The hairs on the back of his neck prickled as Rachel's panic washed over him, dread blackening his thoughts. An anxiety of his own quickened in his chest and he tried not to react so outwardly to the gathering storm in his chest. Her thoughts were loud enough for him to hear without trying - though unconsciously he was - and provoked his own well-hidden fears.
His first concern, however, was Rachel. Damien pulled her gently out of his grasp and put his hands on either side of her face, searching her avoidant eyes for a brief moment. The connection helped him throw a tether into her mind and from it he issued a cool breeze of calm, just enough to keep her panic from bubbling over into a manic episode he knew she didn't want to have in front of anyone - especially Jake. It was rare for Damien to witness such things, despite all this time together.
At Jake's suggestion, Damien nodded stiffly, his attention still on Rachel. He had moved his hands now to her hair and kissed her forehead tenderly, holding her close as they turned to go inside the house. But it was Jake's words slipped through the mental ether that made Damien look at him and quickly search the surrounding yard before hurrying Rachel along into the foyer. He waited until Jake was safely in the house and the front door closed before he released Rachel from both the mental tether and his physical hold.
He cupped her face in his hands and looked down at her exhausted face with an intense worry. "Are you hurt otherwise?" He felt her hesitation and inability to speak as she shook her head and tried her best not to look away from him. He kissed her forehead again, thankful that there was at least that much. "Would you like to stay in the panic room for a while with Delilah?" It was one of their habits when the Bad thoughts came upon her - fewer lately, though Damien sensed that that was about to change. With her head lowered and her shaking body pressed against his frame, she nodded. He kissed the top of her head again.
With a whistle, Delilah came padding into the room, her eyes sharp and her tail up. It had been an unintentional thing that Delilah came to respond so readily and easily to Rachel's panic, but Damien was nevertheless thankful for it. Her eyes fell on Jake and gave him a tentative glance before returning to Damien, sniffing Rachel's pant leg.
"Va t'asseoir avec Rachel," he told Delilah in an even tone, gesturing up the stairs with a nod of his head, holding her gaze all the while. Delilah trotted immediately over to the foot of the stairs, paused and looked back at Damien, before ascending the stairs with chittering nails and a quick whine.
"Do you need me to come with you?" He asked Rachel silently, who shook her head and began to pull away from him. Her anxiety was returning, and something dark was building inside her as it was building inside them all. Hers, however, would be the all-consuming blight. He worried, of course, but released her after a last kiss to her forehead, feeling otherwise powerless to protect her from her own past. He wanted to reassure her that she was safe and that nothing would happen to her, and he wanted to hold her longer and keep her protected in his arms, and tell her that he... but there was no room for that now.
Now there was only getting through it all again the best they knew how.
Rachel followed Delilah and he only turned his attention to Jake when he heard first the bathroom door shut, then the heavy vault door open and click shut behind her. "Thank you for... helping... with everything." He said evenly, grappling with remaining cool while still agitated and anxious to put the house on shutdown. "Please tell me what happened."
