Bite Back

Tonight Is The Night

Tossing and turning with some effort, Wyleen decided to get out of bed with a huff. She was uncomfortable; she couldn’t sleep and had to use the restroom once more. She didn’t know exactly what time it was, but it was still dark outside when she reentered the bedroom to look out of the window over the still sleeping island. Letting out a sigh, she continued to lament in secret in the absence of her husband. He had been gone just over a week, but hadn’t heard any correspondence from him, not from Mama, nor anyone else in the family; the silence was maddening.

Though Katakuri would frequently take trips such as these, this time felt different to Wyleen. This time, she was anxious to be alone, detesting the silence that had fallen over the house—no noise to be made unless she were to make it herself. There were days she simply wouldn’t speak, as there was no reason to, not even to mutter to herself as she normally did while doing tasks. At times, she would get into little arguments with herself, making Katakuri laugh, even making him poke fun at her from time to time. The thought caused the corner of her mouth to twitch into a slight smile for just a moment before returning to a flat affect.

Tightening the tie of her robe, Wyleen decided to take a walk about the house, a mindless activity to perhaps settle the unease she was feeling. Her hand slid along the banister as she descended the staircase to make her way to the main floor, her bare feet padding slightly against the floor with every careful step. As she reached the landing, the sound of ruffling fabric caught Wyleen’s attention, snapping her gaze to the sitting room. She hadn’t realized she had left the window open, the night breeze causing the curtain to billow into the room, making a slight sound as it did so. Walking over to close it, she stepped on something sharp, making her suck in air sharply through her teeth. Using a piece of furniture to steady herself, Wyleen brought her foot up to see what she had stepped on. In the darkness, she could only see something dark contrasting against her fair skin. Touching it, she realized it was a shard of glass that had embedded itself into her skin. Clenching her teeth, she pulled the piece out of her foot, the small piece covered in the crimson of her blood.

Hearing another noise, Wyleen froze. She held her breath; her heart was pounding as she tried to make sense of the noise. There shouldn’t be anyone else in the house but her, yet she could clearly hear hurried footsteps walking around on the main floor. The shattered window only solidified her suspicions that there was someone here who was not supposed to be. Setting her bloodied foot down gently, walking on the pads of her feet to avoid the pain, Wyleen stalked quietly towards the noise. Her fists clenched, Armament Haki turning her arms black up to her elbows. Whoever these blokes were, they were lucky it was just her and not her husband. However, Katakuri would have already made quick work of quelling their encroachment.

About to reach for the handle of the door, having the noise behind it, it swung open. Without a second thought, Wyleen swung, landing a punch on something hard. The noise of surprise was uttered by the individual breaking the silence that had fallen over the house. “What the hell?” A male voice said in the darkness.

“Damn, what just hit me?” A stunned male voice came from the floor. “I thought you said Katakuri was gone?”

“He is; y’probably just ran into somethin,’ ya dumbass.” Their voices were hushed as they argued in the dark, still oblivious to Wyleen’s quiet presence.

Crouching, Wyleen’s foot was sticky with blood against the floor as she wound up for another blow to the strange men. Though she wondered if she should be fighting in her state. Shaking her head of the thought, she tried to quickly think of a strategy for putting herself in the least amount of harm. She narrowed her eyes, aiming for the two as their backs were turned away from her. The sound of Wyleen’s bare feet slapping against the floor caused the men to turn towards the noise. Jumping into the air, she made to land a punch on both men simultaneously. However, not training for some time didn’t prepare her for having to account for extra weight when calculating her movements. Though she was still able to land a hit on one of the men, knocking him down, Wyleen still had to take down the other individual, but then what?

Before she could lunge at the other man, the one on the floor grabbed her ankle, dragging her down to the floor as she let out a yelp. “Who ‘ave we ‘ere?”

Trying to kick herself free, she was grabbed by the other man, who was trying to hold her still. Realizing she was running out of options, Wyleen curled up to protect her stomach. Katakuri is going to kill me if I let these two tear up the house.

“Oi, we asked you a question,” one of the men hissed in her ear.

“I’m not telling you shit.” Wyleen barked, trying to land a hit on one of the men once more.

The other man clapped his hand over Wyleen’s mouth, “You’ll haud yer weeshit if ye know what’s good for ya.” Wyleen shook her head vigorously, trying to remove the man’s hand from her face. Locking her jaw onto the man’s hand once he had loosened his grip. The man let out a grunt, slamming her head into the wall, causing her to release him as she let out a cry. “Dumb b***h, shoulda stayed upstairs, eh?”

Her head pounding, Wyleen spit out a tooth with some blood before wiping her face, trying to stand once more. The man who was still standing grabbed her by the hair, his grip forcing Wyleen to stand as she made a sound of discomfort, trying to hold the man’s arm to ease the tension in his grip. “I’ve about had enough of this, you bastards. When my husband hears about this…”

One of them cut her off: “He’s not going to find anything but your dilapidated corpse after we’re done with you, Missy.”

Filled with anger and desperation, Wyleen yanked her head from the man’s hand, a fistful of her hair being left in his hand, cutting his laughter short as he realized what she had done. “Are you mental?”

“Quite, actually.” Wyleen jumped on one of the men, grabbing him by the collar, starting to hit him repeatedly after he stumbled backwards onto the ground. The man cried out, trying to shove her off of him as she landed blow after blow to his face.

The other man grabbed her once more, pulling Wyleen off of the injured man on the floor, tossing her aside as he tried to attend to his partner. “Cecil, you alright?”

“Dario,” Cecil choked out.

Dario looked behind him, Wyleen’s bloodied foot making contact with his face before he let out a groan as he held his face. “You think you’re so tricky, don’t you?” He pulled out a weapon of sorts.

Wyleen couldn’t quite make it out in the dark what it was. A sword, or a staff, perhaps? “You lot are wasting my time with this. However,” she caught the weapon that was being swung at her, clanging with her Haki, “I do appreciate the entertainment.” Tightening her grip on the weapon, the metal creaked before giving way under her grasp. She threw the pieces in her hand to the side before approaching the man named Dario, grabbing his ear and yanking him down to her level. “What business do you have here anyway?”

“Ah, easy, easy. We’re just petty thieves looking to score some extra cutter, that’s it, that’s it, honest.” The man in her grasp said quickly, worried Wyleen would tear his ear off.

“And you did this knowing whose house you would be robbing? How foolish,” Wyleen spat, glowering down at him. As she reprimanded the man in her grasp, she had let her guard down, not noticing the other man come up behind her, ready to swing the object in his hands at Wyleen.