Status: In the Works

Twisted Ties

Humans Truly were Strange Creatures.

He could hardly believe it to start with, never mind the fact that a human was here on their land to start with. Sure hunters came and went, but typically that was short lived. Either the forest animals got to them, or they did. The fact that this woman was still alive was a pain. He couldn’t believe the healer had run to Eliot to tell him all about this woman. Even he was regretting helping at all. Scowling as his shirt was tossed to him, he threw it straight into the garbage. There was no way he would wear it again, not with the stench of human all over it.

Soon enough they had started stitching the woman up, and at first, the shout that ripped free of her had him ready to cover his ears, but she silenced it as quickly as it came. He watched as she bit down on her own wrist to quell the sounds of agony. He’d been there himself a time or two, it was not an easy feat. Eventually however, the human did pass out, be it pain or blood loss, he didn’t particularly care. He watched as the healer finished her work along with a nurse as the humans called them. Shaking his head he leaned back in his seat. It lasted all of two seconds before the questions started.

It was annoying, they seemed to expect him to have all the answers. About how someone had gotten in, and how she had gotten out, how she was moving and why the door was locked. It was giving him a headache. If they wanted answers, they should be pressing in on the one who had attacked the human, not him. “How am I supposed to know what happened?” He half snapped.

They went back and forth for some time, about how he had been there and should have seen everything, about why the female had stepped between him and the leopard. It didn’t make sense to any of them, and him least of all. “I don’t know and I don’t really care. The only thing I’m supposed to do is guard it. I’m not a god damn Nanny.” Patience wasn’t his strong point, and they knew this, so why did they insist on bothering him so often? His patience was wearing thinner the more they fired questions at him. In the end he got to his feet, whipping the chair he had been sitting on in their direction. It practically shattered against the wall. Splinters of wood flying in different directions. Large and small chunks of wood alike hitting the floor.

Of course they had ducked out of the way, but he smiled as he watched them scurry out of the room like little rats. At least now it would be quiet. A heavy sigh escaped him as he leaned against the wall behind him, bringing a hand up to the bridge of his nose. “If I’m that much trouble, why didn’t you just let me go?” The voice had been so quiet at first he hardly registered it. Lifting his gaze he stared at the female on the hospital bed. Funny with how she had been out, he didn’t expect her to be up so damn soon. Was it because he had thrown the chair? Maybe the sound had woken her up.

“Why didn’t you just leave when you had the chance?” He countered. Okay he might have snapped, but he didn’t have the time or patience to play nice. Odds were in the end the poor thing would end up dead anyway. They had yet to get a story out of her, she was reluctant to tell them anything about how she even ended up in the forest. If they let her go she would go back to wherever she had come from, and if they didn’t? Eventually Eliot would grow bored of this little game and have her killed or left to the forest. “What nothin’ to say now?” He growled the words out, though she only tilted her head at him.

“You hate me.” Didn’t sound like a question to his ears, and he was pretty sure he had covered that one before. “Why?” What kind of question was that. All but snarling he pushed away from the wall to come almost face to face with her. Growling escaped him before words did. “Is it something I personally did? Or do you just hate humans in general?” He flinched then. Just how much did this woman know. Baring his teeth at her he leaned in a little, until his fist was resting beside her head.

“Why did you say it like that?” Might as well figure out how much she knew. He watched as her eyes studied him, or at least what she was able to see. Slamming his fist beside her head he growled. “I asked you a question.” She had flinched, and turned her head to look at his hand, but aside from that, she looked...almost completely unphased by it.

“I think you terrify me the most.” Was what left her mouth instead. Bringing a hand up to his face he tried to rub away some of the aggravation he felt. “I said human, because that is what I keep hearing all of you call me. I figured you were human as well, maybe from another culture?” Shit, was she questioning him? Was it a trick? He watched as she shook her head, only to stop and bring her fingertips to her temples. He scoffed, the human didn’t look so tough now. Rolling his eyes on a sigh he stepped away from her. Moving over to the broken pieces of chair he started picking them up.

“Two things. Keep your mouth shut, and go to sleep.” She said something about worrying but he just shook his head. “I’m not worried about you, I am just sick and tired of hearing you.” There was an almost inaudible oh, and he was about to snap at her, make some comment about how she shouldn’t be expecting too much in general, and then she said something that gave him pause. “What?”

Her eyes flicked directly his way. “I said, I think that’s why I like you the most.” It didn’t make any sense, and his confusion must have been all over his face, because the damn thing kept talking. “You’re very open. If you want to hit me, you say so. If you’re angry you growl. If yo-” He had taken that moment to send one of the chair legs flying past her. After a moment that she seemed to take to calm down she finally finished. “If you want me to shut up, you throw something at me.”

“I didn’t throw it at you.” She made some comment about him missing and he whipped around to look at her. “Believe me, I wouldn’t have missed. You piss me off enough, you’ll figure that out real quick.” In time she would learn not to toy with his temper. The others of his kind already had, and humans never took long to figure it out either. She was just stubborn from the medication. Wait. They didn’t give her any. Even after they were done stitching her up. Flicking his eyes over he was actually somewhat disappointed to see she didn’t even have an IV line in anymore. So then how?

The answer didn’t take long to sink into his mind. He gave her a proper look over for the first time since she had been there. She looked worn out, tired, thin, sore. It was all written quite clearly on her face. And yet she was sitting there trying to distract herself by talking to him, rather than whining and complaining about everything that was all wrong in her life. If she hadn’t been human, he might have actually had a little respect for her. Shaking that thought out of his head he scoffed. “Shut up and sleep.” She made some comment about not saying anything, but he ignored it, along with everything else she said afterwards. It wasn’t until he heard her scream something about a duck that...wait duck? Turning around, he narrowly missed a punch to the skull. Planting his hands on the ground he kicked upwards as hard as he could, one foot catching the attacker in the jaw, twisting, he kicked the guy’s legs out from under him next.

It didn’t take a genius to figure that one out. Someone had come in hopes of killing the human, and while he would be glad to be rid of her, his father thought it would be hilarious if he were in charge of keeping her alive. Tossing the man out, he locked the door and plopped his rear in front of it. This was the most annoying thing he ever had to deal with. What were they thinking anyway, with the sheer number of folks that hated humans you’d think they would just eliminate the problem, not toy with it.

Eventually, he heard her voice, and wished she would have just shut up. “Are you okay?” She sounded honestly concerned but he ignored it and he snapped at her about getting some sleep and minding her own business, and for the first time, she actually shut her mouth. For so long he had to risk glancing in her direction. She wasn’t sleeping, but at least her mouth wasn’t running anymore. What a strange creature she was.

After everything she had been through, and all the little threats he had made to her, he thought she would be happy to see him get decked. Instead she had warned him about the attack, which now that he thought about it, was a surprise. Usually he kept a better eye on his surroundings, had a better bead on what was going on. How had he missed someone sneaking into the room? Mulling it over quietly he shook his head. He could worry about that later.
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This one is a little earlier than 9 like I had guessed, but here we go, another edited and revised chapter for you all to enjoy.

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