Dealing for the Night
#2 of The Silence of the Savior
Chapter 2
As they walked on, something about the night didn't seem right. Jared kept looking around trying to figure out what it was, but nothing seemed out of place. He was starting to get agitated and nervous till he finally lifted his ears. That's when he caught it. He could only hear one other set of foot steps. Glancing back quickly, he half expected to see Jack gone, dead somewhere, while she waited for him to notice, but both of them were still following him, side-by-side. Keeping his head turned to the side slightly, he listened. He could still only make out on set, but he knew for a fact that it was Jack's. He shivered at the danger that could pose during the night, yet part of him felt almost impressed. He caught a wonder float through his head. 'How did those guys even catch her?'
The time seemed to drag on as she started to wonder if the Rott was leading her in circles, till finally they came to a stop at a set of stairs. It was one of those apartment buildings that you needed a key or to be buzzed to get in, but it looked like an all around nice place. Solid, new looking brick, nice black rails and a clean glass door. Looking back at the door she found the Rottweiler standing in it staring at her. Meeting the Fox's eyes he said, with out a word I'm sorry, but it'll be ok.' Extending out his black furred paw she reached out with her own white and red furred one, grasping him around the arm. She nodded to him, trying to look as genuine as he felt. He nodded back and then dropped her arm, and then turned to wave at Jared.
"I'll call you tomorrow to check up on her." It was like a courtesy and a warning mixed into one. One last nod and he turned and headed off down the street. She sighed slightly after him before turning back to the Rott in the doorway, reluctantly climbing the steps.
Inside was a hallway, big enough for two or three abroad, but it seemed far too small for either of them now. Not liking him behind her, she stepped off to the side and turned to look at him. He stared at her for a moment before she gestured for him to lead the way, since she didn't know which apartment was his. He eyed her again before he started off at a brisk pace down the hall way. Her eyes fluttered for a moment, but she shook it off and started after him.
He finally reached the fifth floor landing, digging in his pockets for his keys. Sticking them in the brass handle on the white painted door, he turned till he heard a click and opened the door. Stepping inside he flipped the switch and a lamp went on. Turning around he saw her standing on the landing, holding onto the rail, shaking her head.
"You coming in?" She looked up and met his eyes before he turned and disappeared into the apartment. Shaking her head again, she tried to clear the sparks from her vision and crossed to the door. Stepping inside she looked around. The carpet was a dark mossy green, the walls painted cream-white like the rest of the buildings interior. There were two nice brown couches, two person sticking out away from the wall next to the door opening, the three person against the wall. Then there was a black, not too expensive lazy boy chair, all of which were evenly circled around a dark cherry coffee table, and all turned to focus on a small flat screen TV on a stand in the middle of the area. Looking around there was a small, but very nice looking dinner table with four chairs in a nook with widows on the opposing wall, an empty doorway, obviously to the kitchen, and on the other side of the apartment was a doorway, most likely to the bedroom and master bath. It was definitely a nice looking place, probably expensive. She felt more than a little overwhelmed.
"You mind closing the door? I'm trying to keep the cooling bill down." Looking at him and seeing the annoyed look on his face, she stiffened and turned to close the door. She had the slight urge to run, just before the latch licked and locked, but she knew she was in more trouble than she would admit. It was getting hard to focus; her neck was getting so cold. Looking back to him, still staring at her, she slowing walked into the room, stopping when she reached the edge of the two person couch. He was still across the room and seemed as comfortable as she did about the distance.
Raising his arm he pointed to a door, obscured from the view of the door way. "There is the bathroom if you want to clean up. I'll get you something to sleep on." He lowered his arm, but never moved. Slowly she started across the room, glancing back as she closed the door. Only then did he head off toward the bedroom to get another blanket and pillow.
The bathroom was a nice white and dark blue tile pattern, not bright enough to hurt the eyes. Even this bathroom had a shower in it, as well as a nice porcelain toilet and beautiful dark-stained oak cabinet the sink sat in. The whole wall over the sink was a mirror. She wondered if there was ever anyone else here, and how he afforded such a nice place. She glanced around looking for anything out of place for a normal bathroom. Anything like camera or peepholes. When she found nothing, she finally turned to her reflection, hardly noticing the white haze around her vision.
She looked terrible. Her fur on her right cheek had dirt ground into it, while the left had dried blood and spit from the damned Lion. Her cloths were dirty, but suddenly she noticed that the left side of her pail blue tank top was turning a dark red color. Her arm weighed a ton again as she lifted it to her neck. Turning her head she saw the light catch and reflect off of the fresh, crimson blood seeping from her neck. Pulling her paw back, she saw it was already covered. It was coming out too fast. Grabbing the faucet she turned on the hot water, but the sound that came with the water made her ears ring. Shaking her head, she grabbed the counter, trying to fight the bright white that was consuming her vision.
Coming back out of the bedroom, Jared heard a crash. Throwing the blanket and pillow on the floor he went and pounded on the bathroom door. "What do you think you're doing in there? I have half a mind to dump you back outside!" There was no answer. "Hey!" There was still no answer. Sure she couldn't talk, but she could open the door or something. Sighing in frustration he fumbled with the handle till it opened.
Immediately he heard and saw the water running, but the door wouldn't open all the way. "What's going on? What do you think..." Worming around the door he finally saw her. She was on the floor, like she had fallen. Confused he looked around. There was a broken glass on the floor, obviously what made the crash, but then he smelled it. His eyes locked on the sink as he saw crimson on the white rim and the hot water knob. The smell was unmistakable. Blood. Finally getting into the bathroom, he stepped over her and looked at the glass. There was no blood on it. He looked back to her, still confused. Trying not to move her too much, he examined what he could see till he found the dried spot on her cheek. Tilting her head more, the smell got stronger and he could see the blood still seeping from her neck wound.
"Shit!" Neither of them even thought to check if she was actually hurt, they were too busy trying to keep the guys off her. But why hadn't she tried to tell them? Jack at least would have figured it out. 'If it had been me in her place I would have...' He thought for a moment. A Rottweiler going into a Wolf's den? '...would have done the same thing.. Damn!' For a moment he felt a little guilty about the woman passing out on his bathroom floor due to blood loss. Getting next to her, he grabbed her legs under her knees and, minding her neck, slid his other paw under and grabbed her shoulder. Lifting her, she weighed about average for a woman her size, not too heavy, but with at least a slight muscular build. Kicking the door he got her out into the living room.
Laying her on the three person couch, he ran into the kitchen and got an older dish towel. Running warm water from the tap over it, he ran back and started to clean her cheek, paw and neck. It was still bleeding, but he finally got a good look at the wound. Bite marks. At least four decent punctures and several smaller ones, as well and several deep cuts from claws. No wonder it was still bleeding. Turning the towel over, he pressed it to her neck. Her face tightened, but her eyes never opened.
He lost track of how long he sat there, till finally the bleeding slowed and stopped. Sitting on the floor beside the couch, he stared at her for long moment. She was tuff, he would give her that. How much of a danger would it really be to have a Wolf, barely strong enough to stand, staying at his place for a few days? He sighed as he stood up, that is the kind of thinking that could get him into serious trouble. 'I'll think about it in the morning. Maybe she'll be up.' He doubted it, but he laid the blanket over her and went into his bedroom, locking the door before he made ready for bed.
Sitting up, he glanced over at his clock. 9am show back at him, willing him to get out of bed. Sighing he went to his small closet and pulled out his pants from the previous day and a clean, loose brown tee-shirt. Getting dressed, he unlocked his door and made to head for the kitchen. Half way there he stopped and looked at the sleeping form on his couch. 'She looks so harmless in her sleep.' He scoffed. Of course she did. Crossing to her he stood out of arms reach, looking her over. Bending he reached for the towel he'd left to sit on her neck. Moving it, he could now see the blood stain running down her check and to her shirt. Picking up the blood-stained towel he examined it as he walked into the kitchen. He had read legends from the long ago tribal wars, they often said Wolves were so unlike any other creature, especially the Rottweiler tribe, that their blood was a different color, though it was never specified which one. 'Looks as red as any other blood to me...'
Turning it to a cleaner side, he ran it under the faucet again before walking back over to the Wolf girl. Sitting on the strong cherry table, he leaned over her and started to clean her blood matted fur. Going about it same as he had done for any other he had rescued from the savage night streets, he was hardly uncomfortable as he whipped down the part of her chest than shown around her tank top. He even thought how nice the shade of blue looked against the white, red, orange-brown, and streaks of black in her fur. Suddenly he jumped back as she snapped up, pulling her feet up close to her so she was in a low crouch on top of the cushion farthest from Jared.
Her heart raced, pounded again her chest where she had felt the pressure, so real in her dream, only to wake up and see this dog with his paw on her chest. She bared her teeth, like she had meant to growl, and pinned her self against the couch back.
Looking her over, the wet towel still in his paw, he noticed something that he hadn't seen last night. Her eyes were afraid. For a moment he was astonished, how could a Wolf...but she was a woman. Strong clearly, but what had happened would have been terrifying for any one. He held his paws up to show the towel and that he meant no harm.
"Do you remember me? My Fox friend Jack and I helped you last night." They held eye contact, he could have almost sworn she was shaking, but she held herself so stiffly. "I was just trying to help clean off the blood I didn't see last night." One of her paws immediately went to her neck before she glanced down to see the blood almost gone. Looking back at him she noticed the towel in his paw, blood covered. Her eyes went back to meet his, the first time in a long while she felt sheepish.
Surprise flickered over his face as he saw her reaction to the towel. He looked at it, then back at her, but she lowered her eyes, almost like she was ashamed. "Here." He held it out to her. Looking up slightly, she reached out her paw and took it, still not meeting his eyes. 'Strange behavior for a Wolf...'
"Were you having a nightmare?" Her eyes shot back up to meet his, just as she had continued to clean her neck fur of the dried bloody mess. "It's entirely natural, nothing to be ashamed of." After a few second she lowered her eyes and nodded. "Do you want me to make some tea?" She shook her head. "How about some hot coco, I don't have any coffee." She glanced at him for a moment, then nodded as she went back to cleaning as much off her shirt as she could. He looked at her for a long moment before he made his way into the kitchen.
There were lots of dark-stain oak cupboards, like the ones in the bathroom, lining the walls, and a clean metallic looking door of the fridge, oven, microwave, dishwasher, and sink, all looking beautiful against a black tile floor. Rummaging through one of the cupboards he found his hot coco stash and a decent size mug. Using the insta-hot tap on the sink, the hot coco was done fairly quickly. Leaving the spoon in so it could cool a little, he made his way back to the living room, stopping short and almost dropping the mug as his eyes fell on her. She had her shirt pulled away from her chest as she looked down and tried to scrub it with the towel. Half of her black lacy bra was in view. With his head turned to face away, he still couldn't help but watch her as she went from her shirt, back to her fur, finally letting the material settle again.
Regaining his composure as quick as he could, he turned back and continued with the mug into the room. She looked up at him as he stood over her, trying very hard not to look back down her shirt. Seeming not to notice, she took the cup and took a drink. She sputtered a little and his attentions refocused. "You may need to wait for it to cool a little more." She looked up at him and half her muzzle turned up. It took him a moment to realize she was smiling. She reached toward the table and felt its surface before pulling back and holding the bottom of the mug. "Don't worry, it won't hurt the table."
She looked up at him in surprise for long moments. It was not often that she didn't have to practically play charades to ask a question as simple as that one. She smiled again as she reached over and put the cup down. But soon her smiled faded. It also wasn't often that her inability to speak made things uncomfortable, but now the feeling was crawling up her spine. She couldn't sit still and she couldn't look at him.
He hadn't realized he had been staring at her. Snapping back to himself, he felt how uncomfortable the situation had become. "So, would you like something to eat?" She looked up at him, though not for long and without giving him an answer. Picking up the mug again, she fingered the bottom before taking a sip. "It's alright. I'm inviting you to stay for breakfast. Besides, you lost a lot of blood last night, it wouldn't be right to send you off with out regaining some of your energy." She stared at him in wonder, longer than she should have. He could see her blush under the red fur on top of her muzzle. Slowly she nodded. He didn't seem to be setting off any warning from the stories her parent had told her as a child. Perhaps that's all they were; stories. Still, she watched him closely as she stood and followed him into the kitchen.
That was, until the site of it took her breath away.
"You like it?" She smiled wide and nodded. "I designed it myself. I actually helped designed the interior to most of this building, and the rest on this block." He looked up as he set eggs and bacon from the fridge on the large oak island in the middle of the kitchen. Suddenly he was dazzled. The sun danced off the red and orange of her fur, the white of her under muzzle, and even the black streaks on her shoulders and around her ears. She was like a sunset standing in his kitchen smiling at him. Snapping back to the cold food in his paws, he bent down and fished out the griddle from a cupboard in the island.
"What do you do?" She looked at him for a moment, thinking, before she started to look around the room. Walking around the island, she crossed to a small counter top next to the fridge and pointed at the wall. Were she had pointed hung a beautiful painting of a sail boat he had had for years. "You paint?" She shook her head. Looking down at the counter she found and picked up a pencil, touching the lead carefully. "Draw." She nodded. "Landscapes, portraits?" She shrugged. "Any and all, huh?" She smiled again. Watching her for a moment, Jared finally remembered to plug in the griddle and started spreading out some bacon.
"Scrambled alright?" She looked over at him and nodded as he motioned toward the eggs. Her ears tweaked and her nose wrinkled in delight as the bacon started to cook. It had been so long since she had real bacon. She smiled again as Jared cracked several eggs into a bowl and began mixing in salt and pepper from little shakers on the middle of the island. "How do you like your bacon?" She watched as he flipped it over, still hanging slightly from the spatula. He looked up at her, looking like she was thinking. She held her paws up level, then broke them apart at a 90 degree bend. "Crunchy. Me too." He poked one of them with the spatula before turning back to beet the egg again.
He looked up at her as he started pouring the eggs onto the griddle, seeing the curiosity and wonder on her face, only she wasn't looking at the griddle. She was looking at him. "I'll bet you're wondering if I've ever spent time around a mute person before." Her eyes got real wide and he stared back at her. "Though so. Actually I have. One of my Aunts was mute; I got really good at reading her eyes and guessing what she wanted or was thinking about." She smiled again, going back to watching him cook.
Serving it up onto two plates, he started to clean the griddle. Tapping the counter to get his attention, she point at the door way back to the living room. All he did was nod. She picked up the plates and headed through the door way. Finishing up quickly, he headed in and found her sitting and waiting for him at the dining table. He smiled and took a seat across from her. Only after he picked up his own fork did she follow suit and dig in.