Juliet glanced back at Zack and frowned. He was really starting to worry her. Did he sense danger? Could he sense danger? What was bothering him so much? She stepped to him slowly and placed a tentative hand on his arm. She felt the muscles of his bicep and looked up to him. "C'mon…" Her hand slid down to his and she led his out and to her car.
Zackary turned is steel gaze on her and nodded. He let himself be led out like a child, merely following instead of walking with her. His eyes were still jolting around, and he fought to control it.
She left him at the passenger side and went to buckled Qhuinn in. Qhuinn babbled and blew spit from his mouth. Juliet sighed. "I don't know buddy." She said to him, backing out of the car. She walked to the driver's side and got in the car. Before turning it on, she texted furiously. She'd made up her mind in the restaurant, she would work from home for the rest of the day. She's was going to figure out what was wrong with Zack first.
Zackary glanced this way and that before getting into the car. His eyes still jolted as Zackary screamed at himself to stop. Told himself to calm down. There was no reason for him to be tense. He was just being stupid.
Juliet tossed a worried glance to Zackary before driving on. She said nothing til they were at home and in the house. She set Qhuinn in the living room and turned to Zackary. She beckoned him close and took off her jacket before placing a hand on his forehead, and then his neck. "Are you sick? Do you have a cold? Do demons even get colds?" she questioned aloud.
Zackary shook himself out and relaxed his posture when she finished with her tryings. His neck was normal, as well as his forehead. Maybe a little cold.
“No. Demons don’t get colds.” His voice was rather frosty.
Juliet recoiled at his tone. She furrowed her brow, a rather indignant look her face. "Then what is it? Why are you so snippy, you're acting like a….a peacock who got one of his feather plucked." She grumbled, crossing her arms. Encountering Todd couldn't have been that bad.
“A peacock. One of the prettiest birds in the world. Compared to me? No. But I’m fine. Just… on edge.” He glanced back and forth.
Juliet bristled furiously. She turned on her heels and stomped out of the room and up the stairs. Fine! If he wants to play that game, then so be it! she thought, all the while grumbling. "'Fine. I'm fine.' He says…" she muttered, fuming.
Zackary blinked a couple times as he watched her retreating back. He was just in the middle of wondering what he did wrong when his wings exploded out of his back with no warning. Their weight and the force they popped in on flew him forward and face first into the tiled floor of the kitchen. He stirred and slowly sat up, sighing. He felt his face carefully. Ah, puffy lip, broken nose, maybe a couple bruises. The works. The nose he’d have to fix himself, but he’d trust his magic to do his lip and bruises.
Qhuinn dropped his toys and looked to Zackary. He squealed, clapping his hands. Those large fluffy things had appears again. He began to crawl towards Zack, babbling his satisfaction.
Juliet had heard the crash, but her stubborn pride refused to let her care. As long as it wasn't Qhuinn, she wouldn't let herself go rushing like the worrying mother she was. Not by a long shot. But it didn't stop her from craning her neck over the edge of the stairs., trying to see what happened. Only because I worry for my things… she tried to tell herself, though she couldn't care less about her cheap kitchen table.
Zackary smiled a little at the child, letting his wings curl up around him. Zackary glanced back over his shoulder. A smudge of dark blood had followed him. He carefully pulled down his sleeve. The pair of stab wounds had reopened.
“That’s… that’s never happened before…” He breathed as he let his sleeve go. A drop of blood from his nose plopped onto the floor.
Juliet saw his wings and gasped. She was down the steps in seconds. "I knew it was trouble. Where are you flying off to? Please don't chop Todd-" She stopped. Her eyes took in the blood and his broken nose. "What happened? Zackary, what did you- Whoah!" she yelped and scooped Qhuinn into her arms before the young thing dipped his tiny finger in the drop of blood on the floor.
Zackary sat up so he was leaning forward onto his tummy, with his legs spread apart comically. He looked very far from the angry Demon he was moments ago.
“Oh, ya, I’m fine, this happens all the time.” He rubbed some blood away from his nose.
Juliet looked to him and held back her yells and sarcastic retorts…. most of them. Her foot began to tap with impatience. "Mhm, and the blood on your arm?" She pointed to his sleeve covered arm, the blood seeping through the fabric. Her mind flashed back to the moment she had to sign the contracts… all that blood.
Zackary crossed his eyes and stuck his tongue out at her, giggling like a child. Something was very wrong with her Demon.
“It’s just some blood,” He said nonchalantly with a slight slur to his voice.
Juliet blinked, confused at his behavior. Qhuinn giggled but Juliet hardly moved. Her first motion was a step back, and then another. She set Qhuinn in his play-pen, ignoring the boy's protesting whines. He eventually found interest in one of his toys. She approached Zackary slowly. He was acting strange.
"Zack?" she sat down beside him. "You okay?" She hardly knew why she asked the stupid question, knowing she wasn't going to get a straight answer, if she got an answer at all.
Zackary didn’t notice her walk away, nor did he mind much of his poor posture. He plopped down onto his back, sighing slowly.
“Ehhhh… okay,” He answered strangely, his eyes glued to the ceiling.
Juliet took his face in to her left hand, the other reached to touch his large feathers. She stroked them. "Zack, you're really scaring me now. You need to tell me what's going on."
Zackary blankly shrugged, his eyes falling shut. Her hand felt nice. His wings shivered happily when they were pet, leaning into the touch. A line of blood dripped from his nose and started to pool on the floor, like a sapphire red eye.
Juliet shuddered. "Zackary!" She scrambled to the kitchen. She grabbed several paper towels and rushed back to Zack. "Zackary!" she whined with frustration. She would really appreciate it if he 'd get it together and stop bleeding on her floor.
Zackary opened his eyes and looked down at the blood, with a few strands of his hair floating in it.
“Oh. I’m sorry ‘bout that.”
She cleaned the blood away, moving his hair out of the pool of blood, and held the paper towels to his nose. Juliet held his head up so she could look into his eyes. "What happened to you? Zack, what do you need?"
Zackary hummed happily, his eyes floating shut again. He hummed more and more, as blood oozed slowly from his nose.
“Mmm… I’m good. I don’t need anything…”
Juliet tried her best to keep the blood in a controlled flow but she soon realized in her panic that his nose was broken. She gave a grunt and ran to the kitchen. She took the whole roll of paper towels and ripped several sheets. She looked to Zack's nose, she'd seen how to fix it on TV. I can do this… She coached herself, her stomach performing acrobatics with the anxiety on the rise within her. She took a deep breath and made a triangle with her hands over Zack's nose. The apex of her triangle fit snugly on his nose.
With a grimace, Juliet realigned his nose. She kept her tears at bay as she placed more paper towels over his nose. She was such a wimp.
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