The Paladin & The Fanged One, Level Up! File 004: Disaster

D e a n | M a t t h e w s

The Paladin and the Fanged One, Level Up!

File 004: Disaster | 災害

To tell the truth, the last eight days had been the best days of Dean Matthews’ life. Visiting with Adam Sanders and Tasmin Richards in San Diego was great. Even if Dean found it a little difficult to believe he would like a Richards considering how much he hated Jaxon and Kayla, but Tasmin was different. She was nicer. Sweeter. Purer. He liked her and she seemed to make Adam happy, so Jessica liked her as well.

Getting to see his pregnant adopted baby sister Shay Kenyon and his cousin Lena Theras in Malibu had been an even bigger treat, even if the highlight of the visit had been of a non-human variety. Getting to finally reunite with the dog he never thought he’d see alive again, Brutus, was beyond wonderful. It was like something out of another life. It was even more amusing when the massive dog happily knocked his girlfriend on her ass and gave her kisses. How precious.

There was even a stop in Albuquerque to visit Jaime Alejandro, one of Jessica’s mentors and her father figure, along with Xaria and the entire Linette Family, and Anastacia Alejandro. They weren’t the only ones within Jaime’s ranch as Danielle Anderson and Maricela Reyes were also present. Dean presented Danni tickets to HYBRID Predator and Prey, an inspiration for her curiosity of the wrestling company’s combat school, Ascension.

On the way through the country, Dean and Jessica stopped for sleep and visited various sites around the United States. It was just the two of them seeing the world together. He wouldn’t have traded it for anything the universe had to offer.

It was around one in the afternoon when the Harley Davidson roared into the west parking lot. The huge hulking figure people referred to as the “Tree Ent” walked the bike backward to park it within one of the two designated parking spots next to the CuteGamingBlond’s 2006 Honda Civic. Close to these two spots was their home within the New York City estate, their Sanctuary. Jessica was on the back, as beautiful as ever with her arms around his waist and her new black leather jacket protecting her torso and arms from the winds of the ride.

Jessica was the first to climb off, arching her back, her bubbly ass jutting out from the stretch. Even as he turned the engine off, Dean couldn’t stop himself from looking back over her figure and licking his lips hungrily. Once the engine was off he stepped off himself and removed his helmet, lying it across one of the handlebars and watching as she did the same.

“Happy to be home?”

She glanced over at him, running her fingers through her hair to comb it out from the wild ride, and she offered him a sweet smile. Her soft pink lips stayed soft with the right application of Maybelline Baby Lips moisturizing lip balm. She shook out her legs and stretched them a bit, getting the feeling back in them.

“I’m happy to be anywhere with you, mein Liebe. But yes, it’s nice to be home.”

Walking up to him, she wrapped an arm around his and looked up to him, her soft blue eyes shimmering in the sunlight. Her free hand reached into her pocket and pulled out the key to their luxury apartment, handing it to him.

“Can you please check on Daryl? I know Ami checks on him daily when we’re not home, but he’ll want a nice treat. I’m going to check the mailbox.”

His own arms slipped around her tiny frame until she pulled the keys from her pocket and announced her concern for the youthful dog and a small happy smile touched his mouth. If anyone felt her concern as deeply as she did, it was him. He loved dogs. More than most humans actually.

“Of course babe. Meet you inside.”

He slipped one arm behind her back and walked with her to the lobby of the building and one inside the pair separated. She would head east and he veered off the opposite direction. By the time he reached the door, he was well out of eyeshot of the mailbox.

He lifted an right arm but the instant the key reached the lock his hand began to shake. It was subtle at first before slowly becoming more pronounced. He changed hands and pushed the keys into the lock with his left and once the door unlocked he blew out a deep panting breath through his nose and began to open and close his right hand. Tightening it into a fist and opening it fully, with the fingers arched into near claws.

“Stop.” He snarled to the beast within him.

He shook his hand before pushing the door open and being greeted almost instantly by Daryl. He smiled and knelt, closing the door behind him and ran his hand over the dog's head gently.

“Hey, bud. Missed you.”

Daryl looked up to his second owner with a rapid wag of his tail and a happy bark. He raised his right front paw and held it up for a handshake which the Ent complied in the friendliest manner. It was then the dog could sense Dean was… tense. He lowered his paw almost immediately and tilted his head in wonderment.

As always, Jessica greeted the receptionist in the lobby before making her way to the mailbox hallway. She specifically moved to the section of boxes for the first floor and found her apartment number. Pulling out her mailbox key, she unlocked it and retrieved a week’s worth of mail… including a blank DVD case. Jessica tilted her head, handling the bulk of mail in her left arm while her right hand turned the case over to the back.

“Hm?”

There was a label that stated: “FWD by HYBRID Wrestling | To: Rosalyn Fernandes” with her childhood friend’s P.O. Box information located in Philadelphia.

“If this is addressed to Rosalyn, why would it arrive here? ...And why is it from Hybrid?”

Carefully, Jessica carried the set of mail and made her way to the east side of the first floor where the luxury apartments began. She looked up to see the door to her and Dean’s apartment was still open with Daryl looking up to Dean in confusion.

“Dean?”

“I’m fine.”

There was an unsteady, shaky promise in those two words, but she could see the hand placed on the top of the dog’s head was gentle...but shaking. The other reached up and scratched Daryl beneath the chin before he rose and shed the leather jacket throwing it over his arm to hide the hand. It could have been a side effect of being surgically repaired by a low budget hospital and two-star surgeon.

Dean finally glanced over his shoulder at Jessica, helping her with the week’s worth of mail when he noticed the DVD case in her right hand.

“Someone send you a video resume?”

“I’m… not entirely sure what it is, but it was originally sent to Ros from Hybrid Wrestling.”

The two of them set the other mail on the kitchen table. Jessica backpedaled to softly close the front door before she slipped out of her knee-high black boots. She wiggled her toes within her black cotton socks for a brief moment before she made her way over to her PlayStation 4 on the entertainment center of the living room. She turned on the console with a press of the power button and the sixty-inch Sony 4K TV also turned on to accommodate this. She opened up the DVD case and saw there was a folded up piece of paper inside. Inquisitively, Jessica took it, unfolded it, and saw it was written in Rosalyn’s handwriting. However, it was… shaky.

‘Jess,

With this DVD, there was originally a letter for me. The writer demanded that I ship this to you without watching the contents, but… I couldn’t help it.

God help us all. Please don’t hate me for sending this to you, sis.

Rosalyn’

Upon closer inspection, Jessica noticed the handwritten letter was stained with dried up tears. She pressed her lips together before she took out the disc, inserted it into the PS4, and allowed it to automatically start.

The shaky camera came into view with the faintest hint of panting in the background. The sounds of moaning, crying, and whimpering filled the night air. A delighted female voice was heard whimpering in desire and pleasure as the camera turned to find a figure standing to the right of the camera. He stood six foot three with black wavy hair that hung down to his shoulders. The hair was wet with blood and sweat. He was shirtless with a faint line of sweat glistening off his muscular upper body.

The figure turned and looked back at the camera, his eyes shined in the lights of pure evil pleasure that only the infliction of pain could bring upon. His mouth lifted into an evil, twisted, vile smirk as his eyes fell upon those watching this.

Lucifer: “You know who I am. And I am sure you know where we are by now. You remember it well, don’t you Sathanas? You spent so much time here. Can you still feel the blood of the sinners running down your arms? Dripping from your hands?

And Little Miss Sears! Yes! I am sure, of course, you recognize this… well, I cannot call him handsome… gentlemen.”

The camera followed as he roughly grasped a handful of bloodstained brown hair and snapped the head back. A low, pained groan escaped from the parted lips of the gentleman, draped and restrained by twelve chains. One of them was tied to a collar around his neck, another one keeping his knees down in a kneeling position. The right side of his face covered in blood from a deep gash on the temple and along the right side of his forehead. His left eye was blackened from abuse, but there was also a long, painful lash that went from above his left eye over the left corner of his mouth. Fresh blood dripped from the left corner of his mouth, dripping onto his upper body that was covered in beatings, lashes, and dark bruises.

The words had their desired effect on Dean. The big man froze dead in his tracks and his eyes snapped to the television when he heard the voice of “Lucifer” Michael Rivers. At the mention of the blood, an enraged growl left the depths of his chest and his right hand curled into a fist beneath the coat. Jessica’s soft blue eyes were fixated on the television, the sight of Lucifer ailing her with disgust. However, she was taken aback by the restraint of a young man, the chains forcing him to kneel, every inch of his wounded body captured on camera.

“No. . .”

The only son of Franz and Odelia Sears. Zachary’s gaze was empty, barely a glimmer of life as he was forced out of unconsciousness, and when he parted his lips, his voice was of the grave.

Zachary: “Zeig es nicht meiner kleinen Schwester, Michael…”
// Don’t show this to my baby sister, Michael…” //

The instant Zachary spoke in his German tongue, Lucifer’s arm shot out and grasped him by the jaw in a firm, even hard grasp.

Lucifer: “Quiet! Those aren’t your lines for the play!”

Even in his precarious position, Zachary spat blood and saliva on Lucifer’s face.

Zachary: “Jessica, bitte sei stark! Du bist ein Kämpfer…”
// “Jessica, please be strong! You are a fighter…” //

He got out one final phrase before Lucifer could react to the bloody spit.

Knowing the German language, Jessica understood what her brother was saying. A secret message: to be strong; to fight. But watching him suffer like this was tearing her heart from the inside out. She was unresponsive to her faithful dog gently pawing at her right leg without the use of his nails, still fixated on the terrible visual before her.

A few feet to her left standing nearly in the center of the hallway was the frame of the massive wall of flesh that was Dean Matthews and something was wrong. His head was bowed and his eyes looking up through his hair. Staring at the carnage on the screen. His breathing coming in unheard ragged pants.

The right hidden by the leather jacket clenched so tightly the nails of his fingers had begun to dig into the flesh of his palm.

The God of the Children of Nephilim immediately responded by throwing all of his weight behind a series of right and left punches that took Zachary across the face. Each blow landing with a sickening wet, squishy sound. After the sixth blow, Lucifer stepped back panting, blood running down his bare chest.

He crouched so the exhausted and mangled man didn’t have to lift his head too high to look at him. To help, Lucifer grabbed a handful of Zachary’s hair, lifting his head so the young man was forced to look him in the face.

Lucifer: “You wanted to take their punishment. Be the big man. But you forget something, Sears. I am Lucifer. I am a God. I know the deepest recesses of the human heart. You know who is in the cell beside you. You know who we hold there.”

Lucifer looked behind him at the camera, or more so, the person holding it.

Lucifer: “Get Ananiel and Ani. Tell them to visit the cell next to Mr. Sears. And to show no mercy. None when they use him.”

Voice of Sariel: “Thy Will be Done, Lord Lucifer.”

Zachary: “No!!”

Despite all his pain, Zachary managed to yell out, his upper body slumping forward only to be held up by the chains. He was suspended in agony, and when he spoke up again, he nearly choked.

Zachary: “...just tell me... vhat you vant me to say… und I vill say it…”

That sick smirk appeared on the stubble covered face of the God of the Children as he looked up at the chained man. He lifted a hand and pointed to the camera.

Lucifer: “Say it.”

The Shotgun knew exactly what Lucifer wanted him to relay. Through the pain of his nearly dislocated jaw and his now-broken cheekbone, Zachary lifted his head up and stared at the camera.

At his sister.

Zachary: “. . .Kneel. . .”

His breathing was ragged with exhaustion, barely able to keep his blood-covered right eye open.

Zachary: “...Jessica, please… I beg of you…”

The camera focused in on Lucifer’s face.

Lucifer: “Kneel or Perish.”

Enough. Jessica’s mental psyche was screaming at her ‘enough’. Instinctively, she grabbed the metallic purple PS4 controller, pressed the PS button, and paused the video. Her eyes were filled with tears that threatened to spill down her face, her entire body trembling in shock, fear, terror, anger, and misery. Her trembling was so severe that she released the controller and let it fall onto the carpet floor. Moments after, she fell down on her knees…

...in a kneeling position.

“Zach…”

She shook her head slowly and swallowed uneasily.

“Lucifer, you… bastard…”

Daryl began to whimper softly, gently pawing his precious owner who was holding back every urge to cry...

DRIP

DRIP

DRIP

Each drop hitting the carpet made the faintest little plopping sound as Dean came forward with jerking steps. She would have expected to be comforted. To feel his arms around her. His whispered words coming to tell her it will be okay. That they will free them… but that comfort never came.

The dripping sounds turned out to be small little droplets of blood coming from his hidden right hand. A small trail of crimson leading from where he had been standing and now, past her as he staggered past. Breathing in ragged pants, as if he were being choked.

What no one knew, what no one possibly could. In the dark parts of his mind, Dean was wrapped up completely. Fully engulfed now in the scales of the creature he had fought for so long. He couldn’t breathe. Couldn't see. Couldn’t hear.

All he could do was feel. Hate. Rage. The need to rip. To tear. To destroy.

He stared at the paused face of the smirking God of the Children of Nephilim. His eyes narrowed in raw, pure hate.

“...Dean?”

Jessica’s eyes saw the trail of blood to her left and she looked up to him. She chose to be strong on her own and she stood up, ignoring the shakiness of her knees. She took a quick glance to Daryl and raised her right hand to gesture dismissal. Daryl’s ears drooped before he followed her command and trotted away to his humans’ master bedroom. Taking a deep breath, Jessica reached out and placed her left hand on her beloved’s right shoulder.

“Mein Liebe…?”

The man she loved so deeply never so much as turned to look at her. His gaze focused on the man’s face. The man who had done all of this. So much delicious suffering. Such intense hate. When she touched him, his arm shot out and grabbed her by the throat, easily forcing her towards the eastern wall of the living room. Her back hit the wall with a loud concussion and he lifted her feet from the floor to dangle from his right, bloodied hand.

A low, rumbling snarl left his chest as his head finally turned ever so slowly and his eyes fell on her. There was no love in those eyes. There was…nothing in those eyes. They were empty. And when his lips pulled up into a smile…it looked… fake. Like something inhuman trying to mimic a smile. A small little vein on his forehead throbbed as the muscles of his forearm flexed. His hand was tightening around her throat. Then he opened his mouth and let out an inhuman shrieking, the mimicry of a hissing roar.

Dean Matthews was gone.

It was just the Reptile now.

Jessica should have known better. She’s seen the Reptile once along the waters of Chalmette, Louisiana. Alas, there was no warning of its presence this time. Her eyes were wide in shock and fright, her hands tightly gripping his right arm and trying to pull him back. He was unmoving, keeping the pressure around her throat as blood stained her neck. If she struggled too much, she would run out of oxygen faster. She was doing her best to remain calm in a terrifying situation.

“...S-stop… De...an! You promised… you… promised it would never… h-hurt me…”

Her manicured nails were puncturing and scratching the flesh of his right arm. Perhaps his pain receptors would correlate and send messages to his brain to cease the stranglehold. She hated to do this, but in desperate times she had no other choice. She was drawing his blood.

“...Dean… please… you’re stronger… than… the Reptile!”

She could see black dots beginning to fill her vision, but she kept trying to reach out to him.

“...mein Liebe… I… love… you…”

The clawing at the arm did nothing. The beast didn’t even feel the pain. The blood ran down his arm, pooling around his elbow and dripping down to the floor. All it did was stare at her hissing in hate. She was everything it hated. She was love. She was hope. She was a place HE belonged. She was the enemy.

The last time he heard a message that helped him, it gave him the strength to wiggle from the creature’s mouth. But when he heard her words, heard her remind him he promised he would never let the thing hurt her, he began to struggle.

In his mind, there was no light. No circle of light for him to hide. It was all darkness now and he was in the thing’s scales, being crushed. However, when her words began to echo in his mind the light snapped back on and the thing roared in pain.

“I… love… you…”

The words echoed over and over again. The first time he could crawl. Wiggle along the throat but this time the thing was thrown backward as Dean screamed in remorse. She was his world and he wouldn’t let the thing hurt her. The force of the blow sent the creature back into the darkness.

The man holding her blinked and the fingers released. She nearly collapsed, falling down to her knees on the floor against the wall. He stared down at his hand in horror, tears running down his face.

“Oh god…” He whispered in agony. “I’m… so sorry… I love you…”

Without another word he turned and walked back down the hallway and threw the door open, disappearing into the lobby. He was weeping in regret for what the thing had made him do. Harsh, painful coughs emitted from Jessica, trying to draw in the oxygen her lungs needed. Black dots remained in her vision as she slowly, weakly looked up towards the open door that Dean ran through. Her right hand quivered while she massaged her neck, the tears finally spilling down her cheeks.

“...D-Daryl…”

Upon hearing his name, Daryl ran out of the bedroom, down the hallway, and over to his distraught human. Jessica coughed and looked at him.

“Go… get Dean…”

He understood her command and immediately took off after his favorite Tree. Far ahead of him as he started out, the big figure hit the lobby doors leading outside and they slammed open with a loud concussion before closing. This scared the receptionist and blocked the poor furry companion’s path, leaving him helpless to do anything but jump up and down. He kept barking as Dean threw his leg over the Harley.

Both helmets were tossed to the pavement, and even from inside the apartment, she would hear the roar of the engine and the squeal of the tires as the bike sped, far to fast, from the parking lot. The screeching of brakes and horns as cars veered out of the way to avoid hitting him and then quiet as the traffic resumed.

After a few moments, Daryl returned with his head down and laid down beside Jessica with a whimper. She was trying to clear her vision to no avail, tears cascading over the black dots as she painstakingly breathed.

“Dean…”

Trembling, she slumped back against the wall and drove her head against it once.

“DEAN!!”

She cried out for her love, her voice hoarse and cracking, and drove her head back harshly. It stunned her, the regression of her spinal cord compression shooting throughout her body, and the emotional trauma caused her to pass out. Alarmed by his precious owner's prone form, he let out a sad howl in hopes that someone, anyone would find her…