Little Red (Jacob Seed)

18. Deputy Pratt

Rieka stared at the front door of the cabin for a good hour before it finally opened. As soon as the soldier stepped through the door, Rieka jumped to her feet and rushed towards the man. She leapt into into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face in the crook of his neck. Jacob was caught off guard by the sudden impact, barely even seeing the woman before she was clinging to him, he slowly wrapped his arms around her waist and embraced her tightly before planting her feet back on the ground.

"Jacob, oh my god, are you alright? I was so worried" Rieka spoke quickly, already searching his body for wounds. Jacob took a moment to look down at her and admire her concerned and focused face.

"Everything is fine, I promise" Jacob assured her, breaking her out of her frantic state by cupping her face in his large hands and forcing her to look up and meet his eyes.

"I patched Joseph up before taking him home. What happened?" Rieka asked as she calmed down, her voice quieter and more steady now.

"They all escaped. John and his men managed to grab deputy...Hudson, I think her name was. Faith and her men caught the Marshall and I captured deputy Pratt. The junior deputy and the sheriff got away" Jacob explained as he stepped forward and closed the front door, walking into the living room with Rieka.

"What's the plan?" she asked as Jacob sat in the armchair, slumping down lazily.

"I assume John is planning on making Hudson atone, Faith will use the Bliss on the Marshall and I am going to see what I can achieve with Pratt by conditioning him. Joseph believes that the Deputy is going to be a threat, for now we have to wait and see what he does" Jacob sighed and Rieka frowned a little. She thought back to the Deputy, a young man who was a little nervous in the church. Fresh out of the box. Surely he couldn't be much of a threat against Jacob's men.

"It's going to be a busy time, isn't it?" Rieka asked with a sigh, stepping towards Jacob.

"It seems so" he nodded, watching her as she approached him. She smiled softly before climbing into his lap, straddling his thighs. Jacob smirked slightly as he placed his rough hands on her thighs. "My Little Red, so perfect" he mumbled before pressing his lips against hers, she placed her hands on his shoulders to support and steady herself. He slid his hands up her waist and held her against his body. A moment of peace and complete content before the chaos that they both knew would arrive.

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Only days went by and there were reports of the Deputy liberating outposts, liberating civilians, killing cult VIPs, destroying cult property, and just causing general chaos for The Project at Eden's Gate. At the moment the deputy only seems to be focusing on Faith's region, so Red was cherishing the safer moments while Jacob prepared for the Deputy's arrival in their region.

The soldier had been working more lately, coming home later, it's a little stressful and annoying but she understood the urgency of the situation. Rieka was sitting in the living room of the cabin, reading silently to herself, when there was a knock on the door. She hummed before placing the book down and walking over to the door, opening it to reveal two of Jacob's most trusted men. "Jacob needs you, he asked us to take you to him" the shortest one explained.

"Lead the way" Rieka smiled slightly as she pulled the hood of her coat up and followed them out of the house.

She climbed into the back of the truck with them and they drove towards Jacob's bunker. Once they got there, they climbed out of the truck and the two men walked Rieka around to the cages. Jacob was standing in front of one of the cages, just staring at whoever was in it. When he heard footsteps approaching her turned and saw Rieka and his two men, he waved his hand to dismiss the men and they walked away.

Red continued to approached the soldier, glancing at who was in the cage. Pratt scrambled towards the bars of the cage and gripped them in his hands, staring at the woman. The hood hid her face but Pratt watched her carefully, it feels like forever since he had seen anyone over than Jacob or filthy cultists. She was clean, calm, wasn't even carrying a weapon.

"Come here Little Red" Jacob ordered and extended his arms towards her. Pratt's gaze kept switching between Jacob and the woman, she walked over to the soldier and he placed a hand on her lower back. "This is deputy Pratt that I was telling you about. He is going through his training well, I thought that he deserved a reward" Jacob spoke, looking down at the woman before looking back at Pratt.

Rieka examined Pratt's beaten face and nodded as Jacob handed her a bag. He led her towards the door of the cage and opened it, allowing her to walk in, locking it behind her. Rieka walked over to the man, who was now sitting with his back leaning against the bars, carefully and crouched down in front of him. Jacob watched them both carefully from outside of the cage.

"It's alright, I am here to help" she smiled at the dark haired man as she lowered her hood. Pratt's eyes widened and his mouth hung open slightly, she was beautiful. He was sure that he was hallucinating. "My name is Red, I help people. Fix them up" she smiled softly as she opened her bag and pulled out her equipment. She always introduced herself to people as 'Red', Rieka was a name that was reserved for her family.

"Y-you're the Healer. Th-hey talk about you" Pratt whispered as she began to clean his wounds and wash the blood away. "They say that you are an angel sent from God, sent to heal and help them" he continued, flinching as she applied alcohol to the wounds. She knew that he was talking about Jacob's men, Joseph had claimed that Rieka was sent by God to help Jacob protect his flock.

"I am no angel" she told him but he didn't believe her. She had just arrived from nowhere when he was hurting and weak, she came and healed him and made him stronger.

She patched the rest of him up in silence, doing the best she could to put his broken nose back into place and bandage it. It was going to be crooked for the rest of his life. Rieka gave him the rest of the water to drink before putting the empty bottle back in her bag. She packed up her things before standing up. She gasped quietly when Pratt grabbed her wrist and held her in place, looking up at her with pleading eyes. "Please" he begged but he didn't even know what he was begging for.

"That's enough Peaches" Jacob growled and grabbed Pratt's shoulder through the bars, slamming him back against them. He instantly let go of Rieka's wrist and let out a hiss of pain. Rieka stepped backwards she picked up her bag before walking towards the door, Jacob was quick to unlock it and let her out before locking it behind her. It hurt her to see these people hurting but she knew that her purpose was to rid them of that pain.

"Lets go home Red" Jacob nodded at her before taking the bag from her and carrying it for her, placing his other hand on her back and escorting her away from the cages. The whole cult knows about Jacob and Rieka, he made sure that people knew when he thought that one of John's men was getting a little to close to her. To put it simply he had him put through training again, this time he failed...

Pratt watched them leave with wide eyes, he couldn't believe it. Where they a couple? They certainly lived together. Was Jacob hurting her? Pratt couldn't believe his eyes when he saw her lean into his touch. How could two completely opposite people be together? How could somebody as soft and kind as her see something in a cold and cruel man like Jacob?