All Gone to Pot

James slumped to the floor and her eyes darted up, her concern apparent. She gave a small smile, more an upward twitch of her lips really, at James’s small hiccough. She allowed herself to step slowly into the hall, not relinquishing her hold on the doorframe. She was still too unsure of herself, too nervous about what might happen. She felt in control, but she was so terrified of losing her grip and harming James.

Then James seemed to crumple. She realized he was crying, the tears quickly turning to full on sobs. Her heart wrenched painfully in her chest as tears threatened to well up in her own eyes. She bit down on the inside of her cheek, forcing them back. Her guilt threatened to overwhelm her for doing this to him. She hardly deserved his tears.

She finally released her hold on the door, and her hands clenched hard enough for her fingernails to gouge into her palms, drawing blood. She wanted to comfort him, to apologize and promise never to hurt him again, but for now the words would not come. Tentative steps brought her forward until she stood near his left shoulder. She kneeled, her hand tentatively reaching out toward his hunched form, but she retracted it before actually touching him.

“James… Sir James… I’m so sorry,” she said, her voice thick with unshed tears. She looked away, trying to keep her composure, trying to allow James to cry without her unneeded interference.

He grabbed her hand, and her wide, doleful gaze shifted back to his face. What she saw there wasn’t any sort of anger or blame, just trust. He shook his head, making it clear he didn’t blame her, but himself. Silly James. She tried to smile at him, to somehow convince him that it wasn’t his fault either. Her mouth opened slightly, but no sound came out. Linnet’s reserves broke down without warning, her face scrunching against the tears that instantly welled up.

She gave his hand a slight squeeze, then let go, instead crumpling against him, her hands gripping at his shirt. Her head nestled against his chest while tears silently rolled down her cheeks.There was no sound but her small gasping breaths as she sobbed into his shirt front, releasing some of the pent up energies from the last few days, some of the fear.

His touch, his intoxicating closeness, was disconcerting in multiple ways, but she wanted so badly to offer him some form of comfort, even as she sobbed against him. Her sobs gradually tapered as she mentally pulled herself back, not willing to fully lose control in any way. She ignored the stickiness of his shirt, simply remaining close.

Linnet gave a small start as Drake made his presence known, slowly sitting up, her arms dropping back to her sides. She watched him warily, her form tensing at his tone. And then he just as abruptly left, proclaiming that he would be gone for a few days. Linnet stared, caught off guard, until he was out of sight. Outwardly, she seemed to relax, bit by bit. Still, she felt as though she were clamping down. Something within her still yearned to lunge at James, but she savagely repressed the urge. She would not hurt him. She couldn’t bear the thought.

She haltingly rose to her feet, wiping at her tear-streaked face. She clamped a hand tightly around her wrist as she continued to stare blankly down the hall for a moment. Though she knew she needed to find out what had happened, and what had caused the change in her, she was reluctant. If she asked, there was no going back. Or that is at least how it felt. Deep down she knew that something had changed, whether she wanted it or not. She needed to know.

“James?” she said. As his attention turned to her, she suddenly lost her resolve. She took a step back before she realized it and stood still again. “I-- I’m glad you’re back.”

She dropped her gaze, knowing that wasn’t what she truly needed to say. Trying to cover she attempted to flash him a smile, but the worry behind it made it seem less genuine. She could not make her eyes meet his. She took one step back, then another, before turning away and starting to walk down the hall. She looked back over her shoulder, giving James a reassuring look. If he wanted to come with her, she didn’t mind, but she wasn’t demanding his presence. She simply needed movement, some way to distract herself. One foot in front of the other, as always.

It had been fairly quiet, these past few days. Linnet seemed frequently troubled, but what could he do? He could barely even ask her what was wrong beside tipping his head and whining quietly at her when she made nothing other than a vague assurance that she was okay. He tried to linger nearby as much as he could, often napping in warm spots and sleepily keeping an eye on her. It did feel good to have some rest, even though sometimes when she moved too suddenly it made him jump. But he trusted her strength. When she ran, he looked after her retreating back, eyebrows knitted, but he did not follow. Wasn’t it ironic that Drake had initially intended for her to be the object of his uncontrollable, hungry temptation, and now, here they were.

It seemed that she liked to pretend like nothing was happening though, so he remained by the window, leaning his head back against the wall to have another nap. He could play pretend as well, if that was what she needed from him.

For a little while longer, at least.

After four days, Drake returned, looking rather pleased with himself. He’d taken the cart, to expedite his expedition, and returned with enough humans for everyone to have a full soul for the first time in a good three months. He was whistling to himself as he carried the three into the house, two over one shoulder and the other dragging behind him. What a good haul. And everything would calm down now, too. His James was back, and Linnet was no longer destroying any personal property she set her destructive little eyes on (hopefully.) Things would change, of course, but perhaps not for the worse? Of course, it would be unwise to stock humans in the house this early on, Linnet certainly wouldn’t be prepared to deal with that many human souls while she was still but a fledgling, but they had time. And of course, he’d need to make sure she knew how to read and write (he had low hopes, judging by her accent he’d be lucky if she knew how to spell her own name) and of course, James would be more than pleased if she learned his language as well. It would be busy, and the demon was quite excited.

He dumped the humans off in the little sitting room beside the front door. They probably wouldn’t wake for a bit. It looked like one had a bit of blood dribbling down from her ear though, she might not last too long. He’d need to find James before any of them died and he lost the souls.

“James? Linnet? I brought food!” He called out as he headed deeper into the manor, an edge of cheer in his voice.

James had been curled up on a sofa in the first floor sitting room where he could peer out the windows to see the roses in the garden idly bobbing their heads in the wind, pretending to read, though he was closer to napping than he’d admit. He still managed to glance up at Linnet occasionally to smile at her, though he was really checking to see how tense she was. Even though he was occasionally nervous, he was rather pleased that he was a better actor than she was. She didn’t need his worry piled on to her own, even if his worry was mainly about her and how she was doing, rather than any potential for her to attack him again. She hadn’t done it yet, and even if she did, he knew that Linnet was still in there, that she was close to the surface. He could help her now, if she needed it. It’d be fine.

When Drake neared their wing of the home, still calling out, James’s head immediately lifted up, looking in the direction of his voice. Then he glanced at Linnet with an apologetic tilt of the head in a ‘you should come too’ sort of manner. Then he hopped off to find Drake. He was getting rather hungry, half souls certainly prevented him from dying, but he still craved the satisfaction of having one all to himself. Although...Linnet hadn’t asked him any questions at all, and he couldn’t decide what that meant. Had Drake explained everything, or nothing? How would she respond to the whole soul thing, anyway? Well, she needed to eat, and even though he felt bad, he’d feel worse if she tried to starve herself.

James turned a corner out in the hall and ran directly into Drake, who immediately scruffed his head and picked him up. “Hello there, James, did you miss me?”

James made a face, and Drake laughed. “Oh, don’t be rude,” he said, before looking around. “Where’s Linnet?” When she came into view, he gave her a half-smile, hitching James up higher in his arms. “Ah, there you are. Did you and James have a nice time catching up?” He turned to start walking down the hall again, making a gesture for her to follow. “Come on, then, I brought food, and this one will be special for you, since it’s technically your first,” he grinned, “so you better appreciate all the work I did, bringing food to this table, little miss.”

When she spoke, Drake stopped short and turned around again, lifting an eyebrow. Her voice was strong, obviously displeased. Even James straightened, looking between the two. When Drake didn’t immediately look at him, the boy papped his cheek with the back of his hand to get his attention so he could sign.

/You not tell her any?/ He narrowed his eyes slightly, even though he was pretty sure he already knew the answer.

Drake shrugged. “I tried, but she kept running away, and then the whole stabbing thing, you know, it didn’t really help my ability to provide steady discourse about the state of the manor. Not my fault, James,” he complained, ducking his head a little.

He took a deep breath, turning his gaze back to Linnet as James rolled his eyes. “Well, long story slightly less long, you set the library on fire and I got mad and attacked you, sorry about that, by the way, won’t happen again, probably, and then you were about to die and James wouldn’t kill you so I fed you a soul and then you went absolutely crazy, which is completely normal, don’t worry about it, you have no idea how many people James killed when he was like that,” Drake laughed and James frowned, looking at the floor, “and for three months I looked after you while you tore the devil out of this house and also occasionally James, and then here we are, you’re just like James now, sorry if you don’t like it but you’re stuck with us, little friend, and that’s that.” Silence for a beat. “Can we go eat now? If you haven’t forgotten, I was stuck to a wardrobe for something like two days, I’m a little hungry.” Everything came out in one long, breathless sentence, and Drake seemed slightly bored as he recounted it, and once he finished he turned around again to continue down the hall.

At her next outburst, Drake stopped again, but this time did not turn around, instead regarding her over the top of James’s head. He let out a longer sigh, clicking his tongue at the tears dribbling down her face. “Oh, don’t cry,” he said, but it came out significantly more annoyed than he’d meant it to...sort of. James was trying to struggle out of his grasp now too, and he had to switch arms so he could continue looking at the girl without his companion getting in the way. James wiggled a bit more before giving up under the iron pressure of the demon’s arm and heaving a sigh, his eyes fixed on the crying girl.

“Listen, Linnet, you don’t have much choice in the matter. You’ve been eating them for three months with no trouble. Why start getting all upset now?” He paused for a moment, flicking a hand in the air. “Anyways, you should be grateful, after all the trouble you’ve caused I’ve still taken care of you. I could kick you out, if I wanted to, watch you slowly starve to death, but no. I’m looking after you. I’m finding food for you. I’m not even asking you to hunt for your keep right now, what is your problem?”