Shattered Windows, Broken Locks

Drunk, emotionally drained, sleep deprived, and laying on sheets of silk she hadn’t felt the likes of since the Guild… Ashe was asleep before Kalt even got into his bed.    Unfortunately for the both of them, sleep had become something of an enemy to the Assassin in Blue. There was a reason she avoided it.    She was ripped from her slumber with a deep and sharp inhale, unseeing eyes snapping open as she clamped down on that breath and held it. Her heart raced wildly as she she turned herself over on the bed with a quiet groan slipping through her teeth. All she could smell was the tang of iron, taste it, feel that sticky film of red that coated her hands. That held breath cracked from her chest as she tried to find her bearings, tried to figure out where that mask was now - she could feel it hovering over her shoulder. Why did it feel like she still held knives in her palms when her hands were fisting into silken sheets?    Silk sheets. Hands. The assassin let out a shuddering breath when it hit her in the seconds of her waking - she didn’t know where she was. Fire-blue eyes darted wildly around the dark room she’d found herself in, flickering with candlelight in the earliest hours of dawn. Where was she? Ashe’s heart thundered and she didn’t give herself time to think about the arm around her, the warmth pressed her back. The shewolf lurched from the bed, her hands just barely catching herself on the wall as her stomach flipped over itself dangerously. She clenched her teeth and and looked for the exit - any exit, anything at all. She couldn’t hear beyond the roaring through her veins, a warped voice murmuring in her ear. Blood was hot on her hands, thick on her tongue, dripping down her chest.    Window. Open door? The window was closer, she only had to dart her hand out to try for the window. Ashe’s stomach clenched and her heart plunged down when it wouldn’t budge, her eyes going wide as she resisted the urge to shatter the glass. Don’t wake anyone. Door. She snapped her eyes to the other side of the room and lunged forward, and then there were four paws thudding softly down, a black wolf leaping out of the room with a face drawn and tail tucked. She slid into the hall rapidly assessed before she propelled forward, throwing herself around a corner that brought her to where she could see the door. Exit? She needed to go, go, run. Gods she didn’t want to, but she was suddenly on two legs as she reached the door. Her hands were shaking as she grabbed for the doorknob -    No. Locked. Where were her lock picks? Ashe shuddered and pressed her forehead to the door as she held her breath against the sob that tried to crack from her chest. Can’t run. There were cold gloves on her skin, hot blood between her fingers, under her fingernails, coating the back of her throat. Where was she? Where? Inside. She never slept inside. It was dark outside, where had she been? What did she last remember? Silk sheets. There’d been an arm around her. Idiot girl, something in her snarled.    She braced her hand over the door as she doubled over, and she couldn’t hold back her groan as she tried to keep the contents of her stomach down. She sank down to the floor and clawed her hands into her hair, squeezing her eyes shut as she crouched against the door - like that would keep all the horrors in her head from spilling out into the world. Ashetta