[C] Pantry Nap

Cade thundered down the stairs and into the kitchen, her heavy boots beating against the ground as she began searching the kitchen cupboards for food.

She probably should ahve asked what Rizzo would eat. She pulled out a can of peeled tomatos and looked at it in confusion.

Could a human eat that without any preparation? She shook the can and gave a disgusted expression. It sounded sloppy and gross. She dropped it to the counter then padded to a wooden door next to the fridge.

The pantry would have something in it that Rizzo could eat, right? That was her hope as she pushed it open and stepped inside.

Her attention was drawn, not to the food, but to the body leant up against a sack of potatoes.

"Oi, kid, you can't sleep there," came her firm, loud voice.

Italy was hot, far hotter than what he was accustomed to in Germany, where he lived, it snowed quite often and the air always had a chill to it.

He had tried to sleep but the stickiness of his skin made him uncomfortable so he sort out the coolest part of the house.

The pantry was closed off, with stone flooring and tiled walls, after curling up on the floor he had dozed off quite easily.

Emory was a heavy sleeper, it took a lot to wake him however when he was pulled from his sleep his temper took on a nasty edge, in situations like this it was best just to let him sleep.

"Weiter laut sein und ich werde deine Zunge über die Zähne ausreißen ."

He muttered softly as he curled in closer to the potatoes he was currently using as a pillow.

His voice had a softness to it and without a threatening tone his words seemed like to mutterings of a sleepy child.
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Continue to be loud and I will tear your tongue out through your teeth.

Cade arched a brow and kicked the boy's outstretched foot. "I'd like to see you try, kid."

The World Wars had been tough on Vampires living in Europe. Some Vampires had been forced to bend to the human's level to fit in. With Edric's insane ideals, he had had the two of them join in battles and drink from the victims to stay alive.

In those years, having joined under the Italian army, she'd picked up German and bits and pieces of a few other languages. In the past few weeks, she'd been dredging up her memories of the German language so she could communicate with Gerhard better.

"Get up and go sleep in a proper bed. I need to be in here and you're blocking up the entire room."

Emory was hard to anger, he was cruel and could act violently but usually he was quite level headed.

That wasn't so much the case when he had just been woken up when he was tired.

His eyes fluttered open and he looked up at the women, his scarlet gaze narrowing at her.

"It's too hot, I'm staying here, go away."

He warned again, waiting for her to close the door and leave. Gerhard had warned him that he wasn't allowed to kill anyone, but he wasn't above beating them half to death.

"Fuck you," was her explosive response.

She lashed out to kick his foot again and forced herself into the room. Her heavy boot planted on his stomach as if he was just part of the floor as she began to look on the shelves for something that Rizzo could eat without her having to prepare it.

Humans were so fucking awkward. Couldn't they live in liquid diets like Vampires? That would make things so much easier.

She picked up a glass jar of frankfurter hod dog sausages. She'd seen humans eating these. Were they okay for Rizzo to eat.

Emory didn't curse back or whinge when he was stepped on, he had experienced these situations before.

Things always worked best for him when he asserted himself, the only way he knew how.

His small hands gripped her ankle on either side and pressed inwards with tremendous force, crushing her tibia, fibula and the talus together with an audible crack as he shattered the bones.

Cade screamed, but the shriek wasn't as loud as it probably should have been.

It was the shock of bones cracking and being forced together that caused the scream, not the pain she felt as she dropped to her knees, straddling the boy's body.

The first thing she did was lash out and crack him with a hard punch to the temple.

"Stupid fucking kid!"

Much like Cadence, Emory didn't react as much as he should had, his head flung back but he sat back upright and rubbed his temple softly.

The insistent shouting was what was irking him.

Perhaps if he silenced her?

In a swift movement he grabbed her head and forced her backward into the hard stone floor with a crunch.

His small hands encircled her throat as his superior strength kept her pinned to the ground as he sat on her.

He couldn't kill her but maybe he could just choke her out until she passed out, then toss her out into the sunlight, he wouldn't have technically killed her then.

His hands constricted her throat firmly, he was looking to do damage now.

Cade flinched as she was forced back and whimpered as hands closed around her throat.

Her body went completely still and her eyes unfocussed; like a natural response to the situation. This had clearly happened a number of times before.

She stopped breathing completely and stared up at the boy for a few long moments before her body twitched to life again. Her legs kicked upwards, her flexibility working to her advantage as her steel toe cap boots beat against his head.

Emory gave a displeased look as she perked back up again.

Plan two, he gripped the front of her ugly short hair and lifted her head, smacking it against the stones.

He just kept doing it, smacking her against the floor until he could feel her skull fracturing, maybe if he beat her long enough he could lobotomize her.

Being a vegetable didn't classify as dead.

Each knock her head got caused a nasty reaction. First it was disorientation, then her vision started to blue and black spots began to dominate her sight.

She lashed out violently, trying to shove the boy off her body before the damage got worse.

She wasn't going to die here at the hands of a child.

"Mein Gerhard said I wasn't allowed to kill any of you."

He muttered softly to her, smacking her head against the ground again.

"However."

Again her head hit the ground with a sickening crunch.

"If you ever wake me again."

Smack. Crunch.

"I will feed you through the garbage disposal."

Smack. Crunch.

"Limb, by limb."

He muttered before releasing her. Emory climbed off of the girl and wiped his bloodied hands on her shirt before crawling back into the pantry and pulling the door shut behind him.

Cade blacked out by the third crack of her skull against the stone flooring.

Her body laid there completely limp for a few long minutes before she regained consciousness.

Even then she just laid there, staring upwards as the pain radiated through her.

He didn't fear Gerhard's wrath for this, even if he got scolded for hurting a coven member, she had been warned.

Her current state was her own fault and no one else's.

Already he was feeling homesick, this hot, loud place was getting on his nerves.

Gerhard had stirred awake when he heard Cade's shocked scream. He wasn't really worried for her, but instead curious what could get her to make that sort of noise.

Lazily he emerged from his bed and wrapped a robe around his lean frame. He then wondered out into the kitchen.

Even when he'd been sleeping his hair still looked neat and orderly. He wasn't really the type to move in his sleep at all.

When he found Cade staring up at the ceiling, her blood pooling on the floor, his only reaction was a small sigh.

"What did you do?" He asked, like a parent discovering a child who had spilled juice on the floor rather than what he was actually looking at.

Her gaze rolled up to him and she blinked blankly for a moment.

"I kicked him a couple times," she grumbled softly. Her voice was weak, but it wasn't saturated with too much pain.

Headwounds didn't hurt half as much as other types of wounds.

Cade didn't move to get up, just laid out on the floor. If she could get away with it, she'd stay here for a couple of hours and let the bone knit together a little before she did anything to upset the wound.

"Him?" Gerhard asked.

He was sure he knew who she was talking about, but he wanted to hear Cade's explanation first.

"The demon-child in the pantry."

Her gaze flickered up to him for a moment before returning to staring blankly at the ceiling.

"The fucker wouldn't move so I kicked him. He fought back." She grunted to show her displeasure with that fact. She already didn't like the boy.

Gerhard's facial expression didn't change, but his tone became darker.

"I should finish the job for him." He threatened, speaking through his teeth.

No matter what the situation was, Gerhard would always, always take Emory's side.

Cade flinched as Ger hissed and looked up at her master with wide, hurt eyes and a wounded expression.

This was the first time he'd really soudned angry at her and it hurt. Nothing serious had happened. She'd just had an argument with the boy. That sort of behaviour was completely normal.

It wasn't the first time she'd gotten into an argument with someone and drawn blood. It certainly wouldn't be the last, either.

Gerhard ignored the hurt expression on her face.  He bent down and yanked her up by the front of her shirt.  It was sure to cause more jarring pain, considering her skull was still healing itself.  

"That 'fucker' is your superior, Cadence.  I don't care if he nearly kills you simply because he felt like it.  You'll do whatever he wants no questions asked. Do you understand me?" He hissed, his eyes narrowing in on her.  

The fact that this impish little girl had actually kicked Emory made Gerhard's blood start to boil.

The pain hardly registered in her mind.

She'd had to walk around suffering worse than a fractured skull before. She'd just preferred to stay in place while she healed more.

Her attention was devoted entirely to being hurt over the furious expression on her master's face.

She lowered her blue eyes submissively.

"Yes, sir," she breathed softly.

Her submissive reaction saved her from further assault. Gerhard was only seconds away from beating her head against the side of the wall. But her compliance saved her.

His eyes softened and he let one of his hands gently cup her cheek, his thumb wiping some of the blood away as if it was a tear. It smudged, already having caked a bit on her skin. The outline of it stayed in place.

"That's more like it." He whispered, his voice tender, as if he possibly held some love for her in his depraved and blackened heart.

Cade kept her eyes lowered.

It seemed her last couple interactions with the man had been very sour. She hated that. She didn't want to disappoint Ger at all. He was important to her. Currently the most important person in her life.

"I'll go get the mop and clean up," she mumbled softly.

She felt like a scolded child that felt guilty for disappointing a parent and wanted to try and make it up by doing house chores to please her parent.

"Nein." He said, still rubbing his thumb tenderly against her cheek.

"Have your human do it for you. You need to rest and heal." He ordered with a smile, dropping his hand and stepping away from her.