homeless_pard | Ghosts of the Past

Entry tags:

jason au,
starter

Ghosts of the Past

Who: Beryl, Nat, a reporter?
When: Once she's back on the low level MMA circuit, before the looking at buying a place.
What: Being...traced?

She adjusted the tape along her hands and smiled loosening up a touch in her corner. It was good to be back honestly, she'd taken four out of five matches so far and things were doing okay. She was getting her rhythm back, and she could see Nat sitting in the stands, that delicate mix of apprehensive and delighted to watch her. She could get the mixed feelings honestly, they made sense...

...but she was belatedly glad her boy was tall yes. Else she couldn't have picked him out so easily with many of the 'fans' choosing to fill the bleachers near him. She blew him a cheerful kiss before sliding her bite guard back in and ignored the honest to gods flashes going off as she turned her back to eye her opponent. A lot of sports enthusiasts and writers actually went with real cameras instead of cellphones so it could get a little bulb happy out there.

Given where the majority of the crowd was, well, the photography had to be getting great shots of her opponent's form...and her ass. Great, Nat was going to scrapbook the shit out of any magazines she ended up in and it would be nicknamed the 'hot in spandex' book or something by Eric and Lani. It made her snort a laugh, which pissed off her opponent, making him swing just a touch wide so she could bend and lash her heel into his hip, then her knee to his chin ad he buckled. TKO.

She grinned, adrenaline singing through her as she turned to beam at Nat, and caught another faceful of flashbulbs. Bah. "Excuse me, Beryl? Are you Ms. Beryl?"

"Hey, yeah, but I'm busy," she snorted ducking under the ropes to go to Nat for a kiss before hitting the showers! She barely registered the unassuming man muttering an apology and just flashing a few more pics before she was happily padding to the showers. Charles was going to demand she try that move on him again in a few days as they practiced so she didn't bother trying to poke him now. Let him go home and grump about getting old to his teens, who'd reassure him and make him a protein shake before he got a beer. He was a good guy, just competitive as shit.

After Beryl was safely away the man wove carefully through the crowd to smile hesitantly at Nathaniel, "hey, can you spell her name for me? I want to be sure to get things right but she...I guess she doesn't do ringside interviews huh?"

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Jason smirked at Looney's reaction, muttering to himself. "Keep your evil ass out, too, fuzzball."

He turned the shower as hot as he could get it and ushered Nathaniel under the spray. Nathaniel crouched down to the floor, hugging his knees to his chest as Jason began carefully washing the blood off him.

Which revealed some of his own injuries. "Motherfucker," Jason said in disgust as he looked at the angry red laceration around Nat's throat. "They brought silver?"

Nathaniel growled quietly. "Yeah."

And several other irritated cuts across his neck and shoulder. They must have whipped the thing at him before getting it around Nat's neck. And then his side....Jason tenderly cleaned the area. "You shouldn't need stitches but it doesn't look like it feels good."

Nathaniel offered a silent shrug.

"You see them again and we'll beat the shit out of them." Jason offered.

"They're dead." Nathaniel was staring off, his chin resting on his knees. He seemed to be struggling to say something, then at last choked out. "I might be in trouble, Jay..."

"No." Jason said firmly, though his eyes widened at Nathaniel's admission that they were dead. "Look, Asher called me and I know he's not gonna let anything like that happen. I mean, he's got centuries of practice hiding shit like this from humans, so don't worry about that."

Nathaniel didn't answer, but Jason wasn't going to push him: if he had been the one to kill those guys, this was huge for him. He finished cleaning Nat up and helped him to his feet, wrapping a towel around him. "We'll get your hair braided and out of the way after you get back to her, ok?"

Nathaniel gave a slight nod. "Thanks, Jay," he murmured.

It was a good ten minutes or so later when Beryl jerked, milky, gritty and blood streaked fluid leaking from her arm, "NAT!"

Khem laid a hand on her chest and pushed her firmly down into the mattress, giving her a look, "he's alive and well Beryl. You are NOT to move until such time as I am done tending you. Then I shall tend the silver marks upon him." He just would not have taken getting treated FIRST very well!

"Where?"

"My Jason has him in the shower. You will stop wiggling else I will let you sleep once more."

Beryl growled at her, "let me up!"

Khemrys snorted and sent a trickle of power that made Looney chirrup and come trotting in to LAY ON HER CHEST.

Nathaniel heard Beryl's growl and shoved Jason to the side, rushing into the room. "Beryl?" he asked anxiously. "You're awake!"

Jason followed close behind holding out Nathaniel's dropped towel. "Dude, you're dripping everywhere and now my wife is staring." he teased gently, "Put the towel back on."

"Khem is pulling gunk out of my arm!" She noted, half lifting her arm until she hit Khem's hand.

Looney growled softly and stretttttched paws up to lightly prick claws on her shoulders. BERYL WAS NOT SUPPOSE TO MOVE NOW.

"Fucking hell Looney..." Beryl groaned, using her free hand to fuzzle said cat's head. "Babe...babe you look shattered..."

Nathaniel either didn't hear Jason or didn't care (likely the latter); he was already crawling across the bed to Beryl. "I was worried, they gave you so much and you weren't waking up," he babbled.

She tangled a hand in his wet hair as soon as he was close enough, "sorry to scare you babe..."

"The hot water," Khemrys sighed, looking pleadingly to her husband. "They'll hear naught we say now."

Jason smirked at that. "It'll be my best tea yet." He pursed his lips to blow her a kiss and disappeared from the room.

"Are you ok?" Nat continued worriedly. "They didn't hurt you, did they?"

"Red knotted bag, two pinches!" she called after him, then eyed Nathaniel, "two cups." Seemed the best idea to get fortifier in them both.

Beryl dragged him close for a kiss and sighed, "no babe, fight in the alley, needle to the arm, then more fighting in the van until you got there."

Nathaniel sighed against her lips, feeling relief rushing through him. "You are so strong, babe. You held off a shifter dose for so long and still fought them."

Jason came back with the two cups (he could listen sometimes!) and set them on the dresser. "Still steeping but I figured you'd know better than me if it was ready."

"Look what they did to you..." she growled, fingers finding the marks on his neck under the wet hair. "Fuckers. Dead? I know you came..."

Khemrys smiled up at her husband and touched his wrist before returning her attention to drawing the dose. Sadly, fighting and moving with that in system spread it out faster so...

"I don't care about that," Nathaniel said, but he didn't pull away from her exploring fingers. "I'll be ok; I was more worried about you." He paused and gave her a faint nod to her question.

Despite the worrisome night, Jason couldn't help but smile at her touch. He always felt such pride and awe watching her work...

"I care!" Someone had to when her person was so prone to ignoring injury! "Khem, Khem there was silver in that shit..."

"I know, he's next," Khemrys agreed distractedly. There is no reason either of you shouldst remain injured long."

Nathaniel...smiled. "Babe, this is nothing. Barely broke the skin." He nuzzled gently against her cheek. "They're all gone. All except...Dan." He couldn't help the growl when he said the man's name. "But Asher has him."

"It's silver and it keeps you injured!" she countered, fingers tight at the nape of his neck for a moment. "We didn't fucking say that was okay." Therefore it was not and worth being angry over!

Dan. Oh Dan. "He apologized when he fucking injected me. I want to talk to him," she growled.

"Not this eve you do not," Khemrys noted firmly.

Nathaniel's eyes very nearly sparkled at her fury: this was his Beryl. Seeing her drugged and weak had been...he growled again, his lips threatening to curl into a hiss. "I don't care if he apologized," Nathaniel said bitterly.

Jason looked at all of them, then quietly pulled out his phone and texted Asher: 'Don't kill the Dan guy yet'.

"No," she agreed, but I want information." All of it before she decided if she was chasing him down on foot in the moonlight. She tugged Nat down against her side and sighed, "...you're wet!"

Khemrys actually laughed softly, "aye, he ran from the bathing room hmmm? You two are quite amazing to witness at times like these." Adorable and dangerous in a way that worked for them. "There, that is the last," she sighed, dabbing the last of the drug from Beryl skin and flexing her fingers a moment.

The rumbling didn't cease, but he molded against her without a hint of resistance. "Asher and the rats are probably doing that now, there's no reason for you to have to go anywhere near him again." He actually glowered as he pressed himself closer. "Unless it's to kill him."

The growling might have continued, but Khemrys's words snapped him out of it and he blinked up guiltily. "She was finally awake, I had to see she was ok..." he insisted weakly. His eyes dropped down to their bed with concern. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get everything wet. I can change the bedding for you..."

"I don't mind wet," that was just a dark, dark promise of a statement honestly. Water? Yeah, just making sure nothing else was wrong. That this was voluntary wet. She wasn't exactly firing on all cylinders but hr arms were firm as she wrapped around Nat.

"In the morning mayhap," Khemrys agreed, rising from the edge of the bed. "And be sure she has water, lord Nathaniel, and a good strong meal to aid against further shakes later." Not immediate perhaps...

There was a defensive flash to Nathaniel's eyes as he glanced up at Khemrys, and suddenly Jason was at her side staring Nathaniel down. "It's been a long upsetting night," he said evenly, his tone offering both opportunity and threat to Nathaniel, "I'm sure Nat can handle everything fine tonight. And tomorrow we can talk to Asher and figure out what's next. Ok?"

The question offered, but he clearly was only going to accept one answer; Nat impressed the hell out of him, but he was on edge and Jason wasn't about to risk his pregnant wife getting hurt.

And to his utter shock, Nathaniel held his gaze for several extremely long seconds before lowering his eyes in submission.

Khemrys blinked slowly and to the side, picking up on THAT how not? AND slowly started repacking her med bag, "the door is broken as well," a reminder nothing more.

Um.

She hadn't meant to cause that?!

Beryl inched a hand up into Nat's hair and bit his shoulder. How not? THAT WAS HOT!

Jason was still watching Nathaniel, as a reminder more than anything, but his energy pulled back with that sign of acceptance from Nat. "I'll send a text to your Eric friend and see if he can have someone come by in the morning to fix it for you." He didn't know the guy that well, but even if he was vague (and he planned to be) he was sure Eric would be quick to help. He stepped back, casually grazing his hand along Khemrys's back.

All well and good, since at that bite the worked up wereleopard's intense gaze was solely on Beryl.

Khem was tense under Jason's hand but turned easily to leave yes. It was the BEST thing to do right now!

"Do that thank you," Beryl noted to Jason, dismissing him from thought a moment later as she licked that bite and grinned at Nat, meeting his gaze. "Not going ANYWHERE," she assured that gaze with a low growl herself.

Jason nodded once to Beryl and turned with Khemrys, a surprisingly solid presence behind her as they left the apartment and headed to the car. He opened the car door and helped her in, then walked around to his side.

The text message for Eric could wait.

"You ok, Khem?" he asked gently.

* * *

The only reason Nat knew they had left was he felt when Jason's energy left the room. His chest felt tight as he breathed and he growled again uncertainly. "They tried to take you away," he rasped.

Khem settled in the car, strapped in by sheer instinct then rested her forehead on the dash, "yes. I have...encountered such reactions before at the clinic but not..." with her friends. Her kith. "I had not wished to trigger him, my apology..."

* * *

Beryl bit him again, arms tight around him, "you stopped them babe. I'm not going ANYWHERE without you okay?" EVER. Fuck that. "Wasn't getting on a plane, but you showing up was...better." She knew that.

She could have stopped that.

It would have...hurt.

Jason softly caressed her back in small circles. "It was a rough night for him, Khem, he didn't mean it." His tone was soothing despite what had just happened upstairs. "He's freaked out and just got defensive."

Although he had never gotten so defensive before, not with Khem; not with him. Then again, he'd never known Nathaniel to kill a van-load of hired muscle either.

* * *

There was a contented sound deep in his throat at that bite and he nuzzled at her. "I couldn't let them. They gave you so much to try to put you under, and what if he had more?" His growl was clearly a mixture of fear and anger and frustration. "You're my person. Your family only wants to hurt you and...and they can't have you. I won't let them."

Ghosts of the Past

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