Silent Energies

Chapter Nine - A New Home

Katy and Elias spent a lazy afternoon enjoying each other's company. There were no pressing deadlines and nowhere to be. The staff stayed away to give the couple privacy at Jayson's instructions. He knew the pair well enough to see that this was a new facet to their relationship and that they needed time alone to discover themselves.

Jayson was also a Cynanthrope that had found his way to Greenwood Manor several years before Elias arrived. Franklin had found him in a sorry state after three Russian Werebears had jumped in an alley one dark, rainy night in London.

X X X X X

Even in their human forms, the Russians had been intimidating, but it got even worse after one of them decided that Jayson was flirting with his mate. He seemed to be the leader of their group, and jealousy turned him into an uncontrollable force. When Jayson left the bar after finishing his shift, the Siberian Psycho had been waiting in the alleyway outside the bar’s back entrance with his matching pair of imposing, mute goons.

Jayson hadn't even had time to shift as he was still locking the door when he suddenly heard the sound of his jaw being dislocated, followed immediately by a blinding pain through his entire skull. Before his knees could buckle underneath him, he was yanked backwards by the scruff of his neck.

After they rag-dolled him amongst themselves for what seemed like hours, but was actually only a couple of minutes, they were busily rearranging his ribs and internal organs with their steel capped boots, when the main Bear roared something in Russian that made them stop instantly.

Jayson peered through the blood and concussion, trying to figure out what was happening, when he heard a metallic flicking sound. His misspent youth told him it was a knife blade being released from the handle, and his heart sunk.

This was it. This was how he died. He marvelled at all of the stupid things he'd done in his life, and a scoff escaped him when he realised that the thing that would eventually kill him turned out to be working a legitimate job, and some Russky lunatic was going to kill him for his customer service.

A laugh escaped Jayson at that moment. There, in that dirty, dingy alleyway, behind his first legitimate job in years, between the rats and the rubbish bins... There was where he was going to die because some moron Bear thought he had smiled at his girl. He began laughing harder, in spite of himself. The three bears standing over him were confused by the deranged laughter coming him as he dragged himself into an upright position against the nearest bin and leaned against it, still laughing.

Reaching into his jacket pocket, Jayson pulled out his phone, glanced at the shattered screen, and tossed it on the ground. He returned to rifling through his pocket and located his target. Triumphantly removing a rather flat, dog-eared cigarette packet from his pocket, he removed the final smoke from the wrapper and chucked the battered cardboard towards the smashed phone.

Reaching into his inside breast pocket, Jayson retrieved a lighter and lit the cigarette. Slipping the lighter back into his pocket, he took a lengthy drag before exhaling slowly as he tipped his cigarette at the giant, puzzled bears peering down at him. Flashing a smile full of bloodied teeth, Jayson pulled deeply again, closing his eyes as he let the smoke linger in his lungs before expelling it slowly.

"All right, lads?” Jayson rolled the cigarette in his fingers slowly, eyeing it ruefully.

"Y'know, I gave these up nearly 3 years ago for my health," he sighed and winced as the bruising on his ribs reminded him they were mincemeat. A small hiss escaped him, and he shifted slightly against the dumpster before continuing.

"But since the Mad Russian over here," he pointed with his smoke and took another draw and went on, tiny clouds of smoke puffing out of his mouth with each word. "... Since this Russky medved shlyukha ["Bear w***e"] wants to take me out for the sake of his own insecurities, I may as well enjoy the last one I've been saving for the whole time.”

The Twin Bear Mountains exploded at the insult, and Jayson chuckled. "Steady on boys, no need to get all bent out of shape just because I brought up your mothers...” He smiled as he inhaled the final drag of his cigarette and held it in while he stubbed the butt out on the ground beside him. Flicking the spent butt up over his head and into the open dumpster behind him, he exhaled only once it had arced out of sight.

"Dostatechno!" ["Enough!"] The furious bear leader bellowed, and the Twins snapped to attention. Jayson merely raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"What's wrong, little Misha...?" The Bear's eyes glowed an icy, electric blue that warned of their owner’s negligible grasp on reality. His Russian accent seemed to thicken more, the brighter his eyes glowed.

"Enough, tiny ... DOG... " Jayson continued to stare evenly at him while he spat the words out. "I am going to kill you, because you tried to take my... MATE!" He snarled the last word, and the Twins remained stoic and silent beside him. Jayson rolled his eyes and shrugged.

"Well, of course you are...” He rolled his eyes again. "Prodolzhay, medvezh’ya shlyukha." ["Get on with it, bear whore."]

The Bear took a step forward, brandishing his blade menacingly. “Khorosho. Poydem.” ["Okay. Let's go."] Jayson shrugged.

"Aga. Sdelay eto.” [“Yep. Do it.”] He stopped again, looking exasperated.

"Who taught you to speak Russian, tiny dog?” Jayson snorted.

"And why should I tell you, medvezhonok?” ["teddy bear?”]

The Bear’s eyes flared brighter for a second, but he stopped himself. "Because you speak it well, mudak”. ["asshole."]

Jayson raised an eyebrow and shot back sarcastically, "Well, thanks but since you still plan on killing me, I’m suddenly not feeling particularly chatty." He set his jaw and leaned his head back against the dumpster, closing his eyes and exposing his neck in a single move. “Sdelay eto." ['Do it."] His voice was quiet, but firm. The Bear shook his head and went to take a step forward, but a single, deafening gunshot rang out, echoing up and down the alleyway.

He waited for pain, or a follow-up from the Bear, but when none came he slowly opened one eye and peered gingerly at the scene in front of him. The Twins were the first to react and their panicked yelling was quicker than Jayson could keep up with translating. Opening his other eye, Jayson took in the scene in front of him.

The Twins were yelling furiously at each other with very animated arm motions. He couldn't make it out, but they seemed to be generally unhappy and he did catch the word “vzorvalsya" which Jayson recognised as "exploded". Surprised, he shifted his glance to the Bear leader, who had a small red spot on his forehead, and was leant against the wall behind him. His face frozen in a look of pure surprise, and it wasn't until Jayson noticed the red splatter up the brickwork behind him that he realised what had happened.

Jayson began to look around with a face that matched the Bear's expression very closely when another shot rang out. Both of the Twins froze, before frantically checking themselves for additional holes. Finding none, they both began to look around and when their gaze settled on Jayson, he hastily held up his empty hands, fingers spread wide in the universal sign language for 'I didn't do it!’

Suddenly a voice rang out, strong and deep.

"LEAVE. Now."

The words hung in the alleyway, the Twins looked at each other, puzzled. The voice came again, slightly exasperated.

"Ukhodi!"

The Twins understood and scattered. Jayson was still looking around, waiting to see if he was next, when a tall man stepped out of a shadowy corner a few doors down. He stood next to Jayson and held out his hand, helping him to stand up. A searing pain shot through Jayson's... Well, everything... And the Stranger looked at him, concerned.

"Can you walk? Or do you need me to carry you...?" Jayson carefully tested his leg for weight bearing and realised his ankle was probably broken. He shook his head.

"Nah, my ankle's wrecked... It's going to take a few days to heal that one up, I reckon..." The Stranger nodded and scooped Jayson up in his arms.

"Okay, we'll set it when we get there." He said matter-of-factly, and turned to leave the alley. He carried Jayson a few blocks to a waiting car and loaded the bloodied man into it.

A short car ride had delivered Jayson to what turned out to be his new home, although he hadn't known it at the time.

And that was the first time Jayson had ever met Franklin Bloodborne.