The Profilers Shield [COMPLETED]

Two – Bottling Her Temper

Ember could not delay the inevitable any longer; she sighed and stepped out of the shower. She scouted the cupboards for a clean towel and went with a dark red one she found on one of the shelves. Drying herself down, she made sure to remember the feeling of being that clean before she would be dirtied by the hands of her buyer. Fresh tears threatened to fall down her face again as she pat-dried her hair. Ember wrapped the towel around her body, grateful that it covered everything. She did have that rag that she wore earlier, but she didn’t want to put something so dirty back on when she finally felt clean for the first time in god knows how long. She opened the door as silently as she could and was greeted by a quiet rhythmic sound, occasionally stopping before starting again. Ember frowned and followed the noise, hoping that her buyer wouldn’t treat her more forcefully than he did before when manhandling her into the bathroom. The noise finally stopped when she made her way down the stairs supported by steel. Ember found her buyer inspecting some type of cloth before almost being startled by her presence. Ember held the towel tighter to her body and mustered her most fearsome glare. “I assure you that I will do something I won’t regret if you try something I don’t like!” She felt her body heat up in anger and the buyer rolled his eyes, coming closer. Ember shifted back, walking backwards, feeling exposed as he looked at what felt was her soul again. She turned to run but was cut short by a hand grabbing her arm with the same force as before, turning her to face him. Unfortunately, it was the arm that held her towel and she felt the weight of it fall off her. Tears threatened her eyes again. Ember tried to pull away, deciding to feel embarrassed after running away but it was no use, a death grip was around her arm and yet another bruise would surface in due time.

Dagur pulled the creature back to him, his eyes narrowing at the supposed threat which felt like a little animal trying to nip at his ankle. What temper had the previous buyers witnessed? Her arm felt bony under his hand, concerned he would snap it, he let go. “Stay still.” Dagur said in his own language, still not quite familiar with the language the creature spoke. Her previous buyer must’ve been weak to return her due to her temper. And being burned to death? Ridiculous. Dagur contemplated if it was a mistake to buy the creature… maybe that was what it was? The previous buyers didn’t want to shatter their reputation or pride and gave the seller some weak excuse to get rid of her. As soon as he let go, the creature ran up the stairs and into the bathroom. Dagur sighed in annoyance and followed her up. The creature was fast, he would give her that. Though not quick enough for him, his strides were long and sure of themselves, which made the creature at a disadvantage. He let her run, though. Her energy wasting away as it released from the creature and it was only a matter of time when she finally gives up, and only then could Dagur explain the duties required from her. Dagur padded up the stairs, taking his time. The creature had nowhere to go anyway, so why should he quicken the pace?

Ember braced her back onto the door and sat, her knees hugged by her arms and her head on them. Tears silently streaked down her face with naked vulnerability, her shoulders shaking. She heard her buyer come up the stairs slowly, as if it was all a game to him. Ember heard something heavy drop by the door which startled her and made her jump slightly. “Wear this and come downstairs.” Ember heard the unknown language from his mouth. A sigh was also heard before Ember heard thuds down the stairs. She kept her head low, occasionally wiping stray tears away for what felt like hours, but it was only half an hour. Ember opened the bathroom door when she was ready and saw the same cloth he was holding earlier. Ember picked it up and inspected it, frowning a little when she realised what it was.

Dagur waited for the creature to come down in her own time. He had nowhere to be or anything to do so he went through the job contract for the umpteenth time. He sighed and ran his hand though his hair impatiently. When he finally heard the bathroom door open, he felt relieved. When he profiled her before he was shocked to discover that she was vegetarian. Most fire ability wielders aren’t and are known for their love for meat. It didn’t bother Dagur; in fact it made things easier since it was one of the very few things they had in common. Speaking of food, he checked the time and decided to make some.

Ember made her way downstairs and smelt something delicious. She hadn’t had a proper meal in a while; the seller only gave the creatures 3 slices of stale bread, one for each meal with a glass of water. It made sure that they were too weak to use their abilities, unless they were like Ember who had to have extra precautions. She followed the smell and saw her buyer in the kitchen. He was at the island, eating what looked like stir fry with native ingredients. When the Old World died, so did the food. New fruit and vegetables had to be lab grown before extracting the seeds to give to farmers. He glanced up at Ember and got up, turning around and messing with something. He turned back around with another plateful and put it on the island, motioning his head to it and going back to his food. Ember frowned, not really knowing what he wanted from her. The buyer huffed and got up; he pushed her down on a seat by her food and gave her a fork as if she wasn’t capable of doing it herself. Ember looked down at the food, inspecting it for meat. She glanced up at the buyer, hesitating to eat. “Vegetarian?” Ember asked him, he looked up at her, sighed again and stopped eating. He looked at her as if staring into her soul again before speaking. “Yes. I am vegetarian too.” The buyer said and Ember gasped, he had a lilt to her mother tongue but she still felt overwhelmed to the point of tears. Ember hadn’t heard her mother tongue in so long it made her feel comfort yet longing to go back to her country. All she could do was nod before eating her first mouthful.

Dagur wondered if he offended the creature. Why did she cry? Did he say something wrong or insulted her instead of telling her he was vegetarian too? Dagur didn’t dwell on it; his skilled were almost perfect and knew it wasn’t his fault. Was the food bad? The creature cried whilst eating it which made him confused. Maybe his tone was too harsh? He needed this shield, one too many had been killed already and he needed this one to last, especially since the creature was apparently powerful. He tried again but in a softer tone. “Vegetarian. Same as me.” There, that should’ve made it clearer. The creature frowned, the pale red under her skin only returning to her face. What was it now? The creatures face was pale red whilst she was crying. It confused Dagur but he had more important things to discuss.

Ember felt her cheeks redden as she heard the velvet undertone of the buyers’ voice, why did he repeat himself? She heard clearly. Maybe he thought of her as rude due to not replying? Maybe he preferred words to simple gestures? Embers tears were drying up on her face, due to feeling better and the hotness of her cheeks. She couldn’t tell if the food was good or she was just starving and needed anything to settle her stomach. “Thank you for the dress. Where are you taking me?” Was he planning to sell her on for a profit and needed her looking better? “What?” The buyer looked confused.

“Where are you taking me?” Ember replied slower, knowing it wasn’t his native language.

“I heard you the first time.”

“What?” It was Embers turn to be confused.

“What?”

Ember felt her whole body heat, her anger quickly soaring. The buyer was a f*****g moron. She felt her teeth clench with anger, her hand bending and heating the fork she was holding to a red glow. “This conversation is going nowhere! Talk to me properly! Are you selling me on for a profit? Are you selling me for pleasure!? TELL ME!” With the roar of the last to words, fire swirls and emitted throughout the penthouse, burning everything the flames touched.

Dagur saw the anger that swirled in her red eyes, just as the fire did as it almost burned the place down. Luckily, Dagur had a similar situation happen before when he was profiling a fire wielder, although not as severe, the solution was the same. Chanting as he swirled up the fire, he gathered it with force and condensed it into a ball before putting it in a heat resistant bottle, saving it for later. He looked around the penthouse, everything with burnt to ash that was in the room. Dagur didn’t care, he angered her with purpose, wanting to know what temper the previous buyers experienced. The creature crumpled to the floor, her skin pale as if all of the fiery energy stored inside was released in one go. Dagur was impressed, but not impressed by the dress he put effort in was ash surrounding the creature who wore it only moments ago. He crouched down by the creature and lifted her chin up, making her look at him. “I’m impressed. Your answer to your question: you are going nowhere unless you die as my shield.”

The shock of being a shield was almost as shocking as realising that Ember wasn’t in clothes and her buyer stood there, not even glancing down. Only when she tried to cover herself up with her hands that the buyer glanced and quickly took off his navy shirt and passed it to her before walking away. Ember slipped it over her head. The shirt hung like a mini dress and she stared at the swirling fire inside the bottle, her anger was literally inside a container and she couldn’t be more fascinated. Ember frowned and followed the buyer upstairs, and inside a room where the fire didn’t penetrate, which was his study. On his desk was a freshly printed contract which he slid across the desk towards Ember. She sat opposite the buyer and looked at the document. His name was Dagur? She glanced up and cleared her throat, getting his attention which was elsewhere out the window. “Sign.” Dagur commanded and Ember could do nothing but flurry her signature on the dotted line. She was bought and no amount of protesting could change what he wanted from her, which thankfully wasn’t s*x. “Are you sure you need one with your… physique?” It wasn’t hard to notice that he was built like a tank or the tattoos that looked almost tribal covering his torso and arms. Ember hoped he didn’t take her staring as something indecent, which to be honest, it almost was but she wasn’t going to tell him that. “My boss wants to take extra precautions.” Dagur looked like he was about to add something else but decided against it.

When he meant that the creature would die as his shield, he kind of meant it. Strength is what was needed for Dagur but not from himself, but from his shields. His previous shields were deemed not good enough by his boss, so he had to ‘take care of them’, so to speak. Dagur was different from many profilers, hence why he was so sought after; he was able to wield a lot more abilities than the average profiler. Usually profilers were described as strong as they could wield at least 2 other abilities aside from their profiling, which was rare in itself, never mind the rarity of profilers themselves. Dagur was different however; he could wield certain amounts of other abilities just by profiling. But to do that he needed strength essence and what better way to get that was through his shields? The stronger the shield, the more essence they had which meant more strength Dagur had, which meant more work. More work meant more money to do what he wanted and so on and so forth. Dagur took back the contract and filed it away. “My name is Ember.” The creature said which made him turn back from filing to look at her. She definitely looked a lot better just from a shower, her red eyes were as bright probably due to more colour on her skin and not the internal red he kept seeing. Dagur wondered how her organs worked since her ability seemed to reside in her body rather than conjured. “I know.” He replied to the creature. By not calling the creature by her name was meant to benefit the both of them, no attachments were gained. It was like giving a name to a tree, only to chop it down later. Making friends would do no good in the future. “A few personal ground rules that weren’t mentioned in the contract.” Dagur said after a few moments of silence, he sat back down, his hands latticed together on the desk as he leaned forward. The creature focused on him, giving her full attention. “You will only call me Master, I will call you Shield.” Number 1: get rid of names to get rid of attachment. Check. Dagur continued, “You will follow me everywhere when I go out. Ask to go out by yourself and I shall answer as I see fit.” Number 2: restriction, so that the Shield is safe so they can provide what he really needs; essence. “You get no pay but in return you get accommodation, food and such like. I will provide everything.” Number 3: Think they have some benefit of sticking around whilst being a cheapskate. He earned the money, not his shields. “If I need other services, you will comply.” Dagurs’ voice went down an octave; he was serious for number 4: when he needs essence, they will give him essence.

Ember didn’t like that tone he used for the last ground rule, her eyes narrowed at the demand. She knew it was too good to be true, Ember got up as quickly as she could, knocking the chair to the ground and rushed out, only to be pulled back by her ‘Master’. She screamed as loud as she could whilst clawing at his arm. “Let me go!” She screamed, going into a panicked state, tears streamed down her cheeks, her breathing short and rapid. Master let go and she crumpled to the ground. Why couldn’t she hold her own to him? Usually she wasn’t this weak towards anyone. But then she realised something as she was on the floor, trying to regain a normal breathing speed with no prevail: she couldn’t hear her Ancestor, where was she? Where did she go? Ember panicked even more, knowing that she was weaker by not having her Ancestor with her. Embers Ancestor probably finally realised that she wasn’t good enough to be a Descendant, abandoning her as a result. More tears replaced the old ones, her breathing too quick to control.

Dagur saw the Shield collapse to the ground having a panic attack, it seemed to get even worse when the creature decided to have an internal battle with herself resulting in passing out before he could even do anything to help. Dagur hoisted her up onto his shoulder and dropped her back down when he reached the room she would reside in. Dagur left his Shield to wake up in her own time whilst he got on with fixing his open plan space downstairs. He had to make a call. “King Malik’s residence.” A voice said on the phone, sounding rather bored. “Dagur.” Knowing what to do, the voice sent him straight to the king himself. “Dagur what a pleasant surprise.” The king finally said after Dagur being put through. Dagur could hear something he wished he couldn’t on the other side of the phone. Moans being the most prominent sound. “My home has been burnt to the crisp. Need someone to come over ASAP.” Dagur explained, not interested in making small conversation whilst he could hear King Malik being sucked off in the background. He heard the king laugh. “To the point as always. I will do so; they will be there in the next hour, along with a job offer.” King Malik sighed pleasurably and Dagur had to refrain from gagging. Dagur grunted in response and hung up, not wanting to hear anymore background noise.

Ember woke up on a comfortable bed, surrounded by forest green walls and dark furnishings and brass accessories. It was a beautiful room but then she realised what happened and shot up on the bed and looked down. Thankfully, he didn’t take advantage of her whilst she was vulnerable. But the anxiety of something different was there, her Ancestor was still not around and it made Ember restless and anxious. Amber slipped off the bed and went in search for her master. She went downstairs and noted the smell of lavender instead of burning and ash and was welcomed to what looked like a new penthouse. Master sat there, reading on one of the new corner sofas that replaced the ash. How long was she out for? Master took notice of Ember and nodded in acknowledge towards her. “Thank you.” Ember said shyly, picking at her nails.

“For what?”

“For taking me to bed.” Ember cringed as soon as the sentence came out, knowing what it sounded like. Master arched his eyebrow in amusement but settled back to reading. “And not taking advantage of me.” Ember mumbled after.

“Tell me,” Master started and put down his book on the glass coffee table in front of him motioned her to sit. Ember sat far away from him as possible. “You seem to think about one thing I’m not interested in. why?” Embarrassed, Ember looked down, still fiddling with her nails. “Where I’m from, virginity is sacred and be only shared with your soulmate.”

“I’m surprised you still think like that.”

“I have to.” Ember mumbled, not really wanting to give away much of her history.

“I admire you for it.” Ember looked up and met his eyes; they exposed no emotion he was feeling but it made her feel comfort that she felt respected. Ember smiled softly and looked back to her nails. “Thank you.” The silence was comfortable now that Ember was aware of Masters intentions, or lack thereof, she felt more at peace. “I am sorry for burning your place down, Master.”

“I didn’t like the decorations anyway.” Master replied with amusement playing on his lips as Ember giggled. She heard Masters velvety chuckle and for once in her life she thought maybe, just maybe, her virginity wasn’t as sacred as she thought.