Bigger Than These Bones

PHOEBE TONKIN.

Duke glanced over at the other, not taking her kindness for what it was but instead like it was something like she was making a jab at a weakness she saw. All in his head of course, but Duke had been extra sensitive since his exile. “Do I look like I need a fuckin ride?” He asked, gaze hard and challanging. “Dont need ya help, girl.”

Duke just grunted softly in response, not really caring about the other’s client. In the others opinion, he felt that ‘claimed’ escourts should stay locked up where they belong. It was just begging for a client to be pissed by someone fucking what was ‘theirs’. The wolf just hummed, taking the phone back. “Google basic shit bout cars….helpful skills to know even if ya never use it.” He suggested as he reached for his groceries.

“Well, ya client is a fuckin dumb ass.” He gruffed out, rolling his eye as he moved to pull out his phone. It was just the simple phone, handing it to the other. “Fuckin tell ya half brained client to fuckin put the damn manual in the car like a damn civilized person…shit is dumb.” He huffed.

Natalie knew she shouldn’t laugh, but she couldn’t help but to chuckle as he muttered in frustration about how stupid Erebus was for not having the manual in the glove compartment. “He’s.... been a bit manic recently.” She told him, laughing slightly before she took the phone and called LUX. They told her a truck was going to come and pick up the car. “Thanks.” She murmured as she handed the phone back.

Duke blinked at her statement about the manual, brow slowly pinching as a few moments of silence settled between them. “What kind of fuckin dumb ass doesnt have the manual in the glove department?” He growled, more just asking the universe than her. Black smoke meant something was fucked, the wolf heaving a sigh. “Ya need to tow it.” He stated, shaking his head. “Black smoke usually means its fucked. White smoke usually means its the radiator. Its got oil in it, so it aint that.” He waved at the car. “Just call someone and they will tow it.”

Silence fell between them and the brunette stared at the man, waiting to see what his reaction would be because she honestly felt like she was digging herself into a bigger hole at this point. Natalie ran her hand through her hair in frustration and shook her head. “I have no idea, it’s not my car. It’s my client’s car... but I don’t know why he would have gotten rid of the manual.” She figured any smoke was bad, but this one seemed like she got the worse of the two colors. “Okay... I can see if they will take it at LUX, I know they are good.” Her phone was back home, turned off because Erebus was going mental now and hated the sound of technology in the house. “I don’t have a phone, I forgot mine back home. Can... can I use yours?” 

“Yes,” he replied. “You were late.” Surely she knew that he thought of her when she was out of his sight? He did not want her to be damaged. He wanted her in her rightful place; here.  

God, his head was pounding. He felt as though his eyes were on fire, which - he reminded himself - they may very well be. Literally. Stepping towards the fireplace, he studied his face in the mirror that hung over it, watching as faint lines shimmered red underneath the skin. He could see her in his peripheral vision, lingering in the doorway, hesitating about something. Just as he was about to encourage her forward, she started to speak and he did not like where this was going at all.

Turning to face her, he could feel himself beginning to spiral with anxiety. His possessions were the one constant in his life at the moment, and the thought of something being incapacitated outside of his control was incredibly - if irrationally - unsettling. His distress was plain to see, rippling fierce crimson lines beneath his eyes and tensing his posture.

“What did you do?”

Natalie wasn’t sure what to think anymore, Erebus had betrayed a few times that he did care for her safety on some level, even if sometimes he was an ass about it and said it was more because she was his property. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that. But I’m here now, and I’m fine.” She told him, watching him closely. 

For a while now, Natalie had gotten used to Erebus as a vampire, to his moods, to his cold display of emotions, and his powers, and god his bite, which now she found herself missing. But now he was so different, she watched him go to the mirror, staring at the red lines beneath his eyes and wondering what display of new powers he would do now. It was fascinating to know that his whole biology changed so rapidly, changed so much. His entire genetic makeup was now completely different and it did fascinate her, but it also made her nervous to know he was so different now. 

But as soon as he turned around, she felt like this was it, there was only glass spread out before them and she had to gently step around it. Taking a deep breath, she tried to keep calm. “I didn’t do anything wrong, I swear. I was just driving, I wasn’t even speeding or driving recklessly. I was about to get on the highway and it started smoking. So I had to pull over. Someone helped me get it to LUX and they said they could easily fix it, it was something blown... some fuel line or something.” She struggled to remember what exactly had been said. “But I promise Erebus, they said it was an easy fix. And I’m fine.” 

“Ya remember what any of em looked like?” He asked, rubbing the non-scarred side of his face with a frustrated growl. He had to remind himself it was a human…they weren’t that smart to begin with. “Aight…when it started smokin, was the smoke light almost white or black?”

Right now, Natalie hated this stupid thing more than ever, the car was making her feel stupid. Which was ridiculous, she was a biologist, she dealt with infectious diseases, she had worked in the CDC, and now this stupid car was making her feel like she didn’t even know what 2 plus 2 was, it was pretty embarrassing and her cheeks turned a little bright red in frustration. “It was black.” Natalie told him, watching him again and her eyes gently passed over the scars as she again found herself what had happened to him. “One of the messages said error 5348, but I already looked in the glove compartment, the operator’s manual isn’t there.” 

Duke released her the moment she tugged back a little, the man grunting a little as he pulled out the dipstick to see the level. “Ya see what the temperature warnin was before ya stopped it?” He asked, arching a scarred brow down at her as he put the dipstick back in. 

Natalie rubbed at her arm gently, but didn’t say anything, she knew what it was like and what the games here were in the city. “No, I had all these warning signs come on the display, they popped up, but they all said some kind of error code and I wasn’t sure what they meant. This stupid thing is more computer than car.” Natalie told him, glancing at him and hoping he wouldn’t be too frustrated with the lack of information she could provide. 

A calloused hand snapped out and roughly grabbed at the woman’s bicep when she tried to back away, his eye hard and cutting as he glared at her. “ya askin for help, so ya gonna learn how to fuckin fix it.” He snarled, trying to tug her back to the car. “Now. The hell is it doin wrong?” The wolf asked, starting to check the battery and oil.

He was quick, and if she was on the fence before about him being supernatural before, this just made her sure of it. Natalie tugged back in a moment of instinct before he pulled her next to her roughly, right over the hood of the car with a soft grunt of slight pain. “It was smoking, I wasn’t doing anything, just driving and all of this smoke started coming out.” Most of it was gone, it had started to die down now that things were cooling down, but you could still see some smoke coming from the hood. 

Duke continued staring quietly, his gaze cutting despite it only having one eye. It was a few moments before he grunted, moving closer. “Fuckin basic shit…damn fuckin monkeys…” He growled lowly under his breath. “Pop the hood.” He jerked his chin towards the car, moving to set down the bags gingerly on the ground. 

Natalie kept her gaze on him, noting the one eye and the scars on his face, and she couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to him. Was it the attack on the city that had done that to him? Confusion washed over her face as he started growling under his breath... did he just say monkey? The brunette nodded and moved around to the inside of the car and popped the hood once more. “I have no idea what’s wrong.” She murmured, standing off to the side as she watched him look at the car. 

Duke was on his way back from a grocery run, bag full of some ground beef and burger fixings along with some more bottles of whisky when he heard the woman. The burly man stopped, hair unkept and beard wild. Turning to look at her with his scarred face, his one eye flicked over her with a furrowed brow. “…who wants to know?” He growled out, southern accent dense on his tongue.

Natalie knew nothing about cars, the stupid thing was probably different than a normal car too because she had never driven a car this expensive before. And now she had gotten it to be on the side of the road, smoking and probably broken. “I uh... I don’t have a phone, I left mine at home. And I know I don’t know much about cars... but it’s smoking.” She murmured, a little caught off guard by the growl. “I’m... I’m Natalie.” 

Thank god. Glad she was home, he padded through to the hallway from where he’d been ransacking through the kitchen drawers looking for any phone to use to call her. The noise of the shifting cutlery was truly grating, but he’d persisted. He was more determined to locate her than to avoid irritating himself.

 “I’m here,” he said unnecessarily. He was wearing his new usual outfit; bare feet and a bath robe. In an ideal world, he’d walk around naked to keep cool, but that was too obscure even for him. Then, in an unusual expression of honest emotion, he added, “I was worried.”

Not looking at her closely, he didn’t notice how on-edge she was. She had been tip-toeing around him lately, so it wasn’t completely unusual and he did not have the energy to look into it further. Instead, he motioned for her to join him in the sitting room, pulling open the door while reminding himself to be more careful with it than usual. He could do without breaking furniture unintentionally.

Natalie followed the noise in the kitchen and started to meet him before he came out. He seemed agitated and she swallowed nervously. Erebus had been acting different since his species had changed and though she was sure there was a lot of mental effects that went into changing species, he had already done that once in his life from human to vampire. 

She watched him, noting again that he hadn’t gotten dressed today, again. It was something that was a little weird, since he really only seemed to exist in designer suits before this. “You were worried?” She asked, a little surprised, because when she had left that morning he seemed eager to get her out of the house, because she was making too much noise according to him. 

Biting her lip, she followed him into the sitting room, but hanged back by the door, she really didn’t want to tell him about the car, but she had to. How was he going to react? She couldn’t predict his behavior anymore and she kind of felt like she didn’t know him anymore, he was a completely new person. “Um... look, there’s a reason I was late. Something... something happened to the car. It’s fine, it’s in the shop, and I’m fine.”