking into the mirror. She was a mess, she could feel it. It only took a few minutes with Kris's help to get herself and her things up the stairs and into his hotel room. Her insulin was put away in the mini fridge and then she turned her attentions to Kris once more. "Nice place you got here." she murmured, smiling but only slightly. She wanted to get him to smile again and hopefully her joking about his room would do the trick.
Strewn about his room were a few dozen books and some clothes which he quickly set about picking up. "Sorry." he said with a sheepish smile. "Um, that bed hasn't been slept in." he said as he quickly got all of the books off of it. He seemed to be a big fan of mystery novels and scifi. In a matter of minutes the room was tidy as it wasn't like he had much. "Dresser's all yours and such."
"I was kidding." she told him, not having meant anything by it. She went about putting her things away in the drawers, at least for the time being. "So you don't live here?" she asked him. "I mean... hotel room usually means just passing through." Which made her feel a little less than happy if she was honest though she wasn't sure why. He was the first person to lift a finger to protect her and she couldn't help that she had a bit of attachment to him.
"Yea, I do, I think. Um, just, haven't found a place yet." Kris wanted a big house with room to run but he wasn't sure what Carr's plan was and Kris wasn't sure he could live alone again without going mad....again. "It's sorta complicated."
She nodded a little. "I was just curious." she murmured, moving to sit on the edge of the bed that he'd previously directed her to. "I don't really have a right to be asking you all these questions." she sighed, pushing her hair back from her face and behind her ears. "But I have one more," she went on, her eyes falling to the floor. "Why did you step in? You could have just walked away like everyone else usually does when he goes into one of his fits."
Kris moved slowly to her, very carefully touching her cheek that was bruised. "Where I come from, sweetheart, if a man hit a woman, he got taken for a nature walk. And that was only if the female didn't knife him first." He gave her a little crooked smile. "No one deserves that, least of all someone as pretty as you." He gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead before stepping away and getting an ice pack for her face.
She flushed at his compliment, even more at the gentle kiss to her forehead. And did he really have to have that cute crooked smile? She tried to regain her composure as he walked away, telling herself that it was wrong to think that way when she technically had a boyfriend. Now here she was in a hotel room with a stranger. The horrible realization, however, was that this stranger had shown her more compassion in the last hour than Dan had shown her in the last six months.
He got the ice pack filled for her then gently had her lay down on the clean bed. He placed it carefully on her eye. "That feel better?" he asked softly, taking off her shoes for her so she could be more comfortable. There were no sexual overtones in this. Most men would find this a good way to take advantage, but not Kris. His first instinct was to heal her then protect her. Everything else wasn't even a factor in his mind. His wolf had decided this woman was pack and pack protected their own. Always.
She nodded a little, taking the pack from him and letting him go about taking her shoes off. Even that was surprising. Such a simple gesture and yet it made goosebumps raise on her arms. "Are you going to call the police?" she asked after a long moment, curious if he planned on turning Dan in for what he'd done.
"Why? So he can go whine to them he got beat up by a werewolf and I get myself hauled in? No ma'am. He won't bother you again, that I promise. I'll protect you better than the police can anyway." He gave her another smile before getting her some water and some prepackaged tylenol. "This will help the headache to come. I'll see if I can't get something stronger for you if it doesn't help any."
It took a second for her to realize what he'd said. Setting the icepack aside, she took the tylenol and swallowed the medicine down. Putting the glass on the side table, she finally let his words catch up with her comprehension. "You're a werewolf?" she asked, picking up her icepack again, not frightened but more curious. A werewolf. Well yeah, she figured he probably could protect her better than the police."
By her scent he could tell she wasn't afraid of him, which was good. He figured he'd let it slip and see how she did with it. "Yes. A born one." he said as he finally took off his jacket and hung it on the back of the chair.
"Bet Dan'll really love that." she muttered, eyes following him as he moved around the room. "Apparently he's not so supernatural friendly." she told him. "But I suppose I should have told him from the beginning." she sighed, blinking a little in annoyance with herself.
His eyebrows went up then and he looked at her, sniffing the air. "Not a were, but there are animal scents...shifter?" he asked. He had a pretty good nose and now that she was close, he could scent her much better.
She nodded. "I can't smell what you are because I'm not shifted." she explained, though she felt pretty stupid after she said the words, figuring he knew exactly why she didn't know he was a werewolf until he'd said as much. "But you probably already know that." she said, shaking her head and letting out a little sigh. "That's why we were fighting. Well, part of it." she explained. "That and I think that he broke into some witch supply store. I didn't think he'd go off like that. I've never seen him that way before. Not that... awful..."
A snarl slid from Kris. He couldn't help it. "He had no right to lay a hand for any reason, ever." he said firmly. "None of it is your fault. He is a bigot and an abuser and he will not hurt you again." His wolf was getting fired up. He wanted to hunt down the one who dared harm his female, his packmate. It would not be let go! Kris clenched his fists, letting out a breath. "I'm sorry." he said as he calmed himself down. Sometimes having his wolf be so damn opinionated could be a pain in the ass. "I just...never want to see someone hurt you. You don't deserve it."
It was easy to believe his words when he was so adamant about them. She was left just blinking at him with her one good eye, her hand over the ice pack against the other one. "Are you like this with every girl you meet?" she questioned, a tiny smile playing on her lips. "Or am I just special?"
Kris realized he was probably acting like an idiot and forced himself to sit down in the chair next to her bed. "You are most definitely special, Arabella." he said and smiled. She had no idea. She was the first person aside from Carr he had spoken to in a very long time.
He did make her feel pretty special, even with the simplest things like sitting there beside her bed while she wasn't feeling her best. That and the fact that he'd said she was pretty even though she looked like hell warmed over. It didn't hurt that he looked pretty damn good in that tank top he was in. She shifted onto her side with a small wince and faced the man beside her bed. "Are you going to hold a bedside vigil for me?" she teased, laughing very lightly so as to not cause herself any more unneeded pain.
Anyone with even just one eye could see she was beautiful even with the bruising. And it wasn't just her face and body. Her scent, her smile, all of it. Kris reached over and ever so gently brushed back her hair from her face. "More than likely." he said with that crooked smile of his. "Unless you don't want me to." He wanted to stay close, to keep her safe, but he also wanted her to be comfortable. "I can shift and sleep just outside the door like a good guard dog." he said, teasing her himself.
She shook her head a small bit. "No." she told him. "I don't want you to leave." she admitted. She felt safe with him around and it was certainly a nice change. She thought for once she wouldn't have to sleep with one eye open and that would be a welcome difference to say the least.
"Then I'll stay." he said, and he would, all night. He would likely stay awake all night as well. "I promise I'll protect you." Forever. Kris had no idea why, but this woman he did not want to ever be out of his sight and anyone who tried to harm her again would have to go through him. She was pack, that much was obvious, but to Kris, she was so much more.
"I think I've forgotten what it feels like to be safe." she admitted. Sure, it had only been the last six months that Dan had changed, but it felt like an eternity. She couldn't even remember her life before he'd started to change. She couldn't remember much of anything about why she even liked him in the first place. She felt pretty pathetic in that moment if she was being honest with herself. "I don't even know why I stuck around."
Kris sighed and reached over to gently stroke her hair comfortingly. "None of it matters now. You're safe and we'll get everything sorted out. All you have to worry about now is resting up and healing. I'll keep you safe." He wanted to remind her again and again he wasn't going to let anything bad happen to her. He could tell she needed to hear it.
"That feels nice." she murmured about his touch. Arabella let her eyes close and heaved a little sigh. His comforting touch would likely put her right to sleep. She'd had a long day even before the confrontation. It was only moments before she'd fallen asleep, the icepack dropping from her hand.
He knew she would be asleep soon. She was wore out and needed a good night's rest. He went and got a blanket, tucked her in and then took his seat back on the chair. He spent the next several hours stroking her hair, listening for and sound of intrusion, but his wolf was satisfied they were safe in the den and soon pulled Kris to sleep as well, his fingers in Arabella's silky brown hair.
Even after he'd fallen asleep, perched in the chair with his fingers in her hair, Arabella had remained asleep. At least for a short while. Until her dreams became plagued with replays of Dan's actions that night and with a whimper she sat straight up in the bed, her chest heaving. She couldn't see all that well in the darkness that had overtaken the room and briefly she wondered where she was, her hands trembling as she clutched the sheets.
The second Arabella whimpered, Kris' eyes shot open. He wasn't sure when he had fallen asleep, but once he was sure the only intruders were Arabella's own nightmares, he calmed. "Arabella, it's alright, sweetheart." he said soothingly, gently touching her arm so as not to frighten her. "You're safe, it was just a dream." He could feel her trembling, hear her heart's rapid beat and moved to the bed so he could draw her close, stroking her hair and murmuring soothingly to try and calm her.
She didn't think that she'd ever been called 'sweetheart' by anyone in her life. It was a sweet gesture, almost as sweet as him moving in behind her as she sat there on the bed startled from her dream. Her fingers brushed over his arms as they wrapped around her and she turned her head to look at him though all she could make out in the darkness was his outline. "You stayed." she whispered, leaning back against him with a little relieved sigh.
"I told you I would." he rumbled softly, kissing the top of her head as she settled against him. He leaned back against the pillows, keeping her cradled against him. She fit in his arms as if she was meant to be there and he couldn't help but to nuzzle her hair a bit, inhaling her wonderful scent. It had been well over a decade since anyone had been in his arms and he never wanted to let her go. "Rest, you're safe with me." he murmured softly.
She leaned into him, his legs on either side of her body as she let her head come to rest against his chest. "You did." she agreed, fingers brushing over the fabric of his shirt. She was thankful he'd kept true to his word, even more that he was holding onto her now.
If it made her feel secure to sleep like this, he would oblige her every night if that was what she needed. Kris would give her anything she wished. He began to run his fingers through her hair again as he had when she first slipped into sleep hours ago, only this time his stubbled cheek rested on the top of her head as he kept her wrapped up close to him.
"Keep it up and I might have to keep you." she warned him, a tiny smile curling her lips, even in the darkness. She let her eyes close and breathed in his scent. "You're so warm." she murmured.
Kris chuckled softly, intent on inhaling her scent as well and rubbing his face against her hair. "You're...perfect." he murmured softly, lost in the smell of her and the feel of her soft body against his own.
"Perfect is a strong word, Mr. Malark." she murmured A strong word that she quite liked the sound of. Especially coming from the man holding her so tightly. She felt secure, safe, comforted. But most of all she just felt protected and valuable. She wasn't sure why he was being so wonderful to her, but Arabella hoped that he continued to be just that.
"It's the one word that I can think of to encompass you." he said with a small smile, sounding a bit like an idiot, but unable to help himself. "Rest." he said again. "And please, I'm just Kris."
"Kris." she corrected herself, her fingers dancing lightly over his side. "Lovely." Men probably didn't like to be 'lovely', but she was fairly dazed and confused and it was the best word she could think of to describe him in that moment.
He smiled and kissed the top of her head again. "Rest, sweetheart." he insisted again, letting his fingers go through her hair. She was close enough to sleep that it took only minutes for her to fall into another slumber. He didn't want to move so he settled in himself, keeping her wrapped up in his arms as he dozed off, surrounded by the scent of a woman. His wolf howled with joy.