Eight Years Ago

Xavier sat with his morning coffee reading the newspaper. He was in the middle of the world news section when an article caught his eye. Nightmare Killer Strikes Again the title read. Xavier frowned as he read the story. It was the same as the others, a man killed from inside a locked room seemingly scared to death. Although the killing disturbed him, he was more worried about the nature of the crimes. He did not think people were easily scared to death unless the person had a weak heart. And none of the victims of this Nightmare person had weak hearts. The police were baffled.

However to Xavier, the murders sounded like the work of a mutant. Only a mutant could easily move into a locked room and scare a person to death. But what kind of mutant would it be? Xavier thought carefully. To get into a locked room, he would expect the mutant to have either teleportation or phasing abilities. However to scare one to death, he would expect the mutant to be an illusionist or a telepath in which to create such images. Either way this mutant was clearly powerful and fully aware of the extent of his powers. Xavier believed mutants would eventually be blamed for this which would be counterproductive to his mutant rights activity. This mutant needed to be stopped.

Xavier wheeled himself into the room containing Cerebro. It would help if he could gain a reading on this mutant. Not that he was hopeful. He had tried before to no avail. This mutant, although probably not aware of Xavier or Cerebro, was smart and able enough to block his mind from external penetration. As Xavier scanned through the many mutants, he found no trace of anything that could lead him to Nightmare.

Six years ago (two years later)

Nightmare glided along the streets of New Orleans looking for a particular casino. Nightmare's next victim spent a lot of his time in the Rolling Aces casino, swindling people out of their money. The plan was to find the victim and engage him in a game of poker, where Nightmare was sure to win. Nightmare could feel eyes watching, as Nightmare walked by. Not that this was unexpected, dressed the way Nightmare was. Finally the right casino was found. Rolling Aces was glitzy and glamorous attracting a wealthy southern crowd. Its sign was flashing brightly over the top of the casino; two dies each showing the number one. The inside was just as ostentatious as expected. There was a red carpet leading up to the glass doors and the inside room was mostly gold and marble with large crystal chandeliers, full of elegantly dressed men and women each looking for their next score, money or otherwise.

Nightmare walked down the red carpet, ignoring the stares and heading towards the glass doors. However, Nightmare was soon stopped by a doorman.

"Excuse me… um miss?" He stammered out feeling tongue tied looking at the most beautiful young woman he had ever seen. She was small, in height and width. Barely 5'2, she was very thin and pale, and had the look of someone who wasn't very well nourished. She had long blonde hair and deep blue eyes. Her breasts were full and large, barely contained in the tight short white and black dress she was wearing. However the reason he stopped her was not to gawk, but rather to check her ID. The girl seemed young, barely eighteen and he had to check before she entered the casino. She turned her head slowly to look at him and a smile passed over her full lips and revealed gleaming straight white teeth. Although the doorman didn't notice, the smile did not reach her blue eyes which remained guarded and haunted.

"Yes?" she asked sweetly in a soft southern drawl.

"I… uh… I need to check your ID?" he said flustered.

"You flatter me," she replied and reached into her black clutch and pulled out a card. In reality it was a blank notecard but to the doorman it was a legal American driver's license showing that her fake age was 22. The doorman stared at it a bit longer than needed to do the necessary age calculations. He was making a mental note of her fake name, Meghan Coterne, and her fake address, 143 Poydras St, New Orleans, so he could visit her apartment later and see that fit body up close and personal, whether she was willing or not.

He gave her back her ID, "Everything looks ok. You look young for your age," he said.

"You're too kind sugah," she drawled.

He held the door open and allowed her to enter. She strolled through the casino taking in the sights. The card tables were clustered to one side with rows and rows of slot machines on the other side. The bar was full of men and women, some of them sitting and watching the half naked girls dance around the DJ who was spinning. She continued walking, bypassing the bar and slot machines, ignoring the eyes of the many rich men ogling her body. She was glad to be away from the doorman whose mind was full of inappropriate thoughts while he looked at her ID. She was glad she didn't actually live at 143 Poydras St and that it didn't exist. She would hate for the doorman to come crawling into the window and rape some other unsuspecting girl.

Although she normally enjoyed listening to others thoughts as everyone was so free, real and uncensored in their minds, the graphic images that were floating through the heads of some of the businessmen that were checking her out were actually disgusting. After one particularly revolting image involving her and livestock she knew she needed to close her mind to these thoughts or else her temper would get the best of her. It was a shame though since the only time she had access to her powers was during these little excursions to eliminate some poor victim who had angered her master in some way and she had to close her mind.

She found her next victim quickly. He was dressed in a brown trench coat even though he was indoors, his brown hair was long and shaggy and fell in his face. He had the largest pile of money in front of him at a Texas Hold Em table. She walked smoothly over to the table and with her eyes on him, purred "may I join the table?"

He looked up at her and did a double take. His eyes dropped down to the bottom of her short dressed and slowly worked their way up to her face, lingering for a moment on her shapely breasts.

"It's ten ta play wit a minimum five bet chere," he said slowly. "Thousand…"

She pulled out a wad of cash and threw a stack in the middle and sat down across from him. She held his gaze as the cards were dealt and he smirked slightly as he admired his hand. She glanced briefly at her hand, an ace and a ten, before putting on a blank poker face.

Remy LeBeau couldn't help but admire the young woman across from him. She had an amazing body, full breasts with a small waist, and a stunning face. She looked very young though and he was curious as to how she got into the casino. She looked younger than him and he wasn't old enough to be in this casino either. He took a puff on his cigarette and blew out as the initial bets were made. He watched the girl across from him bet modestly which did not allow him to get a reading on what sort of player she may be. He was sitting on a jack and a queen but he still matched her bet. The first three cards were flipped showing an ace, a five and a king.

Remy could feel his excitement growing as he was a card away from a straight. The bets were placed and the girl across from him bet modestly again. Remy liked to live on the edge, so he raised and was surprised to see that most of the table, including the beautiful girl, match him. The next card was flipped, it was another ace. Not useful to him nor to several others at the table as they folded. Remy however, remained in and bet largely and was matched by two others: the beautiful girl and an older gentleman. The final card was flipped. A ten. Remy had his straight and he could see that the older man had nothing based upon the disappointed look on his face. He folded quickly. It was now between Remy and the girl. Her face was unreadable and she bet largely. Remy raised her and to his surprise she called. She held his gaze for a minute and Remy could feel the sexual attraction between the two of them.

"What have you got?" she asked softly.

He flipped over his queen and jack showing his royal straight. He tried to gauge her reaction to see if he had won but her face remained impassive. She slowly turned over her cards, an ace and a ten. He felt his excitement fade as he took in her hand. She had won with a full house. He couldn't believe he lost, he never lost.

"Nice hand chere," he said. "You win."

She smiled her teeth gleaming and Remy pushed the money towards her. "Thank you for the game," she drawled as she gathered up her money. She stood and walked towards the bar. Remy frowned as she left the table, he didn't want her to leave, and he wanted his money back from her. He gathered up the remains of his winnings and followed her to the bar.

Nightmare smiled to herself as she slipped into a bar stool and watched Remy practically stumble trying to gather up his winnings and catch up with her at the bar. The poker game had been easy, almost too easy. It was just a matter of reading everyone's mind and convincing him or her to fold. Most had bad hands that they shouldn't play on anyways. Remy, on the other hand, was a good poker player, Nightmare could tell. She had spent the majority of the game in his mind, listening to him calculate odds and read everyone's face and their bluffs. She knew his hand and ironically they were both hoping for the ten to complete their hands. She was in his head long enough to know that he was intrigued by her and bothered that she was nearly unreadable. She waited at the bar patiently for him to join her.

"Dat was really well played," he whispered in her ear.

She turned and smiled at him as he slid onto the bar stool next to her.

"Where didja learn ta play like dat?" he asked.

"It was nothing sugah," she drawled in her soft southern twang. "Luck of the draw."

"Do ya get lucky often chere?" he questioned with a smirk on his face.

"Fairly often, yes," she said understanding his innuendo.

"De name's Remy," he said holding out his hand.

"Meghan," she said taking his hand and smiling as he brought it up to his lips.

"Enchanté."

They flirted for a few more minutes and Nightmare was surprised to find herself actually charmed by this Cajun man. She never got attached or gave a damn about the people she killed, but she felt slightly sad at the loss of this charming boy. But she knew she needed to get rid of him and her time was running short before she would lose access to her powers and be sent back home, or back to hell as she liked to think. To speed along the inevitable of getting alone with Remy, Nightmare went into his mind to push the idea of leaving the casino with her.

"Wouldja like ta go somewhere special wit ole Remy?" he asked suddenly.

Nightmare suppressed a smile at the sudden change in topic. "I'd love to," she said sweetly. "Would you like to go back to your place?"

He suddenly looked uncomfortable and looked away briefly. When he glanced back at her however, he had his alluring grin back on. "Why don' we go back ta your place?"

Nightmare hesitated for a moment. She usually did not kill people back at "her place." She supposed she could kill Remy in a hotel room. No one would be able to trace the room back to her as she didn't actually exist in this country or her home country.

"I think that will be alright. I am here on business though, so it will be my hotel room." She didn't need to read his mind to see the gleam in his eye as he imagined fooling around with her in a hotel room. It basically symbolized a no strings attached fuck fest, every man's, including Remy LeBeau, dream. He grasped her hand and pulled her eagerly towards the exit. He hailed a cab and they climbed inside it. Nightmare directed the cab driver towards her hotel in downtown New Orleans.

They got out at the hotel and got in the elevator. Nightmare barely had time to punch the 7 button before Remy was kissing her. He pressed his lips hard on hers and pushed her up against the back of elevator his lips and tongue hungrily moving over hers. Nightmare kissed him back, surprised by the fact that she wasn't revolted by his lips on hers and that there was some passion between them. He started with his hands on her face pulling her face towards him. He kept his left hand on her chin and slid the right hand down her neck resting briefly on her left breast. He squeezed slightly and continued to explore her body, sliding his hand down to her butt and grabbing it roughly. He moved his lips to her neck trailing kisses from her ear to collar bone. The bell dinged and the doors slid open. Remy let go of her almost reluctantly. She gave him a brief smile and led the way down the hall to her hotel room.

Sliding the card in the door, Nightmare opened the door, heading towards the bedroom with Remy trotting behind her.