The First Age

It was eye opening. Knowing what he'd heard now. Knowing that the same guy that had been the downfall of Elyse's relationship with Nox was the same one that ended his with Raffe. It was a thing everyone knew. Nox talked a lot. And this was that guy... Liam couldn't stop staring at Jay. He wondered a lot of things, things he couldn't ever ask. He should never ask. Things he wanted to know but was inappropriate to know, Nox didn't feel anything for him other than brotherly love. Liam was just a kid to him. He wasn't that much younger than Nox but it didn't matter. Nox was responsible for him now and he took it seriously. It was his job. Not a job you hate to do, one you love to do. But still it was obligation more than love.

His wallet beeped. Someone was in Lily's room. Liam tore his eyes from Jay leaning against the wall and looked at the camera, Nox was in there sending a text. And a message popped up on his wallet. "Nox says the car is here, and the kitchen is empty."

Jay blinked. A wolf spirit? The hell?

He’d fought men who could rip steel with their minds. But somehow, this... This quiet girl with her golden eyes and too-human pain felt stranger than all of it. Maybe because she hadn’t flung a fireball or punched through a wall. She’d just… tried not to lose control. And somehow that made her realer than any of the rest.

He glanced down at her, small and folded up against the wall like she was trying to vanish into it. The soft glow in her eyes was still there, like coals after a fire. He couldn’t tell if it was beautiful or dangerous. Probably both. Yeah, definitely both.

“Right,” he muttered eventually, still processing. “So wolf spirit lady. That’s a thing.”

He scrubbed the back of his neck, lips quirking in dry amusement. “Shit. Next you’ll be telling me Nox has a vampire in the basement or zombies locked in the attic. Or like… I don’t know, plant people in the kitchen.” Somehow, it didn't really surprise him, and it put the past into a much different context. Had he met someone like her before? Would he have known?

“Anyway,” he added, nodding at her with a hint of awkward charm, “If you ever want to work on your scent tolerance or whatever… I could, I dunno. Leave you a sock.”

He looked to see her reaction. Hoping to catch an amused response or a twitch at the corner of her mouth. “Serious - you say the word. Just one. Nice and used. You can sniff it once a week like a vaccine. Build up an immunity.”

There was something cheeky in his smirk, but it didn’t quite reach full confidence. Not anymore. Not with the swelling in his hand and the emotion of the night starting to settle deeper into his bones. He flexed his fingers, grimaced. Yeah. Probably broken. Then the buzz from his wallet. A message. He didn’t look at it. Didn’t need to. He guessed who it was from. And he didn’t want reply yet.

The teen spoke up about then, informing them a car had arrived. He just murmured a vague "Hmm," in response, unclear whether or not he would actually get in the thing. The air in the house was heavy now. Not with heat or sex or even tension. Just reality. The kind Jay hated. The kind that reminded him why he kept trying to run in the first place.

He climbed to his feet and turned back to the girl. Then he extended his hand (the non-injured one).
“Come on,” he said. “Can’t leave you looking all tragic on the floor.” There was a warmth in the gesture, and he sincerely hoped she would accept it.
"And, uh, I'm Jay"

There was a flicker of a smile that formed at his response to figuring out what she was. It was brief, but there. It wasn’t disbelief, even if it seemed to be reluctant acceptance. He made quips about vampires and zombies. How would he take it if he knew that both existed. Well - kind of. They existed in the same way that she was a werewolf. On top of that, how would he take it if he knew that the teen standing in room had been a victim of monsters himself.

She was seeing a different side of the man now - a man with a sense of humor even if it seemed somewhat held back. Elyse looked at him, really looked at him. The glint in his eyes was shaded. As if she could see it through a dark filter. It was the eyes that always gave it away. His scent just confirmed it. The man next to her was in pain, and not the pain from his injured hand. Guilt was there and a deep sadness. A sadness he attempted to hide with humor. Or maybe he wasn’t trying to hide A maybe it was trying to escape.

The quip about the sock brought and actual smile to her face that lingered longer. She felt herself relax a little more as she responded simply with, ”I’ll pass.”

Liam then informed him that the car was here to take him away. Nox had left the kitchen, giving the man space to leave, and the man’s scent became uncertain as he let out a light, contemplative murmur. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to stay or go.

Elyse took his offered hand and came to her feet as Jay introduced himself. ”Elyse,” she said, offering her own name.

Elyse remained silent for a bit, contemplating herself. ”I better go - a lot to do tomorrow and then work - it was good to meet you Jay,” she said, her voice sincere. She turned to head to her room, but stopped, coming to a decision. She looked over her shoulder at Jay. ”You know - you should talk to him.”

Elyse knew very little about the relationship Nox and Jay had - except for the carnal part. But Nox knew guilt. He knew it better than anyone and truthfully, they could both use a friend. Someone who understood them. Elyse could be fucking up again, but she didn’t think she was. She hoped they could reconcile - or whatever.

Liam didn't want to but he understood why Nox liked him -- other than he he was hot as hell. But that was beside the point. Nox didn't just bring home hot guys they usually meant more than that. At least those he'd ever met which was a grand total of one, though he was certain if Raffe ever got back in touch there would be a flurry in the house of Nox making everything right. But that was neither here nor there. He liked Jay. He didn't introduce himself, he hadn't been present for here and he followed Elyse upstairs. He was glad Elyse told Jay to talk to Nox. They could probably both use it from the looks of things.

Liam looked down the stairs at Jay and added one last thing. "The car is downstairs and out the front doors. It's paid for and it'll take you anywhere you want to go. Feel free to abuse Nox's generosity, he won't even notice. We all do it."

Liam waited until they had rounded the corner to the landing for Elyse's room and whispered in her ear. "He's at least cute." Then he turned to go up the other side with a skip. Though he'd be rushing back dowstairs after he watched Jay leave the house on the screens. He wanted desparately to save his game.

Jay watched Elyse as she stood, her golden eyes catching what little light remained in the entry hall. She had steadied herself again, more human now than wolf, but something about her still felt ancient, like a storm that had just passed through. Dangerous, but no longer immediate.

He nodded, fingers brushing hers as he let go like some subtle thread between them had been tugged, then released.
“Thanks for not biting me,” he added, humor dry, glancing down toward her shoes and then up again, searching her face. “I’ve had worse first impressions.”

Jay didn’t answer her suggestion. Not right away. He watched her walk away, the curve of her back as she turned the corner, the sound of feet pattering after her. He didn’t say he would. He didn’t say he wouldn’t. But as her words settled behind his ribs like a splinter, something in him folded around it. Tucked it away.

“Yeah,” he murmured softly, after she was gone. “I probably should.”

He turned toward the door, the ache in his hand throbbing harder without the distraction of conversation. The hallway was empty now. Nox hadn’t come back. No one stopped him. He lingered a moment, feeling alone in a building full of how many people? He grumbled and scrubbed an uncertain head through his hair. 

Outside, the sleet was soft and steady.

He passed the car once, almost out of spite, but the cold wind hit him like judgment and he stopped, turned back, and on the last second climbed in.

“Where would you like to go, sir?” the driver asked.

Jay looked down at his hand. The knuckles were bruised purple, and it was swelling now. Round and tight under the skin. Which explained why it hurt far more now than it had earlier.

“Hospital,” he said, exhaling hard through his nose. “Just... take me to a hospital.”

As the car pulled away, he pulled his Wallet to send Natalie an update when he found the message from earlier still unread. His fingers hovered, but he didn’t open it, not when he saw who it was from.

Nox.

He stared at it a moment, unread, and then pushed it away to read later.

In the meantime, he messaged Natalie.

The guy I punched earlier? Going to get my hand checked. might be broken. I’ll send you the hospital info when I get there. In a car now.

He hit send and slid the wallet back into his coat.


Continued at: Medsi

Elyse walked with Liam, a small smile on her face as Liam commented on Jay’s hotness. She whispered goodnight to Liam as she entered her room and shut the door quietly behind her. Elyse could see why Nox had liked Jay. He reminded her a bit of Nox. Jay had a dry sense of humor and Elyse had liked that.

The man’s scent lingered in her mind as she got into bed and covered herself with the blanket. She could still picture his eyes. The way that the humor in them seemed to attempt to pierce through the pain was foremost in her mind. Guilt had been heavy, but there was more there; grief. The pain of loss was familiar to Elyse.

”Sky, project the image to my room now, please,” Elyse said quietly and the image of her and Marta appeared again.

Elyse looked at it as her hands gripped the blanket and pulled it up to her chin. The house was silent, but Elyse felt…she didn’t know. It wasn’t sadness or grief, but it was something. She knew she wouldn’t find sleep tonight. She hadn’t even turned the light off. So many people around her had lost so much. She’d lost her parents. Marta had lost her family and her childhood. Nox had lost his sister. The blackthorns had lost their home and more. Now Jay - he had lost something very dear to him. She didn’t know if she would or not, but she had a feeling she’d see him again.

Nox watched the Jay leave the house. There was no hesitation until he got to the car, but he got in and left. There was a sharp pang of sadness and then anger and it was gone. It hurt, but he didn't feel it. Rejection always did.

There was a hollow pit at the bottom of Nox's stomach. It ached. His jaw clenched for no other reason than it should. His body remembered the feelings he was having that felt dull and gray and like nothing. They were still there, just unworthy of touching him, it was like being in a void floating in nothingness. He could see everything, but there was nothing to touch. The emptiness gnawed at him.

Lily suckled at her bottle curling her hand around his fingers and he focused on that. He focused on the tiny little human in his arms. This was why he lived. This was why he woke up every morning. This was why he didn't try to eat lead every morning. But it wasn't all that he wanted.

Nox jerkily rose from the rocking chair, his body still recovering from the kidnapping butchering of the Blackthorns. He hated himself even more. He'd killed not so innocent people out and out murder. He'd been sick and angry and they were all monsters, but still it gutted him and he felt none of it, but the hatred that remained. It was all there under the surface churning like a bat out of hell only to raise and make his stomach nauseous.

It was a short walk to his room where he took Lily and laid her safely on his bed while he put the vodka and the pills away. Sky had unlocked the safe again so he could. The soft click was the tell-tale sign of her ever watchful eye.

Nox crouched down and stared at the gun lying on the safe floor. He didn't move. Didn't reach for it but he stared. It would be easy to grab it. But it was never easy to do anything else. Not for this. Not to releive the pain. Nox looked over at Lily lying on his bed, the bottle propped up on a pillow as she watched him. Those beautiful brown eyes staring at him.

Nox shoved the bottle and pills back into their safe space and slammed the safe door shut with a very undersized click. Nox wanted it to slam shut with a loud noise that shook the house. He missed reaching into the earth and pulling at it's core. He hated this emptiness. He hated a world devoid of the most beautiful color.

But he made himself lie on the bed, curl around the baby who smiled through the bottle as he lay down next to her. A single tear rolled down his cheek and he grabbed his wallet. Nox stared at the screen remebering why he was in this state. He could scroll through the memories that had been restored to Jay's contact on the new wallet. But he didn't, he swiped it away and sent Hayden a text.

Stop by when you can

Everything alright?

No. But Lily's here with me.

I can come over now.

No. The morning is fine. I don't really want you here right now. I might take out my unfelt feelings on you. It's safer with Lily only.

Now I'm worried

I'm fine. Lily is here. She's got me. I promise.

Call me if you need me. Any time. Got it?

Yes, sir