The Paladin & The Fanged One, Level Up! File 003: Reptile

‘Stay close.’

‘Arms together.’

‘Maybe not that close. It hates you, my little golden goddess. It hates you with a burning fiery passion. You starved it for many months before this.’

At first, Jessica didn’t understand what Dean meant by this. But as they walked in the nightlife of Chalmette, Louisiana, she pieced together their recent conversation on Twitter and figured out the answer for herself. It was one of those moments when she knew to heed his warning. Her boyfriend was strong, courageous, and loyal.

He was also vicious, dangerous, and lethal.

There were two sides to Dean Matthews. She knew this from the moment she brought him into her home in the early days of February. She was made aware of just about every aspect of the man walking alongside her. As he warned, she did not have her arm around his, choosing to keep some distance for his personal space. After the NGW Civil War between the Guardians and the Destroyers finally ended on Victory and Honor, she was proudly wearing her favorite Guardians of the Galaxy graphic tee, a pair of blue denim shorts, and Marvel Vans. Her long blonde hair was flowing in the gentle breeze as they walked along the river where the Algiers Ferry was calmly brisking in the night. It has only been a few hours since their deep-seated conversation with her older half-sister, Everalda Sears-Theron and her boyfriend, Adrien Cochrane. Jessica was still stricken with grief for her brother Zachary, but she was trying her best to have faith and be strong. She knew her brother. He was strong. He was also very stubborn. Surely he would fight through this…

While she was lost in her mind, thinking over the events that had taken her brother from her and all the things that came with that, Dean was in his own. Each step carried him forward almost as if on autopilot when the reality was much different. He stood in the shadow swirling darkness of his own mind listening to the rustling sound of the thing’s scales on the dead, dry grass.

He wore a pair of loose-fitting blue jeans, the black combat boots crunching the twigs and leaves beneath them with each step. His muscular upper body was covered by a tank top hidden beneath a black shirt with the standard #FearTheFangedOne tag across the shoulders and his ice-cold blue eyes on the front.

Though she wasn’t touching him the tension would be easily felt by the woman walking beside him. It radiated off him in waves like the deadly waves of the sun, hot and angry. The hair on his arms was standing up as he walked, closing and opening his hands as if trying to work the circulation back in.

“You... didn’t have to come…” He said breaking the silence.

She lifted her head up from staring at the dirt path they walked on, her thoughts parting ways to allow her a moment to focus on him. Even though she can feel the tension radiating from his entire being, she still offered him compassion. A soft little smile crossed her face as she took a single breath.

“We promised each other that we would stay together. The last time you went alone, you were ambushed and hospitalized… No chances, Dean.”

She wanted to reach out and take one of his hands in her. She wanted to squeeze it, bring it up to her lips, and kiss it. But the boundaries of personal space… It was best to wait until he was ready to open up again. He looked down at her smaller frame walking beside him and could feel how badly she wanted to comfort him. It was in her nature and he knew that. More than anything, he loved that.

It wasn’t him that didn’t want her near him, it was something else. Something inside him. The closer she got, the angier the thing got. As she answered him he could hear it through the fog, if only barely. In the darkness that was his mind, it was almost all he could hear. The constant enraged snarling. The serpent-like hissing that was slowly getting closer and closer to its ultimate meal.

Him.

“Why...would you put yourself in this kind of danger?”

He stopped walking and turned to give her his full attention. The weight that tried to bow his shoulders wasn’t nearly as clear as the weariness in his usually ice cold eyes. They were so tired now. Weak.

“...It could hurt you...”

“You could never hurt me, Dean.”

She shook her head slowly, keeping her smile soft and gentle.

“You promised you would never, ever hurt me, remember? That’s why I’m not afraid. I know I’m not in danger.”

What she wanted to do, she decided to try. As her hands reached out towards him, however, they were interrupted by two men in ragtag clothes that were barely considered above rags.

“S’cuse me, don’t mean to interrupt, but… By any chance d’you have any spare change?”

As soon as the men appeared, Dean’s eyes shot to them and narrowed. They were fair game and every fiber of his being yearned to strike. To feel the bones break and blood run over his hands but he ground his teeth and shook his head.

“Wallet’s back at the house...move along.”

Jessica picked up on the spike in Dean’s tension and she parted her lips. She patted the pockets of her shorts and shook her head a little.

“I’m sorry, but we’re only out for a walk. We had no intention of spending any money.”

“Oh, I’m sure you two have something valuable.”

Said a voice from behind the pair, but before they could turn something large and wooden struck Dean across the back of the head. The two men in the front grabbed Jessica, shoving her back into a tree. It became obvious when they reached for the zipper of her shorts they weren’t intending to check for her valuables, however.

Dean collapsed forward to his knees and then face first into the dirt as the rag covered man behind him dropped a broken tree branch. One of his friends began to check Dean for anything of value.

This left one, a slender man of perhaps twenty with short brown hair standing beside Dean staring at the men in shock. He had just wanted assistance. Maybe some money for a sandwich, not this.

“Okay guys, that’s enough...okay?”

“GET OFF!”

Jessica screamed, the alertness taking over after the shock of the ambush, and she drove her knee into the gut of the man to her left. Doubling him over, she struck the heavyset man to her right with a devastating European uppercut and kicked his right kneecap. His knee caved and he yelled out in pain before he collapsed onto his hands and knees. She didn’t give him a chance, getting a running start before she soccer kicked him square across the face and drove him into the dirt. The man behind her was getting up. She only glanced over her shoulder once before she threw her right elbow right into his jaw with enough force to dislocate it. He fell onto the dirt, groaning in pain and nursing his dislocated jaw. Not wasting another second, she zipped up her shorts and breathed a sigh of relief.

Across from her the tall and skinny man who had struck Dean grabbed him by his long blonde hair and grabbed the white gold chain around his neck where the strange talon like charm hung. With a hard yank the chain snapped, but when that snapping sound echoed, the big man’s eyes opened and his head shot back driving the gushing blood covered back of his head into the man’s face. Dean rose, pushing himself up by the knuckles of a closed fist and shot up, throwing a right hand with such force the ruffan was thrown clean off his feet and slammed back into the tree.

He slowly rose, his breath coming in ragged hissing pants and his eyes fell on the last man who had frozen in place, not wanting to take part in this failed attempt at mugging. All he had wanted was some help. He was actually shaking when Dean turned his eyes on him.

It was too soon to just breathe. Jessica brushed herself off in hopes the two men wouldn’t get back up, and she turned around to see the third man who struck Dean with the tree branch was down in the dirt. Gauging his expression, Jessica could tell the fourth man wanted no part of this unnecessary violent act. She could tell that he just wanted a little bit of money for food. Her soft blue eyes gaze upon her Hunter and she witnessed “the look”.

“Dean.”

That wasn’t its name. That was just the name of the vessel. She was off to a cautious start, reaching into her back left pocket, and pulling out a folded ten dollar bill. In case of emergency money, one would assume. She had a sweet tooth.

“Sir… don’t panic. He can sense fear, and if you try to run, he’ll strike.”

“He...doesn’t have to do anything…”

The man’s voice was shaking but he couldn’t take his eyes off the mammoth man across from him. Then to his horror, a slow, sick, cruel smile spread across Dean’s lips and his voice came out in a snarling hiss.

“...Yesss...He does…”

The man turned to bolt and Dean took off at a sprint after him, reaching him after only five or six steps, and shoved him into a tree. His chest and face hit the tree with a crunch leaving a stain of red before Dean grabbed his hair and yanked him around. As he came around Dean was already lunging across driving a right hand across his cheekbone sending him to the ground.

“DEAN!”

Jessica’s yells would simply fall on deaf ears. Dean grabbed the ragged shirt and pulled up so hard the shirt tore and dropped him back to the ground with another brutal right hand before raising his leg to stomp down where his head would be. The intent to seriously injure, even potentially kill this defenseless, homeless man was interrupted by a full-force tackle that managed to bring Dean down onto the dirt. Jessica was a small woman, but she was agile. She quickly seized his wrists and pinned them down over his head, trying to place all of her weight on his abdomen.

“Stop. You don’t control Dean. Dean controls YOU. Now please… Stop.”

She sucked in a breath of air, her body giving way an unnerving chill.

“Dean, I know you’re in there. I know you won’t hurt me… Please listen to my voice…”

His head lifted but instead of a headbutt he just stared into her eyes and let out a shrieking scream, inhuman and animalistic. His arms wanted to not just move but throw her clean off until her words washed over him.

“I know you won’t hurt me…”

It repeated over and over in the darkness like an echo. Slowly his head lowered until the bleeding scalp rested in the grass and his eyes squeezed shut.

“No…You won’t hurt her. I won’t let you…”

After a brief pause, panting in deep breaths he whispered.

“Is..he...alive?”

Once she was certain Dean was back in complete control, Jessica released his wrists and moved off of him. She walked over to the poor man who was stirring, still in the wake of the attack, and she reached out to him. He flinched, instinctively defensive after what just transpired, and she waited with her right hand out until he realized she meant no harm. She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder and pressed her lips together.

“Can you stand? I’m so sorry… I asked you not to panic, but you ran.”

He was shivering a little, blood running along the scrapes he’s developed from the surprise attack. Jessica bit down on her lower lip before she looked him over, but he whispered.

“N...nothing is broken, ma’am. Your fellow thought I was like them and he was just protecting you, I’m sure… I-I’m sorry, I didn’t know they would… oh God…”

Dean listened to the man speaking and said nothing, though he knew better. That hadn’t been about protecting anyone. The thing inside him wanted to hurt someone. He pushed himself to a knee holding his right hand to the bloody rear of his scalp and reached the other into his jeans, pulling out a crumpled green bill. A fifty.

“Go.” Dean growled. “I don’t know how long until the damn thing comes back. Get something to eat...and replace the shirt it ruined.”

The homeless man was a little frightened when Dean approached, but Jessica’s gentle, reassuring hand on his shoulder kept him steady. She reached over with her free hand, taking the fifty and adding her ten, then she handed the sixty dollars to the poor man. He was a casualty of a cruel visage; wrong place, wrong time.

“There’s a CVS that’s twenty-four hours a couple blocks from here. Get yourself some food, water, clothes, and a first aid kit. I’m very sorry, sir.”

She bowed her head apologetically, and he simply took the money. Jessica insisted on helping him to his feet. This allowed him to make a run for that direction. The man looked back at Dean and just like the song said, he could tell instantly “The smile on his face was fake” and that little “Vein on his head suggested he better get running” and that’s just what he did.

“Damn thing’s getting worse again…”

He muttered to himself and placed a hand on his throat where he felt the chain was gone and began to look around.

“They ripped the good luck charm off. . .”

Jessica glanced around and noticed the third man was beginning to stir. She walked over to him, bent down, and took the chain with the silver fang back. He tried to get it back, but she simply kicked him in the face and floored him. With a huff, she examined the entirety of the chain and breathed out a sigh of relief.

“It’s in one piece. I know someone in the Bronx who can get it fixed, so when we fly back to New York City, we’ll pay her a visit.”

She walked back over to Dean, reached out to take his right hand, and slowly opened the palm facing upward. She slowly lowered the chain necklace onto his hand and closed his fingers over the men’s jewelry, but her hands adjusted to hold his hand.

“Mein Liebe…”

Watching her so expertly dismantle the thief brought a small smile to his lips. When the necklace lowered into his palm he breathed a sigh of relief. He cherished it. It was the only item he wore every day, outside of his boots. When she spoke he looked up and forced that fake smile.

“Yes, my heart?”

But she knew better. She could tell he was feigning his smile, such a contrast to his true feelings. Over the last three months or so, Jessica has become somewhat of a “Dean expert”. There were many things she could do, but she went with one of the simplest solutions.

She poked his nose.

“We need to get you back to Adrien and Eve. They have a first aid kit in the house.”

At the mention of the first aid kit, he lifted a hand and touched it to the back of his head, pulling back wet fingertips. Looking down at them he sighed and shook his head. The injury was of little consequence to him. Not in the grand scheme of things.

“We should talk about what just happened, Jess…”

“The Reptile.”

It was almost stoically spoken. She was very reserved and yet the concern in her eyes was crystal clear. This was the second time she’s seen the “curse” of the Matthews Bloodline rise to the surface. The first time… She shook her head of the thoughts and took his hand, the one that wasn’t stained in his blood.

“We can talk about it on the way back to the house. It’s pretty clear that it’s not safe out here.”

Jessica’s eyes fell down to her denim shorts, briefly dreading in the fact that the bastard with the dislocated jaw tried to shove his hand down her panties… His eyes followed her own before drifting to the unconscious and injured men.

“Not safe for them…”

But he wouldn’t argue and rose to his feet. When he reached them the trees began to spin and he wavered a moment, groaning in discomfort.

“....Whoa...That’s new…”

“What’s new?”

Her concern grew as she focused on keeping him steady, looking up into his eyes.

“Dean, what’s wrong? Are you concussed?”

“It squeezed…and the whole world began to spin.”

A dizzy spell unlike any other. Considering the blow to the back of his head, she could medically diagnose that he may have suffered a concussion. Stitches were possible if the gash to the back of his head was bad enough, but she couldn’t tell in the dark. Without hesitation, she draped his left arm across her lithe shoulders and began to walk away from this place, from these men, altogether.

The further they got from the sight of the attack, from the men themselves the more agitated he seemed to become. His breathing first becoming ragged, angry and panicked but he never pulled away. The muscles of his arm behind her neck contracting and rippling from the wrist up to the shoulder and back down. Like waves, or the muscular motion…or a serpent.

After ten steps or so he stumbled a bit and snarled in annoyance.

“Let...go…”

Something in his tone, would tell her he wasn’t talking to her. She picked up on this rather quickly and she stopped for a brief moment. Her entire body turned, the gradual rise on the tips of her shoes, and she kissed him deeply. Her soft, fuller lips pressed against his and she clinged to him, hoping and praying this would suppress the Reptile’s urges.

The effect on him was instant, he moaned happily and kissed her back. The rage that someone had dared try and touch her, the fear that he had failed her...it all just fell away into her kiss. And with it, the thing pulled back into the darkest parts of his mind. Its meal, once so sweet and bloody, had turned sour and rancid by the positives Jessica made him feel.

“Mmmm...I love kissing you…”

He whispered in a voice no longer growling, but deep and affectionate. When she heard this, she allowed herself to smile, feeling more at ease.

“You can kiss me more after we get home and let me treat you. Come on…”

He may not require her assistance, but she insisted on shouldering him. She kept his left arm over her shoulders and continued to walk until they were finally back on the sidewalk of one of the main streets. They walked for a minute or two before he turned a sideways glance at her and whispered under his breath.

“It’s...getting worse Jess…”

From the corner of her eye, she looked back at him and took a deep breath.

“I know. I know…”