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“Don’t leave a message. I don’t care and I’m busy. Unless you want to waste your time.”
Beep!
“I’m going to ignore your very mature voice message, Jonathan, where the hell are you? We’re meant to be having a lovely dinner together. This is my only warning before I find out what you’re so busy with that you forget dinner with me, of all people!”
Even as Edward drove to Jonathan’s safehouse almost forty minutes later after making that call, he still wasn’t sure why exactly Jonathan hadn’t sent him a message. Usually he would only text him to stop filling his voice message. But this seemed slightly more ominous, even by Jonathan’s standards. The only other time Jonathan had missed a date with him was when the GCPD had finally figured out where his lab was and had attempted to raid it. Edward was certain that that wasn’t the case.
Hopefully.
Edward pulled up outside of the safehouse, noting the surprising calm state it was in. He was expecting some sort of evidence of a break in, but it looked completely fine. After unlocking the door with the spare key he’d been trusted with, he shimmied inside. Thankfully, there was something to work with in here, but it certainly didn’t point to any nicer theories. The first thing he noticed was the large claw marks scattered across the walls of the hallway. Somehow it looked like the marks were too large to be Waylon’s. And, to Edward’s knowledge, Waylon wouldn’t have any reason to be in Jonathan’s lab to begin with.
He continued through the hallway until he finally found the stairs down to the laboratory and the opposite door leading to the more homely parts of the hideout. He descended down the stairs, noting the increase of those claw marks. The laboratory, much to Jonathan’s probable dismay, was in complete disarray. He carefully stepped over broken shards from beakers, and avoided some puddles stained with a faint orange hue. Jonathan was still nowhere to be found.
Yet.
Edward nervously gripped onto his cane as he observed the discarded papers on the floor alongside a collection of shattered beakers, a few broken syringes, and fear toxin residue staining the countertop. He flicked through the papers around him to find some clue as to what the hell had happened down here, but he couldn’t find anything that stood out as possibilities. The claw marks were all over the walls and counters, as if a bear had been running around in circles in the room for hours.
He was so focused on said claw marks that he tripped on some sort of fabric, almost sending him face first into a lovely handful of shards of glass if he didn’t cling onto the nearby counter to catch his fall. Once he picked up the fabric he had foolishly caught his feet on, he realised they appeared to be shreds of someone’s clothes.
Jonathan’s clothes.
It didn’t help with the frustratingly nagging worry currently festering in the back of his mind. The claw marks and shredded clothing were only bearable due to the fact that he hadn’t found any blood so far. Edward pocketed the clothes before anxiously climbing back up the stairs. He peeked out of the doorway, just to be certain, before he began to investigate the other rooms. Edward was just hoping that whatever or whoever left those claws marks would leave him alone, and that they hopefully hadn’t maimed Jonathan.
Edward opened the door into the study, which looked surprisingly untouched. He returned back into the hallway, startled by the sudden cries from the crows that lived around Jonathan’s safehouse. He brushed off that startled reaction, but what he couldn’t quite explain was the thudding of something moving around not far from him. He gripped his cane, ready to slam it into someone’s skull in a moment’s notice if need be. He peered out into the backyard, scanning through the nearby treeline before he spotted what definitely made those thudding noises, and who made those claw marks all over the walls.
It was a beast. A large, ragged looking beast that was currently watching the crows. It didn’t look like it would pounce on them, but Edward would rather stop that possibility before he faced Jonathan’s wrath. He gripped his cane, trying to sneak back down to the lab to try and find any sort of sedative to use on the creature. It was unlikely that Jonathan would have enough to deal with the creature, but he would cling to any possible advantage he could find.
The beast turned to face him, beady orange eyes staring back at him.
He watched as the creature slowly took in his appearance, then slowly moved towards Edward as if he was a skittish animal. Or prey.
“Jonathan?” Edward hesitantly guessed as he watched a small puff of toxin slip through the beast’s mouth.
Jonathan’s ears pricked up at the name, a low sound reverberated across the room. Edward couldn’t even take a small step back before he pounced on him, knocking him to the floor with a groan. He stared as Jonathan lowered his distorted face close to his. Burlap hung off its skin and brushed against his own.
“Jonathan! Get off me right now, how the-” Edward cut himself off with a suppressed, strangled scream, his face now inches away and opened wide, sharp teeth on display. The small traces of fear toxin in the creature’s breath only made the sharp spike of fear increase in his ribcage, piercing the flesh and bone covering it.
“Don’t you dare!” Edward jammed his cane in between Jonathan’s teeth, giving him enough time to wriggle out from under him as Jonathan tried to get the cane out of his mouth. He stumbled to his feet, panting before sprinting out of the closest door, adrenaline surging through him as he ran into the clearing of the nearby trees.
A loud growl echoed through from behind him as Edward kept running. Jonathan had managed to get the cane out from in between his teeth faster than he expected, so he made a sharp turn left, just in case he was following him. He’ll figure out an actual plan once he finds somewhere to stop and hide. Edward’s legs began to waver and eventually he ducked behind a fallen tree.
He could barely catch his breath. He knew that he needed to stop panting like a dog, if Jonathan truly was a beast he could have far better hearing than a human. He couldn’t see anything nearby, but the faint sounds of wood cracking under pressure in the distance gave him some sort of clue as to where Jonathan was.
Edward peeked his head out, begging his eyes to adjust to the darkness already as he tried to spot Jonathan’s figure. He could see him slowly prowling through the trees, only stopping to try and hear Edward and scan the surrounding area. He watched Jonathan stop to curiously inspect the birds littered on nearby branches. He listened to their cries for a few minutes, and Edward was really hoping that he would get distracted by the crows and give up on chasing him down. Unfortunately, he was not that lucky.
Instead, he watched as Jonathan’s head snapped to meet his gaze.
He let out a pleased cry before bounding towards Edward’s hiding spot.
Edward barely managed to keep the embarrassing shriek of terror he wouldn’t want any version of Jonathan hearing in his throat, and scrambled to his feet. He staggered at first, but quickly returned to his previous sprint. He could hear the creature’s heavy breaths as he followed behind him. Edward needed some way to distract Jonathan. Or maybe he could weave around him. Unlikely, but there was small change. He swung his head around rapidly to try and find somewhere to try and hide again. He settled on a collection of fallen trees and a large mossy rock in the middle of them.
He slipped behind it and nervously waited for Jonathan to hopefully go straight past him. Edward listened to the earth underneath his limbs crunch as Jonathan slowed down once he arrived at the small clearing as well, because he wasn’t that fucking lucky. Edward listened as he began to prowl around the area. There was a loud crack as Jonathan slashed the nearby log in half before he continued to try and find his prey. Sharp claws were inches away as he perched an arm against it as he scanned the area. Edward just waited for him to move, just please move already.
Edward nearly cried with relief when he heard the lumbering footsteps slowly retract and get fainter and fainter as he continued west of his hiding spot. Jonathan was toying with him, no doubt, but that could make him underestimate Edward, which would give him an opening to get out of the woods and back into the safehouse. Hole up in the lab maybe, and hope that Jonathan wasn’t stuck like that permanently and would eventually return to his normal body. Or he could go back to the sedation idea.
He quietly shuffled out of his hiding spot, having a mere moment to notice the crows currently watching him from the branches above when he was slammed into the ground. He finally let out that shriek as he realised that Jonathan was currently looming over him again. Now he was mere inches away from the sharp rows of teeth, and talons that would slice through his skin like paper. Jonathan let out a satisfied croon as he lowered his face even closer. It would be foolish to try and reason with Jonathan, but he had to try anything at his disposal right now.
“Jonathan! Jonathan, you know me!” He grinned nervously, trying to wriggle out from under him, but Jonathan merely just pressed a hand into his chest, keeping him pinned to the ground on his back. “Don’t- Don’t do anything you’ll regret! You don't want to hurt me!”
He tried to scramble away again as Jonathan’s mouth opened wider and closed in on his face, and he instinctively tried to hide his face behind his arms. Edward waited for the first sign he was bleeding in his arms, the searing pain of his flesh being pulled off, but nothing happened. He lowered his arms a little, and immediately regretted it as something suddenly shot forward. He winced, noting the rough and wet texture, then processed that and forced his eyes open to see what the hell Jonathan was doing.
“What are you-” He cut himself off with a yelp as he felt Jonathan drag his tongue across his face, starting from his chin and ending at his bangs, making the hair stick up in odd angles across his face.
“Are you- Are you licking me?! After you did all that?!” He huffed, far more indignant than he probably should be. His confused expression must’ve been noticed by Jonathan as he simply nodded before going back to licking stripes across Edward’s face. Jonathan glanced back down at Edward once he was satisfied with his efforts. Edward underneath him was far less pleased with said efforts.
“Jonathan!” He spluttered as Jonathan kept licking his face, who spent the next few seconds licking across his face fully before relenting.
Edward shrieked again as he was suddenly snatched by the collar and ‘guided’ back to the safehouse. He would’ve complained more if he wasn’t occupied with how fast Jonathan was running, which was hard to tell given he had closed his eyes instinctively for the whole run back. Jonathan set him back down onto the grass, and nudged him towards the woods once he was back on his feet. Edward glanced at the trees and back to him.
“You want to chase me again?!” He blurted, receiving a giddy nod from Jonathan as he nudged him another step towards the treeline. “I can’t run like that again! I haven’t run that fast in weeks!”
Jonathan seemed upset that they wouldn’t be continuing their game, but Edward’s shaky legs barely holding himself up made Jonathan understand why he wasn’t keen on going for round two. So he acquisted, and returned back inside to ravage the sofa to make it more comfortable for his form. Edward followed behind him, sheepishly wiping the remaining saliva off of his face with the back of his hand. “Now, what?” He huffed. “Will you return back to normal by the break of dawn?”
Jonathan let out a garbled hum, like he was snickering at him, before settling down on the shredded sofa. Edward sighed, draping himself across the thankfully spared armchair. It wouldn’t be the most uncomfortable way he’s fallen asleep. He sighed as he felt Jonathan looming back over him. He cracked an eye open, watching with tired amusement as Jonathan tugged the armchair closer and closer to where he had made his bed. Jonathan looked back to the trees and to Edward again, trying to widen his eyes and press his face closer.
“Absolutely not.” Edward repeated with a huff. Jonathan grumbled, but settled next to him. Jonathan only had to wait for a few minutes for Edward to fall asleep, and he gently moved him from being awkwardly splayed across the sofa, to lying by his side.