I bolted the door and whipped my head around, my eyes scouring the room for any signs of movement. A piece of paper pinned under an upturned glass flapped in the breeze from the window, illuminated on one side by the angry sunset blaring through the storm clouds. I cleared the broken glass with my foot, forming a trail to the desk, and tugged the paper out from underneath the glass. Squinting, I managed to decipher the scrawl that was slanted across it;

'Have some business to take care of.

Be back soon.

Don't leave the apartment.

J'

It's funny how his character seems to radiate even from a few words on a ripped out page of a phone directory. I sighed and tried to make sense of what had gone on within the past hour or so. Clearly, someone had gone out of the window, as there were spots of blood across the carpet and on the edges of the glass remaining in the window frame. Realising that this was literally all that I could be bothered to decipher, I cleared the glass from the sofa and sat down with my laptop to begin the search for a new apartment.

'Kat?'

I heard him enter the room, and looked up to see him stooped over slightly and gripping his tie that was wound around his left arm. He cursed and hooked a fallen chair upright with his foot, before sitting down and taking off his overjacket.

'Find the first aid kit thingy, will ya?'

I hurried over to the desk and dragged out a battered bag, from which I fished out a handful of packeted sterile equipment.

'Do you want me to do it?' I enquired, leaning towards the Joker to glimpse a better look at the wound.

'Yeah. I can't hang onto the tie at the same time.'

It was clear that the damage was caused by a knife, given the cleanly cut fabric and the shape of the wound. I almost rolled my eyes at myself. I had trained to become a vet and yet I more often found myself sewing up Gotham's most wanted criminal than I did people's pets.

'Had to get rid of half the mob. That Maverick idiot's been paying stupid money to source our location, so we're gonna have to move again tonight.'

My heart sank. I knew that we couldn't stay here any longer anyway, given the state of the apartment, but the confirmation was just as gutting. Trying to hold up a job at the same time as accompanying the Joker was tricky, seeing as every time I moved I had to go through all of the paperwork.

I looked up at the Joker's face and frowned when I saw him looking at me amusedly, licking on his scars the whole time.

'What?'

Still smiling, he got up and untied the tie.

'This vet shit's getting on your nerves, ain't it?' He smirked and tried to find the TV remote amongst the piles of paper that were mounded on the table. Picking up one of the forms, he scrutinised it and then laughed loudly.

'You've been expecting this, haven't you Kat? Can't have taken less than a couple of hours to print all these out'

I got up and stalked over.

'Don't mess them all up! You have no idea how long it took me to organise them!' I flapped him away and snatched back the form.

'Ooh now Kat, don't you get pissy with me!' He cackled and looked at me menacingly, his head tilted downwards.

'I'm not pissy, I'm just,' I gasped as he pulled me in front of him, nipping my neck sharply.

'You're just what?' He asked in a darkened tone, his nose pressed to my ear.

'Nothing.' I replied quickly, and felt my body still as he slowly traced the tip of his tongue along the nape of my neck.

'If you're planning on coming to the narrows, you're gonna have to learn to behave yourself first missy' I closed my eyes as he breathed down my neck, and felt his strong arms encircle my waist.

Suddenly, my eyes snapped open and I smirked.

'I'm sorry, I have literally no idea how to even begin to consider that request,' Faking surprise, I pulled away from him and looked him defiantly in the eyes. I watched as they showed disbelief turn into blackness, before I turned to run across the room.

Stifling a giggle, I sprinted up the winding fire escape staircase, sparing a brief glance behind as I heard a door slam in the kitchen. In that brief moment, my shoe caught between the metal grating and the back of the step. Swearing quietly, I stooped and yanked my lace free.

'Gotcha!'

I screamed and flailed out as I flew head-first over the rail. Twisting, I peered upwards to see the Joker grinning darkly as he hung onto my leg. I was in for it now.

Somehow, he managed to climb over the rail whilst still preventing me from falling to my death, and lowered me to the ground before jumping down beside me. I picked myself up and staggered as quickly as possible towards the door to the apartment, but not before he had grabbed my waist and pulled me into him. He picked me up and elbowed the door handle, barging through the doorway. I was thrown onto the bed, from where I watched him pace across the room, tugging the sleeves on his shirt back above his elbows, and rubbing his eye with the back of a paint-covered hand. His hair was greasy as usual and most of his face paint was missing – and yet he still looked mad.

He turned around to watch me watching him, wearing an unreadable expression. After a long silence, he grated out his words pointedly.

'Bad girls get thoroughly fucked. You knew that.'

I swallowed as he began to stalk towards the bed, looking purely dangerous now. I attempted to back up on the bed, but he was on me in a blink. He was strong, owing to the lean muscle that covered every bone in his criminal body. I attempted to grapple with the arms that were pinning me down in a futile attempt to escape from the insanity that he was about to instil in me. My brain was yelling at me to distance myself from this man, but everything else was melting under his touch. I watched as a bead of blood fell from his arm and slid down my own.

I met his eyes and knew that he had registered the desire in mine. I felt so far away as he tore off my clothes and I lay motionless, attempting to come to terms with myself. Up until two months ago, I had been a regular vet in a regular practice, in a regular part of town. Waking up at 2am to answer to a night call-out one Thursday, I had nearly died of fright when I had seen a clown face look across from the windowsill, and then again when I had spotted the gun that he was pointing out at the street. He had slowly raised a gloved finger to his lips and returned to focus on his target. Not knowing what else to do, I had answered the call and fled the apartment, taking the road that went in the opposite direction for as far as possible.

I slept in the car that night on the side of the motorway. When I eventually plucked up the courage to return home, I found a knife sticking out of the bedside table with a note pinned to it, which read;

Might wanna get out fast.

Naturally, I had taken my few belongings and stuffed them in the car right then, and had announced to the veterinary centre that I would work nightshift in the practice for the next few days, due to 'home-life complications', during which time I managed to find a new apartment on the outside of town. I settled back down, attempting to eradicate the panic that was still dominating my mind. That was, until the Joker turned up a week later. He said that my reaction that Thursday morning was 'funny', and he continued to visit me regularly, despite my wary protestations against having one of Gotham's most-wanted criminals within my four walls. And yet, as the weeks progressed, I began to await his appearances, watching the news to see whether he was 'busy' or not. I was being drawn to the madman more strongly by the day… which worried me beyond belief.

I slowly focused my attention back to the present. Reminding myself that I was hardly in this position out of choice helped to silence my brain's raging attempts to hold onto sanity, and I gradually gave in to him. Raising my lips to his, I let him devour me alive…or dead as it would seem.

I unbuttoned his shirt and he grimaced down at me, showing his discoloured teeth as he shrugged his wounded arm out from the sleeve. I couldn't watch as he removed any remaining fabric that lay between us – I didn't think my heart could beat any faster.

He gripped my jaw and forced me to look at him.

'I shouldn't do this. Too risky.' He murmured, licking his scars in indecision.

'You shouldn't? At least you don't have any sanity to hold onto!' I smirked humourlessly and he looked down at me. I suddenly began to panic that he would actually consider what I had just said. In an attempt to distract him again, I hooked my knee over his pelvis and pulled him down, gripping his waist.

'Aw fuck it,' He muttered and kissed along my collarbone, parting my legs in one movement. He moved smoothly, with a rhythm that became more and more urgent as we both flew towards the edge. I screamed out and he laughed as he sowed his insanity deep within me.

I stared down at the dog that lay on the operating table in front of me. Every time the blood dripped off my scalpel I was reminded of the Joker, and it was really messing with my concentration. I hastily brought myself back to the reality which I was currently facing, and was met by worried glances from the nurses that were patiently monitoring the battlefield. Half an hour later, I sewed the last stitch and yanked off my gloves.

'I resign.' I announced to the head nurse. 'I can't do this anymore.'

I ignored the bewildered look that she gave me, and went to the bathroom. Splashing my face with water, I allowed my mascara to run down my face and I grinned.

Today was the day I learned to behave.