The Morning After [House Party cont]

[Nox]

Nox smirked at Oriena's words, being tossed back at him with such venom. It wasn't a yes, but it wasn't a no. And in the long run, he knew Oriena would do what must be done. He'd forgive her for the deed before she even did it. And while he didn't pray, he would do his damnedest to not put her in the same position he'd been having to kill Aria. "Thank you. I don't know how much good this will do me, but it's a thought experiment at least."

His stomach rumbled on the edge of his awareness and he looked at the network of lines in front of him and swiped it away for later. "I'm sure there is enough food if you can deal with the craziness of my house." He wasn't exactly sure what he was going to find once he opened the door. The mess he wasn't prepared to find, the amount of people who might still be out there with no real supervision. His house could be a disaster. And he was pretty sure no one cleaned it up. And that's not to mention the people who he'd said could stay. And there were many most of them children who had no where else left to go. Not exactly Oriena's cup of tea. But if they were lucky everyone would still be in bed. Or at least past out on the floor.

[Ashton]

Ashton didn't sleep. Everyone was piled into one room. It wasn't about safety in numbers, well it was, they were all in a strange place, in a strange part of the city, in a strange man's house. They felt safer together. At least that's how all the foster kids felt. Victoria and the Blackthorn girls weren't so inclined to stay together, but Sera, Gen and Arabella were all cuddled up in the pile with the rest of them while Vic tossed and turned on the bed. No one bothered her. Everyone tried to sleep as far from the dead bodies as they could. They hadn't dared move to another room. What were they going to do when Nox found out? He had been adamant about saving them and now they were both dead lying on the floor in a pool of Ava's blood.

Olivia paced back and forth across the floor cooing and cuddling with the tiny baby girl who she could not console for the life of her. Ashton had tried, even his voice had not helped stave off whatever the baby wanted.

Vic sat upright. "Shut that thing up!"

Olivia curtsied and shank back into a corner. "I'm trying."

Ashton spoke softly to Victoria. "Just go back to sleep Vic, we'll figure it all out in the morning." She glared at his sing song voice but she laid back down. "It'll be alright in the morning, I promise." Ashton continued to sing song and then just hummed a soft little diddy to ease Vic back to sleep. The others had gone down much the same, but the baby's cries didn't wake them from their exhaustion. It had been a harrowing day for all of them.

Olivia smirked at him and he smiled at her. "She's gonna hate you for that."

Ashton nodded. "She always does."

"We can't stay here Ash." Liv said with a frown.

"Where do you want to go? We can't stay with Vic. She'll send them all back to foster care. And she doesn't care for her nieces."

"He'll kill us. We are accessories to his kidnapping and his attempted murder."

Ashton nodded. "But why save us at all then? No, he's a savior complex. I mean he asked for my help even if I lured him in. He trusted me. I'm going to trust hiom."

"But we don't know him."

"We didn't know the Blackthorns either when they came to help us all." Ashton said in a whisper. "They were friendly and nice and then they weren't. I think this big ole house is meant to help people like us. People like him. Let's just wait till morning, Liv. You never know, he might be what everyone needs. Or he might kick us out. But I don't think he will."

[Oriena]

Nox didn’t push her for more of an answer, and she didn’t offer one. By the thank you offered he heard what she didn’t say, and it drew a look from her but no comment. She chose to assume he was only showing gratitude for the mind control trick, and put the rest from her thoughts – she wouldn’t dwell on the request, or what the future might hold. As far as the knowledge shared went, Ori didn’t care what he did or didn’t do with it, and after a moment she only tipped a shoulder. A smirk flickered her lips at the same time, like she could think of better ways to play with what she gave him, but she never really cared for Nox when he was in this kind of mood. The chaos of his domestic situation held no interest for her, nor what hungover dregs might be left over from last night’s party.

“Mmhm,” was all she said. She twisted him round and pushed the small of his back so he headed for the fucking door, not violent this time, and if it was proprietary in nature it wasn’t in a sexual way. Just one impatient to be done with the moment.

[Nox]

A small smirk played at his lips as Ori shoved him in the direction of the door. He let the emptiness go and wrapped his hand around the almost fleeing towel around his waist. It wasn't that he was shy; he didn't give a fuck really, but there were kids possibly on the other side of the door.

But he didn't find anything but quiet and a disaster. Disposable cups, busted glass bottles, sticky floors. Nox shuddered as he stepped around a puddle of gross. He didn't even think as he reached through his own puddle of gross into the power and pulled it to him with ease. It fought like always, struggled for freedom, which Nox refused it as he wrapped the puddle of ick into a ball and found the nearest garbage bin.

It was more like a flurry of things flying around as he scooped things up as he passed and walked towards the fridge to pull out steak and eggs and whatever might constitute food he needed. He only wanted the steak right now, but he knew that the others would be up at some point and he'd need more than just the steak he intended to eat.

Nox watched Oriena from the corner of his eye, trying to gauge her response to stay or go. It didn't matter either way. But he felt better if she stayed. It was quiet for now.

Nox set his wallet on the counter and pulled at a playlist and sent it to the speakers, which blared through the house, probably waking every living soul up before he turned it down to a much more tolerable level. This was the first time he was cooking in his own house. His own private little world and he didn't care what anyone thought -- though he expected Oriena to make fun of him at some point as he danced around the kitchen in just the towel turning on burners, finding knives and utensils needed for his meal at hand. He was at home for the first time in a long time.

The peace and solitude of his meal prep was interrupted by a loud voice shouting down the stairs. "I can't fucking do t his anymore I'm out."

Ashton hurrying after the sole survivor of the Blackthorn adults. "Vic, just wait till we can figure this out. Please." His song song voice luring her back with a glare. She turned and saw Nox for the first time and stared at him.

Nox rolled his eyes. "What never seen a half naked man dancing in his kitchen?"

Ashton jumped and turned. "Sorry. I..." Ashton also stared but Nox didn't think it was the naked skin he stared at, he'd done the cutting most of the time, and the scars were far more horrible looking that they should have been. They felt as bad as they looked, he was certain of that.

"I..."

It was then that Nox heard the screaming of the child upstairs. "Why's the kid screaming?"

Ashton shrugged. "hungry I suppose. There is no formula. and Ava's dead."

"WHAT?" Nox shouted.

[Oriena]

Ori followed him out. The place was a shitty mess, but since she was already back in her boots she didn’t care too much where she stepped. Somehow it didn’t surprise her that Nox was already in absent-minded tidy mode as he made his way to the kitchen. She leaned against a counter, arms folded, and seemed content to idle – at least until some familiar faces came down the stairs. She looked Ashton up and down with nothing short of venom. “You’re sorry,” she said flatly, just as Nox queried the screaming baby. Fucking chaos indeed.

[Ashton]

The baby was screaming. Victoria was screaming. Everyone was awake now that Vic was storming out of the room shouting. It was still early -- or late depending on how you looked at it. Ashton didn't expect to see anyone down stairs, but when they rounded the stairs Vic stopped and stared and Nox's voice made Ashton jump. He stammered and the woman standing in the kitchen, the one Nox went to the back room with glared at him and he took a step back.

Nox looked past him to the sounds upstairs. His eyes flicked to Ashton. "First rule if you are going to stay in my house. You will NOT use that fucking sing song shit on anyone under my roof."

Ashton looked at Nox and nodded but he took a step back.

"Now go get your crew, all of them and sit your asses down and tell me what the fuck happened." He looked at Victoria and she glared at him.

She rushed towards him fists balled up and screaming, "You killed my family?"

Nox wrapped up Victoria in air without even looking at her. "Sit the fuck down." He said tossing her into the sofa across the room.

Victoria released several explicative as Ashton ran up the stairs to the screaming baby and Olivia. "Nox wants us all down stairs."

Liam looked at their two fallen sisters. "He wants to know what happened huh?"

Ashton nodded. "Yes."

Tears started to fall down his cheeks but he went downstairs with the others. Ashton following everyone with Olivia with the baby behind him. This was going to end badly.

[Nox]

Nox heard the growl in Oriena's voice. He tried not to smirk, but he failed. But he knew better than to say anything. He just looked at her and tried to gauge her reaction when he said he could stay. The kid had a lot of things to do to build trust in Nox, but the kid was just a victim like himself. And he couldn't say no when someone needed help, and clearly they needed help.

The crying was starting to grate on him, but the shouting woman on his couch was more so than the baby. Everyone in the neighborhood was going to think he kidnapped someone.

Nox started making the steaks on the grill top stove. It wasn't the same as flame broiled, but it was better than on the griddle sitting in its own grease, at least from a health standpoint. His heart was probably going to give out long before his body with the horde at this rate. The house smelled like cooking meat and it was a little nauseating, actually. The horde liked it bloody, but Nox couldn't stomach raw but a good rare steak that he loved.

By the time the kids made it downstairs, he was flipping the steaks over to cook on the other side. His stomach rumbled. Food wasn't happening fast enough. Four boys, and 6 girls all varying in age, came down in front of Ashton with the baby swaddled in the eldest girl's arms -- the healer. Ashton herded them towards the couch where their former keeper screamed still, But Nox had women a barrier around her screaming and now he had to let it go. He sighed as they sat down and her words echoed through the house.

"Shut up, or I'll shut you up." He said with cool and calm befitting of the situation, even though he was starting to bounce on the edge of annoyed.

Isabel and Ava were both missing. Nox noticed that Olivia and the baby were as far from their keeper as she could be. She bounced and cradled the baby and rocked and the kid continued to scream. Exasperated, Nox held out his arms, still missing the prosthetic, but it was a natural movement. "Give me the baby." Olivia looked relieved and handed the screaming child over and Nox cradled the baby against his naked chest and hummed softly looking at the others the moved back towards the stove and wrapped the bundle of joy in air against his chest. She quieted down almost immediately and all the victims on his couch just watched. "What?"

Ashton shook his head. "They only do that with their dad. Even the girls don't have that effect on their siblings."

Nox nodded as if he understood. Maybe it was the horde. They shared similar DNA, being genetically altered from one. At least that was the theory. The horde also seemed to quiet with the grating of the now silent woman. His hunger drew him to the smell of steak and he started some eggs quickly before the steak finished.

He didn't offer the fosters anything -- yet. But he made a plate for Oriena and shoved it in her direction while he started cutting his own. He made them watch while he took the first few bites. He couldn't deal with anything else -- the hunger was palpable.

After a few bites, he looked at Olivia, still standing away from the others. "There is a store a few blocks down that should be open, get formula, diapers, bottle, and whatever else you think is necessary. Tell them to put it on Nox's tab and I'll pay them in the morning. I don't have any credits to hand you at the moment." He grinned and tapped the towel that was the only thing covering his body, other than the sleeping and starving child wrapped around his chest.

He looked to the rest as Olivia left in a hurry. "Tell me what happened." He ordered, but he returned his gaze to his food to finish.

[Oriena]

Oriena folded her arms, expression disdainful and rapidly losing interest. Nox’s domestic situation was none of her concern, and she didn’t remotely pretend otherwise. Neither did she bother to lecture him in the interim before all the waifs traipsed their way downstairs, including the screaming baby. He already knew she thought this was stupid. Instead she scooped up the plate shoved in her direction, and stalked off – she’d find somewhere less annoying to eat, and then she planned to get the fuck out.

[Ashton]

Ashton watched as the scary lady snuck off with a plate of food. It smelled good, and his throat was dry. Olivia rushed out to get stuff for the baby. Nox held the kid with half an arm while he ate. Ashton took a deep breath and told Nox what he knew. He didn't mention it was Liam who bought the drugs, no need to get Nox pissed at Liam.

"Liv preformed a c-section to save the baby. Ava was barely breathing, we couldn't save her, but she could save the baby."

Nox looked at him with a frown but said nothing.

Ashton finished telling the story. Vic kept trying to interrupt but he put his hand on her knee and kept her quiet. She didn't need to make matters worse.

[Nox]

Oriena took her meal and found someplace else to eat. He didn't blame her, this was a big fucking mess.  "So what are your plans?" 

That was when Victoria Blackthorn struggled against the bonds of air and shouted. "Let me go! I want out of this hell hole?"

Nox smirked. He hadn't really had time to explore his own house but he knew the gist of it walking around but it wasn't a hell hole, it was really nice considering Sage probably had it tricked out with things he'd yet to discover, if the computer room was anything to go by.  "Where do you plan to go?"

"To the police!"

Ashton started to open his mouth and Nox glared at him.  Ashton clamped his mouth shut and stopped whatever it was he was going to do.

"You go to the cops and I'll be forced to press charges against you for kidnapping, torture and murder.  I can tell them exactly where the bodies are. What I did was self defense that got away from me."

Victoria's mouth dropped. "You have no proof."

Nox didn't have his wallet on him, and he didn't feel like wandering back into his room to grab it. "You'd be surprised what I can and cannot proved, Ms. Blackthorn. And I don't really need to prove anything. I was admitted to the hosiptal with near fatal injuries and there is a record of that. You are free to tell the police. Or you can just leave it be. Your family was monsters. They are dead. And it'll all be clean you'll get your inheritance and the insurance money. As long as you keep your mouth shut.  If you don't want to stay here that's fine with me.  None of you have to. If you find it too trashy for your rich blood I have a friend who might be willing to take in a displaced rich kid like yourself while you get back on your feet."

Victoria glared at him but with a look to Ashton and his nod she sank into the bonds. "Fine."  She put her head on Ashton's shoulder. "You'll come with me won't you?"

Ashton looked at the other kids and they were all shaking their heads.  Ashton sighed. "No offense, Vic, but I think we want to get away from the Blackthorn name."

One of the elder boys looked at Ashton. He was holding two of the youngest Blackthorns. "What about your neices?

The youngest one who was holding on to one of the other girls at first was slowly making her way towards Nox.  He'd been watching her scoot closer trying to get a look at the baby.  Or so he thought.  When she was peaking around the island corner Nox knelt down and smiled.  "What's your name?"

"Arabella."

"I'm Nox."  He smiled held out his hand and she immediately took it and wrapped her arms around his neck.  In order to stand up Nox had to wrap her in a soft weave of air, as it was difficult with two arms but he only had one and a half. 

Arabella cooed at the baby and smiled and then nuzzled into the side of Nox's neck like she'd known him her whole life. 

"What's her name?" Arabella asked.

The other two girls were at Nox's feet and wrapping their arms around his waist and he was a little scared the towel was going to fall.  It was a bit too late to wrap it with air too. 

Ashton laughed and finally answered Liam "I think they want to stay here.  The rest of you?  Want to go live in a fancy mansion or stay here where we might actually get to be free?"

They all nodded there heads.  And Victoria hurmped "You'll betray me for a murderer.  I fucking hate you." She shouted stammering as she tried to get from the bonds. "Just let me go I can take care of myself.  I won't go to the police. You have my word."

Nox let the bonds of air go and Victoria rushed out of the room down the stairs. It was probably not the last time he'd have to deal with her, but for now he didn't care. 

"I should get a shower and some clothes on.  There may not be enough food made, but feel free to make whatever you need.  Don't bother Oriena."  He added the last to make sure no one got hurt.